Summertime and the linkin' is easy…
- The major story this week was that the Church of England voted to end centuries of discrimination and will now consecrate women as bishops.
- Beyond the Titus and Timothy texts, there are other qualities that make for a great elder.
- Story of the Week: She spent her whole life within a few yards of her parents, growing up aboard a YWAM ship. And then she left for college.
- Over the years, many articles have been written on how to be the Christian wife of an unbelieving husband; but I've never seen it done as a catechism.
- As you leave to "do church" each week, your residential neighbors probably stay home. That's the subject of both a music album and a series of documentary videos. Check out The Desert Blooms Project.
- Churches and pastors wanting to share compassion in the middle of the border crisis have been told they aren't welcome. (More at this story, also.)
- Analogy Avenue: Do we want to attract spiritual seekers, or are we looking for people to join the family? Lessons from the discomfort zone. (Complete with belly dancing!)
- Pew Research has been busy documenting the destruction of church property and facilities by governments. Worst offenders: Russia, China, and Tajikistan.
- A story in pictures: Faith Chapel Christian Center in Birmingham, AL opened the door to a multi-purpose center. The Bridge has everything you want in a community recreation facility, with programming to match.
- Essay of the Week: The two types of people you meet when it's time for worship.
- What's in a name? This essay examines the various manifestations of what we generally term Reformed or Calvinist theology.
- The December movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings (aka the Christian Bale Moses movie) has a short trailer posted online.
- You already knew this, but to repeat, crafting a sermon and drafting a book are quite different.
- Essay of the Week: For gospel-centered preachers, it's not necessary to go on a Where's Waldo? quest to force Jesus to turn up in every text.
- Is social justice truly mandated for the Christ follower, or does it take place organically?
- Baptist ethicists counter the idea that a sexual revolution is taking place among Christian youth …
- … In another Russell Moore-related link, what do you do when a man in your church has confessed his adultery to God, but never told his wife? (7-minute podcast.)
- Defining "pastor" and knowing what a church should expect from the pulpit and what the pulpit should expect from the church.
- Not surprisingly, the Wild Goose Festival 2014 had its detractors.
- Wow! People are really sensitive when you take their religious symbols and use them to sell blankets.
- A former Jehovah's Witness returns to the denom's HQ for a tour of the Watchtower Building in New York.
- The question everyone in ministry is asking this week: Does your church look like a beauty salon?
- From the UK, a metric look at church metrics. (The trick is transitioning between sizes.) …
- … while in the States, a look at how small(er) church pastors live in the tension between ministry and management.
- Jonathan Merritt accurately notes some of the tension points in Christian publishing over responding to the gay issue.
- Get Religion looks at the death, by his own hand, of a Dallas pastor, and also at the manner in which it was reported locally.
- After they fill in a welcome card, how does your church follow up with visitors?
- This week the Church of England also voted to relax the requirements for clergy dress.
- Here's a future book topic, Sandra Stanley on a parenting methodology she calls constant conversations. (Part one of a multi-part series.)
- If your family has trouble choosing among several mealtime prayers you use, now you can always roll the die.
- Short but profound: Many of our miscommunications lie in the ambiguity when words have two meanings …
- … and more on the undermining of the meaning of "friend." (No, it's not about Facebook.)
- So if we can extrapolate from this story, it's not the 98% of clergy that are the problem, it's the 2% that make headlines.
- Sometimes a disclaimer needed: In a Sunday sermon at North Point, a recreation facility was recommended. Players compete with micro-chipped golf balls, but checking the website, alcohol is a big part of the party packages.
- Binding Satan: Do not attempt this at home.
- Okay. I don't have a specific link, but there sure was a lot of buzz online about this book.
- Sermon of the Week: This one has Babel, Pentecost, European travel and several funny moments.
- I have no comment: The Jesus Scarecrow.
- The Pope continues to meet with American televangelists, but everyone was talking about the photo-story where James Robison gets a papal high five …
- … Finally, you can now own the same red socks the Pope wears. (They ship from Paris. How do I know this?)
While not curating the internet, Paul Wilkinson blogs at Thinking Out Loud and C201.
Posted July 16, 2014
