Vatican Replaces Puerto Rico Bishop Who Alleges Persecution

March 10, 2022

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The bishop of the Arecibo diocese in Puerto Rico said Wednesday that the Vatican dismissed him against his wishes, a rare move for the Holy See.

The announcement comes nearly a year after Monsignor Daniel Fernández declined to sign a decree issued by the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference declaring that unvaccinated parishioners would be separated from vaccinated ones during activities including the presentation of bread and wine at the altar.

The Episcopal Conference also suggested that unvaccinated parishioners avoid other in-person church activities until further notice.

“We’re taking this measure for your own safety, and for that of priests, religious people and also relatives and parishioners,” the Aug. 24, 2021, decree stated.

Days before the decree was signed, Fernández issued a statement noting, among other things, that “it is legitimate for a faithful Catholic to have doubts about the safety and efficacy of a vaccine.”

Pope Francis has been a vigorous champion of vaccines, describing them as a way to protect others as well as oneself against COVID-19.

Fernández did not specify the reason for his substitution in a lengthy statement but said that he felt “blessed to suffer persecution and slander,” adding that “God is my judge.”

He said he was never formally accused of anything nor faced any kind of process.

Fernández added that he was informed that he had not committed any crime but that he allegedly “had not been obedient to the Pope nor had he had sufficient communion with my brother bishops of Puerto Rico.”

A spokesman for the Vatican did not respond to a request for comment, while a spokeswoman for the Arecibo Diocese declined comment. The office of Puerto Rico’s archbishop issued a statement calling the dismissal “painful news” and urged people to pray, while the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference said in a statement that it was “such a painful moment” for the Arecibo diocese.

“Out of deference and respect for the internal canonical processes of the Church, these will be the only official expressions that will be made,” it said.

Bruxy Cavey’s Former Megachurch Debates Allegations: Sex Abuse or an Affair?

Yonat Shimron

March 10, 2022

Bruxy Cavey in a 2021 video. Video screen grab

(RNS) — Days after the pastor of one of Canada’s largest churches resigned after being accused of sexual misconduct, the church held a special online meeting Tuesday (March 8) to announce that an independent, third-party investigation found that Bruxy Cavey, the folksy, long-haired leader of The Meeting House in Toronto, had a yearslong sexual relationship with a member of his church who sought counseling.

But the fallout from the investigation also led to a debate at the church over the nature of the relationship, and on Wednesday Danielle Strickland, a former part-time pastor at the church, went on Instagram to explain in an hourlong video that she did not feel that the church adequately advocated for the victim, who called the relationship “clergy sex abuse.”

Cavey also went on social media on Wednesday, confessing in a blog post, “Some years ago, I had an extramarital affair.”

He continued, “This adulterous relationship is my greatest failure, my darkest sin, and I take full responsibility for my actions.”

Danielle Strickland speaks during an Instagram Live session, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Video screen grab

But Strickland, who took the victim’s story to the church’s board after the victim came to Strickland with her story last year, said that calling the relationship an affair, or even sexual harassment, as the church has done, is not accurate.

“The whole truth needs to be told,” Strickland said. “To not name what it is is not to care for and help the victim. It is to re-victimize people because you refuse to name it.”

Strickland said the victim, who was half Cavey’s age (she was 23 and he was 46) when the sexual relationship allegedly began, asked the board to define what happened as “clergy sexual abuse.” The victim wrote a statement to that effect, which she asked the board chair to read aloud. The board declined to do so.

Maggie John, who chairs the Meeting House board, said at Tuesday night’s meeting that Cavey’s actions were not an affair, since they took place in the context of clergy counseling.

But she said the board wanted to stick to the language used by the investigator who found that Cavey had committed “sexual harassment” and “abuse of power.”

“It was important for us to maintain the integrity of the independent third-party nature of the investigation by sticking with the findings of the investigator,” John told the church during Tuesday’s meeting, which was broadcast on YouTube.

She also said that Be In Christ, an Anabaptist denomination to which the church belongs, has stripped Cavey of his ministerial credentials. Charles Mashinter, executive director of the denomination, confirmed that Cavey’s pastoral credentials were removed, which means he cannot serve another Be In Christ church.

New York Governor, Clergy and Ambassadors Join Orthodox Leaders to Pray for Ukraine

Jack Jenkins

March 10, 2022

Orthodox leaders — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, bottom right, speaks during the “Intercessory Prayer Service for Ukraine" at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, March 9, 2022. Video screen grab

(RNS) — Ambassadors, elected officials and a group of interfaith clergy joined with Orthodox Christian leaders in New York on Wednesday (March 9) to express solidarity with Ukrainians as they resist the ongoing invasion of their country — and to decry the Russian leaders at the helm of the conflict.

The slate of dignitaries gathered at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr in Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood for what was described as an “Intercessory Prayer Service for Ukraine.” Attendees and speakers represented an array of faiths, ranging from Ukrainian and Greek Orthodox prelates to Catholic cardinals to Jewish rabbis.

Metropolitan Antony of Hierapolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA opened up the speaking section of the service by outlining a history of what he said were wrongs inflicted on the Ukrainian people by Russia.

“After 30 years of independence, recognized by the world over — did we ever think that we would be going back to this that we see today?” he said.

He celebrated the outpouring of international support for Ukraine during the invasion, and thanked all of those who have done more than simply say “You’re in our thoughts and prayers.”

“This has been a movement that has swollen beyond all imagination in terms of the the desire for people to help, to do something and to fall on their knees and pray,” he said. “I can tell you the people of Ukraine tell us that they feel the power of those prayers.”

Metropolitan Antony of Hierapolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA addresses the “Intercessory Prayer Service for Ukraine" at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr in Manhattan, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Video screen grab

Metropolitan Antony of Hierapolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA addresses the “Intercessory Prayer Service for Ukraine” at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr in Manhattan, March 9, 2022. Video screen grab

He was followed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who noted that the cathedral, just a few blocks west of Central Park, was once a synagogue.

“When I look out of this room, yes, I hear the words of prayer on your lips — and those are powerful words, heartfelt words — and I see tremendous pain in your eyes,” she said.

“But as I hear the prayers and I see the pain and sense the weeping in your hearts for the people left behind, I also sense defiance in your souls.”

Hochul said the state of New York will reject business “with Russian interests or the Russian state” as part of “a global effort to bring that nation to its knees and regret the day they ever attempted to subjugate the great country of Ukraine.”

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, recalled the horrors of the Holocaust during World War II. He noted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish, lost family during the Holocaust and had a grandfather who fought the Nazis with the Soviet Union’s Red Army. Between 1.2 million and 1.6 million Jews were killed in Ukraine during the Holocaust.

“When we said never again after the war, we didn’t put a question mark after it — we put an exclamation mark,” Potasnik said.

“We can discuss and debate a no fly zone, but there is one thing we can’t debate, and that is this should be a no-cry zone. … We should never, ever see innocent people mercilessly murdered.”

Potasnik referenced the approaching Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the triumph of the Jewish people over Haman.

“Haman wanted the Jewish people to submit to his rule, and they did something he didn’t expect: They fought back,” Potasnik said. “Ultimately, Haman was relegated to the dustbin of history, and the people were victorious. I hope the president of Russia reads the story, that maybe this year will be called ‘Putin’s Purim’ because we have learned that history often repeats itself.”

The rabbi rejected Putin’s attempts to justify the invasion as an effort to “denazify” Ukraine, saying, “On the contrary, what you are doing in assaulting Ukraine is Nazification.”

Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who oversees the Archdiocese of New York, called the invasion “raw evil” and “irrational” in his remarks. He recounted a recent conversation with a journalist who worked in the country who described faith as uniting the Ukrainian people.

“God save Ukraine,” Dolan said.

Communicating With Confidence When People Distrust Pastors

Ed Stetzer

March 10, 2022

This article is the fifth of six in a series on preaching in light of cultural shifts and biblical illiteracy. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 here.

Jared Wilson of Midwestern Seminary tweeted about the common perception of pastors in America. It says,

“You’re the preacher?”

“Yes.”

“So, you’re the guy with all the answers?”

“No, I’m the guy who points to that guy.”

A Decline in View Toward Pastors

Unfortunately, perceptions about pastors are not always good. According to a Gallup Poll, only 37% of adults consider “the honest and ethical standards” of clergy as “very high.” In contrast, nurses rate much higher at 84%. When we consider what people usually hear about pastors in the news, their distrust makes a little bit more sense.

We frequently hear stories of pastors who are removed because of financial issues, sexual immorality, or abusive leadership styles. The Catholic church has a sexual abuse scandal. The Houston Chronicle had a series on Southern Baptists, as did Fort Worth Star-Telegram, on scandals among the Independent Baptist churches. In Chicagoland where I live, the pastors of the two largest churches were fired or resigned in recent years. Others leave on their own, though some of the stats are exaggerated. Pastors are not leaving in droves, but they certainly are leaving. From the outside, this does not look good. It’s easy to see why people may be suspicious of pastors if these are the stories they hear: scandal, abuse, burnout.

How do we overcome that reputation? Part of the problem is that most of us probably aren’t speaking too much of Jesus. Remember, he is the point of the message and the hero of the story—we are not. We don’t hear many pastors mention the time that they spent away in prayer, or in Sabbath and resting, but they might talk about their latest book, or their sermon, or the size of their church. This lends to the distrust, especially when paired with the scandals in the news. We need to preach Christ crucified, not our greatest accomplishments.

Building Trust

So, how do we preach to an audience whose default is not to trust us? First, realize that our position no longer carries the respect it once did. When a nurse walks into the room, there’s an automatic trust, but not so much for pastors. People will not automatically believe anything we tell them about the Bible, gospel, or reality. Proclaiming the Word itself does not guarantee listeners can or should trust the messenger. One thing we can do is add Scriptural, statistical, or scientific support to the assertions or arguments we make in our sermons. Someone may not automatically trust us, but they may be more accepting of a well-supported and logical statement.

Second, analyze how we as preachers build trust, not just inside our sermons, but also outside our sermons. Do we give people who are listening permission to wrestle through the message or ask questions themselves? Do we find ways to build a rapport inside and outside of the sermon? Our integrity outside of the church building matters just as much as our integrity inside it. Our congregation may not remember all of our sermon but they will remember how we treat the people around us.

Third, preach to ourselves first. Remember that we are sharing the transformational gospel, not reading from a phone book. We want our congregations to know that the text we preach has pierced our soul. Sometimes it may be hard to demonstrate this in a sermon, so Craig Groeschel offers a series of questions to ask ourselves as we prepare:

How has the text affected you?
How have you failed in the area the Scripture addresses?
What about the text makes you uncomfortable?
What do you feel about what Scripture is saying?
How are you becoming different because of your study of God’s Word?

How We Lost the Conversation on Human Sexuality

Mike Leake

March 10, 2022

“Father, why’d you get so upset at that man who helped the lady?”

Everyone else seemed to be celebrating at synagogue when the visiting teacher had helped Miss Ruth. But not his dad. His father, a religious leader, was indignant at the traveling teacher. Rather than celebrating he rebuked the congregation, and not so subtly the teacher. It sure put a damper on Miss Ruth’s great day.

It wouldn’t have added to the conversation to admit that he’d also been part of the group who had been teasing the strange lady who seemed to always be staring at the floor. Joshua remained silent on this point, but he was abundantly curious about his father’s rebuke of what seemed like a work of God.

“I was upset, Joshua, because the Law matters, the temple matters and holiness matters. It is very clear in our Law that we are not supposed to do work on Sabbath. This woman had been disabled for 18 years. If this teacher was authentic he would have waited until sundown to do his healing. It could have waited.”

This answer didn’t make much sense to Joshua. Had he been a little younger his father would have been dealt a barrage of ad infinitum “why” questions. But he was older and had to be more cautious in his approach.

“Why is it okay to help somebody on one day but not another?”

Joshua’s father tried to explain.

“You see, Joshua, there was a time when our temple was destroyed, our homeland was razed, and we were carried off into a foreign land. All of this was because HaShem (the Name) was displeased because we did not honor him. We were guilty of things like profaning the Sabbath. When we returned to the land our fathers wanted to make certain we did not break the Law anymore.”

“You mean like making sure people didn’t get healed on the wrong day,” Joshua interjected perhaps a bit too forcibly.

“No! We do this because we want to honor the Sabbath.”

Josh interjects a bit more forcefully this time, “But how does that honor the Sabbath!”

Josh is beginning to get a bit more heated as the cognitive dissonance ratchets up. He starts thinking about all the rules his family has lived by, rules about tying knots, picking up sticks, writing letters, number of steps taken. It is all starting to collapse for him.

His father tries a bit harder to bring Josh back to the family way. “It honors the Sabbath because that’s what we are called by God to do! It is clear from the Law that this should have waited for tomorrow!!!!”

“I just don’t understand, father, where do you read this? Where in the Law does it say this?”

Josh’s father grabs out a scroll and points to Leviticus 23 and then another from Exodus. “Here, Josh! It’s clear. Read it, son. Do not disgrace your father.” They read the scroll:

For six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places.

“See, son. The Law is clear. That is why I was so angry with that woman and the teacher. They profaned the Sabbath. To not confront this could have made all of us guilty.”

Josh walks away, rolling his eyes, and wondering why his dad just doesn’t get it.

When You Forget the Why

One of the most valuable lessons I learned in seminary came from Dr. Donald Whitney in a class on spiritual disciplines. On the class schedule there were two days marked “fasting.” We were required to fast.

I’ll be honest, I bristled at this being on the calendar. It felt really stupid and legalistic. Fasting didn’t seem like the type of thing you should do for a grade in a class. We were supposed to do the fast and write our experience in a journal.

The day came for the first fast. We hadn’t been taught a single thing about the practice, just that we had to do it. I did it, but rather begrudgingly. I tried praying some. Tried muscling through it and making at least some spiritually profound lesson out of it. In truth, it was terrible and it was a mostly empty experience.

When we came to class I was kind of surprised to hear Dr. Whitney say something like, “That was pretty bad wasn’t it?” And that’s when he taught us the lesson:

Discipline without direction is drudgery.

We didn’t know why we were fasting. We didn’t have any purpose to it. We didn’t know a theology of fasting. It was just a discipline without any direction. Much like “Honor the Sabbath.”

Small Churches Are Not a Problem, a Virtue or an Excuse

Karl Vaters

March 10, 2022

Small churches are great. But I refuse to idealize them.

There’s not an ounce of nostalgia in me for some long-lost, non-existent, good-old-days when everyone attended a little white chapel and all was right with the world.

I also refuse to blame small churches for what’s wrong with the state of Christianity today. I will no longer sit idly by while church leaders cite statistics about how many small churches there are, as though it’s all the proof we need that Christianity is in trouble.

But I won’t let these churches off the hook, either. Just because we’re small doesn’t give us an excuse to do ministry with anything less than Christ-honoring, people-serving, world-transforming passion.

In short, small churches are not a problem to be fixed, a virtue to be praised or an excuse to do shoddy work.

But we are normal.

Small churches are still the way most people choose to worship, learn and minister.

In fact, even with the recent advent of the megachurch (an advent I’m grateful for, by the way) small churches are still the way most people choose to worship, learn and minister.

But, since these misconceptions about small churches keep persisting, let’s take a look at them, one at a time:

1. Small Churches Are Not a Problem

Just because a church is small does not mean that it is broken, lazy, visionless, ingrown, poorly led or theologically faulty.

Are there some small churches like that? Of course. Some big churches, too.

But despite what you may have heard or believed, more Christians choose to attend, serve and worship in small churches than in all other sizes of churches combined. And not just in rural regions where all the churches are small. Even in heavily populated areas, where megachurches dot the landscape, more people choose to worship in churches under 200 than in churches of any other size.

They’re not wrong to do so.

In fact, where Christians are growing as a percentage of the population, it’s almost always due to the multiplication of small congregations, not the growing of larger ones.

Certainly there are broken small churches. But being small is not, on its own, an indication that there’s a problem.

2. Small Churches Are Not a Virtue

Big churches aren’t better than small churches. But small churches aren’t better than big churches, either.

Small churches are not the best way to do church – we’re just best for some people
We are not closer to the New Testament ideal than big churches
We are not the righteous remnant
Smallness is never because ‘we’re the only ones teaching the Bible’
There’s nothing holy about being small

While I believe that small churches will play a more visible role in the future growth of the church, I don’t believe we will replace big- or megachurches. Nor should we.

It’s not about big or small. It’s about big and small.

The entire church is better with all of us than without any of us.

3. Small Churches Are Not an Excuse

Being small is not an excuse to do church poorly.

While many small churches may not be able to afford a lot of things we’d love to have, like the latest technology, a permanent building or even a salary for the pastor, we will not allow any of that to stop us from being everything Jesus is calling us to be.

Here are some excuses we must no longer accept:

Just because we don’t have a kickin’ worship band does not mean we’ll settle for passionless worship
Lack of sermon prep time will not mean bad theology or boring preaching
Minimal finances will not stop us from being generous
Not having professionally-made graphics, flyers and banners won’t stop us from inviting our friends to church
We will not wait until we get bigger to do what Jesus is calling us to do right here, right now

A local church doesn’t need to be big to do the Jesus stuff well.

And the Jesus stuff is the only stuff that matters.

This article originally appeared here.

On Fearing the Future

Scott Sauls

March 10, 2022

As I write this, the world is overcome by uncertainty and fearing the future. Some fear for their financial future; others, for their health. Some fear for their loved ones; others, for themselves. It’s quite remarkable, isn’t it, what the spread of a microscopic virus can do to alter the landscape?

Whatever our situation at this time, and whether or not COVID-19 wreaks havoc on our lives or not, one thing is certain: we all will die. In fact, we are all — each and every one of us — DESTINED to die, and after that to face judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

And yet, whatever our situation, the people of Jesus possess in them a hope that transcends the awful, ubiquitous reality of a mortality ratio of 1:1. At our church, this hope is echoed loudly in the lyric of a hymn we cherish. Regarding the New Heaven and New Earth that is ahead of us, we sing:

“No chilling words nor poisonous breath
can reach that healthful shore, (where)
sickness, sorrow, pain, and death
are felt and feared no more.”

“Felt no more” sounds wonderful when we’re talking about sickness, sorrow, pain, and death, does it not? This, of course, is an impossibility in the world in which we now live. However, based on the great and precious promise of God, there is even now — this very moment — the possibility of “fear(ing) no more” when it comes to sickness, sorrow, pain, and death.

We are told that at the end of days, when King Jesus returns for a second and final time, he will make all things new. Our future, from that point forward, will represent an utter, complete, everlasting reversal of sickness, sorrow, pain, and death. As John, the beloved disciple, has written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away, and everything made new” (see Revelation 21:1-5 for the full accounting of what awaits us).

As the pastor of a marvelous church that is filled with people — including many elderly, “Greatest Generation” people who make up about 15% of our fellowship — as well as other, younger saints who somewhere along the way received news of a terminal diagnosis, who have accessed these promises of God that cast out fearing the future.

What follows is a brief telling of how those afflicted saints, young and old, are made to FEEL some of the worst of what a fallen world throws at people, but without FEARING the future because of the perfect love that holds them. I hope that their stories and perspectives offer you similar hope as they do to me.

10 Youth Bible Study Topics to Explore With Teenagers

Stephanie Martin

March 9, 2022

When it comes to planning youth Bible study topics, pastors and leaders might feel limited by group members’ age and life stage. But if you’re teaching preteens or teenagers, there’s no need to stick only to subjects such as peer pressure and dating.

Sure, those are important lessons that interest most teens. But kids are also eager and willing to grow their faith in many other areas. And they’re hungry for the nourishment provided in God’s Word and for Jesus, the bread of life.

Almost all subjects that lead to great adult Bible studies work well as youth Bible study topics too. Just be sure to make the teaching time age-appropriate. Also consider including themed activities and games to reinforce the lessons.

10 Youth Bible Study Topics

1. Miracles

No matter their age, people remain fascinated by the miracles of healing, provision and restoration that Jesus performed on earth. Introduce a lesson or series about Jesus’ miracles by playing a fun guessing game such as Emoji Bible Stories. In that game, kids try to guess each miracle based only on emoji clues.

2. Parables

Jesus was a master storyteller, and his wide variety of parables are filled with insight and instructions for Christian living. You can spend a whole summer or semester studying the New Testament parables with teenagers. Begin or end each lesson with a fun game, such as this Lost Sheep Puzzle.

3. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount

In his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7), Jesus covers loads of topics of interest and relevance to young people. These include obedience, witnessing, relationships, enemies, giving, prayer, wealth, worrying, judging and salvation. Jesus’ sermon opens with the Beatitudes, which make great youth Bible study topics on their own!

4. Obedience

Character studies of people in the Bible who obey (and disobey) God’s Word also work especially well for youth Bible study topics. Choose people from both the Old and New Testaments, including some whom teens may not have heard about previously. These studies are bound to lead to lively discussions about the challenges and blessings of following Jesus.

5. Evangelism

You don’t need to be an adult or a longtime Christian to share your faith in Jesus with others. In fact, teenagers tend to be some of the boldest witnesses around. Plus, they usually have wide-reaching networks of friends and acquaintances. During a youth Bible study on evangelism, address any fears or hesitations that kids have about sharing their beliefs with others.

Steven Furtick Criticized for Promoting 16-Year-Old Son’s Rap Album About Violence, Sex, and Money

Jesse T. Jackson

March 9, 2022

Elevation Church’s senior pastor Steven Furtick heard from critics after praising his son Elijah’s rap album, which references guns, shooting, oral sex, and bragging about excessive amounts of money.

The 16-year-old Elijah, who goes by his stage name dothedash!, released a ten song album titled “TEEN MACHINE” on the first week of March. To his credit, with everything else he references, he doesn’t swear on the record.

During one video, Steven’s wife, Holly (Elijah’s mother), let people know that Elijah works at Elevation church.

During the intro track “All Cap!,” Elijah says that “all of the emotions and aspirations depicted in this audio recording are a genuine reflection of some dimension of the author’s experience or personality.”

“However,” the young rapper stated, “a majority of the events, achievements, and acquisitions conveyed in the lyrical body are in fact fictitious, exaggerated, tongue-in-cheek, or otherwise widely inaccurate—in other words the feeling is real, the rest is all cap.” “All cap” is a slang phrase referring to lying.

After dothedash! explained how to decipher his songs, he wasted no time spitting controversial lyrics in the song “NO HOOK!” that caught the attention of San Diego based Christian rapper and one-third member of “Dream Junkies,” Ruslan.

In addition to making music, Ruslan has a YouTube channel that has racked up over 16 million views. Ruslan created his YouTube channel “to help people contextualize their faith and live God’s Dream for their life,” he said.

Ruslan created a video breaking down everything he heard in the Elijah’s song, a video that has been viewed over 221,000 times so far and explained that the video is not intended to blast the Furticks. Rather, Ruslan expressed that he’s genuinely concerned about what he heard.

At first, “No Hook” might seem like an innocent party song to most people, but if you listen closely to all the slang terms, dothedash! uses, you might think differently based on “Urban Dictionary’s” definitions.

Slowing the track down so he could unmistakably hear everything Elijah was saying, Ruslan pointed out that dothedash! let everyone know he was sixteen and told them that his “bro keeps a blicky.” A “blicky” is slang for pistol and is frequently used in secular rap songs.

Later in the song, Elijah makes gun-like gestures while rapping, “We lighting your block up like a cigarette.” Ruslan was confused how a white suburban kid who grew up in a 16,000 square foot gated estate in Waxhaw, North Carolina decided to rap about shooting up his block.

Lifeway Research: Young Adults, Including Christians, Have Complicated Relationship With Money

Marissa Postell Sullivan

March 9, 2022

young-adult-christians-money — Photo by Alexander Mils (via Unsplash)

When it comes to making financial decisions, although some Christian young adults are influenced by their faith, many don’t manage their money in distinctly Christian ways.

An AdelFi study conducted by Lifeway Research found that having a Christian worldview impacts the way young adults (ages 25-40) manage their money, which is most evident in that Christians give nearly three times as much money as non-Christians. Furthermore, Christians are more than twice as likely as non-Christians to say faith influences their financial decisions. In particular, most Christians say they recognize the responsibility of good financial stewardship.

“AdelFi was interested in understanding what differences exist in how younger Christians handle their money compared to non-Christians,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Christians are much more active in donating their finances and no less active in trying to do good with their spending.”

The average young adult does business with 2.4 financial institutions (loan accounts, checking accounts, savings accounts, etc.) and has 1.9 credit cards. But 23% don’t have an active credit card. Young adults also have varying mentalities toward spending money. Overall, 45% of young adults say they track what they’ve spent money on, and 45% say they save for what they want to buy. Another 41% say they set a budget they follow. Fewer say they often buy things impulsively (28%) or get a loan or finance purchases when needed (16%).

Young adults are most likely to say their parents influence their financial decisions (47%). But they are also frequently influenced by their friends (30%), financial publications or websites (25%) and financial advisors (20%). While most young adults make financial decisions based on what they want today (76%), even more say they consider where they want to be in several years (83%) when making financial decisions.

Just over one-third of young adults (36%) agree their religious faith influences their financial decisions. Christians (44%) are more than twice as likely as non-Christians (20%) to agree that their faith influences their financial decisions. But exactly how one’s faith impacts the way they manage money varies.

Difference in Giving and Spending

The typical Christian young adult donates more than three times as much as non-Christians over the course of a year ($1,820 v. $556). This is aided by the fact that more Christians give to a local church (37%) and religious organizations (28%) than non-Christians do (8% and 11% respectively). Although most Christian young adults don’t give to a local church (63%), many still say tithing, giving at least 10%, to their local church is a biblical commandment for today (56%).

“One would expect Christians to give more than non-Christians to churches and religious organizations, but they are also more likely to donate to 3 out of 4 other types of recipients,” McConnell said. “While overall the financial generosity of Christian young adults is very noticeable, there remains a large group who don’t practice their belief in the need to give to a local church.”

Tithing alone doesn’t account for the difference in giving between Christian and non-Christian young adults as Christians are also more likely to give to other groups as well. In fact, Christian young adults gave twice as much as non-Christians to individuals or families in need in the past year ($603 v. $261). Christians are also more likely than non-Christians to give something to a GoFundMe crowdfunding effort (27% v. 20%) and non-religious charities or education organizations (29% v. 20%). There is not a meaningful difference in giving to social causes.

The Christian’s generosity goes beyond financial giving. Christian young adults (74%) are also more likely than non-Christians (68%) to agree it’s important to regularly give their time to volunteer to help good causes or individuals in need.

Overall, young adults in America don’t appear to be particularly generous. Even though Christians are more likely to have donated in the past year (70%) than non-Christians (55%), 83% of young adults gave a total of $1,000 or less in the past year. Although most survey participants (56%) were employed full-time, 36% of young adults didn’t give donations to any group or individual in need in the past year.

67% of Parents of Preteens Say They Have a Biblical Worldview, but Only 2% Do, Study Says

Jessica Mouser

March 9, 2022

Only two percent of Americans who are parents of preteens actually have a biblical worldview, according to new data from Dr. George Barna and the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University. This number, which Barna says puts children at a “spiritual disadvantage,” is particularly shocking given that 67 percent of parents of preteens self-identify as Christians.

“Every parent teaches what they know and models what they believe,” says Dr. George Barna, Director of Research at the CRC. “They can only give what they have, and what they have to give reflects their driving beliefs about life and spirituality. Parents are not the only agents of influence on their children’s worldview, but they remain both a primary influence and a gatekeeper to other influences.”

Biblical Worldview—Or Any Worldview at All?

The new report is part of the American Worldview Inventory 2022, an ongoing project evaluating the worldview of American pastors and parents. The study states that most of the current parents in the U.S. are Millennials. In addition to the sobering news that so few Millennial parents have a biblical worldview, there is another surprising finding: less than one percent of parents of preteens have a coherent worldview of any kind. “None of the six alternative worldviews tested is embraced by even one percent of parents,” says the report, which goes on to say:

These alternative worldviews include: Secular Humanism, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, Nihilism, Marxism/Critical Theory, Postmodernism, and Eastern Mysticism/New Age. That leaves more than 9 out of 10 parents of preteens—a full 94 percent—having a worldview known as Syncretism, a blending of multiple worldviews in which no single life philosophy is dominant, producing a worldview that is diverse and often self-contradictory.

The researchers noted that within this conglomeration of beliefs, parents of pre-teens tend to emphasize three worldviews more than the others: “Eastern Mysticism/New Age thinking, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, and Biblical Theism (i.e., the biblical worldview).”

Among several reasons why so many parents of preteens lack a Christian worldview is they tend not to trust the Bible as authoritative or spend much time in it. The report also found a connection between worldview and income. Middle-income parents were the most likely to have a biblical worldview, while less than one-half of one percent of parents in households where the income exceeds $100,000 have a biblical worldview.

Notably, the study found a tie between church denominations and the likelihood of a Christian worldview:

There are only three groups of churches boasting an above-average proportion of preteen parents who possess a biblical worldview: non-denomination or independent Protestant churches, Pentecostal or charismatic churches, and evangelical churches. Parents associated with congregations that are non-denominational or independent Protestant were about eight times more likely than the national norm to have a biblical worldview, while those aligned with either evangelical or charismatic Protestant churches were about three times more likely. However, fewer than one out of every five parents of children under 13 (19 percent) attend those types of churches.

Andy Stanley Sharply Criticized for Tweet About the Accuracy of the Bible

Dale Chamberlain

March 9, 2022

Pastor and author Andy Stanley came under fire on social media this week for a now deleted tweet, which argued that the Christian faith rises and falls on the person of Jesus rather than the accuracy of the Bible.

“The Christian faith does not rise and fall on the accuracy of 66 ancient documents,” the tweet said. “It rises and falls on the identity of a single individual: Jesus of Nazareth.”

The tweet was a quote taken from a message that Stanley delivered at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA, where he serves as senior pastor. Stanley linked to a video of the full message in the tweet thread.

“Here is what might be an uncomfortable question for some of us, and an interesting and maybe even helpful and surprisingly honest question for others of us,” Stanley can be seen saying at the beginning of the recorded message. “When it comes to knowing if there is a God, and if there is a God, what God is like, and when it comes to trying to figure out who God likes, does it really come down to, ‘The Bible tells us so’? Or any other religious literature ‘tells us so’?”

Taking on the perspective of a skeptic, Stanley then expressed all the doubts that people have about the reliability of the Bible, saying that he understands why so many are deconstructing or thinking about leaving the faith.

“If the Christian faith balances precariously on the edge of ancient declarations of superstitious men, well, then why not,” Stanley said.

“The truth is, Christians are not expected to believe what we believe based on a collection of ancient manuscripts written by men, who never met each other, over the course of hundreds of years, in a time when everybody was superstitious and everybody believed in the gods and there was no modern science,” Stanley said. “The foundation of our faith is far more substantial than that. It’s far more sustainable than that.”

“[The Christian faith] rises and falls on the identity of a single individual: Jesus of Nazareth,” Stanley said, going on to argue that those seeking or questioning faith often wrestle with the wrong questions. “The question to wrestle with is not ‘Is there a God?’ or ‘Is the Bible true?’ In fact…those are generally off ramps to faith, not on ramps to faith.”

“This is the issue; this is the question when it comes to Christianity: is Matthew—the gospel of Matthew—Mark, Luke, or John—any one of the four—a reliable account of actual events? Because if any one of these four is a reliable account of actual events, then what they say about Jesus is true,” Stanley went on to argue. “And if what they say about Jesus of Nazareth is true, game on; faith on. You should press on. You should lean in.”

“The story of Jesus is not a Bible story,” Stanley said. “The story of Jesus, or the narrative, or the life of Jesus, is why there is a Bible. Jesus is the reason for the Bible.”

Todd Miles: Why Marijuana Use Is an Issue Church Leaders Must Not Ignore

Jessica Mouser

March 9, 2022

The Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast · Todd Miles: Why Marijuana Use Is an Issue Church Leaders Must Not Ignore

Todd Miles is a Professor of Theology at Western Seminary in Portland, Ore., where he teaches theology, church history, hermeneutics, and ethics. Prior to becoming a seminary professor, he was a nuclear engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Todd’s latest book is “Cannabis and the Christian: What the Bible Says about Marijuana.”

Other Ways to Listen to This Podcast With Todd Miles

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Key Questions for Todd Miles

-Why did you write a book about what the Bible says about marijuana—particularly when the Bible doesn’t actually mention marijuana?

-Can we determine what to think about marijuana by looking at what the Bible says about alcohol?

-Do you see any problem with people taking marijuana as a way to deal with their anxiety?

-How can pastors and church leaders help their congregations walk through the challenges surrounding marijuana use?

Key Quotes From Todd Miles

“We have all the divine words that we need in order to live faithfully before God, to mine them for any wisdom that would pertain to this.”

“It probably will not work just to substitute the word “marijuana” every time we see the word “wine” [in the Bible] for a couple of reasons. One, wine is celebrated in the Scriptures and is part of the ritual worship of God throughout the Old Testament and in the New Testament.”

“If we’re going to apply biblical prohibitions on, say, drunkenness, which is where the concern would lie with alcohol, then we need to know how marijuana actually works before we can just kind of blindly start substituting biblical prohibitions on it.”

“The Scriptures are full, not just of prohibitions on drunkenness, but of explanations as to why it’s unwise and sinful to get intoxicated.”

“I’m pretty comfortable saying Biblical prohibitions on alcohol intoxication would also apply to intoxication by recreational marijuana.”

“A lot of people think, ‘Well, there’s medical marijuana, and then there’s another substance entirely called recreational marijuana.’ That’s not the case.”

In Madison, Mainline and Evangelicals Work Together to Help Their Churches Thrive

Bob Smietana

March 9, 2022

awaken dane — Rcsprinter123, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

MADISON, Wis. (RNS) — When she first became pastor of Lakeview Moravian Community, the Rev. Staci Marrese-Wheeler got a bit of advice from the church’s former pastor.

“Get to know your neighbors,” she recalled him saying.

She took the advice to heart, for both pragmatic and spiritual reasons. As a small congregation, Lakeview needed to work with other churches to serve their community. And working together sent a message that God was bigger than a single denomination.

That approach to ministry led Lakeview to partner with Zion Faith Community, a nearby Lutheran congregation, on some ministry projects and then later to create a new congregation called Common Grace, where the two congregations became one.

While each church maintains its own legal status and denominational ties, they worship together and operate as one congregation.

“We really felt strongly that our community needs to see churches working together,” said Marrese-Wheeler.

That belief in working together led Marrese-Wheeler and the Rev. Pat Siegler, her co-pastor at Common Grace, to join the first cohort of Awaken Dane, which hopes to create “a movement of churches awakening to God’s call, forming life-giving friendships and partnerships, and growing in love for their home communities” in Dane County, home to Madison, the state’s capital.

Funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Awaken Dane brings together mainline, evangelical and Black congregations in the city — a rare feat in a time when churches remain divided along denominational and political lines in much of the country. Pastors of those churches spend two years together, building friendships and learning how to help their congregations engage in ministry outside the walls of the church.

The idea is to “tell a better story,” said Jon Anderson, executive director of the Madison-based Collaboration Project, which has partnered with the Wisconsin Council of Churches, a campus ministry called Upper House and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary to lead Awaken Dane.

Anderson, a pastor and community leader who settled in Madison after first moving there as a college student at the University of Wisconsin, spent about 20 years on staff at two of the largest churches in the county, working mostly on community development.

Bruxy Cavey, Canadian Megachurch Pastor, Resigns After Sexual Misconduct Probe

Yonat Shimron

March 9, 2022

(RNS) — The pastor of one of Canada’s largest churches was forced to resign after an independent investigation found evidence of his sexual misconduct.

Bruxy Cavey, who grew The Meeting House into a megachurch with some 5,000 people attending 19 campuses in the larger Toronto metropolitan area, was accused of sexual misconduct by a woman who reported it to the church’s Overseers Board, or board of directors, in December.

“Having carefully reviewed the investigator’s report, our Board unanimously decided to ask Bruxy to resign from his role at The Meeting House effective immediately,” Maggie John, chair of the Overseers Board, wrote in an email to church members Monday (March 7). “Bruxy then submitted his resignation on March 3rd which the Overseers accepted.”

Also on Monday, a teaching pastor at the church, Danielle Strickland, tweeted that she was resigning “in solidarity with the victim of abuse.”

The church plans to hold a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday and will provide members more information on the investigation and its results. Spokesperson Katie Double said a public statement would follow.

“It’s important for us to communicate with our church family first,” she said.

With his long hair and tattoos, Cavey is one of Canada’s most recognizable church leaders. He became the senior pastor of Upper Oaks Community Church in 1997, later changing its name to The Meeting House. The church grew exponentially as it sought to appeal to people alienated from Christianity and church traditions.

Cavey has taught widely at U.S. seminaries and universities, including Messiah University and Fresno Pacific University Biblical Seminary. He is the author of a popular book, “The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus.”

In 2019, he became the subject of a book, “The Subversive Evangelical: The Ironic Charisma of an Irreligious Megachurch” by Peter J. Schuurman.

In the book, Schuurman writes that Cavey cultivates an identity as leading an “irreligious” megachurch and provides followers with “a more culturally acceptable way to practice their faith in a secular age.”

The church affiliates with Be In Christ, a small Anabaptist denomination, formerly known as Brethren in Christ Canada, which is committed to peace and nonviolence. The denomination is evangelical in its teachings.

This article originally appeared here.

Moscow Patriarch Stokes Orthodox Tensions With War Remarks

AP News

March 9, 2022

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, leader of Russia’s dominant religious group, has sent his strongest signal yet justifying his country’s invasion of Ukraine — describing the conflict as part of a struggle against sin and pressure from liberal foreigners to hold “gay parades” as the price of admission to their ranks.

Kirill, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had already refrained from criticizing the Russian invasion – alienating many in the Ukrainian Orthodox churches who had previously stayed loyal to the Moscow patriarch during a schism in their country. Several of these former loyalists are now snubbing Kirill in their public prayers, with some demanding independence from the Moscow church even as their country’s political independence is imperiled.

Kirill, in a sermon delivered Sunday before the start of Orthodox Lent, echoed Putin’s unfounded claims that Ukraine was engaged in the “extermination” of Russian loyalists in Donbas, the breakaway eastern region of Ukraine held since 2014 by two Russian-backed separatist groups. Kirill focused virtually all of his talk about the war on Donbas — with no mention of Russia’s widespread invasion and its bombardment of civilian targets.

Kirill on Sunday depicted the war in spiritual terms.

“We have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance,” he said.

He contended that some of the Donbas separatists were suffering for their “fundamental rejection of the so-called values that are offered today by those who claim world power.”

He claimed that this unnamed world power is posing a “test for the loyalty” of countries by demanding they hold gay pride parades to join a global club of nations with its own ideas of freedom and “excess consumption.”

But many Orthodox Christians in Ukraine have been appalled by Kirill’s stance on the Ukraine war. The Moscow patriarch has for centuries claimed the ultimate loyalty of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, even though the latter retained ample autonomy. And many priests, monks and faithful had remained loyal to Kirill even with the formation of a more nationalist, Kyiv-based Orthodox Church of Ukraine, in 2018 and 2019.

The war is shattering that loyalty for some, however.

Numerous bishops in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have authorized their priests not to commemorate Patriarch Kirill in their prayers during public worship services — a symbolically important statement in Orthodox tradition, which puts a premium on the faithful being in communion with their divinely ordained hierarchy.

Since the war began, as many as 15 dioceses of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine had authorized the omission of the patriarch’s name, according to the Union of Orthodox Journalists, a news site with generally positive news about the Moscow-leaning church.

The Rev. Mykola Danilevich, who has served as a spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, confirmed on his Telegram account that “many of our priests have stopped commemorating the Moscow Patriarch for worship services.”

“And the reason is obvious,” Danilech wrote March 1, before Kirill’s most recent Sunday sermon. “The treacherous open invasion of Ukraine is a huge mistake of Russia. … People did not hear from the patriarch a clear assessment of this war and his call to stop this madness.”

Christian Camp, Big Tech on Watchdog List of Top Sex Abuse Enablers

Diana Chandler

March 9, 2022

Sex Abuse Enablers — Screengrab via YouTube @National Center on Sexual Exploitation

WASHINGTON (BP) – Children’s sports ministry Kanakuk Kamps is alongside tech giants Meta, Twitter, Google Search, and Netflix on a sex abuse watchdog’s 2022 list of the most egregious enablers and promoters of sexual exploitation.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) named Missouri-based Kanakuk Kamps to the 2022 Dirty Dozen List of the top offenders in a web conference March 8, accusing the nondenominational camp of hiding years of sexual abuse.

“Thousands of families have entrusted their children to Kanakuk Kamps – one of the largest Christian sports camps. Tragically, that trust was broken as years of child sexual abuse a

Kanakuk Kamps have been swept under the rug,” NCOSE said in a press statement. “Responsibility, accountability, and transparency must be required of institutions like Kanakuk Kamps if we wish to stamp out child sexual abuse.”

NCOSE cites Meta-owned Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as “primary places for grooming, sextortion, child sexual abuse materials, sex trafficking, and a host of other crimes;” accuses Twitter of attracting pedophiles and other predators who “trade in criminal content such as child sexual abuse and nonconsensual pornography;” and says Google Search “buttresses the pornography industry by facilitating access to graphic images and videos of sexual abuse – depicted and real – including sex trafficking, child sexual abuse, and rape.” Netflix, NCOSE said, has mixed in with its entertainment “rampant sexual objectification and glamorization of abuse.”

Others accused of such acts are communications platform Discord, global marketplace Etsy, the free messaging app Kik, the subscription-based platform OnlyFans, Reddit, Verisign and Visa.

Kanakuk Kamps, in a statement on its website, acknowledges that former staff member Pete Newman was accused and convicted of abusing children, apologizes for any harm the ministry perpetuated in communications, and includes an open letter to victims written by Kanakuk Chief Executive Officer Joe White.

“I am sorry; so deeply, profoundly sorry for the pain you have endured as a victim of abuse during Pete Newman’s association with Kanakuk Kamps,” White’s statement reads. “In hindsight, I wish I would have understood what I was truly dealing with, and I am devastated by your pain and suffering under my watch.”

Several lawsuits have been filed by alleged victims of sexual abuse at Kanakuk, most recently leading to a $29.6 million judgment for plaintiffs. In addition to Newman, former Kanakuk employees NCOSE identified are Lee Bradberry, sentenced in 2012 to 10 years in prison for sodomy and other crimes he committed while on Kanakuk summer staff; former Kanakuk counselor Paul Kerr, who pleaded guilty to child abuse in Missouri in 2012; and Ed Ringheim, a former counselor, bus chaperone and volunteer for K-Life who was sentenced to 15 years in a Florida state prison in 2011 for the sexual abuse of children.

NCOSE encourages the public to speak against those accused, especially tech giants, offering links to each company site here.

“Big Tech holds incredible influence over society, so it’s especially egregious when tech companies normalize, enable, and even profit from sexually exploitative practices, policies, and products. There is no other industry that has the capacity to help billions of people by prioritizing user protection and safety like Big Tech,” Lina Nealon, NCOSE director of corporate and strategic initiatives, said in releasing the list. “Tech companies on our Dirty Dozen List have enabled child sexual abuse to thrive on their platforms, and for predators to gain easy access to children. Those same companies frequently ignore survivors of sex trafficking and abuse who are seeking justice.”

NCOSE promotes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan and nonsectarian group working to end sexual exploitation while focusing on, among many problems, child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, prostitution, porn, child-on-child harmful sexual behavior, compulsive sexual behaviors and men’s violence against women, as well as the intersection of these issues with technology.

The full list of accusations and victories NCOSE cites from previous campaigns is available at endsexualexploitation.org.

This article originally appeared the Baptist Press.

German Church Urges Quick Decision on Divisive Archbishop

AP News

March 9, 2022

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the German Bishops’ Conference on Monday pressed for a quick decision from Pope Francis on the future of a prominent archbishop who faces strong criticism for his handling of the church’s sexual abuse scandal.

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the archbishop of Cologne, said that he had offered his resignation to the pontiff after returning from a months-long “spiritual timeout” last week.

The conservative Woelki has become a deeply divisive figure in the German church after triggering a public furor over his handling of reports on how church officials in his archdiocese dealt with abuse cases. In September, the Vatican said that Francis had decided to give him the timeout after he made what it termed “major errors” of communication.

Woelki last week asked for the faithful to “give me — no, us — another chance.”

The head of the German Bishops’ Conference, Limburg Bishop Georg Baetzing, said Woelki sent a “strong signal” with his offer of resignation but noted that the atmosphere in Cologne remains very tense.

Francis and the Vatican “now bear responsibility for this situation,” Baetzing told reporters at the beginning of a regular meeting of German bishops. “And I think they won’t be able to watch for long.”

Baetzing said he hopes Woelki and the faithful in Cologne will be able to reconcile, but “otherwise the pope must act.”

This article originally appeared here.

‘Lent’s Eat’ Videos Bring Levity — and Leaven — to Solemn Season

Emily McFarlan Miller

March 9, 2022

The intro graphic for the 2021 "Lent's Eat" video series by the Rev. Jennie Williams, left, and Brooke Hobbs. Video screen grab

(RNS) — The Rev. Jennie Williams may not not care much for the kitchen, but she didn’t start cooking her way through the solemn season of Lent as penance.

She did it to get to know her new congregation at Elm Springs United Methodist Church in Springdale, Arkansas.

Williams will resume that Lenten practice this week in a new installment of her Facebook video series “Lent’s Eat,” in which she makes a recipe or two from congregants each week of Lent, the season of prayer and penitence many Christians observe in preparation for Easter.

“It ended up being a tool for ministry for me in ways that I did not expect,” she said.

Williams started the video series last year during her first Lent at Elm Springs, after coming to the church in July 2020. A few months into the COVID-19 pandemic was “an incredibly wild time to start a new appointment,” she said, and it was challenging for her to get to know her new congregation.

The church was cautious in how it met at the time to protect its many elderly members who were among the most endangered by the disease. There were services each Sunday in the church parking lot, but no potlucks or home visits.

Then the pastor stumbled across a cookbook published by Elm Springs United Methodist Women in 2014 called “Let’s Eat.” The compilation included recipes from many members who still attended Elm Springs — and it gave the pastor an idea.

“Why don’t I film myself cooking these recipes and then try to get to know the person either through their recipe or talking to them?” she said.

It might be funny to film and put online, she thought.

She started with a hot artichoke dip and something called Mexican casserole. The oven broke. The recipes turned out delicious anyway.

Members of the congregation shared the video with friends beyond Springdale.

Food often plays a role in Lenten observances, though the season usually is associated with fasting instead of feasting.

Many Christians observe food-related traditions on the day before Lent begins — like making Shrove Tuesday pancakes and eating jelly- or custard-filled pastries on Paczki Day — intended to use up stores of alcohol, butter and other indulgent ingredients.

For the next 40 days, some choose to give up their favorite treats to remind them of Jesus’ suffering and death in the days leading up to Easter. Catholics in particular abstain from meat on Fridays as part of their Lenten practice.

“I think one of the things that we forget about Lent is that early Christians did fast and abstain from things, but they would also take on new practices,” Williams said.

“I’ve mentioned cooking can be a chore for me, but these things have been a joy for me as well. It’s expanded my emotional and spiritual awareness and capacity, and so I think it’s appropriate to share the joy that I get from it with others.”

Jesus’ I Am Statements: 7 Life Changing Truths

Stephen Altrogge

March 9, 2022

I love Jesus’ I am statements in the book of John.

When someone says, “I am…,” it reveals something about their identity. About the core of their being. About what is most important to them and about them.

For example, when I say, “I am a Christian,” I’m making a big, bold statement that my identity in Christ is what’s most important to me.

So when Jesus says I am statements, we should pay close attention. He’s pulling back the curtain on his glorious character. He’s telling us something profoundly important – something we don’t want to miss.

With that in mind, let’s spend some time savoring Jesus’ I am statements.

1. I Am The Bread of Life

I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35).

The original hearers of this one of Jesus’ I am statements would have had two things in mind:

They had just seen Jesus miraculously feed a massive, teeming, ravenous crowd using nothing but a few loaves and fishes.
God had miraculously provided bread in the desert for the people of Israel.

You could say that had bread on the brain.

But here’s the thing:

Both the feeding of the crowd and the manna in the wilderness were intended to point to a greater reality.

Jesus tells them not to long for physical bread, even if that bread is provided by God himself. Rather, they are to long for and live for the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

What is this bread of life? It’s Jesus himself.

Just like physical bread satisfies our deepest hunger cravings, so Jesus satisfies the longings of our hearts. He is the one who “fills us,” our deepest joy and most satisfying pleasure.

Without Jesus, even the most sumptuous pleasures of the world are empty and unsatisfying. With Jesus, we can be content even in the midst of poverty.

Charles Spurgeon said:

I have heard of some good old woman in a cottage, who had nothing but a piece of bread and a little water. Lifting up her hands, she said as a blessing, “What! All this, and Christ too?”

A Decline in View Toward Pastors

Building Trust

When You Forget the Why

1. Small Churches Are Not a Problem

2. Small Churches Are Not a Virtue

3. Small Churches Are Not an Excuse

10 Youth Bible Study Topics

1. Miracles

2. Parables

3. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount

4. Obedience

5. Evangelism

Difference in Giving and Spending

Biblical Worldview—Or Any Worldview at All?

Other Ways to Listen to This Podcast With Todd Miles

Key Questions for Todd Miles

Key Quotes From Todd Miles

With that in mind, let’s spend some time savoring Jesus’ I am statements.

1. I Am The Bread of Life

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