You Can Follow Jesus Without a Church. You Just Won’t Do It Well.
Church attendance doesn’t save you. But you weren’t built to follow Jesus alone either. What one sentence from my ten-year-old daughter taught me about why we need each other.
Church attendance doesn’t save you. But you weren’t built to follow Jesus alone either. What one sentence from my ten-year-old daughter taught me about why we need each other.
I thought losing my ministry meant God was finished using me. Instead, He began opening doors I never expected and teaching me that a position and a calling are not the same thing.
I once read Jesus’ words, “I was in prison and you came to me,” from the outside. Then I experienced them from behind the walls. Now the parable of the sheep and the goats is challenging me to put faith, love and compassion into action.
Transformed by the Messiah by Rabbi Jason Sobel explores the Jewish roots of Jesus and the connections between the Old and New Testaments. Here’s what I learned while studying the book alongside a group of men from The Redeemed.
I’ve spent the last while getting stronger in my health, marriage, and faith. But maybe getting stronger was never supposed to be the finish line. Jesus didn’t stay on the mountain, and I’m realizing I’m not supposed to either.
I’ve been a Christian for years, and I still have moments when my first reaction isn’t grace. Here’s what one bad weekend taught me about the fight that doesn’t end at salvation.
Peter denied Jesus beside a charcoal fire. After the resurrection, Jesus met him beside another one—not to shame him, but to restore him. This reflection explores failure, family wounds, and the grace that says you are not disqualified or finished.
Some of my closest friends ended up on the back burner — not because of anything they did, but because I needed to change. This is the honest, uncomfortable side of growing closer to God: it can cost you relationships you never wanted to lose.
Nobody accidentally becomes close to God. Left alone, we drift toward comfort, distraction, and excuses — and calling it “waiting” doesn’t change what it is. This is what I’ve learned about choosing Christ on purpose, one daily decision at a time, and the people God has used to change what my heart actually wants.
“Oh, he reads godly books now.” Said with just enough of a smirk that you’re not supposed to notice it landed. Living your faith out loud costs you something — sometimes people, sometimes comfort. Here’s what I’ve learned about staying Christlike through it.