Every Sunday, we’ll be posting articles and links that are saying something important about church, culture, and mission. Here’s what resonated with us this week on the web:

Church & Theology

David Fitch answers the question “Why Seminary?” in this video from Northern:

Hugh Halter offers one reason “missional” will – or won’t – work for you:

It really doesn’t matter which group you chose to train you, who you read, what
organization or resources you take your cues from. What really matters is that you
don’t just ‘try it’ for a year and move on. What matters is that you commit to it, live
it, do it, and keep doing it!

Beau Crosetto writes at Release the APE about lessons learned from a failed church:

Last month we decided to shut our church plant down. Very disappointing news and I am still confused, saddened, and learning from the failure.

I hesitated to even write about it, but in the end I am about honesty, and helping planters grow. Therefore, we need to share the wins and the losses.

News & Views

Brian Zahnd offers a poem on his blog titled simply, “War Is”:

War is hate.
War is haste.
War is rape.
War is waste…
Of precious life.

War is murder.
War is money.
War is pride.
War is profit…
Woe the profiteers!

Benjamin L. Corey writes on the damaging possibilities of a pro-Israel theology that becomes anti-Christian:

Dispensational theology that leads to the errant and blindly pro-Israel position (here’s why that’s unbiblical) has sadly led most of Evangelicalism to become so pro-Israel that it has become anti-Christian. While today they celebrate the re-election of a war hawk who has no interest in peace, justice, or law, today we grieve what undoubtedly means that the ongoing persecution of Christians at the hands of Israeli apartheid will now continue indefinitely.

The Gospel Coalition reviews J. Todd Billings’ book Rejoicing in Lament:

If you’ve ever heard the harrowing words, “You have cancer,” you will quickly realize that Billings has “street cred.” He isn’t writing from a position of dispassionate analysis but rather from the cauldron, speaking openly and honestly of his experience of being diagnosed at age 39 with Myeloma, a rare and incurable cancer. Throughout Rejoicing in Lament he references his CarePages, an online journal for sharing with others the progression in his own thinking as he moves from the immediate upheaval surrounding the initial diagnosis to dealing with the “new normal.”

Scot McKnight shares a Pew Forum infographic on where major religions stand on same-sex marriage.

Favorite Podcasts

Bishop Graham Cray on the Fresh Expressions podcast.

Pete Enns on the Newsworthy With Norsworthy podcast.

Erin Lane on the Seminary Dropout podcast.

Partners & Resources

Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bones, and Words Can Destroy Your Soul, by Geoff Holsclaw at Northern Seminary.

Bring Back Childhood Chores: How Hard Work Cultivates Character, by Joseph Sunde at the Acton Institute.

Kingdom and Lipscomb University, by Scot McKnight.

On The Missio Blog

On the blog this week, we continued our ongoing series on the topic of #TrulyHuman:

DOING #TrulyHuman – And Becoming More Wise, by Seth Richardson.

The Wonder Of Being #TrulyHuman, by Mark Moore.

Is The Cross Enough To Make Us #TrulyHuman?, by J.R. Rozko.

Christian Formation As #TrulyHuman Discipleship, by Derek Vreeland.