5 years. We’ve been at work here in DC for more than 5 years, trying to start a new Quaker community. We’ve learned so much. For better or for worse, most of what we’ve learned has been what not to do. Church planting is way harder than Faith and I ever imagined. In retrospect, it’s obvious that we did almost …
Have you ever felt alone in your search for depth, meaning, and purpose in life? Do you sense the Spirit calling you to a deeper, more adventurous way of living? Are you seeking a community that supports you in being true to your deepest calling? There’s a place for you here. This March 13-15, the …
Read more “Ready to Explore Your Calling? There’s a Place for You”
Quakers pride ourselves on being almost pathologically truthful. But are we losing our edge? We live in a culture where bending the truth is the norm. When RSVPing, we’d often rather say yes and cancel later than disappoint our friends up front. We like to keep our options open, even if it means leaving other …
In my last post, I mentioned that in the mid-1990s the Friends of Jesus community in Wichita, Kansas produced a white paper on their biblical understanding of gay and lesbian Christians. A commenter asked whether a copy of this document is still available. It is! The following is a statement prepared by the Friends of …
Read more “What Does the Bible Actually Say About LGBT Equality?”
TL;DR: Post-Evangelicals are one of the most important religious groups that are shaping America today. In many ways, I wish I was one, because I’d like to take part in the conversation. In this piece, I explain my experience as a child of some very early post-Evangelicals who got pushed out of the Evangelical Quaker …
I had a friend contact me recently, asking me some tough questions. He wanted to know why I am preaching a message of radically following Jesus, while at the same time authoring an ebook about traditional Quaker worship. Isn’t this a contradiction? Why am I promoting a particular denominational heritage when my core message is …
For early Quakers, heaven wasn’t a far-off kingdom floating in the clouds. It wasn’t a distant time and place, standing in stark contrast to present-day, historical reality. When Quakers said that Christ is here to teach us himself, this was just a new way of saying, repent, the kingdom of heaven has come near to …