Month: March 2004
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Blogging by Email
Hanging out in San Diego for a couple of days this week and wanted to try out posting by email. If this is posted it means that it worked! Before rambling further, I just want to mention that the previous post on “Ritual and Institutionalizing” continues to grow in comments. If you haven’t jumped in…
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Creating Rituals Without Institutionalizing
My friend, Steve Bogner, over at Catholicism, Holiness, and Spirituality, raises the issue of the importance of ritual in maintaining our joy, creativity, and spirituality. Those of us who seek to “de-institutionalize” church must wrestle with the importance of ritual and how to create it within our contexts. First, I quote from Steve: Why have…
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Living in the Unexpected
I saw this article on “Flash Mobs.” People wanting to be involved in the unexpected: Last summer in Minneapolis, a mob of about 250 people quietly collected in a hotel lobby and stood shoulder-to-shoulder for 12 minutes. Then they all erupted in applause for 15 seconds and just walked away. These “flash mobs” are part…
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Hallmarks of the Changing Church
Did a workshop last night on “The Changing Face of Church.” We discussed six hallmarks of the changes that seem to be taking place. The first was that believers are seeing themselves as “Jesus People” first. In other words, we are, first and foremost, simply God’s children. We belong to Him; our allegiance is to…
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House Church Basics– Pt. 8: It’s All About Jesus
The focal of point house church, simple church, organic church, emerging church or any other way to describe church is simply four words: It’s all about Jesus. Everything we have discussed in our “House Church Basics” is not an attempt to build a better church box. Rather, it is an attempt to make everything, absolutely…
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Relational Christianity
(If you are looking for House Church Basics, scroll down two posts). I feel like a fish out of water! When my traditional church world began to rock I became aware of many parts of that culture that were no longer working for me: the leadership set-up, the non-participatory performance-type services, the consumer mentality, etc.…
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RSS Feeds
(If you are looking for “House Church Basics” scroll on down to the next post). CNN ran an article this past week describing how blogging and, in particular, RSS feeds are going to change the way that we surf the web. The article says: If I’m saying the Web is changing and that you’d better…
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House Church Basics Pt. 7: What About Children?
This is usually the first question asked when it comes to house churches: “What about children? The implication, of course, is that children are going to lose out if there is not an array of formal children’s programs to teach and take care of the children. The assumption is that the “Sunday School” program provided…
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House Church Basics Pt. 6: HC Networks– A Wave Is Coming
Simple churches, connected together as a “network,” are already becoming a “new wave” type phenomenon. The concept of a network of house churches invites individual house churches to thrive within a larger community. In the New Testament, we see churches that met in houses and gathered anywhere. But we also see the larger context of…
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We Are Workers Not Master Builders
Steve Bogner quotes Archbishop Oscar Romero who puts it all into perspective: It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s…