So many questions…Feel free to give me some answers. Or add some random questions of your own!
Do you view yourself as a spiritual settler, a wanderer, a pilgrim or an exile? None of the above? All of the above?
I would like to propose a new rule: the only church leaders who are allowed to complain about church-hopping congregants are those who have been with their church for at least 7 years. Agree or disagree? Why?
I have been hitting “repeat” on Audra Lynn’s song Psalm of Abraham all day. Do you ever get locked on a song?
The local Barnes & Noble and Borders are carrying an ever- increasing number of Christian (CBA) fiction titles. Yesterday, I paid a my first visit to our local chain Christian bookstore and discovered miles of shelves full of trade paperbacks full of historical and contemporary romances, Amish-themed stories, and “cozy mysteries”. (Do your toes curl under from the sticky sweetness of that genre name?) It’s been a while (OK, it’s been five years) since I’ve shopped in a mainstream Christian bookstore. I knew the data about growth in Christian fiction – including those cozy mysteries – but somehow seeing the data in person, lined up on all those shelves, gave me a sobering jolt.
How will social media like facebook affect high school reunions in the future? After all, if people are networked, will they still want to make the journey to their hometown for the 10- or 25-year reunion?
Is there a food you could eat every day? For me, it’s pasta…and hummus. (Not at the same time, thank you.) I’ll have my opportunity to dine on hummus every day next week in the Holy Land. Bill has his second Caspari Center board meeting in Jerusalem. They’ll be prayerfully discussing some cool new ministry initiatives, among other things. I am going along to pray, to spend a day working in the offices, to connect with a variety of people. We’re both going, most of all, to listen and learn. God’s heartbeat is amplified in that place like nowhere else on earth.
Bill and I would value your prayers for safety, for meaningful connections, and that our souls stay ravenous to listen and obey every word our Father speaks.
I’m an exile from institutional forms of church life. I’m a pilgrim to transform my life as a member of Christ’s body to live out the supernatural design God has made us to be. I know, in God’s grace, He is able to use the efforts of some in the institutional system. I no longer want to presume on His grace when I know what He has asked for is not done there exept in medocre amounts.
The pastor who is willing to accept church-hoppers coming in to his church should not complain when some hop away. What most church hoppers fail to see is that usuually their complaints about a given church are largely due to bogus systemic assumptions that are true of every institutional church. Changing churches only changes the people, not the system. It’s only a matter of time before they will again be hopping or at least wanting to.
How long have you been out of the institutional church? What advice would you give to those contemplating making the same exit?