Latest Articles
Six important findings about new worshiping communities
My travels have allowed me to look at new church movements from the view of a seminary, practitioners, and denominational leadership.
Election embarrassment
As a blogger, I mostly stay away from politics. That’s because I usually think that discussing affairs of state takes away from the message of the gospel....
Human trafficking survivors offered full scholarship at Christian university
c. 2014 USA Today...
Jerusalem in danger of open conflict over Temple Mount
(The Christian Science Monitor) Yesterday Moshe Feiglin walked on the holiest site in Judaism and posed for photos in front of the Dome of th...
Text messaging project helps ease religious tensions in Kenya’s Tana Delta
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Pastor who took a bullet continues to lead her AME flock near Ferguson
c. 2014 Religion News Service
ST. CHARLES, Missouri (RNS) The first time the public heard the name Renita Lamkin was probably the day she was shot....
Dying wishes: Advance care planning in La Crosse, Wisconsin
In 1991, 15 percent of La Crosse residents had an advance care plan. Local health-care leaders set a goal: increase this to 50 percent.
Fumbling toward hope
In June 2012, my Uncle David died. Years of diabetes caused his body to wear out. He was 60 years old.
For my mother, who was 20 years David's senior, the news was devastating. She was supposed to be the one who died first, not her baby brother.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty
Income disparity is likely to keep getting worse, eventually undermining the viability of democratic capitalism. This stark message has made Thomas Piketty's book the object of much scrutiny.
Flash-mobification: On putting your life on YouTube
I had a great time with an engaging group of Christian educators and pastors in Austin last week, leading a workshop on Spirituali...
Other people saying things
"Incidentally, 'sex and marriage, divorce and homosexuality' are hardly the major areas where Pope Francis has emphasized tensions be...
Pope Francis: Judas was a sinner, but no worse than anyone else
c. 2014 Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis says Judas Iscariot was not the only sinner among the 12 apostles but he was the one who “closed himself to love.”...
2 percent of Church of England ministers say humans invented God
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Iraqi Christians ponder their future
Basima al-Safar retouches a painting of Jesus outside her house overlooking the flat Nineveh plains, 30 miles north of Mosul....
The church’s new foundation
Many of us stand like grunting toddlers, longing for something but lacking the words. As the Spirit moves, our yearnings begin to wear syllables.
10 tips for couples considering co-pastoring (and 10 for those hiring them)
My husband and I serve as co-pastors and heads of staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon, each at two-thirds time. We are often asked about being married co-pastors by people considering this model. And we have more than a few reflections about it.
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The fire next time
I and a small group of intrepid members of my congregation have been heaving our way through the book of Revelation for the last half-dozen weeks, and it ain't easy going....
"Not a solution but a sign"
I like Michael Gerson's writing, and sometimes I even agree with the things he says. This week he wrote a sensitive and heartfelt column about one of the houses in the DC-area L'Arche community—a place I feel some small connection to, as my wife was once part of a different house in the same community.