Church
America’s Decline in Church Attendance
*Sightings* 9/26/2010 — Martin E. Marty Pope Benedict XVI has expressed grave concern over the decline of church participation in Western Europe. His trip to the UK last week provided opportunities for him to address it. Most commentators in religious and secular communications found almost nothing that he said or did which might help reverse […]
HEALTHY CHURCHES AROUND THE WORLD (and some others)
I spend my life trying to answer the question ‘What does a healthy church look like?’ When asked to speak on this subject I can offer anything from two sentences to a week. The two-sentence version: Healthy churches are very committed churches: their text is the middle two verses of the Bible – ‘Bless the […]
Tom Frame: A House Divided? The Quest for Unity Within Anglicanism
Bishop Tom Frame is the author or editor of twenty three books, including A Church for a Nation: A History of the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn; Church and State: Australia ¢â‚¬â„¢s Imaginary Wall; Anglicanism in Australia: A History (edited with Bruce Kaye, Colin Holden and Geoffrey Treloar) and Agendas for Australian Anglicanism: Essays in Honour […]
Mainline Churches in the U.S.
August 13, 2010 Journal examines anxieties and resilience of US churches What does the future hold for the institutional Church in the United States, particularly “mainline Protestant” churches that once dominated the country’s cultural landscape? There is no single answer to the question posed in Reflections, a magazine published by the Yale University Divinity School, […]
Worship: some summary-thoughts
¢â‚¬ËœBless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Psalm 103:1). A caricature of ¢â‚¬Ëœchurch worship ¢â‚¬â„¢ I once heard in the U.S.: Praise God from whom all blessings flow Praise him for one hour here below; Praise him with nickel and with dime, Praise God we’re getting out […]
Interactive Preaching
Interactive Preaching 03/03/2008 – 03:37. By Stuart Murray Williams Klaus Runia, in his book The Sermon under Attack, quotes a rather unkind definition of preaching as ¢â‚¬Ëœa monstrous monologue by a moron to mutes ¢â‚¬â„¢. In this book, which is actually a defence of preaching and a plea for more effective communication, Professor Runia explores some […]
What is Wrong with Liberal Religion?
So, What is Wrong with Liberal Religion? 4/10/2010 ¢â‚¬”In my last blog entry (see below), I asked whether the kind of liberal religion evinced by Jon Meacham in a recent book review is sustainable in the long run. I answered, no. But there is another issue here. I often find myself criticizing efforts like those of […]
Roman Catholic Clericalism: a blight on the world’s largest Christian Church
First, read my take on Pastoral Ministry as Empowerment – http://jmm.org.au/articles/8109.htm Now, these excerpts from Fr Martin Dixon’s 2008 publication A New Era of Pastoral Leadership (johngarrattpublishing). (Martin Dixon is parish priest of St Simon’s, Rowville, Victoria, and is/was (?) Coordinator of the Australian Imagining Pastoral Leadership Program. He was a member of the Executive […]
BELIEVING, BELONGING, BEHAVING
In my work as a pastoral counsellor I can generally put the ‘presenting issues’ clients bring to our sessions into one or more of three categories: 1. Belonging: ‘I’m lonely, and find it difficult to make friends – and I’m not friends with myself either’. 2. Believing: ‘What sense can I make of this issue […]
HARRY: Servant of the Church
Harry attended church for the last time on Sunday. A frail but independent 83 years, given to unexpected fainting and on heavy medication, the doctor decreed it was time to call it quits. No more would Harry leave his ill wife, board a tram and travel to church. It was the end of an era […]
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