August 30, 2006

Praise the Lord, Pass the Ammo: A new video game uses violence and murder to spread the love of Christ

One of the reoccurring debates on this blog has been whether cultural forms used in ministry are neutral, or do forms possess inherent value that may or may not be compatible with God’s kingdom. For example, Andy Stanley shared his conviction that all leadership principles are created by God, and are therefore available for use in the church. I disagreed, arguing that some popular leadership models contradict biblical values. And Shane Hipps has written about the way technology and video preaching impacts the message we are seeking to convey.

Invariably, when the debate over the neutrality of cultural forms arises many people quote 1 Corinthians 9:22 (“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save someâ€). Well, a video game producer is poised to test your utilitarian philosophy of ministry.

The game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, is set for release in October, and its already coming under fire from both conservative and liberal Christians. Set in present-day New York City, the game pits the army of the Antichrist against born again Christians. Players are rewarded for winning converts or killing those who ally with the Antichrist.

Players may also switch sides and fight for the Antichrist with an army of cloven-hoofed demons that feast on the faithful. One of the game’s creators finds the “prayer button†particularly nifty. Before going into holy war, a Christian may pray to boost their “Spirit Points.†Honestly, I’m not making this up—I wish I was.

Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind books, says the video game was created to reach a new population with the gospel. “We hope teenagers like the game,†he said. “Our real goal is to have no one left behind.†So far Christian video games have been unsuccessful at breaking into the very lucrative youth gaming market, but Eternal Forces’ co-creator Jeffery S. Frichner is hopeful. “It’s got all the Christian stuff, and it’s still got all the cool stuff.â€

Troy Lyndon, the CEO of Left Behind Games, who licensed the trademark from Tyndale House Publishers, says the game will probably appeal to the same audience that was undisturbed by the violence and gore in “The Passion of the Christ.†Lyndon says he anticipates those on the liberal left will criticize Left Behind: Eternal Forces, "but megachurches are very likely to embrace this game." And they will be the main marketing outlets for the product.

Another spokesperson from Left Behind Games, Greg Bauman, says the company's goal is to "become the world's leading independent developer and publisher of quality interactive entertainment products that appeal to mainstream gamers and perpetuate Christian values" [empasis added].

Mark Taylor, president on Tyndale House, publisher of the Left Behind books, says: "We are careful to guard the content of our own products, and we are working with LBG to ensure that the content of their game is appropriate. For example, there is no blood and gore in Left Behind: Eternal Forces. There is a certain level of violence inherent in the story, just as there is a certain level of violence in the Left Behind books.... The game is designed to be a classic battle between good and evil, but it does not gratuitously depict violence or death."

Although the game’s violence is not gory Jack Thompson, a Miami attorney and critic of video game violence, is quoted in a Washington Post article. He says the game “breaks my heart.†He continues, "The game is about killing people for their lack of faith in Jesus. The Gospel is not about killing people in the name of the Lord, and Jesus made that very clear."

The same article quotes Heath Summerlin, a Christian gamer who believes Eternal Forces "could reach a broad spectrum of people who wouldn't necessarily be exposed to the [Left Behind] books or go to church." Yes, but reach them with what message? Convert or we’ll kill you? The message is more al Qaeda than agape; more Bin Laden than Bible. It makes me wonder if anyone who developed the game has ever actually read the New Testament.

The popular notion that forms are neutral, that the medium can change as long as the message is the same, that we can and should use any means necessary to spread the gospel— has finally reached the level of absurdity. Did anyone stop and consider that maybe packaging the gospel of love in the form of a murderous video game is poor brand management? Or was the game produced simply with profitability and nothing else in mind?

Perhaps this is the wake-up call the church in America has needed. The ends don’t justify the means. The medium does impact the message. And proof texting 1 Corinthians 9:22 is a sad excuse for a philosophy of ministry.

Posted by Skye Jethani at August 30, 2006 | Comments (35) | TrackBack

August 28, 2006

Church GPS: Where are we and where should we go?

David Fitch was recently invited by Trinity Evangelical Divinity School to speak on a panel during their new student orientation. Each of the five panel members was to present a response to the question: “Where is the church now and where should it go?†Fitch, who is a pastor, professor, and regular contributor to Out of Ur, shares his response with us in this post.

Where is the church now and where should it go? When I say church here, I speak about the evangelical church, the church where I have been born, become a pastor and an ordained servant of Christ. I believe we as a church in America are in trouble. I believe we’ve lost our way. I believe we have a.) accommodated ourselves to American culture in such a way that we have become another example of the mistake of protestant liberalism. And in the process, I believe we have b.) lost our calling that is given to all “the saved,†that is the calling to be the embodiment of Jesus Christ amidst society and the nations.

In regard to a.) I believe the evangelical church in its attempt to reach those without the gospel has accommodated itself to the languages of individualism, the habits of consumer capitalism, and the organizational forces of American business. We could do this because we have viewed salvation as largely an individualist transaction instead of the participation of God’s people in the cosmological salvation of God through the person and work of Jesus Christ. We could do this because we placed such faith in secular discourses like modern science and business technique (apologetics, business principles of leadership). In the process we have organized church life around the busy lives of Americans living the dreams of capitalism and democracy that leave little time for mission, community and worship. I fear the “church†for evangelicals has in George Hunsberger’s words, become “the distributor of religious goods and services.†As a result, I fear we evangelicals are becoming less and less noticeable and barely distinguishable as a people from the rest of our society who live as if God does not exist.

In regard to b.) I believe that evangelical church has lost the calling of God upon us to be the church of Jesus Christ in society. We evangelicals don't need the church to live salvation because we have personal salvation augmented by reason, science and immediate experience it seems. In some ways frankly, we can do without the Church. And so, the church in essence is left to be a sideshow to what God is doing for, in and through individuals. We no longer have a need for the church to be the social manifestation of His Lordship where He reigns over the powers of sin, evil and death, the very inbreaking of the kingdom of God, where His mighty works are made manifest and put on display before the world (1 Pet 2:9), where hospitality is such an overpowering ethos that the lost in this world are compelled by this invitation. As it is right now, we lack a way of life that people look at and see and say, “Look what manner of life has been made possible in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.†Our witness has been lost because we don't see “the church†as God’s strategy for the salvation of the world.

Where we must go? Let us reclaim the practices of being His Body. I count these as community, hospitality, embodied witness, truthful formative worship, preaching of the Word, justice both internal and then external to His body, spiritual formation as a Body, and the catechesis of our children as a community. The church becomes a culture in order to engage a culture. The church is the social strategy. We cannot know what parts of culture, justice or works of righteousness are faithful in the world, until we have discerned them as His Body from which we engage the world and perhaps make partnerships in the world, all under the Lordship of Christ. In short, let us embody the mission of Christ, in not just what we do or say, but also in who we are.

Posted by UrL at August 28, 2006 | Comments (11) | TrackBack

August 24, 2006

Scum of the Church 2: What churches should learn from ‘80s youth ministry

Many churches are struggling to reach young adults. The conversation on Out of Ur for the last two weeks has wrestled with this problem. Brian McLaren believes we need to be asking different questions of those who’ve grown up in the church and left. Mike Sares, pastor of Scum of the Earth Church in Denver, sees a clash between the values of the Boomers and today’s young adults.

In part two of his post, Sares describes how his church tries to accommodate the styles and values of young adults. He believes the same strategies used in the 1980s to reach teens need to be employed today—rather than putting up cultural barriers we need to be as winsome as possible and connect with the young adult crowd.

At times we at Scum of the Earth Church are criticized for having church on Sunday nights as opposed to Sunday mornings. The fear is that we are turning a blind eye to the things that happen in clubs and bars on Saturday nights, thus enabling lifestyles which may be contrary to the gospel. That is not our intent. We just want to make it as easy as possible for people to come to church. Boomer churches understood this concept when they chose to dress casually for church on Sundays compared to the formal attire of their parents' churches.

We've taken that a step further. Eric Bain, my co-pastor, got some flak from a Christian-college-educated young man when Eric wore an MTV t-shirt while he was preaching and used an illustration taken from "Punk'd," one of the network's popular shows. According to the young man, Eric was silently promoting a television network that would be injurious to people's spirituality.

While Eric acknowledged that everything on MTV may not be beneficial, he was attempting to connect with the crowd. He was being winsome.

The same is true in the style of our services. We are extremely laid-back. People ask me if we scream punk-rock hymns and have a mosh-pit during corporate worship. Others want to know if our style is more Industrial, Techno, Heavy Metal or Hip-Hop. In truth we are more "Emo" than anything else; but we wouldn't have a problem with any church adopting the styles mentioned because we realize that those can be used in legitimate expressions of faith.

I see it all as ‘80s youth ministry grown up. The emerging church movement is as varied as the youth groups of the 1980s. Youth pastors tailored their ministries to the kids God put in front of them. The Presbyterian Church in the suburbs had a totally different tack than the inner-city storefront church. Youth pastors adapted a missionary mindset depending on the "tribe" of kids they were reaching. Those various tribes each had their own music, slang language, dress codes and even moral codes so each youth ministry looked different.

The emergent church is a "flock of singularities," meaning that it's like a bunch of different birds that all fly together in some kind of loose formation. The great denominations seem to be on the decline with the next generation partly because there is a mindset that if something can be duplicated everywhere, then there is also something about it that is not genuine. It's the same thinking that leads the young people I know to distrust Wal-Mart and Starbucks; they prefer the homegrown, local varieties instead. Churches like Solomon's Porch, Jacob's Well, Frontline, The Portico, Urban Skye, etc., are as different as the people they reach and nurture.

Still, the great liturgies of the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Orthodox churches are not going to vanish. Who knows, they may even grow with the generations yet to come! The church of Jesus has always adapted in order to love people with the love of God. And that's the way it is.

This article was edited and modified from, "Young Adults and the Church: The Way Things Are," in SAMJournal issue 159

Posted by UrL at August 24, 2006 | Comments (23) | TrackBack

August 21, 2006

Scum of the Church: How the drive for “excellence†is driving young adults from the church

Recently, Brian McLaren challenged us to ask new questions about the absence of young adults in most churches. Mike Sares, pastor of Scum of the Earth Church in Denver, continues the topic by discussing the divergent values he has encountered between older and younger generations of Christians.

You may recall Sares told the story last year of the poet who dropped the f-bomb during their Christmas Eve service—with his permission. That triggered one of the most vigorous conversations Out of Ur has ever hosted. While likely less controversial, I trust Sares will challenge your thinking once again.

Every generation is quick to point out the hypocrisy of the one that preceded it. The generation born just after WWII began rejecting the values of their parents during the '60s. Now it's their kids’ turn.

Today’s young adults see a generation of baby-boomer Christians that has striven for "excellence" in every part of church life. Boomers proclaimed in the 1980s that image is everything, and their churches have reflected that cultural trend. The nurseries have got to be sparkling clean, the church buildings are marvelously functional as opposed to artistic, the music is as close to FM radio quality as possible (even if they must hire a band), the Sunday services are seamless with perfect transitions (just like television), the preaching is entertaining and informative (but not so deep as to offend visitors), and the plants on stage are beautiful (but artificial).

As a result, according to Dieter Zander, the next generation has concluded that "everything is image," and therefore nothing can be trusted. Church is too slick, too good, too polished to be real. And the twenty-something hunger for raw authenticity just doesn’t fit in.

Reece and Keith were twenty-one and still idealistic enough to think that church should be a place that accepts people just the way they are. But that idealism was challenged when the last church they attended asked them to “Please remove your lip rings and nose rings, and cover up your tattoos so you are not a distraction to the other worshippers.†Thankfully Reese and Keith’s commitment to Christ outweighed the misguided reverence of their older siblings in the Lord. They were able to find another place they could worship, learn, give, encourage, and be held accountable.

But what about the rest? What about the ones who never recover from the stares, whispers, or misapplied Bible verses that condemn the way so many young adults dress and live? What about the ones who never see Christianity as relevant past grade school? What about the thousands of young adults who have never stepped foot into a church, and judge Christianity solely by what they see in the movies, on television, or in other media? How do we welcome them back into our churches?

It’s been my experience that twenty-somethings simply want permission to struggle. Most fear that they are not good enough for God's family. Each week they are told about the standards they are expected to keep, and each week they are led to believe that the rest of the church is somehow keeping up. This "silence about the struggle" quietly drives young adults away from churches all over the country. One of the highest compliments the pastor of an emerging church can receive is to be told that his/her own difficulty in following Christ has given someone hope that they, too, can fail and still keep following Jesus.

Twenty-somethings also see a generation ahead of them in the church that cannot live well with moral ambiguity. Boomer Christians tend to divide the world into three categories: the holy, the secular, and the downright sinful. For example, there was a debate years ago about whether or not Amy Grant had "sold out" when she left the Christian recording industry and crossed over to the secular market. It wasn't evil, boomers would say, but neither was it holy.

The new generation of Christians, however, tends to see only two categories: the holy and the sinful. This means things that previously fell into the "secular" category are now open for consumption and experimentation without judgment. Take, for example, tattoos. I am often asked the proper spelling of Greek or Hebrew words for a young adult’s decidedly Christian tattoos; but then, a Chinese dragon or skull and crossbones is just as acceptable. If it is not sinful, they reason, it is holy. Most young musicians I know don't want a Christian recording contract because that would pigeonhole them. Five Iron Frenzy, a band with a large Christian following that was instrumental in planting Scum of the Earth Church, kept playing nightclubs, bars, and going on tours with non-Christian bands.

Part 2 of “Scum of the Church†will be posted soon.

This article was edited and modified from, "Young Adults and the Church: The Way Things Are," in SAMJournal issue 159

Posted by UrL at August 21, 2006 | Comments (42) | TrackBack

August 18, 2006

Old Men Will Dream Dreams: This pastor doesn’t advocate hearing voices, but he happened to hear one

All pastors are crazy; I’ve known that since seminary. Some pastors, however, have fewer cards in their decks than others. Nick Overduin, pastor of Toronto First Christian Reformed Church, began to question his own sanity after an experience that was beyond explanation.

Overduin now believes God was in this encounter. You may believe otherwise. In either case, reading Nick’s account has made me wonder—as more church leaders are rethinking the nature of ministry in a post-Christian culture, is it also time to rethink our assumptions about the supernatural, and its place in our communities?

Who wants to be known as a crazy nut-case preacher that hears voices? I don’t advocate hearing voices; I just happen to have heard one.

I did not hear any strange “voices†in my first church. Nor did I feel distracted by the supernatural during my second charge, a University Chaplaincy. In my third posting I was perhaps too busy to hear any divine whisperings. My congregation had 800 members. My fourth church is conceivably the most implausible setting for a semi-mystical deviation. Many of its 120 members are certified experts, executives, or independent entrepreneurs. My wife Nandy and I have been married 25 years, and at first I didn't tell even her. I am writing the episode now partly because I believe it could be sinful to keep it to myself.

About three years ago I woke up one night very suddenly. It was as if I had been jerked from deep sleep into alert wakefulness in less than a second.

I was surrounded by a darkness that seemed thicker than usual. It felt like something or someone ominous was in the room with me.

The blackness around the bookshelves in my office where I had fallen asleep was so substantial that I could see nothing. The space was filled with a conspicuous and crushing sense of dread. My fear increased when I realized that I had been rendered immobile, as if a great weight had been placed over my entire body. I was pinned down.
I began to pray with every fiber of my being. Wouldn’t almost anybody have done the same, whether they believed in God or not? Physically, the prayer required fierce resolve just to bring my hands together. I knew it was permissible to pray without folding hands, but for some reason I wanted desperately to fold my hands. I felt I would be completely destroyed if I demonstrated the nerve to pray without first taking up this humble posture.

“What’s wrong, God?†I asked when my hands were finally clenched. “Are you angry about something?â€

That is when I heard the voice. It was calm but deliberate and focused. It was not loud but clearly audible. I do not know if it was outside the room, inside the room, or just inside my heart. In any case, there was no mistaking what it said. It said, “THE PRAYER OF REPENTANCE.â€

I was frozen by apprehension, riveted to the bed. Was God angry about the Prayer of Repentance?

I am very proud of the fact that my denomination, the Christian Reformed Church of North America, in 1999 had mandated all congregations use an official Prayer of Repentance for our failure to show sufficient love to homosexual people. As a denomination, we had committed ourselves in 1973 to an official policy of “love the sinner, hate the sin,†but we had not demonstrated enough resolve in showing the genuine compassion we had promised. So, in 1999 we urged all the churches to use this well-known Prayer of Repentance. The Synod did not wish to change our biblically-based denominational approach, only encourage greater focus on pastoral love. Many of our congregations in North America, alas, defiantly refused to use the resource liturgically. Now, to my surprise, it seemed that maybe God (if this was God) was not pleased with the official Prayer of Repentance either.
The prayer reads as follows:

Lord, our gracious God,
We have sinned against you.
We have not done the things we ought to have done.
We have not kept the promises we made.
Instead of trying to become a place where persons who love you
and are homosexual could find a gracious dwelling,
We confess that we have continued to build walls.
We have avoided them.
We have been cruel.
We have called names and used insulting language.
We have wished that they would just go away.
Truly, Lord, there is little health in us.
We have wronged these children of yours,
these brothers and sisters of ours,
And we repent of our sins.
We are sorry for what we have done
and for what we have left undone.
Lord, forgive us our sins through the blood of Jesus.
Dear heavenly Father, we love you.
We love you for keeping your promises,
And we want to be like you.
We want to keep our promises.
Help us, Father, to do so.
Help us to love our gay and lesbian sisters and brothers.
Help us love with words and deeds.
Strengthen our resolve to listen to their stories,
to share their pain,
to learn from others,
to walk together on life’s journey.
Lord, we have questions.
We do not know everything.
Give us the grace not to act otherwise.
Give us the humility to attend to what we do know.
We do know that life is more complicated than we wish.
We do know that we need your forgiveness for the past
And your grace for the future
As we continually struggle to be the church,
Faithful to your Word,
Faithful to each other.
In Christ. Amen.

“What is wrong, God?†I prayed again. “Why are you angry about the Prayer of Repentance?â€

Then the Voice came again. Not loud, but terse and deliberate: IT’S…TOO…LONG.

It is only now, three years later, that I can see some humor in this encounter. But when it happened, I truly felt I was going to die. I did not dare to relate this event to my council or church. I also did not have the courage to tell my wife or best friends.

I truly felt I was going to die. One thing I vividly recall, with genuine gratitude, is that after the voice spoke, the overwhelming terror in the room slowly dissipated. The level of darkness returned to the range that is normal for 4:00 a.m. And the heavy weight on my body receded. I was able to stop folding my hands.

I lay there wondering if this could have possibly been God. I felt that I had been spared from some kind of obliteration, but I did not have a joyful sense of contentment or relief. I had always imagined that having an actual encounter with God would be more beautiful, not something so frightening.

As a pastor in the Christian in the Reformed tradition I have always believed we should be distrustful of anything that allegedly comes from the Spirit of God if it is not based on the Bible. So I was intrigued by the verse that popped into my head while recuperating from the encounter: “When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.†(Matthew 6:7, NIV)

Three years later I can begin to appreciate the humor in this story. The Prayer of Repentance is indeed tediously verbose. It has become quite obvious to me that the prayer is frankly pompous, arrogant, paternalistic, and long-winded. I say this without intending in any way to be mean-spirited towards my denomination, which I deeply love and cherish.

I believe, despite all my scholarly, emotional, and religious reservations, that I may have been given a message by God for the sake of others. But who wants to be known as a crazy nut-case preacher that hears voices? I don’t advocate hearing voices; I just happen to have heard one.

Posted by UrL at August 18, 2006 | Comments (19)

August 16, 2006

Family Faith Feud: Why are young adults not finding their places in their parents’ church?

Many churches struggle to reach the ever-elusive young adult demographic. Are 20-somethings simply disinterested in church? Not according to Brian McLaren. He believes we are failing to listen to the questions young adults are asking.

This post is a preview of McLaren’s commentary in the upcoming Fall issue of Leadership. Here the Emergent leader encourages churches and parents to begin investigating why young adults are leaving the church—not to argue them back into the fold, but simply to understand their perspective. NOTE: Some of the more thoughtful comments to this post will be reprinted in the Fall 2006 print issue of Leadership, available in mid-October.

There was irony in the title of the old TV game show Family Feud. The irony was that the feuding between families was much less intense than the cheering within families as members tried to answer the same trivia questions.

In our churches, family feuds of another sort arise when members of the same family are asking different questions. For example:

In the third row, left side, mom and dad are asking how they can raise their 14-year-old daughter so she will never rebel and never get in trouble. Meanwhile, their daughter, seated with her friends in the last pew, is asking how she can get out from under their control.

Or in the ninth row, another mom and dad are wondering how they can be sure their 18-year-old son will (a) go to a good college and get a good education so he can have a good job and a good life, and (b) not be exposed to philosophical, scientific, or political questions that may cause him to question his faith. But their son, sitting with his girlfriend in the pew directly behind them, is asking how he can find a college where he can ask the philosophical, scientific, and political questions he has already been exposed to in high school.

These families share something in common: their young adult kids are not easily finding their places in the church of their parents. The problem is widespread. I have been in two groups of pastors lately where someone asked how many of our post-high-school kids were actively involved in the church. No pastor in either group had a majority of his kids involved in the church; most had no kids actively involved.

We are well-practiced in the arts of blame and guilt and shame. But I would like to propose a different response. Why don’t we start asking the same questions? Why don’t we begin with the questions young adults are asking? Let’s start collecting data from families in thousands of churches on the responses to these questions. The purpose would not be for rebuttal or argument, but simply to understand and learn. Here is a question that might begin the conversation:

What questions did the church not answer for you or not answer well?

Maybe a season of asking questions like these could move us beyond family faith feuds, to family faith conversations.

Posted by UrL at August 16, 2006 | Comments (44)

August 10, 2006

Fallow Fields: 20 ways to waste time while not planting churches

Sorry for the long delay between posts. Url has been away in the only patch of North America without internet access. I recently listened to a speaker praise the state of the church in America. He lauded the efforts of politically active conservatives, affirmed the family-friendly movies being released, said the sale of pornographic magazines has taken a dive for 10 years, and was excited that churches are growing bigger than ever—all because Christians in America are living holy lives.

Apparently he hasn’t read Ron Sider’s book The Scandel of the Evangelical Conscience where surveys reveal American evangelicals aren’t living any holier than their secular neighbors. Nor has he studied the report by Outreach Magazine, "The American Church in Crisis" that found church attendance in the U.S. isn’t keeping up with the population growth. And does anyone really believe pornography use is declining because fewer magazines are being sold?

His positive, if ill-informed, message reminded me of something sent to us by Steve Addison, the Australian Director of Church Resource Ministries. Steve is passionate about church planting and has written a tongue-in-cheek list of suggestions for the church in America (or anywhere else the church is losing ground).

We’ve had some good input lately on why we’re not seeing church planting movements in the developed world to the same degree we’re seeing in the global south. If that’s the case, we need to find something to do while nothing’s happening. Here are 20 suggestions for what to do while we’re not multiplying churches.

1. Call yourself an apostle. Have some business cards printed. Hand them around.

2. Throw lots of money at subsidizing unhealthy, declining churches.

3. Throw money at “experimental missional initiatives†and never evaluate their effectiveness.

4. Set goals for multiplying new churches but don’t make it clear who is responsible to accomplish the goals.

5. Make someone responsible but don’t give them any real authority, discretionary time, or funding. Change the appointment every two years. After ten years, save money by retiring the position and making everyone else responsible.

6. Appoint a committee to undertake a study and write a report. Wait three years then do it again.

7. Hire a consultant to undertake a study and write a report. Wait three years then do it again.

8. Appoint the wrong people to plant churches. When they fail conclude that church planting doesn’t work.

9. When you see a healthy church plant say, “Yes it’s growing but it’s not really a (choose one) Reformed/Baptist/Assemblies of God/Presbyterian/Methodist/New Vine/etc. church.â€

10. Require pioneering leaders to be theologically trained before they can plant a church.

11. Throw your best leaders at your biggest problems, not at your greatest opportunities.

12. Watch pioneering leaders exit your movement and then comment on their lack of commitment.

13. Reward pioneering leaders with promotions. Get them away from the front line. Harness their drive to keep the institutional wheels turning.

14. In the 1960’s change the word “missions†to “mission.†To usher in the new millennium change “mission†to “missional.†Around 2010 plan to change “missional†to “postmissional.â€

15. Agree to plant new churches when: (a) You’re large enough (b) You’re healthy enough (c) You have the leaders to give away (d) You have the money to spare (e) God has clearly shown you it’s time (f) When the cow jumps over the moon.

16. Run workshops on church planting. Hold conferences on church planting. Offer a course at your theological college on church planting. Do nothing to follow up with the people who show an interest. Make sure only experts get to teach. Keep the practitioners away from the students. Keep the students in the classroom.

17. Grow your church, facilities, staff, and budget as BIG as you can. Let your vision stop at your car park. Let church history end with you. Let the Kingdom dream die.

18. Set ridiculous but catchy sounding goals like “500 in 5 years,†or “2,000 by 2,000.†Three years after the target date expires set new goals. Don’t forget to change the dates!

19. Modernize your theology, then postmodernize your theology. Remove evangelism and church planting from the centre of God’s mission in the world. When decline hits make sure the paid professionals are the last to feel the pinch.

20. Lastly, set up a blog on church planting. Link to other bloggers on church planting. Be sure they link to you. Add smoke and mirrors.

Posted by UrL at August 10, 2006 | Comments (13)

August 4, 2006

Married to the Ministry: has the pastor’s wife’s role changed for better or worse?

When my wife and I interviewed at my present church she asked what expectations the congregation had of staff spouses. She was told, “We just expect spouses to be church members like everyone else—serving, attending worship, and living uprightly. You know, no smoking pot in the back of the church.†That’s a pretty low bar, my wife thought, but one she could reach.

Of course, things have not always been so easy for clergy wives. Opinion Journal recently posted an article by Lauren Winner (author of "Girl Meets God" and "Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastityâ€) about the changing expectations placed on spouses of ministers. Below are a few excerpts. Read Winner’s entire article here.

Posted by UrL at August 4, 2006 | Comments (8)

August 1, 2006

Word for Word: what is driving pastors to plagiarize?

The New York Times ran the story last week of a high-profile pastor busted for plagiarizing sermons, and his congregation’s willingness to forgive him. Trying to explain what led to his behavior, Rev. Jackson says:

In recent years I’ve been alarmed by how frequently I’m hearing reports of pastors plagiarizing sermons. Clearly, the internet has contributed to the problem. Sermons in both written and audio form are quickly accessible, and the temptation to plagiarize is easier than ever before to indulge. In this regard the sin differs little from the epidemic of internet pornography.

But accessibility alone cannot account for the problem. Just as many believe porn is an unhealthy way of coping with a lack of intimacy, there must be some underlying issue that drives pastors to plagiarize. Rev. Jackson’s comments above are revealing. Is a lack of self-esteem among pastors on the rise? And if it is, what is the cause?

A few months back Shane Hipps posted about the impact of video venues on preaching. Hipps says multiple-site churches that use video preaching communicate that:

Celebrity preachers are nothing new, of course. In the 18th century everyone knew the name George Whitefield. In the 19th century it was Moody. And no history of the 20th century church will fail to include the name Billy Graham. But with the advent of digital media technology and savvy church marketing in the 21st century, celebrity preachers have become omnipresent brands.

Unlike the past, gifted speakers are not merely heard by their congregation or those attending the revival or crusade. Today’s “best preachers†are broadcast daily on radio and television, and their sermons resonate through cyberspace via podcasts and streaming audio.

Recently, The Church Report issued the Top 50 Most Influential Churches of 2006. Tellingly, the visual layout of the article (especially the print version) isn’t dominated by the churches’ names, but by headshots of the senior pastors. Remove the text and the article could have been titled the Top 50 Most Popular Pastors of 2006. Christians in America cannot hide from the celebrated shadows of Hybels, Warren, Osteen, Stanley, Young, and Jakes—and neither can pastors.

With a celebrity church culture is it any surprise that less celebrated pastors may lack self-esteem? With parishioners consuming excellent preaching Monday thru Saturday, it’s understandable why their expectations for Sunday are high. I can also understand why churches are happily adopting video venues to keep quality high and religious consumers satisfied. Some churches are even forgoing a preaching pastor altogether. Opting instead to use the previously recorded video messages of a celebrity pastor from across the country.

Of course, none of these realities justifies plagiarism. There is no excuse for deceitfully accepting credit for what is not your own. We all must take responsibility for our actions and our insecurities. But, we would be foolish to ignore the factors contributing to the problem.

Posted by Skye Jethani at August 1, 2006 | Comments (65)