Lately I have been challenging the the assumption was raised with that God created the church. Is God drawing people together to live the the way of Jesus? – yes. Was Christ’s statement to Peter about what we now commonly
In dialogue with my friend Thomas, we found ourselves wondering about the church as trans. Take a look at the “da Vinci Code” for some of the impetus for the discussion. The church seems to struggle with its identity. One
I’m not exactly looking for new forms of worship; as much as I am wanting to learn from what appears to be a human impulse to worship. Human beings seem to have a penchant to worship. Forming desire for the
Michael Jinkins, writes: “When the church faces the prospect of its own demise (for whatever reasons), it faces a critical moment when its vocation is called into question, when it has the unparalleled opportunity to comprehend and render its life.
Recently I was in a discussion about whether we should still plant churches… or even, would the Apostle Paul plant churches today. It seems to me that we need new language to discuss the idea of pioneering new Christ-communities. I’m
I’ve been having this overwhelming sense that western protestant white Church “worship services” may ultimately have the opposite effect that we hope for. Among other things, we intend to lift up Christ, to praise him, and so on, however. The
Ok, so I’m a church planter who is in danger of giving up on the idea of church planting. I’m not even sure I see much Biblical support for church planting. I see Christ sending people as bearers of the
Ok so I just posted this on http://www.emergentvillage.com Why didn’t Jesus send out his disciples as synagogue-planters? Could it be because Jesus sent them out as people in relationship with the Divine, to bear witness to the Kin-dom of that
Van Gogh lifted the veil of our vision. He helped us to see dignity in the common person from coal miners to potato pickers. He lifted the veil of creation, and the common person from coal miners to potato pickers. He
“Depend upon it, Sir,when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight,it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Samuel Johnson, Sept 19, 1777 Michael Jinkins begins his book, “The Church faces Death” with this quote from Samuel Johnson. If
Thoughts regarding ordination: I understand ordination to be a human recognition of God’s calling on a person’s life. Yet in practice it is a gatekeeping practice to ensure that those in power have a means of controlling who is let
Thinking about worship… What is it that the church can do in worship corporately that the church can’t do individually? How did worship devolve from a wholistic way of life to a gathering on a Sunday morning? What if how
“Go to church” . . . what does this even mean? I sense it may be time for us to collaborate toward destroying the erroneous notion of “going to Church.” Jesus never told us to “go” to anything. Jesus’ invitation
On Friday l have the opportunity to join Trinity Lutheran College and speak in their chapel. I’ve been asked to speak to the kinds of leaders I sense that the church needs now and into the future. I’m titling my
As a spiritual leader of a small community of faith, I find assessing whether we are maturing to be a challenge. This may be totally nerdy but I’ve drafted, what I’m calling a “Community Profile“… it’s essentially a rubric to
From the birth of the church to today, the continuity and spread of the gospel has been dependant on the church passing leadership to the emerging generation. A cosmic relay race with eternal consequences and life altering ramifications. We can
North American culture is changing. So is church culture(s). Some have suggested that culture is reinventing itself at a faster pace than ever before… while none of us have lived at another time something inside me senses that this may
Recently I helped facilitate an “Emerging Leaders” conference sponsored by a modernist-mission denomination. All of the presenters/facilitators were asked the following questions, my responses are listed: Ministry Title? pastor / mystic / friend / artist / missionary / husband /
A few months back I preached at Union Hill Church in Redmond. In the sermon I explored the simple question… “What is a Christian?” Turns out it may not have been as simple a question as I first thought. I
