Worship immersion tour

Crossing religious boundaries

by Jesse James DeConto

Faith House wants people to engage other faiths—not by focusing on commonalities but by entering into a sacred space on its own terms.

Fat of the land

by LaVonne Neff

Robert Lustig argues that blame is the last thing overweight people need.

Grace without conversion

by M. Craig Barnes

Our congregation helped build a parish school in the West Bank. In return, Palestinian Christians stretched our understanding of the gospel.

Cultivating a holy imagination

Ministry in the 21st Century
An interview with Lisa Yebuah

"I eventually realized that leaders are not made by books or workshops. Leaders are people who marry their knowledge to action."

Worship immersion tour

Crossing religious boundaries

Fat of the land

Grace without conversion

Cultivating a holy imagination

Ministry in the 21st Century

The burdens of information gathering

Jun 19, 2013 by Edward J. Blum

“P.S. please excuse this scribble and burn it as soon as you read it. Good by.”

If you spend days in university archives reading the chicken scratches of everyday folks from the 19th century, then you will run into lines like this. And when you do, your eyes may get big. A request to destroy or keep private a letter oftentimes means there is something juicy.

But I thought dead-tree media was more accountable to the facts!

Jun 19, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

David Brooks says some silly stuff, but his June 14 column included a doozy even for him: "In Corinthians, Jesus tells the crowds..." The text was soon corrected to identify the letter as First Corinthians and its writer as Paul, though as of today it still has him telling crowds things. Whatever.

Michael Peppard finds the error ironic.

Wednesday digest

Jun 19, 2013

New today from the Century: Jesse James DeConto on religious boundary crossing, Steve Thorngate on the people who don't fact-check David Brooks, more.

Zombie Church

How do you close a church? When do you start having the conversations?

Jun 18, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

Closing a church is like eating the last slice of bread—somehow if you eat the last slice, you’re responsible for consuming it all (never mind that someone else ate the last 27 slices). A church can be declining for 40 years, but if a pastor comes in and starts to talk about closing a congregation, then she closed the church. Many people don’t want to be that pastor.

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Zombie Church

How do you close a church? When do you start having the conversations?

Jun 18, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

Closing a church is like eating the last slice of bread—somehow if you eat the last slice, you’re responsible for consuming it all (never mind that someone else ate the last 27 slices). A church can be declining for 40 years, but if a pastor comes in and starts to talk about closing a congregation, then she closed the church. Many people don’t want to be that pastor.

Annoying allies

How do we advocate responsibly?

Jun 03, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

I turned the knob of the radio until I could hear the public station. It was a local program, a prolonged piece on a mother talking about the fear and anticipation of the "shavee." I admit. I rolled my eyes.

Cameron Trimble and the Center for Progressive Renewal

Derrick Weston interviews Cameron Trimble about church renewal

May 29, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

Rev. Derrick Weston has an inspiring and energizing conversation with Rev. Cameron Trimble about the future of renewal in the church.

Amy Blumenshine: Welcome Them Home, Help Them Heal

Resources for Memorial Day weekend

May 24, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

This podcast is an excellent resource as you think about worship this Memorial Day weekend. I learned so much as Derrick Weston talked with Amy Blumenshine. She has incredible wisdom as she navigates a pastoral response to service and honoring soldiers when we have ethical problems with war. 

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But I thought dead-tree media was more accountable to the facts!

Jun 19, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

David Brooks says some silly stuff, but his June 14 column included a doozy even for him: "In Corinthians, Jesus tells the crowds..." The text was soon corrected to identify the letter as First Corinthians and its writer as Paul, though as of today it still has him telling crowds things. Whatever.

Michael Peppard finds the error ironic.

Exile, banjo and the Carolina Chocolate Drops

Jun 18, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

For most of my life now, I’ve been sucked ever deeper into various forms of Americana music. I love the simple forms and catchy tunes, the plainspoken emotion and humor, the fiddles and mandolins and banjos. In a worship context, I’m drawn as well to the music’s accessibility and its cross-generational appeal.

Other people saying things

Jun 14, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

"Extraction companies are buying up the rights to drill on private property with unprecedented speed. At stake are geysers of money. And in the thousands of cases in which the landowner is of the Amish faith, their business partner would never dream of taking them to court should things go awry."

Wife, mom, SecState, Methodist

Jun 13, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

I'm puzzled by Sally Quinn's take on Hillary Clinton's tweeting debut this week:

There were two surprising things about Hillary Clinton’s first tweet.

Clinton broke her Twitter silence this week with this bio: “Wife, mom, lawyer, women and kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD . . . .” A photo by Diana Walker showing a serious-looking Clinton in black and looking at her Blackberry through dark glasses is her avatar.

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For the fun of it

Jun 17, 2013 by Diane Roth

Last Tuesday night, I held the second of a short series of Lectio Divina meetings at church. I pulled the chairs into a circle, put the small candle out and prepared for whoever might show up.

There were four of us in total, practicing silence and listening and imagination. We read yesterday's gospel reading.

What does evangelism look like?

Jun 14, 2013 by Diane Roth

Almost every Sunday after church, I stop at the grocery store.  I don't want to cook after a busy Sunday morning, but we do have to eat, so I peruse the deli selection and bring something home.  And I'm not necessarily proud to admit this, but a lot of the people who work at this particular grocery store know me now.

I'm not married to my church, are you?

Jun 13, 2013 by MaryAnn McKibben Dana

I was with a group of folk from another congregation recently, introducing them to NEXT Church and talking about my involvement as co-chair. We got to talking about generational differences when it comes to membership in an institution, particularly a church.

A breath of fresh dreaming

Jun 11, 2013 by Gail Irwin

Recently, I was lucky to sit in on a meeting with a church’s governing board, their interim pastor and a church consultant.  The congregation had planned to seek a settled, full time pastor.  But when they began their search process, they were forced to examine their dwindling financial resources.  It appeared they were going to have to make some tough choices

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Ministry in the 21st century

What is pastoral ministry like these days, and how is it being shaped in new ways? The Century talked to pastors about the challenges and surprises of their early years in ministry.





Features

Cultivating a holy imagination

Ministry in the 21st century

Jun 13, 2013 An interview with Lisa Yebuah

"I eventually realized that leaders are not made by books or workshops," says Lisa Yebuah of Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. "Leaders are people who marry their knowledge to action."
Features

Urban experiments

Ministry in the 21st century

Jan 11, 2013 | An interview with Nanette Sawyer

"I've been given an opportunity to color outside the lines," says Nanette Sawyer of Grace Commons and St James Presbyterian Church in Chicago, "the permission and charge to be creative and experimental."
Features

Fusing justice and holiness

Ministry in the 21st century

Nov 29, 2012 | An interview with Dennis Sanders

"Progressive Christians do a good job with issues like LGBT rights," says Dennis Sanders of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Minneapolis. "But we're less good at helping people become disciples of Jesus."
Features

Training in Jesus’ way

Ministry in the 21st century

Aug 14, 2012  | An interview with Todd Friesen

"Jesus calls us to make disciples, not just converts," says Todd Friesen of Lombard Mennonite Church in Illinois. "I believe that discipleship begins in communal worship."
Features

A foundation for relationships

Ministry in the 21st century

Jun 13, 2012 | An interview with Joyce Shin

"More than ever, people are building interfaith marriages," says Joyce Shin of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. "Too often, religion is seen as an impediment to this instead of as a resource."
Features

Organizing for communion

Ministry in the 21st century

Mar 14, 2012 | An interview with Isaac S. Villegas

“I like to think I’m a grassroots organizer," says Isaac S. Villegas of Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship. "I rearrange pews; I find people to make sloppy joes for hungry people.”
Features

Faithful reinvention

Ministry in the 21st century

Feb 15, 2012 | An interview with Scott Kershner

"Religious commitments are no longer taken for granted as part of North American people's lives," says Scott Kershner of Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in Washington State. "So space opens up to ask very basic and interesting questions."
Features

Entrepreneurial idealism

Ministry in the 21st century

Nov 30, 2011 | An interview with Carol Howard Merritt

"What would happen," asks Carol Howard Merritt of Western Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., "if we coupled baby boomers' prophetic focus with the pragmatism of my generation? What if the church unleashed us to plant churches?"
Features

Pastor as witness

Ministry in the 21st century

Sep 22, 2011 | An interview with Kevin J. Long

"It doesn't happen every day," says Kevin J. Long of Orchard Park Presbyterian Church in suburban Indianapolis. "But it is thrilling to see someone begin to grasp the good news of Jesus Christ."
Features

Bearing testimony

Ministry in the 21st century

Jul 28, 2011 | An interview with Katherine Willis Pershey

"People need to hear the good news," says Katherine Willis Pershey of First Congregational Church in Western Springs, Illinois. "If the church doesn't take on this mission, I'm afraid—well, that's where that sentence can end. I'm afraid."
Cover Story

Deeper history

Ministry in the 21st century

Jun 20, 2011 | An interview with Josh Carney

"We have rejected much of our immediate [evangelical] past," says Josh Carney of his church, University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Looking to older traditions, "we found that some of our objections had already been addressed."
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