Top 5 of 2011

As we prepare to enter the new year, here's the Sycamore-Fig Top 5 most popular articles, as determined by you the readers.

5. Who could forget the prediction that 2011 would be The End of the world - and the precision of that prediction. (Note: precision is very different from accuracy.)

4. Of my chapter notes on Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution, the notes on the chapter Making Revolution Irresistible were the most read.

3. After seeing the movie Chocolat, i wrote about what i saw in it. Chocolat - A Parable.

2. My thoughts on the effects of Wendy Francis's billboard rage was the second most read thing here.

1. Far and away my most read (or viewed) post of 2011 was the animated video The Big Red Tractor, and i can understand why. When i discovered this one, i watched it several times over. It's a brilliant story, very well animated, with a message for children and for adults.

A Sign of Apathy

A church near me recently had a Christmas concert. Good on them. But on Dec 16, their sign was still promoting the Dec 11 concert.


Then they changed it - to nothing! For a number of days it sat there completely blank. Right into the week of Christmas.


Then for a couple of days it showed the usual sunday worship times (despite the upcoming sunday being Christmas) before someone realised this and changed it (late in the week) to display the Christmas times.

Is there something on Christmas Eve? What time is Christmas Day worship? Is there a choice of times so we go to church before the family get-together? All these questions and more are left unanswered until it's practically too late. Are we trying to keep people away?

Sure, the information has probably been in the church bulletin for weeks. But the general public doesn't get the church bulletin. When the sign says nothing, and the church website looks as though Christmas doesn't exist, it doesn't exactly lay out the welcome mat for someone thinking of joining church the Christmas.

Secret Church

I played frisbee with a friend this week. He told me of his attempted visit to a local church the previous Sunday night. I say 'attempted' because he was the only one there.

He waited around for a while, not sure what was going on, or that maybe the start time had changed. But after standing alone outside the building for about half an hour, he gave up.

It turned out the church had decided to take a week off and go to a Carols event. But they didn't say anything! As my friend told me "They have a website. They have a sign. Surely they can let people know."

It's a real shame, because i'm sure my friend would have loved nothing more than to go to a carols night. But for some reason we often keep things a secret from the general public. It's almost as if we want to keep them away from church!

Reminds me of my experience from Christmas '09.

Labor Pains

In Australia this past weekend the Labor party had its national conference. While watching ABC 7.30's coverage, i couldn't help but be bowled over by the incredible allegory to the church's own situation.


Let me illustrate with some quotes. I've struck out the references to party names to help you imagine the word 'church' or the name of your denomination in its place.

Leigh Sales (Anchor):
And as political editor Chris Uhlmann reports the conference squibbed on answering some of the profound questions about Labor's future.

Senator John Faulkner (in a speech):
We are at a critical point. Our party faces a crucial decision. The situation is now dire. Delegates, our party is in decline. Our membership is small and getting smaller. Our membership is old and getting older.

Chris Uhlmann (reporter):
This 46th conference comes at a time when Labor's membership is haemorrhaging. Its leadership knows that it needs to regenerate but that means that somebody has to give up some power.
(To Doug Cameron): Do some people who have power have to give that power up?

Senator Doug Cameron:
Absolutely. And you know the party can't be run by bureaucrats and apparatchiks. We've got to be a party that's a rank and file, grass roots party. And that's the challenge between now and the next conference.

John Faulkner (in a speech):
Labor has had the courage to change Australia. And delegates, today we must find the courage to change ourselves.

Chris Uhlmann:
But there's no sign that the big questions this conference posed have been properly addressed. How does the Labor Party regenerate and reform for the 21st century?

John Faulkner (in a speech):
Our party has been here for a hundred years. What is at stake is that we ensure we're around for another hundred years.

Chris Uhlmann:
It's hard to see how the small reform steps embraced on the weekend will drive a Labor membership rebirth. And without it Labor's future is uncertain.

It will be interesting to see (and maybe compare) how each organisation deals with its own predicament. What do you reckon?

Paul's Baptism

Last year i started following the group Be The Church. They were donating money to TEAR for each person who (facebook) followed them that month.

Now they've just put up photos of Paul's Baptism:


I have no idea who Paul is, but it strikes me as the kind of baptism i would want (if i was being baptised). As well as being a lot more like what Jesus did, it seems a lot more of a momentus occasion than taking 2 minutes out of a sunday worship to have someone rub a damp finger on your forehead - and then straight back to the normal program. (Why do we turn meaningful events into automated processes? I'm not sure.)
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ps. check out the day's full set of photos - it seems the baptism was the centrepiece of a day of celebration for the church/community.

Alma

"Alma" is Spanish for "soul", but is also the name of this prize-winning animation. I watched it several times, because it kind of rings true for me as a spiritual metaphor. (And because i would notice different things in it each time).

It's difficult to say too much without spoiling it, but i think there's something in it for church goers. What do you reckon?

I'm Not Here For Judgement

Chatting to a friend this week who, after some recent tough times, looked at re-connecting to church. Apparently, the only problem is that (in his words) churches have 'church people'. [A seemingly obvious statement]

He doesn't like the fake-ness... "Hi, how are you?" "I'm doing fine, how about you?" "I'm also fine". It doesn't matter that one or both people aren't. The only acceptable answer is "fine". (Or "great" if you wanna go for bonus points).

Why is this the only acceptable answer? Because anything else brings you a wheelbarow full of trouble. In short, as my friend says, "I don't go there for judgement and narrow-mindedness". [Again, a seemingly obvious statement. Who would come for that? What kind of church would think people want that?]

So, the end result is that the church community is ineffective at helping one another (or others) with anything, because people have to pretend they have it all together, all the time. Authenticity 0, Helpfulness 0.

Or, if you prefer to keep score a different way, my friend's experience ticks 3 of the unChristian boxes - hypocritical, sheltered and judgemental.

[Related Link: Using the Christian "F" word]

Steven Colbert - Pretend or Admit

In this classic quip from comedian Steven Colbert, he comedically makes a very serious point. (Kudos to the person who put the moving text to the original audio)



So which do we choose - pretend or admit? (Or can we choose obey?)

As Soren Keirkgaard (not a comedian, but a theologian with a rather dry wit) put it many years before:

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined.

Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close.

[Related link: Followers or Fans?]

Jesus Is ___

When City Church did a sermon series on "Jesus Is ___" they decided to also connect with the communtiy by making the website Jesus Is. Visitors can finish the statement "Jesus Is ___" and the responses are displayed. Some responses were from Christians. Some not.


I thought it was interesting to see a mix of people who realise Jesus' difference from the habits of church people (as illustrated above) but also people who labelled Jesus in ways that contradict the gospel, but are probably based on the actions of churchgoers - that also contradict the gospel (eg "racist", "the reason for the war in iraq", "unreliable"). I find this kinda sad.


Link: Interview with the creator of the website

Doing God's Work - Online

One of the amazing things about online communities is the ability to get great stuff done. One great example of this is Stuff Christians Like. Apart from providing great laughs, some deep moments, and a sense of community; it also does great work - including raising $30,000 (in less than a day) for kids in Vietnam ... and then did it again.

Jon Acuff (creator of SCL) tells the story better...

Jesus On Wall Street

I read some great thoughts of Shane Claiborne on the whole Wall Street activity. And saw this nice little pic which kinds of sums it up.


It seems to be a continuing theme that on the stuff Jesus actually made a stand on, the church as a whole sits idly by (or in this case, sometimes even taking the opposite stance).

I guess this was kind of covered in unChristian - that there's a bunch of people who love the values of Jesus, but who stay away from church because it seems church doesn't.

It's sad to think that there are people out there, clueless to what Jesus is actually about - because their presumptions are based on what church people do.

It is exceedingly strange that any follower of Jesus Christ should ever have needed to ask whether social involvement was their concern - John Stott

Further Reading:- A Devotion For Wall Street

By "Every" We Mean "One"

Thought this pic was relevant (and kinda funny) after last week's video about being the church seven days a week.


I'm not trying to have a go at this church. I'm sure they do things on some other days. But in terms of a message to the passerby, it's kind of like an ice-cream shop saying "Come try our enormous range of flavours .... vanilla, vanilla and vanilla"

7 Is Greater Than 1

Soul City Church does this great video on how we could be more effective if we could get beyond the thinking that church "is something that happens on one day". A day when everyone "faces forward, sits still and pretends to have a good time".



"Imagine a church being known for more what it does 7 days a week - instead of just one."

You Lost Me ... Get It

Previously i gave you the stat that 70% of young adults will leave the church within 4 years. Now here's something for those interested in fixing that.

The book You Lost Me is accurately described by it's subtitle... "Why young christians are leaving church and rethinking faith". David Kinnaman (author of unChristian) analyses the ways church has failed young adults. A host of contributors provide 50 positive ideas to address the issue - including Jon Acuff, Francis Chan, Shane Claiborne and many more.



I heartily suggest you get your hands on a copy. If you're in doubt, read the free preview. If you want a quick summary of the problems, see the article 6 Reasons Young Christians Leave Church. Check out some of the ideas that didn't fit in the book, or get the free leader's resources.

PS. There's also a new article 5 Ways to Connect with Millenials

Wrong Worship

I was very amused by this parody.
What worship would sound like if we said what we meant? ;)



[Related posts: Lying to God and Coming Soon...]

Making The Trade

Are we willing to make the trade? To give up the self focus, to pursue Christ?



"We you live doesn't make you a missionary, the mission you're on makes you a missionary"

[Video by Right Now]

Too Brainy To Be In Church?

This picture forms kind of a theme, with the previous 2 pics i've shown.


This week i read that evangelicals (those most often associated with the rigid legastic style of 'faith') have smaller brains than both non-religious people, and people of less rigid denominations.

The don't think it's really about brains shrinking. I just think it's the result of excluding brainy people by effectively saying "you're too smart to be in our church".

[Photo courtesy of Crummy Church Signs]

Narrow-minded? Apparently Not Enough

At a time when Christians suffer from a negative perception of being intolerant towards different views, what possesses a church put out a message like this?


They might as well say "Do you think Christians are too narrow-minded? Well we're actually striving to be even less accepting of others."

Combined with last week's attack on reason, it puts out a message that says "We have a completely unreasonable view - and we're too pig-headed to change it". Is this the gospel of Jesus? I don't think so. Sounds more like the pharisees to me.

[Photo courtesy of Crummy Church Signs]

Did God Give Us Brains?

There's a sad stereotype that Christians have 'blind faith' and swallow anything said by a preacher / religious orgnaisation. That using your brain is incompatible with following Jesus.

I say it's sad because for people who like using their brain, the stereotype can be a barrier to Jesus.


What's sadder is that the church itself helps perpetuate this myth with shocking signs like this one.

What If Go Meant Go

Brilliant video clip from the Foursquare Church



What if we did 'Go' as Jesus commanded? What if we spent less time stressed out by ineffective church fluff - and more time following Jesus?

70% Loss by Age 22

This ad landed just landed in my inbox.


Millenials (called 'Generation Y' in Australia) are definitely disappearing from the church landscape. I have my doubts as to whether this can be changed by a downloadable word document. Perhaps the church needs to download a change of heart.


70% by age 22 is an astounding stat, and there are two main reactions to it:

1. Church is perfect. These stats show just how [insert negative stereotype] young people are. It just proves how right we are to ignore this generation in all we do. End of discussion.

2. Hang on. 7 in 10 young Christ-followers will leave church in their next few years? What does this say about us as a church? Are we fully following Jesus? If we are turning off young Christians (with a different culture) then how much of what we do is Gospel and how much is cultural? Do we value what Jesus values, or or just the things that older generations value?

Option 1 is more comfortable, with less self-examination required, but i think option 2 serves us (and God) better.

Census Sensibility

Australia has just completed its latest population census. I've been quite closely involved in this one - being employed as a census collector in a nearby suburb.


I can recommend it, or any other similar activity, as a way to begin to understand your community. I've written before about how church tends to attract a specify type of person (Black Box Theory). Sometimes this can make us forget the breadth and diversity of characters in our community ... which is an important thing to understand if we hope to connect with these people :)

"Are You Listening?!"

This clip takes an earnest look at prayer - the pitfalls, the growth, the examples in the bible, and the frustration when nothing happens. Two tips ... 1. It's probably best viewed in full-screen. 2. There's a twist at the end.

Prayer from Granger Community Church

On a similar theme, author David Platt writes an interesting article on choosing between a "business as usual" religion that looks good by society's standards - and the challenge to...

take an honest look at the Jesus of the Bible and dare to ask what the consequences might be if we really believed him and really obeyed him

99 Sheep

Choosing a name for a blog can be a tough choice. One my options for this blog was "99 Sheep" - refering to the parable in Luke 15. (Today's chapter in my bible reading plan).

Jesus is asked why he associates with non-religious people. He explains that given a choice between the need of one person to find God, or the needs of 99 people who already know God, that Jesus would choose the 1 person every time. (and heaven rejoices that decision)

So what about us, the so-called followers of Christ? Would we, as a church, make the same choice? Would we put first the needs of those who are yet to know God? Even if it meant leaving 99 church-goers "in the wilderness". (verse 4, NLT)

I suspect we have a lot of room for improvement in this area. Or, as i've heard it described...

We've gone from being "fishers of men" to being keepers of the aquarium.

Followers?

In the promo for his video series, Francis Chan makes a good point.

Nowadays there are millions of people on this earth who call themselves followers of Jesus, but their lives look nothing like his. But in their heart of hearts they’re convinced they’re followers.

Poll Result

I just read the following survey result...

Question: What most helps you to grow spiritually?

26% - Personal Bible study
25% - Times of solitude with God
18% - Group Bible study
12% - Reading Christian books/articles
7% - One-on-one discipleship (mentoring)
6% - Going to church

Not sure of my final thoughts on this, but 3 things spring to mind.

1. We work really hard at item 6 on that list, yet it doesn't seem to really help people. What would happen if we channelled some of that time and energy towards more effective activities.

2. Did you notice that all the survey options are sedentary and in-house. Why aren't there options like: "Loving my neighbour", "Helping the poor", "Talking about God with non-church people" or "Volunteering for a cause I believe in"?

3. Is the sad answer to 2 that, as a church, these things are just not on our radar?

What do you reckon?

The Big Red Tractor

The Big Red Tractor - Francis Chan

I think this wonderful video speaks for itself. At face value, it's a great kids' story. But deeper down it's a great allegory for the church.

When they did things the same way "for many generations" there is just enough food for the village itself. When they followed the "good news" in the owner's manual there was an abundance of food to take to other villages. And the people became known for their generosity.
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ps. i also notice the initial difficulty in getting other 'tractor lovers' to actually follow the tractor book, rather than tradition. ;)

Younger Christians

John Cleary (ABC Sunday Nights) interviewed some of the organisers of the Surrender conference, and there was some discussion about young people and the future of the church. There was a great quote from Viv Benjamin, when asked about how Surrender goes across 'denominational lines'

Those lines that you speak of - they're not so relevant for us as Christians today. The message is the heart of Jesus' call for us, and i don't think we need to add extra identities on top of that... particularly young Christians - we just want to know what it means to follow Jesus.

There might be something in that for denominations beating their chest about how great their denomination is.

There was also talk about church reluctance to connect with people who need Jesus.

The church is confronted with its being so separate for so long, that perhaps that engagement now may bring them the kind of challenge they're no longer prepared for.

And some disappointment was expressed with "the bubble" the church keeps young people in.

They (young people) are trying to find something real. They're trying to match the stories they've heard with the world. And they do match actually - if you read the gospels properly. But i think the church has made this world a little cushy. We like to know that we've got these 4 walls that protect us, and we can visit once a week, and we can sing pretty songs, and we can relieve our guilt by saying some prayers and giving some money.

[Link: Full Interview]

"Christianland"

Great quote from Lynn Moresi in this discussion on the Sunday Nights program...

Often as Christians we get stuck in Christianland, where we have our own little language called Christianese, and we all speak Christianese in Christianland. We have friends in Christianland, and everything we do is in Christianland, and often we don't get outside of Christianland to realise there's a whole huge big world out there.

And i think that's part of the issue ... we can be at times very engrossed in what's going on in Christianland ... and not engaging with things outside of that.

She says that in her church there's a shift away from that. But overall, i think the quote is quite valid.

Missional Church

You may have seen clips like this on the internet - that explain the basic gist of an idea, often using diagrams.


This one explains the concept of missional church.

In the past past churches have spent large amounts of resources to construct the most attractive place imaginable. Inviting people became synonymous with evangelism.

The people who came seemed relatively similar. Eventually someone asked the question "What about all the people who aren't like us?"

Sounds like Black Box Theory ;)
Alternatively, the missional church...

empowers its members to be the church in the community. The church trains resources and encourages and challenges its people to live out the good news in their community.

The church recognises the every believer embodies the life of the church in their neighbourhood, at their school, or at their place of work. Each one of them telling God's story in the context of genuine compassionate relationships.

Sounds a lot more Jesus-like to me.

Followers Or Fans?

I was recently sent this video, presumably broadcast shortly after the Osama bin Laden assasination. It makes some very good points (in a witty way).

New rule: If you're a Christian who supports killing your enemies and torture, you have to come up with a new name for yourself.

Martin Luther King gets to call himself a Christian because he actually practised loving his enemies.

He describes Christian hypocrisy as being "like joining Greenpeace and hating whales"

He (Jesus) has lines like "do not repay evil with evil" and "do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you". Really - it's in the book you hold up when you scream at gay people.

Probably the most stinging quotes were

If you ignore every single thing Jesus commanded you to do ... you're not Christ's followers, you're just fans.

and

I can say that, because I'm a non-Christian - just like most "Christians"

They are harsh statements - but probably well-deserved.

Need A Friend?

Which do you think it is?? Is the church...

(a) officially giving up on helping people find Jesus - and now operating as a neighbourhood meeting place?

(b) doing the old bait-and-switch (Haha! You came here looking for a friend. We tricked you - by "friend" we meant Jesus. Of course you weren't to know that. That's what makes it such a good trick)

(c) reading the research that church makes you sadder (unless you have friends to help you through) and advising their members of this information.

There are no prizes, because i don't know the answer myself, but feel free to suggest your own theory.

God and Sex

Michael Coogan recently wrote the book "God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says". With Rachael Kohn he talks about some of the ways

the Bible is sometimes misused when it comes to deciding how individuals and communities should act. There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about what the Bible says and doesn't say ... So the Bible is used to justify opposition to same-sex marriage and yet people also quote the Bible to defend it.

Having studied the Bible, and paying a lot of attention to this area, Michael Coogan has interesting insights of the Song of Songs (sometimes desperately re-interpretted as an allegory of God/Israel), homosexuality in biblical times, and how little Jesus says about sex, "except when it comes to issues like adultery and divorce."

Jesus has a lot of good things to say, but sex doesn't seem to be very high on his list of things to be avoided. He's more concerned about interpersonal relationships and social justice and issues like that.

In what might be an afront to some churchgoers, Coogan says

I don't think one needs to necessarily justify one's beliefs or one's actions exclusively on what the Bible says

He points out the range of practices in the Bible that we no longer accept as valid - that children who curse their parents, all prostitutes, or adulterers, should all be put to death. Not to mention polygamy, slavery and treating women as possessions of men. So what role does the Bible play?

what is inspired about the Bible is not the individual passages, the individual verses which come from particular times, from particular writers with their own values, but rather in a sense the underlying message. And that message in Jewish and Christian tradition is a message of love of neighbour, of equal treatment of all persons.

Wendy Francis - 3 out of 6

In his book unChristian, David Kinnaman explores 6 negative perceptions people have of Christianity - based on the unChristlike behaviour of some Christians. This week, Wendy Francis (former political candidate and now state director of the Australian "Christian" Lobby) reinforced 3 of the 6 perceptions in the one move.

Judgemental. Hypocritical. Anti-homosexual.
The group Queensland Association of Healthy Communities had launched advertising encouraging the use of condoms to prevent the chance of HIV infection. This is the poster.


In her press release, Wendy Francis described this hug as an "act of foreplay" and orchestrated a campaign for it to be removed (alledgedly for depicting a "sexual act"). As far as thinly-disguised anti-homosexual agendas go, i'm not sure i've seen thinner.

The ridiculousness of the charade was best summmed up when this publicity photo of Wendy's appeared on facebook, with a caption satirically asking how Wendy could display such sexual images in front of her own children - there are people hugging!!


One of the two men in the ad organised a facebook event for people to join to object to the homophobia. Even as i write this, it has gone from 55,000 to 71,000 people.

The sad thing is reading some of the posts on the wall of the event. So many people (for whom this is their main experience of what Christians think) are expressing their disappointment (to put it mildly) with Wendy's actions and attitude.

If we ever needed proof of David Kinnaman's unChristian theory, here it is. Thousands of people who see this unChristlike attitude as being representative of Christianity, and hating every bit of it.

(And probably more than a few Christians who are just angry that the faith they sincerely follow is tarnished by the actions of a few followers of the unChristian faith)
------
ps. the ad company has now changed it's mind and is putting the ads back up. Coverage by Herald Sun, Triple J, Brisbane Times, ABC news

Your Church's Facebook Score?

Apparently the vast majority of churches rate as poor or mediocre when it comes to facebook usage - according to the Our Church survey.


But there's good news too. For churches that are keen to make their ministry more effective, there are 5 main areas the study suggests would be most helpful.

1. Communicate More
2. Ministry Pages
3. Facilitate Connections
4. Evangelism Training
5. Facebook Ads

Oh, and there's sometimes a temptation to think "oh, that's young people's stuff". But the full survey results show that more than 60% of respondents were aged 45+. (But of course, even if it was "just young people's stuff" we should still do it - because Jesus' message is for young people too).

Why Men Aren't Singing

David Murrow has a great piece on Men v Praise Music. A big part of the problem is songs that paint God as "a lover rather than a leader", which means they verge on homoerotic when sung by a man. But there's other stuff too.


The result is that "women are worshipping robustly while most men stand for 20 minutes with their hands in their pockets, dutifully mouthing words that fail to resonate with their hearts."

Essentially, there are 3 reasons we ended up this way. Fortunately, there are also 7 practical ideas to help make the music time less anti-men.

The Priests' Confession

ABC's Spirit of Things did an episode titled Candid Clerics - discussing with the authors the revelations of their study Our Fathers (What Australian priests really think). One of the first points was that the burdens and demands of the system prevent priests from doing effective ministry.

they were having to spend their time doing things that had to be done rather than things that should be done.

Instead of outreach, or spiritual matters, priests admitted that "their life was becoming bureaucratised and they were reduced to ritual plus administration."

And it seems that the ritual isn't actually helping people connect with Jesus.

A lot of priests argued that the parish is now obsolete, it is not the way that we connect with people or can connect to people. We're spending all our time trying to maintain a parish structure when the parish structure is not the way to connect with people. We can't do what we should do because we have to do what we must do.

When asked about alternatives, one of the authors said they were "completely opposite to the current structure of the Church. They all spoke about the need for smaller church communities, a lot spoke about house-based communities..."

Quite a few confessed "we are keeping alive a structure which really needs to collapse and lead to some rebirth".

It seems the powers-that-be continue to prop up ineffective ministry, rather than engage with anything new or different. Alternatives which (according to the priests) would be more effective are simply ignored in favour of patching up the status quo.

[Listen to the whole discussion]

Lifetree Cafe

Came across Lifetree Cafe the other day. It was refreshing to see the tagline "reach the people you aren't reaching".

It's great to see that some people are starting to think outside the black box, and embrace different methods of introducing people to Jesus.


How is it different? The website blurb uses words and phrases like "real people", "conversation", "build relationships". That's quiet different to sitting silently, looking at the back of people's heads, and listening to a monologue.

Lifetree talks of "churched people and unchurched people" discussing the "stuff that shapes our lives. Family. Friends. Fears.Busyness. Money. Peace. Purpose."

Ok, some of it sounds a bit like church, but it seems more authentic and community-bsed, and less superficial or commercial.

There's no admission fee; people are accepted regardless of beliefs, or demographic; it takes place in a comfortable environment; and people are allowed share their opinion (if they want). There's no membership, no preaching and no singing.

Sounds a lot less like church, and a lot more like Jesus.

Pulpit Clangers - 2

I briefly mentioned my experience at the church i visited this Easter. Aside from an hour and a half of tedium, there was one semi-amusing semi-awkard moment.

Selected children roamed around the auditorium distributing small easter eggs from wicker baskets. Once every adult had received an egg, the minister said:

If all of my helpers could come and see me after the service, then I can thank them in a special way.

Now i'm sure he meant just by giving them each an Easter egg - probably larger than those they were handing out. But i would have thought that if anyone ever writes the book "Things religious leaders should never say in this day and age", then such a phrase should be in chapter 1. Probably on the first page. :)

Easter Day Worship

This is the kind of sign that gives Crummy Church Signs its name:


I could ask why this church feels the need to insult (or guilt) anyone passing by; or why (contrary to the gospel) they measure faith by church attendance. But instead i'm asking a different question - on behalf of the person their sign is aimed* at:

Why on earth should i come more than once?

I reckon any church should be able to answer this question. "Holiday attenders" won't ask it out loud, but that's what buzzing around in their head. Our answer should be evident on Easter (or any other) Sunday.

Instead we give them no answer - or even 1hr 34 mins worth of reasons to stay home next year. It's quite bizarre to plead with people to attend, only to then deter them from ever returning. To berate people for not showing up, only to then behave as if we want them to keep away.

Until such time as we can articulate (and demonstrate) the answer to their question, we should change our sign to something more positive, while we consider what it means to love our neighbour.
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* - yes i use the word "aimed" deliberately. More and more church signs are being used as (verbal) weapons, rather than a means to communicate the gospel.

Boys and Girls Toys

Saw a word cloud of the phrases used to advertise toys to boys: (most frequently used words appear the largest)


and then the corresponding one for girls' toys.


Toymakers know that different genders respond in different ways, but do churches? You'd think if there was one weekend a year where we could be relevant to men it would be Easter.

Jesus's internal battle (knowing what lay ahead). The torture. the nails. the pain. The courage in the face of mockery. The determination to stick to God's plan. The toughness. The spear into the guts. The shedding of blood for the cause. Overall, the most powerful sacrifice in history.

But for some reason, even on this weekend, it's all 'sharing', 'friendship', and 'perfect love'. Sounds more like My Little Pony than the Transformers - and hardly anything like the gospel account of the Ultimate Transformer.

Discipleship

Not sure who Walter Brueggeman is, but i just read this great quote from him in the Lent Event 2011 Guide Book:

Discipleship requires a whole new conversation in a church that has been too long accommodationist and at ease in the dominant values of culture that fly in the face of the purposes of God.

Here Comes Everybody

I've just been reading Here Comes Everybody - Clay Shirky's book on how the internet and technology is changing group dynamics. The church may not be a corporation (though Clay describes it as "just as hierarchial") but is based on people groups. As human interaction, communication and culture change, what will the church's response be?


The book's main premise (with plenty of examples) is that the convenience and reach of the internet fundamentally changes the way humans can interact in groups. At one end of the spectrum this increases the corporate efficiency, and at the other end this allows previously 'too hard' activities to become possible. As Clay puts it,

"we didn't realise how many things were [possible] because, prior to the current era, the alternative to institutional action was usually no action. Social tools provide a third alternative: action by loosely structured groups, operating without managerial direction and outside the profit motive."

Put more simply, "The internet means you don't have to convince anyone else that something is a good idea before trying it" and "since anyone can act, the ability of people in charge to kill initiatives through inaction is destroyed."

This obviously means that lots of things are tried and fail. But also, a lot of things that institutions could never do are now possible. Clay makes frequent reference to Wikipedia, the largest, most comprehensive and most up-to-date encyclopedia, constructed almost entirely from volunteer effort.

Of course, it does sometimes require new thinking. Clay tells his own story about a company's closed-minded attitude to a new idea: "They didn't care if it worked in fact, because they were already sure it wouldn't work in theory." Of course, it did work and that company went slowly out of business.

This brings me to the church example cited in the book. Sadly, it's a story of the church trying to prevent a cross-parish group from forming; resisting the changes of the current age, and trying to exert authority/dominance by controlling the communication between churchgoers. Suffice to say, it didn't go well (though the same strategy had worked 10 years earlier when technology was less prevalent).

And that's one of the lessons of the book. Time moves on. It's not like a car trip, where one can pull over and stop. It's more like a paddling a kayak in a fast-moving river where "our principal challenge is not to decide where we want to go, but rather to stay upright as we go there."

But probably the best summation comes right near the end of the book. Speaking about young people "they know fewer useless things than we do". Clay expands on what he means by this:

I know that newspapers are where you get your political news and how you look for a job. I know that music comes from stores. I know that if you want to have a conversation with someone, you call them on the phone. I know that complicated things like software and encyclopedias have to be created by professionals. In the last fifteen years I've had to unlearn every one of those things and a million others, because they have stopped being true.

My question is whether the church will cling fearfully to the past, or have the courage to unlearn things that are no longer true, and embrace a new reality.

[Justin from CMS also has a great review on this one]

Books That Look Good - Domesticated Jesus

I became interested in this book, when i read it's blurb in a friend's book catalogue:

Missionary doctor Harry Kraus takes readers on a refreshingly honest exploration of the many ways in which the God-centred gospel of Jesus has been effectively sidelined in today's churches.

On the web, i found a sample download from the book, and this promo video:

Crazy But Not Alone

We have to remind each other that we are not crazy, or that if we are crazy, then at least we're not alone.

For the record, Shane Claiborne doesn't think he's crazy - except maybe in the same way that the people of Jesus's day thought Jesus and the disciples were crazy. Or to put it another way:

If we are crazy, then it is because we refuse to be crazy in the same way that the world has gone crazy

He talks about the crazy way our world operates, but also laments the numbing effect it has on us - using the metaphor of eyes adjusting to the dark. He says that "the darkness of the world will try to smother the light, so we have to surround ourselves with people who makes us shine brighter.

At the end, he gives an "alter call" - a call for us to "alter our vision from the patterns of this world and create new ways of living."

Clare Bowditch

ABC's Compass program did a great 1-on-1 with Australian singer songwriter Clare Bowditch. It covers her religious upbring, her beliefs, her absence from church (despite still being close to God) and how she sees things now.


Some of Clare's thoughts (though i recommend seeing the whole chat for a better sense of where she is coming from):

God is ... the source of longing and question and compassion and this impulse in us to want to do good; to want to be kind to our fellow human; to protect; to nurture.

So I think what the world is for me is a series that presents a series of choices. So what do we choose? What do we believe? What do we focus on? What do we spend time on and what do we get caught in? And it is always looking to the question of a higher ideal and what that is and where it's hiding.

It's been difficult to find a priest who I can relate to, to be honest. So that's one of the problems I've had.

I don't know if there's a home for people like me in the Catholic Church any more to be honest.

But if you're a questioning Catholic, the question today that you ask is, can the church open its heart to difference?

Some of the most interesting and curious and thinking and intelligent and heartfelt open hearted of people I know are atheists, are agnostics. No church has a monopoly on what it means to be good. But I think the conversation has to be broader.

We can't be in a world that divides people on points of sexuality or gender or so on. Those things are really disruptive for people who want to believe in god and then feel that they don't have a home for their faith because their religion doesn't allow that kind of difference.

The interviewer asked "Imagine that you could change three things within the Catholic Church that would make it feel like home. What would they be?"

I think the issues that are most urgently in need of being addressed and that I see people hurting over are really the question of sexuality, same sex marriage and the legitimacy of love between humans who happen to be the same sex. And also the question of the role of women in the church. And of course there's that heartbreaking one which is the question of, well the question of how do we encourage what seems like such a closed institution to open up and tell the truth and be transparent.

Growing Smaller And Smaller

The chapter title "Growing Smaller and Smaller ... Until We Take Over The World" seems a bit like a riddle at first. Surely to be effective we need to grow bigger. Not so says Shane Claiborne.

He compares the church's desire to grow big and powerful to the temptation Jesus faced in the desert (the only difference being that Jesus resisted) and quotes Mother Theresa "We can do not great things. Only small things with great love." and another woman who told him "If the devil can't steal your soul, he'll just keep you busy doing meaningless church work."

He despairs at the spending on massive new buildings, while neglecting the poor - comparing it to a father who builds a mansion while failing to feed his children. He realises the point of view that growth enables more good work to be done, but says that in reality, the bigger a church grows, the more its budget focusses inward on its own operating expenses.

Shane suggests this is part of why offerings are small. We have an inate passion for the poor, and if the church cares more about facilities, then we donate less to the church and find more effective ways to give to those in need.

The other thing is that having 'corporate' space keeps us at arm's length from each other. Our private property becomes just that - private. We don't gather in kitchens, around dining tables, in lounge rooms or backyards because we don't have to - and our community is weaker for it.

The chapter finishes by looking at the mustard seed featured in parables. It doesn't grow into a towering tree - just a small bush. But it's a bush that pops up everywhere, and is quickly all over the landscape.

Investing For Life

Last week i was at an ethical investment / superannuation seminar. Turns out there's ethical investment that is "against" stuff (ie. it's just normal investment, but avoids cigarettes, alcohol and gambling companies (the "sin stocks"). But there's also ethical investment that looks at what would make the world a better place, and invests in companies that can make that happen.


This struck me as an interesting parable for living a life following Jesus. If we view our life as an investment (as Jesus did in one of his parables). We can duplicate the life of those around us - just subtracting x, y and z (because they are immoral) or we can focus on the positive things that Jesus is about - and help make them happen. One of these paints Christians as a bunch of people who are anti-everything, and the other gives people a glimpse of the kingdom of God.
--
ps. you might have noticed that this has been a bit of a recurring message to me recently - to be positive, or to be "for" something. It started a few weeks ago with the movie Chocolat where the townspeople measure holiness by what they avoid. Then in chapter 11 of Irresistible Revolution which talked about defining ourselves by what we are for - and that positivity and celebration is crucial in a world that is starving for joy.

Making Revolution Irresistible

In chapter 11, Shane talks about the spirit of revolution. He tells of how as a younger man, he was "dumbfounded and outraged by the apathy of the church", but in the protest movement found an aggressiveness and judgementalism reminiscent of that in the church.

I began to feel a self-righteousness mirroring that of conservative christianity. I handed out flyers to convert people to the movement and felt as coercive and detached as I did handing out Christian tracts at the mall.

I should point out, for clarification, that Shane is not saying we should avoid protesting. "While most activists could use a good dose of gentleness, I think most believers could use a good dose of holy anger." Instead he believes that the revolution can be done in a different way - and tells a striking story of a conversation on a plane that started with some homemade cookies.

He includes the church when saying "There are plenty of people who define themselves by what they are not, whose identity revolves around what they are against rather than what they are for.

He suggests the problem is that we have forgotten how to laugh - which is important in a world that is starving for joy. "Most people are aware that something is wrong. The real question is, What are the alternatives?"

I take great courage from the fact that many of us are taking steps toward a gentler revolution. ... Celebration is at the very core of our kingdom, and hopefully that celebration will make its way into the darkest corners of our world - the ghettos and refugee camps, and the palaces and prisons

Evensong??

Recently a church near me invested in one of these changeable block-lettering signs. With their building being located at an intersection, of a high-traffic road with quite a few bus routes, this is a great opportunity to put out a message to the general public. The people who don't normally hear from you.


But sadly this is the kind of thing it displays. Evensong!?!? How many passing motorists even know what that means? I'm not sure i know what they mean.

It's just one of these sad symptoms of people who live in "churchworld" (a place where "evensong" and "eucharist" are words that everybody knows) and have no idea of the real world, where their insider-language is utterly meaningless to 95% of people.

As a result, the only real message they are giving to the bypassing public is that the church is irrelevant to their life.

Saturday Night Worship / Party

I've talked about Mars Hill before, and their creative thinking. This video promoting their Saturday night worship in Downtown Seattle would be considered outside-the-square in lots of churches merely for worshipping on a Saturday, let alone having a video to spread the word. But the reasons behind it are where it gets really missional.


Based on Paul's speech to the men of Athens, they figure that in some ways their city today is quite similar to Athens in Paul's day. So, after the Saturday night worship, the people of Mars Hill are invited to

continue the worship by going out into the neighborhood to restaurants, bars, and other gatherings. More than merely showing up, we want to encourage all to share the love, grace, and celebration of the gospel with the people in the places where they do their worship.

Essentially, they see their Saturday night worship as a celebration of Jesus, and after the 'service' they take the party to the city.

Extremists For Love

Hang on a second, aren't extremists bad? Maybe not. Perhaps it depends on whether it is extreme hate or extreme love. This is Shane Claiborne's point in Chapter 10, as he starts by looking at the effect of church on people.

I looked around and watched the news and found a church full of sick people and a world that had some decent pagans. My (sociology) studies taught me that the higher a person's frequency of church attendance, the more likely they are to be sexist, racist, anti-gay, pro-military...

It was enough to make him think "If that's what it means to be Christian, I wasn't sure i wanted to be one" and to wonder why "Jesus didn't take back his religion".

He and a friend created a video by interviewing people on the street, and doing word-association. They did number of words, and when they asked "Christian" they got responses of "fake", "hypocrites", "church" and "boring" - but not a single person associated the word with "love", "grace" or "community".

Shane gives a few more negative examples, summed up by the quote:

The greatest cause of atheism is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips,then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.

before then inspiring us with a numerous examples of people who were extreme in their love, and extremely closer to the example of Jesus.

Video Discussion on Video Preaching

Recently i wrote about video preaching and the possibility of using it to help struggling congregations, and to free up some time for pastors in all congregations to be more involved in community and mission.

Then i saw this video by Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, and James MacDonald:

Apart from discussing how video preaching allows the congregation to be more active in mission, they also realise its value as a church-planting tool. It's a hard enough job to start a new church out of nothing, without having the extra load of preaching. Video preaching gives new churches the chance to get off the ground.

10 Missional Prayers

I liked James White's collection of 10 Missional Prayers - in particular these ones:

• That pastors would see other churches as a co-laborer, not as the competition.
• That members of churches would see themselves as ministers and missionaries, as opposed to consumers.
• That those committed to discipleship would quit pitting it against evangelism as if any emphasis on "reaching out" somehow takes away from "building up", creating a false dichotomy that doesn't exist biblically.
• That older generations would quit worrying about being catered to sufficiently, and would become more interested in passing the baton on to the next generation.
• That the false dichotomy between a concern for personal or sexual morality, and social justice, would evaporate.
• That the pendulum between whether to share the gospel or engage in social ministry would also disappear. We are to give a cup of water and the bread of life, feeding both stomach and soul.
• That we would understand that lost people are not the enemy.

The full, uneditted list can be found here.

Church For Men - The Website

The past couple of days i've summarised the two-part interview with David Murrow, and linked to the audio (here and here). There was a quick mention of his website Church For Men.


It's a very useful website. Obviously it outlines how we have a church that is against men, and how dysfunctional that is. But most of the website is devoted to making positive changes through a wide range of tips, tools and resources.

My personal favourite is the Guy-Friendliness Test. Answer the questions. Tally up the score. See how your church rates.

David Murrow - How Women Help Men Find God

David Murrow continued his discussion on James Dobson's "Family Talk" program (see my summary of part 1). This time the discussion was more about women - and how they can help the men and boys in their life find God. [Download Part 1 | Part 2]


The point of this discussion is well summed up by the dedication in David Murrow's second book:

This book is dedicated to 3 women - she who prays for her man but sees no change, she whose son has abandoned the faith, and she who searches for a Christian mate but finds none.

The female host reckoned that speaks to about 90% of women. The chat started with understanding how difficult it is for men in the church today.
More of David Murrow's own story:

I got so frustrated with Christianity, I began to wonder if I could be a Christian and a man at the same time. Our church was such a cautious place, such a nurturing place. And then i'd open up the scriptures and Jesus was anything but that. I began to realise that if Christ came to our church that he would probably be thrown out. He would be considered unfit to lead.

On how we've twisted the gospel:

150 years ago - If you went up to a pastor and asked for 'a personal relationship with Jesus' they wouldn't know what you're talking about. But now we've brought in metaphors like that, which takes the gospel and expresses it in terms of a woman's greatest desire - a personal relationship with a man who loves her.

On why some "worship" songs just don't cut it:

A man is going to express his love in terms of respect not romance. I'm not going to say "Ryan. I'm desperate for you. I'm lost without you. I'm so in love with you." You feel how weird that is?

Speaking about helping men find God, he says "you gotta realise that church may not be the way it's going to happen - or you need to find a church that understands men... Help them find other goldy men to hang out with." It's not a macho thing, It's about bringing a healthy masculine spirit, that's present in the gospel, into the church.

Chocolat - A Parable

Had the pleasure of watching the movie Chocolat this week. If you've not seen it - here is the trailer - i recomend you do see it.


Essentially it's about a small town whose religion centres around maintaining their tradition, discipline, rules, penance, self-righteousness and exclusion. Or as the character Jospehine explains:

You don't misbehave here. It's just not done, did you know that? If you don't go to confession, if you don't dig your flowerbeds, or if you don't pretend that you want nothing more in your life... then you're crazy.

The village attitude was best summed up by the poster put around town when a group of out-of-towners show up in the village, and the mayor initiats a boycott - encouraging people to have nothing to do with the 'morally contaminated outsiders'. A sentiment exactly the opposite of the Jesus the town pretends to follow. Jesus was criticised for engaging too much with people of dubious character.

Perhaps Jesus would have identified more with Vianne:

Roux: I should probably warn ya - you make friends with us, you make enemies with everyone else.
Vianne Rocher: Is that a promise?
Roux: It's a guarantee.

But the greatest part came when the priest (having previously been told what to preach) delivered his own message - about actually following Christ.

I'd rather talk about His humanity. I mean, you know, how He lived His life, here on Earth. His kindness, His tolerance. Listen, here's what I think. I think that we can't go round measuring our goodness by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.

Even better was that the people of God actually went and lived out that message.

Same Preacher, Different Place

I read another article about those multi-campus churches in the US. The ones where a pastor preaching at one location is also screened at a second (or even third) location. This particular church had grown from 115 people in '97 to over 6000 now - too much for just one building.


"We're one church with many locations", said one of the people in the article. Which got me to wondering about denominational churches. After all, don't we say that we are all part of the wider church?

It seems to me to be entirely possible to apply the same principle across a denomination. To have pastors with some technology record their message for struggling congregations (who may not have a preacher) to download. Or even for occasional use when the pastor is on leave.

[see also my thoughts on Are Sermons A Waste Of Time]

Tips From Wayne

CMS recently talked to Wayne Elsey, CEO/founder of the nonprofit Soles4Souls, and author of Almost Isn't Good Enough: The Human Connection Changes Everything.


He had a few good points to make, coming out of his experience in the not-for-profit sector, and in churches.

On relations between churches...

...there is a more important question to ask: How can churches work together? Far too many try to compete. They are limiting their impact by not reaching out to one another. I just don’t understand it.

About evangelism (using a sales analogy)...

The old model of sales was give the prospect a bunch of information and move in for the close. This is the EE (evangelism explosion) model. The most effective sales people today ask lots of questions, focus on understanding the needs of the buyer, and work to help the buyer make the best decision. Evangelism today is more about solidarity and doing life together than cramming information down people’s throats.

His one tip for churches...

Get out of the pulpit and out of the pew and into the communities in which we live. Rub shoulders with people who are different from you. Listen and learn from them. ... Churches need to empower and facilitate individuals to do ministry and focus less on accumulating staff positions that remove the congregation from ministry.

Brad Stine

Christian comedian Brad Stine talking about a few things - including a few ways the church distorts Jesus and repels men.



Highlights:

"They make us do stuff at church that we do like to do - and then we think we're bad christians"

"Either Jesus isn't God, or sin isn't always what we think it is."

"We've tried to make Jesus exactly what we wanted to be - and he wasn't. He made a living ticking off the religious people."

Jesus Is For Losers

People are drawn towards folks who have it all together, or who look like they do. People are also drawn towards folks who know they don't have it all together and are not willing to fake it.

One of these is more in line with the attitude of Jesus, as he describes two men praying (Luke 18:10-14).

"Christianity can be built around isolating ourselves ... creating a community of religious piety and moral purity" says Shane Claiborne, in Chapter 9. This is the sort of church he grew up with - but he prefers the sort of church that joins with broken people crying out to God for grace. Or in the words of Jesus "I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners".

Shane believes the world would be more willing to listen to "a church that doesn't pretend to be perfect or have all the answers."

There are so many people who are longing to be brought to life, who know all too well that they have done evil and long to hear not only of a God who embraces evildoers but also of a church that does the same.

Happiness - Church Or Friends?

A new survey shows that frequent church attenders are happier than less frequent attenders.

But is it due to church? The authors suggest it's more about the friends.

Our evidence shows that it is not really going to church and listening to sermons or praying that makes people happier, but making church-based friends and building social networks there

One-third of frequent attenders (with 3-5 close friends at church) were "extremely satisfied" with their lives. This increases to 40%, for those with 11 or more friends at church. Churchgoers with no close friends at church are less happy than those who don't attend at all.

Overall, one would have to conclude that church itself makes people unhappy, but having close Christian friends more than compensates for it.

Perhaps this is what the writer of Hebrews realised when he talked about motivating one another to acts of love and good works, meeting together, and encouraging one another. Sounds like Christian friendship to me.