Blog - Page 86 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Why I Am Persuaded the ACT 3 Cohort Groups Will Help in the Making of Unique Leaders

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:33-05:00May 7th, 2012|Categories: ACT 3, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Spirituality|

The ACT 3 Missional-Ecumenical Cohort groups are designed to provide a small group environment where learning is genuinely linked with community. There are numerous ways to teach and each way has its own merit. But not all forms of teaching produce the same fruitfulness. I have taken thousands of classroom hours over the course of my lifetime. I have heard thousands of sermons. I have taught, as a graduate level instructor, at least several hundred students. I have also preached several thousand sermons. I believe that what I remember best is from the material I taught that involved me the most directly in the learning and teaching experience itself.

In forming the ACT 3 M-E Cohort groups I gave a great deal of thought to educational research about learning. We know, for example, that we remember about 10% of what we hear. This percentage rises to 30% when we hear and see. This is why educators utilize […]

How St. Benedict's Rule Transforms Daily Life

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:33-05:00May 4th, 2012|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Mysticism, Spirituality|

St. Benedict’s Rule has remained popular for centuries. I believe that this is true for one very simple reason. It answers a question that serious Christians all ask. “If the power and presence of God are real and effective, what does this mean for human experience in day-to-day life?” Put another way, “What does Christ offer to men and women and what does he ask from them in return?” How do we recognize him, know him, respond to him?

People, including most Christians, have various images in their minds about God. Some think of him as entirely and always benevolent while others think of him primarily as wrathful. Some want to know what God will do for them while others wonder what God wants from them. The real question, I believe, is this: “Can all the holy aspects of the divine Being somehow be reconciled in our minds so that our hearts are warmed by the interior reality of […]

Keeping Spiritual Formation at the Center of Missional-Ecumenism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:33-05:00May 3rd, 2012|Categories: ACT 3, Leadership, Missional-Ecumenism, Spirituality|

When the first ACT 3 Cohort group finished its intensive phase on April 17 the 13 members who graduated did a discernment process so that the group could give me feedback about what could be improved. The Cohort includes 36 hours of time in the group that is spread out over eight months and concentrated in four days of meetings with me. There are three core commitments that are the backbone of the process. These are:

1. You must desire to develop your interior life in a rich texture of spiritual formation that draws from the whole Christian tradition so that you can learn how to intentionally seek after God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength (Matthew 22:37).

2. You must enter into the unity prayer of our Lord Jesus (John 17:20-23), a prayer for our relational oneness, and strive with all your heart to truly […]

"To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before"

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:33-05:00May 2nd, 2012|Categories: Missional-Ecumenism, The Church, The Future|

"Where no man has gone before" was originally made popular through its use in the title of most episodes of the original Star Trek television series. Every Trekkie knows it well. I am no Trekkie but even I have heard it and used it. The phrase refers to the mission of the original starship Enterprise. The complete introductory sequence, narrated by well-known actor William Shatner at the beginning of most episodes of Star Trek, said it this way:

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

I was reminded of this phrase last week. It made me take notice again that truly following Jesus, especially in this new century, […]

The Misuse of Free Speech is Harmful

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:33-05:00May 1st, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Current Affairs, Islam|

I am a huge defender of free speech. It is a core value and a cherished right of all Americans. I believe it is a double-edged sword but one that should be protected. Now and then we have obvious examples of provocative speech that causes social harm, even death outside of America. The line here is very thin and it is often extremely hard to grasp in terms of distinctions and nuances. It is this particular freedom that the Supreme Court has often had to protect by new rulings and decisions that create more misunderstanding. I am personally thankful that they remain vigilant about free speech.

I thought of this recently when Pastor Terry Jones, minister of a 25-member congregation in Gainesville, Florida, publicly burned a copy of the Qur’an last Saturday, April 28. Jones' public burning followed a personal meeting and intense conversation just one day earlier with representatives of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), including the executive director, […]

Why Should Christians and Churches Act Together?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:33-05:00April 30th, 2012|Categories: Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

One of the best known contributions on unity that has powerfully helped in the modern development of ecumenism is called the Lund Principle. It is commonly believed that this principle says, very simply, that “whatever we can do together we should do together.” While this statement is partially right, if you read it in the original context it is not entirely right. Let me explain.

On August 27, 1952, the third world conference on Faith and Order held a meeting at Lund, Sweden. The delegates gathered there agreed on a text titled: “A Word to the Churches.” This text was released to the press immediately for world-wide publication. A key sentence posed the following question:

Should not our churches ask themselves whether they are showing sufficient eagerness to enter into conversation with other churches, and whether they should not act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel […]

Who Should Become an ACT 3 Cohort Member?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:34-05:00April 27th, 2012|Categories: ACT 3, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Spirituality, Unity of the Church|

The most important question you should ask, if you have any interest in our new ACT 3 Missional-Ecumenical Cohort program, is this: "Who should invest the time and money in this process and apply to join an ACT 3 Cohort group?"

Alcoholics Anonymous operates on a rather simple philosophy with a bare bones amount of structure. To join an AA Group you must have a problem, namely the abuse of alcohol. Second, you must be willing to pay the price to change your behavior by investing your time, and thus to some extent your money, in a group process where there is real learning, accountability and life-long change. Finally, you must be willing to use the famous Twelve Steps to grow toward sobriety and then to maintain that sobriety.

The ACT 3 Missional-Ecumenical Cohort groups operate in much the same way. To join a group you must have a recognized need. You must know that you need to grow deeper in your interior spiritual life. If you have this need then you must […]

Could an ACT 3 Cohort Group Come to a City Near You?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:34-05:00April 26th, 2012|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Spirituality|

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive about our new ACT 3 Missional-Ecumenical Cohort Groups is how we determine where to convene a group? The answer is relatively simple.

I will begin a Cohort group where 15-25 people are seriously interested in being gathered together to form such a group. To know this I first need to determine initial interest. This is usually done by one or two people asking if they could host/help with a group in their area. If they have a network of friends who are interested, and if they are situated in an area reachable by a drive of less than three hours from others we know to be interested in the group, then we consider it. The size of the actual city is NOT a determining factor though I do need to be able to get there by plane (and perhaps a short drive after my flight). Location will play a definite part, at least in these early years. Once we have hundreds of graduates, and a dozen or […]

The Problem of Conservatives and Government

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:34-05:00April 25th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Economy/Economics, Politics|

We loosely speak of conservatives and liberals when we talk about ideologies and modern politics as it relates to government. Besides the fact that these labels are often anachronistic, and even widely misused, we infrequently take care to see the downside of the views we personally promote. As in all areas we share in a kind of personal and corporate blindness to the weaknesses of the views we so stridently promote. While I might be labeled a conservative, at least on some issues, I am clearly more progressive when it comes to other modern debates over issues. I view the death penalty, and our modern wars and continual military buildup, with considerable suspicion. I also care for the environment in ways that are anything but consistent with the party line views of most political conservatives. I further believe that our personal liberties are being violated by an over-reaction to questions regarding terrorism and security. (I have named only a few issues to simply give you a sense of my problem with the label.) Yet, I am not a modern political liberal […]

When Jesus Met Mary: A Conference on Friendship with a Unique (and Controversial) Emphasis on Friendship with the Opposite Sex

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:34-05:00April 24th, 2012|Categories: Feminism & Women, Friendship, Sexuality, The Church, Unity of the Church, Women in the Church|

Can men and women be close friends without the sex part getting in the way?

Can men and women who are married enjoy opposite sex friendships?

What would our marriages, our friendships, our churches, and our communities look like if men and women were not afraid of connecting with each other in deep ways?

What would male-female relationships look like in marriages and friendship if every man and woman could know the spiritual richness and beauty of oneness between genders?

These are the kinds of questions that grew out of my reading of a fine book I reviewed extensively on this site, December 21-24, 2010. I wrote long blogs about Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions, a ground-breaking and courageous book written by my good friend Dan Brennan. I believed then that it had something extremely important to say about real friendship […]