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Jake MeadorHistoryChurch

The Bavinck Turn - Commonplaces

In his (excellent) biography of Bavinck, James Eglinton notes a shift that happened in the great Dutch theologian around the turn of the century. Earlier in his career, Bavinck was deeply concerned with the project of reinvigorating Calvinism in the […]

Zachary McCartneyFeaturedChurch

Biblical or Institutional?: On Navigating Hard Church Decisions - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

“It’s 2022, the Bible says nothing about (Insert church action) how on earth are they still (Doing/not doing) that!” If you have spent any amount of time in a local church, you have likely heard this or some similar sentiment […]

Jake MeadorChurch

Moving On - Commonplaces

If you’ve followed the discourse around sexuality and the PCA, then you’ve likely seen Tim Keller’s recent piece, which has provoked some strong reactions within the PCA. It’s a helpful write-up of what has happened so far. This is my […]

Jake MeadorArtChurch

Every New Day, Love Song for a Savior, and Dechurching - Commonplaces

I was at the last show Five Iron Frenzy played outside Colorado. In 2004 they passed through Lincoln on their way back home for their final two shows, both played in their hometown of Denver. But before that they played […]

Jake MeadorChurch

(One Reason) Why Abuse Goes Unchecked in Churches - Commonplaces

You’re in one of these churches. You’re there on Sunday morning. You get there around 8:15 every week for coffee and donuts. Your kids go to Sunday school with friends they’ve known their whole lives. You eat your donut and […]

Jake MeadorChurch

Getting Practical About Doctors of the Church - Commonplaces

Continuing on my reflections on ecclesial renewal as it relates to Keller’s proposal, let’s keep talking about the problem of how to revitalize the lost ecclesial office, “doctor of the church.” What we know is two-fold: First, there are problems […]

Jake MeadorChurchBook Reviews

Dawson on the Other-Worldliness of Christianity - Commonplaces

Dawson: But though the religion of that age was intensely other-worldly, its other-worldliness had a very different character from much that we have come to associate with the word in its modern pietist form. It was collective rather than individualist, […]

Jake MeadorChurchBook Reviews

Dawson on How the West Got Saved - Commonplaces

Dawson: Unlike Christian Byzantium, Christian Rome represents only a brief interlude between paganism and barbarism. There were only eighteen years between Theodosius’s closing of the temples and the first sack of the Eternal City by the barbarians. The great age […]

Jake MeadorChurch

The Five Phases of Movement and Cultural Renewal - Commonplaces

Start by listening to this Mark Sayers lecture from a conference in Melbourne a few years ago. Sayers argues that one of the ways the discussion about Christianity and the west has gotten off track is that it’s not really […]

Jake MeadorChurch

The Ecosystem - Commonplaces

I see two problems that are going to catch the American church in a pincer maneuver if we don’t sort them out soon. First, our institutions are decaying, decadent, or dying and as the boomers die a lot of the […]

Jake MeadorChurch

Panopticon Discipleship - Commonplaces

(I’m just trying to do some short stuff that would’ve gone on Twitter, in much less thoughtful, developed form, on the personal blog instead.) One of the trends I have noticed in many conversations with people who have left the […]

Jake MeadorChurch

Preaching in a Disorienting, Low-Competence Society - Commonplaces

Beck: I think Newbigin was right. On Friday I was making Newbigin’s point by describing the modern world as “a moral vacuum.” And my point at the end of the post was to note that advice-giving has intrinsic appeal in […]