The Great Passion by James Runcie is a novel about the family and work of J.S. Bach set in the 1730s. He was the hard-working organist and music director at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, and is now recognized as one of the greatest composers of all time. Striking in the novel was his …
Growing in the Benefits the Holy Spirit Offers Us Read More »
James Loder had a transforming moment early in his career as a professor at Princeton Seminary. He spent the rest of his academic career explaining it in biblical and psychological terms. His moment came on September 2, 1970, while traveling to Canada for a family vacation. He saw a woman standing on the roadside near …
The answer to what is a “fellowship of the Spirit” was easy in Paul’s times. Believers met together weekly in house churches, which could accommodate perhaps about thirty or forty people. The number was small enough that everyone could know each other, their background stories, their struggles and their hopes. Fellowship, or koinonia in the …
Newer Approaches to Building Up Fellowships of the Holy Spirit Read More »
Almost all (85%) Christians talk to God in their own words. This finding is from a major research project I did years ago on the prayer practices of ordinary Christians. What they do can be called conversational prayer. One respondent explained that while he does have time set aside for prayer, he enjoys spontaneity. “I try to talk …
The poet T. S. Eliot famously observed, “We had the experience but missed the meaning.” All practicing Christians have had experiences of the Spirit. Most Christians in traditional churches weren’t taught the meaning. That’s because we were taught to look for statements or propositions of truth in doctrinal languages, like “God is love.” Yes, but …
Developing a Church Culture that Affirms the Holy Spirit Read More »