WorldHope Corps

What's happening to Church? “ I’m certain that God is in the future, but wonder if the church has a future.” --Leonard Sweet "The future of the Church is Shalom for All-- the people of God, seeking the shalom of the community to where they have been sent into exile (Jeremiah 29:7)." --Michael J. Christensen Three Questions: What do we mean by ‘church’?    What is the future of the Church in North America in light of declining church attendance, increasing secularism, growth of the NONES (no religious affiliation), rise of the DONES (I’m done with church), and closing of churches? How can we “do church” differently to help us love God and our neighbor (and even our enemy) as we love ourselves? Disequilibrium Decline in Attendance [i] What researchers forecast for decades now is undeniably true: traditional church attendance continues to decline (Gallup, Pew, Barna) Although more than 40 percent of people “say” they go to church every w...

Dr. Michael J. Christensen and Bishop Alfred Johnson Here's a copy of my Occupy Advent Prayer and Statement of Support for Occupy Wall Street, delivered as a Call and Response at Zuccotti Park on  December 4, 2011  for the Second Sunday in Advent:  Communities of Shalom is a network of community development sites— known as Shalom Zones—scattered across the country. We are here today to Occupy with Faith in direct solidarity with OWS because we share your frustration with the System-- the possessed structures of oppression and domination  that Bible calls “Principalities and Powers...” at work for ill in the world... We are here today because we agree with you who are occupiers: that our democracy has been coopted and corrupted, that the few are enriched at the expense of the many, that greed is wrong, and selfishness is sin. We are here today—occupiers and allies—together proclaiming that a new world is possible, a new world is coming, a new world o...

Invited to preach on the First Sunday of Advent at Palo Alto United Methodist Church, I offered Five Lessons of Mary of Nazareth on her  Willingness to wait for the world to Change: I.  The Annunciation (1:26-38)--"There's something about Mary" Luke's account of the Annunciation (1:26-27), tells us a number of things about Mary:  "In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth , a town in Galilee with a bad reputation ("Can anything good come out of Nazareth?) "to a  virgin named Mary," a peasant girl, probably about 13 years old, betrothed but not yet married.  The angel "sent" from God is Gabriel , archangel and chief messenger fearsome to behold, with the announcement  six months after Elizabeth (family member) becomes pregnant with John the Baptist (Jesus' older cousin?).  Mary is to be married to a man named Joseph , a direct descendant of King David.  Mary's ancestry is more complex and lowly.  LESSON N...