More than personally transforming…
We live in an exciting era in the American Church. An era that will very likely see a tremendous amount of change as leaders discover what Richard Stearns writes in his introduction of The Hole In Our Gospel, that “…being a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ, requires much more than having a personal and transforming relationship with God. It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world.” (p.2)
This is an age where we begin to see a new fleshing out of what it means to be an ambassador of Jesus Christ. With the invention of beta testing and continuous app updates we have been given an opportunity to investigate and experiment with what it means to be the Church while maintaining much of the doctrine to which we already ascribe. We are being given permission to refuse to arrive, and to always alter and adapt how we participate in our faith. Many are already beginning that experimentation, like Shaun King in Atlanta, and while that may look like a failed experiment I believe his audacious experiment to have done much to move a community toward Redemption. I don’t necessarily think everyone should go try what Shaun tried because I think a different leader does something different, but the fact that the Church must involve people penetrating the community is being understood once again on a scale unseen in my lifetime.
This public penetration is necessary to see all people of all nations come to an understanding of who Jesus is, and it will be necessary in order to maintain the authenticity and authority of the Church with those who follow us. The knowledge of, and belief in Jesus is not just for us, but our neighbor should also benefit, and benefit from us not the preacher or the worship service or the Bible class, but us, personally.
Sleep has Awakened Me
The following video and the story behind Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir has sparked a renewed sense that every ear will hear about Jesus in my lifetime. Now it begs the question, how will I participate and with whom might I partner to begin answering some of these questions?
- What opportunities await the Church in a world that continues to increase it’s knowledge ability exponentially with each generation?
- How might we be able to communicate the truth of who Jesus is and what He means to the world through the use of technology?
- How might the fellowship of believers change as intimacy and depth become more possible while remaining thousands of miles apart physically?
- How might we usher in the Next Age more rapidly if we put our minds to making disciples through the use of technology?
Tuesday is for Shallow Small Group
Small groups are growing churches answer to discipleship. There are numerous theories on how to do small groups, and when I was given the task in 2005 of developing the small group ministry at Harmony I tried most of them. Simply put, good small groups require hard work. If people are going to become more Christlike, which should be the ultimate goal of a small group, then getting people to uncover their crap takes time and effort. Neither of these is the comfort obsessed culture willing to give us, and so we not only battle Satan, but the powers and principalities that govern our American life. The following short video is supposed to be funny, but for many people who fear the vulnerability that becoming a disciple of Jesus requires I think this is really what they pursue…The Shallow Small Group.
Hey, I know you feel like you are risking your very life by dealing with the sin you have committed and the sin of others that you have endured, but if you really want to experience healing and wholeness then the faster you go deep the faster you grow deep. If you are in a small group be the first to confess, and if you aren’t find one where people will walk you into and through the depths.