According to a new survey conducted by LifewayResearch, 96% of Southern Baptist (SB) churches have more inclusive communion practices than are allowed by their denomination's faith statement. The latest edition (200o) of the Baptist Faith and Message Statement lists baptism and church membership as prerequisites for Communion / Lord's Supper / Eucharist. According to the survey, 96% of SB allow non-members to participate and 65% allow those who have not been baptized to Read More …
Review of Everyday Heroes (#0914)
Meet the Author and Photographer Katrina Fried is senior editor and associate publisher at Welcome Books, where she has worked since 2001. During her time at Basic she has written, edited or produced over a dozen books offering "unique visual narratives that push the boundaries and traditional limitations of illustrated books." Paul Mobley is a photographer with extensive training and an impressive client list including American Express, Sony, Citigroup, Ford, Compaq, Gourmet, Max Read More …
More Miracles? (#0913)
David Briggs, columnist for the Association of Religion Data Archives, recently wrote an article for the Huffington Post on the increasing belief in miracles. According to a new study, "the number of Americans who definitely believe in religious miracles increased 22 percent in the past two decades, with 55 percent now certain of this supernatural phenomenon." Astonishingly the same research finds, "four in five Americans believe miracles definitely or probably occur." So Read More …
Announcements in Worship (#0912)
Alan Rudnick, pastor of First Baptist Church (Ballston Spa, NY), recently wrote about constructing a theology for announcements in worship. He suggests that announcements belong in worship if they "serve a greater purpose: to connect people into greater opportunities of Christ-like community life." Additionally, Rudnick encourages people to reconsider announcements as being made in non-verbal forms, delivered by a solid communicator (ideally the same Read More …
Review of Toxic Charity (#0911)
Meet the Author Robert D. Lupton is founder and president of Focused Community Strategies (FCS) Urban Ministries. In that role, he writes "Urban Perspectives," monthly reflections about life and faith in the city. Additionally, Lupton is the author of several books, including Renewing the City: Reflections on Community Development and Urban Renewal (2005), Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor (2007), Toxic Charity: How Read More …
Don’t Be Like Olive Garden (#0910)
Scott McClellan, writer/editor at Echohub and author of the forthcoming book Tell Me a Story (2013), recently challenged church leaders to live into their roles by doing more than simply providing the religious goods and services requested by the majority of their parishioners (consumers). His blog post was inspired by a story about Olive Garden that suggested the casual dining chain's leadership wants to but has been unable to improve their offerings because any Read More …
Why Do You? (#0909)
Elizabeth Hagan, pastor of Washington Plaza Baptist Church (Reston, VA), recently asked two questions every follower of Jesus should seek to answer: Why do you pray? Why do you read the Bible? So What? People often presume Christians do certain things. While those lists vary, praying and reading the Bible are typically included. For those committed to following the way of Jesus, it is essential not simply to engage in these activities but to understand why one is doing Read More …
Learning from the Unaffiliated (#0908)
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly recently featured Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity After Religion (my review), about the religious implications of the rise of the religiously unaffiliated. While there is diversity within the growing group of religiously unaffiliated, Butler Bass claims, " . . . an awful lot of people who are in the unaffiliated categories - people who are spiritual but not religious or people who consider themselves to maybe to be Read More …
Review of Effective Staffing for Vital Churches (#0907)
Meet the Authors Since 1987, Bill Easum (pictured in the lighter colored shirt) and Bill Tenny-Brittian (pictured in the darker colored shirt) have directly served more than 1,000 churches, trained hundreds of thousands of church leaders, and created a wide variety of resources. While serving as a pastor, Easum founded 21st Century Strategies in 1987. In 2000, Easum merged his organization with Tom Bandy’s Thriving Church ministry to create Easum, Read More …
Worldwide Image of the USA (#0906)
The Pew Research Center offers you the opportunity to "test how much you know about the worldwide image of the United States" by taking a 10 question multiple choice quiz. After completing the quiz, I encourage you to learn the story behind each of the questions. So What? For me completing this quiz was an exercise in humility; I scored 60%, answering just 6 of the 10 questions correctly. When one lives within an empire, a culture, or a worldview it is all too easy to see Read More …