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By Rick LawrenceVibrant Faith Executive Director Researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion found that the overwhelming majority of teenagers (and their adult parents who were also surveyed) believe in God, but know little about basic theological and faith distinctions. Lead researcher Dr. Christian Smith tried to pinpoint this ignorance by describing the collective responses—he said […]
By Rick LawrenceVibrant Faith Executive Director In the wider world, ministry leaders are deemed less trustworthy than police, and only barely above building contractors—we’re saddled with a below-average reputation for honesty and ethics (according to a Gallup survey, trust in the clergy has fallen to 37 percent among Americans). Trust in ministry leaders peaked in 1985,
The Secret Sauce of Trusted Leadership Read More »
In the process of diving into research for my book Holy Work With Children, I developed a new method for working and doing research with children. Active Wondering became the most beneficial process for my work as a researcher. Engaging in these open conversations created a safe space for us to wonder together, revealing the children’s
Discovering God through Active Wondering Read More »
By Rev. Dr. Mark A. SlaughterVibrant Faith Coaching Team Like all things we do week after week, our worship service can become methodical, formulaic, and uninspiring. A busy, “over-served” schedule drives us into a rut. Worship is deeply connected to our Spiritual formation, but that truth gets lost in the repetition. So, what if we planted two
Worship as Spiritual Formation Read More »
By Rick LawrenceVibrant Faith Executive Director Outside, in the culture, if feels like we’re just now opening our door and walking outside after a ferocious thunderstorm that felt eternal. It smells fresh and new, but we can’t forget (quite yet) what we just went through. The storm stripped away our facades and exposed the ugliness underneath.
By Rick LawrenceVibrant Faith Executive Director Dr. Nancy Going and I have been leading a four-week book club for our Vibrant Faith Catalyst community (https://vibrant-faith-catalyst.mn.co), focusing on Dr. Christian Smith’s new book Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion On to the Next Generation. Among the many, many eye-opening and upending observations from Dr. Smith’s
Religion as a ‘Personal Identity Accessory’ Read More »
By Rick LawrenceVibrant Faith Executive Director Martin Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania psychology professor who researches the foundations of perseverance, says, “People who don’t give up have a habit of interpreting setbacks as temporary, local, and changeable. It’s going away quickly; it’s just this one situation, and I can do something about it.” He’s describing the
4 Flexible Approaches to Failure Read More »
Marshall McLuhan famously said: “The medium is the message.” He meant that the way we learn and grow is at least as important as the content of that learning. I’m an introvert, so a truth that may seem obvious to you has taken time to settle in for me: We are not meant to make this faith journey
Grow With God Through Community Read More »
How 2 simple questions lead us straight to Jesus. In the late 19th century, Charles H. Spurgeon was arguably the most influential person on the planet. The great pastor/preacher/theologian was born in England and committed his life to Christ in 1850, when he was 15 years old. He preached his first sermon a year later and took on
