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Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

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mission

Your Child, the Martyr

February 27, 2019 by Randal

Tertullian famously said, the blood of the martyrs is seed. Indeed, the early church was built on the witness of early Christians with many giving their lives for their faith. Nor is persecution a thing of the past. Every year, thousands of Christians around the world are persecuted or even martyred for their faith. But […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: discipleship, evangelism, martyrdom, mission, witness

The Church as Tabasco Sauce

November 28, 2017 by Randal

A couple years ago I compared the Church to Tabasco sauce. In this short video I return to that spicy analogy:

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: church, ecclesiology, evangelism, missio Dei, mission, Tabasco sauce

The complex ethical problem of the Mega-Church

May 29, 2016 by Randal

The other day I had an interesting conversation with a friend who pastors a mid-sized church (approximately 400 congregants) in a major city in North America. I asked him about the impact that a new mega-church in that city has had on surrounding churches. By any conventional measure this church is a “success”. It has exploded from […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: church, consumerism, ecclesiology, ecumenism, mission

On visiting Alcoholics Anonymous. A lesson for the church?

May 20, 2016 by Randal

A friend of mine recently accompanied his friend (no, it wasn’t me) to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. My friend — let’s call him Dave — has no problem with alcohol. But Dave was deeply impacted by the group all the same, in particular the vulnerability, openness, humility, and welcome embrace extended by all those gathered. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: church, ecclesiology, missio Dei, mission

Should you risk your children getting malaria … or affluenza?

December 22, 2015 by Randal

In my most recent podcast, “Bringing the Gospel to the poorest nation on earth,” I interview Dr. Roger Chen, a missionary who works in Niger. Roger and his wife have two young children, and this prompted Ed Babinski to post the following comment: “When does missionary work also become child endangerment? It seems Dr. Chen […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: affluenza, consumerism, ethics, mission

79. Bringing the Gospel to the poorest nation on earth

December 17, 2015 by Randal

What does it mean to proclaim the Gospel? What’s that supposed to look like? Many evangelical Christians tend to think of evangelistic proclamation as proselytizing, a declaration of a set of truth claims about Jesus. While Gospel proclamation obviously includes words, this is surely only part of the message. As Ronald Sider noted some years […]

Filed Under: Podcast-The Tentative Apologist, The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Africa, community development, evangelism, mission, Niger

Rethinking short-term missions … and other forms of voluntourism

September 21, 2015 by Randal

Short-term mission trips are big business. According to a recent article in Relevant Magazine, every year in the United States more than 1.5 million people spend close to $2 billion going on a short-term mission trip. Indeed,over the last several years these trips seem to have become something of a rite of passage for young Christians […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: evangelism, mission, short-term mission, voluntourism

A More Christlike God: A (very long and detailed) Review

May 15, 2015 by Randal

Bradley Jersak. A More Christlike God, A More Beautiful Gospel. (Pasadena, CA: CWR Press, 2015). The back cover of Philip Yancey’s book What’s So Amazing About Grace? includes the following epigram: “There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less.” […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atonement, Brad Jersak, christology, evangelism, gospel, mission, redemption, salvation, theology

71. Can the Church Be Saved? A conversation with Philip Kenneson

May 10, 2015 by Randal

Last year while on vacation in the United States my family visited a church. As we walked into the building we were greeted by a large sign welcoming the visitor with this simple but striking message: “You are awesome.” Wow, that’s a good start, right? We walked into the church and sat down in the sanctuary. People […]

Filed Under: Podcast-The Tentative Apologist, The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: church, consumerism, ecclesiology, evangelism, interview, mission, Philip Kenneson, podcast

19. Mark Buchanan on becoming an Acts church

October 7, 2013 by Randal

This time on The Tentative Apologist Podcast we sit down with pastor, author, public speaker and professor Mark Buchanan. After pastoring for 17 years at New Life Community Baptist Church in Duncan, BC, Buchanan moved to Calgary, Alberta in September 2013 to become Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Ambrose Seminary. Buchanan is perhaps best known […]

Filed Under: Podcast, Podcast-The Tentative Apologist, The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: church, ecclesiology, evangelism, gospel, kingdom, Mark Buchanan, mission

If inclusivism is true does believing in Jesus still matter?

April 15, 2013 by Randal

My defense of inclusivism prompted Jason Thibodeau to comment: “If believing in Jesus is not necessary for salvation, then Christians should focus on the stuff that is necessary. Call that ‘having the appropriate relationship with Jesus Christ’ if you wish, but clearly this can be accomplish [sic] without believing in Christ.” Is Jason correct here? If […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: evangelism, inclusivism, mission

Are the missionaries bringing bad news? A misbegotten objection to inclusivism

April 13, 2013 by Randal

In my article “Why inclusivism makes sense” I explained why, er, inclusivism makes sense. I defined “inclusivism” as the view that “cognitive awareness of Christ is not necessary for salvation by Christ.” Walter replied: “If the unreached are automatically saved, then missionaries are doing people no favors by statistically increasing their chance of experiencing an […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: evangelism, exclusivism, inclusivism, mission

Would Christianity die out if Christians stopped witnessing? And if it did would that mean Christianity was false?

May 8, 2012 by Randal

John Loftus just came up with a new argument against Christianity. He summarized it like this: 1) If Christianity is true then the Christian faith will probably not die out if Christians stop proselytizing. (2) The Christian faith will probably die out if Christians stop proselytizing. (3) Therefore Christianity is false.  It is, if nothing else, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, atheism, Christianity, evangelism, John W. Loftus, mission, theism

Does universalism undermine Christian mission?

April 24, 2012 by Randal

It is a common objection to the doctrine of universal salvation. And Walter expresses it well: the Christian message loses its urgency–less pews would be filled, less tithes collected, and less need for dangerous missionary trips if everyone makes it to heaven. To put it bluntly: fear of a terrible hell fuels the growth of […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: evangelism, hell, mission, universalism

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