Seven Minute Seminary

What has the church and culture gotten wrong in the discussion about sexuality? In today’s Seven Minute Seminary video, Dr. Mark Ongley suggests that understanding sexual identity as a fluid spectrum will both challenge and affirm the way the church typically approaches the topic, and provide fresh resources for living in community with LGBTQ people.

What is God doing in the world through his church? In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Prabhu Singh works through the three waves of Protestant missions, and then describes the five marks and challenges of the new global missions movement.

Does worship design really matter? In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Jonathan Powers encourages churches to design their worship services in a way that faithfully acts out the story of Jesus. He uses the four-fold approach of Robert Webber’s Planning Blended Worship to model a holistic way of meeting together in order to orient God’s people to his transforming presence.

The church is often tempted to appease the world by toning down its distinctiveness. In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Ryan Danker encourages the church to remain faithful by preaching an authentic gospel of holy love.

What is the church’s call to refugees and immigrants? In part two of “Jesus and the Stranger,” Dr. Darrell Whiteman shares three characteristics of responding to the refugee crisis from a missional perspective.

What is the church’s call to refugees and immigrants? In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Darrell Whiteman begins by sharing two stories—an ancient one, and a contemporary one. By comparing Jesus’ birth story to a contemporary asylum-seeker, Whiteman challenges the church to consider its high calling to help the displaced and vulnerable of society.

Why did the church need the 18th century Methodist movement? In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Ryan Danker explains the relationship between Anglicanism, Puritanism, and the burgeoning Methodist movement of the Wesley brothers and George Whitefield.

What happens to those who never hear the gospel? It’s a fair question to ask, and Christians throughout the centuries have answered it in different ways. In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Ben Witherington tackles the problem by drawing a parallel to how God will deal with his people Israel at the end of the age, a theme treated in Romans 11.

Postmodernism has many implications for how churches understand and approach discipleship. Using youth culture as a model, Dr. Jim Hampton explores how those who have a suspicion of authority and dogma might be included in the process of discipleship by allowing them to participate in community in significant ways.

In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Mark Ongley explains that the starting point for sexuality in God’s design is a healthy relationship. God created us as relational beings, and gave us sexuality as one tool to create better intimacy with a particular person.

Scripture states, “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” (Galatians 5:1 NLT) In this Seven Minute Seminary, Danielle Strickland points us to the end goal of the Christian life, which isn’t merely the forgiveness of sins, but core transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the 21st century, evangelism as we used to understand it likely won’t have the same effect. Watch this Seven Minute Seminary by Arthur D. Jones as he makes the case for intellectual evangelism.

Church history has profound implications for the life of discipleship. Rather than being merely an exercise for the intellectually curious, knowing church history is an essential task for both individual Christians and communities of faith.

Does history have sides? What are we to make of so much political rhetoric that the church ought to get on the “right side” of history? In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Ryan Danker helps debunk this myth by pointing out that history is too complex for simple notions of history that posit a right and a wrong side. In its place, he suggests that we should be asking, what has God done through his Son and Holy Spirit, and how can we as a church be a part of that movement?

The church has a glorious calling from God—to create and engage with culture in ways that are good, true, and beautiful. But what exactly is the relationship between the church and culture, especially since we live in a fallen world that is yet to be fully redeemed by God? In this Seven Minute Seminary, founder of Q Gabe Lyons offers four questions for us to consider as we move into the space of culture-creating.

In Acts 1:4, the Apostles recall that Jesus instructed them to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the promised Holy Spirit. In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, James Swanson, Bishop of the United Methodist Church, urges the church not to try to lead without God. While waiting may be difficult, it’s not doing nothing—it’s praying actively for God’s help.

Why do we pray, and how should we pray? In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Pete Greig challenges our notions of prayer and encourages us to begin by simply talking to God, even about the small things.

Many Christians refer to the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments as the “silent years.” In today’s Seven Minute Seminary, Caleb Friedeman suggests that this is a mistake. On the contrary, a lot was happening in that period (read more in our article, What Happened Between the Old and New Testaments.) and the story of God’s people continued as the birth of their Messiah was expected with mounting anticipation.

The Bible’s cultural background can help enliven the text. In this Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Scott T. Carroll shows how whether it be athletic references, or family structures, familiarizing ourselves with the ancient world can help us understand the Bible’s message more profoundly.

Catechesis is about providing a solid grounding in the gospel for the entirety of the Christian life. In this Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Dean Belvins shares 3 reasons why the recovery of active catechesis can help the church recover the imperative of Christian discipleship.