Despite the low number of members, our neighboring church in Surrey decided not to close its doors earlier this summer. When things don’t look good church-wise, we tend to take our logical conclusion, perhaps cutting our losses. However, our logic is not God’s logic, as our thoughts are not God’s …
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The Israelites sang Psalms. For example, when going up to Jerusalem, they sang the Psalms of Ascent (120-134). And Jesus and his disciples sang “a hymn” at their last Passover celebration: Psalm 118. The early church continued singing of the Psalms. And then the Reformation restores Psalm singing by the …
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What is the difference between a School of Business and a School of Divinity? These are completely different studies – but what about a course with the same title, like “Leadership”? How is leadership in a church different than in a non-religious organization? Organizational strategy and vision are a good …
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Last night, I submitted a paper titled: “HOW DO THE PSALMS PROVIDE LIFE-LONG SPIRITUAL FORMATION AND GROWTH?” Some brief thought below. Dallas Willard describes spiritual formation as follows: …the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such as way that it becomes like the inner …
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“Worship is like no place else in this world. But there is one place that it does resemble, and that is heaven” Just before AD 1000, Grand Duke Vladimir of Kiev was interested in selecting an appropriate religion for his new nation. His emissaries investigated the main religions of the …
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Culture is part of creation and is beautiful and fascinating at the same time. Although culture should not become the guideline or regulatory principle, people are joining the culture when joining a church (as with any organization). Have we identified what our church culture is, and do we identify with …
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I had a discussion with some church members about singing. Their point was that the songs in the church should, in principle, be praise songs and that we should be joyful when singing. My argument was that the church’s circumstances in this world might justify a lament, even as the …
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In the last few years, there is much talk about singing Psalms: rediscover and reintroduce Psalm singing. For example, in 2018, the Getty conference was dedicated to singing Psalms. Some churches always include the Psalms in their liturgy, others have sung the Psalms in the past, and some churches have …
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SINGING REVOLUTION Estonia became independent from the USSR through a Singing Revolution. Four years of people singing, united, standing ground against the Soviet tanks, and: they succeeded. In 1991 they became independent because of their singing. The Estonians finally reached freedom. (The documentary film “The Singing Revolution” was released in …
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