The Christian Mind

…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ… Ephesians 4.14, 15

The Christian Mind
Harry Blamires (1916-)
“…since the Church is the vehicle of eternal life and eternal truth, it is superior to all ‘times’: it is of the Church’s essence to represent an unchanging and timeless reality in a changing, time-locked world. Modern man is the victim of an incurable, self-imposed slavery to ephemeral fashion. How then can he savour the full quality of a message and a way of life whose character is to be substantially the same in A.D. 200 and in 1963?”

Pop culture is like kudzu. It takes root everywhere, and overgrows everything, so that, while the shape of a thing remains – a telephone pole, an old barn or tractor, or a roadside sign – only the barest outline is recognizable, while what we see everywhere is that tenacious southern vine. Our generation has become kudzu-ized by pop culture. Don’t believe it? Listen to the next time someone sings the national anthem before a sporting event. Would Francis Scott Key recognize that rendition as what he intended? Or look at how churches in their architecture, administration, worship, and leadership structures have taken on the look of pop culture in one or more of its forms. Would the martyrs of the second century recognize this as their Church? These days we want to be fashionable, which is to say, ephemeral. We cast aside everything that smacks of permanence to embrace everything that smacks of the moment. We have lost our minds – our Christian minds, at any rate – which have been blown away by the winds of pop culture and the doctrines of narcissistic self-interest.

Pop culture is not inherently evil. Submitting to pop culture instead of to the plain teaching of Scripture, is. How does your church decide how much of pop culture it will allow to shape its life and ministry?

Recovering Christian communication
Our Mission Partners Outreach program is designed as a life-based training curriculum, to help church members identify and begin working their Personal Mission Fields for the purpose of making disciples and advancing Christ’s Kingdom. I’m looking for some men to lead through this training program, and to help you see how our Mission Partners Outreach programcan help your church overcome its failure to communicate. If you’re interested, drop me a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The truth that is in Jesus
Jesus Christ is truth, and His Word teaches us how to understand Him and our lives in Him in the world. Our course, Introduction to Biblical Theology, looks at how we get at the Word of God, how we get into it, and how we can get with it more consistently in our lives. This free, online course would make an excellent review for pastors or church leaders concerning how rightly to handle the Word of truth, and to avoid the tendency toward a hermeneutic of convenience. Study at your own pace, individually or together. To learn more or register, click here.

Does the Lord want to use you to help support The Fellowship of Ailbe? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from The Christian Mind are from Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind (Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1963, 1978).