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Carl Trueman has some worthwhile thoughts about the new wineskins of social media like Twitter and its inability to hold the old wine of rich theology.  Along the way he has a caution about churches falling into the pressure to truncate and reduce its message to soundbites.  I especially appreciated these lines:

It behooves those in positions of ministerial leadership in the church to make sure that the way they write and express themselves on any given topic is not only clear enough for the audience to understand but also precise enough that the audience does not misunderstand.

That is one reason why there must be a difference between evangelism and discipleship.  We should expect those who come to church to grow in their ability to understand the deep things of the faith. Church teaching needs to stretch believers.  Evangelistic preaching and teaching cannot be the sole diet of a church, even though believers as much as anyone need to hear the simple gospel on a regular basis.

Our life together in the church should be a stretching experience.  Believers are to be stretched.  In fact, it’s belief itself that stretches the believer into a new Christ-figured shape.  We’ve all heard the quip, “sermonettes make Christianettes.”  The deep things of the faith (which can be surprisingly simple and simply stated) provide the anchor reaching the sea floor of the deep issues of life.  Take your time.  Say it as best you can.  Take your time.  Listen as attentively as you can.  Resist the trivial.  Be stretched.

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