NorCalUrban

Rudy at Urban Onramps recently posted this link. What an amazing article on the Pope's call to a faith filled response to the conflict with Islam. It calls us back to a faith filled response to our current challenge. This article resonated with my feelings about the church. I believe that in our country the Church has been all to connected to a political worldview. Our strength lies with our ability to be the subversive underground Kingdom that is governed by a different set of values. When the Church is the Church, separate from the State, we have authority and the world is forced to notice. The article states: A self-described revolution in world affairs has begun in the heart of one man. He is the Italian journalist and author Magdi Cristiano Allam, whom Pope Benedict XVI baptized during the Easter Vigil at St Peter's. Allam's renunciation of Islam as a religion of violence and his embrace of Christianity denotes the point at which the so-called global "war on ter...

Here's a great quote from Gordon McDonald at the Leadership Journal website where he discusses some recent retooling the Starbuck's organization and how it relates to the way we 'do church'. Gordon States: I believe that the evangelical movement—in which I've invested my life—has been pretty much hijacked away from its original identity as Jesus-proclaimers and changed into a political movement. Ask any five people on the street what an evangelical is, and I bet four of them will offer a political (not a faith-based) answer. Remember: we are named by those who are not of us; we do not name ourselves. He goes on to state: Perhaps a door-closed session might provide an opportunity for us to ask ourselves if we are really caring about (and speaking into) the most important things that challenge our world and, close-in, our own society. I for one don't think so. Is it possible (to borrow a word-picture once ascribed to D.L. Moody) that we are too often haggling amo...

Boston Globe reports today the recent Pew study on  how  More Americans are Changing Religious Denominations. The report states: A sweeping new study of religious affiliation in the United States finds a country in which Protestants are becoming a minority, Catholicism is becoming heavily Hispanic, and the number of people who say they are not affiliated with any religion is growing. The study, which is the most comprehensive such examination in at least a half century, finds the United States to be in a period of unprecedented religious fluidity, in which 44 percent of American adults have left the denomination of their childhood for another denomination, another faith, or no faith at all. "Americans are not only changing jobs, changing locations, changing spouses, but they're also changing religions on a regular basis,'' said Luis E. Lugo, the director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which conducted the study. "We have nearly half the American pub...

Where would I be without my wife? HELP WANTED: Pastor's wife. Must sing, play music, lead youth groups, raise seraphic children, entertain church notables, minister to other wives, have ability to recite Bible backward and choreograph Christmas pageant. Must keep pastor sated, peaceful and out of trouble. Difficult colleagues, demanding customers, erratic hours. Pay: $0. The basic job description for pastors' wives hasn't changed in a century. But pastors' wives have. The rise of megachurches, dual-career couples and women's independence have complicated the role and in some cases intensified the frustrations. A recent spate of scandals involving prominent pastors has underscored the challenges their wives face. Eight in 10 pastors' wives say they feel unappreciated or unaccepted by their husbands' congregations, according to surveys by the Global Pastors Wives Network (GPWN); the same number wish their husbands would choose another profession. "Wives...

Rick Warren recently blogged an excellent article on the church. I've appreciated what he's been saying recently now that he has new perspective about poverty. I've thought a lot about this topic, especially this week with all the local discussion about the violence summit and the role of the church in the summit. As progressive (some would call liberal) my views are, I still believe the the answer to the world's problems is the church and the Gospel. Not to say that we haven't been sidetracked and lose our focus at times. However, I still believe the church is called to be the visible hands and feet of Jesus to the world. Recently CCDA has begun to reiterate that that Christian community development endeavors should be church based. I agree. The is nothing as powerful as a socially active, Bible based congregation that embodies empowerment, reconciliation and living among the poor. This is one of the reasons we involved ourself in church planing a few years back ...