Laying hold of the fullness of life Jesus calls us to.
Many people think that it’s the leader who makes or breaks a small group. But a great small group is usually the result of one or two group members who make the difference. The Bible’s one another commands lay out practical steps that can help you turn your group into the community it’s designed to be.
Have you ever been in a small group discussion that was more awkward than awesome? You look around and see silence, rambling, confusion, and irritation. Maybe you’ve been the one leading and wondered what went wrong. Consider these pitfalls that can make even the best of Bible studies less than they were intended to be.
Starting a small group is fun, but what started as a great thing can easily become a tired thing. While God is the one who builds community, there are practical steps you can take to keep your small group thriving over the long term.
Joining a small group for the first time can feel intimidating, but it’s one of the best ways to grow in your faith. Here’s what to expect, how to prepare, and why it’s worth showing up.
Church can be a lonely place if you never get past the crowd. You need relationships with other Christians you can invest in and be supported by. You need people to pray for and who will pray for you. You need a place where you can experience the family of God, not just a meeting with God. Small groups, or what we call life groups, are the place where those things happen.
Brian McLaren says, “The kingdom of God is not a ticket to heaven but a call to transform this world through love and justice.” Have we got it wrong? Are Christians too preoccupied with the life to come? If we stop talking about heaven will that make us more useful here on earth? The Bible presents an interesting balance.
It’s hard to understand sometimes what God is thinking when we face painful circumstances. Knowing God could have prevented the trial we’re going through makes us question His heart toward us. Is He cold, stern, and uncaring? Does He just stand aloof and watch us suffer?
Is heaven the next stop for those who trust in Jesus? Or do we go through a cleansing fire first? Understanding the history and biblical basis for purgatory helps us prepare for what comes next and appreciate the great hope of the gospel.
For most of church history, Christians never questioned whether to choose burial or cremation. In 1980 in Canada, only 6% of people opted for cremation—and most of them would have been non-Christians. Today, that figure is over 75% and is a popular option among people of all faiths. How should Christians think about this trend? Is this a question of faith? Is it wrong to cremate a body?
Is faith about seeking answers or embracing uncertainty? Progressive Christianity celebrates questioning, but the Bible speaks of a faith once delivered, to be believed and defended. This post examines the Scripture’s view on truth, doubt, and whether certainty is narrow-minded.
Many say arguing about beliefs is pointless—shouldn’t Christians just focus on being better people? But can kindness thrive without truth? This post explores why truth is essential for real change, spiritual growth, and genuine love.
Fake news isn’t just a problem—it’s changed how we think. We believe what feels right, trust no one, and spread misinformation without realizing it. Here’s how fake news affects you, why it matters, and what you can do to resist it.
Anyone who’s experienced the pain of being judged by other Christians wishes more of them would heed Jesus’ words, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.” But what did Jesus really mean? Is there a time for judgment, or is it always wrong? When you see Jesus’ words in light of the rest of the Bible, several clarifications emerge.
Manifesting promises success through positive thinking, but many are left frustrated when their dreams don’t materialize. The Bible reveals why: you’re not in control, you don’t know what’s best, and your thoughts don’t shape reality—God does. Here’s what to do instead.
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We often see food as a guilty pleasure or a craving to be conquered. We’re either eating with indulgence or restraining as a punishment. What if we could embrace both sides of the Bible’s calls to celebration and discipline in our relationship with food? The practices of fasting and feasting may hold the key to the balance God has designed.
Some might consider Jesus’ relationship to veganism unknowable and irrelevant. Understanding it, however, unlocks one of the keys to His attitude toward food and how we should view it.
Do you ever wonder why God gave us cravings for potato chips, chocolate, and bacon? Our hunger for food and our need for it to sustain us is part of God’s design for humanity. As you consider what the Bible teaches, a picture emerges of God’s purpose in food and how we should relate to it.
The ancient church thought so much about food that they made gluttony one of the seven deadly sins. Today, many Christians have very little idea about what the Bible teaches about food at all. As a result, Christian attitudes toward food are mostly dictated by our appetite, the latest diets, or either guilt or ambition about the shape of our bodies. This post gives an overview of the Bible’s teachings toward a theology of food.
We’re all bombarded with more information than we can process. Recounting the most popular articles and videos from Out of Neutral at the end of the year is my way of helping you see what you might have overlooked or missed.
The happiness we expect at Christmas can magnify our pain, and sugary-sweet holiday movies may leave us feeling alone in our struggles. But the first Christmas was a dark tale that acknowledges our pain and points to our hope.
Painful trials have a way of testing our coping strategies. The Book of Job introduces a man whose suffering included unimaginable financial devastation, unrelenting physical pain, and the tragic loss of his children. His story helps us to see the limitations of some of our usual responses and gives us more effective means of relief.
In one of the wealthiest eras in history, our attitudes about money often reflect scarcity instead of generosity. This post explores common beliefs about giving that would baffle the early church and challenges us to embrace their faith-filled perspective.
I thought I had strong convictions. Maybe you do, too. What I learned was that many of my beliefs were borrowed from other people and hadn’t been tested, applied, or internalized. I’ve come to recognize the cheaper substitutes to convictions that we often mistake for the real thing. As you consider them, reflect on your own beliefs and try to discern whether they’re truly rooted or just borrowed.
God’s forgiveness is complete, but it doesn’t erase every consequence of sin. Exploring the guilt offering in the Book of Leviticus reveals how God’s grace calls us to confess, repent, and take action to restore what our sins have broken.
Stress at work, problems with kids, and our mental health push us to look for peace in different ways. But the instructions for the Peace Offering in the Book of Leviticus teach us to confess, connect, and celebrate in order to experience lasting peace.
The grain offering of Leviticus teaches us how to respond to the love and forgiveness of God. It pictures an ancient act of devotion that shows how God delights in sincere expressions of love, no matter how simple.
Desperate for acceptance, I went to wild lengths in university to fit in. Years later, Leviticus, a book many avoid, transformed how I viewed acceptance. The background of a sacrifice called a sin offering reveals a deeper, lasting acceptance from God that goes beyond masks and striving.
Everybody knows the command to honour your father and your mother, and Jesus called us to love our enemies. But what if our enemy is also our abuser? What if the parent we’re called to honour is mistreating or exploiting us? Some say the Christian response is to turn the other cheek. Others follow the recent explosion in articles advocating that you cut off all the toxic people in your life. The biblical tension is somewhere in between.
Maybe starting a Zoom group in the first century wasn’t an option technologically, but there’s value in considering what would have been lost if Jesus had chosen to mentor His disciples online instead of in person.
