Apologies for the slowdown in delivery of posts from this blog in 2022. The authorship has experienced many distractions, much of which have been personal family circumstances. These have been overcome enough by now to resume blogging. A faultline that has emerged this year in the US over evangelical engagement with political culture in the… Continue reading Political Faultlines Continue To Divide US Churches
Category: International
US Theocracy Movement Gets A Boost [3]
As outlined previously, the shift towards Dominionism / theocracy gained considerable momentum during the term of the Trump presidency and the lingering effects continue to the present day, not least because Trump is likely to seek a second term of office and has never ceased campaigning. Previous Republican presidents, however, saw the potential for the… Continue reading US Theocracy Movement Gets A Boost [3]
Against Gun Idolatry – David French
David French has written another informed commentary about the gun violence situation in the US, and here we see again the contrast between New Zealand and the American nation, and our different heritages. French sees the key problem as it happens in America today as being one of gun idolatry, and perhaps that is a… Continue reading Against Gun Idolatry – David French
America Stumbles Towards Theocracy
The big news in the USA in the last few weeks has been the possibility of the conservative-dominated Supreme Court repealing current federal abortion law (Roe v Wade). This is far from an open-and-shut case for theologians, despite the widespread support for this direction from conservative evangelicals in the US and worldwide. That’s because the… Continue reading America Stumbles Towards Theocracy
Recap: Governance and Accountability [3]
So if we take a closer look at megachurch theology it turns out there is, indeed, a specific branch of it as such. That is, there are theologies that are specifically related to megachurches. Much of this comes from a recently deceased gentleman by the name of C Peter Wagner, who was resident for a… Continue reading Recap: Governance and Accountability [3]
Recap: Governance and Accountability [2]
Just a short update on this, the issues of church governance and accountability are super relevant at present in the wake of current scandals involving a prominent South Pacific megachurch. Most churches of this type have relatively limited accountability because of their leadership structures, which often place one person at the top as an apostolic… Continue reading Recap: Governance and Accountability [2]
Recap: Governance and Accountability [1]
So in the last month there has been a lot of debate in the church worldwide about governance and accountability. This is an ongoing issue that has never not been controversial because these issues really cut to the heart of how churches are run and who they are run for. Jesus spoke very strongly about… Continue reading Recap: Governance and Accountability [1]
Theological Controversies Influencing US and NZ Churches [2]
An article in “The Atlantic” in October 2021 highlights huge division in US evangelical churches, which is a high price to pay for years of craven obeisance to conservative politics. The author lays the blame squarely at the feet of Donald Trump in the present term whilst also acknowledging that the issue has been steadily… Continue reading Theological Controversies Influencing US and NZ Churches [2]
Ecclesiastical Polity: Diversity In Structure & Governance [1] – Intro
Today we want to write the introduction to a new series about church governance and structure. This is a controversial area of discussion within the wider Church as it essentially governs the relationships between leadership and laity, which has important parallels in wider society in what is generally known as the political realm. Church governance… Continue reading Ecclesiastical Polity: Diversity In Structure & Governance [1] – Intro
Conservativism vs Humanitarianism In Church Theology [3] : Compromise vs Courage
Between 2016 and 2020, the US presidency of Donald Trump divided the Church like no president ever before. Trump proved to be more willing to step over an unconscionable line than any of his wiser Republican predecessors, all of whom (as well as all Democrats) professed at least a nominal level of adherence to the… Continue reading Conservativism vs Humanitarianism In Church Theology [3] : Compromise vs Courage