Well. Oregon-Idaho takes up support for RCRC denied at GC2016. RCRC is the religious coalition for reproductive choice, i.e., they advocate for abortion rights.

Korax

Accretion Disc | Flickr “Consider the ravens,” says Jesus (here). Ravens are popular in Alaska, and for much of the year, they’re the bird we see the most, possibly because their obnoxious croaking attracts one’s attention. That croaking may be how they got their Greek name. The Greek word for “raven” is korax, –akos. If … Continue reading »

Good grief. The brain trust at World HQ published the PC(USA) Book of Confessions as a PDF without a table of contents. Way to move (cautiously) into the 1990s!

Sexual Relationships — Theory and Practice

In view of all the changes to the PC(USA)’s Book of Order, it’s worthwhile to look at what its Book of Confessions says it believes. We wouldn’t want our practice to get ahead of our theology, after all: d. The relationship between man and woman exemplifies in a basic way God’s ordering of the interpersonal … Continue reading »

Tim Keller: What is a Conservative Protestant

I’ve mentioned the recent Pew survey to some people this week and several have asked me what “Mainline Protestantism” is and how it relates to “Evangelical Protestantism”. The Pew people explain their methodology, but it’s not especially useful unless you’re trying to classify people in a survey. So I prefer this explanation by Tim Keller: … Continue reading »

The Church and Young People

The Pew study that came out this week revealed that in just the last seven years the median age of Mainline Protestants went from 50 to 52. Looking at stats like that, you have to wonder if we’ve reached a tipping point. Last month, at the 2015 Catalyst Conference (West), Andy Stanley said: If your … Continue reading »

Quotes

Some quotes from leaders attending Orange Conference last week, via Brian Dodd: The antidote to cynicism is curiosity. The curious are never cynical. The cynical are never curious. The cynical have it all figured out.—Carey Nieuwhof There are no balanced old people. You’re really angry or you’re really happy.—Carey Nieuwhof Jesus prepared for 30 years … Continue reading »

Why Churches Don’t Grow

Thom Rainer has a list of 7 reasons why some members of churches don’t want them to grow. It’s a pretty good list when even the pastor can say, “Yeah, I get that. Sometimes I feel that way.” For example: Loss of memories. I recently heard a poignant story from a lady whose church was … Continue reading »

Pew Data on Same-Sex Marriage

The Pew Center has released some interesting new data on public attitudes about Same-Sex Marriage. Polls and surveys are tricky for two reasons. The first is methodology: was the survey properly taken, did they get a representative sample, and so forth. The second is suitability: is a poll really the right tool for the job? … Continue reading »

The Problem of Christian Eductation

Ed Stetzer reminds Sunday School teachers to make sure that children know the story instead of just a bunch of Bible stories. He’s right, and that’s something the preacher needs to be concerned about too.