CHICAGO, IL (September 18, 2015) — Many Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos with one another that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.

The Psychology Behind Why Couples Always Fight When Assembling Ikea Furniture
The writer notes that comedian Amy Poehler once joked that Ikea was Swedish for “argument.” A clinical psychologist kept hearing stories from clients in therapy about Ikea-related arguments. So she visited the store to get a better idea what might be behind the stress that starts there and then builds through the unboxing, the reading of instructions, and the construction. The article also identifies ways couples can navigate the treacherous journey. In my house, we solved that problem—my wife puts everything together.

How to Partner with a Poor Church without Screwing Everything Up
How we partner with those with fewer resources, whether they are overseas or local, is a core question that always must be discussed and re-evaluated in the church.

Some of the best lines from the article:

“You’d be hard pressed to find someone working with the poor who doesn’t ‘believe in Empowerment.’ But when you add in cross-cultural complexity, and mix in some serious power imbalance because of how much money you bring to the table—you have a recipe to make everything worse. Much worse.”

“I know, I know, it feels awesome to be the one that poor people look to for help and to be able to provide that help so easily. I’ve felt that power. It feels awesome to report back to your church about all the people you ‘saved.’ But it’s not about you. It’s about what God wants to do through local people and particularly your local church partner.”

How the Rams Built a Laboratory for Millennials
The St. Louis Rams are the NFL’s youngest team with an average player age of 24.1, and the football team realized that they were going to have to change teaching and coaching methods to be successful with the new generation. They just didn’t know how, so they hired a consultant. Among the lessons: millennials have a shorter attention span, are tech savvy, and need to know the reasoning behind what is being taught.

As a result the team is having much shorter meetings, and immediately sending players out to the field to practice what they just learned. Coach Jeff Fisher has “stacked the coaching staff with two types of people: older, veteran coaches who are ‘changing their ways’ to adapt and young coaches who already know what the Rams are trying to accomplish.”

What they haven’t changed is the goal—to win.

The Church That Drinks Together
The writer, who is a pastor, writes, “In our town, refusing to drink alcohol may be a bigger stumbling block than serving it.” He reasons, “It multiplies the chances for effective outreach. I can guarantee that a public ‘Beer and Theology’ discussion will draw more people than a ‘Theology Discussion.’ Getting people from the community into our church, talking to our members, asking hard questions, and allowing us the chance to love them is what we need to do. If removing old alcohol policies can aid that, then what are we waiting for?”

Fake Grammar Rules You Don’t Need to Worry About
Sure, you’ve been taught a lot of grammar rules in order to understand how English works. (The word “church” could probably be inserted for “grammar.”) Even when the rules no longer make sense, they continue to be passed down from one generation to another. The writer advises, “It’s good to be familiar with them for the same reason it’s good to know arbitrary dress code customs, which is to say, because someone might judge you for not following them, but they have little to do with logic, clarity, the facts of English, or even being a good writer.” The article lists four of the rules, but you’ll have to read it to learn what they are.