More and more congregations within the United States are declining, and with that decline come church closures. In my dissertation research, I examined two small congregations. Fellowship United Methodist Church (which is a pseudonym, along with all other names used in this post) is a small congregation in a Midwestern city. As of 2010, there…
Images are everywhere and everyone—from children to professionals schooled in digital media production—is making them. Digital cameras are commonplace, standard equipment in cell phones. These devices record countless photographs and videos, which are disseminated across media sharing platforms such as Flickr, Picasa, Instagram, and YouTube. Chances are more people carried a camera (in the form…
New members to any group need to learn the unspoken rules and norms of the community. A newcomer may lack the history and understanding of “the way things are done here,” and may make embarrassing mistakes and missteps within the congregation. Perhaps a newcomer asked for prayers for something that was deemed “inappropriate,” or acted…
Corey Widmer wrote an interesting piece at Christianity Today about his work within a multiethnic congregation in Richmond, VA. He outlines some of the unique situations he and the other congregational leaders and members encountered in attempting to bridge ethnic divides: “the way we do things here” has different meanings in different places. He writes,…
When the Vatican announced changes to the way individuals should express signs of peace during mass, an article from the Religious News Service reported: In an effort to insure a more sober ritual, the Vatican has urged bishops to clamp down on singing, moving around and other casual expressions of affection when the sign of…