As Southern Baptists convene in Birmingham, we ask again: what will it take for denominational leaders to take meaningful action on clergy sexual abuse and the incalculable harm done to so many lives? Recent proposals are bare half-measures at best, with too many unknowns and too little transparency.
Pride month: suggestions for straight allies in queer spaces
Given the harsh judgment, discrimination and hateful rhetoric LGBTQ people face from many Christian people, seeing churches who love, affirm and support LGBTQ people is essential. Still, when straight people enter queer spaces, even as allies, their heterosexual privilege can be problematic.
Finding an alternative to the anxious pursuit of happiness parading as American Christianity
Of the 25 to 30 students, adults, married couples and whole families I see each week in my practice as a psychotherapist, almost nothing is more difficult to overcome than our collective commitment to the anxious pursuit of happiness at all costs.
‘Pentecost-tide’: pondering what it means to be fully alive in the Spirit
What is the Holy Spirit up to these days? How should we pray in order to align our actions to the purposes of God who moves among us as Spirit? The Spirit is usually to be found where conflict is burning, for that provides an opportunity to move toward a new level of understanding and discourse.
Selfies from hell: Don’t give up one second to the lesser gods of this digital age
The social media space is a dangerous world leveraged by hidden agendas and powerful systems. Your spiritual health is pretty far down on the list of their priorities.
A coffee mug and a heated conversation saved me from my self-righteous view of patriarchy
For thousands of years a lie has been promoted by the powerhouse religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, often with the wedding and bedding of religion and state. The lie said, “Patriarchy works for everyone – especially men.” But the truth is patriarchy doesn’t work for everyone – even men.
The essential skillset for a 21st-century pastor: turnaround leadership
Out of my work at the Center for Healthy Churches, I have discovered four core leadership principles for pastors of congregations that are facing decline and longing for turnaround.
From her mouth to God’s ear? Women’s voices, homiletical testosterone and radical redemption
Across the years, women in my family, in my classes and in the church have taught me this: Christ’s gospel isn’t measured by biology or hierarchy, but by radical redemption. God hears any voice that preaches Jesus.
Noah’s lawsuit: Is God trying to say something?
Noah’s ark is not a children’s story, a funny story or even a story concerned with history. This story is true even if it never happened. If you get past the strangeness, it sounds like recent events.
Jesus said the ‘gates of hell may not prevail against the Church.’ But ignorance might
The depth of ignorance of science displayed by many religious people today is tragic, and the reach of an anti-intellectual, anti-education mindset threatens our future as a Church and a nation.
Will we transcend our sectarian divides or continue to dismember the Body of Christ?
It is a grace to receive from the global community, especially as the Christian footprint is re-centering toward the global South and East. Those of us in the West and North should be in a listening posture.
Like it or not, we are like sheep – including our vulnerability to ‘thieves and wolves’
Today, political, commercial and religious ‘thieves and wolves’ are threatening humanity and the creation. But the Good Shepherd has not left us defenseless. We are vulnerable, but not abandoned; weak, but not without protection. We go astray, but God is always determined to find and restore us.