Friday, March 24, 2023

Friday's Catch: 'The Southern Baptist Convention’s coming ‘Great Ejection’' And More


Will this summer’s SBC annual meeting make Christian history?

The Least of These: A Guide to Practicing a Faith Without Margins
Angie Ward suggests four key practices, based on biblical principles, that can help us better show God’s love to “the least of these.” Following each practice, she provides questions to move you and your church toward concrete action in that area. 

How Christians grieve the Holy Spirit and mess up everything
Dan Delzell takes a look at the different ways that we can grieve the Holy Spirit. Wrath Is Not an Attribute of God
To say love and anger can coexist doesn’t go far enough. Anger arises because of love.

How to Detect Deception
Whether dealing with ancient texts or contemporary speech, when it comes to detecting lies, "the devil is in the details."

Small Group Structure: 3 Effective Ways to Organize for Youth Ministry
No matter your small group structure, these meetings are an important part of effective student ministry. Small groups move students past just showing up at youth group every week and listening to you teach. They move teens to a place where they can better develop community with their peers (and an adult leader or two) as well going deeper into God’s Word.

Report: LGBTQ Americans tend to be younger and have no religion
The new report from PRRI also found that many religious Americans support LGBTQ nondiscrimination rights, even those who oppose same sex-marriage.

Branding Jesus
Church attendance is in decline. This has given birth to many articles and think pieces exploring why churches are shrinking, and has prompted many churches to increase their efforts at evangelism. While spreading the good news is obviously more than this, it is definitely marketing. Church leaders and those concerned about keeping churches alive seek to promote the Jesus “brand” in ways that are relevant and compelling to modern audiences.

The Many Meanings of Connectionalism
If churches leave The United Methodist Church, are they still "in connection"?

These are the schools the Global Methodist Church recommends for hopeful clergy
The fledgling Methodist denomination, which broke away from the United Methodist Church last year amid ongoing debate over the role of LGBTQ Christians, has announced a list of recommended educational institutions for candidates seeking ordination as a deacon or elder.

Michigan's largest United Methodist congregation votes to leave denomination
The largest United Methodist Church congregation in Michigan has voted to leave the mainline Protestant denomination over the ongoing debate over homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Cornerstone Church of Caledonia, which has satellite campuses in Grand Rapids and the city of Wyoming, voted on Sunday to disaffiliate from the UMC and become a nondenominational congregation. The final tally was 616 in favor, nine against and two abstentions.

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