Sunday, June 30, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Why Do Christians Leave the Faith?
Why Do Christians Leave the Faith?
by Rusty Ford
Want to take a minute to challenge your thinking and evaluate how you respond to those with doubts then this article may be what you need.
I found this article an interesting read. I am not sure that it reflects accurately the views of the average person who gives up on their Christian faith as the study was based on the written statements of 50 people who published why they left their faith online. I would think that people who make such a public statement might differ slightly from the average person. The published statements chosen seemed to be well thought out and the results of the study insightful.
The article is "Explaining Deconversion from Christianity" and is summed up in a 5 post blog series by the author .
by Rusty Ford
Want to take a minute to challenge your thinking and evaluate how you respond to those with doubts then this article may be what you need.
I found this article an interesting read. I am not sure that it reflects accurately the views of the average person who gives up on their Christian faith as the study was based on the written statements of 50 people who published why they left their faith online. I would think that people who make such a public statement might differ slightly from the average person. The published statements chosen seemed to be well thought out and the results of the study insightful.
The article is "Explaining Deconversion from Christianity" and is summed up in a 5 post blog series by the author .
For those of you who want to read the entire article "Explaining Deconversion from Christianity"
You can read the entire article here
http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2011/2011-21.pdfFriday, June 28, 2013
30 Simple Ways To Be Missional In Your Workplace
30 Simple Ways To Be Missional In Your Workplace
1. Instead of eating lunch alone, intentionally eat with other co-workers and learn their story.
2. Get to work early so you can spend some time praying for your co-workers and the day ahead.
3. Make it a daily priority to speak or write encouragement when someone does good work.
4. Bring extra snacks when you make your lunch to give away to others.
5. Bring breakfast (donuts, burritos, cereal, etc.) once a month for everyone in your department.
6. Organize a running/walking group in the before or after work.
7. Have your missional community/small group bring lunch to your workplace once a month.
8. Create a regular time to invite coworkers over or out for drinks.
9. Make a list of your co-workers birthdays and find a way to bless everyone on their birthday.
10. Organize and throw office parties as appropriate to your job.
11. Make every effort to avoid gossip in the office. Be a voice of thanksgiving not complaining.
12. Find others that live near you and create a car pool.
13. Offer to throw a shower for a co-worker who is having a baby.
14. Offer to cover for a co-worker who needs off for something.
15. Start a regular lunch out with co-workers (don’t be selective on the invites).
16. Organize a weekly/monthly pot luck to make lunch a bit more exciting.
17. Ask someone who others typically ignore if you can grab them a soda/coffee while you’re out.
18. Be the first person to greet and welcome new people.
19. Make every effort to know the names of co-workers and clients along with their families.
20. Visit coworkers when they are in the hospital.
21. Bring sodas or work appropriate drinks to keep in your break room for coworkers to enjoy. Know what your co-workers like.
22. Go out of your way to talk to your janitors and cleaning people who most people overlook.
23. Find out your co-workers favorite music and make a playlist that includes as much as you can (if suitable for work).
24. Invite your co-workers in to the service projects you are already involved in.
25. Start/join a city league team with your co-workers.
26. Organize a weekly co-working group for local entrepreneurs at a local coffee shop.
27. Start a small business that will bless your community and create space for mission.
28. Work hard to reconcile co-workers who are fighting with one another.
29. Keep small candy, gum, or little snacks around to offer to others during a long day.
30. Lead the charge in organizing others to help co-workers in need.
This was sent to me by a friend. It was originally posted by Josh Reeves Click Here to go to Josh Reeves original post. He has several other posts worth reading.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Co-ordinate to Reach Your City through live chat
Co-ordinate to Reach Your City through live chat
Below is an article on an initiative started in the UK. I think it would be a great idea for several churches to get together and do for their city. The more churches the better, it makes social marketing more effective. You could have thousands of people posting, tweeing and googling about the opportunity to ask spiritual questions in a safe and anonymous atmosphere. Of course there would be a lot of work to put into it such as training people, gathering materials to send (these materials would all be free to send over the internet) a quality website to connect through and provide many resources.
The website can be simple as with GroundWire.org.uk or it can offer many other resources such as downloadable information, links to local churches a prominent link to a local suicide hotline, educational and or evangelistic Christan videos and more.
I used to run a regular chat room in AOL. It was centered around Christian business but we had many peole come into the room asking questions about Christianity. I invited many of those to one on one chat and several of those were meaningful and we chatted regularly for weeks.The unfortunate part of it is that these people were from all over the world and not part of the community I was in. I my self would love to participate in something like this in my city.
The UK-based Internet Mission has just launched GroundWire UK, a new initiative providing 1-to-1 chat 24/7, offering people online the opportunity to chat to a Spiritual Coach at any time of day or night!
GroundWire’s aim is to help the church to connect with people online, they are seeking to help those with spiritual questions to find Jesus and find a local church that can help them more. The emphasis is evangelism rather than counseling although pastoral advice and care is a natural part of the help they give.
GroundWire is looking to recruit new volunteer Spiritual Coaches so that the work can grow in the UK. They are also looking to partner with churches and Christian organizations who will promote the “opportunity to chat with someone who cares” facility from their website or on other literature that they give to those they are seeking to reach out to.
“It is so important that we are found where people are going looking for answers! At some point during nearly every day there are people in need having to wait to talk with a Spiritual Coach, we really don’t want them going away without finding someone who cares to chat with!”
Below is an article on an initiative started in the UK. I think it would be a great idea for several churches to get together and do for their city. The more churches the better, it makes social marketing more effective. You could have thousands of people posting, tweeing and googling about the opportunity to ask spiritual questions in a safe and anonymous atmosphere. Of course there would be a lot of work to put into it such as training people, gathering materials to send (these materials would all be free to send over the internet) a quality website to connect through and provide many resources.
The website can be simple as with GroundWire.org.uk or it can offer many other resources such as downloadable information, links to local churches a prominent link to a local suicide hotline, educational and or evangelistic Christan videos and more.
I used to run a regular chat room in AOL. It was centered around Christian business but we had many peole come into the room asking questions about Christianity. I invited many of those to one on one chat and several of those were meaningful and we chatted regularly for weeks.The unfortunate part of it is that these people were from all over the world and not part of the community I was in. I my self would love to participate in something like this in my city.
New online evangelism initiative launched
The UK-based Internet Mission has just launched GroundWire UK, a new initiative providing 1-to-1 chat 24/7, offering people online the opportunity to chat to a Spiritual Coach at any time of day or night!
GroundWire’s aim is to help the church to connect with people online, they are seeking to help those with spiritual questions to find Jesus and find a local church that can help them more. The emphasis is evangelism rather than counseling although pastoral advice and care is a natural part of the help they give.
GroundWire is looking to recruit new volunteer Spiritual Coaches so that the work can grow in the UK. They are also looking to partner with churches and Christian organizations who will promote the “opportunity to chat with someone who cares” facility from their website or on other literature that they give to those they are seeking to reach out to.
“It is so important that we are found where people are going looking for answers! At some point during nearly every day there are people in need having to wait to talk with a Spiritual Coach, we really don’t want them going away without finding someone who cares to chat with!”
THE SEISMIC SHIFT IN OUTREACH
note: The last paragraph may be the most important.
The Seismic Shift in Outreach
There has been a seismic shift in outreach that few church leaders are understanding, much less pursuing.
From the 1950’s to
the 1980’s, the vanguard of evangelistic outreach was direct
proclamation of the gospel. Whether the crusades of Billy Graham or the
creative approaches of Willow Creek Community Church, presentation led
the way.
This led to joining a community, and eventually, being discipled into participation with the cause.
From the 1990’s
thru the 2000’s, community took the lead. People wanted to belong
before they believed. Skepticism was rampant, and trust had to be
earned. Once enfolded, Christ was often met in the midst of that
community.
Cause, again, was the last to take hold.
From the 2010’s
forward, “cause” has become the leading edge of our connection with a
lost world, and specifically the “nones” (and it is increasingly best to
replace the term “unchurched” with the “nones”). Consider the recent
Passion Conference in Georgia. What arrested outside media attention
was the commitment to eradicate modern-day slavery, not the 60,000
students in attendance much less the messages related to the Christian
faith.
In a word, “cause.”
This made the gathering of 60,000 college students in the Georgia Dome for
that cause become attractional. In other words, then and only then did
“community” come into play. Then, after exploring that community,
Christ could be – and was – introduced.
Think of this shift in terms of moving people through stages of introduction:
1950’s-1980’s:
Unchurched >>> Christ >>> Community >>> Cause
1990’s-2000’s
Unchurched >>> Community >>> Christ >>> Cause
2010’s -
Nones >>> Cause >>> Community >>> Christ
It is important to
note how far the message of Christ is from the mind and sentiment of
the average “none.” It’s not that the church should “bury the lead” in
terms of putting Christ at the end of the line – remember, we’re talking
strategy. It’s just that leading with Billy Graham’s simple “The Bible
says” was a strategy designed for people in a different place
spiritually than many are today.
The more
post-Christian a person is, the more evangelism must embrace not only
“event/proclamation”, but “process” and “event/proclamation.” Earlier
models were almost entirely “event/proclamation” oriented, such as
revivals, crusades, or door-to-door visitation. As I’ve written about
in other places, this is only effective in an Acts 2, God-fearing Jews
of Jerusalem context.
“Process” models are needed in Acts 17, Mars Hill, nones/skeptical contexts.
Like the one we live in today.
The presentation
of Christ must remain central to our thinking, to be sure. That is the
only reason we are even talking about strategy; the goal is to present
Christ and Him crucified. But is that where we start? On Mars Hill,
the spiritual illiteracy was so deep that Paul had to begin with
cultural touchstones, lead in to creation, and work his way forward.
It took him a while to get to Christ.
And community? It
matters, but the average person has tastes of that already. Maybe not
functional, but they don’t seem as drawn to it as they used to be.
Perhaps it is because of the lure and illusion of social media, or
because they’ve simply given up on it, but it’s not the great “search”
it once was.
So there has been a great, seismic shift. Today, it is cause that arrests the attention of the world.
Which brings us to the challenge.
First, to recognize the seismic shift, and begin to strategize accordingly.
Second, to realize
how difficult this will be. If cause is in the lead, and community
close behind, the church is at a deficit. In the minds of many, our
causes have been mundane (let’s raise money for a fellowship hall!) or
alienating (Moral Majority!). And the close second of community? Our
reputation for dysfunction in that area is legendary.
But there is great
irony in the challenge. Jesus wed mission and message together
seamlessly, proclaiming the Kingdom that had come while healing the
leper and feeding the hungry. He mandated concern for the widow and the
orphan, the homeless and naked, the imprisoned and hungry, while
speaking of the bread of life and a home in heaven.
In other words, we should have been nailing this all along.
And if community
is lurking in the back of the minds of people as a felt need, that
should be a calling card as well. Jesus challenged his followers about
the importance of observable love toward one another as the ultimate
apologetic for His life and ministry and message.
And even if it
takes a while to get to Christ, He should be presented raw and
unfiltered in all of His scandalous specificity. As Moltmann
proclaimed, “the crucified God.”
So as we ponder the rise of “cause” as the cultural bridge over which to walk, perhaps the greater truth is more elemental:
Do all three.
Imagine a church that had community, cause and the undiluted message of Christ in the vanguard of its efforts.
It might just become the church Jesus had in mind all along that would reach the world.
James Emery White
Editor’s Note
James Emery White
is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in
Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and
culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as
their fourth president. His newly released book is The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity (Baker Press). To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, log-on to www.churchandculture.org,
where you can post your comments on this blog, view past blogs in our
archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the
world. Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Creating a digital outreach training day in your church
Creating a digital outreach training day in your church
Internet Evangelism Day encourages churches and other groups to create a focus spot or discussion time to consider how be effective in digital evangelism and integrate it with the rest of their ministry. Although the actual designated Day – usually the third or fourth Sunday in April – is a good time for this, there is no reason why you should not create a focus day at any time of the year.
Why digital?
As never before, there is an incredible potential of digital media to share the good news of Jesus, in an intentional but appropriate way. In the last eight years, the Internet has changed dramatically:- the vast growth in digital access via mobile phones, including in the Majority World
- the advent of social networking, through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and many other niche networks
- growth of the video short on YouTube and elsewhere, to communicate visually, and often by storytelling
It is now simple and practical for any online Jesus-follower to engage in opt-in permission conversations across existing relationships with friends and indirectly to friends-of-friends, using perhaps all three platforms – social, mobile and video short. No longer is digital evangelism a specialism, needing writing or technical skills.
Video shorts
The outsider-friendly video short has growing significance. It can be used to start a conversation, or enhance an existing discussion, by posting to Facebook, Twitter etc. Valuable ready-made sources of video shorts, which can be dropped into Facebook with a single click, include:- YesHeIs.com (varied categories of shorts in several languages)
- GlobalShortFilmNetwork.com (often story-based and parable-like)
- Focus.org.uk (God: New Evidence apologetics for outsiders)
- Damaris.org (parallels and lessons from movies)
- the Falling Plates video is a valuable explanation of the good news in a visual style
Also very significant are mobile phone apps which enable and enhance one-to-one faith-sharing. Sadly, there are very few. Mensajes de Fe is a new release (in Spanish). The JESUS Film is available in multiple languages as an app.
Phone users can also choose and download to their phones a small selection of video shorts to use in the same way. With growing mobile ownership across the Majority World, these opportunities are worldwide and strategic. MobileAdvance.org is one resource to learn more. The Mobile Ministry Forum connects groups working in this area.
Digital advocates
There is a big need for churches to encourage members to understand these possibilities. A strategic way to do this is to appoint a ‘digital advocate’ in the fellowship to inform, educate and encourage members about effective and appropriate use of the ‘three-fold cord’ – read more at IEDay.net/advocate.php
When Christians in a community choose a range of social networking friends that includes many who are not yet Jesus-followers, it becomes likely that a majority of people in the community could be digitally connected to at least one believer.
Churches and digital
Churches can also use social media corporately, and many are finding this an incredibly effective voice in the community, rather than just as an internal communication system to members. It is possible to be outsider-friendly, but sadly, many churches only use social media as an internal communication tool. InternetToolboxforChurches.com is a key initiative to learn more about this.
In the last year, a number of Christian books ieday.net/books.php have been published on Christian use of social media, some of them free: ieday.net/eb. We have never been better resourced!
How to create a focus day in your church or group
- Reproduce (or link to) this short news item in your church announcement sheet, church newsletter, blog or website, or any other media: ieday.net/shortannouncement.php
- Create a short focus spot in a meeting, or even theme an entire service around digital evangelism opportunities. A very short focus spot might be little more than a verbal announcement. If more time is available, then you could add components such as a video short (for example the YesHEIs cartoon), PowerPoint slides, an interview with a church member involved in digital ministry, or an explanation of the ‘three-fold cord’ – perhaps with a live projected demonstration of posting video clips into Facebook.
- Build on this awareness to plan a ministry or church digital strategy if you do not already have one.
- Consider appointing a ‘digital advocate’ to resource your fellowship or team.
Read more: http://www.internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/10519#ixzz2Wy0Wj3yn
at Internet Evangelism Day
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
by Rusty Ford
It is one thing to preach about discipleship. It is another to live it, model it and mentor it. Check out this article on that subject. I found this article both intriguing and challenging. One of the things that I am concerned about today's church is that many are not even preaching discipleship much less practicing it.
It is one thing to preach about discipleship. It is another to live it, model it and mentor it. Check out this article on that subject. I found this article both intriguing and challenging. One of the things that I am concerned about today's church is that many are not even preaching discipleship much less practicing it.
Have a Life Worth Imitating and Be Prepared to Pay the Price, Says Discipleship Expert
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