February 26, 2010
A Christian Sexual Alternative?
Both conservatives and liberals have had their views of sexuality shaped by the culture.
The title caught my eye: “Reverend reconciles sex and religion.” Was another church challenging married couples to make time for sexual intimacy for seven days straight? A pastor making headlines for an edgy sermon about the goodness of sex? A review of the latest book from a Christian relationship expert with new statistics about Christians’ sex lives?
Actually, the article was much less predictable than any of my guesses. The story’s focus, Debra Haffner, has the distinction of being both a reverend and a sexologist who believes her two professions “offer a unique insight into modern sexuality.” The Revered Haffner—who, by the way, won’t marry people who are virgins—thinks it necessary for “conservative religious leaders to reform their doctrines to fit modern times.” Such a shift includes focusing on the “quality of relationships” rather than on the morality of sexual practices.
As someone who falls within Haffner’s “conservative religious leader” category, it’s tempting to write her off. There’s little new in her claim that our sexual ethics need updating for a new day. Her reading of the Bible (“Genesis is full of affirmations of humans as sexual beings”) is certainly culturally bound and would likely confuse the Bible’s early interpreters. Frankly, it’s hard for me to take seriously any expert who doesn’t strongly consider the historic claims and traditions of the Church.
That’s why I also have trouble with much of the teaching and preaching about sexuality that originates closer to home.
The ways those of us with more traditional interpretations of the Bible interact with this subject aren’t much more helpful. Is our language any less culturally bound than Haffner’s? What about our theology and methodology?
For example, at a conference for church leaders I listened to a pastor tout his congregation’s recent advertising campaign. To promote a sermon series about sex, the church mass-mailed glossy postcards and purchased billboards, each with a suggestive bedroom photo. Acknowledging the complaints the church received from some in their town, the pastor said something to the effect of, “We’re willing to risk any method to get people to church on Sunday.”
And we’re probably all familiar with the stories of pastors who urged the married couples in their churches to have sex for multiple days in a row. With clever branding—“Seven Days of Sex” and “The Thirty Day Sex Challenge”—these campaigns informed the surrounding culture that Christians have sex, too. (Though they may have communicated that Christians need their pastor to remind them to have sex.) Through clever marketing, these churches attempted to show their relevancy while shedding any prudish reputation.
The Reverend/Sexologists and Pastor/Marketers are more closely related than they’d like to admit. In discussing and preaching about sexuality they both borrow from the enlightened and glitzy present while neglecting the alternative kingdom proclaimed by saints past. Such a move may enthrall for a time, but always leaves us hungry for something substantially different.
Last year my wife and I spoke about sexuality to a Christian fellowship at a nearby university. Our talk that night centered on one question: How does the Gospel of Jesus transform the way we think about sexuality? In other words, does the fact that Jesus was crucified and resurrected have any bearing on how we view the sexuality of others and ourselves? By evening’s end I was both hopeful and discouraged. Hopeful because we watched light bulbs turning on as students encountered a distinct way to interact with the complexities of sexuality on campus. As those pursued by God, hidden in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit, these young women and men have access to a Gospel that transcends the culturally captive methods and language of Reverend/Sexologists and Pastor/Marketers.
The experience also left me discouraged. In a room of bright college students, many who had been raised in the church, there was a palpable sense of frustration and helplessness at the prospect of experiencing a Christian sexual ethic. Why is this? Have Christian leaders neglected the counter-intuitive Gospel implications for our sexuality in order to portray a Christianity that is more culturally acceptable? While many of us would disagree with the Reverend Haffner’s theology, I’m not sure we’re offering a more genuinely liberating alternative.
For all our talk about sex, I wonder if we have forgotten the only distinct and life-giving thing we have to say on the subject: Jesus changes everything. As one student put it at the close of our evening, “This is really hard stuff….but it’s also really good news.” When it comes to the complexities of sexuality we don’t need more sexologists or marketers. We could, however, use more pastors and leaders willing to echo this student’s insight. The Gospel of Jesus is really hard and really good and offers entirely new ways to consider the mysteries and joys of our sexuality.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 26, 2010 | Comments (23) | TrackBack
February 24, 2010
Ur Video: Mark Driscoll on Hell
The punishment fits the crime, and the preaching fits the subject.
You knew it was coming. We couldn't feature a series on hell without Mark Driscoll. His bold, in-your-face preaching on the subject is a vivid contrast with Erwin McManus' pastorally sensitive approach from last week. Which style is a better fit for your ministry context?
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 24, 2010 | Comments (40) | TrackBack
February 22, 2010
The Hansen Report: 5 Myths about Emerging Adult Religion
"Souls in Transition" offers cause for congratulations and consternation
If you want to rile up the evangelical masses, drag out dubious statistics about how many Christians fall away from the faith after high school. We fear for our youth, that they’ll rebel against what their parents and churches taught when they leave home and the youth group.
But what if we’re wrong? What if our particular fears about “emerging adulthood,” the period between the ages of 18 and 29, are unfounded? And what if the situation is actually worse than we imagine? The National Study of Youth and Religion provides us with a treasure trove of valuable information based on interviews with thousands of emerging American adults. Noted sociologist Christian Smith has teamed with Patricia Snell to analyze the data and publish Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, a follow up to the groundbreaking 2005 book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.
Young adults undergo intense transitions during these tumultuous years. And broader social forces have reshaped this expanding interim between adolescence and full adulthood. Emerging adults are delaying marriage, enrolling in college and graduate school in record numbers, hopping from career to career amid economic instability, and relying on financial support from their parents. Such trends have been well documented. Yet several myths about these adults’ spiritual lives persist.
Myth #1: Emerging adults serve out of concern for the common good.
College campuses are wallpapered with fliers promoting service opportunities. Churches send their youth on local and foreign mission projects. Political analysts credit youth volunteers and voters with helping to elect President Obama in 2008.
It’s mostly a mirage.
According to Smith and Snell, emerging adults are far less likely than their parents or grandparents to volunteer or contribute to charitable causes. They share no qualms about materialism and long to someday live the American dream with a large salary and large home.
“Few emerging adults are involved in community organizations or other social change-oriented groups or movements,” Smith and Snell observe. “Not many care to know much of substance about political issues and world events. Few are intellectually engaged in any of the major cultural and ethical debates and challenges facing U.S. society. Almost none have any vision of a common good.”
Myth #2: Emerging adults reject their parents’ religious influence.
As children approach the teenage years, their parents anticipate conflict. Because many parents worry about dragging their teens to church against their will, many resign themselves to parental irrelevance. Yet Smith and Snell find that most emerging adults fall into their parents’ religious patterns one way or another. Still, parents are slow to realize they need to change how they relate to foster maturity and independence.
“So just at the time when teenagers most need engaged parents to help them work out a whole series of big questions about what they believe, think, value, feel, are committed to, and want to be and become, in many cases, their parents are withdrawing from them,” Smith and Snell lament.
Myth #3: Emerging adults behave similarly, whether seriously committed to religion or not.
Actually, emerging adults devoted to religion are significantly more likely to give money, volunteer for community service, decline alcohol and drugs, and abstain from pornography and premarital sex. For example, 35 percent of non-married emerging adults who are devoted to religion have had sexual intercourse, compared to 67 percent of emerging adults only regularly involved.
Trouble is, only 5 percent of emerging adults are so devoted to their faith that they attend religious services weekly or read scripture as much as once or twice per month. And that group includes Mormons, Muslims, Jews, and all Christian denominations. Another 14 percent regularly attend religious services a few times per month. But their behavior often resembles the irreligious more than the devoted. They practice a different creed: so long as you don’t hurt others, almost anything goes. And since every single person is different, different rules apply, depending on the situation.
“This, it seems, is not merely basic American individualism,” write Smith and Snell . “It is individualism raised on heavy doses of multiculturalism and pumped up on the steroids of the postmodern insistence on disjuncture, difference, and differences ‘going all the way down.’”
Myth #4: Emerging adults have abandoned liberal Protestantism.
Evangelicals enjoy pointing out rapidly declining attendance at mainline churches. But Smith and Snell temper evangelical enthusiasm. Even many self-proclaimed evangelicals who check the right boxes on Jesus and heaven do not heed God’s call on their lives. No matter their professed beliefs, emerging adults tend to live for jobs, money, fun, and friends. At the gut level, liberal values trump biblical doctrine.
Smith and Snell observe: “Individual autonomy, unbounded tolerance, freedom from authorities, the affirmation of pluralism, the centrality of human self-consciousness, the practical value of moral religion, epistemological skepticism, and an instinctive aversion to anything ‘dogmatic’ or committed to particulars were routinely taken for granted by respondents.”
Myth #5: Emerging adults tend to fall away from faith in college.
Many parents fear their children’s going off to college, where peers and professors deconstruct everything they learned growing up. But Smith and Snell echo other studies that show emerging adults who do not attend college are more likely to fall away from faith. Why? There are a greater number of evangelical faculty members who support like-minded students. The modernist enterprise with its secularizing agenda has all but collapsed. And evangelical campus groups flourish.
Yet there is cause for caution. Smith and Snell found that 85 percent of emerging adults who have committed their lives to God did so before they turned 14. No matter how much campus groups try to evangelize, they tend to offer safe haven for students who grow up in Christian homes. Like so much else revealed by Souls in Transition, there is much cause for both congratulations and consternation.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 22, 2010 | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 19, 2010
Ur Video: Ed Young Jr. says "U.B.U."
The importance, and humor, of originality.
Ed Young Jr., the eccentric pastor from Fellowship Church in Dallas (remember the "7 Day Sex Challenge" sermon he preached from a bed rather than a pulpit?), is reaching out to other pastors with a message on the dangers of imitation. Young practices what he preaches by presenting the message in a form no other pastor (that I know) would dare attempt.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 19, 2010 | Comments (19) | TrackBack
February 18, 2010
Ur Video: Erwin McManus on Hell
Why would a loving God create hell?
We've heard from N.T. Wright, John Piper, and Tim Keller about the doctrine of hell. What do you make of McManus' understanding of hell and God's character? He seems to echo the perspective of C.S. Lewis who wrote that "The doors of hell are locked from the inside." That's certainly more palatable in our anti-damnation culture, but do you think it's right?
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 18, 2010 | Comments (32) | TrackBack
February 17, 2010
Avatar and Becoming Mature in Christ
What a not-so-Christian movie says about the goal of the Christian life.
I have been thinking a lot lately about Colossians 1, where Paul writes: "We proclaim Christ, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this reason I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." It strikes me that this comes close to a creedal text for those of us involved in church ministry. Sometimes we get so immersed in the X's and O's of church work that we forget to step back and ask what 's the real reason we're doing all this. Paul has great clarity on it, and is more concise than usual: "so that we may present everyone mature in Christ."
If your church is looking for a big hairy audacious goal, this will do for starters.
The scale: everyone.
The outcome: mature in Christ.
That's not common language in our day. So recently I have asked church leaders in a number of settings to take a few moments to describe what someone who is "mature in Christ" looks like. Certain words always make the list: loving, joyful, peaceful, forgiving, serving, courageous, loyal, humble, generous.
And when "mature in Christ" is explained in those terms, there are not many people who are uninterested. This offer has remarkably broad appeal. I went with a friend to see Avatar last week. The 3-D thing is pretty cool. The writer does not actually attach a denominational label to the script, but it was pretty obviously not produced by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. However, the qualities in the heroes are remarkably consistent with many of the words listed by church leaders: courageous, loving, giving, loyal, generous. What it means to be a good person has been embedded by God pretty deeply into human consciousness.
How we get there is another matter.
Then I'll ask this question: do you think the average unchurched person in America thinks of these characteristics when they hear the word "Christian"? Not so much.
Here's another question (you can try this one at home, or with your elders if you're feeling perky): on a scale of 1-100, how is your church doing at producing this kind of person? It's a funny thing how often we're aware of our attendance trends or how close to budget we're running, but we often have not worked much to assess the real target we're aiming at.
Sometimes we're not even clear that this is the goal. I was talking to a church leader from a European country recently, who commented on a difficult dynamic where he lives. It is expected that the state will pretty much care for all human needs—the alleviation of poverty, provision of care for the sick, needy, and elderly, and so on. There is little or no expectation that the church will be involved in such issues.
The result, of course, is that most people in that society do not believe that those in churches care about them, or are marked by compassion. In the Acts church, it was almost exactly the other way around; it was the compassion of the church that reached the world.
For only the church has the goal of presenting everyone "mature in Christ." Other entities can try to lessen suffering or care for needs, but these do not have the same power.
I heard a great talk not long ago by Harvard professor Michael Porter about "doing well at doing good." He had been part of a project bringing renewal to Newark, New Jersey. They did this, not by trying to meet needs through charity, but by identifying competitive advantages that could attract businesses and create a sustainable financial strategy. The advantage they discovered was that, because of population density, Newark actually had higher purchasing power per square acre than Beverly Hills.
And much good has been done. But it did raise the question in my mind: Is it a good goal to seek to replicate Beverly Hills all over the world? Shouldn't we aim a bit higher?
Which is part of the reason why the church must be in the compassion business. True compassion is about more than just alleviating suffering. Its final aim is a redeemed humanity and a flourishing earth—"to present everyone mature in Christ."
This was the work of Jesus himself: to heal the sick, feed the hungry, give sight to the blind, care for the poor; give righteousness to the scandalous and scandalize the self-righteous; give hope to the hopeless and love to the loveless.
And he's not done yet.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 17, 2010 | Comments (6) | TrackBack
February 15, 2010
Rob Bell on the Dangers of Video Preaching
Video preaching is popular and effective, but is there a better alternative?
He once planted a church by teaching through Leviticus. He can use a rabbit carved from a bar of soap to illustrate the nature of suffering. Google his name and the term "Sex God" will appear among the top entries.
Rob Bell is the most interesting preacher in the world.
The winter issue of Leadership features a wide-ranging interview with Rob Bell on the art and impact of preaching. His candid answers and down to earth advice for pastors may surprise you. Check out the entire interview at LeadershipJournal.net. Below is an excerpt where Bell discusses the unknown dangers of video preaching.
Your NOOMA video series has been popular. What do you think about the increasing number of preachers and churches using video technology to expand their reach?
It's powerful but there's also a dark side. Video is not church. You put images and music on a screen, and people will listen. But it's also dangerous. You're playing with fire. I think video technology deserves to be scrutinized heavily.
Go a little deeper. What makes video dangerous?
I don't think we know yet what the long-term impact will be on disciple-making. In 10 years we may discover what particular kind of Christ follower is formed by video preaching. I see warning lights on my dashboard. It's unclear what video may do to the ways we conceive of life together.
In the New Testament, there are 43 "one another" passages, and during a Sunday morning service you might be able to practice three or four of them. And as the service gets large, you can probably do fewer. A massive group setting is also dangerous. You can come, sit, listen, and go home and think, I've been to church, even if you haven't practiced any "one anothers." And with video that only gets more intense. I'm not sure that's the direction we want to be heading.
We want to be calling people to deep bonds of solidarity with one another. We may gather in a massive group, but from the stage I often say, "This is just a church service. Church is actually about caring for one another, and serving one another, and speaking truth to one another in love. Don't get the two confused."
The evidence suggests that video can have a fast and broad impact. So what's the alternative?
There is something more powerful than simply beaming yourself into other locations, and that is raising up disciples. Over time that will go farther and faster, but right now it will be more work and slower. With technology today it's easy to spend all of your energies reproducing your own voice, but there is a longer view that says, what if instead of beaming video to those ten locations, we train ten people who can go there and lead? That's a very basic question that should be in the mix somewhere.
Is developing other leaders part of your calling now?
That's the reason we recently did "The Poets, Prophets, and Preachers" seminar, and it's why I've got seminary students I meet with regularly. Meeting with them also changes my thinking because they ask great questions. There's a reason Jesus sends his disciples out in pairs—everyone learns.
What do you teach these students about the spiritual side of preaching?
First, the public nature of preaching exposes you to a wide spectrum of feedback—from the really good compliments to really venomous criticism. Both can be dangerous because they lead to either pride or pain. We need to work at becoming the kind of person who is so deeply grounded in who we are, the work we are called to do, and the words we are called to speak, that the ambient hype that surrounds the preaching event doesn't get the best of us.
It's important to create a circle of trusting, loving people around you who will tell you the truth no matter what. They can help you think rightly about the criticism and keep you balanced. Preaching isn't just about the sermon, it's about becoming the kind of person who can actually handle the role. It's like a Ferrari. If you don't know how to drive the thing, you're going to crash into a tree.
Read the full interview now at LeadershipJournal.net.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 15, 2010 | Comments (19) | TrackBack
February 12, 2010
Ur Video: What is Absolutely True?
What do people in a post-Christian society really believe?
In October 2010 the Lausanne Movement will convene the Third Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa. In preparation for that gathering, Lausanne and Christianity Today are developing a "Global Conversation" around the issue to be discussed in Cape Town.
In February 2010 the Global Conversation tackles truth—and the reluctance of post-Christian societies in the West to trust claims of absolute truth. We asked residents of a secular university city whether there was anything they were still absolutely sure of. Their answers suggest bridges as well as barriers for dialogue between Christian and secular neighbors.
Read more about evangelism and relativism on the Global Conversations website.
Common Ground from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 12, 2010 | Comments (6) | TrackBack
February 11, 2010
Ur Video: Tim Keller on Hell
Jesus talks a lot about hell, so why don't we?
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 11, 2010 | Comments (21) | TrackBack
February 10, 2010
Rick Warren on Radical Membership
Are you unknowingly encouraging your attenders to commit "spiritual adultery"?
Does your church emphasize, encourage, and value membership? In many places the notion of church membership has fallen out of favor. Rick Warren thinks that is a “serious mistake.”
Speaking this morning at the Radicalis conference at Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick challenged pastors to rediscover the importance of commitment to a local church through radical membership. “Membership is a word that has been perverted and abused,” said Warren. “It’s not putting your name on a roll. It’s not about knowing the insider lingo. That’s not what membership is all about.”
Using Scripture to show the importance of commitment to a local congregation, Warren said membership was about being “a member in the Body of Christ.” And therefore membership is “organic not organizational.”
Warren shot down the notion that membership isn’t important as long as people attend the church. “The difference between an attender and a member is the difference between living together and getting married. A lot of people want to date the church, but they don’t want to get married. That is spiritual adultery.”
Radical membership is an act of commitment, not conformity. It’s about belonging to God’s family and being a contributor and not just a consumer. “if you’re going to build a healthy, mature church you are going to have to understand the meaning of radical membership.”
Is Rick Warren right? Are young people still interested in church membership? Maybe if more churches adopted the radical commitment to one another that Warren spoke about they would be.
I'd like to hear what your church does to lift up the value of membership? And how do you define the term for your community?
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 10, 2010 | Comments (29) | TrackBack
February 9, 2010
Ed Stetzer on Pastors and Change
Research shows most pastors think significant changes are coming in the next 10 years.
Ed Stetzer recently presented data to the attendees of the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. Much of that data was shared in the Winter issue of Leadership journal. In this post, Ed Stetzer explores additional information that was, until now, only available to the attendees at Catalyst.
Change. It’s happening at such a pace it has become cliché.
Joel Barker is so 80’s. Yet Barker is still around. A self-described “futurist,” Baker popularized the term, “paradigm” to describe our behavior patterns. Our recent Lifeway Research findings inspired us to go back and consider one of his most famous warnings:
"You can and should shape your own future; because if you don't someone else surely will."
Influencing the future begins with assessing our current realities. Predictions of radical change are nothing new. Walt Disney made a nice living imagining the future since the mid-1900’s. Two futures are critical for the church to understand and embrace. Although our ability to control the future is questionable, our influence and response to the future is critical to our effectiveness in God’s mission.
The first future is “inside” the church.In most churches, Boomers will continue to be firmly in leadership.They will work longer and live longer (including pastors, staff, and lay leaders). As difficult as it seemed for previous generations to pass on leadership in the local church (still in process), Boomers may find it more difficult.
Boomers are the “better idea” generation. The technology revolution was spearheaded by Steve Jobs (born 1955) co-founder of Apple and Bill Gates founder of Microsoft (born 1955). The contemporary church movement led by Rick Warren (born 1954) and Bill Hybels (born 1951) inspired a generation of church leaders. Dissatisfied Boomers decided to “go west” to a new contemporary church world. Now, subsequent generations have gone in new directions—too numerous to list here. Things in the church change.
The second future is “outside” in culture. With the onset of the Information Age, vast amounts of knowledge and information have become available to virtually anyone at the click of a mouse (or now handheld devices). Where it took hundreds of years for the volume of information to double in the past, now it happens in months.
For example, one current reality that influences both futures is the social networking phenomenon. The way people socialize and interact is rapidly changing. What some are calling “socialnomics” has emerged—the social media tsunami is here. The way we form and maintain relationships has dramatically changed. Here are some examples of the radical shift in how people interact:
• 96% of Gen Y has joined a social network.
• Number of Years to 50 million users: Radio-38; TV – 13; Internet- 4; and Ipod-3.
• Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months.
• IPod application downloads hit 1 billion in 9 months.
• Gen Y & Z consider email passé.
The oceans and boundaries of nations’ borders are no longer communication obstacles.
People from all cultures and ethnic groups are interacting with one another via social media. The world has become glocal—a mixture of global and local. Globalization has flattened the world socially, economically, culturally, and missiologically.
With the emergence of global cities, people from various races, languages, and cultures mix regularly. For example, the greater Chicago metro area is home to over 9 million people. Within that population, over 140 defined people groups and over 200 language groups live in proximity to one another. A dramatic shift from rural to urban has taken place in North America. America is now predominately an urban society.
Things have changed, are changing, and need to change. We all sense it; some with joy and others with reluctance. In a recent survey, we asked one thousand pastors to give their perspectives about change in three areas. A growing anticipation of change was evident in their responses.
1. Change in Personal Ministry
Initially, we asked pastors to think retroactively about their ministry experience and respond to this statement—“Ten years ago, I would NOT have expected to be in the ministry I am today.” Overall, the majority of pastors expected to be where they are now looking back ten years—48% strongly disagreed and 12% somewhat disagreed.
However, a very significant number (30%) strongly agreed with the statement. Almost a third of pastors responded that a significant change in direction had taken place in their lives over the last ten years. Ten years ago, they definitely would not have expected to be in their current ministry role. What circumstances transpired that facilitated the change is unclear. But, change to some degree happened to 4 out of 10 respondents.
2. Change in Future Ministry Role
The next statement indicated a growing sense of anticipated change among pastors. When asked to respond about their future ministry roles, many pastors saw change on the horizon. We posed this statement—“I expect to be in a very different role ten years from now.”
While a significant percentage disagreed with the statement, a definite majority agreed—33% strongly agreed and 23% somewhat agreed. Therefore, a majority of pastors expect to be in a very different role ten years from now.
Many factors could be at work here—and we can only speculate. Some might expect church conflict and forced terminations. Others may see a decline in their church and denomination and see it forcing ministers from church based ministry. Also, options to serve God are multiplying outside the church--conflict mediation, cooperate chaplaincy, and business coaching are a few emerging vocational platforms for ministers.
It should be said that vocational ministers who prepare for alternative income options may actually increase their opportunities for local church ministry. One example would be planting a church or being a part of a church planting team. Another example would be staff leadership in a smaller church. Both are important platforms to make a difference for God’s mission.
3. Change in Future Church
The most profound statement we made to pastors was this—“I expect my current church to look very different ten years from now.” Over 80% of pastors agreed with this statement (57% strongly agreed, while 26% somewhat agreed). Pastors have a sense that change is inevitable. They expect it in their lives, ministry roles, and the churches they serve.
How do they expect their church to look in 10 years? The answer requires further research. No question, current context will influence the changes they expect. Do they anticipate changes in current age of membership, number of attendees, life situation of attendees, or methodological approaches? Who will help them determine trends and implications in their church or community? How will trends and implications inform our strategic plans?
Now, let’s tie this back to the original article in Leadership Journal (I don’t work for LJ, but if you are not a subscriber, you should be—it is consistently helpful). In that article, we discussed thoughts that pastors expressed on the church about investing in leaders, fulfilling ministry, and making a difference. We saw that most pastors still love and value their church. On a lesser level, pastors think the church is a place where leaders are made.
Personally, pastors believe they are investing in the development of leaders. While they have a commitment to the church and to nurturing leaders, they clearly recognize two key issues: 1) The church struggles to reach young adults; 2) The church will experience change in the next ten years.
What’s next? That simple question might be the most important question any church can ask over the next 10 years. In fact, the question should be asked repeatedly. When God is at work and as the world changes the “What’s next?” answer will change.
The questions that follow must be about preparation not preservation. The church in every era has faced changing times and changing people. Choices are made. Even if the church has chosen a "protect and preserve" mode that too was a choice. Make no mistake; there are timeless elements of church that are worth protection and preservation. But preparation is the key to relevancy when the subject is the mission of God. How will God use the church to open the hearts of the next generation to the Gospel of Jesus? That's the right question.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 9, 2010 | Comments (5) | TrackBack
February 8, 2010
The Hansen Report: Subverting for the Sake of Christ
An interview with Trevin Wax.
At the same time that many evangelical leaders lament the sin in our midst, talk of transforming the world for Christ rallies big crowds to action. We bemoan the present world as we long for Christ to return and make all things new. Somewhere in between, we eventually realize that we can accomplish more for the cause of Christ than we have so far, but not so much as our rhetoric sometimes suggests. Trevin Wax, author of Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals, offers pastoral wisdom on living according to the next world’s values even now.
You pastor a Southern Baptist church in Tennessee. How has your experience as a pastor shaped your desire to write Holy Subversion?
For five years I served in Romania, a formerly Communist country where evangelicals were the minority. The majority of Romanians were Orthodox, but most were Christian in name only. So there were clear lines of distinction between evangelicals and the rest of society. Once we returned to the American South, we discovered the situation was completely reversed. I was ministering in a context in which everyone seemed to be Baptist, but the name was just a name.
So living in one context as part of a beleaguered minority and then being thrust into a different context where we were part of the “majority” opened our eyes to the way evangelicalism mirrors the world in the West. Holy Subversion is an attempt to call the Western church away from cultural captivity, and to shine light on the blind spots that we often miss.
What are the key threats to the church that you believe Christians need to subvert?
1. A self-centered understanding of salvation that centers solely on personal benefit at the expense of radical grace that transforms our hearts and lives.
2. A church-less gospel that individualizes the Christian life to the point where there is no longer any real reason for a Christian to be part of a church.
3. A worldly understanding of success.
4. A slavish addiction to work, wealth-accumulation, and entertainment.
You write, “The Church often mirrors the culture in its definition of ‘success.’ ‘Successful’ churches have the most wealth, the greatest influence, the most power, and the greatest talent.” What should be our definition for a successful church?
My Romanian brothers and sisters challenged my perspective on this question. Under persecution, the idea of success was faithfulness. When everything else was stripped away, the only thing left to pursue was faithfulness in the time of struggle.
I was also challenged by Paul’s “letter of recommendation” in 2 Corinthians, where he lists his “accomplishments” in order to set himself apart from the “super-apostles” he is criticizing. The accomplishments read like a list of indictments. Paul defines success as suffering for the kingdom. I worry that we have the mindset of the super-apostles—that success is ever-growing numbers, a celebrity pastor, bigger buildings, etc. Instead, we should be teaching our churches that while success sometimes leads to these things, we could very well be unfaithful and still wind up with the same results.
We need to recapture a sense of holy desperation for the Spirit, relying on his power to grow his church and send out the gospel. Until we arrive at that place of desperation, I think we will see more and more churches adopting a worldly definition of success rather than a biblical one that centers on service, suffering, and sacrifice.
How does blogging at Kingdom People help you fulfill the call to resist all rivals to Christ?
Blogging can go both ways. It’s tempting to use a blog as a platform for self-promotion rather than kingdom advancement.
The best way to allow the blog to be a help rather than a hindrance to pursuing Christ is to see it as an act of service. About a year ago, I told a friend of mine that blogging was just a personal hobby, but my real ministry was serving the people in my local congregation. He challenged me to wake up and realize that the blog was an important extension of my ministry. The blog is like writing, or speaking, or any other avenue of communication. The goal should be to serve others well in the name of Christ and bring glory to his name, not advance our own.
What is one simple step we can take right now to subvert culture and bring glory to God?
The simplest step? Pray. It sounds too simple. But if we really want to live a life of holy subversion, we must recognize our total dependence on God for the grace and strength to be continually sanctified. We live in a self-help world that encourages us to believe in ourselves. But until we see ourselves as ruined in sin and self-deceit and completely helpless and hopeless without divine intervention, we will not pray. Prayer puts us in the proper posture to see God for who he is and ourselves for who we are.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 8, 2010 | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 3, 2010
Ur Video: Piper on Hell
John Piper follows up with his passionate belief in hell.
The second edition of our series on hell features John Piper. He's concerned that we're diminishing the centrality and importance of hell in our theology and proclamation. Do you agree?
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 3, 2010 | Comments (59) | TrackBack
February 2, 2010
A Movement or a Fad?
Why we're worrying too much about Emergent, Organic, and Missional Church.
The difference between a fad and a movement is that a movement produces long term enduring change. A fad, on the other hand, feeds off something that already exists: a cultural awareness, a disenchantment, or even a novel idea and expands on it. Through media, publishing, and viral exchange, it becomes a sensation that sells books, creates a lot of activity, makes people feel something exciting—but in the end it doesn’t produce enough substance to sustain lasting change in history.
Often, in the midst of something new, we can not tell the difference. Whether it is a fad or a movement won’t be known for many years. I am sure many thought John Wesley and what was derisively called “Methodism” was just a fad. It turned out to change the landscape of protestant Christianity (especially in North America) for all time. Anyone who is an evangelical lives beneath its shadow to this day.
In the last 10 to 15 years there have been a few tidal waves of reaction to North American evangelical Christianity: Emerging Church and its founding Emergent Village, the Organic (or Simple or House) Church movement, and of course Missional Church. There has been a lot of blog commotion recently over their demise or decline of these expressions. In each case I suggest we are worrying too much.
When we see things fall apart, split into factions, or splinter off personalities, we should not worry. What is of substance will last if it is rooted on the ground in real life communities. What was merely a fad needs to die anyway. Let those people move on with what they’ve learned and be part of something real. Yet we often see people clamor to keep the fad going. Perhaps these folk were invested in the benefits accruing to them as part of the fad. People like to keep the feeling alive of being involved in something important. But fighting too keep something going is itself a sign of a fad. The people fighting for it should let it go and devote themselves to what is happening on the ground.
I am in no position to judge whether Emergent, Organic, or Missional is a fad or a movement. But I have a few observations based on recent blog developments. With each observation the question is, “Why are these people worried so much?” Is this wasted energy – a sign that this is nothing but a fad? “Chill,” and let’s get on with the faithfulness on the ground. The fruit will bear witness eventually.
On Emergent Village:
When Tall Skinny Kiwi (TSK) announced he was dropping out of Emergent there was an strong reaction. I personally see no reason to take the “friend of Emergent” banner off my blog. I still have a lot of friends in that camp. People like Brian McLaren and Steve Knight have been good friends and have helped me personally. I see no reasons to announce a break. But Andrew Jones had some good reasons that I’m not sure I understand. What’s the fuss? Why are people fretting so much over Emergent Village staying together? Are these folk too invested? For all the wrong reasons?
If Emergent is a fad, a bunch of publisher induced hype, if its conversations never really affect a sustainable, tangible progress of God’s justice in the world, we will know soon enough. If on the other hand, the leaders of Emergent work on the ground in real life movements of God in Mission, its fruit will be undeniable. Perhaps this is what Tony Jones is doing? He’s leaving the label to do work on the ground? Perhaps not. I don’t know. But for now I see no reason to worry about him or Emergent, just encourage him and everyone in it towards faithfulness in mission by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps this is what TSK is getting at for himself when he expresses “the need for some of us to move on from the label and get on with the job.” If so bravo!
On the Organic Church:
When Mark Galli starts worrying over at CT and Out of Ur about the demise of Organic church, I ask why fret? He worries “about the energetic men and women at the forefront of the movement. Will they become embittered and abandon the church, and maybe their God?” Come on? These men and women are working on the ground in real church communities. The fruit of their work will be visible when the time comes. Up until then I am sure these folk are not worried. So why should we be? I like what Neil Cole has to say in response to Galli’s article: “I do not live for success but to follow Christ every day. If, when my life ends, I have only a handful of followers of Jesus that can carry on his work, I will not be ashamed to meet my Lord.”
On the Missional Church:
Much has been written about the problem with the word “missional” (see here for instance). It’s meaning has become diluted. It is being misused as a new market niche in church. A whole synchroblog was created to answer the question “What is Missional?” Some fret about the word losing its meaning. Nonetheless, I personally gravitate towards the Missional movement. I find it rich in theology and history. The word means a lot to me. I admit I get agitated when I have to explain myself a lot more when I use the word, nonetheless I still find it compelling. I think the best tack is what I’ve learned from Bosch, Newbigen, Guder, Hirsch, Frost, Roxburgh and many others: work within the church that God has placed me, be as discerning and thoughtful as I can with the resources God has given, and let the fruit speak for itself. For me, there is already much fruit.
Those of us who publish books, write blogs, and speak at conferences are always tempted to find an image or be part of something marketable. It gives one power with publishers. There’s also some kind of sick enjoyment that comes from seeing our name in print. I have regularly had to nail any such temptations (as meager as the temptations have been) to death. That’s part of my necessary spiritual formation. Sorry, it’s true. Each one of the above “labels” has the potential to attract such spiritually malforming bandwagoning. We should resist such grasping for attention by refusing to worry so much about the sustainability of a movement that may only be a fad. For the seeking of any such attention through any of the above ‘labels’ is a sure sign that we have lost sight of Mission and the “movements” have already become mere fads.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga at February 2, 2010 | Comments (13) | TrackBack
