The Loneliness of the Cities

Toward the end of the eighteenth century, St. Kosmas Aitolos foretold that a time would come when a person would have to travel for days to meet another person whom he could embrace as a brother. We are living in an age where this is already happening. Contemporary man, in his loneliness, experiences pathological anxiety, anguish and suffering. He is tormented and, in turn, torments others.

What’s your church like?

Our parish was founded about eleven years ago by a priest and a three families from California. We had inquirers’ meetings in homes for a few months, then set up a chapel and began having daily services.

Video: Mission in Sierra Leone

Documentary on Fr. Themi, a Greek Orthodox priest currently working as a missionary in Sierra Leone.
Part 1

Part 2

More information at paradisekids4africa.org.au

Missional Church Made Simple

A 2-minute video that explains, in simple terms, what we’re talking about when we say “missional” church.
 
 
 

God and Guinness

The company’s 250-year legacy of God-inspired good provides myriad lessons for today. Among them: A benevolent corporate vision is good for business, for its employees and for the world. Interwoven throughout these 2 and a half centuries of brewing success is a legacy of benevolence that we ought to know and that is perhaps an antidote to one of the great crises of our age.

The Enlightenment and Evangelicals

One of the common complaints against traditional evangelicalism is that it has been held captive by a distinctly Western approach to rationality. The central target of this complaint is the “Enlightenment,” with its emphasis on reason to the detriment of revelation.

Don’t go to church

Several weeks ago I sat in a room full of pastors from downtown churches in a forum called by the Raleigh Police Department. Ostensibly, it was to talk about how faith communities can properly secure their premises. The gist of the presentation was about church security – having your facilities well lit, etc. And then, they started talking about the homeless…

The commoditization of spiritual content

One reason why people leave the church without leaving their faith is they believe what the local church offers them isn’t significantly different from what they could get with Itunes and youtube. The currency of the church must shift down the spectrum from knowledge to love.

My church or The Church?

Ray Ortlund at Christ is Deeper Still writes:
“My passion isn’t to build up my church. My passion is for God’s Kingdom.”
Ever heard someone say that? I have. It sounds large-hearted, but it’s wrong. It can even be destructive.
Suppose I said, “My passion isn’t to build up my marriage. My passion is [...]

On “the communion of saints”

“All the company of heaven” means everybody we ever loved and lost, including the ones we didn’t know we loved until we lost them or didn’t love at all. It means people we never heard of. It means everybody who ever did – or at some unimaginable time in the future ever will – come together at something like this table in search of something like what is offered at it…

Rob Bell and Don Golden on eucharist and the new humanity

A church is not a center for religious goods and services, where people pay a fee and receive a product in return. A church is not an organization that surveys its demographic to find out what the market is demanding at this particular moment and then adjusts its strategy to meet that consumer niche. The way of Jesus is the path of descent.

Walla Walla coffee shop connects people, faith

The Walla Walla Roastery serves more than a good cup of coffee. An icon of the Virgin Mary hanging on the wall in the kitchen reminds the brother and sister who own the coffee shop that their role in life is to serve people. Co-owners Thomas Reese and Mary Senter invite conversations with and among staff and customers, foster interest in coffee growers and their countries, and help coffee drinkers raise funds for nonprofits. Integrating their family legacy of service and their Orthodox faith, these siblings’ influence extends beyond the doors of their business.

Plundering Grace

…And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12)