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 →

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 →

Mike Breen wrote a candid article on why he thinks the missional church can (will?) fail (edit: read Mike's part 2 as well). The answer, poor discipleship. He makes some poignant remarks regarding the importance of discipleship that I resonate with, but seems to miss the foundational elements of missional identity (pssst, it includes discipleship).

Continue reading →

Ed Stetzer is following up on his own posts and research with this post on 'do denominations matter to pastors?' His informal tweet concluded that 76% of pastors believe they do.

Given all that, call me a cautious believer in the idea that we can do more for the kingdom of God by doing it together with people of common conviction--which usually means in a denomination--than by doing it alone.

There's a problem with this statement. Continue reading →