intrusive, potent cultural values of contemporary America have skewed Christianity’s classical beliefs and deconstructed the Church’s wisest and proven faith-forming practices.

As the inquirers assembled, she introduced herself to each person (there were seven) and engaged each one directly. Addressing the whole group, she asked if anyone had a question about what had gone on in

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.

Waypoint 2: Christian Worship Prioritizes the “Means of Grace” — the Word of God, Sacraments, and Prayer

Membership chores and a “culture of membership” were displacing, or becoming a substitute for, the teaching the practices

where their own self-defined spiritual needs and tastes are best met. Choosing churches out of loyalty to the “brand names” of Protestant denominations has become increasingly passé. Most Protestant folks, Roof found, participate in mainline congregations believing whatever they prefer, attending whenever they choose, contributing what they want,

foundational for any congregation’s ministry and witness. They are

American denominations were divided not so much by doctrinal or liturgical differences as by politics, social class, and ethnicity.

world?