The secret’s out about the easy life of professional clergy:
“Church, to some degree, has become industry. It’s become an easy ‘desk job’ for intelligent men who don’t want to work with their hands, but who may not necessarily have a vision for changing the world with this powerful message of the gospel.”
You may want to listen carefully to this three-minute video by Leonce Crump II, Pastor of Renovation Church in Atlanta.
Greetings to those who still continue to visit The Thin Edge, even though my time and energies have obviously been focused on other things for the past three years. Yes, we moved back to the United States three years ago this month. The time has flown as we have watched our family grow: three grandchildren have quickly multiplied into nine over this short period of time.
My American heart doctor confirmed that I had suffered a heart attack in Wales in March 2008, so within a few months of returning, the VA (Veterans Administration) took great care of me and completed stent surgery at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Five stents later, I immediately felt a huge difference Continue reading
A sprawling campus is being developed on a hundred acres at the edge of a large suburban area, near the front entrance of a popular housing development with prices “starting in the low $300,000†bracket according to a sign erected by the property development company. Everyone’s wondering about this beautifully landscaped campus with its winding driveway, small lake, and ultra-modern structure of concrete and glass toward the rear of the property: is it a medical clinic? a health club? an exclusive restaurant? an advertising agency? an animal hospital? a bank? Whoever it was, they obviously had deep pockets and seemed to be sparing no expense to impress their upscale neighbors next door.
Finally, a sign appeared that read, “Coming Soon! Mountain View Church. Offering fresh perspectives on the timeless principles of Jesus Christ!†A church? They must have spent a small fortune on their logo…really cool…portraying mountains, a rushing mountain stream, and a cross. In small print at the bottom, it gave a little more information: “Mountain View Church, Inc. is a 501(c)3 corporation and a member of the Green Valley Baptist Association and Continue reading
I ran across an excellent article by Tom Sine, entitled “Church Re-Imagined,” in a Christian magazine* this past week. Sine is co-author of a book, The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time
“Does the future have a church?”
“What will a post-Christendom, post-institutional, post-Western, post-congregational future for the Church look like?”
“Is it possible we have got what it means to be church wrong?”
“Is it possible that many of us unwittingly accept this popular cultural notion of church as a place we go for two hours each week to have our needs met?”
Basically, our brother and fellow pilgrim points us to the New Testament, using the radical language of family to describe what we have become when we take that first step of faith in Jesus Christ. What matters is not our genetic code, but our shared spiritual DNA that recreates all of us into family members—rich, poor, young, old, multi-colored, slave, free, male, and female. He describes our new family like Continue reading
Okay, so maybe everyone else in the blogosphere has see 8 Sure Ways to Shrink a Church over at The Refuge, but I just discovered it for the first time, so there’s a chance you haven’t seen it, too. Here’s a brief outline for you, but you’ll have to read the article to fill in the blanks.
(HT: Kathy Escobar)
This past Sunday in Wales, a group of elders gathered at their church building to pray. The ancient stone chapel had been without heating since a group of construction workers shut off the gas supply to the building earlier in the week, then forgot to turn it back on for the weekend. It was judged to be too cold for the morning worship service—scheduled two hours later—so the local telephone lines began blazing with elders contacting members of the church leadership team, who contacted small group leaders, who contacted everyone within their house group. It was decided to meet at an older (and smaller, but warmer) chapel building nearby. I’m not sure if the elders got to pray or not.
Unfortunately, this change of venue caught a lot of people by surprise: especially the church’s musicians, sound engineers, computer operators and the preacher. His entire message was developed as a laptop-based, visually-oriented PowerPoint presentation. Upon arrival at the old building, it was abuzz with people frantically running wires and junction boxes and speakers and a massive sound board so that the keyboard, instruments, singers, and the preacher could be heard in a room that only measured eighteen hundred square feet.
Some of the greatest movements of God happened long before the discovery of electricity, much less the arrival of computer geniuses like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. While I certainly don’t advocate wearing camel’s hair and eating wild locusts and honey, I have to wonder how many worship gatherings this coming Sunday would fall flat if some natural disaster shut down the national grids of electric power in megawatt-hungry church buildings around the globe. Thankfully, these sorts of things don’t happen with frequency, but on those rare occasions it makes one stop and think and ask a few questions:
Just a few points to ponder.
:: RELATED POSTS ::
Until this week, I had never heard of 100 Huntley Street or The Drew Marshall Show. Huntley Street is a daily Christian television show in Canada that describes itself as “a vibrant and authentic, interactive, interview/talk/music program, bringing the Christian message to the viewer by exposing them to real people with real stories.” Drew Marshall is a popular radio talk show host, billed as “Canada’s most listened to spiritual talkback program” with an estimated 100,000 listeners. Marshall’s website gives a glimpse into the ethos of his show: “Celebrities and the rest of us living messy lives with a real God in the middle of it.” He interviews celebrities like Kathy Lee Gifford, B. B. King, Randy Travis, Chuck Norris, and George Foreman; and his style is gritty, authentic, and…well…unnerving for those who love the status quo of cultural Christianity. Continue reading
I’m intrigued by the concept of leaderless organizations. Perhaps you have heard of The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
Today I spent a couple of hours in the Christian bookshop my wife manages, so she could attend an important meeting. Since it was quiet afternoon with very few customers—and I have a weakness for bookstores—I spotted a new book by Floyd McClung entitled You See Bones, I See an Army: Changing the Way We Do Church (Eastbourne, England: David C. Cook, 2007) and settled down to read the first hundred pages. I liked what I read, enough that I’m almost ready to spring for a copy of my own. My American friends will have to order their copy from the UK (contact my wife at Harvest Books & Crafts if you need assistance) until it becomes available in the United States. Continue reading
There's an excellent mini-series from Out of Ur, entitled They Love the Church but Not the Institution (be sure to read Parts 1 and 2). Excellent stuff!
