Barnabas File

“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”--2 Kings 17:15b, NIV                                                                                                                 Following the death of King Solomon, Israel split into two kingdoms and both began a downward spiral into idolatry, rejecting the worship of Yahweh for the fertility gods native to Canaan.  They turned their devotion from God...

Religion is not popular in the media.  Perhaps I should modify that to say “organized” religion is not popular in the media.  I am referring primarily to television (in all its platforms), movies, and much of literature.  Religious people are often represented as hypocritical, bigoted, and malicious. On one television program that my wife and I watch regularly, I know that when someone is identified as a person of faith, they will turn out to be hiding some secret sin or be identified as the murderer! I understand that many people have become cynical because of those who call themselves religious but eventually are revealed as embezzlers, adulterers, and megalomaniacs.  Sin exists and continues to manifest itself among even those who call themselves believers.  I can’t argue with the truth.  But there are any numbers of the faithful who are making a positive difference in their communities and are an influence for good because of their fait...

In his classic work, Transforming Mission:   Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, David Bosch writes: “The Christian faith is intrinsically incarnational; therefore, unless the church chooses to remain a foreign entity, it will always enter into the context in which it happens to find itself.” What is culture?  Culture is the way of life for an entire society. As such, it includes "codes of manners , dress , language , religion , rituals , norms of behavior such as law and morality , and systems of belief." Usually when “culture” is discussed in religious literature, it is considered as an opponent to be overcome.  Culture often carries a negative connotation.  Reggie McNeal in A Work of the Heart points out that culture also serves God’s purposes.  We are not born into a vacuum; we depend on culture to give us a beginning point in understanding ourselves. As a result, we are both products of culture and interpreters of culture....

The man who came to my office was a retired moderate Baptist pastor who had moved to Tennessee recently.  He came to talk to me about ministry opportunities in the immediate area.  I expressed appreciation for his interest, asked him some questions about himself, told him a little bit about the nature of progressive Baptist life, promised to share his resume as opportunity presented itself, and suggested that he might want to expand his search to some other denominations in middle Tennessee.  He finally said to me, “I come in here asking for your help and all you can tell me is that I might have to seek a place in another denomination?  That’s not very helpful!” Helpful or not, I had defined reality from my experience.  He had the choice to accept it or not. In this case, he did not.  The late Max DePree wrote, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.  The last is to say thank you.” When we go to someone asking for insig...

An interesting thing strikes me about the early church. Much of what they did was in very public places such as the city square, the marketplace, and the Temple. Early Christians did not have buildings, so they were out among the people, interacting in the everyday flow of life. Those of us who are believers today need this same type of involvement. If we hope for our churches to become more missional, we need to get outside the walls and get to know our communities. I had lunch with some friends in another city recently, and they decided to take me to (what we call in middle Tennessee) a “meat and three” restaurant. The place was not fancy, the food was good, and the people were friendly. While we were eating, one of my friends commented, “These folks are very different from those who come to our church on any given Sunday.” This was very perceptive. He noted that most of the people who attended their church were of a particular social and economic class; t...