Am I the only one who thinks that one of the best parts of staying in a nice hotel is the USA TODAY paper that they set right outside your door every morning? As if to say, "Mr. Fisher, we greatly value your choosing our mid-priced hotel and accepting a room on the 5th floor next to a room with a crying baby and not the 6th floor where everything is much quieter. We know you need to stay connected to what's happening in the world, so we went out and got you this - the USA TODAY.
Well, I think it's awesome.
Anyway, one of the cover articles caught my eye.
How America Sees God
Here is what it said. Surveys say that 9 out of 10 Americans believe in God, but the way we picture that God reveals our attitudes on economics, justice, social morality, war, natural disasters, science, politics, love and more (say Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, sociologists at Baylor University). Their new book, America's Four Gods: What We Say About God - And What That Says About Us, examines our diverse visions of the Almighty and why they matter.
The study concludes that Americans have four Gods. They are...
The Authoritative God (28%)
The Distant God (24%)
The Benevolent God (22%)
The Critical God (21%)
And of course, there are those who don't believe in God at all. Atheists and Agnostics make up about 5% of America's population.
What's striking about this study is that only 22% of Americans who believe in God believe that God is all-loving. Whereas 73% of Americans who believe in God believe Him to be Authoritative, Critical, and Distant.
As I contemplate this current reality, I am drawn back to the groundbreaking research presented by the Barna Group just a few years ago, in the best-selling book, UnChristian, revealing the top six perceptions that 16- to 29-year-olds have of Christians. Those perceptions are anti-homosexual, judgmental, hypocritical, too political, sheltered, and proselytizing.
I have to ask, if this perception of Christians is shared by a majority of Americans, how then could we expect Americans to have a different, more positive view of God?
Showing posts with label Religion and Spirituality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion and Spirituality. Show all posts
Monday, October 11, 2010
Rock City Lifegroups Launch
Almost a year ago, we sat with a group of friends dreaming about the day we'd launch Rock City Church. We hadn't yet entered into a partnership with ARC. Our relationship with CedarCreek was just beginning. We were fresh on the trail of church planting - learning as we went along, dreaming and praying with a small group of friends who believed in us, in the vision for this new church, in taking risks and believing God for the impossible...
I remember writing a date on the white board. 10-10-10. That was launch day - at least it was back then. It was a goal. And it came as a surprise. I mean, we chose that date pretty much by accident. It was only after we checked the box on the calendar that we realized we had selected such a "buzz worthy" launch date - we called it The Perfect 10. It brought us focus and a sense of excitement and thrill. We were moving toward something big. God was up to something.
Needless to say, the further we continued onward - after forging a partnership with ARC and working closely with the leaders of CedarCreek, launching on The Perfect 10 seemed a bit premature. So we pushed it back. We set our sights on Spring 2011.
Then yesterday happened, 10-10-10. I hadn't thought about that date for almost a year. As a matter of fact, I didn't even realize it had arrived. I was just getting back from the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta with John Ransom and a friend of ours and thinking through some of the last minute details for our lifegroups that were launching in just a few hours.
Then Katie walked down stairs. I was sitting at my computer using Facebook and she said, "You know, we were gonna launch the church this weekend. We're launching lifegroups instead. We launched our website this weekend too."
Whoah! I was stunned.
Some people might look at that and think, so what? What's the big deal? But I say, no way! It's a huge deal. In reality, we launched the church on the very day that a year ago we marked on our calendars. We haven't thought about The Perfect 10 in almost a year. Yet, perhaps the most vital and life-giving part of our church launched, right when it was supposed to. Again, catching us off guard - surprising us. But isn't that God! Isn't that how He works?
God is up to something. He is preparing the way. He is building and connecting a new community. He is stirring in the hearts of many a vision for a new church in this city. He is building His church - on His time, in His way, by His might! And He is using us - by His mercy, according to His grace, through His strength!
By the way - we've launched lifegroups on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights...If you're interested, here's your invitation. Join us. Make a difference. Be the church.
Chad
btw, check out our new site at RockCityChurch.TV
I remember writing a date on the white board. 10-10-10. That was launch day - at least it was back then. It was a goal. And it came as a surprise. I mean, we chose that date pretty much by accident. It was only after we checked the box on the calendar that we realized we had selected such a "buzz worthy" launch date - we called it The Perfect 10. It brought us focus and a sense of excitement and thrill. We were moving toward something big. God was up to something.
Needless to say, the further we continued onward - after forging a partnership with ARC and working closely with the leaders of CedarCreek, launching on The Perfect 10 seemed a bit premature. So we pushed it back. We set our sights on Spring 2011.
Then yesterday happened, 10-10-10. I hadn't thought about that date for almost a year. As a matter of fact, I didn't even realize it had arrived. I was just getting back from the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta with John Ransom and a friend of ours and thinking through some of the last minute details for our lifegroups that were launching in just a few hours.
Then Katie walked down stairs. I was sitting at my computer using Facebook and she said, "You know, we were gonna launch the church this weekend. We're launching lifegroups instead. We launched our website this weekend too."
Whoah! I was stunned.
Some people might look at that and think, so what? What's the big deal? But I say, no way! It's a huge deal. In reality, we launched the church on the very day that a year ago we marked on our calendars. We haven't thought about The Perfect 10 in almost a year. Yet, perhaps the most vital and life-giving part of our church launched, right when it was supposed to. Again, catching us off guard - surprising us. But isn't that God! Isn't that how He works?
God is up to something. He is preparing the way. He is building and connecting a new community. He is stirring in the hearts of many a vision for a new church in this city. He is building His church - on His time, in His way, by His might! And He is using us - by His mercy, according to His grace, through His strength!
By the way - we've launched lifegroups on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights...If you're interested, here's your invitation. Join us. Make a difference. Be the church.
Chad
btw, check out our new site at RockCityChurch.TV
Monday, September 20, 2010
They Smell Like Sheep
I read a great book this week - They Smell Like Sheep, by Lynn Anderson.
It's about leadership.
Leading like a shepherd.
Leading like The Shepherd.
Leading like a shepherd.
Leading like The Shepherd.
The shepherd metaphor is referenced more than 500 times in scripture. Throughout the Bible, the cause of Christ to rescue a fallen humanity is illustrated in terms of a shepherd rescuing his lost sheep. Isaiah used this metaphor by saying that, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way (Is 53:6)," clearly eluding to the coming Christ, the Good Shepherd, Who would love us so much as to lay down His life for us.
In Jesus' day, the concept of shepherding was widely understood. It was a familiar way of life for many of the people to whom Jesus spoke. It's easy to understand why the concept of shepherding is viewed, by many, as equally as totalitarian and dictatorial as the leadership encountered most in today's culture, as in, a shepherd mightily ruling over his sheep, however, that view of shepherding is improper and inaccurate.
To the contrary, a shepherd is one who deeply loves and cares for his sheep. Anderson says that, "for the family of a shepherd, the food on their tables and the clothes on their backs, not to mention the family honor, was inexorably linked to the way they cared for their flocks." To that end, a shepherd is not one who lords his power over the flock; rather, he is one who intimately shares his life with his flock.
A shepherd knows each sheep by name; he nurtures the young, bandages the wounded, cares for the weak, and protects them all.
A shepherd smells like sheep.
What's intriguing is that Jesus led in stark contrast to what's normally defined as leadership. His definition of leadership is one who is last and servant of all (Mark 9:35). Jesus' definition of leadership is servanthood. Try typing in servanthood once and you'll see that it isn't even a recognized word in our dictionary.
Jesus definition of leadership, and His revolutionary display of power through servant leadership, is apparently why many of the Jewish people did not recognize Him as Messiah. While they waited for a messiah who would physically restore Israel and lead them into a messianic age of global peace, Jesus, The Messiah, presented Himself as a suffering servant and not as the conquering king they were expecting.
It begs the question, have we embraced the wrong kind of leadership?
As the church of Jesus, rather than embracing shepherd-like leadership, have we somehow been drawn to, eerily attracted to an authoritarian, totalitarian form of leadership rather than the shepherding-style servant form of leadership modeled by Jesus?
Israel longed for a leader who would cast down their enemies and redeem their place in the world. They were looking for, in their leader, a physical display of strength, of power and of might. I have to ask, do we look for the same in our leaders? In our pastors?
Have we embraced the wrong kind of leadership in the church?
People long for pure leadership, an honest and caring shepherd. Servant leadership shines in stark contrast to the leadership of modern American culture, and quite frankly, the leadership of most modern day churches.
Gene Edwards, in the preface of A Tale of Three Kings, speaks of what I believe we have come to not only embrace, but expect of our leaders, inside and outside of the church:
"I noted some years ago a growing number of letters from Christians devastated by the authoritarian movement that had become so popular with many evangelical groups. A reaction to this totalitarian concept eventually set in. A mass exodus was soon under way. The stories being told by these spiritual fugitives are often terrifying and sometimes unbelievable...I have never seen anything that has damaged so many believers so deeply. The wreckage appears to be universal, and recovery from it is almost nil."
So it was in Jesus' day, as it was in 1980 when Edwards wrote those powerful words, and it continues to be true even still today. Jesus modeled for us the purest and most powerful and effective form of leadership the world has ever known. It is the responsibility of the church to not only study Jesus' methods and model of leadership, but to adopt it and institute it.
The church should be known for its strength, but not the kind of strength that has created this mass exodus.
Jesus said they will know you are my disciples by your love.
Jesus smelled like sheep. His hands and feet were always dirty because of His lifestyle of engaging people, particularly those who were considered the least. He modeled leadership in the form of a humble servant and loving shepherd. He did not lord His power over people, rather, engaged them with a caring, gentle and loving spirit. Jesus met the needs of those to whom He ministered. Out of His deep love and compassion for people, He equipped others to do the work that He was physically unable to do Himself.
The message of Christ continues to this day. His healing and hope continues to bring light and life to a dark and broken world. Jesus modeled strength through servanthood, power through sacrifice. His selfless love, His willingness to be intimate and serve the least, and His enthusiasm for suffering loss for the sake of rescuing even one lost sheep, makes Jesus the perfect model of leadership, standing above all who have come before and whoever will follow.
Monday, August 16, 2010
A Church Re-Presenting
Groundbreaking research by the Barna Group several years ago revealed that, among 16 to 29-year-olds, the perception of Christianity is anti-homosexual, judgmental, hypocritical, too political, sheltered and proselytizing. Statistically, of the emerging generation of Americans, the percentage of people claiming the Christian faith is a mere 4%. Wondering about the drastic decline we're witnessing in the American church and these overwhelmingly negative perceptions, what should the church look like? How should people perceive us?
I think Jesus was painting a picture of what the church is supposed to look like when he was speaking to his disciples in John 6. Jesus said,
"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
What's he saying? He's saying that he came to show people the love and grace of God. And he's painting a picture of the church. The church exists to re-present Jesus to the world, to show people the love and grace of God. Why then, when people look at today's church, do they see judgment and hypocrisy? Abuse of power and arrogance?
It's easy to say that it's not our problem, but theirs. It's much more difficult to listen to what Jesus says here,
"And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day."
He takes ownership for every single person who looks to him. He understands that the will of his Father is that anyone who looks to him would not be lost. And sure, the church isn't Jesus. But it is his establishment. It represents him. It re-presents him.
Monday, August 9, 2010
When Words Fall Short
In a well-meaning attempt to spread the gospel, often we've stockpiled for ourselves an arsenal of information and one-liners to combat anyone and anything that could possibly pose a threat to, or disagree with our core beliefs. What gives then, when two people can't agree. For instance, an atheist and a Christian trying to agree on the creation and purpose of creation for all of mankind. Any evidence provided by either side would be quickly discounted by the other. That's an argument going nowhere fast. Yet, both are loaded, heavily armed with facts and figures to prove their point and convert the other. But there's something terribly wrong with that, particularly on the part of the Christian.
I learned something, something that I actually already knew but hadn't quite yet learned, from a book I'm reading called The God Delusion, written by atheist and scientist Richard Dawkins. In his book, on page 130, he makes the following statement,
"Believing is not something you can decide to do as a matter of policy. At least, it is not something I can decide to do as an act of will."
And there it is!
He says that in response to a very popular argument made by a man named Blaise Pascal, an argument I've heard used, and have used myself, on many occasions. The argument goes something like this:
However long the odds against God's existence might be, there is an even larger asymmetry in the penalty for guessing wrong. In other words, so what if God isn't real? What do you have to lose if you convert to Christianity, believe heart and soul in Jesus as God, and then find out there is no God? Not much apparently. But, on the other hand, if God is real, and your denial of Jesus as God means you'll be eternally punished for your disbelief, why not just believe?
Thus, Dawkin's honest answer.
Which brings me to the point. It's never been about our facts and figures. It's never been about our eloquence or ability to persuade. It's not about us at all. It's about the Holy Spirit.
It doesn't matter how hard we try or how noble our attempt. It doesn't matter how persuasive our speech. It doesn't matter how impassioned our plea. Without the inner conviction of the Holy Spirit, Dawkins is right. One can not believe as an act of sheer will. That's when persuasion fails and words fall short.
Jesus said in John 14:26, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things..." In other words, it's not our job (completely), but His.
And in John 16, Jesus said, "When he comes, he (the Holy Spirit) will convict the world of guilt in regard to their sin and righteousness and judgment...But when the Spirit of Truth (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will guide into all truth."
That should be welcomed news to us all. When words fall short...
I learned something, something that I actually already knew but hadn't quite yet learned, from a book I'm reading called The God Delusion, written by atheist and scientist Richard Dawkins. In his book, on page 130, he makes the following statement,
"Believing is not something you can decide to do as a matter of policy. At least, it is not something I can decide to do as an act of will."
And there it is!
He says that in response to a very popular argument made by a man named Blaise Pascal, an argument I've heard used, and have used myself, on many occasions. The argument goes something like this:
However long the odds against God's existence might be, there is an even larger asymmetry in the penalty for guessing wrong. In other words, so what if God isn't real? What do you have to lose if you convert to Christianity, believe heart and soul in Jesus as God, and then find out there is no God? Not much apparently. But, on the other hand, if God is real, and your denial of Jesus as God means you'll be eternally punished for your disbelief, why not just believe?
Thus, Dawkin's honest answer.
Which brings me to the point. It's never been about our facts and figures. It's never been about our eloquence or ability to persuade. It's not about us at all. It's about the Holy Spirit.
It doesn't matter how hard we try or how noble our attempt. It doesn't matter how persuasive our speech. It doesn't matter how impassioned our plea. Without the inner conviction of the Holy Spirit, Dawkins is right. One can not believe as an act of sheer will. That's when persuasion fails and words fall short.
Jesus said in John 14:26, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things..." In other words, it's not our job (completely), but His.
And in John 16, Jesus said, "When he comes, he (the Holy Spirit) will convict the world of guilt in regard to their sin and righteousness and judgment...But when the Spirit of Truth (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will guide into all truth."
That should be welcomed news to us all. When words fall short...
Monday, August 2, 2010
Life-Giving Church
This past week was quite the experience as I, along with 5 other church planters, attended Basic Training with ARC at New Life Church in Little Rock. Until my time spent at New Life, "Life-Giving" was just a trendy, over-used phrase thrown around by the ARC staff and emerging church plants. Was I ever wrong!
It's amazing how I, along with so many others, even in the midst of planting churches, have become so disillusioned with "church" as to think that "Life-Giving" is more believable as a catchy slogan rather than a genuinely "authentic" descriptor. I suppose, there is always a bit of disillusionment for every entrepreneur. It is, in fact, what makes an entrepreneur entrepreneurial: there's a problem; we've got a solution; there is an urgency. And the problem, or in our case, the reason we feel such urgency to plant "Life-Giving" Churches can be seen in every nook and cranny in culture. We need churches. And more than that, we need "Life-Giving" Churches. Everywhere!
So what is a "Life-Giving" Church? What does it look like? Here are two things that I took away from the Basic Training that I believe must shape our church if we are going to be the "Life-Giving" Church God has called us to be:
And if you want to be a part of the launch of a Life-Giving Church in the Columbus area, we'd love to meet you. Email us and let's connect over coffee, on us!
It's amazing how I, along with so many others, even in the midst of planting churches, have become so disillusioned with "church" as to think that "Life-Giving" is more believable as a catchy slogan rather than a genuinely "authentic" descriptor. I suppose, there is always a bit of disillusionment for every entrepreneur. It is, in fact, what makes an entrepreneur entrepreneurial: there's a problem; we've got a solution; there is an urgency. And the problem, or in our case, the reason we feel such urgency to plant "Life-Giving" Churches can be seen in every nook and cranny in culture. We need churches. And more than that, we need "Life-Giving" Churches. Everywhere!
So what is a "Life-Giving" Church? What does it look like? Here are two things that I took away from the Basic Training that I believe must shape our church if we are going to be the "Life-Giving" Church God has called us to be:
- A Life-Giving Church is Relational
It's about people. It's about connecting people to God. It's about empowering people to be the church. What's the catch? It takes a secure leader to lead a Life-Giving Church. A Life-Giving Church multiplies. A Life-Giving Church promotes. A Life-Giving Church is relational to the core. Loving people. Empowering People. Promoting People to do the work for which they have been uniquely equipped by God to do.
- A Life-Giving Church is led by the Holy Spirit
What does it look like to be a Spirit-led church? Is it possible to "do church" without the power and presence and constant leading of the Holy Spirit? I'd say so. Is it also possible to neglect the work and leading of the Holy Spirit by refusing to plan, promote, think creatively, innovate and organize? I'd say so. A Life-Giving Church is Spirit-led, completely reliant on the leading and creative inspiration that only the Holy Spirit can bring. That means, church can be creative and innovative, well-rehearsed and organized, all thanks to the Holy Spirit at work in every step of the process. It also means that church can be not only inspiring but powerful in a way that comes only by way of the Holy Spirit. He is, after all, our only hope, the One who leads all men to God.
And if you want to be a part of the launch of a Life-Giving Church in the Columbus area, we'd love to meet you. Email us and let's connect over coffee, on us!
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