The Rise of the ‘Umms’

At the same time, it has never been more important to gather in small groups.

Close Christian fellowship — gathering with others who know us by name, who are our literal neighboring brothers and sisters in Christ, to study God’s Word, break bread, and pray together — is not an optional extra for Christians, but the very source of our life and flouri

The very inadequacy of church services, Zoom and otherwise, is a reminder we do not come into churches to encounter a life lesson on how to raise our children or to learn to be good Americans, whatever that means. Our aim is much more audacious. We are attempting to encounter God and, in so doing, find ourselves, possibly for the first time.

But what if the church itself—the people of God gathered in one place—is intended to be the attraction, regardless of who is teaching or singing that day? This is enough for our brothers and sisters around the world.”5

What puts the local congregation in a crisis, I believe, is not necessarily that congregations are losing pace to dynamic stabilization (which is often how consultants and denominational officials frame it). Rather, the deeper issue is not only that people lack the time and energy for community, practice, and substantive moral traditions but that t

If a congregation wants change, it will start not by being concerned with relevance and resources, but with the good life of resonance, seeking for the living Christ where Christ can be found, in the disclosure of personhood, where time is not made to accelerate but becomes full and sacred. Time becomes full and sacred through the continued disclos