No this isn't a post on how great or poor Tebow is (although you can't argue with wins regardless of how pretty they are). Rather, this post is one about American culture and how one piece of evidence flies in the face of so-called Christianized culture.
Painted under Tebow's eyes is the John 3:16 passage, crowd favorite for evangelicals looking to save souls. John 3:16, you know, in fact, everyone does right? Wrong. Continue reading
The web party started when the late Michael Spencer suggested in 2009 what many were already noticing: the looming collapse of evangelicalism in America had arrived. [I blogged about the same issue from a Canadian perspective here.] His blog post turned into a Newsweek article that catalyzed feverish dialogue. "It can't be true," oblivious parishioners lamented as if they hadn't seen it coming (they hadn't).
Fast forward two years and the Globe & Mail published a peculiar article about Calgary's First Alliance Church (FAC), a huge evangelical church located in the heart of an industrial park in the South East. The gist of the article from what I gathered was the success of this particular brand of church in an age where attendance is dwindling to a trickle.
Not so for FAC who have boasted a reported 75% increase since the recession. Things couldn't be better. But is the reported success really indicative of ongoing trends in Calgary and beyond? Does First Alliance have the secret recipe to church success in the 21st century? Continue reading
"Courage my friends, tis never to late to work for a better world" - Tommy Douglas
On November 24th, social service workers gathered in the cozy environment of Parkdale United Church Calgary to discuss poverty reduction in Alberta. A series of passionate politicians, CEO’s and directors of organizations committed to reducing poverty in Alberta met to share ideas, network between organizations, and present reports in an attempt to create a collective movement of informed and engaged empowerment. Many issues where covered in the day long conference and although a few critiques came to mind, I was inspired by the use of a theological, moral and spiritual language that was used to describe where we may need to focus if we desire to reduce poverty or even eliminate it in Alberta. Continue reading
Short term missions in its current form is developing a shallow generation of youth (and adults alike) on how to do aid very badly while simultaneously diminishing the participatory role of the church in God's mission of redemption.
You know the ones I'm talking about. The 'missions' trips that fly over to far-off lands with a purpose to do something aid related (occasionally it's just to win souls which is a terrible reason to embark on such a trip). Usually the purpose is to build some houses (that the locals could build), fix some buildings (that locals could fix), or maybe build some wells (see buildings). None of these items are in themselves bad ideas, they are simply delivered as part of a bad aid package and reinforces a deeply consumeristic form of Western Christianity.
What can you do to stem the tide of useless missions trips? Here's the start of a list of questions to ask prior to planning a short term missions trip. (Maybe someone wants to make an infographic of this? :P) Continue reading
I've said it here before and elsewhere, Baker Books and others release a slew of missional books cause it makes money. Most are pretty good too. But at the end of the day the likes of Frost, Hirsch, Halter, Cole, Jones, McNeal, Sweet, Viola, etc., really don't need to write a new book every 4 months (Hirsch).
I'm all for new material, I also understand the fact many of these guys aren't insanely wealthy and they make money from their publications--and there's NOTHING wrong with that--but it does saturate the missional book market.
All that to say that Frost, somewhat ironically, echoes my sentiments on missional saturation. I would like to see these authors spend time creating a magnus opus for the missional hermeneutic rather than a new book every six months!
Enough with the griping, let's do a brief review. Continue reading
Another offering from the missional church series from Baker Books hit my mailbox. This time Hugh Halter's third book 'Sacrilege' waited for me. I like Hugh's books because his writing style is easier to access. Slightly easier to read with an easier narrative to follow makes his books accessible to those with little theological education.
Sacrilege follows the same narrative as his pervious books, charting out interesting stories about mission and community legitimized through a journey through scripture.
We can learn something from the Occupy Wall Street movement taking place in North America. Wherever you sit on the spectrum (and in the very least I can safely say if you're a Christian your response should never be, "go get a job") there's a lesson in leadership to be made.
We've written briefly at PomoTheo on the subject of pornography and the church. The stats don't lie, and they're probably an understatement to the current crisis: churched or non-churched, young people are exposed and use online pornography in record and disturbing numbers.
Young people under-18 are being exposed to the material earlier and earlier, but the issue grabs addicts right across the age spectrum. What's worse about the addiction to pornographic material is the seeming inability for the church to even have an honest discussion about a subject that's still enormously taboo.
Luckily there are more relevant resources rolling out that go beyond the 'control your drives through prayer and fasting' (I say somewhat tongue in cheek).
Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How It Affects You, is an XXXChurch.com resource. Their experience from the porn industry provide a behind the scenes perspective missing from most resource books.
I was walking to a Flames game and had to snap a picture of this sign at a hidden church in downtown Calgary.
All I can say is FAIL. Here's why.
**Updated from May 11, 2011**
Churches seem to have a complex between the 'leaders' and the 'disciples'. Some confuse the two, others don't know the difference. Still more try to differentiate the two but only put resources into one--usually 'leadership development'.
The conventional churches today are marred with a complex of creating 'leaders' over 'disciples'. The question is why? And why is it that churches (Bill Hybels and Willow Creek) have monster sized 'Leadership' summits yet embarrass themselves by putting world class leaders amidst church pastors?