I was reading the Emerging UMC blog this morning and found a link to a thought provoking article at another blog (The Attractional vs Missional Debate) concerning whether the church is called to be "attractional" versus "missional."
In other words, do we design worship services and programs to attract the un-churched to our church so we can share the gospel to them or do we go out to them and share the gospel through our actions as well as our words?
Since the Church is God's Sent Out People and Christ's primary commands to his disciples were commands to follow him and to go . . . not stay and wait for folks to come to them, it seems to me that our responsibility is to go to them. If that is true then we also have to readdress the goal of worship and preaching. If we are to go to the un-churched, then being seeker friendly is less important than teaching the churched how to be disciples in the world. It also means that the goal of preaching should be the formation of Christian disciples who go out in the world to declare the gospel through words and actions at work, at school, in the playground, on the golf course, at the soup kitchen, and in the voting booth. In other words, preachers preach to the baptized and the baptized preach to the unbaptized!
Now that doesn't mean we can't be seeker friendly in the process or as the blogger states, "Don’t mistake not being attractional for not being attractive." We still need to make our services hospitable to those who are less than familiar with the language and actions of worship. But the primary emphasis should be on instruction rather than attraction.
What do you think?
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
I'm so excited!!!
As many of you know, one of the things I miss most about Nashville was my favorite radio station -- Lightning 100--where you never know what you will hear next!
So I've been checking their play list from time to time and downloading music from Napster onto my MP3 player. But today when I went to their site I discovered that they now broadcast over the internet!
Life is good!
(and you can find the link on the right if you want to check it out. They play alternative, blues, country, you name it It's wonderful!)
So I've been checking their play list from time to time and downloading music from Napster onto my MP3 player. But today when I went to their site I discovered that they now broadcast over the internet!
Life is good!
(and you can find the link on the right if you want to check it out. They play alternative, blues, country, you name it It's wonderful!)
Thursday, March 29, 2007
What the Clontz Family did for Spring Break
Well it was a very busy week for all of us! Craig and I went to Memphis--by ourselves--for a wonderful time listening to good blues, eating good food, seeing the ducks at the Peabody, taking the MOJO Memphis music tour, taking a carriage ride through downtown Memphis, seeing the National Civil Rights Museum, and avoiding Graceland!
Meanwhile, Phillip and Laura were on a cruise with the Buckhorn Band and Choir to Cozumel Mexico. Laura filled an entire memory card of pictures--mainly of her friends making faces. But here are two pictures of Phillip in Cozumel and Laura and her friends on the beach.
Steven's spring break was this week and he has already been to Galveston with his girlfriend, Ashley. And he is now back in Auburn. Maybe he'll be kind enough to share a picture or two with his mom!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Welcome to My Blog
Welcome to my blog. I've had a lot of thoughts running through my head and thought I'd enter the 21st century and try out this new thing called blogging. I thought I'd use this as a way to keep family updated on our comings and goings and to comment on what I am reading and watching. I hope you will all take time to comment on my observations.
Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful friendship!
Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful friendship!
Thoughts on Worship
These posts are copied from our C&C Worship Blog
After the band/tech retreat a couple of weeks ago, I started thinking that I would like to share with you what I am reading about worship. I think many of you might be interested. And, in all honestly, writing about what I am reading and thinking is helpful to me. So hopefully you will find this helpful and interesting.
Like most other things in our culture, ideas on worship change rapidly. Some things remain the same. The purpose of worship will always be to glorify God and in Christian worship specifically we worship the God as must fully realized in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some aspects of worship vary from tradition to tradition. For instance, an Episcopal service will always include some form of Holy Communion whether it is a formal traditional service or a charismatic contemporary service. But many other things change as we seek better ways to reach out to new generations and to those outside the church.
So every week or so, I plan to share with you some of the current thinking and ideas on how to continue to reach new people through worship. I think you will find yourself nodding in agreement with some of the ideas I will share. Some ideas will surprise and challenge you. And still others you may not agree with. But I share these to help us all as we seek to both worship God fully and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In order to have a conversation, we all need to speak the same language. So I thought I would start by sharing some words and definitions that are being used in worship debates today.
Emergent worship -- a movement that seeks to form worship in a way that reaches out to postmodern people, especially those outside the church. Emergent worship seeks to be missional, experiential, and relational. In other words, emergent worship is about a relationship with Jesus Christ and with a community of faith that reaches out in mission to the world around us. Emergent worship seeks to engage people by allowing them to participate in worship in various ways using a variety of senses. Some of the names associated with the Emergent movement are Brian McClaren, Leonard Sweet, Rob Bell, and Dan Kimball. Wikipedia actually has a very good article on the emergent movement at Emerging Church Movement
Post-modern -- this term is equally difficult to define and some Christians use it in a very negative way. According to sociologists, the late 20th century saw a shift in values and even ways of thinking about what things have authority in our lives. Post-modern thinkers reject institutional structures, black and white teaching, and claims of superiority or exclusivity of ideas. You can probably see right off why this is threatening to some Christians. Other Christians, however, seek to find a way to speak to these thinkers on their own terms.
Pre-Christians – this term refers to people who have not been introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ and are open to hearing it. Traditional preaching and evangelism techniques assume that most non-Christians simply need to hear the gospel clearly and they will be compelled to respond.
Post-Christians – this term refers to people who think they know what Christianity is all about and have rejected it. They may or may not have actually ever heard the gospel, but they have strong feelings about Christ, Christians, and the church. A common comment among this group of folks is, “We like Jesus, but we don’t like Christians or the church.” We now live in primarily a post-Christian culture.
Okay, there is more to come, but this is enough to start our conversation.
What do you think? Do you know any pre-Christians or post-Christians? What are the questions they are asking about faith and the church?
See you Sunday for some Cappuccino and worship!!!!
After the band/tech retreat a couple of weeks ago, I started thinking that I would like to share with you what I am reading about worship. I think many of you might be interested. And, in all honestly, writing about what I am reading and thinking is helpful to me. So hopefully you will find this helpful and interesting.
Like most other things in our culture, ideas on worship change rapidly. Some things remain the same. The purpose of worship will always be to glorify God and in Christian worship specifically we worship the God as must fully realized in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some aspects of worship vary from tradition to tradition. For instance, an Episcopal service will always include some form of Holy Communion whether it is a formal traditional service or a charismatic contemporary service. But many other things change as we seek better ways to reach out to new generations and to those outside the church.
So every week or so, I plan to share with you some of the current thinking and ideas on how to continue to reach new people through worship. I think you will find yourself nodding in agreement with some of the ideas I will share. Some ideas will surprise and challenge you. And still others you may not agree with. But I share these to help us all as we seek to both worship God fully and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In order to have a conversation, we all need to speak the same language. So I thought I would start by sharing some words and definitions that are being used in worship debates today.
Emergent worship -- a movement that seeks to form worship in a way that reaches out to postmodern people, especially those outside the church. Emergent worship seeks to be missional, experiential, and relational. In other words, emergent worship is about a relationship with Jesus Christ and with a community of faith that reaches out in mission to the world around us. Emergent worship seeks to engage people by allowing them to participate in worship in various ways using a variety of senses. Some of the names associated with the Emergent movement are Brian McClaren, Leonard Sweet, Rob Bell, and Dan Kimball. Wikipedia actually has a very good article on the emergent movement at Emerging Church Movement
Post-modern -- this term is equally difficult to define and some Christians use it in a very negative way. According to sociologists, the late 20th century saw a shift in values and even ways of thinking about what things have authority in our lives. Post-modern thinkers reject institutional structures, black and white teaching, and claims of superiority or exclusivity of ideas. You can probably see right off why this is threatening to some Christians. Other Christians, however, seek to find a way to speak to these thinkers on their own terms.
Pre-Christians – this term refers to people who have not been introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ and are open to hearing it. Traditional preaching and evangelism techniques assume that most non-Christians simply need to hear the gospel clearly and they will be compelled to respond.
Post-Christians – this term refers to people who think they know what Christianity is all about and have rejected it. They may or may not have actually ever heard the gospel, but they have strong feelings about Christ, Christians, and the church. A common comment among this group of folks is, “We like Jesus, but we don’t like Christians or the church.” We now live in primarily a post-Christian culture.
Okay, there is more to come, but this is enough to start our conversation.
What do you think? Do you know any pre-Christians or post-Christians? What are the questions they are asking about faith and the church?
See you Sunday for some Cappuccino and worship!!!!
What Post-Moderns Think About the Church
In an article in this month’s Outreach magazine, pastor Dan Kimball, lists some of the comments he has heard from non-Christians about common perceptions of the church and what they wish the church was like. Most of the people he spoke to were in their 20s and 30s and while some had grown up in the church some had no experience in the church. Six most common perceptions of the church:
What do you think? Are their perceptions correct? How can we correct misconceptions?
- The Church is an organized religion with a political agenda. In other words, don’t come if you aren’t Republican!
- The Church is judgmental and negative. To outsiders, the Church appears to focus on what we are against more than what we are for.
- The Church is dominated by males and oppresses females.
- The Church is homophobic.
- The Church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong.Post-moderns are willing to talk to us about Christ and the Bible, but first we have to take their beliefs and the beliefs of others seriously and respectfully.
- The Church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally. In other words, don’t come if you believe in evolution or have any questions or concerns about portions of the Bible.
What do you think? Are their perceptions correct? How can we correct misconceptions?
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