Tom Ehrich

Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus” and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is www.morningwalkmedia.com.

All Stories by Tom Ehrich

A farewell column and a plea to Christian congregations: Look outward (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — June 2, 2015

(RNS) My last two columns said what I needed to say: Christian congregations have inflicted pain on themselves. And better days lie ahead for those Christians who can think beyond inherited institutions.

What might tomorrow’s faith community look like? (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — May 26, 2015

(RNS) The big downtown church isn’t empty because church leaders failed or people were unappreciative. It’s empty because people are finding life elsewhere.

5 ways churches inflicted pain on themselves (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — May 19, 2015

(RNS) Christianity isn't in trouble at all. Churches are in trouble.

How Ferguson and now Baltimore are altering our perception of law enforcement (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — April 28, 2015

(RNS) A nation grounded in laws and justice requires a trained cadre whose work is to enforce laws fairly. We thought we had that cadre.

A cure for mile-wide and inch-deep religion (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — April 21, 2015

CORVALLIS, Ore. (RNS) For this fresh day to last, church leaders will need to embrace a truth that too many congregations simply cannot hear: There is too much shallowness, not enough depth.

5 things to watch as the 2016 campaign gets underway (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — April 14, 2015

(RNS) It's time we stopped being naive about the current state of American democracy: These are ugly times, and the forces of decency in both parties are under assault.

Our American spring: Shining a little light on discrimination (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — April 7, 2015

(RNS) The fight in Indiana isn't just about a piece of legislation. It's about fair-minded citizens speaking out against discrimination and for the common good.

Telling old stories, again and again (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — March 24, 2015

(RNS) Most feel impotent, watching things they care about implode or coarsen or move in a direction they feel powerless to affect. So we tell old stories.

Inward-focused or outward? Christian congregations at a crossroads (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — March 17, 2015

(RNS) Christianity in America faces a crossroads: Do we serve only ourselves and people like us, or do we serve the larger community, especially its outcasts and vulnerable?

The Christian radio echo chamber: We are under siege by our enemies (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — March 10, 2015

(RNS) The goal of these angry preachers seemed specific: promote laws and lawmakers who will restrict accepted morality to narrow 1950s-era parameters.

If the US is a Christian nation, whose Christianity do we follow? (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — March 3, 2015

(RNS) Some in the Republican Party want official approval to oppress and marginalize nonconformists, dissenters and freethinkers -- in other words, the very kind of people who founded the United States.

The myth and lie of American exceptionalism (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — February 24, 2015

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (RNS) Facts get in the way of teaching the history that many want to remember, the history in which whites play a starring role, not their actual and much more complicated roles.

America’s unjust efforts to preserve white privilege (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — February 17, 2015

(RNS) In some places, whites seem to be on a mission to preserve the benefits of white privilege, even if that means gun violence, police brutality, unfair sentencing and the languishing of urban schools.

Why Christians can’t ignore the mote in their eye (COMMENTARY)

By Tom Ehrich — February 10, 2015

(RNS) When we deny any culpability, we merely perpetuate ignorance and hubris in our own ranks and make ourselves seem dishonest and dangerous in the eyes of the world.