If I could capture the time I have spent driving to appointments and occupying medical offices, it would amaze me how much it adds up.
Columns
Read our regular columns on Faith Matters, Big Questions, Christian apologetics, Shiao Chong's monthly Editorial, the Discover page (especially for kids), the Vantage Point, the Other Six, and letters from Christian Reformed Church members and our readers. Our online-only columns are As I Was Saying and Behind the Banner.
In my 95 years of attending Christian Reformed churches, I have almost never heard a CRC pastor include an invitation to commit to Jesus or offer any follow-up for those who might be seeking. Why?
So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Being welcoming means regularly asking the question: If I’m speaking to someone who has never read the Bible or been to church, would they understand what I’m saying?
I looked at it as an opportunity to assess what needs were being met and to ask, were we providing an important experience for our congregation and neighborhood?
See how readers responded to recent Banner issues, articles, and columns.
Now the pandemic has eased. It seems timely to reflect on the proper place of online worship in the life of the church. How should God’s people employ this technology?
I have been to places (concerts, fireworks, city streets) where a person is yelling out the gospel to the sinners walking by.
Examples abound of good folks getting mired in heartache while people with questionable character rack up wins.
Pagans understand there is a spiritual world.
I am curious as to why Jesus, in this instance, chose to emphasize love, rather than faith or belief, as the key to salvation.
Relationships can withstand tremendous amounts of hard truths, but they collapse quickly under the weight of deception.
Why do some Christians who are generally opposed to abortion allow for abortion in the case of pregnancy due to rape? Isn’t that a double standard?
Some have called this tournament the greatest week in baseball.
Bees create some of the most incredible homes on the planet.
She offered the sparkling gold ring one last time before getting into the car.
To read the Hebrew prophets is to recognize that to be chosen is a fearful responsibility.
Certainly there were enjoyable moments reminiscent of synods past, but this was the most brutal of the four synods I have yet attended.
Now, 1,283 miles away and three years into college, when my alarm sounds on Sunday mornings, enthusiasm deflates into dread.
May this 2002 synodical report guide us in leading with compassion and help bridge the divisions among us.
I wish the Parable of the Prodigal Son went just a little longer.
I’m not sure when it dawned on me that I had embraced pretty deep racist attitudes expressed unconsciously in regular behavior.
One of the ways I’ve identified with my Nêhiyaw culture is to come to appreciate burning sweetgrass and sage.
The ground glimmered with the soft light of disturbed glowworms, which are actually firefly larvae.