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Fall 2025 Editorial
By Dave Jenkins
In every generation, the Church faces the temptation to chase after spiritual shortcuts. Today, that temptation often comes in the form of contemplative practices and mystical techniques that promise peace, presence, or intimacy with God apart from His Word. These trends may sound appealing, but they leave God’s people disoriented, confusing subjective experience with true communion with Christ.
That is why recovering a biblical understanding of the means of grace is so urgent. The Lord has not left us to wonder how He draws near to His people. He has given us His appointed means: the preaching of the Word, the sacraments, prayer, and the fellowship of the Church. Through these ordinary means, God does extraordinary work, giving life, sustaining faith, and conforming His people to Christ.
Contemplative mysticism insists there is something “more.” But the truth is that Christ is enough. His Word is sufficient. His Spirit is present and powerful. God’s people don’t need novelty, we need the faithful, steady nourishment He has promised to give in His Word to His people..
This October 2025 issue of Theology for Life is devoted to instructing us in these very truths. As you read, you will be invited to trust in the sufficiency of Christ and to rejoice in the simple, profound, and life-giving ways He meets His people.
In Christ Alone,
Dave Jenkins
Executive Editor, Theology for Life Magazine
This article appears in the Fall 2025 Issue of Theology for Life Magazine, exploring “The Means of Grace.”
Ordinary Means, Extraordinary Grace: Rejecting Mysticism in the Church
Dave Jenkins is happily married to his wife, Sarah. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon. Dave is a lover of Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology. He serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine, the Host and Producer of Equipping You in Grace Podcast, and is a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word. He is the author of The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021), The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022), and Contentment: The Journey of a Lifetime (Theology for Life, 2024). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or read his newsletter. Dave loves to spend time with his wife, going to movies, eating at a nice restaurant, or going out for a round of golf with a good friend. He is also a voracious reader, in particular of Reformed theology, and the Puritans. You will often find him when he’s not busy with ministry reading a pile of the latest books from a wide variety of Christian publishers. Dave received his M.A.R. and M.Div through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
