Instead, it is supposed to be an encounter with God. Through reading, prayer and study, the preacher hears from God and then passes on what they learned to the congregation.

When a pastor short-circuits that by plagiarising, it's an act of betrayal, said McKnight. Read more

That's the conclusion of a new Pew Research Center study, released Tuesday (Aug. 23), which asked 5,000 people about their search for a new church or other house of worship.

"This is what people value in a congregation — a good message, a good homily that resonates with them and gives them guidance," said Greg Smith, Pew's associate director for religion research.

More than 4 in 5 people (83 percent) put preaching at the top of their checklist. Preaching was followed by clergy and lay leaders who make them feel welcome (79 percent) and an appealing style of service (74 percent).

And for those pastors, imams and rabbis who are wondering how a snazzy website factors into potential congregants' searches, the survey reveals that in-person encounters carry much more weight.

"This may be because some of the factors people say they value the most in choosing a congregation — the quality of sermons, the style of services and a welcoming leadership — are difficult to assess over the phone or on a website," the researchers concluded.

Why do people look for a new house of worship?

The most common reason given (34 percent) is because a congregant has moved. Far less frequently did respondents cite a theological reason or dissatisfaction with the house of worship they used to attend, or the clergy who led it.

About half of those searching for a new congregation (48 percent) considered switching denominations. But for two groups in particular — Catholics and members of historically black churches — switching is uncommon, with only a third reporting such a change as a consideration.

"When searching for a new congregation, Americans value quality of sermons and feeling welcomed." Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center
The survey also found that:

— Half of American adults (51 percent) say they attend religious services regularly — at least once or twice a month. Continue reading

Sources

• Religion News Service, article by Lauren Markoe, a national reporter for RNS since 2011.
• Image: The Times of Israel

The poll of 1400 regular churchgoing Christians found that they ranked explanations of the Bible as 27 times as important in a sermon as humour and "practical application" 42 times more highly than personal anecdote.

Continue reading

Preaching at an evensong service in New York in January, Archbishop Welby said Jesus' life "challenges every assumption" about society.

"He does not permit us to accept a society in which the weak are excluded - whether because of race, wealth, gender, ability, or sexuality.

"Nor did he permit us and does he permit us to turn religion into morality.

"The old sermons that we have heard so often in England, which I grew up with, which if you boiled them down all they effectively said was: ‘Wouldn't the world be a nicer place if we were all a bit nicer?'

"That is the kind of moral claptrap that Jesus does not permit us to accept."

He told the congregation "we are to get involved, we are to get our hands dirty".

But too often churches had just "circled the wagons in order to keep the enemy out".

Archbishop Welby also cautioned against Christians making the "mistake of identification with the world as all there is".

This is "a mistake we often make today in the way we speak and live".

Speaking about deprivation and inequality, he detailed his experiences in Liverpool, where he served as Dean of the Anglican cathedral for four years, insisting it was imperative for churches to be involved in their communities.

Archbishop Welby added that Christians are to be "caught up in a revolution of expectation and of implementation".

"Were it not for the fact that [Jesus] is in title Prince of Peace, and lived out his mission in service and foot-washing, ending it in crucifixion and resurrection, this would be a call to violent revolution; but even that option is removed from our hands by the way in which he lived his life and calling."

The Archbishop was visiting New York to speak at the "'Creating the Common Good" conference organised by the Trinity Institute.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Christian Today
• Lambeth Palace
• Image: The Guardian

Zach Zehnder, the 31-year-old pastor of the Cross Mount Dora in Florida set out to break the previous record of 48 hours and 31 minutes in an effort to raise money for a nonprofit that offers free alcohol and drug-addiction treatment services.

He combined around 45 sermons and preached them sequentially which allowed him to surpass the record.

Zehnder prepared 50, but skipped a few in the middle. Read more

Houston's city attorney issued subpoenas in response to a lawsuit related to the city's new non-discrimination ordinance.

The new law, which has yet to take effect, would, among other things, allow men who identify as women to use restrooms of their choice and vice-versa.

A petition to put this to voters was knocked back, resulting in a lawsuit, and hence the subpoenas.

The pastors are required to hand over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender issues or Houston's first openly lesbian mayor Annise Parker.

Although the five pastors are not plantiffs in the lawsuit, they organised the petition, so their sermons are relevant, the city's attorney said.

Critics have charged that the city's move contravenes religious liberty and is an attack on the first amendment to the US constitution.

Continue reading

I can't call to mind ever leaving mass with a zeal and fiery passion to go make a difference that was so hot I wanted to jump in the Baptismal font just to cool off.

I don't mean to be facetious.

Let me state first off that it is my deepest desire to go to heaven.

However, I am human, a sinner, and in desperate need of unabridged, pure, uncensored truth.

• As such I long to be inspired, motivated, incriminated, and called to redemption.
• I need the gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, guidance of the shepherd's staff to direct and keep me on the narrow path.
• I hunger for Scripture to be opened up and made relevant, as well as doctrine and dogma to enlighten my mind and direct my footsteps.

Father Barron says that "too often the dogmas and doctrines of the Church are presented in such an abstract and disembodied way that their transformative power is largely overlooked."

I have sat in talks and been preached at in pews, as the speaker danced and side stepped around any word or phrase that has the potential to offend me in some unintended way. I once heard a Deacon preach on Ephesians 5:22, literally apologizing his way through the entire sermon, leaving the whole congregation totally befuddled and perplexed.

Why are so many fearful to save our souls, but doing back flips not to offend our puny egos?

I want to learn, to grow, to be provoked to change my habitual tendency to sin. I want the leadership in our Church to be the shepherds God appointed them to be and to do whatever it takes to bring their congregations to heaven. Teach us, arouse our curiosity about all things God, wake us out of our long slumber and lethargy. Continue reading

Image: Fox News

Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said that priests who used theological language that was formulaic and boring risked making the gospel irrelevant.

Grey, dull and flavourless sermons need to be livened up with graphic stories and scandal contained within the Bible, the Cardinal said.

"The advent of televised and computerised information requires us to be compelling and trenchant, to cut to the heart of the matter, to resort to narratives and colour."

The Bible was "crowded with stories, symbols and images," he said.

Speaking at a conference in Rome, he said Twitter was also an effective way of spread the Word of God.

"We need to remember that communicating faith doesn't just take place through sermons. It can be achieved through the 140 characters of a Twitter message."

Cardinal Ravasi, a champion of new media who writes a blog for the website of Italy's respected financial daily, Il Sole 24 Ore, said that whether they liked it or not, priests in the pulpit should be aware that their congregations were "the children of television and the internet."

Sources

• The Telegraph
• SMH
• Image: Incaelo