October 2008
11 posts
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“Get this if you don’t get anything else: The spiritual life begins with...”
– Brennan Manning (ht: NextReformation)
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SOBERING STATISTICS
To borrow the words of a friend, Christianity in America is experiencing “precipitous and calamitous decline.” We absolutely must retool how we see ourselves and how we function as Christian communities. Read the report below from Jonathan Dodson.
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ROLAND ALLEN, CHAPTER 1
Introduction Within ten years of ministry St. Paul established self-sustaining churches throughout most of the known world in his time. This is an astounding fact. It is then strange that when people speak of Paul they focus primarily on his doctrine and have little to say about his missiological practices. But why would we think Paul’s doctrine is worthy of attention and his ministry practices...
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MISSIONARY METHODS: ST. PAUL'S OR OURS?
I’ve begun reading Roland Allen’s Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? and I am planning to roll out a chapter by chapter synopsis here as I work through it. I’m a few chapters in and it is excellent.
For those not familiar with this chap: Roland Allen was a missionary who lived from 1868-1947. He worked in China, India, and Africa, and as he did he reassessed what was...
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TOTAL CHURCH CONFERENCE AUDIO NOW ONLINE →
Many of you know that I went to the Total Church Conference in San Diego with some friends. It was life changing. That’s why I want to let you know that all the audio from that conference is now posted online. Click the title above to go to Drew Goodmanson’s site. He has all the links there. Listen to them all.
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THE END OF CHRISTENDOM
Stuart Murray writes,
“Post-Christendom is the culture that emerges as the Christian faith loses coherence within a society that has been definitively shaped by the Christian story and as the institutions that have been developed to express Christian convictions decline in influence.”
Post-Christendom includes the following transitions:
· From the centre to margins: in Christendom the...
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CHURCH AS A NEW FAMILY
Tonight at Community Group we spent some time talking about the redemptive possiblities of community. Matt showed us some scenes from the movie Lars and the Real Girl and had us read Romans 12.15-16. For those without a Bible handy- “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low...
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QUESTIONS FROM NEWBIGIN
Leslie Newbigin, missiologist extraordinaire, offers critical questions that we must ask ourselves often if we are to be faithful to Christ in our time:
Gospel:
What is the Gospel and how does the Gospel form and confront the church? What has happened to the Gospel in the course of western Christendom? How do we reclaim the fundamentally event character of the Gospel over against more abstract,...
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BEAR ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS...
Below is a great post from the kind folks at Kaleo Church in San Diego. Here they explain how pastoral care is meant to occur in the context of committed, loving community.
At Kaleo church, we call our home groups “missional communities,” (MC’s). The title serves as an intentional reminder of why we exist here on this earth: to love God and neighbor. Not surprisingly, this is also one of the...
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LEADING THE BODY TO BE CREATIVE, REFLECTIVE,...
Recently I came across an article in the Harvard Business Review on how Pixar, the animation company, fosters an atmosphere of creativity and imagination. In short, they gather respresentatives from across the disciplines to dream up the wildest concepts for films, and they vet those ideas in community. They create a fertile environment for imagination, creativity, and open peer review. And if...
