Ken Howard's Page
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Phyllis Tickle dies at 81… May she rest in peace and rise in glory!
By Ken Howard It is with a mixture of sadness and joy that I pass along the news that Phyllis Tickle − author, speaker, thought leader, and a friend and mentor to me and to many − has died at 81. With sadness because she was taken from us mere months after a diagnosis of lung cancer (“the coug...
October 7, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
The Paradox That Is Church – reflections on a poem by Carlo Carretto
A Letter to the Church How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you! How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you! I would like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence. You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand what sanctity is. I hav...
August 18, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
The Bible & Same-Sex Relations: A Biblical Analysis from an Incarnational Perspective
I recently reconnected with a classmate from my high school days. Our first several exchanges focused on updating each other on what had happened in the decades since our graduation. Once we discovered that both of us had become Christ-followers, the discussion turned to sharing our respective ...
July 13, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78 – Rez D008: Amend Article I – “Come reason together… (Joint Sessions)”
By Ken Howard Sometimes it just makes more sense to come reason together. But presently, though it has been done on rare occasions, our canons to not allow for it. Proposed resolution D008 Amend Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution of TEC, simply makes it canonically lawful for the Presidi...
June 24, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #G78 – Rez D004: Episcopal Elections – “Bishops Move Diagonally”
By Ken Howard Back before the earth cooled, I served as a seminarian at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Capitol Hill. Verna Dozier was a member of my lay advisory committee and became my mentor. When it was almost time for my ordination to the diaconate, Verna said to me, “Someday someone is goi...
June 24, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78 – D013: Budget Process – “Budgeting Is No Joke”
By Ken Howard Budgeting is serious business. It process of budgeting needs to be clear, consistant, fair, and just. Our current canons contain a number of unclear, conflicting, and outdated budget procedures. Resolution D013: Budget Process for the Episcopal Church proposes to amend our budget...
June 24, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78 – Rez D010: Clarify Officers – “Alright, Who’s In Charge Here?”
By Ken Howard Resolution D010: Clarify Officers of The Episcopal Church, proposes to clarify the roles of the officers of the Episcopal Church, the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and General Convention, providing clear lines of authority and accountability. By-and-large, it is a clean...
June 24, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #G78 – D011: Eliminate Provinces – “Keep Calm & Defeat Bureaucracy”
By Ken Howard If approved, Resolution D011 – Eliminate Provinces, will eliminate an entire layer of the Episcopal Church‘s bureaucratic structure. At first blush, this may sound like a drastic measure. And it is. It is radical, serious, far reaching…and absolutely essential. I assume that this...
June 24, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #G78 – Postlude: “Autoimmune Church?”
By the Rev. Ken Howard For the last week or so, I have been writing and posting a series of blog posts on the Episcopal Resurrection movement: one post on the Memorial to the Church and ten on the enabling resolutions. No small feat, that, considering that my “day job” is leading a still-growin...
June 24, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78 – a series of posts on a new movement
by Ken Howard Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life! Alleluia! Over the next several days I will be writing a series of blog posts on Episcopal Resurrection: an action movement, which grew out of a prayer movement, which grew out...
June 16, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78: Rez D005 – Plant Churches: Part 1 – Church Planting Myths
By Ken Howard The nine resolutions proposed by Episcopal Resurrection are called enabling resolutions because each one of them call upon The Episcopal Church to get serious putting flesh on a piece of the vision outlined in the Memorial to the Church. The first resolution calls on The Episcopal...
June 16, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #G78 – Rez D005 Plant Churches: Part 2 – 14 Church Planting Facts
By Ken Howard In yesterday’s post, I wrote the first of two posts on the Church Planting resolution (D005) put forward by Episcopal Resurrection in order help readers decide for themselves whether the price tag for enabling the planting of 50 new churches and the training of 50 new church plan...
June 16, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78 – Rez D009: Revitalize Congregations – Death Before Resurrection
By Ken Howard This is the third (or fourth, depending up how you count), in a series of blog posts on the Episcopal Resurrection movement. The first discussed the Memorial to the Church. The second (or second and third) discussed Resolution D005 on Planting Churches. In today’s post, we turn t...
June 16, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78 – Rez D019: Digital Evangelism – “Church Marketing Sucks”
By Ken Howard Face it, people. If the fact that we have a group called “Church Marketing Sucks” is any indicator, we’ve got a lot to learn about digital evangelism. I know I do. Granted there are a few who do it well. But most of us are not digital Jedi. Some of us don’t even want to be Padawan...
June 16, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78 – D007: Diocesan Collaboration – “Collaboration is Everything”
By Ken Howard “Permit Dioceses to Explore Shared Ministry and Collaboration (D007“ is in many ways a “cleanup” resolution, but it is an important cleanup. Part of the aim of all of the Episcopal Resurrection resolutions is to eliminate structural, bureaucratic, or turf impediments that might i...
June 16, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection #GC78: Rez D003: Amend Title V – “Merging Dioceses Ahead”
By Ken Howard I’ve interviewed for many executive positions in my day, both before and after my ordination. Once they’d finished interviewing me and it was my turn to ask them a few questions, I would often ask, “What would you suggest as priorities for my first year?” Almost inevitably, ...
June 16, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Episcopal Resurrection: Rez 2 (Revitalize Congregations) #EpiscopalResurrection #GC78
By Ken Howard This is the third (or fourth, depending up how you count), in a series of blog posts on the Episcopal Resurrection movement. The first discussed the Memorial to the Church. The second (or second and third) discussed Resolution D005 on Planting Churches. In today’s post, we turn t...
June 15, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection: Rez 3 (Digital Evangelism)
By Ken Howard Face it, people. If the fact that we have a group called “Church Marketing Sucks” is any indicator, we’ve got a lot to learn about digital evangelism. I know I do. Granted there are a few who do it well. But most of us are not digital Jedi. Some of us don’t even want to be Padawan...
June 15, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#Episcopal Resurrection: Rez 4 – Shared Ministry & Collaboration between Dioceses
By Ken Howard “Permit Dioceses to Explore Shared Ministry and Collaboration“ is in many ways a “cleanup” resolution, but it is an important cleanup. Part of the aim of all of the Episcopal Resurrection resolutions is to eliminate structural, bureaucratic, or turf impediments that might impede ...
June 15, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
#EpiscopalResurrection: Rez 5 – Amend Title V (to simplify the merger of dioceses)
By Ken Howard I’ve interviewed for many executive positions in my day, both before and after my ordination. Once they’d finished interviewing me and it was my turn to ask them a few questions, I would often ask, “What would you suggest as priorities for my first year?” Almost inevitably, ...
June 15, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Episcopal Resurrection: Rez 1, Part 1 (Plant Churches)
By Ken Howard The nine resolutions proposed by Episcopal Resurrection are called enabling resolutions because each one of them call upon The Episcopal Church to get serious putting flesh on a piece of the vision outlined in the Memorial to the Church. The first resolution calls on The Episcopal...
June 12, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Episcopal Resurrection: Rez 1, Part 2 (Plant Churches)
By Ken Howard In yesterday’s post, I wrote the first of two posts on the Church Planting resolution (D005) put forward by Episcopal Resurrection in order help readers decide for themselves whether the price tag for enabling the planting of 50 new churches and the training of 50 new church plan...
June 12, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Episcopal Resurrection – a series of posts on a new movement
by Ken Howard Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life! Alleluia! Over the next several days I will be writing a series of blog posts on Episcopal Resurrection: an action movement, which grew out of a prayer movement, which gre...
June 10, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
The Good News according to Pew
By the Rev. Ken Howard Earlier this month the Pew Forum published its anxiously awaited research report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, a survey of how religious affiliation and demographics have changed between 2007 and 2014. The biggest news in the report: the dramatic drop in t...
June 2, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Hit & Run: A Missed Opportunity for the (Episcopal) Church
By the Rev. Ken Howard [Updated on May 28, 2015 to reflect more recent developments.] It was five months ago today in Baltimore that Heather Cook, the newly installed Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, while drinking and driving (and texting), struck and killed bicyclist Th...
May 28, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Pentecost: When Hurry Hung Suspended & Time Stood Still
“God did not invent hurry”– an old Russian proverb I’ve always thought it ironic that the origin of the proverb “God did not event hurry” was Russian. Actually, the Finnish claim the proverb, too, so maybe the Russians stole it for the express purpose of pun-ishing the Finns. But whatever th...
May 20, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
3 False Dichotomies That Limit Faith
The Rev. Ken Howard: My friend from Zimbabwe has some interesting thoughts on the relationship between science and faith. Originally posted on Chronicles of a kid next door: Pitting faith against science, reason and reality tend to limit our knowledge of God. I am a scientist, current...
May 18, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Downton Church – Season 2: Eight Lessons the Church Could Learn from Downton Abbey
by Ken Howard and Wendy Dackson Alrighty then! Our recent blog post “10 Ways the Church is Like Downton Abbey” got quite a lot of views. So, like our friends in Public Television, we decided to renew Downton Church for a second “season.” And the theme for season two is “Eight Lessons the Churc...
April 14, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Ten Things Churches Could Learn from Starbucks (Hint: It’s not about making coffee)
Editor’s Note: This article was written at the Kingsview Village Starbucks. By Ken Howard Churches could learn a few things from Starbucks… Starbucks is one of those places that, even if you don’t go there, you know it’s the place to go. It’s the number one coffee shop in the United States, ma...
April 8, 2015
Ken Howard posted a blog post
Ten Ways the Church is Like Downton Abbey
By Ken Howard & Wendy Dackson [Simulblogged on Paradoxical Thoughts and Past Christian] It all started a few days ago, when Ken came across an Episcopal Church Meme on Facebook and reposted on his own Facebook page with a comment about how it reminded him of Downton Abbey (and not exactly ...
April 8, 2015
Ken Howard is now a member of Berrett-Koehler Community