Bill Benninghoff's Page

Several writers over the past few years have urged us as believers to see the entire Bible through the lens of Jesus in the gospels. I think this is an important perspective. For several hundred years in the church in the west we have used the teachings of Paul as our lens and tended to view the teachings of Jesus through the lens of Paul and not the other way around. If Jesus is truly God in the flesh then I think that his words and actions should be the grid by which we interpret all other… Continue

Many of us followers of Christ have dreams of societal transformation. In other words, we want to see more than just large numbers of people attending churches - we want to see cultural and sociological changes in our country that would be evidence of people really following the commands of Jesus in their everyday lives. I think this is a good and an appropriate dream and desire to have. When our society begins to adopt the values of Christ in everyday life and we see people honoring Jesus by… Continue

Ok - I would like to tap into your collective wisdom here...What does this passage mean and how does it work in terms of simple church. Specifically I want to know what you think the numbering part means....Thanks in advance for your replies!



I Cor. 12:27-31 (NIV): [not inspired version] - little joke there...



"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers,… Continue

I have been wondering about this lately: should we as followers of Jesus, desiring to see the world be reconciled to Him, focus on planting churches or making disciples or both? My training and background tells me that "planting churches" is the most successful way to bring in the harvest. However, in my mind, even after we strip down the "church" to its basic essence without buildings, without paid clergy, without choirs and without programs it still seems to require a certain amount of… Continue