functionalchurch

functionalchurch

6p

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13 years ago @ ChurchETHOS - Why Can't We Just Igno... · 1 reply · +1 points

From a discipleship perspective, tithing allows me a way out from giving all God wants me to give. All I have to do it give 10% and then I am off the hook for anything more. It also leads to self-righteousness. The NT's teaching is much harder to follow than simply tithing -- I must give everything to God! Ro 12:1; The NT also tells me that when I consider all that Christ gave for me, I should decide for myself what to give in response to him. What else can I give other than everything? 2 Corinthians 9:6-10

13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - "Youth Groups Destroy ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Not to say that i haven't served as an "Associate Pastor for Youth" myself ;-)

13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - "Youth Groups Destroy ... · 1 reply · +1 points

I grew up in a church that had a strong youth group. When I joined the group at 13 it was largely youth-led. The youth would elect officers to plan and run events and activities. There was adult participation through "sponsors." These sponsors wouldn't lead the group insomuch as they would work alongside the youth and provide some supervision.

Then came the day when the church decided there needed to be a "youth pastor" to run the youth group. There was consultation with the youth but more on the level of "who do you want to run your group?" rather than "what is the best way to do this youth group thing? Do we need to make some changes?"

That was near the time when I was outgoing so it didn't affect me too much but I always wondered at the decision to take direction away from the youth and put it into the hands of an expert.

13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - The Emerging View of t... · 0 replies · +1 points

After reading your post I went back to work ;-) One of the very next things I read was a quote in Millard Erickson’s Christian Theology, that seems to sum up my take on the issue (and to be the basis for my reading of Frost and Hirsch). It is a recollection of a statement made by an Asian delegate to the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh. The delegate is reported to have said something like this:

“You have sent us your missionaries, who have introduced us to Jesus Christ, and for that we are grateful. But you have also brought us your distinctions and divisions: some preach Methodism, other Lutheranism, Congregationalism or Episcopalianism. We ask you to preach the Gospel to us, and to let Jesus Christ himself raise from among our peoples, by the action of his Holy Spirit, a Church conforming to his requirements and also to the genius of our race. This Church will be the Church of Christ in Japan, the Church of Christ in China, the Church of Christ in India; it will free us from all the isms with which you colour the preaching of the Gospel among us” (Erickson, Christian Theology, 1138, emphasis mine).

Of course the issues of foundation that you raise continues to be a need even in situations like this. For example (based upon this example alone), there must be clear foundations for what the Gospel is, who Jesus is, how we understand the Holy Spirit, etc.

So it appears that we need a middle ground. People do need to encounter the Jesus of the Bible (in as many ways as we can understand him based upon our cultural situation). But this encounter brings them into the Church (with all of its rich and varied history, belief, and theology). The secret is how to help this church remember the multitude of other cultures that exist and use means to introduce them to Jesus as well.