Season 2 of the PreacHer Podcast is here and it’s going to be awesome!
Also, more exciting news! As you know, I’ve been writing and speaking and teaching for many years, and earlier this year I started the PreacHer Podcast (ahem, that’s why the blog has gone *quiet* for a while).
The response to all of this work that I’m so grateful to be part of has been tremendous—you guys are eager to hear women preach, and talk theology and doubts and church, and be inspired to build bigger tables. SO, let’s do something together, because God is still at work in the world and the church is the actual body of Christ and it matters. It’s time to lean in and level up. Let’s do this!
Still reading? Good. Because I have more to share with you 🙂
There’s a deeper reason you’re here. You know that church engagement and attendance are declining. Maybe you’re still showing up, but things aren’t as simple as they once were. Maybe you’re doubtful, disenchanted, and spend your Sundays disgruntled and disappointed. Maybe you already left, frustrated with all of the ways in which the church is falling short of the hopes and dreams we have for it.
I’m right here with you. But all those doubts and frustrations don’t get the last word.
All those doubts and frustrations don’t get the last word!
Because together with all of my doubts, I still cling to faith in the God who created us and declared us “very good.” A God who lived as one of us, loves us, and promises to be with us every day always forever, no matter what. In the midst of my righteous anger and desperation with a world (and let’s be honest, a church) that seems hopeless, I have hope for the day when all things will be made right. And it’s not a blind optimism or sitting back and wishing for something different. I’m committed to doing something. I won’t just check out, disengage, and keep my distance.
Wherever you find yourself, let’s agree to resist complacency. Together.
Let’s do something.
Because God is still at work in the world. And the world is still in desperate need of God, perhaps now more than ever. And the church isn’t just a dream worth fighting for. For years, I’ve been asking why the church matters. Because honestly, it’s easier to just give up. We can find community and friendship and support and challenge and encouragement elsewhere. But that’s not all that the church is. The church–the Church worldwide and eternal–is all of that and more. It’s the actual body of Christ here on earth. It’s a huge way that God is still dwelling with us and living among us. I believe God lives in each of us, AND God lives in the community called the church. The church is a living organism that was created to serve God’s mission in the world. It’s always growing and changing. It’s meant to be a contrast community, showing the world God’s preferred future that’s already breaking in.
It’s where we show up again and again, bruised and doubting and angry and sad, and we’re loved. We’re fed. We receive the body and blood of Jesus again and again and are reminded of that beautiful body that was broken to make us whole, the blood that was poured out to fill us up.
The church has a tremendous capacity to hurt and to heal, to tear down and to build up, to enforce its own exclusionary practices or to extend God’s full inclusion. It’s never going to be perfect, and that’s okay – it’s complicated and messy and baggage-ridden just like we are. But let’s at least shift the balance in a positive direction so we’re erring on the side of grace, forgiveness, hospitality, inclusion, and healing.
I’m interested in a healed church that can heal people.
And I think you are too.
We need dreamers and Jesus-lovers and calling-embracers and table-builders. I love creating content to help you feel challenged, inspired, and empowered to lean in, engage, and follow the God who goes before us. I want to put even more energy and time into this, and I want to provide even more value to you.
I’m launching a new way to engage with the work—an inner circle called a Patreon community. This model gives friends and fans new ways to engage and join in this work. At the same time, it provides me with a sustainable income which allows me to keep putting out great content–and more!
If you’re not familiar with it, the way Patreon works is this–a creator (who might be an artist, writer, podcaster, community-builder, theologian) sets up a membership site where people like you can join to support the work and engage in ways that you’re interested in and feel good about. This is an opportunity for you to join and partner with me and this community in reaching literally anyone in the world who’s online, with God’s transforming message of love and inclusion.
If this sounds like something you want to be part of, join our Patreon community! The first-ever letter to members is going out soon, so head over and sign up at a level that feels good to you. Do you want a snazzy PreacHer graphic for your phone? We’ve got you covered. Do you want to join the sermon-planning team and have direct input? There’s an option for that! Do you want to have a phone call with me every month, or even come to Portland for a weekend?! We have options people. Options!
You’re still reading? It’s time to check out the new community site and do something together!
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