Category: Ecclesia
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Managing Tensions, Or How to Keep from Making Stupid Arguments
"On this episode of "Calmly Considered," Michael and Allan discuss the importance of polarity management, a way of viewing tensions not as either/or problems to be solved, but both/and tensions to be managed. When tensions are turned into problems as is so often the case in today's politics, stupidity reigns supreme and solutions remain elusive."
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“Orphans” Versus The Abandoned: The Church’s Complicit Role in Poverty
FCS Urban Ministries: Big Heart to Love the Abandoned Bob Lupton has an excellent piece on how most orphans in Haiti are, in fact, children who have been unwillingly abandoned because their parents are without the means to care for them. Yet faith-based "orphanages" market these children as orphans. He concludes: "There are…
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ReFrame: Following Christ in the Modern Era
What does it mean to follow Christ in our era? That is the central question for Christians in any era, but it is particularly challenging today. Some suggest that our postmodern and post-Christendom context is creating a level of disruption in the Church not seen since the Reformation. I think that is likely true. So…
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Followership: The Other Side of Leadership
Ivey Business Journal: Followership: The Other Side of Leadership "… Followership is a straightforward concept. It is the ability to take direction well, to get in line behind a program, to be part of a team and to deliver on what is expected of you. It gets a bit of a bad rap! How well…
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5 Things I’ve Learned in 5 Weeks Out of Church – Tom LeGrand
Perspectives: 5 Things I’ve Learned in 5 Weeks Out of Church – Tom LeGrand Consider this official. I am issuing an apology to every member of every church that I have served over the last 20+ years. … … But this Sunday Sabbatical has also illustrated some things to me, particularly now that I am working a 9-to-5…
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Relationships That Make a Difference – Bob Lupton
FCS Ministries Blog: Relationships That Make a Difference Relationships. Two teenagers tossing a football. A couple falling in love, getting married, having kids. Business partners launching a new venture. Church friends sharing a meal. Relationships all. Why do we have them? Fun, intimacy, profit, nurture? For social creatures like us, relationships have a whole range…
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Achieving Sustainable Community and Economic Development. SAT Talks
Why aren't you signed up for SAT Talks? How do we achieve sustainable community and economic development? A little study makes it easy to appreciate the need for sustainable community and economic development. It is also easy to identify countless models that are ineffective at best and harmful at worst. But identifying models that actually…
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Learning to Fail Fast (in the church)
Lewis Center for Church Leadership: Learning to Fail Fast "… Petrie advocates what he calls "vertical development" or the advancement in a person's capacity to think in "more complex, systemic, strategic, and interdependent ways (in contrast to horizontal development that adds knowledge, skills, and competencies). New leaders must think differently before they can act differently.…
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Is Evangelical Morality Still Acceptable in America?
Alan Noble has a very good piece in the Atlantic: Is Evangelical Morality Still Acceptable in America? He doesn't define exactly what he means by "Evangelical Morality," but clearly, he is talking about people who hold more traditionalist views on a set of moral issues. Here are some excerpts: "… Behind all of these charges…
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Mission Trips: On Avoiding the Dark Side
I have a deep suspicion, at times cynicism, about short-term mission trips. Some of you already know this about me. I say this with reservation because I know so many people who say a short-term mission trip was so transformative for them (though I do remember reading a study a while back that said these…