One day, a group of soldiers were on horseback riding through a cornfield. A little old woman saw them and got angry. She grabbed a poker from the hearth and ran outside. Somebody said, "Granny come back in! You can't stop them." She said, "I can let them know whose side I'm on."
Whose side are you on today? And does the "world" know it?
Friday, May 7, 2010
God, My Heart, Media...
Worldliness - CJ Mahaney
“If you’re a parent, you have the privilege and responsibility to serve and protect your family with accountability. Its wise to place televisions and computers in public areas of the home so viewing is always open to others. Another way to safeguard the family is to employ an Internet filter to block inappropriate web sites. In our part of the country, many homes are now built with media rooms that provide isolated viewing, often in a remote part of the home. Few combinations are more dangerous for a teenager than cable or satellite television, a media room, and privacy. Parents should set biblical guidelines and be aware of when, where, and what their children watch. Foolish companions are not only out there in the world, they can be invited into our homes if we aren’t discerning about what our children view. Its easy for parents to be passive in our supervision of the family media diet. When we’ve failed to exercise protective oversight for the quantity or content of our children’s viewing, we should repent and ask our children’s forgiveness.” (64)
“If you’re a parent, you have the privilege and responsibility to serve and protect your family with accountability. Its wise to place televisions and computers in public areas of the home so viewing is always open to others. Another way to safeguard the family is to employ an Internet filter to block inappropriate web sites. In our part of the country, many homes are now built with media rooms that provide isolated viewing, often in a remote part of the home. Few combinations are more dangerous for a teenager than cable or satellite television, a media room, and privacy. Parents should set biblical guidelines and be aware of when, where, and what their children watch. Foolish companions are not only out there in the world, they can be invited into our homes if we aren’t discerning about what our children view. Its easy for parents to be passive in our supervision of the family media diet. When we’ve failed to exercise protective oversight for the quantity or content of our children’s viewing, we should repent and ask our children’s forgiveness.” (64)
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Underprogramming Your Family and Church....
Steve Wright (co-author of ReThink) posted a helpful article on his blog of something I feel pretty strongly about in the home and in the church. I think we really need to heed these 10 principles:
Jared Wilson, husband, pastor, author, talked about programming in the local church. So often we pick up books that are about activities, programming, more things to do. I've been wrestling with the word "be" lately. Not what I'm doing, who I am. Same with our churches. Why we do the activities and ministries we do is more important than how many of those events we do during a given calendar year. Same for your family. Many typical American families are absent from the home 8 nights a week it seems. What would happen if you re-thought your family's programming?
Wilson sheds light on under-programming your church. How can these items be applied to your church, ministry, or family?
I'm a big fan of the "simple church" concept, but I have experienced just how daunting a task it can be to under-program my church. We are inundated constantly with opportunities for activity from other churches (which we don't want to turn down lest we appear uncooperative and standoffish), advertised "movements" local and national (which are good at getting people excited), and "good ideas" from our own community (which we are reluctant to deny lest we break someone's heart). But what all this so often amounts to is a church that is merely busy, and busy does not always equal diligent or successful.
Here, then, are 10 reasons to under-program a church:
1. You can do a lot of things in a mediocre (or poor) way, or you can do a few things extremely well. Craig Groeschel has some great things to say about this subject. Also check out Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger's Simple Church.
2. Over-programming creates an illusion of fruitfulness that may just be busy-ness. A bustling crowd may not be spiritually changed or engaged in mission at all. And as our flesh cries out for works, many times filling our programs with eager, even servant-minded people is a way to appeal to self-righteousness.
3. Over-programming is a detriment to single-mindedness in a community. If we're all busy engaging our interests in and pursuits of different things, we will have a harder time enjoying the "one accord" prescribed by the New Testament.
4. Over-programming runs the risk of turning a church into a host of extracurricular activities, mirroring the "Type-A family" mode of suburban achievers. The church can become a grocery store or more spiritual YMCA, then, perfect for people who want religious activities on their calendar.
5. Over-programming dilutes actual ministry effectiveness. Because it can overextend leaders, increase administration, tax the time of church members, and sap financial and material resources from churches.
6. Over-programming leads to segmentation among ages, life stages, and affinities, which can create divisions in a church body. Certainly there are legitimate reasons for gathering according to "likenesses," but many times increasing the number of programs means increasing the ways and frequencies of these separations. Pervasive segmentation is not good for church unity or spiritual growth.
7. Over-programming creates satisfaction in an illusion of success; meanwhile mission suffers. If a church looks like it's doing lots of things, we tend to think it's doing great things for God. When really it may just be providing lots of religious goods and services. This is an unacceptable substitute for a community on mission, but it's one we accept all the time. And the more we are engaged within the four walls of the church, whether those walls are literal or metaphorical, the less we are engaged in being salt and light. Over-programming reduces the access to and opportunities with my neighbors.
8. Over-programming reduces margin in the lives of church members. It's a fast track to burnout for both volunteers and attendees, and it implicitly stifles sabbath.
9. Over-programming gets a church further away from the New Testament vision of the local church. Here's a good test, I think: take a look at a typical over-programmed church's calendar and see how many of the activities resemble things seen in the New Testament.
10. Over-programming is usually the result of un-self-reflective reflex reactions to perceived needs and and an inability to kill sacred cows that are actually already dead. Always ask "Should we?" before you ask "Can we?" Always ask "Will this please God?" before you ask "Will this please our people?" Always ask "Will this meet a need?" before you ask "Will this meet a demand?"
Jared Wilson, husband, pastor, author, talked about programming in the local church. So often we pick up books that are about activities, programming, more things to do. I've been wrestling with the word "be" lately. Not what I'm doing, who I am. Same with our churches. Why we do the activities and ministries we do is more important than how many of those events we do during a given calendar year. Same for your family. Many typical American families are absent from the home 8 nights a week it seems. What would happen if you re-thought your family's programming?
Wilson sheds light on under-programming your church. How can these items be applied to your church, ministry, or family?
I'm a big fan of the "simple church" concept, but I have experienced just how daunting a task it can be to under-program my church. We are inundated constantly with opportunities for activity from other churches (which we don't want to turn down lest we appear uncooperative and standoffish), advertised "movements" local and national (which are good at getting people excited), and "good ideas" from our own community (which we are reluctant to deny lest we break someone's heart). But what all this so often amounts to is a church that is merely busy, and busy does not always equal diligent or successful.
Here, then, are 10 reasons to under-program a church:
1. You can do a lot of things in a mediocre (or poor) way, or you can do a few things extremely well. Craig Groeschel has some great things to say about this subject. Also check out Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger's Simple Church.
2. Over-programming creates an illusion of fruitfulness that may just be busy-ness. A bustling crowd may not be spiritually changed or engaged in mission at all. And as our flesh cries out for works, many times filling our programs with eager, even servant-minded people is a way to appeal to self-righteousness.
3. Over-programming is a detriment to single-mindedness in a community. If we're all busy engaging our interests in and pursuits of different things, we will have a harder time enjoying the "one accord" prescribed by the New Testament.
4. Over-programming runs the risk of turning a church into a host of extracurricular activities, mirroring the "Type-A family" mode of suburban achievers. The church can become a grocery store or more spiritual YMCA, then, perfect for people who want religious activities on their calendar.
5. Over-programming dilutes actual ministry effectiveness. Because it can overextend leaders, increase administration, tax the time of church members, and sap financial and material resources from churches.
6. Over-programming leads to segmentation among ages, life stages, and affinities, which can create divisions in a church body. Certainly there are legitimate reasons for gathering according to "likenesses," but many times increasing the number of programs means increasing the ways and frequencies of these separations. Pervasive segmentation is not good for church unity or spiritual growth.
7. Over-programming creates satisfaction in an illusion of success; meanwhile mission suffers. If a church looks like it's doing lots of things, we tend to think it's doing great things for God. When really it may just be providing lots of religious goods and services. This is an unacceptable substitute for a community on mission, but it's one we accept all the time. And the more we are engaged within the four walls of the church, whether those walls are literal or metaphorical, the less we are engaged in being salt and light. Over-programming reduces the access to and opportunities with my neighbors.
8. Over-programming reduces margin in the lives of church members. It's a fast track to burnout for both volunteers and attendees, and it implicitly stifles sabbath.
9. Over-programming gets a church further away from the New Testament vision of the local church. Here's a good test, I think: take a look at a typical over-programmed church's calendar and see how many of the activities resemble things seen in the New Testament.
10. Over-programming is usually the result of un-self-reflective reflex reactions to perceived needs and and an inability to kill sacred cows that are actually already dead. Always ask "Should we?" before you ask "Can we?" Always ask "Will this please God?" before you ask "Will this please our people?" Always ask "Will this meet a need?" before you ask "Will this meet a demand?"
Monday, May 3, 2010
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