Our collection of EWP Talks on Culture will help your students understand the social structures that shape them as human beings, for good and for ill, and how we can act to strengthen what is right and challenge what is wrong in those structures. The gospel is not spoken into a vacuum, but into the dynamic world of human life – and the Holy Spirit empowers us both to “uphold the traditions” (II Thessalonians 2:15) and to be liberated from “the futile ways of our forefathers” (I Peter 1:18).
Each EWP Talk is about 15-20 minutes long, so they’re easy to use. But the conversations they’ll catalyze in your classroom, church or group will be much longer.
This semester, consider assigning your students a talk from our video library!
And, of course, in addition to our Culture playlist, we also have collections of talks on Ethics, Theology, Old Testament, New Testament, History, Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Leadership!
Here’s a closer look at some of the talks in our Culture collection:
Vincent Bacote | Sending Disciples to a Pluralistic World: Imagination, Hospitality and Hope
Vincent Bacote of Wheaton College invites us into a more full understanding of how worship can form us for a lives of Christian discipleship in a pluralisic world, marked by imagination, hospitality and hope.
Consider assigning in: Culture, Pastoral Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Ethics
W. Jay Moon | Economics and Mission: The Connected Complexity of Cultures
Drawing examples ranging from the book of Acts to modern Africa, W. Jay Moon of Asbury Theological Seminary unpacks how Chrsitian involvement in the economy is vitally interdependent with Christian witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Consider assigning in: Culture, Pastoral Leadership, New Testament
Anthony Bradley | Christian Personalism: How to Preach a Public Faith without Making Atheists
Anthony Bradley of The King’s College looks at the fallout of the Religious Right, and how the school of thought known as Christian Personalism can provide an alternative approach to bringing our faith into the public square.
Consider assigning in: Culture, Ethics, Pastoral Leadership, Theology, History
Andy Crouch | A Pruned Life: Isaiah’s Posterity Gospel
Drawing on Isaiah 5, Andy Crouch speaks about the challenge of separating real flourishing from mere material prosperity in the midst of economic growth and technological innovation. In a world of instant gratification, what is of lasting importance?
Consider assigning in: Culture, Ethics, Spiritual Formation, Old Testament
Jules Martinez | Reconciled to Reconcile: Making the Kingdom Visible in a Divided World
When the church is divided by ethnic separation and political polarization, the kingdom of God is revealed less fully to our neighbors, and has a gravely diminished impact on communities. In this powerful and personal talk, Jules Martinez of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School points us toward essential kingdom virtues and practices that help local churches grow together and make the kingdom visible and effective.
Consider assigning in: Ethics, Pastoral Leadership, Culture, Spiritual Formation
Gavin Ortlund | Worth Standing Up For: Hearing a 4th-Century Witness for Justice and the Gospel
Christians have always recognized that the gospel calls us to stand up for justice – as difficult and complicated as that can be. Gavin Ortlund of First Baptist Church of Ojai draws on Gregory of Nyssa’s prophetic stand against slavery to help us see how we can stand up for justice in our own time.
Consider assigning in: History, Ethics, Culture, Pastoral Leadership, Theology
Charlie Self | Faithful Churches Create Flourishing Communities: Righteousness, Peace and Joy
Charlie Self of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary draws together God’s communicable attributes with church experiences from Dallas and Oregon all the way to Sri Lanka and Cambodia, presenting the church’s mission embodying righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit within all the world’s communities.
Consider assigning in: Pastoral Leadership, Theology, Culture, New Testament
Rachael & Jacob Denhollander | Justice and Vocation: A Conversation with Rachael and Jacob Denhollander
Why has the church uncovered more sexual abuse and exploitation in its ranks than almost any other institution in our society? Why is it so difficult for the church – of all institutions! – to respond to abuse with justice and mercy? And what does justice have to do with vocation? In this powerful video, Rachael and Jacob Denhollander speak theologically and practically of the urgent call to the church today to protect the vulnerable. They discuss the atonement, eschatology, vocation and a right understanding of the role of pastoral leadership, showing that justice is woven together with everything the church is and does. Patrick Smith of Duke Divinity School moderates the discussion.
Consider assigning in: Ethics, Pastoral Leadership, Theology, Culture, Spiritual Formation
And More:
Christopher Brooks | Rethinking Urban Poverty: Context, Data and Collaboration
Deborah Gill | Discipleize! The Great Commission in All of Life
Lisa Slayton, Terry Timm & Deborah Gill | Staying Rooted: Discipling People in the New Economy
Greg Forster | Fruitful Paradoxes: Bringing Life to the World in the Modern Economy
W. Bradford Wilcox | The Ball and Chain Myth: Marriage and Sacrifice
Check out these talks and those in our other topical areas – it’s always a good time to point your students to good resources on the challenging questions they face!
