Christendom and the World

In this week's episode of Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus sits down with Rev. Burnell F. Eckardt Jr. to revisit the controversy surrounding the "Prayer for America" service held after the September 11 attacks and the slogan, "It's Okay to Pray." Twenty-five years later, the controversy has resurfaced with the release of a book bearing that same title.

What is the difference between praying and participating in worship alongside those who confess false gods? Pastor Preus and Rev. Eckardt discuss syncretism, unionism, the dangers of religious pluralism, and the pressure Christians face to compromise their confession for the sake of cultural unity. Drawing from Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, they examine why Christian witness must remain grounded in the exclusive truth of Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

Faithfulness to the Gospel sometimes means saying no, even when the world misunderstands. As Luther reminds us, faith must not yield when it comes to doctrine.

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In this week's episode of Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus and Pastor Jim Wilsusen discuss the temptation to measure a church's faithfulness by its size. Beginning with Pastor Larry Beane's article "The Big Church Blues," they consider whether larger congregations should have greater influence in the Synod, whether numerical growth is necessarily a sign of God's blessing, and how the church-growth mindset can turn the work of the Church into something measured by numbers, programs, and statistics.

Pastor Andrew and Pastor Jim discuss the importance of seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, the danger of putting fellowship before doctrine, and why the pure preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments must remain at the center of the Church's life. They also talk about the four soils in the parable of the sower, the difference between spiritual and numerical growth, and the pastor's calling to faithfully scatter the seed without trying to control the outcome.

Ultimately, the Church is not called to manufacture growth. We are called to preach the Word faithfully, proclaim the Law and Gospel, administer Christ's gifts, and trust that God gives the growth.

📩 Have a question or topic you want us to cover? Check below for our email and send it in—we'd love to include it in a future episode! [email protected]

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Overview of Church Sizes 02:30 Comparing Rural and Suburban Churches 03:38 The Big Church Blues and Synod Politics 07:16 The Parable of the Sower and Seed 09:38 Church Polity and Representation 10:07 Size as an Indicator of Faithfulness? 12:29 Representation and Influence in Synod 14:21 Community and Ministry in Small Churches 17:17 The Blessings of Small Congregations 19:42 Faithfulness Over Numerical Growth 22:13 Building True Community in Larger Churches 24:36 The Priority of Doctrine and Preaching 27:38 The Growth of Faith and Doctrine 30:02 Outreach and Evangelism in Different Contexts 33:26 Preaching with Courage and Faithfulness 36:36 Numbers and Statistics in Church Growth 39:39 Seeking First the Kingdom of God 44:48 The Role of the Holy Spirit in Growth 50:00 The Significance of Vestments and Worship Language 53:48 Critique of Sociological Terms in Worship 54:14 The Problem with Church Growth Mindset 55:02 Preaching the Truth in Love 58:43 Handling Difficult Sermons and Courage 01:00:02 Unity in Doctrine and Fellowship 01:02:06 The Vanity of Counting Numbers 01:04:53 Preach the Word and Trust God 01:05:48 The Parable of the Sower and God's Grace 01:06:11 Conclusion and Blessings of Faithful Ministry

In this week's episode of Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus explores the biblical distinction between guilt and shame. Is shame simply a lie from the devil, or does Scripture give us a more nuanced understanding of it?

Pastor Preus looks at shame, nakedness, guilt, repentance, and the way God covers our shame through Christ. From Adam and Eve in the Garden to Miriam's punishment and restoration, he examines how God uses shame to teach repentance while ultimately covering His people with the righteousness of Christ.

Rather than exposing and exploiting shame, Christians are called to cover one another's faults with love, restore one another with gentleness, and cling to the hope we have in Christ.

📩 Have a question or topic you want us to cover? Check below for our email and send it in—we'd love to include it in a future episode! [email protected]

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What makes church music fitting for Christian worship? In this episode of Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus is joined by Pastor Jim Wilshusen to discuss Lutheran church music, contemporary worship, congregational singing, and the purpose of the liturgy.

They discuss the difference between congregational singing and an audience singing along with a performer, the danger of turning worship into a performance, and how music should serve the teaching of God's Word rather than become the main event.

Pastor Preus and Pastor Wilshusen also discuss how hymns teach doctrine, why pastors should carefully choose the hymns used in worship, and practical ways to introduce and teach unfamiliar hymns to a congregation.

#ChristendomAndTheWorld #Lutheran #LutheranWorship #ChurchMusic #ChristianWorship #Hymns #Liturgy #DivineService #Worship #ChristianMusic #LutheranHymns #Gospel #ChurchHistory

Video Credits: https://www.gottesdienst.org/gottesblog/2026/8/29/how-did-lutheran-church-music-get-so-bad

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and overview of worship discussion

02:08 The influence of praise culture on church music

03:56 Differences between Lutheran and Catholic understanding of worship

08:10 The importance of liturgical order and flow

11:54 The role of hymns in teaching doctrine

15:12 Practical methods for hymn selection and teaching

20:12 The impact of worship style on active participation

24:08 The danger of performance-oriented worship

30:06 The active reception of God's Word and Sacraments

40:07 Reforming hymnody and worship practices

Did the Council of Nicaea decide what books belong in the Bible? Did Constantine invent the doctrine of Christ's divinity? In this episode of Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus addresses these popular claims and traces the history behind them.

Beginning with The Da Vinci Code and other modern conspiracy theories, Pastor Preus examines the Gnostic Gospels, the early Church Fathers, the development of Christian teaching about the Trinity, and the historical evidence surrounding the Council of Nicaea.

Rather than inventing Christianity, Nicaea defended and confessed what Christians had already been teaching from Scripture for generations—especially that Jesus Christ is truly God, eternally begotten of the Father, and the Savior of mankind.

#ChristendomAndTheWorld #Christianity #Constantine #CouncilOfNicaea #NiceneCreed #Bible #Scripture #EarlyChurch #ChurchHistory #JesusChrist #Trinity #ChristianApologetics

Chapters

(00:00) Opening Scripture reading and theme of grace, salvation, and good works

(00:40) Why The Da Vinci Code shaped modern confusion about Jesus and the Bible

(02:03) Apocryphal writings, Gnostic gospels, and why the Church rejected them

(04:54) Nag Hammadi and the rise of "lost gospel" conspiracy theories

(06:18) The claim that Constantine decided the Bible at Nicaea

(08:17) The Da Vinci Code as the source of the Constantine canon myth

(09:36) Constantine, Maxentius, and the political world before Nicaea

(11:29) The Milvian Bridge, the Chi-Rho, and Constantine's conversion narrative

(13:04) Arius and the phrase "there was a time when he was not"

(15:23) Orthodox Christianity's response to Arianism

(16:20) Earlier heresies: docetism, modalism, and denial of the Trinity

(17:17) Why Jesus' baptism refutes modalist theology

(18:42) Paul of Samosata, Antioch, and early language about substance and person

(20:11) Scripture's teaching on the Trinity and the eternal Son

(22:42) Josephus and the Jewish canon before Christianity

(26:03) Early church fathers and organic reception of Scripture

(28:00) Where the Nicaea canon myth likely came from

(29:53) Reading the later apocryphal story about books on the altar

(35:05) Why the surviving canons of Nicaea do not mention voting on Scripture

(37:59) The synodical letter from Nicaea to the Church in Alexandria

(38:56) The council's real action against Arius and his teachings

(44:44) Easter, church order, and housekeeping decisions at Nicaea

(46:38) What the council actually affirmed about Christ's divinity

(51:03) Final takeaway: the Council of Nicaea defended Scripture, it did not create it

In this episode of Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus continues his discussion of Philip Hahn's "Enthusiasm Among Us" by turning to J.P. Koehler's 1914 essay "Legalism Among Us." Kaler's warning is directed specifically toward conservative, confessional Lutherans: even our zeal for pure doctrine, proper worship, sanctification, and church discipline can subtly become legalistic when we lose sight of the Gospel.

Pastor Preus explores the difference between living from the Gospel and allowing the Law—or our outward forms, traditions, and intellectual formulations—to become the source of our Christian life. He discusses how the old Adam can even take good things like pure doctrine and use them to feed pride, suspicion, selfishness, and fear rather than faith, hope, and love.

The episode also considers intellectualism, proof texts, traditionalism, ecumenical spirit, and how Christians should interact with those who hold doctrinal errors. The goal is not to abandon sound doctrine or discipline, but to remember why we guard them in the first place: because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our life.

#ChristendomAndTheWorld #Lutheran #Christianity #Gospel #LawAndGospel #ConfessionalLutheran #ChristianDoctrine #Faith #JesusChrist #Theology #ChristianPodcast #LutheranTheology #Legalism

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the dangers of legalism

02:00 Historical background of legalism among Lutherans

04:24 Legalism as a subtle infiltration in church practice

06:47 The difference between law and gospel

10:08 Manifestations of legalism in doctrine and worship

13:09 The role of faith, hope, and love in the Christian life

16:07 The danger of intellectualism and traditionalism

18:55 The importance of the gospel as the foundation

21:49 The false reliance on proof texts and doctrine

24:46 The ecumenical spirit rooted in the gospel

28:06 Practical application: guarding the gospel in church life

31:51 The life of faith as rooted in Christ

36:05 The danger of externalism and superficiality

39:52 The importance of the Holy Spirit's work

44:10 Summary and concluding thoughts on Christian freedom

What does Christian freedom actually mean when it comes to worship, church traditions, and adiaphora?

In this episode of Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus revisits the Lutheran teaching of adiaphora—things neither commanded nor forbidden by God—and considers what Christian freedom means for the church's worship and life together.

Drawing on the Wauwatosa theologians and a recent article, "Enthusiasm Among Us," Pastor Preus examines the dangers of both legalism and enthusiasm. We can fall into legalism by treating traditions as laws simply because "we've always done it this way," but we can also fall into enthusiasm by trying to manufacture spiritual experiences through atmosphere, emotion, or entertainment.

The answer is neither prohibition nor indifference. Rather, Christian freedom sends us back to Scripture, where we learn to use the forms and traditions of the church as witnesses to the Gospel.

Ultimately, our confidence is not in a particular liturgical form, a tradition, or a manufactured experience—but in Christ and His life-giving Word.

"Christian freedom includes a lot of disciplining of your own flesh. It includes a lot of digging into Scripture and a lot of repentance, but it is a wonderful life because it is one that relies only upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ and His life-giving Gospel."

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0:00 — Introduction: Freedom, Adiaphora, and Christian Life

0:25 — Revisiting Wawatosa Theology and Gospel-Centered Teaching

3:22 — Why Doctrine Must Serve Life, Not Become Legalism

8:06 — The Ministry Debate and the Pastoral Office

15:12 — Christian Freedom and the Problem of Tradition for Tradition's Sake

20:27 — "Enthusiasm Among Us" and Gospel Freedom

24:42 — What Reveals the Church's Real Instinct?

30:16 — Adiaphora, Ordination, and Sunday Worship

37:48 — Worship Wars, Forms, and What They Actually Teach

43:11 — Holding to Christ, Not Just to Forms

52:13 — Why Adiaphora Exists for the Christian Will

57:09 — Theological Conclusion: Freedom, Repentance, and the Gospel

What exactly is the Gospel? And why does it matter how we define it?

In this episode of Christendom and the World, we discuss the distinction between the Gospel in its broad sense and the Gospel in its narrow sense, along with the proper distinction between Law and Gospel.

The Gospel in its narrow sense is the promise of forgiveness and salvation freely given through Jesus Christ. The Law exposes our sin and brings us to recognize that we cannot establish our own righteousness before God. The Gospel, however, points us entirely outside of ourselves—to Christ, who was crucified for our sins and raised for our justification.

We also discuss baptism, faith, repentance, and the danger of turning God's gracious gifts into something we must accomplish for God rather than receiving what Christ has done for us.

The episode ultimately comes back to the foundation of Christian faith and certainty: Christ and Him crucified. Christ alone.

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In this episode of Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus examines LCMS Resolution 5-09A and the ongoing debate over lay readers and the public reading of Scripture in the Divine Service.

Pastor Preus discusses 1 Timothy 4:13, the nature of public Scripture reading as an act of teaching, and the biblical distinction between the various stations and vocations God has given to Christians. He also considers the arguments surrounding women serving as lectors, the history of the practice in the Missouri Synod, and the importance of allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture.

The episode also looks at the role of the pastor, the historical use of trained male lay readers, the 2026 LCMS convention debate, and the importance of grounding our church practices in the Word of God rather than simply in historical precedent or contemporary custom.

For questions or comments, email [email protected].

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This week on Christendom and the World, Pastor Andrew Preus is joined by Pastor Jesse Schlie for a conversation about mysticism and enthusiasm and whether there is such a thing as true, biblical Christian mysticism.

Luther strongly warned against enthusiasm—the idea that God speaks to us apart from His external Word. But what does that mean for prayer, meditation, spiritual experience, and a Christian's personal awareness of God's work in their lives?

In this episode, we discuss:

• What Luther meant by enthusiasm
• Why God speaks to our hearts through His Word, not out of our hearts
• The dangers of seeking signs, dreams, visions, and extra-biblical revelation
• Mysticism and its place throughout church history
• Luther's theology of the cross
• Oratio, meditatio, tentatio — prayer, meditation, and testing
• The relationship between Christian experience and Scripture
• How Luther's understanding of faith differs from the mysticism that came before him

True Christian spirituality isn't found by looking beyond God's Word for something new. Rather, the Christian is brought deeper into the mystery of Christ through the Word, through faith, prayer, meditation, and the trials of life.

For questions or comments, email [email protected].

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