T. E. Hanna (discovered via Facebook) has a guest post by Dana Bruxvoort titled Why the Gospel Without Justice Isn’t the Gospel. While the title caught my attention, phrases like “filling in the holes in my gospel” and “doing nothing was no longer an option.” Missions not optional? Let’s spread that idea far and wide!…
The fact is, we want to be bigger, and we really can’t be bothered with the health and well-being of other denominations — after all, their gain is our loss, right? He tells about how he got in trouble with his trustees … and fellow pastors. And I love it! Read the whole thing.
What should a church that grows out of the New Testament witness look like? Dave Black posted a list of items on his blog today, and I, with his blanket permission, extracted the list to the Jesus Paradigm web site. (The site supports Dave’s book The Jesus Paradigm, which I publish.) I hope you will…
I tried not to steal the headline from the article by Rev. Robert Rynders in UM-Insight, The Church Isn’t Dying, It’s Already Dead, but this post is largely to tell you to go read that post. After reading his article and thinking about the good things I’ve seen happening in some United Methodist churches —…
The best advice I’ve heard on this topic is provided in a short post by Elizabeth Esther. Takeway? Be a listening ear.
Mostly, this is a link to Allan Bevere’s post, which builds on Michael Bird’s post. I’m one of those parishioners who would like to hear more sermons from well-educated theologians. Even if the circumstances are different (see comments to Allan’s post), I, like John Wesley, have but a lowly MA. But there are several things…
There are two things I’ve noticed in my own life and in the lives of people I know that tend to lead toward less divisiveness and greater Christian unity. These are: 1) A focus on doing mission 2) A focus on the study of scripture What’s interesting is that people can differ on how to…
Or you might say, denominations (or even just “organizations”) and innovation. We don’t have to work within the system if we don’t want to. We can work without it. We can go outside of it. We can leave it if it continues to stifle us. I might have preferred “if God calls us to,” but…
I’m struck by the fear with which churches greet new ideas. No, I think I should make it more direct than that. I’m struck by the fear with which churches greet ideas. Any type of ideas. The type of people who manifest this sort of fear are generally those who are either unable to support…
J. Lee Grady steps on some toes again. In general, these apply to any leader, especially the point about accountability. A lack of accountability undermines any other efforts.
