I was wondering if anybody knew anything about the Forward Movement in the Episcopal Church and if it's a trustworthy ministry for Christian and Anglican resources. The Forward Movement description: Forward Movement is a ministry of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to reinvigorate the life of the church. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that foster spiritual growth and encourage discipleship. As a self-sustaining agency of the church, Forward Movement relies on sales and donations to carry out its work. Just browsing through the site, there seems to be a lot of resources there. Anybody have any knowledge or experience with this ministry? Thanks!!
If I'm recalling correctly, some of their "Day by Day" material was "questionable" according to my warden but he liked a lot of the other material. I can't say first hand though.
Thanks for your reply. Some of the material seems like it might be helpful for evangelism and for other stuff. My parish rector recently gave me a copy of "Day by Day" for August, September, and October...guess I will find out about its usefulness soon enough!
I think it's bound to be helpful in some degree. At least it's not SCLM rubbish. I think a monkey could write better liturgy.
No doubt, that's why whisperings of a new BCP scares me half to death. Could you imagine the prayer book that the current leadership would draft? Yikes!
Will do, do you have a link to them? As somebody who uses 1979 Rite I, the 1928 BCP, and the CofE 1662 BCP for the Daily Offices, I have a feeling i'm going to be disappointed...
It's in the Blue book with the other liturgy stuff. Here's a link to a critique of it. http://kingslynn.blogspot.com/2012/05/more-liturgical-fish-in-barrel-and-i.html
Honestly, it was about as bad as I thought it would be. Complete and total nonsense that can barely be recognized as being Christian. Using the "Message" bible for liturgical worship is just silly.
For all the demands about charity and love, there sure is a lot of Liberal-bashing going on here. If anyone called an Anglo-Catholic liturgy or a Low Church service "complete and total nonsense", there'd be a war. Let's at least be consistent in our admonishments! Those poor revisionists are the real pariahs (thankfully)!
I think you are comparing apples to oranges here. What I chose to call "complete and total nonsense" was an alternate daily prayer that basically gets rid of everything that is Christian and replaces it with nothing (using a questionable bible translation). I have no problem with politically liberal Anglicans or socially liberal Anglicans (even though we may have disagreements). I have a problem with politics (of all kinds) being preached from the pulpit and I have a problem with liberal modernist theology because it denies virtually everything that makes us Christian in the first place. Until Anglo-Catholic and Low Church services get rid of everything that resembles a Christian service, then they will remain just fine in my eyes.
What makes something to resemble or to be a Christian service? Does the entire book have zero mentions of Jesus? Does it pray to Jesus even once? If so, it resembles a Christian service of some kind! Hyperbole is so over-rated. This very issue relates to the thread topic, in that we can hardly start 'renewal' within any Church until we know just what we're trying to renew towards. I personally have a huge problem with politically-liberal anyone. The point is just that we should be consistent. I see that you were being consistent though, in hindsight.
This seems to be the generally accepted view here. As is the case for our theological brothers and sisters who are one of the four strands of Anglicanism within the Communion, I think that the lack of respect for Christian political liberals is somewhat appalling.
Why do you find disdain for political liberalism appalling, Mark? I am referring to American liberalism by the way: including secular humanism, abortion rights, gay marriage, environmentalism, and a slew of other things we find objectionable. These people seem to think that injecting more of the world into the Church will somehow renew or revitalise it. We can see from Vatican II that "letting fresh air in" like that rather tends to bring swamp gas in, sadly.
Perhaps it is, but the respect needs to go all the way around. Like i've said, i've been told and (seen others told) that I should head for Rome since i'm not a far-left political christian. Most liberal christians cannot see that they are guilty of the exact same things they accuse their conservative brethren of doing. Until we are all honest about this, we cannot move forward. Coming from the Southern Baptist Convention, I was very put off by far right pulpit preaching (not to mention the constant alcohol is evil stuff). However, most of us in TEC are experiencing pain from left-wing fundamentalism and that is what tends to dominate the conversation. Secular politics need to stay out of the church and remain private. However, in TEC (leadership and some clergy) and SBC (leadership and some clergy), the Gospel is seen as being tied to secular politics and political parties. It's almost as if the only thing that can gain you entry into heaven in TEC is adequate involvement in social justice.
For several years I subscribed to Forward Day by Day (FDBD). Many of the devotionals are quite spiritual and comforting. You can read the Forward Day by Day online, and participate in online discussions with other readers about each day's devotional. The online discussion is quite nice. I have also ordered several books and tracts from Forward Movement. Some of the literature is more Anglican-focused than the U. S. Episcopalian perspective. The publications tend to treat spiritual and daily living topics, rather than theology or biblical interpretation. While I am at it. An excellent source for Episcopal (and Anglican) literature and supplies is the Episcopal Bookstore. This bookstore has the best service and best packing of any book vendor I have ever used online. A very good place to purchase spiritual cards by the artist Anne. ...Scottish Monk