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So I haven’t posted anything since last week. My server was hacked last Friday and I have just got it back up again. I am now with a new host (hostmonster.com) and have left my old one (siteground.com) whose tech support used to be really great and now is nonexistent. I’ll have more updates this week, but I am switching almost all of my sites over to hostmonster, so I won’t have a lot of time.

The Gospel Inoculation

I have been reading a lot lately about the way things are going in the church in America. There are many ideas out there about what will happen the the western church and the ideals it is built on. From what I understand, some like Phyllis Tickle are thinking it will be a convergence of ideas from many backgrounds that learn to play together. Others like Alan Hirsch seem to think a more radical shift is in order away from the model of Christendom into what the early church looked like. I don’t pretend to have any prophetic gift, but I do see a problem that I am not sure either of those ideas discusses.

The problem I’m thinking of is one that I don’t think either the early church nor Christendom has faced yet. That is a people inoculated to the gospel.

By my understanding, inoculation is a small taste of something that keeps you from getting it full blown. Flu inoculations give you just enough of the flu so that you build up antibodies against it and therefore are prepared to fight it off should you encounter it in the wild. I think that is what has happened to the church. There are many different ways this plays out, but essentially by reducing the gospel to what happens to us when we die, by making Christianity into a decision to “ask Jesus into your heart” that is a one time assent, Christianity has been inoculated from receiving a good news for them where they are know and in the afterlife.

More later.

Economy and the Church

I have been reading in the blogosphere a lot about how the economy will impact the church and I had a thought this morning while driving into church. About 3 years ago, I served a church that was in an economic crisis. The church had made good plans, but it found itself in a hard place. All areas of the budget were effected and a church that was oriented towards programs found itself wondering what to do in the absence of the resources to continue the programs it had started, much less begin new ones.

In the crisis, I began to see something that became one of my biggest convictions. I didn’t have the budget to have big events for the youth minstry, so I began to pray asking God what he would have me do. The answer was an undeniable call to discipleship. Not what I had always thought of discipleship - small groups, going through a book or Bible study - but instead an investment into the lives of the youth I had attracted with programs. It was different from what the church was used to and caused some raised eyebrows, but I was convinced that it was the direction we needed to go. Using that plan it didn’t cost any money, it didn’t have to commit any resources, it would bring people together unlike the groups that had been meeting. It met all the needs of the ministry and only had a few percieved draw backs (predictability, concrete and measurable goals, etc.).

Eventually, I was asked to leave that church, though I’m not sure if it was all based on this idea or not. I don’t bear tham any grudge, they were just going in a different direction than I was. That direction, though, is where I think a lot of churches are findign themselves. Apart from resources and money, without being able to provide great meeting places and the newest curriculum, churches will have to become much more intentional in how they do discipleship. They don’t actually have to, though I don’t see any better way.

So if I were a prophet, which I am not, I would tell the church to stop ordering curriculum from people who have figured out how to reach their group, stop sinking huge amounts of money into attractional programs, stop spending lots of money on things and start developing an idea of how God will reach the people of your area. Jesus chose to invest in a few to make an impact through millenia. The monetary cost was low. The kingdom payoff was priceless.

Theology vs Listening - Balance

I have had some great conversations through this series online and off. It is telling how much each of us cling to one side of this over the other. When I started thinking about this idea, I was swinging from a pendulum of the idol of theology. Most of my background has been in a place that denies the work of the Holy Spirit and exalts the inerrancy of the Bible. Others have shared a different side of that same problem. So to answer some questions:

Is theology wrong?
No, for almost everyone in our time, it is the way we learn to listen to God. Even people who don’t study theology, they form one for themselves. The problem I have with theology, or any doctrine for that matter, is in it’s adherence to be perfect. I don’t believe in relative truth, but I don’t think there are many things that we understand absolutely either.

The big problem with theology is when people use it, worship it, proselytize it instead of  Jesus. If it is a substitute for the presence of God in our lives and our faith in the person of Jesus, then it’s an idol.

Is listening better?
At the same time, I don’t think that throwing theology out and just focusing on listening is much better. Of course, all Christians try to listen to God, but it is an imperfect hearing. The church has probably been just as hurt by individual’s insistence on perfect hearing or the infamous “word from the Lord” as any other problem of the church. I have over 15 years and thousands of dollars invested in learning how to listen, and I would never imply that my hearing is close to perfect.

What both of these methods, taken out of balance, contend with is arrogance and a lack of patience. The solution is complex and I am not sure I know what it is, but I do have my own checklist. The biggest way I keep myself in check from a raging arrogance that I am completely capable of and an impatience I feel persistently in my life is community.

Community that works bars the door of heresy and arrogance by accounting for individual’s ideas in theology and in individual ideas in hearing from God. It also promotes the patience required to sit with God and ask again. To get confirmation in what I hear and hear about what I think.

For me personally and for most of the people I associate with, we need to listen more. Theology is always happening and I need to continue with it, but I need to put down the books more and go skip some smooth stones across a quiet creek and hear that whisper in my soul that calls to deep.

Theology vs. Listening - Church

Talking to people about this idea that theology is people who don’t hear God, I have heard many people say that the church wouldn’t be necessary. I wonder at that. I think the church would be just as necessary as it is today, maybe even more.

Hearing comes from the word
Church would look a lot different if this were true. Instead of being universities that taught theology, the church would be a place that listened together to what God is saying and what he is doing in each of our lives. Worship would be more of a time of hearing what God is doing and being blessed and encouraged by each other’s stories. Ancient practices like Lectio Divina would become more regular.

My own personal Jesus
Our relationship with God would become more personal as we wouldn’t wrap our heads around these facts about God, but instead would spend more time with him. The church would learn to rely on each other more and help each other.

Patience is a virtue
People would have to wait until God told them something before acting, rather than having to press on and make decisions like our society teaches. In the church, we would have to wait more and do less. It would be anti-culture rather than relevant seeking culture (meaning, trying to catch up to where culture is leading).

Church would be much different, but it would still be necessary and beneficial. The mission of the church would move from telling everyone what they think to asking people to listen. God could speak for himself. It would also allow for a more incarnational way of life. Evangelism would move from memorized phrases and vague references to the death benefit to a personal good news that is in this life and the next.

Now, if I can just figure out how to get there.

Just something to thing about

The Listen Retreat

I just finished the Listen Retreat for my youth group. It was a great weekend and for some it was an amazing weekend. The basic idea for this retreat is that theology is for people who don’t hear God. If we heard God (at least perfectly), we probably wouldn’t need theology. So in an effort to help our teens listen more and teach them less knowledge, I decided to go for a more monastic approach to this retreat. It was very different from my normal retreats, because I usually program a lot of what happens. In this retreat, I had to trust God to show up and make himself known. I wasn’t disappointed.

The first night, I intentionally didn’t give much direction. I walked in and sat down and let them explore a bit. Then I lit some candles and had them come and sit in silence for a while. I then told them the story of Arsenius.  I told them that we would be trying to hear from God and that I was going to give them some tools that would help them. They had about an hour that night of silence and solitude. The most ADD Hyperactive kid in our group told me later that night that it was going to be the best retreat he had been on. Th next day we did more of the same and had a prayer walk (beautiful weather) led by Zeb, one of my leaders who is particularly inclined to the outdoors. By the end of the weekend, I think everyone had a good sense of somethings that would work for them in trying to listen to God.

I learned a lot too. It wasn’t a particularly encouraging retreat, since most of the time was spent in solitude. I didn’t get a lot of the feedback I would get in leading discussions. I also prayed more during this retreat, which I think was better, though it didn’t seem to connect with the teens as much.

All in all, I think it is a retreat that we will do again, but not everytime. Some kids got more out of this kind of retreat, but some would get more out of a directed retreat like I am used to.

Here is the booklet, if you are interested.

Smitten

I have been blogging about a lot of deeper issues lately, so I decided to put a little levity into the mix. That, and I had this great visual from Maker today. It’s called the Smitten and it is for people who like holding hands but don’t want to brave the cold weather.

This picture makes me feel a bit like a grumpy od man though. Back in my day, we cared enough about our loved ones to get frostbite. And my circulation was strong enough that I could usually warm not only my hand, but my girlfriends as well. Oh well, enough said.