, , , , ,

What do emerging churches believe?

, , , , ,

Eileen Flynn of the Austin American-Statesman had a huge package of stories on the emerging Christian church movement, both in Austin and throughout the country. The four-story series (here, here, here and here), along with solid photos by Laura Skelding, covers the emergent church movement that started in the late 1990s by a group of young Christians who worried about the gap between traditional churches and young people without formal church backgrounds or were frustrated with traditional churches.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , ,

Hot, hellish paraphrased Oxford quote

, , , ,

Have you ever been reading a news story and hit a paraphrased quotation — as opposed to a verbatim direct quote — that made you stop and mutter, “Now wait a minute! Did that person really say that? Does the reporter actually have a recording of that?”


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , ,

The brothers Murdoch

, , , ,

Michael Paulson of The Boston Globe has written one of the most poignant feature stories about the Episcopal Church’s sexuality debate that I have seen in more than 15 years of writing about the topic. In writing about two brothers who are priests, Paulson reveals their deep division on sexuality (“Bill Murdoch calls homosexual activity a sin, while Brian Murdoch calls it a gift”) and persuades the brothers to talk about how they have remained close.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , ,

Elvis never left the church (in his heart)

, , ,

As I like to mention from time to time, the professionals over at Religion News Service have a digital newsletter in which they send out a link to a “story of the week” that everyone can read if they wish. The sad truth is, it’s hard to find RNS copy online if a particular story does not run over at Beliefnet.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , ,

Don't ask, don't tell, don't punish

, , , ,

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has ordained gay clergy for years. Since it formed out of a merger of three Lutheran church bodies in 1988, it has defrocked three clergy for violating the church body’s requirement that gay clergy abstain from sexual relationships. At the group’s national assembly last week in Chicago, a vote to permit homosexual clergy to engage in sexual relationships failed on Friday but another vote requesting that the church body avoid disciplining gay clergy who violate the celibacy policy was passed on Saturday.


Please respect our Commenting Policy