Why I’m Losing My Millennium

Whether or not this is the apocalypse, there are more important things afoot.

Years ago, an academic colleague of mine was asked by his tenure committee about his views of the Millennium—the thousand-year reign of Christ described in Revelation 20. Was he a premillennialist, meaning that he thought that Jesus would return before this literally understood thousand-year period, or was he an amillennialist, believing the thousand-year reign refers symbolically to Christ’s rule from heaven now? My friend gave his view—I don’t remember what it was—then said, “But I’m not sure I would hold onto that under persecution.” The committee erupted in laughter.

The Millennium is not a primary or secondary or maybe even tertiary doctrine of the Christian faith. Those committed to the same robust orthodoxy have held varying views—and maybe have all the way back to the days of Origen and Irenaeus. I was always on the side of the premillennialists. I even wrote a chapter in a book defending the view and taught it to my students every semester for 20 years.

Many have referred to the past couple of years as an “apocalypse.” Some use the word just to mean “akin to a dystopian movie.” But others, mostly Christians, have pointed to the word’s actual meaning—an unveiling. We have seen awful things uncovered. People we thought were prophets and pastors turned out to be predators. Thousands of our neighbors died gasping for air, while others screamed at one another about whether to wear masks or get vaccines. Churches and denominations and even families split in a way we never would have imagined a decade ago—not over modernism versus fundamentalism, but over our differing views about a minor character in the movie Home Alone 2.

But …

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Christians Are Going Back to Church—But Maybe Not the Same One

Amid all the moves and changes of the past two years, many congregations saw turnover accelerate.

Houston Northwest Church suffered heavy damage from Hurricane Harvey in 2017. By the time its flooded facilities were finally rebuilt a couple years ago, the congregation was only back at full capacity for six weeks before services were shut down by the pandemic.

As the church endured one setback after another, senior pastor Steve Bezner has seen the flock ebb and flow.

“About a third of our congregation worshiping in person are new faces,” he said.

His church currently draws 1,600 attendees each week, including several hundred viewing online—not far from its pre-pandemic weekly average of 1,700. Bezner marvels at the number of members who left during the pandemic and the number of new people who have showed up to take their place.

“It will make you believe in the preservation of the Holy Spirit,” the Houston pastor said.

Member turnover is as common to the life cycle of a church as baptisms, weddings, and funerals. But the pandemic has accelerated people’s comings and goings and has required new strategies to welcome and assimilate new members into the church community. These tasks have been complicated by evolving COVID-19 precautions and the challenge of identifying who still belongs to the church, when many continue to worship online.

“Not gathering stirred up these questions,” said Steve Smith, executive pastor of Highpoint Church in Naperville, Illinois. “The gospel hasn’t changed, and we are still Bible-centric, but how we engage people is changing.”

COVID-19 has propelled people toward life change of all kinds over the past two years, including career shifts, new relationships, and relocation. Some changes have been out of necessity and some out of new priorities; …

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Listener Questions on Insurrection, Hellfire, Climate Change, and More…

Russell Moore responds to your questions.

How should Christians think about the insurrection at the Capitol one year later? What’s the point of reading those long genealogies in Scripture? Do leaders in ministry have to use social media?

On this week’s Q&A episode of The Russell Moore Show, Moore answers these questions and more. Tune in for an episode that speaks to timely issues with timeless wisdom.

  • How should Christians think about the insurrection at the Capitol one year later?
  • Is it necessary to read the lineages in the Bible?
  • How does Moore handle the challenges that come with speaking publicly, especially on social media?
  • If a husband and wife have clear consciences about sterilization, and they agree that they aren’t going to have any children (or any more children), which spouse should undergo a procedure?
  • Who is God, and how do I figure it out?
  • How do I begin a gospel conversation with someone who doesn’t believe the Bible?
  • What is a Christian perspective on climate change/the floods, fires, and droughts happening all over the world?

Do you have a question for Russell Moore? Send it to questions@russellmoore.com.

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“The Russell Moore Show” is a production of Christianity Today

Chief Creative Officer: Erik Petrik

Executive Producer and Host: Russell Moore

Director of Podcasts: Mike Cosper

Production Assistance: CoreMedia

Coordinator: Beth Grabenkort

Producer and Audio Mixing: Kevin Duthu

Associate Producer: Abby Perry

Theme Song: “Dusty Delta Day” by Lennon Hutton

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Church Leaders Are Still Waiting for Volunteers to Come Back

Gallup survey found involvement in religious service dropped again in 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing many churches and ministries to rethink how they recruit, train, and maintain the fleet of volunteers they need.

Volunteering for religious organizations dropped during the first year of the pandemic, when in-person services were canceled and outreach events were put on hold, and has continued to decline.

According to Gallup, 35 percent of Americans reported volunteering for a religious organization last year, down from 38 percent in 2020 and 44 percent in 2017.

“A recovery in volunteering may be more elusive as concerns about COVID-19 exposure and public health safety measures limit Americans’ willingness and ability to perform volunteer work,” the researchers wrote.

A lot of churches saw their longtime, reliable volunteers back away from their roles because their age put them at risk, said Chuck Peters, director of the kids ministry team at Lifeway Christian Resources.

Even those who remain willing to serve can be unpredictable; the likelihood of illness or exposure at home, especially during COVID-19 surges, has meant more volunteers are calling out sick when leaders are strapped for help. Plus, church attendance is down overall, though nearly all churches have reopened.

In a Lifeway survey last spring, pastors listed committed volunteers among the biggest needs for their churches. Over three quarters of US pastors said they were concerned about developing leaders and volunteers, as well as people’s apathy and lack of commitment. Over two-thirds said training current leaders and volunteers was a concern.

“A lot of churches lost their long-term, reliable, go-to people and were left with no one. That’s been the challenge. Where do you look …

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Faith Leads Doctor Back to Zimbabwe

Amid ongoing turmoil in national health system, orthopedic surgeon practices “practical Christianity.”

Tongai Chitsamatanga just finished treating an 8-year-old with dislocated hips, two children with bone infections, and another two with clubfoot.

It’s hard work, requiring great patience and greater skill. The 41-year-old doctor could be earning a lot more for his expertise at his old hospitals in Oxford and Derby, United Kingdom. But instead he is here, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in a 13-bed children’s hospital that opened in April 2021.

He personally doesn’t think the decision is that hard to explain, though.

“To me that is practical Christianity,” Chitsamatanga told CT. “Rather than saying you’re Christian and having nothing to show for it.”

Chitsamatanga is one of just two pediatric orthopedic surgeons in a country of more than 15 million. The other, his colleague Rick Gardner, is an expatriate.

The two work at CURE Zimbabwe, the only place in the country offering care for children with complicated conditions such as clubfoot, knock knees, and bowed legs. The newly opened children’s hospital, which has three operating theaters and an outpatient clinic, is one of eight that the Christian nonprofit CURE International operates around the world.

Poor pay and working conditions have triggered an exodus of qualified health workers from Zimbabwe. More than 2,200, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists, left government service last year, according to the government’s Health Services Board. The figure is more than double that of 2020, and nearly triple that of 2019.

Last July, the city of Harare announced that 240 nurses had left its service and in October local reports said nine clinics had closed due to staff shortages.

The situation is likely to worsen in the wake of the COVID-19 …

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No, Religious Freedom Doesn’t Send People to Hell

Why Christians should support our government staying out of religious affairs.

This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

Last week an old video resurfaced on Twitter in which John MacArthur, pastor of Los Angeles’s Grace Community Church, announced he did not support religious freedom. In the clip, MacArthur argued that supporting religious freedom promotes idolatry and enables the kingdom of darkness—that “religious freedom is what sends people to hell.”

Some reports contend that quote is out of context, fitting as it does in a larger argument. Even so, this kind of argument against religious freedom is a familiar one—usually in reference to somebody else’s religion.

Years ago, a pastor told me that religious freedom is essentially the affirmation of the words of the Serpent, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). To grant religious freedom for false religions, this person contended, is the equivalent of allowing the prophets of Baal have a place of their own on Mount Carmel.

These are certainly statements of strong conviction—like propositions of biblical truth for to which the only appropriate response should be a loud “Amen!” That is, until one actually listens to what is being said and hears it for what it is: theological liberalism.

Religious freedom, after all—whether as articulated by the early British Baptists, the persecuted Anabaptists of the Reformation era, or the colonial American evangelists and their allies—has never been a “You believe in Baal; I believe in God; what difference does it make?” kind of pluralism.

The question of religious freedom is who should have regulatory power over religion. If you believe religion shouldn’t be regulated by the state, then …

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As COVID-19 Death Tolls Rise, More Americans Want Religious Funerals

The trend toward secular memorials reverses for the first time in a decade.

Death abounded in America in 2020 and 2021. According to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 570,000 more people died in 2020 than in 2019, with about 350,000 of those attributable to COVID-19. Another 350,000 people died from the coronavirus by the fall of 2021, bringing the death total to 700,000—and counting.

When roughly that number died over the four years of the Civil War, it had a widespread impact on American culture. Historians such as Drew Gilpin Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, say changes included increased attention to cemeteries, the rise in the importance of family photographs, and rapid growth in the popularity of practices of spiritualism, a new religious movement that claimed to help people communicate with the dead.

What impact today’s pandemic deaths will have on American culture remains to be seen. But one shift is notable now: The percentage of people age 40 and older who say that religion is “very important” in the funeral of a loved one has gone up for the first time in a decade.

The importance of religion at funerals jumped 10 percentage points in 2020, in an annual funeral industry study. It went up another 2 points in 2021.

The majority of Americans still don’t think religion is important at funerals, but a growing number are feeling a new need for it. Sarah Jones, an atheist raised in a strict evangelical home, wrote about this experience in New York Magazine, reflecting on the lack of a memorial for her grandfather.

“I could plant a flag for my grandfather … but the gesture feels thin,” she wrote. “I don’t know what exactly I would want from a memorial—whether …

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Wanted: Church Planters. Reward: $50,000.

Q&A with Acts 29 president Matt Chandler on assessing narcissists, the challenge of COVID-19, and new opportunities for vibrant churches.

Acts 29 announced a new funding initiative today to encourage more church planting in 2022. The network, which includes more than 700 churches in 44 countries, will give newly affiliated planters two gifts of $25,000 to help them get started. Currently, there are more than 500 men going through the Acts 29 assessment and affiliation process.

CT talked to Acts 29 president Matt Chandler about the challenges of church planting in 2022, how the assessment process has changed in response to reports of abuse and narcissism, and what he’s learned in 10 years at the helm of Acts 29.

How has the pandemic impacted church planting?

By and large, the network did very well through COVID-19. If you were in week two of gathering and you were at a school, all of that stopped immediately and it was hard to get back into the schools, because they basically shut down for the rest of the year. If you were a more established church, you tended to do a lot better.

We didn’t have a ton of churches die—not as many as you might think—and then we got to serve the communities that we were in.

What other challenges are you facing? What is Acts 29 wrestling with in 2022?

Like everyone else, it seems, there is a lot of polarization and division right now, a lot of ideological tribes. Where churches have been healthy, they’ve navigated that well, and when maybe they haven’t been healthy, they’ve had some difficulty.

I hope and pray because A29 is deeply theologically driven, we had some of the foundations laid to be ready for this moment. A lot of churches have done a lot of work on what it means to be made in the image of God, a lot of teaching on the imago Dei, and then the imago Dei really becomes the foundation …

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Another Big Book on Paul? Bring It On!

Some thoughts from a fellow Pauline scholar on Douglas Moo’s eagerly awaited, comprehensive study of the apostle’s letters.

About a decade ago, I watched a YouTube video featuring New Testament theologian Anthony Thiselton. He was holding up one of his books (skip ahead to the 7:45 mark) and talking about how funny it is that he wrote a 1,500-page commentary on 1 Corinthians, which takes up about 13 pages in the Bible.

To most people outside the world of biblical studies, that does seem … extreme. But what can we say? Biblical scholars like Thiselton (and me) love to give careful and prolonged attention to all the details in Scripture.

Over the past few decades, the bulk of that attention seems to have been directed toward the life and writings of Paul. In 1998, James D. G. Dunn published his massive Theology of Paul the Apostle, weighing in at over 800 pages. Not to be outdone, 15 years later N. T. Wright produced double the size in his two-volume Paul and the Faithfulness of God.

As much as some might groan at the thought of reading (or reviewing!) a long book, many experts on Paul actually relish another opportunity to revisit the mystery and genius of the first and greatest Christian theologian. This describes the sense of anticipation with which I awaited a new study from Douglas J. Moo, A Theology of Paul and His Letters: The Gift of the New Realm in Christ.

General reflections

Moo is widely known for his work on Romans, articulating and defending a Reformed, evangelical interpretation for a new era. He has also written books on a wide range of New Testament topics such as eschatology, creation care, the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament, law and gospel, sin and salvation, and men and women in family and ministry. In my view, Moo shines brightest as a writer of biblical commentaries, having penned insightful studies on Romans, …

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How ‘Christian’ Overtook the ‘Protestant’ Label

When given the option, most younger believers go for a broader term.

Over the past several decades, American evangelicalism has moved away from the religious labels, symbols, and buildings that used to define church.

Many newer churches don’t contain stained glass, crosses, or traditional sanctuary setups. They tend to adopt contemporary names, leaving out denominational labels or other religious language. Along with those shifts, churchgoers have changed the way they speak about their faith; think of phrases like “It’s is not a religion; it’s a relationship.”

These trends have had a real impact on how younger people understand their religious identity. Evangelical Protestants have been debating for years over the definition and usefulness of the “evangelical” label. Now, it appears “Protestant” may be losing its place too.

New research shows that a significant portion of Americans no longer attach to the word “Protestant” the way older Americans have for generations—a finding that has implications for those who study and measure religious affiliation as well as for church communities themselves.

The insight comes thanks to a weekly survey called the Nationscape, which Democracy Fund began in mid-2019 and stands as the largest publicly available survey dataset in history, with nearly a half million people surveyed.

When asking about religion, survey administrators gave respondents the option to identify as Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Orthodox, or Christian, among other options for other faiths. It’s the “Christian” response that makes a difference. Surveys typically make people specify a tradition within Christianity. But when given the option to not choose the “Protestant” label, many who attend …

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