One Old Church Adapts

One of our alert members forwarded me this article from this week's New York Times. A white, Southern Baptist Church in Georgia that was sinking woke up to the changing reality around them . . .and changed radically!

An Old Church Adapts

Radical change has a cost and some people were left behind along the way. Not every congregation can and should so radically change, but perhaps far fewer do it who should.

One interesting aspect of this church's transition is the response the church made to a changing world. In their case, the change in the world was evident to those who had eyes to see--internationals were transitioning the neighborhood in significant ways.
For most of us the shifts are less obvious--but just as significant. Our community specifically has groups of people who are as different from traditional Baptist church-goers as the Eastern Europeans and Africans in Georgia. To significantly reach post-moderns may require shifts in our approach and outlook that rival that of the Georgia church and feel radical to all of us to varying degrees.

It seems like the big first issue is to recognize that we are increasingly in a post-Christian culture. This should be no real surprise to us. Peter said that Christians would be residents in an alien culture. The opportunities are no less than the Georgia church faced--increasing numbers of neighbors who do not know much at all about Christ and even less about church.

The second big issue is: what, if anything, are we going to do about it? How pro-active will we be in living out the gospel and sharing the story of Jesus right here in ways that meet people right where they are?

Sep 9 Town Hall summary

Thanks to everyone who was a part of our visioning town hall meeting last week.  The attendance and interest was impressive.  In a nutshell, on behalf of the visioning community, we presented three aspects of the process at this time.  1) We revisited ‘core beliefs’ and distributed a revised draft.  You can view that draft by scanning a couple of posts below.  We welcome your comments.  2) We began a process to identify and articulate core values of the church.  Core values express the ways that we do church.  Every church is different.  These values ought to express what is at the very center of what makes Broadus what it is.  3) We presented three areas in the community for focused ministry in the coming years: a) Senior Adults, b) Wilton Farm, c) Fontana, as representative of the many other similar neighborhoods in the Pantops area.  The visioning community has divided into three teams to research and examine these areas and paint a picture of what these ministries could look like over the next 10 years.  We will come back with a report and further conversation in Town Hall session on November 18.  Thanks for your input and continued participation in this process. 

What is postmodernism?

The term ‘postmodern’ gets thrown around a lot these days to describe everything from philosophy to architecture to technology, to how ‘disobedient and disrespectful’ the younger generation is today.  But what does it really mean?  Admittedly the definition is a bit slippery.  I heard a bit of an interesting conversation on NPR last night that was helpful to me in articulating what postmodernism is all about.  The speaker put it in terms of English grammar and a bit of history. 

 

When the Enlightenment emerged and, with it, science and reason, the world of thought was broken into two very different spheres: Fact and Opinion.  Facts were things that could be ‘proved’ scientifically.  Opinions were anything that could not be ‘proved’ by the methods that were approved for proving things.  Get it?  So, Fact and Reason is the world of science.  Opinion is the world of emotion and religion.  Religion, faith, belief—whatever you want to call it was (and still is) relegated to the realm of personal opinion.  So that’s how you get politicians who can say, “My religion will have no influence on the way I govern the nation.”  Think about that statement again.  What they are saying is that My religion (the world of opinion) will not have an impact on the way I govern (the world of facts and reason) the nation.  In a modern context that is a perfectly acceptable answer.  Or take a church-going religious person who prays on Sunday (his personal opinion) and then runs his business (the world of reason) during the week according to what is reasonable for generating maximum profit without any consideration for Christian virtues that might inform how he treats his employees. 

 

This distinction gives rise to breaking our lives apart into Public and Private.  Economics and Science are public.  Religion and Faith are private.  Thus, “My (private) religion will have no influence on the way I govern (public) the nation.”  Well, that’s just one example.  It’s really a question of how we know things.  How do you know something is true?  The modernist says, “I have facts that prove it.  If it cannot be proven by the scientific method, it’s just your personal opinion.”  

 

Now, in terms of grammar.  In grammar, there are three persons: 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd.  (I, you, he/ she/it)

 

First person is the world of opinion (What I believe to be true; what I feel)

Third person is the world of ‘fact’ (What is proven)

 

Postmodernism looks at this and asks two questions, “Who are you who believe something to be true?” and “By what criteria do you determine something to be fact?”  The answer that postmodernists offer for both questions is the 2^nd person—the world of social location—the you (plural, likely).  Each of us is part of a larger story that any of us standing alone.  Acknowledge it or not, you are part of a complex social matrix comprised of your socioeconomics, skin color, religious heritage, national identify, time in history, and on and on.)  This “2^nd person” identity is informative and formative for who you are even when you think you are coming to independent conclusions about what you believe.  And furthermore, this “2^nd person” identify is formative for how you determine what is factual (3^rd person). 

 

Some postmodernists go so far as to say that there is no 1^st person and no 3^rd person.  You cannot come to independent conclusions aside from who you are in your social location and there are no universal facts at all—everything is a product of your social location.  (While I’m compelled by the postmodern correction of modernism, I think this goes a bit far—but hey, who am I, right?)

 

This move to postmodernism has everything to do with young people returning to Tradition in worship and church.  The modern manifestation of church is a worship service disconnected from the social construct (the Tradition) from which it comes.  It’s a ‘contemporary’ service that doesn’t use church language, church symbols, or anything having to do with church.  It only focuses on the 1^st person (what are you feeling today—what is your private belief in God and why you should have such a belief (the fact of the authority of the Bible).  Postmodern or ‘emergent’ movements return to the second person and young people are leading the way.  They are saying, “We know we are part of a bigger story and we want to experience it.”  So, let us experience the richness of the Tradition, but make that Tradition as expansive as possible, including elements not found in our parents and grandparents American, Protestant services—that’s not wide or deep enough.  Give us Celtic meditations, Orthodox prayer practices, Catholic candles, give us incense and silence, give us ways to express our own appropriation of the Tradition and then let us lead the way.  Be honest about the chaotic and mysterious origins of the Biblical letters and their formation as the church’s canon.  It’s a 2^nd person book of narrative, not a 3^rd person book of fact disembodied from the community that produced and collected it.  I want to be part of something bigger than me, but also something that makes me part of the community as well.  Give me a worship/ church experience that is 3^rd person (tell me what is known and I can trust), 2^nd person (let me experience who we are together), and 1^st person (let me experience all of this for myself and make it my own.)  Isn’t it interesting in light of the grammar of faith that theologians long ago figured that God is best understood to be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--One in three persons.

 

      

Visioning Update--Core Beliefs

Thank you to everyone who came to the Visioning Town Hall conversation Sunday evening. I was impressed by both the number of people who attended and also the good questions, interest, and commitment demonstrated by so many of of you. Thank you! As promised, here is the draft of the core beliefs that we discussed. I can't figure out how to link to a word document, so I've just pasted it here. Enjoy!

Core Beliefs

September 9, 2007 Draft

Genesis
God created the world and all that is in it. He created human beings to be in relationship with Him, but when we choose our own desires and exercise our own wills against God, we repeat the sin common to all humanity, alienating ourselves from God, damaging our relationship with one another, fragmenting our society, and abusing our world. Shame, guilt, selfishness, arrogance, greed, and cruelty degrade our lives. All creation suffers in our broken world.

Gospel
The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to restore us to full relationship with God. As the complete revelation and physical embodiment of God, Christ came to restore wholeness of body, mind, and spirit and to show us how to love as we were meant to love. When we confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, we experience reconciliation with God, forgiveness of our sins, fullness of life in this world, and hope for eternal life in the world to come.

Acts
We believe that a church is a local body of baptized believers whose commonality is their individual experience of Christ as Savior and whose unity is their voluntary association as a spiritual community committed to worship, evangelism, fellowship, study of the Bible, and service in Christ’s name. We desire to be worthy of the New Testament designation of the church as the “body of Christ”; thus, with Him as our Savior and example, and with the Holy Spirit as our empowering guide, we will strive to live as a community of faith, to embody the love of Christ in relationship with one another, to minister to the broken world, and to share the good news of Jesus with everyone who does not know him.

Reconciliation
We live with the assurance that God restores us to right relationship with himself through our faith in Jesus Christ. Having received this gift of salvation, we are called to share the gospel message and live our new life in Christ in ways that foster peace and reconciliation among people and nations.

Destiny
Until Christ returns, we will strive to be faithful stewards of God’s creation and
ambassadors of his kingdom on earth, trusting the future to God, knowing that he alone has the power and grace to bring all history to completion and fulfill our hope to live with him in the eternal and perfect kingdom to come.

Scriptures
We affirm the Holy Bible as the inspired Word of God and the basis of our beliefs. We interpret the Bible in the light of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets and the complete revelation of God.

Choosing a Bible Translation

I get asked from time to time, “Which Bible translation should I buy?”  It’s a reasonable question.  Over 50 modern translations exist in the English language.  But that is further complicated by the many commentaries and versions added to the biblical text: The Women’s Bible, The Student’s Bible, The Oxford Bible, The Ryrie Study Bible, etc.  These take one of the 50 translations and then add some commentary.  So which to choose?  Hard to say.  If I were going out right now to buy my first Bible to study and take to church, I would probably buy the Life Application Bible in either the New International Version (NIV) or the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).  But the Bible I use these days is the English Standard Version with no commentary.  I enjoy this translation especially for use in preaching as it avoids the old English of the King James, but still reads nicely.  Plus, I believe it to be accurate in most cases.

Here’s an attempt from another pastor to give some help for Bible translations.  http://www.firstpresb.org/translations.htm.

Bottom line when you are standing in Barnes and Nobles looking at the shelves and shelves of Bibles: find the one you think you will actually read.  And then enjoy!

Questions for God

I ran across this page on the web: http://www.ethicalatheist.com/docs/questions_for_god.html and I thought it was interesting.  There are several dozen “Questions for God” on here and answers from religious people are listed if you click on the links.  I must admit that I’m more than a little reluctant to click the links.  What will be there?  Anger?  Smug self-satisfaction?  Unqualified certainty?  Most of these seem like genuinely good questions.  I hope the answers are humble and equally good.  But, like I said, I’m a little afraid to look.  Sometimes I find myself more comfortable with the questions atheists ask than the answers Christians provide.  It’s not that I think they are unanswerable, but sometimes it’s more honest to live a bit in the tension of the question than to leap to the simple answer.  Well, here’s a few of the questions.  Got any answers?  Got any more questions?  God knows that I do- maybe a few answers, and definitely a lot of questions.

 

 

·  Why don't you show yourself?  You supposedly made us and want us to believe in you, right?  Why the big mystery?  You're also omnipresent, right?  Why don't you show yourself to all of us at once and have a personal discussion with us?  You can pick the date and time, we'll all stop what we are doing, I'm sure.
View answers we've received.
 

·  Why do you let your followers murder and rape us?  Why do you let your Catholic priests sodomize our precious children?  I think it's safe to say that we really don't like this.  Isn't your Catholic hierarchy hand chosen by you from the top down?  Are you afraid to admit to making a mistake in your choices?  Can you please admit the mistake and let our children grow up in a normal, ethical and safe environment?
View answers we've received.
 

·  Did you really make Eve from one of Adam's ribs?  Why didn't you make her from dust just like Adam?  And, why do men and women have the same number of ribs if you stole one from Adam to make Eve?
View answers we've received.
 

·  Why do you make your followers suffer so much?  Why do they die at the hands of other religions?  Can't you put a stop to this?  You're omnipotent, right?  Can you 'show us your stuff'?  Why do you let all those Church buses crash?  Why do you let all your religious followers die in plane crashes, terrorist attacks, car accidents, famines, floods, hurricanes, tornados, etc.?  Is this part of 'Your Plan'?  If you needed more Angels or something, why didn't you just create more Angels?  Why do you cause so much pain down here?  Are you sadistic?
View answers we've received.
 

·  Why are their so many conflicting religions?  Did you make man so screwed up that he cannot hear the 'true' word of God... yours?  Every religion that exists today and every one that has existed throughout history has professed that THEIRS is the only true religion.  Did you come to Earth as Zeus once?  Did you make all these religions because you thought certain societies could only understand certain concepts?  What about the Jews?  The Muslims?  The Baptists?  The New Adventists?  The Mormons, Hindus, Incas, Mayans, Protestants, Apaches, Buddhists, Methodists, Gideons, Greeks, Quakers?  The Catholics (American, European, South American, etc.)?  Were you just looking for some diversity or is it just a childish game to see who will follow the 'right' religion?  Which is the 'right' religion?  I'm sure many denominations would REALLY like to know that they're worshipping the 'wrong' God, don't you?
View answers we've received.
 

·  Was physics different when Noah built the ark?  I mean, seriously... how did he get all the animals from all over the world... and the dinosaurs, etc. on that boat?  How did he get penguins to the Middle East?  How did he get them back after the big flood?  Why didn't the dinosaurs eat all the sheep?  I know from reading that you are jealous and envious and want nothing more than for all of us to believe in you...  wouldn't you like to let us in on your secret?  Come on, how'd he do it?
View answers we've received.
 

·  Who can hear you and communicate with you?  Are the Catholics correct in saying that only their priests can communicate with you?  Why is this?  To ensure the hierarchy and security of the Catholic Church?  Or, can anyone communicate with you as most of the other religions believe?
View answers we've received.
 

·  Why is there war?  How does it agree with "Thou Shalt Not Kill"?  Why are there so many wars in Your Name?
View answers we've received.
 

·  If you made Adam & Eve first, and they had three sons Cain, Abel & Seth, what happened next?  There's 4 men and 1 woman, right?  What happened next to propagate the species?  Who did the children marry?  Who did they procreate with?  Isn't incest bad?  Adam & Eve had other children, so brothers and sisters; or Eve's sons and Eve were having sex?  God, why aren't we all retarded genetic mistakes?  Why didn't the whole human race get physically deformed and mentally handicapped from mixing familial genes?  Surely you knew about the gene problem, right?  Or did it not exists back then?  Did you just create it recently in one of your more spiteful moments?
View answers we've received.
 

·  The Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not kill."  Didn't you order Moses to do a lot of killing?  Why did you do this if it violates one of 'your' commandments?  Why did he wipe out entire cities, kill all the men and rape the women and children?
View answers we've received.

Feel Good Feeling

This summer has been pretty rough for sports fans—doping, cheating, arrests, blah, blah, blah.  But just when you think that sport might be hopeless, check out video of the 12 year old in last night’s Little League World Series.  This kid, from rural Georgia, had a moment he will never forget the rest of his life—hitting a home run in the world series—but not just that—hitting a walk-off homerun in extra innings to WIN the world series.  It’s Kirk Gibson, Casey at the Bat, Michael Jordan vs. the Utah Jazz.  It’s basically, and I’m not exaggerating here, it’s basically every little boy’s dream.  It’s what we do in our backyards and playgrounds, as we count down the clock . . .I still remember it, bouncing a ball in my driveway, “Howell on the wing. . .5 seconds . . .4 seconds . . .he’s trapped . . .3 seconds . . .oh he dribbles around . . .he jumps, he shoots . . .he scores!!!!”  Well, every kid scores the winning shot in the backyard.  When you miss, you just collect the ball and try again until it goes in.  I’ve never really hit that shot in the big game, or hit the homerun, or caught the winning td pass in the final seconds, or birdied the 18^th to win.  I’ve had my moments, maybe just enough to have a shadow of a glimpse of a hint of the kind of feeling this kid from Georgia has this morning, watching himself on the lead story on Sportscenter living the dream and giving hope again to every little boy—even the little boys inside grown men.  Is it the boy or the man in me who had to choke back a goofy tear watching that today? 

Please add your prayers

In our community this past weekend, a little boy visiting his grandparents slipped outside and fell in a swimming pool.  He nearly drowned and is now under the care of UVa Hospital.  His outlook is uncertain at best, but his family is keeping their faith and lifting prayers for him.  Through this site, they have been joined by thousands of people all over the world.  Please take a moment to visit and pray for him.

 

https://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=judegilliam

 

 

Headed to Wilmington

This weekend, I am traveling to Wilmington, NC to meet with the pastor and staff of First Baptist Church, Wilmington.  I’ve gotten to know the pastor, Mike Queen, a bit and asked if I could come and visit with him, pick his brain, and just observe how they do church.  FBC Wilmington is particularly interesting to me for a couple of reasons.  First, Mike is an impressive guy based on my limited interaction.  I’m just looking forward to spending a little time with him.  Second, FBC Wilmington is a CBF church that is trying some unique ministries in the community and seeking to reach people. 

 

I’m not saying that no CBF churches are doing this, but I’m not seeing a whole lot of role models out there.  I’ve enjoyed being exposed to churches that are doing outstanding ministry and reaching people for Christ, but I’ve not seen many CBF churches on the short list of churches that are really knocking it out of the park.  Why is that?  I don’t really know, but maybe we have so identified fundamentalism with evangelism, contemporary expressions of worship, focused outreach, empowered leadership, and church growth that when we turned our backs on fundamentalism, we turned our noses up at some of the very practices that make for dynamic churches.  A lot of CBF churches are very proud of our classical worship, our traditional programs, support for historic Baptist principles, and so forth and we are genuinely perplexed as to why our churches are plateaued or declining.  We’ve looked to the past to find our inspiration.  We just need to remember to look to the future to find our direction as well.   Maybe it’s time to reconsider what it really means to be a ‘moderate’ church and celebrate those things while not rejecting everything that is new, fresh, and dynamic.  Well, I don’t know if CBF Wilmington is doing those things, but it will be an interesting weekend to learn from some fellow travelers on the journey.

 

What I love about Broadus is that we’re a church that has taken some bold risks in our history.  We’ve been willing to try some things.  I appreciate the church supporting me in my last few months in the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Program that has enabled these trips.  They have been a meaningful learning experience for me and I hope that some of that learning helps us as a church now and in the future.

 

You can check out FBC Wilmington at www.fbcwilmington.org.  

Resilient Consumers?

The headline in today’s paper reads, “Consumers return to shopping ways”.  Keep in mind that this article is right on the heels, and in fact right on the same page, as article after article lamenting the tightening of the credit market, the poor housing market, and how our foolishness in regard to borrowing more than we can repay and purchasing more than we can afford.  So, basically, there is good news.  Consumers are still consuming.  Whew!  That was a close one.  I thought we were in real trouble.  But never fear—the American consumer will come through in a pinch. 

 

I guess it’s the patriotic thing to do.  President Bush goaded us all to go shopping to show the terrorists that they cannot stop our way of life.  Interesting, isn’t it?  Our way of life is shopping.  Bush was right about this one.  He understands, in this case, the nation he leads.  We are a nation defined by our consumption.  That consumption is apparently insatiable.  80% of US households have at least one credit card (including ours).  10% of those carry balances in excess of $10,000.  In fact, according to cardweb.com, the average debt carried is over $8000 per household.  Now, that number is grossly skewed by the relatively few who are in huge huge debt, but 21% of cardholding households carry debt of over $2000 according to http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/creditcardsmarts/P74808.asp.  We are people in debt and getting deeper.  But hey, if terrorists can’t slow us down, what’s a little housing slow down going to do?

 

Apparently nothing.  That’s the message of today’s article, “Consumers went shopping for everything from clothes to furniture last month, helping to calm fears that a key segment of the economy might be faltering.”  Retail sales rose 0.3% in July after a 0.7% decrease in June.  Analysts were worried about what July would bring and breathed a sigh of relief to see that the American consumer can be counted on, “Consumers are holding tough,’ according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com.  ‘They are surprisingly resilient in the face of near-record high gasoline prices and the unraveling housing market.”

 

So congratulations, you bold, courageous, resilient consumer!  You have come through again.  Nothing can slow you down—even if you can’t afford it.  (cue the “real American heroes” music from that beer radio commercial).  Our greed and need to consume knows no bounds.  Thank goodness and thank visa and mastercard.  Where would we be without them? 

 

um, maybe solvent, and maybe at a little more peace with ourselves and the world.