Against Nothingness

Calvin Miller, The Vanishing Evangelical: Saving the Church from its Own Success by Restoring What Really Matters . Baker Books, 2013.  Herein lies an examination of the current state of that somewhat nebulous entity known as "Evangelicalism.' An analysis which hops from worship to mission to the information age to the attack of secularism and preaching in the church. An analysis and, nearly, an obituary.  In his first chapter Miller notes "Generally I have noticed that the events of any movement that has been moving in one direction continue to move in that direction until they reach a conclusion. Great movements like American evangelicalism rarely come to a complete and final stop. They end in a reduced state of trickled down vitality. There will always be evangelicals, of course; the question is how many and for how long?" Yes, indeed. Wait... what? I'm afraid the confusion here is basically carried through the whole book. If there will alway...

Mark Buchanan. Your Church is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down . Zondervan, 2012. 240 pgs.  Mark Buchanan believes there is a visible gap between life in Jesus and the life we live, between the Church of Jesus and the churches we have. In his own words, "What happened? When did we start making it our priority to be safe instead of dangerous, nice instead of holy, cautious instead of bold, self absorbed instead of counting everything loss in order to be found in Christ?" This, then, is a book for those who wish the church looked more like the kingdom of God.  What follows, then, are 18 chapters of pleas, stories, examples, and explanations of what it means to be the true church of Jesus Christ. Buchanan shares with us how Christ makes all things new, how Christ calls us to trust and work for healing and reconciliation and forgiveness and love, and how this will get us into trouble.  A friend of mine commented that this book could...

I have been a pastor for 2.5 years now. Such a short time. In so many ways I know that I have barely begun. Yet, there is still more to reflect upon than I am able to process.  No place, and no person, is perfect, but this place, and these people (in other words: this church) are pretty awesome! I am both blessed and privileged to work where I do. Our church has a great community, the other pastors are excellent people who both support and teach me, and I couldn't be more proud of the youth, young adults, and volunteers I get to work with. It seems they amaze me anew every couple of weeks. You would think I would get used to it, but somehow I never learn.  As for me, well, being a pastor is right where I should be. When God called me into ministry I did not want to go, and I thought I had good reason. Speaking technically, I had a fear of public speaking, a disdain for history, and an utter lack of writing and English skills. Spiritually speaking, I was not what ...

The Allegory Another scream echoed from the stern. Justin twisted his head sharply to see who had gone overboard, but was unable. The storm was worse than any before and the old ways were failing. The collapsing railing that scream evinced was proof enough for Justin. As he firmed his grip on the wheel, trying to fight the storm, Justin looked down at the rope holding him to the steering column and prayed, again, that it would hold.  Every time there was a storm the captain did the same thing. He rushed around the deck and the hold attempting to tie as many of the crew to the ship as he could. All functions ceased except the two stations that could be manned effectively by someone who was tied in: steering and pumping.  Sometime in the distant past the captain had noted that with every storm, men were lost. He tried to save them, but he quickly learned that the grip of the sea was merciless. Not only were men rarely recovered, often some trying to...

David Murrow.  Why Men Hate Going to Church . Thomas Nelson, 2011. 256 pgs. We all know that not all men hate going to church. I think we also all know that in most churches there are more women than men. Why is this? Where are the men? According to David Murrow we have made church an overly, and overtly, feminine experience and are now reaping the dubious rewards of such efforts. Through three sections Murrow makes the persuasive argument that we do have a problem, that it is a result of tailoring the church culture towards women, and that we can do something about it. Not only can we but we must, for without men churches slowly, but surely, perish. Or so argues Murrow; I happen to agree. Why Men Hate Going to Church   is an excellent book. It is provocative, well researched, and thoughtful. There were several moments during reading when I nearly gasped, in shock and delight, as Murrow refuses to pull any punches. In speaking of the feminization of worship, and...

And now, in the same vein as " Contempervant Growtivation " I am proud to pass on another sadly funny video parody of church: " Wrong Worship "

Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson,  On the Verge: A Journey Into the Apostolic Future of the Church (Exponential Series)  Zondervan, 2011. 352 pgs.  The church is 'on the verge' of massive changes. It must be, or so these authors argue. The old ways of 'being church' in the west are failing and so we must strive for something new. Hirsch and Ferguson call this new thing a 'verge church'. That is, the church as 'apostolic movement', reproducible and missional, focused on the 'mDNA' of 'apostolic genius' (a concept from another one of Hirsch's books). In this book Hirsch and Ferguson bring forth a host of best practices, ideas, programs, and so on (one could insert descriptive words in here for quite some time) with the goal of helping church leaders become part of this new apostolic movement.  In terms of structure, On The Verge is divided into four parts: Imagine (which explores the vision of the apostolic movement), Shift (...

Wayne Cordeiro .  Irresistible Church, The: 12 Traits of a Church Heaven Applauds . Bethany House Publishers, 2011. 176 pgs.  "Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".   Wayne Cordeiro is a mega-church pastor in Hawaii. This book contains his advice on 12 traits of a church that heaven applauds. And that is the first thing you need to know about this book; it is not about making your church irresistible to other people, rather it is about making your church irresistible to God (though Cordeiro insists that if you have the latter, you will have the former as well). As you should expect, each chapter (other than the introduction) outlines one of these 12 traits. According to Cordeiro an irresistible church: Hungers for the presence of God, remembers who she is, lives he...

No, this is not a post on church politics. It is, instead, a post on national politics as they enter/and become part of a church. I will also say in advance that this has nothing to do with my opinions on the political parties involved in what follows, nor on the individuals as politicians (i.e. this is not intended to speak to their leadership abilities, governmental policies, etc.) My focus is, rather, primarily on the church and on theology.  Two incidents have precipitated these thoughts.  Firstly, a long-standing member of our church is campaigning to be elected MP. A week or two ago, he was introduced to the congregation in this capacity. The church leadership was very careful and very clear about what was, and was not, going on: we are not encouraging our members to vote one way or another, we are not endorsing any political party of candidate (to the point that they never even mentioned what party he was running for); instead, we want to pray for and over the leader...

Mark Deymaz and Harry Li , Ethnic Blends: Mixing Diversity into Your Local Church . Zondervan, 2010. 230pgs.  Another review brought to you by engagingchurchblog.com . Thanks! Ethnic Blends is a book which encourages local churches to aim for multi-ethnic (self consciously not multi-cultural, as the authors explain) and makes a beginning of explaining how to do this.  The first chapter outlines the biblical reasons that we ought to be doing this as well as the seven core commitments of a multi-ethnic church.  Chapter one, as well as the introduction, also give the reader the understanding that this task will be difficult. From there, Deymaz and Li spend seven chapters explaining how to overcome various obstacles; personal, theological, philosophical, practical, cross-cultural, relational, and spiritual. Each chapter is a mix of stories, advice, warnings, and encouragement.  They end with discussion and reflection questions.  I completely agree with De...

Randall Mark Peters, Dave Phillips, Quentin Steen. Colors of God: Conversations about Being the Church . Biblica Publishing, 2010. 232 pgs.  Disclosure: This book was provided by TheOoze for the purpose of review.  @viralbloggers Colors of God is a book by three self-described 'emergent church' pastors which explains a new way of doing church.  It might have been better titled Colors of Church.   The book is written in the style of a conversation, with paragraphs and sections divided by the first names of the authors, making a kind of combination of book with script.  In Part 1 the authors tell their own stories of how they came to be in this place with neXus, which is the church they have founded based on the principals espoused in this book. In Part 2 they go through their four colors: Blue - Gospel Faith. Green - Healthy Living. Red - Inclusive Community. Yellow - Cultural engagement.   Theologically, they argue for several distinct positions....

I don't know where I heard it first, but this quote still often bounces around in my head: "Your system is perfectly tuned to produce exactly the results you are getting." Inevitably, when this quote comes up, another quickly follows:  Matthew 7:17-18 "Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." In other words, as you look around with ever ready critique on the tip of your tongue, remember that the thing you lament is a result of a system in which you are a part.   What got me thinking about this? A third quote: "If a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory.  If a revolution destroys a government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves... There's so much talk about the ...

Patheos  is holding a symposium over the next two weeks on the future of evangelicalism . They have some good authors lined up to share articles, including Mark Noll, Rodney Stark, Richard Foster, and many others.  I am excited.  So, don't be surprised if I blog about some of this stuff; which I am doing right now.  One of the articles is entitled " Future Trends in Evangelicalism " and is by Ed Stetzer. In it, he argues that there are 4 main issues that need to be discussed/addressed (which I am summarizing in brackets in a way that I think draws them together): 1. Learning to navigate a "post-seeker" context. (know our world) 2. Regain confidence in the gospel (know what we believe) 3. Address the definition of evangelicalism (know who we are) 4. Address our shallow definitions of discipleship (know how to live) In other words, we have to figure out or firm up the very basics of this movement we call 'evangelicalism.'  Sadly, I don't think he is ...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this Blog Tour book review I had nearly given up on (don't worry, the other two posts I promised for today will still be up!): Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church . Zondervan, 2010. 205 pgs. Since I started paying attention to church, I have seen the growth of, or been involved in, the para-church movement, the small group movement, the mega-church movement, the emerging church movement, the house church movement, and the missional church movement (to name a few). It seems that we are forever trying to fill the vacuum of evangelical ecclesiology with ever new and more successful models. Of course, the questions behind all of these movements are sincere; we really want to do church well and many people seem to have a sense that, at least in recent years in the west, we are not. Not only are they sincere, but they need to be answered. Into the midst of this long evolving debate step Halter...