Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Dispassionate Spirituality, or Why we aren't being fruitful...

(This article was originally posted at Adventist Today)

Since the creation of the Earth, growing things has been relatively straightforward.  Take a seed, put it in the ground, make sure it gets enough water and sunlight, and a few months later you’ll be eating well.  Sure, you can get more sophisticated, but these are the basic elements for physical, and spiritual growth.

My Beautiful Wife is currently teaching herself, and our kids, to be tomato ranchers.  A couple of months ago, they picked out a variety of tomato seeds, planted them in some starter soil, and made sure they stayed warm and moist.  Since then, they have shared almost two-dozen tomato plants with friends, family, and neighbors.

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Marginalized

As long as those who hold the keys to power, continue to marginalize those who hold less power, the Church (uppercase) will continue to grow more relevant to those in power, and less relevant to those without.

While this may have been OK even just a few decades ago, when people felt they had no other choices outside of the local church (lowercase), this attitude is not a sustainable model for church health.  Society continues to give people more and more permission to express themselves, but the church still exists in a state of denial.