Tullian Tchividjian's Blog, page 43

This Is The Way It Ought To Be

Given the amount of attention and feedback we've received this week with regard to removing the "traditional/contemporary" split in worship at Coral Ridge in favor of a blended format (you can read about it here), I thought it would be a good idea to do a follow-up post going into even more detail regarding why we made the decision we made. Later this week I'll do a post answering some of the questions we've been asked.

First of all, this was not first and foremost a music decision. It was a g...

We Are One

Today was a monumental, historic day at Coral Ridge.

For many years Coral Ridge had two very distinct worship services–one contemporary and one traditional. The result was the unintentional development of two different churches under one roof. It wasn't healthy. So back at the end of Spring we started talking about what we could do to unify our one large church.

Given our desire to re-plant Coral Ridge around a holistic and comprehensive understanding of the gospel we concluded that we needed t...

Tim Keller's Foreword To Unfashionable

My much admired friend Tim Keller greatly honored me when he agreed to write the foreword to my book Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different. The book is my attempt to unpack the complex relationship between the church and contemporary culture in an accessible way. Tim's astute and balanced perspective on these issues is clearly and concisely laid out in the foreword. Here it is:

Tullian Tchividjian bravely steps into the one of the hottest debates in contemporary...

Worship Is A Big Deal: Part 6

(This is the final part of a 6 part series I've done on corporate worship. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.)

When we gather together for worship, we ought to come reaching up, starved for God, ready to feast together on the good news that, in the person of Jesus Christ, God has descended to us because we could never ascend to him. Feasting on God's gospel together through prayer and preaching, sacrament and singing, provides us with the faith, hope, and love we need to be good ...

A Call For Missionary Minded Churches

Lesslie Newbigin (1909- 1998) played a vital role in helping the church understand the intersection of theology and mission–specifically the mission of Jesus Christ to the complexities of modern Western culture. A missionary himself to India, he was a contextual theologian par excellence. He understood long before most that Christians are to be good interpreters not only of Scripture but also of culture. He understood that God wants us to be like the men of Issachar, "who had understanding...

Reversing The Fall And Setting Creation Free

When taking a road trip, we need to have a clear understanding of where we're going. If we don't, we'll have a difficult and frustrating journey. Throughout the Bible, God's people are given glimpses of their final destination. They're given a road map that tells them where they are going–not only how they're to behave along the way.  And (this might surprise you) the final destination for those who know God is not heaven!

So, if you're struggling in the valley and need some perspective–a...

Worship Is A Big Deal: Part 5

(Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4)

A gospel-fueled worship service is a service where God serves the gospel to sinners in need of rescue—and that includes both Christians and non-Christians. Churches for years have struggled over whether their worship services ought to be geared toward Christians (to encourage and strengthen them) or non-Christians (to appeal to and win them). But that debate and the struggle over it are misguided. We're asking the wrong questions and making the wrong a...

Spurgeon On Being "Fashionable"

At the beginning of Unfashionable, I print a quote from Charles Spurgeon that encapsulates everything I say in the book. A friend of mine recently asked me where the quote came from. After tracking it down, I was once again struck at how powerful Spurgeon's words are and how desperately we need to pay attention to them.

He preached these words on April 18, 1875 during a sermon on Joshua 24:15:

The great guide of the world is fashion and it's god is respectability–two phantoms at which brave...

Worship Is A Big Deal: Part 4

(Today I continue with my series of posts on corporate worship. Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)

All too common today are polarizing tendencies in worship that fail to reach the whole person. For instance, in some churches, how a Christian thinks is far more important than how a Christian feels. Worship in these churches is primarily geared to informing the mind. But when it comes to feeling God, they remain stoic. These churches turn worship into a classroom for learning.

Other churches do...

The Gospel Is For Christians

B. B. Warfield (1851 – 1921) on why the gospel is necessary for Christians:

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ's sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be trust as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the...