rhythm+hue
My musings, writings, observations, ideas, & thoughts about God, Life, and following Jesus in Suburbia.
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Why Mark is angry!
Mark Broadbent has two articles in the excellent Neoleader site about why he is angry about the church in the Western world. His most recent entry cites some excellent examples why we may not be experiencing success in our mission to share the gospel in Australia.
To many people I’ve met have told me that there’s a reason we are not experiencing evangelistic success in Australia: ‘Australians are just too hard to reach’. I certainly agree that we are not the most spiritual nation on Earth, but I just can’t buy into their argument.
HERE’S WHY:
We’ve given Australians every reason to walk away from Christianity…
1. Catholic priests committing pedophilia
2. TV evangelists asking for money
3. Boring Chapel Services at Private High Schools
4. Boring Church Services
5. Ned Flanders (I love the Simpsons, but Ned is not helping our cause)(If you’re not sure you agree, just watch an episode of The Chasers. They regularly find reasons to pay out Christians).
Go take a look here and here and share your comments here please!
Posted in Australia, Blogging, church life, missional |
No Comments »We Can Be The Change
A man whom I respect, love and admire, Dave Andrews, has a website called wecan.be -calling on us all to be the change in the world and not to let the extremists from both ends and all reglions and factions set the World’s agenda. He says that small changes - little changes by individuals may just be that - little changes, but that cumulatively, when teh same action or joined, they are BIG changes.
Dave calls us to go from Plan A - Treat others Like They Have Treated Us - to go to Plan Be; Treat Others Like We Would Like to Be Treated. This, the Golden Rule, is a common thread for all major religions. But, as Andrew says,
“The strength of the Golden Rule is that everybody agrees that it is great place to start. Its weakness is that though its nice and warm and fuzzy people find it a bit vague as guideline.
Which is why Jesus of Nazareth spent so much time unpacking the specific implications of the Golden Rule in his Sermon on the Mount - summarising his suggestions in his Beatitudes.
But the trouble is, few people who would claim to be admirers of Jesus - even among those who would call themselves “believers” – take the Be-Attitudes seriously as ethical guidelines.”
Posted in Australia, Jesus, Kingdom, church life, mate, prayer |
No Comments »Voices from The Heartland - Your chance to ask a question
GetUp! - a non-profit action group I belong to is taking the national reconciliation conversation that began on April 29 in over 350 local groups of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians to Central Australian communities - creating a virtual realtionship by asking us to record and upload video questions to their website.Click here to make the Pledge!
Posted in Australia, GetUp!, Link, Media, Social Justice, indigenous |
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