Bryan Berghoef's Blog, page 4

Pub Theology on PBS!

Now, the two groups featured offer two different sort of events—one involves worship, prayer, and a speaker; one has no prayer, no worship, no preaching, just dialogue—yet both reflect a widening desire by many to seek new forms of community, new forms of spirituality, new forms of church.

Advice to a Child

At some point, after a sip of a really good IPA, someone mentioned: “You know these things are all great, and we’d want to share them with our kids. But really, you have to demonstrate these ideas if you want children to learn them.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a day where we celebrate how a bunch of illegal immigrants invaded the native lands of an indigenous people and how those indigenous people ultimately met them with a kindness that they may not have deserved (sometimes known as grace). This Thanksgiving let’s be inspired to share that same kindness and grace with others. Continue reading →

Ferguson: We Just Don’t Get It

When we, as the white community, see the deep pain and mourning happening today and post something about "not complaining" -- we don't get it.

When we, as the white community, see unfair police treatment of minorities and say, "Oh yeah, me too" -- we don't get it.

When we, as the white community, hear a mother lamenting the future of her young black son and say "Stay home and shut up and you'll be safe. Mike Brown should have done the same" -- we REALLY don't get it. Continue reading →

Why NOT to Celebrate Columbus Day

It is increasingly common to hear people question whether we should celebrate Columbus Day. My take is that it isn’t even a question. We should notcelebrate this day.Unless we take a pagefrom Seattle’s book and rename it: “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” … Continue reading →

Transitions

I haven’t posted much here the last few months. A lot of transition has been happening. My family and I moved from Washington DC to Holland, Michigan in July. We were unable to continue our efforts of building community with Roots DC for a variety of factors, and it was a sad farewell. We had an amazing time in the almost two years we were there, and I’ve resisted writing about it because it is still something I am processing and a bit hard to put into words.

We are so grateful for the time w...

3 Barriers Hijacking Christians’ Ability to Love Our “Enemies”

Guest post by Jon Huckins

In recent years, my family has navigated some rough patches; death, cancer treatments, open heart surgeries, chronic disease, etc. Now, I’m certain this isn’t everyone’s experience, but mine has been that in these times of trauma or tragedy, family comes together to stand with one another as we wrestle through life’s crap. We aren’t picking fights, we are crying on each other’s shoulders.

In recent months, our human family has been enduring an especially rough patch....

POLL: Pub Theology Conversation online

As part of creating space online for ongoing Pub Theology conversation, I'm considering a new Facebook group. Vote below with your thoughts. If you think I should consider something other than Facebook, let me know that in the comments.

I'm in the process of creating a new Pub Theology website, so hoping whatever I create can be embedded and accessed there. Continue reading →

Unacceptable: What it’s like to be a Liberal Christian in a Sea of Conservativism

Guest post by David Schell

People think I moved left because I wanted to compromise with the world, because I wanted to fit in better.

People think I moved left because I was deceived by the devil.

People think I moved left because I’ve been reading the Bible without the help of the Holy Spirit.

People think I moved left because I just stopped reading the Bible.

…

I accidentally go to conservative churches sometimes and find books by Ken Ham that say I’ve compromised – with the world, the dev...

UPCOMING: The Doubter’s Devotional

Official announcement here of my upcoming book, The Doubter's Devotional: Daily Readings for Seekers and Skeptics.

I am on the front end of this project, but wanted to let you all know about it. I'd love to get your initial reactions:

What does the title evoke for you?

What would you like to see in a book like this?

Would you be interested in a title like this? Why?

Can you think of people you'd recommend a book like this to?

Your responses will help as I put together my initial proposal. Rig...