News & Ideas

Tuesday's News & Ideas - 6/6/2023

  • Quest Church leaves ECC
  • CMA to ordain women
  • Cornel West’s presidential bid
  • OK approves tax-funded religious school
  • Pacifist sect from Russia
  • Visible mending

Seattle’s Quest Church leaves ECC as church affirms LGBTQ Christians
Religion News Service: The Seattle megachurch’s move to disaffiliate from the denomination comes as the ECC was prepared to vote this summer on expelling Quest and Awaken Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, over the churches’ support for LGBTQ Christians.

Christian and Missionary Alliance will ordain women*
Christianity Today: Ministers may now use the title “pastor” regardless of gender.

Left-wing philosopher Cornel West launches long-shot 2024 presidential bid
Reuters: Cornel West, a progressive political activist and philosopher, announced on Monday that he is launching a third-party 2024 bid for the U.S. presidency.

Oklahoma school board approves what would be the 1st taxpayer-funded religious school in US
Associated Press: A state school board in Oklahoma voted Monday to approve what would be the first publicly funded religious school in the nation, despite a warning from the state’s attorney general that the decision was unconstitutional.

A pacifist sect from Russia is shaken by war, and modernity*
The New York Times: The Ukraine conflict is causing soul-searching among the Doukhobors, a peace-loving group that emigrated to Canada in 1899.

The Spark

If you want to fix your own clothes, try this easy style of mending
Visible mending is having a moment. A flurry of “how-to” books have been published in the last five years, and social media has become a hub for sharing mending ideas that emphasize artistic flair and self-expression, NPR says.

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Friday's News & Ideas - 9/22/2023

  • Gallup poll on spiritual & religious
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Thursday's News & Ideas - 9/21/2023

  • SBC expels church where pastor did blackface
  • Falwell’s legal battle with Liberty
  • Theology of Sojourner Truth
  • Religious objections to DEI
  • Survey on Catholics & marriage
  • Bob Ross painting sold

Wednesday's News & Ideas - 9/20/2023

  • Suspended UMC bishop trial
  • Why don’t men sing in worship?
  • Hamline University lawsuit
  • Temple’s president dies after event
  • Legal battle over confessional
  • Kathmandu’s kung fu nuns
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Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants

The Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship is designed to foster, strengthen and sustain well-grounded worship in congregations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Two streams of grants are offered: to teacher-scholars and to worshiping communities.

Grant proposal due date options include October 15, 2023, or February 15 or June 15, 2024.

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