By Corey Fields When two women who had spent years serving the community decided to start a new venture in Topeka’s poorest neighborhood, they knew they were going into a place plagued by crime, dysfunction and poverty. There was one…
What does your congregation expect of people connected with it?
Jason slipped into a seat at the back of the worship center just after the choir entered. This was his first time at worship this month. He grew up in church as part of a family present practically every time…
Making sense of climate change
By David P. Gushee with David E. Gushee Follow David P. Gushee: @dpgushee David P. Gushee: In this column about climate change I am going to give the majority of the space to my esteemed father, David E. Gushee, who…
De-toxifying charity
Many years ago, I was prompted to rethink my own presuppositions about stewardship after reading Ron Sider’s probing book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity. More recently many of us have been thinking more…
Who decides what it means to ‘be a man’?
By Jason Coker Only a couple of days after my firstborn child came into the world, I was in the hospital room with him when he did what all new babies do. So I carefully laid him on the changing…
Dean Smith: A remembrance
I once preached in the Chapel Hill, N.C., church where legendary basketball coach Dean Smith was a member. Smith, who died this week, was not expected to be there that morning, since his University of Carolina team had a road…
FaithSoaring churches are fueled by vision and flavored by relationships
Melinda sat down in the sanctuary and prepared for worship. Her mind wondered and she thought, “I love this church, our worship, and my friends. But I want more. I want to be part of a church with a clear…
The two most dangerous words
By Bill Wilson “Yes, but …” Two of the most dangerous words in a minister’s vocabulary. Two of the most destructive words a congregation will ever utter. “Yes, but …” The order of their utterance is important. First we say,…
Missing Church: Why I’m not a “Done” (Even If I Want to Be)
A couple of months ago, I posted about the experience of taking a break from attending church. It somehow garnered a lot more attention than I expected, enough that it prompted a follow-up question: Why go back? It’s a question that…
Another shooting? Not again.
Not again. That was my first thought upon seeing countless posts on Twitter about a shooting in Chapel Hill. By now, many of you have heard about the shooting of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and…
Salvation and shape notes
By Bill Leonard Recent conversations about hymnody and history sent me back to a century-old family photo I discovered after my mother’s death two years ago. It shows a group of some 70 men, women and children standing in front…
A long journey home
This is the third of three posts by Jason Coker, written in the days before and after his father died on Jan. 27. The first post can be read here and the second here. Jan. 30, 2015 I got the…