When one makes this discussion out to be a justice issue, they misunderstand and wrongly accuse the other side of something for which they are not guilty. I know many women within Churches of Christ who would not stand in the pulpit and deliver a sermon next Sunday if the elders and their congregation permitted them to do so. Why? It is because they believe the Bible forbids them to do so. They believe God has blessed them and given them marvelous things to do within the body of Christ, but preaching is not one of them. You might disagree with the position these women hold, but they are faithfully dedicated to following God in all that they do, and it is wrong to say they are guilty of an injustice.
How Not to be a Sectarian: Ten (Not So) Easy Practices
- Apologize any time you have the opportunity.
- Admit past wrongs, even if you’ve already made them right.
- Read a book. Better, read three.
- Read authors who transcend partisan categorization.
- Make a game of arguing a position with which you fundamentally disagree.
- Make friends of people who are not like you.
- Practice saying: “Hmm. You know, I see it differently.”
- Practice saying: “Hmm. Tell me more about that.” Then say nothing else, unless the person asks you what you think.
- Realize that we all use language and social practices and intellectual constructs a-critically.
- Celebrate the too rare instances of non-partisan partisans.
When the Church Splits: Hope After the Loss
But mostly, I’ve learned I can trust God through anything. There’s nothing so broken that he can’t restore it. Not even my own heart, which is prone to anxiety, distrust, and bitterness. He alone can restore our hearts to faith and joy as we glorify him together, one little congregation in his worldwide church.
Three Types of Evangelistic Contexts: Contact, Context, and Friendship
These three types of contexts for evangelism are easily accessible, and incredibly fun. I say fun because few things are more enjoyable than being in partnership with the God of the universe and sensing in your life that he is loving others to himself through you!
8 Ways to Welcome People with Disabilities into Your Church
- Get to Know Them
- Be Creative
- Earn Parents’ Trust
- Offer Inclusive Youth Events
- Teach Your Children to Befriend Kids That Are Different from Them
- Provide Meals
- Look for Ways to Allow People with Disabilities to Serve
- Talk to people with disabilities
Why Are Church Leaders Always Talking About Change?
- No One Needs Help to Stay the Same
- I’m Not Perfect Yet – And Neither Is the Church
- Learning Requires Changing
- The Gospel Is About Change
- Not Changing Is Not Healthy
- Jesus Never Changes, But I’m Not Him
- If I’m Asking Others to Change, I Need to Model It
You are documenting hope for future generations when you write down your Jesus thoughts and life experiences and scriptures that are dear to your heart. I have already had one of our boys ask about wanting to have his grandmother’s bible someday. I pray that there will be a day that our children will treasure the bible I read from because it will have drawings and words written down that meant something to me and that helped me live the life God called me to.
Has dopamine got us hooked on tech?
In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that the social network was founded not to unite us, but to distract us. “The thought process was: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’” he said at an event in Philadelphia in November. To achieve this goal, Facebook’s architects exploited a “vulnerability in human psychology”, explained Parker, who resigned from the company in 2005. Whenever someone likes or comments on a post or photograph, he said, “we… give you a little dopamine hit”. Facebook is an empire of empires, then, built upon a molecule.
The Story Behind Billy Graham’s Prison-Built Casket
Richard Liggett, a convicted murderer, led a team of prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary that built caskets for both Graham and his wife, Ruth, who died in June 2007 at age 87.
Liggett meticulously built coffins for many fellow prisoners before dying of cancer in March 2007, nearly 31 years into his sentence. Liggett would tell then-Warden Burl Cain that of everything that ever happened in his life, the most profound thing was to build the coffins for Billy and Ruth Graham. Franklin Graham purchased the coffins after seeing them during a visit to the prison in 2005.
The plain wood coffins are made of plywood and were lined with mattress pads made from Walmart comforters covered by fabric. They are adorned with brass handles and a cross on top and are said to cost $215. According to the former warden of Angola, the Graham family also asked that all of the inmates who worked on the coffins’ construction have their names burned into the wood.
Lost Art Of Bending Over: How Other Cultures Spare Their Spines
I first noticed this mysterious bending style in 2014 while covering the Ebola outbreak. We were driving on a back road in the rain forest of Liberia and every now and then, we would pass women working in their gardens. The women had striking silhouettes: They were bent over with their backs nearly straight. But they weren’t squatting with a vertical back. Instead, their backs were parallel to the ground. They looked like tables.
After returning home, I started seeing this “table” bending in photos all around the world — an older woman planting rice in Madagascar, a Mayan woman bending over at a market in Guatemala and women farming grass in northern India. This bending seemed to be common in many places, except in Western societies.