There was a banner at the front of the sanctuary in my childhood church. In large black letters it proclaimed, “He is coming soon!”
The “he,” of course, referred to Jesus and the event in question was his second coming. It wasn’t just words on a banner. The church preached about it, talked about it, prayed about it. It was a huge emphasis.
The strange thing is, I haven’t heard a sermon about the second coming in years. And there’s barely a whisper about eschatology among my Christian friends these days, except to make fun of some of the elaborate end-times theories (usually rendered on colorful charts) popular in the church in the 1990s. I’ve long suspected that our silence on the second coming has something to do with the silly theories many of us saw growing up. But it’s a shame that it’s made us reluctant to talk about Christ’s second coming, “the great hope of the church.”
It's a worry theologian Todd J. Billings shares. In this interview, he says “We shouldn’t toss out Christ’s second coming with bizarre theories of how it will unfold.” Read Evangelical End Times Thinking Has a Baby-and-Bathwater Issue.
Young families represent a great opportunity—and challenge—for churches. Ministry to Young Families is a 23-page resource that will help you understand how to meet some of the needs of young families.
