Best of Cerulean Sanctum 2011

About 18 months late, but here are my picks for the best Cerulean Sanctum posts from 2011:

Does Anyone Still Care About the Great Commission?
Should it seem so impossible that in a given year each adult in a church could lead one person to Christ? That this seemingly simple task isn’t even remotely accomplished should cause us to drop everything else we do as Christians and do some serious soul-searching.

Making Sense of Confusing Christian Voices
Too many “authorities” in the Church are delivering conflicting messages. How does anyone make sense of all the chatter? Here’s how…

YOU Feed Them
A song of years ago noted “we are His hands; we are His feet….” We are the Body of Christ on this earth, and the Lord expects US to make His will happen.

A Ministry of Reconciliation
Christians always seem to be fighting this issue or that person. That’s not our mission, though. We have a better calling…

The Perfect Church
Four different types of churches with four different emphases. How is it that we can’t unite all four?

Better Than a Beating
We love to beat those who don’t have their theology perfect. But here’s how a Spirit-filled couple took one newbie in the Faith and helped him get it right.

Christians I Have Known–And How to Be the Right Kind
Christians often pursue one aspect of the Faith and miss what is most important.

The Forgotten Prayer of Jesus
What it means to live a life devoted to being one in Christ.

Five Steps to Transform Your Church in Seven Months, Guaranteed
In which I suggest a Scriptural answer to a genuine problem, yet one few churches seem willing to try. And some Christians are—surprisingly—dead set against it.

A Tale of Two Messengers
An Appearance of Godliness, but Denying Its Power
Just Give Me the Book of Acts
The three posts above share a common theme about a genuine problem in the American Church: Do we believe what the Bible says about the Spirit-empowered life or don’t we?

Fear: The Ruination of the American Church
Perfect love ousts all fear. If the American Church is driven by fear, what does that say about us?

Steve Jobs, Jesus Christ, and the Bland Conformity of Western Christianity
What are people both inside and outside the Church dying to experience? How Apple’s Steve Jobs tapped into that need—and how the American Church keeps missing it.

Best of Cerulean Sanctum 2010

Tech, the Church, and the Death of Community
The possible negative results of loving technology too much—and what it means for the Church

Resigned to a Powerless Christianity?
What happens when nihilism gets ahold of young Christians.

The Christian Singles Mess
Single men are not the reason for the messed up state of singleness in today’s Church.

Sadness, Depression, and the Christian
Christians have a love/hate relationship with sadness and negative emotions. Mostly hate.

In the Land of Inconsequence
How gifted Christians go on to do nothing for the Kingdom of God.

Beating Down the Newbies
How is it that “mature” Christians so gleefully assault the “less mature” on the Internet.

The Church Beyond the Cross
Do we Christians stop at the cross and forget about living in the light of the resurrection and Pentecost?

Indoctrinating for Heaven or Hell
Everyone is being indoctrinated into heaven or hell. Are some Christians getting the hell indoctrination without their knowledge?

Fuzzy Church
The Church has one major mission. How is it that we’re doing almost everything BUT that mission?

Is Church for Believers Only?
Like the title says.

God Speaks Through Dreams
One of the most Googled posts on Cerulean Sanctum.

The Youth Ministry Problem Series

Youth ministry in the U.S. is in disarray. This series examines why.

When Being “Discerning” Isn’t Series

Why most Christian discernment is more like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And how to be more open to ideas that are different.

What You Won’t Hear Christian Leaders Say—And Why That Makes All the Difference
Jesus didn’t do anything but what He saw the Father doing. So why do we not do the same?

How the Church Can Improve Christian Education Series

A high-concept look at what is wrong with Christian Education programs in the U.S., and what to do about the problem.

Evangelicals, Elections, and Blindness to Sin
Your candidate is a sinner, but not mine—and why that mentality is hurting the Church.

Best of Cerulean Sanctum 2009

Yep, I’m a bit late to this. Forgot that I had not done a Best Of for last year. But as it is almost July, think of this as a sort of Christmas in near-July!

If you are new to Cerulean Sanctum, the Best Of links in the sidebar are a great place to start if you wish to review what’s been written here in the past. I continue to get emails from people who find this blog, then hit those links and write much how they blessed them.