tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16045100009930039902024-03-05T08:06:20.649-08:00Postchurch in South FloridaAfter the synagogue came the Ekklesia. After the Ekklesia came The Medieval Church. Then came the Reformation State Church, then Free and dissenting churches, then came the local church, Mega-Church, missional church, purpose-driven church, organic church and simple church. What comes next?Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-73480010932171288322015-02-12T07:49:00.001-08:002015-02-12T07:50:23.988-08:00<br />
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I have just started reading "A Churchless Faith" by Alan Jamieson, a pastor and sociologist in Great Britain. Jamieson did his sociology research on people who were leaving what he calls "EPC" churches in Great Britain (Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic). He arrives at some surprising conclusions, the central one being that most of the church leavers, left in order to continue their spiritual growth. The church they were attending had become the major obstacle to further maturity.<br />
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Here is a particularly telling passage and quote from page 103 about what I would call paternalism in church leadership, leading to perpetual child-like dependency in the church members:<br />
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from page 103:<br />
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Jamieson develops a four part typology of stages of leaving church that also represents stages of personal growth. I will be posting on those in the next few weeks. <br />
<br />Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-91962105472854874762015-01-28T08:43:00.001-08:002015-01-28T08:43:46.146-08:00An elegant argumentA friend of mine posted this on Facebook. It is an actual sign along I-65 in Alabama ...<br />
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I personally like it better than ...<br />
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<span style="background-color: #e9eaed; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 13.9636354446411px;">"Come to our church--we have Starbucks coffee and donuts" or - "Come to our church, our worship band is the shit" .....</span><br />
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or<br />
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<span style="background-color: #e9eaed; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 13.9636354446411px;">(I'm on a roll now) "Come to our church, our super cool pastor wears jeans and super cool nerdy glasses and will give you 3 keys to a happy and fufilled life" .... yeah ... the devil is kinda growing on me ...</span><br />
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yup, a the devil seems like a more honest motivation to me<br />
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<br />Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-81645165531749897512015-01-26T19:19:00.002-08:002015-01-27T09:03:33.621-08:00Postchurch and the people of God<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m trying to break
the habit of using the word “church.” It just has too many meanings: The
Church, The Church Universal, the invisible Church, churches, local church, the
city church, mega-church, purpose-driven-church, the missional church, the emerging church, house church, simple church,
organic church. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It was not always this
way. The people of God have been around for a long time, at least since Abraham
or even Noah. The people of God in Abraham’s day were called a <i>family</i>. In his
son’s era, they became the <i>tribes of Israel</i>. Another a couple of hundred years
later, the people of God were a <i>nation</i>. Then they built a <i>temple</i> <o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">(<i>we could argue the point, but I don’t think that God
particularly wanted a temple, he seemed quite content in a tabernacle, and a
temple could not contain him anyway. Evidence? </i></span><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 16.8666667938232px;"><i>Every time</i></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><i> they tried to rebuild
the temple, he allowed it to be destroyed</i>).</span></span></div>
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During and after the
Babylonian captivity, the Jews began to meet for prayer and to study the
scriptures in <i>synagogues</i> as long as they could muster a quorum of twelve heads
of households. Without access to a temple, they could no longer offer the blood
sacrifices and so Judaism set out on its long transformation from a national
identity to become a major world religion that has changed the course of world history. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After the three years
of the ministry of Jesus, the people of God came to be called “followers of the
way” (that phrase always reminds me of the Dao and Chinese Daoism). <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the gentile city of
Antioch, they first became known a <i>Christians</i> (little Christs) and somewhere
not long after, St. Paul borrowed the secular term “ekklesia” from Koine Greek
to describe the new communities of Jews and Gentiles that were coming together to
follow Jesus. Ekklesia was a Greek political term for secular city assemblies
(it was used twice in Acts 20 to describe the near riot of the silversmiths who
were losing their business of making representations of the goddess Diana in
Ephesus). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Why didn't Paul just
use the word “<i>synagogue</i>” and give it a distinctively Christian meaning? Because
he was developing something new, a community of God’s people that was not
Jewish. So he selected a new word, ekklesia, with a secular Greek meaning (Paul Banks, "Paul's Idea of Community). <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the gospel of
Matthew, the word “church” only occurs twice. However, it is highly unlikely
that Jesus actually used the Greek word “ekklesia” in Matthew 16 when he spoke of
building his people on the rock of revelation, or in Matthew 18 where he spoke
of taking an unresolved conflict “to the church.” He was speaking in Aramaic (not Greek),
and when the gospels were written some thirty years later, Matthew simply
inserted the word that had become standard through the work of St. Paul among Greek-speaking believers, to
represent what Jesus had meant when he spoke of the congregation of God’s people. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fast forward to 1610
and the King James translation of the Bible. The most obvious English word to
use in translation of ekklesia would have been <i>congregation </i>or perhaps
<i>assembly</i>, both of which give a word picture of people gathering, rather than a
building. But the problem was that the Church of England, recently separated
from Rome, had a lot of cathedrals that required upkeep and maintenance. Using
a word like “congregation” might undermine support for the cathedrals, so the
translators adopted a word related to the Scottish “Kirk” which had some roots in German. Thus, we ended up with the morass of meanings that currently come under
the huge umbrella of “Church.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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I think it is time to
stop <i>going to church</i> and to become the people of God. Wherever two or three are gathered together (in
his name) … Jesus promised he would show up. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What comes after
church? We really don’t know yet, so for now I will call it Postchurch. I don't like using another iteration containing the word "church" but it will have to do for now until something better comes along. Perhaps "meetup"?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-79067130290441495642015-01-07T06:25:00.002-08:002015-01-07T06:25:54.067-08:005 Reasons Why American Evangelicalism Completely Lost Me<br />
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I was reading a blog by Benjamin Corey on <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/but-heres-5-reasons-why-american-evangelicalism-completely-lost-me/">Patheos </a>about why
he would not consider returning to Evangelicalism and it resonated with some
things I am writing in my current book project, “<i><b>The Four Walls of Evangelical
Christianity</b></i>,” especially his point #4, that Evangelical Christianity is obsessed
with taking power over our culture, which goes with my chapter on “The Theology
of Dominance.” I am also currently reading John Davison Hunter’s book about the
failed Evangelical attempt to change our secular culture through the efforts of
the religious right (<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Change-World-Tragedy-Possibility-Christianity-ebook/dp/B003TWNDVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420640227&sr=8-1&keywords=John+Davison+Hunter+To+Change+the+World">To Change the World, The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibilityof Christianity in the Late Modern World</a></i>). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Below are the highlights of Benjamin Corey’s blog post which
you can read in its entirety <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/but-heres-5-reasons-why-american-evangelicalism-completely-lost-me/">here</a>. <br />
JH<o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">5. Today’s Evangelicalism
looks more like a political movement than Jesus.</span></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Just
try to have a regular conversation with the average Evangelical– chances are
they’ll talk more about the political battles of the day than they’ll speak of
Jesus, and that should be a major red flag to anyone who wants to pursue Jesus
with reckless abandon. Without their political identity, many Evangelicals would
not have a sense of identity at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">4. Today’s Evangelicalism is obsessed
with power.</span></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
invitation of Jesus is to become a “servant of all,” setting aside the
need/desire for power so that one can busy themselves taking the lowliest of
positions– that of a servant. Since Evangelicalism has become more of a
political movement than something that is part of the Jesus movement, its focus
has shifted from becoming a servant to gaining and maintaining power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When
you combine the quest for power with political ideologies that are completely
foreign to Christianity itself, they find themselves in a big mess– which is
the state of American Evangelicalism today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">3. Today’s Evangelicalism seems generally unteachable and
unwilling to wrestle with theology.</span></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Too
many Evangelicals are willing to learn only if new learning will reenforce what
they already believe. There’s little room for growth, reinterpretation, or the
constant need for contextualization of the scriptures. For a movement that
prides itself on following the scriptures, I’m repeatedly shocked at the
unwillingness to see what the scriptures actually say and the willingness to
malign those who attempt to point the movement back to the source.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2. Today’s Evangelicalism
doesn’t seem to share Jesus’ heart for outsiders.</span></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Jesus
was among the excluded, and lived a life where he was constantly inviting the
others who were excluded to come in and have a seat at the table. Jesus was
passionate about including people one would never think should be included.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Today’s
Evangelicalism on the other hand, seems to be in a perpetual cycle of always
redefining the lines– not to draw people in, but to keep even more people out. Instead
of throwing a banquet and inviting in the outcasts (an image Jesus painted
through one of his parables) it seems that Evangelicalism is more concerned
with maintaining purity of the label than it is interested in inviting others
to see and experience the “Good News” for which Evangelicalism is named after.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We
should constantly be looking for ways to build bridges and invite people in–not
building walls in order to keep people out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">1. Today’s Evangelicalism punishes people by withholding of
relationships.</span></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I’ve
experienced what happens to Evangelicals who dare to question, who dare to read
their Bibles, and who dare to actually apply some of Jesus’ teachings (such as
the command to nonviolently love our enemies): the punishment of having all of
my relationships taken away from me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Whereas
a year and a half ago I had a church family and a circle of friends in my local
area, today we are completely isolated– all of the friends we had have now
packed their bags and left. I may be widely read but in my local area, I have a
total of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">one</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>real-world friend left, and even he
has admitted the he gets questioned by others as to why he’s friends with me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Today’s
Evangelicalism does this to folks who think outside Evangelical lines– it
strips them of relationships, cuts them off, and severs ties. I can’t count the
number of emails I get with folks sharing their stories in this regard– it is
sadly all too commonplace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-15792548542526571862014-12-29T20:51:00.002-08:002014-12-29T20:51:50.989-08:00The Rise of the ‘Done With Church’ PopulationHere is another fascinating blog article about why people are leaving the church, why the trickle is turning into a flood, written by Thom Schultz and posted on <a href="http://churchleaders.com/">Churchleaders.com</a>.<br />
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Mr. Schultz mentions the research of sociologists Josh Packard and suggests some good questions that churches should be asking themselves, and asking the people who are leaving their churches. Schultz begs churches to really begin to <i>listen </i>to their congregants and those who are hitting the exit doors. I have found that church leaders are often so invested in their work with the church, that they are simply unable to <i>hear </i>constructive criticism, rather than unwilling.<br />
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John is every pastor’s dream member. He’s a life-long believer, well-studied in the Bible, gives generously and leads others passionately.</div>
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But last year he dropped out of church. He didn’t switch to the other church down the road. He dropped out completely. His departure wasn’t the result of an ugly encounter with a staff person or another member. It wasn’t triggered by any single event.</div>
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John had come to a long-considered, thoughtful decision. He said, “I’m just done. I’m done with church.”</div>
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John is one in a growing multitude of ex-members. They’re sometimes called the <u>de-churched</u>. They have not abandoned their faith. They have not joined the also-growing legion of those with no religious affiliation—often called the Nones. Rather, John has joined the Dones.</div>
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At Group’s recent <a href="http://www.group.com/adult-ministry/future-of-the-church" style="color: #294e86;">Future of the Church</a> conference, sociologist Josh Packard shared some of his groundbreaking research on the Dones. He explained these de-churched were among the most dedicated and active people in their congregations. To an increasing degree, the church is losing its best.</div>
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For the church, this phenomenon sets up a growing danger. The very people on whom a church relies for lay leadership, service and financial support are going away. And the problem is compounded by the fact that younger people in the next generation, the Millennials, are not lining up to refill the emptying pews.</div>
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Why are the Dones done? Packard describes several factors in his upcoming book <em>Church Refugees</em> (Group). Among the reasons: After sitting through countless sermons and Bible studies, they feel they’ve heard it all. One of Packard’s interviewees said, “I’m tired of being lectured to. I’m just done with having some guy tell me what to do.”</div>
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The Dones are fatigued with the Sunday routine of plop, pray and pay. They want to play. They want to participate. But they feel spurned at every turn.</div>
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Will the Dones return? Not likely, according to the research. They’re done. Packard says it would be more fruitful if churches would focus on not losing these people in the first place. Preventing an exodus is far easier than attempting to convince refugees to return.</div>
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Pastors and other ministry leaders would benefit from asking and listening to these long-time members before they flee. This will require a change of habit. When it comes to listening, church leaders are too often in the habit of fawning over celebrity pastors for answers. It would be far more fruitful to take that time and spend it with real people nearby—existing members. Ask them some good questions, such as:</div>
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1. Why are you a part of this church?</div>
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2. What keeps you here?</div>
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3. Have you ever contemplated stepping away from church? Why or why not?</div>
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4. How would you describe your relationship with God right now?</div>
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5. How has your relationship with God changed over the past few years?</div>
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6. What effect, if any, has our church had on your relationship with God?</div>
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7. What would need to change here to help you grow more toward Jesus’ call to love God and love others?</div>
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It’s time to listen. Even as I’m writing this today, another high-capacity lay leader emailed me with his decision to leave his church. He’s done. Like many others I know, he’s also a nationally known Christian leader. But he’s done.</div>
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Your church, even if it’s one of the rare growing ones, is sitting on a ticking time bomb. The exodus of the Dones, the rise of the Nones and the disappearance of the Millennials do not look good for a church afraid to listen.</div>
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It’s not too late to start. </div>
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You can access the entire article <a href="http://www.churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/177144-thom-schultz-rise-of-the-done-with-church-population.html">here</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/177144-thom-schultz-rise-of-the-done-with-church-population.html">http://www.churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/177144-thom-schultz-rise-of-the-done-with-church-population.html</a><br />
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<br />Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-49330452620358671562014-12-29T20:39:00.002-08:002014-12-29T20:39:53.642-08:00Dear Church, Here’s Why People Are Really Leaving YouI stopped in Macon, Georgia for the night on my way back from Ohio with my son and his fiancee and their baby. We have been having a great ride, with me playing with the little guy while we listen to the audio recording of World War Z (actually, it is very fascinating). Of course, I am harassing people on FB as we travel.<br />
<br />
A friend of mine posted a link to this article by <a href="http://www.churchplants.com/author/johnpavlovitz" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out; background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;">John Pavlovitz</a> on the Patheos blog hosting site today. I read it and decided it was worth re-posting here. The key quote that I want to bring out and emphasize from the article is as follows:<br />
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"Your greatest mission field is just a few miles, (or a few feet) off your campus and you don’t even realize it. You wanna reach the people you’re missing?</div>
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Leave the building."</div>
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I have been saying these things for years, at least 10 years, but I think my circle of friendships have tuned me out (the little boy who cried wolf?, or Chicken Little?), so I will post it here in someone else's voice. I left the building a good while ago.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_DQKcKcCCqqf5_z4tA-nu4FuDBUvU-qSrgd0RjG2yFFq97uToCQfl6JxWSNsdD5TI2Z7piEBvLyjWUU9E0p5o4qdHINddcfvU_anYvZte3dmxdeQY_ewamRYr54Pv4eVKWQZ1sIMRQ/s1600/DEARCHURCH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_DQKcKcCCqqf5_z4tA-nu4FuDBUvU-qSrgd0RjG2yFFq97uToCQfl6JxWSNsdD5TI2Z7piEBvLyjWUU9E0p5o4qdHINddcfvU_anYvZte3dmxdeQY_ewamRYr54Pv4eVKWQZ1sIMRQ/s1600/DEARCHURCH.jpg" height="150" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here is a portion of Mr. Pavlovitz's post ....<br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Being on the other side of the Exodus sucks, don’t it?</strong></div>
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I see the panic on your face, Church.</div>
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I know the internal terror as you see the statistics and hear the stories and scan the exit polls.</div>
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I see you desperately scrambling to do damage control for the fence-sitters, and manufacture passion from the shrinking faithful, and I want to help you.</div>
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You may think you know why people are leaving you, but I’m not sure you do.</div>
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You think it’s because “the culture” is so lost, so perverse, so beyond help that they are all walking away.</div>
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You believe that they’ve turned a deaf ear to the voice of God; chasing money, and sex, and material things.</div>
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You think that the gays and the Muslims and the Atheists and the pop stars have so screwed up the morality of the world that everyone is abandoning faith in droves.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">But those aren’t the reasons people are leaving you.</strong></div>
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They aren’t the problem, Church.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You</em> are the problem.</div>
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Let me elaborate in five ways …</div>
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1. Your Sunday productions have worn thin.</h2>
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2. You speak in a foreign tongue.</h2>
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Church, you talk and talk and talk, but you do so using a dead language. You’re holding onto dusty words that have no resonance in people’s ears, not realizing that just saying those words louder isn’t the answer. All the religious buzzwords that used to work 20 years ago no longer do.</div>
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3. Your vision can’t see past your building.</h2>
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The coffee bar, the cushy couches, the high-tech lights, the funky Children’s wing and the uber-cool Teen Center are all top-notch … and costly. In fact, most of your time, money and energy seems to be about luring people to where you are instead of reaching people where they already are.</div>
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4. You choose lousy battles.</h2>
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We know you like to fight, Church. That’s obvious.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 21.2799987792969px;">Church, we need you to stop being warmongers with the trivial and pacifists in the face of the terrible.</span></div>
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5. Your love doesn’t look like love.</h2>
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Love seems to be a pretty big deal to you, but we’re not getting that when the rubber meets the road. In fact, more and more, your brand of love seems incredibly selective and decidedly narrow; filtering out all the spiritual riff-raff, which sadly includes far too many of us.</div>
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It feels like a big bait-and-switch sucker-deal; advertising a “Come as You Are” party, but letting us know once we’re in the door that we can’t really come as we are. We see a Jesus in the Bible who hung out with lowlifes and prostitutes and outcasts, and loved them right there, but that doesn’t seem to be your cup of tea.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">That’s part of the reason people are leaving you, Church.</strong></div>
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These words may get you really, really angry, and you may want to jump in a knee-jerk move to defend yourself or attack these positions line-by-line, but we hope that you won’t.</div>
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We hope that you’ll just sit in stillness with these words for a while, because whether you believe they’re right or wrong, they’re real to us, and that’s the whole point.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We’re the ones walking away.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We want to matter to you.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We want you to hear us before you debate us.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Show us that your love and your God are real.</em></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Church, give us a reason to stay.</strong></div>
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All 5 of these points resonate with me. But it is not just me .... </div>
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To read the whole blog post, go to the <a href="http://www.churchplants.com/articles/8774-dear-church-heres-why-people-are-really-leaving-you-john-pavlovitz.html/2">Patheos blog</a></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2799987792969px;">http://www.churchplants.com/articles/8774-dear-church-heres-why-people-are-really-leaving-you-john-pavlovitz.html/2</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2799987792969px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-6250481587814263662014-12-27T06:43:00.000-08:002014-12-29T20:20:23.488-08:00A Churchless faith<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3xYUXlt3eUgmQiovtShGnMwXUglTdiw4ypDrIxEgWvO7OOTdBEu0lft6tomAzrgyqDv4kG6MYBaXSpNmMoKtDU_IuLEI9S9q5040jVJN4eGV5rYFjkvM3OeAjMS1HlxwkgkPh9D_Gg/s1600/Churchless+faith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3xYUXlt3eUgmQiovtShGnMwXUglTdiw4ypDrIxEgWvO7OOTdBEu0lft6tomAzrgyqDv4kG6MYBaXSpNmMoKtDU_IuLEI9S9q5040jVJN4eGV5rYFjkvM3OeAjMS1HlxwkgkPh9D_Gg/s1600/Churchless+faith.jpg" height="320" width="222" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 19px;">Alan Jamieson is a pastor and sociologist who uses the work of James Fowler in modelling spiritual growth as stages of faith in order to analyze those who have left the church. The book challenges the prevailing view about church leavers and has clear messages for both the individual feeling church is no longer for them, and for churches facing the departure of well-known members.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 19px;">From the perspective of someone rethinking their religious faith, the most helpful aspect of the book was the level-voiced and non-</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">judgmental</span><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 19px;"> survey work (drawn from Jamieson's doctoral thesis) showing why people stop attending churches. Jamieson develops a model showing why people leave and the summary, surprising to some, is that it's a matter of growth of faith rather than death of faith that makes the majority of leavers go it alone. The key message to the individual? "You're not the first to face this, and you're not on your own".</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 19px;">Like the related book 'The Post-Evangelical', Jamieson discusses the fact that faith systems today exist in the context of a culture completing the transition to a post-modern outlook. His challenge to church leaders is to see leavers not as the fallen but as pioneers. His research finds in the majority of cases individuals with insight into expressing faith in post-modern terms rather than in the modernist terms of the established churches. The key message to the church? "Culture is changing, and your leavers are your congregations's pioneers".</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 19px;">Overall this is a book that should be on every minister's shelf and which could offer relief to long-term church members and leaders suffering 'burn out'.</span><br />
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Taken from an Amazon review by Simon Phipps on <span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 19px;">July 4, 2003. </span>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-73971317355234353182014-12-01T17:17:00.001-08:002014-12-27T06:36:01.709-08:00Evangelical pilgrims meet up<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey, <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I am thinking of starting this blog up again. I’m guessing
there is a HUGE number of ex-evangelicals and post-evangelicals or just plain
evangelical survivors out there who have stopped going to church but have not
stopped praying. It gets lonely, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If there are any of you living in South Florida, and
interested in reading, thinking and conversing about theological issues or
religious/spiritual trends, let me know. Let’s get a discussion group together.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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You can tweet me at @josenmiami and you can email me at <a href="mailto:josenmiami@gmail.com">josenmiami@gmail.com</a> or find me on FB
with my email address.<o:p></o:p></div>
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blessings<o:p></o:p></div>
Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-67348375232181386342013-09-10T15:06:00.001-07:002013-09-10T15:36:30.090-07:00The Secret of Unsuccesses: lastness, leastness, and lostness, as well as littleness and death itself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxMWxo5oWLTeGBgdG-bi8Uz7EZt7a-xVaJR7ZAomtqMdLuBouWDiYsPdlHdPWLm3K7ZlYGNT8gGULkqf4ZPVWUhEEvpbDj1P4vzbf_WxaH_Dn0vnxZ-Ed16ZARNGLcRdP9Jqq5U2BmZg/s1600/Jesus+and+children.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxMWxo5oWLTeGBgdG-bi8Uz7EZt7a-xVaJR7ZAomtqMdLuBouWDiYsPdlHdPWLm3K7ZlYGNT8gGULkqf4ZPVWUhEEvpbDj1P4vzbf_WxaH_Dn0vnxZ-Ed16ZARNGLcRdP9Jqq5U2BmZg/s200/Jesus+and+children.jpg" width="164" /></a></div>
Here is a selection from the last few pages of Chapter 2, of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Parables-Grace-Robert-Farrar-Capon/dp/0802803040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378852536&sr=8-1&keywords=parables+of+grace">Parables of Grace</a> by Robert Farrar Capon (who just died a few days ago by the way). I have emphasized certain lines that I think are critical to understand where he is going in this book.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%;">"When the disciples argue about who is greatest
(no. 166), Jesus tells them that anyone who wants to be first must be last of
all and servant of all. He then stands a little child in their midst and puts
his arms around him, saying, "Whoever receives one such little child in my
name receives me." We twentieth-century Christians-with our basically
nineteenth-century view of childhood as a wonderful and desirable state-miss
the point of this passage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%;">In Jesus' time, and for most of the centuries since,
childhood was almost always seen as a less than human condition that was to be
beaten out of (Kindle 229-233) children as soon as possible. Therefore when
Jesus sets up a little child as an example, he is setting up not a winsome
specimen of all that is simple and charming but rather one of life's losers. He
is telling his disciples that if they follow him in his mysterious messiahship,
they will-like him-have to become something no one has any real use or respect
for. He is exalting not the plausible greatness that is the only thing the
world understands but the implausible greatness that he himself intends to pursue.
He is, in short, proclaiming his own version of what Paul in 1 Cor. 1 later set
forth as the "foolishness of the preaching," namely, that <b>God works not in the great, the wise, and
the powerful but in the weak and the foolish: </b></span><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;">(Kindle 233-238).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>"<i><span style="color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of
God is stronger than men</span></i></b>" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%201:18-31&version=NASB">1 Cor. 1:25</a>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Century Schoolbook","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Accordingly, even though Jesus' holding up of the
little child contains no reference to death as such, I find that his emphasis
here on <b><span style="color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">life's "little
deaths"-his </span></b>exaltation of a panoply of<b> <span style="color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">unsuccesses </span>which, before he is done, he will round out to <span style="color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">include <u>lastness,
leastness, and lostness</u>, as well as <u>littleness</u> and death itself-</span></b>is
part and parcel of his ever-deepening awareness of himself as a Messiah who
will do his work not at the top of the heap, as everyone expects,<b><span style="color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"> but in the very depths of the human condition</span></b>.
Likewise, I find that Jesus' warnings (no. 168) against scandalizing "one
of these little ones" have the same force. <b>His disciples are to be extreme in their pursuit of<span style="color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #953735; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;"> lastness, lostness,
and littleness</span></b>: "If your hand scandalizes you, cut it off . .
." (Mark 9:43ff.). They are to become, in other words, what he will
become: despised and rejected" (Kindle 238-243). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u>Questions for discussion</u></b>:<br />
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What does it mean for us to become last?<br />
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Least?<br />
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Lost?<br />
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and Little?<br />
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In what ways are we already lost? Last? Least? Little?<br />
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<br />Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-85512069241577791212013-08-13T10:00:00.003-07:002013-08-13T10:02:16.344-07:00Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Religionless ChristianityYou would be surprised, and perhaps even worried, by my theological thoughts and the conclusions that they lead to: and this is where I miss you most of all, because I don’t know anyone else with whom I could so well discuss them to have my thinking clarified. What is bothering me incessantly is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today.<br />
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<b>The time when people could be told everything by means of words, whether </b><b>theological or pious</b>, is over, and so is the time of inwardness and acience – and that means the time of religion in general. We are moving towards a completely religionless time; people as they are now simply cannot be religious any more. Even those who honestly describe themselves as ‘religious’ do not in the least act up to it, and so they presumably mean something quite different by ‘religious.’<br />
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~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer,<i> Letters and Papers from Prison</i> (ed. Eberhard Bethge; New York: Touchstone, 1997). for the original notes, <a href="https://bearspace.baylor.edu/Adam_D_Moore/Bonhoeffer%20Excerpts.pdf?uniq=wtjiv2">click here</a><br />
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<a href="https://bearspace.baylor.edu/Adam_D_Moore/Bonhoeffer%20Excerpts.pdf?uniq=wtjiv2">https://bearspace.baylor.edu/Adam_D_Moore/Bonhoeffer%20Excerpts.pdf?uniq=wtjiv2</a>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-27346669941344839972013-07-30T17:47:00.001-07:002013-08-03T10:03:53.305-07:00Why are millennials leaving church: Let's make it 5 contrasting views(<i>I added below one more post from Scot McKnight. He says there is no compelling evidence that millennials are leaving the church any more than in any other generation of young adults</i>)<br />
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There has been an online debate going on this week, sparked by a post by Rachel Held Evans about why millennial are leaving church. All three of these blog authors make good points. Food for thought.<br />
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Is Miss Evans primarily addressing a specific problem with evangelicalism? Is this a deeper trend of secularization? Is it the ongoing demise of Christendom as Bevere implies? I really don't know.<br />
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RACHEL HELD EVANS - <a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/">Why Millennials are leaving the church</a>?<br />
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<br />
ANTHONY BRADLEY<br />
<a href="http://blog.acton.org/archives/58052-united-methodists-wearing-a-millennial-evangelical-face.html">United Methodists wear a Millennial evangelical face</a>.<br />
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<br />
ALAN BEVERE<br />
<a href="http://www.allanbevere.com/2013/07/would-jesus-attract-millennials.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+allanbevere%2FROss+%28Allan+R.+Bevere%29">Would Jesus Attract Millennials</a>?<br />
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BRETT McCRACKEN<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/07/31/how-to-keep-millennials-in-the-church-lets-keep-church-un-cool/">How to keep Millennials in the church? Let’s keep church un-cool</a>.</span></h1>
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<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2013/08/03/millennials-and-leaving-church-really/">Millennials and Leaving Church: Really?</a></h1>
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SCOT McKNIGHT</div>
Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-42693321953265478852013-07-30T17:29:00.002-07:002013-07-30T17:29:07.789-07:00Inactive and unchurchedI have not posted on this blog for awhile. I am thinking about reactivating it. Let me know if you have an opinion.Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-69903907868151070542010-05-16T16:09:00.000-07:002010-05-16T16:12:53.200-07:00"Leaving and Cleaving and Becoming One"Principle #1: Leave your parents and cleave to your spouse<br /><br /> Genesis 2:24 <em>For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.</em><br /><br />Matthew 19:5 <em>and said,' For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh'?</em><br /><br />Ephesians 5:31 <em>For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh.</em><br /><br /> INTRODUCTION: God created marriage and His word is the handbook and owner's manual. There are just a few biblical principals that can make a tremendous difference in our marriages if we apply them in our lives. The principle of "Leaving and Cleaving" is one of them. <br /><br /> Whenever a scripture appears in the Bible more than once, the Holy Spirit is making a special emphasis. Whenever a biblical truth appears in the book of Genesis, it is one of the fundamental truths of God's word. The principle of Leaving and Cleaving first appears in Genesis chapter two and appears again in the New Testament in both the words of Jesus and Paul. It opens to us a tremendously important biblical principle about marriage that we ignore at our own risk.<br /><br />The first step in marriage is to leave your father and mother.<br />The top four causes of divorce are finances, sex, child discipline and interference or influence of the in-laws. Many marriages fail because the husband or wife fail to "leave" their father and mother. Biblically speaking, how do we leave our father and mother when the Bible also tells us to respect and honor them?<br />Changing Priorities<br />The issue is one of priority. The Bible is not telling us to cut off our relationship with our family, or to dishonor our parents -- it is telling us that we must be released from their authority and commit ourselves to our spouse. Our wife or husband becomes our family -- our spouse must become our first and highest priority! <br /><br /> In other words, if a man continues to prefer his mother over his wife and to put more priority on his mother's wishes than his wife's, he will damage his marriage and violate a basic spiritual law.<br /><br /> In the same way, if a wife continually compares her husband with her father and runs back home to "daddy and mommy" whenever there is a conflict in her marriage, she will also damage her relationship with her husband and endanger the future of her marriage.<br /><br /> Wise parents understand this and release their children to their new family. Wise parents will not interfere in their children's relationship with their spouse. However, many times family members will unintentionally try to continue to control or manipulate a son or daughter and will eventually succeed in destroying their marriage and keeping the child dependent upon his/her parents.<br /><br /> We must honor and love our parents, but firmly resist any efforts on their part to interfere with our new family.<br /><br />Changing Patterns:<br />Another way in which we should "leave" our father and mother is to leave behind their patterns of relating and raising children. We all enter marriage with models of relationships what we have learned in our parents home; some good and some bad. We tend to carry these models or patterns into our new relationship with our spouse. Unfortunately our spouse also enters into the relationship with patterns and models from their childhood. <br /><br /> Chances are that even the good patterns we have are vastly different from our spouse's patterns, since they were raised in a different family. In order to have a successful marriage, we must work together to choose and develop the model of marriage and the patterns of relationship that we both agree are desirable The negative patterns need to be removed from our minds. We can keep the positive patterns provide we both agree to incorporate them into our family life. <br /><br /> Example of a negative pattern: Alcoholism and abuse.<br /><br />Example of a positive pattern: Family conversation at the table.<br /><br />The second step is to cleave to your wife.<br />Cleaving to your spouse means making him or her the first priority. The traditional wedding vows include the words, "and leaving all others, will you cleave only unto him/her?" and the answer is "I do." The choice to marry someone is a choice to cleave to that person for the rest of your life and to make their happiness and well-being your top priority, even above your own needs in many cases.<br />Cleaving to your spouse involves making him/her your priority, bonding to him/her and maintaining communicating with him/her on a regular basis. According to the book Bonding by Dr. Donald Joy1, there are 12 steps in the bonding process. It would be well for each of the marriage partners to learn these steps, especially the husband. Below are listed the normal steps in the bonding process.Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-32348400134178322512009-07-25T08:05:00.000-07:002009-07-25T08:15:37.116-07:00How is the Spirit moving these days?Many of you may disagree with me, and thats alright. But I think I am seeing a new way that the Spirit is moving in the world and in people's hearts lately. Please watch it all the way to the end for the full effect. Watch it with your heart and discern what the Spirit is blessing. Check it out:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5_TCK5OCgss&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5_TCK5OCgss&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The Spirit used to move mostly in church, or at least that is my impression. I suspect the Spirit has always moved far more frequently and dramatically outside the church than we ever knew. After, it is the Spirit through which Christ holds all things together with his word (Col) and it is the Spirit who not only ordered the universe (Genesis 1) but probably operationally manages it. I believe the Spirit is always at work in social settings ... like the one in the reality show above. I often sense the Spirit working through the popular Radio Show called Delilah, for example. <i>(In Miami after 7 pm on 97.3) </i><br /><br />Stop looking for the Spirit only in church meetings (my impression is that he does not go there much anymore, but I really don't know since I don't go either) and start looking for his initiative all around you, Monday through Saturday in the mundane world. You will be amazed....Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-22291422157709001952009-06-26T08:02:00.000-07:002009-06-26T08:04:09.362-07:00You gotta serve sombody ...<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sPIhOaDPElQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sPIhOaDPElQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-43069525423116795132009-05-02T09:17:00.000-07:002009-05-06T06:11:13.382-07:00Do you support Torture?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRSntmjPbRh8V2f1em1g5llDDSVF4EEQVJqtU_L4c25-ULUj5HcJUObgmlAhbQ6ozrzVHnbJAb3RUHU2haoXOw_u56TpgfU1w1m-kuxJ0DvSHrL6zVyAGnWdJBeE2cAg1r7990IU-usw/s1600-h/art_end_torture_gi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRSntmjPbRh8V2f1em1g5llDDSVF4EEQVJqtU_L4c25-ULUj5HcJUObgmlAhbQ6ozrzVHnbJAb3RUHU2haoXOw_u56TpgfU1w1m-kuxJ0DvSHrL6zVyAGnWdJBeE2cAg1r7990IU-usw/s320/art_end_torture_gi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332697820182884338" /></a><br />one of the reasons so many people are dropping out of church, is the terrible image problem that Christians have. Check out this article from CNN<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/30/religion.torture/index.html">Religion and Torture</a><br /><br />As a post-evangelical, post-conservative, I have had to face the fact that my "pro-life" views have been terribly inconsistant. I am personally against abortion, but I have had to re-examine my views on war, torture and capital punishment, and I have found myself moving toward a Quaker-Catholic or anabaptist view on all of these issues of human rights and respect for life. <br /><br />In a recent book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/unChristian-Generation-Really-Christianity-Matters/dp/0801013003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241614902&sr=8-1">UnChristian</a>" by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons documents the terrible image problem that evangelical Christians have in contemporary U.S. society. In my own opinion, it is because evangelicals are more "conservative" than they are "Christian" -- they have exchanged their faith for a cause. Below is a quote from the article on torture:<br /><br />.........................<br /><br /><em>More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.<br /><br />White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified -- more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.</em><br />.........................<br /><br />In my humble opinion, it no wonder that when normal, everyday people find out that someone is a "Christian" they run in the other direction. This is not persecution, this is simply "Christian" stupidity to put it crudely but honestly.<br /><br />Click <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/30/religion.torture/index.html">here </a>to read the entire article on CNN.comJoseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-36135875948008163682009-04-04T19:18:00.000-07:002009-04-04T19:19:58.327-07:00The greatest thing you will ever learn....I have been giving this a lot of thought ... and I have come to the conclusion that the writer in Moulin Rouge was right: the greatest thing you will ever learn is to love and be loved....<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fAoBi0ZHT6Q&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fAoBi0ZHT6Q&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-41942671472714700772009-03-16T05:35:00.000-07:002009-03-16T09:43:44.577-07:00Justin Timberlake and the seeds of the LOGOSJustin Martyr once described Plato as a “Christian” who had some intuitive pre-revelation of the divine LOGOS in Christ (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0830825649/ref=sib_dp_pop_fc?ie=UTF8&p=S001#reader-link">McDermott, 2007:93</a>). He reasoned that if Christ is the Logos who lights up the whole world, then there must be “seeds” of ultimate divine reason or the LOGOS of God scattered in many non-Jewish or non-Christian cultures (of course, this was before there actually existed a “Christian” culture, properly speaking – at the time there was only a growing Christian subculture within Hellenistic and Roman paganism). <br /><br />Nearly ten years ago, in August of 2001—a very traumatic year as you might remember-I stopped over at my friend Steve Humble’s house to speak at his church. Steve treated me to my first exposure to the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/First-Love-HIstoric-Gathering-Pioneers/dp/B000AS1Q3W/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237217253&sr=8-2">FIRST LOVE videos </a>that document the testimonies of most of pioneers of early “Jesus” movement music. Worship, music and testimonies from such musicians as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9VP32wdneU">Honeytree</a>, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Chuck Girard and Love Song, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS_V1qNNNds">Terry Clark</a>, Randy Matthews and Randy Stonehill, and Keith Green posthumously were deeply inspiring and helped me to reconnect with my own “first love” in the months around my visit to Steve. I had listened many of those albums back in the early to mid-seventies. Long Song was the very first Christian worship band I had every been exposed to. At that time John Meadows had an afro and was organizing live Christian rock concerts in Ohio. I attended the one he did with Andre Crouch. (Ok … hang with here, I am going to make point in a moment).<br /><br />Over the last ten years, I watched the FIRST LOVE videos probably a dozen times, not only for the worship, and the encouragement about loving Jesus, but also with a weeping longing to see the divine initiative of the Spirit again in a new generation that is very lost. <br /><br />I also used the video’s analytically, as a way of getting at primary oral histories of the beginnings of the Jesus movement (I didn’t realize that was what I was doing until I got into the methods class in the history department). <br /><br />Here are a couple of facts about the pioneers of the Jesus movement:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSwp4wrDnJU">LOVE SONG</a> wrote a lot of their much of their best “spiritual” music of devotion to God and Jesus BEFORE they became Christians. After they were initially baptized, they went out and got “high” to celebrate. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exQAD74YOUA">Keith Green</a> was writing devotional music to God BEFORE he was a Christian, while he was still a secular Jew. In the interview, Melody Green reads from his journal about his passion for God months before his official conversion. <br /><br />The same kind of testimony is shared repeatedly by artist after artist. Only three of the pioneers out of nearly twenty, were raised as Christians, and they were not the prime movers of the early Jesus movement music. <br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Most of the impetus for the Jesus movement came through the activity of the Spirit working through marginalized secular young people who were desperate. After they were already tracking along with the Spirit, they became involved with Calvary Chapel or The FourSquare church and some with the discipleship movement, and others later with the Vineyard. A separate discussion would be to look at the fruit of these "church" movements today and to ask oneself if the discipling they received was a good thing or not so good.<br /><br />My point: <br /><br />If another "Jesus" movement is ever to come to those young people born after 1982 (and there is some sociological support for this generation to be a strong and activist generation: See <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0688119123/ref=sib_dp_pop_fc?ie=UTF8&p=S001#reader-link">Strauss and Howe, 1992</a>), it will not likely originate within the church. It will originate with the initiative of the Spirit OUTSIDE the walls among hurting, lost and desperate kids.<br /><br />check out this Youtube video by a rapper named T.I. and Justin Timberlake <br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h_y-Rc6Yo0c&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h_y-Rc6Yo0c&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br />I discern the activity and the LOGOS of the Spirit speaking through their song, “Dead and Gone” amidst some really bad words by our evangelical baby boomer sensitivities. I think the Spirit is already moving in the hip hop generation in a similar fashion to what He did in 1968-1971 in the hippie movement. The question is, do we have the “ears to hear” through young people who may be as offensive to us, as the long-haired hippies were offensive to our parents generation? (I was one of them). Are they doctrinally correct? Highly unlikely. Is the Spirit moving in them? I really think so. You may disagree with me.<br /><br />Second question: If this is true, how will we disciple them? (assuming they give us an opportunity). Will we raise up some new Calvary Chapels? Or can we do better than that? Even more important, how can we connect with those rappers and gangsters (vampire and tribal people?) in whom the Spirit is already at work so that we EVEN HAVE A CHANCE to offer some discipleship? Hint: it won’t happen at church on Sunday morning.Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-70694628250586927562009-03-09T07:07:00.000-07:002009-03-09T07:09:25.952-07:00The Frog in the kettle continues to boil....<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090309/ap_on_re/rel_religious_america">More Americans say they have no religion</a><br /><br />By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll, Ap Religion Writer – Mon Mar 9, 12:14 am ET<br /><br /><br />A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out o of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.<br /><br />Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.<br /><br />Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.<br /><br />"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.<br /><br />In the Northeast, self-identified Catholics made up 36 percent of adults last year, down from 43 percent in 1990. At the same time, however, Catholics grew to about one-third of the adult population in California and Texas, and one-quarter of Floridians, largely due to Latino immigration, according to the research.<br /><br />Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.<br /><br />Christians who aren't Catholic also are a declining segment of the country.Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-55970118052770176842008-11-11T06:58:00.001-08:002008-11-11T07:00:32.515-08:00What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable.<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/D7_dZTrjw9I&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/D7_dZTrjw9I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-30383519307142377722008-11-11T06:58:00.000-08:002008-11-11T06:59:42.353-08:00What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable.<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/D7_dZTrjw9I&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/D7_dZTrjw9I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-37352374836951650092008-10-06T06:07:00.000-07:002008-10-06T06:12:17.212-07:00"Religulous" Review on Dan Kimball's blogThere is a great review of Bill Maher’s humorous new documentary film about religion, called “Religulous” on Dan Kimball’s blog. I would encourage Christians who are reformationally re-thinking Evangelical faith to go see the film and to read Kimballs review. Below is a brief portion of the the review.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dankimball.com/vintage_faith/">vintage faith</a><br /><br />“…Bill Maher is trying to show how "religion" in general is messed up and even very damaging (which it can be). He tries to make his point in a very, very humorous way. But it also was very predictable in what it covered. I have either listened to or read most of the arguments he made in the film, so what was in the film itself wasn't really new information...<br /><br />…Although it was a humorous film, and although it raised great questions which need to be asked - it only showed a very one-sided perspective. Thus, to me it was a poor film journalistically as it misrepresented Christianity by only showing the extremes of it...<br /><br />… A somewhat tender moment in the film actually was in the beginning when he was interviewing some attending a truck stop chapel. As he left he thanked them for "not being Christian, but being Christ-like". That was the best moment in the film to me. Maybe one day someone will make a movie called "Jesusology" or something and it will be a film done as professionally as this one in quality.”<br /><br />MOVIE TRAILER<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HcqhPTdIMEY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HcqhPTdIMEY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-25527008234839409802008-10-01T10:06:00.000-07:002008-10-01T10:55:37.316-07:00Tuesday night "God" party in MiamiThis is a group of young, church-drop-out, 20-something single Christians gather on a back patio in Miami with a group of truth seeking young agnostics and new age seekers to discuss God, the scriptures, ethics and morality.<br /><br />we had a good time last night ... conversations continued after our serious discussion about authenticity, integrity, and transparency. You have to listen closely to the background conversation between Ruth (the girl in the white sweater) and her friends.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NUJiJGUJsiw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NUJiJGUJsiw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VPU7rjfwWoc"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VPU7rjfwWoc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-12567717780853613472008-03-16T07:56:00.001-07:002008-10-01T10:14:45.698-07:00"Jesus" in the eyes of people outside the churchThis is a great Youtube video interviewing young people to ask them what they think about Jesus. <br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ObkVXGJMk2k&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ObkVXGJMk2k&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604510000993003990.post-23404360628100467522008-03-08T05:37:00.000-08:002008-03-08T05:46:06.952-08:00A New Imagination for the Church?I came across a good article by David Dunbar, president of Biblical Seminary, about the need for “A New Imagination for the Church” on his Missional Journal website. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.biblical.edu/pages/resources/missional-journal.html">Missional Journal</a><br /><br />I am posting a few excepts below…I encourage you to go read the original article. <br /><br />……<br />In the last issue of the Journal I suggested that the challenge<br />for Christians in the West is re-imagining the shape of the<br />church and its ministry in a post-Christendom environment<br />where it must function on the margins of (worldly) power.<br />What will such churches look like? Are there any obvious<br />patterns that will characterize their structure and function?<br /><br />1. Missional is not McChurch<br />Since the 1990s the term "McChurch" has referred to a<br />consumer-oriented Christianity which pursues church growth<br />by offering more and better spiritual goods and services.<br />Sometimes the notion of franchising is even included, i.e. the<br />practice of marketing to the larger Christian community the<br />programs, practices, or strategies of churches regarded as<br />particularly successful.<br /><br />The problem with this approach is that it is not<br />missiologically sound. It doesn't take into consideration the<br />fact that the medium and the way the message is presented<br />will vary, at least in emphasis, from one local context to the<br />next. Most Christians recognize the need for missionaries to<br />translate or contextualize the gospel in appropriate ways to<br />specific cultures--our churches need to do the same.<br /><br />As the church confronts wide-spread cynicism about the<br />Christian message, the gospel displayed will give credence<br />to the gospel declared.<br /><br />I don't want to argue for missional to the exclusion of all<br />attractional aspects of current church practice. Many people<br />are drawn to the church by good preaching, good programs,<br />and fine facilities. The problem is that 1) many of those<br />attracted (not all) will be disgruntled members of other<br />churches and 2) the percentage of the population who can be<br />reached in this way is rapidly shrinking.<br /><br />In the culture of late modernity many churches adopted a<br />corporate model for leadership, decision-making, and<br />planning. Pastors became CEOs, elders (or deacons)<br />transformed themselves into corporation directors, and topdown,<br />vision-driven planning became the order of the day.<br /><br />It is a sign of biblical-theological health that this paradigm<br />is being questioned in the missional church movement.<br />....<br /><br />To read the entire original article, click on the link below.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.biblical.edu/images/belong/PDFs/vol2no2.pdf">http://www.biblical.edu/images/belong/PDFs/vol2no2.pdf</a>Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0