Patheos recently launched a progressive Christian portal. During the next two weeks, this new portal is hosting a symposium exploring what progressive Christianity is and why that matters today. Bruce Epperly, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who serves as Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary, contributed an article to this week's discussion Read More …
Discipleship
If You Work . . . (#0400)
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 recently posted these challenging words about work on his blog: If you're going to work . . . work hard. That way, you'll have something to show for it. The biggest waste is to do that thing you call work, but to interrupt it, compromise it, cheat it and still call it work. So What? I have had a number of jobs in both sacred and Read More …
How Happy Are Americans? (#0399)
According to a new list of the happiest nations, the United States has considerable room for improvement. Created by 24/7 Wall St., the list relies on data from the new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Better Life Index, which is based on measurements of quality of life including housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, health, work-life balance, and life satisfaction. According to these standards, the world's happiest nations Read More …
Is Christianity on a Path Toward Extinction? (#0398)
John Shelby Spong served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2001. In retirement, he has been a prolific writer and speaker. He concluded a recent essay outlining his thoughts on the future of Christianity with these words: The problems facing institutional Christianity today in the Western world cannot be addressed by tinkering around the edges of our theological formularies or structures . . . We are not today in a temporary Read More …
Could Church Membership Soon Be A Thing Of The Past? (#0397)
Will Mancini is an author, pastor, and speaker who founded Auxano – a church consulting group with a unique approach to developing a church’s vision frame before providing traditional consulting services. He recently blogged about why church membership is no longer as helpful a construct as it once was. In addition to references to churches that have moved away from church membership in favor of partnership, Mancini suggests five reasons churches should consider making the Read More …
The Abbreviated Sermon on the Mount (#0394)
Drew Willard, pastor of the United Church of Christ of the Villages, FL, will be leading a session on Biblical storytelling, entitled "The Three Point Sermon on the Mount," on July 3 at the United Church of Christ's General Synod. Recently he shared what he calls "the Cliff Notes of the Sermon on the Mount" with some of the folks in the Florida Conference: You have heard that it was said, "One Way," but I say to you, "God is still speaking..." Don't pray, donate or serve Read More …
More than the Buildings (#0392)
Tari Stage-Harvey, pastor of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Juneau, AK, recently wrote an article for the Juneau Empire suggesting that it is time for Christians to move beyond their fascination with church property and buildings. She writes: Something happened in the history of Christianity where the assembly of Jesus’ followers fell in love with buildings. The building became church. The building became something we went to and often quickly exited so we could move Read More …
Sowhatfaith.com – The First 2 Years (#0391)
Happy 2nd birthday to sowhatfaith.com! Over the course of the last two years, a great deal has changed in my life and with this site. I have transitioned from full-time to part-time ministry in a local congregation transitioned from serving a Presbyterian (PCUSA) parish to serving one affiliated with the United Church of Christ (UCC) started working full-time for a university Sowhatfaith.com has transitioned from posting new content twice a week (101 posts in the Read More …
Review of A Spiritual Life (#0390)
Meet the Editor and Authors Allan Hugh Cole, Jr. has been on the faculty of Austin Presbyterian Seminary since 2003. Currently, he serves as Academic Dean and Nancy Taylor Williamson Professor of Pastoral Care. Previously, Cole served in pastoral ministry in Upstate New York and on Long Island, and was visiting lecturer in pastoral theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. His teaching and research interests include pastoral theology, loss and bereavement, Read More …
Religious Coalition Gets Involved in Major League Baseball (#0389)
Writing for USA Today, Cathy Lynn Grossman explains the intersection of a religious coalition and Major League Baseball: A coalition of 25 religious denominations, including Christians and Muslims and Jews, is throwing some heat toward Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and the players, saying the time has come to ban smokeless tobacco in the upcoming contract negotiations. Leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church (the two largest Protestant Read More …