Listening to the Faith of Millennials - The Banner

The importance of living out an authentic faith, one that is rich and full and not tarnished by false claims and advertising slogans, was a theme that the young people spoke about during the discussion held at the Grand Rapids, Mich., office of the CRC.

Sponsored by the Great Lakes Coaching Group of Christian Reformed Home Missions, the panel was held to get a sense of how young people view the church and how the church might be able to serve their needs, said Stanley Koster, coordinator of the coaching group.

Conducted by the Barna Group and the Cornerstone Knowledge Network, the study found that millennials are highly skeptical of the traditional church and yet are hungry for transcendence.

In addition, according to the study, this group looks for people who live out, instead of simply speak about, their Christianity. In addition, they don’t see church buildings, especially soaring cathedrals, as being central to their faith.

When they do think about church structures, says the study, they like ones that are simple, honor nature, and offer space for reflection and prayer.

The importance of living out an authentic faith, one that is rich and full and not tarnished by false claims and advertising slogans, was a theme that the young people spoke about during the discussion held at the Grand Rapids, Mich., office of the CRC.

The full article is available here

What I Would Change About Our Immigration Conversation - CRC Network

So much of the conversation about immigration during this election season has not been based on facts or on the biblical value of philoxenia.

There has been much talk about immigrants—and not enough listening to immigrants themselves.

How does the immigration conversation need to change?

Four immigrants will speak up from their experience this month on Do Justice. Sign up to receive the posts in your inbox here.

Let’s change the conversation about immigrants. #BlessingNotBurden

Check out the posts that have gone up so far:

Diversity is Our Greatest Strength: Sarahi

Immigrants come with Skills, Drives, and Passion: Berniz

Original Goodness - Richard Rohr

Original Sin Biblically Refuted - from Dividing The Word

A Fork in the Road: Civil Religion or Christianity? Nate Pyle

Civil religion offers a seductive religious counterfeit to Christianity.

I believe we are coming to a fork in the road where the Civil Religion of America will distinguish itself from biblical Christianity. In one direction it will be Country and god; in the other Jesus and Church.

With the Constitution as the sacred text, the founding fathers its saints, and common sense individualism its sanctified goal for humanity, our civil religion offers a seductive religious counterfeit to Christianity. When it comes to American politics, one needs an immense amount of discernment to distinguish between religious sounding talk and actual Christian talk.

This is why Jerry Falwell Jr, in December 2015, saying, “If more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in and killed them," is so concerning.

Notice, his statement talks of preemptive violence that “ends those Muslims before they walked in.” Let’s be clear, this is not the way of Jesus. In the Kingdom of God, violence does not defeat violence. The cross of Jesus unmasks the false power of violence to bring about peace by defeating evil in a show of weakness. We may be allured by the promises of power; hopeful in the force of military general. But do not be mistaken, this is not Christianity.

If it was just one instance where one person said one wacky thing, then okay. But Falwell’s statement was met with cheers!

Not only that, but we have Donald Trump, who says his favorite book is the Bible, saying we should discriminate against Muslims, keep them out of the country whose First Amendment is the freedom of religion, and give them special I.D.’s. It’d be nice to chalk those comments up to a xenophobic outlier, but it’s hard to make the case that he’s an outlier when he is the GOP's presidential candidate. Thousands upon thousands of people support him, meaning they believe Trump is speaking for them. He is saying what they believe. That should frighten the hell out of us!

But again, we don’t just have the glorification of guns, and we don’t just have a crotchety old man spouting off hatred for a major religion. We also have the active demonization of a people who are fleeing terrorism. Governors across the nation have worked to block refugees from coming to their states out of fear. As Christians called to help the widow and orphan, to welcome the stranger, and to love our neighbor as ourself, blocking refugees in the name of security isn’t a cut and dry answer. We cannot simply abandon these clear teachings of Jesus because we are scared.

Civil religion is not interested in the stranger. It is not interested in love of neighbor. Civil religion is interested only in love of country; which, as a utilitarian faith, must serve the individual. Christianity seeks to love the world, and in doing so, point to the one who so loved the world that he gave his only Son.

I do not want to stand idly by as the lines between civil religion and Christianity are blurred. I believe we are in a moment where Christians have to stand and proclaim with whole-hearted conviction that Jesus is Lord. Not Caesar.

The full article is available here

Responsive Call To Worship: Lives Of Service (based on 2 Corinthians 5:20)

based on Worship Connection
by Nancy C Townley

Reader: God, guide our lives in service to your world.
All: Make us ambassadors of hope and promise.

Reader: God, open our eyes.
All: Help us to see your world as you see it.

Reader: Open our hearts and our spirits to follow your path.
All: Help us to be people who bring good news to those bound by the chains of injustice.

Reader: Come, let us worship God, who sets things right; who makes all things new.
All: Let us praise God with joyful hearts.

Christians Need To Be Honest About Bible's Contradictions - Chuck Queen in Patheos

We must always give first priority and more authority to those texts that teach us about Jesus and what Jesus taught, believed, and did, than other scriptures.

Christian leaders and churches need to admit that we have done a poor job in teaching parishioners how to read biblical texts critically. Perhaps Christians wouldn’t believe and do such silly things if they had been taught to read the Bible critically before trying to appropriate it spiritually.

The only constructive way forward is to be honest with the text and admit that the Bible gives different portrayals and images of God that cannot simply be ignored or rationalized away. When you get right down to it, no Christian, even the most conservative Christian, believes the Bible equally. Some parts of the Bible are focused on, and other parts of the Bible are ignored or dismissed in some way.

However, we must always give preference to the Gospels – to the stories about Jesus and the stories Jesus told. We must always give first priority and more authority to those texts that teach us about Jesus and what Jesus taught, believed, and did, than other scriptures.

Of course we also have to read the Gospel texts critically as well. That means acknowledging that the Gospel writers sometimes embellished and altered the stories that were passed down to them. And undoubtedly the oral stories were altered and changed as they were passed along decades before they were ever written down, collected, and utilized as a source for the composition of our canonical Gospels.

Reading the Bible honestly and critically helps us to realize that the Bible didn’t float down from heaven on the wings of angels. The Bible came to us through a very human and fallible process. It also provides some boundaries and parameters for making spiritual application of these texts to our lives and faith communities.

The full article is available here

Stages of Faith - Dr James Fowler

"Although the growing understanding of God can be traced through the Bible, some remain fixated on certain aspects of God. This is because they never progress beyond certain stages."

- Dr James Fowler, Stages of Faith Development