Category Archives: Spirituality

A Grief Unobserved – Part 3

            Last week, I remembered the anniversary of my little brother McKinley’s death by overdose. Because he could not afford legal representation, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a crime that wealthy white persons typically get placed on probation. Within a couple of weeks of his release, he was back using drugs.Continue reading “A Grief Unobserved – Part 3”

Remember the Lament–Part Two

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”Matthew 5:4             What happens when a Christianity consumed with being “healthy, wealthy, and wise” finds itself in the grip of a global pandemic with a long tail? In my last reflection Forget the Doxology, I suggested that a church always singing doxology and never lamentContinue reading “Remember the Lament–Part Two”

Forget the Doxology—Part 1

On Sunday June 13th, 2021 it happened… I forgot the doxology. In the Christian tradition the doxology is a liturgical formula of praise to God. We sing these same words in every worship experience as we bring the offering to the altar… “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below;Continue reading “Forget the Doxology—Part 1”

Remixing Leadership: A Shared Mode

Circuit riders, traveling great distances across the frontier and overseeing multiple communities, had to employ a leadership strategy that was shared, relational, decentralized, and self-organized. Their approach has implications for the network society today.   

Part Three – Reimagining The Parish

Bringing back the circuit rider for a new missional frontier requires us to rethink what we mean by “parish.” If the world is truly our parish, how do we re-envision what a circuit might look like? In the previous post, I described how digitality creates a new kind of space and makes possible new formsContinue reading “Part Three – Reimagining The Parish”

Bring Back the Circuit Rider

Part Two – “Digital Circuits and Riding the Flows“             The early circuit riders crisscrossed wide swaths of terrain on horseback. 21st century circuit riders are traveling a new global mission field accessed through internet connected screens.             In Fresh Expressions in a Digital Age: How the Church Can Prepare for a Post Pandemic World,Continue reading “Bring Back the Circuit Rider”

Bring Back the Circuit Rider

Part 1 “The Lost Genius of Early Methodism” In A Field Guide to Methodist Fresh Expressions, I suggested we need to rethink and reemploy the tradition of the circuit rider.[1] In response to the missional imperative, John Wesley, and the early Methodists in eighteenth century Britain innovated the practice of traveling place to place toContinue reading “Bring Back the Circuit Rider”