Good God Updates

I figure that it's a good thing for Christians to reflect some of God as we go about our daily lives. I also reckon that this goes for online stuff as well.

Anyhoo, today i read two great examples of faith-related status updates. First one was a CS Lewis quote. Not too bible-bashy, not too controversial, just gives God a shout-out in a positive way.


Second one was a great reality check. There's a certain self-deprecating humility in confessing our mistakes. And the shortcomings of Christians is something we can all agree upon ;)


And who wouldn't want earth to be a more heavenly place?

Shane Outside The Box

An awesome person has lent me a great book, Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. In the intro he describes how doesn't fit into a box.

My activist friends call me conservative. My religious friends call me liberal. What i often get branded is 'radical'

The boxes that exist (not just in America) were well articulated in a letter Shane received from a young man:

I am alone, surrounded by unbelieving activists and inactive believers. Where are the true Christians?

Fortunately, according to Shane there is a movement of ordinary radicals - ordinary people choosing to live in radical new ways.

There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of. And this little revolution is irresistible. It is a contagious revolution that dances, laughs and loves.

Mums and Dads

Sure there are so many ways that the church repels men from the gospel. But one of the more obvious symptoms is the comparison of mother's day and father's day sermons.

David Murrow describes it as "Mum's, you're great. Dad's, you better shape up." but finds it unscriptural to suggest that women have less need of God's redemption.

Anyway, i bring it up because (as father's day has just passed in the usa) Jon Acuff has done a hilarious example of the kind of things that are said on these two days. Sad thing is that even though it is meant as satire, it's only a slight exaggeration on the truth.

Moms are amazing. They are like human unicorns, special, beautiful, smelling of lavender and night jasmine, deserving of our gratitude and our complete affection and pedicures....

Dads, what are you doing? Seriously, get your act together!....

It's A Team Game

"It's not enough to be committed to God - you have to be committed specifically to your church." ... That's what the speaker said when addressing a gathering interested in church growth.

He used the comparison of a sporting coach - who has to be committed to their particular club, not just to the game. It rankled me at the time, and it still does now when i remember it.

Part of this is because I'm a sports fan and this year saw one of the most dramatic events in rugby league for many a year. The Melbourne Storm, in an effort to build a superior team, deliberately broke the player salary cap.


The result was the stripping of the team's 2007 and 2009 championships, the returning of the prizemoney from those years, and disqualification from this year's finals. Because of the incident, sponsors including the club's major sponsor have cut off their association with the club.

The annoying thing is that it happened because at the point where the good of the game and the good of the club came into conflict, people were too focussed on the club - and put it ahead of the game. The result was a great loss - for both.

So that's kinda why i get disheartened when churches battle against each other rather than co-operate for the greater good; or when churches pump up their ego and their attendance by sucking people away from other churches instead of by spreading the gospel.

Sure, it may mean hard work to co-operate, and to follow Jesus' command to actually spread the gospel. It also takes hard work to win a rugby league competition, but it's better than the Melbourne Storm approach. Or to put it in the words of St Paul:

I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

And St Paul didn't even know about the Melbourne Storm :)

Pub Church

Over Easter, Toowoomba's St James anglican church held a church service in a pub. I think this is a great idea - the only sadness being that it is so rare that it rates a mention in the news.


After 25 years in the ministry (and presumably about 1200 'inside-church' sermons) Gary Harch has seen the light, and is leading this venture into the pub. Realising that attending a physical church is a barrier for people, "we will come to you" he says. "This is a way for people to participate if mainstream church is not their thing."

I personally hope this sort of thing becomes much more regular - to the point where it is no longer considered a novelty item for the news. I look forward to a time when this kind of thing is not done as a one-off publicity exercise for an upcoming event, but when christians have broken down some narrow mindsets of what it means to follow Jesus, and are out-and-about engaging people with the good news of the gospel.

Why Men Hate Going To Church

When it comes to the issue of the church's tendency to repel men (both from itself and from Jesus) it seems there are three stages of response.

1. "I refuse to believe it. It's just not true. There's absolutely nothing wrong with church."

2. "Men have the issue. So they need to change. There's absolutely nothing wrong with church."

3. "Hmmm.... we do seem to struggle to reach men with the message of Jesus. And Jesus did command us to take the gospel to all people. Perhaps we could show some humility, accept that we are not perfect, and be open to learning how we might better represent Jesus to the male population."

Whatever stage you're at, David Murrow's book Why Men Hate Going To Church is an informative read. Though you'll get most out of it if you're at stage 3.


He explores the reasons why Christ's body (the church) is so out-of-balance, and what can be done to remedy the problem.

From time to time on this blog, i'll give some of my examples, but David Murrow is all over this issue. Coming from a background in the media, he has a unique insight as to how church presents itself almost exclusively to a female demographic. Often i think it's a tribute to the awesome power of the Holy Spirit that any men attend church at all.
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ps. His site Church for Men is not to be taken as the opposite to a church for women. It is meant to be the opposite of what we have now - a church against men.

Only On Our Terms

A little while back, i was reviewing the book unChristian. One of the great quotes from it that i didn't get to use in the reviews was

part of the reason Christians are known as unChristian is because the church has lost the ability and willingness to love and accept people who are not part of the insider club.... We say we love outsiders, but in many case we show love only if it is on our terms, if they are interested in coming to our church ... We expect them to play by the rules, look the part, embrace the music, and use the right language.

Does it remind you of black box theory?
The author went on to describe the effect of this...

Not only is Jesus becoming harder for them to see in the efforts and language of Christians, but they are learning to despise or disregard Christians - largely because the Christians they have known either criticise or ignore them.

God Be With You

When the church makes an effort to interact with people of the 21st century, it's good to acknowledge and celebrate the occassion.

Recently, Britain's Methodist Church launched an app for iPhones and iPods, which can be used to view bible studies and prayers.


It's something that can be used by "those who might be more cautious about attending church" and also makes religious content available anywhere and anytime (just like God is) rather than one hour per week at one location.

So good on you methodist church for thinking slightly outside your box. :)

Happy Feet

I caught part of Happy Feet on tv on the weekend (mainly because it started as i was making dinner).


It was quite sad at the beginning, as each of the penguins discovered their 'heartsong' - except for young Mumble. Through no fault of his own, Mumble is different to your standard penguin. He looks different, he acts different, he thinks different.


Even though he ends up being the star of the movie - being more amazing and courageous than any of his fellow ice-dwellers - he is constantly derided by the colony and the penguin "elders" for being different. Or as his own father puts it, he "just ain't penguin".

Couldn't help but think of black box theory.

The Church 100m Sprint

If ever the Olympics people are looking for a new event, perhaps they could consider some version of the after-church dash. It's a tremendous display of athletic prowess, which is so far untapped. I'm sure you've seen it, but let me fill you in on what i'm talking about.

A person arrives significantly late for church, sits in the very back row, and avoids interaction as much as humanly possible. Then as soon as the magic 'show's-over' words are spoken, the person begins to leave. Fair enough ... but not if the church sprinter has their way.

Despite the automatic headstart gained by sitting in the very back row, the person's subtle exit will be no match for the lightning speed of the sprinter. Faster than a cheetah shot out of a cannon, from the back seat of a Ferarri, the sprinter engulfs their victim before he/she crosses the foyer/outdoor boundary (which will be the official finish line when this goes Olympic).

Asking the church sprinter why they do this will often result in an answer like 'i want to show them i care' or 'it's part of loving one's neighbour'. It's an interesting view of loving someone ... doing the exact opposite of what they want.

You see, most sprinters are extroverts and simply don't get the concept that someone might want to be left alone. But even the most shy people, if they want to have a conversation, have subtle ways of showing they are open to someone approaching them.
1-Mobile phones. Turning on, checking texts, sending texts (or pretending to).
2-Reading the pew bulletin (again).
3-Reading the notice board.
4-Retying a shoelace (if all other methods are exhausted).

So, if someone arrives late, leaves ASAP, and gives none of the "please-talk-to-me" clues, then please do them a favour. Forget the ambush and capture. If you really love them, set them free.

(Or maybe start training for those 2016 Olympics :)

Sustainability

If something is not sustainable, its end comes about by one of two ways - either by calmly moving to a more sustainable behaviour (having responded early) - or erratically panicking as the system comes crashing down.

I wrote about that in an environmental context, but it seems it also applies to church behaviour (link again provided by a friend).

The writer seems to be almost suggesting that it may even be too late for the first of these options.

As a whole, the mainline churches are now making the transition from slow decline to progressive collapse.

He suggests one big thing that makes the challenges all the more difficult is that churches have ignored sustainability - "at the deepest level, this involves the sustainability of the church itself."

Religion will not long prosper as a luxury good; it is not primarily a way that comfortable people who are basically happy with their lives can make their lives even richer and more rewarding. A sustainable religion must convince people that it is necessary to life, health and spiritual coherence.

Other areas of this sustainability problem included the 'business model' of the church:

[a model of] a professional, full time leader in local congregations that own and operate purpose-built buildings has been clearly falling into crisis for a generation [with] large and growing numbers of local congregations who simply cannot operate this way. They defer maintenance, cut programs to the bone and find that more and more of their energy is required to maintain an existence which is less and less creative and rewarding. This is clearly and blatantly an unsustainable situation, yet most denominations and judicatories have chosen to think about it as little as possible. ...even today more mainline energy is expended on denial than on reform.

Truth Stranger Than Fiction

When i hear a phrase like 'maybe mainstream church is right on track', i can't help but at least giggle.

Moreso, when a friend showed me this article about the Swedish church. In the past ten years 11.6% of the nation's people (that's about one in 9 Swedes) have left the church. 73,400 of those left in 2009 alone. When interviewed, the spokesman for the Church of Sweden expects a similar reduction over the next ten years.

It reminds me of a satirical article on LarkNews, about a denomination launching an "ambitious plan to lose only 5% of members". Other than a slight percentage discrepancy, it seems the only difference is that the Swedish one isn't meant as a joke!