Tag: Culture

  • Stop Throwing People Away

    There is something going on in church culture that I can’t stand. And it’s something I think we really need to change. And it is something we can change right now, in this moment.

    It’s this.

    We have a tendency to throw people away because they do or say or write one thing we don’t like.

    One thing. A moment. A blog post. A book. A sermon. A prison stint. A bad habit. Or even something they didn’t do but we think they should have in a Monday morning quarterback kind of way.

    Gone. That person is trash. I’m going to trash that person. For life. And hate them. For ever. I’m on Team Hate That Person for the rest of eternity.

    Really? One thing.

    We need to stop this. People of the King: We look like fools, not peacemakers.

    The world knows us as a people of hatred. Last time I checked Jesus didn’t call us to hate each other.

    Three examples from my life

    1. I don’t hate John Ortberg. I’ve never even met him. But I’ve had multiple conversations in the past few months where people asked me why I hate John Ortberg. It all goes back to a blog post I wrote in May 2010 where I disagreed with one thing he wrote on his blog. Really? That doesn’t mean I hate him. I never said I hate him. It means that he wrote something I disagreed with. That’s it. I’m not the president of his hate club. I’m reading one of his books right now. I’ve even bought and recommended his books in the past. I’m sure he’s a lovely person. I don’t hate him. It was one thing. Big deal? I’d still recommend his church. I’d still listen to him preach. Wait… I have still listened to him preach. Amazing, right?
    2. I know of few people in Churchland who have more haters than Tony Jones. People hate me because I’m an acquaintance of his and have recommended one of his books here on my blog. Really? You hate me because I am an acquaintance of someone you’ve never met or spoken to but hate because he wrote or said some things you don’t agree with. First, it’s dumb that you can hate someone like Tony. (If you’ve ever met him you’d find out he is unhateable.) Second, it is really dumb to hate me because I know him. This hate by association thing is illogical. What’s next? Are you going to hate me because I drive a Volkswagen and you’re a Kia guy? Lame.
    3. People think I hate C.S. Lewis. I don’t hate him. I think his writings are over-rated and over-quoted. But it’s not like I think he’s a heretic. (Though, interestingly, evangelicals who adore his writing would think he was a heretic if they actually compared what they believe next to what he believed. But most evangelicals don’t know what they believe… that’s another post for another day.) It’s not like I’ve banned his books from my home. I just don’t like it that he’s on the quote-a-matic. Need a quote? Don’t want it to be from the Bible? Just spin the wheel on my brand new C.S. Lewis Quote-a-Matic. What I’m really saying is that I wish more Christians would read wider. If I was going to hate him it would be because his middle name is Staples… I’m more of an Office Depot kind of guy.

    Litmus Tests

    Let’s face it. Every single person in the world could do something you aren’t going to like at one point in their lives. We are a broken people. We have a natural tendency to hurt and be hurt by people.

    And yet we walk around with these little litmus tests all day. A guy cut me off on the freeway? I hate him and wish he were dead. I don’t know him but I hate him? Are you kidding me? That’s a person doing something you’ve done. And you hate them?

    Ludicrous.

    We need to bathe in grace. And we need to carry around an aura of grace in how we interact with the world.

    Let grace be our cologne as we leave the house.

    Let the world know us for our gracious attitude towards those we disagree with.

    We need to adapt a mindset that says we can disagree with someone, even strongly, and never hate them.

    “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

    Romans 12:3

  • Naming Conventions: Cultural and Family Considerations for Naming a Child

    Naming a child is a big deal. Especially since there is a high likelihood they will be stuck with it the rest of their lives. In an ideal situation a person’s name is one of the top three or four things that they build their lifelong identity around. (Gender, faith, culture, to name a few others.)

    But selecting a name isn’t just about the identity of the child will take on for themselves. It’s also about a few other things…

    • Since the parents chose, the name reflects the parents initially as much as the child indefinitely.
    • The child’s name isn’t alone as it is in pairing with its siblings and other members of the family. They need to make some sense as a group of names.
    • The child’s name has to fit in culturally with it’s peers. Picking a name that is too popular could result in them not having a distinct name. Picking a name that is too obscure could lead to no one knowing what planet you came from!
    • Some names generate stigma just because of other famous people by that name. Some names you say and others automatically associate that name with a serial killer or a rock star.
    • Naming of a child can be a wonderful way to honor a person.
    • Within your friendships you need to make sure you aren’t naming your child someone else’s “dream name.“
    • As a parent, you’ll be uttering this name for the rest of your life. So it needs to be something you like saying.

    Here’s how we picked our first two children’s names:

    Megan Elisabeth – The first Christmas that Kristen and I were dating I bought her a pearl ring that meant a lot to us. Though we only knew one another for 6 months we knew we’d be together for a lifetime. The ring had three tiny pearls. One for each child we’d hope to one day have. (Crazy, I know considering we always wanted three, stopped after two, and then are now having the third.) So as we debated what to name our first child, it kind of all got settled in the symbolism of the name Megan. Greek for pearl. Then I made an executive decision and told Kristen I wanted Megan’s middle name to be Elisabeth, after her. My hope is that one day Megan will grow up to be a woman of God like her mom.

    Paul Garret- This name came long before we were married. Paul & Garret are the patriarchs of both of our families and we wanted to honor them by naming our first son after them. Paul McLane was a man I never met as he passed away a few years before I was born. But I grew up under the legend of Paul McLane. It was clear throughout my childhood that my grandfather was the person who helped hold the whole thing together… and when he passed the whole thing just kind of started spinning out of control. I want my son to be the kind of guy that holds things together. Garret is Kristen’s grandfather. When we met I instantly liked him. I man of few words and great wisdom. To illustrate this man’s heart fast-forward to his final impact. Nearly 1000 people came to visit Garret (Barney, as everyone knew him) at his funeral. And as I stood by and listened to stories they all had the same thread. “You probably don’t know me, but your husband helped me when I was in trouble. He leant me some money to pay my rent.” (Or drove them to the doctor, or visited them when they were sick, or prayed for them when they came to the church after hours and he was gardening.) Oh, that my son would be like his grandfather… quietly serving the Kingdom of God.

    So, when it came to the third child… we were at a loss.

    We had all of this in our minds. And we struggled for nearly six months to find just the right one. Weighing all of this together takes something that seems so infinite and narrows the options. Literally, we talked about it from the day we found out we were expecting #3 until about 2 weeks ago. We tried a lot of things out, thought about it, sat on it, then kicked it to the curb.

    But we’ve finally landed on a names we both love. Weighing in the family considerations, cultural considerations, and even historical considerations. (My family has been in the United States for a long, long time!) We can’t wait to reveal the name. But, of course, we are waiting until he’s born.

    Addendum #1

    From 1995 – 2002 I worked for BlueCross BlueShielf of Illinois creating tens of millions (no exaggeration) of ID cards. In that, I noticed some crazy naming conventions which have totally shaped how we name our children. Here’s the most obvious one.

    The weird name rule: (About 90% of the time, this is true) If a couple has two normal names they are bound to name their first child something abnormal. But if one of the two of them has an abnormal name, their first child’s name will be normal.

    Example #1: Tom and Susan… will name their first child Zoe.

    Example #2: Tom and Zoe… will name their first child Susan.

    Addendum #2

    If you are a web nerd like me, it’s also important that the child’s domain name be available.

  • Random Acts of Culture

    OK, so this is clearly a staged deal and not a great flash mob. Two things cue you off. 1. The buttons. 2. There have never been that many people in a Macy’s, ever.

    That said, it’s pretty awesome. That’s taking the good news to the people my friends.

    I’d like to see them pull a random act of culture off at an Eagles game.

    p.s. Big ups to them for great marketing. 6 million views on YouTube. Well played.

  • Firework by Katy Perry

    Gosh, I really love the message of this video.

    I want to encourage youth workers to watch this video twice. Watch it the first time with your adult glasses on. Get annoyed that there are fireworks shooting out of her chest or two boys kissing or even that a girl strips down and jumps in a pool.

    Those are the things you are trained to see as an adult.

    The second time, put on the glasses of a high school student. Remember what it was like to be one of the people portrayed in the video. Feeling out of sorts. Feeling unpopular. Feeling isolated from the world you wanted to be a part of.

    Perhaps now you can see why this message is so powerful? (More than 500,000 views in 24 hours!) Perhaps, just perhaps, Katy Perry is preaching a message you’d also like to get across?

    Maybe she’s a prophetess to a generation? (And doing it outside of being a part of the church? Gasp.)

    Perhaps we need to learn that her use of art and symbolism to communicate to students is something we need to think about way more than just the spoken word? Perhaps we need to continue to foster ministries that embrace and empower students to express themselves and feel safe? Perhaps we need to celebrate when students break free of peer pressure that’s keeping them down or isolating them and dance with them as they embrace freedom? Maybe the message of this video could be a halfway point to talking about freedom in Christ?

    When I see people in youth ministry looking down on the powerful messages the media is portraying, I get frustrated in the realization that the church continues to perpetrate the same old lie. “If it isn’t our message shared in our way, it must be bad.” (This is a closed theory, like I talked about here.)

    And I wonder when we’ll embrace openness and acknowledge that our message is true, and can be open, expressed in ways we don’t have to approve of and still be truth?

  • Apocalypse Now – Life and Theology in Haiti

    24 hours into my second trip to Haiti and I started crafting this phrase:

    Theology and culture always co-mingle. You just hope that theology and culture never conspire against the goals of the church.

    In America: Theology and culture conspire to destroy the church through our belief in the American Dream and pursuit of happiness.

    In Haiti: Theology and culture conspire to over-spiritualize everything.

    At least that’s my opinion after my second visit. The first go-round, I was doing my best to look past all of that so I could focus on evaluating the needs of the people. But this time, it became clear to me that the desire to blame everything on the spiritual world was seriously hampering rebuilding.

    God may have been in the earthquake. But there were certainly human factors at play as well.

    Walking around Carrefour, the epicenter of the January 12th quake, is like a scene out of a movie. Not the beginning and fun parts. And not even after the credits roll. It’s like that sense of curiosity you have when you watch a movie like I Am Legend. What would happen if people re-inhabited the set? That’s the feeling you get walking around the effected areas. You are on the set of a movie about the end of the world.

    “The world has ended.” These are the words of some church leaders. Most Christians in Haiti seem to believe that January 12th was the beginning of the tribulation. And who can blame them? On a single day half the cities people became homeless. Almost 10% of the cities population was killed. Countless homes, business, churches, and government buildings either collapsed or were severely damaged. If this isn’t tribulation than the real tribulation is truly something unimagineable.

    Last week I documented some signs of hope in Haiti. This time I wanted to be fair and share some signs of despair. (And evidence that you need to be involved!)

    • Some rebuilding has begun. But with no building codes, horrible materials, and skilled labor lacking… people are just making the same mistakes that lead to so many deaths. It’s easy to blame God, but one major contributor was faulty construction practices.
    • Billions of dollars in foreign aid will be distributed mostly to wealthy oppressors. Joel spoke with a Spaniard on his way out of Haiti. He had been in the country for 3 years and is leaving because he can’t handle the corruption anymore. “Want to know where all the aid is going? The Haitians the NGOs are hiring are selling it out of the back door.” Enough money has been given to Haiti to completely level and rebuild Port-au-Prince. Unless people intervene all of that money will be squandered away bit by bit. Sorry if that’s shocking to you.
    • While there are thousands of NGOs on the ground, very few have camp managers like Sean Penn. Like it or lump it, each camp needs a foreigner who will go to the various NGOs and leverage social currency selflessly on behalf of people. Spiritual needs are great to meet. But there are still plenty of physical needs unmet too. A camp manager who checks in 1-2 times per week isn’t going to cut it. It takes people who make running the camp their life mission to make things happen.
    • The earthquake shook the people, but a culture of dependency is hard to loosen. Americans have a “fix-it” mentality. It’s in our cultural DNA and we exhibit it everywhere we go in the world. As the recipient of generations of this, Haiti (and other places in the world like Haiti) have a “foreigners fix-it” mentality. Our cab driver in Ft. Lauderdale was the perfect example. His wife is a doctor in Haiti and he sends home money to support her. When I asked him when he would move back to his country he told me, “I will move back when I find a white man willing to partner with me on my water and ice business.” When I told him that, in my opinion, the only hope from Haiti was if the Haitian people lead themselves and stopped depending on outsiders… he just laughed. “I wish that same thing, but the Haitian people just like to buy and be given things by white people. It means it is a better gift or business than a Haitian can create.”
    • The government of Haiti is dragging its feet. A major problem facing rebuilding efforts are the myriad of 18th century property laws that govern ownership. You need a permit to remove rubble. And if you are renting you need to get the owners permission. The owner might live in another country, and he may only have a share of the ownership with dozens of cousins. And, of course, to prove you own the land you need to go to a government building which collapsed. Round and round you go. Months go by and nothing gets done. Unless you pay a bribe, that is.

    Is there hope for Haiti? Obviously. I believe to the core of my being that Jesus brings renewal of the soul and the land. While this is an incredible time of spiritual revival in Haiti it is also the greatest opportunity in our lifetime for Christians to get involved at the grassroots levels and help root out corruption and see the best interests of the people served.

    If not you than who? Want to change the world? Think you are crazy enough?

    Step one.

  • The Baby-god Myth, part four

    I don't want you to suck as parents!

    In part four of this series, I’ll offer some conclusions and solutions for reversing the trend of deifying our children. To catch up on the series, check out part one, two, and three.

    Where do we go from here?

    This is the important question. Hopefully you’ve read through this series and reflected on the situation, the parents you know, or even your own habits as a parents and thought, “There must be another option.” When baby Rex pops out of his mom’s womb he doesn’t deserve to be worshipped. He’s a child. To deify him really messes him up. And making baby Rex the center of your life really messes parents up, too.

    It wasn’t always this way. It’s not meant to be this way. And our society just can’t move forward with it being this way.

    Reflect on the goal of parenting

    I actually think most parents never stopped to think about the goal of their parenting. Just like an engaged couple only thinks about the wedding day (and night) and not the marriage, that same couple thinks about becoming parents but not the goal of raising a child. Then the kid comes and their life gets upside down in a pile of photos and dirty diapers. The default goal becomes the American dream. They never stop to think that maybe pursuing the American dream will be a nightmare.

    For me the goal is simple: I’d like my kids to become healthy, happy, and independent adults.

    Certainly, I’d love to see Megan or Paul grow up to be more successful than me. I’d love it if they chose a career path that I can brag about to my friends. But as think about that last statement… “that I can brag about to my friends” I guess I really mean that I want to brag about how satisfied my kids are. Are they pursuing their dreams the way I did? Have they found a spouse they adore? Is their work fun and fulfilling?

    Wow! That changes everything, doesn’t it? If my goal for raising my kids is that they are healthy, happy, and independent… I really can work backwards from that.

    That affords me a working backwards action plan that is reasonable and in line with what I know of God’s plan.

    God first, adults second, kids third

    You don’t have to be a psychologist to know this is true:

    • Healthy kids come from a healthy home.
    • Happy kids come from a happy home.
    • Independent kids come from parents who allow them to take care of themselves.

    Rather than try to offer advice for raising a healthy, happy, and independent child– I’ll just off the questions that we wrestle through. We don’t have it all figured out. But we have determined that we will not have a baby Rex. Our relationship with God is primary in our marriage. Our marriage flows from our relationship with God. And we believe (hope, pray, beg!) that if we get that right, there’s a pretty good chance that our kids will become healthy, happy independent adults.

    Healthy homes

    What does a healthy home look like? What role does church play? What are the rules? Are they comfortable and safe in their role as a child? What are the boundaries? What are the rewards? How does a healthy home talk to one another? How does a healthy home motivate children? What type of schedule does a healthy home maintain? How many nights of activities does a healthy home have?

    Happy kids

    What is the profile of a happy kid? Do they have chores? How are they treated? Are they given autonomy? Do they have friends? Are their lives scheduled? How is success measured? Are they a project to be managed? Are they trusted? How do they acquire stuff? What role does church play in a happy kids life? What role does discipline play?

    Independent kids

    Can they make choices for themselves? Can they care for themselves? Do they know how to clean? Do they know how to earn money? Save money? Budget money? Do they know what to look for in a friend? Can they handle social dynamics? Do they bear the weight of the consequences for their choices? Can they have conversations with adults?

  • The Baby-god Myth, Part Two

    Hi! I'm Rex. I'll be running your life the next 25 years. Cool?

    This is Rex. He’s the king of kings and the lord of lords for most families.

    Like all babies the moment he popped out changed his parents lives forever.

    Born shortly before his physical birth are the high expectations for Rex. Not unlike generations past, Rex’s parents have ideals. They’d like to see him grow up to be a lawyer and maybe play some college football. Either way, Rex will get into a prestigious university with a full ride.

    Before Rex was born, Rex’s mom (as her license plate proudly declares) was a manager at a health insurance company. But her family is her top priority so now she’s a stay-at-home mom. Her new job is to pour everything into baby Rex. And right from the moment Rex’s mom found out she was pregnant she has done everything right. She has moved from the manager of 15 employees to the manager of Rex’s life.

    We all know this story. We all see it every day.

    Parents who think their kid is special. Parents who push their kids into activities and “learning opportunities.” Parents whose lives completely revolve around providing the perfect incubator for their kids.

    It’s an ivory tower. By the time most of us in youth ministry see Rex, he’s either living up to the expectations, faking it, or the ivory tower has collapsed.

    All hell breaks loose when Rex, at 13, already hates football and just doesn’t have the aptitude to be a lawyer. He likes to work on engines. And that’s not going to cut it for parents who want him to go to law school and be the star wide receiver.

    The first two years of high school will be painful until his parents finally relent and allow Rex to be who he wants him to be. Begrudgingly.

    Reality

    Middle-class American ideals have built an ivory tower which simply cannot bear the weight of the cultural expectations for middle-class children.

    There are simply too many gods. Everyone cannot be special. Everyone cannot become a millionaire. Everyone cannot earn an athletic or academic scholarship.

    But sit in any stands for any level of athletic competition and eavesdrop on parents talking about their kids. All parents have bought the lie that their kid is special.

    They aren’t. Most kids are average. That’s why we call it average.

    Ignoring Reality

    And yet parents set themselves on a failure-bound path and build their identity through the accomplishments of their children.

    The Contrast

    For Kristen and I, it took leaving middle-class white suburban America and moving into a melting pot city to have our eyes opened to this.

    In Romeo, when we attended parent meetings, we were considered young. Really young. Most of the parents of elementary school children were in their late-30s to mid-50s. They drove massive SUVs, lived in big homes, went skiing in Vail and vacationed in Florida, proudly chased their children around from activity to activity, and couldn’t understand why we looked at them weird when they quoted Bon Jovi lyrics or referenced movies from before we were born.

    Kristen and I had Megan when we were 24 years old. Having chosen of life of poverty– I mean working at a church— we had what we needed and splurged on some things every once in a while. At school and church we were constantly reminded that we were too young to be parents. Parents of our contemporaries said to us all the time, “You married so young! My daughter just isn’t ready. It must have been so hard.”

    Living at home with an over-bearing mom sounds more stressful than getting married at 21. At least to me.

    We lived in a nice house, drove a nice car, and had to budget which activities we could afford to put Megan and Paul in. But we made roughly half what other parents in the school made and were passively reminded of it all the time.

    Rex, the Golden Calf

    Many families in Romeo worshipped their children. It was a little scary. Little Rex went from school, [where mom volunteered 3 times per week) to a math tutor, [He was only in the percentile on math] to soccer practice, [dad’s the travel coach, so lets work on skills] to the house, [gotta do some homework and grab a quick dinner] to hockey practice. [ice time always has kids up late] It wasn’t unusual to see parents do this routine with each child, 4-5 days per week.

    Parents were exhausted. Kids were exhausted. Yet no one questioned if all of this craziness really worked.

    Kids love it, right?

    And the kids were far worse off for it. No time to dream. No imagination allowed. No unorganized play. No time without adult supervision. Even in high school. On and on. Kids were tired and programed to death. And while these children marched through high school achieving a resume-building life, they couldn’t get into great colleges because they lacked the one thing it seemed the big schools valued more than a resume– independence.

    Parents were far worse off for it, as well. It put way too much pressure on the marriage to race the kids around all over the place and blow countless thousands of dollar on travel hockey and travel soccer. We’d tell parents about our date nights while watching the kids play soccer and hear things like, “Oh my gosh, you guys go on dates every week? Tom and I haven’t had a date in years.” No wonder Rex was an only child! They spent $20,000 a year on activities but couldn’t afford $50 for a sitter and a date.

    What’s up with that?

    Rex was the center of their universe.

    Simply put, there was no way Rex would live up to their expectations.

    By the time they reached our high school group it was clear to see which Rex’s were still garnishing the parents worship and which had been cast off. When little Rex failed to live up to the expectations, Rex was likely to get put on a maintenance budget and largely ignored. (Hence, Romeo is known as a drug town.)

    Here in San Diego we feel old when we go to the kids school! When we go to school activities we are clearly a few years older than the majority of parents. (There are a few parents our age.) And the earning power of the working poor is much different than the earning power of suburban middle class. Sure, kids are in activities, but they aren’t worshipped with the same ferocity. Typical kids in our school have a a parent who takes them to school, a grandparent who picks them up and watches them in the afternoon, and sees mom or dad when they get home late in the evening.

    There are no Rex’s in our kids school.

    The American dream for parents at Darnall in San Diego looks a lot different than the dream at Amanda Moore in Romeo. One dream is achievable/realistic while the other is a statistical impossibility.

    This is the lie: A child, put in the “perfect environment,” will succeed at a higher rate than his peers in less-than-perfect environments.

    This is the truth: Healthy, happy, well-adjusted children home will increase the likelihood of a happy, healthy, well-adjusted home.

    This is the lie: You can incubate a high-achieving child.

    This is the truth: Two of the last three Presidents of the United States came from pretty rough family backgrounds. Intrinsic work ethic overcame all other disadvantages.

    This is the lie: High activity, camps, travel teams increase your child’s potential of an athletic scholarship.

    This is the truth: Few college or professional prospects come out of those camps or travel squads in football, basketball, or baseball. Next level coaches are looking for qualities you can’t control like height, speed, instinct.

    This is the lie: A 4.0 in high school will guarantee entrance to a prestigious university.

    This is the truth: A well-rounded student will both get into good universities and graduate from good universities.

  • Stick it to the Man

    I want to see church culture change. I know that if we’d just apply what we believe the church would be the most attractive option on the planet.

    And I also know that in order to change the leadership culture within a church you have to do three things.

    1. You have to play along to gain access to the people who can change things.
    2. You have to gently prod leadership with ideas that are approachable.
    3. And sometimes you need to show them your middle finger and just plain stick it to the leaders by giving them glimpses of your vision for reform.

    Here are some examples of moments in history when visionaries have extended the middle finger (mostly figuratively) to the man and changed the culture forever.

    • 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence and told King George, “Come and get me, punk.“
    • William Wallace lead a band of warriors against King Edward in a fight for independence for Scotland. “I’m not your slave, I’d rather die than serve you. Here, look at my butt.“
    • On December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks sat down in the front of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. “What are you going to do about it?”
    • George Whitefield lead massive outdoor revivals in staunch opposition to the established church and local laws which required permits to preach. Much of the American evangelical church was born from his disobedience. “We are going to meet outside, where the people are… you know, just like Jesus did. You OK with that, sucker?“
    • Martin Luther recognized he could barely move the needle an inch in his lifetime if he worked within the rules of Rome. So he wrote some things down and made his own appointment with the Pope Leo. “You’ll be changing one way or the other, Mr. Fancy Hat.“
    • Instead of ignoring the Pharisees and their muttering, Jesus teaches his band of cultural losers that they should go out and try to reach Pharisees. “Sometimes you stick it to the man by going out and loving the man while sticking it to him.”

    What’s the problem with this?

    • A lot of us are the man.
    • In nearly all of those situations, the established religious leaders were on the wrong side of history. Oops.
    • We stand in a long time of people who realize… awful hard to stick it to ourselves.

    The reason I’m saying this is to remind people like myself that we are, oftentimes, the biggest agents against change. We have our ways. We have our culture. We look at prominence and degrees. As the established religious leaders we give a million excuses why the pains in the neck are wrong and we are right.

    World changing men and women come into our lives, observe our behavior and practices, and give us the middle finger.

    The lesson from the examples above is simple: When people come to you to give you the middle finger of no-more-fellowship… you need to listen to them. You need to give them the opportunity to be heard.

    They may be right and you may be wrong.

    You need to look at those people with sober judgment.

    Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. – Apostle Paul, Romans 12:2

  • 10 Ways Your Church Can Be Good News to the Neighborhood

    I have a fervent belief that if we want to reach a post-Christian society, we have to be Good News before someone will listen to Good News.

    Here are 10 ways you can begin transforming your church into a place where Good News flows from:

    1. If you have a building, offer a public bathroom and shower that’s open to whomever needs it during your office hours.
    2. Ask every attendee to get in the habit of bringing a canned food item (you get the idea) to church every week. Then start a food pantry that’s open a couple days a week for people to drop in.
    3. Buy things for the church from local suppliers. Avoid the big box (probably cheaper) stores for ones that support a local company. Encourage your church attendees to do the same.
    4. Encourage people who go out to lunch after church to be generous with tipping servers and conscious of how long they are staying. You want wait staffs to desire the church crowd, they are avoiding it at all costs now.
    5. Require church staff to live within the area you are trying to reach.
    6. Add a requirement to all board and staff job descriptions that they attend public meetings. (Schools, city planning, city council, county government, etc.)
    7. Ask adults to volunteer at the public schools. (Give staff lots of freedom to volunteer)
    8. Participate in organized community events. Cleaning up, planting flowers, helping with parades, etc.
    9. Make church property open to the public. (Playground equipment, skateboard park, community garden, host local festivals, allow the schools to hold events in the auditorium.) Better yet, turn all of your property into a community center.
    10. Create a culture of saying yes to community involvement instead of no.

    These are my ideas. What are yours?

    How can your church (and the people who go to it) become Good News to your neighborhood?