Here are several Christian relief organizations responding to Japan's earthquake and tsunami disaster. Join us by praying for them and giving financially.

Churches Helping Churches

Churches Helping Churches (CHC) is working with CRASH Japan to establish a base camp near Sendai to distribute relief supplies to the community. They are appealing to their church network to take a special offering for Japan on the weekend of March 26–27. (A video will be available on their site for those who wish to show it in their services.)

Food for the Hungry

Food for the Hungry (FH) is working with local partners on the ground in northern Japan to initiate relief responses, including provision of med…

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In their 2010 year-end report, the Barna Group identified six major patterns emerging among Christians in America:

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.
2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.
6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.

Much could be said (and done!) about each of these. In response to the drift away from…

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(Click through if video doesn't appear.)

Many of you reading this are living alongside us in a post-Christian Western culture. One where the term evangelism is a bit outdated and to be missional is in vogue. Europe and North America have become more and more like a mission field—but a post-Christian, rather than pre-Christian field. We now need a more missions-like engagement even on battleground here on the home front.

There are pros and cons to the missional mindset. Our churches must pursue mission among our own people. There is always an intensifying need for the gospel around us. The danger is focusing exclusively on this to the neglect of the nations.

We can’t be truly missional without preserving a place for, and giving …

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Register now for the 2011 Conference for Pastors on The Powerful Life of the Praying Pastor.

When he was in South Africa in October, alongside giving his message at Lausanne, John Piper spoke at two smaller conferences: Piper 2 Leaders, and Rezolution 2010. We posted the audio of these Piper messages at that time.

What we didn't post (until now) was the audio of the other man who spoke at these events: Conrad Mbewe, pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia—a.k.a. the African Spurgeon.

Why is he called the African Spurgeon? The comparison isn't so new. A 2003 article in World Magazine (full text here) popularized the connection and gave some explanation:

Mr. Mbewe isn't sure why listeners compare him to the British "Prince of Preachers." Perhaps it is because Mr…

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This is our third question and answer post with Paul Miller. (Read the first and second.)

Can you give us a summary of Sonship, the discipleship course you helped put together?

I designed the Sonship course over a period of ten years from ’83-’93, but the core of it was formed in the mid-80s. Half of the sixteen lectures was dad’s and the other half was split between my mom and myself. World Harvest continued to refine the course after I left in ’97.

The heart of the Sonship course is the gospel applied to my life. We begin to mature as Christians by realizing that we don’t have it all together. So the very thing that we avoid like the plague—our weakness and our sin—is the door to gra…

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A second question and answer with Paul Miller. (Read the first.)

Your book, A Praying Life, talks about cynicism in prayer. How would you describe the problem of cynicism, and what is your advice to those who are struggling with it?

Cynicism is my biggest struggle in prayer. It is a quiet, cold rationalism that dulls the soul and just kills your walk with God. It is hard to even identify or name our cynicism because it just feels like being realistic. It says things like, “What good does it [prayer] do?” or “It [the answer to prayer] would have happened anyway.”

I think we are particularly susceptible to cynicism in the Reformed world because we are an intellectual world. We are rightly…

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This next post in our series of questions and answers with speakers at our 2011 Conference for Pastors features Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life.

Your father, Jack Miller, is well-known for his impact as a pastor, evangelist, missions organizer and author. What impact did he have on your life, especially as regards living a life of prayer?

I watched my dad become passionate about prayer during my teenage years. He learned it when he was a professor at Westminster Seminary from watching ministries in Europe, particularly Francis Schaeffer’s L’Abri in the late 60s. When Dad and I started World Harvest Mission in 1983 that became an important part of the DNA of our work. So the value…

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This is our third question and answer post with Joel Beeke on the subject of prayer (read the first and second posts).

What are some significant things you have learned from Christians abroad about prayer?

I’ve learned from the Irish to adore God Himself in prayer; from the Welsh, not to give up on praying earnestly for revival; from the Koreans, to discipline yourself to devote time to corporate prayer; and from a South African friend, the importance of intercessory prayer and maintaining a prayer list for your own spiritual benefit. 

Joel is scheduled to deliver two messages on prayer at our Conference for Pastors later this month. Register now and join us!

See the conference sp…

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