Challenging words from Alan Roxburgh: If we want to discern the emergent work of God, we’ve got to ask, Where are the most God-forsaken places today? Let me suggest to you, one of the most God-forsaken place for us, is the local congregation. Why? They don’t get it. They don’t understand any of this stuff. […]
World Religions: Three Possibilities
I can’t help but come back to the world religions discussion. If you’re joining us late you can find previous posts here, here, and here. While I haven’t done a lot of in-depth research on specific world religions–I’ve noodled around in books about Buddhism and I’ve listened to an audio book about Islam–I have spent […]
February 27, 2007 by 36 Comments
A Question or Two
Here’s a good question that came in at the end of the comments of this post. Is it possible for a local church to be both attractional and missional and still make an impact on the culture ? For example : Can we still invite people, have gospel meetings, seminars,vbs, etc. and also reach out […]
February 13, 2007 by 10 Comments
From the Future
Check out Fred’s interview with Mike Frost over at Wineskins. I guess the question for my American readers, that will only make sense if you read the quote below, is do you agree with Frost? Is that day really coming for us? More than that, one of the benefits of my being Australian is that […]
January 3, 2007 by 10 Comments
Six Present-Futures
Here are the Six Present-Futures and their accompanying questions from Reggie McNeal. 1. The collapse of the church culture. Wrong question: How do we “do church” better? Tough question: How to we deconvert from churchianity to Christianity? 2. The shift from church growth to Kingdom growth. Wrong question: How do we grow this church? Tough […]
November 2, 2006 by 10 Comments
Reggie McNeal
Last week, our staff went to hear Reggie McNeal speak at a local event. I found him to be excellent. I haven’t read any of his books, but his talks were based on The Present Future. Throughout the day he worked us through six bad questions and their better counterparts. I’ll post those questions tomorrow. […]
November 1, 2006 by 1 Comment
Christians in Politics
Tomorrow morning, I’m leading the discussion at the Tulsa Emergent Cohort. Here’s what we’ll be talking about (pdf alert). These are notes I took from a podcast I listened to from Greg Boyd’s church when they were discussing his new book. I thought it was a helpful summary and should make for a good discussion. […]
September 6, 2006 by 8 Comments
Am I sure that I am saved?
A great discussion here about the nature of personal salvation. Perriman has articulated quite well a concept that I’ve been unable to adequately put into words. Am I sure that I am saved? I do not think that the Bible defines ‘Christianity’ fundamentally or centrally as a religion of salvation, and certainly not of the […]
June 24, 2006 by 10 Comments
Reflections from Brian McLaren
Here are some interesting reflections from Brian McLaren. One highlight: Too often, though, this decision-focused approach produces a series of raised and dashed expectations, as people “make a decision” but nothing really changes. And in settings that are in some ways more pre-Christian or post-Christian than typical of Christendom, calling people to immediate commitment without […]
June 8, 2006 by 8 Comments
Rite of Baptism Trickles Away
I’ve been engaged in a number of conversations recently about why more people aren’t being baptized at Garnett. There are lots of simplistic answers given. Everybody claims to have a magic bullet that will work. I’ve stubbornly insisted that things aren’t so simple. Here’s an interesting article that leads me to believe that simply offering […]
April 17, 2006 by 22 Comments
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons