Tag: communication

Who turned out the lights for a brighter future?

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Stained Glass Window
by Hauki-

Every once in a while an article or articles you post online blows up your feed. Clearly, lighting in a worship center is a sensitive issue. In the ground swell of discussion there are a few concerns and patterns that need to be addressed. The lighting issue is a symptom of a greater issue within the North American Church, issues we do need to repent of.

One God, sneaky idols…
Churches worship methods as Christians worship preferences. While churches decry consumerism, Christians can point out the out of balance focus on methodology. Shedding light on modern idols is essential. We should operate from our theology and not our methodology. Methods change, who God is does not. On the individual side, church is not a commodity or business, it is a family. Being the church via one’s preferences misses a major point in the Bible: It’s not about you. Let us be frank: method worship and preference worship are major idols we the church need to remove.

One family, many discussions…
We are too quick to end discussions, as if the truth is already clearly known or understood. We are too quick to take offense. For example: The no light crowd pounces on the non-biblical issue with a side of evangelism. The all light all the time crowd brings out the design and Bible issue. Boom. Then there are people on the entire spectrum who say we shouldn’t discuss such things as there are more important issues. All three shutter discussion that is healthy and important. As Christians we stop discussion way too often and to our hurt. Cue the passages that talk about listening.

One creator, numerous stories…
Design communicates. Design matters. How we act as a church communicates our message as much or more so than what we say. For instance: Try communicating about Jesus’ birth in a brightly lit room, or discuss heaven in a dimly lit dark one. In both these scenarios the environment is antithetical to the story. Both these stories also need to be communicated with utmost clarity. We must stop treating the arts, such as design, as a non biblical, minor issue. Our mission to clearly communicate and proclaim who God is requires that such be brought under the light of our theology to reach a darkened world. After all, artists are a part of the body of Christ.

One church, open back doors…
In the last few decades there is a price the church paid: the de-churched. The idolatry, shuttering of discussion, and schizophrenic views on the arts cost the church too much. After all, we are family. Perhaps church growth would improve if our back doors were what we shuttered and not discussion, if we valued the glory of God more and our little kingdoms less. We can open our front doors more with artistic brilliance as more darken the seats of our worship centers. That is a worthy discussion, but there are sins we as a church family must repent of first. We’ve already paid too high a price.

The bottom line:
How we light our churches is not a big deal. How we discuss it shines a light on a dark stains the blood of Christ can easily wipe clean. While lighting may not be significant, there is too deep a price we paid. So, why not have the discussion and let the grace which God lavished on us and predestined before the foundations of the world conform us to the image of His son. Why not focus on the long-suffering and patience aspects of love found in 1 Corinthians 13. As a family we can and must do better.

If you were God…

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…How would you make yourself known? Would you even bother? Which would you chose?

Creation: Make a perfect paradise for all to enjoy!
(+) There are no struggles. It’s perfect. As God, you get to walk among the world without getting mad or frustrated at imperfection.

(-) People will reject you made it or will choose to focus on creation and not you.

Miracles:  Supernatural events that go against your created laws of science.
(+) There is clear demonstration of your power that also demonstrates your compassion for people.

(-) People will say ya right, attribute them to something else, or deny it happened all together. Those who benefited or appreciate the act done will soon forget it and move on, things getting back to normal.

Mass-disaster: This can take on a few forms, but it results in massive destruction and death.
(+)This approach clearly demonstrates your power, builds fear and in some ways, like the flood, cleans out most of the problem people. It satisfies your justice.

(-) Long term the reason behind the disaster is forgotten. Short term people will adjust out of fear or will just get mad and more offensive toward you. Injustice remains.

Chosen people: Choose a specific group of people to declare and prove your existence.
(+) There is a constant and tangible revelation of your existence. There is also a model of how you would like people to interact and live among each other.

(-) Your chosen people can become arrogant and/or stop doing what you ask of them. Eventually, people may grow tired of you all together. Your chosen people may not be capable of following your instructions anyway.

A special object: Create or decree a special object as pointing to your existence.
(+) There is a visible and verifiable object pointing to your existence that is more tangible than mere creation. It can become a focal point for people to come together in community.

(-) People will end up worshiping the object instead. Others will try to get the object and use it for their own purposed. Some will get tired of the routine and begin to ignore the object all together.

Become a man: Add to yourself humanity so you can live and interact among people.
(+) You demonstrate humility, a virtue you most admire. You can better claim empathy and sympathy for the plight of your creation. You are able to model and teach in a way no one else can, cutting out the “middle man.”

(-) Plato’s Republic said that if a perfectly just man existed, we’d kill him. Likely those who are in error will become jealous. People may just refer to you as a good guy or teacher. Other will accuse you of being divisive. Oh, and you have to walk among unholy imperfection.

A Book: Have people record who you are in a book by telling them what to write.
(+) Words transcend time. They cannot be completely blocked or stopped. It can act as a guide to how people should live, declare who your are, and give your perspective. After all, words and ideas started massive movements in human history.

(-) People will ignore it or say it is not accurate. Others will abuse it for their own purposes. Even if you divinely keep its accuracy, people will charge that since it was written by man it’s not 100% accurate, or since its details cannot be verified, it will be relegated as myth or primitive. Many will take what you say out of context.

The bottom line:
Place yourself in God’s shoes for a moment. You can choose to reject there even is a God. You can choose to reject absolute truth (doesn’t work in math). You can even chose to not bother to make yourself know. But… If you chose to make yourself know, how would you do it? Do you think it would work?

Maybe God isn’t the problem. God did all the things and people in history to now took the negative of each point… no matter how clear or vague the chosen route is.

Social media: Pensées au sujet des medias sociaux

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Thoughts about social media

The last few years I jumped into the social media frenzy: learning, participating, engaging, listening and observing. I thought it would be fun to highlight some of my thoughts. After all, we’re all human…

Social Media is a cure of LIAR’s
LIAR stands for Low Information to Action Ratio… The dilemma many deal with is having too much information. This eventually trains people to ignore large volumes of solid thought. In a real sense our information driven culture trained us to ignore Sunday mornings or other “data dumps.” This leads to us knowing lots, but acting little. Social media is an ironic cure.

Social media helps in two venues:

  1. It breaks large chunks to doable small chunks. The best example observed: Rick Warren’s tweets.
  2. It builds a passive accountability. Social media gives opportunity to soak, digest and respond to information given. It allows community to live truth out together in real-time.

Social media is the Borg at birth
Star Trek created the Borg as an allegory for over invasive technology. If you read up on this sci-fi nemesis, you’ll find remarkable parallels. While the real-time connection to community is a help, it is also a vice. The Borg, even while right next to each other, have a blank stare and only connect through the hive (network). Kind of like talking to your friends by texting when they are right in front of you. This hurts.

Social media hurts in two venues:

  1. Artificial communication often replaces organic real-time conversation. The text, Facebook, tweet replaces the sit down conversation over coffee. Nothing can replace human interaction. Environments, touch, smells, etc are equally important to the human experience and communication. These dimension cannot be carried by technology.
  2. Always on can lead to allows off. The ability to focus and develop the depth needed for many things can be diminished with social media. While processing one can lose the product. This is more than just getting work done, it is also a matter of deepening relationships; the key one being with God. Humans need down time and periods of quiet reflection. Always on breeds the expectation for always available. We’re not God. Let Him be the always on always available guy.

Social media is the new old
I hear often that social media is a revolutionary not evolutionary thing. I disagree. Social media demonstrates something that has always been true: People want to be known, their fallenness unknown and both openly revealed. Any engagement with humans leads to this interplay. While the technology, feel and look may be new, human nature and the proverb…I mean torch runner… I mean bumper telegram…sigh… are still around.

The old renewed:

  1. Human depravity and redemption is active in social media because we can not escape our depravity and need of the Spirit. We can’t stop being human.
  2. Humanity always craves simple and brief tidbits of communication.

The bottom line
While social media is in vogue and seemingly new, it reveals that which is true of all ages. It has strengths it has weaknesses and it will be used for both. I do not advocate balance & wisdom. I do not advocate passionate usage & complete openness. I advocate remembering we are human: fallen and in need of redemption. We cannot escape that and anything “revolutionary” will point out that we’re a mess and God loves us anyway. C’est la vie.

We need more stained glass windows…

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Stained Glass Window
by Hauki-

“We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future, your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you can tell them…” ~ Joshua 4:6-7a NLT

Where is the art?
Stained glass windows were used to communicate basic bible stories to a largely illiterate world. Part of this was an extreme case of the Bible being in a language people didn’t understand. To communicate the stories from the Bible, the church used art. The buildings, decor, everything was to communicate and teach something about God, to inspire worship. For better or worse, we’ve lost the sense of art in many churches.

Theology in Art
God frequently used artistic expression as a tool to both remember and pass on who He is. Think about this, how abstract is a pile of stones in a middle of a river? The picture itself has to be explained. Think of the passover where God uses taste to communicate bitterness- the bitter herbs. Intertwined through the Old Testament God placed artistic expression to generate conversation. Some expressions were very abstract, others very understandable, they all were intended to generate conversation and engage people in theology- understanding who God is.

Generate why….
We need awe. We need environments and opportunities that get kids and adults to ask why, to dream. There is a broader context to following Christ. Our walk of faith is not an island unto itself. God showed Himself to be the one true God. If the church is truly one body, then our story and the stories of others in history connect. Theology is not a vacuüm, its communicated and lived out in history, in life. Art understands this language, as God created that rainbow of grammar and syntax. We need more stained glass windows…

Questions:
If all the words in your ministry environments disappeared, what does it communicate about God and who you are?

What have you done to help people see what God has done through the history of your church or ministry?

Do kids in your ministry start asking questions and talking about God because of what surrounds them?