Yet, the great apostle did not achieve these things alone. Paul always worked in teams. To the delight of some and the consternation of others, Paul’s church-planting teams included women.
Thabiti Anyabwile is assistant pastor for church planting at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and a council member with The Gospel Coalition. | Thabiti Anyabwile
The apostle Paul ranks as the greatest church-planting apostle and missionary the world has ever known. He determined to build the church wherever Christ was not named. At great risk to himself, he entered city after city to proclaim the gospel and organize converts into churches.
Yet, the great apostle did not achieve these things alone. Paul always worked in teams. To the delight of some and the consternation of others, Paulâs church-planting teams included women. When he wrote the Christians in Philippi, he instructed them to help Euodia and Syntyche. Paul describes Euodia and Syntyche as women who âcontended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of lifeâ (Phil. 4:3).
A linguist examines Trueman s claims
Valerie Hobbs
By Valerie Hobbs
Carl Trueman s article on Critical Race Theory for the February issue of First Things caught my eye last night because of this provocative claim about religious language:
All-embracing and transformative views often have a religious quality. Critical race theory is no exception. It has a creedal language and liturgy, with orthodox words (“white privilege,” “systemic racism”) and prescribed actions (raising the fist, taking the knee). To deviate from the forms is to deviate from the faith. Certain words are heretical (“non-racist,” “all lives matter”). The slogan “silence is violence” is a potent rhetorical weapon. To fail to participate in the liturgy is to reject the antiracism the liturgy purports to represent something only a racist would do.
Top Ten Exchange Articles of 2020
Looking back on The Exchange s most read articles of 2020. Ed Stetzer Image: Christin Hume/Unsplash
As we move into this next year, we thought you’d be interested in the top ten Exchange articles (
by pageview):
North Point: We love you too much to open the doors on Sunday morning. Let s focus on doing stuff for the community.
In July, Andy Stanley announced that North Point Ministries would not be holding in-person services for the remainder of 2020. This announcement made international news, which led to Stanley being a guest on Stetzer Leadership Podcast. This article, which was part one in a two- part series, is an adaptation of that interview surrounding North Point’s decision.
(#28).
This year, guest bloggers played a particularly important role in advancing conversations about evangelicalism. Abram Van Engen warned about those Christians’ uses of American national mythology
(#9), then published a follow-up dialogue with one of the people he’d criticized: Os Guinness
(#19). Peter Choi, meanwhile, was not convinced that evangelicalism was actually addressing the problems brought to light by the Trump years
(#15 see that post’s comments section for Peter’s back-and-forth with one of the famous pastors he mentioned).
Other visiting writers went beyond evangelicalism to draw on other strands in church history, as when Joey Cochran clarified the historical meaning of the word “heresy”