Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 08:50 AM - Extra Christy
Posted by Administrator
Posted by Administrator
There is Something Worse than Change
"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less." - General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Author Brian McLaren told of speaking to a youth convention decades ago. He asked them to list what issues their churches were struggling with and then what problems they had. The two lists of concerns didn't come close to matching. The church was struggling with issues the youth had no interest in and was ignoring their strains and pains. Reminds me of the BING commercials from Microsoft where the answers don't match the questions, leading to more confusion instead of illumination. | ![]() |
Meanwhile, outside the church, folks are struggling with how to be Christian in a time of constant war, how to live with the stranger and foreigner, seeking to thrive in a single parent families, dealing greater disparities between rich and poor, worried about threats of terrorism, mourning the breakdown of community, experiencing first hand the evaporation of jobs, and coping alone with other stresses that Christian community of faith, hope and love could help if not solve.
I'd rather change what people find when they search for Christian answers to their lists of concerns than become even more irrelevant, insisting on giving answers to questions no one is asking.
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. - 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This work by J. Christy Ramsey is licensed under a
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