Church

Way back in April (2007) John Wilkerson of JesusGeek.info dropped us a line concerning his experience with children in worship. We did respond in a timely fashion.... but it only just now got published.

Sorry for the delay, John!

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A Discussion About Church and How We Do Things, and How Others Do Things, and it's Okay

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We make another assault on the doctrine of tithing. This time, we actually stick to the topic, and make a little progress. We didn't reach the summit this time, but we covered some good ground. 

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We got a little feedback from 'person who will remain nameless' about our use of the word "Shutup." Then we talked a little about what we tell the world about our relationship with Christ by the way we set our priorities.

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For the most part, when we read the parable of the "Prodigal Son," we focus on the beautiful image of the "lost/dead" son coming home, and the great party. When the "other/elder" son is referenced, usually it's as an illusion to the Jews. We would like to disagree. We think that the older son is the type of the Church. It's a funny kind of paradox. When you're on the outside, or just grafted into the family, you're the younger son. Once you're on the inside/grafted in, you immediately become the older son.

John Wilkerson of the Jesus Geek podcast dropped us some audio feedback based on last week's show, but refocussion on children in church, and how we feel about some specific issues. The most interesting part of the question for us was, how we deal with churches that don't want to deal with children in the service.... Grab a bag of popcorn, Dan and Jody hit it on the head.

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Thank God for the church ladies who type them. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."

Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

Christians need fellowship. In fact, all people need fellowship, but Christians need Christian fellowship. It's an essential part of the healthy Christian Life diet. Don't forsake it. Don't fail to do it, and don't fail to do it for others.

When we say, "I do," there's more than the commitment we're making to our spouse. There's more than the commitment we make before those witnesses. When we say, "I do," we make a commitment to God. When we say, "Come into my heart," we're not just making a commitment to God, but we're also making a commitment to God to care for our brothers and sisters.

There are things in those words we will never understand, but we need to understand what we can. We need to take our commitment to the Church (fellow believers) seriously. The commitment we made to each other before God, and in His name.

Five times, I've almost skipped over this short discussion, and just made #42 out of the next. Five times I've been brought back to the fact that a disciple needs to hear this... needs to know this can happen. Sometimes, some people are going to just stop loving you. Sometimes it's going to be because you've become unlovely, and we have to face that fact, but sometimes it's because they can't accept that you're right and they're wrong. Always, it hurts.

Barry Carey over at withallyourmind.net has started a series on "The Creeds and Christianity" (that's Part 1, part two is "What Good Are the Creeds?").

Ephesians 5:21

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

1 Corinthians 16:15-18

You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.

We seem to get a lot of feedback condemning the Church or condemning the people that go to church, or condemning the reasons people go to church, or just condemning people because "those people" [blah, blah, blah].

Well, I'm tired of it! Listen up, people! "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." If you've got a problem with that.... you've got a problem

"Dear Lord, bless this food.... and ... uh ... thanks for the ... uh ... great life .... and the kids ... and the wife .... .... and ... uh .... bless the .... uh ... those who are traveling ... and .... uh .... " (*pssst! the food's getting cold!*) " .... Amen!"

So, everything we have is from God, and he provides it to us in his time. What's his, what's 'ours,' and when does he provide it....

Send us feedback at feedback@opendiscipleship.org

Disagreeing with someone you love over something that's important to you is the hardest thing. It's often the thing that causes friction in families and churches. If we, as Christians, can learn how to disagree in love, we can learn from those disagreements. We need to learn that there's a big, important difference between 'unity' and 'uniformity.' We are called to unity -- not uniformity. That means we are going to disagree, and that's a good thing!

Send us feedback at feedback@opendiscipleship.org

Do churches pass over the people God has planted in our congregations that could or should be ministering because they don't have a Bible College degree? Are we hiring people who have a Bible College degree who aren't called to be our ministers while we overlook gifted, qualified people who are already established to minister to our churches and communities?

Send us feedback at feedback@opendiscipleship.org

What's in a name? Everything! We build a lot of walls around our understandings of Christianity, but Jesus told us that if we believe in him, or as the Apostles put it, "in the name of Jesus," we will be saved. Amen! Powerful, powerful truth.

So, I expect that you'll disagree with us.... we both disagreed with this not very long ago....

Send us feedback at feedback@opendiscipleship.org

It stinks to be wrong. We were planning on publishing our Christmas edition this week, but we felt like it was more important to correct our errors from last week. (We'll publish the Christmas edition next Tuesday, instead. Maybe the lingering effects of Christmas will help you enjoy it.)

Are we even trying to reach the reachable, or are we spinning our wheels and wasting Kingdom resources by trying to win the people we feel comfortable with? Our ineffectiveness in our culture, and the directions we're going trying to reach people certainly begs the question.

We'd love to get some feedback on this short podcast.

Theology Rocks - truths to stand on

Did you ever think about that? Not in context of "Would Jesus wear a Rolex on his TV show," but as in the theological and psychological impact that the things Jesus had owned would have had on the Church.... and also, the things that were important to him when he looked down from the cross.