By Mike Glenn Mike Glenn is my friend, he has recently announced his retirement at the end of the year, and he has been writing at the Jesus Creed blog at CT. But we are moving his reflections to this Substack on Fridays. Please welcome Mike! As some of you will know, I announced to my congregation (Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tennessee) that I would be stepping down as Senior Pastor at the end of the year. By the time I step down, I will have served as pastor of this church for thirty-two years. That's a good run in anybody's book.
This a profound article. I found myself saying “Amen!” again and again loudly in my kitchen at 6:30am!
This shift written about here is what our church is seeing and leaning into. It has been refreshing. We have seen God’s grace abound as we step out in faith into new directions for our community.
Succinct, guided, mature and helpful insights from someone who has been in the trenches. Elevate that a few notches when it comes to an urban or inner-city.
It's my hope that the suggestions/directions pointed out in your article, Mike, actually come about. The church in the U.S. has (not entirely but in very significant ways) lost its way; and what you point to may be at least a part of the way to a better future.
I love this, Mike! I've never met you, or Scot McKnight either for that matter, but I've read only two things on this blog so far, and both of them were written by Mike Glenn. The first one made me support this blog financially, by the way. I don't know how I stumbled upon "Scot's Newsletter," but I'm glad that I did. My wife and I are members of a now small struggling church that used to have 500 members and even more in attendance on a Sunday morning, but that was the problem. "Attending" is not what we are called to do by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is it? We have a new older pastor coming who has been a bi-vocational pastor in his years of ministry. I'm going to show him this article. Our church will never be a "mega church," and we don't want to be. But we do want to be faithful. Thank you for writing and sharing this wisdom here!
I sure hope things work out this way in the church! The church as it is today does provide an important social function for many people. But people can find groups of people with similar interests in other ways. I am not sure Jesus wanted his disciples to gather every Sunday. He scattered them, 2 by 2. Disciples don't stay in a comfortable place, they go out into the world. That could be a fitness class, a book club, etc. I think of Bonhoeffer's writing about the divine vs. The 'human'. To follow Jesus, we need both. The church must enter into the human side of this equation. As the body of Christ, we are living a 'religionless christianity' whether we lean into it or not.
This a profound article. I found myself saying “Amen!” again and again loudly in my kitchen at 6:30am!
This shift written about here is what our church is seeing and leaning into. It has been refreshing. We have seen God’s grace abound as we step out in faith into new directions for our community.
Succinct, guided, mature and helpful insights from someone who has been in the trenches. Elevate that a few notches when it comes to an urban or inner-city.
So much wisdom and insight here! I’m passing this on to our leaders. It distills a lot of what we’re seeing and brings it into focus.
Congratulations Mike on your move ( retirement/ retreading) . Your thoughts are excellent about the church in today’s world.
It's my hope that the suggestions/directions pointed out in your article, Mike, actually come about. The church in the U.S. has (not entirely but in very significant ways) lost its way; and what you point to may be at least a part of the way to a better future.
Thanks, Mike, for this. Excellent and helpful reflections.
I love this, Mike! I've never met you, or Scot McKnight either for that matter, but I've read only two things on this blog so far, and both of them were written by Mike Glenn. The first one made me support this blog financially, by the way. I don't know how I stumbled upon "Scot's Newsletter," but I'm glad that I did. My wife and I are members of a now small struggling church that used to have 500 members and even more in attendance on a Sunday morning, but that was the problem. "Attending" is not what we are called to do by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is it? We have a new older pastor coming who has been a bi-vocational pastor in his years of ministry. I'm going to show him this article. Our church will never be a "mega church," and we don't want to be. But we do want to be faithful. Thank you for writing and sharing this wisdom here!
Welcome, Mike. I appreciated your insights. I look forward to hearing more.
I sure hope things work out this way in the church! The church as it is today does provide an important social function for many people. But people can find groups of people with similar interests in other ways. I am not sure Jesus wanted his disciples to gather every Sunday. He scattered them, 2 by 2. Disciples don't stay in a comfortable place, they go out into the world. That could be a fitness class, a book club, etc. I think of Bonhoeffer's writing about the divine vs. The 'human'. To follow Jesus, we need both. The church must enter into the human side of this equation. As the body of Christ, we are living a 'religionless christianity' whether we lean into it or not.