Page 1 of Jared Wilson's writing

1. Kill Your Idols, Part 1: Spiritless Spirituality We were made to worship. We can't not worship. Attribute it to that "God-shaped hole" or whatever, but because God made us for relationship with him, and since God designed us to desire connection with something outside of ourselves (ideally... (posted by Jared 3 years 218 days ago.)

2. 20 Ways to Smoke Cigars to the Glory of God In 1874, Christian World Magazine reported a curious exchange between itinerant preaches Dwight Pentecost and Charles Spurgeon taking place upon a joint appearance at a worship service. Pentecost included in his sermon an impassioned tale of... (posted by Jared 3 years 223 days ago.)

3. The Sovereignty of God and the Washing of Dishes "We need to accept that God's lordship extends over every area of our lives. This means there is no act so mundane that it lies outside the scope of the gospel." -- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church One of the attendant aims of missional... (posted by Jared 3 years 225 days ago.)

4. Is Being a Stay-at-Home Dad a Sin? (Part 2) In Part 1 , I meant to lay out a basic biblical framework for response to the titular question. I outlined the gists (as I see them) of the main go-to Scriptural texts for the issue: Titus 2:3-5, Proverbs 31, 2 Thessalonians 3:10, and especially 1... (posted by Jared 3 years 231 days ago.)

5. Is Being a Stay-at-Home Dad a Sin? (Part 1) Sometimes it is. Before my wife Becky and I married, we were agreed that day care was not an option for our future children; neither was a nanny or in-home care provided by a third party. I don't believe this decision is easy or preferable for... (posted by Jared 3 years 236 days ago.)

6. Social Justice, False Dichotomies, and the Myth of Conservative Apathy I am tired of the either/or game. This year's presidential election may see the largest divide yet between self-identifying evangelical Christians at the voting booth. In one sense this is a very good thing. The increasing number of erstwhile... (posted by Jared 3 years 239 days ago.)

7. Five Ways to Feel Scripture Many of us read the Bible, and many of us do not. Many of us go into Bible reading looking for anything but transformation, which is unfortunate, given that transformation is the primary reason the written word of God exists. Devotional... (posted by Jared 3 years 246 days ago.)

8. Grace and "The Little Red Hen" Can I tell you that I hate the folktale of "The Little Red Hen"? I do not like it, for although I know the morals it hopes to teach are good ones (against laziness, for work and cooperation), the climactic delivery actually teaches a very... (posted by Jared 3 years 250 days ago.)

9. Five Missional Practices You Can Do Now The larger the church, the longer it will take and the more complex it will be to transition from an attractional or somewhat insulated congregation into a missional community. The more entrenched in the systems and management of the church... (posted by Jared 3 years 252 days ago.)

10. Missional and Attractional, Part 8 We all like shiny things. And we are all highly suggestible. If this were not true, companies would not continue paying millions of dollars year after year to advertise for us. For some, showing a slick new product in an athlete's capable hands is... (posted by Jared 3 years 260 days ago.)

11. Thoughts on the Christian Marketplace I have previously offered a broad semi-defense of the Christian subcultural marketplace . Now I'd like to offer some more targeted thoughts expanding and elaborating on the general ideas expressed there. But let's first establish what exactly... (posted by Jared 3 years 265 days ago.)

12. Cultural Engagement and the Christian Market Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but the call for Christian artists to properly "engage the culture" is starting to sound more odd and less informed to me. I include myself in the crowd of those calling for engagement with the culture... (posted by Jared 3 years 271 days ago.)

13. Dude, Where's My Gospel?: The Good News Imperative My family made the very difficult and emotional decision of breaking fellowship with our last church for several reasons, but the most important one, and the one that would have done it by itself, was the persistent neglect of gospel-centered... (posted by Jared 3 years 278 days ago.)

14. Subverting Suburbia The suburbs smother the Christian spirit. I know, because I live in suburbia. The message of the suburbs -- heck, the message of the city too, the message of culture -- is self-empowerment. Self-enhancement. Self-fulfillment. Self is at the center... (posted by Jared 3 years 286 days ago.)

15. Missional and Attractional, Part 4 This is the fourth entry in our survey of the attractional-missional church dichotomy, during which I have been elucidating on the contrasts outlined in the following chart: In this installment, I'd like to touch on the relative ways attractional... (posted by Jared 3 years 288 days ago.)