Slow Church
This passage by the renowned Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann resonated with me when I read it recently, an appropriate reflection for Ash Wednesday... Read more
This passage by the renowned Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann resonated with me when I read it recently, an appropriate reflection for Ash Wednesday... Read more
This is an extraordinary and helpful book. Had I read it in the midst of my own crises of faith, I might have been spared a substantial amount of grief. I pray that Wytsma’s words here will be wise and comforting friends to many folks (young and old), who are going through their own periods of darkness. Read more
Tim Suttle’s Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture was one of our favorite books of 2014. In fact, Chris has said that Shrink is “one of the wisest and most significant evangelical books” that he’s read in the last decade. I would agree with that. The book is deeply resonant with the themes of Slow Church. I had the opportunity to interview Tim for the most recent print edition of the Englewood Review of Books. I encourage you to check it out. Below... Read more
Today is the birthday of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, born in Breslau, Prussia in 1906. I recently discovered the following passage from Bonhoeffer, which gets to the heart of Slow Church. Read more
The Englewood Review of Books has just released its annual list of The Worst Christian Book Covers. As usual the list has gotten mixed reviews... Read more
Note: The last three days we’ve been focusing on gratitude as a communal discipline. On Thanksgiving Day, we examined our culture of dissatisfaction and the link between gratitude and justice, between ingratitude and injustice. Yesterday, we talked about how gratitude can open our eyes to the abundance all around us. Today, we conclude our series by describing three ways–three, out of many possibilities–that we can foster a gifts perspective in our churches. They are Asset Mapping, Appreciative Inquiry, and Asset-Based Community Development. ... Read more
Note: In Slow Church, Chris and I describe gratitude as the vital bridge that connects abundance and generosity. As a spiritual discipline–one that requires time and intentionality, both on our own and in community–gratitude is how we practice recognizing the abundant gifts God has given us. It’s how we praise God for those gifts. And it is the energy that compels us to want to share those gifts. This is the second of a three-part series on how gratitude can transform our... Read more
Note: Researchers have found that the happiest people also tend to be the most grateful. What’s interesting is that these folks aren’t grateful for being happy; they’re happy because they have been intentional about cultivating a life of gratitude. This is the first post in a three-part series (adapted from Slow Church) on how the practice of gratitude can similarly transform our families, churches, and neighborhoods. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how gratitude can open our eyes to the abundance all around us. And on Saturday,... Read more
We have been given a prime opportunity to show that in Christ all people matter, no life is expendable. May this be our wake up call to deal with the deep racial brokenness in the Church, and to start embodying a different way, one that doesn't reflect the deep racism of Western culture! Read more
How do we begin to build bridges across the gap between the important work of bearing witness to God in our local communities and the important ways that IJM and other similar groups are engaged in the struggles against deeply rooted systems of injustice? Read more
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