I have spent my entire life in Mainline Protestant denominations that observe Lent. While every congregation I've been a part of brings its own unique context to this observance, certain elements have never changed - including the date of Ash Wednesday. Both/And This morning I provided pulpit supply for West Fork Presbyertian Church (PCUSA) in Grand Prairie, Texas. And, for the first time in my life, I led a service on the first Sunday in Lent that incorporated elements of Ash Read More …
worship
My Visit to Mayflower Congregational UCC (#2103)
I've been sharing some of my experiences as a first-time guest in worship in a variety of congregations since 2010, including Last week, I was the guest minister at Central Lutheran Church in Dallas. Today, my wife and I visited Mayflower Congregation United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City for the first time. While we had never attended before, we felt we knew this congregation a bit through their former Senior Minister (1985 - 2020), The Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers. He has been Read More …
Happy New Year! Celebrating Visits to 12 Churches (#2093)
Happy New Year! Or, more precisely happy new church year. For those in liturgical traditions, Advent starts a new year in the life of the church. Advent is about preparing for what's to come. And, in many traditions, today started with an emphasis on hope. In the year that just ended, I found much to be hopeful for in my experiences with many local communities of faith, especially the 12 congregations located in the greater Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area that are profiled below. Read More …
Where’s Greg Worshipping? 8+ Congregations in 3 States (#2060)
We are now roughly half way through 2023 (a point that will officially be reached on July 2). This offers a good reason to reflect on the year thus far, including where I've worshipped. Cathedral of Hope My home church is Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ. I've worshipped there most Sundays. And, even on weeks that I've not been able to be a part of the Sunday morning worship experience, I've stayed connected through the congregation's small group ministry. In fact, my wife and I Read More …
In-Person Worship Attendance: Continued Challenges (#1981)
In a pre-pandemic world, when people mentioned attending worship, I assumed they were speaking of an in-person experience. This assumption in no way minimizes the many ways in my lifetime people have heard and/or seen services of worship without being physically present - from the days of audio cassette tapes to the more recent options of livestreaming. I was taught that these supplemental approaches worked well for niche audiences, such as those who were homebound, ill, or traveling. Since Read More …
Worship Attendance Cut in Half (#1972)
Three common measures of success for local churches are worship attendance, annual budgets, and facilities (sometimes referred to as butts, bucks, and buildings). Worship Attendance Congregations vary widely in size. Comparing them based on membership appears attractive until you learn that membership means different things in different traditions, and even within a given denomination individual congregations have different expectations of how one becomes a member and what one must do to Read More …
Top 21 Posts – All Time (#1966)
Since launching So What Faith in 2009, I’ve written more than 1,960 posts about matters of faith that matter. Based on page views, the all time most popular posts on So What Faith (as of December 26, 2021) are listed below followed by year of publication and change in popularity when compared to last year's list of top all time posts. Pastoral Prayer – Love (2014) [+1)Prayers of the People – Youth Sunday (2009) [-1]Are 10,000 Churches Closing Every Year? (2019) [+4]My Visit to Read More …
Top 10 Posts of 2021 (#1965)
2021 has been a year of striving to live into a reality known best as "new normal" or "next normal." This year's top posts (posts published in 2021 with the greatest number of page views as of December 19) consider timely topics of reopening congregations for in person worship, pastoral transitions, current trends, permanent church closure, and great new books. Top 10 Books of 2021 (December)A Decade in the United Church of Christ (August)Reopening for In Person Worship - 5 Congregations Read More …
All Saints & All Souls in a Pandemic (#1959)
To say that All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day are more meaningful to me this year than in prior years is an understatement. Like so many people, the pandemic has caused me to spend more time thinking about, talking about, and even writing about mortality. Death and dying are topics nearly every person I know have struggled with during the pandemic. This is understandable considering that COVID-19 has claimed the lives of nearly 750,000 American and more than 5,000,000 people worldwide. Read More …
Pandemic Worship: 10 Sacred Spaces (#1955)
A year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote "Visiting 50+ Churches in Dallas-Fort Worth," highlighting congregations I had worshipped with since relocating to Texas from Florida. When the pandemic started, I stopped attending worship in person. After experiencing a full year of life without attending corporate worship, I gradually reentered that world. March 7 - I attended my first outdoor worship serviceMarch 14 - I attended my first indoor worship service Now, seven Read More …