It is no secret that The United Methodist Church is in chaos. Churches are voting to leave the denomination left and right, once healthy congregations are now divided, longtime relationships are being damaged, and good people are being hurt. Several…
What I learned at Wake Forest Baptist Church
I was saddened, but not surprised, at the announcement that the Wake Forest Baptist church, whose members met in Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University for 66 years, is dissolving. I am sad because I’m a graduate…
Think your kids aren’t paying attention at church? Consider this …
Last week, I caught my children playing “church” in the backyard — a game I used to play as a child, too. I watched inconspicuously so they wouldn’t see me. My son Benjamin was pretending to be Pastor Stephen, who…
‘Consider the birds’: Reflections on a pandemic church year
In her recent poem, “A Wing and A Prayer,” Beth Ann Fennelly captures a familiar revelation from early on in the pandemic — how the birds outside our windows and in our backyards seemed so darn loud. We thought the…
Experiencing God and engaging in social responsibility are keys to church relevance
For the first time since they began keeping track in 1937, Gallup found that a minority of Americans (47%) are now members of a house of worship. This wasn’t really news to anyone who has been involved in a church…
5 things Protestant churches in the U.S. can learn from Eastern Orthodoxy
The difference in liturgical calendars at this season of the church year provides an opportunity to consider some lessons for American Protestantism from the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christendom.
Watch night history
“Watch Night” services began in 1733 with the Moravian communities in what is now the Czech Republic. By 1740 John Wesley and his Methodist movement within Anglicanism had adopted the tradition, with New Year’s Eve services ending after midnight, marked…
Sore afraid: the impediment to transformation
By Greg Jarrell And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. — Luke 2:9 A hand reaches into the gut. It squeezes the…
Theology: A focus for thinking
This is the seventh article of a nine-part series on empowering a faith community to impact the world. Already hospitality, evangelism, missions, ethics, Bible, and spirituality have been explored. In his book Becoming a Thinking Christian, John Cobb promotes the…