My 2nd full article for Missio Alliance is up! This one was really interesting to write: it gave me an opportunity to explore more fully a question that I have been wrestling with for some time now. I would be honored by your feedback!
https://www.missioalliance.org/more-than-a-museum-for-saints/
I don’t know if the turning of the calendar is leading me to this, but a few weeks ago I set out to embark on a tour of local congregations. Truth be told, I’ve been compiling a list of churches I’d like to visit for awhile now, but I finally made my first visit last week. So far I’ve visited one church solo and another with friends who’ve been going there for awhile, and I’m excited by the ones remaining on my list.
And although I’ve only visited two congregations so far, I’m already starting to experience a few unexpected outcomes, one of which is this: a new sense of the best of what church can be…
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At the end of last year I heard about an opportunity to join a writing group hosted by @missioalliance intended to help develop and amplify traditionally marginalized voices (https://www.missioalliance.org/finding-our0-voice-introducing-the-2024-writing-fellows-cohort/) I’ve been following Missio for awhile now, grateful for how they’re trying to reimagine what church can and should be. Also, if you’ve been reading this blog you know that I’ve been exploring how to express what Ive been sitting with with regard to what it means to follow Christ in our day and whether church as we know it is really what Jesus intended for us.
Long story short, I applied and was accepted into the group and my first piece has been published! Grateful for this opportunity to grow, and to be able to share the journey with you.
Art credit: http://justinheap.co/
Link to the piece: https://www.missioalliance.org/the-costco-run-confronting-my-true-self/
In my previous ministry I’d usually spend some time in my membership classes looking at Acts 6. This was to provide some context about why our church had elders and deacons. If you’re unfamiliar with the passage, it describes how as the number of people following Jesus began to grow, the needs of the community began to grow as well. In response, Jesus’ original disciples, the de facto leaders of the community instructed the people to choose seven new leaders to focus on and take care of those needs, allowing the twelve to focus on prayer and “serving” the word. Now throughout this passage the work of both the seven serving the community and the twelve serving the word is called “diaconal” work, which could be translated as “ministry” or “service”, but the name “deacon” came to be associated with the group of seven.
Read MoreIn “I left the church - and now long for a ‘church of the nones’”, Perry Bacon Jr., a columnist for the Washington Post, wrote something that resonated far beyond his usual readership, drawing thousands of passionate comments. In his very personal piece he shares his journey from growing up as a pastor’s kid, to being active in church as a young adult, to gradually becoming a “none”, aka one who does not belong or practice a particular faith tradition. But the part that really seemed to engage people was Bacon’s conclusion that, regardless of our beliefs or faith traditions, and regardless of how difficult it has been for him to find something appropriate, we as a nation would be better off connected to “church-like” institutions, a so-called “Church of the Nones”. He writes…
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