An astounding 16 million soldiers, sailors and Marines served America in the Second World War.
And while most of our focus on World War II is on the military and combat, within the United States, there was an effort to support the war unlike anything our nation had seen or has seen since.
With millions going overseas, Americans at home took up new jobs.
Coming out of the Great Depression, unemployment dried up, reaching an all time low in 1944.
The war effort affected virtually every facet of American life. Companies shifted their manufacturing efforts to supporting the war and supplying the military. Maytag went from making washing machines to making parts for airplanes. Firestone Tires made artillery shells and aluminum containers for food transport.
Products like sugar, butter, bacon, and cheese were rationed. As were penicillin and other medicines, along with rubber and certain types of metals. Materials for clothing such as silk and nylon were needed for uniforms. Everything went to supporting a cause that was so much bigger than any one person.
And everyone’s contributions mattered.
To help pay for the war, the government sold war bonds. Over 85 million Americans purchased war bonds to help fund the effort. To put that in perspective, that was more than half of the entire United States population at the time.
An incredible effort.
The church has a mission
As Christians, we too are called to be part of a cause that is far bigger than any of us, but where everyone has a role, where everyone has a job to do, where everyone has a way to serve.
The mission of God on earth.
And that mission is to spread the gospel. To make disciples. To build up the church. To love one another.
It’s not a passive request in scripture, nor is it a good suggestion, but something which God commands from all of his people.
If you’re a person who has placed faith in Jesus, this applies to you.
As the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
You belong to Jesus when you place your faith in him.
And part of the purpose of the Christian life is one that is lived in service of God for the mission of God in the world.
You were made to have an impact
Do you ever feel like you were made for something great?
Do you ever feel like you were meant to have an impact?
You are made for more, you are made to do great things, you are born to have an impact in the world.
An impact for Jesus.
We can try to build our own kingdoms, we can try to collect our own toys, we can try to control and manipulate the circumstances in our lives to make us feel secure.
We can do those things.
But we were made to serve the mission of Christ in the world.
And that includes sharing the gospel, making disciples, making Jesus known, growing together as His Church, and serving God.
As a church, every person in the church is called to use the ways God has gifted and equipped them for the purpose of serving God and building up the church.
That’s why we’re here.
Writing to the Church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul said:
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Maybe you’ve never really thought about that.
But all Christians are given Spiritual gifts.
Doesn’t matter how well you know the Bible.
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian. There’s no probationary period before you can God.
It doesn’t matter how smart you are, or how outgoing you are, or how many people you know.
It doesn’t matter how talented you think you are.
If you’re a Christian, God has given you gifts to serve him and build up his church.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have nothing to offer.
I think that’s the reason why some people don’t serve.
It’s nonsense.
Because everyone here has much to offer. Much to contribute.
It can be easy to see a really talented pastor, a really gifted musician, someone who’s really outgoing, and to feel insecure about what you have to offer.
But the unsung heroes are the backbone of congregations, people faithfully and humbly serving. Books get written about generals, but the real work is done by soldiers.
Originally posted May 13, 2019
Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe!
As 2018 comes to a close, I wanted to take a look back at some of the top stories impacting Christianity in 2018.
1. The death of Billy Graham
Arguably the leading figure in American Christianity of the 20th century, evangelist Billy Graham died on February 21 at the age of 99.
In an era when so many churches are rocked by sin and scandal, Billy Graham was respected by both Christians and non-christians for his integrity.
In an era where sexual harassment is rampant in seemingly every sphere of life, Billy Graham vowed to never spend time alone with a woman who was not his wife, mother, or daughter.
In an era where many of our most famous pastors live in mansions, Billy Graham vowed to not live lavishly.
In an era where there is so much hype, Billy Graham didn’t exaggerate attendance figures at his crusades.
In a Gallup poll of the most respected men in the world, Billy Graham made the top 10 a remarkable 50 times (read more).
2. LGBT issues and the church
The third anniversary of the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage in America came in June. One story that helps illustrate the conflict of the church an the culture is the story of Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker who famously refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding. In June, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Phillips.
In August, Phillips was again defending himself after a lawyer sought legal action against Phillips for refusing to bake a cake in honor of the lawyer (who’s transgendered) transition anniversary.
3. Sex abuse scandal in the American Catholic Church
It’s been a rough few months for the Catholic Church in America, largely because of self-inflicted wounds. In July, the New York Times ran a cover story alleging sexual abuse of a Catholic seminarian perpetrated by Theodore McCarrick, a Catholic Cardinal, who had retired as the archbishop of Washington D.C. in 2006. Shortly after the Times story was released, McCarrick resigned as a cardinal. He’s the highest ranking American Catholic to have been accused of abuse. But there were also Catholic leaders who say that they had heard of these allegations and reported them up the chain, prior to the July story.
In August, Carlo Vigano, who had served as the archbishop nuncio to the United States (basically the Vatican ambassador to America) wrote that he had previously reported on McCarrick, as had Vigano’s predecessor. The abuses were swept under the rug.
There were several stories about Vigano this summer. Vigano is a pretty credible person to be making those claims. Vatican gave smoke and mirrors. Pope Francis asked people to pray for the Catholic Church in these “attacks from the devil.”
Chicago archbishop Blasé Cupich brushed off Vigano saying: “The pope knows we have a bigger agenda. We have to speak about the environment, about the poor, we have to reach out to people who are marginalized in society. We cannot be distracted at this moment,”
The hits kept coming.
In August, a Grand Jury Report came out in Pennsylvania, investigating eight of Pennsylvania’ diocese. They found evidence spanning decades of hundreds of priests allegedly sexually assaulting over a thousand children.
When that report was released, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro talked about a “sophisticated cover up,” and claimed they even had evidence that the Vatican was aware of the cover up.
Pennsylvania had been the former stomping grounds of Cardinal Donal Wuerl, who had succeeded McCarrick as the archbishop of Washington D.C. Wuerl had previously been archbishop of Pittsburgh and was one of the names named by Vigano. Wuerl resigned in October.
In November, authorities in Houston raided the offices of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who’s the archbishop of the Houston-Galveston Catholic Dioceses. Being the archbishop of the fourth largest city in America is pretty significant, but DiNardo is also the President of the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The raid was related to the Houston diocese handling of sexual assault allegations against a local priest named Manuel La Rosa-Lopez.
Next February, the Vatican is hosting a summit on these clerical abuses. This week, Blase Cupich (Mr. Environment) was tapped as one of the organizers for the summit. I was immediately skeptical of this selection. In addition to talking about how the Pope had to focus on the environment (something he doesn’t’ control) rather than being troubled with an imploding sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic Church (something he does control), said they weren’t “going to go down a rabbit hole” on Vigano’s credible allegations.
It all seems reactionary and slow to come. And my concern is that it still won’t fix the problems. People can try to dismiss these issues as being things that happened a long time ago, but when many of the higher ups within the church are being shown to have had knowledge (or in McCarrick’s case, to be the perpetrator), it remains a major crisis (read more).
4. American pastor freed by Turkish government
Facebook
October 12
The Turkish government released American pastor Andrew Brunson after more than two years in custody.
Brunson was arrested in the aftermath of a failed coup on the Turkish government and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Brunson had nothing to do with the coup. At the time, he had been in the country for over 20 years serving as a pastor and was taken as a political prisoner.
There had been several times over the past year where Brunson’s release seemed possible, but the Turkish government and courts were resistant. In July, Brunson was allowed to go on house arrest (read more).
5. American missionary murdered on remote island
November 17
An American missionary, John Allen Chau lost his life on a remote island off the coast of India last week.
His goal was to share the gospel with the Sentinelese tribe. Their island is a protected area, which is isolated from the outside world. The tribe has also been violent towards visitors in the past.
Chau attempted going to the island and the Sentinelese shot arrows at him, forcing Chau to flee. But he returned again, tragically losing his life (read more).
6. Willow Creek sexual misconduct and fallout
A long investigative story from the Chicago Tribune reports on several allegations of moral filings from Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of Willow Creek, a suburban Chicago church which is one of the largest churches in America (read more).
The article says:
The alleged behavior included suggestive comments, extended hugs, an unwanted kiss, and invitations to hotel rooms. It also included an allegation of a prolonged consensual affair with a married woman who later said her claim about the affair was not true, the Tribune found.
More fallout continued into the summer. A New York Times story in August included further allegations. Willow Creek teaching pastor Steve Carter resigned.
The leadership of Willow had been informed about these allegations four years ago and did very little to take them seriously. They did an internal investigation, but internal investigations can be hard when their is an internally vested interest in clearing someone of wrongdoing.
Two days later, on August 9, Willow Creek’s other lead pastor and elder board resigned.
Willow Creek was not the only church to have sexual assault issues come to light. In the continuing fallout of the #metoo movement, a separate move started within the church called #churchtoo.
7. Megachurch pastor takes his own life
Andrew Stoecklein was pastor of Inland Hills Church in Chino, California. Stoecklein had struggled with depression and had taken leave from the church this summer (read more).
8. Survey reveals pervasive heretical beliefs in the American Church
Working with Lifeway Research, Ligonier Ministries recently released the third installment of their “State of Theology” survey.
Part of the goal is to find out what American Chrstians “believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible.” Lifeway polled 3,000 Americans in the survey.
The results were troubling.
Many people in the poll have unbiblical views on moral issues. For instance, 46% of people ages 18-34 believe that gender is a matter of personal choice. 38% disagreed that abortion is a sin.
But what is even more concerning than views on moral issues is views which are heretical. For the question, “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.” 78% agreed with that statement.
Other key doctrines where people disagreed with Biblical teachings included undermining that humans have a sinful nature. 53% of respondents agreed with the statement “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.”
51% of respondents believed that a person can be saved who follows a religion besides Christianity. 58% believed that “worshipping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church” (read more).
9. Beth Moore calls out misogyny within Evangelical Christianity
Over the last generation, Beth Moore has been one of the most prominent female leaders and speakers in American Evangelical circles. Her Bible studies are hugely popular among women. She’s the founder of Living Proof Ministries, a ministry for women based out of Houston.
She’s not a pastor. She’s an author and speaker.
Although she’s popular in Evangelical circles, she’s not universally supported. Some of the criticisms of her theology include that it’s a prosperity gospel or that it’s intellectually light theology.
In writing, Moore talks about some of the misogynistic treatment she’s received over the years. Considering the divergent opinions within Christian circles on women in leadership, Moore’s letter talks about how she had chalked up some of her treatment as being a byproduct of deeply rooted Biblical convictions among sincere Christians with whom she simply disagreed.
From the letter:
I accepted the peculiarities accompanying female leadership in a conservative Christian world because I chose to believe that, whether or not some of the actions and attitudes seemed godly to me, they were rooted in deep convictions based on passages from 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14.
As Moore continues to elaborate, she talks of coming to a realization that it wasn’t simply about differences in opinion.
I came face to face with one of the most demoralizing realizations of my adult life: Scripture was not the reason for the colossal disregard and disrespect of women among many of these men. It was only the excuse. Sin was the reason. Ungodliness.
Our culture largely disrespects women. The #metoo movement showed the rampant sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood. As the movement spread, more and more areas of life came to light that were stained by the mistreatment of women. The #churchtoo movement showed further examples of assault and harassment from within the church. Obviously we knew that there were issues but these movements have created a national dialogue.
While Moore’s post dealt more with misogyny than sexual assault, both are a reflection of a culture which far too often devalues women.
10. Death of Eugene Peterson
October 22
Eugene Peterson, pastor, professor, and writer passed away today at the age of 85 after battling dementia and heart failure.
Peterson authored 35 books in his lifetime. The most popular among them was The Message, which has sold over 20 million copies. The Message is a paraphrase translation which attempts to capture the idea of a Biblical verse and not necessarily the exact wording (read more).
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
Much has been said about John Chau, the American missionary who lost his life when trying to approach the Sentinelese tribe, who live on a remote island off the coast of India.
There are different camps people fall into with this story. I wrote about this last week. Some people looked at a story of a Christian going to another part of the world to try to reach others with the gospel with such scorn that they practically celebrated his death.
I literally saw people comment that they weren’t even sorry for him. I think that’s pretty sick.<!–more–>
Others were apathetic to his death because he was exposing people to diseases. I’m not a doctor, he might have been, however he had been heavily immunized and even spent time in quarantine before going. At the very least, it seems that Mr. Chau was thoughtful to avoid that (and he had also received medical training).
I’ve been critical of the methods used to approach the Sentinelese people. I still do believe that things could have been approach in a manner of better judgment, especially once the situation was obviously perilous. But I also might have been unfair in my initial assessment.
From the available information, Chau had put a great deal of thought into this trip. It wasn’t throw together on a whim. He had planned for this trip. He had trained for this trip. I always thought his desire was admirable: reaching people with the gospel who had never been reached with it.
It’s a complicated story because people fall into many camps. There is the aforementioned group who are hostile to the gospel and its spread. There are people who aren’t necessarily hostile to the gospel but who were opposed to this particular effort because of the risk of disease.
But Christians also have differing opinions. I think we should remember the good things about Chau’s effort: having a desire to reach the lost with the gospel. He was in an extreme situation but so many of us aren’t even willing to share the love of Jesus with a friend or neighbor because we’re so uncomfortable.
As I’ve said, I think that there is room to question some of these methods. Not even to bad mouth a young man who lost his life, but just in terms of evaluating missiological strategies. Ed Stetzer, who’s a missiologist and author noted a couple of Bible verses that apply to this situation. In Matthew 10:14, Jesus told his disciples: “if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.”
There is a lot of hatred in the world. Missionaries and Christians lose their lives and are persecuted for their faith.
I still think it’s fair to question if Christians should deliberately put themselves in positions where they are facing almost certain death?
It appears that Chau never had any sort of end with the Sentinelese people. Perhaps more information will come out, but standard avenues to try to reach and positively interact with a society seemed to be closed off.
Christians should pray for the Sentinelese people, and to pray for John Chau’s family.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
An American missionary, John Allen Chau lost his life on a remote island off the coast of India last week.
His goal was to share the gospel with the Sentinelese tribe. Their island is a protected area, which is isolated from the outside world. The tribe has also been violent towards visitors in the past.
Chau attempted going to the island and the Sentinelese shot arrows at him, forcing Chau to flee. But he returned again, tragically losing his life.
I’m conflicted about this story. It is certainly very unfortunate that this man lost his life. I appreciate that he had a desire to go somewhere and share the love of Jesus with people who didn’t know it. (more…)
Hopes dashed today. American missionary and pastor Andrew Brunson has been imprisoned in Turkey since 2016 for allegations of espionage and terrorism.
Brunson is an innocent man who has served as a pastor and missionary in Turkey for 23 years. He is a hostage in a political game where the Turkish government is trying to swap Brunson for a Turkish cleric who is residing in the United States.
Brunson was taken into custody in 2016 for allegedly being part of a coup against the Turkish president however the “evidence” against him comes from anonymous sources. The 50 year old pastor faces 35 years in prison.
This week, he was on trial, and there was hope that he could be released. Several American officials have visited Brunson.
Today, Brunson was sent back to jail with his next trial date not coming until October.
Brunson has said: “I desperately miss my wife and children. Yet, I believe this to be true, it is an honor to suffer for Jesus Christ, as many have before me. My deepest thanks to all those around the world who are standing with and praying for me.”
Brunson is unjustly being persecuted but it is encouraging to hear of his steadfast hope in the gospel in spite of his circumstances.
The Apostle Paul was wrongly imprisoned more than once during his ministry.
Writing the Letter to the Philippians from prison, Paul said:
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
-Philippians 1:12-14
Paul was in a difficult situation but took advantage of where he was for the sake of advancing the gospel.
As counterintuitive as it is, it’s often in the face of persecution that the gospel spreads. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, ““Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).
Prayers for you Pastor Andrew. The Lord be with you.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
