Larycia Hawkins is a tenured professor of political science at Wheaton College, one of the premier evangelical schools in the country. According to Christianity Today, Hawkins decided last week to wear a hijab—the traditional head covering of Muslim women—as a sign of solidarity with her Muslim neighbors during the Advent season. She announced her gesture via Facebook: I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God. Later Hawkins clarified her position—sort of—with another post that linked to a Huffington Post blog by theologian Miroslav Volf: Whether or not […]
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With so many different styles, understandings, expectations and experiences of Christian worship, it’s hard to nail down a simple description of it. But a couple of weeks ago I had an eye-opening experience that revealed something I’d never considered: there are really only two choices in worship—and these aren’t the obvious categories of “traditional” or “contemporary” that many of us spend so much time fretting about. The essential truth about modern American worship is that it’s either man-focused or God-centered. Here’s what happened. I attended a conference in Nashville, Tennessee that focused on expanding church worship and ministry through media and technology. Two worship services were the centerpieces of […]
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Other than Easter, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Not for the food—although I love the food more than I want to admit. Roast turkey is one of my favorites. Sweet potato soufflé makes my mouth water. Fresh cranberry relish is a personal addiction. Even the special gravy filled with the innards of the turkey that no one else will eat that my mother-in-law makes just for me. But lots of holidays are known for their food—whether Christmas cookies or corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day or hot dogs on the Fourth of July. Thanksgiving cuisine isn’t what sets the day apart. Neither is Thanksgiving special […]
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I’m struggling right now in knowing how to feel, how to think, how to respond to last Friday’s terrorist attacks on Paris and the anger and fear they unleashed on the world. How do I—how do our churches—make our way through these violent, dangerous times in a way that keeps us faithful to our Lord? It’s not as though we haven’t been through this before—9/11, the 2004 Madrid train attacks that claimed 191 lives, suicide bombers in London leaving 52 dead in 2005, and the Paris shootings just last January that killed 17 were not so different in terms of scope and execution from what happened last week. In […]
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Last week my aunt, Judy Harrison, 82, passed away. She had been in poor health for a while, and when my father called with the news I wasn’t surprised. What did surprise me was when he told me she had requested all her nephews serve as pall bearers at her funeral. I agreed, of course, and two days later Pam and I made the trip to Gainesville, Georgia for the memorial service and burial. When the hearse arrived at the cemetery at Concord Baptist Church, my cousins and I pulled out the coffin and walked it to the grave. I’ve officiated at more funerals than I can count, but this […]
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The Pew Research Center on Tuesday released its second survey of American religious practices in the last few years. The first “Religious Landscape Study” was released in 2007 and fell on American churches like a bombshell. The reason was it was the first study to document the nation’s growing secularization by making public a demographic grouping called “Nones,” those who have no religious affiliation whatsoever. In the 2007 study Nones comprised 16% of all adults. For a nation that—at the time—considered itself generally religious, that number was a bitter pill to swallow. To make matters worse, the Millennial generation (born 1981-1996) had a much higher rate of Nones than any […]
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Jonathan Aigner, writing earlier this week in “Patheos,” has some great insights into the currents driving many—some would say most—of America’s churches in their worship. His piece has the dandy title, “Eight Reasons the Worship Industry Is Killing Worship.” While I won’t try to unpack all eight of his reasons, it’s worthwhile to at least mention them: The worship industry’s sole purpose is to make us feel something It hijacks worship It says music IS worship It’s a derivative of mainstream commercial music It perpetuates and awkward contemporary Christian subculture It spreads bad theology It creates worship superstars It’s made music into a substitute Eucharist (Aigner, a Methodist, considers […]
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If you believe various news reports, American pastors are quitting the church in droves. I’ve seen some studies that claim as many as 1500 ministers are leaving the ministry every month. That number has never settled well with me, since almost every pastor I know is faithful and true to his calling. In fact, most of the pastors I know—even the ones in difficult churches—are determined to remain in their vocation. Considering the challenges facing pastors today, their faithfulness is a tribute to a deeper level of commitment than they’re usually given credit for. Ed Stetzer is a guru of modern American church trends and wrote last week of […]
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Kimberly Freeman is a mom, a Latin teacher, and the wife of one of the pastors I’m privileged to serve with. She’s also quite a writer–her blog Lessons in Lingering tracks the adventures of a young Christian family in a gutsy, hilarious way. Kimberly and her children encountered some welcomed problems yesterday as they volunteered–along with thousands of others across our state–to help provide needed goods to victims of the South Carolina flood. When I read her blog last night, I asked if I could repost it today on my own blog. You’ll be blessed to read it. In the midst of a disaster unlike anything you’ve ever seen or imagined, there comes a moment […]
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