BCNE News
The latest news from our network of New England churches. Looking for our New England Perspectives Articles? Click here.
Where is the BCNE headed in 2023?
We are rejoicing that the pandemic is finally behind us. Though ministry looks different now than it did before the pandemic, at least it is becoming easier to find the new rhythm that will help us be more effective in the year to come. Perhaps one of the greater changes that we must make for effective future ministry is one of attitude.
The danger of mission drift
In many conversations I have with pastors, one of the main concerns that frequently comes up is how to lead in an ever-changing context without losing focus of the church’s God-given mission. Many churches are understanding that major changes need to be made in order to adapt to the new times, but in the process of implementing new strategies, there is always the danger of mission drift. Mission drift, as the term indicates, is basically what happens when the church starts to move away from its calling and purpose.
Are you celebrating the Gospel?
What would you expect Jesus’ first miracle to be? Healing the sick? Raising the dead? Walking on water? Jesus’ first miracle was to make 120-180 gallons of exquisite wine. Jesus attended a wedding in Cana. His mother was also there and playing an official role when a potential disaster happens—they ran out of wine. That doesn’t seem too cataclysmic, but for the custom of that day, weddings would last a week and to run out of wine would be a serious social embarrassment. Lawsuits could be brought against the groom’s family!
Making Easter memorable
Our family makes a conscious effort to emphasize the joy that comes from gathering with the saints on Sunday mornings. From counting down throughout the week to picking out dresses the night before, these simple habits have shaped in them an exciting anticipation for the upcoming Lord’s Day.
The chronic Gospel
One in 3,200. That's the statistic: for every 3,200 live births in the US, one sweet baby will have a rare, incurable, progressive disease called cystic fibrosis. On July 1, 2020, my daughter arrived in the world as the one.
Rediscover the feeling of Christmas
When we first moved to New England there was already snow on the ground. It was only a few weeks until Christmas and the small village in Vermont that we moved to looked like a Norman Rockwell painting. We were busy revitalizing a historic church that has considered closing just a few weeks before we arrived. During those first few weeks as Christmas approached, we did a lot of “Christmas” things we had never done before.
What’s going on in America’s spiritual graveyard?
Each Sunday morning, when I stand behind the pulpit, my eyes are drawn to look out the east windows of our old Congregational Meeting House. As I do, I’m greeted by a sobering sight: an old church building, a relic from another time. But it’s not the building itself that affects me; it’s what it’s become. This structure, formerly a house of worship, is now divided into many luxury condominiums. And it’s not the only one. Several old churches, on our street alone, have closed in the last quarter-century. These buildings were at one time monuments of Christ, testimonies of faith in the Triune God. But now, they’re monuments of another kind, warning of the dangers of doctrinal downgrade while sounding the siren for help.
No one left behind
Recently, as our government decided to close the long chapter on the war in Afghanistan, our nation (and, indeed, the entire world) looked on with much concern and trepidation as the hasty evacuation process unfolded.
How the world distorts reality
In the movie The Matrix, the hero Neo is given the choice to take a blue pill and continue to live in his current world or take a red pill and “wake up” to reality. Neo takes the red pill and discovers that the real world is nothing like the world he thought he knew.