Too often, faith is reduced to an intellectual exercise. But Jesus pressed for transformation, change so dramatic it was described as ‘resurrection’ or ‘rebirth’. What does it look like for us to pursue this sort of new life here at Catalyst in the coming year?
Continue readingDiversity – it’s a buzzword, a trend these days. Every church claims to value diversity. So why do churches so often fail to reflect even the diversity of our communities? And how do we pursue an authentic diversity that moves beyond tokenism and trends to get to the heart of Jesus’ good news for our world?
Continue readingAn ancient Greek thought experiment asks us to imagine a ship that, over the years, has every plank and mast replaced. When there’s no more original wood left, is it the same ship? Catalyst has changed a lot over the last decade. Despite all the changes, what defines us as a church? And what does that mean for our future?
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Love comes easy to some of us. But for a lot of us, being more loving is really hard. It’s scary to be more vulnerable. To risk reaching out. But the thing about love is that it is inevitable. If we just keep going, we’ll find it. So how do we find the strength to love?
Continue readingWhat does love look like in public? As Dr. Cornel West says, it’s justice. How can we love well, in public? What does it mean to say that love changes the world?
Continue readingParty of what’s so challenging about seeking out love is that we’ve been told God is love, but have so many unloving images of God. Jesus helps us to see who God is and how God loves us. And as we connect to Jesus, his love transforms how we engage the people we encounter.
Continue readingWhat keeps us from being more loving? Proverbs has a list of seven things God hates – and God hates them because they’re barriers to having more love in our lives. How do we spot these barriers? And what do we do to root them out?
Continue readingWe’ve all heard love is the most powerful force in the world, but it can be hard to believe it’s really true. What is the nature of Love’s power? And how do we find it in our life?
Continue readingWe mistake a lot of things for love (like, for instance, the infatuation between Romeo & Juliet). But the reality is that not all that masquerades as love is truly love. How do we spot the impostors masquerading as love so we can avoid them?
Continue readingSo many things in our world pass themselves off as love, it can be hard to spot genuine love. But the truth is that we’re surrounded by love. So how can we learn to spot it? It helps to learn the fruit that grow from love. After all, if we can spot the fruit, we can identify the root of love from which it grows.
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