Philip Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, recently wrote a thought provoking piece in the Atlantic about the decline in marriage. The chart at right illustrates the marriage trend from 1940 to present with projections for the possible paths for the future. If nothing changes, presuming the current rate of decline simply continues, marriage will reach 0 in 2042. So What? Cohen rightly notes that the continued rapid decline toward zero is unlikely. He Read More …
Boring Church (#1125)
Anonymous blog posts rarely interest me. Thom Turner recently published an anonymous entry on his Everyday Liturgy blog that is an exception to that rule: "The Boring Church that Loves Jesus." The writer is an active member of a local congregation, and wants that body to thrive. In considering why her/his own church experience is boring, the writer concludes: "It’s boring because the worshipers seem bored." So What? In most congregations more people participate in worship than in any Read More …
New Twitter Analytics? (#1124)
About twenty-four hours ago, I was elated when I read Seth Fiegerman's Mashable piece relaying big news: Twitter released a robust analytics dashboard to all users. I immediately logged in to my account as directed, and was quite impressed by the data available. In fact, I was so delighted I passed the news of this new feature on to multiple colleagues. Within a few hours (thanks to seeing multiple tweets on the topic appearing in my stream) I realized that this new feature had Read More …
Parenting in the Age of Digital Technology (#1123)
The Center on Media and Human Development in the School of Communication at Northwestern University recently published "Parenting in the Age of Digital Technology: A National Survey," which highlights ten key findings. This list includes: parents still turn to family and friends for parenting advice far more often than to new media sources like websites, blogs, and social networks, parents do not report having many family conflicts or concerns about their children’s media use, and Read More …
Christians Can’t (#1122)
Mark Sandlin, minister at Vandalia Presbyterian Church (Greensboro, NC) and co-founder of The Christian Left, recently shared his list of ten things people can't do while following Jesus. His list includes: exclude people, make money more important than God (and the children of God), and use the church to hurt people. So What? As one who follows the way of Jesus I find Sandlin's three "thou shalt not" statements to be on target. Consider the list of three Read More …
Southern Baptist Decline (#1121)
2012 was another rough year for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). More specifically, "according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions, most of the ACP metrics declined in 2012 including membership, average attendance, baptisms . . ." Expressed as percentages, the declines are membership: 0.7%, average worship attendance: 3.1%, and baptisms: 5.5%. So What? While the SBC still Read More …
Review of God Revised (#1120)
Meet the Author Galen Guengerich is Senior Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the Board of Directors of Interfaith Alliance. Previously, Guengerich has served as Visiting Scholar at Union Theological Seminary. In 2004, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago; his dissertation is titled Comprehensive Commitments and the Public World: Tillich, Rawls and Whitehead on the Nature of Justice. Book Read More …
High Achievers (#1119)
Penelope Trunk is the co-founder of Brazen Careerist, a career management tool for next-generation professionals. Recently she shared three rules high achievers never break: love your process, independent of outcome; the difference between crazy and innovative is how far from the box an out-of-the box thinker resides. So stay as close as possible; and everyone needs a vacation. So What? The odds are good that either you are a high achiever, live with one (or more), or Read More …
Don’t Lie to Kids (#1118)
Geoffrey Holsclaw, affiliate professor of theology at Northern Seminary, recently blogged about what he deems the biggest lie often told to children: sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you. Regarding this reality of the saying, Holsclaw writes: A broken bone will heal in a couple weeks, but a broken spirit can last a lifetime. Don’t we all know people wounded and scarred by words (ugly, failure, worthless, unwanted), living out of those lies as if they were Read More …
Things Jesus Didn’t Say (#1117)
Last weekend I found my way to Jim Palmer's list of "15 Things Jesus Didn't Say." Three items on his list really resonated with me: I have come to bring you a new religion; By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have correct theology; and If anyone would come after me, let him disparage all other religions and their followers. So What? For the last several years I have been seeking to follow the way of Jesus. Often I find well meaning Christians who lose Read More …