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As I continued our series "Ephesians: A Crash Course in Basic Christianity," last weekend we turned to Ephesians 4:17-5:20 for the following message: "A Crash Course in Christlike Living." I structured the message around four comparisons that Paul brings to the Ephesians believers around: living holy, living love, living light, and living wisely. Underlying it …
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Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3) If, as Paul writes in Ephesians 2, Christ is our peace, who has reconciled us to the Father, then the calling upon us as God's people is to …
Continue reading "Facing Failings in the Character of the Church"
In my sermon this past weekend, "A Crash Course in Church Growth," I paraphrased some thoughts from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together about how disillusionment in the church is a gift from God. I mentioned the need to give thanks for the gift of disillusionment with the church that God gives to us. Here are …
This past weekend at Eastbrook Church, I continued our series "Ephesians: A Crash Course in Basic Christianity," by looking at Ephesians 4:1-16 with the message: "A Crash Course in Church Growth." The message aims to recalibrate our understanding of what church growth is all about by focusing on the direction of growth outlined by the …
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I have been a Senior Pastor of a large, non-denominational, evangelical church for the past ten years, and been in pastoral ministry for nearly twenty years now. Maybe, like me, you realize there is something happening in the life of the North American Church that could best be described as a crisis of pastoral leadership. …
Continue reading "Notes on the Crisis of Pastoral Leadership in the North American Church"
Matthew Erickson 