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Tag Archives: Church
Three “Working” Suggestions for Churches
Today’s post by Seth Hedman over at First Things is an interesting take on post-pandemic church culture (which also puts it in line with this piece by Ephraim Radner from the spring of 2020). In the post, Hedman challenges churches … Continue reading
Pandemic Permanence
Today Rod Dreher spent some time reflecting on this piece from the Baptist Press concerning the long-term effects of Covid for churches. The church that gets most of the mentions in the piece is a relatively short drive (in TN … Continue reading
Pastors and Lonely People
It is interesting to me that Andrew Root gives his better definition of the office of pastor in a chapter titled “All the Lonely People.” Search the terms pastor and lonely online and you’ll find at least one article a … Continue reading
Missing the Mechanism for Persons?
As he does in some other books, Andrew Root attempts to give some historical context to what being a pastor has looked like throughout history. This is also true for The Relational Pastor. Early in the book, Root traces the … Continue reading
The Personal and the Individual
Last week I started looking at some of the concepts articulated by professor Andrew Root in The Relational Pastor. I’d like to continue to unpack some of his thinking this week, particularly as it relates to the shared life of … Continue reading
Tolkien on Sermons
From the late-April 1994 from JRR Tolkien to his son Christopher concerning sermons: But as for sermons! They are bad, aren’t they! Most of them from any point of view. The answer to the mystery is prob. not simple; but … Continue reading
Losing by Winning
While I don’t leap or land in all the same places with Andrew Root, there are a number of things he writes about in The Relational Pastor that confirms some of my own experience and emboldens me with some hope … Continue reading
A Way Back In (When You’re Not Outside)
In yesterday’s post, I pivoted from Yuval Levin’s discussion of institutional renewal to a question about renewal in the church. Levin spends a good bit of time talking about outsiders and insiders and how we need to see ourselves as … Continue reading
On Preaching
I’ll be preaching at church this Sunday, my second time since our pastor resigned a few months ago. It’s always tricky for me to speak in front of a congregation, partially because I spend so much time in front of … Continue reading
Collective Versus Community
I’m slowly but surely trying to write myself into a place where I’ve articulated something wonderfully, frustratingly inductive about church and community. About a week ago I posted some quick thoughts around C. S. Lewis’s consideration of the church in … Continue reading
Space Enough, and Time 