Churches

Mega Churches pander to themselves in ways that promote their own churches instead of the Gospel. Small God-fearing churches serve Christ faithfully and preach the true heart of the Gospel.Podcast version here2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.One of the biggest mistakes that the American church is making today occurs when preachers preach for their audience and not for the sake of the Gospel. I see too many churches falling into this life-application, life-style series, and life affirming type of preaching. It makes the hearers the center of the preaching, instead of Christ. It makes the congregation the focus of the message, instead of Christ’s ministry. It makes modern Christians the reason for the

With increasing numbers of freethinkers "coming out" and openly identifying themselves as atheists, agnostics, and/or secular humanists, some are suggesting that secular churches may be useful. Of course, atheism is not a religion, and the concept of atheist churches strikes some as a bit silly. Still, I do not think we should hastily dismiss the idea without carefully considering the advantages they might bring. Besides, calling an institution a church does not necessarily mean that it must resemble religious churches.Imagine having an atheist church in your community. What would be the potential benefits? I suggest that they would include at least the following:Increased sense of community, belonging, and social supportIncreased public presence (i.e., atheists would be more visible to bo

Source: Breibart Realated Post: Chicago Gangs Give City Deadly Weekend..32 Shot, 2 Stabbed, 6 Dead The community of Chicago and the police department are pulling out all the stops to prevent another... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

This morning at the Exponential Conference, I attended a session that focused on multi-ethnic church planting. This is becoming a growing passion for me. I believe that church planting in America must embrace starting multi-ethnic churches.In today's session, George Yancey discussed several approaches to assessing churches and identifying the multiracial potential of your church.Rev. Ed Lee, pastor of Mosaic Community Covenant Church in Missouri City, Texas (mosaicpeople.org), presented a very helpful comparison of a variety of approaches to being a multi-ethnic church. The reality is that not all churches that would identify themselves as "multi-ethnic" will look the same or have the same emphasis, fundamental commitments, or motivations. I would encourage you to spend some time studying

Estados Unidos | 1985 | Death/Thrash MetalPossessed es una banda formada en 1983 en la ciduad de San Francisco, Estados Unidos. Se disolvió diez años después de su creación en 1993, y fue reformada en el año 2007 mantiendo solo un miembro original llamado Jeff Becerra.Aunque tan solo tienen publicados unos pocos trabajos, su legado y su influencia ha sido más que importante para la música pesada, ya que les permitieron a Possessed ser considerada por muchos como la primer banda de Death Metal en la historia, gracias a su sonido que iba más allá de lo realizado hasta entonces (influenciados por bandas como Slayer o Venom).Probablemente, el nombre del género provenga del primer demo publicado por la banda, justamente llamado Death Metal. Pero hay quienes todo esto se lo atribuyen a

Innovation is super fragile. It's very easy to kill. We need a stubborn, rebellious attitude. - Douglas Merrill, CIO, GoogleEvery now and again I pick up a copy of Fast Company magazine. I actually like some of the stuff they publish about up and coming companies especially their creative solutions to problems. The March issue is about innovation. It's interesting. Truly. And it is fun to see what can be translated into church life. Sometimes the ideas simply won't translate. Often corporations are after something that churches are not (financial profit, market share, etc.) and their methods don't wash with the Gospel. But every now and again the general attitudes are helpful. On the cover is this quotation from Douglas Merrill. In some ways he's simply stating what we all already know. Pe

I’ve been emailing with a friend concerning politics and this question came up: “I have never understood why some people want the government to provide services that the Church is supposed to be doing. For example, isn’t is our job as Christians to take care of the poor?” (below is part of my response) “Here’s a story [...]

I have never really studied the warnings given to the seven churches in Revelation in depth. Neither have I held strongly to a view whether these warnings were meant to just be given to the seven churches that were present during that time, or if that they also point to warnings to future churches. Some believe [...]

Religious Orders: link correction ← Older revision Revision as of 22:06, 21 March 2008 Line 114: Line 114: * [ Grey Robed Monks of St. Benedict] An Ecumenical Benedictine Community * [ Grey Robed Monks of St. Benedict] An Ecumenical Benedictine Community * [ Order of Port Royal] Ecumenical Cistercian Congregation * [ Order of Port Royal] Ecumenical Cistercian Congregation - * [ The Order of Sevant Franciscans] Ecumenical community of faith + * [ The Order of Sevant Franciscans]An Ecumenical community of faith * [ Order of the Shepherd's Heart - EFCC] Religious Order in Hollister Missouri, affiliated with the [ Ecumenical Free Catholic Communion] * [ Order of the Shepherd's Heart -

This calls for prayer. A satanic upside-down cross was spray painted on one Church and another was spray painted with words of a blasphemous reference to Christ. According to Gardner Police, the Bethany Baptist Church on Ryan Street, the Holy Spirit Church on Lovewell Street, and the United Methodist Church on Chestnut Street were spray painted with anti-Christian comments.Police are asking that anyone who has information on the acts of vandalism call Lt. Poirier [Gardner Police] at (978) 632-5600, ext. 148, and Templeton and Phillipston police at (978) 939-5638.

As Holy Thursday draws near, Filipinos are planning their annual visita iglesia. I've always been asked what are some of the best heritage churches to visit in, around and close to Metro Manila. Here are my picks:City of Manila - Manila Cathedral, San Agustin, Binondo, Sta. Cruz, Quiapo, San Sebastian, Malate and Sta. AnaMetro Manila - Malabon, Concepcion (Malabon), San Pedro Makati, Guadalupe (Makati), San Francisco del Monte (QC), Pasig, Baclaran (Paranaque) and Las PinasPampanga - Apalit, Bacolor, Betis, San Luis, San Fernando, Lubao, Angeles City, Sta. Rita and MinalinBulacan - Barasoain (Malolos), Malolos, San Rafael, Angat, San Miguel, Calumpit and PulilanLaguna - Pila, Longos (Kalayaan), Paete, Pakil, Mabitac, San Pablo, Nagcarlan and MajayjayRizal - Tanay, Baras, Morong and Boso-Bo

John Hooper reports for The Guardian that discussions between Saudis and the Vatican have been held that could lead to churches being built in Saudi Arabia. Churches in the Kingdom? I don't think this so. It's true that during the time of the Prophet Muhammad Christians lived in Madinah and Jews lived nearby, but I think it's highly unlikely that today's Saudis – whether conservative, moderate or militant – would stand for a church to be built in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques. To the average Saudi, the Kingdom has become synonymous with Islam and represents all things Islamic. Millions of Muslims throughout the world look to Saudi Arabia for guidance in Islamic matters. There is no room for a church. Although it's difficult for Saudis to argue with the fact that Muslims can practi

My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can. Tax the FUCK out of the churches! Get smart and I’ll fuck you over — sayeth The Lord. The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of [...]

By Robert GillisPublished in the Foxboro Reporter and the Boston City paper 3/2008Years ago, Mom explained that you receive what is known as a plenary indulgence if you visited seven churches on Good Friday. I did find a reference to receiving an indulgence for “Devoutly take part in the adoration of the cross during the solemn liturgy of Good Friday.” And I see that many countries still practice a tradition of visiting seven churches on either Holy Thursday or Good Friday.On several Good Fridays, I did just that, and it felt wonderful.The first year, I spent the entire day at church. I started at Saint Mary’s in Foxboro, where Catholic hymns were playing on a cassette player. Next, I headed to Saint Mary’s in Mansfield. At each church I said the Stations of the Cross, and read

Recently my son, who is a minister with a master in divinity from the South Western Baptist Theological Seminary, in Dallas, Texas was fired from his job. He had put years of service into the biggest First Southern Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas as their video Production Engineer. He was highly praised and [...]

a.k.a Christian Center, De Deur, La Puerta, Potter's House, The Door, Victory ChapelDe Deur established its first South African satellite church in Paarl, in 1996, with the help of Pastor Dawie de Kooker and Pastor Aiden Arendse (formerly of Smirna Faith Mission). This article, therefore, has been long overdue.1. Anton Hein; Christian Fellowship Churches; Apologetics Index.(01/03/2008) Slam The Door; Yahoo Group.(01/03/2008) Steven R. Schoner; Life After Potter's House.(01/03/2008) Rick Ross; Christian Fellowship Churches; The Rick A Ross Institute.(01/03/2008) Chris Hayes; The Door: A Church or a Cult; KPHO TV, Phoenix, Arizona; 23 February 2004.(01/03/2008) Amazon.com Widgets

My son turned 18 last week. I still remember the excitement we felt on the day he was born. And although he arrived about two weeks early—we were as prepared as we could be for his arrival. In preparation, we attended natural child birth classes at the hospital, we took preparation for parenting classes at our church, and we purchased baby furniture and decorated his bedroom. Several of our friends gave us a baby shower and we received wonderful gifts to help welcome our son into our lives and our home. Less than nine months later, we gave birth to Lake Hills Church. I’ve often thought of the many similarities between my son’s birth and development toward maturity—and the birth of Lake Hills and its growth toward maturity. In preparing for the day of Lake Hills’ birth, we atte

This is the question I’ve been asking myself since I finished reading Stephen Gray’s Planting Fast-growing Churches last weekend. Based on the research of 52 struggling church plants and 60 fast growing churches, he reveals those factors that differentiate fast-growing, dynamic church plants from slower-growing, struggling church plants. Here are the observations that I found most interesting: Church planters who had strong emotional support, personal investment, and conceptual freedom were more likely to succeed than those who had weaker support, investment, or freedom. (p 9)Church plants who received more funding for longer periods of time were overall less effective than churches that received less funding for shorter periods of time. (p 10)If a church plant doesn’t break 200 in

The Indonesian Catholic bishops have called public attention to rising Islamic pressure against Christian churches, Vatican Radio reports.Bishop Martinus Situmorang of Padang, the president of the country's episcopal conference, is the co-author of a new report on the campaign by Muslim activists to close down Christian churches. The report shows that from 2004 through 2007, 108 churches have been closed because of Islamic pressure.The report notes that Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and challenged the government to honor that promise, protecting the Christian minority from Muslim extremists.Indonesia News Blog: http://indosnesos.blogspot.com

(Meant to post this Sunday, oh well) “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” -1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children” -Ephesians 5:1 “You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 1:6 A new reader, Jamie, mentioned teaching non-violence in church and it got me thinking. There is a definite alternative to this idea of placing armed guards in churches, and that is for a church to instead advocate, teach and promote an attitude of non-violence. I believe this is a deeply biblical and deeply spiritual issue and I figured I’d write a devotional thought regarding it. I think there might be varying opinions on what the goal, motive or vision for a church should be, but everyone would have to agree it has something to do with teaching and modeling following Christ (being ‘Christian’).

Not sure if you’ve heard about the shootings in Colorado that happened at a YWAM base and a church, resulting in five deaths including the attacker. I didn’t know anyone involved, but I did attend that very same YWAM base in the fall of 2000, so a number of people have been asking how I’m doing as a result. I’m doing fine. Like I said, I didn’t know anyone involved so it seems as disconnected as any other of these types of shootings that I hear about. At the same time, the fact that it happened within the context of a program I have been a part of has given me a chance to ponder a little deeper about the incident. Two things about it concern me. You can read about the incident on your own, but one thing I want to discuss is how it ended. The gunman shot two people at a large church and then when he walked into the church an armed security guard shot and killed him. I read a few articles discussing church security and it appears a number of large churches d

Buddy Oliver over on Rev22 just posted a pretty neat update on his small church endeavor, “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Exit Doors.” Kinda hits the nail on the head, I think. http://rev22.org/index.php/archives/101

Podcast version here2 Peter 1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.There are two things that most pastors fear for the churches that they serve: that the congregations become ineffective and unproductive. Over the last thirteen years, I’ve watched small unproductive and ineffective churches drain the pooled resources of our Presbytery and denomination year after year without any change to their status. And when Presbytery threatens to pull its resources from them, they become church tyrants monstrously opposed to any interference to their non-existent mission to their local communities.Most of the time, these small churches are manipulated by one or two strong families who believe it is their divine right to keep the congregation the way it is. They firmly possess all the power, property, and prestige that the church has, sucking its life away by their refusal

I just finished reading David Wells' essay "The Theologian's craft" in Doing Theology in Today's World. After observing that the church, as well as the academy and the culture, has begun to become disinterested in theological thinking, Wells concludes,Evangelical theology therefore finds itself alienated from the academy with whose Enlightenment assumptions it must be at odds, from the wider culture to whom it is understandably a stranger and an alien, and from the life of the church whose habits of mind and interests now lie substantially elsewhere. It is this third alienation that is most unexpected, most grevious, and most damaging.A church that neither is interested in theology nor has the capacity to think theologically is a church that will be rapidly submerged beneath the waves of modernity. It is a church for whom Christian faith will rapidly lose its point, and this is already well underway within evangelicalism. And a church whose interests are thus adrift is one that no l

Luke 12:31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. (NIV) A lot of Americans are buying into what has been coined as “the prosperity gospel.” Its message goes something like this: God will be good to you, if you believe in His promises; God will make you successful, if you ask Him. It ties up the American dream with the Christian faith, and a lot of mega-churches are

Vehige's trip down Memory Lane got me feeling a bit nostalgic myself. And since I'm older than Vehige, when I start down Memory Lane I need to pack a lunch.Anyway, I was prompted by that charming picture of St. Theodore's in Vehige's post to see whether I could find any pictures of my first Catholic parish. I entered the Church while I was in graduate school in Philadelphia. I was baptised and attended Mass at St. James Catholic Church on Chestnut Street (now St. Agatha-St. James, in this era of inner-city parish consolidation). To my pleasant surprise, the old church has undergone a respectful and intelligent restoration and looks positively resplendent. That's it above. And the website offers a very well-done virtual tour.After my conversion, when I would go home to Louisville for the summers, I attended a Dominican church, St. Louis Bertrand. It is there that I still go to Mass with my wife and children when we visit my Kentucky relatives, as we will next month. (Picture on the

It is funny how just last week there was a talk about the topic of wealth as the world defines it. First off, there was the buzz in the office that everyone should go get their Toto tickets because the prize money for the week was S$5 million (US$3.32 million). I did not buy any tickets for the draw because I never had the habit of “buying hope” as I call it. Besides, I have never thought that I’d win one of the prizes — it is not in my personal history to have won anything that involved the ‘luck’ of the draw. Then there was a letter in the Forum page of the national daily, The Straits Times, from a concerned parent about how mega churches adversely affect students, which naturally led to a rather lively debate on whether churches should be as rich as mega churches. Now I don’t have anything against mega churches per se. (more…)

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV) It was Rear Admiral Grace Hopper who coined the phrase “It’s better to ask for forgiveness afterwards than to wait for permission.” She also initiated the term ‘computer bug” after literally finding a bug in one of the Navy’s large computers. Years ago,

Aaron's Beard Psalm 133:2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. Audio version here Every week, I write the prayers for our Sunday worship services. This usually takes place on Monday mornings because I like to have them done before anything else takes place during the week. It’s a good discipline

Welcome to Freedomthirst.com’s first Guest Blog. Our first “guest blogger” is Ben! It has not been edited at all, accept to add a couple of pictures. The thoughts are entirely those of the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the opinion of Freedomthirst.com, and the quote of Ronald Reagan is part of Ben’s [...]

the background: some time at the end of may, beginning of june, i received a email from a bud telling me they heard of a church in the sacramento area that was looking for a pastor - he sent me a email address, but no web link [cornerstone christian church in el dorado hills does not have a website - recently i did find out it was formally "el dorado hills baptist church - in el dorado hills;

A Chicago church has had a woman in sanctuary for over a year.This gives me an idea. Illinois has passed a law that bans smoking in all public places. Maybe some of the states smokers can go into a local church fellowship hall and fire up. If illegal immigrants can, why not?

Christianity is the form of religion where people follow Christian denomination. To preach the Christian religion, people use to go for prayers in Christian church. Christian church are the worldwide traditions which represents the Christian faiths, preaches,worship, religion and saying of the god Jesus Christ. Christian church can be seen world wide and finds to [...]

Some churches choosing to ignore immigration laws NC Times (Leave comment at end of article by clicking on link) July 22, 2007 There’s a problem in Fallbrook, and it’s not with the local peaceful protesters. The town’s Catholic church, St. Peter’s, has decided that U.S. immigration laws don’t apply to them. This church operates a formal day labor [...]

A post ago I asked the opposite question after listening to a podcast that was a recording of a message Scot McKnight, of the JesusCreed Blog, gave to a group of small group leaders at an Atlanta Mega-Church. Because the podcast wasn’t conversational, and it was more sermon(y) I took Dr. McKnight’s comments about individualism and the house church to be in the same breath. I was incorrect. The gracious Dr. McKnight told me that he had not intended anything negative about house churches and in fact, we may have a new book from him in the future that may or may not include thoughts on house churches. (This would be amazing). So my apologies to Dr. Scot McKnight, and my excitement in hearing about a new offering for his readers. This could be a testiment to the medium of podcasting monologues, sermons, speaches — instead of using the podcast medium for conversational recordings.

 :: CHINA AID ASSOCIATION [CAA], a Chinese persecution watchdog, said Prayer Mountain church buildings in Yongjia county, Wenzhou city of Zhejiang province were about to be knocked down. The three buildings were built about 10 years ago in three different mountains to serve primarily as prayer mountain churches. Believers head to the churches everyday and as many as 800 believers gather at each building once a month. ... MOREPRAYER Let´s pray for the 800 Christians and the CCP authorities acting against the Prayer Mountain people. Rev Bob Fu says, "We urge the Chinese central government to help stop this type of barbaric acts by the local government."Technorati Tags. Prayer Mountain church ::

Periodically I listen to the Emergent Village Podcast. It’s a podcast that tries to compete with The Nick and Josh Podcast, but let’s be honest. . . it falls way short. Though I have much respect for them, and I have some good friends that have appeared on the podcast. Even I was on there back in the day. The latest Emergent Village cast has a message from Scot McKnight. The Tall Skinny Kiwi says using the media of podcasting for recycling messages is sort of uncreative. [He says that podcasting should be used for dialogue and creatively, not just for finding another way to put up your sermon.] All of those scattered thoughts just to say. . . Scot McKnight was giving a message to the Small Group leaders at North Point Community Church, the trendy mega-church of Atlanta. Here’s my beef. Scot says that the problem with our society is that it is becoming more individualistic. (I agree that is a problem). He uses Barna’s number of 20 million people in the world atte

Once again Jay Smooth over at illdoctrine.com speaks on the current ongoings in hip-hop, and this time he addresses the anti-rap billboards in Chicago which demands that you stop listening to trash, and then names a few arbitrary rappers, most of which aren’t even relevant today. If you’ve watched any of his previous work you’ll know that all of his messages are nothing short of brilliant (this included). Check out the video after the jump. (more…) Related PostsThe iphones are here! The iphones are here!The iphone’s guts revealed…The iphone’s newest killer application? YouTube.

Amy Korst has contributed a great opinion piece in The University of Washington's independent student paper, The Daily. Check it out and consider leaving a comment. Even though Seattle is far more progressive when it comes to religion than here in the bible belt, I'm betting that she'll hear from more than a few irate Christians. I want to make sure she hears from the reality-based community too.Tags: University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, The Daily, reality-based, opinion, Christian

Welcome to the Happy Gnome, located at 498 Selby Avenue, St. Paul, MN.  Known for it's warm friendly atmosphere, great food and of course excellent beer.  The bar resides in a converted historic fire house. Why am I writing about a bar?  Glad you asked.  Every Saturday I run a post about a historic St. Paul church.  We have some gorgeous churches, designed by Cass Gilbert and other noted architects.  I never really get tired of taking church pictures. One of our readers asked what I would when I run out of churches.   It will take some time but I will eventually run out.  The next logical move is to take pictures of bars in historic buildings.  It is entirely possible that we have more bars than churches.  In my neighborhood the number of bars and bar stools increased after the Xcel center was built and became the home of the Minnesota Wild. When I run out of churches to photograph and change my Saturday post  to "S

New pastors have been appointed at Beverly area churches St. Barnabas and Christ the King. Rev. William E. Malloy will be the new pastor at St. Barnabas (South Longwood Drive). He comes from St. Germaine parish in Oak Lawn, where he was also the pastor. This change will be effective July 1. Rev. Raymond Tillrock, the current pastor at St. Barnabas, will be on sabbatical from July 15 to January 15, 2008. Thomas P. Conde was a member of the faculty at Saint Joseph's College at Loyola University. He is now the pastor at Christ the King (9235 S. Hamilton) read more

  *From a LIFE TODAY interview with hosts James & Betty Robison, April 17, 2007 Tammy Maltby, author of Confessions of a Good Christian Girl: (quote) "There is only one perfect one and that i...

A conversation has been going over at Presbyterian Bloggers that has taken an interesting turn. The question initially had to do with the involvement of churches in political campaigns. A few cases have come up in which churches have been threatened with losing their tax-exempt status for involvement in one way or another. I think that threat is what keeps churches from being prophetic and speaking truth to power. The best way to counter that threat is to give up the tax-exemption. Perhaps it is time for churches to stop feeding off of the government. When I look at huge buildings being constructed I think either that it must be a bank or a church. Churches are more like businesses today. They operate on business principles, they should be treated as businesses. Churches do not pay property tax or sales tax. Donations to churches provide a tax break to those who donate. Clergy, while considered self-employed, do not pay income tax on their housing allowance. Yet churc

According to Scotsman News, churches in the United Kingdom are going to get a helping hand when they decide it’s time to go green!  The General Assembly has decided to provide financial contributions for solar power and wind turbine projects, as well as other forms of non-specified eco-friendly renovations. However, the move was not made without reservations. ”I think this is an excellent idea, in theory, but church buildings, by their very nature, are used for a very small proportion of the week,” John Stirling, an elder from Dumbarton Presbytery, said. “If we were to invest a large amount of money in putting solar panels in, I just wonder about the cost when placed against the return.” Yet those who made this decision remain optimistic! “We can make a real difference here. Given the size of the Church of Scotland, if we start installing the likes of solar panels on a wider scale, then it will give a real boost to the Scottish renewables industry

:: WHAT IS MISSIONAL CHURCH? And Emerging or Emergent Churches? A video conversation (see video link below) between Alan Roxburgh and Ryan Bolger gives some answers.VAD ÄR MISSIONAL CHURCH? Och Emerging Church? Vad har de att säga till traditionella kyrkor och husförsamlingar? Är det bara något för USA och UK? Eller har gemenskaper, församlingar och samfund i Skandinavien något att lära?ETT SAMTAL mellan Ryan Bolger, Fuller Seminar, och Alan Roxburgh om Emerging Church i ljuset av Missional conversation erbjuder ett och annat att reflektera över. Oavsett ens tillhörighet på den församlingsmässiga resp. kyrkliga skalan. - See the Video "What is Missional Church?"Ryan Bolger Alan Roxburgh Missional church Emerging church ::

Opponents glad Wiccan school leaving HoopestonBy Tracy MossThe News-GazetteTuesday, April 24, 2007 6:44 AM CDTHOOPESTON – Some in the Hoopeston area are glad to see the Witch School leave town, while some don't have a strong opinion either way.According to Ed Hubbard, who helped bring the Witch School to Hoopeston about four years ago, he has sold the school to new owners, and they will be headquartering the mostly online entity elsewhere.The school, which specializes in peer-to-peer training in Wicca and magick, according to Hubbard, generated controversy when it first chose Hoopeston as its new home in 2003. Some of the strongest opponents were local churches."To me, it's an answer to the prayers given," said Kendra Smiley, an author and speaker, who is a member of the East Lynn United Methodist Church, which had led some gatherings to specifically pray about the witch school. "It's not the kind of influence we want in our community."The First Baptist Church at 323 E. Seminary S

by Martin JohnstonThe New Zealand Herald20 Apr 2007Christianity in New Zealand has continued its historic decline in the latest Census figures, reflecting what one academic calls the ‘‘huge defection’’ of white people from the main denominations. Last year’s Census recorded just over two million Christians. That was 55.6 per cent of those answering the religious affiliation question, down from

WHAT to say about the answer by Alan Hirsch - and the 88 responses? See: The Forgotten WaysREFLECTION Could an established church understand a text like this? Does she have anything to learn by the missional thoughts? What do you think? Some Christians are wondering If and How? Technorati Tags: Missional church Emerging conversation

It could possibly be over a year ago, I asked readers to give me some topics to write on and this was one of the ones that was brought up. I started a draft with just the title and that’s as far as I got until now. Rather then just delete it I figured it’s time to dig in a share my brief thoughts. I know the person asking this didn’t intend this, but I think I initially have to say the churches role in Suburbia is to be the same as it’s role everywhere, and that is to make the good news of Jesus known to all people. So the role in Suburbia is the same as in the inner city, the war zone, the church buildings, the workplace, the brothel, the senate, the sweatshop, and in the family. So, if we are going to ask about the Suburbs we need to ask about these other places as well, but you can do that within your own church. on to Suburbia… Let me start with what I do not think the churches role is, because I think it will get to the heart of what is inherent in

Churches Misrepresent Christianity By Supporting Illegals That Break Laws And Deny Authority Of Both God And ManClergy members railed against federal immigration officials Sunday at an evening service in Des Moines called to protest last week's raid at six Swift & Co. meatpacking plants on the Day of the Virgin Guadalupe, considered sacred by many of the thousands arrested.To do it on one of the most celebrated holy days, the Lady of Guadalupe, smacks of indifference that is chilling," said Jim McCarthy as he read a statement from Bishop Alan Scarfe of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. "We know better than this."About 200 people turned out at Grace United Methodist Church to hold candles and pray in a show of solidarity for detainees and their families.Read Article... ***What Churches Have Seemed To Have ForgottenAs Christmas approaches, it is time to reflect the teachings of Christianity in view of our government's recent actions of arresting illegal immigrants in Iowa and throughout t

The United Methodist Board of Discipleship is initiating the "Romans 12 Project," a year-long initiative that involves exploring best practices in United Methodist congregations to mine ideas, concepts, practices and principles that help form vital churches. The project is designed to study vital United Methodist churches with the goal of revitalizing the denomination and expanding its

Recently my son, who is a minister with a master in divinity from the South Western Baptist Theological Seminary, in Dallas, Texas was fired from his job. He had put years of service into the biggest First Southern Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas as their video Production Engineer. He was highly praised and [...]

UN has proclaimed January 27 as HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY. WHAT ABOUT - Ahmadinejad: Israel “wiped off the map”? - Jostein Gaardner: “Israel has lost its right to exist”? - Hamas calling for “the destruction of Israel”? - To be a Jew in Israel today? More >>Andra bloggar om: Jewish holocaust, Remembrance Day, Jostein Gaardner, ::

Introduction Its quite rare that I manage to get the chance to do a more personal blog post, but I really wanted to clarify the following blog post to people who aren't Christian. There are many many different denominations (aka groups) of Christianity, and within those you get varying amounts of variety. For ...