Typing hurts. So video post today:
Silly, I know.
Guitar Pick
Jun 25
Based on Twitter, FaceBook, blog, email and face-to-face suggestions, my three part series will either be on forgiveness, or on a vision for the Bryn Athyn contemporary worship gathering.
But I haven’t decided which. On the one hand, there’s lots of great stuff in the Word to help with the process of forgiving. On the other hand, the Bryn Athyn Family Contemporary worship service is in serious need of a renewed vision and focus. (And this series will be happening at that service July 12, 19, and 26.)
I’m looking for help in figuring out which way to go. Forgiveness is a great general subject that lots of people want help with. A vision series for the contemporary worship service is a critical need, though.
Right now I’m leaning toward forgiveness, but can easily be swayed. Either way, both subjects need to be covered in the coming few months.
Please help. I am looking for topics for a three part Sunday morning series. What do YOU want help with DOING in your spiritual journey?
Day off from leading worship. Hanging out in bed. Praying for Iranian people. Happy Birthday, sis. Happy Fathers day, Dad.
Kurt Simons made an interesting assertion in “A Note on New Church Government”:
the Academy split came at the end of the nineteenth century, during which church membership had been approximately doubling every decade, ending in the highest membership the US organized New Church ever saw (7,095 in 1890) ([Marguerite Block, The New Church in the New World], p. 173). But after the split that growth not only stopped, but decline set in, to the smaller numbers that still apply to both bodies today, a century later.
I found that interesting, so looked up the stats cited by Block:
| Year | Societies | Ordained ministers | Members |
| 1820 | 12 | 8 | 230 |
| 1830 | 28 | 16 | 500 |
| 1840 | 26 | 20 | 850 |
| 1850 | 54 | 32 | 1,450 |
| 1860 | 64 | 42 | 2,550 |
| 1870 | 90 | 68 | 4,150 |
| 1880 | 94 | 94 | 5,100 |
| 1890 | 154 | 119 | 7,095 |
Unfortunately I don’t have the numbers, right now, for the 20th century, post-schism. Anyone willing to provide those? I’m looking for all North American numbers, not just General Church.
It is interesting to note not just the rapid growth in number of members, but also the corresponding multiplication of congregations. Here’s the above data on a log scale:
New Church Growth in North America, 1820-1890 (Block, p. 173)