Category: Uncategorized

I don’t think I’ve mentioned that there is a regional House2House conference in Southern California this coming weekend. In case anyone is in that part of the world, the information can be found at: http://www.house2house.tv/index.pl/events/h2hreg-sw

The problem with writing about church, emerging church, house church, simple church, traditional church is that we can get focused on structure or lack-of-structure or whatever and still miss the one thing that is essential regardless of how we “do church”: the character of those involved. I would rather hang out with one person of…

I love what Alan Creech has written on the Next-Wave site: –It’s not about being a postmodern church, it’s about the church just being “the church.” –Liturgy is good. –Transformation happens in the context of community. –It’s not about the Pastor. –Lay your time tables down. Read the whole article.

John White has written an excellent article describing parallels between the home school movement and what is taking place today with home churches. He comments: My thoughts? I think we are seeing the beginning of a movement toward “home churching” that will parallel the “home schooling” movement. Some will be called to stay within the…

WaterCarriers has a wonderful post that details the many, awesome things that took place in houses as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Take a look.

Dysfunctional “rules” are unconscious programs that people have learned to do in their families and groups. The following are such dysfunctional rules: 1. All are not equal. Some are more important than others. 2. The way to “matter” to the family/group is to be like someone else (who matters) or to be gifted like someone…

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…

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…

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…

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…