Great Posts

Sorry I've been silent for a while.  Been crazy-busy getting ready for the birth of baby #4.  I did have some time to read today and here are some of my favorite posts of 2006 (so far):

1. Missionsthink has a great post about how propositional sermons and the transfer of information has become the chief feature of church gatherings, giving birth to Christians who can't think for themselves and churches that "satellite" their services.  A gifted pastor no longer needs to bother with messy community-life with those he teaches, he can simply record his message and exit while the other services/locations push play and enjoy the digital doctrine download (which begs the question: as a Christian consumer, "Why can't I just stay home and watch the talking head on tv?  I can avoid the messy community-life, too."  When church has been diminished to the mere transfer of data, you can stay home and have "church" with your favorite preacher.
2. Dreamawakener has one of the best descriptions of what a missional church is and how it measures success.  My personal favorites are:  Not simply how many people come to our church services but how many people our church serves, Not simply how many people attend our ministry, but how many people have we equipped for ministry, Not simply how many people minister inside the church, but how many minister outside the church, and Not simply how unified our local church is, but how unified is “the church” in our neighborhood, city and world?
3. Awakening has a t-shirt that may not be a best seller, but I wouldn't mind having one.
4. Brother Maynard mentions a great quote from someone from the Barna group:  "What if we, as the church, have gotten really good about drawing people into our weekend church services? What if we have gotten really good about engaging them in worship, teaching, and fellowship during these weekend services? ….What if in doing this, we have actually been “doing” church for our congregants rather than releasing them “to be” the church. What if in doing this, we are actually doing more of a spiritual diservice to them in the process?"
5. Brother Maynard also asks this poignent question:  "Jesus’ mission was NOT to get more people to attend weekly temple meetings. How, by following his example, did this become the mission of the church?"
6. This is the funniest pseudo-software I have ever seen, create your own mega-church!
7. Here is a great rant on the importance of hospitality and meals while being missional in the suburbs.  Really good insights.
8. Here is a powerful quote from Peter Senge, author of the Fifth Discipline :  "I'd also like to argue that the mainstream of Christianity throughout the last 1,500 years, and particularly evident in the last 200 years, has been for the majority of practitioners, not a practice-oriented religion, but a Sunday religion, a religion of "do what you want as long as you subscribe to the right things and you show up on Sunday to keep the institution going." It has fostered an extraordinarily limited view of human capacity."
9. Dan Kimball makes a good point about how we naturally lose our missional potential over time simply because we lose connections to those outside of the church.
10. My friend The Bishop has some hilarious ideas on what to do in an elevator.  My favorites:  draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers that this is your “personal space," wear a puppet on your hand and talk to other passengers “through” it, and make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.
11. These resume bloopers are the bomb!

Comments

[snoopdon]

I like the elevator and the Build a Mega Church especially

[The Bishop]

Mad props to you bro! Are you ready for the baby?

[Padawan]

ready or not, T-minus 7 days and counting!