The Emerging Church Part 1

I have been reading and hearing more about what some call “The Emerging Church”. Larry King as talked about it, Newsweek did an article about it and many others both secular and Christian have been talking about it. Just about every time it is talked about the discussion opens with the question: “What is The Emerging Church?” I have some thought on it but I am curious about what you know, or think about his “new” thing. First of all I am not out to speak against it. I am curious about what others think about it. How do you define it? What is it to you? I am doing some more reading on it right now so my thoughts will come with my next post. But before I do, as part of my research let me know what it is to you or to those that you know. Have you ever been to or been apart of an Emerging Church? Let me know!

Money, The Church, and God

Money, the church, and God, one of the issues the church is most negatively known for. I grew up in the church and for the most part have not thought negatively about this issue but I know that many do. Even people that are very committed to the church seem to struggle with the issue of giving money to their church. I read something a few days ago: “Why is it that $20 seems like so little for dinner and a movie but seems like so much when we give it to the church.” One response to the question that I heard was that, as Americans, we are always being consumers. When we give $20 for dinner and a movie we see what we are getting back but when we give to the church we don’t see ourselves getting anything out of it or from it. How do you feel about this issue? If you regularly attend a church do you give to it? Do you follow the 10% approach or do you have your own. If you believe you are supposed to give to the church (to God) do you believe that there is a responsibility to give to your local church or is it up to you to whom you give it to?

Willing To See

I ended my last blog with this statement: “Can you truly defend a belief that has no evidence for existing therefore it is a belief that can come only by faith?” I would come back and say that I think this statement is only half true. Ultimately believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who came to earth and died to pay the price that our sin owed does come by faith. It is something I have no real proof for. However, when I read about what Jesus did I am compelled to wonder; “If this man really lived (which there historical evidence of) and really did the things written about him, then it seems compelling to say there might be reasons to believe in what he said.” Now I am not removing the faith element. I still believe that faith plays the strongest role in my relationship with Jesus but I can say that my faith has been confirmed by things I have experienced in my life. Again those are my own experiences and many would say that I choose to see things a certain way in order to confirm what I believe. Sometimes that might be true. But I have had things happen to me when I didn’t want them to or that I could not have created on my own that confirm my faith in a God that is real, alive, and active in my life. My faith believes in my God, Jesus Christ, but what has happened in my life reveals to me the truth and reality of my faith being real in the world around me.

Can You Defend Your Faith

“Defend your faith!" That was a statement I heard many times growing up in church and youth group. But I was thinking about that statement recently and was wondering what that really means. Can I truly defend my faith? I may have heard it growing up in a Christian environment but I don’t think that it is limited to there. I grew up next to a family that was Muslim and as kids playing together we didn’t really know the differences in our faiths until one day we talked about who Jesus was. Even as a 10 yr old we both felt compelled to “defend our faiths” and I tried, to whatever extent a 10yr old could interact with another one on that level, to defend my faith. But the very nature of the word faith implies a belief in something we can not prove. So if we each have our own faiths can we truly defend it? Do you believe you can truly defend your faith, whatever that might be? Even if you are an atheist you to must feel inclined to defend what you believe and since there is no proof that there is no God even someone who believes in nothing believes that by faith. So I ask the questions again hoping someone will tell me. Can you truly defend a belief that has no evidence for existing therefore it is a belief that can come only by faith?

Beginning

This is my first post thanks to my friend David Best. I look forward to more to come!