Christward Collective

Have you ever gone through some sort of identity crisis? You know, the kind where you wonder who you are and what you are supposed to do? After living in the same town for nearly twenty years, I moved to another state. Since then, I’ve gone through an identity crisis of sorts. Where I used to...

Too often, ministers foolishly embrace the ecclesiastical advice of those who know absolutely nothing about the specific arrangement of the local church they pastor. A pastor is animated by an article in which today's latest "church expert" insists that he or she has the corner on...

The reformation anniversary confetti has all been swept up. Some of us have heard a lot lately about the reformers and how God used them to help move the church toward greater faithfulness in their day. But what will it look like to be a reformer today? Perhaps we can learn from Swiss reformer...

On December 7, 374, Ambrose became bishop of Milan and thereby became a staunch defender of the Faith against the Arians. Ambrose was born into a prominent Christian Roman family around 340 in Trier (which is in modern Germany). His father was the prefect of the region, but when he died about 14...

Rightly administering the Lord's Supper is one of the marks of a true church. It occupies a critically important place in the life of God's people as a memorial of Christ, a preaching of the gospel, and a means of his grace. Yet, even among those who share this perspective there remain...

A number of years ago, I concluded that it is officially an American tradition to have stressful interactions with parents, in-laws, grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins on Thanksgiving Day. I have experienced some extremely relationally tense times with family members on Thanksgiving...

“Sundays are hard for babies,” a church member said sympathetically as she handed back my crying daughter. It’s a truth universally acknowledged. On Sundays, the carefully orchestrated nap schedule of the other six days bends and then snaps under the constraints of morning and...

Sitting down to read the Bible isn’t enough. We need to learn how to read it well; and, reading it well is actually more difficult than one might think. Many of us want to grow in our relationship with God, in our knowledge of what he has taught, and in our spiritual lives, and we know that...

Last spring, I was asked to speak at a local Christian high school’s graduation ceremony. I felt sorry for the graduating class because a rival high school in the area had invited US Sen. Ben Sasse to be their graduation speaker. These poor kids got stuck with me. But it seemed to fit...

Do you have any words you outlaw in your home? Perhaps you forbid words such as “shut up” or “stupid.” One of the words I limit in our house is the word “hate.” I can’t say that I hate the word, because I think it's a powerful word that should be used...