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8 Keys to engaging pre-teens in church
I wrote a while ago about engaging children in church. Now I’m tackling that in-between age: the pre-teen. First off, I don’t intend to give a firm age range for this group. I think you know it when you see it. Your 9 year-old might be more teen-like than your 11 year-old. Parents of pre-teens struggle with…
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Beyond Empire: giving to the emperor
Today’s gospel: Matthew 22:15-22 This is one of my favorite moments for Jesus. He has just been hammering at the Jewish leadership and attacking the relationship between the religious leaders and the empire. He chased the moneychangers and now they have all had enough. They’re coming to get him. So they bring a trap. A…
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Forward living or backward obsessing?
My brain is intent on proving me wrong. More than a decade ago, when my two closest friends were living in East Lansing, I moved down to join them. Having only visited the apartment once or twice, and not knowing the area very well, I was confident that I knew the way to get there;…
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Without moderation
You’ve no doubt heard this encouragement: everything in moderation. This is especially attractive in the church, where the every “thing” in question is likely to be that assorted list of “sins” that you just can’t help yourself with. That list has tough stuff on it, but also seemingly small things: alcohol smoking dancing (which…
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4 keys to engaging children in church
At a lecture in Atlanta recently, the Rev. Sam Portaro, author of Brightest and Best points out that “Children are actually written into Scripture.” They weren’t supposed to be seen. They were property. But Jesus spoke to them, healed them, accepted their donations, and told His disciples to be like them. We never take that last…
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I had no idea I, too was going to hell!
David R. Henson wrote today about a missed opportunity to attack evil: evil in the form of stay-at-home dads. We are clearly where sin resides. Read about it here!
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Christianity, the state, and the rising urge to kill someone
Over the last week or so, some really good Christians have written about the death penalty from a Christian perspective. It has been in the public consciousness for the last few weeks. I gave my own response recently. But in the responses, a curious thing happened. There was what has to be this moment of…