In his keynote at the 2017 National Gathering in Kansas City, Dr. Soong-Chan Rah discusses the changing landscape of our culture, how that affects our churches, and how the dominant gaze of white culture continues to divide and disconnect us from our neighbors.
https://next.myworshiptimes31.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2019/04/featured-soong-chan-rah.jpg200398Linda Kurtz/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2016/01/NEXT-Logo-FINAL-Horizontal_lato-1030x229.pngLinda Kurtz2019-04-17 14:08:072019-04-17 14:08:07Confronting the Dominant Gaze of White Culture
In their testimony at the 2019 National Gathering in Seattle, Heidi Husted Armstrong and Scott Lumsden talk about the story of First Seattle Presbyterian Church. This 30-minute video is a resource for any church group – the session, committees, or teams – to dig into what it takes to transform into the new thing in which God is calling them.
https://next.myworshiptimes31.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2019/04/featured-heidi-testimony.jpg200398Linda Kurtz/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2016/01/NEXT-Logo-FINAL-Horizontal_lato-1030x229.pngLinda Kurtz2019-04-11 18:43:352019-04-11 18:43:35What it Takes to Transform
In her reflection on the theme of “Woven Together” during the 2019 National Gathering, Tasha Hicks McCray talks about the need for our tightly woven circles to be broken open and torn apart as an opportunity for God’s grace to enter in. Tasha poses several questions that are crucial for individuals and the church to consider.
NEXT Church gatherings – local or national – seek to connect leaders to one another, to spark imagination, to offer an honest reflection about the challenges confronting the church, remind us that God’s Spirit is up to something, and encourage us to see possibilities to which we had been blind before.
https://next.myworshiptimes31.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2017/04/featured-lifted-hands-17-gathering.jpg200398Linda Kurtz/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2016/01/NEXT-Logo-FINAL-Horizontal_lato-1030x229.pngLinda Kurtz2019-04-01 12:24:272019-04-01 12:34:47Seeing the Possibilities in Ministry
I believe that power, all power, comes from God. Not only is God love, God is power. I think that understanding this truth helps us understand why power can be positive or negative.
https://next.myworshiptimes31.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2018/04/featured-skyline.jpg200398Linda Kurtz/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2016/01/NEXT-Logo-FINAL-Horizontal_lato-1030x229.pngLinda Kurtz2019-03-28 06:05:122019-03-27 14:04:27God, the Architect of Power
Reflecting on a theology of power has challenged me to re-evaluate and re-calibrate my ultimate distrust and rejection of power. My calling to follow after Christ and proclaim healing to the nations is woven together with a God-given power and sacred agency to participate in that restoration.
While we may not think of power as something “dirty,” neither do we consider it to be more than a tool of last resort. We prefer to live in the world as it should be, rather than in the world as it is. As a result, we feel that the rightness of our ideas and arguments ought to be enough to carry the day — and if not, if carrying the day requires the use of brute force, then there must be something wrong with our ideas and arguments.
https://next.myworshiptimes31.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2019/03/featured-hand-salt.jpg200398Linda Kurtz/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2016/01/NEXT-Logo-FINAL-Horizontal_lato-1030x229.pngLinda Kurtz2019-03-24 20:07:292019-03-24 20:07:29Stinging Like Salt
Confronting the Dominant Gaze of White Culture
/0 Comments/in Leadership, National Gathering /by Linda KurtzIn his keynote at the 2017 National Gathering in Kansas City, Dr. Soong-Chan Rah discusses the changing landscape of our culture, how that affects our churches, and how the dominant gaze of white culture continues to divide and disconnect us from our neighbors.
What it Takes to Transform
/0 Comments/in Church Leadership, Leadership, Mission Engagement, National Gathering, Resources /by Linda KurtzIn their testimony at the 2019 National Gathering in Seattle, Heidi Husted Armstrong and Scott Lumsden talk about the story of First Seattle Presbyterian Church. This 30-minute video is a resource for any church group – the session, committees, or teams – to dig into what it takes to transform into the new thing in which God is calling them.
When We’re Too Tightly Woven
/0 Comments/in Leadership, National Gathering /by Linda KurtzIn her reflection on the theme of “Woven Together” during the 2019 National Gathering, Tasha Hicks McCray talks about the need for our tightly woven circles to be broken open and torn apart as an opportunity for God’s grace to enter in. Tasha poses several questions that are crucial for individuals and the church to consider.
Seeing the Possibilities in Ministry
/3 Comments/in Leadership, National Gathering /by Linda KurtzNEXT Church gatherings – local or national – seek to connect leaders to one another, to spark imagination, to offer an honest reflection about the challenges confronting the church, remind us that God’s Spirit is up to something, and encourage us to see possibilities to which we had been blind before.
God, the Architect of Power
/0 Comments/in Community Organizing, Leadership /by Linda KurtzI believe that power, all power, comes from God. Not only is God love, God is power. I think that understanding this truth helps us understand why power can be positive or negative.
Sacred Agents
/0 Comments/in Community Organizing, Leadership /by Linda KurtzReflecting on a theology of power has challenged me to re-evaluate and re-calibrate my ultimate distrust and rejection of power. My calling to follow after Christ and proclaim healing to the nations is woven together with a God-given power and sacred agency to participate in that restoration.
Stinging Like Salt
/1 Comment/in Community Organizing, Leadership /by Linda KurtzWhile we may not think of power as something “dirty,” neither do we consider it to be more than a tool of last resort. We prefer to live in the world as it should be, rather than in the world as it is. As a result, we feel that the rightness of our ideas and arguments ought to be enough to carry the day — and if not, if carrying the day requires the use of brute force, then there must be something wrong with our ideas and arguments.