Tag Archive - faith

Post Christian Europe: Not Dead

June 16, 2010 in Evangelism with 2 Comments

This past Sunday, we had the wonderful opportunity to have Pieter and Nora Kalkman visit us and share about their ministry in Europe. They spoke about their work in eastern Europe and their challenges in “post Christian” Europe.  Nora and Pieter are based in Prague, Czech Republic where they serve through International Ministries as liaison and volunteer coordinators with the European Baptist Federation (EBF). They match the skills and interests of short term mission volunteers from the United States and Puerto Rico with the needs of more than 50 Baptist unions that are part of the EBF.

Some interesting information they shared:

  • There are only 2.4% Bible believing Christians in Europe, making this is a priority mission field.
  • Georgian Baptist pastors wear similar liturgical vestments that Orthodox priests wear because of the historical Eastern Orthodox presence in that region.
  • In some countries, only 3% of the population go to any type of “church.”
  • There are a variety of needs to do mission work. Week trips, short term, and long term ministry opportunities can be found here.

So if there only 2.4% “Bible believing Christians” living in Europe, we have to ask the question: Is Christianity dead in Europe?

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In Front of the Church

June 11, 2010 in outreach with 2 Comments

Video blog thoughts…

Pentecost 3C

Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes

April 30, 2010 in faith with 0 Comments

For some reason recently, while typing my Friday posts, I have a song in my head.  Two weeks ago, I blogged about Bruce Springsteen.  Today, I thinking about Jimmy Buffett and a great song he wrote in 1977 that still gets radio play and is a popular song at his concerts: “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.”

Over the years, I have learned a lot from Buffett’s music concerning life, success, disappointment, happiness, and hard times. During the moments where I am too serious or too uptight, I often return to Buffett’s music when I need a change of perspective.  “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” is the perfect song during those moments of change or difficulty in life.  When changes pop up in our lives it is often at unexpected times.

The chorus from “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” is particularly helpful: Continue Reading…

Doubts, Faith, & Belief

April 8, 2010 in faith with 2 Comments

The Barna Group, an evangelical research organization has yielded some surprising findings about America’s Christian and spiritual beliefs:

  • Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.
  • Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective.
  • Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.
  • A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.
  • Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction.

If the majority of Americans claim to be Christian, then this study brings to light about the faith of most Christians in America.  In our Gospel text for this Sunday, we will examine the faith in the disciples who saw Jesus.

We find our disciples, who are living in fear of the Jews coming to finish off Jesus’ followers, living in a house on a Sunday. The doors are locked and as they are living in a cowardly state Jesus appears in the house.

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A Baptist Who Celebrates Ash Wednesday

February 16, 2010 in Ash Wednesday with 10 Comments

Huh? A Baptist who celebrates Ash Wednesday?  That’s like an American celebrating Boxing Day.  The two just don’t go together.  Despite the misnomer, Baptists do celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lent, especially this Baptist.  Two of the classic Baptist distinctives is local autonomy and soul liberty.   Each Baptist church has the freedom to worship however the church sees fit.  Since we Baptists do not have a book of worship or order, like other denominations, Baptists are free to worship as they feel led.  This of course does not happen in a vacuum.  I have always believed that Baptists must be led by scripture, reason, tradition, and experience (the Wesleyan Quadrilateral) with scripture being the final authority.

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent.   The goal of Ash Wednesday is to reflect upon our humanness, our need for forgiveness, and our connection to Christ’s last days.  These themes are symbolized by the imposition of ashes on the forehead, with the words, “You are dust and to dust you shall return…” during the worship service.  In the Old Testament, ashes were a sign of penitence and mourning.  Job was known for placing ashes upon his head to mourn the loss of his family.

Sure, Catholics do it, but that does not mean that we become Catholic if we receive ashes.  We are merely participating in the greater historical liturgical practices of Christians.  There is nothing magical about the ashes.  You are not any more holy for participating in Ash Wednesday, but it is just another way to experience the presence of God in our lives in a symbolic way.

But, where did this act of worship and repentance on Ash Wednesday come from?  Christianity Today provides some insight:

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Risky Business

February 5, 2010 in Discipleship with 0 Comments

Believe it or not, but we all take risks.    We take a risk every time we drive, go to the store, or eat dinner at a restaurant.  When we drive, there is a risk of an accident.  When we go to the store, there is a risk that we could slip and fall on spilled milk in isle 8.  At a restaurant, there is a risk of eating contaminated food and getting sick.

Some risks are bigger than others.  Football, skiing, snowmobiling, ski diving, and racing are all risky activities. Men are responsible for 68% of all injuries, while women only 32%.  Young people under the age of 24 account for a third of all injuries.  Unfortunately, for me, these statistics ring true for me, but that’s another story.

Insurance companies make money by discriminating people based on age, sex, and past medical history to account for the likelihood of accidents, medical procedures, or injury.  Financial companies charge people more money for loans if they are deemed more likely to default on a loan.  The bigger the risk, bigger the potential reward or loss.  Millions of dollars are invested in “venture capital” projects that could either fail or make a ton of money.

Risk is big business… I guess you can say a risky business.

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The NFL Needs God

November 4, 2009 in NFL with 3 Comments

Many people ask me what I’d being doing if I was not a pastor, often I say, “I don’t know, but I know I would not be happy if I was not a pastor.”  I truly cannot imagine doing anything other than ministering to others, cultivating faith, teaching, and providing spiritual care.  However, I could be a chaplain to an NFL team.  What a dream job!

I have already blogged about my experience providing the invocation at the NFL Players Gala in Washington D.C.  Besides doing my ministerial duties, I got to meet Bill Cower,  Ben Roethlisberger, John Riggins, Clinton Portis, and Larry Fitzgerald.  Believe it or not, the NFL regularly uses chaplains and spiritual advisers for players and teams.  You could imagine the sweet perks of the job!

Time Magazine wrote a piece on NFL chaplains who regularly counsel and meet with players.  What is most interesting about the article is how one chaplain tells players they shouldn’t “pimp out Jesus”:

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Book Review: NuChristian

October 12, 2009 in Book Review with 1 Comment

As part of Judson Press’ blog tour for Russell Rathbun’s new book, nuChristian: finding faith in a new generation, I have had the wonderful opportunity to preview and review this insightful book.  In addition, Wednesday of this week, I will feature a Q & A with Russell about his new book.  On Friday, Russell will be featured as a guest blogger.

nuChristian begins with a very brief forward by author and activist Shane Claiborne (fellow Eastern University alum), of the Simple Way.  Claiborne, known for being a radical voice and champion for the poor, harmonizes with Rathbun’s message of how Christianity must shape “nuChristians”.  That is, Christians who are no longer identified by hypocritical actions, scandal, and hot button issues.

In the preface, Rathbun lays out that the purpose of this book is to join the conversation of David Kinnamen’s book UnChristian.  Back in 1996, Kinnamen’s Barna Group, found that 83% of Americans identified themselves as Christians, and that fewer than 20% of non-Christians held an unfavorable view of Christianity.  Between 2004 and 2007, nine out of ten non-Christians between the ages of 16-29 found Christians to be too anti-homosexual.  In addition, almost as many saw Christianity as it as “hypocritical” and “judgmental.” Seventy-five percent of non-Christians thought Christians were too involved in politics. UnChristian used these statistics and made the case that non-Christian resentment is focused on perceived Christian attitudes. Kinnaman used these statistics to form a bleak picture of Western Christianity.

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Are You a Mega Church Drop Out?

September 21, 2009 in mega church with 9 Comments

With mega-churches basking in the spotlight of mainstream media, several studies have been done about the mega-church movement that might just surprise you.  A study just released a few days ago, indicates that the largest churches in the United States are “Christian, contemporary, and evangelical.”  Mega-churches are growing, so the short term studies cite.  The largest churches in the United States have reach amazing numbers:

  1. Lakewood Church – Houston, TX 43,500 weekly
  2. LifeChurch.tv – Edmond, OK 26,776 weekly
  3. Willow Creek Community Church – South Barrington, IL 23,400 weekly
  4. North Point Community Church – Alpharetta, GA 23,377 weekly
  5. Second Baptist Church – Houston, TX 22,723 weekly

However, more long term studies show that churches and communities of faith are losing ground.   The 18 year American Religious Identification Survey show that the percentage of “other Christians” (evangelical, protestant, and non-denominational churches)  has dropped.  Even in the Bible belt!  In Texas, 20% of “other Christians” (basically, non-Catholics) have changed their faith affiliation to something other than Christian.   You can check out the interactive graphic here.

The American Religious Identification Survey said “the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.”  With so many mega-churches growing, there must be a “drop out” rate that is not being reported because “the percentage of those who choose a generic label, calling themselves simply Christian, Protestant, non-denominational, evangelical or “born again,” was 14.2%, about the same as in 1990.”

Even more surprising are what these surveys and studies have found:

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Three Things You Need to Know About Evangelicals

July 24, 2009 in christians with 0 Comments

There is a developing movement within literature to chronicle an outsider’s perspective on the strange land of Evangelical Christianity.  It seems that the world sees all Evangelical Christians as fervent, ignorant, and misguided by a holy book.  Being an Evangelical myself, I can see how the outside world can group all Evangelicals into this stereotype.  The media tends to pick up on the extremes of any group, ideology, or religion and usually tries gives us the most radical angle.   You would think that I would NOT recommend books about non-Christians views on Christianity, but there are two books that are worthy of your consideration about strangers in a strange land that yield some surprising insights.

In the first book,  A Jew Among the Evangelicals, by Mark Pinsky, he provides a brief introduction: a religion reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, uses his unique position as a Jew covering evangelical Christianity to help nonevangelicals understand the hopes, fears, and motivations of this growing subculture and breaks down some of the stereotypes that nonevangelicals have of evangelicals.  “I hope you’ll find laughter, perhaps puzzlement, and heartfelt interest in how people just like you wrestle with feelings, values, and beliefs that touch the core of their beings. And I hope you’ll catch a glimpse of someone learning to understand and get along with folks whose convictions differ from his own,” Pinsky writes in the introduction.

The second book, The Unlikely Disciple is by Kevin Roose.  Roose leaves his Ivy League setting to spend a semester at Liberty University, a conservative Christian college. The book gives this description: “His journey takes him from an evangelical hip-hop concert to choir practice at Falwell’s legendary Thomas Road Baptist Church.  He experiments with prayer, participates in a spring break mission trip to Daytona Beach (where he learns to preach the gospel to partying coeds)… He meets pastors’ kids, closet doubters, Christian rebels, and conducts what would be the last print interview of Rev. Falwell’s life.”

Both of these books provide 3 things you should consider before judging Evangelical Christianity:

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