Reveal: Where Are You? April 30, 2008

I’m currently reading the “Reveal” book from Willow Creek. It’s really opening my eyes to so much that I felt I should have known about the church and ministry, but never fully realized.

Essentially, about 4 years ago Willow Creek began an in-depth survey of their congregation to see how their involvement in church “activities” aligned with their spiritual growth. You might be saying that’s an impossible study, but you’d be wrong. They have done it and they have done it with excellence.

Here’s what they found:

They also created a “spiritual continuum” chart that showed the stages of spiritual maturity:

They found that as people progressed along this continuum, they began to view the church differently. This survey revealed that people went from seeing the church as a vehicle that fed their spiritual growth to seeing it as a place of service and volunteer leadership.

Click here to read more. It’s worth your time.

Don’t Eat the Glue! April 27, 2008

Phil Vischer was the last speaker at the Willow Creek Conspire conference. He ended the conference with this amazing statement:

Your ministry to kids doesn’t start with an X-box and a big screen TV. It doesn’t start with a job description written by a senior pastor. It doesn’t start with facilities and a budget. It doesn’t even start with a great conference filled with tips and “best practices.”
Your ministry to kids starts with God’s love. Not his love for kids – his love for you.
Christ is calling to you – to “all you who are weary and burdened.” Bring your burdens to the cross – and lay them down. Let them go. Then stay there – at the cross – resting in God’s love. Not his “love for the world” in abstract, but his very real love for YOU.

This word is so encouraging for many reasons. As a minister to children you are constantly fighting against pragmatism. With children it’s easy to manipulate them to come on Sundays. Sure, you can have a row of video games and LCD’s, but that leaves them hollow and empty inside if that’s the only reason they’re coming. It’s encouraging to realize that God’s love for you and then through you to the kids is the sole resource in ministry that can fill that emptiness.

Day 1 at Willow Creek April 23, 2008

We’ve just settled in back at our hotel after a very busy two days in the Chicago area.

Day one at the Conspire Conference was great. There’s not much that can be said about Willow Creek but WOW! What a church and what a campus. I’ve never seen a facility like this. So well planned and thought out. Everything is beautiful and immaculate. Very easy to navigate and explore.

There were many incredible speakers today. David Weil from Christ Church in the Chicago metro area spoke about remaining connected to the “Source” while in ministry. He had a great tree illustration that I won’t get into for the sake of time.

John Trent and Kurt Bruner were also wonderful. They spoke about ministry to families. The statement that highlighted their time was:

Church programs=never better

Faith transference in families=never worse

Family ministry=never more important

The day ended with a fantastic session with Rick Dempsey and Glen Keane. Rick is the Senior Vice President of Creative Voices and Disney Character Voices International. Yes…that’s a real job. He’s also a very devoted believer. He talked about telling the story of the Bible in a relevant way.

Glen Keane is a 30-year veteran of Disney Animation Studies. He animated and created the characters Ariel in the Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pocahontas, the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, and Tarzan (to name a few). He told his personal testimony while sketching some of his characters and integrating them into his story.

Aaron Reynolds ended the day by trying to connect the dots of what we had covered during in our time together. Aaron authored the book The Fabulous Reinvention of Sunday School, and spent his time discussing the importance of knowing your audience and the challenge that brings when your audience is kids. He challenged us to get into the lives of the children we minister to. Find out their likes and dislikes, etc.

We capped off the night by meeting my parents in downtown Chicago for a deep-dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno.

Reach the Whole Person with the Whole Gospel April 17, 2008

I’m a big, big, big Donald Miller fan. I thought this video was great.

His church, Imago Dei, in Portland really understands the narrative and context of Scripture. In this video Miller talks about how they are reaching culture in its context with the “whole Gospel.” They aren’t sacrificing Scripture for the sake of relevancy, but rather attempting to incarnate the Gospel message into the lives of others.

Imagine if every church thought like this.

Mapping Ecclesiology April 17, 2008

I saw this chart on a blog recently. I thought it was somewhat interesting. It attempts to map leaders and where they fit between the fundamentalist and emergent camps ecclesiologically.

Simply because the left is void of names, I’d add Al Mohler and John Piper under MacArthur. To the far left I might put someone like Richard Land or RC Sproul.

Contextualization, Postmodernity and Ministry April 15, 2008

For many years I considered myself to be a MacArthurite. I have the John MacArthur Study Bible, there are about 20 of his books on my bookshelf, and I even went to California to visit his church.

MacArthur’s book, “Hard to Believe,” spoke to me in a very dark and difficult time while serving at a former church. When I visited his church in the fall of 2005, his message on the parable of the lost sheep was simply one of the best messages I have ever heard.

The one tiny thing that has urked me about MacArthur recently is the anger he has towards those in “postmodern/emerging” ministries. MacArthur is brilliant, don’t get me wrong. However, he has removed himself from culture so much that the idea of contextualization in ministry terrifies him to the point of making it a key topic on his radio broadcasts and conferences.

Phil Johnson is also a great man. I actually met him while in California. He runs the “Grace to You” ministry of John MacArthur and Grace Community Church. Probably the best thing about Phil is the fact that he looks like Spurgeon.

Recently Phil has gone off the deep end in attacking those you are attempting to contextualize their ministry. He said in a recent blog:

are enthralled with style-driven missional strategies almost always single out this famous account. “Paul blended into the culture,” they say. “He adopted the worldview and communications style of his hearers. He observed their religion and listened to their beliefs and learned from them before he tried to teach them. And he didn’t step on their toes by refuting what they believed. Instead, he took their idea of the unknown god, embraced that, and used it as the starting point for his message about Christ. And there you have some of the major elements of postmodern missional ministry: culture, contextualization, conversation, and charitableness.”

Phil has over-generalized and over-stereotyped what “emerging” Christians believe about Paul. To say that he “adopted the worldview and communications style of his hearers” is not what they’re saying. A more accurate statement would be, “Paul understood the worldview and communication style of his hearers…”

Phil’s a sarcastic guy with a good sense of humor. However, he’s gone a bit too far with this. In my opinion, to be successful in ministry you must understand those who you are communicating to. If God plants you in a specific context, you must do ministry in that same context.

For example, I get very upset when I see pictures of missionaries who travel to Africa wearing their short-sleeved white shirts with their black pants and ties. They plant churches and soon you see African pastors wearing short-sleeved white shirts with black pants and ties. Why do we do this? Why are we forcing our culture on them? It’s simply wrong.

As a communicator of the Gospel, you must first know and understand your audience. The cliche is true, “The message stays the same while the methods change.” I for one do not use felt boards in my ministry because that does not work with today’s children. They go home to PS3’s and TiVo on their 50″ HDTV’s. So, I must understand that and contextualize my message in an effective manner based on what I know about my audience.

I still love MacArthur and Phil Johnson. Although we don’t necessarily agree on “style” in ministry, we agree on the message.

Andrew Jones said it best, “… being sensitive to culture is not the same as accommodation to culture.”

I think this poll taken by Jones in 2005 of emerging practitioners on understanding Christ and culture says it best.

Stuff Christians Like April 14, 2008

I stumbled onto this hilarious blog. It’s a spoof of the “Stuff White People Like” blog that’s become an internet sensation.

Basically, the author is making fun of the goofy things that Christians and churches do. It’s all in good taste and it’s very light-hearted. After growing up in the church, I can attest that I’ve witnessed almost every one of these.

You can read it here. Here are a few of my favorites:

#149: Boycotting stuff

#148: War themed ministries

#142: Gloria Estefan’s song “Coming Out of the Dark”

#140: Telling the Pastor what his kids have been up to

#139: The choir side-step dance: This is the thing choirs do when they shift from one foot to the other and kind of angle their shoulders. Back and forth. Back and forth. Work it out. Is it a side step? A two step shift?

#129: Chick-Fil-A

#125: The Mandatory Youth Minister Goatee:

Search committee member
“Well, so far everything checks out. Your beliefs are the same as ours, you’re smart and the kids seemed to really like you. But there’s something missing.”

Potential youth minister
“Do you need more references? I could get more references.”

Search committee member
“No, I’m going to cut to the chase. It’s your chin. It’s just so bald and boring. The kids in this community need a youth minister with a bit of an edge. Someone that understands them. Someone that speaks their language with the “phat” and the “twittering” and the “i said a hip hop the hippie the hippie, to the hip hip hop, a you don’t stop, the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie.” They need someone relevant and now. Someone … with a goatee.”

Potential youth minister
“I’ll start growing one today.”

Search committee member
“Hired!”

The youth minister prototype

SBC and the environment April 9, 2008

WASHINGTON—The leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics entity is opposed to climate-change legislation the U.S. Senate is expected to consider soon.

Click here to read the full article

That resolution encouraged Southern Baptists “to proceed cautiously in the human-induced global warming debate in light of conflicting scientific research.” It called for public policies that guarantee “an appropriate balance between care for the environment, effects on economics, and impacts on the poor when considering programs to reduce” carbon and other emission

Sad, really, because it seems so politically driven. However, there are some Christian groups and denominations that are stepping up to the plate to combat this issue. For instance, the Church of Scotland has issued a response and has set out a plan. On their main website, they write:

The Church of Scotland is concerned that climate change poses a serious and immediate threat to people everywhere, particularly to the poor of the earth; and that climate change represents a failure in our stewardship of God’s creation. We accept the need to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases urgently to avoid dangerous and irreversible climate change; and to promote a more equitable and sustainable use of energy.

You can read their full response here.

The Church of England (Anglican) is also joining the fight to “shrink the footprint.” Click here to read how they are addressing this issue.

“I should declare an interest as the chairman of the Church of England’s Shrinking the Footprint campaign aimed at reducing the Church’s energy consumption… Among other things, we hope to encourage greater use of Church land to encourage biodiversity. We are also publishing fresh ideas for observing the various festivals of the Christian year and, of course, we have much to learn from our Jewish brothers and sisters in reinvigorating the Sabbath. This is an issue which can draw on the deepest spiritual traditions in our world.

This is a matter of human solidarity and we pledge ourselves to work closely with other organisations and faith traditions to support the Government’s intentions. We hope that the Government will acknowledge and assist the work of those parts of civil society that are aware of the scale of the challenge we face and the need for concerted action.

Climate change is not one topic among many, as this debate nears its conclusion, but in reality it has an impact on almost everything that we have discussed.”

~ The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, to the House of Lords on 13 November 2007

There can be only two basic loves, the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness of God.
- St. Augustine

Why we should all go on a pilgrimage April 9, 2008

A few months ago I read an incredible article by a guy named Jeff Goins. You can read it here.

In this article Jeff tells the story of his journey, or pilgrimage, to an awakened faith. He talks about how Americans have sold-out to their careers and personal ambitions. He said:

“We’ve sold our souls to careers tracks and our family name to the burden of college debt. One day, we’re laughing with some friends at an all-night café, cramming for a final exam so we can graduate, and the next, we’re thrust into the real world where everyone is expecting something different us. If we’re not careful, it’s easy to lose our desires amidst all those expectations.”

This article encourages the reader to explore life beyond your daily routine. Leaving home may not mean a physical move to a new city or state, but rather doing something/anything different.

I am so bored by routine. If I had a job that required me to do the same thing each day I would go nuts. I really connected with what Jeff said. I think that because it’s such a “tangible” experience, I could imagine myself doing it.

The idea of coming to the realization that life is not about us, but others, is something that Jeff says will be accomplished through a pilgrimage. Life is too important to miss. Christians get into the routine of coming to church on Sunday’s, ticking their spiritual box, and then checking back into their habitual life for the next 6 days.

Jeff ends by quoting Richard Rohr:

We go on pilgrimage so we can go back home and know that we never need to go on pilgrimage again. Pilgrimage has achieved its purpose when we can see God in our everyday and ordinary lives.

What would my church look like? April 8, 2008

We had a very interesting spiritual development team meeting this morning. Yesterday I got an email asking us to prepare to answer the question, “If you could plant a church, where would it be and what would it look like?”

That really pushed a button in me. I’ve been very interested in the idea of church-planting or being involved in a church plant. It’s happening all around Austin. There are 2 or 3 churches that have plants all over the Austin metro area. These churches are also growing exponentially. I do think there’s a correlation there, but I digress.

So, I sat down at my trusty Macbook and jotted/typed a few thoughts down about what my church would look like.

First, without a doubt, my church would be in Manhattan. More specifically, the East Village. The East Village is a trendy, artsy, funky, urban, postmodern mecca. I love to imagine what a church that grew up out of this cultural soil would look like.

Here are my thoughts (as they were put on paper). They may not make sense to anyone but me, but you’ll get the basic idea.

1. Holistic: Including both relational evangelism and social action.

- does not divide evangelism and social action.

- body grows through relationships.

2. Central concern is to incarnate the Gospel (missional) into the community through relationships and partnerships.

- Reaching out: how can we help?

3. Limited large group meetings:

- focus would be on community and community “settings” and “environments”

- 100% organic: location/culture determines methods

4. Artistically inclined:

- use of every form of media: drama, music, painting, sculpting, etc.

- possibly a coffee shop, art gallery, bookstore, recording studio, concert venue, etc.

- a place where community can unfold in an authentic way.

5. Postmodern in approach:

- see your target audience through the lens of postmodernity.

- target a postmodern audience while giving opportunities to all.

What is a postmodern approach?

Attempts to answer these questions biblically (from Scot McKnight):

1. Linguistically: that truth is dependent on the language we use to describe truth; therefore, the language is never the complete grasp of the truth.
2. Hermeneutically: everything we see and make sense of is “interpretation,” and our interpretations are never certain.
3. Paradigm: we realize that the primary grids we use to interpret reality (science, for instance) involve prior commitment to them in order for them to work. If you don’t believe in science, the scientific explanation doesn’t work.
In summary: Postmodernity then teaches that you and I, to one degree or another, are trapped in the human condition of language, interpretation, and prior commitments. This means we can never attain perfect objectivity. Some see postmodernity as a blessing for the Christian faith because it unmasks the reality of prior commitments; other worry that it erodes confidence in the truth of the gospel or the Bible.