Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when With the abundance of things we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have... Read more
I’m in the middle of a church planting class. I thought I’d share my notes on how to survey a neighborhood, in other words, how to understand the context (either a neighborhood or a particular niche community) in which you plant to plant a church. In what follows are my notes. Yes, they are raw. Hope that they mostly make sense 🙂 There are five basic components: Observation This is often “underrated” Provides essential foundations Observe… Buildings, activities, communities, etc.... Read more
I am currently sitting under Juliet Kilpin and Stuart Murray in a Church Planting course. Excellent stuff! We are focusing on the realities created by Post-Christendom, which is clear in the UK and starting to bubble up in urban centers across North America. (PS – GET IN ON SOME CHURCH PLANT TRAINING THIS SATURDAY VIA THE WEB. INFO HERE!) Yesterday, we chatted a bit about common reasons that the need for church planting emerges in various situations. None of these... Read more
*The following is a guest post from Erin Thomas. Check out her blog! “For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22,23). The last four words of this passage — there is no law — are the most striking to me. Usually, the sermons we hear about the fruit of the Spirit is that it is never illegal. The fruit is so amazingly... Read more
What does it mean to follow Jesus in a changing culture, in which the Christian story is no longer familiar and the church is on the margins? Post-Christendom is well advanced in most western societies and this is the emerging reality in the US too. How do we respond to the challenges and seize the opportunities? What role does church planting play as we search for relevant ways of being church in this emerging culture? And what can the Anabaptist... Read more
*The following is a guest post by my friend Jacob Evers. He holds an MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. Check out his blog here. In a world that seems to fear everything, and a country that seems to believe that everyone is out to get us, how do we as Christians interact in the religious milieu that surrounds us? As Anabaptists, our first goal should be to separate ourselves from the idea that we are Christian Americans, or... Read more
The Book of Common Prayer. Compelling. Beautiful. Yet Daunting! Episcopal priest, the Rev. Matthew Moretz, presents the Book of Common Prayer in its entirety in four (4) minutes, with the help of his friend, Jehosephat. The Book of Common Prayer is the key worship resource for the people of the Episcopal Church. And it is awesome. This video is perfect for Confirmation classes or General Ordination Examination review sessions! Read more
This is what happens when Shane Claiborne and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream have a nonviolent ice cream fiesta! I’m looking forward to checking out: Jesus bombs and ice cream DVD curriculum Read more
N.T. Wright has a new book coming out on March 13th (surprise, surprise – since he cranks them out in his sleep!). It’s called How God Became King: the forgotten story of the gospels. Here, he talks about the themes in the book a bit. Check it out! Read more
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead (or hell). On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living... Read more
The Pangea Blog
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In