The 9Marks blog aims to stimulate a helpful conversation among pastors, church leaders, and Christians about life together in the local church.
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Authors
- Paul Alexander
- Thabiti Anyabwile
- Mark Dever
- Mike Gilbart-Smith
- Greg Gilbert
- Andy Johnson
- Michael Lawrence
- Jonathan Leeman
- Michael McKinley
- Aaron Menikoff
- Deepak Reju
- Matt Schmucker
- Ryan Townsend
- Brad Wheeler
Recent Posts
- A Brief Argument for Church Membership
- Possible Outlines
- What do the statistics about the number of "Christians" mean?
- Depressed by all the Encouragment
- On Moving Towards Elders
- In the Eyes of a Ranger, the Unsuspecting Stranger
- Found: a church history book written 100 years from now!
- Loving Proverbs!
- When to Make Changes
- Confessions of a Recovering Proverbs-phobe
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Wow. This picture is worth many words. Thank you for the timely reminder. I was just beginning to parochially think that church planting was the way for the church to grow and move forward in penetrating the U. S. with the gospel of Christ. God used this post for me (among others). Thank you.
Posted by: PJ Tibayan | Jun 28, 2007 5:47:13 PM
WOW...I live about 45 min from this "church" I must say, seeing this picture really has stirred me up. It has also increased my passion for the local church and my desire to work towards reform.
Posted by: Mike Parks | Jun 28, 2007 6:42:57 PM
This picture breaks my heart. However, were it not for God's grace, all of our churches would be like this. Let us lean hard on Christ and trust in His word. Our churches MUST come back to the Bible!
Posted by: Randy | Jun 28, 2007 9:46:21 PM
These pics portray a shocking transformation, both culturally and ecclesiastically, to be sure. But then again, too many "congregations" (at least, it seems, in the West) - having lost, forgotten or abandoned their theological moorings - are finding themselves reduced to the skeleton crew, mere custodians of brick and mortar, wood and glass. These pictures are a pungent reminder that "bricks a church does not make." It might take a few more empty buildings to reform our understanding of the old truth that Yahweh does not dwell in temples made by man. It's an exceedingly difficult truth to keep in focus for some of us.
Still...ya hate to see it occupied by a group so inimical to it's former inhabitants. Man O man....!
Posted by: Timotheos | Jun 28, 2007 10:17:44 PM
With so many demoninations saying "250 church plants by 2005 and 237 more by 2010 while "established" churches wither and die is there any doubt we are in an age in great need of church and denominational reform.
Posted by: keith crosby | Jun 29, 2007 11:15:19 AM
I was intrigued by the idea of church reform when I heard Mark mention it at the Shepherd's conference.
How do you go about doing it? Do you have an article that explains? It seems like this kind of thing could slip into poor ethics if not done right, which I assume you do. I would appreciate any insight you might give!
Posted by: Scott Aniol | Jun 30, 2007 5:27:20 PM
This is real jihad, and they are winning! To speak out on this will get you labled racist or worse.
Speak out in favor of Christianity and you will face the force of sectarian government.
Posted by: Kim Torp-Pedersen | Jul 2, 2007 11:01:38 AM
This is real jihad, and they are winning! To speak out on this will get you labled racist or worse.
Speak out in favor of Christianity and you will face the force of sectarian government.
Posted by: Kim Torp-Pedersen | Jul 2, 2007 11:01:40 AM