The Outside View of a Former Church Insider :: 10 Honest Observations
In the nearly 2 years since then I’ve visited a lot of churches with my family. We’ve visited churches we’ve heard about for years, places we just learned about on the fly, we’ve sat in the balcony and down front, we’ve been to churches of all cultures and backgrounds, we’ve tried out all of the children’s ministries, we’ve seen church every way you can make it in America.
We’ve lived in California, Kentucky, and New York these past 2 years and have pretty much seen it all. All of that considered, I have 10 observations that I’d love to share. I like to always give this stipulation when I offer what may sound like a self-righteous critique of church. I love the Church. I love God. I am flawed. This is not me saying I’m perfect and that the church sucks.
Unfortunately, there are those who apply this “just give me the highlights” philosophy to the Christian education of children. According to researcher George Barna, most children’s Sunday School curricula only cover 40-60 of the “major” stories of Scripture. The “minor” stories (which one are those, exactly?) are totally missed, and even the major ones tend to be summarized at the lower grades. In other words, the Bible is taught to children as a collection of stories rather than ONE story, hopping and skipping through the Bible to just give the highlights.
Stand or Kneel: Does it Matter?
Our comfort zone (familiarity zone, conditioning, practice) has allowed for – even encouraged – standing as THE appropriate expression. Bending and raising are just as plain linguistically, but our social norms have conditioned us to put a premium on standing. Why do we defer to one action and exclude the others? Plainly, we are more comfortable with the one action than we are with the other two. I suppose at stake here is what we are actually doing in song. Are we singing out of nostalgia and a herd mentality or have we truly chosen to give physical expression to what is in our hearts? Bending and raising can be dismissed as strange and perhaps “showy.”
The church has tried to build itself rather than being built by Jesus in Spirit form. When we break from our own self-imposed church standards and begin to venture into the uncharted waters of the Spirit, new life happens. It is supposed to.
So why does the Spirit not get a better shot among us? One word. Fear.
7 Directives for Meditating on Scripture
In meditation you may choose to focus on one verse of God’s Word or a key word in a verse….Bible study should be mingled with meditation and prayer.
“Whoever has done it unto the least of these….”
We should see every poor person as an icon of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because what we do to the least of these we do unto HIM.
Juan Williams: Race and the Gun Debate
The shame and silence is enforced by civil-rights leaders who speak in support of gun control but never about a dysfunctional gangster-rap culture that glorifies promiscuity, drug dealers and the power of the gun.
“Loving, supporting parents . . . [are] the single most important thing,” the president told his audience of young, mostly minority children at Hyde Park Academy High School in Chicago. He made the case for parents as the key to giving children a sense of self-esteem beyond the barrel of a gun.
Homeless man wins lottery but wants to stay in his tent
Dennis Mahurin has been homeless since around 1978, living in his tent. And he plans to stay there despite having won a $50,000 lottery off a scratch card ticket.
“I scratched it off right here in my tent,” Mahurin told CINewsNow.