The Heart Break Of Division

After writing and posting Wednesday’s post, “Listening To My Opponent” (https://inaspaciousplace.wordpress.com/2017/11/22/listening-to-my-opponent/) I sat down with my regular group of Wednesday guys. Fueled by coffee and muffins, we have been reading through William Paul Young’s book lies we believe about GOD.

The Welcome Problem

One of my favourite things about this blog is when a comment comes in response to a post that far surpasses the original post in insight, wisdom… and even on occasion in wit.

Reasons People Leave Church #1

The Angus Read Institute reported last year that in Canada in 2000 30% of Canadians attended a religious service at least once a month. By 2015 that percentage of even occasional attenders had dropped to 23%.

Church And The Future #3

So, if the changes I have identified are real and are important, what might these changes mean for our way of doing church in the future?

Inclusive Church

Many churches today aim to be inclusive.

Principles of A Welcoming Church

A recent conversation on Facebook caused me to wonder what may be required to be a truly welcoming church.

Commit Lent #4 March 8 Hospitality

Create a welcoming space for…. everything.

“The Church Is Dying” #8 – “Open Table”

Back in October and November last year I was looking at Steve McSwain’s list at Huffington Post of culprits contributing to what he perceives to be the demise of the church in North America.

The Comfortable Pew

(with thanks to Barbara)

Perhaps the problems in the Canadian Anglican Church began in 1965.

1965 is the year the Religious Education Department of the Anglican Church of Canada, commissioned a report on the state of the Anglican church. Apparently forty-five years ago we were already feeling insecure about the vitality of our Anglican community in this country. The report was authored by a forty-five year old well known journalist and broadcaster named Pierre Berton. Berton called his reportThe Comfortable Pew: A Critical Look at Christianity and the Religious Establishment in the New Age. It became an instant bestseller.

Berton offered a blistering critique of a church he viewed as irrelevant to mainstream society, locked in a tired vision from the past. He said the church had failed as an instrument of social justice and no longer served as a conscience for the nation holding people accountable to a high ethical standard. In Berton’s view the church had surrendered to the status quo and was refusing to shake people up challenging them to live truly Christian lives. The church as Pierre Berton saw it in 1965 was nothing more than a “comfortable pew.”

Our Shared Failure

The scandal surrounding African-American Baptist preacher and mega-church pastor Eddie Long has stimulated a difficult conversation among black Christians in the United States.