The last post in my series on suffering and work is now posted at The Green Room:

The bookends of the Great Commission tell us that Jesus is in two places at once. He is in heaven, reigning at the right hand of God the Father, and that is why we are sent out on a mission into the nations to make disciples and carry out God’s purposes in the world. But he is also with us by the Spirit “to the very end of the age,” and that is why we have power to carry out our mission.

And transformation is, above all, painful! Jesus has chosen, at least in the present life, not to transform us without our involvement. He could, by an act of mere power, purify us unilaterally. But his holy love is glorified more when we choose to submit to a painful process of transformation that uses our own self-sacrificial labor as the means of transformation.

This has been a very fruitful series for me. Next up – practical thoughts about the different ways in which different kinds of churches respond to the challenges of a dark culture.