This morning I attended a session by David Bruce of HollywoodJesus.com. David is Passionate about People. He shared some of his philosophy about ministry that really made an impact on me. He shared a philosophy of ministry that makes so much sense.

1. Respect the Natives

2. Respect the Culture

3. Respect their Stories

4. Look for redemptive analogies

He said that these ideas came from a Book Titled Eternity in Their Hearts by Don Richardson. Then he made a statement that slapped me across the face with its truth. “We do not use missionary principles in our own culture”. Wow what a summary. I have been starting to get a bit of perspective on the importance of community. They are where we are and where we have been put. Thats where we are missionaries. We may not change the world, but we can change someones world.

Thank you David, for letting Christ use you to change mine.

After doing a little session shuffle, I wound up this morning in a session by Kent Shaffer from ChurchRelevance.com. The session was titled “Communication Without Words”. Kent convered many aspects of design and the power of the environment. He presented many examples of how the outside world uses design, and made connections to useage in the church and minstry arena.

It is a fantastic presentation. So often people forget that design and art are important. The medium is so powerful. Is say alot.

I need to stew on this one. Lots of Great information. Fantastic session.

Notes from the other sessions that I have attended are coming soon. I would like to organze them and reflect on them a bit more before I post them. Right now I am sitting in a session by Rod Martin. Hope it will Make Gods Geeks a better place.

This week I am attending the Internet Ministry Conference in Grand Rapids, MI. The first session I am attending this morning is about Second Life. Second Life is a 3d simulation environment. Many would argue that it is simply a Game, but the truth is that it is much more. All of the characters in second life are real people, spread all over the planet. From a ministry perspective, that makes it a very interesting place.

One of the new features of secondlife is voice chat. I think that makes a huge difference to tangibility of the second life environment.

Now, Second life is an open simulation environment, so there is a lot of freedom. So, just like real life, there good and bad. Sin is there and common. The anonymity, just like many places on the internet, tends to boil it down and focus Things. The protection of the internet allows the social barriers to be broken down. That is true for sinful motivations, as well as spiritual. Those lowered barriers can facilitate spiritual growth and change in a very different way. SL is a place that requires wisdom, I would not send a child into SL unattended. That said it is a huge mission field.

HOWEVER, Second Life is not THE answer for internet ministry. I feel very strongly that it is very important not to bank on one platform for evangelism. If we do that, when that technology changes, all of our efforts become irrelevant. It is more important to have a philosophy, rather than a technology. If we can embrace the idea of communities that can exist on a time and space shifted plane, we can begin to change the approach to not just ministry, but people.

But Second Life IS cool.

Take a look at this interesting video from Rob Bell at Mars Hill.
What do You think?

In my previous post, I discussed the alarming trend of the exodus of young people from the church. The statistics lead us to the 2 questions that we have a responsibility to ask. Why? And what can we do to fix it?

To address the first question, I talked to a number of my friends, some who are still involved in the church, most who are not. When I asked them why they think that the numbers show this trend, initially they replied in a variety of ways. It is not relevant to me. I’m too busy. It doesn’t meet my needs. Each of these answers, as well as the others that I received, appear to be very different. But by digging deeper and seeking clarification an interesting trend began to develop. The true root of most of the disengagement from the organized Church was disillusionment with the church. See the big c little c difference there again?

While nearly all admit that one should look to Christ as the model for true Christianity, they also state that a examples of unchristian like behavior in the church(little c) effect their spiritual standing. 3 areas came up again and again, so I thought I would share them.

The first is Integrity. The definition of integrity speaks volumes.

in·teg·ri·ty /ɪnˈtɛgrɪti/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[in-teg-ri-tee] –noun

1.	adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

2.	the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.

- Dictionary.com

One of the challenges of having a common moral standard, is that it is just that common. The structure of that moral standard outlined in the bible is open and available to anyone who is willing to pick it up and to have it shared with them. Thus observers have a certain expectation of those who claim to be Christians. This is not an unreasonable expectation, as the very name Christian means that living according to the teachings of Christ and thus we are examples of Christ.

The motivation behind our actions often become very clear very quickly to an outside observer. Are we acting in genuine Christian love and concern for our fellow man? Or are we letting our selfish agendas dictate how we behave. The disparity in the stated values by taking the name Christians, and the values that we demonstrate by our behavior are what frequently call our integrity into question.

Now, don’t get me wrong the church is a place sinners, just as the hospital is a place for sick people. But this observation is only a piece of the foundation of disengagement problem. Part 3 coming soon.

Over the past several years, I have noticed an alarming trend. Lots of my friends don’t go to church. Now perhaps I should preface that statement with a little bit of history so you get the full impact of that statement.I am a “twentysomething” and have been involved with the organized church my entire life. I attended private church school for the first 5 years of school, where I made many friends that attended high school with and I keep in contact with to this day. For High School, I spent 4 years enrolled in private, church-affiliated, High School. The vast majority of those that i associated with were from strong religious backgrounds with strong church ties. So one would think, that with a background so rooted in church culture, that most would maintain an affiliation today. Sadly, that is not the case. And its not just me that is noticing.

“Overall, more than four out of five teens say they have attended a church for a period of at least two months during their teenage years (81%). “
- Barna.org

That number sounds great, but here comes the trouble.

“…twentysomethings continue to be the most spiritually independent and resistant age group in America. Most of them pull away from participation and engagement in Christian churches, particularly during the “college years.” The research shows that, compared to older adults, twentysomethings have significantly lower levels of church attendance, time spent alone studying and reading the Bible, volunteering to help churches, donations to churches, Sunday school and small group involvement, and use of Christian media (including television, radio and magazines). ”

- Barna.org

Not just a few, the majority.

Barna found that 19% of twentysomethings were unchurched as teens and still unconnected, 20% Churched as teens and spiritually active at the age of 29, and 61% were Churched as teens and disengaged in their twenties. That is alarming. That means that 6 out of 8 teens in your youth group or in your church pews will not be there in in their twenties. What can this mean for the future of our churches?

Now many seem to write this off as normal part of the cycle of growth. They say that the these “wayward souls” often return after they have children. While this has historically been true, that trend is changing.

“ …. just one-third of twentysomethings who are parents regularly take their children to church, compared with two-fifths of parents in their thirties and half of parents who are 40-years-old or more.”
- Barna.org

Ultimately, (please correct me if im wrong) if i do my math right, that means at current rates, nearly 50% of the teens on our pews will leave the church and not return….

Read Part 2