By Dr. Steven Phillips, PhD

God takes us all the way to LLangollen, Wales to see a living example of a "New Church" format. It's a "community" of believers who practice "church" by "being the church" in everyday life rather than just "going to church" one day a week.  Enjoy the story below.

 By Susan McFarland 

I believe that a Christian's most important personal responsibility is to continue to mature in our love towards God in such a way that it changes how we love and serve others. Real change has to have hands and feet attached to it.  This lesson came home to me in a very personal way several years ago when I had the opportunity to assist in a small town’s recovery immediately following Hurricane Katrina. The impact of those events will remain with me the rest of my life.

By LisaMarie Goetz

If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be taking a course in Monasticism at Wheaton College and that it would serve to deeply impact and change me, I must admit I would have been quite surprised. I confess that I had several presuppositions about these things before coming to Wheaton. The course included a retreat based upon monastic principles which frankly had me a bit hesitant at first. Although I grew up on Long Island, which is a heavily Roman Catholic area, I generally viewed Catholicism as  “dead religion,” based mostly upon out dated traditionalism.  I certainly would have viewed the study of monasticism and contemplative spirituality as something irrelevant and I did not feel any desire to look into these practices to see if they might enrich my own spirituality. However, the Lord has taken me on a journey in this area and I can now see that I personally had some incorrect ideas about the core values of the Catholic faith, its traditions, and about Catholic individuals in particular.  

By Chrysti Gilbreth

I drive home from work slowly, taking the longest, most circuitous route I can find. I picked the one that winds through the hills, heads north, and then south again, because I need the time to decompress after a long, hard day. My heart is still heavy with the decision I had to make today and the inevitable confrontation that ensued. I hate confrontation but it seems to come with my job. This morning was about the 20th time that a manager verbally wrestled with me over my decision to enforce a safety policy that he didn't like. Still, I know I did the right thing - I'm sure of it. But some how doing the right thing doesn't always make me feel any better. His angry words combine with my own insecurities to cause the phrases, "not good enough" and "failure" to echo in my head. I feel my heart ache. At some point along the way home, I start thinking about how much I just want to feel better - even momentarily – and soon after, I find myself craving the chocolate chips that I know are in my kitchen cabinet drawer.