Anglican practices and rituals are primarily found in the Book of Common Prayer, the prayer book of Anglicanism, which helps define Anglican beliefs and worship practices on every level. The book is almost as important as the Bible itself to Anglicans. The Book of Common Prayer, which defines the “common”
The Baptist denomination is the largest free church denomination in the world with 43 million members. It is one of the largest Protestant Free Church denominations. More than 75 percent of all Baptists – about 33 million – live in America. There are about 216,000 Baptists in Great Britain, 850,000
The Catholic Church, known as the Roman Catholic Church, has well over one billion members, about one-sixth of the world’s population. It’s the world’s largest Christian denomination. It’s also the largest organized body of any world religion. Catholics are led by the Pope, also known as the Bishop of Rome,
Lutheranism is not a single entity. It is organized in autonomous regional or national churches. Globally, there are some 150 such Lutheran church bodies. Lutheranism is one of the largest Protestant denominations. It is also the oldest Protestant denomination. Lutheranism retains much of the tradition of the ancient and medieval
There are Methodist Churches in nearly every country in the world and global membership numbers about 70 million in 138 countries. The World Methodist Council (WMC), an association of churches in the Methodist tradition, comprises more than 40.5 million Methodists. There are at least 19 Wesleyan Methodist denominations in the
SPOILER ALERT: spoilers in what follows. When we think of the Old Testament prophets, we think of their frequent critiques of the rich and the powerful for their mistreatment of the poor, widows, and orphans. Reading and hearing their words, their critiques seem fair and reasonable to us. For example,
Citing the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, novelist Walker Percy posited that the comic and the religious view of life are of the same essence. A provocative notion, indeed, especially given the lived experience of Percy, whose early biography prompts the question: what business had he to take a comic view
There will always be questions. Always prayers. Always answers. Always. One Last Adventure By the time Ocean to Ice finally came to an end, just about everything was worn out. Seven months of adventure had taken a toll. My hiking shoes had disintegrated. What remained were two strange blobs of
On God’s Providence by Stephen Rankin As many Christians have done when facing challenges, they find encouragement from verses like these from Psalm 139: Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make
On this episode of the Sermon Notes Podcast, host Jay Strother and Brian Ball pick up where Sunday’s sermon on Revelation 15 left off and cover the chapters we didn’t have time to preach. Jay’s advice before they dive in: buckle up, and remember that the plain things are the
Why Small Churches Stay Plateaued (And How To Break the Pattern) You’re stuck at 50 to 120. Faithful people. Generous giving. Nothing’s growing. You’ve tried everything. The problem isn’t vision. It’s what Jewish culture calls “halakha.” The way of walking. Reaching Gen Z With the Gospel: Why Authenticity and Community
For readers acquainted with the great American poet Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)—or even, dare I say, the macabre predilections of adolescence—it will come as little surprise that the Belle of Amherst spent a number of her formative years trying to imagine her own death. What might prove slightly more surprising is