If You Could Do One Thing

One of the guys in an online pastors forum has asked the question today and I think it deserves a larger audience for reflection, so I'm posting it here.

"What one thing would you do to triple your worship attendance in 6 months?"

It's a good question, but I wonder if it's one that is really in need of clarification. Are these people who will make up the 300% unchurched or churched (just shopping).

BTW the first response was "For those numbers, there is only one answer: Free beer."

So let's toss that one aside.

I'll give it some thought today and come back later.

Ok, it's later.

I'd sell the property and move to either the Elementary or Middle School, and use the money gained to hire a worship leader, buy top notch audio and video tools, and paper the area with postcards for our upcoming Dave Ramsey classes and series of messages on "Get Unstuck!"

Yep. That'd do it.

Local Culture and the Church

From an interview:

I believe the church works with three cultures. It works with a national culture such as the boomer, buster or builder generations. It also works with its own unique church culture. Finally, the church works with the local culture. Whether it's a Lutheran culture of Minnesota, a Southern Baptist culture of Atlanta, or an ungodly pagan culture of San Francisco, every church has its own local culture.

I'm convinced understanding your local culture is more important than knowing about your national culture. I'm working in Northern California, which includes churches in Marin County, Napa County, Vallejo, and churches down in the San Joaquin Valley. Those local cultures are as different as night and day. What attracts some people in one culture turns off other people in a different culture. I find that most pastors and churches have no understanding of the local culture in which they live.

In terms of exegeting culture, how does this impact the way you actually go about preaching a sermon?

I tell stories of how we're going to touch our world; specifically the world in which the church finds itself. I want to make clear that what we may be doing here in Minneapolis is only going to work in Minneapolis, and here's why. You can walk up to an atheist on the street in Minneapolis and ask, "What religion are you?" and they're going to tell you, "Lutheran," because it's almost an ethnic thing. That's one of the reasons why we're going to have a traditional service.

Suppose you carry this over to communicating vision in Minneapolis. While preaching about worship and music I'd remind people that we're doing a traditional service not because people here like to sing the old hymns, but because we want to reach un-churched Lutherans. This is Paul saying when I'm with the Jews I'm like a Jew, and when I'm with the Lutherans I'm like a Lutheran.

I want people to know that whether it's the issue of worship, music, the way we do outreach, or why we're communicating the vision we do, its determined not only by boomers, busters and builders, but also by local cultural issues.

Paul Borden HT: John Mark Ministries

Really good article on a lot of issues confronting the local church and its pastors. Read it all.

How would an outlook like that of Borden's affect what we do here at New Hope? Or what you do where you work for Jesus?

Oops!

TOKYO (AFP) — Military experts sounded alarm Wednesday over the Japanese military's ability to defend the country after one of its most advanced naval destroyers crashed into a fishing boat, leaving two missing. The accident sparked bewilderment in Japan as the Atago is the latest and largest of Japan's destroyers, equipped with the US-developed Aegis radar system, seen as a frontline defence against a North Korean missile attack.

"I may not come off as an expert, but I wonder whether the fishing boat was not detected by the radar," said Yoshimi Watanabe, Japan's state minister in charge of administrative and regulatory reforms.

"What if it had been a terrorist boat on a suicide bombing?" he said.

But another military expert, Tadasu Kumagai, said it was a common misunderstanding that ships with the Aegis system were looking at threats in the immediate vicinity.

"It has an advanced radar for air defence, but its navigational radar is about the same quality as that of a fishing boat," he said.

No, I've not turned into a milblogger.

Just wondering. We're the best educated church in history. We have the benefit of trained pastors and staff to a greater extent than ever before. Bibles? Oh we got your Bibles. You want an ESV with Corinthian leather? Got that. Or how bout an NCV in Hannah Montana green? Done. How bout the Bible on your iPod? Blair Washington or Alexander Scourby? No problem.

We have access to the greatest repository of information ever through the Internet. We can receive the latest church growth training seminars right at our PC, or journey across country and hear Hybels, or Warren, Stanley or Young.

But can we find where God is working?

Can we train our hearts to listen for that still small voice?

With all our technology and training, I guess I feel a certain kinship with the crew of the Atago.

So I think I'll try to spend more time looking for the Spirit nearby, instead of scouring the Internet or devouring books.

Might work. Ya think?