“Do you consider yourself a first responder?” The question seemed odd at first, but it was sincere. The person who asked had not mistaken me for a firefighter or a police officer or a paramedic. Something different was meant. Not…
Church the way it used to be?
By Mark Wingfield On a recent visit back to my hometown in Oklahoma, I heard about a church that has adopted the motto, “Church the Way It Used to Be.” Later, I did an Internet search for this phrase and…
What if your city’s history were projected on your church?
By Mark Wingfield In San Antonio, Texas, the façade of the historic San Fernando Cathedral has become the backdrop for a public art installation. A 24-minute video projection with music depicts the history of San Antonio by drawing and redrawing…
Churches promote ministries that unite generations
By Jeff Brumley The article is more than five years old but the question it raises is still a powerful one for some youth ministers, pastors and congregational coaches today: “Is Youth Ministry Killing the Church?” The 2005 Christian Century…
The genericization of the evangelical church
By Mark Wingfield Is it possible that America’s evangelical churches have merely traded one form of uniformity for another? One of the criticisms of the old model of churches driven by denominational identity is that they were all the same….
The problem of calling someone a liar
By Mark Wingfield As a Texan, I am not enamored with Ted Cruz as my senator. However, right now I have a bit of sympathy for him. Last week, he called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a “liar” on the…
Musical Chairs and the leaders of dying organizations
By Mark Wingfield “I don’t want the ship to go down on my watch.” These words have been uttered, or perhaps muttered under the breath, by many a pastor and organizational leader who has found themselves at the helm of…
Don’t forget to count the non-denoms
In all the hand-wringing about the statistical decline of Baptist congregations in America — which follows similar declines before in the mainline Protestant churches — one important shift seldom gets mentioned. That is the rise of the nondenominational church within…
Who will go to Destination Unknown?
“Destination Unknown.” That was the stated course of the troop ship on which Julia Graham and her first husband, Henry, embarked in May 1945, with their 7-month-old son, as Baptist missionaries to the Middle East. Julia and Henry and the…