Christward Collective

"What about our son?" "What about our daughter?" As a pastor there are conversations that I routinely have with parishioners. One of the regular exchanges I have had over the years begins with a Christian parent or both parents approaching with downcast gazes. The discouragement...

Because crisis is common to the human condition so is the cry for deliverance. A hand on a hot stove recoils just as a human facing danger cries out for help. It is primordial and ubiquitous. There is nothing uniquely "Christian" about the desire for deliverence and safety. It is a human...

As I have been preaching through the book of Genesis , I have been struck afresh by the Creation/New Creation structure of the entirety of Scripture--no less in its opening chapters. We have considered the various elements of new creation as we have gone from creation to the flood. Redemptive...

Very few of us would like to be President. However, most of us, at least some of the time, would like to be involved with the President. We’d like to be able to share in his decision-making, to have some input and influence, to be in a position and possess the power to affect outcomes, and...

On a prima facia reading, the Scriptures seem to give us contradictory statements about the roll of fear in the life of the believer. On the one hand we are called to fear the Lord (e.g. Lev. 25:17; Deut. 6:2; 1 Samuel 12:14; 2 Kings 17:39; Psalm 2:11; etc.) and on the other hand we are told,...

The Prince of the Puritan Theologians, John Owen, once wrote, "Let us get it fixed on our souls, and in our minds, that this glory of Christ, in the divine constitution of his person, is the best, the most noble, useful, beneficial object that we can be conversant about in our thoughts, or...

I’m thankful that God didn’t leave us to guess about the qualifications of church leaders. Both Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3 provide some basic traits that should characterize elders and deacons. Elders, for example, should be men who are “above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober...

I’ve been in ministry long enough now (well over a decade) to see friends enter the ministry and then leave it. Some of those exits have been for honorable reasons and some for dishonorable. I serve on two credentialing committees and have coached a few church planters over the years. I wish...

Corporate worship on the Lord’s day is precious to the people of God. We are invited to gather together for fellowship with God and one another through both word and sacrament, prayer and song. This gathering is perhaps the most beautiful, earthly picture we have of the church as we, of...

As a young believer, I came across Jeremiah Burrough's searching little book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment . I have yet to come across another book that so helpfully uncovers the great problem of sinful discontentment and our need to learn to be content in Christ wherever He may...