church as abbey
Some in my Southern Baptist denomination are calling for more stringent church discipline. That's mostly because we can't find about half of our 16-million members. Obviously, some of our folks don't take church membership very seriously. The logical thing to do to solve that
bless the world
Tall Skinny Kiwi (aka Andrew Jones) had an interesting post today titled "Baby or Bathwater or both," referencing Jonny Baker's post. But, TSK also picks up a quote from the same issue of Encounters by Jonathan Ingleby, who says: My answer to that question is another
Community
(A couple of days ago I wrote about several converging crises -- energy, economy, and environment. Since then the price of gas has gone down! Proof that I was wrong. Not! As a nation we are so shell-shocked by the energy crisis that we think a 10-cent reduction in the
church as abbey
Last Wednesday night we had a cookout at our church. Not a new idea or big news, but it was fun. Fun, despite the fact that we had to move inside from the town park next door because rain was on the way. Fun, even though we were jammed into
bless the world
In her book, Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland , Dr. Lisa M. Bitel states "The archaelogical evidence of [Celtic monastic] enclosures...suggests that living within the sight of the monastic enclosure was useful to farmers and herders, doubtless economically as well as spiritually.
church as abbey
Last week The Community Center at Chatham opened to the public after three years of planning, praying, and building. Reaction to the building was amazing, and ranged from "Wow" to "Now we can have exercise classes here." Everything about this project went extremely well, and moved
bless the world
I don't mean to harp on this, but the current rise in oil prices impacts more than just where we take our next vacations. As James Howard Kunstler states in his article, Wake Up America, We're Driving Toward Disaster: As the world passes the all-time oil
bless the world
I just realize that I haven't posted anything here since April 29. That is the longest time between posts since I started writing this blog almost 2-years ago. But, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Two funerals within 4-days, and all that goes with them.
church as abbey
Tonight was the last Soundcheck for this school year. Soundcheck is a teen open mic night sponsored by our church and other local groups. Kids run the show -- from emceeing to performing to managing the flow of the evening teens are in charge. Of course, adult advisors are close
bless the world
Pastor John Carmichael at Evangel North Church tried the Easter Outreach Idea with great success this year. John left the following comment: We used this idea for Easter 2008. It doubled our church attendance for Easter. We average 105, on Easter we had more than 210. Largest crowd ever! The
church as abbey
"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." We have an organic vegetable garden this year, which got me to thinking about growing churches. Knowing and doing are two different things in both gardens and church growth. I thought I knew a lot about
church as abbey
In his delightful book Sun Dancing, Geoffrey Moorhouse tells the story of the three men who set out in a tiny boat without oars or sails -- for they wanted to be on pilgrimage for the "love of God." This pilgrimage, called peregrinatio, was a pilgrimage of the