Grant Us Courage: Travels Along the Mainline of American ProtestantismOxford University Press, 1996 M01 18 - 176 pages In 1950, Christian Century ran a series of articles on twelve churches, some large, some small, each representing a strand of American mainline Protestantism. Now, nearly fifty years later, Randall Balmer--author and host of Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, the acclaimed book and PBS series on American evangelicism--has revisited each of these twelve churches to take the pulse of Protestantism today. The result is a remarkable narrative, graced with touches of local color and memorable portraits of the people involved, and filled with deft observations and carefully nuanced insights about Protestantism at century's end. Much as he did in Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, Balmer crisscrosses America to give us a first-hand look at how Christianity has fared in the last half-century. What emerges is a church challenged by diminished influence, but with signs of hope for the future. For instance, he takes us to West Hartford, Connecticut, where we learn how a gregarious pastor, Bob Heppenstall, rekindled the spirit of the First Church of Christ Congregational--still housed in its stately, classic New England meetinghouse--that had suffered from inept management until recent years. And in Ames, Iowa, at the Collegiate United Methodist Church, we watch George White struggle to regain his church's once dominant voice in the religious life of the town, a voice now dimmed by the growth of fundamentalism. Some churches have held steadfastly to long-established roles, such as the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church, in Decorah, Iowa, which has been a model of continuity, serving its Norwegian-American community in much the same way since it was founded in 1851. And Balmer also visits some thriving churches, such as Hollywood's First Presbyterian Church, led by the great preacher John Lloyd Ogilvie, who was recently appointed chaplain of the U.S. Senate. In Minneapolis, Balmer encounters Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, a congregation that has not only increased its membership, but can now call itself the biggest Lutheran church in the world. In Grant Us Courage, one of our most thoughtful chroniclers of the American scene offers an intimate look at mainline Protestantism at the close of the century. We come away with the feeling of having been there, of having listened to the voices of an important segment of Christian life, and of having found a deeper understanding of religious life in America today. |
Contents
Prologue | 3 |
FIRST COMMUNITY CHURCH | 9 |
WASHINGTON PRAIRIE LUTHERAN CHURCH | 23 |
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH | 33 |
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST CONGREGATIONAL | 47 |
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH | 57 |
TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH | 67 |
BELLEVUE BAPTIST CHURCH | 77 |
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active adult American associate pastor attendance Beery Bellevue Baptist Bellevue Baptist Church Bible biblical inerrancy building Burkhart called Carole Jackson Chapel Baptist Church choir Christian Century Church of Christ Collegiate Methodist Community Church congregation's culture declared Decorah denominational evangelical forty Freistatt fundamentalist Goodwin Heppenstall high school Hollywood Presbyterian insisted intentionally left blank Iowa Jackson Jesus Johnson Kelsey Knoxville Ladbergen leadership liberal lives mainline Protestantism membership mission Mount Olivet Lutheran move Norwegian offered Ogilvie older members Olive Chapel Baptist Olivet Lutheran Church parishioners past four decades Paul Youngdahl Poggemeier Prairie Lutheran Church preaching Presbyterian Church Protestant Protestantism pulpit religious Rogers rural Sansgaard senior minister senior pastor sermon Southern Baptist Convention spiritual staff suburbs Sunday morning Sunday school Sunday school class tion Today Topeka Trinity Lutheran Church United Church United Methodist Church Washington Prairie Lutheran Wesley Foundation West Hartford worship young Youngdahl
Popular passages
Page vii - Heresy is the lifeblood of religions. It is faith that begets heretics. There are no heresies in a dead religion.
References to this book
America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-first Century Peter W. Williams Limited preview - 2002 |