James A. Forbes, Jr. Whose Gospel? A Concise Guide to Progressive Protestantism. The New Press, 2010. ISBN: 9781595583970. Meet the Author James A. Forbes Jr. is a leading voice in the progressive Protestant movement. In 1989 he became the first African American to serve as Senior Minister at The Riverside Church in New York City: a congregation well known for its promotion of progressive causes and self-described as interdenominational (American Baptist Read More …
mainline
Moving the Mainline Forward (#0156)
The Future of Mainline Denominations Recently, I have written several articles designed to introduce my readers to a variety of perspectives related to the future of mainline denominations. Leaders within the mainline denominations understand that change is essential to reverse the decades of decline. In recent posts, I have shared many voices including those of Peter Wallace, Bruce Epperly, and Bruce Reyes Chow Stephen Sterner Landon Whitsitt Read More …
What if No One Comes? More Decline in the Mainline (#0154)
Fewer and Fewer Worshippers For the last several decades, membership in mainline denominations has been declining. Over time, membership has become a less helpful statistic in part due to a change in how younger people view church membership. Given these changes and others, church attendance has become the sociological standard measuring growth or decline. Lovett H. Weems Jr., distinguished professor of church leadership and director of the Lewis Center for Read More …
Religious Knowledge in America (#0147)
Religious Knowledge in America I encourage you to test your religious knowledge by taking a fifteen question multiple choice survey. Once you complete the survey you will learn how your religious literacy compares to those who participated in the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey. The results of the survey suggest the average American isn't very knowledgeable about religion. In fact, the average participant answered Read More …
A Youth Movement in Pastoral Ministry (#0133)
Many mainline denominations face or will soon face clergy shortages. As a result several denominations have and others are in the process of creating guidelines that allow multiple paths to ministry especially to facilitate providing enough clergy to fill pastoral positions in smaller congregations. Young clergy in their twenties and thirties are increasingly rare and makeup a small percentage of the clergy in any given denominational tradition, especially in traditions where a Read More …
A New Day in the PCUSA (#0121)
The Presbyterian Church (USA) is one of several mainline denominations reconsidering what it means to be a denomination in the twenty-first century and how best to organize church governance in an increasingly postmodern world. In recent years two thirty-somethings have been elected to the denomination's top two posts: Moderator and Vice-Moderator. The thirty-nine year old Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, currently the founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church in San Read More …