Books

I have recently had the opportunity to do a lot of pre-marital counseling with couples in our church. I must admit that it is one of my most favorite things to do. Talking to these couples and helping them discover things that help or hinder the marriage is a great task.

One of the issues that has come up recently is the role that the cell phone and Facebook has come to play in our lives. One couple explained a tension they found in the way one of them “Facebooked” on their mobile phone. Social Media is definitely creating a division between relationships, but I want to focus this post on the phone itself.

When this issue comes up I am constantly reminded of The Lord of the Rings and Gollum sitting with “his precious.” So many of us have created an intimate relationship with our phone. What do I mean by this? How is would it be for you to hand your phone over to your spouse for inspection. Did you flinch? I bet some of you did. Maybe, not because that you keep all of your terrible secrets on your phone instead of under your bed or in your closet, but you have bonded with it in some strange man/woman machine way.

My wife has recently taken to picking up my phone to play games or to explore and I have to admit I get this strange feeling come over me. Have I grown to close to my phone? Maybe we need a break? My wife would certainly agree with that.

Here are some questions for you to chew on:

1. Is there a piece of technology that is “your precious?”
2. Do you get freaked out when someone invades your phone space?
3. Have you recently tried to take a techno-sabbatical?

Thoughts?

I got my copy of Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them last week and read it in a few hours. The book was written by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes and I am so happy they sent me a copy. I had heard about some of the research presented in this book while at several conferences were Ed was at. The book breaks the unchurched down into four different groups:

• Always unchurched
• De-churched
• Friendly unchurched
• Hostile churched

They also identified four markers that will help you hear what the unchurched are looking for;

• Community
• Depth (and content)
• Responsibility
• Cross-Generational connection

Now with the community this group is really looking for something deeper than what most churches typically provide. I still wonder when some of our churches are going to watch an episode or a season of Friends to get a clue as to how we do community. We need depth, we need fun, we need authenticity, we need honesty, and we need more than a 50 minute lecture each week.

One of the hardest things about reading this book is the frustration inside many churched 20-50 something’s that it seems to also shines a light on. I do wish that the book gave more direct quotes from the churches and pastors that are connecting with both the unchurched and with 20-50 year olds. Maybe I do not want a book about transition churches or comeback churches, but maybe I want to read a book about the similarities in churches that are getting it done. For all the research that Ed and the boys are doing I still feel like it is not getting heard by enough people. I get tired of sitting in meetings with pastors who want to connect with the unchurched or young adults, but are unwilling to investigate how other churches are doing it or even take a first step. These churches are running out of young people, much less young leaders to carry on the work of the church. I speak as a person who has spoken with dozens of young leaders who cannot find a church that will give them the room and resources. These leaders end up giving their leadership to other entities and putting the church lower on their priority list. The fact that your parents go to this church or that church does not bind you to it. I keep hearing leaders tell pastors that they need to find their own swagger and their own voice. I believe that most of our young adults need the same advice. In many cases, if we are going to reach the unchurched, these young adults are going to need to leave the church to find a place to use their voice. Stop suppressing the Gospel for the sake of being a part of your parents church. Yes, you have found a place there to serve, but look at your baptisms over the last year or five to see how many people your age have been in those waters. If the answer is 0 then YOU are not using your voice and I want to know why you haven’t.

• What is keeping you as a young adult from inviting people to your church?
• Are you as a church pastor empowering younger generations with the space and resources to use their voice to reach others? If no, why not? If yes, how?
• Ask more people in your church what they think it would take to reach more unchurched and young generations.
• Are you willing to support a young leader who wants to reach out in new ways?

Alright, so I got on a tear there for awhile. If you can’t tell I have some pent up frustrations and feel ready to do something more than talk and write. The short of it is that Lost and Found is a good place to begin a journey. You will find several hints about what is connecting the church with the unchurched. My prayer is that pastors would read this book and get their butts in gear. Visit some churches. Ask lots of questions. Be humble in the process and remember that what got you here won’t get you there. I could write about this for days, but it is time that I did something too. More to come on that in the future.

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finished reading Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch’s The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st-Century Church. Frost and Hirsch are missiologists from Australia who have been studying the western church and have written a book to help the western church become "missional." Now missional is the new buzz word in many church circles, but what does it mean? I have heard it interpreted in many way, but think that Frost and Hirsch have here boiled it down in several ways.

The simplest way to put it is to think of missional as being incarnational.  Jesus came to earth as the incarnation of God. Incarnation means, "the word made flesh." So if the church is to be missional is has to become the flesh in the world. We do this by taking our flesh into the world, thereby interacting and interfacing with the world that they may find the word which lives within us. The church must not rely solely on trying to draw people inside, but must go into the world. For Jesus going to the world was a three year process and not simply a one time event He used to get people to come to a building after that.

The Shaping of Things to Come connected with me with its urge to rethink the way that we do church. Are we organized around our mission or around our building? How does your building dictate what you can or can not do. What does it mean to "get out" of the church in more than an event mode? For some churches it has meant starting coffee shops, opening concert venues, partnering with non-church organizations to accomplish a community project, opening art spaces, etc.

This book has been added as one of the most important reads of my life second only to McManus’ An Unstoppable Force. Every church leader and anyone interested in reaching more people with the message of Christ needs to read this book to understand the way forward.

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Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson of www.evotional.com.  The book comes out August 19th and I will be giving away a copy of the book here on the blog to one member of our blog community. You can pre-order your copy today on www.amazon.com. Make sure to check out www.chasethegoose.com for more info and group study material.

I can’t wait to start reading. If you haven’t read In a Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day go out today and pick it up. It is a great read.

What are you reading these days?