What is Church Anyways?

One of the defining features of our culture is the desire to self-resource. And the internet is probably the ultimate expression of that self-resourcing. I seek the resources I need for my holiday, my banking, and my insurance on-line. I must confess I have probably spent well over 50,000 on ebay alone.

This change has affected the way that many of us think about our belonging. No longer do we belong to an organization or an institution in order to serve that organization or institution. We look to it to serve us. Instead of being contributors to our communities, we are 'consumers' of them. Now before we jump on the 'consumerism is bad' band wagon and its THE problem of the Western world... hear me out.

It may well be that participant members of Churches remain participants, regardless of the difficulties of participation, because they have a sense of the importance of the institution for the maintenance and transmission of the faith. The key task of the church is to maintain and transmit the faith to others.

On the other hand it may be that the increasing failure to participate by so many is a direct result of a loss of faith in such institutions as places that are effective in their key tasks, and these institutions make demands on us that do not contribute either to mission or personal growth. No help maintaining our faith and no help transmitting our faith. Confession again... I am embarrassed to take my unbelieving friend to church because it feels like a strange world ... even for me.

This is not necessarily a good thing. It may not be a healthy thing. But it is happening, and if the Christian Church is to be truly incarnational, it cannot simply decry what is, and become fruitlessly self-absorbed in what might be.

So it should be no surprise to discover that there are some people, maybe more than a few, who want to be part of a Christian community, to commit themselves to one another in prayer, in learning, and in social action, without the hassle and clutter of participation in the local church?
We could, of course, simply respond by saying that "the Church is, above all things, a sacred community where meeting together is of the essence of what we are. And those people are falling away from the essence of the Christian faith."

But if that was the sum of our response... We would merely add to the number of people that we fail to reach, and increase the number of people that we alienate because we want them to be other than what they are. Creating a hypoctical faith and something that is anti-christ. Jesus was about helping us be who we are not someone we are not.

We cannot blame people who are taught all the skills of self-resourcing from primary school upwards, if they then take those skills and use them to resource their own spiritual pilgrimage.

But could we blame the Church if we failed to respond to them by offering an alternative way to participate in Christian community, and confining them to a choice of sunday-worship-based congregation or nothing?

Thoughts?

Ring Ring.... BLOGGO! Trying to blog from my phone... a new experience.

In an interesting dialogue with a friend establishing a very valuable ministry in a community...
We began to wonder if Jesus really cared whether he was written in the Values of the organization... Is Jesus a value? Are we so intense about proclaiming our stance or our position that we exclude others who may be on the same journey to God as us? What does Jesus value more... our doctrinal position or people?
Is He so insecure that He has to be named in the foundational values of the or is he more focused on valuing community?
Rather than focusing on distinctives maybe we should be focusing on similarity?
...
I know, I know... what about watering down the truth? Well as I see it...distinctives have led us to so many wars, and crusades of varying sorts they have only marred a beautiful story that God has been desiring to pen in the heart of every culture and people.I would suggest inquiry with those that tradition has seperated might lead us to a deeper understanding of the Grace, love and judgement of God. More judgement is reserved for our distinctives than anything.

Don't have a Vision statement - HAVE VISION - For Christ's Sake

WHO ARE YOU?
What you see is who you are!!!

Vision is more than a statement.
Statements only make statements;
they do not
conjure images,
or stir faith in people
or give a
sense of preferred future.
A vision is nothing
less than a vision;
it is
something you can see,
something that is better
than what exists,
and is the meaning
behind your relentless action.

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING!!!

Values

a value system is essential to being human.

W H Y ?

if you have not
already thoughtfuly articulated one,
then you are using the default one that your brain
has gathered from experience and passed down by family.

living with your default value system
means that you are always reacting to life
in a way that you can't control.
you do things
that you don't understand.
your thoughts
are confusing to you.
your choices
are inconsistent.
your friends
could be harmful.

your brain
HAS a value system...
but you just don't know what it is.
it's been placed there

subliminally

and does not
necessarily have any rhyme or reason.
the brain automatically
files experiences
and does not determine the true value of long-term gain.

Think about your Vision and Values...

Might help you
Remember

Who you are?

Theotech - A theology of Technology

When we refuse to incorporate computers into a coherent, comprehensive world view that includes who we are materially, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually, we perpetuate a host of time-honored Western dualisms between self and other, mind and body, nature and culture. These false dualisms -- which have been the intellectual vogue for 400 years -- have created enormously damaging personal and environmental consequences. We struggle desperately to find meaning in a splintered world. We live in a vast chasm of our own creation located between the organic and the made, the sacred and the profane. When all around us is split into pieces, there is no center that holds. We are aliens in the very world we have constructed.

The Scriptures teach that 'a double minded man is unstable in all his ways' Could it be that the ineffectiveness of the 21st century church is due to this doubleminded world view?

Its not what we create that is detrimental to us [for creative power is from God] but it is the dual view that there is such a thing as sacred and profane [secular] that creates dis-integrated humanity.

The only thing that is secular is SIN [Period].
Reading this demands a response.

Can we say Hygenically Challenged!!!

Well this is the real story! More on the historymaker DVD. I don't know what to say?



Nice work Matt Hawkins and Steve Zunic!