Baptists are more liturgical than we claim to be. Just change the order of worship in a church and the complaint level will reveal how committed we are to doing things the “right” way—week in, week out. Our liturgy appears informal, but only because we base it more on tradition and feel than on prescribed church order. This neglect of outside structures in developing liturgy means many Baptist churches (and families) do not necessarily celebrate Advent.
Advent is a seasonal celebration designed to heighten anticipation for Christmas as the culmination of a month-long recognition of the importance of Jesus’ birth. Celebrating Advent is usually a simple service of lighting a candle (frequently one of four in an Advent wreath), reading Scripture from the Christmas story, praying, and singing familiar Christmas carols. Doing this as church is meaningful, but it can also be an enriching experience in family devotions. In fact, it would be a good way to start having family devotions if that is not currently part of your religious practice.
To help you do this, Dr. John Taylor of Gateway’s faculty, has prepared a four-part series of devotional activities to celebrate advent. You can access this free material here at www.thegateway.press—the new faculty-content driven website created by Gateway Seminary. In these devotional activities, you will find introductory comments, Scripture to read, prayer prompts, and a suggested carol to sing. These can be used in family gatherings as a simple worship experience, or expanded to provide the framework for a church worship service.
While considering these resources, spend some additional time browsing through the growing library of podcasts and materials on theology, leadership, ministry and more. This new web portal contains a vast amount of biblical, theological, and practical information to improve the effectiveness of ministry leaders. We envision it as an important resource on meeting the challenges of ministry today—as well as a stimulating site designed to help you think more deeply about the Christian faith and practice of ministry in that context.
And, its all free! Our faculty are constantly producing lectures, articles, messages, devotionals, and other resources—all now collected and offered as a resource for you. Check it out and give us feedback on issues or topics you would like us to address by emailing communications@gs.edu.
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Comfort Twice Over
When we provide comfort to fellow believers, we are the means by which God has chosen to provide his comfort.
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Inheritance & Glory: Our Vocation
For believers, while heaven may seem long away, our eternal inheritance is already available to us in the here and now.
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Brian Borgman
On this episode of The Jonathan Edwards Center Podcast, Dr. Chris Woznicki interviews Dr. Brian Borgman regarding his book, Jonathan Edwards on Genesis. They discuss Edwards as an exegete, as an interpreter of scripture, specifically looking at Genes
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The Dents
Tyler sits down with longtime missionaries and retired Gateway faculty, Don and Anne Dent. The Dents served with the IMB for over 30 years and most recently at Gateway Seminary. In this episode, they reflect on their past experiences from working in the mission field
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Jonathan Edwards and the Asbury Revival
Chris Chun and Chris Woznicki discuss the signs of true revival, signs of the work of the Holy Spirit, and why it is important to critically assess the characteristics of revival in a spirit of charity.
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Jonathan Edwards and the Baptists | Douglas Sweeney, Nathan Finn and Chris Chun
Dr. Douglas Sweeney and Dr. Nathan Finn joined Dr. Chris Chun for a panel discussion on Jonathan Edwards, recorded live at the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim.