Category Archives: General

General, Global issues, Missional, Social Justice, Theology

Rich Stearns’ Speech at Mobilisation to end Poverty in Washington DC

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First posted on the old blogsite on 7 June 2009

This is the text of a speech given by Rich Stearns, World Vision President and author of “The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? the Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World” (buy now on Kalahari.net or Amazon.co.uk), at the Mobilisation to End Poverty held in Washington DC in April 2009. Although the speech is addressed at an American audience the principles are true for all of us.

Rich Stearn – World Vision
Mobilization to End Poverty

April 27, 2009

Good morning.

I want to thank Jim Wallis and Sojourners for organizing this historic meeting. I believe that our country and our world may stand at the brink of one of those momentous turning points that we usually see with greater clarity in retrospect than we do in the moment. 1776 was a turning point that changed the world order. 1860 was a turning point election that settled the issue of slavery three years later after the bloodiest war in our history. 1918 and 1945 were turning points that concluded two world wars and restructured international power dynamics while creating the multilateral institutions that would influence the world during the cold war and after. 1989 was a turning point that saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold war. Why is 2009 a turning point? First, just as we witnessed the bankruptcy and inadequacy of Communism in 1989, we are now witnessing the bankruptcy and inadequacy of unrestrained Capitalism in 2009. This is a tough thing for a former corporate CEO to admit. Second, we are just now beginning to accept and understand the dire consequences of the global carbon economy that was the birth mother of a global economy based on unsustainable consumption. Third, and of considerable significance and perhaps more hopeful than the first two, is that we have just had an historic election that was a radical departure both racially and generationally. It is hopeful because it may be that the ingredients for a radical shift in the direction of global politics are now in place just as they were when Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Kennedy were elected.

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Church, Future trends, General

Worshiping Personalities

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This post was originally uploaded onto the earlier version of this blog on 25 August 2005

Looking at my posts recently, they’ve been a bit “heavy” on the theology side. So, to break that a bit, I decided to write up a thought that has been running around my head for the past few weeks. It has to do with how worship leaders help people to connect with God (I also think it applies equally to preachers/teachers as well).

In analysing how people learn, researchers have come to recognise a shift from intelligence to intelligences. No longer do we have a traditionalist view that recognises only a single ‘intelligence’ (usually related to linguistic or mathematical ability) and which varies in its development from person to person. Rather, we should see people as having multiple ‘intelligences’. Add to that the fact that people have different personalities, cultures, genders, etc, and you create a seriously intense environment for education and connection.

There are many tools that can help us get beyond this complexity – mainly these are frameworks which help us simplify, without becoming simplistic.

In the light of this, my thought is simply this: we should take these differences much more seriously when we plan a time of worship.

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Book reviews, Church, Future trends, General, Generations, Global issues, Missional, Sermons, Social Justice, Theology, Youth

Welcome new readers – a quick intro to the conversation thus far

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Every now and again I’ll do a quick overview of my favourite posts – and that can act as a nice introduction for new readers and a navigation tool for those who want to “catch up” with some of the thinking and conversations on this blog.

The purpose of this blog is to help Christians and those seeking faith to find new ways to think about what it means to be a Christ follower. I have been writing and blogging on this topic since 1995, and this blog includes a selection of new and old stuff I have been working on. Some of it I’d die for, but some of it is purely experimental (I try and let you know which is which). The point is not to present a fully worked through systematic theology, but rather to allow you to enter into an ongoing conversation with me. If you like, this is just my journal – and you get to look in…

So, with that said, here is a brief intro to some of the posts on this blog:

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General, Theology

Belief vs Knowledge

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This post was first published on my old blog on 26 July 2005

Here’s something your church lives by, but never says: you don’t have to believe what you learn here.

A few years ago, I visited an emerging (more experimental, actually) church for their evening service. One of Christianity’s foremost thinkers and philosophers was there that evening, Dallas Willard. I have been a great fan of his writings, and as a collector of signed books, I took the opportunity to drive across town to get him to sign the books (I don’t often hold out hope that great authors will also be great speakers, so I must be honest that I didn’t expect too much).

Dallas was great. I found some random notes I scribbled down that night, and one of them hit me hard. This is what Dallas had to say:

We spend way too much time sitting in classes (and churches) learning things we don’t need to know. Even worse, we are not required to believe what we learn.

Imagine if our theological colleges had exams which said “write only what you believe”.

So, we learn the right answers to predetermined questions. There is little focus on actual belief. (And therefore there is a definite lack of application and life change). Which is why we forget it all so quickly.

Problem – this is how we approach Christianity. Our focus is not on belief which affects action, rather the focus is on learning the right answers, so that when we meet God we can get the answers right.

A comment was added to the original posting which deserves to be part of this thought:

Marcus Borg explores this idea even further (in his book -The Heart of Christianity-). He suggests that one of the problems of Christianity today is that we worry too much about belief – getting the ideas or -answers- (as you put it) right, and not enough on doing the right things. He compares the idea of believing with the idea of -beloving- -that Christianity is not so much about what you believe (not that you can just believe anything – what we believe is important, but not to -get any answers right-, rather because belief influences character and action), but rather about how we love and continue to grow better at loving Jesus-style, which is a practical, healing and transforming love. I must confess – Borg’s got me buying what he’s selling!

I agree. After all: Education is what remains when what has been taught has been forgotten.

Church, Gender, General, Theology

The role of women leaders in the local church

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This article was written in April 1996, when I was a theological student. It was a review of the arguments in relation to women leadership in the church. The Baptist Union that I was a part of at that time had a very ambiguous view on the issue, and as a student I was trying to show that an alternative to the traditional “no women leaders” view was possible while still remaining Biblical. Looking at it now, I was obviously constrained by a hefty word count limit, but still think I touched on all the right issues. Maybe one day I’ll get the time to flesh this out…

A theological and Biblical exposition of the role of women and their relationship to men within the church, with special reference to authority and teaching.

1. Introduction
The role of women is an issue of vital importance to us today, not only as this issue is tearing churches apart, but also because of the large number of women actively pursuing ministry opportunities in churches. The doctrine of humanity as espoused in Scripture is the basis of any solution to whether women are allowed to teach and have authority (i.e. lead) in local churches. This issue is intricately bound up with the general issue of women’s submission to men and male authority, especially within marriage.

This assignment will deal only with general human relationships and marriage where it has a direct bearing on the issue of women teaching and leading in the church.

2. Approach of This Assignment
Realising that the traditional conservative position of not allowing women to teach or have authority in the local church has been defended from Scripture for many decades, I will not concentrate on defending this view. Neither will I attempt to totally discredit it. What I wish to do is to show the possibility of alternative interpretations, while remaining true to Scripture, that would allow women to teach and lead in a church. In doing so, I shall highlight arguments on both sides, indicating their strengths and weaknesses, and hopefully in the process, demonstrate the consistent witness of Scripture. This assignment is based loosely on a response to Piper and Grudem’s book (see bibliography below).

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Church, General, Generations, Theology, Youth

Challenges Facing Youth Ministry in the 21st Century

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This paper was originally published in 2003 in the Baptist Journal of Theology (South Africa). It has not been updated – some of the website references in the footnotes may be out of date.

The paper was a collaboration between Dr Sharlene Swartz (read her bio at LinkedIn or in her current position as HSRC researcher) and Dr Graeme Codrington.

Challenges Facing South African Baptist Youth Ministry in the 21st Century

A Crash Course in Post Modernism

It’s all around us. But most of us can’t concisely describe it. It’s the philosophy of the age which follows modernism. Modernism is basically the world view which drew the line between science and religion, faith and superstition, truth and veracity. It demanded technical, scientific answers to questions of faith and science. Non-ending proofs and evidence. Modernism required that everything be rational, observable and repeatable. It was in one sense a return to the scholasticism of the thirteenth century but without a supreme deity as its anchor. “God does not exist until proven otherwise” could be a foundational principle for its atheists, although Christianity too flourished in the modernist milieu. For modernists, the truth exists objectively; things must be explainable, we must be able to demonstrate and understand it. Modernism takes it as axiomatic that there is only one true answer to every problem, from which it follows that if we can correctly formulate those answers, the world could be controlled and rationally ordered. That’s why we grew up on Creation – Evolution debates, Disco (very tangible beat and structured dance form), long theological debates, proving the existence of God and cerebral reasoning. Modernism has ruled supreme in Western thought for the last 500 years. But since its beginning, a new approach has been gathering momentum, and as this century ends, it claims dominant position, not only in the intellectual corridors of power, but is pervasive throughout society in all corners of the globe.

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General, Youth

Unintended consequences: teen pregnancy and abstinence campaigns

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Conservative Christian groups have been on a mission for the past decade to get teenagers to make pledges to sexual abstinence. The Bush Government made foreign aid partly dependent on developing nations promoting abstinence as the way to deal with AIDS (and not allowing abortions either). The most famous are the True Love Waits and Silver Ring Thing campaigns.

While I understand the desire to teach sexual purity, I have long been concerned about the unintended consequences of these campaigns. One very real consequence is a rise in teen pregnancies in the USA – read a report here.

This is a tough issue to deal with. I am not going to try and deal with the intricacies now.

What I do want to comment on is the danger of teaching abstinence through naivete. Abstinence is one thing, but lack of understanding of sexual desire and naivete about the use of contraception and protection against STD’s is something else. It’s a really tough balance to maintain, but the empirical evidence is overwhelming – it’s not working as it is! There are MORE pregnancies and STDs, and more sexual activity, among those who have signed up to abstinence campaigns.

I am not sure what the solution is, but what we’re doing now needs to change. I still maintain that the church is very bad at dealing with pretty much every issue related to sex. We need to sort ourselves out.

Church, Future trends, General, Generations, Global issues, Missional

The Challenge of An Aging Population

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In 2001, I was editing a magazine on the future of church ministry. I approached respected author, academic and church consultant, Richard Kew to write about what he thought was a critical future trend the church needed to be aware of. This is what he wrote. Now, nearly a decade later, it’s still important, and his advice should still be heeded.

Last weekend I was invited to speak at, and participate in, a consultation on ministry among the aging. It was a fascinating weekend. I learned a lot, met some interesting people, and (I hope) was able to make a small contribution to the process. This weekend I sat down with the November 3, 2001, issue of The Economist, and found a major survey of the near future by Peter Drucker that has me questioning — as well as building upon — some of the things that I said last Saturday!

Drucker is venerable in every sense of that word. Now 92, his mind is still as clear as a bell, and for someone who is highly unlikely to live long enough to see some of the things he is talking about, he is obviously very engaged with what tomorrow might look like. At the heart of some of his projections is his recognition that the developed world’s population is aging to such an extent, that the social safety nets all western democracies have put in place are utterly inadequate.

Here’s a nugget to ponder: “By 2030, people over 65 in Germany, the world’s third-largest economy, will account for almost half the adult population, compared with one-fifth now. And unless the country’s birth rate recovers from its present low of 1.3 per woman, over the same period its population of under-35s will shrink about twice as fast as the older population will grow. The net result will be that the total population, now 82m, will decline to 70m-73m. The number of people of working age will fall by a full quarter, from 40m to 30m.”

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Church, Future trends, General

A bit of fun: Why New Ideas around the church WON’T WORK

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Quick reference List…

for Why New Ideas around the church WON’T WORK

Somebody’s always suggesting new ideas around the church, like adding on to the building, or switching Sunday school to after worship, or changing the times of services. No sooner than such ideas surface, objections swarm up like spring mosquitoes. In order to proceed in a more orderly and organised manner, why don’t we all begin expressing our reasons for why these new ideas won’t work by simply citing the objections by number, as in, “I’m against it because of 11, 26, and 44”.

1. It’s not in the budget.
2. I need more time to think and pray about it.
3. What we’re doing now is working just fine.
4. I know a church who tried it and it didn’t work.
5. They never had to do that in Bible times.
6. We don’t have the power to act on that.
7. Let’s assign it to a study committee.
8. Some of our best givers would oppose that.
9. It’s a good idea, but several years ahead of its time.
10. This sort of thing could cause a reaction.
11. It might work in America, but not here.
12. The older people would never accept it.
13. It would never produce any tithers.
14. We’ve done OK all these years without it.
15. We couldn’t do it until we have a new building.
16. It is too expensive.
17. It could ruin our carpet.
18. The timing’s just not right.
19. Let’s not be the first to try it.
20. Let’s put it on hold for a while.
21. I need to see more details before I can vote on I.
22. It’s too charismatic, [and/or] liberal [and/or]
social [and/or] _______ (add your label here)
23. It doesn’t fit in with our long range plan (see 51).
24. Some of our newer people won’t like it (see 52).
25. I don’t see any long term value in it.
26. That’s what we hire the pastor for.
27. We’ll lose people; why I know several…
28. It doesn’t fit the culture of the people around here.
29. Good idea, but we’re just not ready for it yet.
30. Our people are already overworked.
31. It doesn’t jive with our mission statement.
32. That would be too radical a change at one time.
33. Our church is too small to try that.
32. Our church is too big to try that now.
33. It is a worthy goal, but quite frankly it’s impossible.
34. Jesus didn’t have to do that to minister.
35. There are people who will stop tithing if we do it.
36. There’s just not enough time.
37. In a larger city that might work.
38. Perhaps it would work in a rural area, but not here.
39. Our facilities just couldn’t handle it.
40. It’s too much change too fast.
41. I think all we need is to do what we’re doing better.
42. It needs done, but we’re not the ones to do it.
43. Let’s let it marinate for a few months.
44. The trend right now is exactly the opposite way.
45. Something just doesn’t feel right to me.
44. Everybody’s not on board yet.
45. Bill Gothard teaches against it.
46. Our people are stretched too thin.
47. Our people have been asked to give too often.
48. The woman’s group would be against it.
49. This could be divisive. We could get sued.
51. Do we have a long range plan for this sort of thing?
52. Some of our older people won’t like it (see 24).

From an anonymous email

Church, General, Generations, Theology, Youth

Five Things Every Adult Christian Should Know About Youth Ministry

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It is God’s design that His Gospel, the Good News of salvation for all who believe in Christ, should be passed down throughout history by each generation reaching and teaching the next. This was clearly spelt out in Deut. 6:6-12, repeated in Deut. 32:45-47 and in Joshua 24. Yet, one of the saddest verses in Scripture is the indictment in Judges 2:10, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel” (NIV). The indictment is not against the wayward youth, but actually against the older generation who failed to correctly nurture them. It appears as if this indictment may be repeated in our own day. Today, the church is on the brink of a major crisis as many young people are rejecting it as irrelevant, boring and superficial.

The church is always only one generation away from extinction. If Satan can win the soul of just one generation, then he wins the souls of all that follow. The role of youth ministry in a local church is therefore one of the most vital aspects of that church’s existence, and certainly the key to its continued survival. With this in mind, there are a number of critical areas in which churches appear to be failing the generation of young people at the beginning of a new millennium. These can be characterised by five serious misconceptions regarding the role of youth ministry in the local church:

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