Questions that Matter: "How do we navigate the fracturing we see in our churches?"

"How do we navigate the fracturing we see in our churches?"

Many sources have documented the rapid and painful divisions emerging in our churches and communities of faith over the last 2 years. On June 21st, Coracle is hosting professors Vincent Bacote & John Inazu to respond to one of the most substantial treatments of this trend: "The Six-Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism" by Michael Graham & Skyler Flowers. We expect there to be many questions left unresolved from that discussion, and we wanted to offer the chance to continue processing this vital topic in communion with others. 

Our "Questions that Matter" format creates space for a respectful, informal conversation amongst fellow followers of Jesus, facilitated by Rev. Bill Haley (Coracle Executive Director). You are encouraged to bring a question or thought to share with the group, or you are welcome simply to come and listen.

REGISTER

In addition to the article referenced above, you may want to spend a little time reading the following:

"The Dissenters Trying to Save Evangelicalism from Itself" by David Brooks

This passage will be particularly germane:

"Tim Keller laid out for me an ambitious agenda to renew this community. I’ll just give you the bullet points:

• The Christian Mind Project. Expand by a factor of 10 the number of evangelicals in graduate schools and the professoriate in order to make the community more intellectually robust.
• A renewed church planting effort. Old churches merely attract pre-existing Christians. New churches attract new believers. Keller says Christians need to plant 6,000 new churches a year. He has already had a ton of success on this front.
• New campus ministries. Decades ago, many young people found faith via dynamic evangelical organizations for students, such as InterVarsity and Young Life. That field has been allowed to stagnate.
• Protestant social teaching. Catholics have a public theology that dates back at least to Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum. Protestant versions might share 75 percent of its ideas, while being perhaps less hierarchical and more individualistic.
• Faith and work. Faith is not just for Sundays. Keller suggests there should be more education programs on how Christians should show up at work and in the world.
• Racial justice. Keller argues that this is one of the most explosive divides between the Trumpian and the non-Trumpian wings of the movement.
• A strategy for the post-Christian world — how you evangelize among people who have never had any contact with faith and don’t share the same mental concepts.
• Spiritual formation. As Keller puts it: 'We need to really redo Christian education. Completely.'"