Have you ever thought that there are words that the church and congregations use which aren’t helpful? Perhaps they are misunderstood? Perhaps over time they have lost their meaning, or their meaning has been drastically altered? There was a helpful post in the Washington Post last week by Addie Zierman. She offered, “5 churchy phrases that are scaring off millennials.” I encourage you to please … Continue reading Words in Our Mouths- An Introduction
It’s Tuesday. By now you know that Tuesday means links here on this blog. This week’s categories are: Church and Ministry Thought and Practice; Cross-Sector Collaboration; Leadership Thought and Practice; Neighbor Love; Social Media and Blogging; Stewardship; Worship; and Miscellaneous. I entrust these stories and links to you, and hope that they will be interesting topics to read and reflect upon. Enjoy! Church and Ministry … Continue reading This Week’s Links
As is the normal practice on this blog, Tuesday means its time to share what I have been reading and thinking about in the past week. I entrust these links to you for your reading and hopefully thought-provoking joy. This week’s categories in order are: Church and Ministry Thought and Leadership; Leadership Thought and Practice; Neighbor Love; Stewardship; Worship; and Miscellaneous. Enjoy! Church and Ministry … Continue reading This Week’s Links
Blogger’s Note: On this blog I occasionally offer brief reflections on particular days within the church year. Today’s post is one such reflection. Today in many churches across the world we observed All Saints Sunday. For some general context and background, All Saints Day is the day following All Hallows Eve. So November 1st is the proper time to celebrate All Saints, but in recent years … Continue reading All Saints Day
Tuesday means, its time for the links. As always the case, I entrust to you different things I have read or found in the past week for your reading, thinking, and reflecting pleasure. This week’s categories are: Church and Ministry Thought and Leadership; Cross-Sector Collaboration; Leadership Thought, Practice and Theory; Neighbor Love; and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reads. Church and Ministry Thought and Leadership Pastor Keith Anderson … Continue reading This Week’s Links
Following up on yesterday’s discussion and pondering about the implications on the congregation, a friend of mine shared this poem from the Huffington Post on Sunday. Here is an excerpt: My name is church. I welcome the: Hypocrite Dry Self-Righteous Shallow I welcome the: Sincere Passionate Forgiving Selfless I cannot shut my doors to the people who make you: Angry Uncomfortable Impatient Self-conscious I encourage … Continue reading A response to “Hello, My Name is Church” with more thoughts on the congregation as a place of welcome, sought, and accompaniment
It’s been a couple weeks since the last post in this series. Now its time to return and continue the conversation. As I asked, how is a congregation to really be an “all are welcome,” and “all are sought place?” How is a congregation to help its people grow in their ability and willingness to embody accompaniment, and truly be consistent to the congregation’s creeds and … Continue reading All Are Welcome, Sought, and Implications of Accompaniment for the Congregation
It is Tuesday again. That means its time to provide some links to things I have come across and been reading or thinking about this week. As always, I offer these to you for your enjoyment, thought, and reflection. This week’s categories are: Church Stuff; Cross Sector Collaboration and Thought; Leadership; Neighbor Love; and Worship. Church Stuff For all people in ministry, I want to … Continue reading This Week’s Links
It is Tuesday, so by now you know what that means. It’s time for the weekly offering of links to stories and things I found interesting this past week and think you might enjoy or find helpful too. So without further adieu, here are this week’s links. The categories are as follows in alphabetical order: Church Stuff, Cross Sector Collaboration, Leadership, Neighbor Love, Social Media, … Continue reading This Week’s Links
As I mentioned in my previous post, “All are sought,” which built off of the concept of “all are welcome,” I want to expand on an idea of accompaniment, something the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seems to be moving towards embracing more and more. Accompaniment in this sense means meeting people where they are at, and walking alongside them, being an embodiment of God’s … Continue reading Accompaniment
