Every Sunday, we’ll be posting articles and links that are saying something important about church, culture, and mission. Here’s what resonated with us this week on the web:
Church & Theology
Krish Kandiah writes at Christian Today about 5 world changing ideas for the church from around the globe:
When 1,200 Christian leaders from 158 countries gather in an isolated resort in Mexico for a week, the whole event becomes a massive discussion about mission in the 21st century. It's an exciting experience. There were opportunities for conversation everywhere – queuing up for breakfast could mean meeting a Ghanaian entrepreneur with a vision to transform his nation's recreation industry.
The FactTank Blog at Pew releases a graph showing the racial diversity of major religious groups:
The nation’s population is growing more racially and ethnically diverse – and so are many of its religious groups, both at the congregational level and among broader Christian traditions. But a new analysis of data from the 2014 Religious Landscape Study also finds that these levels of diversity vary widely within U.S. religious groups.
The V3 Movement blog introduces us to Praxis presenter Tim Soerens:
One such presenter is Tim Soerens, with whom you’ll get to spend time at Praxis Gathering 2015. Tim is a co-founding director of the Parish Collective, “a growing collective of churches, missional communities, and faith-based groups which are rooted in neighborhoods and linked across cities for Parish renewal” (Facebook). He offers his extensive experience in bringing together ministry leaders to address missional collaboration at the grassroots, neighborhood level.
News & Views
Pastor Daniel Hill writes a post called, simply, "dear white people":
If we see a white person who is the victim of senseless violence, we feel compassion for them (as we should). But we don’t see the recipient of that violence as an emblem of a system that targets white people because of the color of our skins – that thought would never even cross our mind.
Karen Swallow Prior writes at The Washington Post about the correlations between the Planned Parenthood and Cecil the lion stories:
While elective abortion and trophy hunting are different issues surrounded by different ethical and political questions, both news stories offer — regardless of one’s views on either issue — an opportunity to consider the moral responsibility that comes with knowledge — and the moral responsibility that comes with willful ignorance.
Nate Pyle writes about the shift in social media towards the social pressure of outrage:
The social pressure to make a statement, decision, or stand is a form of mob coercion. I believe that under such pressure, people react instead of reflect. Reactions are rarely well developed, or well delivered for that matter, and tend to be shallow. Nuance is replaced with cliche. Talking points trump dialogue. As the volume rises in the back and forth of talking points, social pressure continues to boil. The consequence is not a more informed populace, but a public square filled with people who haven’t adequately thought through an issue, are more deeply entrenched in their ideology, and when called upon to talk about an issue have only buzzwords, platitudes, and shibboleth.
Favorite Podcasts
Austin Channing on the Newsworth With Norsworthy podcast.
Justin Morgan on the Sermonsmith podcast.
Jennie Allen on the Seminary Dropout podcast.
On The Missio Blog
Beyond Black And White: Dr. John Perkins, The Ecclesia, And Reconciliation, by Ruthie Johnson
What If Christians Stopped Using Scripture To Advise Everyone And Learned From Jesus Instead?, by Fred Liggin
Hellfire In Heels Or Daughters Of The Resurrection?, by Tara Beth Leach
Jesus Was Not A “Giver” – He Was Much, Much More, by Nijay Gupta
Missio Alliance Comment Policy
The Missio Alliance Writing Collectives exist as a ministry of writing to resource theological practitioners for mission. From our Leading Voices to our regular Writing Team and those invited to publish with us as Community Voices, we are creating a space for thoughtful engagement of critical issues and questions facing the North American Church in God’s mission. This sort of thoughtful engagement is something that we seek to engender not only in our publishing, but in conversations that unfold as a result in the comment section of our articles.
Unfortunately, because of the relational distance introduced by online communication, “thoughtful engagement” and “comment sections” seldom go hand in hand. At the same time, censorship of comments by those who disagree with points made by authors, whose anger or limited perspective taints their words, or who simply feel the need to express their own opinion on a topic without any meaningful engagement with the article or comment in question can mask an important window into the true state of Christian discourse. As such, Missio Alliance sets forth the following suggestions for those who wish to engage in conversation around our writing:
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If you disagree with something the an author said, consider framing your response as, “I hear you as saying _________. Am I understanding you correctly? If so, here’s why I disagree. _____________.
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