Categotry Archives: changing mindsets

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The Fruit of My Journey Thus Far

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

On the journey, every so often it is helpful to take a look backward–not in a bad way (“remember Lot’s wife”), but simply to take inventory of where you have come. Some people say in cliche manner that we must only live in the moment, that we only have today, that we can’t change the past and don’t know the future, so let’s just look at the road before us, no looking back.

This is a preview of The Fruit of My Journey Thus Far. Read the full post (1008 words, 1 image, estimated 4:02 mins reading time)

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Retooling our Gifts for a New Season

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Categories: changing mindsets, church, food for thought, music

My mind has been drifting back to some previous posts (see here and here) where we were discussing individuals who function in various ministry positions (like pastors and worship leaders), who find themselves displaced when they no longer feel they belong within institutional Christianity. Their gifts don’t go away, but they no longer know what to do with them. My blogger friend Glenn has talked about it; I can certainly relate; and I know there are others.

This is a preview of Retooling our Gifts for a New Season. Read the full post (1186 words, 1 image, estimated 4:45 mins reading time)

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Following Up on "Pagan Christianity"

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Categories: books, changing mindsets, church

As of the time of this writing, there haven’t been an abundance of comments to my recent review on Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna. (I recognize I’m a bit behind many other bloggers in my review, and many have already moved on from this conversation.) However, of the four comments I’ve had so far, three have sided in favor of the book. Their thoughtful remarks, and reading some of the follow-up content on Frank Viola’s website, have prompted me to follow up a bit as to why I reviewed the book the way I did, and where I was coming from.

This is a preview of Following Up on "Pagan Christianity". Read the full post (1202 words, 1 image, estimated 4:48 mins reading time)

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Fluid Church

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Categories: changing mindsets, church, food for thought

When I think about how God has been re-shaping my perspectives on the church in general, one analogy I like to use is based on science–particularly, the properties of water, and/or the properties of solids and liquids.

We most often think of water as a liquid, because that’s where we identify with it, mostly. A liquid, a fluid, easily takes the shape of anything that contains it, and can be poured from container to container. It gives way when you dip your finger in it. It is movable, flexible, easily changed. And yet, liquid water molecules tend to stick together. Droplets of water on glass tend to find each other and merge together. It is a loose structure, but there is a natural cohesion of the molecules.

This is a preview of Fluid Church. Read the full post (878 words, 2 images, estimated 3:31 mins reading time)

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Now That’s What I’m Talking About

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Categories: changing mindsets

Alan over at The Assembling of the Church has written a brilliant piece that I think follows up extremely well with the discussion we’ve had here and here on “Stuff We Do That’s Not In the Bible.” He gives a great synopsis of how we should handle extra-Biblical elements of church. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

You should go read it. No, seriously. Go now.

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Permanent link to this post (67 words, 1 image, estimated 16 secs reading time)

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Community Where We Find It

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Categories: changing mindsets, church

So I’m continuing to ponder–to re-imagine–what church community could look like if the church itself wasn’t defined by its regular meeting. (Read this previous post to get the background.)

My blogger friend Ben left a heartfelt comment on that post about how difficult it is these days to build community. It seems like there is so much in our culture that works against it; not only do we tend to be more private and secluded as individuals, but we also are so busy with things like work, school, soccer practice and so on, that we no longer have time to invest in church community.

This is a preview of Community Where We Find It. Read the full post (693 words, 2 images, estimated 2:46 mins reading time)

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Defined (Imprisoned?) by the Meetings

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Categories: changing mindsets, church, Meanderings (look it up), Rantings

(If you have come to this blog because you’re still working through yesterday’s massive synchroblog on “What Is Missional?”…you can read my entry here.)

I’m finally making my way to the end of the book Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost. Yesterday I read some things that have already started re-shaping my thinking. Here are a couple of quotes:

“Why can’t we think of churching together as a web of relationships? Why are we obsessed with the singular event rather than seeking the rhythm of a community churching together?”

“The result of nearly two centuries of Christendom is that Christians have become used to the idea that their faith is primarily about attending meetings–worship meetings, weddings, funerals, prayer meetings, and so on.”

This is a preview of Defined (Imprisoned?) by the Meetings. Read the full post (916 words, 2 images, estimated 3:40 mins reading time)

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Missional: What It Means to Me

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Categories: changing mindsets, church, missional

(This is part of Rick’s synchroblog on “What Is Missional?” See the end of this post for the list of participants.)

I hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew.

Although I’ve been a Christian most of my life, and involved in some form of church “ministry” function for most of the time I’ve been a Christian…I have only known of terms like “missional” and “emergent” for the past year and a half. And just when I’m getting used to reading, hearing and saying these types of words…apparently there is already some frustration about their usage, about the labels, about what is associated with them–what they mean, or what they should mean. Hence, the reason for the synchroblog.

This is a preview of Missional: What It Means to Me. Read the full post (1036 words, 1 image, estimated 4:09 mins reading time)

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The Tower and the Ladder

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, religion

At a worship conference I participated in last year in Joplin, Missouri, a friend of mine there named Jim gave a Biblical comparison I’ve been chewing on ever since. And some things in Sarah’s post today indirectly stirred these thoughts again. So I thought I’d share them with you.

In the Book of Genesis, we find two powerful pictures of heaven-earth connections. One of them is the Tower of Babel, found in Genesis 11; the other is Jacob’s ladder dream found in Genesis 28. One negative, one positive.

This is a preview of The Tower and the Ladder. Read the full post (700 words, 2 images, estimated 2:48 mins reading time)

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Confusing Method for Principle

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Categories: changing mindsets, church, food for thought, religion

I’ve alluded to this topic probably several times, the most recent being in my post “Questions of Heresy?”. It’s probably time to cover this one head on, because in my opinion it is at the root of many of our relgious practices. A lot of the disputes that divide the church, and a lot of the resistance to new things, boil down to a confusion between method and principle.

It is apparent through the Scriptures that God does not change. This makes sense, since Someone who is eternally perfect has no need to evolve. His character, His nature, His love, the things that He likes and dislikes…all of this remains constant, and always has. However, it is also apparent that while God does not change, His methods do. (A key example of this is in Isa. 43:19, when He says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing.”) Because man does change over time, God will alter His methods in His relentless quest to reach man.

This is a preview of Confusing Method for Principle. Read the full post (928 words, 2 images, estimated 3:43 mins reading time)
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