I got a nice email from a pastor in Australia that set me to thinking. He writes: I found your blog by accident and started reading it regularly, but for a time I thought you were having me on. I thought it was a joke site, because of the outrageous […]
A thought exercise: what would happen to The United Methodist Church in these United States if when we woke up tomorrow morning, all our buildings and property were gone? How many of our congregations would carry on with hardly a disruption? How many “members” would we lose to churches with […]
We live in a Wiki world. A collaborative, evolving, and highly interactive way of creating and recreating reality. Facts and opinions merge to create a new kind of “flexible” truth. Wikipedia has transformed the way we think about information and the authority of the written word. Knowledge is built over […]
I was speaking with a young person the other day, and the issue of healthcare came up. She rolled her eyes, blew out her lips, and said, “Why are we wasting so much time talking about healthcare? Why don’t we do something really important?” My response was, “What’s more important […]
Okay. I have written some controversial — even inflammatory — things on this blog, but I never thought that the idea that “pastor’s shouldn’t lie” would generate the kind of energy it has. (Caught on the Ethical Horns of a Moral Dilemma) Many people are leaving comments, but I also […]
I sometimes get accused of being negative. Okay, fine, this post is definitely negative. However, it is not a blaming or accusing post. It is merely describing something bizarre and ugly — patchwork bodies of Christ, slapping together bits and pieces (s0me dead) to create a well-intentioned mockery of life. […]
With apologies to Bishop Schnase for the play on words of his own title (Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations), I want to examine five characteristics — fruits, if you will — of truly vital and healthy churches. They are somewhat unique, in that producing these fruits is exceptionally difficult, especially in […]
I am convinced that the most serious challenge to the Christian church in the United States is the individualistic, consumeristic, self-indulgent, and personal entitlement mindset of most Americans. On a recent church visit, I met a forty-something woman who told me, “I come to church for me. I ask my […]
Who hasn’t seen a shape-sorter ball for infants and toddlers? From the earliest days of our cognitive development, we learn to identify, differentiate, associate, and categorize. It is so much fun to watch the joy of a child slipping the appropriate shape through the proper slot. It obviously imprints strongly on […]
What I said: “No matter how well we are doing, we can always do better. There is virtually nothing we do that cannot be improved.” What people heard: “No matter what we do, it’s never good enough.” “Our best efforts are doomed to fail.” “We’re obviously doing it wrong.” “We’re […]
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