Blog Archives

Grandma’s never coming back

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Carra Hughes Greer — No Comments ↓

Each time I returned to my grandparents’ home, I felt like I needed an arsenal of anxiety medications to get me through the feelings of emptiness, sadness and yearning for what used to be. My grandmother’s home was exactly as…

Church planting: time for new terminology?

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Ircel Harrison — 1 Comment ↓

Susan Rogers serves as church planter and pastor of The Well at Springfield in Jacksonville, Florida. The Well at Springfield is self-described as “a community of faith seeking to practice the way of Jesus together by loving God, our neighbor,…

Tagged with: churches, missional, Missional churches, Susan Rogers
Posted in Church Starts

Am I Emergent-Baptist?

Posted on January 21, 2013 by John Carter — 4 Comments ↓

I minister on the periphery of Baptist life, trying to start a progressive Baptist church in the heart of the old empire. I’m old enough to remember well the Baptist wars of decades ago, and yet new enough to ministry…

Tagged with: Baptist, Emergence Christianity, Phyllis Tickle, progressive
Posted in Church Starts, Missiology, Religion, Theology

CBF and the emergence Christianity movement

Posted on January 18, 2013 by David Burroughs — 1 Comment ↓

Last week I attended the Emergence Christianity event in Memphis featuring Phyllis Tickle, Brian McLaren, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and others. The emergent crowd is an interesting group, with lots of diversity: age, denomination, and plenty of piercings and tattoos if not…

Humility: A key to postmodern faith?

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Kate Hanch — No Comments ↓

I never expected to land on humility as an emphasis of study in postgraduate work, but it makes sense. Ever since God called me to vocational ministry, I’ve been interested in the intersection of faith, academics and postmodern culture. Reflecting…

Tagged with: Bible, disagreement, faith, Humility, postmodern, theology
Posted in Church Starts, Leadership, Ministry, Missiology

What do you get when you focus on conflict? More conflict!

Posted on November 19, 2012 by George Bullard — No Comments ↓

I’m sure you have probably heard the old adage that says Baptists are like alley cats. You know what you get when cats fight an alley on Saturday night? More cats. Conflict is similar to this because the more you…

Are there good reasons to start new congregations?

Posted on August 8, 2012 by George Bullard — No Comments ↓

A quarter of a century ago I moved to South Carolina in response to the call of the largest Baptist body in that state. Baptists of various tribes in South Carolina lacked a commitment to starting new congregations. I was…

Sometimes, churches need to ‘die’

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Alan Rudnick — 2 Comments ↓

A 100 year-old plus-mainline-congregation closes its doors. The church dies. What’s left? An empty shell of a building and a disbanded group of church members. Many have predicted the death of mainline churches for the last 20 years. People have…

Posted in Church Starts, Leadership, Ministry

Just showing up

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Susan Rogers — No Comments ↓

I am more convinced than ever that showing up is one of the most important things we can do. As a minister serving a new faith community, I have been faced with many opportunities to be present for a variety…

Tagged with: Missional churches, transformation
Posted in Church Starts, Faithful Living, Leadership, Ministry