Thursday, November 15

Here’s something for discussion…

Mark Nelson at 12:04 PM 6comments

6 Comments

at 1:51 PM  Anonymous said...

A couple of thoughts:

The Age Wave - sounds like a good way to kill a church. The church's future leadership lies in the families with children, not with the aging senior citizens. Both groups need to be sought out and ministered to, but not to the exclusion of the other.

The "Bono" Effect - I'm not sure how the church separated evangelism and social justice to begin with. It is really not Biblical. Jesus' ministry was very much about meeting the physical needs of the community in combination with meeting the spiritual needs. So was the early church. It is difficult to embrace and accept a loving God when you and your family are hungry and the cupboard is bare.

We need not be enablers for people and the bad patterns of behavior some find themselves in. I firmly believe in personal responsibility and accountability. However there is something fundamentally wrong when a family whose parents work a factory job (or a law enforcement job, etc.), work hard and diligently and have to rely on food stamps to feed a family or do not have health insurance or adequate health care.

Churches (or demoninations) whose prime focus is on "saving souls" (i.e., we get them to the altar, pat them on the back and send them on their way) miss the bigger picture of discipleship and what living the Christian life (as James 2 teaches us) is all about.

I recognize that the church already performs a certain amount of "social justice" work in terms of world missions. We feed, clothe and tend to the medical needs of those in foreign countries.

That is all fine and well, but.....

What about our own communities? Our own "backyards" who already write the church off as being reclusive, self centered, self indulgent, only interested in the next "big" building campaign?

Just my thoughts. Thanks for letting me share.

Jeff P.

 

at 11:08 PM  ragamuffinminister said...

I've seen a swing, somewhat, to reach out to older generations but not because of money. Not that he was saying that, but I see some churches really trying to improve their ministries to seniors.

The Bono effect is really happening. I see it everyday in my ministry. However, I can't see churches going COMPLETELY obsolete if they don't swing that way.

 

at 9:39 AM  Meriam said...

You know, when I think of Ministry to Seniors I think of either visiting the lonely in nursing homes or the cranky seniors at many churches I know of who like to complain about how we aren't doing church right. But, in the seniors I am now closest to (my parents and in-laws) I see a real need. On one hand there is the set who is excited to be retiring because it frees them up for more kingdom work and on the other I see depression and disappointment that their lives have not played out as they had hoped. I think it's a basic difference in a sold out faith and a "we go to church because that's what good people do." To ignore the older generation would mean to ignore our parents. I think that would be horrible. One set I am confident won't let themselves be ignored because they are going to throw themselves right into the mix, but the other set only attends church when they are with us (once a year) and has allowed themselves ignore their spiritual side. We need to quit expecting the older generation to humble themselves to meet us where we are and start humbling ourselves first so we can meet them where they are.

 

at 9:35 PM  Nicole said...

I don't know that either of these are actual 'trends' but rather a corrective of the historical neglect that the evangelical church has shown toward the Biblical command to care for the least of these. The senior population is growing, and the needs will likely be overwhelming to our social structures. The Church will have to step up and provide care for a need that will be more difficult to ignore than it has been in the past, just due to the larger ratio of seniors that will be around.

It is necessary that the Church bridge the false dichotomy between social justice and the Gospel that we've created. However, we are going to struggle to do so until we start providing for the spiritual care of all persons.

I think there is a third arm to these "trends" that is a renewed focus on contemplative spirituality, spiritual disciplines, and spiritual formation. We need to advocate for the disenfranchised and disadvantaged, care for physical needs, and draw in people of all ages, but we must not neglect the integrated spiritual dimension of who persons are created to be in the image of God. Doing so requires more than just providing a good Sunday (or Saturday) service. It requires individual and community relationships with those with the gifts of pastoring (not just the official "pastor")

By that, I mean I think we'll need to see a resurgence of literal pastoral care. A renewal of the church, the pastor, the church leaders being the place to go to deal with such existential questions such as the meaning of life, depression, the dark night of the soul, death, sufferring, etc.

We've largely turned this type of care over to psychology and behavioral medicine. As a psychologist, I firmly believe these things have their place, but the Church must become better at being a place for people to share their struggles and suffering.

Unfortunately, it's incredibly difficult to find places in the Church to do so. I sit surrounded by classmates and colleagues every day as we lament the seeming lack of a place within the Church for the ministry of the care of souls, which many of us feel that we end up practicing in our therapy offices.

Responding to the Age Wave and the Bono effect will ring hollow with many if we also don't offer a life that is radically different in seeking out hearing the voice of God...and attending to the suffering of others by developing fellow Christ followers and those outside the church through provision of pastoral care.

 

at 2:49 AM  Rob said...

My thoughts on the bono effect, evangelism, and church planting. For many years, it seems that most Christians have been one or two issue voters (abortion and gay marriage). I used to wonder how anyone could be a Christian and vote for anyone who wasn't pro-life. As my faith has grown in recent years and the more time I spend reading God's word, the more social issues God brings to the forefront of my heart. Evangelism, at least in our culture, needs to be relational. It needs to have love and service at its heart. The traditional Gospel presentation doesn't work with our generation, and it is great to see churches recognizing this and begin to contextualize the Gospel for our current culture.

That being said, it is pointless to just meet the physical needs of those around us if we (the church) don't also meet the spiritual. What good will a cupboard full of food do someone if they don't experience the eternal saving grace of Jesus. The reason we do what we do is because we have been utterly transformed by the Gospel ourselves and we are compelled to share that with others. We are compelled to offer forgiveness and hope to others as Christ has offered it to us.

 

at 3:19 AM  Rob said...

continued from my post above

One fear that I do have is that as the church has finally gotten involved in social issues and gotten back to serving the surrounding community, that we stray too much in the opposite direction. If we are to live as Christ modeled, we can't just focus on loving our enemies or taking care of the poor. We need to talk about sin and the need for reconciliations between us and God. Only then will we represent the fullness of the Gospel.

 

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