“why are Christians generally regarded as such a dour bunch? I’ll confess that even I have thought of Christians that way. And when I’m visiting a church and walk in on Sunday morning, if I can’t sense any kind of… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
“people who come through your doors and stay are there not because they have to be, but because they want to be. And that is very good news. I would rather have a congregation of one hundred people committed to… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
“for the next week we endured what can only be described as verbal abuse from anti-equality Christians. Truly, not all of those opposing marriage equality were mean spirited. Some were nice enough, and went so far as to offer us water and snacks. Too many others, though, were just plain unkind, and too few of the good Christians who stood… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share
“for purposes of discussion, let’s just say it is time for the mainline church to start looking for the “next big thing” that will unite us in purpose and divide us in debate. What will it be? As I said, I have some ideas. Caring for the environment is on the top of the list. Responding to growing numbers of… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share
“if you have something capable of lighting up your whole house, why would you ever want to hide that light? The only logical thing… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
“Carved in stone on the front of Old South Church in Boston is this inscription from the book of Revelation: “Behold, I Set Before… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
“Fifty years ago there were no Little League games on Sunday mornings, and the stores stayed closed. But while we like to complain about Sunday soccer practice, the reality is that those practices would have never been moved to Sunday mornings had the church not already lost so many of its faithful. Sunday soccer did not kill church attendance. Sunday… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share
“the United Church of Christ, has gone from more than two million members in 1957 (the year two denominations merged to form the current one) to less than one million today. And each of the other mainline denominations can tell a similar story. At the same time, more conservative traditions are seeing growth, or at least declining at a much… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share
“when they’ve taken some time and then told me about their thoughts, at the core of nearly every answer is this: a sense that… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
“we spend a lot of our time navel gazing. We talk about church decline, and whether or not to sell our buildings, and what our new denominational structures will look like. We run to the next new church vitality prophet and listen for something that will “save” us. And then, when all of this fails to revive our churches, we… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share
“if we believe that being a Christian is about more than just works, and if we believe that who we are as children of… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
“the suspicion of science is not based in actual Christian belief. My congregation full of educators and scientists disproves that. But the bumper sticker… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
“It is charity only in the sense of the original meaning of the word, the one that comes from charis, or grace. And for… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
“why are Christians generally regarded as such a dour bunch? I’ll confess that even I have thought of Christians that way. And when I’m… — Emily C. Heath Copy Share Image
