Thinking Theologically About Ministry

Back Again

2007-04-12T22:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I am entering “Bloggendom” once again. My inspiration is threefold:

1) In theological circles, I believe the doctrine of humanity to be totally misrepresented and misinformed.
2) I am using this as a platform. This is the topic of my final paper at Trinity (PhD Studies).
3) Lastly,a guilt trip provided by the great Aaron Duvall.

“What are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? (Ps 8:4, TNIV)”

Echoing David's sentiments, my goal is to attempt to make sense of the dynamic relationship that exists between the Creator God and His most beloved of all creation. Especially when the David reveals that we (humankind) have "been made a little lower than elohim (God)."

How does this reality affect our theology? How does this impact the way in which we minister? Can we ever declare someone unredeemable? What lengths should we go to save even one?

Stay tuned.

The Most Feared Word

2006-12-06T22:53:00.000-05:00

In the church, there is perhaps no word feared more than the six letter word - change. The word that Webster’s defines as a) to make different in some particular, b) to make radically different or c) to give a different position, course, or direction to. Change has been the cause of many an argument, a church split, and even a pastoral reassignment (firing or resignation).

In most “traditional” churches the concept of change is treated as if it is a dirty word. Any deviation from the “standard” that congregants have become accustomed to and soon the conspiracy theorists are out in full form. Soon your first elder is convinced that you have gone liberal or your board believes you are obviously too mentally exhausted to make an informed decision.

Change is to be avoided at all costs. To survive, we must settle for the status quo. If “they” want to come to our church they need learn sing our songs. If he wants to preach at our church, he must use our Bible! They must do “their” time before they can join the board or teach Sunday school. Sunday school in the evening…worship on Saturday night…we have never done that before – that’s just simply not Christian!

Yet, here is the irony. Change is the very centerpiece of the Christian experience! Change is the very heartbeat of evangelical theology - the promise that one can be changed from the inside out. We quote often, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The promise is that one can become radically different through relationship with Jesus.

So, why is that those who proclaim to have been “radically” altered so reticent to change?

Church Happens - The Liquid Church

2006-11-15T09:13:00.000-05:00

Pete Ward came out with a new “theological” concept of the church is being under development in the UK. In his book titled Liquid Church, he challenges us to think theologically about the “church” (the body of Christ). In a special interview with Pete Ward on the youth specialties website you can read about some of his ideas about the liquid church concept. On the same site a link takes us to another article, titled Why we need liquid church, where we can learn more about Pete’s thoughts on this subject.

Johnny Baker says, “Peter Ward revolutionized thinking about youth ministry in the UK from being program-based to relational, from being reactive to reflective, and from being amateur to professional. I’d say he has helped youth ministry grow up.” The following question comes to mind when I try to digest a statement like that, what is the standard that youth ministry needs to grow up to? As younger generations are looking for the authentic way of church and people come with emerging, and new cutting edge ideas for “doing church”, and “being the church” there is a danger in the new cutting edge, emerging movement that someone will “cut” off too much of the “edges.”

Ward makes a distinction between solid church and liquid church in his study. He defines solid church, “getting together in one place to do the same thing together.” It relies on counting, and gathering. On the other hand liquid church consists of informal fellowship, not related to buildings, and does not need a weekly congregational meeting but “living as Christ’s body in the world.” Ward also defines Liquid Church as “a church that goes out to find its members whether or not they show up on a Sunday morning and participate in all the things we think of as church.”

Furthermore, Ward shows his idea through an example that was used in the interview which was a boat floating in water. People, so many times, compared the church to the boat that sails through the culture, however, Ward’s revolutionary thought was to become like that water (liquid) and “become flexible, fluid, changeable, and embrace and internalize the liquid nature of culture rather than just sail through it.” However, it raises a few troubling questions to think this way. While liquid conforms and changes shape, what do we measure this shape to? What are the cultural dynamics that we will adapt to? If we look at the early church which was relational and at the same time did not compromise with the culture, she managed to grow and increase in numbers. She was not the most flexible, not liquid like and the members paid a great price. So, where do we draw the line as a post-modern society, whether in Europe or in the USA, in our adaptation to the dynamics of the society? To put it bluntly, what will dictate in our lives; the Bible to the society or the society to the Bible?

Ward challenges us in his article to think outside of the box. Having said that, it raises questions about the liquid church idea as people yearn in their soul for something, as authentic and intimate, people had in the first century. My question for the liquid aspect is the following; how condense is the fluid? Is it only water that we pour in a bottle and takes up the bottle’s shape then we can mix cool aid and sugar in it and we can drink it? Or are we talking about a fluid which is condense and when something that does not conform to it then it can not be mixed in it? Like oil floats on the surface of cold water. It is necessary to be flexible but how far do we go with that? What do we let in our lives and what not?

What is an informal fellowship? Do people really long for community? Do they really want to experience what people experienced in the first century? “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with gland and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.” (NIV) Is this what we long for in our ministry? My original question still stands; how liquid these people were? Are people ready in the 21st century to be like people in the 1st century?

The liquid church concept could be used in the forefront of the church for evangelism, outreach, and mission. However, the body of Christ is living organism. It breaths and with each breath more people should come in the church. When people are in the “church”, whether it is related to a building, or has the liquid church concept at hand, the real aspect of it should be that people go out into the world and will bring in more people. This can be accomplished through teaching, instructing, and educating believers what the true church of God looks like. Following Jesus model in his ministry everything revolved around relations. He passed this down to his disciples and they passed it down to other generations. We need to keep the legacy of teaching others to keep his commandments and with that bring more people in the body of Christ(Church).

What are your thoughts?

Article contributed by Viktor Rozsa, a Senior Youth Ministry major at Ohio Christian University.

A New Theology of Hell?

2006-11-11T23:41:00.000-05:00

Lately, I have been involved in several events that have caused me to reflect theologically about one topic that is often overlooked and largely avoided in today’s society – hell. Now I’ll admit that even though I may believe in a literal hell I rarely ever preach the typical old-time-fundamental-evangelical-bapticostal Hell, Fire and Brimstone sermon. Homiletically speaking, I am often a wimp; however, strategically I believe it is more effective to preach a positive gospel centered in the love and grace of Lord Jesus wins as opposed to common scare tactic (hell escape, hell’s flames, left behind, etc.) approach.

A frightening trend among many evangelicals (the more “liberal” ones) is to treat all references to Hell as allegorical or metaphorical. In fact, many evangelicals have adopted either beliefs in Universalism (all will be saved) or annihilationism (people just cease to exist at death). However, those views are difficult to swallow considering all the evidence for the existence of hell contained within scripture. In addition, there was no subject broached more often than hell by Jesus. With that being said, here are a few things that can be learned about hell:

1. Hell is eternal/everlasting (Isaiah 66:24; Matt. 18:8; 25:41; 25:46; 2 Thes. 1:9; Jude 1:7, Dan. 12:2; Matt. 25:46)
2. Hell is hot, compared to an unquenchable fire and a lake of fire (Mark 9:43, Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8)
3. The wicked will never cease to exist and their body will never be consumed (Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:43, 48)
4. It is a form of eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46)
5. It is separation from the presence of God (2 Thes. 1:9)
6. It is a place of Judgment (Matt. 25:31-46; Heb. 9:27; 10:27, 30; Rev. 20:11-15)
7. And the list goes on – you get the idea

We get the idea – Hell is a terrible place and to paraphrase Lazarus, “a place to avoid at all costs!”

But what if both the conservative and liberal commentators are both correct? Or at least both groups have elements of truth to be found in their interpretations. What if Hell is a real place as the conservatives proclaim, but what if the description is more allegorical – meaning that it may not be an actual lake of fire, but the actual effects of “this place” is like a lake of fire? After all, for some I know (namely college girls) spend $30 for one half hour in an oven and look as if they tanned outside a “lake of fire” (note this is Tongue & Cheek). Think about it what would be a more cruel punishment: eternal fire or enduring your worst fear/nightmare/experience perpetually for eternity?

If that were the case, I would have to say it would be waking each morning walking the aisles of Wal-Mart (insert retail store of choice here) and than in a blink of an eye being teleported to Main Street (Circleville) listening to an 80’s cover band performing at Pumpkin Show (insert fair or carnival of choice here) while ingesting the combination of cigarettes, Porta-John and Funnel Cakes into my nasal passage and lungs. Could you imagine living that for an eternity? That would truly scare one straight!

Anyway, what would be your hell?

PS – Thought I’d take a lighter approach to get back into the swing of things. I hope I have not offended too many.

Getting Teens Excited About God!

2006-11-08T09:24:00.000-05:00

Time magazine recently wrote an excellent article on teenage spirituality. In this article, some disturbing trends are expressed; however, hope is also expressed.

Take a moment and read the article. It is a good read. Let me know what you think? What are some positives we can take from Barna's research? Also, what do you think of Ron Luce's very ambitious plan?

Good Teaching Is...

2006-11-06T18:57:00.000-05:00

Ron Jackson tries to give some insight on effective teaching in the July/August Youth Worker Journal of 2006. He gives us a few characteristics of what he believes to be good teaching.

Jackson says that good teaching doesn’t always give an answer. I do not agree with this statement at face value in the fact that ‘I don’t know’ is an answer and can be an effective answer because it shows the youth that the teacher is still human and is still growing in knowledge and spirituality. That in itself ought to motivate the youth to desire to do the same. However, Jackson is mostly referring to narrative teaching. The Bible is full of narrative and sometimes the stories are not completely clear of what the whole ‘moral of the story is.’ Rather than trying to force teaching points, it is suggested that we ought to just let the Scripture speak for itself. I truly believe that Scripture is lecterned, it is powerful and God speaks tremendously. However, it can be a different story when there are a room full of unchurched youths. I feel there is a need to dive into the text theologically for sound teaching that gives the youth a good foundation to build upon.

He says that good teaching is comfortable with tension. Jackson is referring to answering difficult questions. How do we respond to these difficult questions is how we measure the effectiveness of our teaching in this area. I believe the teacher ought to create tension in order to stretch the minds and thinking of the learners. An example would be if it is appropriate to interpret the second commandment to say that a picture of Jesus is idolatry. A healthy tension is always good in a learning environment.

Good teaching happens in a safe place. A teacher is responsible to create an environment where the student feels safe physically and mentally. A youth ought to feel comfortable to ask questions that they may not bring up at the lunch table at school. However we need to understand that everyone has things that they won’t share in front of a group, including the teachers. That’s why accountability groups/partners are so important for spiritual growth.
Good teaching occurs in community. I really don’t know why Jackson even listed this in his article. I guess he just wanted five points. This goes sort of hand in hand with the point made about the safe place. I guess he wanted to have a sentence where he used the word ‘discipleship’ to attempt to make the nurturers happy. Yes. Discipleship is a good thing. Thanks Ron Jackson.

Finally, good teaching creates a place where truth is practiced. Jackson is referring to the place where the youth group would meet. It is a place where the kids can put into practice all they have learned in how to worship. That is definitely very important. We want our youths to understand proper worship. But I suggest to take this point a step further. The youths ought to put into practice all they have learned outside the church walls or wherever they meet. The youth are a part of the Body of Christ and they too have responsibility to share the Gospel. Because of the teaching they receive at youth group, they can in result share their faith at the lunch table at school, and even with their grandparents at Thanksgiving.

To make it simple, good (Christian) teaching requires love of God and love of people. However, outflowing of this love comes obedience, where disciplines come into play, which equip the teacher to be effective.

Article Submitted by Clay Huffman, a Junior Youth Ministry Major at Ohio Christian University.

Do Games Still Work?

2006-10-04T08:40:00.000-05:00

Wow! Who knew that there was so much planning that needed to be done to have games be successful in youth ministry? After watching various youth ministers try to have games in their youth programs, it has become very clear to me that they needed to read these seven deadly sins of game leading. The bottom line is as a youth leader you must be prepared and ready not just for your lesson, but also for the games that you want to do during your youth group. Preparation is the key to keeping your youth involved and excited about the evening.

When we are doing youth ministry in our churches, it is important for us to remember what the purpose is for this ministry. Why do we want to use games as a tool in our youth group? I think that if done correctly, games can be one of the greatest tools in getting more diverse youth in our program. Games can really help foster relationships among the youth in our youth groups, but if not done correctly, games can be the thing that pulls our youth group apart.

The biggest thing that Jonathan McKee, the author, said in the article Do Game Still Work? The Seven Deadly Sins of Game Leading for staff be more than "chaperones, but youth workers." This was a great challenge for me, and I know that this is what needs to happen for youth workers to have real relationships with the youth. How can we, as adults, expect to have relationships with our youth if we can’t get our hands dirty? If our teens do not know that we can have fun with them and aren’t afraid of getting embarrassed or doing what we are asking them to do, then why would they do it? Adults need to be youth workers who are involved in what the youth are doing. They do not need to be chaperons just sitting on the sidelines observing.

McKee does a great job reminding youth leaders that leading games is something that will make or break the attitudes and setting for that evening. I agree with what he has said. I think that sometimes youth leaders do not put enough emphasize on their games and just try to pull something together at the last minute. I know personally that when I have tried to just pull games together at the last minute, it does not work. Granted, sometimes it might, but ultimately am I giving God my best if I wait until the last minute and throw things together? God and His work deserve our best!

This Article was submitted by Dave Stout, a Senior Youth Ministry Major at Ohio Christian University.

Calvinism Vs. Arminianism

2006-09-29T13:24:00.000-05:00

Scot McKnight, Professor of Religious Studies at North Park University, is writing a series of articles contrasting Calvinism and Arminianism.

Excellent posts that everyone should read.

Do Calvinists understand Arminianism?

Where Does Suffering Belong in Our Theology?

2006-09-27T07:54:00.000-05:00

Last night, I did something that I know that I had not done previously - study. After we finished “doing” youth group (I have been working as a part time youth pastor at a small church for nearly 22 months), and I had sat down around midnight to do some studying. I opened up the book Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church by Kenda Dean, and I read the part where she mentions the Columbine tragedy, and the many hero’s of the story. After reading the little section I thought to myself: “I really have never looked into what actually happened at Columbine.” I proceeded to read a Wikipedia article that explained the events of April 20th 1999 in detail, chronologically. I went to bed at 3:00 a.m. sick to my stomach and in tears. Many thoughts flooded my mind, such as: this could happen to my kids, (either as victims or as murderers) and of course, the question that lingers after every tragedy: How could God allow something so tragic to happen?

Now put yourself in the shoes of Jesus’ disciples, they witnessed the man that they loved suffer and die a convict’s death. Ask the question again: How could God allow something so tragic to happen? In our minds the suffering (life-long might I add) and death of Jesus is justified because we see it as a means to an end – Christ’s death = our salvation, therefore it is okay, but what about the Columbine tragedy? We cannot justify this kind of tragedy in our minds because it does not fit into our neat 21st century pragmatic equation: the events of Columbine = gray area. We cannot see God’s work in the suffering because suffering is the missing element in Contemporary Christology. Show the picture of Jesus holding the sheep and playing with children, but don’t show Him dying a bloody death on the cross.

The article: Suffering: The Missing element in Contemporary Christology, by Father Richard Kammerer really made me think in the light of Columbine. The article explains a lot of what I just said. His tragedy was a girl in his youth group committing suicide, and he explains what he did to cope with the experience. He did all one could do, spent a lot of time with the youth in the church, loving them and praying for them. He also explains how Jesus truly was the man of sorrows, but how through his death He redeems His creation. My only critique of the article (and I feel that it is a big one) is that he gives no insight into correcting the problem of suffering being the missing element of Christology. So what? How do we teach our students that suffering is a necessary integral part of the Christian journey? If we don’t do this (and if we are not with them in the midst of tragedy) then when tragedy strikes it may not be a wake up call for them but they may rather walk away from the faith saying: How could God allow something so tragic to happen? Or even worse: There must not be a God because tragedy does occur. We as youth leaders need to stop selectively teaching and poorly exegeting passages so that our students are not caught off guard when the meet a beaten and bruised Jesus instead of the blonde guy in a white dress they were expecting.

Submitted by Wes Schrickel, a Junior Youth Ministry Major at Ohio Christian University.

AIDS Testing Anyone

2006-09-21T19:25:00.000-05:00

Today, the US government strongly suggested to all Americans ages 13 - 64 to be tested regularly for AIDS! As I read the article, I found myself being extremely sad and disgusted.

What does it suggest about the perceived faithfulness of typical American couple: married or non?

It seems to suggest that the majority of 13 year olds in America are either sexually active or intervenus drug users.

Or perhaps our national blood supplies cannot be trusted.

Urban Youth Ministry

2006-09-19T09:23:00.000-05:00

In the article, The Do’s and Dont's of Urban Youth Ministry, the author gives us nine reasons why we should care about the challenges city youth leaders face. Here they are in no certain order:

Don’t think you can’t make a difference just because of your ethnicity.
Don’t make teenagers feel like charity cases
Don’t rely on phones for follow-up
Don’t assume these kids have never heard of Jesus
Don’t take gang strongholds lightly
Do watch how you use the word “parents” in your vocabulary
Do what you say you’ll do
Do push educational goals as well as spiritual ones
Do remember that they’re still kids

I must admit that some of these things I never really thought about were like the fact that in Los Angeles County alone people speak more than 80 languages. I never really thought about it because I live in a bubble where English is the only language I hear. The article tells us that regardless of our nationality we can still make a difference in the inner city kid’s life if we choose to go that route. The key is to just be you.

We are also reminded that gangs are prevalent in other parts of the world. We need to be aware that gangs are alive in today’s society. Just because we have never experienced a thing like that doesn’t make it not real to the kids. This is another issue that I am ignorant to. It is good to get this reminder. Just because we have never come across such a thing don’t take it lightly. If someone confides in you that they are being approached by a gang or being threatened by one take it as a real situation and don’t just laugh it off and think it will go away. Gangs are real and getting out of one can be deadly to say the least.

The author touched on the fact that you might come across some of the kids that don’t have working phones at home. You must also keep in mind that they might not have gas or electric either. This is a very common thing and happens quite frequently. Also be careful when you talk about different programs on television. They might not have cable and most likely won’t have a DVD player or VCR.

What are some other ways we can make ministry more effective to this demographic? What suggestions do you have?

This article was submitted by Khandi Jones, a Junior Youth Ministry Major at Ohio Christian University.

For Your Information - Gone Campin'

2006-07-09T22:00:00.000-05:00

I will be traveling to western Pennsylvania for a family camp. My wife and I will be leading a music team from OCU. So, while there I will not have cell signal nor internet access. Needless to say, I will not be posting for a while.

Check back Saturday evening! Pray for us!

Sympathetic with the "Emerging"

2006-07-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

Below is testimonial of a 20something sent to Scot Mcknight. Scot was recently interviewed by a master’s student at a local university in the Chicago area. During some post interview dialogue via email Scot simply asked him: “Where are you theologically?” This article is posted with Scot’s written permission.

Good question… hard to answer. I grew up in a small rural “community” church … with Holiness and Arminian tendencies (but didn’t know that then… it was short on theological education) with definite hints of fundamentalism (but I learned my Bible!); I went to Wheaton in the late 1990s, so that broadened me but also esrulted in some faith crises of various sorts. I spent most of college at Lyle Dorsett’s new wave Anglican church in Wheaton and its parent church in Glen Ellyn, very much Robert Webberian ancient-future types of places…

I’ve always had my bouts with doubt/agnosticism, but I am still hanging my hat in the Christian fold broadly… Apostles’ Creed stuff is about as specific as I can get, although I am - for better and worse - Protestant by heritage and not attracted enough to convert to Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy soon. I read Tomlinson’s The Post Evangelical in 2002 during a time of deep searching (while working at a Buddhist restaurant …) when I had dropped out of church participation (not taking communion, etc.), and it all resonated with me and was helpful.

The emerging stuff by that name is more recent on my radar (since Jan 06), and overall, I am very sympathetic to what they are saying since I am very “pomo” about truth and Bible stuff (like I don’t believe it is inerrant, infallible, etc.). I’ve also more recently been exposed to liberation theology (which I generally like), and as a sociologist, I am deeply interested in the church’s encounter with the poor. Actually, I am moving to DC next year and I may end up in Ph.D. policy work and/or as a sociologist concerned with poverty & inequality stuff (although I remain interested in the role of faith in all of this and hope to keep that edge as well).

Theologically, I can still find myself everywhere from a veiled universalism to a pretty orthodox faith… very schizophrenic, and I tend to play devil’s advocate with most people I meet. Depending on the issue, you might see my heretical side or my funny side… it’s all a garbled mess sometimes. I do often find myself more akin to non-believers, but I also know somehow that Christianity is my home.

Church-wise, I’ve been everywhere from the aforementioned Anglican to Baptist (… [name] Baptist) to super-crazy charismatic. I am also very familiar with Willow Creek, including their various efforts in Chicago proper… I know many of those guys involved. I eventually landed at a really small Church of Christ in [Chicago]. Funny fit for me in that the C of C is historically rather sectarian and conservative (no instruments in worship even still), but they are surprisingly progressive in other ways and have an interesting history I have been able to learn. I started going there for a girl, and it was hard to leave after my community was established, even though the girl is ancient history.

When I read this post, it struck a chord or resonated with me as Scot put it. This story is similar to many I’ve heard on our campus (OCU), and to stories I’ve heard in the local churches I’ve served. I’m sure, some of you reading this, could sign your name at the bottom of this story, because elements of this story relates with your own story.

It seems that more and more, the younger (emerging) generations are becoming increasingly disillusioned and disenchanted with the local church and “denominations.” So what are we to do? How are we to reach young men like this for Jesus? And to pose the question that Scot asked: Do we listen long enough, love deeply enough, and think with them enough to be the presence of Jesus in such lives?

Scot McKnight is a widely-recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. He is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University (Chicago, Illinois), where he is also the Department Chair and the Director of the College of Christian Life and Thought.

Morning Prayer

2006-07-01T08:29:00.000-05:00

A Prayer Attributed to St. Francis:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

The Unfaithful Bride?

2006-06-27T10:12:00.000-05:00

The pastorate can be one of the most frustrating, and yet also rewarding vocations. If you were to survey the pastors you know, most if not all, would say that they would never choose to be a pastor, but only put up with the unique demands and frustrations of pastoral ministry because of God’s call on their life.

One of the chief frustrations for many pastors is inconsistent attendance by church members for Sunday morning worship. According to Barna, “47% of American adults attend church in a typical weekend, not including a special event such as a wedding or a funeral. (2005)” Also research indicates, that “58% of protestants,” and “55% of Catholics” attend a worship service each weekend. This information suggests that just over half of all “Christians” (I know that term is a can of worms in and of itself) in the U.S. attend worship on a given weekend. Below is just a short laundry list of reasons why members at my churches were inconsistent:

· Traveling for family vacations
· Youth athletic games (#1 culprit – soccer)
· Family reunions
· Hunting
· “ I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian”
· Personal Theology (i.e. My personal salvation is not dependent on the church)
· My commitment is to the Lord, not the church

I could go on, but you get the point. The most frustrating point for me was my most committed church members always seemed unfazed by the inconsistency of their brothers and sisters in Christ – the lack of commitment. In fact, often they (committed members) would often make excuses for their (inconsistent members) absences. I can hear it now, “Relax pastor don’t take it so seriously! Don’t make it personal! They’re not rejecting you!”

The problem with most churches (the people, not the architecture) is their own self-image or identity. Most Americans see church as something you do. It is just one more thing you write into your calendar, and it is easily erased if something better comes along. As a result, we choose Sundays to travel, catch up on rest or schedule family reunions – because it is just something we do!

But if we think ecclesiologically and theologically how can I and “they” not take it (the lack of commitment) personal? Most church members fail to realize that they are not rejecting the pastor, nor the church service, but actually them – “true church.” Throughout Scripture the most profound metaphor used to describe the church is that of a “bride.” Matrimonial covenant language has been used throughout Christendom and scripture to describe the relationship between Christ and his Church and also between church members.

Now the radical individualist might argue that his undying commitment is to Christ (the groom). However, the bride metaphor is clear; it is not the “part” but the “whole” that forms the bride. We must remember the exhortation of Paul, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church (not the individual) and gave himself up for her. (Eph. 5:25)” Our relationship with God although personal, has always been corporate in nature.

So, is it just a coincidence that nearly 55% of all Christian marriages end in divorce? How can we be faithful to our spouse when we can’t be faithful to Christ and his bride or vise versa?

America's Protectors of Free Speech

2006-06-23T20:46:00.000-05:00

Below is an interesting email I received from the American Family Association:

Brittany McComb was the valedictorian at Foothill High School recently. She graduated with a 4.7 GPA. She earned the right to address the other graduates at Foothill, located in Henderson, Nevada. She gave a copy of her graduating speech to the school administrators. It contained some Biblical references and even mentioned (one time) the name “Christ.” The school administrators censored some of the biblical references. They also censored the single reference to Christ.

Then the school officials handed the speech over to the ACLU for approval and/or more censoring. After getting the OK from the ACLU, Brittany’s speech (minus the censored references to the Bible and Christ) was approved. Brittany was warned that if she deviated from the ACLU approved language, her mike would be cut off.

Then came the moment for the big decision. She would not bow down, she decided. She would go with her original version. She stepped to the mike and began her speech. But just before she could utter the name “Christ,” her mike went dead. School officials silenced her. The crowd of 400 jeered for several minutes, angry at the action of the school officials. The ACLU was happy. They had silenced another Christian.

“I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech. God’s the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my lord and savior,” Brittany said.

Because she refused to bow down to the ACLU’s idol of gold, she did not get her wish. She was censored. This young heroine deserves praise and a thank you from those who believe in free speech.

I find it ironic, that the very organization that is supposed to protect "American values" and "rights" which claims to abhor any type of censorship are perhaps the greatest censors of all. Additionally, it is ironic that they will defend ABC's right to use the name of Jesus on national television a curse word and yet, if Christian uses it as a means of praise it infringes upon ones freedom of religion.

According to the ACLU's website they serve as "our nation's guardian of liberty. We work daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Our job is to conserve America's original civic values: the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

Would the ACLU protect a Christian whose rights are being infringed upon (I think we already know the answer)? How can you claim to be "America's watchdog" and yet have your very own agenda? But what about Brittany's rights?

Charles Finney!

2006-06-14T20:06:00.000-05:00

Who are you theologically? According to this survey, I scored as a Charles Finney. According to the photo, I resemble him in more than one way. Here are my results:

You're passionate about God and love to preach the Gospel. Your theology borders on pelagianism and it is said that if God were taken out of your theology, it would look exactly the same.
Charles Finney 87%
Anselm 80%
Augustine 73%
Karl Barth 73%
Friedrich Schleiermacher 73%
Martin Luther 60%
John Calvin 47%
J?Moltmann 47%
Jonathan Edwards 33%
Paul Tillich 27%
Take the survey and tell me how you scored? Do you think this is a very assessment of your theology?

The Invisible Church

2006-06-12T10:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I had the privilege of preaching at one of the “flagship” churches in the denomination I serve. I arrived early and participated in an adult Sunday school class. This was the best adult Sunday school class I ever been apart of. There were eighty or more adults (primarily seniors) who were actively engaged in the lesson. The teacher was articulate, animated and dynamic; so much in fact, I wondered to myself if he had missed his calling! It was amazing to me, in age when Sunday school is a dying breed, this church had it right! Or so it seemed.

Once I assumed the standard position on the platform for the worship service, I began surveying the congregation as they moved into the sanctuary from their respective Sunday school classes. I was attentively watching the rear doors to see how the sanctuary dynamic was changing with the arrival of the different age groups. As I watched, in walked a few children, some more youth, the Sunday school teachers and the typical late arrivals (as the Sunday school superintendent called them – signifying those who do not go to Sunday school). The congregation swelled slightly.

Typically, the moments prior to proclaiming God’s word are very exciting and euphoric (similar to my playing days on game day) but on this day my heart broke when the people stopped trickling in. And no it wasn’t due to pride or arrogance wanting a larger crowd (even though all preachers do want big crowds). It was because an entire demographic of people were missing. I found myself asking, “Where are they? Are they coming?” With my eyes, I scoured the congregation looking for anyone that shared my likeness and there was none! I very much, like Moses, felt like “a stranger in a strange land.” Incredible, in a large, “successful” congregation there were only handful of people age 18-35!

In the moments before I spoke, we had an elongated testimony time! In which, three testimonies were about wayward children. Below is summary of one such testimony that went something like this:

“Pastor, would you pray for my son and his family! Recently they purchased a camper. They weren’t happy with their church! So they left, but they didn’t look for another church. They just stopped going all together! Now they just travel, and camp on weekends! They are really going through some tough times. But, praise God they are selling that trailer! Maybe now they’ll come back to church. (Almost word for word)”

At the conclusion of each testimony the congregation gave some hearty amen’s. Is this a testimony we should amen? Should we pin our hopes on the selling of a camper for our children’s salvation? This is not an anomaly. In fact, at the vast majority of American churches, this demographic is missing entirely or greatly reduced! Why is this happening? Can we just chalk it up like some who’ll say, “well wander for while, but they’ll come back when they have children?” But is this acceptable? Is it even excusable?

What do you think are some of the reasons for this? How can we as churches overcome this crisis? I’d like to see your thoughts on this and dialogue.

Food For Thought

2006-06-06T21:22:00.000-05:00

Today, I was given a book to read by my good friend and colaborer Doug Thompson who happens to be an Emerging Church apologist (kidding). Below, I have included an excerpt from the opening chapter of Dan Kimball's Book, Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations. I believe he hit the nail on the head with his analysis of current worship practices in "successful" evangelical churches.

“We usually call the weekend time when a church family gets together a “worship service.” Ironically, this term used to mean a time when the saints of God all meet to offer their service to God through worship and their service to others in the church. Over time, however, the title has slowly reversed. The weekend worship “service” has become the time of the week when we go to a church building much like a car goes to an automobile service station.
Most people view the weekend worship service as a place where we go to get service done to us by “getting our tanks filled up” at the service station. It’s a place where
someone will give a sermon and serve us with our weekly sustenance. In automobile terms, you could say it is our weekly fill-up. We come to our service station to have a song leader serve us by leading us in singing songs. All so we can feel good when we emotionally connect through mass singing and feel secure that we did “worship.”
We go to the weekend worship service and drop off our kids – that way they too can get served by having their weekly fill-ups. We are especially glad that our weekend service station now serves coffee in the church lobby – it’s as convenient as our automobile service station’s little mini-mart.”

Improve By Making Deliberate Mistakes?

2006-06-06T20:04:00.000-05:00

In my brief ministry experience, I have served as youth minister (twice), associate Pastor (once) and senior pastor (twice). In addition, ever since I have been given the title of professor, on several occasions I have been invited to a number of ministries and or churches to act as a consultant assess the ministries strengths and weakness while making suggestions for improvement.

What has been amazing to me is that no matter the context, people of all ages are resistant to change – even though change is necessary part of life. Below is an article where the resident "ministry expert" at Rev.org where he suggests making mistakes on purpose to learn from them based on some business practices cited the Harvard Business Review. Below is an excerpt from this article.

Most of us realize that we learn most from our failures. The goal, therefore, is to fail fast in order to speed up the learning process. The difference between smart mistakes and dumb ones involves identifying our assumptions, selecting assumptions for testing, ranking the assumptions, executing the mistake, and then learning from the process. (3)

So what does this mean for a local church? Let's say we want to challenge our assumptions about outreach, especially because we want to create several events a year and our track record hasn't been great in this area. For example, we believe that people from our community should be motivated to attend a special parenting seminar, but we don't want to invest advertising dollars to promote it. Therefore, we put on the event.
Sure enough, only thirteen people show up, two of whom are not from our church. We survey participants on how it is they found out about the event and what motivated them to attend. Then we gather the leaders together to debrief. Who came? Who did we think would come? How much money did we spend on advertising? What did it cost us to pay the presenter, open the doors of the church, copy the fliers, handouts and provide refreshments? What might this tell us about the way we're going about doing outreach events? If we're going to do this in the future, how do we determine what topics interest people in our community? How do we go about strategizing getting the word out to the people most apt to be interested in it? What is a way to better strategize our objectives, such as follow-up, staffing, measuring effectiveness, and raising marketing money?

While it may seem silly to put on an event for the primary purpose of analyzing a mistake, the potential benefit is that we'll learn how to do outreach events more effectively in the future. That fact that we're placing our assumptions and processes under a microscope means we want to be good stewards of our outreach dollars as well as become more effective at connecting with our community. We're no longer satisfied with doing business as usual, sweeping mediocre results under the rug or chalking it up to "how difficult ministry is."

So, what do you think? Is this a logical argument that we should try to implement in our local context? Do most pastors even have the job security to attempt something like this?

Harvard Business Review; June, 2006. "The Wisdom of Deliberate Mistakes," by Paul J.H. Schoemaker and Robert E. Gunther, 108-115.
(3) Pages 113-115

Alan Nelson is the Pastoral Ministry Champion and Executive Editor of Rev! Magazine at Group Publishing, Loveland, CO.

West Meets East

2006-06-05T22:08:00.000-05:00

Simply a must read! Unfortunately you have to sift through several pages of advertisement.

West Meets East

Introduction to the Emergent Church

2006-06-05T15:08:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are in the academy, the local church or the youth pastorate have no doubt come in contact with with such terms as postmodernism and the emerging church. The emerging church is one movement with in the protestant church that is attempting to address ministering in a postmodern culture. Due to the newness of the emerging church, the verdict is still out on its effectivness along with its theology. As a result, there have been numerous critiques both positive and negative on this movement.

For those of you new to this movement, I am posting The Emerging Church by D.A. Carson.

D. A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. This article was adapted from his new book Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church (Zondervan, 2005). It is excerpted here by permission of the author and publisher.

Say What?

2006-06-01T22:24:00.000-05:00

In my feeble attempts to stay culturely relevant I often common upon some interesting websites. I came upon this blog whose purpose is to help churches promote themselves, or in a business sense - market themselves. The site has plenty of interesting articles with some pretty pragmatic advice.

The websites mission:

Our mission is to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ. Church Marketing Sucks is a part of the Center for Church Communication, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the church matter.
Frustrate.Something's wrong with your church. Something's wrong with the Church. Church marketing efforts and communication in general suck. We've got the greatest story ever told, but no one's listening. The church has a problem
communicating, and it's time to change.
Educate.We love the church, but it needs some help. Typos, cheesy logos, and bad clip art aren't helping the cause. But snazzy marketing won't save this ship, either. It's not about being perfect, but there's a better way to communicate. It's authentic, it's loving, and it knows how to spell.
Motivate.This isn't simply about putting butts in pews or selling glossy postcards. It's about helping the church be the Church, and seeing lives changed as a result. If helping the church communicate better allows one person to finally glimpse the Gospel, then our work has been worthwhile. It may be fuzzy math, but God can worry about that.

One thing the site makes clear is the it offends people, primarily because of their name. It seemed that no matter how much I surfed their site the name stuck out at me like a sore thumb - Church Marketing Sucks!

Before I knew it up, the name of the page became a stumbling block to me. All I could here were the words of a wise old sage (Ron Smith) who once told the "Zoo" on Johnson Hall (My residence in college) in reference to our language, "suck what?" Those words have haunted me since, and to this day I can not use it.

So, a question must be asked. What language is permissible for a minister of Jesus Christ? Should we conform our language to signs of the times to be cultural relevant? Are those who won't use the common vernacular or slang (i.e. suck) that is common with teens and college students just prudes?

Or is there an expectation to be "unique and peculiar" as one "who is called to live worthy of the calling?" Are there just certain ways that ministers or Christians for that matter don't talk? What do you think?

A Different Perspective on Easter

2006-05-31T20:31:00.000-05:00

Do you remember when you learned that Santa Claus wasn't real? Guess what? Good Friday and a Sunday resurrection aren't either. Discover the real story from the pages of the Bible itself! - Bruce Gore

My initial impressions based solely on the quote above found myself labeling Mr. Gore a heretic. In fact, in my mind I was sharpening the stake and stoking the fire for the first chance to run across this gentleman. I was thinking, "John Calvin wasn't half bad."

However, after getting into the article, I discovered that it was pretty well written, thought provoking and even quite compelling at points. As you delve in, please be careful not to jump to any preconceived conclusions. In fact, attempt to lock all your presuppositions at the door.

I'd like to read your thoughts on this article. How do you find his argument? What do you think of hermeutical skills? If his argument is accurate, what are some implications for the church?

Good Friday—Easter Sunday: It Didn't Happen That Way!