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I love long prayer walks. The beach is my favorite place, right at water’s edge. Mountains are a beautiful setting, but just breathing takes a lot of my attention. Wherever I walk, the time is always a treasured conversation with God—living out my word for this year, linger.
I talk with all of God—sometimes to the Father, other times to Jesus, also to the Holy Spirit. Or just to God or Lord. And even to various names He goes by—El Shaddai, Jehovah Jireh, Shepherd….
I invariably begin with a time for praise and thanks. Our God is so good, so worthy, so generous, so gracious. Last week I shared 7 Things God Loves to Hear from Me—some of the things I say to Him often.
And then I ask Him a question, or several, depending on what He has to say to me.
I always start with this first question, then go from there.
He opens—always—with words to affirm love and affection for me, of His pleasure with me. He tells me I am His daughter, His treasure, His beloved.
He usually gets specific about how I’m growing, where my life is looking like Jesus, a project I have done well, a situation I have responded well in….
These affirming words lead me to my next question:
Sometimes I think I hear Him chuckle. “Oh Judy, you know. I’m crazy about you. I love to do good to you, give gifts to you, see you shine. I made you the way I wanted you, with all those good works prepared for you. I love that you are seeking to do what I made you for—and I still have more waiting for you.”
What do I need to work on? What is keeping me from being and doing all that you have for me right now?
These days He keeps reminding me I seem frazzled and fatigued. In a hurry, or too worn out to do the next thing. Am I doing things He hasn’t asked me to do? Or ignoring something he wants me to address?
He whispers to me, “Remember, Judy, you can do nothing in your own strength, wisdom, even with the gifts I have given you. But I have given you, through the Holy Spirit, all that you need to do what I ask you to do
“Indeed,” he adds, “what I have called you to is impossible. But nothing is impossible for me. Let me fill you up, infuse you with my wisdom and creativity and unleash the power of the Spirit in and through you.”
“First,” He replies, “roll those cares on me. Remember, your burden is heavy, but I will gladly take it off you and give you my light burden instead.”
“Stop for a bit.”
“Listen.”
“Let’s go over that list of all you have to do.”
So He points out the things He didn’t ask me to. He assures me he is pleased with my progress on things I need to keep pursuing. And then He reminds me of the highest priorities. Yes, some tasks. But in reality the true priority is people he has asked me to love, encourage, shepherd.
I wish I did this every day, but the beach is not out my door. And life has many demands. This I know: when I make talking with Him a priority, when I linger with Him, when I ask what He wants for me more than I ask for what I want—my life changes.
I rest more. I listen more. I gain greater clarity. Peace increases. Energy expands.
Linger.
Want to join me?
What about you? What questions do you ask God?
Judy Douglass is a writer, speaker and encourager. She partners with her husband, Steve, to lead Cru.
A former magazine editor and author of five books, Judy travels the globe to love and encourage staff to believe God for the more He wants to do in and through them.
She writes at “Kindling” and tweets @Jeedoo417
{WIth thanks to Bob Tiede at Leading WIth Questions}
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#ItSeemsToMe…A journal can be a metaphor for your faith journey.
Your cover may be ornate, artsy, or plain. The pages may be bound or spiral. Call it a diary or your notebook. Small or large. Personal or customized for a group.
In any case, it gives you space to articulate your faith.
Everyone has a unique journal that tells the story of their life of faith.
Some journals are well-worn with uncountable notes, questions, stories, maybe some poems or doodles.
Some look brand new. Not much to see or read. Maybe empty.
Phil Miglioratti @ The Reimagine.Network
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GUEST POST ~ Culture and Why It Matters
I’VE NEVER MET ONE PERSON who didn’t wish they could have better conversations. When I begin teaching on this topic, students pay attention. They know their ability to connect well with others matters—not just to heal their chronic loneliness, alleviate relationship boredom, and improve the group dynamics in their clubs, but to also advance their professional goals. They also seek to repair relational damage with friends, family members, and romantic partners after a year that separated people based on political affiliations, views on the COVID-19 pandemic, and activity related to racial justice in the United States. The communication climate for so many has turned to suspicion, shame, hatred, and mockery. It’s a world of being canceled and unfriended if you say the wrong thing. So many of us feel awkward and unsure as we emerge from isolation. Like my students, you might ask these questions: How can I connect again with others? How can I feel close to this person? If my personal happiness depends on having warm relationships—like all the research shows—how can I become a better conversationalist to foster these connections?
As a writing professor studying rhetoric and communication, I’ve investigated the social science research and analyzed conversation practices, positive communication, and the relational warmth so vital for well-being, health, and happiness. Like you, I want to grow in my conversation skills. I want to foster the relational connections that allow for true fellowship with others.
But how?
Let’s start thinking about the best conversation you’ve had recently.
Think about the last conversation you had where you felt loved, understood, and connected to the other person or group involved. What was happening? Did you feel like the other person was genuinely interested in you? That they liked you? That they cared about your life? Did you feel like the other person shared in the conversation as well to create that closeness you’ve longed for?
When I can say yes to these questions, I know I’ve been in a great conversation.
Great conversations involve these essential elements of interest, liking, caring, and sharing. Great conversations cannot happen in the absence of one of these elements. And great conversations require cultivating the mindsets that continue to foster these elements. If I want great conversations, I need to know where I’m lacking and how I can develop my capacity for loving connection.
In simple terms, if I were to tell you the four most critical things to do to foster a warm and connected conversation, I’d say this:
Be curious
Believe the best
Express concern
Share your life
The technical research terms for each phrase above sounds much more academic: interpersonal curiosity, positive regard, investment, and mutual sharing. Essentially, these conversational mindsets and accompanying behaviors will build your friendships and teach you the art of positive communication—a form of conversation involving asking, complimenting, disclosing, encouraging, listening, and inspiring. These mindsets embody what researchers on relational closeness call “closeness-enhancing behaviors” of “openness, attention, and involvement,” as well as showing other people “dignity and respect.” We already identified these mindsets using different words when we thought about a great conversation we’ve had (interest, liking, caring, and sharing), so now let’s see them in action as what you can do: be curious, believe the best, express concern, and share your life.
My neighborhood friend and Penn State colleague uses the Four Mindsets in nearly every conversation we have. We recently began walking together once a week. She’s an engineering professor; I’m a writing professor. Her world is mostly math and technical problems; my world is vivid verbs and semicolons. She uses words I do not understand and delights in designing highly technical engineering problem sets for her students.
How do you create a warm relationship between an engineer and a writer? To make matters worse, she’s my opposite: she’s a runner; she loves adventure and travel; and she has a dog. I can’t run. I like to stay home. And I have three cats. This conversation shouldn’t work at all, right?
Here we go. I’m walking beside her (and her dog), and she immediately asks about my latest writing projects, my teaching, and my children. Genuine curiosity. She’s so interested in things I’m interested in. Next, she compliments me and tells me all the ways I’m inspiring her. Positive regard. She likes me! She’s already believing good things about me. She’s now asking me about my upcoming meeting and wants to brainstorm with me how I can achieve my goals. Investment in my success. She’s wanting me to win. She wants the best for me. Then, she’s vulnerable with me. She reciprocates when I ask about her engineering classes and her goals so it’s a time of mutual sharing. She shares vulnerably about where she’s struggling. An hour passes, and I feel the relational closeness and warmth that fuels us both for the rest of the week.
I even find myself liking her dog.
Think again back to your favorite conversations. When was the last time you felt truly cared for because of the questions someone asked you about your life? When was the last time you felt that another person was looking out for your interests, wanting you to succeed, and figuring out ways to personally encourage you?
My students often look sad when I ask them this question. I know it’s painful to feel alone and disconnected. But guess what? You don’t have to wait to start connecting with others. You can start the conversation revival right now. You can develop the Four Mindsets yourself along with me, and we can start today to engage differently in conversations wherever we are. We all need friends to share our lives with. God made us relational beings, and with the latest research revealing our need for connection, we can grow in the areas of curiosity, positive regard, investment, and mutual sharing. And then, we can teach others. You don’t have to wait to start connecting with others. You can start the conversation revival right now.
Let’s examine the Four Mindsets with more depth and analyze our own tendencies in each category.
In 1936, Dale Carnegie published How to Win Friends and Influence People, a book selling over 30 million copies to become one of the best-selling books of all time. Carnegie claimed something so simple about how to make lasting friendships. Be genuinely interested in other people. He famously wrote, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
Simple enough, right?
I recently asked my teenage daughter if she has any friends who ask her about her life and seem to care about what happens to her. She talks about how rare this is, how nobody ever asks her questions about her life, and how, in a school of over 2,500 teens, she could only name one person who asks her personal questions. I then asked my college students the same question, and one student cried, “When I’m out with friends, they never ask me one question about myself.”
The class nodded in agreement.
In my classroom, we talk about the epidemic of loneliness especially in teens and college students—and how disconnected everyone feels.4 Young adults long for someone to be curious about them, to draw them out and try to connect deeply through good questions, but instead, most people in their lives stay self-absorbed and self-involved. Young adults long for someone to be curious about them, to draw them out and try to connect deeply through good questions.
When we get together with friends, besides talking about the news or the weather or simply monologuing about work or children, rarely will someone ask a good question about our lives. It leaves so many of us frustrated, isolated, and empty after spending significant amounts of time in meaningless interaction.
If only we could foster curiosity about one another! If I could pick the essential character trait for my children and students to develop, I’d choose that of curiosity. In fact, I also talk to both my undergraduate and graduate students about developing curiosity as a key professional skill. In particular, I mean social or interpersonal curiosity—the desire to know and understand more about other people. I read and think about curiosity because I’ve learned that people who don’t desire to engage others about their lives—even at the most basic level of interest—stay disconnected, lonely, and perhaps even depressed. Psychology researcher Todd Kashdan feels so strongly about the value of interpersonal curiosity that he called it the “secret juice of relationships.” In fact, Kashdan argues that “if you take the fundamental things that people tend to want out of life—strong social relationships and happiness and accomplishing things—all of these are highly linked to curiosity.”
At Penn State, I’m known as the “Name Game” professor because I ask a key attendance question in every class designed to invite everyone in the room (myself included) to share something meaningful about their lives (and learn one another’s names). Why do I do this? As I encourage students to disclose information about themselves, and then begin to display curiosity about other people—even in just that brief moment of answering a personal question—the simple activity builds a sense of belonging, increases our positive mood, generates closeness, reduces prejudice, and enhances our creativity and productiveness. I’ll often ask the class, “What do you want to learn about each other today? What are you curious about?” They’ll often choose a question from my list of 100 favorite questions (see the appendix). We love answering questions about the first song we played over and over again or about something we’re celebrating. They love to talk about the best meal on campus (the spicy ramen) or the best class they’ve ever taken and why. Even questions like, “What are you looking forward to?” or “What are your weekend plans?” inevitably invite follow-up questions rooted in curiosity: How did you get those tickets? How did you become interested in that? Who else goes to that event with you?
Becoming More Curious: If you scan the research articles in both psychology, social science, and neuroscience, you’ll learn about both the scope and benefits of becoming a curious person. Leading researcher on curiosity, Todd Kashdan, explains curiosity like this:
Curiosity’s immediate function is to seek out, explore, and immerse oneself in situations with potential for new information and/or experiences. In the longer term, consistently acting on curious feelings functions to expand knowledge, build competencies, strengthen social relationships, and increase intellectual and creative capacities.
Essentially, curious people desire new information about others; they believe they will learn something important or meaningful. But how does one develop curiosity? How do we leave our homes to engage well with others about their lives?
So let’s be curious.
Curious people build better relationships. Curious people experience greater well-being and pleasure. Curious people become more creative and less stressed out. And your curiosity just might lead you to romance.
3 TIPS FOR GROWING INTO AN INTERPERSONALLY CURIOUS PERSON
Without positive regard (believing the best), our attempts at curiosity won’t make much difference. I’ve known people who act curious about my life for self-serving reasons; they want morsels to gossip about or ways to trap me in opinions they want to disparage. Or they just run through a list of questions because they are trying to connect out of duty or because it feels like a good leadership skill to ask a good question. Worse, I know they don’t necessarily like me or wish to warmly connect; they want to talk for argument’s sake. But when someone asks questions rooted in genuine interest from a position of love and respect, I love to open up to this person.
My marriage, parenting, and teaching rest on the foundation of this phrase positive regard—a term I borrowed from psychology—in particular Carl Rogers, who believed that the best way to help people is to first accept them just as they are without trying to change them, judge them, or shame them. He noticed incredible transformation in clients when he simply said, “I accept you totally.” In simple terms, positive regard means you position yourself to respect, admire, like, and enjoy the person with whom you’re in conversation. If you start from that point, you’ll find that conversation blossoms; people want to share their lives with you. They feel safe, understood, and cared for in your presence. Positive regard changes conversation, and it changes people within those conversations. Research studies even suggest that positive regard from coaches and teachers creates more confidence and motivation from athletes and students; positive regard helps others persevere through difficulty and perform better. Not surprisingly, in the workplace, positive regard among coworkers enhances job performance and even makes employees better citizens.
We naturally offer positive regard in our parenting when we say things like, “Nothing you could ever do would cause me to love you less or cause me to stop loving you. You can tell me anything.” But in a marriage, we often don’t start from this point. We instead begin from a point of suspicion, believing the worst, criticism, nagging, or blame. A marriage counselor once offered her best advice for the success of any marriage: believe the best about your partner. I was the type of newlywed who kept a record of all the ways I felt like my husband wasn’t meeting my needs. I would recall ways he let me down or chores he hadn’t finished. My toxic mindset made our marriage terrible until I began conversations by believing the best about him—and showing my positive regard with compliments and high praise. Twenty-two years later, our marriage has flourished. Just as I never judge or shame him, he shows me positive regard as well.
In our work lives, we often function as if others need to earn our respect and our time. When I applied the principle of positive regard in my classroom, I told students my teaching philosophy: I am with you and for you. Nothing you do in this class will change my positive opinion of you, and I will work hard to assist you in your professional goals. Not surprisingly, our classroom community flourished and students began to write more vulnerably and powerfully with an authentic written voice. My five-year research into the study of shame allows this kind of classroom; people can do bad things (guilt), but they are not bad people (shame).
In day-to-day interactions, especially with young people, positive regard matters most of all for helping others experience true belonging. In Belonging: Reconnecting America’s Loneliest Generation, researchers argue that “accepting young people without judgment is an essential condition for belongingness to occur” and that this belongingness is “the state or feeling of connectedness that arises when seen, known, and accepted by another.”
Finally, believing the best about people is a way of extending God’s grace to people. Grace refers to the unmerited favor of God; He loves us despite what we do. As a Christian, I know that God continues to bless me and love me in the midst of my bad choices or failures. When I extend this mindset toward others, I reflect God’s grace to them.
When I’m having trouble choosing to believe the best about someone because of their actions or attitudes that I may find morally reprehensible, I try to think of what this person was like as a child. I remember to discover the story behind why this person feels or acts as they do. Then I find myself overcome with compassion rather than condemnation. The Four Mindsets of a Loving Conversation
How does someone know you believe the best about them unless you tell them? As you choose to believe the best, practice complimenting people in your life and telling them simple things such as, “I really enjoy talking to you.”
If you’re learning to be curious about others and you’ve trained your mind to begin with positive regard, you’ll find that conversations might still lack the warmth and meaning you’re hoping for. What’s missing then is investment. Investment means you’re interested in the outcome of what a person shares with you, and you express concern about their lives. You’re devoting time and energy because you care about what happens to the other person. You’re invested in their lives. You’re listening in order to support, encourage, and inspire. Investment also implies a gain on the behalf of both parties. You link their success with your success, their failure with your failure, their sadness with yours. Investment is a form of support that moves beyond empathy; it’s a willingness to “carry each other’s burdens,” a biblical phrase written in the book of Galatians. Investment refers to a part of positive communication that focuses on “common good” (when one person thrives, we all thrive) and “supportive” interaction.
In a recent study on how people form “mutually responsive close relationships,” researchers stated that “an optimal relationship starts with it being a relationship in which people assume a special responsibility for one another’s welfare.” I’m learning when I engage in loving conversations with others, communicating investment makes all the difference in the quality of connection. Therefore, we can express concern about what someone is going through. Consider this: your friend might be genuinely curious about you and like you, but if he doesn’t really care about the information you’re sharing with him, you won’t feel the connection and warmth you otherwise could.
When I recently applied for a new career opportunity, I shared the information with a few friends. I found that the only friend I wanted to talk to about this new direction in my life was the one who showed true concern. She’d call, text, or offer to go on a walk and ask, “Okay, what’s happening with that opportunity? What’s the latest? How are The Four Mindsets of a Loving Conversation you feeling? I’m so excited for you. Tell me everything about it.” This same friend asked me about my latest book contract and celebrated me so much it felt like it was her book contract, not mine.
Professionally speaking, I’ve had supervisors who casually ask about my work with curiosity and perhaps even positive regard, but they show no genuine concern. It doesn’t really matter to them what happens to me. But I have one boss who shows sincere investment in my career: she inquires about my research, my writing, my contract negotiations, and my opportunities as if they were her own. She talks about my future as if it were somehow tied up in her own success. Guess which supervisor I most want to perform well for, who motivates me most of all, and who makes me feel valued?
Colleagues often ask me why I tend to enjoy perfect attendance in my classroom and why students visit in office hours and stay connected with me relationally even twenty years later. I believe the secret is investment and how I’ve learned to express concern about what’s happening in my students’ lives—whether they have an interview, a parent battling cancer, a breakup, or anything important they’re going through.
Expressing concern is perhaps the hardest skill of all because it involves the wisdom to know what to do and how to help with the information someone shares with you in conversation. Investment doesn’t mean to take on everyone’s problems as your own, but it does mean you position yourself to support others as you can, to care about them, and to imagine an interconnectedness with their lives. It’s a way to live communally and joyfully so that you genuinely celebrate with others just as you would mourn with them. Investment is a way to live communally and joyfully so that you genuinely celebrate with others just as you would mourn with them.
You can ask questions rooted in interpersonal curiosity, from a position of positive regard, and express great concern, but at that point, you might feel more like an interviewer or even a therapist. How do these skills lead to the warm relationships so vital for well-being? The last missing factor? Mutual sharing. In The Art of Positive Communication, professor of Applied Communication Julien Mirivel tells us the seven behaviors needed in a great conversation. Besides greeting, asking questions, complimenting, encouraging, listening, and inspiring, great conversations involve disclosing personal information.
I’ll admit it: I’m the worst at this. I’m great at asking questions (I’m naturally curious about other people). I’m great at believing the best (I saw how it saved my marriage). And I’m growing in the art of investment and showing concern as God helps me truly love other people better. But I hesitate to share vulnerably. I like to stay in control of a conversation. I like to avoid any situation where I reveal too much about myself. I’m the type of friend who regularly hears this statement: “Hey! You’re asking all the questions. My turn! I want you to share now.”
Maybe it’s pride. Maybe it’s the fear of shame. Maybe it’s simply a form of control. Or maybe I’ve been in too many conversations where I do share something only to have the other person immediately make the conversation all about them. Worse, I’ve been in too many conversations where the other person spouts out advice or ways I need to improve. Have you experienced this? Sometimes our conversational histories have shut us down, but consider how vital disclosing personal information is to relational warmth. It might feel risky and even scary. Your heart might beat a little faster with the mere thought of talking about yourself with another person. But I promise you’ll gain all the benefits of warm relationships if you commit to grow in this conversational skill.
To grow in the mindset of mutual sharing, I work hard to disclose personal information. I’ll answer the question from the 100 favorites along with my students as honestly as I can. I am also learning to think about whether or not there’s a balance of sharing in my conversations. Has my conversation partner shared about their life vulnerably? Is it now my turn to do so? Then, I practice sharing my life. As a part of positive regard, consider that sharing your life is a gift to another person. Do we not believe that another person is worthy of this gift? Do we stay guarded and silent because we secretly believe another person isn’t wise enough, kind enough, or important enough to know us? Are we waiting for another person to somehow earn the right to our friendship?
Ouch. I’m like this. I close my heart to people all the time, but I’m learning to grow in the area of sharing my life with others.
Just recently, I endured an emergency kidney stone surgery. When neighbors came by to drop off soup and express concern, I thought about how to answer the inevitable question, “How are you doing?” Instead of saying “Fine. I’m fine!” I chose to share vulnerably about my fear and my pain. I even let myself cry in front of one couple who immediately asked if they could pray for me in that moment. I felt so loved and so connected to them. When my students asked me the next week all about this emergency surgery, I told them how I really felt. I then asked if any of them had ever endured something like my experience. That day, we connected like real humans about the pain our bodies go through throughout our lives.
When I forget to share my life, I remember a key research study on “closeness enhancing behaviors” in conversation. According to the research on the three best strategies to create relational closeness, openness—the “willingness to share personal information” and not “withhold private information” matters deeply. The other two behaviors—attention and involvement—relate to the mindset of investment. When we’re invested and share our lives, we’ll find we’re on our way to truly meaningful conversations with others.
This reminded me about a similar interaction . . . (social)
That made me feel . . . (emotional)
You bring up a great point that made me think about my body or environment . . . (physical) Your story makes me wonder about . . . (cognitive)
As you were talking, I began to think about this decision differently . . . (volitional)
As you spoke, I remembered something about my faith that’s helped me . . . (spiritual)
I’m still growing in the area of sharing my life. That’s my greatest deficiency in the Four Mindsets. What about you? You might feel you want to grow in the areas of being more curious or more invested in other people. You might read this chapter and think of all the people you’d love to see with positive regard. As you finished this chapter (alone or in a group), rate yourself in the Four Mindsets of a Loving Conversation and begin challenging yourself to learn and practice new attitudes and behaviors in conversation.
Circle the answer to each statement and take some time to answer the reflection questions.
Be Curious: I’m naturally curious about other people:
Rarely Sometimes Almost always
Reflect: Why do you think you feel this way? What happened to make you this kind of person? What’s your next step in developing this skill? What resistance or hesitation do you have to this conversational skill?
Believe the Best: I tend to enjoy other people, easily admire them, and respect them:
Rarely Sometimes Almost always
Reflect: Why do you think you feel this way? What happened to make you this kind of person? What’s your next step in developing this skill? What resistance or hesitation do you have to this conversational skill?
Express Concern: I have a hard time genuinely caring about what happens to other people:
Rarely Sometimes Almost always
Reflect: Why do you think you feel this way? What happened to make you this kind of person? What’s your next step in developing this skill? What resistance or hesitation do you have to this conversational skill?
Share Your Life: I love to share my life with other people:
Rarely Sometimes Almost always
Reflect: Why do you think you feel this way? What happened to make you this kind of person? What’s your next step in developing this skill? What resistance or hesitation do you have to this conversational skill?
If you’re anything like me, you might still have some resistance or hesitation in your heart about the Four Mindsets. You might have questions about your personality and how to apply this book to your unique situation. But, if you’re being honest with yourself (as I’m learning to be), we both know we long for close, meaningful relationships. And we truly want to become happier and more fulfilled people. While relationship science continues to advance the truth that we foster close relationships by becoming more open, more attentive to others, and more involved in their lives, you might want to embed this book—not only in science and data, but through what the Bible has to say about building healthy relationships. As you read on, we’ll look at conversations through a theological lens to inspire you to grow into the kind of person who regularly commits to starting and continuing loving conversations.
#ReimagineCHRISTIANITY...in America
With thanks to Illinois Baptist
Just read an article about the how God speaks in a hurricane.
The author used the storm as an illustration of God’s power and promises (all of which I believe) and several people responded enthusiastically.
But I was troubled.
Here is my response:
“We survived the hurricane with very little damage; my family and house are safe and I damaged. I am enormously grateful the storm took a turn away from us.
“But I wonder what my family and friends who sustained a direct and very damaging hit because of that turn would think about our spiritualizing the devastation that took place.
“As a survivor, I can resonate with using the wind and the rain as reminders of our God’s strength. But I wonder how I would read about a protected tree while my house was destroyed.
“Lately, it is not unanswered prayer that troubles me. But answered prayer does. (“Lord, turn that storm away from my house.”)
I am struggling with how to be grateful for an event that “blessed me” at the expense of others.
My faith in God is strong, unwavering.
My confidence in how well I understand God’s will and interpret God’s ways, not so much.
phil @ the Reimagine.Network
How did American Christianity become synonymous with conservative white evangelicalism? This sweeping work by a leading historian of modern America traces the rise of the evangelical movement and the decline of mainline Protestantism’s influence on American life. In Christianity’s American Fate, David Hollinger shows how the Protestant establishment, adopting progressive ideas about race, gender, sexuality, empire, and divinity, liberalized too quickly for some and not quickly enough for others. After 1960, mainline Protestantism lost members from both camps—conservatives to evangelicalism and progressives to secular activism. A Protestant evangelicalism that was comfortable with patriarchy and white supremacy soon became the country’s dominant Christian cultural force.
Hollinger explains the origins of what he calls Protestantism’s “two-party system” in the United States, finding its roots in America’s religious culture of dissent, as established by seventeenth-century colonists who broke away from Europe’s religious traditions; the constitutional separation of church and state, which enabled religious diversity; and the constant influx of immigrants, who found solidarity in churches. Hollinger argues that the United States became not only overwhelmingly Protestant but Protestant on steroids. By the 1960s, Jews and other non-Christians had diversified the nation ethnoreligiously, inspiring more inclusive notions of community. But by embracing a socially diverse and scientifically engaged modernity, Hollinger tells us, ecumenical Protestants also set the terms by which evangelicals became reactionary.
Deep thanks for everyone's concern and prayers ...
We hope to return home Saturday.
Extremely grateful our house appears to be intact, especially after seeing so many who have endured loss of property, many now homeless and without the huge sums of money needed to rebuild.
This has really messed up my praying.
I am not doubting God nor losing faith in prayer.
Just having trouble knowing how to thank God in a way that would not make me distrust or hate God if I heard that prayer while my house were not spared.
If I credit god for diverting the storm in an unexpected direction to bless me, does that mean God overlooked my cousin (damage to his home) or our friends (lifelong missionaries of the Church) in Fort Myers?
I am remembering afresh that faith, prayer, and life with God are rooted in both truth (there are some things we can know for certain) and mystery (there are some things we will never fully comprehend in this life).
I know the Spirit is leading me on is to expose blind spots, weak areas, and incorrect applications of biblical truths that infect my faith.
Recognizing answers, as well intentioned as they might be, that are simplistic is a part of that journey. I know Jesus wants to strip away the explanations I have created and replace them with the simple but radical truth of Scripture.
The Spirit is stirring up good-trouble.
#ItSeemsToMe...That's good.
Why #ReimagineCHURCH…?
Because many congregations are using rotary phone mind-sets and methods in a touchtone age (digital; texting; video).
The http://Reimagine.Network was created to help you make the mindshift .
“In the decades after 1963, rotary dials were gradually phased out on new telephone models in favor of keypads and the primary dialing method to the central office became touchtone dialing, but most central office systems still support rotary telephones today.”
#ItSeemsToMe... We Need Help To #ReimagineGOD...
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Phil Miglioratti @ The Reimagine.Network
NOTE>>> I am not suggesting we reinvent God, only that we rethink, reimagine, the breadth and depth of the nature character of God, according to the revelation in Holy Scripture. Even as God is known, there is always more to know. Neither are we inerrant. #ReimaginePRAYER...and ask the Spirit to reveal more of the glory of the Eternal Creator God.
GOD is:
Grand - magnificent; awe-inspirin, resplendent, glorious; principal, foremost
Omni
Divine
GOD is:
Sovereign - righteous ruler
Savior - resurrected redeemer
Spirit - radiant revealer
#ReimaginePRAYER... Outward and Forward
Outward and Forward do bot replace Upward and Inward, but they are just as strategic.
Sphere #1 ... in my CLOSETYou and the Lord; one-on-one. Prayer-Closet Intercession. |
Reply by Malva Birch |
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Sphere #2 ...with my COHORTSExploring the unique dynamics of small group prayer; Bible studies, Sunday School classes, fellowship groups, prayer teams... |
TURN - The Upper Room Network |
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Sphere #3 ...throughout my CONGREGATIONRelating to the issues and ideas unique to the dynamic of praying with others; small or large all--the-congregation gatherings |
Praying Together from 25 Different Locations |
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Sphere #4 ...across my CITYPrayer, often collaborative, for the well-being of a city. Every family. Every affinity. Every community. |
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Sphere #5 ...penetrating my CULTUREFocused on an outpouring of God's Spirit, bringing a renewed Christ-centeredness to the Church and a spiritual awakening in our nation's culture. |
Crying Out To God: Beyond Passive-Prayer into Passionate-Prayer |
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Sphere #6 ...for other COUNTRIES•Global Focus (Nations / Missions) Prayer that reaches beyond our national borders ~ That the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea! |
GUEST POST: 6 Stages of a Dying Church
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Six Stages Of A Dying ChurchContributed by: Sermoncentral // SermoncentralIt’s not a pleasant topic. But if we don’t talk about dying churches, we will act like there are no problems. As I wrote in Breakout Churches, the first stage for any church to reverse negative trends is awareness or, stated another way, confronting the brutal realities. Somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 churches in America will close their doors in the next year. And many of them die because they refuse to recognize problems before they became irreversible |
W-E-L-C-O-M-E ~~~> Start Here . . .
Can Libraries Save The Church?
Mini-Courses {a select set of articles and interviews}
The Preacher May Surprise You...
The fire of faith should spur us to conversion, not lull us into complacency, (the preacher) said, reflecting on a passage from Luke, who wrote: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!’”
“Faith is not a ‘lullaby’ that lulls us to sleep, but rather a living flame to keep us wakeful and active even at night,” the preacher said.
“The Gospel,” he said, “does not leave things as they are; when the Gospel passes, and is heard and received, things do not remain as they are. The Gospel provokes change and invites conversion.”
According to the preacher, the fire of the Gospel does not give a false sense of peace, but spurs people into action.
“It is just like fire: while it warms us with God’s love, it wants to burn our selfishness, to enlighten the dark sides of life — we all have them — to consume the false idols that enslave us,” he said.
The preacher said Jesus is inviting each person to be rekindled by the flame of the Gospel...to enable us to act,” he emphasized.
He also suggested everyone ask themselves if they are passionate about the Gospel, if they read it often, and if they carry it with them.
“Does the faith I profess and celebrate lead me to complacent tranquility or does it ignite the flame of witness in me?” he said, proposing the question for reflection.
“We can also ask ourselves this question as Church: in our communities, does the fire of the Spirit burn, with the passion for prayer and charity, and the joy of faith? Or do we drag ourselves along in weariness and habit, with a downcast face and a lament on our lips? And gossip [social media?] every day?”
Do an interior examination on these questions,the preacher said, so that like Jesus, we can say “we are inflamed with the fire of God’s love, and we want to spread it around the world, to take it to everyone, so that each person may discover the tenderness of the Father and experience the joy of Jesus, which enlarges the heart — and Jesus enlarges the heart — and makes life beautiful.”
Pope Francis closed his message.
Guest-Post: Rethink Youth Ministry
A letter to those who contribute to my ministry (which includes The Reimagine.Network). . .
1:1: Jesus talking with Peter 1:3: Jesus in the garden with Peter, James, and John1:12: Jesus with the disciples 1:72: Jesus commissioning outreach teams of two1:120: The rooftop congregation 1:5,000: A hungry crowd