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7 Keys to engaging young adults in church
Walking through the doors and into the nave, I make pretty snap judgments. [The nave is what some denominations refer to as the sanctuary or worship space] “Oh, they hide the font in the back corner.” “They built a new altar so they could worship the high altar like an idol.” “Choir pews between the…
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Engaging Everyone in Church
Our primary operating assumptions need to be: Church is the people not the building. Every part of the church (the people) is essential. Every person has gifts. In baptism, we are all equal. Our expression of church should match our operating assumptions. My series on engaging everyone in church argues that every single one of…
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9 Keys to engaging youth in church
[This post inspired my ebook, A Church for All. I encourage you to check out the information page to find out more!] When I started this series of posts on engaging different age groups in church (so far children and pre-teens), I deliberately chose the word church, rather than ministry. Engaging people in ministry isn’t…
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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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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…
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Don’t like change? You’ll love this!
[I have written several pieces on change and encourage you to find links to them here.] There is something startling about a Christian that doesn’t like change. We have come to see our faith traditions as monolithic and unchanging. We look back through our lives and we such static behavior coming from Christianity. We are used to…
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It’s not the Spiritual, it’s the Religious
By now you’ve probably seen this short, snarky essay by Lillian Daniel, “Spiritual but Not Religious?” or you at least know what she’s talking about. If you haven’t read it, click on over. It is a pretty good read. I sympathize with her sentiment, particularly the idea that being individually spiritual without the requirement of…