- Do you have a decent church website?
- Is it up to date?
- Is it responsive – ie does it work on mobile phones?
- Does your own online profile feature your ideas and hopes and dreams other than a desire for people to turn up to church?
- Do you know what you are doing with twitter and facebook?
- Who could you learn more about social media from?
- Do you have a compelling reason why people should come to your church other than where it is or what denomination it belongs to?
- Can everyone in the church tell you in one sentence what that compelling reason is?
- What is your beginners’ course like?
- What comes after the beginners’ course?
- Do people like the preaching?
- Do people enjoy the music?
- Have you dealt with conflicts from the past?
- Are the people friendly?
- Do you have any new groups starting soon?
- Do you talk about making the world a better place?
- How will people experience joy if they come to your congregation?
- If someone from your past turned up unexpectedly at worship how would it make you feel?
- How do you identify newcomers and what do you offer them?
- What problems will arise if you do grow and how will you deal with them?
- Do claims that you welcome everyone stop you working at welcoming those who traditionally find it hard to find a home in church?
- Do you use language that is inclusive of everyone?
- How do you know?
- Is there any identifiable group of people that you can’t explicitly say are welcome because of how an individual or group in the congregation will react?
- Do you want to grow or not?
4 responses to “Equal Marriage – Prop 8 Ruling in California”
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“Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath he been displeased.
And surely the Future shall be better for thee than the Past,
And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous to thee and thou be satisfied.”Little by little.
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Yes, little by little. Taking the long view is frustrating, but in the end that is the view that God must surely take.
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[…] Holdsworth has a good response for an Anglican revisionist this side of the Pond which gets down to the core of the argument. […]
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May we join the celebration?
Mexico court upholds gay marriage law
Thu, Aug 5 2010
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s supreme court on Thursday upheld a landmark law that allows gay marriage in the capital city, bucking a challenge raised by the conservative government of President Felipe Calderon.
This year, Mexico City became the first capital in mainly Catholic Latin America to pass a law allowing gay couples the same marriage and adoption rights as heterosexuals.
But Calderon’s government and his right-wing National Action Party, or PAN, argued the law was unconstitutional on grounds it would be destructive to families. The powerful Catholic hierarchy in Mexico calls gay marriage immoral.
While the supreme court decided gay marriage was constitutional, it will review the adoption clause on Monday.
“Those of us who are in favor of this (law) are in favor of diversity and tolerance,” Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldivar said during the court’s deliberations.
“Our constitution does not establish a concept of marriage,” he said.
Since the law was passed, more than 300 same-sex couples have tied the knot, the majority of them men.
Activists see the law as part of a sea change in attitudes on homosexuality in much of traditionally macho Latin America.
With some 20 million residents, the Mexico City metropolitan area is one of the world’s largest cities.
(Reporting by Miguel Angel Guitierrez; writing by Mica Rosenberg; editing by Missy Ryan and Jerry Norton)
Previous Posts
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Jesus met a woman at the well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAe8NXq8Lbs
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Sermon preached by the Rev Chucks Iwuagwu
Here is the sermon that Chucks preached on Sunday. Its going on the church website too. Like a number of things, its been delayed due to an internet outage at the office. I’ve got so used to uploading things with the fast internet connection in the office now that when it fails, it all starts…
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Lady Day
Tomorrow (Friday) is Lady Day – the Feast of the Annunciation. St Mary’s will be being Visited by Bishop Gregor tomorrow. That means that the Bishop will be meeting with clergy, Vestry and Church Wardens in the course of the day as well as making one or two pastoral calls alongside either Cedric (Vice Provost)…
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Internet Outage
We’re suffering a week-long internet outage in St Mary’s office at the moment, which is rather trying. Hence lack of updates and lack of answering email from the office account. Normal service may be restored tomorrow.
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