Browsing Tag

poverty

blog, Christianity

What Christians get wrong about Kingdom theology

We live in a world that is obsessed with duality and dualism. Our culture is narrated by opposing forces such as Democrat and Republican, poor and rich, the winners and losers, and saved and unsaved. Dramatic attention of such opposing viewpoints creates tension and unnecessary anxiety in cultural and family systems. When religious people create a hyper-focus on dualism, it bifurcates the love of Christ and basic Bible comprehension.

When Liberty University president and Evangelical leader, Jerry Falwell Jr. spoke to The Washington Post about politics, Christianity, poverty, and culture he made several critical theological, hermeneutical, and exegetical mistakes. Among his comments… (read the rest of my article at The Christian Citizen)

Leadership, mainline church

It’s official: the term ‘Mainline’ Christian sucks

It is well established that mainline Christian denominations are shrinking. According to several prominent Christian practitioners and thinkers, the term “Mainline Christian” officially… well, sucks. That is my interpretation.

The indelible Carol Howard Merritt  is one of the growing movement of folks who want to drop the  “mainline” term. She writes in her Christian Century column that she refuses to use the term “mainline”.  The term “mainline” truly reflect a society with specific racial, class, and cultural marks. Carol explains why would should ditch “mainline”:

It was not a term that denominational leaders came up with, but we have embraced it for many years. Now, it’s a good time to discard it. Why? It white-washes our influences… Even though we often look to the male European Reformers for much of our theology, even though a quick browse through the theology departments of most seminaries will reveal an overwhelming number of older, white men, we also know our thought for more than hundred years has been challenged by those working in poverty-stricken neighborhoods, with the civil rights movement, from subjugated women, and in the midst of immigrants’ struggles.

Perhaps what is the striking is that most new growth in established mainline denominations comes not from hipster churches, but from ethnically diverse immigrant communities. Carol rightly points out that continuing the mainline label ultimately hinders the future of churches:

Continue Reading…

mission

A garden center, a sign, and the missional church

My parents used to tell me that first impressions matter.  So my mom always kept a very clean house in the chance someone came to visit or if I or my sister brought a friend home unexpectedly from school.  My dad always keep the cars clean and the yard mowed.  We always had clean clothes and reasonable times between haircuts.  Probably not much different from your family.

Organizations also present “first impressions” with their buildings, employees who welcome, or the cleanliness of the facility.  The front door might be one of the most important features of these organizations.  Here are a few front doors I have come across in Midwest stores recently.

This is posted on a sliding door into a business. This store is a large chain and is located in the upper middle class section of town with low crime.  Nothing about this sign says to me I am welcome to shop there.  I have never seen a sign like this on any other business, that does not mean do not exist but I have never noticed one.  I just found it to be a weird notice and felt it to be unnecessarily hostile.

This is a welcoming place. It has the clearly marked sign open, the door is open, and the hours are posted.  There is plants that greet you from the parking lot to the door letting you know that this place holds a variety of , trees, flowers, porch/deck furniture, and other yard DYI things.  But what you see outside is only a small taste of what is on the inside.  The staff  don’t just grow plants in a bucket.  They are gardeners as well. They are capable of listening to garden ideas and advising how to proceed because they live in both places.

Churches have signs as well.  Our churches often put up intentional or unintentional signs up with our actions.  Perhaps they act like the fist sign.  Your life will be scrutinized here.  We will judge you and use a filter process to decide if you are like us.  We will examine every aspect of your life until we are satisfied you look, sound, and act like we think you should.  If you do not agree to these terms you are free to leave the facility.

What if our church and the way it functions looked more like this garden center?  What if we were more inviting and welcoming? What would it look like if we could find the balance between being welcoming to all and strong in our Christian identity?  What if we found a way to interpret and discern what God is doing in the world? A missional church needs to examine their church “signs”. What signal are they sending?

Much like the garden center, there is a a need for churches to have a welcoming presence with their building, signage, and people. The church must missionally welcome people and empower others to action. The missional church needs to have a welcoming presence of hospitality and be able to discern how God is calling us to act.  God is at work cultivating our missional gardens and we need to realize what it takes to welcome and send others into his vineyard.

conflict

The Persistent Beggar

A few years ago, I went to visit a church member at a hospital. I decided to wear a clerical collar to the hospital because I was going into the ICU, which was an ICU I had never been to before. Often, it is easier to wear a collar at a hospital because it cuts down of the identification questions and it also allows me some professional courtesies. Believe it or not, I get some strange looks when I tell people I am a pastor. They say, “You are so young. You don’t look like a pastor.” I reply, “What does a pastor look like then?” You can image the time I have to spend explaining myself. Does a doctor, police officer, fireman/firewoman, or teacher have to explain themselves? (That is a topic for another blog post). Sure, I love to interact with people, but getting the stink eye from Nurse Ratched and being interrogated is not the most pleasant experience.

After the visit, I got into my car and started to drive back to the church office. As I was driving, I stopped at the light to get on the highway. There was a homeless man there with a sign asking for money and walking up the line of cars. I decided not to give the man any money because I preferably do not like to give someone money and leave. I would rather spend time with someone. It is unfortunate that this man had to resort to asking for money at a stoplight, but I felt I was at a disadvantaged because I was not in a position to help him holistically. When the man passed my car, I did not roll my window down. Seeing my collar, the man became irate and started shouting at me.

Continue Reading…

On Facebook