My sister came over yesterday for an impromptu play date (actually, she was out of coffee at her house and I was in possession of some very yummy Peet’s Holiday Blend), and we spent some time talking about our plans for our small group. My sister is our leader, so she had some questions for… Continue reading Inconvenienced
Category: Church
A dog party
I have mentioned before the influence of the book, “Go, Dog, Go” on my daughter’s imagination. The climax of this story is the dramatic arrival of a bunch of different colored dogs, all driving cars, at a giant tree. At the top of the tree, the dogs discover a magnificent party: “A dog party,†the… Continue reading A dog party
Quotation of the Week
‘In my experience and observation simply offering better Bible teaching has not produced better disciples.’ Or put another way – ‘it hasn’t worked’…. I hear many people looking for churches with ‘good teaching’, but I am yet to hear anyone seeking a church that is committed to ‘doing the Bible stuff’. From the Backyard Missionary
New Construction
I stumbled upon a great blog entry by Chris Spinks (via Tyler Watson) that contained what I found to be a provocative analogy. He likens churches to planned suburban developments: places where form and structure and character are all prescribed before anyone actually ever dwells there. Too often, as I see it, suburbs and suburban-like… Continue reading New Construction
Quotation of the Week
“It is, I gently suggest, a serious error to make “outreach” a primary goal of the local congregation, and especially so when those who are already “with us” have not become clear-headed and devoted apprentices of Jesus, and are not, for the most part, solidly progressing along the path. Outreach is one essential task of… Continue reading Quotation of the Week
Casualties
In the past week, three men have died within walking distance of our house. They have each died of gunshot wounds. They have died on streets and corners where I regularly walk with my kids. They have died in close proximity to the homes of people we love. They have died as a result of… Continue reading Casualties
Recommended Reading
I enjoyed reading this interview with Dick Staub at Relevant Magazine online. Dick has been a highly influential person in my life. He is an excellent conversation partner, a gifted writer, a provocative thinker, and a lover of Christ and the church. I look forward to the release of his upcoming book: The Culturally Savvy… Continue reading Recommended Reading
You are not welcome here
Last week Doug and I watched North Country. This is the movie where Charlize Theron portrays a woman who enters the mining industry in Northern Minnesota and wins a landmark sexual harassment case in 1984. It was a difficult movie to watch. As I sat and watched the portrayal of a large group of men… Continue reading You are not welcome here
Quotation of the Week
“It destroys the people in the big churches, because they are no longer dealing with community; they’re just part of a crowd. In the vaunted small-group movement—which certainly has some good things going for it (probably earlier on, more than now)—people say, ‘Well, we take care of community by having small groups.’ Well, those aren’t… Continue reading Quotation of the Week
A problematic location
Two things I read this week troubled me. The first was an article on gentrification by urban ministry practicioner Bob Lupton where he considers how those doing urban ministry should think about the different issues raised by increasingly gentrified urban cores (thanks Anthony Siff at MereMission for this link). Lupton writes: “Resisting gentrification is like… Continue reading A problematic location