Category: disciples of christ

church, church life, Dennis Sanders, disciples of christ, epiphany, First Christian, First Christian St. Paul, liberal christianity, liberal protestantism, mainline church, mainline churches, Minnesota, music, podcasts, post-liberal, videos, worshipLeave a comment

Worship From Home: February 7, 2021

Dennis

Here is the video and the sermon podcast for the February 7 worship service from First Christian St. Paul. Continue reading Worship From Home: February 7, 2021

church, church life, Dennis Sanders, disciples of christ, epiphany, First Christian, First Christian St. Paul, liberal christianity, liberal protestantism, mainline church, mainline churches, Minnesota, music, podcasts, post-liberal, videos, worshipLeave a comment

Worship From Home: January 31, 2021

Dennis

Here is the video and the sermon podcast for the January 31 worship service from First Christian St. Paul. Continue reading Worship From Home: January 31, 2021

Disciples, disciples of christ, discipleship, ecclesiology, evangelism, gay rights, grace, homosexuality, inclusion, kingdom of god, LGBT, liberal christianity, liberal protestantism, sermons1 Comment

Sermon: That’s Me In the Corner

Dennis

Galatians 1:13-17; 2:15-21 and Luke 18:9-14 Sixth Sunday of Easter Losing My Religion Sermon Series May 21, 2016 First Christian Church Mahtomedi, MN Click here to listen to the audio. It’s been about two years since our congregation voted to become an Open and Affirming congregation, meaning that we openly welcome Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered persons into the life of our church.  I think that’s a good thing, but over the years even long before our vote, I’ve been wondering about the quality of the pro-inclusion argument.  Whenever I’ve seen people argue in favor of LGBT inclusion, the main … Continue reading Sermon: That’s Me In the Corner

church, church life, church planting, church renewal, Disciples, disciples of christ, Easter, Uncategorized3 Comments

Questions on the Disciples and the Local Church

Dennis

Disclaimer: I have to start this blog post off by saying that the following criticism is not directed at any one person.  It is NOT a personal attack on anybody.  This is a critique of a larger system that people might be a part of, but again my beef is with the system and not any person. I think congregations in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are in trouble and parts of the  General and Regional Church bodies are not prepared to deal with it. They aren’t ready because they are not geared towards helping congregations as they are focused … Continue reading Questions on the Disciples and the Local Church

discernment, Disciples, disciples of christ, ministry, mission1 Comment

What Is Mission First All About?

Dennis

  At the 2015 General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Columbus, Ohio, those gathered heard about a new initiative being rolled out called Mission First.  Mission First seems to be a way to retool the denomination for the 21st century.  A central part of this initiative is to have Mission Gatherings in 2016.  My region is having its Mission Gathering later this month. While the website for Mission First has some background on the idea, a certain question keeps coming to the fore: what is this all about? I get that this is kind of a … Continue reading What Is Mission First All About?

church life, Disciples, disciples of christ3 Comments

Fatalism and the Disciples of Christ

Dennis

Does the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) deserve to live? I’ve been talking with folk about the current state of the denomination. We agree that all is not well in Disciple-land.  But in all of the conversations I’ve had, there is the belief that the tradition is dying. And that’s where the conversation ends. I agree with them in someway that the movement that was born two centuries ago is dying.  What is so odd is that at least among some people there isn’t any drive to do something to preserve the tradition.  There seems to be a creeping fatalism … Continue reading Fatalism and the Disciples of Christ

church, church life, culture, culture wars, disciples of christ, identity, liberal christianity, liberal protestantism, mainline church, mainline churches, progressive christianity, theology1 Comment

The Invisibility of Progressive Christianity

Dennis

Every so often, I’ve heard an argument that goes like this:  “the press only talks about the Christians vs. the gays as if all Christians are against being gay.  Don’t they know that there are Christians who support gays?” The frustration comes from being ignored by the wider culture, especially the media.  When we think of Christians, we are more likely to think of evangelicals or Catholics, but never liberal Protestantism.  This has long been a problem.  Some, including former evangelical-turned liberal Christian Randall Balmer, think there is a conspiracy afoot inspired by groups like the Institute for Religion and … Continue reading The Invisibility of Progressive Christianity