Tag: Church
Our Hearts Break for Houston
Every time an image of the flooding comes across my newsfeed, or my TV screen, my heart breaks a little bit. The images of the interstates completely submerged…of homes deep in water…and of people awaiting rescue takes my breath away. And like many of you, my mind turns immediately to friends who live and work ...
The Hope I Have for the Church
Special guest blog by: Rev. Paul Amlin Today is Paul Amlin’s last day in his role as Program Director for Youth Ministry in our ELCA Churchwide Offices. Over the last four years, Paul has worked tirelessly to support adults working with youth, and leadership development for young people. Paul begins a new call March 1 ...
Living for 5:00pm
For the past 4-5 weeks, my internal mantra has been “I’m living for 5:00pm on Sunday, October 27th.” 5:00pm yesterday represented the end of a season. At 4:30pm, our final service of Affirmation of Baptism was complete. By 5:00pm, most of the photos with kids and parents would be done, and I’d be on my ...
Why We Should Care About What’s Going On in Pittsburgh This Week
“Hi, my name is Todd, and I’m a church nerd.” “Hi Todd.” I admit it – full disclosure – I would be paying attention to what’s going on at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly anyway. I would be. These kinds of things fascinate me. How organizations function together and how decisions are made is at least ...
So What Would Google Do?
I am more and more convinced that for the church in all its expressions (congregational… synodical…denominational…) is going to grow into the next era, we are going to need to learn to think very differently. The days of working to protect the institution, and to contain decision making, leadership and power, are pretty much gone. ...
A Different Way to Live
God is up to something new within our community, within our church. The church talks a good game when it comes to community. We focus on “being” together in congregations. But the world is shifting. Our very understanding of what community is changing as a relationships in a digital age are stretching our understanding of ...
Being Made New
There is change happening in the church. Maybe it’s a new awareness…perhaps it’s a new reformation…I’m not sure what to call it. But something is different. There are new conversations taking place. There are new questions being asked. When I enter into conversations with those who do ministry alongside young people and their families, the ...
Network is a Verb 