Dan's Marinations

In my last post I levelled some pretty serious charges against what I perceive to be the way many churches function.  If that entry was akin to a diagnosis of some of the ills that plague the church, then today will be a modest suggestion of how to make the church stronger and healthier. Evangelism-  Too often evangelism is simply a recruitment method.  One of the measures of a healthy church is that it regularly takes in new members by profession of faith instead of merely transfer of membership from another church.  We need to focus on evangelism as inviting people into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  This does not mean that we go door to door passing out tracts or asking people on the street if they've "been saved."  It does mean that we always have an attentive heart to discern when people we encounter may indeed be searching.  It means also being wise to discern when God's prevenient grace may already be d...

We go where we go, and do (oftentimes) what we shouldn't.  I have a pretty strong conviction, even vision for the way the church of Christ should function, but that vision must be set in context of what I sense to be some serious weaknesses in the way people look at the church and in the way the church itself operates. Recently, I read a book on the missional church that made some very pointed jabs at "program driven" churches.  Though I had some serious misgivings about the book as a whole it made some very good points.  Among these was that too often churches focus on programs as an end in themselves.  This can lead to the notion that the more programs and ministries a church can offer, the better it is.  If the church calendar for a week takes a whole bulletin page, the church would be better if it took two pages.  The church operates like a smorgasbord.  The more menu options you can toss at the parishioner (consumer) the better off you are. Th...

Soon, it will be basketball season and I can hear ole' Woody Durham say in tight games "time to go where you go, and do what you do.  Applied to the church, what does it mean to go where you go and do what you do?  As we saw in the previous post- this means worship of the Living triune God.  Worship may be the most important thing a church does, but it is not all.  A vital component of what a church does takes place outside the church doors.  Ours is an inherently missional/evangelistic faith.  The call to the great patriarch Abraham included this statement- "I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing" from Genesis 12.  The selection of Abraham to be the "Father of many nations" was not simply a whim of the Almighty.  God chose Abraham so that through him the rest of the world would be blessed.  These chosen people were to be different, set apart, holy so that they could be a light to all the ot...

I proudly claim being a UNC graduate and fan.  For us Tar Heels "football is fun, but basketball is religion."  I've watched countless basketball games in person and on TV.  Sometimes I can actually watch the TV with the volume muted while listening to the Tar Heel sports network on the radio.  The play by play voice for Carolina football and basketball is Woody Durham, a man who has become an institution in nearly 40 years broadcasting UNC games on the radio.  When a basketball game is coming down the wire he will frequently say that it's time to "go where you go and do what you do."  In this case he's encouraging his listeners to pull out whatever good luck charms they may have.  It's time to put on the old T-shirt from college or sit in the right chair.  Whatever superstittion you may have, it's time to do it.  Silly it is because none of us listening to the radio can affect the outcome of a basketball game, but it is a brilliant...