by Doug BeckerWhy Blog on This?One of the things our church is known for is preaching through books of the Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Sometimes we might only do parts of books, and sometimes we might cover a lot of text in one week, but we are thankful that the Lord has enabled us to pattern our teaching after the way God has laid things out for us in his Word. And so, in those rar...

by Walt WindishAt Easter we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Many of us proclaimed “Christ is Risen!” It’s a proclamation that is full of joy. In my last two blogs, I gave reasons why we can be assured that the joy we express in the resurrection is tied to historical reality. Today I want to ask the question, “So What?” What does the resurrection mean to Christians? To answer...

by Walt WindishIn my last blog, I looked at the importance of the testimony of 1 Corinthians 15. After restating the gospel that both he and the Corinthians “received,” Paul continued by mentioning over 500 eyewitnesses, some named specifically, noting that most were still alive at the time the epistle was written.Now I’d like to take a look at the reliability of the testimony of the apostles and ...

by Walt WindishMy Hope Is Built on Nothing Less: A Look at the Historical Fact of Christ's ResurrectionPart 1The hope of every Christian is that we will share in Christ’s victory over death and spend eternity with our maker. Biblical hope is much different than the “wishful thinking” hope our culture espouses. The Christian hope is much more than “I hope I get pizza tonight” hope. It is hope firml...

by Doug BeckerOver the past few weeks, the eyes of the world have been fixed on eastern Europe, as Russian president Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine, mercilessly attacking numerous cities and targeting civilians. This is the most aggressive military action in Europe since World War Two. The church’s response to this should be prayerful support and humanitarian actio...

by Doug BeckerNote: This essay was originally published as an appendix to Emergence's study guide for the book of Joshua in 2020.God’s commands for the Israelites to wage war against the Canaanites present one of the most difficult ethical questions for Christians who believe that the Scriptures are the revealed Word of God. These commands are carried out in the book of Joshua, and can cause deep ...

Questions surrounding race are among the most important in our current cultural landscape. Emergence's Statement on Racial Unity is intended to lay Scripturally-grounded foundation for our church as we navigate these issues.Click here to download a copy of our statement.<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0ygxi07LgU0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; ...

by Doug Becker, Pastor of TheologyAs our state begins to cautiously reopen from the Covid-19 mandated lockdown, churches are faced with numerous difficult decisions that inform how they will proceed. Emergence is no different. Because our congregation is composed of diverse people with diverse convictions, it is unavoidable that some will disagree with our decisions as to how we will reopen. If th...

Most Christian churches, Emergence included, celebrate Christmas. We decorate, we sing songs, and we have special services. We gather in our homes with our loved ones to feast and to give gifts. And we walk around wishing one another a merry Christmas.But are we right to do all this? Is it healthy for us, as disciples of Jesus, to give this holiday such an important place on our calendars, and to ...

by Donna Aust Being creatures of habit and expectancy, we often take for granted the presuppositions we hold to be true. We can overlook seemingly insignificant details in current events or characters in our favorite TV miniseries. And we might disregard obscure details surrounding familiar Bible stories we’ve learned growing up. When we bring into focus those details we have routinely dismissed, ...

by Donna Aust[20] Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. [21] “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”[22] “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they...

Donna AustThis week in our journey through Matthew, Jesus will once again put forth children as examples for his followers, preparing us for his exchange with a rich man who is unable to enter into the kingdom of God because of his wealth (Matt 19:13–30). This story also appears in Mark’s Gospel. In this article, Donna Aust examines Mark’s telling of Jesus’ encounter with these children, in order ...

Book ReviewLove Wins, by Rob BellLove Wins is a book by the popular Christian author Rob Bell, former senior pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[1] Published in 2011, the book was released to considerable fanfare, partly because Bell was already known as one of the most influential and controversial figures in American Christianity, and partly because of an attention-grabbi...

Our opinions and practices should come from a thoughtful engagement with Scripture on this topic, rather than a desire to justify a particular lifestyle or adherence to certain church traditions....

This week, we will begin studying Hebrews 11 in our community groups. This is a chapter that is all about faith, which is literally at the center of all we do and think as Christians. As we read in verse 6, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” And yet, many Christians are in the dark about what faith actually is. I would like to offer the following brief comments to put us on the right ...

A Summary of Hebrews 1–10In last week’s sermon, Ryan announced that I would be writing a “summary” of Hebrews. While I have chosen to retain the label of summary (since that’s what I told him I planned on doing!), I am well aware that a summary is supposed to be shorter than the work it purports to summarize ;-)[1] However, I have found it necessary to be more detailed than I originally intended i...

Authorship, Recipients, and Why Hebrews MattersIn our next community group season, we will be studying Hebrews 11 together as a church. This is probably the most well-known chapter in the entire book of Hebrews. In it, we are reminded of many men and women from the Old Testament who demonstrated the kind of faith that we are called to have. There is great comfort and power in knowing that others h...

Why these twenty-seven books? As a pastor, this is a question that I get quite often. If we regard the New Testament is the "final authority in faith and life," we should have good reasons for doing so. In this essay, I lay out the basis for our understanding of why these books, and these books only, belong in the collection we call the "Word of God."A Brief Word On CouncilsBefore we begin, I need...

Over the next few months, we will be learning about the ways in which God used the prophets Elijah and Elisha to call the northern kingdom of Israel to repentance. Together, their ministries spanned approximately seventy-five years, covering the reigns of five Israelite kings (Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, and Jehoahaz).[1]Here I will call to light several different points in which archaeological ...

Does the Bible condone slavery? Eventually, every thinking Christian must confront this question. For one thing, if you read your Bible on a regular basis, it is only a matter of time before you will run into passages that speak quite frankly of it, such as the laws in Exodus that govern slave-master relationships. The New Testament too has passages such as Ephesians 6:5: “Bondservants, obey your ...