Christian churches - Articles - Zimbio

Give Away Your Church Building

Mon, 6 Nov 2007 16:05:51 GMT

posted by LainieP93

Seriously.

In a typically excellent post, Makeesha Fisher questions the niche “ministries” that so many churches have. To which “thinker” responded:

“Just reviewing the twenty plus years of research by George Barna shows a definite trend line that the institutional expression of church is dying. Given a few more decades I suspect most, if not all, will be gone. Small de-institutionalized, decentralized, networked communities of the ecclesia in some form is more likely in the years ahead.”

I’ve been thinking this myself for quite some time. I’ve also been thinking that one of the best ways to bring this about is for churches that own buildings to give them away. After all, if we want to stop people confusing the church with the church building, why not sever their attachment to “their” church building by giving it to others?

Think about the possibilities: Some church buildings could be turned over to the local “church” as it exists in various forms (house churches, outreach ministries, “Third Place” communities, etc) within a certain raidius of the building. Everyone could have use of the office facilities (copy machines, phone lines, A/V equipment) plus the meeting rooms, private office space for counseling, classrooms for teaching if that is what that particular church needed. The building could be used as much or as little as necessary by individual churches, but would likely end up being used all the time in order to meet the needs of the local church.

In other cases, particuarly if there are more buildings than the local church needs, the buildings could be sold with the proceeds going to support the churches and their mission(s). Still other buildings could be repurposed into new Monastic communities/intentional communites, “third place” outreaches, mission businesses, homeless shelters, etc.

So what do you think? Are there too many church buildings out there? Do we associate churches with buildings to the point that we make one dependent on the other? Could different church bodies (even those with differing doctrines and practices) share a building? Are buildings themselves a bad idea?

Inquiring minds want to know.

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TOM DAVIS ARTICLE: WHY CHRISTIANS SUCK

Fri, 26 Jul 2008 02:37:40 GMT

posted by TomUsher

Poster of the week: Rupert Murdoch

Mike Morrell, of Zoecarnate and Sites Unseen - Earth's Mightiest Alternative Christian Link Portal, is a Facebook friend of mine. He posted about Tom Davis's article, "Why Christians Suck," which is on Belief Net {controlled by the Rupert Murdoch capitalist empire, which refused to list the Real Liberal Christian Church; Huge advertising dollars (money changers; mammon worshippers) there on that site}. (Tom's article on his own blog).

Tom Davis is right on here. You should read his full post. If you're offended by the use of the word "suck," he doesn't mean it with the sexual connotation. He means it as his usage has come to deem it: Simply offensive to God; no good. Belief Net added it as s**k.

Okay, I've done the same thing with other words. It's not a sin provided it comes out from a consistent heart. I don't see that with Rupert Murdoch though, and neither does anyone else, including Rupert Murdoch.

I agree that what Tom is saying in his post is offensive to God is actually offensive to God.

Of course, the sexual connotation is where the idea of being offensive to God came from. Make the connections yourself as the Holy Spirit moves you. Think truth: Whole truth.

I don't know the full extent of Tom's beliefs regarding homosexuality. I don't know whether he believes that in the end, it is harmful. "Homosexuals: What they ignore." As for the rest of the thrust of his article, he's clearly correct.

Check it out.

Technorati Tags: advertising, Belief Net, beliefnet.com, Bible, blog, Christian, Christianity, Church, culture, current affairs, current events, Facebook, faith, God, Holy Spirit, homosexuality, Jesus, mammon worshippers, media, Mike Morrell, money changers, news, offensive, philosophy, politics, Real Liberal Christian Church, religion, Rupert Murdoch, sexual connotation, society, spirituality, theology, Tom Davis, Tom Usher, tomdavis.typepad.com, truth, whole truth, Why Christians Suck, Zoecarnate, zoecarnate.com, zoecarnate.wordpress.com

Action is needed to help Iraqi Christians

Thu, 16 May 2008 10:06:00 GMT

posted by Cole2
Establishing Allah's Lands. A little like the Father Land we saw in the second world war. Not higher race - but higher religion - über alle.

Along with all the evils that are happening to innocent people in Iraq, there is the particular plight of Iraqi Christians.

The Christian minority in Iraq has suffered increasing harassment and persecution from Islamist elements within their homeland since 1990 and especially since 2003.

Their number has dropped from 1.5 million before 1990 to an estimated 400,000. Christians have become the target of persecution and of ethnic cleansing by radical Islamist groups - both Sunni and Shi'a - seeking the total Islamisation of Iraq. As both non-Arabs and non-Muslims, Christians are held in contempt and are suspected of being allied to western forces.

For this reason, many Christians are among the Iraqis seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, such as Jordan and Syria. Their number has increased dramatically over the past months. Prices for food and rent have increased and Iraqi Christians cannot earn a living, as they are not allowed to work.

Despite having employed many workers and translators from the Christian minority, western forces have often failed to provide their protection from vengeful militants. Many western governments are very reluctant to open their borders to Iraqi refugees.

There is great concern about this reluctance of western governments to recognise the needs of the persecuted Iraqi Christian minority.

Western governments should take note of the plight of these Christians, so that aid and relief for the refugees can be provided and refuge might be granted to Iraqi Christian refugees.

Source: The Herald

Living out a Parable of Giving

Mon, 25 Dec 2007 21:07:00 GMT

posted by chadestes
This morning our family Christmas breakfast included Huckleberry coffee-cake, Grandmas' breakfast casserole, and Great-Grandpa Ole's steal-cut oatmeal. It also included the reading this story that was in our local newspaper. The pastor of a church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio colored a bit outside of the lines when he preached on the parable of the talents out of the Gospel of Matthew. He actually equipped his congregation to live it out. Helen O'Neill of the Associated Press did a fantastic job of bringing this story from the Cleveland subarbs to our table.

Living out parable of giving, congregation receives joy in return
By HELEN O'NEILL, AP Special Correspondent

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio (AP) -- The Rev. Hamilton Coe Throckmorton shivered with anticipation as he gazed at the loot -- wads of $50 bills piled high beside boxes of crayons in a Sunday school classroom.

Cautiously, he locked the door. Then he started counting.

It was a balmy Friday evening in September. From several floors below faint melodies drifted up -- the choir practicing for Sunday service.

Throckmorton was oblivious. For hours, perched awkwardly on child-sized wooden stools surrounded by biblical murals and children's drawings, the pastor and a handful of coconspirators concentrated on the count.

Forty-thousand dollars. Throckmorton smiled in satisfaction as he stashed the money in a safe.

That Sunday, the 52-year-old minister donned his creamy white robes, swept to the pulpit and delivered one of the most extraordinary sermons of his life.

First he read from the Gospel of Matthew.

"And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his ability.''

Then he explained the parable of the talents, which tells of the rich master who entrusts three servants with a sum of money -- "talents'' -- and instructs them to go forth and do good. The master lavishes praise on the two servants who double their money. But he casts into the wilderness the one so afraid to take a risk that he buries his share.

Throckmorton spends up to 20 hours working on his weekly homily, and his clear diction, contemplative message and ringing voice command the church. Gazing down from the pulpit that Sunday, Throckmorton dropped his bombshell.

Like the master, he would entrust each adult with a sum of money -- in this case, $50. Church members had seven weeks to find ways to double their money, the proceeds to go toward church missions.

"Live the parable of the talents!'' Throckmorton exhorted, as assistants handed out hundreds of red envelops stuffed with crisp $50 bills and stunned church members did quick mental calculations, wondering where all the money had come from. There are about 1,700 in the congregation, though not everyone attends each week.

The cash, Throckmorton explained, was loaned by several anonymous donors.

In her regular pew at the back of the church, where she has listened to sermons for 40 years, 73-year-old Barbara Gates gasped. What kind of kooky nonsense is this, she thought.

"Sheer madness,'' sniffed retired accountant Wayne Albers, 85, to his wife, Marnie, who hushed him as he whispered loudly. "Why can't the church just collect money the old-fashioned way?''

In a center pew, Ann Nagy's eyes moistened as she considered her ailing, beloved father, his suffering, and the song she had written to comfort him near death. She nudged her husband Scott. "Give me your $50,'' she whispered. Nagy knew exactly what she would do.

Throckmorton wrapped up his two morning services by saying that children would get $10. And he assured the congregation that anyone who didn't feel comfortable could simply return the money. No consignment to outer darkness for those who didn't participate.

Throckmorton is warm and engaging and approachable, as comfortable talking about the Cleveland Indians baseball team as he is discussing scripture. At the Federated Church, he is known simply as Hamilton.

But as church members spilled into the late summer sunshine that morning to ponder their skills and their souls, there were many who thought: Hamilton is really pushing us this time.

"There was definitely this tension, this pressure to live up to something,'' said Hal Maskiell, a 62-year-old retired Navy pilot who spent days trying to figure out how to meet the challenge.

Maskiell's passion is flying a four-seater Cessna 172 Skyhawk over the Cuyahoga County hills. He decided to use his $50 to rent air time from Portage County airport and charge $30 for half-hour rides. Church members eagerly signed up. Maskiell was thrilled to get hours of flying time, and he raised $700.

His girlfriend, Kathy Marous, 55, was far less confident. What talents do I have, she thought dejectedly. She was tempted to give the money back.

And then Marous found an old family recipe for tomato soup, one she hadn't made in 19 years. She remembered how much she had enjoyed the chopping and the cooking and the canning and the smells. With Hal's encouragement Marous dug out her pots. She bought three pecks of tomatoes. Suddenly she was chopping and cooking and canning again. At $5 a jar, she made $180.

"I just never imagined people would pay money for the things I made,'' Marous exclaimed.

Others felt the same way. Barbara Gates raised $450 crafting pendants from beads and sea glass -- pieces she had casually made for her grandchildren over the years. Kathie Biggin created fanciful little red-nosed Rudolph pins and sold them for $2.50. Twelve-year-old Amanda Horner pooled her money with friends, stocked up at JoAnn's fabric store, and made dozens of colorful fleece baby blankets, which were purchased by church members and then donated to a local hospital.

And 87-year-old Bob Burrows rediscovered old carpentry skills and began selling wooden bird-feeders.

But it wasn't the money; everyone said so. It was something else, something far less tangible but yet so very real. For seven weeks an almost magical sense of excitement and energy and camaraderie infused the elegant red-brick church on Bell Street, spilling over into homes and hearts as the parable of the talents came alive.

In her sun-filled studio on Strawberry Lane, Shirley Culbertson felt it -- a joyful sense of purpose that she had rarely experienced since her husband passed two years ago. Culbertson, 81, is a gifted painter and watercolors fill her house. But she discovered another talent during this time -- knitting whimsical eight-inch stuffed dolls with button noses and floppy hats. She raised $90.

Zooming down country roads clinging to the back of a leather-clad biker, Florence Cross felt it too. For the challenge, Barry Biggin had parked his 2006 Harley Davidson Road King outside the church, offering 12-mile rides for $30. Cross was the first to sign up. Never mind that she is in her mid-80s, had never been on a bike, or that her husband of 60 years had to hoist her up.

"Oh, it was such a thrill!'' said Cross, her face glowing at the memory. Her friends now call her "Harley Girl.''

Martine Scheuermann lived the parable in her Elm Street kitchen, transforming it into an "applesauce factory'' for several weeks. The 49-year-old human resources director would rise at 6 a.m. on Sundays in order to have warm batches ready for sampling at church services.

In his origami-filled bedroom on Bradley Street, Paul Cantlay lived the parable too. Surrounded by sheets of colored construction paper, the 9-year-old crafted paper dragons and stars and sailboats. He set up an origami stand at the end of his street, charged 50 cents to $5 depending on the piece, and raised $68.

Talents began multiplying at such a rate that the church held a bazaar after services on two consecutive Sundays for people to display -- and sell -- their wares.

The pretty little village on the Chagrin River falls had never seen anything quite like it. Everyone seemed to be talking about the talent challenge: over the clatter of coffee cups at Dink's restaurant, at the Fireside bookshop on the green, sipping drinks at the Gamekeeper's Taverne. Even members of other churches weighed in: Have you heard what's happening at Federated?

"Anyone can open their wallet and give cash,'' Kris Tesar said. "This was just an extraordinary process of exploration and discovery and of challenging ourselves. It became bigger than any one of us or than any individual talent.''

Tesar, a 58-year-old retired nurse, discovered her talent in buckets of flip-flops for sale at Old Navy. She stocked up on yarn and beads and made dozens of funky, fluffy decorative footwear that were a huge hit with teens. Tesar raised $550 for the church, is still taking orders and is thinking of starting a business. Now even her children call her the "flip-flop lady.''

People also got to know the "hen lady'' -- Gabrielle Quintin, who took to raising chickens on a whim 23 years ago when she moved into a 180-year-old house with a barn. Her "ladies,'' as Quintin calls her backyard flock, provide a welcome distraction from her nursing job in a cancer center. Quintin decided to put her brood to work for the church. For $10 church members could "hire-a-hen'' and get three dozen fresh eggs complete with a photograph of the "lady'' who laid them.

"It wasn't exactly spiritual, but I had a lot of fun,'' said Quintin, whose husband, Mike, made glass birdfeeders. "And it was just this great way of bringing everyone together and connecting with the church.''

Kathy Wellman quilted. Mary Hobbs knit shawls and penciled portraits. Cathy Hatfield auctioned a ride in her hot-air balloon. Norma and Trent Bobbitt pooled their money with another church member to hire a harpist from the Cleveland orchestra and host an elegant evening dinner party. Folks paid $50 each to attend and the Bobbitts made over $1,200.

And physician Peter Yang took over shifts from other doctors in his partnership (he used his $50 for gas to get to the hospital) and raised $3,000.

The deadline to return the money was Sunday, Oct. 28. Nervously, some church council members suggested posting plain clothes security guards at services that day. But Throckmorton would have none of it. He insisted that the spirit of the challenge, which had already inspired so much goodwill, would carry them safely through. And it did.

Organ music filled the church as people silently filed down the aisle, dropped their proceeds into baskets, and offered testimonials about what living the parable had meant to them. Throckmorton thanked everyone for their generosity. Then he started counting.

A week later he delivered the joyful news: They had more than doubled the amount distributed.

The initial take was $38,195 over the loan, but the amount is still growing. Some people didn't make the deadline, or extended it in order to finish their projects.

The final sum will be divided equally between three charities: One-third will go to a school library in South Africa where the church is involved in an AIDS mission; one-third will go to micro-loan organizations that provide seed money for small businesses in developing countries; one-third will help the Interfaith Hospitality Network in Cleveland, specifically programs for homeless women.

Throckmorton is asked all the time if the talent challenge will become an annual event, but he is doubtful. It was a special time and a special idea, he says, and he is not sure it could be re-created or relived.

Yet in a very real sense, it lives on. Church members who never knew each other have become friends. And orders for applesauce, flip-flops and Rudolph pins are still rolling in for Christmas.

There are other, more poignant reminders. Like Ann Nagy's haunting tribute to her father, who died of brain cancer on Oct. 11.

Nagy, 44, has always been a singer with a clear lovely voice. It wasn't until her father grew ill and moved into a hospice that she started writing songs. She found solace in the music and a way of communicating that was sometimes easier than spoken words.

At hospice, patients are taught five simple truths to tell their loved ones before they die: I'll miss you. I love you. I forgive you. I'm sorry. Goodbye.

Borrowing from that theme, Nagy wrote a farewell song for her Dad. She pooled her $50 talent money with her husband's share and cut a CD to sell to church members. Ironically it was finished just an hour before her father passed, on Oct. 11. Nagy stood by his bed and sang it for him anyway.

On Nov. 11 -- her father's 72nd birthday -- Throckmorton preached a sermon about dying. He invited Nagy to the altar. There, accompanied by a cellist and a pianist she sang "Before You Go.''

Her voice soared. The congregation wept. The parable of the talents had never seemed so alive.

Review of Frank Viola's book: Pagan Christianity

Mon, 6 Nov 2007 07:18:47 GMT

posted by RoderickE

Recently I posted an introductory article about Frank Viola’s book – Pagan Christianity but now I have completed the reading of that book & would like to share a more in depth review.

First, let me say a thank you to Kurt F. for sending me the book & for graciously desiring my thoughts on it. I appreciate it & am honored that he has sought my input.

As I said in the introductory article, I immediately had difficulties with the book because in the Introduction of the book, Viola presented a hypothetical family who he was clearly trying to depict as being stunted in Christian growth & merely going through the motions of “church” – and implying the fault for this lay at the feet of the “institutional church” & all of its trappings. Yet, when you look at how the family was presented, it became obvious that their problem was not the type or location of fellowship they were experiencing but possibly that NONE of them were even regenerated. Exchanging an institutional church setting for a comfy living room would not have made a difference if the person is not even a Christian.

But at the urging of Kurt F. I plodded along in the book, looking for nuggets of value.