Marginalized

As long as those who hold the keys to power, continue to marginalize those who hold less power, the Church (uppercase) will continue to grow more relevant to those in power, and less relevant to those without.

While this may have been OK even just a few decades ago, when people felt they had no other choices outside of the local church (lowercase), this attitude is not a sustainable model for church health.  Society continues to give people more and more permission to express themselves, but the church still exists in a state of denial.

Read more »

The Importance of Criticism

by Andy Hanson

I can clearly remember how I, as a teacher, felt on the last day of school when a student returned my copy of the high school year book. I hadn't seen it in a week. It had been passed around from student to student in a large high school. Where it had been, who had written in it, and what they had written were still a mystery as I drove home on Thursday afternoon. I was apprehensive. What had they said? Their grades had been turned in, and the seniors, at least, could really tell me what they thought of me as a person and as a teacher without fear of retribution. And there was always the possibility that unflattering anonymous messages might be scrawled across prominent signature pages.

Read more »