I recently read an update from The Methodist Church of Great Britain in which it reports: “The Methodist Church will look at cohabitation, at the urging of the Youth Assembly. The annual report from the Youth Assembly, which was received by the Conference, requires the Methodist Council to work with young Methodists to produce advice […]
Yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to preach at the Heritage Service at Resurrection Leawood. This is the first service on Sunday at Resurrection beginning at 7:45 AM. It was the first time that I had lead worship in several months and it felt really good. We considered the story of Jesus washing the feet […]
One of the goals in the mission of the church is changing behavior. Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Making a disciple of Jesus Christ means that one wasn’t before. It also means that there is something that sets apart a disciple of Jesus Christ from someone who is not. […]
I have continued to pitch micro churches as a way of finding renewal within The United Methodist Church and building Christian communities where non religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. I am currently working on training leaders to launch these faith communities. I hope that by the end of August there […]
I really enjoy my local True Value hardware store, Dobbels. The employees are knowledgeable and helpful. As the winter was turning into spring, I went in looking for a solution on my extension cord for our mower. You see, I had sliced it when shoveling our sidewalk in the winter. It was under the snow […]
God leads us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is active speaking directly to us, through the community of faith, in friends, neighbors or people that we may not even know. How do you find that God leads you? I recently met with a congregant who shared some deep questions with me. I asked […]
I enjoy taking care of our yard. It is good for my soul. Last fall, I did not have a chance to get in a final raking as the snow fell early and stayed on through most of the winter. This meant that we were left with a mess of wet and matted leaves to […]
The debate in the United Methodist Church about homosexuality and whether it is “incompatible with Christian teaching” or if “a self-avowed practicing homosexual” should be ordained has continued for many years. No matter where you stand on these issues, I wholeheartedly recommend listening to the following story from This American Life. The story is “81 Words: […]
I had a conversation several weeks ago with Paul Watson and he talked about a concept which I dug up on reaching the online generation. The concept is Fractal Discipleship. According to Wikipedia, “A fractal is “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size […]
In several of the districts that we visited in Zimbabwe there was a mission centre that in many cases was founded over 100 years ago. These were locations that started to be places of ministry when missionaries from the United States came to what was then Southern Rhodesia. These sites often had a hospital, school, […]
A few weeks ago, I had a great trip to the Zimbabwe East Annual Conference with a delegation from the Kansas West Annual Conference. One of the overwhelming characteristics of the culture was a focus on hospitality. At nearly every site that we visited there were drinks and snacks that had been prepared for us […]
The internet is the market square of today. It is a place where people who have no interest in church, faith or religion may be found and invited into a journey of knowing, loving and serving God. Several hundred years ago, John Wesley preached repentance in the fields and the market square and invited people […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 