Author Archives: rthenderson

BLOG 9.13.12: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY “Mind if I ask you a question?”  Alan inquired. You can ask. I don’t guarantee answers. Fire away. “What’s your ‘take’ on the church? What’s it got to do with anything? Where … Continue reading →

BLOG 9.11.12: REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE I am going to engage in a bit of self-promotion in this blog and the next. My own engagement with the essence of the church has been in dialogue with some wonderful … Continue reading →

BLOG 9.6.12: WHAT WOULD A “CHRIST-O-CENTRIC” CHURCH LOOK LIKE? In my last Blog I described the all-too-familiar phenomenon of the ecclesio-centric church in which a church communities become focused primarily on their own communal life: church activities, their buildings, professional … Continue reading →

9/3/12 BLOG: AN ECCLESIO-CENTRIC CHURCH IS AN OXYMORON What, pray tell, is an ecclesio-centric church? Allow me to tread on some delicate territory here, but for good reason. An ecclesio-centric church is a church focused on its own institutional life, … Continue reading →

BLOG 8.28.12: QUESTION: HOW MANY DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A CHURCH? How many of Christ’s people does it take to be a church? Dumb question? Jesus told his disciples that he would build his church (Matthew 16:18)—using the Greek … Continue reading →

8.23.12 BLOG: QUESTION: CAN A ‘CHURCH’ BE ONLY A ‘MYTH’? A generation ago, Bolivian Methodist bishop Mortimer Arias, speaking in this country, related to an ecumenical assembly that, as a Latin American, he found North America to be a particularly … Continue reading →

BLOG 8/20/12: “KINGDOM PEOPLE IN AN ELECTION YEAR” In a previous presidential campaign, and in a large mid-western congregation, a sizeable number of members pushed the pastor to allow them to pass out leaflets advocating their candidate, and to call … Continue reading →

8/16/12 BLOG. WHAT MAKES THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE COMPELLING? What with all of the proliferation of confusing church expressions, and (sometimes weird) folk claiming to speak for the Christian faith, … what might catch the attention of those unfamiliar with it … Continue reading →

BLOG 8.14.12. QUESTIONS: WHY IS THE CHURCH? WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE? If you were to ask the questions: “Why is the church?” or “What is its purpose?” or “What does it have to do with the gospel?” … chances are … Continue reading →