Is your church like this?

Laura Bush Approves of Gay Marriage – I never knew she felt this way.

Is it Joel Osteen or a Fortune Cookie? – You be the judge. Tim Challies, Christian web designer and theologian (sounds familiar), lists twelve statements in which you choose whether or not it is from a fortune cookie or Joel Osteen. Is there a difference? Find out.

Emotional Pornography – Does it even exist? This guy thinks so. And I fully agree with him.

Go to God before you go to technology - A great article on how to pray then make a move.

How do you discover your spiritual gift? – Jaun Sanchez believes that is the wrong question. Read the rest here.

Last month at a major conference for facebook they added additional features that expose even more user data by default. One of the major changes that happened over the past few months is that photo galleries were made public. So now, it’s a lot easier to facebook stalk someone. You can see their photos, read their status updates, and even see the pages they are fans of.

That’s a problem, especially for churches who desire to use facebook as a way to reach out to the unchurched or anyone looking for a new church. For instance, let’s say you are looking for a new church and you happen upon the website of First Church of Jesus Christ Holiness Charismatic Fellowship of the North and see that they have a facebook page. You start checking out its fans and you notice several have their photo albums public. If you noticed a few pictures that are a little on the sexually racy side, what kind of conclusions/assumptions are you going to make about that church and it’s members? Probably not a good one. And therein lies the problem.

The privacy issue simultaneously creates the conditions for a PR issue for churches. Some of you may be thinking that it makes no sense to judge a person without actually meeting them. However, this is what is typical in a society that is obsessed with facebook.

At any rate I think we need to do two things:

1. Lock down your facebook profile to protect your private information.
2. If you are in charge of the facebook page for your church, begin educating your members about removing their photos from public view. This will help keep some of the questionable images from becoming a problem.

I personally find it a little shocking how cavalier a company as large as facebook has been with handling user data. Now it all makes sense after reading this IM conversation between 19yr old Mark Zuckberg and a college friend:

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard

Zuck: Just ask.

Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS

[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?

Zuck: People just submitted it.

Zuck: I don’t know why.

Zuck: They “trust me”

Zuck: Dumb fucks.

Francis Chan’s “New Middle Road” – Many Christians believe the road is narrow but live like there is a wide middle road. Chan never holds back. I like his willingness to tell-it-like-it-is.

Apple Needs to Lo0sen Up – Apple controls everything in their entire ecosystem. I’m a little concerned with what that means for churches…and their budgets.

Deprogramming Your Church – Do you spend more time doing “church work” and little to no time with people who don’t know Jesus? Perhaps your church is over-programmed.

Stop paying to go to conferences – Just read this site and you could save yourself a ton of money.

Apple is the New Microsoft – You love their products. I love their products. But for some reason I feel like I’ve been here before. They are facing possible anti-trust investigations by the government. The main reason why I post this here on a site about theology is because I think churches need to think twice about moving all their technology to one company. I hope to write more on this in the future but I don’t think it’s in our best interest to depend on one company for all your technology needs. Remember Microsoft back in the 90s?

Oh, Apple. Learn to take a Joke - Ellen makes a fake iPhone commercial. Ticks Apple off. Apple demands an apology. If you’re wondering why, consider the fact that Apple is a key sponsor of American Idol for which Ellen is a judge. Jon Stewart thinks Apple went too far (warning: harsh language!) with sending the police after a reporter who they say stole (or purchased if you’re outside the Apple reality distortion field) a prototype of the new iPhone.

Botched Abortion – No matter what side of the abortion debate you are on, you have to admit this can’t be good.

“If the trends continue, “the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships”

And that there is why we need to think long and hard about building big churches with tons of programming. I’m not saying they are the wrong thing to do, but I am saying that it is possible to be “too big”. At some point it becomes too difficult to maintain and the leadership starts making decisions based on their need to keep the cash coming in instead of on what is right or godly.

But there may be hope! In a separate study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, statistics on Millenials were similar to stats on Gen Xers (that’s me!) and Baby Boomers at the same age. However:

“It’s too soon to tell what Millennials will say when they’re older. However, the study finds that as people age, they are more likely to say religion is very important in their lives, and they pray more frequently.”

I want to know your thoughts on this. Do you think the research by Lifeway will continue to be the case as Millenials get older? Should churches reconsider plans to build bigger buildings? What do you think these stats say about what churches will look like in the future?

I previously wrote a post on the insane amounts of money churches are spending on building projects, particularly First Baptist Dallas.  A buddy recently forwarded this article to me. Here is the most telling quote:

“Attractive buildings, entertaining preachers, and concert-like music have become staples in churches around the country in their effort to reach out to the lost,” says Eastburn, “The problem is that these churches are reinforcing the very things that are entrapping people and keeping them from a transforming relationship with Christ. The church cannot curb consumerism by leveraging consumerism.”

Ouch.

Thoughts?

Jennifer Knapp is Gay…and Christian? - She was an extremely popular Christian artist at one point and now she says she is gay. This has opened up a firestorm of a debate on the homosexual Christian issue. Denny Burk takes some issue with her here and has a video of her appearance on Larry King. Trevin Wax has a great post on why Christians always lose the “gay” debate and offers a solution. Read reactions to all this on Christianity Today.

Francis Chan is leaving his church - I can’t say that I’m too surprised about this. In retrospect it seems like this was a long time coming. Whenever I have heard him speak lately it seems as though he was struggling with church as we know it. Get the relevant bit here.

Facebook Church - WOW. This is…WOW. See for yourself.

You are not capable by yourself of making a wise choice on a mate
Romantic relationships of the non-married type in the Bible took place in a culture that is completely different than ours. Today we live in a culture where dating and courtship are the accepted norms. In the Bible, marriages were arranged. In Genesis 28 we see Isaac giving his son Jacob instructions and guidance on how to go about finding his wife. He made it clear to his son where he did not want him to find his wife (Canaan). This is clear guidance from someone older and much wiser than Jacob on how to find a wife.

I am not advocating that we return to an arranged marriage culture. But I do think we can learn something from it. Whenever a son or daughter was to get married they always had a covering that guided them. In most cases it was a parent. However it can also be a spiritual leader or mentor in the case where a parent may not be available.

Jacob was young. He would have most likely chosen a wife from the Canaanites. But his father stepped in and stopped him. Today most marriages fail. In fact, most Christian marriages fail. And many never make it to marriage because they can never keep a stable relationship going.

I cannot stress to you more how important it is to have a spiritual covering in your life to help you make such decisions. It can save you tremendous pain down the line.

Before you start hanging out, introduce him/her to your spiritual covering
This is where things can get a little difficult. When you meet a person, it’s probably a good idea to introduce them to someone wiser than you. The problem is that many singles don’t have a covering. And those that do, tend to wait until it’s too late. Once a person is “hooked” there is nothing a spiritual covering can say that can change their mind.

Beware of the guy/girl who wants you to ignore the wisdom of your covering. If they are pressuring you to ignore the authority figures in your own life, what does that tell you about how they relate to the ones in their own lives? If you marry, what does that tell you about how obedient they will be to other authorities?

In every area of life we go to see an expert. If we need to do our taxes we go see an expert in taxes. If we need car repair, we go see an expert. If we need graphics or web design we go see an expert. We have no problem consulting experts in every other area of life, why not this one?

1. We need to be careful that in our celebrations and prayers we don’t fall prey to worshiping the earth rather than worshiping the God who created it.
2. We need to be careful that we do not make global warming a Christian mandate. Just because you completely buy into global warming, does not mean every Christian should. There are some really bright people on both sides of the issue who have come to different conclusions.

Happy Earth Day.

I was reading an interesting article yesterday at the Huffington Post titled, Making Earth Day a Church Day. The author, Matthew Sleeth, says the following:

In the past, I was asked, “Isn’t Earth Day just for treehuggers — and nature-worshippers?” Today, I am more likely to encounter Christians who realize that we have come late to the table and want to help. It is no longer if Christians should celebrate Earth Day, but how. (emphasis added)

You know what? He’s right. For far too long we have been silent on this issue and have avoided participation in Earth Day events because it was just for tree-hugging hippies. Something must change.

I’m not suggesting that you change your stance on global warming. Many of my readers probably don’t buy into it. I personally don’t buy into most of it. The point is, there is a lot we can do to make better choices that will help take care of this planet. Use energy efficient light bulbs, get your groceries in a paper bag, buy recycled paper, or more organic foods, just to name a few.

Being good stewards of the earth is not a matter of political preference. It’s a deeply spiritual issue that we need to start taking seriously.