Home Second | The Christian Mail

John MacArthur says women should ‘maintain submission to men in all churches, in all times’

-

John MacArthur, a popular international preacher and the senior pastor at Grace Community Church in California, said last month that Beth Moore, an American preacher, should “go home” and criticised women trying to join Congress, be President and reach other prominent positions.

MacArthur was criticised, not just by supporters of women preachers, but also by conservative leaders, who said his tone was unkind.

He took the opportunity on Sunday to explain his view on women preachers in more detail to his church, saying: “Today I want to address a very important issue that has been stirred up on the internet with me kind of in the middle of it”.

During the panel discussion in which he made the original comments, he was asked to play a word association game in front of a conference crowd and the phrase he had to comment on was Beth Moore.

MacArthur said on Sunday: “I do not like to give short answers. I don’t like to get put in a position to do that, because I feel like that just escalates confusion, so I want to take the opportunity to address the issue of women preachers this morning and to give you a more thorough answer from the Word of God on this very, very important subject.”

He said Paul’s teaching said that women were to “maintain submission to men in all churches, in all times” and that it was a sign of the Church’s rejection of God’s word that so many…

قالب وردپرس

Joanne Rogers: On Her Husband Fred Rogers’ Commitment to Prayer, Church, Children

Church and Ministry

-

0

Joanne Rogers: On Her Husband Fred Rogers’ Commitment to Prayer, Church, Children

(RNS) — At “91 and a half,” Joanne Rogers remains a devoted advocate for the legacy of her late husband, the iconic star of the long-running children’s show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

Fred Rogers’ widow shared churchgoing traditions and a love for music with her husband, whose story is depicted in the new movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”

The film, set to release Nov. 22, stars Tom Hanks and depicts the friendship that developed between Fred Rogers and Tom Junod, a journalist who profiled the TV luminary in Esquire magazine.

Joanne Rogers continues to attend Pittsburgh’s Sixth Avenue Presbyterian Church, the congregation where she worshipped with her husband, who was ordained by the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1963 and died in 2003. The former longtime professional pianist recalls that beyond making TV his mission, her husband — who majored in music before attending seminary — was “a very fine pianist” who shared his talent with her at home.

“I had a lot of two-piano literature, and so, when Fred and I would have a chance, we’d sit down and sometimes I’d make him play the other part,” she said, “so that I could practice a little, and he would do that. Had a good time at two pianos.”

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You have said that your husband used to say the space…

قالب وردپرس

Catholic Church urged to stop stealing priests from Africa to fulfil European shortage

-

0

Catholic Church urged to stop stealing priests from Africa to fulfil European shortage

Michael Phelan from Buckinghamshire says the Church, much like the NHS, is robbing Africa of its priests to fill British dioceses.

Currently, the Catholic Church internationally has a shortage of priests, something which has been used as a catalyst for those who want married men to be allowed to be ordained and those who want women priests.

Speaking to Premier, Rev Phelan said: “Their solution to the problem has been importing people from third world countries, a bit like the National Health Service, where we rely upon robbing developing countries of their talent in that way.

“The Catholic Church is tending to recruit priests from Africa and India and various other places to make up for the shortage of numbers, which has cultural problems in that there are differences in the culture but also…where you have a service of the word and communion, the word does rely upon people being able to understand the foreign priest who’s talking and where there are sort of either pronunciation problems or even vocabulary problems.”

“My youngest brother is a missionary in East Africa. So I’m certainly not against the diversity in the church. But it means that if you have people who can’t be understood in the locality or easily understood, that doesn’t help in terms of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.”

In response to his call, a spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’…

قالب وردپرس

Americans to Religious Organizations: Stay Out of Politics

Church and Ministry

-

0

Americans to Religious Organizations: Stay Out of Politics

(RNS) — As Americans gear up for a long and bitterly contentious presidential election year, their message to religious leaders and institutions couldn’t be clearer: Keep out.

That’s the finding in the latest Pew Research poll, which found that 63% of Americans say churches and other houses of worship should stay out of politics, and 76% said religious congregations should not make political endorsements.

The poll, which Pew conducted online this past March from among 6,364 U.S. adults, also found that slightly more than half of U.S. adults say that the Republican Party is friendly toward religion (54%). Only one in five, (19%), think the Democratic Party is friendly toward religion. (According to Pew, Republican respondents said the Democratic Party is unfriendly toward religion, while most Democrats view their own party as neutral toward religion.)

“It used to be Republicans were viewed as friendly toward religion and Democrats were viewed as neutral,” said David Campbell, professor of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame. “Now you see a growing number of people saying, no, the Democrats are unfriendly toward religion.”

But the view that religion should not have as big a role in politics cut across religious faiths. Jews and the religiously unaffiliated are more likely than Christians to oppose mixing religion and politics. Even among Christians,…

قالب وردپرس

Four people killed at family gathering in Fresno: Why we need to emulate the kindness of Tom Hanks

-

0

Four people killed at family gathering in Fresno: Why we need to emulate the kindness of Tom Hanks

I had planned to begin my article today by focusing on the kindness of Tom Hanks, whose portrayal of Fred Rogers will open in theaters this Friday. Then I opened my computer this morning to learn that another shooting was making headlines.

Fresno Police Lt. Bill Dooley described the tragedy: “This was a gathering, a family and friend gathering in the backyard. Everyone was watching football this evening when unknown suspects approached the residence, snuck into the backyard and opened fire.”

Ten people were shot and four died.

Tom Hanks “is just as nice as you think he is”

The more that violence fills the news, the more we need examples to give us hope. That’s why Tom Hanks is such an important model for our culture.

Hanks’ movies have grossed nearly $10 billion worldwide. His portrayal of Fred Rogers will be at least his seventy-first film.

But Hanks is known at least as much for who he is in real life as for who he is on the movie screen. His powerful recent interview with the New York Times is subtitled: “Hanks is playing Mister Rogers in a new movie and is just as nice as you think he is.”

Here are some examples cited by the Times reporter: When Hanks was shooting Angels & Demons in Rome, a bride and her father couldn’t approach the chapel because of the film crew, so Hanks stopped filming and escorted them to the altar. He once bought some boxes of Girl Scout cookies, then offered selfies to passers-by as an enticement to buy. He found a woman’s student ID and used his Twitter feed to get it back to her.

What do college students want most in a mate?

Time magazine reports that researchers asked 2,700 college students to narrow down the characteristics that were most important to them in a lifetime mate, and one emerged from all cultures: kindness.

Kindness works for churches: Congregations in California are responding to the state’s housing crisis by sharing their parking…

قالب وردپرس

Altar boys say they were sexually abused by priests in the Vatican

-

0

Altar boys say they were sexually abused by priests in the Vatican

The allegations will be explored in investigative Italian TV show Le Iene on Sunday.

The accusations date back to the 1980s and 1980s at the Vatican’s St Pius X youth seminary. The boys were between the ages of 10 and 14 at the time.

The Guardian reports during the programme one of the accused priests is confronted by a journalist about the allegations.

After he hears the accusations made against him in the audio interviews, he responds: “No, it’s not possible. I can’t remember … I’m not saying they’re lying, I’m saying they have misunderstood.”

The criminal complaints come after the Vatican said in September it would seek to indict 28-year-old Fr Gabriele Martinelli, for allegedly abusing several altar boys in 2012 when he trained at the youth seminary. According to The Guardian, that move was prompted by Le Iene’s first investigation into the school in 2017.

The Vatican also said two months ago that it was seeking to indict a former rector at the youth seminary. It was claimed Fr Enrico Radice, assisted someone to commit an offence.

Gaetano Pecoraro, one of the two authors of the investigation said: “We decided to keep digging as we had the feeling that the previous cases were not isolated.

“There were more victims and more priests involved in sexual abuse within the Vatican.”

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian…

قالب وردپرس

Outrage as Rugby star links Aussie fires to God’s wrath

-

0

Outrage as Rugby star links Aussie fires to God’s wrath

Folau, who was sacked by Rugby Australia (RA) in May for posting controversial comments on social media, described the fires as a “little taste of God’s judgement”.

Wildfires have raged across eastern Australia in recent weeks destroying hundreds of homes and killing six people.

Speaking to members of Sydney’s Truth of Jesus Christ Church on Sunday, the former Wallabies player implied the natural disaster was an act of judgement by God following the nation’s recent decision to pass laws on abortion and same-sex marriage.

“God’s word says for a man and a woman to be together, one man and one woman in the covenant of marriage to be together.

“Abortion – it’s now okay to murder and kill unborn children and they deem that to be okay.

“Look how rapid these bushfires, these droughts, all these things have come in a short period of time, do you think it’s a coincidence or not?

“God is speaking to you guys – Australia, you need to repent and take these laws and turn it back into following what is right by God,” Folau said.

Australian Prime Minister and Christian, Scott Morrison has condemned Folau’s remarks as “appallingly insensitive”.

Morrsion told reporters on Monday: “He is a free citizen, he can say whatever he likes but that doesn’t mean he can’t have regard to the grievance [and] offence this would have caused to the people whose homes have burnt down.”

Folau is…

قالب وردپرس

Four Unique Approaches to Church Outreach That Are Gaining Traction

-

0

By Thom S. Rainer

I am a student of the local church, particularly church outreach.

I love to see and hear how churches are reaching their communities more effectively. I love to see and hear how congregations are becoming more Great Commission focused.

It is an honor to share with the readers of this blog some of the input I am receiving. I am particularly grateful to the community at Church Answers for their constant feedback and input. Though the ways to reach a community are seemingly unending, allow me to share four that seem to be growing in use and effectiveness.

Advertising on Waze. This navigation and traffic monitoring app has been ranked as high as number one in the fastest-growing apps. This Google-owned service has actually replaced many of the standard navigation apps in operation today. Some churches are taking advantage of the low cost of advertising on Waze, as the service seeks to become more aggressive toward monetization. The advertising rates will likely rise in the future, so some church leaders are wisely making the move to lock in several months of advertising now.
Adding a Thursday night service on holiday weekends. Both church members and unchurched community members travel on holiday weekends, particularly those with the holiday falling on a Monday. A few creative churches are adding a service on Thursday for those who might be on the road Friday to Monday. To be clear, these churches are only having Thursday evening services on holiday weekends, but a number of other…

قالب وردپرس

Altar boys say there were sexually abused by priests in the Vatican

-

0

Altar boys say there were sexually abused by priests in the Vatican