Category Archives: Theology

Christian Commitment

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Richard Heyduck

I was asked to write a piece about my Christian commitment.  If any of you have any opinions on content, tone, style, etc., I’d love to hear it. Thanks! ************************** Statement of Christian Commitment  My commitment to Christ would be … Continue reading →

Posted in Ministry, Salvation, Theology | 2 Comments

Overcoming Incommensurability

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Richard Heyduck

Christian Amondson has an interesting post on issues of incommensurability, i.e., how communication can happen across narratival boundaries. Here’s my comment: Do we want to say that the incommensurability between the Christian world/narrative is essentially different from the incommensurability that … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evangelism, Theology | 4 Comments

When the wrong people do the right thing

Posted on November 26, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

I just finished reading Paul Johnson’s A History of Christianity. Though I read the old edition, you can find it currently in print. I’d count it as a popular supplement to more scholarly works. In previous study I had seen … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Theology, War | 2 Comments

Five Practices (and More)

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Here in the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church we have adopted (in a slightly modified form) the Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations as featured in Bishop Robert Schnase’s book. With some other ideas (“Key Drivers”) added, we’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Podcast, Pursuing Jesus, Theology, United Methodism | 2 Comments

Muslim Outreach

Posted on October 12, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

A group of Muslims from around the world have issued an open letter to Christian leaders everywhere. The call for peace is summed up in the beginning of the document: Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of … Continue reading →

Posted in Al Qaeda, Alasdair MacIntyre, Clash of Civilizations, Current events, Islam, Theology, Tradition, War | Leave a comment

Dealing with Doubt

Posted on September 7, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

How do you handle doubt? We who are prone to doubting can doubt just about anything. We can doubt God – his existence, his goodness, his concern for us. We can doubt ourselves – our value, our purpose in life, … Continue reading →

Posted in Spirituality, Theology | 1 Comment

Emergent Rejection of Christianity? Not Quite

Posted on July 29, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Frank Pastore (who, according to the author info, has a graduate degree in philosophy of religion) has a stilted view of Christianity. In this weekend’s column – the second he’s written against the Emergent Movement – he says: If Christianity … Continue reading →

Posted in Al Qaeda, Current events, Emergent, Emerging Church, Politics, Theology, War | 3 Comments

The Bishops are Seeking Leverage

Posted on May 23, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

In his Christian Chaos: Revolutionizing the Congregation Tom Bandy says, The primary link between congregation and denomination and denomination is pastoral relations, the key membership of the pastor is with the denominational judicatory, and the most powerful positions in congregation … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Current events, Leadership, Local church, Spirituality, Theology, United Methodism | 10 Comments

What Kind of Church

Posted on May 16, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

Reading Bill Easum’s comments on hiring bring to mind the contrast between the Program Based Church and the Team Based Church. In this piece Easum gives two different models of hiring processes. These models are based on the two kinds … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Local church, Theology, United Methodism | Leave a comment

Cover Your Ears!

Posted on May 10, 2007 by Richard Heyduck

How do Christians decide who not to listen to? Which heresies, mistakes or habits take a person beyond the pale? I received a mailing from UM Action a few days ago complaining about homosexuals being put in charge of worship … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Leadership, Politics, Spirituality, Theology, United Methodism | 4 Comments