Latest Articles from challies.com
Free Stuff Fridays (MBTS) | Tim Challies
This week Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For the Church Institute is a free online platform from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary designed to provide free and accessible theological training to equip, encourage, and edify local churches.
A Field Guide on Gender and Sexuality | Tim Challies
God’s design for gender and sexuality is fixed and unchanging. The way he created us is the way he means for us to live.
Protecting the Family Name | Tim Challies
It is a conversation I had with my son-in-law while he was pursuing my daughter and expressing his interest in marrying her. It is a conversation I will need to have with a second son-in-law if the day comes when he expresses his interest in marrying my other daughter.
My Most Common Pastoral Counsel | Tim Challies
Among my responsibilities as an elder/pastor within a local church is meeting with people to offer counsel and guidance.
Sunday Devotional: Every Road and Every Sea | Tim Challies
The Bible has proven its value as weaponry in the battle against spiritual foes, as a laboratory researching cures for spiritual maladies, and as a rich source of treasure in the accumulating of wisdom.
The Danger and Necessity of a Passion for Church Growth | Tim Challies
Quite a long time has passed since we witnessed the unexpected rise of a new kind of Calvinism. Few had anticipated that in the twenty-first century, so many millions of people spanning a host of nations and traditions would find themselves affirming such old and controversial doctrines.
Cognitive Decline and Common Faults | Tim Challies
When visiting a far-off church, I met a man who, with sadness, told me about his father’s final sermon. A lifelong pastor and preacher, his father had withdrawn from full-time ministry several years prior, but still preached from time to time.
The Three Greatest Enemies of Marriage | Tim Challies
Marriage brings us many joys. But since it exists in this world and not some other, it also brings its share of sorrows.
Sunday Devotional: Your Best and Worst Days | Tim Challies
There can be a subtle danger that comes with a long focus on the spiritual disciplines and the building of good habits. If we are not careful, we can begin to take a kind of comfort in our habits that makes us think they are what makes us acceptable to God.
Weekend A La Carte (July 6) | Tim Challies
A La Carte: The Kansas City Chief's kicker and reflections on motherhood / Does the Bible blame women for rape?
Molded in the Master’s Hands | Tim Challies
Peter lives in the shadow of Paul. When we think of the early church, when we think of the Apostles, when we think of the doctrine of the New Testament, our minds probably go first to Paul.
Trusting God in the Uncertainties of Life | Tim Challies
There are some things I’m good at. Whether by nature, nurture, or hard practice, I have accumulated some skills and been given some talents.
Beware of Idleness | Tim Challies
"Beware of idleness," Thomas Watson once warned, for "Satan sows most of his seed in fallow ground." Watson's warning about idleness is relevant to any area of life, and most Christians quickly come to observe the intimate relationship between idleness and temptation.
What We Cannot Escape | Tim Challies
We all long for lives that are easy. We pray for roads that are smooth, seas that are calm, flights that are untroubled by turbulence.
The Most Dangerous Thing a Christian Can Do | Tim Challies
It was one of those little pieces of information that helped clarify so much in my mind, that described through data what I had seen with my own eyes and experienced in my own ministry.
The Means and the End | Tim Challies
There is a crucial distinction between means and ends.
We Need Qualified Leadership | Tim Challies
A few days ago I happened upon the page of an especially mega-sized megachurch. The church is about to undergo a leadership transition from an older man to a younger one and a page on the site lays out the process through which this new pastor was chosen.
Do You Envy the Wicked? | Tim Challies
It takes a long time for sinful instincts to become pure, for tendencies toward what is evil to be transformed into tendencies toward what is good, lovely, and pleasing to God.
Let’s Hear It For the Second Parents | Tim Challies
While today we tend to associate step-parents with divorce, in previous centuries they were almost exclusively associated with death and with either widow- or widowerhood.
The Glorious End without the Difficult Means | Tim Challies
Just as Olympic athletes cannot realistically expect to win a gold medal unless they strictly discipline themselves toward victory, Christians cannot hope to prevail in the Christian life unless they take a serious, disciplined approach to it.