A Season of New Beginnings - A Deeper Life Together

A Season of New Beginnings - A Deeper Life Together - 2 May 2022

Published: Mon, 05/02/22

Resources for A Deeper Life Together
in our Churches and Neighborhoods

Curated by The Englewood Review of Books

2 May 2022

A Season of New Beginnings

Eastertide, the season in which we celebrate Christ's resurrection, is a season of hope and new beginnings. It's fitting that this season concurs (at least in North America) with the springtime resurrection of nature. At Cultivating Communities, we are celebrating the newness of this season, as our first cohort of churches (in East Tennessee) will begin its learning journey together this week, and our second cohort (on the south and west sides of Chicago) will follow quickly on the heels of the first, launching in two weeks. Join with us in praying that these cohorts may know the work of the Holy Spirit in the coming months and years, knitting them together with one another and their neighbors. (More cohorts will be starting eventually. Learn more about our cohorts and the Cultivating Communities Learning Journey)

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What brings you joy? An urban neighborhood strengthens its community by asking unexpected questions “Church members and non-church members, including residents, have their own social capital. It’s easy for us to get caught up in what we don’t have,” (Indianapolis Deputy Mayor Jeff) Bennett said. “Churches are uniquely positioned to look at what their community does have. … You have so much wealth, so much experience and so much capacity in unforeseen areas.” Efforts like The Learning Tree can lead to a new way of thinking about what should be considered a healthy neighborhood. A healthy neighborhood isn’t a rich neighborhood, Bennett said. It’s a connected one.
(via Faith & Leadership)

It’s time to reimagine the church parking lot I invite you to stand in a church parking lot or imagine doing so. Notice your distance from neighboring houses, local businesses, or passersby. You are standing on a horizontal wall, an asphalt expanse that separates your faith community from its neighbors and community. (via The Christian Century)

Appreciative Inquiry for Churches Navigating the Post-Pandemic Transition We recently had the opportunity to talk to Mark Lau Branson of Fuller Seminary about Appreciative Inquiry, and how it might be especially helpful for churches trying to find their way in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mark is the author of the important book: Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry, Missional Engagement, and Congregational Change. Listen to our conversation with Mark... (via The Englewood Review of Books)

Why the future of the world’s largest religion is female – and African Headlines about religion may be focused on the words and actions of Western male leaders, but the reality of the worldwide church is quite different. More and more Christians live outside Europe and North America, especially in Africa – and women are central to that story.
(via The Conversation)

Click Here to learn more about this research...

- Lectionary Poetry -

Dorcas
George MacDonald

If I might guess, then guess I would
That, mid the gathered folk,
This gentle Dorcas one day stood,
And heard when Jesus spoke.

She saw the woven seamless coat-
Half envious, for his sake:
‘Oh, happy hands,’ she said, ‘that wrought
The honoured thing to make!’

Her eyes with longing tears grow dim:
She never can come nigh
To work one service poor for him
For whom she glad would die!

But, hark, he speaks! Oh, precious word!
And she has heard indeed!
‘When did we see thee naked, Lord,
And clothed thee in thy need?’

‘The King shall answer, Inasmuch
As to my brethren ye
Did it-even to the least of such-
Ye did it unto me.’

Home, home she went, and plied the loom,
And Jesus’ poor arrayed.
She died-they wept about the room,
And showed the coats she made.

(Selected to accompany Acts 9:36-43,
one of this week's Lectionary Readings)

Read all the Lectionary Poetry
selections for this week...
from The Englewood Review of Books