seekers

Discipleship

Risky Business

Believe it or not, but we all take risks. We take a risk every time we drive, go to the store, or eat dinner at a restaurant. When we drive, there is a risk of an accident. When we go to the store, there is a risk that we could slip and fall on spilled milk in isle 8. At a restaurant, there is a risk of eating contaminated food and getting sick.

Some risks are bigger than others. Football, skiing, snowmobiling, ski diving, and racing are all risky activities. Men are responsible for 68% of all injuries, while women only 32%. Young people under the age of 24 account for a third of all injuries. Unfortunately, for me, these statistics ring true for me, but that’s another story.

Insurance companies make money by discriminating people based on age, sex, and past medical history to account for the likelihood of accidents, medical procedures, or injury. Financial companies charge people more money for loans if they are deemed more likely to default on a loan. The bigger the risk, bigger the potential reward or loss. Millions of dollars are invested in “venture capital” projects that could either fail or make a ton of money.

Risk is big business… I guess you can say a risky business.

Churches

Reports of the Demise of Mainline Churches Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

A fresh report from the Barna Group has yielded some surprising results: Mainline churches are not dying! I should be honest with you, nation wide, mainline churches are not growing either. In the past decade, the six mainline church denominations (American Baptist Churches in the USA, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Presbyterian Church (USA); United Church of Christ; and United Methodist Church) have experienced some stability. The Barna Group concluded:

Over the course of the past decade, the number of adults who attend a mainline church on any given weekend has remained relatively stable, ranging from 89 to 100.

In addition, some other encouraging news was reported:

One reason why that average has remained steady has been the population growth of the United States, with the mainline churches attracting just enough newcomers to maintain attendance levels that are similar to the years when the nation’s population was considerably smaller.

Even though these have been tough economical times, signs of finical growth occurred:

… during the past decade the median church budget of mainline congregations has risen substantially – up 51%, to about $165,000 annually.

This is fantastic! Although I am an American Baptist clergyman, I whole-heartily support and have great affection for “mainline churches” (I served in 3 different mainline denominations: ABC, UMC, & PC USA). For years, the mega-church moment has told Christians, “Come here! We are young, happening, and different. Your old corner church is weak and feeble.” Not really. I’m joking, but you get the picture. I have been very clear in past posts that I believe megachurches are not evil and are worshiping, faithful, and Godly communities – but they are not the end-all-be-all of “church.”

What does this Barna report mean for the mainline church? (There is also some bad news)

Book Reviews, nuChristian

Q&A with Author Russell Rathbun

Author Russell Rathbun spoke with On the Bema about his new book, nuChristian: finding faith in a new generation (Judson Press). Russell is a founding minister with Debbie Blue of House of Mercy, a pioneering emergent church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rathbun is also the author of Midrash on the Juanitos (Cathedral Hill Press,2009) and the critically-acclaimed Post-Rapture Radio (Jossey-Bass, 2008). He lives with his wife, two kids, and dog KoKo in St. Paul.

OnTheBema: You begin your book with examining the postmodern framework. Christians need to understand it. Where do you draw the line between understanding postmodernism and using postmodernism to a church’s advantage without compromising the Gospel message?

Russell: The way I understand it, Postmodernism, is not a “thing” we can use or not use, it is just the way the world operates. It is the underlying ethos of our time. It is important to understand that the Post-Baby Boomer generations came of age and are informed by this ethos (whether they realize it or not). There has been a radical shift in how truth claims can be made. We can not assume that dominate Western Christian ideas (which may or may not be the same as the Gospel–often they are not) hold sway in the way they once did. This is why it is important to be in relationship with people instead of being in a debate with people. In the end the debate doesn’t matter, loving your neighbor as a response to the love of God through Jesus Christ is what matters.

OnTheBema: You make a good point about how Christians need to make disciples rather than just converts. You say, “We are not called to save people, we are called to love people.” (pg. 43) This is a radical departure from Evangelical Christianity’s emphasis on “saving souls.” Why do you think evangelism ends at the altar call?

Continue Reading…

Book Review, Book Reviews

Book Review: NuChristian

As part of Judson Press’ blog tour for Russell Rathbun’s new book, nuChristian: finding faith in a new generation, I have had the wonderful opportunity to preview and review this insightful book. In addition, Wednesday of this week, I will feature a Q & A with Russell about his new book. On Friday, Russell will be featured as a guest blogger.

nuChristian begins with a very brief forward by author and activist Shane Claiborne (fellow Eastern University alum), of the Simple Way. Claiborne, known for being a radical voice and champion for the poor, harmonizes with Rathbun’s message of how Christianity must shape “nuChristians”. That is, Christians who are no longer identified by hypocritical actions, scandal, and hot button issues.

In the preface, Rathbun lays out that the purpose of this book is to join the conversation of David Kinnamen’s book UnChristian. Back in 1996, Kinnamen’s Barna Group, found that 83% of Americans identified themselves as Christians, and that fewer than 20% of non-Christians held an unfavorable view of Christianity. Between 2004 and 2007, nine out of ten non-Christians between the ages of 16-29 found Christians to be too anti-homosexual. In addition, almost as many saw Christianity as it as “hypocritical” and “judgmental.” Seventy-five percent of non-Christians thought Christians were too involved in politics. UnChristian used these statistics and made the case that non-Christian resentment is focused on perceived Christian attitudes. Kinnaman used these statistics to form a bleak picture of Western Christianity.

prayer

3 Reasons Why You Believe in "Prayerism"

Is prayer becoming a religion unto itself? That was the question that The Wall Street Journal asked in its recent article entitled “Prayer’s Place in America.” A disconnect between prayer and religious affiliation has arrived:

39% of Americans attend church weekly yet 75% pray at least weekly, according to the Pew Religion Forum.
And maybe most remarkably: 35% of those who don’t identify with any religion at all — the “unaffiliated”– pray weekly or daily.
In fact, 58% overall, and 66% of American women pray daily.

With 39% of Americans attending church and 75% praying at least weekly, there seems to be a separation between religion and prayer. Or at least church attendance and prayer. If you are reading this blog, you probably do not attend church, but you are more likely to pray weekly. Statistically speaking of course.

The WSJ expounds on these notions:

But these statistics, as well as the popularity over the years of books like the Prayer of Jabez and The Secret and many other devotional books, show that prayer has become popular on its own, sometimes detached from the tradition of church. Call it Prayerism.

“Prayerism”. That’s a new term, but an old concept. The whole, “I’m not religious, I’m just spiritual” lends to this thinking of believing in prayer, but not attending church. Why?

Here are 3 reasons why you probably believe in “prayerism”, but don’t go to church:

mega church

Are You a Mega Church Drop Out?

With mega-churches basking in the spotlight of mainstream media, several studies have been done about the mega-church movement that might just surprise you. A study just released a few days ago, indicates that the largest churches in the United States are “Christian, contemporary, and evangelical.” Mega-churches are growing, so the short term studies cite. The largest churches in the United States have reach amazing numbers:

Lakewood Church – Houston, TX 43,500 weekly
LifeChurch.tv – Edmond, OK 26,776 weekly
Willow Creek Community Church – South Barrington, IL 23,400 weekly
North Point Community Church – Alpharetta, GA 23,377 weekly
Second Baptist Church – Houston, TX 22,723 weekly

However, more long term studies show that churches and communities of faith are losing ground. The 18 year American Religious Identification Survey show that the percentage of “other Christians” (evangelical, protestant, and non-denominational churches) has dropped. Even in the Bible belt! In Texas, 20% of “other Christians” (basically, non-Catholics) have changed their faith affiliation to something other than Christian. You can check out the interactive graphic here.

The American Religious Identification Survey said “the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.” With so many mega-churches growing, there must be a “drop out” rate that is not being reported because “the percentage of those who choose a generic label, calling themselves simply Christian, Protestant, non-denominational, evangelical or “born again,” was 14.2%, about the same as in 1990.”

Even more surprising are what these surveys and studies have found:

Generation Y

What You Don’t Know About Generation Y

The Baby Boomer generation is often thought as the generation that worked hard, help get us where we are, and was the backbone of the 20th century. Now that Baby Boomers are retiring, many have asked the question, “Who will take their place?” Generation X? No.

Generation Y (the Millennials).

Within 5-10 years, Generation Y will be the largest generation of our time — some think it is already. Estimates vary, but somewhere between 60 to 78 million fall into Generation Y. The typical Generation Y’er is internet savvy, technology driven, socially linked, and was born somewhere between 1977-1995. Generation X is only third of the size of Generation Y.

Why should you care? This is why:

Weddings

Christian "Wedding Crashers"

(I use the term “Christian Wedding Crashers” as a tongue and cheek way of referring to those people who are not typical church member seeking marriage. Please do not be offended. This is a light hearted term that some Christians have used for this situation. I do not believe these people are really crashing a wedding. Please keep reading. )

“What an awesome wedding! You did a great job. You opened new doors for us into Christianity.” – is the comment that I heard from a wedding I once officiated. Over the years, I have been conflicted by couples who come into my office asking me to officiate their wedding. Normally, I have no problem doing a wedding for a church member or Christians who do not have a church home. What has been a growing trend for a number of pastors, including myself, is what to do with non-Christian weddings?

Many Christians have been troubled with what to do with Christian “wedding crashers”, which are those people (who some Christians deem to be conflictual) who do not meet the “typical Christian” engagement period. The typical Christian premarital situation looks like this:

christians

NYT: "Bad Boys" Who Are Good

Normally, you do not see the words “Christian” and “bad boy” in the same sentence, but the The New York Times did just that when the newspaper wrote an article about Brian Deegan. Deegan is a freestyle motocross rider, and he and his friends were involved in a group called the Metal Mulisha. Deegan and his crew covered themselves in tattoos and their lifestyle labeled them as trouble makers and bad boys. After years of drugs and destructive lifestyle choices, Deegan had a conversion:

After a near-fatal crash in 2005 while attempting a back flip during filming for a television show, he lost a kidney and four pints of blood, and found religion. When a surgeon told him he might not survive, Deegan, 34, who has won more freestyle motocross medals at the X Games than any other rider, made a pact with God. If he lived, he would mend his ways. When he finally pulled through, he sought a pastor, began reading the Bible and “gave his life to Christ,” he said.

This article underlines an on going misconception about Christianity, which is that you cannot do anything cool, rebellious, or extreme when you become a Christian. By rebellious I mean anything that breaks the stereotype and not anything illegal. Christianity is often branded by television and movies as being out of touch or old fashioned.

The NYT article goes on to list other Christian extreme sports athletes:

christians

Three Things You Need to Know About Evangelicals

There is a developing movement within literature to chronicle an outsider’s perspective on the strange land of Evangelical Christianity. It seems that the world sees all Evangelical Christians as fervent, ignorant, and misguided by a holy book. Being an Evangelical myself, I can see how the outside world can group all Evangelicals into this stereotype. The media tends to pick up on the extremes of any group, ideology, or religion and usually tries gives us the most radical angle. You would think that I would NOT recommend books about non-Christians views on Christianity, but there are two books that are worthy of your consideration about strangers in a strange land that yield some surprising insights.

In the first book, A Jew Among the Evangelicals, by Mark Pinsky, he provides a brief introduction: a religion reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, uses his unique position as a Jew covering evangelical Christianity to help nonevangelicals understand the hopes, fears, and motivations of this growing subculture and breaks down some of the stereotypes that nonevangelicals have of evangelicals. “I hope you’ll find laughter, perhaps puzzlement, and heartfelt interest in how people just like you wrestle with feelings, values, and beliefs that touch the core of their beings. And I hope you’ll catch a glimpse of someone learning to understand and get along with folks whose convictions differ from his own,” Pinsky writes in the introduction.

The second book, The Unlikely Disciple is by Kevin Roose. Roose leaves his Ivy League setting to spend a semester at Liberty University, a conservative Christian college. The book gives this description: “His journey takes him from an evangelical hip-hop concert to choir practice at Falwell’s legendary Thomas Road Baptist Church. He experiments with prayer, participates in a spring break mission trip to Daytona Beach (where he learns to preach the gospel to partying coeds)… He meets pastors’ kids, closet doubters, Christian rebels, and conducts what would be the last print interview of Rev. Falwell’s life.”

Both of these books provide 3 things you should consider before judging Evangelical Christianity:

Continue Reading…

Churches

Young People Don't Go To Church, or Do They?

There is a common misconception that young people are fleeing churches. So many churches ask, “Where are all the young people?” My friend Rev. Elizabeth Hagen on her blog discussed a similar topic a few weeks ago and gave some great thoughts on understanding young adults. Christianity Today published an article discussing the ministry of Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. Most of the article is geared toward Keller’s ministry and his bio. The whole article is great, but the article begins with:

His church, Redeemer Presbyterian, has five crowded Sunday services in three rented locations—Keller dashes between them—with an average total attendance of 5,000. The service at Hunter is the largest, the “tourist service.” (For many years, Redeemer deliberately avoided publicity, but word has spread lately, and Keller estimates that hundreds of out-of-towners show up each Sunday.) Well over 2,000 people—mainly young whites and Asians you would expect to be sleeping off a late Saturday night—have come to this morning’s service.

Wow, “young people” in church… on Sunday morning no less. What is due to this great success? It has got to be a young hip preacher and cool band leading worship. Nope.

Redeemer’s worship is seemly traditional. Instead of using video monitors, casually dressed worshipers follow a 20-page bulletin that includes hymns, prayers, and Bible texts. Organ and a brass quartet lead the music. For evening services, jazz musicians play contemporary Christian songs.

Standing 6’4″, with a bald head, glasses, and a coat and tie, Keller, 58, does not look hip. Nor is his sermon funny, charming, or daring. He preaches from the first chapter of Genesis, on the doctrine of Creation. Keller speaks like a college professor, absorbed in his content, of which there is a lot

worship

Church Warehouse Part 2: Theology of Wood and Concrete

I wanted to follow up on my last post about worship and ministry space with another article from Christianity Today, entitled “Theology in Wood and Concrete.” The article is about 6 churches and their brief stories about building their ministry space:

If churches then had seen what they had in common with modernism, they could have allied their sense of responsibility with cutting-edge design. Instead, churches, which were the architectural focal points of early American settlements, left the conversation of progressive architecture. But in the past few years, missions-minded Protestant churches have begun to rediscover architecture.

The following churches decided that their buildings were an important part of their ministry, not merely afterthoughts. And while many churches are moving toward traditional design, these churches believe there is still something to be said for a contemporary approach. They believe that buildings can express the values of congregations, bringing new meaning to the act of stewardship in architecture.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/may/35.33.html

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