Tuesday is my reading day as I get a handle on where the week is headed and try to not just look at this week's opportunities but beyond that at where we as a church are headed.
Last night, I went to bed reading this again. Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community
I've reread a little more of Dan Kimball's book They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations
I have Erwin McManus' tome An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind in front of me on the desk and it's time to start rereading it.
But you know what? I'm going to read the book of Acts this afternoon and let the Spirit connect the dots.
stay tuned
Showing posts with label Dan Kimball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dan Kimball. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Seven things
There's a list of seven things “they (unchurched postmoderns)wish church were like,” in Dan Kimball's book, "They Like Jesus But Not the Church". During the just completed course in "Strategic Evangelism", I read the book cover to cover. I had always thought of Kimball as slightly off, but in the whole, I think he really does have a good understanding of today's emerging generations and where they are versus the church.
1. I wish church were not just a sermon or a lecture but a discussion.
2. I wish the church would respect my intelligence.
3. I wish the church weren't about the church building.
4. I wish church were less programmed and they allowed time to think and to pray.
5. I wish the church was a loving place.
6. I wish the church cared for the poor and the environment.
7. I wish the church taught more about Jesus.
You know, everything Kimball lists as the aspirations of those outside the church has been on a list I carried around inside for about two years. Granted, some of the "wish list" are simply impressions of people who may not have had any meaningful interaction with "church" or who had bad experiences with "church" when they did interact. But I get where they are coming from.
The sermon/lecture format may very well have reached its zenith a while back as an effective conduit for information. Gardener's research into educational intelligences as well as our own experiences with lectures say that it is darn hard to keep people's attention as mere listeners. I know it's hard for me. So I've tried preaching topically, using lots of illustrations, fill in the blank handouts, powerpoint, lots of images, video clips, and props to help people connect.
In the last few Sunday night services, I've tried to push interactive exercises and multi-sensory inputs to try to leap the "pew gap." I think we'll need to do more as time goes on, including possibly some "midrash" time where we work through a passage together. There are bright people out there in front, and maybe what they need to learn more effectively is not listen as much to someone telling them what to know, but spend some time in discovery mode themselves.
As for the buildings wish, all I can say is "amen". I'd go portable if we could just so we wouldn't have all that money and energy tied up in buildings. But we have them, and good stewardship would be to use them most effectively. I think we do that at New Hope. We open our campus to a home schooling network who pretty much fill it every Wednesday. They are great neighbors. We've hosted Girl and Boys Scouts and Junior Gardeners as well.
Programming is a real big hurdle for traditional churches. We're... programmed to look for plans and schemes. It's what we do. But it is changing and I'm glad to see it.
"A loving place" is an elusive goal. Most churches are very loving within the ranks. But people on the outside won't see that as those in the "club" do. That's been true in almost every church I have ever been a part of, and I have been on both sides of it. But you know what, every organization I have been a part of has been basically the same. The difference is that we are to be bearers of grace, and hospitality is part of that.
We're moving in the right direction when it comes to the poor and the environment. Our benevolence ministry helps quite a few people every year, and we have made a deliberate effort to be conscious of our impact on the environment. But we can do a LOT more in both areas.
As far as the last "wish" goes, I believe that we do teach a lot more about Jesus than I can ever remember before. We did go through a period of looking for "felt needs" to apply the Bible to, but we are focused on Jesus now - where we should have been all along.
So Kimball's reflections and research were both confirmation and a spur to more effort. Dan Kimball might have weird hair, but he's okay. :)
1. I wish church were not just a sermon or a lecture but a discussion.
2. I wish the church would respect my intelligence.
3. I wish the church weren't about the church building.
4. I wish church were less programmed and they allowed time to think and to pray.
5. I wish the church was a loving place.
6. I wish the church cared for the poor and the environment.
7. I wish the church taught more about Jesus.
You know, everything Kimball lists as the aspirations of those outside the church has been on a list I carried around inside for about two years. Granted, some of the "wish list" are simply impressions of people who may not have had any meaningful interaction with "church" or who had bad experiences with "church" when they did interact. But I get where they are coming from.
The sermon/lecture format may very well have reached its zenith a while back as an effective conduit for information. Gardener's research into educational intelligences as well as our own experiences with lectures say that it is darn hard to keep people's attention as mere listeners. I know it's hard for me. So I've tried preaching topically, using lots of illustrations, fill in the blank handouts, powerpoint, lots of images, video clips, and props to help people connect.
In the last few Sunday night services, I've tried to push interactive exercises and multi-sensory inputs to try to leap the "pew gap." I think we'll need to do more as time goes on, including possibly some "midrash" time where we work through a passage together. There are bright people out there in front, and maybe what they need to learn more effectively is not listen as much to someone telling them what to know, but spend some time in discovery mode themselves.
As for the buildings wish, all I can say is "amen". I'd go portable if we could just so we wouldn't have all that money and energy tied up in buildings. But we have them, and good stewardship would be to use them most effectively. I think we do that at New Hope. We open our campus to a home schooling network who pretty much fill it every Wednesday. They are great neighbors. We've hosted Girl and Boys Scouts and Junior Gardeners as well.
Programming is a real big hurdle for traditional churches. We're... programmed to look for plans and schemes. It's what we do. But it is changing and I'm glad to see it.
"A loving place" is an elusive goal. Most churches are very loving within the ranks. But people on the outside won't see that as those in the "club" do. That's been true in almost every church I have ever been a part of, and I have been on both sides of it. But you know what, every organization I have been a part of has been basically the same. The difference is that we are to be bearers of grace, and hospitality is part of that.
We're moving in the right direction when it comes to the poor and the environment. Our benevolence ministry helps quite a few people every year, and we have made a deliberate effort to be conscious of our impact on the environment. But we can do a LOT more in both areas.
As far as the last "wish" goes, I believe that we do teach a lot more about Jesus than I can ever remember before. We did go through a period of looking for "felt needs" to apply the Bible to, but we are focused on Jesus now - where we should have been all along.
So Kimball's reflections and research were both confirmation and a spur to more effort. Dan Kimball might have weird hair, but he's okay. :)
Monday, January 21, 2008
It's Monday - All Day
I wanted to make the disclaimer right up front, since I'm here on my day off with a Rockbridge assignment due, a sinus infection picking up steam, having slept way too late and finding myself in a just plain cranky mood. I did think that our assignment was worth posting in hopes that it might spur discussion and someone out there to go deeper.
We were asked in the assignment to:
Write a critique of Part 1 in They Like Jesus But Not the Church matching your personal and church experience to what is presented by Dan Kimball in 2-3 paragraphs.
“They Like Jesus But Not the Church” Critique
Dan Kimball was perhaps the first to achieve broad distribution beyond the blogs and narrowly focused magazines of the idea that something was amiss with the way that emerging generations perceived the church as it exists today. The work of Tony Jones, Brian McClaren and others had been out before Kimball’s book, but their observations could be dismissed easier because of their fringe liberal status. Kimball writes in a way that helps people coming in from a traditional heritage or present position SEE.
Kimball’s book is like a mirror held up in front of the church today, and instead of the church making comments like “yeah, we are looking pretty good”, Kimball has people from the emerging generations come up and explain what we really look like. We’ve lost the path, and what’s worse, instead of going back and regaining our way, we’re pressing forward and yelling back at those who aren’t coming with us. A must read for anyone serious about reaching those outside.
Then there's Reggie McNeal's work.
Reggie McNeal wrote, “Church activity is a poor substitute for genuine spirituality.” (p. 7, The Present Future). Interact with McNeal’s assertion based on your personal and church experience in 2-3 paragraphs.
Reggie McNeal Interaction: Part One
When I first read the book, coming from a Southern redneck background though tempered with years of both formal education and personal growth, I wanted to run out and shout “heck yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.” The niggling little feelings about what we were doing at church I had possessed since before I was called as a pastor had, 7 years later into my first full-time ministry, begun shouting at me “IT”S NOT WORKING!!! THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT BEING TRANSFORMED!!”
We were doing everything we knew to do as church leadership, and kept adding things thinking that if we just provided one more inlet for people to learn, everything would change. I’ll confess that when 40 Days of Purpose came along, I really say that as a hopeful beginning to the sea change I desperately wanted to have occur. But it didn’t. We are doing too much at church. We are doing too much as staff for people. We are not expecting people to progress and start making disciples of their own. We need to teach people to live a cross-centered life and set them free to do it, not yoke them to another program. So yeah, Reggie spoke to me.
In “New Reality Number Two,” McNeal says the wrong question is “How do we get them to come to us?” and the right question is “How do we hit the streets with the gospel?” What question is your church trying to answer if measured by the programming promoted today? Explain in 2-3 paragraphs.
Reggie McNeal Interaction: Part Two
When McNeal asks questions, look out. You will not like the answer. Most of the time because the one you come up with is so completely wrong you feel foolish. When I read it, I bought copies for all the leadership. We have worked to find additional ways to bring the gospel to where people are, instead of always trying to attract them to where we are. (That was our only strategy at that point in time.)
So we have a sno-cone team that goes down to the local park and gives away sno-cones once a month. They also are in demand at other local events such as the Relay for Life that the American Cancer Society holds. We’re taking worship down to the park this summer with a bluegrass band and our praise band. We created off-site affinity groups (they were doing great, but they are proving very difficult to sustain). We have a group of people volunteering at the local elementary school, and that opened the door to our participating with them in the upcoming Relay For Life in Niceville. We’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.
I've had some people ask me why I'm still so hard after learning more - even after years in the ministry. It's because I still need to learn. We have to get better at living out our faith and sharing it with people who do not know Jesus. Sure, I'd love to write for a living, would love to teach other seminarians someday online. But I'll never stop wanting to be involved in the greatest work anyone can ever do.
We were asked in the assignment to:
Write a critique of Part 1 in They Like Jesus But Not the Church matching your personal and church experience to what is presented by Dan Kimball in 2-3 paragraphs.
“They Like Jesus But Not the Church” Critique
Dan Kimball was perhaps the first to achieve broad distribution beyond the blogs and narrowly focused magazines of the idea that something was amiss with the way that emerging generations perceived the church as it exists today. The work of Tony Jones, Brian McClaren and others had been out before Kimball’s book, but their observations could be dismissed easier because of their fringe liberal status. Kimball writes in a way that helps people coming in from a traditional heritage or present position SEE.
Kimball’s book is like a mirror held up in front of the church today, and instead of the church making comments like “yeah, we are looking pretty good”, Kimball has people from the emerging generations come up and explain what we really look like. We’ve lost the path, and what’s worse, instead of going back and regaining our way, we’re pressing forward and yelling back at those who aren’t coming with us. A must read for anyone serious about reaching those outside.
Then there's Reggie McNeal's work.
Reggie McNeal wrote, “Church activity is a poor substitute for genuine spirituality.” (p. 7, The Present Future). Interact with McNeal’s assertion based on your personal and church experience in 2-3 paragraphs.
Reggie McNeal Interaction: Part One
When I first read the book, coming from a Southern redneck background though tempered with years of both formal education and personal growth, I wanted to run out and shout “heck yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.” The niggling little feelings about what we were doing at church I had possessed since before I was called as a pastor had, 7 years later into my first full-time ministry, begun shouting at me “IT”S NOT WORKING!!! THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT BEING TRANSFORMED!!”
We were doing everything we knew to do as church leadership, and kept adding things thinking that if we just provided one more inlet for people to learn, everything would change. I’ll confess that when 40 Days of Purpose came along, I really say that as a hopeful beginning to the sea change I desperately wanted to have occur. But it didn’t. We are doing too much at church. We are doing too much as staff for people. We are not expecting people to progress and start making disciples of their own. We need to teach people to live a cross-centered life and set them free to do it, not yoke them to another program. So yeah, Reggie spoke to me.
In “New Reality Number Two,” McNeal says the wrong question is “How do we get them to come to us?” and the right question is “How do we hit the streets with the gospel?” What question is your church trying to answer if measured by the programming promoted today? Explain in 2-3 paragraphs.
Reggie McNeal Interaction: Part Two
When McNeal asks questions, look out. You will not like the answer. Most of the time because the one you come up with is so completely wrong you feel foolish. When I read it, I bought copies for all the leadership. We have worked to find additional ways to bring the gospel to where people are, instead of always trying to attract them to where we are. (That was our only strategy at that point in time.)
So we have a sno-cone team that goes down to the local park and gives away sno-cones once a month. They also are in demand at other local events such as the Relay for Life that the American Cancer Society holds. We’re taking worship down to the park this summer with a bluegrass band and our praise band. We created off-site affinity groups (they were doing great, but they are proving very difficult to sustain). We have a group of people volunteering at the local elementary school, and that opened the door to our participating with them in the upcoming Relay For Life in Niceville. We’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.
I've had some people ask me why I'm still so hard after learning more - even after years in the ministry. It's because I still need to learn. We have to get better at living out our faith and sharing it with people who do not know Jesus. Sure, I'd love to write for a living, would love to teach other seminarians someday online. But I'll never stop wanting to be involved in the greatest work anyone can ever do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)