Tag: Missional
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The Responsibility of the Church
Lesslie Newbigin, in his book The Reunion of the Church, challenged the Church to be on mission: “The responsibility of the church is to declare to each generation what is the faith… This is always a fresh task in every generation… No verbal statement can be produced which relieves the Church of the responsibility continually…
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Culture Shaping Power of the Church
Os Guinness, in his excellent book, Renaissance, concerning the church in midst of the present challenges unprecedented in Western Culture, notes the culture changing and culture shaping power of the gospel, when the gospel is both declared by God’s People and is actively shaping God’s People. When many of our churches are caving in pursuit of…
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Christian’s Cultural Assessment Toolbox
Here’s an astute observation from Os Guinness: “Christians simply haven’t developed Christian tools of analysis to examine culture properly. Or rather, the tools the church once had have grown rusty or been mislaid. What often happens is that Christians wake up to some incident or issue and suddenly realize they need to analyze what’s going…
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Turning Consumers Into Missionaries
In this video, Hugh Halter offers some helpful suggestions about turning church consumers into people who live on mission for and with Christ. While this is a long video, in the current climate of American church culture, I found it worth taking the time to consider. I broke it up into viewing sections – watching…
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Being the Church in the World: Distinctiveness
In this video John Stott discusses what he calls one of the most neglected themes in the Bible: Distinctiveness. With all the clamoring for church to be seen as relevant in our culture, perhaps we – the Church – have lost sight of the call to be different. Not different for the sake of being…
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Western Theology
There are two visions of life, two kinds of people. The first see life as a possession to be carefully guarded. They are called settlers. The second see life as a wild, fantastic, explosive gift. They are called pioneers. These two types give rise to two kinds of theology: Settler Theology and Pioneer Theology. According…
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Here AND There
We don’t just go to church, we ARE the church …sent out by the power of the Spirit to BE the church. This illustration above represents two aspects of being a faithful church: Attractional – those elements of a particular congregation that draw people into the church community. Among these would be the quality of…
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The Missional Puritan: On Mission With God
Hey, this Missional thing is nothing new! Listen to what the old English Puritan, John Owen, wrote in the 17th Century: God has work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority. It is not enough that we be just, that we…
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What If We Omitted Gospel, Community, or Mission?
The refrain from an old song says: “Two out of three ain’t bad.” But would this be true for a church, or a Christian, who incorporates 2 out of 3 of the core values: Gospel, Community, Mission? Consider these thoughts, framed as a mathematical equation: Gospel + Community – Mission If we have a Gospel…
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Broken-Down House: Living Productively in a World Gone Bad
I began reading Paul Tripp’s Broken Down House earlier this week. I had read it before, or rather I should say I skimmed it before, but did not take the time to allow Tripp’s poignant insights to resonate in my soul. I raced through it last time, getting the general gist, but not digesting much…
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Two Contents, Two Realities
Francis Schaeffer said: “there are four things which are absolutely necessary if we as Christians are going to meet the need of our age and the overwhelming pressure we are increasingly facing.” These four things are two contents and two realities: The First Content: Sound Doctrine The Second Content: Honest Answers to Honest Questions The First…
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Contextual Asessment Starter Questions
One of the greater frustrations I have experienced in the church I serve has not come from the people within the church as much as it has from well intended (I presume) outsiders and fringe folks who espouse a missional approach. This is surprising because I want to embrace a missional approach. But much of…
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5 Causes of the Decline of the American Church
Previewing Ross Douthat’s new book, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, which hit bookstore shelves yesterday, Tim Keller draws five observations about the causes of decline in the American Church. As Keller notes: In his second chapter, Douthat attributes the change to five major social catalysts that have gained steam since the…
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Pay Attention!
In his book, Joy Unspeakable, Martyn Lloyd-Jones notes: Pay attention! I am certain that the world outside is not going to pay much attention to all the organized efforts of the Christian church. The one thing she will pay attention to is a body of people filled with the spirit of rejoicing. That is how…
