Have you noticed that your church membership is declining? Is that line graph plunging lower and lower year […]
worship
Lull in the conversation? Looking for Bible study content? Sick of talking about Fortnight around the dinner table? […]
The clouds hung low this last Sunday morning. Already shivering as I stepped outside, I called back to the hustling brood to grab their jackets before we piled in the car. Damp palm trees and lonely puddles hinted that it was about to rain, but only a gray mist colored our morning drive to church. The children and I traveled together in unusual silence, taking in the gloom.
“Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is […]
January is a dark month. Christmas is over. Family has gone home. Decorations are down. The days are […]
A few years ago, I wrote an article where I explored the idea of seeing the local congregation […]
As we are beginning to see the signs of our economy opening up (well not here in CA, but in some others states), and as we catch glimpses of life beyond this crisis, our thoughts begin to settle again on the future. I, for one, have been thinking a lot about the lessons we will learn from COVID-19. What will be the takeaway for the Christian congregation that tried to navigate the waters of uncertainty and fear while striving to be faithful to their confession and mission?
The old theologians had famously said, “lex orandi, lex credenda,” that is, the law of what is to be prayed is the law of what is to be believed. Or you might have heard it said, “If you show me how someone prays, how they worship, I can tell you what they believe.” At the very least it is an assertion there is a definite connection between how a fellowship worships and what they believe.
By Paul Koch –
The other day, The Jagged Word received an email from our most persistent and longsuffering commenter, the one and only John J. Flanagan. He doesn’t always agree with what we write here. Hell, we don’t all agree with each other, but he has always been willing to be part of the conversation, and for that we are very thankful. For in many ways, that is the goal of our relatively agenda-free blog—to have conversations that matter.
By Paul Koch – I was fortunate to be able to go to church last Sunday. It was […]