txt messaging and culture

I really appreciate the recent work on Christians in culture. I believe that our call as Christians should involve interpreting our culture as well as interpreting scripture. That is the good work of each of us as missionaries. Too often we either throw darts at culture or simply let it wash over us instead of asking how we can be involved in the redemption of culture.

On Andy Crouch's blog, he takes a "cultural artifact" and asks 5 questions to help us in the process. I think this is a great exercise to get us thinking about our culture. For example he took the cultural artifact of text messaging here. Here are the questions that he asks about each cultural artifact.

1. What does text messaging assume about the way the world is?
2. What does text messaging assume about the way the world should be?
3. What does text messaging make possible?
4. What does text messaging make impossible (or at least a lot more difficult)?
5. What new culture is created in response?

It is interesting to see people's responses. Other examples: the weather channel, presidential debates and backpacks.

Mystery Shopper?

A Wall Street Journal article came out today about the newish phenomena of mystery worshipers visiting churches to evaluate them. It is much like secret shoppers who evaluate their experience at restaurants and stores. This particular consultant charges $1500 for a visit and a written evaluation. The article said that some pastors "say that church shopping has become necessary for churches seeking to compete in an increasingly mobile and consumer-oriented society."

It is sad that often churches aren't very welcoming as seen by this article. I think that it is important to know what newcomers think about your church, but this article concerns me. My concern is the fundamental assertion that church is another cog in the consumer driven wheel. Should churches "compete" with each other? Should a church's biggest concern be meeting peoples' needs? What are the metrics that should evaluate a church?

Prodigal God

Tim Keller has a new book coming out this month called "Prodigal God." It will discuss how the famous story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 shows the heart of the gospel. This is one of my favorite stories in all of the Bible. I can't wait. Below he talks about the sermon that gave him inspiration for this book from crossway:

"Many excellent studies have been written on this Biblical text over the last several years, but the foundation for my understanding of it was a sermon I heard preached over thirty years ago by Dr. Edmund P. Clowney. Listening to that sermon changed the way I understood Christianity. I almost felt I had discovered the secret heart of Christianity. Over the years I have often returned to teach and counsel from the parable. I have seen more people encouraged, enlightened, and helped by this passage, when I explained the true meaning of it, than by any other text (pp. xii-xiii)."

Religulous

I read a good post by Dan Kimball today on Bill Maher's movie: Religulous. I have not seen it, but Dan has and gives thoughts on the documentary/commentary. I also appreciated some of the dialogue in the comments below.

Old News or Good News

Christians would never say it, but sometimes they act like the gospel is "old news." Most of you guys know that is one of my biggest frustrations with the church in America today. When that happens much of Christianity simply becomes moralism. Michael Horton's new book addresses this issue: Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church. You can read more on Justin Taylor's Blog.

Faith and Politics

This Saturday night at 7pm Rick Warren will be interviewing Barack Obama and John McCain on CNN and online. This is the first time in history where both candidates will meet with a pastor to talk about faith's role in politics. This should be very interesting. There is more information here: Saddleback Civil Forum

Article about our denomination

Christianity Today wrote an article about the changes that the EFCA made to its doctrinal statement. I was very happy to see the inclusion of "God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed..." Check out the article and the changes here.