DLGP

Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives: Crafting Ministry in an Interconnected World

The Path of the Exile

By: on April 14, 2020

In David Kinnaman’s books Unchristian and You Lost Me, he details the saga of why young adults leave the church.  While Unchristian is focused primarily the way those outside of the church see Christianity (i.e., Christians are hypocritical, they care only about people getting saved, their sexual ethic is too prudish/antihomosexual, Christians are sheltered, judgmental,…

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When Shame Prevails and Grace is Non-existant

By: on April 14, 2020

Three years of groundbreaking research by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons through The Barna Group,[1]provided insight into how sixteen to twenty-nine-year olds, who consider themselves “outsiders” of the Christian faith, perceive Christianity. Their study results are consolidated in Unchristian: What a new Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…and Why It Matters. Their findings are grim and…

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You lost me

By: on April 13, 2020

The question of why youth leaving the Church has long circulated in the minds of youth leaders. In addition to the weakness of our denomination, the Free Methodist with the leadership of women. We have a challenge that lacks young leadership.  Why do young people leave the Church? The study was published by St. Mary’s…

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Unchristian

By: on April 13, 2020

To develop strong and effective leadership in these challenging times, it is essential to recover the issue of the negative image that the world has of Christians. Possibly 90 percent of the world’s population believes that there is a Supreme Being who created all things and rules the universe. Even atheists or primitive people in…

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Tell a More Hopeful Story

By: on April 11, 2020

One of the persistent comments I’ve read and heard in the midst of this pandemic is ‘nobody saw this coming’. At this point I always have to decide whether opinionated Jenn shows up or pastoral Jenn. Why? Because the fact is that some people did see this coming. Bill Gates in 2015[1]; epidemiologist Larry Brilliant…

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Mirror, Mirror

By: on April 10, 2020

I used to like to think of Jesus as a hippy. Jesus, a long-haired perfectly tanned and toned white guy who spoke with a surfer’s accent and walked with the swagger of John Lennon. He loved the outdoors like Dick Proenneke, the oceans like Jacques Cousteau and animals like St. Francis. He may have laughed…

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When a man speaks in the forest….

By: on April 5, 2020

“When a man speaks in the forest, and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?” Apparently, the answer is most certainly, yes. We held a vote on the subject at home, and the result was resounding. Consequently, I take comfort in Kathryn Schultz book, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin…

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What COVID-19 May Be Telling Us About Us

By: on April 1, 2020

In a phone call with a faith leader this morning, we discussed the “Jobian” feel of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflecting together on the life of Job, we wondered about suffering and how this might be the first moment in modern history where suffering is the simultaneously shared experience of the entire world. We discussed the…

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Taringa Whakarongo (Let Your Ears Listen)

By: on April 1, 2020

Te timatanga o te matauranga ko te wahangu, te wahanga tuarua ko te whakarongo. The first stage of learning is silence, the second stage is listening. [1] Culture is meaningful. I have observed a culture of leadership, specifically of the Christian ilk, that seems to be quite fearful at its root. Hierarchy and a striving…

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