Month: March 2012

Adopt a stance of MISSION vs. ADMONITION

In this article, John Dickson provides an insightful approach to the ongoing discussion of how Christians can have a meaningful impact in the world around us.  The Church in Secular Culture | Leadership Journal.

He describes the “admonition paradigm” as churches and Christians speaking “with a sense of entitlement… You’ll want to strike back.  And people will think you’re arrogant.  Quite right, probably.”

We can’t go back to the good old days, whatever we believe them to be.  We’ve got to live in the culture we’re in, even if that’s a “post-Christian” culture.  If we’re truly living Christ-like lives, that shouldn’t be a problem.  The disciples didn’t have 200, or 2000 years of Christian influence to rely upon in their efforts to advance the Kingdom, so why should we?

The difference between honoring the call and simply volunteering

The difference between honoring the call and simply volunteering

Instead of shamelessly stealing this, I’m linking to the blog I found it on.

The short version:  It’s a heart thing.  I’ve got work to do on my heart, and that starts with being deliberate about changing the way I look at things.  I’m going to start trying to honor my call, rather than just fulfill my commitments.  How about you?

Ed Stetzer – Rick Warren Interview on Muslims, Evangelism & Missions (Responding to Recent News Reports)

Ed Stetzer – Rick Warren Interview on Muslims, Evangelism & Missions (Responding to Recent News Reports).

Good read.  Lots of noise again about Rick Warren and his allegedly compromising his Christian beliefs.

I really like some of the statements about people failing to check the facts, but my favorite quote is this one:

Our culture has accepted two huge lies: The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.

I missed the original hoopla, but I believe the negative response falls into the category of a failure to “Seek 1st to understand…”

Why are we all in such a hurry to judge, that we don’t first take the time to gather enough evidence to understand what happened?