Loving, Learning, and Leading

Once while I was Little This afternoon, I was driving home and the sky was a beautiful reddish hue with perfectly clear skies. I was reminiscing about being a child and loving to look at the sky and dream. What would I be when I grew up? What was God like? How can I make a difference? Why do we have to have winter? Everything was worth probing and the openness of the sky represented the vast opportunities that was ours in my youth. In the 1970's, there was a huge degree of turmoil and upheaval. America, particularly in my African-American context, held previously credible institutions in suspicion (think Vietnam, the civil rights movement and the rapid turning away from the church). Yet, in the face of incredible cynicism, there was this sense of hope and a faith that justice, equity, and wholeness would prevail. There was a childlike sense that the opportunities for greatness and fulfillment were just over the horizon and that fulfilment, in its many senses, was imminent...

Shrinking Faith One of the dominant sociological processes of the past 300 years has been the process of secularization. To many Christians who have belonged in the church for the past 20+ years, we confuse secularization with the concept of being "worldly". Worldliness is the theological quality of living according to a world view that is opposed, or antagonistic against the will and way of God. Secularization is somewhat different. It is the description of the way in which religion, in its multifaceted expressions, becomes less and less important to cultures, organizations, communities, and individuals. Secularization began in earnest during the time in which historians call the enlightenment, or the age of modernity. It is in that age that scientific inquiry became the dominant way in which we validated truth. Therefore, the worldview became more empirical and there was less room for the supernatura. Evidence of secularization can be seen in the diminishing importan...

The reality of American Christian practices In a recent study, the number of people who identify themselves as "unaffiliated" to any faith tradition rose to a total of 15%. This is double what it was just a decade ago. Keep in mind, that this does not count people who are marginally, or culturally part of a faith tradition, but do not practice or believe the tenets of that faith. To many people, including the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, R. Albert Mohler, this is a startling revelation (see the excellent newsweek article at: http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583 ) However, I am not at all surprised. I believe that this is because, I would approach this statistic in an different way. I do believe that process of secularization that began in the industrial revolution has continued (the process of understanding that you have sacred and secular aspects of your life, and that which is sacred is getting smaller and smaller). For example, 100 years ago, relationsh...

Viral Faith Yesterday, I blogged about "epidemic blessing", or the rapid outbreak of people being blessed. I believe sincerely that to follow Jesus is to join His mission. His mission was to seek and save the world. His entire presence was dedicated to fulfilling God's purpose to bless the world by helping it to realize its purpose. Again, its interesting that we, as Christians, rarely consider the degree in which we are a blessing to the families, neighborhoods, communities, cities, regions, and nations around us and around the world. Our spiritual scorecard often has points for individual moral goals, but lacks any reflection of the social and community responsibility that Jesus bore. Many Christians are saved, but few seem to serve... I believe that we have too many restrictive structures and paradigms that keep us from being an effective witness to the power, presence, and provisions of God almighty. We are often so busy keeping rules or developing church prog...

Epidemic Blessings Recently, I had the privilege of participating in the Free Methodist Urban Fellowship annual meeting, in my former church in Twinsburg, OH. It was one of those times when what God had prepared for me to share was affirmed by what God had other presenters share. It was as if there was the sensational sense that God was revealing his plan and approach towards blessing the Urban communities around the world. As I contemplated what I should share with the group, I was reading about some of the general public health issues globally. I thought of the devasting effects of recent epidemics and outbreaks around the world. As I thought about these things, I began to question what makes up an epidemic. An epidemic is defined as "The quality of affecting many people at the same time, spreading from person to person, in an area or sphere where the condition is not prevelant". It can be an infectious agent (viruses, bacteria, parasites), a behavior (teenage pregna...