We haven't said this in a while, but if you have a post or know of a post that you would like to spread around the internet, send me the link and we'll take a look and see what we can do to get it posted on Weekly Meanderings. No promises ...Division in the Church is never the ideal ... but this seemed inevitable: North American Province of the Anglican Communion. Here's a CT article, but I'd like to hear those Anglican editors at CT weigh in on this one.
Here's something we are grateful for ...
I totally agree with Rose Madrid Swetman's take on assisted suicide. Bob Smietana's piece in The Tennessean tells the story of a congregation coming to life through missional work. I like this piece (but hasn't been published elsewhere already?). Lots to take away from this story by Carol Kehlmeier. TSK aggregates various sites on churches dealing with the recession. Jennifer's story of setting up a Christmas tree. John Frye is reviving the old Wittenburg Door articles.
A new position: pastor for gospel action.
Dan Kimball asks hard questions of the missional strategy for evangelism. (BTW: I don't see Dan's concern here to be with "missional" but with the impact of missional evangelism.) David Fitch, ever ready, pitches in on this battle to explain some things missional. Erika Haub also offers some reflections. Here's my assessment, and I stand with Dan Kimball on this one: any church that says it is "missional" and over time has no growth numerically from evangelism isn't, in fact, being "missional." That is, missional isn't a substitute for evangelism but the genuine form of the Christian life of loving God and loving others, and therefore living with and for others. Genuine missional living leads to evangelism. (And, to come full circle, any evangelism that isn't missional is not genuine evangelism.) Jesus was missional, and he called folks to follow him and he did so by telling them to enter into the kingdom by repenting and by believing in him and by embodying, with others, that kingdom.
Academic opening in "Religious Studies" at the University of Agder in Norway, where LeRon Shults teaches.
1. The Mumbai attacks revealed a new kind of terrorism and turned the police into soldiers. It was 9/11 for them.
2. Study abroad ... for the whole degree.
3. Brooks on changes underway in international poliltics.
4. Pure amateur sports -- we've got some of this at North Park with our crew teams.
Maybe my favorite place in the whole world: Tuscany.
5. Don't minimize the significance of Obama's pick for education.6. Speaking of education, Facebook ... not exactly education but it's the most used social network in the universe.
7. Of all Christian groups, evangelical Protestants score best: only 10 percent give nothing away. Evangelicals tend to be the most generous, but they do not outperform their peers enough to wear a badge of honor. Thirty-six percent report that they give away less than two percent of their income. Only about 27 percent tithe.
Sports:
The Bears looked awful, it's good that they are no longer in first place because the pressure was getting to all of us ... hey, come to think of it, we tied the Vikes this year. We won here and they won up there. Come to think of it, they won because they were at home.
I enjoyed watching this pitcher more than any in my lifetime. (And, our son got to catch him in a bullpen one time.)
What do you, Mr. Mayor Daley, think of "da Bears"?
He deserves it.
And here come the Ms. Santas!
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Mike,
You have my support in the inadequate framing of the gospel in many attractional churches; and the same support in their focusing on getting decisions too much ... but ....
As long as you admit that:
1. Some of those churches are some of the best models also of missional work, and I would say both Willow Creek and Saddleback show wonderful signs of development here.
2. Most of those attractional churches also have strong programs -- programs, not always everyone involved -- in discipleship and Bible reading etc.. In fact, some of the best materials for discipleship etc have emerged from attractional churches.
3. These same churches preach a gospel that does not get them to the necessity of missional living and discipleship. In fact, their gospel renders these things voluntary ... and yet...
4. These same churches are often vocal in appealing to Christians to be involved in discipleship etc..
What I see in the major attractional churches, then, is a mixed bag of both attractional and missional. I agree that for some -- esp 25 years ago -- the attractional was just too important. But there are significant signs of change in these matters.
Oh yeah, I agree with all of that. In fact, I've never been down on Willow or Saddleback (at least not to the extreme that our friend Dave Fitch often is). As far as seeker churches go, those two especially are often way better than their copy-cats.
Scot: is Daley looking more and more like his old man or what?
You say "Willow Creek and Saddleback show wonderful signs of development here" in terms of missional work. Can you be more specific so that we can model this?
Mike,
Both churches are deeply committed to and committing funds/resources to AIDS and poverty issues, both locally and globally.
I'm not sure these are really timely enough to warrant posting on here, but I'm curious to know how you react to these posts I wrote about a year and a half ago . . .
http://jennw2ns.blogspot.com/2007/06/divine-in-captain-jack-sparrow.html
and
http://jennw2ns.blogspot.com/2007/06/how-pirate-brotherhood-is-like-church.html
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