YSKPC Outside News

Heaven? Yes! Hell? No!

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:26:00 +0000

09696
August 14, 2009

Heaven? Sure. Hell? Not so much.

by Greg Garrison
Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Just when it seemed to have cooled off, the topic of hell is back on the front burner — at least for pastors learning to preach about a topic most Americans would rather not talk about.

Only 59 percent of Americans believe in hell, compared with 74 percent who believe in heaven, according to the recent surveys from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

“I think it’s such a difficult and important biblical topic,” said Kurt Selles, director of the Global Center at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. “There's a big change that’s taken place as far as evangelicals not wanting to be as exclusive.”

At the recent annual Beeson Pastors School, Selles led two workshops to discuss “Whatever happened to hell?” He asked how many of the pastors had ever preached a sermon on hell. Nobody had, he said.

“I think it’s something people want to avoid,” he said. “I understand why. It’s a difficult topic.”

The Rev. Fred Johns, pastor of Brookview Wesleyan Church in Irondale, AL, said after a workshop discussion of hell that pastors do shy away from the topic of everlasting damnation.

“It’s out of fear we’ll not appear relevant,” he said. “It’s pressure from the culture to not speak anything negative. I think we’ve begun to deny hell. There’s an assumption that everybody’s going to make it to heaven somehow.”

The soft sell on hell reflects an increasingly market-conscious approach, Selles said.

“When you’re trying to market Jesus, sometimes there’s a tendency to mute traditional Christian symbols,” he said. “Difficult doctrines are left by the wayside. Hell is a morally repugnant doctrine. People wonder why God would send people to eternal punishment.”

Speakers said the seriousness of Jesus dying for man’s sins relates to the gravity of salvation vs. damnation, according to Johns. “If you don’t mention God’s judgment, you are missing a big part of the Christian gospel,” Selles said. “Without wrath, there’s no grace.”

Pope John Paul II stirred up a debate in 1999 by describing hell as “the state of those who freely and definitely separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.”

Although the pope was reflecting official Roman Catholic teaching, some U.S. evangelicals expressed misgivings about the implication that hell is an abstract separation from God rather than a literal lake of fire as described in the Book of Revelation.

The pope’s comments on hell stirred up the ancient debate about whether hell is a real place of burning fire or a state of mind reflecting a dark, cold emptiness and distance from God.

Evangelical Christians have traditionally offered a sterner view of salvation and damnation. A Southern Baptist Home Mission Board study in 1993 estimated that 70 percent of all Americans are going to hell, based on projected numbers of those who have not had a born-again experience.

Human ideas about hell were still in ferment as the Bible was being written. The theological concept of hell has a rich cultural heritage, according to historian Alan Bernstein, author of The Formation of Hell.

The ancient Hebrews focused on the afterlife following their Babylonian captivity, when they experienced the torment of ungodly enemies who seemed to have an unjustifiably good life on Earth. During the Babylonian exile, Jews were exposed to Zoroastrianism, which asserts there is an eternal struggle between good and evil, with good triumphing in the end.

The Hebrew concept of “Sheol” — the realm of the dead — may also have been influenced by the Greek mythology of Tartarus, a place of everlasting punishment for the Titans, a race of gods defeated by Zeus, Bernstein writes.

From about 300 B.C. to 300 A.D., those influences combined with Hebrew speculation about an eventual comeuppance to the worldly wicked.

In translating the Bible from Hebrew to Greek, the Greeks used the terms Tartarus, Hades and Gehenna. In Greek thought, Hades is not a place of punishment. It’s where the dead are separated from the living.

The term Gehenna referred to a ravine outside Jerusalem that was used as a garbage dump. It had once been a place of child sacrifice and became a symbol of pain and suffering, Selles said. As a garbage dump, it was probably often a place of fire as trash was burned, emphasizing the symbolism of the flames of eternal damnation, he said.

Jesus never soft-pedaled the concept of hell, Selles said. “It’s not metaphorical in Jesus’ mind. It’s a real place,” he said.

In 410 A.D., St. Augustine defined four states of afterlife: those so good they go to heaven; those so bad they go to hell; those who deserve some relief in their eternal torment; and those who deserve to be lifted out of torment after repenting for their sins. That set the stage for the doctrine of purgatory in 1237 A.D.

The Bible contains a litany of colorful images of hell as both fire and darkness, as in the Gospel of Matthew, which refers to “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” and “the outer darkness” where “men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Either way, Selles said, pretending that hell doesn’t exist, or trying to preach around it, short-circuits the Bible.

“This is a doctrine, a teaching, that’s being neglected in churches,” Selles said. “It needs to be preached. It’s part of the Gospel.”

Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News.

Here We Go Again

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:32:00 +0000

09700
August 17, 2009

Is Doomsday upon us (again) in 2012?

by Lindsay Perna
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s that time of the century again. Time to sell your real estate, rid yourself of cherished possessions and purge the evil tendencies of your wicked soul.

The world is scheduled to end in late 2012 — at least according to New Age scholars who look to a 2,000-year-old Mayan calendar for guidance — and it’s time to start preparing.

The Mayans, who were scattered across southern Mexico and Central America from around 2000 B.C. until the Spanish conquest of the 17th century, are noted for astronomical insight and for their “Long Count” calendar, which comes to an end, or perhaps resets, on Dec. 21, 2012.

Cue the destruction of the world.

Hollywood is already playing along. “2012,” a big-screen blockbuster from the director of 2002’s “The Day After Tomorrow,” is scheduled to hit screens in November. Publishers are also cashing in, and the far reaches of the Internet are abuzz with speculation on the end of the world.

Our troubled times are proving to be fertile soil for doomsayers sowing the seeds of Armageddon. Experts say that’s usually how it works.

“Apocalypticism rises and falls with economic and political conditions on the ground,” said Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University. “Give a culture some leisure time and excess income and they’ll forget about the end of the world pretty fast. But mass an army at the border, and prophesies of the end of times will spike just as quickly.”

While the Mayans aren’t normally known as major players on the religious scene, beliefs in the end of the world, or the world to come, are common themes across most major faith traditions.

“Our fears about the end of the world are fairly universal,” Prothero said. “What changes is the form those fears take.”

This time around, they’re taking the form of Roland Emmerich’s “2012,” in which the arms of the Christ the Redeemer statue above Rio de Janeiro break off. St. Peter’s Basilica is reduced to a pile of rubble, and Exodus-style natural disasters plague the planet.

It’s not a religious film per se, but its religious imagery and end-of-days tribulations will resonate with audiences — particularly young people — who take their spiritual cues from pop culture, experts say.

“Hollywood movies tend to succeed if they don’t underestimate (the sophistication of) their audience,” said Lynn Clark, associate professor of new media at the University of Denver. “There is an urgency for (spiritual discovery) that is part of the undercurrent of young people’s lives these days.”

Youth may not be avidly reading their Bibles and attending church in large numbers, but Clark said they do look to the entertainment industry to initiate religious discussions.

Indeed, religious notions of the apocalypse and pop culture’s obsession with what rock band R.E.M. called “The End of the World as We Know It” have often gone hand-in-hand. When Armageddon appears imminent, churches will exploit those fears to get people into the pews.

It worked for William Miller in the midst of an economic downturn in 1837, when he predicted the Second Coming of Jesus in 1843. When that date passed, he changed the date to 1844. Though his failed prophecies eventually became known as the “Great Disappointment,” his followers nonetheless kept the faith. Today, they’re known as Seventh-day Adventists, one of the world’s fastest-growing churches.

People like knowing how it all ends — hoping, of course, it will end well — or that someone else has already figured it out.

“It’s an idea as old as the species that we are part of a pattern, therefore, somebody may be able to trace it ahead of us,” said Volney P. Gay, a professor of psychiatry and chairman of the religious studies department at Vanderbilt University. “There is a certain kind of comfort or relief in that we don’t have to worry anymore.”

Which brings us back to the Mayan calendar, and its focus on 2012.

Publishing giant HarperOne recently released a 356-page book by self-proclaimed Mayan shaman Carlos Barrios, The Book of Destiny: Unlocking the Secrets of the Ancient Mayans and the Prophecy of 2012, that says many interpreters of the Mayan calendar have gotten it all wrong.

The world won’t end when the calendar does in 2012, he says. A new cycle will begin anew, and the doomsday scenarios are already upon us. Armageddon, it seems, may already be in progress.

“A large part of humanity will disappear. This will not happen in 2012, but in the years leading up to this date as one cycle ends and another begins,” Barrios writes. “This period is when are in the most danger.”

In other words, it’s time to clean up our act so that the next cycle — what Barrios describes as a 5,200-year era of peace and self-awareness — can get started.

“If we take the chance to change, we have the opportunity for harmony,” Barrios said in an interview from Colombia. “We are going to pass to the next level with more possibilities to develop ourselves. It’s not today to 2012. It’s today to the future.”

Twitter during service?

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:53:00 +0000

The Gospel according to Twitter

by Amy Green
Ecumenical News International/Religion News Service

ORLANDO, FL — Do you tweet during church? Isn’t it rude?

David Loveless doesn’t think so. Loveless is lead pastor of Discovery Church, a nondenominational congregation that draws some 4,000 on Sundays to three locations in Orlando.

The congregation has always thrived on the cutting edge, becoming among the first to embrace contemporary music and remove its steeple from its building.

Now the congregation is tweeting — using 21st-century technology to discuss the Gospel in 140-character cell-phone text updates sent via Twitter.

The technology emerged naturally here, as something parishioners brought with them to Sundays from the rest of their week. Loveless recognized it as a new way to communicate, and he began posing questions during his sermons and asking parishioners to “tweet” back by texting their responses. Those responses were then woven into his sermons, creating an instantaneous dialogue between pulpit and pew.

“In John I, when Jesus was referred to as ‘the Word that became flesh,’ God knew exactly what was the most relevant form of communication for the first century,” Loveless said. “It made people feel like, ‘My gosh, he talks my language.’ That would be people’s responses these days, in going, ‘My gosh, my pastor tweets.’”

It is the newest technology arriving in contemporary church services. In fact, it’s so new, and growing so fast, that there’s no data to say just how many churches have embraced it.

No longer is the cell phone such a pariah — only ringing cell phones are. Instead, church leaders are inviting worshippers to tweet and text their way through services as a way to share their prayers and reflections with neighbors in the pews, or their family, friends and “followers” on Twitter.

“It’s a hot-bed issue right now, and people are on two sides of the fence about it,” said Matt Carlisle, a Nashville, TN-based technology and new media consultant for faith-based groups and nonprofits.

“As Christians, we are to witness, we are to make disciples for Jesus Christ. And if we can embrace new technology to do that, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t embrace Twitter, why we shouldn’t embrace Facebook.”

Many church leaders embraced new media such as Twitter and Facebook long ago as a way to create an online gathering place and promote upcoming events. Now some are taking it further, encouraging tweeting and texting during services as a way to create dialogue and strengthen a sense of community.

Michael Campbell, the 30-year-old pastor of the 230-member Montrose Seventh-day Adventist Church in Montrose, CO, poses questions during his sermons and asks worshippers to text their responses, which are displayed on a screen. Like Loveless, Campbell then discusses the responses.

In other congregations, Twitter has emerged quietly and organically, with parishioners tweeting their reflections during services in the same way they tweet their thoughts or activities throughout the week. The dialogue also allows real-time discussion and gives those who couldn’t make it a chance to monitor services from afar.

“I’m a younger pastor,” Campbell said. “You’re just building that sense of community, and people are interested in that because now they are part of the sermon.”

But isn’t it distracting? Doesn’t it detract from the contemplative and meditative nature of spirituality? Carlisle points out that parishioners long have been taking notes during services, and that never has been distracting to others.

“I don’t think the etiquette has been established yet,” he said. “Literally, within a year’s time, this thing has been happening at a handful of congregations.”

At Mars Hill Church in Seattle, leaders never decided to add Twitter to services. It just happened, said Ian Sanderson, a church spokesperson.

The nondenominational congregation draws some 8,000 worshippers at nine locations, including a new one in Albuquerque, NM. Seattle is a tech-savvy place, and the average member at Mars Hill is in his or her 20s. Tweeting and texting encourages dialogue across the congregation’s multiple locations, and it helps church staff keep up with what parishioners are thinking and feeling, Sanderson said.

“I would say probably 80 or 90 percent of the church staff is on Twitter,” he said. “If the old rules aren’t helping anyone in their walk and their relationship with Jesus, if you can pull out your iPhone and Twitter something about the sermon and that helps your whole group of friends, we’re not going to frown on that at all.”

SAT exam leaked in S. Korea

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:26:00 +0000

SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S. educational organization is investigating allegations that a student in South Korea leaked a copy of a standardized SAT college admissions exam to fellow students in the United States, an official said Friday.

A South Korean who was believed to be applying for admission to a U.S. university appears to have smuggled SAT test papers out of an exam in Seoul in January, and then e-mailed copies to a South Korean student in the U.S. who was to take the same exam a few hours later, South Korean broadcaster MBC reported.

The test papers also were circulated to South Korean students in a U.S. high school, MBC said, saying it had obtained scanned copies.

A South Korean Educational Testing Service official said an investigation was under way, but did not give any further details and spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the continuing probe.

The College Board - which owns the SAT - has also launched an investigation, MBC said.

The SAT test papers also were believed to be circulating among private English-language institutes in Seoul, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing ETS officials.

The vast majority of universities and colleges in the U.S. use standardized tests in the admissions process.

Which state is most sinful?

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:13:00 +0000

May 11, 2009

NEWS FEATURE

How do you spell lust? M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

By Nicole Neroulias

(UNDATED) Las Vegas may be known as “Sin City,” but when it comes to transgressions per capita, parts of the Bible Belt may burn much hotter, suggests a new study by Kansas State University geographers.

The project, conducted by four graduate students in the university’s department of geography, maps out “hot spots” for Christianity’s seven deadly sins—lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

The hot-spot data is based on federal statistics such as sexually transmitted disease rates for lust, theft rates for envy and violent crime rates for wrath.

Researcher Ryan Bergstrom emphasizes the project was intended as a secular mapping exercise, but faith leaders have been gradually discovering it through word of mouth. Many express surprise and disbelief at findings that show America’s deep South as suffering from more overall sinfulness than southern Nevada.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of Northland Church in Longwood, Fla., speculated the results could mean that regional stereotypes about morality have been greatly exaggerated.

“Perhaps Las Vegas is known for its tourist industry but the residents are in reality more sedate and conservative,” he said. “And perhaps Florida is known for its retirees but our residents are more `out there’ with our appetites.”

The Rev. Craig Gross of XXXChurch, a national anti-pornography mission, said the project’s findings were consistent with his own experiences, both as a Las Vegas resident and a pastor frequently asked to speak at evangelical churches in the southeastern United States.

“Every city is Sin City nowadays, with the availability of everything online and the world we live in,” he said. “It’s on display more here in Las Vegas, but the temptations are everywhere. It doesn’t surprise me that in the Bible Belt, where you’re keeping it more from other people, that it’s going on more than people think.”

But most experts, including the researchers themselves, advise people not to take the study seriously as a reliable measure of saintliness to wickedness, given the difficulty of findings ways to accurately quantify each of the sins.

Sloth, the sin of not realizing one’s potential and perhaps therefore the hardest of the seven to quantify, was mapped as the total expenditures on arts, entertainment and recreational activities compared to employment per capita. That’s a particularly dubious method, said Mark Biddle, a professor at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., and author of “Missing the Mark: Sin and Its Consequences in Biblical Theology.”

“You certainly wouldn’t measure (sloth) by trips to the theater; it has more to do with, let’s say, someone who had a musical talent or a bright kid who just didn’t work in school,” he said. “I would have measured it more by high school dropout rates or college completion rates, but even that would have been incomplete.”

The concept of the deadly sins is less prevalent in Jewish tradition, but the definitions—and critiques of the study’s weaknesses—are basically the same, said Solomon Schimmel, professor of Jewish education and psychology at Hebrew College in Massachusetts and author of “The Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian, and Classical Reflections on Human Nature.”

He agrees with Biddle that the study’s “wrath” manifestation—incidents of violent crime—comes closest to the source, but falls short by overlooking all the uncontrollable anger that doesn’t culminate in bloodshed, such as road rage.

“Someone can lose his temper without hitting anyone,” Schimmel said, adding that measuring lust as a reflection of sexually transmitted disease cases also overlooks a large segment of sinners.

“This could also reflect a lack of sexual education, or someone who is a devout Catholic and still has sexual impulses but doesn’t believe in using a condom,” he said, adding that the calculation also ignores all the sinners who keep their lustful impulses to themselves or turn to the Internet and other disease-free outlets.

Ultimately, no map could accurately pinpoint America’s modern-day equivalents of Sodom and Gomorrah, Biddle said, unless researchers someday develop mind-reading capabilities.

He concluded, “Jesus says that it doesn’t matter if you act on it or not for it to be a sin.”

Retreat center shooting in California

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:58:00 +0000

TEMECULA--Criminal charges that could bring a ‘life’ prison term were filed Tuesday against a volunteer handyman over last week’s shootings at a Korean Christian retreat center.

John Chong, 69, is accused of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

DA spokesman John Hall says Chong armed himself with the intent of settling a dispute.

“He believed that he was doing all the work at the retreat and others weren’t pitching in that much. The victims were specifically targeted. It wasn’t just a random shooting.”

Chong was beaten and finally disarmed. He is recovering and will be arraigned when he is physically able to appear in court.

Story Date: May 7, 2009

Promising not to steal sheep

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:47:00 +0000

09345
April 28, 2009

Philippine and Korean churches agree on proselytizing covenant

by Maurice Malanes
Ecumenical News International

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Philippine traditional Protestant, evangelical and Pentecostal churches have agreed with their South Korean counterparts to cooperate “in establishing God’s kingdom” in Asia rather than competing to the point of “stealing sheep from one another.”

South Korean and Philippine church leaders celebrated Easter Sunday on April 12 in this northern Philippine mountain city by vowing to become partners in working “for the greater harvest in the Gospel and for the glory of our God.”

They agreed, among other things, “to never exploit and steal sheep from one another” and to cooperate in “transforming our communities and beyond for Christ.”

The Rev. Simplicio Dang-awan Jr. of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the main speaker at the service, noted that South Korea’s Christian population has steadily grown and Korean churches have been sending missionaries overseas, including to the Philippines.

Many Koreans have come to the Philippines as Christian missionaries, mainly Protestant, especially Presbyterian and some Baptists, and have established their own churches, which cater not only for Koreans but to Filipino converts as well.

In the process there was “stealing of sheep” from Philippine churches, acknowledged the Rev. Song Eyung Kyu, president of the Korean Missionary Association in the Philippines.

“So please forgive us for our sins,” he said in a prayer, before about 20 South Korean and more than 20 Filipino church leaders signed a “Covenant of Unity.”

In response, the Rev. Alfonso Alonzo of a group called Prayer Network Gathering, said, “Please forgive us if we sometimes considered your wealthier churches as good sources of funds … for seeing your faces as wons [the Korean currency] like the way we earlier saw American missionaries as dollars.”

As of 2007, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recorded their expatriate population in the Philippines at 86,800 individuals, up by 87 percent since 2005. But the Philippines immigration bureau reported that as of 2007 some 240,000 Koreans live in the country, though only a few of them are documented.

Dang-awan hailed what he called an “historic event” and the start of a genuine partnership. He noted, “After forgiving one another, Filipino and Korean church leaders will be supporting instead of exploiting one another.”

More than 5,000 parishioners from Philippine and Korean Protestant, evangelical and Pentecostal churches attended the joint Easter service.

Christians and the Economy

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Finding Rest in Financial Chaos

Susan Fikse, Issue Number 22, November 2008

Most of us have had it with bad news about the economy. Turn on the TV and the hits keep coming: $7 trillion lost in shareholder value, 19 percent decrease in home values, household debt exceeds $14.5 trillion, unemployment hits 6.1 percent. Who’s eager for more?

It might be nice to take a vacation from the economy. Yet, it’s impossible to avoid – the market economy pervades our lives. In his book Charting the Course, Bruce Howard asks, “Did you have cereal for breakfast made with grain grown in North Dakota or Argentina? Coffee from Columbia? Sugar from Honduras? Orange juice from Florida? Did you put on clothes made from cotton grown in Texas but sewn in Thailand?” His point: the market economy is so intertwined in our daily lives; we couldn’t escape if we wanted to. Even Mikhail Gorbachev says, “The market is not an invention of capitalism. It has existed for centuries. It is an invention of civilization.”

If the economic marketplace is a fixture in our lives, how can we as Christians respond when it’s not working as we would like? When asked this question, even though he is a professor of business and economics at Wheaton College who holds both a PhD in economics and a Masters of administration in accountancy, Bruce Howard simply responds: “Well, Psalm 62 is pretty good.” As the financial markets offer us more ups and downs than Six Flags, and taxpayers foot the $700 billion tab for Wall Street wooziness, even to those with financial expertise Psalm 62 sounds pretty good:

“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. …”

“Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”

Reading the Scriptures is one thing. Applying them to our hearts and lives is another. How can we live out the truth that God is our fortress and not be shaken when we watch our retirement savings vaporize? When we lose a lucrative, previously stable job? When we experience the financial security we’ve worked so hard to create crumble like a stale cookie between our fingers? Economists, pastors, and other financially-savvy experts equip us with four-C’s for coping with the current financial crisis: caution, contentment, community, and compassion.

Caution

Lance Wescher, an economist at Covenant College, is not alone in describing the current economic situation as the biggest financial issue that the U.S. has dealt with since the Great Depression. However, he says, “Our ability to respond is much better than during the Great Depression. The effect of this situation will not be of the same magnitude.” The key to staying calm, he says, is to distinguish between the real economy and the financial economy. Howard agrees: “What if all the financial instruments vanished? We have 300 million people who are highly educated, schools, factories, roads, bridges … we have all the physical assets. They are still there. Everything is still here.” The problem arises, explains Wescher, when problems spillover from the financial economy into the real economy. Wescher feels the only rationale for any kind of government bailout plan is to minimize that spillover.

But even Washington’s bailout plan is not a sufficient soothing balm. Wescher admits, “People are struggling with fear because economics is so hard to understand. It’s a challenge to see dangers ahead, but still trust God.” Managing the tension between the effects of choice and the sovereignty of God is a constant challenge to him as an economist and a Christian. “Being Reformed,” he says, “I live with this tension in my everyday life. The Bible clearly tells me not to worry about tomorrow, but I still need to be prepared for tomorrow.”

One of the ways we can be better prepared for tomorrow is to understand more of what God says about finances and economics, which is what motivated David Cowan to write his book, Economic Parables: the Monetary Teachings of Jesus Christ. “Recent generations take an improving economy for granted,” says Cowan. “Our parents and grandparents were in more of a habit of being wise and conservative about their personal financial situation.” Because we haven’t experienced hard times like those who lived through the Great Depression, he explains, we don’t know how to handle a major economic downturn. “What you’re supposed to do in the good times is prepare for the bad times,” says Cowan. “We have gotten out of the habit because of easy access to credit.”

Howard Dayton, founder of Crown Financial Ministries, urges caution in the place of consumption. “Even government officials have encouraged Americans to spend to help the economy.” Instead of embracing the buy now, pay later mindset that prevails in our culture, Dayton recommends what he calls “once and for all decisions,” such as committing to never go into debt to buy a car, or to never go into credit card debt. In this economy, Dayton says, “We have to go back to basics – I tell people, ‘Don’t spend a penny you don’t have to.’”

Cowan agrees with the necessity of going back to basics and hopes the current economic downturn will provoke that response. “The economy is a mirror that reflects who we are,” says Cowan. “If we don’t like the reflection, we don’t destroy the mirror. If we don’t like what we see with consumerism and dependence on debt, we can’t just point our fingers at the bankers – who have certainly made mistakes – we have to look at ourselves.”

Contentment

When it comes to our desire for material things, it’s not hard for most of us to examine our own hearts and see the effects of the fall. As Cowan writes, “Yes, there is corporate greed, but greed is not exclusive to the world of business and finance. There is also greed in governments, charities, interest groups, churches, schools, and universities. There is greed anywhere there are people. It may be greed for career, for money, for power, for position or for glory. It is all about us and what we want.”

In contrast Paul writes in Philippians 4, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.” The key word in this verse is “learned,” explains Dayton. “We are not born with an instinct of contentment – it is learned,” he says. “Our real joy, our real satisfaction comes from intimacy with Christ. If we are forced to have a more modest lifestyle, it’s not the end of the world.”

In fact, maybe it’s ultimately a good thing, says Cowan. “God presents painful opportunities, and for a lot of people this will be painful,” he says. “This is a bleak message, but there is a bleaker one: you can’t take it with you.” Dayton concurs: “It is not unhealthy spiritually to be shaken a bit. The Lord is saying, ‘Let’s be serious about your relationship with me and the great stuff I’ve given you in the Word.’” The parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl in Matthew 13 remind us of the importance of placing our worth in the right place, says Cowan.

“If we seek His kingdom first, then we will find our reward in the here and now by living in the joy of faith; and we can also grasp that there is a place prepared for us in the kingdom to come. Storing treasure on earth will gain us neither,” he writes.

When everything in our culture is screaming, “Spend, spend, spend,” how do Christians cultivate contentment? Dayton adamantly promotes giving. “When we give, it helps us shift our focus off the temporal to the eternal. I give all my gifts to the person of Christ,” he says. “Where I give, that is where my heart is drawn.”

Brian Fikkert, professor of economics at Covenant College and executive director of the Chalmers Center, says that another way to cultivate contentment is to reorient our thinking. “Even in our economic crisis, anybody in the world would switch places with us,” he says. “We don’t really know what hardship is. People in most of the world get up every morning and wonder how they are going to survive the day.” Even though Fikkert admits to struggling with worry himself, he says that from a global perspective Americans are spoiled rotten. “As we get banged around a bit, maybe it will give us pause to think about the rest of the world and the fears that most people live with everyday.”

Community

In addition to enlightening us about the plight of others around the world, the turbulent economy can illuminate our need for community. “Sometimes,” Cowan says, “we need a crisis to remind us how we should behave.”

In the broadest sense of community, Howard suggests that markets are more likely to be guided by moral principles when people consider the good of the whole. “When individuals make their personal economic choices on the most narrow basis of self-interest, they engage in a sort of economic calculation weighing the personal benefits against their personal costs,” he explains. Howard humorously recounts that when his teenage son bought a drum set, he did not consider the costs of his decision on the rest of the household. What he calls for instead, along with a host of other “navigating principles,” is a strong sense of community in economic decision making. “Strong communities consist of strong individuals who share a common commitment to consider the good of the whole, along with their own personal welfare, when making choices,” he says.

This does not mean, however, that we can aspire to some ideal Christian economy, warns Cowan. “It is wrong to suggest that if we match progressive economic ideals with the gospel then we can have a divine economy,” he writes. “If we want to try to rule the economy with the gospel, then – to borrow from Martin Luther – we better fill the economy with real Christians first.” By using our economic tools in light of the gospel, however, we can move toward the Acts 4 picture of Christians sharing everything with members in need. Cowan explains, “We can see that our wealth is a double-edged sword, capable of separating us from God and capable of helping us, our family, our community, the poor, and the world in general.”

In an economic downturn, the opportunities for developing community through sharing our wealth are as close as the person sitting next to us in the pew. “The response to those who have lost their job is to be generous,” says Dayton. “There are even more difficult situations like the single mom whose husband just left her with all the debt. That’s where God’s people within the local church and friends need to rally around them.” He recounts his mom telling him about growing up in the Great Depression. “The community among neighbors was amazing during that time. They developed closer relationships because of what they were going through.”

But the task before the Church is broader than simply caring for those who have lost jobs or are struggling to make ends meet. Dayton says, “During hard times we have to remember Hebrews 13:5, ‘He will never leave us or forsake us.’ It’s an opportunity to trust Him in really hard times.” During this time, Christians can encourage one another to trust God and depend upon Him to take care of our needs. “We can express that God is the owner and He loves us. He loves us like crazy,” Dayton reiterates, “and He knows everything that’s going to happen to us.” In a practical sense, a commitment to living in community is a willingness to be transparent about our finances. “Cultivate close friends where there can be mutual accountability,” Dayton recommends.

Compassion

But the greatest opportunities for Christians may be outside the Church, in showing grace and compassion to the watching world. “Jesus said that it’s hard for the rich man to enter the kingdom … because he doesn’t see his need,” explains Dayton. “In times like this, more people see their need. It’s a great opportunity for reaching out and caring for those around us.”

According to Cowan our first step is to make ourselves available. He uses the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 to demonstrate Jesus’s warning against building a cocoon of faith and wealth, leaving those on the outside to fend for themselves. “We are to assess whether we feel so secure in our faith, so secure in our personal wealth, that we have made ourselves quietly independent of the world and its troubles. In many cases, concern for those outside the gates is seen as a job for the government or the police,” he says. “The Christian response needs to be one of discipleship, offering our faith, prayers, and help to those without faith and in need of prayer and help.”

“To see this only in terms of dollars and cents is to miss the unique mission of the church,” continues Cowan. “We may have skills that can be put to good use for the church or in pro bono work. We may hold a position in our work where we can make a difference in people’s lives by encouraging the decision makers to do things for the common good. We might have daily interaction with people in the stores or on the street where we might be able to do something to make their lot more sustainable.” In all these ways we can be a witness to the world, agrees Fikkert. “We can be a testimony that it’s not really about the things of the world. We can be witnesses to who God really is – that He is in control.”

In a Breakpoint commentary earlier this year, Chuck Colson said, “Christians should view these tragic events as a chance to demonstrate compassion, helping neighbors who have lost everything. We ought to be witness to the world that when times get tough, Christians can be counted on to be merciful.” He continued, “The sad fact of human nature is that many of us never seek God until a crisis is upon us. Right now, there are millions of Americans staring down the barrel of financial ruin. When they ask where God is in all of this, I hope they will see Him in the loving acts of the body of Christ.”

Susan Fikse is a member of Intown Community Church (PCA) in Atlanta. Freelance writing is a welcome respite from her real job of corralling three young children and managing an animated household with her husband, Jonathan.

How to Prosper in a Declining Economy
By Crown Financial Ministries

1. Learn to be content (I Tim. 6:6-9).
2. Prioritize your debt. Make sure you don’t compromise your home or your transportation.
3. Negotiate with creditors as needed. Be proactive. Seek a meeting with them to make payment arrangements rather than waiting until you miss payments, and they come looking for you.
4. Pay your bills faithfully. Making your payments on or before the due date is a positive testimony to your creditors and a good example to your family/neighbors.
5. Pay extra whenever you can to accelerate payoff dates.
6. Downsize if it puts you in a better cash position.
7. Cancel cable/satellite. Instead, read a book, play a table game, or share coffee with friends.
8. Have a garage sale to generate extra cash to pay down debt or to increase savings.
9. Explore bartering to save on outgoing expenses.
10. Work your way through the Crown Money Map (available at www. crown.org).
11. Learn to garden. Use fresh vegetables and fruit when in season; try a new recipe.
12. Capitalize on your most valuable assets, your family.

How Can We Get Rid of Our Pastor?

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:21:00 +0000

Deportation order lifted for Korean pastor

He could still lose job at Whitehall church -- and his visa.

By Kevin Amerman |Of The Morning Call

March 25, 2009

Rev. Chang Soo Han talks in a pew of his church, Korean Church of the Lehigh Valley, in Whitehall Township last month. (CATHERINE MEREDITH, Allentown Morning Call / February 18, 2009)

Immigration authorities have rescinded a deportation order for the pastor of a divided local Korean church, saying the person who petitioned to have the minister's temporary visa revoked had no authority to make the request.

The decision, announced Tuesday, marks an end to the Rev. Chang Soo Han's federal complaint against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and an immigration official.

Han, the head of the Korean Church of the Lehigh Valley in Whitehall Township since 2003, filed the complaint along with the church in federal court in February.

He and church leaders say in court documents that a disgruntled former church elder, Jon Chung Kim, sent a letter to immigration officials in June 2008, saying the church wished to revoke the visa it had obtained for Han so he could serve as the pastor.

The current elected decision-makers of the church, who make up the church's ''session,'' say Kim lost an election in 2007 but disputed the results.

Federal authorities did not name the person who petitioned immigration officials to revoke Han's visa, but Patricia Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S attorney's office in Philadelphia, confirmed Tuesday that the petitioner wasn't in a capacity to make the request.

Lawrence H. Rudnick, the attorney for Han and the church, said government officials ''have graciously agreed'' to reopen Han's immigration status and he will continue his attempt to gain a permanent green card.

But Han, 45, of South Whitehall Township, may lose his temporary visa anyway. And if he does, his wife and 12-year-old daughter, who has been in the United States since age 2, would have to leave also -- unless Han gets his green card.

The Korean Church of the Lehigh Valley, on Schadt Avenue, has been in such upheaval over the past two years that Lehigh Presbytery, which oversees about 35 Presbyterian churches throughout the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas, formed an advisory committee in September to investigate problems at the church and propose solutions.

That group, the Administrative Commission for the Korean Church of the Lehigh Valley, decided in February to try to persuade Han to go on paid administrative leave for up to six months while he finds a new job. He refused, so the commission is recommending that Lehigh Presbytery fire him. The commission also wants to overthrow the current session members.

Han and the church petitioned Lehigh County Judge William E. Ford to block the commission's action, but he ruled Friday he has no authority to do so.

So while he's relieved about Tuesday's announcement, Han said he remains on edge about the possibility of losing his job, which would result in the termination of his visa.

The head of the administrative commission, Paul Lucia, could not be reached Tuesday, so it's unclear if the federal decision will affect the commission's recommendation to fire Han.

Han also continues to battle eight church elders in Lehigh County Court, claiming a faction of rebellious members disrupted church ceremonies in March 2008 by yelling epithets such as ''liar,'' ''two-faced evil one'' and ''Satan, leave the church.''

In the suit, Han claims he was punished for actions he took after learning in September 2007 that a married female church member allegedly had an affair with a church employee who has since left.

Elders accused Han of running the church as a dictator, making errors as a pastor and of lying to and ridiculing members, according to court documents.

The church also serves as a social and educational hub for Lehigh Valley Koreans. Some drive as far as 50 miles so their children can take part in Korean culture classes and Sunday school there, members say.

Crime in the Church

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:30:00 +0000

By TERRY COLLINS, Associated Press Writer Terry Collins, Associated Press Writer – 6 mins ago

TRACY, Calif. – A Sunday school teacher was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, whose body was found in a suitcase in an irrigation pond.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was arrested at 11:55 p.m. Friday, about five hours after she drove herself to the local police station at the request of officers, said police Sgt. Tony Sheneman.

"She gave enough information to us during the course of the interview that probable cause was there to arrest her," said Sheneman. No other arrests were made.

Police did not say how Sandra died or give a possible motive. Sheneman wouldn't go into specifics but told The Associated Press that interviews with Huckaby in The Tracy Press had revealed inconsistencies that prompted further inquiries from investigators.

Huckaby's family had been questioned at length during the investigation, and their home and vehicles had been searched, Sheneman said.

Huckaby was being held without bail at the San Joaquin County Jail, with arraignment set for Tuesday, according to the county sheriff's Web site.

Sandra disappeared on March 27 and hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials turned out to search for her. Pictures of the girl with dark brown eyes and light brown hair were posted all over Tracy, a city of 78,000 people about 60 miles east of San Francisco. Police said they received 1,500 tips.

On April 6, farmworkers draining an irrigation pond found the suitcase.

Sheneman confirmed early Saturday that the suitcase belonged to Huckaby.

The slain girl's aunt, Angie Chavez, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press early Saturday that she was happy to learn of the arrest.

"I want to know why she did it, if she did it," Chavez said. She added that she had no indication that Huckaby could be a suspect.

At an early morning news conference, Tracy Police Chief Janet Thiessen said investigators had worked on the case tirelessly.

"We have information that Sandra, by the time she was reported missing to us, that she probably had already been murdered," said Thiessen.

"It has helped us to bring Sandra home, again not in the way that we would've hoped, but that was out of our hands shortly after she went missing."

Huckaby had previously told The Tracy Press that Sandra visited her home on the day of her disappearance to play with her 5-year-old daughter. But Huckaby said she'd turned Sandra away because her daughter needed to pick up her toys and Sandra went to another friend's home. Huckaby also said she had left her suitcase in the driveway that day, and that it was missing.

The Tracy Press reported that Huckaby was released Thursday from Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, where she spent several days in intensive care for what she described as "internal bleeding."

Huckaby is a granddaughter of Pastor Clifford Lawless, whose Clover Road Baptist Church was the subject of a police search. Huckaby taught Sunday school at the church and lived with Lawless in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park that also was Sandra's home.

Lawless did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Saturday.

Huckaby was scheduled to appear in court on April 17 to check in with a county mental health program as part of a three-year probation sentence for a petty theft she pleaded no contest to. In an interview with the newspaper on Friday, Huckaby said someone else by the same name was facing charges for the attempted November theft from Target.

How some young people think

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Poll: most teens think lying and cheating can be ethical

Survey underscores continued need for training in ethical decision-making

by Jerry L. Van Marter
Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE ― A new survey finds that 80 percent of American teenagers believe they are “ethically prepared” for life in the real world but 40 percent believe they have to “break the rules” to succeed.

The poll of 750 teens ― conducted by Junior Achievement (JA) and Deloitte ― doesn’t bode well for religious leaders. It shows that only 3 percent of teens see members of the clergy (pastor, priest, rabbi or imam) as “role models.”

In contrast, most teens (54 percent) see their parents as role models, followed by friends (13 percent), teachers or coaches (6 percent) and brother or sister (5 percent). About one in 10 teens (11 percent) say they have no role models.

“In large numbers, teens today express a troubling contradiction when it comes to ethical readiness for the workforce,” said Ed Grocholski of The Lindberg Group, which aided the study and analyzed its results.

“At the same time they express confidence in their preparedness to make the right choices in the future, they freely admit to unethical behavior today,” he said. “The results reveal considerable ethical confusion among teens regarding what types of behavior are appropriate in order to succeed.”

Key findings of the survey:

80 percent of teens either somewhat or strongly agree that they are prepared to make ethical business decisions when they join the workforce, yet more than a third (38 percent) think that they have to break the rules at school to succeed.
More than one in four teens (27 percent) think behaving violently is sometimes, often or always acceptable. Twenty percent of respondents said they had personally behaved violently toward another person in the past year, and 41 percent reported a friend had done so.
Nearly half (49 percent) of those who say they are ethically prepared believe that lying to parents and guardians is acceptable, and 61 percent have done so in the past year.
Teens feel more accountable to themselves (86 percent) than they do to their parents or guardians (52 percent), their friends (41 percent) or society (33 percent).
Only about half (54 percent) cite their parents as role models. Most of those who don’t cite their parents as role models are turning to their friends or said they didn’t have a role model.
Only 25 percent said they would be “very likely” to reveal knowledge of unethical behavior in the workplace.

"If teens lack accountability to others,” Grocholski said, “the data suggests that their choices may be driven purely by self-interest and not by interest in the greater good … Teens seem to be experiencing a sense of ethical confusion and relativism — an endemic ethical attitude of ‘the ends justify the means.’”

That attitude is compounded by the absence of adult role models, “which can leave a vacuum of ethical guidance as young people enter adulthood,” Grocholski said. “With a significant number of teens reporting they don’t have an adult role model for ethical behavior, the data raises even more questions about why adults are not viewed as role models and what can be done to fill the gap.”

The survey was used by JA and Deloitte to develop “JA Business Ethics” and “Excellence Through Ethics” programs as part of a $2 million initiative to address the issues identified in the survey.

Information for this story furnished by Ed Grocholski, The Lindberg Group, Colorado Springs, CO.

All Churches are the Same?

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:55:00 +0000

Study: Americans more loyal to Charmin or Colgate than church

by Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON ― Americans are more loyal to their toothpaste or toilet paper than to their religious denomination, making consumers more choosy about Charmin or Colgate than they are about church, according to a new survey.

According to a Phoenix-based research firm, 16 percent of Protestants say they would consider only one denomination, while 22 percent of them would use only one brand of toothpaste and 19 percent would use just one brand of bathroom tissue.

Experts say the findings may be more telling about Americans’ views of the plethora of Protestant groups than how they choose between Quilted Northern and, say, Cottonelle.

“When you have a whole bunch of different brands out there and not a lot of differentiation among some of them ― and not a lot of knowledge about them ― the denominational world is facing the same problem as many other brands,” said Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, which conducted the survey.

Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, said at first blush the findings may indicate that “the United States worships at the church of consumption,” but thinks there’s more to the numbers than that.

“When you actually think about it for more than 10 seconds, none of this is all that surprising and I don’t think it’s actually bad,” Thompson said.

He said the statistics demonstrate that some of the age-old rivalries between Protestant denominations have simply dissolved.

“Those distinctions, which seemed so important as the various Protestant churches were identifying and evolving ... are really not that important to the average churchgoer in the United States,” Thompson said.

He pointed to himself as Exhibit A: “I myself ... a Protestant, have been a member of three different denominations in my life.”

The Ellison findings seem to echo a large national survey conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which found that 44 percent of Americans have switched from one faith, or one denomination, to another.

Ellison detected a profound difference between Protestants and Catholics on the question of denominational loyalty: 60 percent of active Catholics said they would only consider attending a Roman Catholic congregation.

“It’s not like there are 75 different Catholic denominations, where (if) they don’t like the Southern Catholic Convention, they can go to the Progressive Catholic Convention,” said Sellers, whose findings were based on a nationally representative online panel of 1,007 U.S. adults, including 471 respondents who attended a Christian congregation one or more times a month.

Nancy Ammerman, a sociologist of religion at Boston University School of Theology, said the survey reflects changes in how people choose congregations.

“It has become unfashionable to claim to be denominationally loyal,” she said. “It has become ... kind of the way people expect to talk about their religiosity, to say that they wouldn’t put denomination above some other important criteria.”

What are those other criteria? Ammerman suggested worshippers put far greater emphasis on how closely preachers stick to the Bible, or how inspiring their sermons tend to be, than the name on the sign on the church’s front lawn.

In addition, she said, the lack of clarity between denominations ― does the average layperson really know the difference between the Church of God and the Church of Christ? ― makes labels less meaningful.

“You can have very, very theologically conservative Presbyterian churches and very, very liberal Presbyterian churches, so people have sort of also gotten into their heads that the label on the door doesn’t tell them what they need to know,” she said.

Still, denominations do have some competitive advantage. The 16 percent figure for denominational loyalty was higher than consumers’ loyalty to a particular brand of athletic shoe, department store, major appliance, light bulb and numerous other products, according to the study.

And even as some Americans move from one town to another, or meet potential partners from different backgrounds, Ammerman said there are some limits to denominational shifting.

“You don’t get a lot of Pentecostals becoming Episcopalians,” she said.

Faith and Football

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Football Fans & Missional ChristiansJanuary 26, 2009 S. Michael Craven
Today, when we speak of recovering the missional purpose and nature of the church, we naturally draw upon the Bible’s account of the first-century church. However, recovering the church’s missiological purpose should not be understood as an attempt to replicate first-century Christianity in our time. Our times are dramatically different, especially given Christianity’s unrivaled influence over the last two thousand years. Thus our cultural context in no way compares to that of the Roman Empire. Our challenge, then, is to appropriate the mission of the church (which never changes) to our current cultural context. This is not an adaptation of the gospel message in order to be relevant but rather an adaptation of how we express the gospel relevant to the culture we are trying to reach.
I can think of no more radical example of this than that which took place this past fall on a Friday night in Texas. In a place where high school football often rises to the level of idolatry and players are worshipped, one small Christian school⎯intent on being missional⎯displayed, on the field of competition, the radical values and nature of the kingdom.
As Rick Reilly of ESPN The Magazine reported:
They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas [a Dallas suburb]. It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through. Did you hear that? The other team’s fans?
They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, “Go Tornadoes!” Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions. It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name (Rick Reilly, “Life of Reilly,” ESPN The Magazine, December 23, 2008).
You see, the Gainesville State School is a maximum-security correctional facility. Few schools are eager to place such a team on their schedule and every game they play is away. They haven’t won a game all season and they have few fans. These are young men who have suffered the worst of family circumstances and experienced little or no love in their short lives. This is precisely why Kris Hogan, coach of the Grapevine Faith Lions, invited the Tornadoes to play.
As Rick Reilly wrote,
Hogan wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets. So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an e-mail asking the Faithful to do just that. “Here’s the message I want you to send:” Hogan wrote. “You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth.” Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan’s office and asked, “Coach, why are we doing this?”
Hogan’s response expresses the heart of what it means to be missional. Imagine if you didn’t have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you. This attitude, which is contrary to our cultural conditioning, our nature and natural instincts, sought to demonstrate life under the loving rule and reign of God⎯to bear testimony to the fact that they have been transformed by Jesus Christ. The response was nothing less than miraculous.
The Faith fans cheered on the Gainesville players. Reilly noted,
The Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders! “I thought maybe they were confused,” said Alex, a Gainesville lineman. “They started yelling DEE-fense! when their team had the ball. I said, What? Why they cheerin’ for us?” Gainesville QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah said, “I never in my life thought I’d hear people cheering for us....” It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. “We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games,” says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. “You can see it in their eyes. They’re lookin’ at us like we’re criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us! By our names!”
Despite losing 33-14,
the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he’d just won state ... Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game’s last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still...after the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that’s when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. “We had no idea what the kid was going to say,” remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: “ Lord, I don’t know how this happened, so I don’t know how to say thank You, but I never would’ve known there was so many people in the world that cared about us.”
As the Gainesville players walked back to their bus accompanied by armed guards, Reilly reported: “they each were handed a bag for the ride home⎯a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player. The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, ‘You’ll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You’ll never, ever know!’” (Reilly).
Friends, this coach and this community⎯driven by love⎯thought about their unique cultural context and how the gospel of Jesus Christ might be demonstrated in a relevant way to a particular people. This is the kind of missional creativity we need to engage in⎯to lay a foundation in demonstration that gives credibility to our proclamation.

KOREA: Christians Pray For Unity Among Divided Koreans

noreply@blogger.com (William) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:40:00 +0000

KOREA: Christians Pray For Unity Among Divided Koreans

SEOUL (UCAN) -- Thousands of Christians in Seoul joined an ecumenical service, sharing a special experience of togetherness as they prayed for the unity of Christians and of the divided Korean peninsula.

The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Korean Catholic bishops' Committee for Promoting Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue organized the gathering at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The week is observed annually Jan. 18-25 in many places around the world.

About 3,000 members of the Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Orthodox Churches attended the service, titled "That they may become one in your hand (Ezekiel 37:17)."

Led by Father John Song Yong-min, secretary of the bishops' committee, the prayer service began with the hymn "How Great You Are," commonly sung by Catholics as well as Protestants. The first Bible reading, Ezekiel 37:15-30, was presented in the form of pansori, a traditional Korean folk play that uses song and narrative.

"Christians from various denominations now join in this prayer service. This year, all Christians will pray for the local Churches and the reconciliation of the two Koreas using the same materials, prepared by Korean Churches," Reverend Kim Sam-hwan, NCCK chairperson, said in his homily.

Korean Churches jointly prepared the prayer material for this year's unity week. The guidebook contains prayers for worship services, biblical and theological reflections, specific prayers for each day of the prayer week, and information on the ecumenical situation in Korea.

For a number of years, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches have jointly published materials for the annual observance. Each year, they ask Churches in a particular region to prepare the draft materials.

Reverend Kim said Koreans are going through a time of despair, experiencing crisis in the economy, destruction of the environment, tensions between the two Koreas, joblessness among the youth and political problems.

"However, we cannot give up our hope, because we believe it is God's providence that makes us depend only on our Lord in these gloomy situations," he said. "We believe that when we obey the words of God, our Lord will help us to recover from all this suffering."

Christians should unite to overcome present difficulties, Reverend Kim urged. "Christians should be the apostles of God, and make the divided country and society into a united one," he said.

As part of the service, each participant received two pieces of wood and string to make a symbolic cross representing Christian unity.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Churches represented at the event, including Auxiliary Bishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong of Kwangju, president of the Catholic committee for Christian unity, brought two big wooden crosses to the stage and united them to be one cross, symbolizing the unity of all Christian denominations.

"I feel inexpressible happiness at this moment. Now we recognize each other as brothers and sisters, confessing the same Christ," Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul told the audience.

"We can have different clothes and different ways of worshipping our God. However, our God, whom we praise with one voice, and the Gospel cannot be separate. That is what we experience today," he said.

The cardinal urged Christians to bear in mind the sense of unity among Christians, and to convey it to other people.

"Let's show that our unity can bring a unity into society, too," he added. "May our unity become the small seed that will grow into the unity of God and all people."

The participants recited the prayer for Christian unity and the Nicene-Constantinople Creed. The Christian leaders present blessed them to end the prayer service.

In December, Churches in South Korea declared 2009 the Year of Prayer for Christian Unity. The Churches will hold ecumenical activities such as prayer services, forums and exchanges between groups throughout the year.

God and Politics

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:43:00 +0000

The Obama Inaugural: On God And "Non Believers"

January 20, 2009 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

WASHINGTON -- Many Americans -- and political figures -- struggle to find the appropriate intersection of faith and government in our society. Today's inaugural remarks -- the invocation given by Pastor Rick Warren, the Rev. Joseph Lowery's benediction and President Obama's speech -- show that the interweaving of God and religion in public life will not likely be tempered by this new Democratic administration but rather could be ever more prevalent -- and yet more inclusive. These three men together created a narrative of faith in the public life that turned on love.

Warren, leader of the Saddleback Church who has equated the gay lifestyle with incest and whose selection by Obama to lead the nation in prayer was met with cries of outrage from many factions of the Democrat's base, did not shy away today from references to God in his invocation before the nation.

Warren began: "Almighty God, our father, everything we see and everything we can't see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one. And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made."

He continued by asking the Lord to bless the Obama family.

"I humbly ask this," he said, "in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (Hay-soos), who taught us to pray."

In invoking the name of Jesus in four languages, Warren's message is that Jesus is his God but also the God of many, no matter race or nationality. It seems a modest outreach perhaps from a man who has used divisive, inflammatory language to describe the lifestyles of gay Americans. But relatedly, Obama would massage a broader point of the day, describing the diversity of Americans and their beliefs as a great asset.

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness," said the nations' 44th president. "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers."

Non-believers. Had to be a first reference in inaugural history.

Obama, a Christian, also referenced Paul's letter fo the Corinthians, which explains that the embracing of deep love marks maturity, a sense of self and purpose. A message that is easily broadened to apply to the governance of this great country -- especially emerging from the less tolerant, more rigid Bush years.

"We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things," Obama said. "The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

His allusion is to a chapter and verse that turns on the many measures of love:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous. ... it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury."

A translation for America during these trying times is that affection for the national cause, for our neighbors, too, marks a high purpose, a call to service even.

Lowery, who referenced God or Lord eight times during his benediction, made the pitch plain. "And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance," he said.

How will the era of Obama shape the use of religion in the public life? Faith as service. Service as love. Love as devotion to country -- and countrymen.

Here's Lowery:

"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."

(JENNIFER SKALKA)

Text of the invocation by Rev. Rick Warren for President Barack Obama's inauguration, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:

___

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our father, everything we see and everything we can't see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story.

The Scripture tells us Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one. And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America's peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership.

And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in Heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the Earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (hay-SOOS), who taught us to pray, Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

-----

Text of the benediction by Rev. Joseph Lowery during President Barack Obama's inauguration, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.

Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.

We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.

With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

Our Persecuted Brethren

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Economic Impact on the Church

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Churches Stand to Lose Several Billion Dollars in Lost Donations Due to Economic Downturn

December 1, 2008

(Ventura, California) - Tens of millions of Americans have already suffered substantial financial losses in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and subsequent financial challenges. A new survey from The Barna Group shows that more than 150 million adults said they have been affected by the economic turbulence, and most of them expect it to take several years before the nation fully recovers. Americans are now passing on their financial pain to churches and other non-profit organizations by cutting back substantially on their giving during the fourth quarter of 2008. Those reductions - occurring during the most important quarter of the year for donor-driven organizations - will cripple thousands of smaller and less stable donor-supported organizations.

Many People Hit Hard

Two out of every three families - 68% - have been noticeably affected by the financial setbacks in America. Nearly one out of every four (22%) said they have been impacted in a "major way," almost four out of ten have been affected "only somewhat" and about one out of every twelve (8%) say they have not been affected too much.

Interestingly, the people least affected have been those under 30 years of age - perhaps because relatively few of them have substantial retirement funds - as well as Asian households and those who describe themselves as mostly conservative on social and political issues.

Overall, more than one-quarter of adults (28%) said they had lost at least 20% of the value of their retirement and 401K accounts. The same share of the public (28%) said they had lost 20% or more of the value of the stocks and bonds that they owned.

Born again adults were slightly less likely than were others to have sustained such substantial financial losses in recent months. While 30% of the born again public has lost 20% or more of its retirement portfolio value, the same was true for 37% of non-born again adults. Similarly, just 31% of the born again segment had lost 20% or more of the value of their stocks and bonds compared to 36% among the non-born again Christians.

No Quick Fix Expected

On average, Americans believe it will take about three years before the economy fully recovers. Only one out of four adults (24%) said the economy would completely recover within a year; 30% said it would take two or three years; and 32% said it would take more than three years. A small proportion (2%) said they do not believe the economy will ever completely recover.

The most pessimistic people are Asians, upscale adults, and sociopolitical liberals. The study also showed that people who voted for Barack Obama are significantly more likely to expect a prolonged period of recovery than are people who voted for John McCain.

Cutbacks in Church Giving

During the past three months, one of the ways that adults have adjusted to their financial hardships has been by reducing their charitable giving. In total, one out of every five households (20%) has decreased its giving to churches or other religious centers.

Church cutbacks have been most common among downscale households (30%) and those families which are struggling with "serious financial debt" (43%). Not surprisingly, 31% of those who have lost 20% or more of their retirement fund value have sliced their church donations, as have 29% of the people who have lost 20% or more of the value in their stock portfolio.

The degree of reduction in giving is significant for churches. Among people who have decreased giving to churches and religious centers, 19% dropped their giving by as much as 20%, 5% decreased their generosity by 21% to 49%, 17% reduced their giving by half, and 11% sliced their provision by more than half. In addition, 22% said they had stopped their giving altogether.

The most widespread reduction in amount of money given to religious centers was detected among people under 25 (47% who had been affected by the downturn reduced their gifts by more than half of what they usually gave); upscale households (48%); Hispanics (43%); non-born again Christians (40%); and sociopolitical moderates (39%).

How Churches Are Responding

The Barna study revealed that many churches have attempted to help their congregants understand and responsibly address the current financial challenges. Among those who attend a Christian church, the survey found that one-third (35%) said their church had offered a special talk about the financial situation and ways to respond to it. Such a presentation was more commonly cited by those who attend a Protestant church (38%) than by those who attend a Catholic church (27%).

A similar proportion (37%) said their church had offered specific opportunities for personal financial counseling. This response was more frequently cited by those who attend a Protestant church (39%) than by those who attend a Catholic church (28%).

Providing special prayer support for those who were struggling financially was noted by 73% of church-goers. Once again, this response was more likely to be identified by Protestants (78%) than by Catholics (64%).

About half of Christian church attenders (52%) said that their church had increased the amount of material assistance made available to congregants during the past three months, such as food, clothing and other basic needs. In this case, there was no difference in the responses of those attending a Catholic church and those going to a Protestant congregation.

Reductions in Giving to Non-Profits

The million-plus organizations recognized by the government as non-profit agencies have reason to worry about the economic climate, too. Nearly one-third of all adults (31%) said they have already reduced the amount of money they are donating to non-profit entities.

Cutbacks in gifts to non-profits are especially common among the one-quarter of the population who are immersed in "serious financial debt" (49%). It is also a common response among adults who are feeling "stressed out" (39%), African Americans (36%), downscale households (36%), and registered Democrats (36%)

Among those who are decreasing their giving to non-profits, 53% are simultaneously decreasing their generosity to churches or other religious centers, as well.

Other Responses to Financial Suffering

Americans have responded to the nation’s economic woes in other ways besides reducing their generosity. So far, 5% have moved to less expensive housing. This has been especially common among people with "serious financial debt" (14%), people under age 25 (13%), and downscale adults (11%).

Potentially Devastating Impacts

George Barna, whose company conducted the survey, commented that the economic woes hitting families will be felt in a major way by churches and non-profits by the end of the year. "Most non-profits and churches count on the fourth quarter of the year to produce at least one-third of their annual income. Deficit spending is common during the first three quarters, with the expectation that holiday giving will enable the organization to meet its budget projections. This year is likely to be very different. The giving patterns we’re witnessing suggest that churches, alone, will receive some $3 billion to $5 billion dollars less than expected during this fourth quarter. The average church can expect to see its revenues dip about 4% to 6% lower than would have been expected without the economic turmoil. We anticipate that other non-profit organizations will be hit even harder."

Barna encouraged church leaders to embrace a new mindset for their financial projections. "With a large share of congregants expecting the nation’s economic woes to drag on for several years, it would be wise for churches and non-profits to reconfigure their financial models and plan to spend more cautiously over the coming two or three quarters," he explained. "Even if a congregation continues to grow numerically, this is not a good time to use dated financial projections and models. People’s attitudes about generosity have been altered, as shown by their immediate donation behavior. We anticipate that a greater percentage of church-goers will decrease both their giving levels and frequency over the next year or so. This is a time for church leaders to demonstrate restraint and wisdom in their financial decisions."

About the Research

This report is based upon telephone interviews conducted by The Barna Group with a random sample of 1,203 adults selected from across the continental United States, age 18 and older, November 1-5, 2008. The maximum margin of sampling error associated with the aggregate sample is ±2.9 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Minimal statistical weighting was used to calibrate the aggregate sample to known population percentages in relation to several key demographic variables.

"Born again Christians" are defined as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents are not asked to describe themselves as "born again."

"Downscale" individuals are those whose annual household income is less than $20,000 and who have not attended college. "Upscale" people are those whose annual household income is $75,000 or more and they have graduated from a four-year college.

The Barna Group, Ltd. (which includes its research division, The Barna Research Group) is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization that conducts primary research, produces resources pertaining to spiritual development, and facilitates the healthy spiritual growth of leaders, children, families and Christian ministries. Located in Ventura, California, Barna has been conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984. If you would like to receive free e-mail notification of the release of each new, bi-monthly update on the latest research findings from The Barna Group, you may subscribe to this free service at the Barna website www.barna.org. Additional research-based resources, both free and at discounted prices, are also available through that website.

Religion in 2008

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:19:00 +0000

December 18, 2008

Religion shaped 2008 in big, dramatic ways

by Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama may have chosen Joe Biden, and John McCain may have turned to Sarah Palin, but in the end the most sought-after running mate in the 2008 campaign never appeared on a single ballot.

God, it seems, couldn’t be entirely wooed by either party.

The unprecedented and extraordinary prominence of religion in the 2008 election was easily the year’s top religion story. Both parties battled hard for religious voters, and both were forced to distance themselves from outspoken clergy whose fiery rhetoric threatened to become a political liability.

In the end, the top prize went to Obama, the son of a Muslim-born father and an atheist mother, who spent much of the campaign fighting off persistent — and untrue — rumors that he was a closet Muslim. His party, after years of consistently losing churchgoers to Republicans, decisively won Catholics, Jews, black Protestants and made small but significant inroads among some evangelicals.

McCain, meanwhile, managed to shore up his dispirited base of religious conservatives, winning three out of four born-again or evangelical votes, but his troubled campaign could not overcome an onslaught of negative economic news that, in the end, trumped all other issues.

“It’s very tempting but a bit dangerous to over-interpret what happened,” said Luis Lugo, executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. “Clearly Obama improved across all religious groups, but the economy just overwhelmed every other issue.”

Still, the 2008 campaign was remarkable for the ways religion — or religious figures — played such a prominent role. Obama was forced to sever ties with his fiery pastor of 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, for sermons that were deemed racist, anti-American and at times downright bizarre. McCain, in turn, was forced to return the endorsements of Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee and Ohio’s Rod Parsley.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson tried to play kingmaker by first saying he would not vote for McCain “under any circumstances” and later calling the Palin pick “God’s answer” to prayer.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the candidate who proved most popular among religious conservatives and who won the Iowa Republican caucuses in January, failed to gain traction despite ads that dubbed him a “Christian leader.”

Obama and Biden both faced strong opposition from Catholic leaders over their support of abortion rights. One American cardinal, James Stafford, called Obama’s election “apocalyptic” and a South Carolina Catholic priest told Obama supporters to head to confession before receiving Communion.

All of that, Lugo said, shows that voters want their politicians to be at least somewhat religious — but prefer to make up their own minds, without the interference of politically outspoken clergy.

“People still do not want religious institutions or religious leaders to weigh in on politics,” said Lugo. “There’s strong opposition to it, and a strong consensus against it.”

Yet one religious leader whose politics are fairly well-known — and not always embraced by the American public — received a 21-gun salute (literally) when he arrived at the White House in April for a six-day U.S. tour. When Pope Benedict XVI arrived for his first U.S. visit, many Catholics still clung to fond memories of his predecessor. But by the time he wrapped up his whirlwind spin around New York and Washington, Benedict left with higher approval ratings than when he arrived.

“What I saw in the faces of the people who waited to greet him, who had a chance to hear his message, was more than just happiness. It was a sense of profound joy,” said the Very Rev. David O’Connell, who hosted the pope as president of Catholic University in Washington.

The pope surprised his U.S. flock with an unexpected attention on the clergy sex abuse crisis. He told American bishops that the scandal had “sometimes been badly handled” and said they had a divine mandate to “bind up the wounds ... with loving concern to those so seriously wronged.” He met privately with a small group of abuse victims and told a stadium Mass of 46,000 that "no words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse."

“There was an expectation and a hope that the pope would say something comforting and consoling to a wounded church,” O’Connell said, “and I think he accomplished that.”

Despite their loss at the polls, conservatives continued their winning streak on the volatile question of gay marriage in California (where the state Supreme Court voted to allow same-sex marriages in May), Arizona and Florida. The high-stakes and expensive California fight, which is still being battled in the courts, reflects conservatives’ ability to rally the troops at the ballot box in opposition to gay marriage.

A related fight over homosexuality continued to roil the Episcopal Church, which saw dioceses in Fort Worth, TX, Quincy, IL, and Pittsburgh secede to realign with a more conservative Anglican province in Argentina. Related big-ticket legal fights resulted in a $2.5 million deficit for the national church.

In August, Episcopalians emerged from a once-a-decade summit of Anglican bishops in England relatively intact despite calls for discipline from conservative Anglican bishops, most of whom boycotted the three-week Lambeth Conference. That fragile unity will be tested in 2009, however, as conservatives move to establish a separate-but-equal province on U.S. soil.

The United Methodist Church voted to keep its traditional stance on homosexuality, maintaining rules that call homosexual activity “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

The Presbyterian Church (USA), meanwhile, proposed removal of a constitutional law that requires clergy to maintain “fidelity in marriage ... or chastity in singleness.” However, a majority of local presbyteries must approve the amendment, which may prove too high a hurdle.

Religion and secular law collided at a fundamentalist Mormon polygamist compound in Texas, and controversial sect leader Tony Alamo’s compound in Arkansas, over charges of sexual abuse of minors. In Oregon and Wisconsin, three sets of parents were charged in the faith-healing deaths of children who were denied routine medical treatment.

In November, the small, Utah-based Summum sect asked the U.S. Supreme Court for the right to erect monuments to its “Seven Aphorisms” alongside existing Ten Commandments markers in a case that could decide how much government can — or should — memorialize religious tenets.

Interfaith relations continued their difficult dance in 2008 as several high-level attempts at dialogue — by the United Nations, Saudi King Abdullah, the Vatican and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair — sought tentative common ground between the Muslim world and the largely Christian West.

At the same time, relations between the Vatican and Jewish groups remained tense after Benedict revised (but still allowed) a Good Friday prayer that God would “enlighten (Jews’) hearts so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, the savior of all men.”

On Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Benedict marked the 50th anniversary of the death of wartime pontiff Pope Pius XII, who some Jewish groups say didn’t do enough to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The world lost some leading religious lights in 2008, including Mormon President Gordon Hinckley and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, both 95; Lutheran theologian Krister Stendahl at age 86; Transcendental Meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, thought to be 91; and W. Deen Mohammed, who broke with the racially tinged teachings of the Nation of Islam founded by his father Elijah Mohammed, at age 74.

Churches in USA more diverse, informal than a decade ago

noreply@blogger.com (William) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:27:00 +0000

Churches in USA more diverse, informal than a decade ago

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Worship services may still be the USA's most segregated hour, but fewer congregations are now completely white, finds a study comparing churches, synagogues and mosques last year with a decade ago.

The National Congregations Study says 14% of primarily white congregations reported no minorities in their midst last year, compared with 20% in 1998.

Such steep change in a short period is noteworthy because "religious traditions and organizations are widely considered to be remarkably resistant to change," says sociology professor Mark Chaves of Duke University School of Divinity, the lead researcher. "There's movement in the right direction."

The study, in the journal Sociology of Religion, compared 1,505 congregations in 2006-07 with 1,234 in 1998. It was based on surveys by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Margin of error was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for the 2006-07 data and 3 percentage points for 1998 data.

The increase in diversity is only among primarily white churches; majority black churches are as segregated as ever, Chaves says. Among primarily white congregations, the number reporting at least some blacks rose from 27% in 1998 to 36% in 2006-07; those reporting at least some Hispanics rose from 24% to 32%.

Worship is not only more diverse, it's also "more informal and more enthusiastic by every measure," Chaves says, with more shouting, clapping and hands raised overhead in praise. Use of drums in worship jumped 70% in eight years, from 20% in 1998 to 34% in 2006-07. "We find drums almost everywhere, even in Catholic and Jewish services," he says.

These trends come to life in places such as Crossover Community Church in Tampa, where Sunday's rap Christmas pageant drew "everyone from grandparents to little kids," says pastor Tommy Kyllonen, who also goes by his hip-hop performing name, Urban D.

Since he took over Crossover seven years ago, Kyllonen, a pastor's son whose own heritage is a European mix from Greek to Finnish, has built a diverse congregation — he estimates that the high-energy worship services attract a congregation that is about 50% Hispanic, 30% black and 20% non-Hispanic white.

"It's still cutting-edge to have our kind of mix, but our society is becoming more and more culturally and racially mixed, and as time progresses, more churches will look like ours," says Kyllonen, author of Un.orthodox: Church. Hip-hop. Culture.

Another multi-racial, multi-ethnic congregation is Sanctuary Covenant Church, founded by Efram Smith in 2003 in North Minneapolis. It uses every musical style from traditional hymns to hip-hop.

"Our idea is to engage everyone in prayer and service, and we found that if people know they'll have music that is familiar to them, they're willing to try other styles," Smith says.

The study also found that both clergy and their congregations are substantially grayer now than in 1998. The average age of the lead clergy person in congregations has risen from 48 to 53, and one in three members are over age 60, up from one in four. This is partly the result of people living longer and fewer young families joining congregations.

"The two-parent family with kids is still the main basis of American religious congregational life, but that kind of household is somewhat less common than it used to be," Chaves says.

"And each generation, as it reaches that stage of life, seems to be joining or returning to (a religious congregation) at a slightly lower rate than the one before it."

Jesus not the only way

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:23:00 +0000

Many Americans Say Christianity Not the Only Way to Eternal Life

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081219/many-americans-say-christianity-not-the-only-way-to-eternal-life.htm

Most American Christians believe many religions can lead to eternal life and among them, the vast majority says you don't even have to be Christian to go to heaven, a new survey shows.

Sixty-five percent of all Christians say there are multiple paths to eternal life, ultimately rejecting the exclusivity of Christ teaching, according to the latest survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Even among white evangelical Protestants, 72 percent of those who say many religions can lead to eternal life name at least one non-Christian religion, such as Judaism or Islam or no religion at all, that can lead to salvation.

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, called the survey results "a theological crisis for American evangelicals," according to USA Today.

"They represent at best a misunderstanding of the Gospel and at worst a repudiation of the Gospel," the prominent evangelical theologian said.

Majorities among white evangelicals, white mainline Christians, and black Protestants who do not believe in the exclusivity of salvation say Catholicism and Judaism can lead to eternal life, Pew results show.

Smaller but still sizeable percentages (more than half) of white mainline Christians, black Protestants and white Catholics who say there are multiple ways to eternal life also say Islam can lead to salvation; among white evangelicals, 35 percent agree. And more than half of white mainline Christians and white Catholics who view heaven's gates as wide say Hinduism can lead to eternal life compared to 33 percent of white eva! ngelicals and 44 percent of black Protestants.

Surprisi! ngly, Ch ristians also believe atheism can provide a ticket to heaven. Forty-six percent of white mainline Christians, 49 percent of white Catholics and 26 percent of white evangelicals who believe many religions lead to salvation say atheism can lead to eternal life.

Mohler called the findings "an indictment of evangelicalism and evangelical preaching."

"The clear Biblical teaching is that Jesus Christ proclaimed himself to be the only way to salvation," he told USA Today.

Explaining the challenge many believers face in today's culture, Mohler noted, "We are in an age when we want to tell everyone they are doing just fine. It's extremely uncomfortable to turn to someone and say, 'You will go to hell unless you come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.'"

The Pew Forum first surveyed Americans on the exclusivity view of salvation in 2007. The survey of 35,000 adults provided startling numbers with 57 percent of evangelical church attendees saying they believe m! any religions can lead to eternal life and overall, 70 percent of Americans sharing that view.

But when the survey results were released in June this year, critics reported flaws in the survey such as the Pew Forum's definition of evangelical and the vagueness of the statement "many religions can lead to eternal life." Critics say it was possible some respondents may have interpreted "many religions" as other Christian denominations besides their own while others might have thought more broadly to include non-Christian faiths.

The new survey, conducted July 31-Aug. 10, 2008, among nearly 3,000 adults, serves to clarify the previous findings.

And alarmingly, 52 percent of all American Christians think that at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life.

Additionally, only 30 percent of those affiliated with a religion say one's belief determines eternal life; 29 percent say eternal life depends on one's actions and 10 percent believe ! it's a combination of belief and actions.

White evangel! icals we re less likely to say actions determine who obtains eternal life compared to white mainline believers, black Protestants and white Catholics; and they were more likely to agree that salvation is dependent on belief (64 percent) compared to only 25 percent of white mainline Christians.

Despite the alarming findings, the Pew Forum provided one trend that may be good news for evangelical Christians.

The percentage of evangelical Christians who say theirs is the one, true faith has gone up from 39 percent in 2002 to 49 percent in 2008. The religious exclusivity view has also grown among black Protestants, all Catholics, and slightly among white mainline Protestants.

Fighter jet crash in San Diego

noreply@blogger.com (William) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:57:00 +0000

On December 8, 2008, an F/A-18D Hornet lost control and crashed into a civilian neighboorhood in San Diego. The house where the plane crashed belonged to Dong Yun Yoon, member of the Korean United Methodist Church of San Diego. While Mr. Yoon was not home at the time and is alive, four of his family members were home during the crash and did not survive. Please pray for wife Young Mi, daughter Grace (15 month), Rachel (1 month), and Young Mi's mother Mrs. Suk Im Kim.

First, please pray and offer support for the Yoon family. His church website has information on how you can offer support.

Mr. Dong Yun Yoon's Support Information

On Monday December 8, 2008 Dong Yun Yoon (member of the Korean United Methodist Church of San Diego) lost four of his family members in the recent F/A-18D jet crash in San Diego.

We will dearly miss his wife Young Mi, daughter Grace (15 month), Rachel (1 month), and Young Mi's mother Mrs. Suk Im Kim.

Donations
A Trust Fund has now been created for Mr. Dong Yun Yoon.

Dong Yoon # 200-717-333, SD Hanmi Bank

If you are unable to find a Hanmi Bank in your area, you can mail your donations to the Korean United Methodist Church at 3520 Mt. Acadia Blvd. San Diego, CA 92111

Related Articles:
San Diego Father Who Lost Family Prays for Pilot
Lesson of San Diego's jet crash

College Students and Cults

noreply@blogger.com (PJ) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:16:00 +0000

College students find important lessons in ‘cult’ class

By Julie O'Connor

First year students at Centenary College in Hackettstown, N.J., are asked to study cults of their choosing. Students studying cults were invited to test the independence of their own thinking, and examine the shades of gray in adult life. Freshman Peter Collins delivered his presentation on the Branch Davidians, the cult from Waco, Texas, that made headlines in a violent and fiery demise. Religion News Service photo by John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger.

HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. -- Waiting on the desks of about 20 freshmen enrolled in a new class at Centenary College were paper cups filled with fruit punch.

Already, a test.

Would they "drink the Kool-Aid?"

The challenge, posed by professor Barbara Lewthwaite, was part of a new course offered this year, "Cults: Love them or leave them."

Freshmen criminal justice and sociology majors were asked to research "cults" of their choosing, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Rev. Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple, Charles Manson, the Mafia -- even Catholicism.

It's an unconventional topic for an annual course required for first-year students, said Cheryl Veronda, who heads the program at Centenary, which was founded in 1867 by the United Methodist Church.

"It's a hook, certainly," she said, "but it's a theme that serves as a springboard for everything else we want to get done in the class."

That includes orienting students to college life and study habits, and introducing them to an advising professor and upper-class mentors.

Other freshman offerings include "But is it Art?" for fine arts majors, "Mass Violence, Atrocity and Genocide" for history and psychology majors, and "Major Decisions," for the still-undecided.

Students studying cults were invited to test the independence of their own thinking, and examine the shades of gray in adult life, said Lewthwaite, who chose the topic to pique student interest.

"Classically, an 18-year-old thinks in absolutes," she said. To counter that, she raised questions like, "Do you think that a cult is always bad?"

Not necessarily, Lewthwaite said. A cult is usually defined by characteristics like a charismatic leader, dedication to certain ideas, brain-washing, forbidding members to leave, the use of symbols and violence.

"I think the word `cult' is kind of emotionally charged," she said. "I think it has a negative connotation. It does because of things like Jonestown ... but historically, there have been examples of a few that were forces for good in some ways."

Fanaticism, she said, is what drives a cult to evil, and makes it all-consuming.

The Kool-Aid was part of a lesson on Jonestown. Thirty years ago, Jones led about 900 Americans to their deaths in a mass murder-suicide pact that took place in a South American jungle. Shortly before his followers drank cups of cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, Jones' gunmen killed a visiting U.S. congressman and four others at a nearby airstrip.

What ended in a massacre had begun as an interracial Indianapolis congregation in the 1950s, developing into a leftist social movement with programs for the poor. Eventually, Jones summoned his followers to a camp in Guyana, promising paradise.

Not all cults have tragic histories, said student Colleen Akronas, who researched Father Divine's International Peace Mission Movement. She considers the group, formed during the Great Depression, to be an early cult with a beneficial mission: racial integration.

"It wasn't negative brain-washing, it was positive," Akronas said.

Student Tom Pierce said he chose to study Catholicism because he wanted to tackle a group that didn't fit the mainstream idea of a cult. Like many cults, he argued in a class presentation, Catholics have one principal leader -- the pope -- and employ fund-raising.

"The whole idea of heaven and an afterlife, it could be said to be deception," he said.

But Samantha Aquino, a classmate who is Catholic, disagreed.

While she said some might suggest the pope exhibits a "false sense of identity, because he thinks he's closer to God than everyone else," unlike a cult, "Catholicism is really out to help people."

"I wouldn't say there would be such a thing as a good cult," Aquino added.

Students who were initially certain they would never "drink the Kool-Aid" said they now better understand how cult followers are drawn in.

"It just shows you how easily people can be manipulated," Aquino said. "You always have to be on your toes."

(Julie O'Connor writes for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.)

Adopted from Russia with love to Korean home

noreply@blogger.com (William) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:47:00 +0000

Adopted from Russia with love to Korean home

Jang Su-in, 19, is like any other student at Chonnam Girls High School in Gwangju, South Jeolla, except for one thing - her appearance.

In Korea’s ethnically homogenous society, with her fair skin, high nose, deep double eyelids, brown eyes, long eyelashes and light-brown hair, this Russian teen certainly looks foreign in appearance, yet speaks Korean just as fluently as her classmates.

Jang was born to a Russian family and named Nastya Baskaeva, but since being adopted into a Korean family seven years ago, she has lived in Korea.

One of six siblings, Jang grew up with her birth parents in the remote village of Mosdok in southern Russia, so remote it takes a two-hour flight and then a two-hour drive to reach from Moscow. Due to the family’s poverty and with her father too old to work, Jang was not able to go to school

In February 2001, Korean couple Jang Byung-jeong, 56, and Kim Kyung-hee, 53, were visiting a local Mosdok church. After meeting the young Russian, they decided to take her back with them to Korea, where they believed she could receive a better education, and adopted her as their daughter.

Arriving in Korea, the 12-year-old Jang quickly picked up the Korean language and in less than six months could enter the sixth grade.

Battling the culture shock and initial language difficulties, Jang had to go the extra mile to keep up with her classes. Adding to the shock was the fact it was her first time in a formal school setting.

Now seven years on, Jang is a senior in high school and recently took the college entrance examination.

Jang has aspirations to be a Korean-Russian interpreter in the future so that she can serve the country of her birth and her new home. She hopes to major in Russian at university.

Jang’s Korean parents, although well-off when they adopted her, have suffered financial difficulties since lending money to an acquaintance a few years ago. Her father now drives a taxi for a living. When her mother once ran a small restaurant, Jang always helped her on the weekends.

“She is such a good kid, with the sense to practice economy with her allowance and rarely asking for more spending money,” her mother Kim said. “It was heartbreaking to hear her say one day that she couldn’t ask for things she wanted lest she worry us.

“I’m just so proud that she has grown up so well, while I feel sorry that we couldn’t fully provide her with what she would’ve needed,” she added.

In keeping with her good sense, Jang hopes she can be admitted to a national university with relatively low tuition fees, so as not to be a burden on her parents.

She once even considered going back to Russia, where tuition fees are lower than Korea. But later, after thinking it over with her Korean parents, she decided it would be her birth parents’ wish to see her study in Korea and become a successful Korean-Russian interpreter. After all, they had sent her here despite the sadness of separation in order for her to live a better life.

“One day I will have both my Russian and Korean parents with me when I grow up and I will be ready to support them,” Jang said.

By Lee Hae-suck JoongAng Ilbo [spark0320@joongang.co.kr]

South Korea's kimchi deficit

noreply@blogger.com (William) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:19:00 +0000

South Korea's kimchi deficit
South Koreans' national dish is increasingly made -- cheaper -- in China.
Gregory Rodriguez
November 3, 2008

There's probably no nation in the world more emblematic of the pitfalls and challenges of rapid modernization than South Korea. South Korean society is a caldron of competition and contradiction, caught between respecting the past and striving for the future.

And now it seems this nation -- which worked its way from the Third World to the First World in a single generation, and whose people show the strain by working more hours, consuming more hard liquor, having more sex and committing more suicides than in any other country -- is facing another culture clash between traditional identity and a globalizing world: the kimchi deficit.

It's difficult to overestimate the cultural significance of kimchi in South Korean society. It's the national staple: cabbage fermented in garlic, chilies and vinegar. More than just food to Koreans, kimchi is a cultural icon and a national treasure. In Seoul, you can meander through a museum dedicated to promoting its history and beneficial qualities.

Earlier this year, when the first South Korean astronaut ventured into space, three government research institutes spent millions to develop bacteria-free kimchi to send with him into orbit. "If a Korean goes to space, kimchi must go there too," one scientist told a reporter.

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture threw its weight behind a $40-million public-private campaign to make Korean cuisine as famous as French, Japanese, Thai, Chinese and Italian, and spreading the gospel of kimchi is no doubt central to the strategy.

In addition to establishing Korean culinary schools abroad, the goal is to quadruple the number of Korean restaurants around the globe by 2017.

But last week, a report to the South Korean parliament revealed a flaw in the nation's culinary ambitions: the country's kimchi trade deficit.

It seems that growing domestic demand for cheap, Chinese-made fermented cabbage has led to a 376% surge in imported kimchi from 2004 to 2007. For those three years, South Korea's kimchi trade deficit reached $77.3 million. The national symbol -- what one writer called "the palpable expression of the country's feisty spirit" -- is now more likely to be made in China than at home.

Everyone knows that eating is not just about satisfying a physiological need. It also serves a psychological and social function. Food plays a primary role in how people create and maintain their identities. We define each other by the foods we eat. As one scholar has put it, food binds "taste and satiety to group loyalties. Eating habits both symbolize and mark the boundaries of culture."

But just as much as it binds us to an identity and a place, food is transportable and even mutable. For good and ill, once I find out about your favorite food, I can cook it and eat it myself. I might even put my own stamp on it. I might even sell it back to you. You might like my version better than yours.

In the U.S., ethnic food consumption has risen dramatically over the last quarter of a century. Sociologists disagree about what significance this "internal tourism" has for our society -- does a growing hunger for foreign foods make us all budding internationalists? And if we're eating kimchi, will it, as the South Korean government seems to believe, translate into greater influence and respect for South Korea?

So far, the debate over the cultural consequences of globalization has been primarily about the evils and benefits of "McDonaldization" (stultifying homogenization) or, in novelist Salman Rushdie's term, "chutneyfication" (glorious mixture). But South Korea's concern over its kimchi deficit points to a much more subtle and potentially menacing dynamic of modern life. What happens when that which you consider to be yours exclusively begins to come from somewhere else?

If you think this is a silly question, just remember that it was a feeling of cultural displacement that helped fuel the fundamentalism of Egyptian student Mohamed Atta in Germany. In times of great change, people tend to cling to what they think are the fundaments of their culture and religion.

South Korea's kimchi deficit could point to a future in which we are all acutely aware of how intertwined we are. But it could also presage increased personal confusion, displacement and anxiety, and a provincial cultural retrenchment.

Chinese-made kimchi could carry the pungent smell of a contentious future.

Area Koreans nurture their roots (Minnesota)

noreply@blogger.com (William) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Area Koreans nurture their roots
Worship service leads to outreach to community

By Sara Gilbert Frederick
Special to The Free Press

MANKATO — Church was a struggle for Lauren Park.

Although Park, who was born in Korea, had lived in the United States for several years and was gaining more and more confidence with the English language, she had a hard time keeping up during church services.

“Church was almost like an English class for me,” she says. “I had to concentrate so much on the words that it wasn’t very spiritual for me.”

Park’s wish for a sermon in her native tongue coincided with Julie Kim’s desire to maintain the Korean culture for herself and her family. She was born in Korea but grew up in Chicago, as did her husband. Their two children were both born in the United States.

“It’s getting harder and harder to maintain that sense of culture,” Kim says. “Even for me. English is my first language; I’m definitely more fluent in English than I am in Korean.”

Park, too, wanted her children to grow up with a Korean influence. “I wanted them to understand me and the culture I grew up in,” she says. “I try hard to understand them, and I hope that they will be able to understand me as well.”

As the two women started talking about their own needs, they found out about Jonathon Lee, a Korean pastor serving a Methodist church in Le Center. With his help and two other families, they started a Korean church in Mankato in February 2007.

About 30 people now regularly attend that church service, held 12:30 p.m. Sundays at the Centenary United Methodist Church at Second and Cherry streets. Most of the service is in Korean, including the hymns, but a summary of the sermon is available in English as well.

As the congregation grew, so did the opportunities to get together. Many of the adults in the group, for example, began meeting every Friday evening for a Bible study. During that meeting, their children study the Korean language with international students from Minnesota State University.

“The teacher is wonderful this year,” Park said. “She gives a lot of homework. So I love her — but maybe my son doesn’t so much.”

Now they want to share the connections they’ve made to their culture with the rest of the community — especially local Korean adoptees and their families.

“We want to be able to give back to the community,” Kim says. “We have an opportunity to share our culture with those who want to learn about it. That’s a great thing that we can do.”

They started with Korean Culture Night, a celebration of Korean dance, food, art and other cultural aspects held last summer. That led to plans for both a language school for adoptees, which they hope to launch in January, and a Korean Culture Camp tentatively scheduled for August 2009.

The language school will be held on Friday evenings at Centenary. The camp will span three or four days with time to focus on language basics as well as activities such as tae kwon do, Korean dancing and singing, and traditional games and toys. They’ll try to incorporate the culture of modern Korea as well.

“We saw a need for this,” Kim says. “There’s a good number of Korean adoptees in the area, and we know that a lot of them go up to the Twin Cities to culture camps and to find exposure for their families and themselves. We thought, why should they have to go so far?”

...