Monday's Catch: The Elusive Trait of Reasonableness and More

The Elusive Trait of Reasonableness

To be reasoned means that your opinions are well thought through. To be reasonable means you are open to persuasion. Read More

Getting Past the “Ain’t It Awful” Kind of Preaching

Rick Warren says a lot of what pastors are feeding their people is “ain’t it awful” preaching. I am so in agreement on that. Read More

COVID-19 Is Disrupting Americans’ Engagement with Scripture

A recent survey reveals how COVID-19’s disruption of in-person church attendance is directly impacting Scripture reading. Read More

The Bible is not a magical book that can fix our troubles. While we can benefit from reading the Bible, we will not experience the full benefits of our Bible reading until we live what it teaches, where its teaching is consistent with Jesus's message and witness. I suspect that a belief in the magicalness of the Bible along with the notion that we can win God's approval and stay in his good graces by reading the Bible may account in part for the decline in Bible reading. The pandemic has created doubt and Bible reading is a casualty of that doubt.

Churches Plan to Host Students During Remote Learning

In some communities, empty buildings and eager youth ministers offer safe places and supervision for families facing school closures. Read More

The concept is not a bad one provided that the church hosting the remote learning students takes proper steps to prevent a child from one household infecting children in other households and through them other members of the household or other individuals with whom the members of the household have contact such as elderly relatives and relatives with pre-existing conditions. A South Korean study found that older school age children--those 10 years of age and older--can infect other people as much as adults and more likely to infect members of their household than any other member of the house except older household members--70 years of age and older. Younger children can become infected with the virus and can infect other people with the virus but the extent to which they are a transmission risk has not yet been determined. The children whom the church is hosting will require close supervision to keep them from having contact with each other. The church will also need to monitor the children's households closely in case a member of the household or someone with whom the house hold has contact develops symptoms or tests positive. Based on my niece's experiences as an early childhood development teacher's aide and my own experiences as a child welfare case worker parents will drop off sick children at early childhood development centers, nursery schools, and day care centers even when they are asked not to. Parents will also send sick children to school although they are asked to keep them home. The spaces that the children use for remote learning will also need to be adequately ventilated. This may prove difficult as the weather grows colder. The use of church restrooms will in addition present challenges of its own. 

Evaluating Your Church Database

After countless migrations and even an attempt at no database (a true nightmare), I’ve realized there are three questions to ask when evaluating your current solution. Read More