October 2022

The Spirit Calls, Gathers, Enlightens and Sanctifies God’s People Organizing a Fellowship of Christ Martin Luther gave us a wonderful description of the four-fold functions of the Holy Spirit.  This Third Person of the Trinity calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies God’s people.  The previous five essays reflected on how the Spirit calls people into a relationship …

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The Spirit Calls, Gathers, Enlightens and Sanctifies God’s People Some Basics of Church Growth Ultimately it is the Holy Spirit who calls people to faith and gathers them together as a church.   But he works through people and relationships. How do we do our part? Let’s get practical. Church Growth studies can provide a framework for such …

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The Spirit Calls, Gathers, Enlightens and Sanctifies God’s People Fields Ripe for Harvest In Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World (2020), Tara Isabella Burton offers a dizzying description of movements that are changing the religious landscape. She posits a fundamental distinction between religion in general and institutional churches that come in many brands. While it is apparent a whole …

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The Spirit Calls, Gathers, Enlightens and Sanctifies God’s People Head-First, Heart-First and the Bell-Shaped Curve Much of what has happened to Protestant churches in America can be illustrated by the well-known bell-shaped normal distribution curve. The top of the curve represents the mid-point in the distribution of certain characteristics over a large population. People who have …

Approaching Life Head-First or Heart-First Read More »