Posts from the Blog of an (un)Tamed Cynic
This week I’m taking a DMin course at McCormick Theological Seminary called “Why Church Matters in a Culture of Narcissism,” taught by Lillian Daniel. This is a class that I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while. It’s the kind of class on contemporary Christianity that I think is really important for a DMin [...]
For over a year I have been floating the idea of a conference on progressive youth ministry, and I’m pleased to say that this idea is finally coming together. I’ve been working with Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt (JoPa Productions) on a conference that we’ll host at Fourth Presbyterian Church in the spring of 2014. [...]
Back in March, as I was in the midst of the one-on-one meetings I do with our confirmands before confirmation Sunday, I talked about some new questions I added to those conversations. I had promised a follow-up post on the second set of new questions but never got to it. Here it is, only a [...]
Most youth retreats are as over-programmed as the everyday lives of the teens they are designed for. Every minute—often including “free time”—is scheduled and planned. But for the second year in a row, my youth ministry colleague Kimberlee Frost has planned the kind of retreat that teens (and adults) actually need. There is a very [...]
There was a time, not so long ago, when confirmation within mainline Protestant churches was a primarily dogmatic exercise. Students were expected to memorize and recite creeds and catechisms. These catechisms defined faith by asking questions and providing answers, answers that are scripted and learned by catechumens or confirmands. While there was surely some attention [...]
