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Jeff Seaton

Rev. Dr. Jeff Seaton is an Anglican priest and former United Church of Canada minister.

A graduate of Duke University’s Doctor of Ministry program, Jeff has a keen interest in how mainline churches adapt to the challenges of contemporary culture.

In Who’s Minding the Story? Jeff explores the Protestant mainline’s responses to secularization since the 1960s in light of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age.

As a ‘Church Doctor’ Jeff enjoys helping congregations and their leaders find their purpose.

Consulting

For information on my consulting practice, click on Consulting.

How to buy the book

Visit the How to Buy the Book page to get your copy!

Blog posts

Three Sins of the Mainline: “Accessible” Liturgy

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffDecember 2, 2020

In this post we take a look at the second of our “sins” of the mainline church, the sin of “accessible” liturgy. A previous post examined the sin of “relevant” preaching, and a subsequent post will consider pastoral care as a membership privilege. Continue reading →

Three Sins of the Mainline: “Relevant” Preaching

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffNovember 28, 2020

This post will explore the first of what I have called three “sins” of the contemporary mainline church: relevant preaching. Subsequent posts will explore accessible liturgy, and pastoral care as a membership privilege.

Continue reading →

Our Merciful Judge

Posted on November 21, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffNovember 21, 2020

As we come to the end of the liturgical year I looked back at the sermon I preached three years ago.

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Three Sins of the Mainline: Introduction

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffNovember 19, 2020

In this next series I’m going to take on what I think of as three of the major “sins” of the contemporary mainline church: relevant preaching, accessible liturgy, and pastoral care as a privilege of membership. You may be surprised … Continue reading →

Getting Our Hands Dirty (Metaphorically)

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffNovember 13, 2020

In this series of posts I’ve been exploring the mainline church’s focus on Sunday worship gatherings as the primary—or even sole—expression of what church is about. I’ve been taking issue with that perspective and now I want to turn to … Continue reading →

Why Do We Gather? Covid and Sunday Attendance, Part 3

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffNovember 10, 2020

As our long season of Coronatide rolls on without any sign of abating—and in fact is steadily worsening in most areas—perhaps it is time to reconsider our focus on Sunday worship gatherings. As I noted in the previous post Sunday … Continue reading →

Covid and Sunday Attendance, Part 2

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffOctober 29, 2020

In my previous post I described the current challenge faced by congregational leaders: How to hold our faith communities together when we can no longer get together? The absence of Sunday gatherings has been difficult for leaders who have invested … Continue reading →

Covid and Sunday Attendance

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffOctober 29, 2020

A couple of conversations this week got me thinking about the ways congregational leaders are responding to the challenge of keeping church going through the ever-lengthening Covid crisis. We are familiar with the talk of shifting from a sprint to … Continue reading →

A Model Faith

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffAugust 17, 2020

A sermon preached by the Rev. Jeff Seaton, August 16, 2020 I speak to you in the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. This week’s gospel story is a story that is often considered to be … Continue reading →

‘You Give Them Something to Eat’

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Rev Dr JeffJuly 10, 2020

Last Sunday, at the ordination service, Chris began his sermon by saying it was a tradition on Trinity Sunday to have the curate preach, because preaching on Trinity Sunday was such a minefield of potential heresies. At the time I … Continue reading →