The Anglican’s St Luke Church in Rhodesville has been sealed off by riot police following violent clashes between a faction belonging to excommunicated Harare Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and the one belonging to the official Bishop of the Diocese Chad Gandiya.
One of the first things a new, change-oriented staff member may need to do is to disappoint and alienate people who prefer the status quo. Certainly this is true with clergy who enter static or declining congregations. Whatever patterns of behavior were preventing growth before need to be changed, and in the short run that is likely to repel more members than it attracts.
It is the sole right of any religious body to determine who is and who is not a member of that body. The challenge of determining membership is both vital and problematic for a church and each one follows the rules of its structure, where such exists. But ruling that this statute is constitutional puts the commonwealth in charge of determining who is a church member.
The mainline churches are finding themselves on the margins, declining in membership and donations. Some are in the grip of unresolved conflicts and divisions; others are locked in scandal. The main mission is hostage to a host of distracting issues. In short, the church is experiencing a crisis of leadership.
April marks Yom Hashoah, the start of a week’s worth of National Days of Remembrance centered around the Holocaust.
The announcement of the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens has us thinking about the indispensability of the Anglican voice in the nation’s highest court.
Frank Martin says that unlike Christmas, Easter cannot be tamed.
In the spirit of “Easter Is 50 Days,” we’re happy to report that last week’s solicitation for readers to share their favorite Easter traditions was
Barbie’s influence as a cultural force is indisputable. She’s so omnipresent that perhaps she can be thought of as a kind of blank slate onto which we can sketch our own concerns and conversational points, religious or otherwise.