I write about matters of faith that matter. Many of the ideas for my posts are birthed by content on blogs I frequent on a regular basis or ones that are recommended by some of my many friends in ministry on Twitter. Over the last few weeks I have encountered a number of misleading blog post titles. While some creativity is essential in crafting titles, it should not extend so far that the title has no real link to the topic(s) addressed. So What? As a result of my recent Read More …
Uncategorized
The Women Preached it First (#0356)
The United Church of Christ‘s Still Speaking Campaign is the most well-known marketing campaign undertaken by a mainline denomination in recent years. The campaign started in 2004 with television ads, which can be viewed here. In April 2010, the campaign moved online with an ad designed to spread via social media called The Language of God (read my thoughts) and continued with Uniquely UCC (read my thoughts). For Easter, the new ad, The Women Read More …
Toward A Christian Response to the Death of Osama bin Laden (#0354)
Osama bin Laden’s death has been a lead news story for the last several days. Over the course of the week I have read a number of tweets, Facebook status messages, and blog posts commenting on the matter from a Christian perspective. These reflections represent a wide range of theological beliefs, including a number that place United States citizenship above one’s place in the reign of God and sound quite unChristian. In contrast, I offer the words of leaders from two of the Read More …
Should our Government Engage in Wealth Redistribution? (#0350)
"Democrats in America today are twice as likely as Americans in the Great Depression era to favor imposing heavy taxes on the rich as a means of redistributing wealth, according to data published today by the Gallup poll." These are the first words in Terence P. Jeffrey's article on cbsnews.com about a poll of 1,077 adults conducted April 7-11, 2011. The wording of this question and the responses are shown in the image at right. So What? Most New Testament scholars Read More …
A Few Thoughts on Who Jesus Is (#0341)
Yesterday the United Church of Christ's Stillspeaking Writers' Group shared fourteen thoughts about who Jesus is. Three of their thoughts spoke to me: Jesus is the one who makes God real for me Jesus is the one who calls me out to the other on behalf of myself In Jesus, God shared in the kind of life you and I live So What? As you continue on your holy week journey what are some of your thoughts about who Jesus is? Has some aspect of who Jesus is become more clear for you in Read More …
Tax Day Responsibility and Reform (#0336)
Today, Monday, April 18, 2011, is tax day. We all got an extra three days to file our federal returns this year thanks to Emancipation Day, an obscure Washington, D.C., holiday that celebrates the freeing of slaves in the district (the holiday fell on Saturday but was observed on Friday). By the end of the day, however, it is our responsibility to have filed a return or an extension. Shane Claiborne is a founder of The Simple Way, an advocate of non-violence, and a popular Read More …
If Your Church Won the Lottery . . . (#0320)
Americans spend more money on the lottery than on movies and sporting events combined. Many play the lottery believing the myth that winning big will solve all of their problems, but research shows that many of the biggest winners face financial difficulties and other unforeseen hardships within a few years of winning. In reality found money, including lottery winnings, is typically handled differently than earned money. It has been suggested that many of the winners would Read More …
Frequent Church Attendance and Obesity (#0319)
A new study shows that those who attend church frequently (at least weekly) as young adults are far more likely than the population at large to be obese in middle age. Julie Deardorff begins her article on the topic for the Chicago Tribune with these words: Many religions condemn overeating and gluttony. Yet young adults who frequently attend religious activities are 50 percent more likely to turn into obese middle-agers than those with no religious involvement, according to research Read More …
The Economic Worth of a Congregation (#0318)
David O'Reilly's Philadelphia Inquirer article, A Study Asks: What's a Church's Economic Worth?, explores the findings of a recent study investigating the economic worth of select local congregations in Philadelphia. The research was conducted last summer by Partners for Sacred Places and Ram Cnaan, professor of social welfare at the University of Pennsylvania. In additional to chairing the doctoral program in social welfare, Cnaan (pictured at Read More …
Defining Success in Youth Ministry (#0313)
Danny Ferguson serves as an area director for YFC/Youth Unlimited, which is an expression of Youth for Christ International. Yesterday he wrote about what success looks like in youth ministry. Ferguson asked youth ministry leaders to provide "their 140 character definition of success" via Twitter and published several of those responses, including: Enabling young people to come alive in joy and to be everything they were made to be!! - that's an attempt!! – Read More …