Adam Walker Cleaveland on (Re)Imagining Christianity

This post is part of an ongoing blog series on Pomomusings entitled “(Re)Imagining Christianity.” To read about the series, as well as get a full schedule of participants, click here.

What is one belief, practice or element of Christianity that must die so that Christianity can move forward and truly impact the world in the next 100 years?

First off, I want to thank all those who contributed to the (Re)Imagining Christianity blog series. The past two months have been filled with some wonderful conversations here on this blog. Some of my favorite have included Lars Rood on why we need younger voices in the church, Sarah Bessey musing on the practice of testimony, Bethany Stolle saying we need to get rid of nostalgia, and John Vest calling for the death of everything that makes Christianity an institution.

I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to contribute to this series as it ends, and I’ve spent the past couple days pondering what needs to die so that Christianity can move forward and truly impact the world in the next 100 years. My answer? Theological orthodoxy.

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Kevin Carey on (Re)Imagining Christianity

This post is part of an ongoing blog series on Pomomusings entitled “(Re)Imagining Christianity.” To read about the series, as well as get a full schedule of participants, click here.

What is one belief, practice or element of Christianity that must die so that Christianity can move forward and truly impact the world in the next 100 years?

Performance.

I have been performing in one sense or another since I was six years old. Whether it was acting professionally as a child, or learning the music business during my college days in Los Angeles, or spending my 20s as a worship leader, my life experience taught me that if I can perform artistically at a high level, I can succeed.

As a result, I’ve unconsciously centered my relationship with God and my community on a determined performance mentality.

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Carol Howard Merritt on (Re)Imagining Christianity

This post is part of an ongoing blog series on Pomomusings entitled “(Re)Imagining Christianity.” To read about the series, as well as get a full schedule of participants, click here.

What is one belief, practice or element of Christianity that must die so that Christianity can move forward and truly impact the world in the next 100 years?

Brainstorming women, armed with their Sharpies and poster boards, are going to battle. If you haven’t heard, there is a “war on women.”

Is this hyperbole? Is this “war on women” tagline merely something that can unite the various feminist waves into one tsunami that has real influence?  Is this “war on women” a cheap trick by liberal political operatives to highlight how out-of-touch and extreme conservatives have become on social issues? If there’s a war going on, who is attacking women anyways?

The sad truth? Christianity wages war on women. How are we doing it?

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Jeff Maxin on (Re)Imagining Christianity

This post is part of an ongoing blog series on Pomomusings entitled “(Re)Imagining Christianity.” To read about the series, as well as get a full schedule of participants, click here.

What is one belief, practice or element of Christianity that must die so that Christianity can move forward and truly impact the world in the next 100 years?

As many have stated in this series already, there are likely many things which ought to die so that the faith can move forward in an impactful way. Some of these things deal with the organization of the church; others with the beliefs of the people who make up the church. It is of the latter that I think a monumental change must take place.

What I am going to say may sound frightening. It may even sound a bit heretical. Obviously, I believe it is neither overly frightening nor heretical, although I certainly anticipate that some who read this will question it. Good. We need more questioners in the church.

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