Archive for March 2007
Gathering around the fire
Steve Taylor’s new book, The Out of Bounds Church, ends with an interesting story. Taylor was leading a conference, and at its conclusion a couple of guys who had sat through the conference, bikers to be exact, walked by, nodded in appreciation, and went out the door. One of them stuck his head back in the door and asked Steve, "Hey, have you heard the story of the outback fire in Australia?"
Throwing Rocks at Jimmy Carter
I get Christianity Today’s email newsletter, like many of you. This week’s issue contained an article by David Aikman, conservative writer, titled Throwing Rocks At Israel. The article purports to be a review of Jimmy Carter’s most recent book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, but devotes most of its space to an ad hominem attack on former President Carter.
Underrated Missional & Emerging Bloggers
Imagine my surprise when I appear on a list of under-rated, under-appreciated, under-valued missional/emerging church bloggers. But, I’m grateful to someone for adding my name to the list. Here’s The Blind Beggar’s post on this little project:
Underrated Missional & Emerging Bloggers
Imagine my surprise when I appear on a list of under-rated, under-appreciated, under-valued missional/emerging church bloggers. But, I’m grateful to someone for adding my name to the list. Here’s The Blind Beggar’s post on this little project:
Prayer for the Wandering Heart
I cleaned out the garage last Saturday. In one of the half-dozen plastic storage bins, I found an old journal of mine from 1995-96. Flipping through the pages of the black-and-white Mead composition book (I buy better journals now), I found this poem, written on April 4, 1995. I don’t remember why I wrote it, although I was struggling at the time. Actually, I don’t even remember writing it, which is the reason to write and keep journals. Share it with someone who needs it. I did in 1995, and still do.
Prayer for the Wandering Heart – by Chuck Warnock, 1995
When you call
And I do not answer,
When you lead
And I do not follow –
Do you ever tire of your shepherd search
For this lost sheep?
Lord, give me ears tuned to your voice,
A will bent to your will
And a heart that never wanders so far
That it cannot find home.
– copyright 2007, Chuck Warnock
Seth Godin on “do this, get that” syndrome
If you don’t know Seth Godin, you really should. Seth is a marketer who wrote the book, All Marketers Are Liars. So, he’s a different kind of guy. Seth also wrote, Small is the New Big, and a bunch of other really non-intuitive stuff about marketing-by-not-marketing, sort of. (You have to read him to get it.)
In the abbey, what do you count?
The real beauty of the attractional church is that it was very obvious when the attractional church was successful. All you had to do was to count people in the pews, or "butts in seats," as Ryan Bolger so eloquently puts it. Church places ad, people come to church, pastor counts people, pastor announces record crowd = success! But what does the church as abbey count? Monks? Jars of honey? How do you measure the success or effectiveness of the missional church?
The abbey: hope for existing churches
I’ve written about my concept of the church as abbey in previous posts. The abbey was the center of the community, open to its neighbors, and the hub for worship, arts, learning, hospitality, and help. I believe that this ancient Celtic Christian model is the key to church life in the 21st century. But, wait there’s more, as they say on TV!
The church as abbey provides the only real hope for old, existing, or even dying churches to survive and thrive. And, existing churches can transition to the church as abbey model without disruption to the cherished traditions that older members love. Too good to be true? Keep reading, because our 150-year-old church is making the transition to church as abbey.
Our community center moves forward
The building on the left of this photo is the old B&B Motors building in Chatham, Virginia. A few weeks ago we demolished the old building because it occupied the site on which we are constructing our new community center. The old building was constructed in the early 1900s, and had absolutely no redeeming architectural value. It had served as a Plymouth (remember Plymouths?) dealership, and some other kind of car dealership before that, but its most recent life had been as an auto repair shop. When it rained, more water was inside the building than outside, so without any help the old dealership was going to fall down on its own.
The church as abbey and the new monastics
Ancient celtic abbeys, while open to the communities around them, were the homes of celtic monks. The new monastic movement is rising in various places around the world, as individuals are again called to a practice of community that exists for the life of the world. I just discovered a new community, The Belfry Collective, that is in the formative stages now. Katie Perkins is coordinating this effort, and her contact info is on the post about their plan. You might check out her blog, if this interests you.
Also, www.newmonastics.org is another site with a lot of resources, and links to other ne0-monastics communities around the world.
