Wednesday's Catch: 'How Your Church Can Help the Overlooked Children Affected by Abuse and Neglect' And More

How Your Church Can Help the Overlooked Children Affected by Abuse and Neglect

Foster children are one of our nation’s most overlooked and underserved groups. Most communities struggle to find placements for these children. Local churches in the United States have more than enough homes to solve the problem, but few Christian families are pursuing fostering. What happens when people in your congregation start fostering children?

Without women, no shift of Christianity's center to Global South
Women make up the majority of the Christian church in every country of the world. Without women, there would have been no shift of Christianity’s center of gravity to the Global South. Without women, there would not have been such explosive growth in the Chinese house church movement.

7 Ways We Make People Feel Unwelcome At Our Church
From very personal experience Ron Edmondson identifies a number of ways that churches make people feel unwelcome.

Recognizing When the Mission Field Becomes a Mission Partner
It’s time for many majority culture churches to enter new ministry relationships with Hispanic churches—from mission field to mission partner.

The legacy of a decade of Pope Francis
Francis has opened windows that are difficult to close.

Sunday Liturgy without a Priest: Part Two (Morning Prayer and Antecommunion)
As increasing numbers of parishes are left without the services of a priest, decisions about how to celebrate the liturgy on Sundays loom ahead. Part one of this series considered and found wanting the idea of Communion by Extension. In this installment, I consider two far more viable options.

A fourth option which I do not expect Keane to consider in this series of articles is licensing deacons and lay readers to administer the sacrament of Holy Communion, not just to distribute the consecrated elements but to consecrate them. One does not need a Masters of Divinity to offer a heartfelt prayer of thanksgiving over bread and wine. The governing documents of the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (REACH South Africa, formerly the Church of England in South Africa), permit the authorization of deacons and lay readers to consecrate the elements under special circumstances. The governing documents of the Reformed Episcopal Church at one time authorized missionary bishops to do the same in missionary districts. During the COVID-19 lockdown the archbishop of the Diocese of Sydney authorized diaconal and lay administration of the sacrament. The Evangelical Lutheran Church at one time had a provision in its governing documents that permitted the authorization of deacons to consecrate and distribute the elements in the absence of a pastor. The ELC would but discontinued the practice as a result of an intercommunion agreement with the Episcopal Church. The governing documents of the Methodist Church in Britain authorize the licensing of licensed local pastors/preachers to consecrate and then distribute the elements as do those of the United Methodist Church.

The Bible is Clear to Those Who Obey: The Clarity of Scripture Part 4
Certainly, there are intellectual challenges to interpretation because of our human limitations, and the clarity of Scripture needs to account for those. Still, God has spoken clearly in his Word, and we know that because we know that God is good. So why does Scripture still seem obscure to so many?

Why Youth Ministry Is Important
Here are three factors that make underscore that youth ministry is important for the future of the church....

Put Down the Fear-Filled Play Book
If it’s Monday, I must have an email from the Institute on Religion and Democracy bemoaning the conduct of United Methodist bishops. Indeed, I woke up this past Monday to see a lengthy lament, this time written by John Lomperis, complaining about episcopal leadership. Again.

Dissafiliating from a denomination and joining a breakaway group may not be the best response to the challenges that Christians face in that particular denomination. It can leave the denomination without a Biblically orthodox witness at a time whne it needs one. Break away groups have their own problems. What looks like lush green grass from a distance may prove to be an illusion.