Ten Things I've Been Thinking On

On confessional focus, analog life, localism, and the hard work of rebuilding church, family, and institutions in a disordered age

These are ten larger themes/concepts that have occupied my thinking over the past year and a half. Some of them go back much further, but they have come into sharper focus lately and keep returning to mind. I have written on them in pieces already, and I expect I will keep working them out more as time goes on...

Vanilla Westminsterian

This is the idea that we pastors should give the greater part of your ministry to the doctrines of Scripture as summarized in the Westminster Standards. Not because they exhaust the Bible, but because most Christians still do not grasp what the cardinal doctrines already there. If something sits outside the Standards, it may get taught, but it does not set the agenda. There is enough in those doctrines, carefully applied, to powerfully shape a life and a church for a long time.

A Partitioned Life

Do not try to weave the digital into every corner of life. Use it, yes. Rejecting technology, including AI, outright is foolish. But so is letting it colonize your attention and skills. Total integration is a terrible idea. Build hard boundaries. Spaces where the screen does not speak. A place for thought, prayer, and work in the physical world. Then a contained place where these new tools can be used and even mastered without crowding out the embodied analog life. Speaking of…

Revenge of Analog

People will keep their devices, but they will start reaching again for more tangible in tactile things. Paper books. Records. Real art. Things that do not change with a software update and cannot be taken away by a platform. We essentially rent access to music through Spotify, e-books through Amazon, etc. We were made to touch, to hear, to own things. The appetite for tangible goods will grow because we were made to live in a physical world.

The Age of Ecclesial Independency

Many churches will stand on their own for a season. Not because they despise connection, but because the trust in broader church courts or networks/denoms has been strained. Some still hold Presbyterian convictions, yet will choose local strength over entanglement while institutions sort themselves out. For some, it will be a holding pattern. A time of shoring up the local church with an eye toward healthier structures down the road. I'm not saying this is ideal, but it's happening.

The Rise of Colossian Christianity

There is a strange mix of theology moving through Evangelicalism, even in its reformed circles. Old heresies dressed in new language. Arian echoes. Conspiracy talk about hidden histories and secret powers. Bits of neo-pagan mysticism. There is no single spokesman. It shows up in fragments across podcasts, channels, and subcultures. It feels intense and spiritual. It pulls people away from the plain teaching of Christ and the steady work in the local church.

Biblical Localism

By this I mean, we are to give first attention to the people and place God has given you. Your household, church, and town. You can care about the wider world, but you cannot live everywhere at once. Faithfulness has a location. Deal with what is in front of you and do it well. That is how most good work gets done.

Intergenerationalism

A disciplined effort to pass down faith and culture across the years. Grandparents, parents, and children sharing worship, commitment to a place, and work. Not starting from scratch each generation. Building something that can be handed on with clarity and strength, both in the church and in Christian families.

The Ministerial Crisis

There are not enough trained, mature, and steady pastors for the churches that need them. The pipeline is thin. Formation is shallow. Many men are eager but unprepared, or gifted but untested. Churches feel the shortage. It will take time, patience, and deliberate training to raise up the kind of ministers who can lead well for the long haul. This is why I’m getting more involved with Grimke.

Normalizing Two-Percenters

By this I mean cultivating a culture where being married, owning a home, and holding your first child by around twenty-five is not strange or extreme but normal and worthy of honor. It sets a clear benchmark for young adults to move toward, and then builds the social and economic support to make it possible. It’s it’s gonna be challenging, but we’re making ground in it out here.

The Failure of the New Christian Right

I'm sure some will disagree with me on this one. The Covid years opened a window for building parallel institutions and durable coalitions. Much of that chance was squandered through purity spirals, fixation on fringe fights, and the same old hunger for personalities and platforms. What could have become a patient, local rebuilding effort often dissolved into online factions and short-term notoriety. To be clear, this isn’t to say nothing good came from that era, but it certainly isn’t what it could’ve been.