So you’re thinking about leaving the traditional church where you were raised and heading for the big-box megachurch down the way because your kids like the music? You’re not alone. This is happening all across America, not only in major…
Surrogates of the gospel
By Bill Leonard Gardner C. Taylor died on Easter Sunday 2015. Those who knew him weren’t surprised that as one friend said, “he held on till Easter.” Taylor, a spiritual icon inside and beyond the African-American community, was civil rights…
Rediscovering the space in which can God show up
By Amy Butler “From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.” I’m pretty sure James Joyce wasn’t thinking of the minister’s experience of Holy Week when he wrote that sentence filled with deep and resounding truth, but any…
Setting the table
By Scott Dickison With the arrival of our first son about a year and a half ago, my wife and I have been more intentional about creating our own family holiday traditions. So last Easter, our first together as a…
Who’s really discriminating here?
Discrimination is a funny word. We hear it thrown around a lot today so it’s worth taking a minute and reflecting on what exactly it means. At the most basic level, discrimination is simply the process of choosing one thing…
A tribute to Dean Alan Culpepper: The man and the myth
By Brett Younger For four years at the Mercer Preaching Consultation, Alan Culpepper and I have led a discussion on each year’s Advent texts. The first year I compared us to Simon and Garfunkel. The dean responded that it was…
What is the direction and diversity of collaboration among Christian Ministries?
Building on the foundation of two earlier articles, let’s now address the direction and diversity of collaboration. The first article was Compete or Collaborate: The Dilemmas for Christian Ministries, and the second was Critical Understanding About Collaboration for Christian Ministries….
A new church is coming
By Molly T. Marshall I regularly read the Abbey Banner, which is the publication of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn. I spent a fruitful sabbatical there in 2000, and this Benedictine community remains of interest to me because of…
Technology and a quality life: a delicate balance
By Nora O. Lozano Some Sundays ago I went to pick my son up from his church youth meeting. I was not paying much attention to the time, and until I opened the building door, I realized that I had…
How pastors should act during election season
Recently a certain candidate for the office of president announced her campaign and plans to attain our nation’s highest office. Immediately after her announcement via social media there was a flurry of responses and reactions. Naturally, being a minister, I…
Critical understandings about collaboration for Christian ministries
Building on a previous article entitled Compete or Collaborate: The Dilemma for Christian Ministries, I want to delve into the direction and diversity of collaboration among Christian ministries. But to do this I must first lay out some critical understandings…
What ‘religious freedom’ used to mean
By Corey Fields At the turn of the 17th century, an English lawyer named Thomas Helwys had become part of a separatist congregation in Lincolnshire (it is to this congregation that many Baptists trace their roots). They were dissenters from…