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Articles by Derek Buikema
Young Pastor, Don’t Look Down on Your Elders
When I was first called to minister in a church, I was a young man—a boy really—of 28. As I think back over nearly a decade now in the same congregation, I sometimes can’t believe they were willing to take a risk on a young man like me: single, untested, and directly out of seminary. It was an extraordinary honor to be called to shepherd this congregation. Almost 10 years later, it still is. But it was also an extraordinary challenge.
When You Can’t Gather: Help and Hope for Those Worshiping from Home
Over the past few months, churches have rejoiced at the sweetness of returning to worship in person. The turbulence of 2020, with Zoom meetings replacing handholds, has highlighted the importance of in-person worship and fellowship to the Christian walk. In Collin Hansen’s words, “the hands and feet and ears and eyes need to be assembled for this body to work for the good of all.” And yet not all disciples who worship can gather.
Why I’m Staying at My Church After a Hard Year
On Wednesday, November 4—the day after the 2020 election—my inbox filled up with emails from the congregation. I’m not sure if the confluence of correspondence was a coincidence, but on that particular day I heard of my failings as a minister from many voices in my church. Maybe you’ve also heard charges like the ones I received: You are too cautious with masks and social distancing. You aren’t cautious enough with our in-person services.
Saturday Justice: How Church-Based Legal Aid Is Growing
When the police came to take Beth’s two children away from her, they gave her papers to explain what was happening. Her estranged husband had accused her of domestic violence for not spraying the children with mosquito repellant, which could lead them to contract West Nile virus. And she’s planning to move to Mexico, he said, even though she wasn’t. She didn’t even know anybody in Mexico.
Why We Need to Pray Desperately
One of the things that keeps us from praying is simply this: we fail to recognize how utterly desperately we need God’s help. As Paul Miller, the author of A Praying Life, points out, if you are not praying it may well be because “you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life to overcome.” Of course, we don’t verbalize it in those brazen terms. It would sound weird and wrong if we actually said it out loud.
What I Had Wrong About Evangelism
Christian leaders often motivate others to talk about Jesus by appealing to guilt, duty, or even shame. I endured many sermons that told me I should share my faith, and I would if only I loved Jesus more. I left these messages feeling like a failure. And I didn’t feel closer to Jesus or inspired to talk about him. Now, as someone who regularly and joyfully talks to others about Jesus, I think differently about evangelism. The secret to evangelism—and something I missed for many years—is identity.
How Pop Culture Made Sense of 9/11
I was a few weeks into my freshman year at Wheaton College on September 11, 2001. It was at breakfast that morning in the dining hall, Anderson Commons, when I first heard people anxiously talking about something happening in New York City. Little did I know that events playing out in the sky that very moment—hundreds of miles east—would lead to a renaming of the building I sat in. In 2004, Anderson Commons became part of the Todd M.
Why I’m Going Back to Church After My Divorce
It’s hard to walk through the doors of a church when you’re going through a divorce. My pastor once described divorce as an amputation. It’s an accurate description of how I felt every time I walked into our church building. We’d been a family of four attending church each Sunday; now we were only three. While other families grew, ours shrunk. The loss weighed heavily on my soul. My pastor once described divorce as an amputation.
How to Think Wisely About 40-Hour Workweeks and Offices
This Labor Day, debate is heating up over traditional assumptions about modern work. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many are wondering: “Do we really need offices?” “Who said 9 to 5 were the ideal working hours?” and “If we’re able to work wherever and whenever we want, can’t we get our work done in less than 40 hours a week?” These questions are being explored in publications from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal.
Economics for Church Leaders: National Debt as Intergenerational Injustice
Editors’ note: For church leaders to be more effective in seeking the “welfare of the city” (Jer. 29:7), we should know what economic concepts mean, how they should be applied, and how they affect the church. The purpose of the Economics for Church Leaders series is not to present a theology of economics, but rather to provide a basic level of understanding that will help church leaders think more clearly about how to apply their faith commitments to economics and public policy.
9 Things You Should Know About 9/11’s Aftermath-20 Years Later
1. The Ground Zero fires burned for almost 100 days. It took 99 days—until December 19, 2001—for the fires at Ground Zero to be extinguished. “You couldn’t even begin to imagine how much water was pumped in there,” said Tom Manley, a firefighters’ union representative. “It was like you were creating a giant lake.” The fire caused by the attack on the Pentagon took approximately 36 hours to put out. 2. The cleanup took more than eight months.
How to Make Lifelong Friends in College
Many of us know someone who has maintained friendships over time and distance. Perhaps you have an uncle who still talks to his Army buddies 10 years out, or your parents still keep in touch with college friends from 20 years ago. As a young adult, I often looked on those friendships with envy. We all want to be known and loved. I grew up as a military kid, which meant I was great at meeting new people, but I had no experience maintaining relationships over time.
How Can We Bring Back Those Who’ve Drifted from Church?
I remember, years ago as a young pastor, calling a parishioner I hadn’t seen for a while to check on him. He had belonged to our church for some time and seemed to be growing as a Christian. But a few minutes into our conversation, he mentioned casually that he was now attending another church. Ouch.
John Piper on the Essential Achievement of Christ
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. John Piper: Let’s pray together. Father, we bow our heads together now to declare that we depend upon you. We need your help. And we look away from ourselves to Christ who loved us, and gave himself for us and secured for us, the fulfillment of all your promises to us.
5 Ways to Fight Envy
If you think you don’t struggle with envy, imagine your response when your friends get back from their third beach vacation of the year or a coworker (perhaps underqualified) gets picked for the promotion you’ve been eyeing. The sneaky thing about envy is that it’s not limited to large things like a secure job or fantastic health, nor limited to something long-term like a good retirement plan.
The Unifying Power of Singing
Singing unites body and soul. “My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed” (Ps. 71:23). It is wonderful to “make melody in your hearts,” rejoicing before the Lord in our innermost being, but singing aligns the body—the tongue, the throat, the chest, the diaphragm, the breath in the lungs, and the vibrations in the thorax—with the rejoicing in the soul, and by doing so reinforces it.
Review: ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ by Oliver Burkeman
Writing a review of journalist Oliver Burkeman’s book-length caution against instrumentalizing everything may not be the best sign that I have taken his words to heart. But Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals is more than a cautionary tale; it is also an insightful takedown of conventional wisdom and a profound call to live in the now. And for Christians, it’s a powerful reminder of why hope anchors faith.
Should Charities Take Government Funds?
Should charities take government funds? What are the advantages, and dangers, of doing that? I’m wondering because I live in Illinois, and I’m on the board of a charity that started taking state funding in the 1990s. At the time, it seemed like a smart move to access taxpayer funding for faith-based charities. But now the charity has grown dependent on state funds, and the state budget is in deep crisis.
Why I’m Going Back to Church After My Husband Died
After my husband died, it was difficult to go back to church. As I sat in the sanctuary, my shoulders ached to have his arm gently resting on the pew behind me. Though I still sat stuffed into a row with my four children, Rob’s absence in the seat beside us couldn’t be denied. And the hymns about trusting God through suffering or longing for heaven? I couldn’t choke the words out. Their truths spoke directly to my vulnerability and deep, intimate pain. Most times, I’d simply stand and cry.
‘Praying in Public’ by Pat Quinn
For many who grew up in the church, nothing is more terrifying than being asked to pray in public. Whether it is praying at a family meal, in a Bible study, or even in front of your church, corporate prayer can be daunting. Perhaps you feel this way because you think you will embarrass yourself or aren’t quite sure what to say. When I was in 10th grade, my youth minister invited me to stand before the congregation and share my testimony after a week of cross-cultural ministry. Reluctantly, I agreed.
What the Pandemic Revealed About the Future of Abortion
From the beginning of the human race, man has found a way to turn life-promoting technologies into tools of death. In the modern age we see this in the way that combining sonogram technology with lax abortion laws has made it easier to identify the sex of a child so that those without a Y chromosome can be killed before they’re born. Similarly, we are seeing during the pandemic how another medical technology—telemedicine—has also become a weapon against the unborn.
Sandra McCracken Teaches Us How to Live in the Light
I remember the first time I heard Sandra McCracken. I was sitting in a dark auditorium, a high schooler on a youth-group retreat, anticipating the start of a Caedmon’s Call concert when she came on stage to open the night. Little did I know how McCracken’s songs would become a companion in my faith, walking with me through college and pressing in deep during the adult years. Send Out Your Light: The Illuminating Power of Scripture and Song reads like a conversation with a friend.
Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside’: Ecclesiastes for the Internet Age
Bo Burnham may be this generation’s closest approximation to the Preacher from Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 2, the Preacher searches high and low to find lasting meaning apart from God: in pleasure (v. 1), comedy (v. 2), alcohol (v. 3), sex (v. 8), wisdom (vv. 12–27), and work (vv. 18–23). This wide-reaching search yields no lasting benefit or purpose, only despair (v. 20). Everything under the sun is vanity, a vapor. In his Netflix comedy special, Inside, Bo Burnham’s task is the same.
On Daughters and Dating: How to Intimidate Suitors
I have two teenage daughters, so it was with some interest that I read a recent article entitled “Application to Date My Daughter.” It was pretty funny, playing on the idea of the stereotypical shotgun-toting father and the mortified daughter as they negotiate the tricky terrain of a first date. Then Christian bloggers grabbed the concept, and for the most part, these versions were funny, too.
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