Mike Wittmer

Category: Emergent Church

  • has God spoken?

    LZ Granderson, a member of Rob Bell’s church and a regular contributor to CNN and ESPN, wrote a column today for CNN.com which illustrates the problem that I try to correct in the first two chapters of Christ Alone. There is a lot that I could say about Granderson’s piece, but I’ll focus on this…

  • why this is and isn’t personal

    Late last week I received my first copies of Christ Alone, and today is the first day that I’m blogging about it. Some of you have asked about Kindle and Nook versions, and I’m told that they will be available on Amazon by the end of the week. I hope that readers of Christ Alone…

  • Christ Alone

    My latest book, Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” came out late Thursday. I didn’t want to say anything then, since it was Maundy Thursday, and I don’t want to say much now, since we’re still in the middle of Easter weekend. But the Grand Rapids Press ran a story on the…

  • I would have liked him

    One of Spurgeon’s sermons on death begins with regret for the recent passing of the Earl of Shaftesbury. Spurgeon explained that he was “the best man of the age,” full of integrity and godliness. Then Spurgeon praised him in words that are desperately needed today. His eulogy reminds us that our times are not that different…

  • More from Martin

    If you were encouraged by Martin Bashir’s interview of Rob Bell on MSNBC, you will appreciate his elaboration of the interview and overall impression of “Love Wins” from his interview on the Paul Edwards radio show. If you have or will read Rob’s book, or if you won’t but you happen to live in West Michigan, you will…

  • churches without borders

    This month a nearby church changed its name from “Christ Community Church” to “C3Exchange.”  Besides the obvious benefit of being mistaken for a Star Wars character, the pastor said the name change indicates their desire to be an “inclusive, spiritual community” which includes Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and even atheists.  The church will remain true to…

  • so open it’s shut

    I’ve been too busy with summer school, retaining walls, computer crashes, and toilet back-ups to post anything this week, but this morning I found enough space to revise my devotional on “The New Pharisees.”  I’m glad for your feedback, because I realized that the discussion about whether or not some emergents meet the criteria of…

  • the new pharisees

    I don’t know if this is the best topic for an ODJ devotional, but it struck me recently that many emergent leaders inadvertently shut the door to the kingdom, which is precisely the problem that Jesus had with the Pharisees.  I’m not sure if my logic holds in the third to last paragraph, but I’m…

  • what a day

    I was pleasantly surprised to read this concession which Brian McLaren posted on his website.  While there remain many outstanding questions, perhaps not all is lost. Dear friends and sojourners: The publication of any book worth its salt brings a certain amount of blowback from those who have a vested interest in defending the traditional…

  • grace and truth

    Our recent discussion about McLaren’s book reminded me of First Timothy 1, where Paul shows us how to balance both grace and truth.  He begins by telling Timothy to fight for truth, saying that he left him in Ephesus to “command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer” which “promote controversies rather than…