Tony Jones, author of The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier and theologian-in-residence at Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, MN, recently began calling himself an "incarnational Christian." In making the declaration, he suggests that others who use the term should understand it is not about being evangelical and the term should not be capitalized, politicized or commoditized. In a second blog post that explores the theology behind the term, he writes: to say Read More …
Stop Taking Things So Personally (#0454)
Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. He is a contributing author to the Buddhist portal at Patheos. In one of his recent posts, he shares a powerful parable: Here’s an updated parable from the ancient Taoist teacher, Chuang-Tzu: Imagine that you are floating in a canoe on a slow-moving river, having a Sunday picnic with a friend. Suddenly there is a loud thump on the side of the canoe, and it rolls Read More …
Consumerism and the Church (#0453)
Carl Trueman, professor of historical theology and church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, recently explored the impact of consumerism on our society and the church. In society, Trueman finds that consumerism leads to the infantilisation of society; huge levels of personal debt; and notions of truth and ethics that are as malleable as the market place. The larger culture of consumerism is now impacting the church in a number of ways. According to Trueman Read More …
Review of The End of Christianity (#0452)
Meet the Editor and Contributing Authors John W. Loftus is a former Christian minister who earned graduate theological degrees from Lincoln Christian Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and started, but never completed, a Ph.D. program in theology and ethics at Marquette University. He is the founder of the Debunking Christianity blog and the author of Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity (2008). He is the editor of The Read More …
Seminaries Are Failing Us (#0451)
Sky McCracken is the new Paducah District Superintendent in the Memphis Conference of the United Methodist Church. In June, he blogged about his frustrations with the current seminary system. This material was published a month later as a commentary by the United Methodist Reporter. His most thought provoking remarks follow: The most sobering thing I’ve learned is that there is no correlation between education of clergy and clergy effectiveness. I am convinced more than ever Read More …
Shifts in American Religious Behavior (#0450)
The Barna Group recently published a list of changes in American religious behavior over the last twenty years based on data collected via their annual OmniPollSM survey conducted each January. Bible reading undertaken during the course of a typical week, other than passages read while attending church events, has declined by five percentage points (to 40%); Church volunteerism has dropped by eight percentage points (to 19% who do so during a typical week); Adult Sunday school Read More …
Review of Dilemma: A Priest’s Struggle with Faith and Love (#0449)
Meet the Author Father Albert Cutié served as a Roman Catholic priest from his ordination in 1995 until 2009. During those years he served several parishes, but was best known for his work in media, which earned him the nickname "Padre Oprah." He was the first clergy-person to host a daily talk-show on a major network on international secular television. After his relationship with a woman was made public, he left the Roman Catholic church, married, and was ordained as an Read More …
Where Do New Members Come From? (#0448)
Deborah Bruce and Joelle Anderson recently co-authored an article exploring research about the makeup of new church members. More specifically, they considered who is joining Presbyterian (PCUSA) congregations. They report that "in the typical PC(USA) congregation about three in ten worshipers are new people who began attending there in the past five years." These newcomers can be grouped into four categories: First-timers with no church background. Only 8% Read More …
7 in 10 Now Use Video Sharing (#0447)
According to the latest research by the Pew Research Center, 7 in 10 (71%) of American adults who go online now use video sharing sites. The current number represents a five-percentage-point increase from the 66% of online adults who reported being video-sharing site users a year earlier and a 38-point increase from five years ago when the Pew Internet Project took its first reading on use of such sites. So What? Around the time the folks at Pew started this annual survey, many larger Read More …
Your Church’s Social Media Goals (#0446)
Adam Bowers, owner of Adam Bowers Media, recently blogged about the advice he gives churches about creating social media goals. Since there is no universally accepted standard of success and no simple way for parishes to determine how their results compare to other churches, he presents a solid framework for developing a social media strategy: Do your homework – research pre-existing social media use at your church. Before you can formulate goals, you need to make sure Read More …