George Barna has done a poll showing a decline in Sunday Schools. In other words, some churches are closing them.


A study by the Barna Group indicated that in 2004 churches were 6% less likely to provide Sunday school for children ages 2 to 5 as in 1997. For middle-school kids, the decline was to 86% providing Sunday school in 2004 from 93% in 1997. Similarly, there was a six-percentage-point drop in Sunday schools offered for high school kids -- to 80% from 86%. All in all, about 20,000 fewer churches were maintaining Sunday-school classes. And the future does not look bright: Only 15% of ministers regarded Sunday school as a leading concern. The younger the pastor, the study showed, the less emphasis he placed on Sunday school.

For a great article on this subject, go here.

(Source:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124598071177158161.html#mod=loomia?loomia_si=t0:a16:g4:r1:c0:b0)

The Real Word of Faith Message

I've written here before that Peter Smythe is one of the few today who has the REAL Word of Faith message. I would put him into the category of those I want to see; the ones I call "A New Kind of Faith Teacher." Here is a great message for you to read at his site.

This is the first sentence to get you interested.....


In the past twenty years or so, the Word of Faith movement (if you can call it that) has moved away from the finished work of Christ (and who we are in Christ) to a doctrine of works through tithing.

Smythe's post is found here.

Tidbits

*I thought I would just ruminate today since you rarely hear me pontificate on anything outside of what is going on in evangelical churches today. So here goes.


*I read that a robot attacked a factory worker in Sweden. This caught my attention because I read earlier in the week in the New York Times Op Ed section that some scientists were getting worried that some day robots wouldn't obey their human masters. The task of the Swedish robot in question was to lift heavy rocks. Not realizing it was still on (the worker forgot to turn it off), when the worker approached it, the robot grabbed the worker's head. I guess the robot thought his head was a rock? The worker managed to free himself with broken ribs. But there is more. The company is being prosecuted for inadequate safety procdures. You've gotta watch those crazy robots!

(Source: http://www.thelocal.se/19120.html)



*Ian Pilmer, an Australian geologist and professor at Adelaide University says that the "religion" of Western elites is global warming. Here is my two cents on this issue. Most people will get on board if you talk about pollution and curbing it. So, I don't "get it" -- why won't the elites present it as a pollution problem? Why do they instead talk about global warming which many people will not get on board with. Anyone know?

(Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Global+warming+religion+First+World+urban+elites/1835847/story.html)



*There's a lot of talk about obese persons causing our health care costs to skyrocket. As a forever thin person since I was little, I think we are hard on heavy people. Am I "wonderful" because I have a high metabolism and am small boned? Let's give obese people a little space.....please (no pun meant).

(Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/07/tough-love-for-fatties-tax-their-food-pay-for-healthcare.html)



*Here is a great story of a guy who heard Christian apologist William Craig. Craig told the audience that there is no such thing as a postmodern era --

"Nobody is a postmodernist when it comes to reading the labels on a medicine bottle versus a box of rat poison. If you've got a headache, you'd better believe that texts have objective meaning!"

(Source: http://worldviewtimes.com/article.php/articleid-5204/Brannon-Howse/Sean-McDowell)

Thinking Along the Same Lines

Thinking about yesterday's post, today I was reading Cerulean Sanctum and it seems Dan and I are thinking along the same lines. You've absolutely got to read his post. You will find it here.

The Lost Message

I am really getting pretty discouraged about how the message of the cross and what Jesus did there is getting absolutely lost in our evangelical churches. I visited a church today with a friend and the pastor did the usual "we have to evangelize differently which means helping the poor" routine. And that is OK but nothing about what message we are supposed to share outside of love. Just love..period. We could be of any religion and have that message. It isn't a particularly Christian distinctive although love is certainly a major part of the Christian message. Sigh.....I guess I will have to make my yearly pilgrimage to John MacArthur's church to get my yearly dose of where the Holy Spirit is really working. And, for me to say that is a stretch since I am Pentecostal in orientation (MacArthur is very anti-Pente/Charismatic). But since the Pentcostal and Charismatic churches are dead, dead, dead in my area, I have no choice.

Religious Fusion

I've told you about the push on the part of the postmodern evangelicals to synthesize or fuse opposites together. Of course one must then drop anything that is objectional to the other one (in Christianity this usually means the cross, making Jesus a good teacher instead of Savior from sins).

This article is from the Oklahoman and is written by someone named Andrew Tevington, their religon columnist. It's a great article about the fusion (or syncretism as he calls it) of different religions including Christianity. You can read it here

What Ignorance Breeds

I thought this was interesting as I am beginning to notice that many of our young Christians don't seem to understand the following:
liberal Protestantism, Marxism/Communism, the Great Society of the Johnson administration in the 1960's and what it accomplished (or I should say, the damage to the poor it "accomplished"), Buddhist thought and how it is coming into evangelical Christianity, and so on. And these are the "educated" young Christians (college grads).

The following is from Brannon Howse,

1,000 of 4,000 prisoners of war from the Korean War were studied on their return home. As John Stormer writes, "Investigators found that some Americans had broadcast anti-American propaganda, informed on other prisoners wrote articles, letters and stories praising life under communism, confessed to 'germ warfare' and other atrocities and generally cooperated with their captors in every way." All this happen without "drugs, physical torture, or highly developed hypnotic techniques—just subtle pressures for conformity." The communists brainwashed our POWs with anti-American propaganda written by a communist group in America. Our POWs did not have the knowledge, understanding of history, economics or powers of reason and logic to withstand the pro-communist agenda. If these men of the early 1950s were so easily controlled and brainwashed by the communists outside the U.S. then what about our young soldiers of today that were educated in collectivism, socialism, group think, anti-American history, tolerance and postmodernism right here in our nation's schools?


Source:http://www.worldviewradio.com/episode.php?EpisodeID=13159

Just the Same Old Thing - Works

I've been saying that the "new" spirituality is the actually the old works program, whether it's the from liberal Protestantism, or it's twin, the present emergent movement. But another current troubling movement, contempletive spirituality requires lots of works also, although the works may be masked as "disciplines" or "formation." The difference between these works and Christian works is the matter of order. Conversion and grace comes first, and then works follow, not vice-versa. Or, even worse, works without any conversion which we are seeing so much of today in the "Jesus followers'" program.

Here is an excerpt from Ray Yungen's book, For Many Shall Come in My Name which presented a new bit of information to me - that the word "karma" means works or activity. Interesting, since so much of the present day prayer movement is getting much of it's center from Buddhist thought.

The reason human effort does not work is because man is "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). The word works is translated "actions" or "doings." This can either mean good deeds or engaging in religious rituals.

In metaphysics, the very word karma translates to mean actions or works. By your own effort and doings you are supposed to advance spiritually. If you are "dead" spiritually, as the Bible states, the concept of karma would be like trying to start a car without a battery.


Source:http://lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?p=1571&more=1&c=1

Doctrine Isn't Poison

It's sad that so many Christians are saying that doctrine isn't important. But doctrine [and theology] is simply what you believe about God. And you act on what you believe. Some people acted on the belief that the world was flat so they didn't sail far. Others acted on the belief that the world was round and they sailed further so we in America are here because of them. In that vein, I love this quote from Tim Challies' blog,

The more I have thought about different topics, the more I’ve realized that there is theology everywhere. And this is what motivates me to write; it’s what motivates me to read and to think and to explore. Everywhere I turn I see theology, whether in a book about the atoning work of Jesus Christ or in a book about the future of business or in a biography of a man who lives half a world away. Sometimes the theology is lying on the surface, exposed and easy to see. Sometimes it is hidden within and just needs to be coaxed out. But always there is something to think about, something to wrestle with, something to help me think deeply about how Christians are to live in this world....

When I read about technology I want to understand how this technology will impact the church. When I read about psychology or current events I want to learn how Christians need to respond. When I read about history or economics I want to see what the Bible has to say about these things. I want to know how they impact me as a Christian and how I should think about them and react to them to the glory of God.
As I continue to try to grapple with these things, I realize more and more my dependence on the Holy Spirit. He leads me into truth. He leads me into and through Scripture where the answers can be found. And ultimately he leads me to Jesus Christ who in turn points me to the Father, so I can bring the glory and the praise to Him.

Sabotaging Yourself?

I had a friend who ate so much that her knee, hip and foot joints began to tear down and she had to go into a nursing home at 65 since she couldn't live alone anymore. She stayed there for 7 years and died at 72.

I have another friend who has a similar problem because she is overeating. Her joints are bothering her to the extent that I wonder if she can live along anymore. She is 66.

I had another friend who has two Masters degrees but cannot seem to hold onto a job.

All three of these people are Christians. What is wrong with these people? They know the right thing to do for themselves but they don't do it. (Yes, I know.
You are thinking of Romans 7 right now). But I see something else at play here too.

Sabotage!

In the first case, my friend had mostly older friends almost her parents' age. She continually said that when she couldn't live alone anymore she wanted to go into the assisted living home where many of them had gone. And, she finally did go there, but at a much earlier age than she should have.

In the second case, my friend wants desparately to be in her son's life almost
100%. If she couldn't live alone anymore, who would have to take care of her? That's right. Her son.

In the third case, I'm not sure why jobs were a problem because my friend was personable and bright and loved to be with people. But everytime she got a job, she would quit after a year or so; or get sick. Twice, she had to take a test to get the state license to be in those certain professions, and although she finished all of her coursework, she refused to take the tests. The really sad thing is, she and her husband are always poor, and if she had just gone into one of the four professions she trained for, they wouldn't be in that state.

So, are you sabotaging yourself instead of getting where God wants you to be?

What I Want to See from "Emergenty" Churches

I've been looking for two things the past year in evangelical churches, especially "emergenty" ones. First, I would like to find a truly postmodern church that does NOT lose the gospel message of substitionary atonement. By postmodern I mean consciously directing the message in postmodern genres.

The second thing I've been looking for is an "emergenty" type of church that really does the social gospel well without regulating the poor, but enabling them. I think I might have found that book and am reading it now. The name of it is When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert. I will be reviewing it for you in the coming days.

Everything Comes Together

I've been a Christian a long, long time and have found that one way God leads is through everyday things you just decide you want to do. For example, I've read books in which I was interested but not necessarily Christian. I see now that many of these books will provide a background to a future Christian teaching ministry. Books on politics, economics, history, business and all sorts of other interesting subjects. Classes I'm taking that are in our community's (and state's) senior adult program that didn't seem to have anything to do with ministry are all coming together right now. The philosophy class will be especially important since I believe I will be teaching the concepts of postmodern philosophy and how it is flooding into our churches through emergent. Now, three years ago if you told me I would be taking philosophy, much less studying it on my own, I would tell you that you were crazy.

So, what is it that you're interested in? Check with me in 10 or 20 years and tell me if that interest played a part in a future ministry for you. You might be very, very surprised. I know I am.

Christians Creating the Welfare State?

I read a blog post that presents a very interesting concept. Are Christians responsible for creating the welfare state? Previously, I also have written along these same lines, so I get happy when I see another blogger thinking like me. Here is the post,


http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2009/06/is-the-welfare-state-the-fault-of-christians.html

Quote of the Week

"Frequently, I hear persons announce that they are "really passionate" about this or that. What they mean is that they feel quite strongly about a particular issue, subject, or belief. Increasingly, Christians are determining the rightness or wrongness of their belief based upon how passionate it makes them feel. Bypassing revelation and reason, they feel their way to faith. Theirs is a religious epistemology by experience (The word epistemology concerns how we know what we know, and why we believe what we believe.). I think of the person who declared, "I refuse to believe in a God I cannot feel!" As Dabney observed, 'People are ever prone to think that they are feeling religiously because they have feelings . . . about religion.'
So the pan-evangelical movement has and is continuing to develop spirituality, not based upon the clear teaching of the Word of God, but rather upon manufactured sights, sounds, signs, and sensations that generate religious feelings within them. Theirs has become a faith based upon desires, not doctrine."


______Pastor Larry DeBruyn

It All Starts with One

Today, conversion doesn't seem to be understood. With huge parts of the evangelical church declaring they are Jesus followers, which is very vague as to conversion, and postmoderns like Jones saying "you are doing violence to the text" when traditional Bible interpretations are put forth, we seem to be in chaos. The Christian Right (and now the New Christian Left) thought it could change society through laws and rules, thereby reosrting back to Cartesian Modernism. The emergents think they can change society through doing nice things for the poor and getting them "social justice," thus hearkening back to the liberal Protestants of the '60's.

But here is the real truth. You change society through conversion to Jesus the Savior (as opposed to Rabbi Jesus), one at a time. Of course we know not everyone will convert, but those that do will be changing society because they are changing themselves through the power of the Holy Spirit. I attended a church where one summer they had speical speakers come in. I will never forget one of the speakers and what he said. This was the gist of his teaching,

When an individual gets converted a whole family can change. And if families get converted and change, cities and communities change. If cities change then states change. And if states change then nations change.

Quote of the Week

"He [Jesus] did not start a movement of latte-drinking disciples who excelled in spiritual conversations. He founded the church (Matt. 16:18) and commissioned the apostles to proclaim the good news that Israel's Messiah had come and the sins of the world could be forgiven through his death on the cross (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:14-36)."

I just love it!

Source: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/07/church_love_it_dont_leave_it.html

What Does a Pastor Do?

Have you ever wondered what you pastor does all day? I mean, his or her day is usually not regulated like the days of most workers.

Our interim pastor gave us an accounting a few months ago and I thought it was interesting. So, here is what one pastor does during the work day (+ Sundays too, of course).


Six Weeks in the Life of the Pastor


Activity
Sunday morning (Education, worship, fellowship).....27 hours
Worship/sermon preparation.....59 hours
Elder conferences.....14 hours
Staff meetings.....13 hours
Staff conferences.....46 hours
Associates.....18 hours
Worship/Music planning.....9 hours
Program staff.....8 hours
Administrative staff.....12 hours

Committee meetings.....17 hours
General/administration.....37 hours
Pastoral.....24 hours
New member preparation/filming lessons.....18 hours
Bible study group.....16 hours
Long range planning (includes meetings.....9 hours
Children's ministry.....8 hours
Youth ministry.....6 hours
Stewardship.....4 hours
Finance.....6 hours
Mission.....5 hours
Communication.....12 hours
Human Resources.....8 hours
Other ethnic church relations (meets in our church).....4 hours
Church special events.....6 hours
Community Relations.....15 hours
Presbytry related.....6 hours
Study.....14 hours
Social time with church members.....19 hours