Greg Smith
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sowhatfaith.bsky.social
Greg Smith
@sowhatfaith.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.5K following 700 posts
Follower of the Way of Jesus / Founder, So What Faith / CEO, White Rock Center of Hope / United Church of Christ Pastor / Dallas - Arlington - Fort Worth - Oklahoma City
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Modern organizations with their professionalized, ordained experts and bureaucratic elites aren’t able to recognize the ways of God. –Alan Roxburgh & Roy Searle (Communities of Hope, 2025)
Genesis 1 begins with God looking over tohu wabohu, a watery void that represents primordial chaos - a common trope in Ancient Near Eastern creation myths. –Paul Schutz (A Theology of Flourishing, 2025)
God is acting, in Christ, by the Spirit, and through the church for the healing of creation. –Alan Roxburgh & Roy Searle (Communities of Hope, 2025)
Thecla’s story, and the scripture where it is found, suggests that women held positions of spiritual authority from the start. –Meggan Watterson (The Girl Who Baptized Herself, 2025)
The Global Decline in Religious Identity - New Research on Secularization Extending Beyond Western Christian Nations - sowhatfaith.com/2025/10/19/t...
Now is the time for worship as we continue repainting the Christian faith
#viewfromthepew #cohdallas #ucc
A great unraveling is now underway. The institutions we’ve come to take as normative now fail to address the multiple cascading crises of our time. –Alan Roxburgh & Roy Searle (Communities of Hope, 2025)
Attending the Fall Meeting of the North Texas Association of the South Central Conference of the United Church of Christ in Carrollton, Texas
Notably, the 4 denominations w/ the highest levels of educational attainment & economic prosperity in the US - namely Episcopal, Presbyterian (PCUSA), Evangelical Lutheran (ELCA), & the Disciples of Christ - all fall within the mainline tradition. –Ryan P. Burge (American Religious Landscape, 2025)
Scripture is sacred because it's meant to be read and interpreted as art. –Meggan Watterson (The Girl Who Baptized Herself, 2025)
I think the Bible is the single most fascinating, complex, and influential text that has ever existed. –Dan McClellan (The Bible Says So, 2025)
In the mid-1970s, the US devoted 1.4% of our gross domestic product to federal interventions in affordable housing. Today, our commitment is less than a fifth of that, only 0.25%. –Fran Quigley (Eviction Court, 2025)
Purity makes my blood boil for one fundamental reason: Purity has been predominantly defined by men in positions of power since antiquity. –Meggan Watterson (The Girl Who Baptized Herself, 2025)
For too long churches have been more concerned with surviving than bearing fruit. –Josh Hayden (Remissioning Church, 2025)
The long-term answer to our US crisis is for us to move away from the commodification of housing and instead embrace housing as a human right guaranteed to all. –Fran Quigley (Eviction Court, 2025)
Share your reaction to this quote: "Every syllable of the Bible condones and approves of slavery." –Dan McClellan (The Bible Says So, 2025)
Evictions trigger a domino effect of higher costs of living, setbacks in employment, family breakdowns, and subsequent evictions. –Fran Quigley (Eviction Court, 2025)
Sharing My Visit to St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Oklahoma City - sowhatfaith.com/2025/10/12/m...
Purity cannot be established outside of us; it cannot be proven or tested or conferred upon us. Holiness is so much more unconditional than that. –Meggan Watterson (The Girl Who Baptized Herself, 2025)
When you listen to solve rather than to understand, you take away the speaker’s responsibility and deny them agency. This burdens you and disempowers them. –Emily Kasriel (Deep Listening, 2025)
Leverage Points are interventions where a little bit of effort yields disproportionate returns. Of the universe of things you could do to improve a situation, Leverage Points are the things you should do. –Dan Heath (Reset, 2025)
HAPPY TO BE ALIVE DAY! 3 years ago today, someone tried to take my life. Today, I’m taking a vacation day to celebrate the gift of life and to give thanks for the ministry of Hope.
The story of American Catholicism over the last 50 years is one that can be best described as remarkable stability. –Ryan P. Burge (The American Religious Landscape, 2025)
To spark change, we shouldn’t think AND we should think INSTEAD OF: Less of this, more of that. –Dan Heath (Reset, 2025)
Evictions are affirmatively linked to a horrifying list of crises: premature birth, low birth weight, depression, suicide, hospitalizations, and the ultimate data-point: all-cause mortality. –Fran Quigley (Eviction Court, 2025)