christian century (not here? @jonmathieu.bsky.social) is re-releasing their most popular 2024 articles + i'm glad bc i missed this one by @brianbantum.bsky.social it asks searching questions about the challenges of financially sustaining inclusive churches www.christiancentury.org/voices/can-i... - ThreadSky

collincornell.bsky.social • 61 days ago

christian century (not here? @jonmathieu.bsky.social) is re-releasing their most popular 2024 articles + i'm glad bc i missed this one by @brianbantum.bsky.social

it asks searching questions about the challenges of financially sustaining inclusive churches

https://www.christiancentury.org/voices/can-inclusive-churches-grow-and-thrive

Comments

jonmathieu.bsky.social•61 days ago

Glad you like this piece! We got some interesting pushback from pastors (mostly from large politically purple LGBTQ-affirming UMC churches in rust belt states) suggesting Bantum is wrong because of their church’s experience.

(P.S. CC is planning its leap from X to Bluesky.)

collincornell.bsky.social•61 days ago

hey that's good news about the planned leap!

and interesting feedback, too—i'm grateful that shrinking + underfunded isn't the whole story for prog churches

easten.bsky.social•60 days ago

I remember reading this and pondering whether we need to either redefine or reimagine what inclusivity means given the terms political connotations these days.

collincornell.bsky.social•60 days ago

agreed— @hannahnpbowman.bsky.social in another reply pointed out the limits of the “inclusivity” framing

collincornell.bsky.social•61 days ago

hannahnpbowman.bsky.social•61 days ago

This is really interesting! I’m very taken with the idea of communities of difference (and I’m also thinking about how a positive construction of mission as solidarity offers common purpose compatible with communities of difference but going beyond “inclusiveness” and wonder how that might relate)

collincornell.bsky.social•61 days ago

good thoughts, @hannahnpbowman.bsky.social, thanks for commenting—i'm not familiar w communities of difference as a term or meme, happy to receive your reading recs on that, though. i do feel the limits of an "inclusion" paradigm, for sure

hannahnpbowman.bsky.social•60 days ago

Ah, I was picking the term up from the article — but I am interested in how church communities are constructed as places “in the gap” of differences/disagreement rather than finding their identity in similarity of belief or practice, if that makes sense

hannahnpbowman.bsky.social•60 days ago

My tradition talks about “engagement across difference” which I’m not sure has been adequately theologized yet, but my inner deconstructionist finds the thought of *defining* ourselves by the presence/encouragement of difference appealing 😂

hannahnpbowman.bsky.social•60 days ago

On a practical level, I think of this in terms of the embrace of healthy conflict in communities rather than seeking “unity” (eg I’ve written about that: https://sojo.net/articles/opinion/we-don-t-achieve-christian-unity-avoiding-polarization)

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