Window of the Church, by Richard Caemmerer

Ministry

Window of the Church, by Richard Caemmerer

Cover Story
Article image

Sticky faith

What keeps kids connected to church?

May 17, 2013 by Jen Bradbury

We youth ministers have often tried to make our ministries cool enough to compete. But every teen knows that the church is not cool.

Cover Story
Article image

Singing from one book

Why hymnals matter

May 01, 2013 by Mary Louise Bringle

Many churchgoers greet the announcement of a new hymnal with a single puzzled, even outraged question: Why?

Cover Story
Article image

Debating hymns

May 01, 2013 by Mary Louise Bringle

In preparing the new PCUSA hymnal, our committee may have made some wrong decisions. But they weren't careless or cavalier ones.

In the World

(Re)writing songs for Pentecost

May 17, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

Somewhere in my queue of non-time-sensitive articles to write—yes, it’s been there a while—is one on the history and practice of making theologically significant changes to traditional American songs. Not just line-level edits like neutering/diversifying gendered language or using “love” in place of “wrath.” I mean re-imagining songs in a thoroughgoing way, while also preserving much of the existing imagery and language patterns. (I posted some time ago about one historical example.)

I write songs and play traditional music, but I haven’t actually tried this approach myself.

Living by the Word

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Proverbs 8:1–4, 22–31; Romans 5:1–5; John 16:12–15

May 14, 2013 by Barry Howard

I was raised in a region heavily influenced by the Baptist Sandy Creek tradition, so I didn’t hear the “Gloria Patri” sung in a Baptist church until I was the pastor and included it in worship.

Blogging Toward Sunday

Let the Spirit do the talking

Acts 2:1–21

May 13, 2013 by Barry Howard

Back in the dark ages of the 20th century, I remember an ad for the Yellow Pages that urged, “Let your fingers do the walking.” Now that texting has become the preferred means of communication, it seems our fingers actually do the talking.

I’ve been thinking about the complexity of communication with God, especially the challenge of praying at times when words are hard to come by. In response to such a dilemma, Paul essentially tells the Romans to let the Spirit do the talking.

Books

Unexpected Gifts

Discovering the Way of Community

By Christopher L. Heuertz

Unexpected Gifts, by Christopher L. Heuertz

May 13, 2013 reviewed by Jason Byassee

What does it mean to be mainline Protestant? For some it means being Christian, but not evangelical, or not Catholic, or not a member of some other group perceived to be inadequate. Others imagine the tall steeple on Main Street, or the majority of the electorate, or some other icon of Christendom’s passing power.

Editor's Desk

Family hospitality

May 10, 2013 by John M. Buchanan

Each autumn, Fourth Presbyterian Church's sanctuary is full to overflowing with Jewish worshipers attending High Holy Days observances.

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

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."
more