Author Archives: Jay F Guin

About Jay F Guin

My name is Jay Guin, and I’m a retired elder. I wrote The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace about 18 years ago. I’ve spoken at the Pepperdine, Lipscomb, ACU, Harding, and Tulsa lectureships and at ElderLink. My wife’s name is Denise, and I have four sons, Chris, Jonathan, Tyler, and Philip. I have two grandchildren. And I practice law.

What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: And So, In Conclusion …

After 9 posts on the same topic, it’s time to draw some conclusions. But this will all have to be taken as very preliminary. After all, Willow Creek hasn’t finished their study of 500 additional churches. Nonetheless, while I wouldn’t … Continue reading

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An Excellent Series of Posts

This link will take you to the index for a long series of posts by Michael Kruse on economics and the mission of God. He very rightly endorses many of the views of N. T. Wright and Brian McLaren but … Continue reading

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What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: Blue Like Jazz

Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz (2003) is a favorite book of mine. I’m teaching it to a class at church right now and posting my lesson notes as I prepare them here. I was getting ready to try to summarize … Continue reading

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What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: Escaping Our Denial

Let’s start with what the Bible says about what the church is all about. I’ve already quoted Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 saying we’ll be judged by how we treat the poor and needy. The lesson is found in lots … Continue reading

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What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: The Church of Irresistible Influence

As I’ve been pondering the problem the Willow Creek Community Church is struggling with, as described in their Reveal study, I’ve begun reading Robert Lewis’s The Church of Irresistible Influence. I happened across this quote in this 2001 book– We … Continue reading

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What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: On Being a Benevolence Program

There are doubtlessly hundreds of ways for a church to care for the poor. This is just one of many ways to go about it. My congregation has just these last few months tried this, and the early results are … Continue reading

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What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: The Jesus Piece

This is not the complete answer to the problems identified by Willow Creek’s REVEAL study. But, I’m persuaded, it’s a big piece of the puzzle. We’re not going to find the answer in our culture (American or church)–which pretty much … Continue reading

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What Wrong With How We Do Church?: Problems with Authority

I found this on-line book by Andrew Strom helpful. Strom has spoken with many who’ve left the institutional church and quotes countless emails giving a sense of their discontent. Ultimately, however, Strom finds many who’ve left are so anti-authoritarian that … Continue reading

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What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: A Churchless Faith

Willow Creek is hardly the first to notice the large number of mature Christians leaving the institutional church. A Churchless Faith by Alan Jamieson (2000) is a study of this phenomenon. It’s out of print, but summarized here.The following are … Continue reading

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What’s Wrong With How We Do Church?: The Trap We Find Ourselves In

One approach Hybels has suggested to the problem the Reveal study points up is for the church to teach people to be better able to feed themselves. The church should equip its members to study on their own. Now, I … Continue reading

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