The Restoration Movement Fulfilled In Jesus ChristEdward Fudge02/08/2010 - 
The restoration ideal can serve a valuable purpose as a scraper, a handy tool for cleaning layers of dried and encrusted paint from the furniture in an attempt to make it shine as at the first. This can be done without glamorizing the first-century church beyond its true state as revealed in the New Testament. We must also remember that restoration is only a tool that can be helpful in serving God, not an end within itself. It is not the only tool, nor is it indispensable, for others may approach the Scriptures with a humble heart and learn what God ultimately desires, even if they never think in terms of "restoring" anything.
Transformed Into the Image of ... The Church?
Ben Overby
02/06/2010 - 
I must confess that I’m part of a growing number of Christ-followers exhausted by the powerlessness of our churches to both articulate the real goal of humanity and provide practical guidance toward that end. And when I say I’m exhausted, I’m not exaggerating. I’m not a virtuous man. That is to say, I’m not a good man. However, the one thing I want more than any other is to be good, to have the dispositions described by Jesus. I don’t mean that I want merely to be able to keep commandments. An old fashioned stoning can coerce people to comply. No, I want to keep the commandments because I want to keep the commandments. I want to do the right thing and want to want to do the right thing. And that’s the virtue taught by Aristotle and in an even superior manner taught and lived by Jesus. After all, it was Jesus who said we didn’t have a shot at the kingdom of heaven unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the most righteous people of his day—the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus insisted that it wasn’t enough to do the right thing. To be good people, to be filled with His joy, he insisted that our will had to be completely changed, retrained, or recreated. . . .
Many Americans Mix Religious Beliefs and Practices Pew Forum Poll Finds (Robert Mills - 12/09/2009)
New Research Explores the Long-Term Effect of Spiritual Activity Among Children and Teens (David Kinnaman - 11/16/2009)
Less Than 1/3 of Congregations Report Decline in Giving, First Half of 2009 (Adriene Davis, Molly Wade - 10/27/2009)
New Research Explores How Different Generations View and Use the Bible (David Kinnaman, Terry Gorka - 10/19/2009)
Fearless Debuts at #1 on ECPA Bestseller List (Jana Muntsinger - 10/08/2009)
All New Wineskins Archives Now Online
New Wineskins Staff
10/03/2009 - For the first time ever, all of the articles in both the online and printed editions of New Wineskins and Wineskins are available free online. You can access any edition, all the way back to the 
inaugural issue in 1992, through the Archives link at the left. Some older issues have been named or themed in order to give you a more accurate idea of content. While indexing by topic and author is still an ongoing process, you can always use the "Search" blank at the top left of any page to find articles with a keyword or an author's name. . . . ARCHIVES
Randy Cope Shares Testimony at The Branch
Randy Cope
09/30/2009 - Randy Cope, brother to editor emeritus Mike Cope, shared this powerful life story about his family following the death of son Jantsen at The Branch in Farmer's Branch, Texas in September. . . . (A YouTube video)
Movie (P)Review: Lord, Save Us From Your Followers
Larry Bridgesmith
09/23/2009
- Walking through cities and towns across America, Merchant wore a silly suit plastered with bumper stickers and icons, slogans of faith and anti-faith. He simply asked people to choose their favorite slogan or icon while the camera rolled. Some like the fish, some liked the Darwin inside the fish. Some liked the fish eating the Darwin in a fish. Most couldn’t figure what Merchant wanted, was selling or stood for. But a significant amount of conversation was stimulated. The dialogue that has been captured is riveting, convicting and shameful. The shame is that as Christians it is frightening to hear what unbelievers, former believers and yet to be believers think of Christians. Not Jesus, but Christians. Jesus comes off wonderfully well in the movie. His followers don’t. . . .
The most recent blog posts from
New Wineskins bloggers:
We are pleased to invite you to the first ever Ministers' Peacemakers Retreat in Nashville. We are presenting this jointly with CenterPeace ministries. Sally Gary who has been a presenter with ZOE since 2002 will be the main presenter during this retreat geared toward ministers. Because if your congregation hasn't already dealt with issues regarding same-sex attraction, it WILL. The goal of this retreat is to equip ministers...all ministers (worship ministers, children's ministers, preaching ministers, youth ministers, etc.) to be better prepared to with these issues as they arise.
Conference Session Audio AvailableZOE Group Staff10/28/2009 - Audio recordings on CD of the most recent conference sessions are now available by order at this page . . . . ORDER AUDIO
The ZOE Group announces the return of the "Growing Deeper" component of the two Spiritual Deepening programs with Randy Harris, Jackie Halstead, Gary Holloway, and Rhonda Lowry. You know you want to be shaped into the image of Christ, and you want to go deeper into the disciplines and practices of Christian spirituality . . . but you want direction throughout the year. That's what The ZOE Growing Deeper Spirituality Program is designed to help you do. . . . MORE
A quotation from the Savior for today,
A thought-provoking quote from New Wineskins writing contributors and a link to the full article containing it:
Mission-Minded Minister
Demonstrated Expertise
Teacher Like Paul Was
Choosing Between Law and Love
Woman Seeking Ministry Position
Church Strategic Process Facilitator
Seeking Women's Ministry Position
Bad Pastor Seeks Good Home
Servant Seeking ...
Worship Minister Position Sought
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