Archive for May, 2010
Selah
“Let no one think or maintain that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the book of God’s Word [the Bible] or in the book of God’s Works [the universe], divinity or philosophy…[However we should] not unwisely mingle or confound these learnings together.”
Francis Bacon 1605
The Superior Man - thoughts by Confucius
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.
The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.
The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later.
The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.
The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.
The future of the church is ‘young people’….?
I have heard this said for years in pastor’s conferences, pastor’s meetings, and from pulpits, but today I got to thinking about it.
If preachers were saying that there is a responsibility to invest leadership training into the next generation I would concur.
But that is not what they are saying.
What they are saying is that we need are shiny programs and shiny activities to entice sub-18 year-olds into the church because our numbers are dwindling.
And as a result of this, they dumb down preaching, remove the Bible from their sermons, dim the lights and buy a smoke machine. In other words, they go into competition with the world as an entertainment alternative.
Here is my challenge with this:
1) We limit salvation to an age demographic. If someone isn’t a Christian by the time they are 18 it is all over red rover. Well, that is not scriptural. ALL of the New Testament conversions took place amongst adults (30+) and the elderly, with maybe the exception of John.
2) The church was never called to be competition to the world, but a light. Watering down the truth doesn’t make truth more palatable, just less effective.
3) Statements like this show how readily people are to put limits on the power of God. There is as much hope for the elderly and the middle-aged as there is for the young.
I was recently talking to a family and the sole reason that they are going to one particular church is that they have a video game arcade for their kids. That’s it. Video games.
But if you talk to the boys, they are lost in the crowd.
They have no friends, they have been dragged away from everyone they know.
The 22 minute human video-enhanced teaching is lame, and they don’t understand why they turn the lights off and stand in the dark to worship. They are a little concerned that some pervert is going to try and cop a feel, and they have all the games they want at home.
What the parents did was look for free baby-sitting, not discipleship.
Their concern was their “alone time,” not the boys conversion.
But then that is not the parents’ fault in a way, as they are a product of a church leadership that has substituted substance for shallowness for the last 50 years. People are at a point nowadays when they can no longer tell the difference between the spectacular and the significant.
Do I believe in doing things with excellence? Absolutely.
Do I present the Scripture in a such a way as it is understandable? I try to every time I step into the pulpit.
But I also don’t think people are idiots.
Years ago I made a deal, a simple deal, with the people in my church.
We had started studying theology and doctrine, and my statement was simply this “Yes these are big words, they are big concepts, but you are big people people. I won’t treat you as stupid if you don’t pretend that you are.”
As a result, our Wednesday night doctrine and leadership service is the same size as our Sunday morning service… and the age range…14 plus.
The world isn’t looking for a dim echo, but a bright light.
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www.provokeblog.org
Sigh…
Off to sleep in the kennel with the beagle….the womans conferrence survey didn’t win me any points