If it is the responsibility of the church to participate in the Mission of God, and it is the responsibility of the church to do just that, then we need to act redemptively toward the people around us.

Keeping in mind that every Christian is the church, the body of Christ, then before we can effectively act redemptively to the people around us as a corporate body, we need to be doing so as individuals.

But we haven’t.

To those apart from God, we have engaged them with programmed sales pitches with pamphlets and intrusive knocks on strangers’ doors.  When they say they are uninterested in being invaded, we shake the dust off our sandals and move on, saying to ourselves that they have rejected the Gospel. They really just rejected our failure to live redemptively in a poor imitation of the Gospel.

To those apart from the body, Christians who have been burned or burdened by church and choose to separate themselves, we have no programmed response.  We simply call them names (“backsliders”) and give them the attitude that they know better and should be in church.

To those actively participating in the body, we’ll teach them to death and call it discipleship.  Sunday School, Sunday morning worship, Sunday night worship and Wednesday night “Prayer Meeting” where we actually pray very little, but at which we are expecting yet another lesson.  Accountability?  Mission?  Ministry?  Service?  Intercessory Prayer?  Mentoring in parenting?  Etc?  …  That all comes with special programs in which few participate.  Fellowship.  We do that really well within the body.

In short, individually and corporately, we’ve not been very redemptive.

We short-circuit the actual responsibility of the church and substitute the by product as our goal.  Translation: Instead of working hard to be redemptive, we work hard to get big.  The downside of that is that we can cheat our way to big.

You don’t have to be redemptive to be big.

Our goal is neither to be busy or big.  Our goal is to be redemptive.

If we are that, then no matter what else happens, we will stand before God unashamed.

Apparently this made a hit with Skelly’s Worship and Young Adult Pastor…

Acknowledging the distance we have all moved theologically, I said:

We all believed those things, but then we grew up and read the Bible for ourselves.

I was with some fellow American believers the other day and we were looking through a collection of old songbooks that they had.  Some predated me, but others brought back some songs that I sang as a teenager.  It was somewhat humorous remembering some of the songs that were so shallow from that era. We joined in singing several to give a hint to the younger ones in the crowd what the songs were like, and that was even more humorous – us signing badly.

Then a few older songs of heaven came up and the question was asked, “Why do Senior Adults enjoy songs of Heaven so much?” since they seem to be favorites of many of the seniors we know.

The consensus was that Heaven was probably on their minds, and it was a comfort to them to know where they are going.

The next day I was driving home from dropping my kids at school and Jeremy Camp came on the radio with the song, “There will be a day.”

I realized that our fondness for singing of Heaven was not generational.  As I thought about it, it seemed to me that American Christians have always sung of Heaven, seeking comfort.

Why is that?  Do Christians from every culture do this? Some certainly have more hardships than others.

It seems that, while Heaven is a great promise and one to which I cling, Paul points us to a longing for living here as a servant to the Kingdom being just as strong a pull:

²⁰ My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

²¹ For me, living is Christ and dying is gain. ²² Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. ²³ I am pressured by both. I have the desire to depart and be with Christ —which is far better — ²⁴ but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. ²⁵ Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your advancement and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that, because of me, your confidence may grow in Christ Jesus when I come to you again. ²⁷ Just one thing: live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸ not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is evidence of their destruction, but of your deliverance —and this is from God. ²⁹ For it has been given to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, ³⁰ having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear about me.

Philippians 1:20-30

It seems that we ought to long equally as much to be of some Kingdom use here.  In this world and in this time.

Wow.  Talk about the wasted life.  25 years to design a card I would throw away because it doesn’t fit anywhere I could put it?

Love the pop up graphic, too.

HT: Cole Hedgecock

It’s been pretty well documented that the church in America has lost one generation and the jury is out on whether we’ll lose the one following.

My take is that the church has facilitated the abandonment of parents being the primary disciplemakers to drop and go Youth and Children’s Ministries.  Those things were never supposed to be that, but a supplement to the role of the parents.

As a Youth Minister for 19 years, I frequently found myself counseling kids to do the opposite of what their parents were doing – shall we say “modeling a bad example?”  It was ironic to find myself in conversations with parents of young adult graduates of my Youth Ministry who then blamed me for not doing enough to disciple their kids.

Suffice it to say, it’s one of the reasons I left Youth Ministry for the Lead Pastor position.  I wanted to guide the church to do better.

So, what do you do?  How do you pass on your faith in your home?

After 19 years in Youth Ministry, I wish that I had learned to defend my Youth Group by putting my elbows on my head and waving my elbows around like THIS VIDEO SHOWS.

HT… Total Rip Off:  Brant Hansen

If you don’t know Milfred Minatrea, you should.  This is some good stuff to get you started.

The Missional Church Center – using the arts to reach people

Attractional or Incarnational?

More Attractional v. Incarnational…

A few months ago a service to send out emails to your “unsaved” friends in the case of “the rapture” made the news.

Last night, Law and Order (the original) featured a similar service as a main part of the plot.  Did you catch it?

Man, we look ridiculous to these people.