-AUTHOR AND SPEAKER-
Ronald R Johnson
OTHER RESOURCES
I have listed some of my magazine articles, sermons, classes, and speeches on this page, as well as some pertinent blog posts.
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Magazine Articles
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Help Me Understand (The Congregationalist, March 2021): about having open discussions in these tense times.
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What We All Can Do Now (The Common Politic, January 11, 2021): three things anyone can do to build bridges socially after the attack on the US Capitol on January 6.
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What a Congregation Can Become (The Congregationalist, December 2020): the question we should ask ourselves instead of asking how we can attract Millennials to our churches.
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The Local Church in a Divided World (The Congregationalist, March 2018): how the local church can be an antidote to the acrimony in our social lives. (Scroll to p. 24.)
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The Problem with Congregational Histories (The Congregationalist, September 2017): the problem is that they relate the history of the building and its pastors, not of the congregation itself. (Scroll to p. 28.)
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An Infectious Courage (The Congregationalist, March 2016): Congregationalist minister Lloyd C Douglas thought that worship should give us courage to face tough times. (Scroll to p. 30.)
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Sermons
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"Something to Offend Everyone," the keynote address at a conference on Radical Inclusion at Portage Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, May 17, 2012. You can hear the audio in two parts: Part 1, Part 2
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"Why the Fear of the Lord Is the Beginning of Wisdom," preached at Portage Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, August 16, 2015. I've divided it into two parts:
"What It Means to Fear the Lord" and "Why the Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom."
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"An Urgent Invitation," preached at Keeler United Methodist Church on June 26, 2016, based on Luke 9:57-62. Jesus gives three excellent reasons not to follow him.
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"Who Is 'Us'?" preached at the United Methodist Church in Sodus, Michigan, on September 27, 2015, based on Mark 9:38-50. Christ's disciples tell a man not to heal in Jesus' name because "he's not one of us."
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"Beyond Sacred Space," preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Muskegon, Michigan, on August 28, 2012, based on Hebrews 10:19-23. We humans have long created sacred spaces in order to induce religious experience, but Christ invites us to a life beyond such sacred space.
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"It's Not for Wimps," preached at Portage Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, February 16, 2014, based on Matthew 5:21-26. Loving our enemies is "not for wimps."
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"To See Him As He Is," preached at Portage Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, on February 10, 2013, Transfiguration Sunday. I suggest new things to focus on during Lent.
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Classes
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"The Dawning of the Christ Culture": A series of lectures I presented at Portage Chapel Hill United Methodist Church during Fall 2013. I talk about how Christianity developed its own unique culture out of the Jewish and Graeco-Roman cultures from which it came.
Interviews
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Another placeholder. More coming.
Lloyd C Douglas Research
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Since 2005 I have been researching the Lloyd C Douglas Papers at the University of Michigan. Click here to go to the page I have dedicated to this research.
Study Guides
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Storyline of the New Testament Gospels: a 7-page booklet laying out the four New Testament gospels in narrative terms. To download, click on the PDF below.