Andy Rowell

Church Leadership Conversations

  • Catalyst Conference, Fuqua, Willimon, Publishing, Newbigin and Rosetta Stone: my 62 tweets from the last month

    I have been using Twitter to write down micro-blog posts.  I post about two "tweets" per day on average.  I highlight articles worth reading and share quotes and ideas on my mind.  I have tried to keep my tweets focused around the theme of church leadership like this blog.  Each “tweet” is only 140 characters.  I try to provide something of value and not just tell you what I had for breakfast.  Anyway, I just thought I would post the last 62 here so you can see what has been on my mind the last month.

    The tweets descend from most recent November 7th at the top to October 5th at the bottom. 

    1. Dave Travis of Leadership Network @leadnet helpfully collates a list of 13 (mostly megachurch-oriented) church trends http://bit.ly/30Rr5t about 3 hours ago from bit.ly

    2. Duke Divinity's @faithleadership has published my "Liturgical and Free Church leaders can learn from each other" http://bit.ly/2bErZC  4:36 PM Nov 5th from web

    3. On any given day, 95% of U.S. adults watch TV, Nielsen reports. http://bit.ly/3xw3ed  1:45 PM Nov 5th from bit.ly

    4. RT @DeadlyViper: TOWARD RECONCILIATION – http://shar.es/aAy1z update from @mikefoster @judwilhite @profrah #dvca  10:17 AM Nov 5th from web

    5. I recommend the earnest post by @edcyzewski on the recent evangelical Asian protest against racial insensitivity http://tinyurl.com/ya33tpd  10:14 AM Nov 5th from web

    6. Newbigin: Congregation should be known for (1) praise, (2) truth, (3) locality, (4) integrity, (5) mutuality, (6) hope. http://bit.ly/42J84f  1:25 PM Nov 4th from web

    7. Newbigin "the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it." http://bit.ly/3KgaZa  1:07 PM Nov 4th from web

    8. We are reading for class today Newbigin's "Evangelism in the Context of Secularization" (readable at Google Books) http://bit.ly/3bW9ej  12:29 PM Nov 4th from web

    9. I have become a big believer in Rosetta Stone and have reviewed it at my TheologicalGerman.com http://bit.ly/mO9fv  12:08 PM Nov 4th from bit.ly

    10. I commented on post by @FaithTheology about AAR paper "Apocalyptic gospel: J. Louis Martyn on Galatians" http://bit.ly/tx4c5  12:06 PM Nov 4th from bit.ly

    11. I have responded to all the comments at @OutofUr about my post "Catalyst, Liturgy, and Innovation" http://bit.ly/4CRx5l  3:51 PM Nov 3rd from bit.ly

    12. My post about the Catalyst Conference is up at @OutofUr: "Catalyst, Liturgy, and Innovation" http://bit.ly/4CRx5l  1:26 PM Nov 2nd from bit.ly

    13. Great to c 79 y.o. OT scholar Bruce Waltke furthering evangelical conversation on evolution. http://bit.ly/2m0UzE via: http://bit.ly/1dRdH0  11:37 AM Nov 2nd from bit.ly

    14. My two comments on U2 @TheJesusCreed #31 pre-evangelism and #35 Lyrics of "I still haven't found" http://bit.ly/3DH57K  11:30 AM Nov 2nd from bit.ly

    15. I commented on Douglas Campbell's interview about his new book Deliverance of God. http://bit.ly/49g8FF  11:22 AM Nov 2nd from bit.ly

    16. Changed all our clocks for "fall back" but I put them all 7-10 minutes fast following @scotmcknight comment about that http://bit.ly/3O5fcY  11:32 PM Oct 31st from web

    17. I have posted my Microsoft Publisher document with my blog banner and Twitter profile background. http://bit.ly/1QXTkk  2:25 PM Oct 31st from bit.ly

    18. You can now watch the whole Oct 25 U2 concert from the Rose Bowl on YouTube. http://bit.ly/3ZLUcc Setlist: http://bit.ly/3vhOoz  10:55 AM Oct 30th from bit.ly

    19. Earth (rated G) is a wonderful new nature documentary. Some animals do eat other animals–shocking I know–so some parts a bit disturbing.10:37 AM Oct 30th from web

    20. I have added Scott Calhoun's Books & Culture article comments to my "Resources for Theological Reflection on U2" http://bit.ly/SBSwv  8:55 PM Oct 29th from bit.ly

    21. The dangers of syncretism & irrelevance and God's work in spite of us. See Lesslie Newbigin on Communicating the Gospel http://bit.ly/2BABOo9:24 AM Oct 29th from bit.ly

    22. Foolishness to the Greeks by Newbigin yesterday in class. He critiques modern presuppositions especially scientism & privatization.8:51 AM Oct 29th from web

    23. I posted my notes from today: Tim Morgan @CTmagazine “A Journalist’s Observations of the Anglican Communion” http://bit.ly/Bncfs  9:45 PM Oct 28th from bit.ly

    24. Someone post your notes from #story09 http://www.historytellers.org/ See good photo of opening from @FenderCat84 http://twitpic.com/n9gbu  10:17 AM Oct 28th from web

    25. I posted my notes from Publisher Panel tonight @DukeDivinity: “I want to publish a book someday. What do I do now?” http://bit.ly/2BqZp8  10:34 PM Oct 27th from bit.ly

    26. Kavin Rowe, today at Duke, "Habituation in specialization can cause the scholar to screen out the big questions humans need addressed."4:40 PM Oct 27th from web

    27. Jon Pott, Editor-in-Chief at Eerdmans at Duke today: "Publishers do not want books that evaluate a theologian; instead, be constructive."4:30 PM Oct 27th from web

    28. Christianity Today's new women's digizine @KyriaDigital launched today. Technologically cool. http://bit.ly/2HdPSM @carolynezer #KyriaNov09  8:55 PM Oct 26th from web

    29. My notes from “Cardinal Yves Congar: Ecclesiologist and Ecumenist” @DukeDivinity with Paul Philibert and Gerard Austin http://bit.ly/3FuocM  2:32 PM Oct 26th from bit.ly

    30. Personal interview with the most feared NT prof @DukeDivinity and expert on Mark, Jewish-Christian Joel Marcus http://bit.ly/MqSzI  12:00 PM Oct 26th from web

    31. Prof David Steinmetz @DukeDivinity reflects on the differences between "The pope and the Anglicans" http://bit.ly/26mbry  11:44 AM Oct 26th from bit.ly

    32. The average Ph.D. in the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke is 5.7 years. http://bit.ly/2x5tmb  11:51 AM Oct 23rd from web

    33. Craig Heilmann is the first Duke Th.D. graduate ever. He did it in 3.25 years but is amazing. Some people do indeed finish! Here's hoping.11:50 AM Oct 23rd from web

    34. A bunch of new blog posts at my blog: Greg Jones, Willow Creek preaching, Tim Keller, and Will Willimon. http://www.andyrowell.net/  10:13 PM Oct 22nd from web

    35. I put forth the Nicene Creed and Marks of the Church as criteria for evaluating the "Virtual" Church at @OutofUr http://bit.ly/3jPVfP  5:49 PM Oct 22nd from bit.ly

    36. Willimon's 2 new: The Early Preaching of Karl Barth http://bit.ly/10lWHw and Undone by Easter: Keeping Preaching Fresh http://bit.ly/2EldYe  2:47 PM Oct 22nd from bit.ly

    37. Will Willimon, "Some biblical texts are all gospel or all law. I preach them in their onesidedness and then let communion balance it out."2:41 PM Oct 22nd from web

    38. Reacting to excesses in own tradition, Willimon (Methodist) stresses exegesis, while Campbell (Presbyterian) stresses more time with people.2:38 PM Oct 22nd from web

    39. Will Willimon, "By their 50's, pastors need theologians. Ministry is too peculiarly demanding. You need more than just liking people."2:32 PM Oct 22nd from web

    40. Will Willimon today at Duke, "As a pastor, it helps to be an intellectual. Amidst the ordinary, getting excited about ideas helps."2:29 PM Oct 22nd from web

    41. New Leadership Journal @OutOfUr arrived today in the mailbox with space/building theme and announcing http://kyria.com/ @kyriadigital  11:01 PM Oct 21st from web

    42. Geoffrey Wainwright scoured Vatican website in Italian after reading: "Vatican Plan to Ease Conversion of Anglicans" http://bit.ly/c90RI  10:46 PM Oct 21st from web

    43. RT @PastorMark: 150 Tim Keller sermons online now for free http://bit.ly/19ev2a via @drjohnjackson  10:41 PM Oct 21st from web

    44. At Duke NT Colloquium, Brad Trick argued Galatians is about legal adoption, not covenant. J. Louis Martyn, S. Eastman, D. Campbell asked Qs.10:37 PM Oct 21st from web

    45. My notes on James F. McCaffrey on Leadership in a Technology Disrupted Organization http://bit.ly/2IMNaS #coachkconference  12:37 PM Oct 21st from bit.ly

    46. My notes from panel: Leading the Next Generation of Workers and Customers: the Social Network http://bit.ly/1KiKIL #coachkconference  11:38 AM Oct 21st from bit.ly

    47. I just posted my notes from Jim Whitehurst of Red Hat: Competing as a 21st century Enterprise http://bit.ly/60FAq #CoachKConference  10:17 AM Oct 21st from bit.ly

    48. Tomorrow I'm attending The Fuqua School of Business & Coach K Leadership Conference http://bit.ly/21ZAZ0 #CoachKConference  9:07 PM Oct 20th from bit.ly

    49. Tim Keller "I give 15+ hours a week to preparing the sermon. I would not advise younger ministers to spend so much time" http://bit.ly/Y4jtg  1:43 PM Oct 15th from bit.ly

    50. Today in class: Newbigin's Open Secret. Addresses liberation theology/Marxism (ch. 8) and church growth (ch. 9) with solid Trin theology.2:04 PM Oct 14th from web

    51. Tweets at Gordon-Conwell's Renewing the Evangelical Mission conf today: @jborah @andyatpeace @grahambuck @gideonstrauss http://bit.ly/2bIu4K  11:29 AM Oct 14th from web

    52. Spring 2010 Duke Divinity School classes released. http://www.divinity.duke.ed… Hauerwas, Hays, Rowe, Carter, Hall, etc.11:13 AM Oct 14th from web

    53. #cat09 speaker @MattChandler74 shares verbatim what he says in his welcome from the pulpit @villagechurchtx http://bit.ly/17trA5  1:38 PM Oct 13th from web

    54. Bill Mounce, Greek textbook writer and New Testament Chair of ESV Committee, Will Join NIV 2011 Trans Team @ctmagazine http://bit.ly/H8Ohr  12:32 PM Oct 13th from web

    55. I commented on Michael Bird's post Euangelion: Evangelical Ecclesiology – Apostolicity http://bit.ly/2v8IOQ  7:04 PM Oct 10th from bit.ly

    56. Best sources for Catalyst talk summaries are http://blog.christianitytod… and http://churchrelevance.com/ #cat09  7:52 AM Oct 9th from web

    57. Day1 Highlights #cat09 @AndyStanley on falling facedown, @Gladwell on overconfidence, @realrobbell on self-care, @MattChandler74 on gospel.12:02 AM Oct 9th from web

    58. "Nehemiah said 'If you do this again, I will lay hands on you' (Neh 13:21). I can identify with that." @perrynoble #cat09  9:43 PM Oct 7th from web

    59. Tales of massive attendance growth is ministry pornography: unrealistic depiction of what is never going to happen to you. @edstetzer #cat09  9:01 PM Oct 7th from web

    60. "Samuel went to meet Saul, but he was told, 'Saul has gone to set up a monument in his own honor'" (1 Sam 15:12) @MarkBatterson #cat09  8:54 PM Oct 7th from web

    61. Funniest line today #cat09 @perrynoble "Some pastors talk about closing the back door of the church but the Bible calls the church a body."8:42 PM Oct 7th from web

    62. Off to Catalyst @realrobbell @AndyStanley @reggiemcneal @MattChandler74 @edstetzer @mafeinberg @ahc @MarkBatterson @PastorChrisSeay #cat09  9:03 PM Oct 5th from web

  • Free Churches and Liturgical Churches: Behind the Numbers

    My post is up at Christianity Today's Leadership Journal Out of Ur blog:

    Catalyst, Liturgy, and Innovation What liturgical church leaders and the Catalyst Conference can learn from each other.

    It has also been published in a slightly different form at Duke Divinity School's Faith & Leadership website on the Call & Response blog:

    What Liturgical and Free Church leaders can learn from each other.

    Make your comments there.  Thanks.  


    Free Churches and Liturgical Churches: Behind the Numbers

    The first two sentences in the post attempt to show that there is a significant split in the United States between liturgical churches and free churches. 

    According to data from the National Congregations Study (2006-2007), 38%
    of people in the United States associate themselves with     liturgical
    churches (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, etc.)    ; while 46%
    associate themselves with     free churches (Baptist, Pentecostal,
    non-denominational, etc.).     The 14% of people associated with Methodist
    and Reformed/Presbyterian churches     sit atop this watershed—some sliding
    down the liturgical slope, others down the free church slope.

    The data I draw from in these sentences is from the following chart.  I have marked the liturgical numbers yellow, free church numbers pink and Reformed/Methodist green.

    Explore the Data: Wave 2 – 2006/07


    Denomination
    Response Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
    ROMAN CATHOLIC 421 27.9 27.9        
    BAPTIST 312 20.7 20.7 48.7
    METHODIST 136 9.1 9.1 57.7
    LUTHERAN 77 5.1 5.1 62.9
    PRESBYTERIAN OR REFORMED 68 4.5 4.5 67.3
    PENTECOSTAL 84 5.6 5.6 73.0
    OTHER MODERATE OR LIBERAL PROTESTANTS 26 1.7 1.7 74.6
    EPISCOPAL CHURCH 43 2.9 2.9 77.5
    OTHER CONSERVATIVE, EVANGELICAL, OR SECTARIAN PROTESTANTS 97 6.5 6.5 84.0
    OTHER CHRISTIAN, NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED 191 12.7 12.7 96.7
    NON-CHRISTIAN 50 3.3 3.3 100.0

    NOTE: this table reflects the number of persons in congregations.

    To get it:

    1. I went to the National Congregations home page.
    2. Clicked explore the data 
    3. Clicked on Basic Findings for each Variable in the Surveys: Wave 2: 2006-2007 data 
    4. Clicked under the Variables.  "Denomiation." 
    5. Clicked: "I want my tables to reflect the number of persons in congregations"
    6. Clicked: Create Frequency Table. 

    The same information is presented slightly differently on page 27 of The National Congregations Study report "American Congregations at the Beginning of the 21st Century" by Mark Chaves

    RELIGIOUS TRADITION:
    Percent with no denominational affiliation                         13.9   

        Percent associated with each denomination or tradition:
    Roman Catholic                                                                 27.9       
    Baptist conventions/denominations                                   20.7       
    Methodist denominations                                                    9.1         
    Lutheran/Episcopal denominations                                     7.9
    Pentecostal                                                                         5.6
    Denominations in the reformed tradition                             4.5
    Other Christian                                                                  20.9
    Jewish                                                                                  1.6
    Non-Christian and Non-Jewish                                             1.7

    I reflected on the Report at:

    Two new reports: Thumma / Bird on Megachurches and Chaves on American Congregations

    Duke sociologist Mark Chaves has written the 2004 Harvard University Press book:

    More raw unweighted data is available at:

    National Congregations Study, Cumulative Dataset (1998 and 2006-2007)

    From this type of data (if it was properly weighted), one would begin to form the chart above. 

    9) Denominational affiliation (collapsed 1) (DENCODE)
    TOTAL %
    0) No denomination 313 11.4
    1) Roman Catholic 663 24.2
    2) Southern Baptist Convention 285 10.4
    3) Black Baptist 91 3.3
    4) American Baptist Churches 26 0.9
    5) Other Baptist 120 4.4
    6) United Methodist Church 245 8.9
    7) Black Methodist 23 0.8
    8) Other Methodist 9 0.3
    9) Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 111 4.1
    10) Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod 52 1.9
    11) Other Lutheran 19 0.7
    12) Presbyterian Church (USA) 82 3.0
    13) Other Presbyterian 9 0.3
    14) Assembly of God 48 1.8
    15) Other Pentecostal 54 2.0
    16) Church of God in Christ 21 0.8
    17) Disciples of Christ 17 0.6
    18) Episcopal Church 77 2.8
    19) United Church of Christ 51 1.9
    20) Reformed Church in America 8 0.3
    21) Church of the Brethren 7 0.3
    22) Jehovah's Witness 28 1.0
    23) Mennonite 7 0.3
    24) Church of the Nazarene 20 0.7
    25) Seventh-day Adventists 15 0.5
    26) Unitarian Universalist Association 16 0.6
    27) Eastern Orthodox 13 0.5
    28) Church/Churches of Christ 16 0.6
    29) Various Church of God 26 0.9
    30) Latter-day Saints (LDS, Mormon) 45 1.6
    31) Jewish 45 1.6
    32) Non-Christian/non-Jewish 53 1.9
    35) Evangelical 13 0.5
    36) Christian and Missionary Alliance 13 0.5
    37) Other Mainline/Liberal 9 0.3
    38) Other Conservative/Evangelical 34 1.2
    39) Other Christian, nec 56 2.0
    TOTAL 2740 100.0
    [ Add to Question Bank | View Question Bank ]

  • Lesslie Newbigin on Communicating the Gospel

    I am a teaching assistant in Geoffrey Wainwright's class on Newbigin at Duke Divinity School.  (Wainwright wrote Lesslie Newbigin: A Theological Life).  Yesterday we dealt with Lesslie Newbigin's book Foolishness to the Greeks.

    At the beginning of the book, Newbigin explains the importance of communicating the gospel "in the language of the receptor culture" (5)  But the gospel should also "radically call into question" that receptor culture (6).  In the final analysis, conversion "can only be the work of God" (6).  Some of us fail to communicate the gospel in language people can understand and others of us are not sufficiently aware of the way we have capitulated to the culture around us.  Thanks be to God for working through us in spite of our shortcomings.  Here is Newbigin's marvelous longer explanation of this concept.   

    The same threefold pattern is exemplified in the experience of a missionary who, nurtured in one culture, seeks to communicate the gospel among people of another culture whose world has been shaped by a vision of the totality of things quite different from that of the Bible.  He must first of all struggle to master the language.  To begin with, he will think of the words he hears simply as the equivalent of the words he uses in his own tongue and are listed in his dictionary as equivalents.  But if he really immerses himself in the talk, the songs and folk tales, and the literature of the people, he will discover that there are no exact equivalents.  All the words in any language derive their meaning, their resonance in the minds of those who use them, from a whole world of experience and a whole way of grasping that experience.  So there are no exact translations.  He has to render the message as best he can, drawing as fully as he can upon the tradition of the people to whom he speaks. 

    Clearly he has to find the path between two dangers.  On the one hand, he may simply fail to communicate: he uses the words of the language, but in such a way that he sounds like a foreigner; his message is heard as the babblings of a man who really has nothing to say.  Or, on the other hand, he may so far succeed in talking the language of his hearers that he is accepted all too easily as a familiar character–a moralist calling for greater purity of conduct or a guru offering a path to the salvation that all human beings want.  His message is simply absorbed into the existing world-view and heard as a call to be more pious or better behaved.  In the attempt to be "relevant" one may fall into syncretism, and in the effort to avoid syncretism one may become irrelevant. 

    In spite of these dangers, which so often reduce the effort of the missionary to futility, it can happen that, in the mysterious providence of God, a word spoken comes with the kind of power of the word that was spoken to Saul on the road to Damascus.  Perhaps it is as sudden and cataclysmic as that.  Or perhaps it is the last piece that suddenly causes the pattern to make sense, the last experience of a long series that tips the scales decisively.  However, that may be, it causes the hearer to stop, turn around, and go in a new direction, to accept Jesus as his Lord, Guide, and Savior.

    Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 7-8.

    This section from Newbigin is also excerpted in the excellent book:

    I have also reviewed some other Newbigin books: