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

Scot McKnight recaps his talk on Kingdom Conspiracy at Lipscomb University this week:

To be sure, not all are on board with my the “same but not identical” approach to kingdom and church, but I found at Lipscomb, as I always have, a willingness to listen to anything argued from the Bible. Many agree that we have let “kingdom” wander into the public sector while keeping church at home, and many agree that far too many are using kingdom vision against church vision.

Ben Sternke writes on evangelism and the importance of listening:

Here’s the secret: it’s actually WAY easier than memorizing a perfect gospel presentations.

Here’s the first step: listen to people and be curious about them.

Don’t try to force-feed a pre-packaged “gospel presentation” to someone who isn’t really interested in the “answers” it provides.

Tyler Edwards writes at Relevant about the worship wars and how they hurt the church:

The first thing we should consider is that a large portion of this conflict is based on our personal preferences. When you walk away thinking: “man that worship was great,” or “that was terrible,” take a moment to ask yourself why.

What qualifications or standards are you using to measure the quality of worship? Typically the answer will be how we felt about it.

 

News & Views

Jonathan Merritt writes at Religion News Service about last week's Q Ideas conference in Boston:

Tension rose during two discussions moderated by Lyons that pitted one side against the other. One explored whether the church’s historical teaching on sexuality was reliable. For this, California pastor Dan Kimball argued that pro-gay Christians were elevating their personal experiences with LGBT friends and family over the clear teaching of Scripture.

On the other side, David Gushee, a prominent evangelical ethicist who recently announced he had changed his mind to become LGBT-affirming, countered that traditional interpretations of relevant passages of Scripture were flawed and amounted to a “toxic body of tradition that bears bad fruit.”

Christianity Today reports on modern day Monument's Men trying to save Christian monuments in Syria:

The group often destroys statues and other objects it deems idolatrous. Last month, ISIS bulldozed the ancient city of Nimrod, prompting the senior editor of the New York Review of Books to call for military protection of archeological sites. Italy's culture minister and Iraq's tourism and antiquities minister have advanced similar proposals.

The Christian Post reports on pastor and author Andy Stanley's statement about the church and gay young people:

Pastor Andy Stanley has declared that local congregations should be the "safest place on the planet for students to talk about anything, including same-sex attraction."

 

Partners & Resources

Five Videos to Introduce Jon Tyson, by V3 Movement.

How Did They Start Churches in the Bible, by Fresh Expressions US.

On The Missio Blog

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

The Totalism Of Empire And The Hope Of #TrulyHuman Life, by Derek Vreeland.

Becoming #TrulyHuman In The Book Of 1 Peter, by Tara Beth Leach.

The Social Reality Of Homelessness And Our #TrulyHuman Identity, by Fred Liggin.