Category: ecclesiology
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Adult Baptism And Instruction
Is instruction in order to prepare for baptism a requirement in your church? If so, who is the focus on that process? If I’d been required to take a series of prep classes or undergo a formal catechism, I wouldn’t have been able to undergo baptism until I was an adult. I became a follower…
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Back To Church
I’ve been blogging for more than a decade, and I’ve written often about spiritual abuse by church leaders – sharing both my own experience and referencing the struggles of others. I’m just one voice in a large crowd: there are numerous blogs, books, and worthwhile organizations telling the stories of spiritual and/or clergy sexual abuse…
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I am the church
Though my husband and I are still attending a congregation in our former neck of the woods, a good 40-45 minutes away, we do wonder if it makes sense to continue to do so. Our move last summer placed us in an area home to the main campuses of two well-known megachurches (Willow Creek Community Church…
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Praying for you, future Pope
The last time a Pope resigned, Martin Luther hadn’t been born yet and leeches were still a standard form of medical care. Pope Benedict XVI gave his two weeks’ notice today (just weeks after he began twittering!), and the world has erupted into prayers and conversations about who will be next to fill St. Peter’s…
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Of Bulletin Boards And Plaster Pillars
It was the Battle of the Bulletin Boards (BBB). Specifically, where said bulletin boards would be hung: front and center in the church lobby or tucked along a far wall, toward the back of the building. Oh yes. the BBB was an epic fight, right up there with battles waged in other congregations over the…
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Leavin’…on a Sunday mornin’
“I want to leave my church, but I feel as though I’ve committed to them for life,” my friend K. said to me recently. She went on to explain that her congregational leaders taught that membership was a covenant between the member and the church. There was no exit clause unless a person moved out…