Books

Disagreements in years past would have been kept inside the church, but with the advent of social media, negative feelings spread like wildfire to a broader audience. While leaders cannot control what others say, they can control how they react.

The weird thing about hangovers is that I adapted to them. They set the tone for the day: the muscles governing my movement would be sore, the head housing my mind would ache, the seat of my heart would feel broken, and the voices of my soul would speak only shame.

As women who didn’t receive what we needed from our fathers, we must make the time to grieve this loss in our lives. Doing so requires that we tell the little girl inside of us to pack her bags and leave for good. She can’t coexist in a healthy and whole woman of God.

We have to train ordinary people in the relational skills to be Spirit-led in helping others be changed by Jesus.

The only way we can survive is by waiting. Waiting puts our attention in the right place. When we forget to wait, we become too distracted, too impatient, too angry to see God’s action. The stories that form the church are about God’s actions.

I was dumbfounded. Could it be true? Could my experience two weeks earlier have prepped my heart and mind for what God had in store?

Before a guest enters the church, the church should think of ways to connect with them beyond a one-time visit to a service.

The church as an institution is sick. Some may object, “It’s not the church that’s sick, it’s the culture!” But the church should be better than the culture in this regard. As Christians, our first and primary concern should be the righteousness of the church community.