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Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

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Andy Naselli

A Letter on Christian Enculturation

April 30, 2025 by Andy Naselli

The member covenant of Christ the King Church says that we commit “to encourage fathers to bring up their children with a Christian education and enculturation.” Here is a letter I coauthored with my fellow pastors to our church regarding Christian enculturation and government schools (PDF).

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: education

God’s Will and Making Decisions

January 28, 2025 by Andy Naselli

In this free little book, I give advice about how to decide what to do:

Naselli, Andrew David. God’s Will and Making Decisions. Field Guides. Kingsburg, CA: The Mentoring Project, 2025.

  • Free PDF
  • Free Spanish PDF
  • Free audiobook (at the top of this page)

After disagreeing with what I call “the subjective view” of finding God’s will, I propose four diagnostic questions as a set of principles to help you decide what to do:

  1. Holy Desire: What do you want to do?
  2. Open Door: What opportunities are open or closed?
  3. Wise Counsel: What do wise people who know you well and know the situation well advise you to do?
  4. Biblical Wisdom: What do you think you should do based on Bible-saturated wisdom?

Then I give five closing exhortations:

  1. Don’t be anxious. Trust God.
  2. Don’t be sulky. Be holy and happy.
  3. Don’t be inflexible. Be willing to adjust your plans.
  4. Don’t overthink past decisions. Strain forward to what lies ahead.
  5. Don’t be cowardly. Be courageous.

Related: “God’s Will and Decision-Making” (August 15, 2012)

Filed Under: Other

New Website for Christ the King Church in Stillwater

November 25, 2024 by Andy Naselli

Here is the new website for Christ the King Church in Stillwater: www.ChristTheKing.build.

About four months ago, I announced that my family is planning to plant Christ the King Church with some dear friends. If you have been praying for us, thank you. There has been so much to do (this is probably the most I have felt saturated with responsibilities), and God has been kind to us each step of the way. It has been a joy to work with the Dodds, Williams, and Colestock families to prepare to make disciples who glorify God in all of life for all of Stillwater.

We are planning to covenant together as a church on the first Sunday in January, and we plan to start out meeting on Sunday mornings at the beautiful Historic Courthouse in downtown Stillwater. Here’s some drone footage of that building and area from on overcast day in late October (thanks to my former student Kyle Grindberg):

We are asking God to empower us to be faithful and fruitful in this good work. Would you please pray for us? And would you consider partnering with us by investing in this good work?

For more info, see www.ChristTheKing.build.

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: personal

Why and How Our Church Plans to Use the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns

October 7, 2024 by Andy Naselli

Christ the King Church (the church we are in the process of planting in Stillwater, Minnesota) is planning to sing selections mostly from the hymnal Treasury of Psalms and Hymns. Here’s why and how.

Why Our Church Plans to Use the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns

A good hymnal collects high-quality songs that span centuries and continents and cultures. It is a rich devotional resource for churches and families and individuals, and it fosters beautiful harmonious singing that stirs our hearts. Hymnals also make it easier to trace the argument of a hymn from line to line and stanza to stanza (which is harder to do with slides).

We plan to use the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns for at least seven reasons:

  1. It helps us obey Ephesians 5:18b–19: “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (cf. Col 3:16). The three terms translated “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” appear in psalm titles in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, so God clearly wants Christians to sing the psalms. Our church plans to sing all 150 psalms. Selections 1–481 in the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns are various settings for the 150 psalms—usually at least three selections for each psalm. Selections 482–1135 are other hymns, including most classic hymns that Reformed churches sing.
  2. It has more songs than most hymnals (1,135!).
  3. It includes songs that Christians have been singing for hundreds of years as well as ones that are more recent.
  4. It sets the music to a very singable pitch, especially for men.
  5. It is more affordable than most hymnals.
  6. It includes excellent indexes and online resources, including free recordings available for each song.
  7. It arranges hymns 482–854 under the five headings that our church plans to follow as the gospel-shaped structure for our worship service: (1) Call to Worship, (2) Confession, (3) Consecration, (4) Communion, and (5) Commission (cf. Jeffrey Meyers, The Lord’s Service). That does not mean that we may sing those selections only if we are in that particular part of the worship service, but that organization is helpful for us.

How Our Church Plans to Use the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns

We plan to use the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns for most of what we sing together, and if you meet with us, we encourage you to prepare for the upcoming Sunday worship service by listening to and practicing what we plan to sing together:

  1. We encourage you to practice singing the selections that we plan to sing together during the upcoming worship service. When our church begins in early 2025, God willing, we aim to upload a draft online of the Worship Service Guide for the upcoming Sunday worship service by 5:00pm each Monday so that families may start practicing those psalms and hymns together on Monday evenings.
  2. We encourage you to own copies of the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns so that you can use it to sing at home. Once you own a copy of the hymnal, you may have access to an online folder that includes a PDF of the hymnal as well as free recordings for each selection. (You may request access using the contact form here.)
  3. We encourage you to listen to selections from the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns on Youtube. If you listen to the selections once or twice a day the week prior to singing them together with the church, your joy while singing them may increase.
  4. We encourage you to see and listen to our upcoming selections in the Sing Your Part app. It works as a web app on a computer and as an iOS app on an iPhone and iPad, and it recently became available on the Google Play Store for Android. If you select “Christ the King Church (Stillwater, MN)” in the app, then you can see and hear what we plan to sing in our upcoming worship service. In the app you can adjust a song’s tempo, and you can adjust the volume of each of the four parts (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) so that you can hear your part better. When our church begins in early 2025, God willing, we plan to purchase a family subscription for members. A subscription gives you access to all of the resources in the app—not just the songs that we plan to sing in the upcoming worship service. Between now and then, the good folks who operate the Sing Your Part app are giving us complimentary access to the app.

Note to leaders of other churches: If you would like to consider setting your church up with the Sing Your Part app, you may schedule a 30-minute call with Isaiah Holt, CEO of Crescendo Software.

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: Music, worship

Politics, Conscience, and the Church: The Why, What, and How of Political Disagreement (And a Test Case)

September 9, 2024 by Andy Naselli

New article:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Politics, Conscience, and the Church: The Why, What, and How of Political Disagreement.” Christ Over All, 9 September 2024.

It updates an article I coauthored with Jonathan Leeman four years ago by tweaking it throughout and by adding a new section at the end: “Test Case: May Christians in America Vote for a Pro-choice Candidate?”

Updates:

  1. Kevin McClure reads the article aloud for the Christ Over All podcast—with an introduction by David Schrock (52 minutes).
  2. On 9/23/2024, Christ Over All released a 61-minute podcast episode in which I discuss this article with David Schrock and Steve Wellum.

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: politics

Three Reflections on Being a Pastor and a Professor

August 16, 2024 by Andy Naselli

My school just published this short article:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Three Reflections on Being a Pastor and a Professor.” Bethlehem College and Seminary, 16 August 2024.

I expand on these three reflections:

  1. It is helpful to lay out a spectrum of six options for being a pastor or professor.
  2. It is good for seminary professors to be pastors as they train pastors.
  3. Pastor-professors labor to build up Christ’s church.

Related:

  • Announcing a New Church Plant
  • 3 Reflections on Evangelical Academic Publishing
  • Application to Bethlehem College and Seminary (Completing the initial step will take less than 10 minutes.)

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: church planting, personal, scholarship

Announcing a New Church Plant

July 29, 2024 by Andy Naselli

Big news for the Naselli family: We’re planning to plant Christ the King Church with some dear friends.

More info at www.ChristTheKing.build.

(I plan to continue teaching full-time at Bethlehem College and Seminary. And our family hopes to move closer to the Stillwater area in due course.)

Would you please pray for us?

Update in mid-October 2024: Our family has moved to the Stillwater area. Please pray for us as we settle and labor. We plan to covenant together as a church on January 5, 2025.

Related:

  1. Three Reflections on Being a Pastor and a Professor
  2. Why and How Our Church Plans to Use the Treasury of Psalms and Hymns

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: church planting, personal

Our Priest in the Pattern of Melchizedek: Eight Conclusions Hebrews 5–7 Draws about Jesus the Messiah from Genesis 14:18–20 and Psalm 110:4

July 5, 2024 by Andy Naselli

New article:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Our Priest in the Pattern of Melchizedek: Eight Conclusions Hebrews 5–7 Draws about Jesus the Messiah from Genesis 14:18–20 and Psalm 110:4.” Christ Over All, 5 July 2024.

Summary: Because Jesus the Messiah is our priest in the pattern of Melchizedek …

  1. he is the supreme priest (Heb. 4:14–5:10).
  2. he has entered the Most Holy Place on our behalf (Heb. 6:19–20).
  3. he is both king and priest (Heb. 7:1–2).
  4. his priesthood is eternal (Heb. 7:3).
  5. he is greater than both Abraham and Levitical priests (Heb. 7:4–10).
  6. he is better than Levitical priests, and he fulfills the Mosaic law (Heb. 7:11–17).
  7. he guarantees a covenant that is better than the Mosaic covenant (Heb. 7:18–22).
  8. he can save his people completely (Heb. 7:23–28).

Filed Under: Biblical Theology, Exegesis

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God's Will and Making Decisions

How to Read a Book: Advice for Christian Readers

Predestination: An Introduction

Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Tracing the Argument of 1 Corinthians: A Phrase Diagram

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433580349/?tag=andynaselli-20

Tracing the Argument of Romans: A Phrase Diagram of the Greatest Letter Ever Written

The Serpent Slayer and the Scroll of Riddles: The Kambur Chronicles

The Serpent and the Serpent Slayer

40 Questions about Biblical Theology

1 Corinthians in Romans–Galatians (ESV Expository Commentary)

How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics?

Three Views on Israel and the Church: Perspectives on Romans 9–11

That Little Voice in Your Head: Learning about Your Conscience

How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology

No Quick Fix: Where Higher Life Theology Came From, What It Is, and Why It's Harmful

Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ

NIV Zondervan Study Bible

Perspectives on the Extent of the Atonement

From Typology to Doxology: Paul’s Use of Isaiah and Job in Romans 11:34–35

Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism

Let God and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology

Introducing the New Testament: A Short Guide to Its History and Message

See more of my publications.

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