Category: stuff I think about

Speaking of change…

Along the lines of change, how do spark a culture change – specifically a Revival in a church? What does it really take? I know the obvious answer of prayer and a few dedicated people. But what if the church is not revival minded? There is no special emphasis placed there, no special event or time of year. How do you take a good church to a great church? I have heard recently how we might not want to do something then because it is hard to get people to church on ‘other’ nights. ‘Other’ being not a Sunday or a Wednesday. Why?

I don’t want a church so legalized we go to church just because it is church, it’s open and that is what we do. I want to be a part of a congregation that is so God-only, Christ-first and Spirit-led that we are looking for the next opportunity to serve, witness or worship our awesome Creator and Lord. What legacy do we want to pass on to the next generation? One where God is #1 when we can fit Him in or He is #1 and we can fit other things in too?

I am ready for a Revival. R U?

Christianity – do you wanna watch, participate, or pursue it?

School is soon to begin again and so I find myself reading more articles on teaching and learning in preparation for the coming year. According to several reputable sources in the teaching world, there are 3 levels of learning: watching, participating and pursuing. As you can imagine, watching is the easiest and least productive, participating is better and pursuing is best. As I read these articles, I couldn’t help but think about how they apply to Christianity and following Jesus. You can benefit from watching (or listening) to others while at church, in discussion groups (like this), and while with your friends and family…..but, not very much. A more productive approach would be to actually participate in Bible study, prayer, worshipping God, serving others, etc. However, by far, the best approach is to pursue God, Christianity and following Jesus. Pursuit implies passion, self-direction, immersing yourself, and heartfelt commitment. It implies perseverance and focus. It implies effort and enjoyment. You don’t pursue something that you don’t care about. So, the question to all of us is: which Christianity do you want – one you watch from the sidelines, one you participate in or one that you pursue with all your heart? Which Christianity do you currently live? To which Christianity does the Bible point?

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

I read an article on Moralistic Therapeutic Deism recently in World Magazine (a more complete article can be found here). It’s kind of making me wonder if we’re succeeding at passing our faith on to the next generation.

In brief, MTD has the following tenets. They start out pretty good, then quickly deteriorate: Continue reading “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”