5 posts tagged “christians”

The Bible speaks of God building us up as a spiritual house. Christ building his Church. That we are being built up as the church together to be a habitation for God. When you look at the Church through this lens or perspective of Building you consider the integrity and strength of the relationships and the substance of the individuals present in that organization to determine how well the building is going. I have observed at times a high level of dysfunction in Church environments and have been concerned about it when it comes to it's becoming a house or structure formed for the purpose of housing and expressing God's nature. It seems due to the lack of real relationships, strong connections and honor among the parts that the house has become one of cards. This house of cards is fragile, easily toppled by any wind or nudge that might occur, possessing no strength or substance it is merely for show. God impressed this picture of a House of Cards on me some time ago as I was considering how strong we are as a people in our local context. How Christians function and relate on a local level is affecting the purpose of God in such a significant form if we see God's work and desire to build the kind of house fit to express his true nature and power...

It typically is a very difficult thing to move across the US and start a new job especially when that job includes working in a close knit environment of friends. It was made easy because of some great people. I want to say a big thank you to the DestinyMC team of 2006-07 for being family to me. You mean so much. Thanks for everything!

I was in Indianapolis today on a trip and saw this billboard. I guess it is a city wide campaign being sponsored by the MCC (Metropolitan Community Church). 

Without comment to the other issues that arise with this conjecture. I think it is interesting to look at the Scriptures they use to endorse homosexuality via the words of Jesus. I am interested in everyones thoughts.

The primary site for the campaign is here.

Indiana news coverage is found here with some interesting articles.

A huge issue is emerging as evangelicals begin to recognize the validity of global warming. Two articles I want to bring to our attention revealing tension between evangelicals and The Christian Right. This is a huge precedent setting, potentially relationship changing (or political policy changing) event for Evangelicals and the Conservatives. Please take the time to consider my former post and the following two articles as we consider the Church and it's relationship to the world.

Evangelical Angers Peers With Call for Action on Global Warming
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 3, 2007; Page A04

Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson and other conservative Christian leaders are calling for the National Association of Evangelicals to silence or fire an official who has urged evangelicals to take global warming seriously. Read More...

Evangelical’s Focus on Climate Draws Fire of Christian Right
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
New York Times
Published: March 3, 2007

Leaders of several conservative Christian groups have sent a letter urging the National Association of Evangelicals to force its policy director in Washington to stop speaking out on global warming. Read More...

Whether you believe in "global warming" or not it is a reality in the mind of our world and becoming a more pressing one at that. American Evangelical Christians are one of the least involved people as an organization in preserving or bettering the environment. Many Christian groups even minimize the issue and dismiss it altogether as a political construct. Though this is starting to change.

There are a few reasons that come to mind that may contribute to this indifference among us: 1) Evangelicals have a traditional and deep rooted affiliation with right wing politics which in the past has argued the validity of environmental concerns. Under this influence they parrot statements fed to them that dismiss or minimize any impending danger we may face. This is a great article here regarding the dilemma facing leaders today and the alignment with political bodies. 2) Many are affected adversely by their belief that the world will one day fall into destruction and be done away with by God and that the world will waste away under his judgment. This belief of course can attribute to a careless attitude toward the earth due to the impending doom already set before it.

Whether political or religious, the church is suffering for having such views. Our indifference in the eyes of the world is that we are insensitive, selfish and even hateful to turn a deaf ear to what they view as a very moral issue. Even if there is absolutely no credibility to what now has become an almost unanimous consent from the scientific community that this threat is very real we would be insane not to consider the affects our indifference has on the world's perception of the church.

The Church is asking people to believe in Christ. This request however has nested within it another question and that is for people to believe in itself as the Church. If people don't trust us they will be hindered from trusting the one we direct them to. This being said, our platform and credibility (perceived value and truthfulness fostering trust) is of the utmost importance when it comes to winning people. The perception people have and the story our culture has about the church is critical to us and we ought to be concerned about it if we really care to connect with people. Our attitude and response to this issue is damaging our platform even galvanizing an already negative story about us and our motives.

There are three things the church needs to consider before it concludes that it wants to be non-environmental: 1) Our indifference is being viewed as immoral, insensitive and selfish by the majority of the people in our nation. 2) Our indifference is communicating to the outsiders we don't care about the condition of the earth our children and grandchildren will inherit. 3) Our indifference and inaction is being perceived as wastefulness, destructiveness, greed, and violence against nature (creation) and therefore paints the picture of hypocrisy for those that claim a love for the Creator. This may not be the reality but this is the perception of those that see this as a concern.

I am writing this so that we may consider what our attitude, actions and policies have on our ultimate goal of reaching people. I would also like to add that even though my approach has focused on the result of indifference we should also give more credence to the prospect of global warming being an actual danger and crisis. Truthfully we have not listened or heard the very large community of educated people on this point and trusted great story tellers with political agendas to communicate critical issues to us. We must get more objective and approach this in a more humble manner or else we risk losing our platform or even worse. What would happen if we chose to "go green?"