Toward the end of the eighteenth century, English Baptists experienced a dramatic and much-needed revival that resulted in the birth of the modern missions movement. What fueled this? One important factor was a handful of pastors’ regular practice of meeting together to read, talk, and pray.

This article tells the story of how the Northamptonshire Association’s meetings promoted truth-fueled revival in the hope that pastors today would walk in these brothers’ footsteps.

HOW ANDREW FULLER PROMOTED BIBLICAL TRUTH

One of the great insights of the modern world is that John Donne was right and Simon Garfunkel was wrong: I am not a rock; I am not an island.

From who I think I am to what I believe about life and the universe, my beliefs are socially constructed. That doesn’t mean I don’t make independent decisions. It simply means that the social context in which I live largely determines the range of options I can choose from.

It’s probably not a secret that Sunday school is no longer the en vogue program of the local church. Its reputation has, well, suffered over the years. My focus here is not to give answers or prescriptions, but to help us consider how it lost its reputation—its edge—and how a once thriving program is now often seen as a relic of the past.

Parachurch ministries are everywhere.

From Joel Osteen to John Piper, from Creflo Dollar to Tim Keller, from Joyce Meyer to John MacArthur, it’s difficult to find Christian leaders who don’t lead a parachurch ministry.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, goes the old saying. And, in the evangelical world, one might add that it’s paved with parachurch organizations which started well and then, at some point, went disastrously off the rails. Why is this the case?  

WHY DO PARACHURCH MINISTRIES GO OFF THE RAILS?

The local church and the parachurch seem to be in constant conflict.

Five years ago my family moved to Pennsylvania and began looking for a new church. At the first church we attended, a number of friendly people greeted our family after the service. But interestingly, the conversations kept going in the same direction as soon as they discovered who my employer was—Campus Crusade for Christ. Like clockwork, every single person asked me, “What do you think of the local church?”

Just about every week, I get a call or email from the representative of a Christian organization. They want to meet with me to tell me how they can help the members of my church do missions, or evangelize students, or understand postmodernism, or disciple children, or (most recently) use instant messaging to do evangelism. This kaleidoscope of Christian groups which are not churches, but which want to help fulfill the duties of a church, is enough to make a pastor’s head spin.