While some people are more adventurous than others, most spend the majority of their time and energy in the "everydayness" that comprises most of life. In youth, adventure means setting aside all that is to fully be something and/or somewhere else. As people age adventure becomes, quite frankly, less and less adventurous. Big plans tend to come in the form of vacations or temporary variations from the norm. In short, people become increasingly risk averse. So Read More …
Mega Megachurches (#0733)
Warren Bird, Research Director for Leadership Network and co-author of 24 books on various aspects of church health and innovation, recently blogged about the global growth in and diversity of megachurches (congregations with an average weekend worship attendance of at least 2,000). Americans know about megachurches since they have grown rapidly in number over the last several decades. According to Scott Thumma and Dave Travis, (Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Read More …
Facebook’s Future Viability (#0732)
Facebook is everywhere I turn lately. I continue to encounter: news, news and more news about and leading up to the IPO; blogs and news stories on how the Instagram acquisition will not happen soon as was originally indicated; information that all is not well with online ad revenues, especially compared to Google; and people who are passionate about the future of Facebook, especially from those favoring both extremes. With this in mind I was intrigued to learn the Read More …
Trends in College Degree Attainment (#0731)
I grew up with the understanding that a college degree was a part of the path leading to the American dream. A recent Chronicle of Higher Education interactive graphic provides the clearest visual explanation of trends in college degree attainment across the country. The graphic provides county by county analysis of the percentage of adults with college degrees, which can be further sorted by gender or race. Additionally, the graphic provides the same information for Read More …
Review of Inside the Large Congregation (#0730)
Meet the Author Susan Beaumont is an ordained American Baptist minister who has spent the last 25 years educating and empowering congregational and corporate leaders. After serving as an Area Minister in the American Baptist Churches and managing her own consulting practice, she joined the Alban Institute in 2005 as a senior consultant specializing in large congregations. She is the co-author of When Moses Meets Aaron: Staffing and Supervision in Large Read More …
12 Religions in a Year (#0729)
Amanda Greene's recent article explores the yearlong religious experiment of 29 year old Andrew Bowen, a man who sought to attain faith in humanity rather than divinity through his quest. During 2011 he practiced a new religion each month, in effect becoming Hindu in January, Baha'i in February, Zoroastrian in March, Jewish in April, Buddhist in May, Agnostic in June, Mormon in July, Muslim in August, Sikh in September, Wiccan in October, Jain in November, and Read More …
One Psalm – Two Radically Different Uses (#0728)
David Van Biema recently wrote about how two radically different Christian causes have used Psalm 139: Starting in the 1970s anti-abortionist evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics began using the text to suggest that God's involvement makes abortion unthinkable, and Starting in the 1990s gay and lesbian liberal Christians began using the text to suggest God's foreknowledge and acceptance. So What? While the Bible has long been used to defend both sides of an issue, I cannot think of Read More …
The Power of Why (#0727)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He is also the master of saying a great deal using relatively few words on his blog. Recently he shared this wisdom about the power of why: "Why?" is the most important question, not asked nearly enough. So What? The life of faith and the ministry of a given local community of faith both benefit tremendously from why questions. Read More …
The Changing Church (#0726)
Renowned New Testament scholar Scot McKnight has always managed to balance academic excellence with immersion in and understanding of the real world of church life. Given such, it isn't surprising to learn he will be leaving North Park University after this academic year for Northern Seminary. His recent blog post on how the church has changed during his lifetime is a must read. The piece is not intending to pass judgment on the changes, but rather call attention to Read More …
Bread for the Journey (#0725)
I have been privileged to be a part of Christian communities that celebrate Communion differently. Among these differences: Name: Holy Communion, Lord's Supper, or Eucharist Frequency: weekly, monthly, or periodically Who Presides: only ordained clergy or only lay leaders or both groups are welcome in this role Presence: a complex continuum of understanding how Jesus is present Elements: (1) bread - a single shared loaf or multiple loaves - single option for all or for Read More …