Vision Team Blog

Friday, May 19, 2006

The Shaping of Things to Come

Hey guys,

Thanks for the great discussion last night. I appreciate the way you guys were engaged and contributed to my explanation of the differences between an Attractional-Dualistic-Individualistic church and a Missional-Wholistic-Communal (and Food-al!) church. A lot of the ideas came from the book that I mentioned, The Shaping of Things to Come. I'd encourage you guys to pick up your own copy and start reading through it. In fact, it might be a good book for us to discuss together next.

I'll post a summary of my notes and our discussion sometime soon so you all can review and comment more on what we talked about.

See you tomorrow!

-Mike

posted by Mike Clawson at 3:45 PM

6 Comments:

  • Came across this page via a newsletter I am getting and felt it was worth sharing:

    http://www.christianitytoday.com/bcl/areas/community/articles/051506.html

    I hope the link works for you all without registration as I got to it from my newsletter.

    By Blogger WarePhreak Wyncoop, at 9:52 PM  

  • Great article! Thanks for sharing.

    By Blogger Mike Clawson, at 8:25 PM  

  • Illustration of the Week from PreachingToday.com - Loving God Through Loving Others

    From Saul Bellow's collection of traditional Jewish tales comes this story:

    In a small Jewish town in Russia, there is a rabbi who disappears each Friday morning for several hours. His devoted disciples boast that during those hours their rabbi goes up to heaven and talks to God.

    A stranger moves into town, and he's skeptical about all this, so he decides to check things out. He hides and watches. The rabbi gets up in the morning, says his prayers, and then dresses in peasant clothes. He grabs an axe, goes off into the woods, and cuts some firewood, which he then hauls to a shack on the outskirts of the village. There an old woman and her sick son live. He leaves them the wood, enough for a week, and then sneaks back home.

    Having observed the rabbi's actions, the newcomer stays on in the village and becomes his disciple. And whenever he hears one of the villagers say, "On Friday morning our rabbi ascends all the way to heaven," the newcomer quietly adds, "If not higher."

    Citation: Jim McGuiggan, Jesus, Hero of Thy Soul (Howard Publishing, 1998), p.15.

    By Blogger WarePhreak Wyncoop, at 10:59 PM  

  • This is a fatal mistake. Historical and sociological studies have shown repeatedly that churches with high belonging expectations are more vital, grow faster, have more countercultural impact, and last longer than those that relax the intensity of their community life.

    Hmm, I'm trying to think how I'd rate our "belonging expectations."

    Probably not real high at the moment.

    By Blogger Charlotte Wyncoop, at 10:59 PM  

  • Reading what I wrote, I think I should clarify...

    We just had our first community event and four people participated (others had various reasons for their absence). I am counting Julie babysitting the kids - if she hadn't there would have been less participation.

    We don't have hurdles to jump really to be able to "belong." Generally, I look at that as a good thing.

    By Blogger Charlotte Wyncoop, at 11:04 PM  

  • That quote is from Barna right? While I respect a lot of what he does, he also makes certain assumptions about what is a "successful" church that I'm not sure we'd agree with. For instance, what is his definition of a "vital" church? Is fast growth really a good goal? By "countercultural impact" is he primarily thinking of the conservative vs. liberal "culture wars" of mainstream evangelicalism? And finally are "high belonging expectations" really the necessary for an "intense community life"? I have a feeling that we might answer those questions somewhat differently than Barna.

    And I'd like to know what he means by "high belonging expectations".

    By Blogger Mike Clawson, at 9:25 PM  

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