Gordon T. Smith joins us to talk about the position of the church in a secular age. Do we stay put? Do we form a moral enclave? How does worship form us into disciples?

Join us for this conversation on the words and practices that form our imaginations: liturgical and sacramental.

Gordon T. Smith is currently president of Ambrose University and the author of several books. We focus the conversation on his book Wisdom from Babylon and mention Evangelical, Sacramental, and Penecostal.

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"Maybe religion, for all of its faults, works a bit like a retaining wall to hold back the destabilizing pressure of American hyper-individualism, which threatens to swell and spill over in its absence.” So writes Derek Thompson in The Atlantic.

In this episode, as part of the series on worship and formation, Ashley and Bryce discuss Thompson's article, trends in churchgoing, the role of technology, and what the church is for.

Resources discussed:

“The True Cost of the Churchgoing Bust” By Derek Thompson in The Atlantic

Kirsten Sanders' substack series, including this article, "My First Advice Column"

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter and rate and review the podcast.

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How do things like gratitude and thanksgiving form us? In this conversation with Cornelius Plantinga on his latest book, Gratitude, we talk about the importance of gratitude, sin, confession, and growth in the worshipping life of a church. We also talk about practical next steps and what the global church has to teach North American churches.

Links:

Neal's book, Gratitude: Why Giving Thanks is Key to Our Well-being

Not the Way it's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin

Special Offer: Do you want to invest in your marriage and work out some relationship kinks?

For the month of March, for readers of “Beauty Leads the Way” and Cartographers listeners, we have a code for the Thrive Marriage Lab, a cohort program to get out of relational autopilot from our friends at ReStory Counseling.

Use code “Hales” for $20/ off each month. Last day to sign up is April 7!

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter and rate and review the podcast.

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Andrew Wilson, pastor and historian, writes about the context of the WEIRDER world in Remaking the World. We wanted to dig deep on the way this context affects Christian worship and practice. Listen in for helpful terms, thoughtful analysis, and how we might actually believe what we say we believe.

Links:

Andrew Wilson, Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West

Podcast, Post-Christianity?

King's Church London

Special Offer: Do you want to invest in your marriage and work out some relationship kinks?

For the month of March, for readers of “Beauty Leads the Way” and Cartographers listeners, we have a code for the Thrive Marriage Lab, a cohort program to get out of relational autopilot from our friends at ReStory Counseling.

Use code “Hales” for $20/ off each month. Last day to sign up is April 7!

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter and rate and review the podcast.

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We all know technology forms us -- but how? How does technology intersect with our spiritual lives? It's tempting to just toss tech out the window, but how do we think more Christianly about the tech we use? Whether as parents or leaders, we have to reckon with the affect of technology on our affections. We end the episode with a few small, practical ways to get started thinking about formation, worship, and technology's affect on our affections.

Links:

Ted Gioia's Substack article, "The State of the Culture"

Jon Haidt, The Anxious Generation and The Coddling of the American Mind

Social Dilemma

Dallas Willard on vision, intention, means.

We've got a limited-time, special offer for you!: What if God has more for your marriage? We're so excited to partner with Restoration Project! They're some of our favorites and now they've started a cohort for married folks called THRIVE. With code HALES you'll get $20 off each month. Go to Restory.life/thrive for details.

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How do our brains grow? What does lasting change look like? Where do things like character and pain fit?

Curt Thompson brings neurobiology and the hope of the gospel together to live out a formationally-minded Christian life in this episode. We talk about how durable transformation happens often through suffering, the reasons for Christian hope, confessional communities, and how we live the life of faithful resilience when it's easier to follow "3 quick steps."

Listen to the end as we've got a fun little surprise for you.

Curt's newest book is The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope.

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter and rate and review the podcast.

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Everything we do forms us. How does this apply to the tasks of the church, like worship?

We've considered some of the trends: de-churching, loneliness, and culture wars. What's really happening in worship, why do we do it? Join us as we pull back the curtain as we consider how worship is more than preferences, it's about formation. A formative view of worship differs from a functional view of worship and this paradigm shift affects the resilient fruit that is (or isn't) growing in a Christian's life.

Join us in this new series as we consider how worship forms us both away from secularized narratives and towards goodness, truth and beauty.

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter.

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Need a book for someone on your list about leadership, culture, or a good piece of literature? Find out what are some of our most memorable reads from this year! Please take a minute to rate and review The Cartographers. It'll be a terrific present for us. We'll back in 2024!

Resources mentioned:

Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory

Key, How to Stay Married

McChrystal, Team of Teams

Crouch, The Life We're Looking For

Smith, Wisdom from Babylon

Wilson, Remaking the World

L'Engle, Circle of Quiet

Taylor, A Secular Age

Augustine, City of God

Minich, Bulwarks of Unbelief

Bryant, A Quiet Mind to Suffer With

*When you order from the link provided we make a few pennies that helps The Cartographers! Thank you.

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter.

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If you've been hurt or are unsure about how to engage in community, this interview with Justin Whitmel Earley on his book, Made for People, is a great starting place. Listen in to Bryce Hales and Ashley Hales as they speak with Justin about creating community in the church and in your neighborhoods. It's a practical starting place that follows up from the dechurching episode (so listen to that one too if you haven't yet).

Resources:

Made for People by Justin Whitmel Earley

To find out more about Justin and his work, visit his website.

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter.

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Why have so many people left the church? Is it a result of the pandemic, or are the issues much deeper? In the next several episodes we'll discuss what this is about and what can be done. Listen in for surprising trends and practical ways churches can love their neighbors.

Michael Graham is a co-author of The Great Dechurching.

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter.

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What did we learn about the culture wars? What's providing us with hope? And, what's coming next on The Cartographers?

We'd love it if you rated and reviewed the show. Share an episode with a friend!

Other episodes in this series:

Episode 1: Stuck in the Middle

Episode 2: How'd we Get Stuck in the Middle?

Episode 3: A Culture War Alternative with Mark Labberton

Episode 4: Agent of Grace or Culture War Victim with Dan Darling

Episode 5: What if Culture Wars are your Work? with Pete Wehner

Episode 6: Beauty as an Antidote to the Culture Wars with Susannah Black Roberts

Episode 7: The Burning House of American Evangelicalism with Brandon Washington

Episode 8: Humor Deflates the Culture Wars with Harrison Scott Key

The Cartographers is a production of Willowbrae Institute. Find out more at willowbrae.org. Be sure to signup for Willowbrae's newsletter.

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