Posts from the Blog of an (un)Tamed Cynic
Here’s another sobering riff on the theme of “18 years“. Last week the Office of the General Assembly released the 2012 statistics for the Presbyterian Church (USA). The numbers aren’t good, more signs of our rapid decline (and the similar decline of all mainline Protestant—and even evangelical—denominations). Our membership has dropped to 1,849,496. This represents [...]
It was either Rocky Supinger or Greg Bolt that turned me on to marketing guru Seth Godin. I subscribed to his blog and read it with interest. I often find in his posts compelling connections or challenges for the church. I’ve considered writing posts that tease out these connections, so here’s a first attempt. Today [...]
This week marks the 10 year anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq and President Obama’s first presidential visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The synchronicity of these events has no doubt influenced the following reflection. For the better part of a decade, the Presbyterian Church (USA)—and other mainline Protestant denominations—has publicly debated various [...]
This week I have written a few posts about connectionalism and reform in the Presbyterian Church (USA). If I were to summarize the basic idea I’ve been working on, it is this: a kind of relational networking—as opposed to existing forms of regulated and structured Presbyterianism—is emerging as the preferred form of connectionalism among many [...]
The second edition of the PC(USA) Mid Councils Commission is meeting this weekend in Dallas. Having served on the first (failed) attempt at this, I have a question I’d love to hear some Presbyterian perspectives on: Can the PC(USA) be reformed? Here’s some background. Yesterday I wrote a post in which I pondered whether the best [...]
