Church Issues

How the Emergent Movement Impacts Us

By Asher Witmer Church Issues
aw_emergent_movement

Has the emergent church movement impacted Anabaptist young people? Does it matter if it has?

In recent years, I have noticed an increasing amount of people who struggle with faith, God, confusion in their walk with Him, or disillusionment with the church. Is this the result of the emergent church?

While I don’t like naming specific people in criticism, I was recently asked about my take on the emergent church movement and how I thought it is impacting Anabaptist youth and decided to write about my concerns with Rob Bell and Brian McLaren’s teaching.

Read More

20 Questions I Have about Church

By Asher Witmer Church Issues
aw_questions_church

Do you understand the purpose of the church? Or do you just kind of go with what others have told you?

Even though I grew up in church I still have questions about it. And even though I would say I have an understanding of what the purpose of church is, I tend to go off of what others have told me. Not that it’s entirely wrong to do that, but I’d like to study what Scripture has to say about church by doing what I can to take the Bible at face value without reading through the lenses of what others have said.

That’s why I am embarking on a Biblical study of the church and its purpose, how it should function, and the relationships therein.

Read More

12 Symptoms of Religious Politics

By Asher Witmer Church Issues
aw_religious_politics

The biggest turnoff to people about the Christian church is the politics that take place when it becomes institutionalized.

My generation is especially exhausted by inauthenticity in spiritual leaders and those who are too spineless to stand for what’s right when doing so means losing constituents. But religious politics isn’t played only at the leadership level. In fact, it begins as young people in the youth group. It deepens through cliques at Bible school and culminates in the jealous battle for favor and attention over “ordinations weekend.”

In today’s post we look at twelve symptoms of religious politics and how you and I can rise above such cowardly games.

Read More

“Us” vs. “Them”: the real problem with Christian denominations

By Asher Witmer Church Issues
chess opponents

I have remarkable friends. Remarkable because they are intelligent, good-looking, serve people, love God, and seem to get a kick out of me. They also ask great questions.

One of the questions I often hear my remarkable friends ask is “Why does everything have to be about being Anabaptist?”

Much of my generation is tired of the “us” vs. “them” mentality of the Anabaptist church. In fact, I believe it’s one of the primary reasons young people choose to leave. Too often, the focus is on our differences from the rest of the evangelical world and why they are wrong and evil and how we should keep away from them. That gets exhausting for young believers who simply want to follow Christ.

Read More

9/11, the End Times, and How Christians Might Actually be Mocking God

By Asher Witmer Christian Spirituality, Church Issues
twin towers in NYC

This weekend marks fourteen years since two airplanes careened into the World Trade towers in downtown New York City. It’s been seven years since the Great Recession impacted our economy. There is a lot of speculation among Christian communities about what might take place this year.

Was God sending America a message back in 2001, and again in 2008? If so, what will it be this year? Will America finally collapse? And if America collapses, does that mark the beginning of Christ’s return?

Read More

An Anabaptist New York Times Bestseller

By Asher Witmer Christian Spirituality, Church Issues
bestseller rack

What would it be like to walk into Walmart and be able to buy a music CD from a girl wearing a head-covering? Or to have an Anabaptist author publish a NY Times Bestseller?

How do we best serve people?

Think of a restaurant. How does the owner of a restaurant best serve his customers? Does he offer only water because that is healthiest and he wants his customers to be healthy? Maybe he’ll throw in Coke because he knows that if you don’t like water you probably like Coke.

Read More