Java Jesus

Great Article Defining "Emergent"

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:42:00 +0000

This is bodaciously long, but it is wonderfully wise. Must have been hard work. You guys might recognize the author, Michael Patton. He's the poor soul I raked over the coals for saying "God is mainly interested in the doctrine you believe, not in what you do." Well, I'm tippin' my hat to him today. Go read Will the Real Emerger Please Stand Up?

It's like Ultimate Fighting, but With the Bible

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:25:00 +0000

Okay, I think I get it. Preaching is a competitive sport, and the one who can interpret biblical truth in the most extreme and stringent way is the winner. Say it with style and it's like a slam dunk, except the spectators say "amen".

Hagee Clip. Huh?

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:45:00 +0000

I found this on a site quaintly called "Hard-Preaching-Dot-Com", on the "Heresy" tab. What do you make of it? What's the point he's trying to make? What could he possibly mean that "Jesus did not come to be the messiah"? I wonder how he explains why Jesus' disciples refer to him as "the christ" some 515 times?

Southern Baptist Seismic Activity

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:14:00 +0000

Interesting article from iMonk, Michael Spencer. Short and telling.

Professional Player loves Jesus?

noreply@blogger.com (soebeck) — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:14:00 +0000

Got this today from my friend Jeremiah. Went to LCC with him and he has definitely taken things in a different direction then we thought. I know it is sometimes hard to reconcile these two worlds, but if we really are to embrace the world around us, why not be a financial planner, a software developer, or even a professional blogger/poker player? This may be a source for some good discussion (or maybe not), but regardless, would you mind lifting him up in prayer?

Gentlemen,

Tomorrow I head back to Vegas for the 2009 World Series of Poker. Last WSOP was an incredible experience for me; I've never had that much fun playing poker or developing relationships. I'm incredibly excited about this summer...I am in a great spot this year for both working and playing. However, what I'm really looking forward to is renewing the relationships and friendships I've developed in the poker community over the past few years. Obviously, there's larger issues at stake for me than how my next podcast turns out or how I played in a given tournament.

One thing I'm going to need a lot of this summer is prayer support; Christians are few and far between in the poker community. If possible, I'd love it if you could include me in your regular prayer time these next several weeks. If you're interested, I'll send you at least a weekly email with bullet points to pray for. If you're not interested, that's too bad and I'll just spam your inbox :) Of primary concern to me is my relationship with Melissa; I'll be going back and forth a couple times and she's used to me traveling for work, but it's always tough being away from her and the pooch.

My schedule is very full; I hope to collect enough "data" for articles and such through the end of the year. Here's what I'll be doing:

Producing a series of strategy videos for pokerlistings.com/pokerroad.com
Weekly tournament articles for pokernews.com (newest one here)
Cash Plays podcast for pokerroad.com - link
I've had a number of requests for articles/blogs etc...gotta figure out what to do/not do
Playing 10-12 tournaments (May 30, Jun 1, 3, 6 coming up quick)

I'm really hoping for a little more of Matthew 13:33 this summer:

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Blessings,

Jeremiah

The Hidden Curriculum

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:05:00 +0000

And yet another one from Leadership Journal...

Your Hidden Curriculum: What do people learn from you about the Christian life? Sometimes it's what you never intended to teach.

Here's what Sr. Scribe JoeB had to say about the article:

If the invisible curriculum of my own life hasn't shouted it down, you may recall my many rants on this subject. I call the invisible curriculum the "Unwritten Rules", and I believe the Bible calls them "spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies."* I imagine all of his superb examples fall in the category of "reverse beatitudes", the ways of the world. Power before love; expedience before justice; victory before mercy. The shabbily dressed are welcome...if they sit here, at my feet. The meek inherit the earth...as soon as the powerful are done with it, and they've decided where the meek must stand.

I think these "spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies" begin as individuals' shortcomings, but people play along with them and they become institutionalized. They become prescriptions for attitudes and behavior. And people master the curriculum just by breathing the air.

The invisible curriculum can be positive, by the way. And it is overwhelmingly powerful. I have experienced communities that overflow with love in the holy spirit, and it is earthshaking. In evangelism terms it is like the irresistible force.

Traditionalism vs Reforming Tradition

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:28:00 +0000

Another great article from a friend:

Something Old, Something New: Combining liturgy and postmodern culture leads to fresh forms of worships in the U.K.

A few choice quotes:

"...the goal isn't to be trendy. The gospel always comes to us wearing cultural robes, speaking the language of its own time and society."

"the contemporary worship movement structured itself around bands that led blocks of singing followed by preaching and responses. In the 1970s and '80s, this movement was an exciting recovery of freedom of expression in worship. But over time, in many places, contemporary worship has gotten stuck, and what once felt radical and alive now feels a bit past its sell-by date."

"Communion is another precious old gift in the treasure house. We have improvised by putting Communion back in the context of a meal in homes or around tables in a café."

I also liked the part about NT Wright's example of "faithful improvisation," and us being in the middle of the fifth act of the Bible. Discuss.

Regarding Spiritual Gifts...

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Barna Survey Describes Christians' Spiritual Gifts Awareness

(Feb 9, Ventura, CA) - The Bible teaches that all followers of Christ are given supernatural abilities by God to serve Him better, known as spiritual gifts. Two-thirds of Americans (68%) who say they are Christian noted they have heard of spiritual gifts, according to a national survey by The Barna Group. That represents a small decline from past surveys, which found 72% awareness in 2000, and 71% in 1995.

Awareness of spiritual gifts was most common among self-described Christians who live in the South (75%) and West (71%), and least common among those living in the Midwest (63%) and Northeast (58%).

Such awareness also varied within the various segments of the self-described Christian population. For instance, 99% of evangelicals have heard of spiritual gifts, far more than the 74% among non-evangelical born again Christians and 58% among notional Christians. Similarly, there was a large gap between Protestants (75%) and Catholics (54%) in awareness. Even within the Protestant community there was a noteworthy gap between those who attend a mainline church (68% awareness) and those who attend a Protestant congregation not associated with a mainline denomination (78%).

Which Gifts People Claim

The survey asked people who said they were Christian and who claimed to have heard of spiritual gifts to identify which gifts they believe God has granted to them. The most commonly claimed gifts were teaching (9%), service (8%) and faith (7%). Those were followed by encouragement (4%), healing (4%), knowledge (4%), and tongues (3%). The gift of leadership was mentioned by just 2%.

There were significant differences in the answers provided by evangelicals, non-evangelical born agains and notional Christians. Evangelicals were more likely than people from the other faith segments to say that they had gifts of teaching (28%), service (12%), encouragement (10%), and administration (7%). The non-evangelical born again segment was the group most likely to claim the gifts of faith (10%) and hospitality (3%). Notional Christians were most notable for having the largest percentage who said they had no gift at all (37%, compared to 16% of evangelicals and 24% of non-evangelical born agains).

Patterns

The percentage that claims to have the gift of encouragement has grown steadily from 2% in 1995 to 6% today.

Since 1995, the proportion of born again adults claiming the gift of evangelism dropped from 4% to 1%.

Those who do not know what their gift is rose from 8% in 2000 to 13 today.

False Gifts

The survey also found that many people who say they have heard of spiritual gifts were not necessarily describing the same gifts outlined in the Bible. Among the gifts claimed that are not among those deemed to be spiritual gifts in the passages of scripture that teach about gifts (Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4:7-13, 1 Peter 4:10-11) were a sense of humor, singing, health, life, happiness, patience, a job, a house, compromise, premonition, creativity, and clairvoyance.

In total, one-fifth of all the gifts cited by respondents (21%) were attributes that do not fit the biblical lists of gifts given by God.

Thoughts on the Meaning of the Results

The survey data point out several interesting conditions.

Between those who do not know their gift (15%), those who say they don’t have one (28%) and those who claimed gifts that are not biblical (20%), nearly two-thirds of the self-identified Christian population who claim to have heard about spiritual gifts have not been able to accurately apply whatever they have heard or what the Bible teaches on the subject to their lives.

A specific set of gifts, commonly described as the charismatic gifts, are widely possessed by Christians. Overall, 13% of Christian adults claimed to have one of more of those gifts (e.g., healing, interpretation, knowledge, miracles, prophecy, tongues). The people most likely to say they have a charismatic gift are woman (twice as likely as men); people without any college education; born again Christians; and people 45 or older. Intriguingly, although 13% say they have one or more charismatic gifts, the survey revealed that nearly twice as many (23%) described themselves as charismatics.

One of the reasons the evangelical community may seem to be so verbal about its faith and faith-driven convictions relates to the fact that more than one-quarter of them (28%) claim the gift of teaching. Possessing that gift might also raise people’s expectations regarding the quality of sermons and other teaching received at their church, triggering the often-cited high turnover within evangelical congregations.

By the same token, the fact that evangelicals were far more likely to claim the gifts of administration and service also reflects the widely-cited tendency of the group to be well-organized and to be generous in donating its time and energy to causes it deems worthy.

A much higher percentage of born again Christians claims to be a leader than cites having been given the spiritual gift of leadership. This suggests that perhaps many Christian leaders are torn between relying upon their natural talent and training rather than depending upon God’s gifting to empower their leadership. This issue may be even broader than the struggle of leaders. Spiritual gifts are provided as “special abilities” that enable believers to serve each other (as indicated in 1 Peter 4:10 and Romans 12:7). The struggle of the aggregate Christian Church in America may be related to the fact that a large share of individual believers who engage in ministry do so on the basis of personal preference and natural talent rather than supernatural capacities, resulting in ineffective ministry.

The stagnation of evangelism relates to many factors, but one of those is probably the fact that just 1% of Christian adults (self-described or born again) claims the gift of evangelism. While the Bible never suggests that one must possess this gift in order to share the gospel, the depressed proportion of believers who identify with that gift reflects the stalled growth of the Christian body in America.

Research and article copyright Barna Group, 2009. Visit their website to subscribe to their fine newsletter!

Fine Article From a Fine Pastor

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:45:00 +0000

"Southern Baptist Fight Decline"
From Ramblings of a Hoodlum Pastor Pat Hood, Smyrna TN.

Yesterday's article in the Tennessean on the decline of the Southern Baptist Convention was very revealing. For instance, the article revealed that we've lost 455,000 children in Sunday School in the last 36 years. I'm no mathematician, but my trusty calculator tells me that's a loss of 12,638 (and some change) each year. At the same time, our population has increased by 46%. If that's not depressing enough, SBC baptisms have declined to the levels not seen since the 1950's. Last year, more than 9000 churches reported 0 baptisms. Do you see what I mean by REVEALING?

This is not why Jesus established the church. I've heard people say the church is the only organization that exists for those who are not yet a part of it. But, I think I disagree. The church exists to be the Body of Christ for the GLORY OF GOD. Now, living for the Glory of God always results in people seeing & falling in love with Jesus... it's the produce, not the purpose. But, just like any organization in existence, the church has to fight hard against the urge to be self-serving. Have we not fought hard enough in the SBC? Have we lost the fight? Have we given up the fight?

I've talked to many pastors who've entered the fight by trying to develop new strategies & innovation in such areas as Children's Ministry only to get beat up by people with good intentions who simply don't want to change. The boat is taking on serious water, but rather than getting in another boat, they just try to paddle harder & faster, & they continue to go down.

So, many pastors are faced with a decision to either lead their church to make necessary changes to continue building God's Kingdom or keep everyone happy while the ship goes down. This tension has led to many churches claiming rapid growth, but the growth isn't from new believers, it's from discontented Christians moving from churches trying to engineer new ships to churches just trying to stay afloat. (Forgive me if this sounds a little...cynical, but I've seen too many Christians lose focus on THE Kingdom & be more concerned about THEIR kingdom.)

I'm so thankful for pastors & leaders like Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Ed Young, Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll... (the list could go on & on) who have stood strong in the fight, giving inspiration to those of us in the trenches. Any dead fish can float down stream, but it takes someone with strength to go against the flow.

I'm also thankful for the people who make up LifePoint Church. You have stepped in the ring & fought hard to build God's Kingdom. LifePoint is full of people who have laid aside their own agenda to passionately pursue God's Agenda. Some of the changes we've made over the years have been tough, even for me, but Lifer's have stood strong in the battle so that kids & adults alike can see & fall in love with Jesus. It's an incredible joy & tremendous privilege to lead a people who are so passionate for the supremacy of the Glory of God in all things.

David versus...Driscoll?

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:45:00 +0000

Speaking of Pastor Driscoll, check this out. I don't think I would have posted this article if not for a lunch meeting I had with a certain prominent person who ended his association with Mr Driscoll. The article explains it in just the same way as that fellow did. My thanks to old buddy Brian Daugherty for the link! My point in posting this is not that M Driscol is evil. I still love his message and style. Rather it has to do with the corrosion of basic Christianity when it gets infected by fame and BIGNESS.

I once had a friend who worked under a very famous mega-church pastor in the 1980's. That is, until he refused to put the good pastor's socks and shoes on him (which all the rest of the staff dutifully did each Sunday. Seems he was just too busy to bother with dressing himself for church. What with all that praying and all.) About a week later her was "exposed" in a sexual scandal that ended his ministry. Now he writes and lectures other ministers, men who have not disgraced their office, who line up to hear how and why they should keep their britches pulled up.

Sometimes I think they're all speaking Klingon. A normal person should not understand this stuff.

Oh, by the way. Please, never let me pose for a picture that has me sitting all cool as the gatekeeper at heaven's stairway. Please, oh please...

Evolution of Blogdom

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:59:00 +0000

If you haven't noticed by now, a lot of the GOOD stuff is now being discussed over at the unchurch blog. That doesn't mean we are locking the doors here at Java Jesus, it just means more of our discussion is leaning away from "how to DO church" towards... Well, towards something else.

Go on over and check it out. Check back here once in awhile, just in case something crops up. We have great diversity in our interests, so you never know.

Reformission

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:00:00 +0000

(This was posted as a comment on another blog by fiber_tech. I thought it was perfect for Java Jesus.)

In his book Confessions of a Reformission Rev, Mark Driscoll does a good job of making the a case that both the institutional mega-church and the organic simple-church playing a vital part in a comprehensive approach to being Christlike in ministry.

"Jesus' incarnation itself is in itself, missional. God the Father sent God the Son into culture on a mission to redeem the elect by the power of God the Ghost. After his resurrection, Jesus also sent HIs disciples into culture, on a mission to proclaim the success of His mission, and commissioned all Christians to likewise be missionaries to the cultures of the world (e.g., Matt. 28:18-20; John20:21; Acts 1:7-8). Emerging and missional Christians have wonderfully rediscovered the significance of Jesus' incarnational example of being a missionary immersed in a culture."

"But sadly, they are also prone to overlook the attractional nature of Jesus' earthly ministry. In addition to immersing himself in a culture for a mission, Jesus' ministry was also marked by the large crowds that were drawn to him because of his preaching and miracles."

"One important example of the attractional elements of Jesus' ministry is found in the sixth chapter of John's gospel. A very large crowd, numbering thousands of people, came to see Jesus perform miracles and to hear him preach. Jesus appears to be modeling attractional church growth strategies of doing what was needed to gather many people to hear the preaching of the gospel. Jesus then fed the entire crowd by miraculously multiplying a little boy's lunch, which would only have increased the crowds that thronged to see him."
"But Jesus then preached that he was the bread of life, which drove many people away from him in confusion and disagreement. We see that Jesus not only gathers a crowd, but also intentionally drove many people away because they were not among the elect chosen for salvation (John 6:37). Some disciples, however, remained with Jesus and continued to be trained as missionaries by Jesus. They were later sent out to follow his pattern of incarnating in a culture, attracting crowds, preaching hard words that harden some hearts and soften others, and then training those who believe to be missionaries who follow Jesus' principles of attractional and missional ministry."

"Missions once solely meant sending American Christians into foreign lands and cultures to live among the people there and to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to them in a relevant way. But reformission also seeks to determine how Christians and their churches can most effectively be missionaries to their own local cultures."

"Reformission, therefore, begins with a special return to Jesus, who, by grace saves us and sends us into reformission. Jesus has called us to (1) the gospel (loving our Lord), (2) the culture (loving our neighbor), and (3) the church (loving our Christian brothers and sisters). One of the causes for the lack of reformission in the American church is that various Christian traditions are prone to faithfulness on only one or two of these counts. Consequently, when we fail to love the Lord, our culture, and our church simultaneously, reformation ceases, leaving one of three holes: the parachurch, liberalism, and fundamentalism."

Gospel + Culture - Church = Parachurch

"First, some people become so frustrated with the church that they bring the gospel into culture without it. This is referred to as the parachurch and includes evangelistic ministries such as Young Life, and Campus Crusade for Christ. The parachurch has a propensity to love its neighbors but not to love the church."

Culture + Church - Gospel = Liberalism

"Second, some churches are so concerned with being culturally relevant that, though they are deeply involved in the culture, they neglect the gospel. This is classic liberal Christianity. Liberal Christians run the risk of loving their neighbors and their Christian brothers and sisters at the expense of loving their Lord and His gospel."

Church + Gospel - Culture = Fundamentalism

"Third, some churches are more into their church and its traditions, buildings, and politics than they are the gospel. Though they know the gospel theologically, they rarely take it out of their church. This is classic fundamental Christianity, which flourishes most widely in more independent-minded, Bible-believing churches. Fundamental Christians are prone to love their Lord, and their brothers and sisters, but not their neighbors."

"The only way out of these holes is repentance, which enables reformission. Through repentance, Christians and churches are empowered by the Holy Spirit to simultaneously love the Lord, love their neighbors, and love their Christian brothers and sisters."

Gospel + Culture + Church = Reformission

"Reformission combines the best aspects of each of these types of Christianity: living in the tension of being culturally liberal yet theologically conservative Christians and churches who are absolutely driven by the gospel of grace to love their Lord, their neighbors, and their fellow Christians."

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:35:00 +0000

"In the first century in Palestine Christianity was a community of believers. Then Christianity moved to Greece and became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome and became an institution. Then it moved to Europe and became a culture. And then it moved to America and became a business. We need to get back to being a healthy, vibrant community of true followers of Jesus."
- Priscilla Shirer

This is a great article I found, and pasted it here. You can download the whole book by clicking here.

Defining "Church" (Webster Has It Wrong) by Roger Thoman

Church according to Miriam-Webster's online dictionary:
1: a building for public and especially Christian worship2: the clergy or officialdom of a religious body3: a body or organization of religious believers: as a: the whole body of Christians b: denomination c: congregation4: a public divine worship

Webster defines church according to the way this word is used today. I was taught this same definition as a little boy when I would put my hands together and recite the rhyme: "Here is the church, and here is the steeple; open the door and here are all the people."
Jesus, however, introduced the term "church" with a very different meaning in mind. He used a word "ekklesia" that simply described a group or assembly of people. This is the original definition of the word. He described "church" as those people who were following Him-people walking in allegiance to him. People. His followers. Nothing more than that.

Jesus did not spend much time describing how to organize his people together or how to do meetings. Rather, his focus was on a lifestyle of loving others and obeying Him: "Go into all the world..." "Let your light shine..." "Do what you see the Father doing..." "Love one another..." Church, as defined by Jesus, was simply his followers living life for and with him.
Over the years, however, the word "church" began to include the many structures and forms that we added to the original meaning: Public meeting places (buildings or storefronts), Organizations of believers who get together to be led by a worship team and preached to by a pastor, or even Denominations that we join.

But, as John Eldredge reminds us: Church is not a building. Church is not an event that takes place on Sundays. I know, it's how we've come to think of it. ‘I go to First Baptist.' ‘We are members of St. Luke's.' ‘Is it time to go to church?' Much to our surprise, that is not how the Bible uses the term. Not at all. No. Not at all. Church is God's people-those who are choosing to live life with Jesus... 24/7. That is it. Nothing more.

But don't God's people gather together? Yes. We do see gatherings take place in Scripture. Many gatherings. Most often informal and simple. Normally in homes (Romans 16:5). Everyone participated (1 Corinthians 14:26). They functioned as spiritual families that cared deeply for one another (Romans 12:10). Yet the focus of the church (God's people) was a lifestyle of Jesus-following, rather than organizing events, attending programs, or joining organizations.

Perhaps the best way to describe the church of the New Testament is as small, vibrant, caring families of believers who are loving others and reproducing themselves into every corner of the world.

The Things I Learned About Church From Bible College
I attended a Bible College as a brand new Christian hungry to live a life useful to God. I loved reading the stories of the disciples following Jesus, traveling with him, ministering with him, doing miracles alongside of Jesus as he poured out his life for others. I thought it was fantastic. I enjoyed studying the book of Acts and seeing God's people going throughout the world, filled by the Spirit, walking in God's purposes and power. But, as a subtext, I was also taught to "do church" in Bible college. It was not a specific class. There was no text book. I simply learned to follow "how it was done" by those around me. Frankly, the way I learned to "do church" did not look much at all like the lives of the early disciples that I was studying and wanting to be like.

Nevertheless, by the time I felt called to pastor a church, I no longer questioned how church was done. We started with a building and a core group of Christians. We invited, and planned, and organized, and put together Sunday events. We built more buildings and started more services to invite people to. We developed programs for young and old, men and women, married and divorced. We hired staff and we organized ministry teams.
Without realizing it, we were following human traditions for church life that were developed over the centuries: cathedrals, pulpit-led services, pews, order-of-service, etc. All of these things may be useful in their place (God can use anything), but they have no place in the basic definition of "church."

Sadly, as the church has adopted more and more traditions and become more and more institutionalized, it has become largely ineffective in its impact on earth. In the western world, where we have created the best organizational church systems that exist, Christianity is declining. In contrast, in parts of India and China where the expression of church is largely organic, simple, and fluid, the church is flourishing.

Our longing is to see the church restored to its essence of life and vitality so that she becomes the full expression of Christ's power and love on earth. This is the great hope of God's kingdom coming to influence, save, and redeem a lost planet. Priscilla Shirer made this comment:

In the first century in Palestine Christianity was a community of believers. Then Christianity moved to Greece and became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome and became an institution. Then it moved to Europe and became a culture. And then it moved to America and became a business. We need to get back to being a healthy, vibrant community of true followers of Jesus.

Being Church
My Filipino friend, Molong Nacua, wrote an excellent article entitled "Being Church" that reminds us of the true meaning of "church": Church is where Christ lives, not the place where we meet. It is Christ-empowered people, a kingdom of priests for the purpose of winning against the works of the devil and establishing God's Kingdom (1 Cor. 3:17; Matt. 18:19; Ex. 19:6)... Christianity is not about doing church, but being the church. Church is not some place to go to participate in, but it is about being who you are in Christ and thus experiencing His real life in you. Your Christianity was never defined by attending a particular church. It is defined by Christ in you. In other words, you are a Christian 24/7, not because you participate in a two-hour worship service, but because Christ lives in you every minute of every day.

From "The Simple/House Church Revolution," chapter 2 by Roger Thoman. The entire book can be downloaded here.

Relational Tithe

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Up for discussion this week: Tithing! (Again.)

Here's the website for Relational Tithe. You also might want to check out the About Us page.

...They believed that there are enough resources to meet the needs of every person, and that the needs of each person are the responsibility of all people. The beginning of Relational Tithe can be boiled down to a question: “What would happen if we all set aside a tenth of our incomes to meet the needs of people we know?”

...This network, RelationalTithe.com, is a platform to allow people and groups from around the world to live together in the economy of abundance. It is a tool for connecting people across geographic and socioeconomic barriers and making it easy to redistribute money, wherever it's needed.

The concept is not entirely new, although the ease at which we can transfer money globally is much more handy in the 21st century. Many believe that the Biblical notion of tithing was to gather money to care for the poor among us, and that the 60-85% of current-day tithes that remain "internal" to churches (salaries, mortgages, electric bills) nowadays is completely unBiblical.

So this is a similar issue as the previous post -- how much can be spent on church "infrastructure" before it becomes sinful and directionally wrong?

And later, we'll take a look at Acts 7:48-49

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:40:00 +0000

Today, we'll have a discussion of church building architecture, entitled "A Lesson in Extremes."

First, we have Crystal Cathedral in California. An embodiment of light and space, grandeur and intimacy, the glass structure is recognized the world over as an architectural treasure. It was featured recently alongside the Hagia Sofia, Notre Dame, St. Peter's Cathedral, and Barcelona's Segrada Familia in The History Channel's documentary "Building in the name of God."

Lovely!

Next, we'll take a look at the Church Under the Bridge, under I-35 and 4th Street, in Waco, Texas.

It's, uh, a bunch of people. Under a bridge.

Both are places people can go to worship God. Both teach and proclaim Christianity, although I imagine they are probably two slightly divergent "flavors" of Christianity.

Can two immensely opposite "institutions" truly stand for the same God? What say ye?

Ray Boltz

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:38:00 +0000

A long, interesting article about famous Christian singer Ray Boltz...

Gospel singer Ray Boltz shares coming out journey in this Blade exclusive

I'll leave this one without commentary for the time being, although I'm curious what others might have to say. There's often so much backlash at this type of thing after it happens. I imagine it's only a matter of time before you stop hearing songs like "Thank You" sung at many churches, sadly. (Sadly because the cheesed emotion of the song makes me chuckle every time I hear it.)

"I'm Catholic, staunchly anti-abortion, and support Obama"

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:32:00 +0000

As election-time looms nearer, I thought I'd revive some of our earlier political discussions. Here's an article from the National Catholic Reporter -- can an anti-abortion Christian support Obama over McCain?

"I'm Catholic, staunchly anti-abortion, and support Obama"

What do you think?

Church Fiction

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:07:00 +0000

And now for something completely different. And slightly less serious. The Java Jesus team presents... Church Fiction.

The Death of Suburbia?

noreply@blogger.com (soebeck) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:52:00 +0000

Check out this story on white flight... to the city.

The Coming Demise of Suburbia
The kind of churches the next generation will plant

I’m at the point in my Church Leadership course when the entire class organizes into small groups to develop their own plans for church planting. Each group is required to develop a full-blown strategy for a new church plant as evidence of their church administration skills in planning, budgeting, promotion, along with attracting and organizing people. Since they are free to design any kind of church they want, I get a unique opportunity to peek at the dreams of the next generation.

What kind of church do they dream about? They dream of planting a downtown church. In the past four years, only two groups (out of 48 groups total) have designed a suburban church. The other 46 groups went downtown.

My students think living down town is cool. They think life in the suburbs is hollow and fake. No wonder. On TV for the last generation Seinfield, Friends then Sex and the city portrayed city life as the ideal. More recently, Desperate Houswives and The Sopranos reinforced the idea that suburban life as a place of despair and moral decay. Even when students are forced to develop a church planting plan in a town of 30,000, they still pick the “inner city” for their new plant. They do not despise storefront churches like their parents do.
We may be at the tipping point for suburban churches. Beltway churches have reigned supreme at the top of the food chain among evangelical churches. They may be at their zenith. Large sprawling churches with mall-like parking lots are still the envy of most boomer pastors. Now comes a younger generation who dismiss both the size and the location of top rung of the ladder. They prefer simple coffeehouse accepting storefront churches with active social programs providing a chic comfortable Starbucks-sized atmosphere. My student’s heroes are pastors like Adam and Christy Lipscomb, not the famous suburban Boomers pastoring sprawling mega churches. They don’t despise mega churches, they just dismiss them. The Lipscombs are the indy bands of the coming generations and mega church pastors have become mainline pop.

Until this week I thought this trend was only a generational shift among ministerial students. Now I’ve read Chris Leinberger’s article (to appear in the upcoming March 2008 issue of the Atlantic) and think is it more than that. This is a massive cultural trend I’ve missed by assigning it only to ministerial students. Leinberger is a fellow at the Brookings institute and a professor at the University of Michigan. He outlines the history of the rise and fall of the suburbs in vivid text that is so common for the Atlanticmagazine. It is convincing. If he is correct it will mean a massive shift for churches and church planting in the coming 50 years. I think he is right. In the next 50 years or massive “big box churches” may wind up with grass growing in their parking lots as their building decline, the younger population moves back into town and they increasingly cater to an ageing leftover population. They are the old downtown churches of the future, still bragging about their stained glass windows (or landscaped parking lots) while their children attend elsewhere. Leinberger outlines this enormous shift in the culture predicting the suburbs are headed for 50 years of decline while downtowns revitalize. Are we seeing the first signs of this tipping point?

Consider these factors:
1. Fashion. Generation X & the millennials already have shifted their dreams downtown. While the church jobs for young ministerial graduates are still in the suburbs, their heart is downtown. It is no longer cool to be on the beltway. As millions of the “greatest generation” move out of their homes the emerging generations won’t be buying them—they’d rather have a downtown apartment. Who will buy them? Poorer families will buy (or, more likely rent) these declining homes. The younger people will have moved into quaint (but cleverly decorated) downtown apartments and mini-homes. The market follows fashion—as demand for suburban homes declines so will prices. Chic is moving down town.

2. Sub-prime mortgage crisis. We already see the precursors. The suburban housing market is collapsing and prices are falling. Millions of homes have already been abandoned and turned back to the lenders. They sit unoccupied, as vandals tear out the copper wiring and squatters move in. Prices fall monthly until homeowners are relieved to simply “walk away” from their mortgage and forget recouping their down payment. The supposed “equity” in many homes is a fantasy, especially so for any who have owned their home less then 5 years. As the market floods, prices will spiral downward. Renting a home has become smarter than buying one today—and renting out empty homes is better than leaving them empty so suburban markets will go rental and that usually means eventual blight.

3. Suburban blight. We may see a reversal of what happened downtown in the 50’s and 60’s. Then, people moved out of the downtowns to the suburbs and inner city home values declined. Poorer families moved in and the properties (now owned now by landlords who had scooped up cheap houses) simply “milked” the properties. We may see the reversal of that and the “trading places” is now headed the other way. Suburban space (per square foot) is already cheaper than downtown space. Builders notice such disparity and “the market follows the market”—new building will move downtown. Downtown space is gentrifying. In the coming decades suburban housing will decline and poorer families will move in. Landlords will divide giant McMansions and they will become “rental units.” Neighbors will fight it at first but eventually they’ll sell out too, if only to escape the crime and blight. Deterioration in suburban homes will be worse than the downtown homes of the 60’s and 70’s though. Most suburban homes are built cheaper than those old downtown homes (same with suburban churches.) Suburban building features hollow core doors, 10-year shingles, cheap drywall and plastic trim. These will not survive renter’s abuse like the old downtown solid oak doors, slate roofs and plaster and lath. A suburban home can get trashed in three years. By 2020 we will see “suburban ghettos” emerge. They will become as infamous as the former inner city ones were and we’ll see them on the news each night. The plot of Escape from New York will be reversed. Upscale young people won’t be moving to the edges of town—they will head downtown where all the newest and most exciting churches will be located. Suburban churches will continue with their brightly lit big boxes with tiered theater seating and praise teams on stage while the younger folk will seek out dark flat-floored club-like or coffeehouse atmospheres that Boomers will dismiss as “not a real church.” By 2020, many cheaply built suburban churches will be 25 years old or more and their bathrooms and classrooms will feel like the bathrooms at the mall. Mega churches will still ‘stack them higher and sell them lower” but younger people won’t be at Wal-mart, they be shopping over at J.Crew, G.A.P. and Abercrombie and Fitch… and at the local Salvation Army outlet.

4. Decline of malls. The temples of Boomer suburban life have been its malls, big box stores and mega churches. Yet shopping malls have fallen out of fashion as the owners milk their former investments and board up empty stores. Big box stores are still at their peak, as Mega churches are. But the cutting edge for developers is neither shopping malls nor big box stores. The cutting edge has moved to developingfaux downtowns—complete “cities” with narrow streets, tiny shops and hidden parking lots built at the edge of town to cater to the desire to return downtown. Yet these edge-of-town cityscape faux downtowns are missing one element: churches. They offer banks, shops, coffeehouses and exercise spas but no churches. Where are all the Boomer church planters? Still chasing the mall crowd and buying property on the beltways. Denominations who do not seek space in these faux downtown cityscapes will be left out of the future wave of culture. And it will be expensive—just like beltway property was compared to declining downtown or rural land. Denominations who ignore the great cultural shift back downtown (either faux or real) will be left paying off debt on their declining megaplex monstrosities filled with baby-boomers-using-walkers. They will become just like the old downtown congregations of the 1980’s. Will boomers support this trend that undoes their own great works or will they fight like the old “downtown association” of retail shops did in the 70’s?

5. Walkable living. More than any other trend, this one mystifies Boomers. Boomers can’t imagine life without a car. Some younger folk can. Suburban life is car-driven. Downtown life is walkable. None of my ministerial graduates could survive an interview in a suburban church if they admitted they have no car and don’t intend to buy one. They’d be laughed at by Boomer interviewers! Yet, in the coming 50 years the “walkable lifestyle” will increase. I know several of our graduates who moved into downtowns and have no car whatsoever. (I am not making this up!) They ride bicycles, use public transportation, hire taxis and get cheap rental cars to take on long trips, or even borrow their friends’ cars. They have crunched the numbers and say they save both money and the environment. Boomers are bewildered at such ideas. We don’t consider you grown-up if you don’t own a car. the walkable lifestyle is a central feature of downtown life. What will this trend do to our notion of church planting? I notice this trend every time my students plant their dream church. Most envision a neighborhood church—reaching out to those near at hand. Where do they get this? Yet they “see” it when asked to let their vision loose. Perhaps more than all other cultural trends, this one will affect the kind of churches we become in the future. These younger people will either change the kind of church we plant, or we will change these younger people’s values and vision.
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The bottom line is suburban churches seem to be hitting their zenith. We may soon see a cultural tipping point when the suburbs (and suburban churches) enter a 50-year period of decline. The suburbs had 50 years to do their thing. Now it is the downtown’s turn. Downtowns began their period of decline in 1946 (when suburbs were invented). The next 50 years saw a period of decline and deterioration for the down towns. Most downtown churches declined along with their neighborhoods. These downtown churches became drive-back churches for the moved-out members of the “greatest generation.” their boomer children didn’t drive back. Instead, we founded sprawling suburban mega-centers patterned after our beloved shopping malls. Now, 50 years after the founding of the suburbs have seem to have reached their own zenith. The fashion is shifting back down town. Will boomers be just like the downtown stores of the 70’s, believing things will never change? Will Boomers never listen to the different ideas about lifestyle and churches the newer generations cherish? These younger folk don’t dream of suburban mansions and megachurches far away from the downtown. They seem curiously satisfied with modest downtown apartments where they and their neighbors “do life together.” When my students dream up church plants they design churches that would appeal to the characters in Friends,Seinfield and Sex and the City… and themselves. They dream of a church that is socially active in caring and sharing with their community who “does life together.”

I wonder how the incorrigibly suburban boomers will react to this massive cultural shift? How will suburban churches respond? How will denominational church planting efforts “church daughteringstrategies” address this coming shift? How will Boomers respond to the dreams of emerging generations to go downtown and start the kind of churches again the boomers left long ago?

My Generation and "The Churched"

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:41:00 +0000

...The study shows that only 3% of 16 - to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals.

I'm in the midst of reading a book called unChristian, by David Kinnaman, the president of The Barna Group (good recommendation, Ron!). It studies Christianity's "slipping image" among young people. These people don't necessarily have a negative impression of Jesus, they just have a negative impression of CHRISTIANS.

I think that says something that we seriously need to take a look at. We discussed some of these same impressions back on this post.

Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%).

The "hypocritical" and "old-fashioned" doesn't surprise me. But three fourths believe that present-day Christianity is too involved in politics? Do American evangelicals need to seriously rethink their approach?

When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus." These comments were the most frequent unprompted images that young people called to mind, mentioned by one-quarter of both young non-Christians (23%) and born again Christians (22%).

Young people think that Christianity in today's society no longer looks like Jesus. What does that tell us?

CFW Walther

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:33:00 +0000

Another "no comments necessary" post. I wanted to share this link to the 25 theses set out by CFW Walther in his magnum opus The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel. One page, great reading. Thanks, Elephant's Child!

Link to Doofus article

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:45:00 +0000

Don't stop your great discussion on the other post. I just wanted you all to have the live link to the article Big Doofus recommended. It is required reading for anyone in the intellectual, cutural, or teaching leadership in Christ's church. I'm not kidding, it's that good and it's that important. Thanks Rog!

The Gospel in All its Forms
by Tim Keller

Mixing up the Gospel?

joebradford@theunchurch.us (Joe B) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:40:00 +0000

Big Doofus posted a very thoughtful comment on the worship music post which I think is at the crux of a huge doctrinal tension. I thought it deserved a whole new thread of its own. It read, in part:

"I really think that our corporate worship should reflect united praise to God for who He is, what He has done, and what He will do...I just don't want to mix up the real gospel with the results of the gospel in our lives--if that makes any sense."

The whole reason we discuss things here is to make unified sense of differing views. We Caffecclesiologians obviously are looking at this differently, so let's tackle it. DOES it make any sense?

What IS the gospel? What IS its result in our lives? What truth is at stake if the two are mixed? Or, what is at stake if we fail to mix them?

Does Christ Jesus separate the gospel from the results of the gospel in our lives? Or are they actually one thing in Him.

What did Jesus say?
What did the apostles say?
What did the prophets promise?

(I think I scheduled this to post on Monday AM. I don't want to cut of the great discussion on the last post.)

Worship Music, the Phenomenon

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:42:00 +0000

Continuing with the theme of posting quotes from books, just because I find it generates some fascinating discussion...

Fin.

cool

you

This diatribe comes from Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock. It was (obviously) written by a non-Christian, but actually, this passage is more harsh than the rest of the book reads. As a whole, the book is a fairly engaging stroll into the world of Christian music, arts, and culture, as seen from an "outsider."

This particular passage fascinated me because, like many things within the "church," I've been around worship music my entire life and I would have trouble looking at it from an unbiased, inexperienced point of view. I understand that we can't expect someone who doesn't know Christ to understand how or why we worship -- I get that.

But at the same time, do we ever truly step back and look at how or why we worship? Why is so much of the music the same? Why is it the way that it is? Why are the lyrics the way they are? Have we settled for bland mediocrity in our worship music, just because that's the standard, the base, that we understand? What about his points about the lyrics pointing to evangelicals being self-centered in their faith?

At the very least, it's interesting to acknowledge the point of view of people outside the church. This is far from the first time I've heard from people who absolutely abhor worship music. This isn't a critique of God or Jesus, this is a critique of a certain part of Christian culture.

I think his entire argument -- and especially those last two paragraphs -- are worthy of discussion.

Building Christian Communities

cheesesoup@gmail.com (scott) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:20:00 +0000

Today's post will be generated almost entirely using quotes from a book I recently finished reading.

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We are actually facing the need, not simply to reorganize the institution of the church... but the need to create something that is not there now -- a community; that is, an environment that has a real unity to is, an organism. Organisms are not legislated. They grow naturally. In other words, an organic process of change is needed to form basic Christian communities... Leaders in the Church today need to understand community dynamics and not just organization dynamics.

Today's church is primarily a service institution, providing worship services and sacraments for all who come to them.

Churches instinctively look for a specific solution to the specific problem (a structural solution to a structural problem, a financial solution to a financial problem, etc.). They can accept the fact that spiritual renewal is important, but they cannot see how it has direct application to the specific problems which are clamoring for attention. And so they naturally try to deal with the pressuring problems first and do not get around to turning their attention to the problem of spiritual renewal.

This approach has to begin by the recognition that the church needs subcommunities and that these should be considered an integral part of the church life. It should involve forming the communities in an organic way -- that is, not be assigning people to form a community, but by fostering the beginnings of community among a group of people -- and encouraging and guiding their growth into a basic Christian community... Eventually, as there were a number of these communities that were successful, everyone in the church might find a place in such a community, and the church building would be a service unit at which a number of communities might gather and it could also provide some services that basic communities might find difficult to provide out of their own resources.

Although there are many factors which go into making a community vital, the most direct source of vitality is purpose and the commitment of the members to that purpose. If a community has a purpose that is clear and compelling, one that seems to be of real importance, and if its members are committed to that purpose and therefore put as many of their resources as possible into fostering that purpose, the community will be a vital community. If the community has no purpose, it will not last, no matter how well-structured it is.

...it might be possible to think that what the Church most needed was sociologists or community organizers. But this is not at all true. What the Church needs most is men of God, men who can and will function as pastors, evangelists, spiritual directors... Communities are not formed primarily by sociologists and community directors. They are formed by leaders of men who are dedicated to something.

A functional approach is work-oriented. It is oriented to getting a job done. An environmental approach is interaction-oriented or value-oriented. It is oriented to getting a group of people together who share certain values or concerns. It focuses on the growth of the relationship among people and on how people are being changed for the better... Some business executives are effective at getting production but poor in their ability to draw people together.

...From this point of view, much of what happens in the Church today is not very effective. There are many activities and many organizations. They do things which are good. But they do not build up a community of people committed to Christ and so they are ineffective in meeting the main pastoral needs of the Church today... [Even if] the Church were primarily an institution which was supposed to provide certain services (educational services, worship services, and social change services), it lacks... But if the Church is primarily supposed to be a community of people committed to Christ, there is an even more serious problem -- the lack of any community being built up through these activities.

A good term for the type of leadership that is natural to a community is "elder." An elder has a position. He is one of the recognized heads, and he has an openly accepted responsibility for the order of community life. But he is chose because he really is one of the elders, and not only in name. He is chose because he has a natural positions of respect and leadership in that community. His opinions and decisions "count" more than most people's... This would be true even if he did not have the position. In a properly functioning community, the position reflects the reality.

Watching for leaders as they emerge does not mean making the mistake of picking the people who are already in Church organizations, because they are usually there because they volunteered and are frequently ineffective in forming Christian communities. Nor does it mean electing people, because there is not enough community in the Church today where an election would be a good indication of how the community accepts a person as a leader... It means observing where real Christian communities are being formed effectively and picking the people who are responsible for that process.

The solution to the problem of climate and of coordination can be provided only by those who have positions of pastoral leadership in the Church. For instance, acceptance and understanding on the part of Church leadership is of great importance to those who belong to a movement. It can make all the difference in their loyalty to the Church and their willingness to work for it. The lack of it can lead to alienation among those who could be the strongest supports of the Church.

The process has to begin by putting the emphasis on community formation, not on programs or activities. If what is needed is forming communities which make it possible for a person to live a Christian life, the beginning is to actually have such a community. A person cannot begin by forming structures and programs and expect communities to come out of the hopper on the other end. Communities grow, they are not produced. If a process of renewal does not begin with an environmental approach, it will probably never get to one.

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The book is Building Christian Communities: Strategy for Renewing the Church, by Stephen B. Clark. The fascinating thing about this book is that it isn't some brand-new, 2008 book from Willow Creek Press. This book was published in 1972, by Ave Maria Press. Not only is it 36 years old, it was geared specifically to the Catholic church. I took the liberty of substituting the word "church" for the word "parish" in most of the quotes above.

This is a fairly short, simple book, but I've heard that it was used as a stepping stone for a number of intentional communities that were formed in the 1970s. Much of the book is geared towards Catholicism, and there are a number of issues that are specific to issues and movements of the late-60s and early-70s, but as you can tell by the quotes above, it's still quite relevant for churches today.

Many of us have been talking about this type of thing for quite some time, so while this "organic approach" is fascinating, it's not exactly a huge revelation. The book isn't exactly a step-by-step instruction manual for how to create Christian communities -- it's not intended to be. But it is intriguing to see some of these relational/holistic ideals being suggested, and then put into practice, before I was even born.

How cool that those crazy Christian hippies were so emergent!

The question remains, how do you foster this kind of attitude? How does Big Huge Megachurch encourage the formation of these Christian communities? Even if it begins as a movement within a church -- can it happen at all in a large church? Can it happen if leadership doesn't have a passion for it? And would a large enough percentage of the attendees be able to understand what it means to throw your life in with a group of people, rather than just showing up at a building for a weekly ritual?