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
Editor’s Note: In this ongoing series, Paul Bishop, who has been a police detective and is also a prolific author, takes us into his journey working closely with AI. He gives us a glimpse into what to expect now when using AI, assumptions to put aside and surprises to encounter.
A Name for Being Alive, But… By Stephen Rankin A group of people in the church I serve is reading through the Bible in a year. In the New Testament section of the schedule we’re following, we’ve made it to Revelation. We recently read through those letters to the seven
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 holds some of the most familiar words in the Bible, the ones many people know from the Byrds’ 1965 song “Turn, Turn, Turn” long before they know where they come from. In this episode of the Sermon Notes Podcast, Jay Strother and Brian Ball pick up that passage
How Do We Know When to Shut Down a Church? Before concluding that a church should close, it should be tested from five different angles. No single test is decisive by itself. Together, however, they help pastors, elders, and sending churches discern whether Christ is calling a struggling church to
There have been proud spirits who placed the whole efficacy of the virtues in free will alone; in our age there are also many who utterly despair that free will is anything at all.[1] So Anselm in the early eleventh century contrasted the issues of his day to Augustine’s contest
All lovers of the visual arts are certainly familiar with the work of Hans Holbein the Younger, such as his famous portraits of St. Thomas More, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. His friend and mentor Erasmus of Rotterdam referred to Apelles of Kos, the most renowned
Meridian Magazine
Sanctification and the Sacraments: Encountering the Transforming Presence of God By Jonathan A. Powers This article is the fourth in a four-week series on sanctification drawn from the webinar sponsored by the John Wesley Institute, exploring the biblical and Wesleyan vision of a life made holy by the power