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Seeing violence and racism up close is ugly. Two Presbyterians discuss how to help congregations prepare for and respond to divisive events.
All over the world, Christian churches are struggling to obey the Bible’s clear commands to welcome the stranger, to displace the fear that leads to exclusion, and to both extend and receive mutual hospitality as gifts of God’s Spirit.
Teaching an intensive songwriting class in a North Carolina prison for women made Susannah Long and Michael Conner reflect on gaps in what churches sing about.
A songwriting class in a North Carolina prison taught eight women to write biblical songs that touch congregations inside and outside prison walls.
Sessions related to mental health are not a common feature of many conferences on worship. Yet mental-health-related concerns affect as many as one in five people at any given time, with one of every twenty-five people living with serious mental health challenges. More than four in ten people in the United States experiences a psychological disorder in their lifetime. What we say or fail to say about these challenges in worship settings can be profoundly formative for how Christian communities respond to these challenges
We hear a lot about using person-first language. Yet it is still common to label people with their mental health diagnosis. Christians and churches can offer another way to describe our common human identity.
It is far more common to hear about physical ailments than mental ones in congregational prayers and worship. Psychiatrist Warren Kinghorn explains why mental health issues and people with mental illness should be acknowledged in Christian worship.
What we say or fail to say about mental health concerns in worship settings can be profoundly formative for how Christian communities respond to these challenges.
It is important for financially stable churches and Christians to build relationships with those in poverty. But the reason may be different than what you might assume.
People treated as the last and the least often feel unwelcome inside churches. That is why some church plants create a worshiping community outdoors. Many of their discoveries also apply to indoor churches.
Those who experience homelessness, poverty, physical or mental illness, or addiction understand things that more privileged people may never know. Raising up peer chaplains from within this group can lead to renewal in both outdoor and building-based Christian communities.
Jesus’s example of laying down his life for others inspired Martin Luther King Jr. and the U.S. civil rights movement. This theology of how to engage undeserved suffering can help congregations deal with pain.
