5 Keys to Sharing Jesus in a Post-Christian Culture

I once gathered with a group of new acquaintances to discuss the rich meaning of a French word bonheur, which conveys happiness, joy, and a deep sense of contentment. We shared our ideas, discussing the role that religion, friends, and family play in our happiness and peace. We debated, we laughed, and some shared personal stories in tears, while others simply shrugged and declared bonheur to be an impossibility in this life. Then, late into the night, we broke for a sort of intermission.

I’d been welcomed into this group as an American in France, a new resident who enjoys philosophical discussions. During the pause in the discussion, the questions came quickly: Who are you? What do you do? What is a Baptist pastor? What do evangelical Christians believe?

Suddenly the room became quiet as all eleven people waited for me to respond. I shared about the life of Jesus and his death on a cross. Then an older gentleman in the group jumped in with where he thought my story was going: “to save us!” Read More

It's Wednesday: 'Why Do Some Churchgoers Stick with Bad Pastors?' and More

Why Do Some Churchgoers Stick with Bad Pastors?

Most pastors work hard, love their churches, and would sacrifice their lives for the people they lead. If you are reading this article for ways to get back at your pastor, then it’s likely you’re the problem, not your pastor. But there are some bad pastors out there. Why do people stay with them?

Some churches will stick with a bad pastor because they have never had a good one. They do not know the difference between a good pastor and a bad pastor. Other churches will stick with a bad pastor because he is one of them: He belongs to the same tribe as the church members and shares their cultural, political, and theological views.

Why Does God Sometimes Not Answer Prayer?
Prayer is an act of worship that springs from trust in a personal God who wants us to take Him at His word. It is an act of familial intimacy, and the main thing that can break our intimacy with God is sin. Disobedience is one reason why God may not respond to our prayers.

Why You Can’t Love Jesus and Condone Immorality
What then does it mean for Christians to claim that immorality is morally acceptable? Does it mean they are not saved? Does it mean they are not Christian?

SBC Pastor’s Daughter: This Is Why Young People Are Leaving the SBC
Abby Duren, the 25-year-old daughter of a Southern Baptist preacher who attended Southern Baptist churches for most of her life, does not believe that online infighting is the main reason why Millennials and Gen Zers are not interested in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Duren shared her views in response to a series of tweets from Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in South Florida.

United Methodist Church to Add ‘Non-Binary’ As a Gender Option on Forms
During a meeting last week, an administrative board of the United Methodist Church (UMC) voted to include “non-binary” as a third gender category on statistical forms used in U.S. churches. By a 17-1 margin, members of the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) decided to list a non-binary option starting with the 2021 collection year.

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (June 30, 2021) Is Now Online

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

The Shakers believed that the songs that they used not only in their worship gatherings but also on other occasions were gifts from the Holy Spirit. The text and the tune of the Shaker song, “Gentle Words,” were “given” to Sister Polly M. Rupe, a Shakeress, who live at the Shaker settlement at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, sometime around 1867. It is, in my estimation, a beautiful song which teaches us the difference our choice of words can make in our conversations with others, not only to those with whom we are speaking but also to ourselves.

The Scripture reading for this Wednesday evening is Ephesians 4: 25-32 Rules for the New Life.

The homily is titled “Ministers of Grace, Ministers of Healing.”

The link to this Wednesday evening’s service is—

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/06/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for_30.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

May this service be a blessing to you.

ACNA Grapples with Sexual Abuse

Investigative journalist Julie Roys has shared a statement announcing the departure of Father Eirik Olsen from the board of directors of The Roys Report (TRR). Olsen, who is part of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), is helping to manage a sexual abuse case in his diocese, and one of the victims has accused Olsen of being complicit in protecting the perpetrator.

“The victims recently reached out to me,” said Roys in a June 15 email announcing that Olsen was stepping down from The Roys Report board, “and I am so grieved over this situation. This was our family’s diocese. And because of my proximity to the church, this is not something I would consider covering. It would definitely be considered a conflict of interest.”

She continued, “But I have expressed my concerns to the leadership involved and have connected the victims with advocates I’m confident can help them. Eirik and I have also discussed the issue at length. And we both decided that it would be best for him to step down from the board for the time being.” Read More

If the ACNA mishandles its investigation of these sexual abuse allegations, it will have serious repercussions for the denomination. 

It's Tuesday: At 71, Christian Author Philip Yancey Still Believes in Amazing Grace, Despite the Country’s Divisions and More

At 71, Christian Author Philip Yancey Still Believes in Amazing Grace, Despite the Country’s Divisions

In a world filled with angry divides, Yancey is still focusing on grace and forgiveness and showing the world a better way to live.

No Longer Evangelical
Is the label 'evangelical' sustainable for Christians in our post-everything world?

Online Community Engagement – What’s the Secret?
One question I keep hearing is “How do we keep people engaged online?” The assumption here is that because we’re all stuck at home—and we’re watching online—we’re more easily distracted. While there is some truth to this, I want to start by asking this question: how do you normally keep people engaged?

Singing in Places of Worship Is Now Allowed in Wales, with Precautions
Congregational singing and chanting are now allowed indoors in places of worship in Wales, after updated guidelines were issued by the Welsh Government on Monday. The guidance on the government website continues to lay heavy emphasis on the “significant risks” associated with playing wind instruments, and with singing or chanting at louder volumes, and emphasises that “extreme caution” should be exercised throughout. 

Research Shows Humans Could Live Up to 150 Years. Now What?
With so many potential years before us, how are we to think of our lives? Some of us at 40 are already trying to plan for retirement at 65. If we stay on this earth twice as many years after that, however, gardening and golfing may not suffice to bring meaning to our lives. And without meaning and purpose, life can be rather dismal, boring, and unfulfilling.

Make Christianity Beautiful Again

These days, the name “Christian” seems to evoke as many negative reactions as it does positive ones.

This bothers me.

Does it bother you?

Critics might summarize their feelings about Christians as Gandhi did when he allegedly said, “I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Read More

Also See:
Equipping the Saints

Should Your Church Be Revitalized or Replanted? A Post-COVID Reality

Very few church leaders and members are opposed to their churches being revitalized.

After all, revitalization is the process of your church getting reinvigorated. Revitalization literally means “life again.” It sounds pretty basic.

The problem is that many church leaders and members really don’t want substantive changes with their revitalization. For them, revitalization is a process of tweaking and making small adjustments. Add a program or ministry here and there. But don’t change our church!

Hear me clearly: That type of revitalization will not work. Indeed, it is not revitalization at all. It is a superficial move with no lasting results.

In the post-COVID world we are entering, I see the need for many churches to replant instead of revitalizing. Let’s look at the difference between the two. Read More

Why Some Biologists and Ecologists Think Social Media Is a Risk to Humanity

Social media has drastically restructured the way we communicate in an incredibly short period of time. We can discover, “Like,” click on, and share information faster than ever before, guided by algorithms most of us don’t quite understand.

And while some social scientists, journalists, and activists have been raising concerns about how this is affecting our democracy, mental health, and relationships, we haven’t seen biologists and ecologists weighing in as much.

That’s changed with a new paper published in the prestigious science journal PNAS earlier this month, titled “Stewardship of global collective behavior.”

Seventeen researchers who specialize in widely different fields, from climate science to philosophy, make the case that academics should treat the study of technology’s large-scale impact on society as a “crisis discipline.” A crisis discipline is a field in which scientists across different fields work quickly to address an urgent societal problem — like how conservation biology tries to protect endangered species or climate science research aims to stop global warming.

The paper argues that our lack of understanding about the collective behavioral effects of new technology is a danger to democracy and scientific progress. For example, the paper says that tech companies have “fumbled their way through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, unable to stem the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation” that has hindered widespread acceptance of masks and vaccines. The authors warn that if left misunderstood and unchecked, we could see unintended consequences of new technology contributing to phenomena such as “election tampering, disease, violent extremism, famine, racism, and war.”

It’s a grave warning and call to action by an unusually diverse swath of scholars across disciplines — and their collaboration indicates how concerned they are. Read More

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (June 27, 2021) Is Now Online

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

Jesus, when he was here on earth, did more than embody God’s love for us. He was God’s love. Jesus, when he walked as a human being among us, did more than represent God’s compassion. He was God’s compassion.

The reading appointed for this Sunday evening’ service is Mark 5: 21-43 A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed.

The homily is titled, “Forever in God’s Care.”

The link to this Sunday evening’s service is—

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/06/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-sunday_26.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. There may be a short pause before a song begins on a video. If the video begins playing partway, pause, move the track slider back to the beginning, and then play. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at:

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

May this service be a blessing to you.

On Handling a Fool

One very practical skill in leading a life of wisdom is to know what to do with those going in the opposite direction. How do you handle a fool?

This ability is increasingly needed, is it not? For foolishness abounds in our society. Remember its origin. The Lord told us bad fruit comes from bad trees (Matt. 7:17). We truly have whole forests of fools growing these days and, with social media, they have been given bullhorns.

To know how to deal with a fool, you first have to recognize him (being sure to check the mirror in the process!). The Bible gives us a ready description, especially in the book of wisdom known as the Proverbs. A fool does not fear the Lord or receive counsel, but delights in following his own ways and resisting correction (Prov. 1:7, 22; 12:15; 14:3). He is prone to angry outbursts (12:16; 14:17; 29:11). Such persons cannot control their mouths, babbling and arguing to their own ruin (10:10, 14; 18:7). This trait caused Solomon to muse like he was starting a bad joke, "A fool's lips walk into a fight" (18:6). A fool is as unproductive as paralyzed legs (26:7), as hurtful as a drunken archer (26:10), and as grossly predicable as a dog going back to its own vomit (26:11).

As names and faces start coming to your mind now, remember that it is that last characteristic of predictability that gives us a fighting chance when interacting with fools. For they do follow patterns. So we need to learn to apply wisdom in dealing with fools in personal relationships, social media interactions, theological debates, politics, etc. Though you cannot engage a fool for any length of time without paying for it, following the three principles below will at least minimize the damage and encourage others in the wisdom needed. Read More

The Rise and Role of the Missions Pastor: Parts 1, 2, and 3

The way by which evangelical churches—especially in the United States and Canada—participate in global missions has undergone subtle, but significant shifts over the last few decades. I refer to this shift in missional engagement as being “from agency to church.” By “agency” I refer to the prominent role of missions agencies like YWAM or Pioneers as well as large missionary-sending denominations like the Assemblies of God or the Southern Baptist Convention. Missional engagement has taken place throughout the world primarily through these missional agencies and denominations, but this is beginning to change.

In this short series, I am not encouraging disengaging from such agencies. Actually, I have consulted with several such agencies on how they can engage the substantial trend of local churches doing their own mission sending. Read Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Preachers Gotta Preach

Every summer—at some time during several weeks of vacation and study leave—I try to read a book on preaching. For many summers, this has meant rereading Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Preaching and Preachers. This year it meant reading a book I would have never picked up had not Alistair Begg recommended it. I’m not sure I agree with all of the theological presuppositions or with every point of practical application, but taken as a whole Heralds of God, first published in 1946 by the renowned Scottish preacher James S. Stewart, was a good, bracing tonic for the soul.

More than anything, Stewart drives home the point with relentless force that preaching is an immense privilege and preaching is supernaturally powerful. Read More

Also See:
Why Great Preachers Are Not Always Great Leaders
3 Reasons Why Your Sermon May Be the Best Counseling You Can Offer

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (June 26, 2021) Is Now Online

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

One of the themes that runs throughout the Bible is that God is faithful. His love is steady and unwavering. Our love may wax and wane like the moon. God's love is steadfast. 

The Scripture reading for this Saturday evening is Lamentations 3:22-33 God’s Steadfast Love Endures Forever.

The homily is titled “God’s Enduring Love.”

The link to this Saturday evening’s service is—

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/06/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-saturday_25.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

May this service be a blessing to you.

The Data Is In: 5 Things That Will Sabotage Your Church's Future Growth

So how is your church positioned for reaching new people in the years ahead?

Over 5000 church leaders recently completed the Church Outreach Assessment, and the data is in.

The results were a little surprising, with some signs of hope as well as some significant areas for growth.

The good news is that churches are making some strides toward reaching more people with the hope of the Gospel.

The tougher news is that there are also some challenges ahead.

Here’s the tension: most church leaders want to see their church reach more people. Yet the data shows that many leaders find themselves leading a church that’s not positioned to do so.

Below you’ll see some key findings from the Church Outreach Assessment.

Respond to the issues and you and the people you’re hoping to reach will have a brighter future. Ignore them, and, well, things will be much harder.

Here are five things the results showed that are bound to sabotage your church’s future outreach efforts. Read More

On the Other Side of Stay-at-Home Orders

As I’ve contemplated what exactly has made these last 16 months difficult, one of the things that rises to the top is our loss of autonomy. As Canadians, most of us have never in our lifetimes had so little freedom to choose for ourselves. At times I’ve bristled against this reality, and at other times, I’ve felt the rules to be like protective fences within which I could move safely. In the days ahead, there will be gates cut into those fences and we will be given the freedom to live in community again, but we aren’t ‘returning to normal’ because our world has changed—we have changed. Read More

Hospitality Can’t Take a Vacation

If you’re in charge of the guest services team at your church, chances are good that you are already feeling the pinch of summer. After a year like no other – and with lowering COVID numbers and rising vaccination rates – people are ready to escape the house and the monotony of the last 15 months.

Whether your volunteers have fled to high ground or sandy shores or Disney or Great Wolf Lodge, you may be worried that there won’t be adequate coverage to make it to September. The only problem is that while your volunteers may take some down time, your guests won’t. Their version of down time will likely be checking out your church for the first time.

So how do you balance the drought of volunteers with the influx of guests? Here are six strategies to cope.... Read More

The Missing Elements of Modern Worship

I once paid a visit to one of the most mega of America’s megachurches. It’s a church whose pastor is well-known, a church known for its innovation, a church held up as a model for modern evangelicalism. I went in with as open a mind as I could muster. I left perplexed. I was perplexed not by what was said or done in the service as much as what was left unsaid and undone.

Since that visit I’ve had the opportunity to attend many more churches and, as often as not, they have been similar, missing a lot of the elements that used to be hallmarks of Christian worship. Here are some of the missing elements of modern worship. Read More

Tim Challies originally posted this article in 2016 and I posted it on Anglicans Ablaze in 2016. 5 years later the situation has not changed for the better. It may have worsened. What passes as "contemporary worship" is lacking in the key elements of corporate worship. The band worships after which a pastor gives an inspirational talk. However, we choose to spin it, that is not corporate worship. The members of the congregation are merely spectators.

Corporate worship involves the whole body of Christ, Christ's gathered people, not a band and a preacher. In corporate worship all who are present are active participants unless they are prevented from active participation by some disability. 

In corporate worship the purpose of hymns and songs is to honor God, to proclaim God's mighty deeds, and  to build up each other's faith, not to prepare the congregation to hear a talk. In corporate worship the hymns and songs are accessible to the congregation and the members of the congregation, not a band or a choir, are the principal performers of the hymns and songs and the primary audience is God. The members of the congregation can hear each other singing and can unite their voices into one voice. 

In corporate worship Scripture is read because it too is a proclamation of God's mighty deeds and a declaration of his excellencies. 

Prayers are offered out of concern and sympathy for our fellow human beings, not only as an expression of our love for our neighbors but also as an affirmation of our faith in a loving and gracious God who cares for us and protects us. 

Bread and wine are shared in remembrance of Jesus' suffering and death and his rising to new life and in thanksgiving for the grace shown us not only in those acts but also in the Lord's Supper itself and in our daily lives. 

Corporate worship conveys to the members of the congregation that their presence and participation is important. They will be missed if they absent themselves on Sunday morning. 

Social Media, Identity, and the Church

Tim Keller reviews Chris Bail's book, Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing (Princeton, 2021)

Recently I was in a Zoom forum of journalists and academics who were discussing the increasing polarization of American culture. At one point a male speaker said, “If I wanted to invent a public forum that would undermine civil discourse and lead to social division, I couldn’t do a better job than to create Twitter.” A respected woman journalist, who had been working for nearly a year to understand how social media worked, agreed with him.

I believe they are right. But I don’t see social media going away, either, because it has enormous benefits, too. It is also deeply embedded in the psyches especially of the young. So Christians can’t ignore it, and most of all we need to begin to understand it.

One book that will be useful for that purpose is Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing by Chris Bail (Princeton, 2021). This is not a religious book—it is a work of social science. (Bail is professor of sociology at Duke University.) But its findings can be significant for how Christians conduct themselves and consume social media. And, indeed, many of his final principles for “a way forward” align with Christian ethics. Here’s what we can learn from the book. Read More

It's Midsummer Day: Helping Your Kids Avoid Negative Christianity and More

Helping Your Kids Avoid Negative Christianity

Positive Christianity focuses on the positive message of unsaved people hearing and receiving the Gospel’s power in order to change their sinful lives. Negative Christianity focuses on the negative message of people changing their sinful lives in order to experience the Gospel’s power.

I Believe the Children Are (Not) Our Future
Children, like every other generation in our churches, are the present. If we think otherwise, we run the risk of projecting all our theological understanding and ecclesiological practice toward the future while merely parking the kids in Sunday school. If, on the other hand, we see our children as an integral part of today’s church, how do we include them in the life of God’s people?

Parents, Take Note of the Spiritual Practices Common to Kids Who Flourish As Adults
The research (compiled now in the new book Nothing Less) indicated that children who remained faithful as young adults (identifying as a Christian, sharing their faith, remaining in church, reading the Bible, and so on) grew up in homes where certain practices were present.

White Gen X and Millennial Evangelicals Are Losing Faith in the Conservative Culture Wars
Over the past six years, I have been working with an interdisciplinary team of scholars at the American Academy of Religion to analyze generational shifts in evangelicalism and religion more broadly in the United States. We are finding that some of the younger evangelicals are openly questioning their religious and political traditions. In short, the majority of white evangelicals are aging and a portion of younger evangelicals are engaging in both religion and politics differently.

Francis Collins: How Christians Can Help Curb COVID-19
Over the last year of the US pandemic, a few key scientists and medical professionals have been lifted onto the national stage by their timely expertise. Americans turn to them for information, insight, and even pastoral care of a certain kind. Among those is the physician-geneticist Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and founder of BioLogos. Timothy Dalrymple, president and editor in chief of Christianity Today, and Ted Olsen, CT’s executive editor, spoke recently with Collins about the Delta variant, vaccine hesitancy among evangelicals, and how Christians can come alongside communities that are still crippled by the virus.

In the Commonwealth of Kentucky where I live all new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus are appearing among the state's unvaccinated population. My region of Kentucky is just across the Mississippi River from Missouri with its low vaccination rate and surging infection rate. It is less than a fifteen minute drive to Tennessee which also has a low vaccination rate. What affects the unvaccinated in these two states can be expected to affect the unvaccinated in my region.

Make the Most of the Rest of Your Summer with These Five Tips
For most churches, the summer months can be a lull. Families vacation and people tend to be in and out of the church more. It’s rare to have high attendance Sundays in the summer, but there are ways to make the most of the season. These five tips will help you navigate the summer months.

A Small Group “Summer of Purpose”
Many groups tend to “take a break” for the summer, meeting for times of fellowship and fun. Why not encourage your small group members to make it a “Summer of Purpose?” The most common question that everyone asks is, “What Am I Here For?” This summer, you and your group members could purposefully use a book centered around the topic of purpose, as “tools” to have spiritual conversations with others, helping them discover the answers to their questions. Prayerfully, in the process, they will be drawn to Christ and eager to learn more. As His disciples, we’ll also re-discover the joy of our own purpose in sharing Jesus with others!

Americans Agree With Pastors on Gender Identity—Barely
A slim majority of U.S. adults say changing genders, identifying as a gender different than one’s biological sex, is morally wrong. According to the latest survey from Gallup on morality, 51% of Americans say it is immoral to change genders, while 46% say it is morally acceptable.The study also found significant demographic divides. Men (56%) are more likely than women (47%) to say transition to a different gender is morally wrong. Non-white American adults are more likely to see gender changes as morally wrong compared to white Americans. (55% to 49%). Politically, 3 in 4 conservatives believe changing genders is morally wrong, 3 in 4 liberals see it as morally acceptable, and moderates are evenly split (48% to 48%).

It's Wednesday: The Growing Disillusionment with the American Evangelical Church and More

15 Reasons People Are Disillusioned with the American Evangelical Church

The Vinedresser often prunes the vine so that the dead branches are cleared to make way for fresh, new growth. I believe that may be happening within American evangelicalism. I’m not a prophet, so time will tell, but I do believe that the events of 2020 and 2021 (so far) have thrown back the curtains and shined the light on some of our greatest weaknesses. People are leaving in unprecedented numbers, both church-goers and pastors, and it’s more than just fear of contracting a virus. There are numerous reasons why people have become disillusioned. Out of my own heart and with my ear to the ground, I’ve listed out at least fifteen reasons why.

3 Reasons Local Ministry Matters
I recently spoke with some friends in ministry about how the pandemic has impacted the Church for life. I have said it before, and it is the focus of Ministry Pivot, that this is a season of opportunity. Our churches and ministries have a chance now to impact people not just in our zip code but anywhere in the world. The truth is we had this opportunity before, but this season has made that more plausible. However, my conversation with my friends was around the fact that “local” still matters and is still essential. While we see many churches and ministries entering new cities, which I think is excellent, we still have to realize the local is local. Here is what I mean....

The New Metrics: 6 Things Pastors Need to Start (and Stop) Measuring
With hybrid church (physical + digital ministry) as the new standard, how do you measure what happened at church last week? Measurements matter only insofar as they help you assess the extent to which you’re accomplishing your mission. If the goal is to turn online views into real relationships and actual discipleship, do you have any idea what to look for to know if that’s actually happening?

Can I Be an Effective Pastor If I Don’t Like Management?
Pastors are not managers, at least in a corporate-business-world-publicly-traded-company-sort-of-way. But pastors are shepherds. And shepherds manage sheep. Leading a church involves management. A church hierarchy assumes management. And most churches—even smaller congregations—are not completely flat in structure. Even at the most basic level, churches require management. Who pays the bills? When does the meeting start? Who is responsible for snow removal? Who fills the baptistery? What is our policy? Those are basic managerial questions. Most churches are more complex.

5 Actions That Will Immediately Encourage Discipleship in Your Church
As leaders we know there are many areas where we need to grow in our walk with Christ. Sometimes, as we multiply similar needs across a congregation, it can be hard to know where to start. What area of discipleship should we emphasize? Where can teaching, exhortation, and a congregational focus make the most difference? For over a decade, Lifeway Research has researched the discipleship journeys of Protestant churchgoers, and we have asked this question more than once.

Most Pastors Say Sexually Abusive Ministers Should Step Down Permanently
As Christian groups and denominations debate the proper response to clergy sexual misconduct (both child sexual abuse and adult sexual assault), most pastors believe those who commit such crimes should withdraw from public ministry permanently. At the recent Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, the topic of pastoral sexual abuse and assault dominated much of the conversation and business, including passing a resolution that “any person who has committed sexual abuse is permanently disqualified from holding the office of pastor.”

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (June 23, 2021) Is Now Online.

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

Singing the Gloria in excelsis in place of the Gloria Patri at the conclusion of the psalmody at the Service of Evening Prayer has long been a part of the American Prayer Book tradition, going as far back as the 1789 Book of Common Prayer. The rubrics of the 1789 Book of Common also permitted the Eastern practice of singing the Gloria Patri at the conclusion of the selection of Psalms appointed for the evening. This evening’s text of the Gloria in excelsis is the text from the revised Roman Missal of 2010.

The Scripture reading for this Wednesday evening is 1 Peter 1: 13-25 A Call to Holy Living.

The homily is titled “Learning to Love One Another.”

The link to this Wednesday evening’s service is—

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/06/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for_22.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

May this service be a blessing to you.

Psychiatry Needs to Get Right with God

By not making more of an effort to incorporate spirituality in treatment, we are doing a disservice to patients

In the early days of the pandemic, economist Jeanet Bentzen of the University of Copenhagen examined Google searches for the word “prayer” in 95 countries. She identified that they hit an all-time global high in March 2020, and increases occurred in lockstep with the number of COVID-19 cases identified in each country. Stateside, according to the Pew Research Center, 55 percent of Americans prayed to end the spread of the novel coronavirus in March 2020, and nearly one quarter reported that their faith increased the following month, despite limited access to houses of worship.

These are not just interesting sociological trends—they are clinically significant. Spirituality has historically been dismissed by psychiatrists, but results from a pilot program at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts indicate that attention to it is a critical aspect of mental health care. Read More

Welcome to Multisite Church in the New Normal

Answers to Emerging Questions from Multisite Church Leaders

At the beginning of the COVID-19 era in March of 2020, local churches learned to pivot to online church and online giving, then doubled down on connecting and shepherding their flocks.

Many served their local communities in highly tangible and visible ways. Some churches leveraged the evangelistic opportunity and reached a lot of new people.

It’s nearly a year later and churches are still navigating the challenges of how to have an effective ministry strategy (digital and in-person) as we battle COVID-19.

I’ve been asked a lot about multisite over the last year. But here are some key questions that I think are important to consider as we settle into our new ministry landscape— Read More

Why We Need "Gay Christians"

For those who are wondering what is going on in the Anglican Church in North America in regards to the issue of human sexuality, here is a series of articles and press releases in order in which they were published, the most recent first. 

The recent decision by Archbishop Foley Beach and the ACNA to officially discourage (or disallow) the phrase “gay Christian” distressed me deeply. I think this should especially distress someone like me, a Global North Anglican with a traditional view of Christian marriage and sexuality, whose confirmation and formation as an Anglican came mostly through the ACNA. The idea behind the decision is, very basically, that a Christian cannot also be “gay,” because this word carries other loaded cultural and identity connotations, and “human identity lies not in sexual orientation…but in union with Christ,” and so a Christian who might otherwise identify as gay should instead call himself or herself “a Christian with same-sex attraction.” This new “Pastoral Statement” stems, in part, from the ACNA’s expressed desire to be more faithful to the gospel, to align less with prevailing Global North secular culture, and, it seems, to align more deeply with particular Global South Anglican bishops on this matter.

Though the moratorium on “gay Christian” as a description of identity may not have had a violent or obnoxious intent, its effect has been to ostracize and penalize the celibate gay Christians among them, who are, or were very recently, in their ranks as leaders and colleagues.

Besides the power dynamics at play in some of this decision’s effects, here are five reasons why, in the Global North at least, this is bunk. We need to be able to say “gay Christian.” Here’s why “Christian with same-sex attraction” won’t cut it (and yes, these reasons are “pastoral,” but not as code for “theologically wimpy”). Read More

Also See:
ACNA repudiates claims that it has changed its teachings on human sexuality
Archbishop Beach writes to the Diocese of the South about the “Dear Gay Anglicans” open letter
C4SO Pastoral Guidance on the ACNA Statement on Sexuality and Identity
Sexuality and Identity: A Pastoral Statement from the College of Bishops

How to Utilize Facebook Groups

When I was a teenager, the only Facebook groups I was a part of were some iteration of, “New phone, need contacts.” Anytime someone lost their phone, or got a new phone, they’d create a group with the intention that all of their friends would join the group and send them their phone number—and that was it. Today, Facebook groups are a completely different monster. I’m part of groups based on interests, lifestage, culture, geography, family, skills, and work.

Groups on Facebook allow people to be a part of an online community with shared interests. Groups can feel more secure and relevant to users, and are a great way for church’s to communicate with their congregation and actively engage the broader community. Read More

Sharing the Gospel in Times of Crisis

Over the past year and a half, we’ve faced a lot of challenges, and there are still many more to come. We always need to ask ourselves how we should share the gospel in times of crisis.

The Gospel Remains Our Priority

I’m an integral prioritist, and I’d like to encourage you to be one as well.

For the believer, the gospel is always a central priority. Jesus’ final instructions to the church were to go and make disciples. To frame how sharing the gospel connects with serving the hurting, I’ve begun to explain that I am an “integral prioritist”: I believe in integral mission—that this mission involves both word and deed. Put another way, I believe both caring for people and proclaiming the gospel matter. But I also know how easy it is to lose our focus on proclaiming the good news, and that loss can be magnified when crisis strikes. Hence the need for making evangelism a priority.

There is no question biblically we should be sharing Christ; the Great Commission is not the Great Suggestion. There’s also no question biblically that we should lovingly care for the needs of those in a crisis. The Great Commandment is not the Great Selection; we don’t get to pick and choose who we love and when we love. So, how do we prioritize the two? Read More

It's Monday: 5 Confessions of a Pastor about Online Church Attendance and More

Chamomile Tea

5 Confessions of a Pastor about Online Church Attendance

For over a year now, your church has been offering online services either for the first time or in a much more intentional way. Ever wonder what it’s like on the other side of the screen?

Seven Ways to Thank Donors to the Church without Knowing Their Identities
Nonprofits that aren’t churches can have a significant advantage over churches in donor development. Almost every leader of a nonprofit that isn’t a church knows precisely what everyone gives. He or she can then thank them personally and appeal to them in the future. But what do church leaders do if they do not have access to giving records?

The Narcissism of Worship My Way
We are created in God’s image, not God in ours. When we worship we must acknowledge that we aren’t starting the conversation. Instead, God began the dialogue and is inviting us to join it.

4 (Possible) Reasons for Unanswered Prayer
Need encouragement to pray? John Calvin once said that “Nothing is better adapted to excite us to prayer than a full conviction that we shall be heard.”

3 Reasons Your Group Bible Studies Should be Ongoing
There is great value in providing Bible study groups with ongoing studies. Here are just three of the better reasons for making this kind of investment in people and groups....

This Week’s Free eBook: ‘Blind Spots’
Need a good book for your summer vacation? We’ve got you covered. This summer we are giving away a free eBook every week, for 12 weeks. This week (June 21 to June 27) our book giveaway is Blind Spots Becoming a Courageous, Compassionate, and Commissioned Church by Collin Hansen.

The Power of Reviling and the Response of the Gospel
I am convinced that the single biggest thing that keeps Christians in the West from being open about their faith is the specter of being reviled. Reviling is when someone says something false and damaging against you.

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (June 20, 2021) Is Now Online

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

A question that reoccurs in one form or another in Mark’s Gospel is, “Who is Jesus?” Mark’s Gospel invites us to decide. The same question is relevant today as when Mark’s Gospel was written. We know what Jesus was to his early disciples. Who is Jesus to us?

The reading appointed for this Sunday evening’ service is Mark 4: 35-41 Jesus Stills a Storm

The homily is titled, “Who Then This Is?”

The link to this Sunday evening’s service is—

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/06/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-sunday_20.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. There may be a short pause before a song begins on a video. If the video begins playing partway, pause, move the track slider back to the beginning, and then play. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at:

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

May this service be a blessing to you.

 

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (June 19, 2021) Is Now Online

All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city.

Because we experience what we see as persecution does not mean that what we are doing is the right thing as we may be apt to mistakenly conclude. What we may be experiencing may be the consequences of doing what is actually the wrong thing. What we are experiencing is something that we may have brought upon ourselves.

It is easy to blame others for what are the consequences of our own self-deception. As the apostle Peter draws to our attention in today’s reading, it is better to suffer for doing good than it is for doing evil. We may need to check what we are doing or are thinking about doing with what our Lord himself taught and practiced.

The human heart is deceitful beyond measure. The apostle James warns us, “… one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved.” (James 1:14-16, NRSV).

The Scripture reading for this Saturday evening is 1 Peter 3: 8-22 Suffering for Doing Right.

The homily is titled “Be Eager to Do Good.”

The link to this Saturday evening’s service is—

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2021/06/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-saturday_19.html

Please feel free to share the link to the service with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears. An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

Previous services are online at

https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

May this service be a blessing to you.

What Can We Learn About Prayer From The Life Of Jesus?

The Christian life is about imitation. We imitate godly examples—whether contemporary or from church history, and we ourselves strive to be examples whom others can imitate. However, even as we look to examples and seek to be examples, we must remember that ultimately the one we are imitating is Christ. That is why Paul declared, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). This is true of all areas of our lives, including our prayer lives. As we seek to grow in this discipline, we would be unwise not to learn from Jesus’ prayer life, which we can observe from his earthly life.

In this article, I’d like to present a few principles from the prayer life of Jesus to motivate us to pray with purpose and consistency. Read More

J. I. Packer’s Final Book

J. I. Packer, who went to be with his Triune covenant Lord on July 21, 2020, was never able to see this final book in print. But The Heritage of Anglican Theology was near and dear to his heart, the one book he wanted to give his last years to. At one point along the way, when his macular degeneration had advanced to such a degree that he could no longer read the written page, his wife read the edited manuscript aloud to him and he verbally offered his corrections.

The original idea to do this book was made by Professor Don Lewis, a church historian, faculty colleague, and fellow church member with Packer. Lewis explains in the introduction how the book came about and the process that was used to turn Packer’s classroom teaching on Anglicanism into a book. Read More

Image Credit: The Gospel Coalition

Saturday Lagniappe: Juneteenth and the Great Commission and More

Juneteenth and the Great Commission
By now, many of us have heard of the holiday Juneteenth, though many Christians still don’t celebrate the day or recognize the fruitful mission work birthed out of the freedom of African American slaves. Though the liberation of the enslaved people is the only reason we need to celebrate Juneteenth, there is much to commemorate. I propose that we should also commemorate this day to recognize the missional fervor displayed by freed African Americans and the way they stewarded their freedom to continue a Christian legacy of fulfilling the Church’s mission.

Think Again: Why Religion Is Good for Us
To some people right now every idea, news story, piece of information they receive is only meant to fit into the narrative they have decided is true already, and that’s that. There is no convincing them otherwise. It’s a scary place to be, to be honest. Jesus warned against people who aren’t so much deceived by others, though of course that is a part of this kind of person’s situation as well most times, but those who are self-deceived. And therein lies part of the problem: we don’t know what we don’t know.

Daring to Think About Church Growth
Episcopal churches can grow, particularly new congregations planted in a community that is experiencing significant population growth and which has a diverse population. They will grow with the area's population. This is not the only factor that will contribute to their growth but it is an important one. (Note: A number of key factors that affect the growth of Episcopal congregations also affect the growth of Continuing Anglican and ACNA congregations.)

9 Things Pastors Need To Know About Sermon Delivery
Effective preaching is more than just about what you say. It’s also about how you say it. Too many sermons fail not because of bad content, but because of bad delivery. No matter how experienced you are, you should never stop learning. You should always be a student of sermon delivery because there is always room to improve. So here are nine tips from my book Preach and Deliver, that every pastor needs to know.

A Radical Goal for Social Media
In his new book, Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It, Douglas S. Bursch—pastor, former radio talk-show host, and newspaper columnist—explores how faith in Christ and trust in his call for us as peacemakers should reshape how we use social media.

The FAQs: Supreme Court Ruling Protects Faith-Affirming Foster Care
On Thursday, June 17, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Sharonell Fulton, et al. v. City of Philadelphia, an important religious-liberty case involving faith-based foster care and adoption providers. The unanimous decision of the Court is that Philadelphia violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by refusing to contract with Catholic Social Services (CSS) for foster care unless it agreed to certify same-sex couples as foster parents.

9 Reasons People Aren’t Singing in Worship

Worship leaders around the world are sadly changing their church’s worship (often unintentionally) into a spectator event, and people aren’t singing anymore.

Before discussing our present situation, let’s look back into history. Prior to the Reformation, worship was largely done for the people. The music was performed by professional musicians and sung in an unfamiliar language (Latin). The Reformation gave worship back to the people, including congregational singing which employed simple, attainable tunes with solid, scriptural lyrics in the language of the people. Worship once again became participatory. The evolution of the printed hymnal brought with it an explosion of congregational singing and the church’s love for singing increased. With the advent of new video technologies, churches began to project the lyrics of their songs on a screen, and the number of songs at a church’s disposal increased exponentially. [1] At first, this advance in technology led to more powerful congregational singing, but soon, a shift in worship leadership began to move the congregation back to pre-Reformation pew potatoes (spectators). What has occurred could be summed up as the re-professionalization of church music and the loss of a key goal of worship leading – enabling the people to sing their praises to God. Simply put, we are breeding a culture of spectators in our churches, changing what should be a participative worship environment to a concert event. Worship is moving to its pre-Reformation mess. Read More

The Mission of the Church: Who Decides?

Over the years I have observed many conversations about the Church’s mission. Recently it was common for parishes to write mission statements, most of which seemed fairly innocuous. (We are a welcoming, affirming, worship-centered congregation valuing justice and fellowship as we seek to be faithful followers of a living and loving God. That sort of thing.)

Once, when my diocese elected a new bishop, there was much conversation about what his vision would be for our mission. I was puzzled, because I thought we already had a mission, and I did not think it came from the bishop any more than the mission of a parish was defined by its vestry or congregation.

My thinking is this. The Church was called into being by God — not by the disciples — and we who join the Church join an established community which is not of our own making and, therefore, not subject to our own revision. Read More

3 Toolkits to Help You Talk with Vaccine-Hesitant People in Your Church and Community

Sixty percent of Americans are still not vaccinated. Here are some tools for communicating about it.

With 39.8% of Americans having been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to date, we’ve made unprecedented progress toward fighting the virus that’s attacked our planet. But what about that remaining 60% of Americans who’ve not yet been vaccinated?

Certainly there are contraindications for individuals with designated health complications, and these individuals are wisely declining the vaccine. Many Americans face challenges with transportation and other access issues. And many communities are organizing to help these individuals. But there’s another reason contributing to that 60% that’s more troubling.

Research shows that 1 in 4 Americans would refuse a vaccine if given the opportunity to receive it. These aren’t individuals who shouldn’t receive the vaccine or are having difficulty accessing healthcare. They are those who are hesitant to get the vaccine for ideological reasons, and many of them are Christians. In a moment when doctors and researchers are concerned that our nation won’t reach herd immunity, pastors and church leaders have a unique opportunity to move the needle on protecting the vulnerable by addressing those who are hesitant or resistant to receiving the vaccine.

Here’s three free online toolkits full of helpful practical knowledge, resources, and tips you need for talking with others hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine in a loving, respectful, and caring way. Read More

If 60% of Americans have not been vaccinated, it means that six out of every ten people in the United States is unvaccinated. Multiply that by 10, it is 60 out of every 100 people, and so on. That is plenty of people for the more infectious and more dangerous Delta variant replicate itself in. Now some folks are sitting around, hoping infection rates will stay low and they will not have to get vaccinated. But infection rates are beginning inch up again in some states. As the Delta variant spreads in the unvaccinated population, we may begin to see in the United States what is happening in the United Kingdom. There is growing documentation that people who become infected with the COVID-10 coronavirus are more susceptible to a variety of other diseases. The virus permanently damages their health.