Jesse Zink, Author at Anglican Journal

Book excerpt: Hope in Christian witness requires seeing what is working against it

Jesse Zink — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 18:48:10 +0000

The trouble with thinking that we have failed in ministry is that it places tremendous weight on our human action. But the current state of the church is not simply a result of human action. It is also a result of the societal structures in which we minister. Christians are not the only ones trying to form people in a way of life. There are other powers that may be stronger than our efforts at formation. It is time to reframe our conversation in the church from one of failure to defeat. We are struggling to transmit our message from one generation to another because there are powerful structural forces that make it less likely for people to consider religious affiliation and church membership in the first place.

The post Book excerpt: Hope in Christian witness requires seeing what is working against it appeared first on Anglican Journal.

Being an Anglican in an interconnected world

Jesse Zink — Wed, 01 May 2024 13:00:28 +0000

For some people, the answer to this question is straightforward: you shouldn’t. In the last generation, Anglicanism has fractured between, broadly, liberals and conservatives. The presenting issue has been the welcome the church offers to LGBTQ populations, but there are related issues of Scriptural interpretation, the role of women, and relationship to surrounding culture. The conflict has coincided with the rise of the internet and is set within the deeply rooted legacy of colonialism as well as the decline of church institutions in the Euro-Atlantic world and the shift of Christianity’s global centre of gravity to the south and east. The fractures have been evident within congregations, dioceses, and national churches, and across the global Anglican Communion.

The post Being an Anglican in an interconnected world appeared first on Anglican Journal.