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.