Anglican practices and rituals are primarily found in the Book of Common Prayer, the prayer book of Anglicanism, which helps define Anglican beliefs and worship practices on every level. The book is almost as important as the Bible itself to Anglicans. The Book of Common Prayer, which defines the “common”
The Baptist denomination is the largest free church denomination in the world with 43 million members. It is one of the largest Protestant Free Church denominations. More than 75 percent of all Baptists – about 33 million – live in America. There are about 216,000 Baptists in Great Britain, 850,000
The Catholic Church, known as the Roman Catholic Church, has well over one billion members, about one-sixth of the world’s population. It’s the world’s largest Christian denomination. It’s also the largest organized body of any world religion. Catholics are led by the Pope, also known as the Bishop of Rome,
Lutheranism is not a single entity. It is organized in autonomous regional or national churches. Globally, there are some 150 such Lutheran church bodies. Lutheranism is one of the largest Protestant denominations. It is also the oldest Protestant denomination. Lutheranism retains much of the tradition of the ancient and medieval
There are Methodist Churches in nearly every country in the world and global membership numbers about 70 million in 138 countries. The World Methodist Council (WMC), an association of churches in the Methodist tradition, comprises more than 40.5 million Methodists. There are at least 19 Wesleyan Methodist denominations in the
Theology has always been a precarious discipline. This is in part because of its breathtaking audacity—to speak about God, no less! It is also because of its unavoidable dependence on cultural milieus, social institutions, and intellectual tools that it does not completely control. It arose out of the crucible of
Is the Word of Wisdom Growing Less Relevant? The Word of Wisdom is viewed by some as a cultural relic of a Church that once fretted over trivial issues like what kind of beverages were sinful. Too many have trivialized its message and purpose, seeing only the debate over a
Note: This is an update to the November 2020 post “When Trust Is Broken: A Response to Allegations against Musician David Haas.” When planning worship, pastors and musicians make important decisions about what their assembly will sing. What is sung is both an expression of the writer/composer and an act
Making Change in an Older Church (Without Running Over the Old Guard) It can be particularly challenging for a pastor to lead change in an older church when the primary decision makers (or most of the members) have been in the church for several years, sometimes a few decades. Thom
All terrain erodes, including even the steepest slopes, and those of words do not escape this law of time. By dint of passing from one mouth to another (and from one generation to the next), some words are so old and oafish that they end up becoming nothing more than
In the aftermath of the digital revolution, evangelization has become uniquely treacherous while remaining absolutely essential to the life of the Church. The unpredictable and ever-growing list of dangers encountered in the digital settings that define our generation—from known concerns related to mental and societal health[1] to emerging critiques of
Cover image vis Gospel Media Library. It was Easter Sunday and my dad was five years old. His parents were sound asleep, as they had attended a late-night gala, and couldn’t be roused. Dad woke up his little sister, who was three years old, and helped her put on the