Chasing relevance makes our churches look the same in ways we should be different – from each other and from the culture.
The End Of Relevant Church And The Rise Of Contextual Ministry Read More »
What models and methods are we clinging to that make the basic functions of the church harder than they should be?
Serving Jesus isn’t supposed to be easy. Christ told us we had to take up our cross daily. But Jesus made the gospel as accessible as possible. Too easy, according to the Pharisees.
I was reminded of this reality recently during – of all things – a battle with a stubborn hotel room ironing board.
Like that ironing board, the church often makes some of the simplest tasks much harder than they need to be.
The World Needs a Better Ironing Board (Yes, This Is About the Church) Read More »
Last week’s post on the difference between being culturally relevant or contextually real garnered a lot of commentary on social media. There were a few who responded with the big meh (some literally writing meh in their response). Here’s the main issue the meh-ers had with my post. They felt like the difference between the
Culturally Relevant or Contextually Real, Part 2: More than Semantics? Read More »
I don’t care if the church is culturally relevant.
No, I don’t want us to wallow in some old-time, glory days that probably never were. But cultural relevance is not the answer.
We need to start being contextually real.
Ministry is not about relevance, it’s about reality. And it’s not about the culture, it’s about our context. It’s about living my real life in the context of other people’s real lives.
Forget Being Culturally Relevant – The Church Needs to Be Contextually Real Read More »
Every week, pastors all over the world are asked to do something that is almost impossible. Preach a message to a group of people that includes Teenagers to seniors Men and women Mature disciples and not-yet-believers The faithful and the skeptical Regular attenders and first-time guests Singles, married, divorced, and “it’s complicated” Those who need comfort
Preaching to Newbies and Mature Christians at the Same Time Read More »
“How do I get my church to grow?” That is the #1 question asked by pastors today. I used to ask that question a lot. I take an entire chapter of The Grasshopper Myth to tell how pursuing the answer to it nearly killed me and my church. I don’t ask that question any more.
Forget Being Culturally Relevant – Let’s Get Contextually Real Read More »
