I was a shepherd in the traditional/conventional church. I also served as a deacon, a preacher, and a missionary. Today I believe more in the church of Bob Evans every Sunday afternoon, the church at Starbucks on Friday evenings and then there is my new institutional church at a University Hospital. (FYI—degrees in Nuclear Medicine and Bible; chose to make my living from the medical side)

For employees who have excessive absenteeism or a history of tardiness there is a policy that places them in a process with the end result being dismissal (verbal warning, written warning, etc) I choose not to do that. Instead I invite them into my office and use the wisdom that comes with sixty years of life and the spiritual wisdom God has blessed me with nudging them closer to success and Jesus (this is my policy and the process I choose). I really believe if I died tomorrow the employees of this institution would carry signs to my funeral expressing their love for me.

And then there are the folks at New Wineskins who encourage me in my wacky writings and the conversations I have with the many I talk with in Christian circles.

I am blessed!

Files under Church, Culture, How to Live, Jesus, conventional church, conversation, future church, influence, love, missional, orbiting the church, revolution, unchurched | |

I’ve changed my mind so many times the reversals would be too long to list. Yet to challenge the thinker I’ve listed five flip-flops:

1. Ten years, five years ago, I agreed with the attractional church (its focus on relevant worship, music, etc) and the idea that “if you don’t like it, go somewhere else.” Retrospectively, I see things very different today
2. I far prefer the contemplative style over the contemporary. Lights dimmed, candles, icons, Celtic crosses, with a small group of musicians playing (maybe) hammered dulcimer, harp, guitar, and wooden flute
3. From my perception, the 1990s throwback assemblies, organ, old refurbed buildings, choirs, and special choirs has a strange reverence about them
4. Is objective truth tangentially relevant to the human condition? Objective truth unknowingly often becomes subjective truth because what is experienced is always perceived through the filter of our humanness. Whether known by the person or not, the validity of truth depends on the accuracy of perception
5. Related to my ten years ago, I mean five years ago post (see #1) I’ve exchanged cultural relevancy for cultural maker

Files under Church, Culture, truth | |

I am more missionally persuaded but very familiar with the seeker/attractional church model. This morning my wife and I visited an American Baptist church, a congregation one of my wife’s friends attends. I wanted to go online and research American Baptist this afternoon but I decided not to do that. Sometimes I think it might be best the less we knew about the inner workings (some might call it politics) and the history of the thousands of faith heritages in America. As expected, the people were very friendly and helpful. But oh my, was it a throwback to the 1980s—traditional church, choir, special choir, and the organ (at the same time I found a reverence there that seemed to be missing in the attractional church). Ok, how about some thoughts from the American Baptist out there. Do you guys do internet?

Files under Baptist, Church, traditional | |

Tony Jones started the wheels turning with his post “Pursuing Jesus’ Dream for the World.”

Tony makes a great point when he says “it is unfortunate that the church has changed its motto from ‘What is Jesus’ Dream for the World’ to the much more self-referential, ‘A Place to Grow in Christ and Serve the World.’”

Files under Church, Jesus | |

The older I get, the more I observe, the more I realize churches are adrift, not unlike the Titanic, heading blindly for the iceberg of the digital worldview.

Instead of thinking deeply about the changes necessary for navigating the churning waves of change, churches are busily engaged in treating the symptoms of low commitment–cutting edge sound systems, oversized monitors, studio stages, without dealing with the deeper realities of a changing cultural terrain.

The near future will soon confront church leaders with the challenge of measuring their willingness to unlearn, dismantle, and relearn. A tremendously difficult option for those locked into the prison of their own worldview.

Files under Church, Consumerism, attractional church, future church, low committment, shallow faith | |

Studies on church attendance—statistics and percentages of unchurched peoples versus church people have become so commonplace through the years that it’s difficult to give much attention to their conclusions. But George Barna has just released a new model measuring church involvement/participation. What’s makes Barna’s study different is his approach. Unlike all those other church growth stats Barna addresses new behavioral patterns.  The mix includes new forms of faith communities and experiences, such as house churches, marketplace ministries and cyberchurches. The study correctly points out that counting the “unchurched” has grown more complicated.  [read the complete article] 

Files under Church, George Barna, church growth, unchurched | |

In many churches this Sunday “preachers” will stand before an assembly and preach on a topic they gave their week, their blood and their sweat for. It’s what they were trained to do and in most cases it’s what they like to do. But sad for them—preaching isn’t what it used to be. All those homiletic techniques they slogged through while in school and practice Sunday after Sunday is slowly losing traction.

In the last five years we’ve seen the demise of the three point lecture. Who would have thought this time-tested gem would go the way of the cute acronym? Then there’s the bulleted list. People just don’t seem to like them anymore. Maybe it’s just other people’s list they object to. Now they want to make their own.

As if paid staffing issues aren’t enough, the “rules of cool” seemed to have morphed overnight. Just when you threw your overhead projector in the trash bin. Just when you shelled out what seemed like an obscene amount of money for that miniscule-lumens LCD projector the savvy pew sitter grew tired of bulleted outlines and PowerPoint notes. It’s not what they want—but they sure seem to like pictures. Just don’t expect to put up a nice blue sky, flowery stuff you can order in packages every six weeks. No, they want pictures of nature at its mysterious best. And anything mundane, missed, forgotten, even ugly. They also want to see all kinds of people. They want to hear stories they can relate to from the people they know and don’t know.

Normal. Messed up.
Extraordinary folks.

So hand over the microphone; the assembly wants a fresh retelling of the Grand Story in the context of real lives.

Yes, I commiserate with the modern day preacher. If it weren’t so downright refreshing, it’d be worth a cry.

Files under Church, conventional church | |

Don’t leave this post until you watch this podcast. You’ve got to. Take the time; it’s an awesome conversation illustrating what it means to follow for Jesus. It runs for approximately 30 minutes. Grab a coffee, a Latte, or a Mocha and sit still for a few.

Do it. Now!

Get out of your own backyard. […link]

Files under Church, Evangelism, missional | |

1. Why does the body of Christ follow rather than lead in social reform—and then dishonestly claim leadership in reforms after the fact?
   
2. Why do so many Christ-followers pilgrimage through life without ever considering the veracity of unbelief; never allowing it to challenge their faith?
   
3. Why does the church speak of absolute values without every pointing to the scriptural examples of situation ethics?
   

Files under Church, conversation, faith, truth | |

Last week at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta, Georgia; Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Jimmy Carter talked openly about the Southern Baptist Convention’s fault lines, including abortion, gay rights, the ordination of women, clashing accounts of creation, global warming, the death penalty and the separation of church and state. This unprecedented summit drew about 10,000 Anglo, African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic Baptists from 30 North American conventions and organizations linked to the Baptist World Alliance. A quote from former president Clinton’s speech is worth noting:

“Baptist (I would insert Christians) should focus on the verse in the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians in which he stresses that it’s impossible to understand everything about God’s will because, in this life, “we see through a glass, darkly.” Clinton stressed, “it almost doesn’t matter whether the Bible is literally true, because we know in part, we see through a glass darkly. Humility is the order of the day. The reason we have to love each other is because all of us might be wrong.”

Preach it Bill! 

Terry Mattingly on Religion

Files under Baptist, Bill Clinton, Church, Presidential Canidates, politics | |