Archive
The Complex Relationship Between Religion and Humanitarianism
The hero image of religious saints involved in humanitarian work warrants examination. I have come to this conclusion in the process of leading a global project on “spiritual exemplars” at USC’s Center …
Reimagining (Again): Key Lessons on Ministry Sustainability in a Post-Pandemic World
The USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) recently held its first in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019. More than 70 clergy and faith-inspired community …
Community Transformation: Outlining a Process for Change
Introduction: Innovation Labs for Congregational Vitality and Community Change Imagine if a church held a gala to raise money for programs to help improve the lives of its neighbors, and everyone in …
How to Start a Wealth-Building Ministry at Your Church
In disadvantaged communities, economic instability makes it difficult for many to access important financial knowledge. Without this information, people cannot lift themselves up and grow their wealth. And if the people are …
Maggie Gobran: “Mama” to Thousands of Children in Egypt
Maggie Gobran is both a saint and a social entrepreneur. The daughter of an upper-middle-class family in Cairo’s Coptic Orthodox Christian community, Mama Maggie, as she is known, made the radical decision …
Human Trafficking Reconsidered: Rethinking the Problem, Envisoning New Solutions
Human Trafficking Reconsidered: Rethinking the Problem, Envisoning New Solutions Kimberly Kay Hoang and Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, editors (Abe Books: 2014) This unique collection of original essays investigates …
How Salvation Army’s Red Kettles Became a Christmas Tradition
This article originally appeared on The Conversation. Tinseled trees and snowy landscapes are not the only signs of the upcoming holiday season. Red kettles, staffed by men and women in street clothes, …
LAist: Loskota on Congregations Addressing Homelessness
A Los Angeles-area non-profit has been unsuccessful in opening congregations’ parking lots to people living out of their cars, reports KPCC/LAist. CRCC Executive Director Brie Loskota told KPCC that the expectations on …
83.9 KPCC: Mark Whitlock on LA’s Korean Christian Community Seeking Social Impact
Korean Americans make up a large portion of Los Angeles’ population, and many of them identify as Christian. However, Korean churches do not have the same reputation for impacting the community in …
Religion & Politics Features AMCLI – The Influential Network of American Muslim Leaders
The American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute is “one of the country’s most influential networks of American Muslim civic leaders,” according to an article profiling the group in Religion & Politics. AMCLI, which …
Faith Leaders on Los Angeles’ Homelessness Crisis
The University of Southern California hosted a high-level roundtable of local faith leaders to discuss how the faith community could jointly respond to the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. This post includes …
Prosperity Gospel Is not the only Problem with Joel Osteen’s Harvey Response
This article originally appeared on Religion Dispatches. Twitter was outraged Monday. Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, housed in a former basketball arena, looked to be dry and quiet, even as thousands of Houstonians …
OC Register: Orange County Church Finds Higher Purpose with Affordable Housing
The Wesley Village affordable housing project in Garden Grove was recently opened on Garden Grove United Methodist Church’s land. The concept of using church land to host affordable housing has been used …
Trust Talks: A Dialogue on Police and Race in Los Angeles
Trust Talks is a faith community-led initiative that brings together all sides of the Downtown Los Angeles community—including representatives of Skid Row, condo owners and renters, police, business owners, and activists—in …
How to Handle Church Rip-Off Artists – Church Finance Series
This article originally appeared in The Christian Recorder. In bad economic times, churches are the target of professional con artists committed to ripping the church off. Some rip off artists hit 50 …
The Changing Nature of America’s Irreligious Explained
This article was originally published on The Conversation. A recent survey of the religious profile of the 115th Congress revealed that despite the increase in the number of Americans who claim no …
A New Post-Election Religious Alignment
This post originally appeared at On Faith. After a long election season in which it seemed that religion, for once, wasn’t the big story, we found out that eight out of 10 …
Laundry Love: Making a Laundromat Sacred through Service
Laundry Love is a nationwide network of more than 100 groups that offer free laundry to people in need, creating new communities at laundromats. It began in Ventura, California in the early …
What We Know – And What We Don’t Know – After 20 Years of Charitable Choice
This post is adapted from a longer white paper on 20 years of Charitable Choice. Twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton enacted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 …