The Mapquest to heaven

by John Urs

mapquest.jpgEvery time I have to travel to a place where I?ve never been or I?ve not been there lately, my favorite place to find directions is mapquest. Everything looks so easy, you just key in your location and your destination and with one click you get the precious directions. You get the shortest way, the fastest way, the mileage and the time of traveling.

Sounds great no? Yes, it makes all so easy? But traveling isn?t that easy and when you start to travel you find out that there are certain unpredicted things like a traffic jam, an accident and sometimes?the wrong directions. Most of the times mapquest is giving you good directions, but sometimes you get some wrong directions too.

Continue reading “The Mapquest to heaven”

Music and theology

by Russel Cairns -M.Th.

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How has song and music been used overtime to express Christian theology and faith?

Music and song are a God created means of expressing our deepest emotions, feelings, faith and praise before God. The people of God throughout all time, regardless of location, have always expressed their faith through music and song. As Gelineau writes, ?The Christian liturgy was born singing and it has never ceased to sing.?? Yet long before the birth of Christ song and music was regarded as one of the most fundamental constituents of worship and has continued through the history of the church. Song/music was seen as a rite in the same way as prayer and communion to the point that Augustine remarked, outside scriptural reading and bishop praying,
?..is there any time when the faithful assembled in church are not singing? Truly I see nothing better, more useful or more holy that they could do.? Continue reading “Music and theology”

An unforgettable Christmas

by Vladimir Dubchak

As a preacher?s son I had to travel with my dad to different parts of USSR were dad was preaching and encouraging local churches.

It was such pleasure to travel with my dad, see him preaching and people to be saved. Sometimes trips were marked with my worries about my dad. Several times, coming through airport security, special agents would check our baggage. They would take dad aside explaining that his Bible and other religious literature were printed in Finland and is not authorized in USSR, and should be confiscated. Dad knew he had just one option how to get his Bible and other books back. He would start talk loudly about USSR constitution that guarantees freedom of religion. Finally, the crowd waiting in line would get angry at the officers and security agents would have to back away. Continue reading “An unforgettable Christmas”

Shopping for the perfect…church

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And they continued steadfastly in the apostles? doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42

We live a time of prosperity and freedom, especially in USA. We got so used with shopping options, that these become our second nature. When we want to buy something we have to make a lot of When decisions and relate our decision to price, quality, brand, etc. All these decisions have something in common: our benefit. Continue reading “Shopping for the perfect…church”

Reflection on Practice

by Florentin Clipa

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Spiritual mentoring is essentially a reflective process. Discuss the benefits and dangers of this form of ministry in the contemporary church.

Reflection is at the core in the ministry of the church, and implicitly at the core of practical theology because everything that men do, especially the Christians in their activities, must do it with a sound thinking, more precisely a theological reflection. This work attempts to show the role of reflection on practice in the ministry, the way it eveloped and grew with special emphasis on spiritual mentoring which is essentially a reflective process. To understand it well, it?s necessary to look closely on the nature of spiritual mentoring and the benefits and dangers that come into discussion. Continue reading “Reflection on Practice”

Why Salt and Light ?

by John Urs

Salt& LightWe live in a time of tremendous progress but in the same time of a tremendous moral degradation and ethical confusion. Today it is so difficult to make a distinction between right and wrong because the only moral bench-mark is the man itself and his selfish ideas.

You’ll say: “This is good, because this is a sign of a mature and free society.” In a way I can’t deny that, but unfortunately humanity proved more than once in her history that the humans can’t be objective and that’s why somebody’s freedom means somebody’s oppression and offense.

Jesus was the only one who declared the existence of an objective truth and this truth is God himself. That’s why we need to find answers for our life and behavior relating to this unchanging and objective truth.

When you’ll know the truth the truth will set you free and you’ll become more than what you’ll ever imagine: the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

The purpose of salt is to stop the process of entropy, to preserve this earth and keep it morally clean and make it a nice home for our temporary travel. The purpose of light is to enlighten the human spirit to give the man the status he had before darkness started to take over his soul, and to make him a witness of the fact that the real light can’t be found in the darkness of this age but in Jesus.

In other words the purpose of this ministry is to help people like you to make a difference in your own life and the life of others.

So help us God!