How Accurate Are Your Impressions? Many Christians assume they have a basic understanding of American religious practice and belief. The following 10 statements, answers, and explanations are based on research by Rodney Stark, which is published in What Americans Really Believe. For a more comprehensive review of that book and an introduction to Stark, click here. Test your own knowledge by indicating whether you believe each statement to be true or false. The Read More …
The Future Church – More Relevant and Leading (#0041)
Looking into the Future: The Top 10 Changes for the American Church 8. More Relevant and Leading Edge For many years, the American church assumed that it was relevant because it existed in a Christian nation. A generation or two ago, the church was the center of community life. During this era, church planting often took the "if we build it, parishioners will come" mentality. Questions about relevance were rarely raised in any formal setting and Read More …
Review of SimChurch (#0040)
Estes, Douglas. SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World. Zondervan, 2009. ISBN: 978031028741 Meet the Author Douglas Estes is the lead pastor of Berryessa Valley Church, adjunct professor of New Testament at Western Seminary, and is actively engaged in both discussion about and experience of the church in the virtual world. He received his PhD in Theology from the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author of The Temporal Mechanics of the Read More …
Review of Fasting (#0039)
McKnight, Scot. Fasting. Thomas Nelson, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-8499-0108-9. Meet the Author Scot McKnight is an Anabaptist theologian and a professor of religious studies at Northpark University. The author of over 20 books, including The Jesus Creed, he specializes in Jesus studies and the New Testament. As an authority in Jesus studies, McKnight has been frequently consulted by Fox News, WGN, US News & World Report, Newsweek, TIME, as well as newspapers Read More …
Prayer of Adoration for September 27, 2009 (#0038)
Eternal paradox of possibility, God of justice and mercy, We come to worship you. Invisible yet Incarnate, Three yet One, We come to seek your face. God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God of time and eternity, We come to praise your name. With honesty and humility, With reverence and repentance, We come to pray to you - Offering our prayers of confession . . . (transition to congregational prayers of confession) Read More …
Review of Promise and Peril (#0037)
Brubaker, David. Promise and Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations. The Alban Institute, 2009. ISBN: 978-1-56699-382-1. Meet the Author Since 2004, David Brubaker has served as Associate Professor of Organizational Studies at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. Brubaker is a member of the Alban Institute and has 20 years of experience in workplace mediation, training and organizational and Read More …
Review of Just Hospitality (#0036)
Russell, Letty M. Just Hospitality: God's Welcome in a World of Difference. Westminster John Knox Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-66423315-0. (Note: Clarkson, J. Shannon and Ott, Kate M. are editors.) Meet the Author and Editors Letty Russell was an ordained Presbyterian (PCUSA) pastor, one of the world's foremost feminist theologians and a longtime member of the Yale Divinity School faculty. She was among the first women ordained by the then United Presbyterian Church and was Read More …
Review of GloboChrist (#0035)
Raschke, Carl. GloboChrist: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn. Baker Academic, 2008. ISBN: 9780801032615. Meet the Author Carl Raschke is professor and chair of the department of religious studies at the University of Denver and an adjunct faculty member at Mars Hill Graduate School. He is an expert on postmodernism and Christianity, the author of over twenty books, and a regular contributor to Church and Pomo and Rhizone . Read More …
Review of Christianity and the Postmodern Turn (#0034)
Penner, Myron B., ed. Christianity and the Postmodern Turn. Brazos Press, 2005. ISBN: 1-58743-108-4. Meet the Editor and Chapter Authors Myron Penner, editor, is a professor of philosophy and theology at Prairie College and Graduate School. R. Douglas Geivett is a professor of philosophy at Biola University. R. Scott Smith is an associate professor of ethics at Biola University. Kevin J. Vanhoozer is a research professor of systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Read More …
A Survey of Christian Teens (#0033)
Rick Lawrence's Scratching Where Kids Itch ( Group, September-October 2009) reveals the results of Group's annual survey of Christian teenagers. 26,000 students participated in the survey as a part of their Group Workcamps mission experience. This article reveals the first half of the data. The second half will be published in the November-December issue. Among the findings: Sometimes I really wish I had another adult in my life, besides my parents, Read More …