Fad Driven Church...
There is a new book, a new program or a new emphasis every year or so. It's all anyone can talk about; it's all the preacher preaches about - for a while. Then, as quickly as it came, it's gone.
Todd Wilken writes. . . The dictionary defines a fad as "a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal." This could just as well be a description of congregational life of many Christian churches today.There is a new book, a new program or a new emphasis every year or so. It's all anyone can talk about; it's all the preacher preaches about - for a while. Then, as quickly as it came, it's gone. As eagerly as it was received, it's abandoned and forgotten.
Welcome to the Fad Driven Church.
For them, the long list of church fads represents their personal history as a Christian: Spiritual Gift inventories, Spiritual Warfare, Promise Keepers, Weigh Down Workshop, The Prayer of Jabez, the Left Behind Series, Becoming a Contagious Christian, a long succession of evangelism and stewardship programs, and most recently, The Purpose-Driven Life and 40 Days of Purpose.
Thanks to Bram for the tip off. Read the rest here
It worries me that people might perceive mission as a fad, I suspect for some it might be. It is bad enough that some might still see mission as a trendy euphemism for evangelism. But for mission to be a fad that is truly sad. Perhaps there is a need to remember that in the words of David Bosch "Mission is the mother of theology..."
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I feel I should apologise for having the words bad, sad, and fad in the same paragraph!!
Comments
Just for me.... (pretty please!)give me your definition of mission - what does it involve, what is its aim and objective, its purpose? How is its effectiveness measured? What is its biblical mandate?
I would find this helpful in understanding where you are coming from in some of your observations.
Love and prayers Andrew.
So as God's 'sent' church we are called to love, to serve, to preach, to teach, to heal, to liberate and to embody the self same attributes of the kingdom that Jesus did -that is missio dei (God's Mission).
That is mission of which evangelism is an essential part.
Usually, any thing that doesn't need commitment, grit and determination is embraced like the ointment for all ills.
'Authentic Community' - we'd do almost anything than try to live it out.
Andrew
Glenda
Glenda: its always been my feeling that if there is a Salvation Army corps aiming for the middle classes they are aiming in the wrong place. In my experience, even the most spiritual 'middle class' corps has a difficulty in accepting the marginalised. These are all symptoms of a movement moving away from its roots.
Thankfully, I'm learning to lose that part of me.
I think that in a church culture that strives to be relevant and gets it wrong or misses the point, of course the whole idea of the fad is going to occur. I think that if we deal with one, we deal with the other.
As far as the class system goes in church, we need to lose it and we need to lose it fast. We're just adding to the consumerist (and thus relevant) nature of some choices by identifying a 'target audience'. does that mean that some are in and some are out?
I need to lie down....
I think it's probably a lot of people thinking exactly that, actually.