One In Jesus

Compare the approach to benevolence we find in the scriptures to the some of the attitudes that have prevailed for so long.

Tokenism.  Many churches have a benevolence budget of $500 and then just for the occasional beggar who comes to the door asking for a free lunch. It’s really just barely enough to salve our consciences–hardly enough to actually change the world!

Check the box.  Similarly, we sometimes think we get to heaven by being scripturally organized. One requirement is to have a benevolence program, and so we have one. But just a little one. After all, big or small, we still get to check the box and say we’re organized correctly! Continue reading →

Well, this is just a little of what the Bible says–because the Bible says a lot about being missional. Here are some high points.

Matthew’s Gospel starts the ministry of Jesus with the Sermon on the Mount. After the Beatitudes,  Jesus teaches,

(Matt. 5:13-16)  “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

This is Jesus’ first lesson on evangelism. What will cause people to praise God? Our good deeds. And we are to do them in a way that brings glory to Jesus, causing our light to shine before men, like a city on a hill. The church should be a community that does such good things that people from great distances can see the good works and be drawn to them. Continue reading →

The modern world of science and technology is the product of a philosophy known as the Enlightenment. Enlightenment philosophy makes reason all important, and thus bans superstition and tradition. Nothing is true unless it stands up to the ultimate test of truth: human reason.

And this attitude led to the scientific method, science, and the computer I’m typing on. The successes of Enlightenment thought are immeasurably great. All of us who have lived a life free of polio and small pox can thank the Enlightenment philosophers for starting all that.

Not surprisingly, Enlightenment thought has found its way into Christianity, sometimes for good, sometimes for not so good. Continue reading →

We now live in the age of the mega-church, with many congregations of over 10,000 members and some with campuses in several cities. This shouldn’t be too surprising– the same thing is happening in the American retail industry. Americans love huge stores and huge churches.

You see, the churches have been to business school and have learned powerful and effective marketing skills. Some of this is good, because we are least trying to attract the lost. But there’s a dark side as well, which is that we try to package and market Jesus like Nikes or Big Macs. To do this, we customize the message to the market. Continue reading →

In response to the failure of government to teach our children to pray and to teach the poor to be industrious and chaste, many Christians tried to purify the government. In the 1980’s, Jerry Falwell famously founded the Moral Majority as a political movement, and was successful in helping elect Ronald Reagan president.

Later on, the Christian Coalition was successful in electing George W. Bush as president, providing the key votes and volunteers to win two extraordinarily close elections. Conservative Christians have become a genuine political force.

However, the victory proved less than thrilling. Continue reading →

Forgive my use of a term borrowed from philosophy. Our “worldview” is the set of assumptions that dictate how we view the world. Many Americans, for example, see the world through the lens of personal freedom, while many Middle Easterners see the world through the lens of personal and family honor.

In the Christian church, for 1,500 years, our perception of Christianity has been built on the relationship of the church to the state that began under Emperor Constantine, who made Christianity legal. In the following years, Christianity ultimately became the state religion of the Roman Empire. No one could vote or hold public office without being a Christian. The pagan temples were taken over by the church, and the pagan holidays were Christianized. Continue reading →

This is the first of a series of posts on what’s being called “missional” Christianity or the missional movement. “Missional” is a newly coined term, referring to the mission of God on earth and our mission as Christians to work within God’s mission.

Well, that’s a little too abstract. It’s all about re-thinking church so that we point our lives and our congregations toward serving the world that surrounds us. Continue reading →