The New Universalism Debate

I guess we all know to whom we are referring when the topic turns to universalism these days. I've not read the book, and I've got rather too many on my reading list at the moment to add it to the pile.

I just wanted to post a link to a useful post that I think sheds helpful light on one of the keys issues that can go ignored. Put simply, if we perceive that the fundamental problem with universalism is that everyone is saved and that means that there's no point being a disciple of Jesus, then we've made Jesus little more than a get into heaven free card. There is more at stake than this.

This post by Ed Cyzewski addresses that very question.

When Jesus doesn't play by the rules

Another good article that came my way this morning is this one by Gordon MacDonald. It centres on the healing of the crippled woman, a story only Luke records, ad how the synagogue ruler reacts with "indignation" to the routine of his Sabbath worship being rudely interrupted by the audacious healing of the woman in question. Why couldn't she wait and get healed tomorrow or any other day of the week. It was just plain wrong of Jesus to do this on the Sabbath, it didn't fit with his version of reality.

Recognise his attitude in anyone you know?

The truth is, we are all in danger of becoming like the synagogue leader. We are all susceptible to reducing worship to what we can handle, and the unexpected isn't usually part of it. We like slick, orderly, well-planned and well executed worship. Without appearing to espouse chaos and disorder, where does the supernatural find its home in that kind of box? Where is the flexibility to respond to the prompting and leading of God's Spirit?

Here's some of Gordon's reflections:

Then I realized that, on occasion, I've been there, done that. I have known, experienced, perhaps even, regrettably, contributed to this kind of dead, out-of-touch kind of religion. Not always, but sometimes.

I thought about how the kind of institutionalized religion in this story slowly loses all of its humanity, its compassion, its ability to flex in the moment of great surprise. And that is exactly what Jesus brought through the door of the synagogue that day: humanity, compassion, and flex. What bothered the ruler was that the woman's healing wasn't done his way, according to his theological understanding, at a time that didn't interrupt his Sabbath. But for Jesus, even a sermon was "interruptible" if a person like this woman was in the room.

The story is also about systemized thinking, a kind of logic that takes on a life of its own over a period of time. It is demonstrated in the reaction of a religious leader who is so trapped by an analytical way that he can actually bring himself to believe that her healing is an unfortunate thing. It leads me to ask how does a mind get so locked into a system of thinking that it can take in the specter of a healed woman—bent over for eighteen years—and call it a violation of God's rules?

Somehow we must protect ourselves from ever becoming religious leaders who define what God can do and when he can do it. Roll on Sunday and the opportunity to be surprised by God if not by the congregation or even the minister!!

Two really interesting article that dropped into my inbox this morning

The first is a piece by Gordon MacDonald about a surprise encounter and the lesson he learned through it. You can find it here. It's called Disliking Someone God might be Smiling on.

The second is a really interesting article about changing leadership style to what the author calls "Open Source". It runs to just over three pages of text, but I think it's worth the effort to read it. The article is called "Open Source Activists" and you can find it here.

Keys to church growth

Came across an article from Evangelism Coach International about church growth. It offers three keys:

Key #1: A passionate love for Jesus

Key #2: A praying leadership

Key #3: A confidence in the Holy Spirit’s work

Can't argue with that really, but I wonder if we'd reach for our diaries to see if we'd be available to pray rather than to cross out the meetings in order to make time to pray.

How can we reshape our lives to do the prayer we want to do?

Dangerous Church

Ed Stetzer has posted his notes from a recent talk he did about the Dangerous Church in 2010. you can read them here.

Here are a few headlines to get you thinking:

The Dangerous Church will:

• Be People of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32)
  
• Have Addressed Sexual Brokenness
  
• Have Wrestled with Gender Inclusion
  
• Have Navigated the Post-Seeker Context
  
• Have Regained Confidence in the Gospel
  
• Have Rethought Discipleship
  

"Showtime!" and Missional

Here are a couple of interesting articles from this week's Leadership e-newsletter Leadership Weekly. The first is "Showtime!" No More, a fascinating piece about one minister and church's journey towards a more authentic expression of worship and mission than they were experiencing through the performance driven production that worship had become for them.

The second feature is Missional Misgivings by Dan Kimball. In this article Kimball raises the question of whether there is the evidence to support the claim that the missional model is working.

What I found particularly interesting about Showtime was how they sought to move from anonymity to community. This seems to coincide with Conrad's point that we've made the kingdom of God an individual matter with community implications when in fact it might just be about community with implications for the individual.

Kimball's article is helpful in opening up the debate about how attractional and missional could, maybe even should, co-exist. I know some people see missional as a replacement for and a more authentic expression of true mission than the attractional model, but the bottom line is that the attractional model, however flawed it might be, does have a track record of seeing people come to faith. And whether you are a missional advocate or an attractional advocate isn't this one of your primary goals?

I guess I might just be odd in that I am committed to discovering a missional model for the local church that enables everyone to be involved in ministry and mission, incarnating the gospel in every area of community life, and I'm committed to wanting the local church to be attractive as a place to explore the questions we have and the solutions the bible offers. I don't see these as incompatible either/or's rather both/and. Mission with incarnation is just a show a and the first article tells us all we need to know about how potentially dangerous that can be.