In observance of Arab American Heritage Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries invited Dr. Ryan LaHurd to share his thoughts on this topic with our readers. April is Arab American Heritage Month. As an Arab American, I might be expected to write about all the great things Arab Americans have contributed
Scripture: Revelation 7:9–10 Devotion It’s easy to limit our view of faith and church to what’s familiar and right in front of us. Thankfully, Scripture gives us a higher and wider view of the church, one that extends far beyond our congregation or nation. In Matthew 28, Jesus sends His
The Silent Shift: Why Your Core Members Are Attending Less (and Telling You Nothing) If you only measure loss by membership rolls, you’ll miss what’s happening in real time. People are LYING About Church Attendance For years, surveys have said 22% of Americans attend church every week. New research from
The chapter on the people of God begins: “At all times and in every race God has given welcome to whosoever fears him and does what is right. God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has
A dreadful confusion of forms has emerged. These forms no longer have roots in life and its essential content. We build theaters in the form of temples, banks in the form of cathedrals, apartment complexes in the form of palaces. Working days and Sundays merge into one another. —Guardini (1994),
The following first appeared on Public Square Magazine. If you were to learn about Latter-day Saint garments only from mainstream media coverage, you might assume that women experience them primarily as a burden: physically uncomfortable, medically suspect, sexually inhibiting, or symbolically oppressive. Some women do experience them that way, and
Holiness: Becoming Fully Human By Josh Duckworth The young denomination to which I belong has, from its inception, placed a major focus on “holiness.” The Global Methodist Church even revised its mission statement at its first General Conference to read: “make disciples of Jesus Christ and spread scriptural holiness across
Prepare: Jesus’ disciples are familiar with fear. Throughout the gospel of John, we hear that Jesus’ followers are filled with fear, especially of the Jewish authorities. To proclaim Jesus as messiah is to face expulsion from the synagogue and separation from family and friends. Following Jesus comes with fear and