What follows is an email, in its entirety, that I received today. The author has approved my sharing its content, but asks that I protect both her identity and that of her congregation. I think it is both a message of hope and realism — fair, reasonable, balanced, and deeply […]
An insidious distrust is raging throughout our connectional system. Pastors don’t trust laity and vice versa. Congregations don’t trust their Annual Conferences, and neither one fully trust the General Conference. Confessors don’t trust Reconcilers, Contemporary Worshippers don’t trust Traditional Worshippers, and Traditional Worshippers don’t trust that someone won’t sneak drums […]
This isn’t a post about when the most people attend church in our denomination (or Pentecost would be replaced by Mother’s Day). This is about three ecclesial worldviews I have experienced in my 30+ years of church leadership that shape the spectra of contemporary Christian belief. This is a personal […]
My commentary on the research on evangelism and faith sharing in The United Methodist Church generated some interesting response — some defensive, some reflective, but no one really surprised by the conjecture that we’re not doing very much in the way of inviting people into relationship with Jesus Christ. I […]
Faith sharing and evangelism have fallen on hard times in The United Methodist Church. For the most part, we don’t do them — except with people who already believe what we do. As part of our research on spiritual practices, we asked 922 United Methodist lay people to share their […]
I sat through another United Methodist worship service — this time bombarded by thumping, lively praise music extolling how awesome, moist, and shiny Jesus is. (If you’ve experienced ‘contemporary’ praise music, you know what I mean…) The energy was high, it was the theology that was missing. Everything was simple and […]
Pleonexia — (Plē-ō-nĕx´-ia) — the insatiable desire for more; a condition of deep dissatisfaction with what one has; seeking fulfillment through the acquisition of possessions, prestige, or power. Besides being a great word that’s a lot of fun to say, pleonexia is an insightful description of much of modern culture […]
People who know me know that I am very big on fruit: the outward and visible manifestations of the faith we profess. James says it all when he reminds us that faith without works is dead. Furthermore, it is not enough just to produce fruit because until it feeds somebody […]
There are a number of pastors who feel I am being too hard on the church, too critical of our ministries — and by extension, too critical of them. I apologize for that. I believe from the depths of my being that pastors and laity leaders are doing the best […]
Q: What is the number one complaint of seminary students when they serve in the local church? A: What they learn in class they can’t teach in the local church. It seems that the quest for knowledge ends for many at the church door. A significant number of American Christians […]
United Methodeviations 