Hong Kong Liberal Religious Forum

The Center for Progressive Christianity is a good introduction to and a gathering place for progressive or liberal Christianity.
「前進派基督教中心」是前進派或自由派基督教的入門及聚集處。

http://tcpc.org

What comes after Christianity?
Andrew Furlong
www.tcpc.org/library/article.cfm?library_id=453

Andrew Furlong:
is a member of the Open Christianity Network in Ireland
has worked as an Anglican priest in Ireland, Zimbabwee and the UK
is an active member of Amnesty International



基督教之後將出現甚麼？
安德列‧法朗

他是愛爾蘭「開放基督教網絡」的成員
曾在愛爾蘭、辛巴威共和國、及英國當聖公會神職人員
是國際特赦組織的活躍會員

Compassion and the God Between
Ian Lawton
Pastor of Christ Community Church
www.tcpc.org/library/article.cfm?library_id=464

...One of the central symbols of the Christian tradition is the cross. When we move beyond the notion that Jesus died to appease God's wrath at our sins and begin to see the symbol of Jesus as a human being holding in his body the suffering of the world, then we get closer to the essence of the origins of our Christian tradition. Just as Jesus was a human being holding in a bodily way the suffering of the world, so you have our own Christ consciousness, and in a sense you hold the psin of the world.

Compassion is a central theme in all of the world religions, including the Christian tradition. ...

...Jesus...put very little emphasis on what people believe. He presented no systematic theology. Most of his emphasis was on the way people act towards each other and how compassionate we are. ...

...The ultimate mark of progressive theology is not doctrine, but compassion. ...



My comment: Excellent Cannot agree more

The TCPC 2008 Annual Report

We are rapidly approaching that time of year when we must make an assessment as an organization. "Where have we been?" "Where are we now?" "And where are we going?"

Where have we been?

Most of you are aware that over the last year, thanks to a generous contribution by one of our board members, we were able to go through an intense strategic planning process. Our goal was to assess the future course for TCPC.
We could congratulate ourselves about a job well done and rest on our laurels. After all we have accomplished a lot. When Jim Adams started TCPC in 1994 as a non profit corporation, the term "progressive Christianity" was never heard. Today "progressive Christianity" is part of the name of nearly a dozen organizations and the term is used as a way of self-description by literally hundreds of other organizations, scholars and churches. Frankly, we are proud that we helped create a paradigm shift. We are also proud of the things that we accomplished this year.
We:

- initiated the writing for the first phase of the Children's Curriculum;
- increased our part time staff time in order to publish the very popular eBulletin on a monthly schedule that now goes out to over 10,000 subscribers;
- improved our website with nearly $20,000 worth of changes and improvements;
- increased our website activity to nearly 60,000 unique visitors a month from less than 3,000 a month three years ago;
- merged our organization with the wonderful CrossWalk America - organization and continue to promote the Phoenix Affirmations and Asphalt Jesus documentary;
- and we increased the variety and inventory of books and study guides in our store at discounts for all of our registered Affiliates.

Where Are We Now?

OK, so we have done a lot of great things, but the facts are that we are still facing some significant challenges. No matter how many cuts we make and how many volunteer hours we work, we will enter 2009 with a deficit and most of our big projects are still not fully funded. These are projects that will not only greatly increase the visibility and education of progressive Christianity, but will also make TCPC a self sustaining organization. We have tried to find creative ways to build a larger financial base and while we have managed to increase interest in our work, as evidenced by the the growing numbers of readership, we have not yet found ways to significantly increase giving. If everyone on our 10,000 plus member mailing list contributed only $25, or even $10 for the year, we could complete all of our projects and start some incredible new ones, with the goal of bringing the progressive Christian movement into the future.

Did you know that approximately 10% of the visitors that go on the site go immediately to the Directory to look for an affiliate church in their area? That is somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 people every month that are looking for a progressive church that aligns itself with the TCPC 8 Point principles and the Phoenix Affirmations. Several of our church Affiliates have reported that between twenty and forty percent of their visitors come through the TCPC website directory connection. Is your church missing this opportunity to reach others who are searching for a church with your compassionate, rational and inclusive message?

With over 60,000 people visiting our website each month, there are incredible opportunities for networking, creating local groups, sharing ideas, educating, informing, and growing the progressive Christian movement. If each of you could share just $10 this year, TCPC will be able to continue providing these opportunities for you.

Where Are We Going?

Many of you and your churches will be confronting a challenging year as we struggle in the economic turbulence. I personally believe that this was a shift that the world needed to get our attention about what is important and what is not. I feel deeply for those that will suffer more than others but this is one of the reasons we have to work as an organization and as Christians to create a more compassionate and just world. As tough as it may be, this is the greatest opportunity that we have had in our history as an organization to have a real impact in our world. Yes, we have already heard that a lot of non-profits will probably suffer the consequences of a recessionary economy and that may mean some churches as well. But we trust your generosity and the Spirit to provide what we need to do our work.

In the meantime we will continue to work hard for you and provide you with the best articles, book reviews, events, and the best resources we can find or create. It appears to us that the progressive movement is indeed growing and we plan to remain a leader in the movement. We pray that we will have your support throughout these next couple of challenging and potentially exciting years.


We are proud of what we have created in the past and we are excited about our current undertakings. We hope that you will join us in being part of the TCPC future. May you have a meaningful Christmas and an extraordinary New Year.


Sincerely,

Fred Plumer
The Center For Progressive Christianity

Pluralism Sunday
www.pluralismsunday.org

TCPC's eBulletin

September 2009
http://campaign.constantcontact.com/ren ... 8riWQaeCCX



I love the eBulletin