Earlier this year, we published an issue of Leadership on the theme of “Rediscovered Roots: Timeless practices that keep us grounded and bring new life.” Jonny Baker, a leader of Grace, an alternative worship community in London, wrote a fantastic article for us called “Something Old, Something New.” In the piece he discusses the transformation of worship among the young away from a purely contemporary style toward an appreciation of history, liturgy, symbol, and even tradition.

I recently came across this cartoon called “The Evolution of a Worshiper” which reminded me of Baker’s article. The ‘toon progresses from an outwardly enthusiastic (can we call it Charismatic?) style, through the reserved form of popular evangelicalism, to the cynical postmodern with iPod and goatee, to the fully liturgical high-church Anglican. Can…

Earlier this year, we interviewed Keith and Kristyn Getty for an article about worship in Leadership Journal. The Getty’s are Irish songwriters that seek to write modern day hymns. Some of their more popular songs are “In Christ Alone” and Keith wrote “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” with Stuart Townend.

As outsiders, Kristyn and Keith had some interesting comments about their perception of worship in contemporary American churches and the value of remaining connected to the past. Here’s an excerpt from the conversation. You can read the whole article here.

Kristyn: In America, “new” is a positive word. The positive energy and desire to do new things in America is certainly wonderful. But the truth is life isn’t always just a blank page. The Christian life is about remembering,…

Read more about ministry legitimacy and “The Daisy Cutter Doctrine” here.

On Wednesday (09/09/09), Leadership Network and Catalyst hosted an online event called “The Nines.” It featured 9 hours of 9 minute videos posted by church leaders each answering this question: “If I had nine minutes to share one thing with church leaders across America, what would I tell them?”I was invited to participate in The Nines, and I chose to talk about the issue of legitimacy and something I call “the Daisy Cutter Doctrine.” I’ve gotten a number of emails and Facebook responses to the video. And some colleagues have reported some Twitter activity about it too. (I didn’t actually see my video air or the Tweets because I was taking my son to his first day of pre-school at the time.)

I guess the organizers of The Nines…

 A few months ago I flew down to Dallas to interview Matt Chandler for Leadership Journal. Chandler has been getting a lot of attention in recent years–both for the rapid growth of his church as well as his outspoken adherence to Reformed theology. I must admit, I had some hesitations about interviewing another very popular, very young, very “successful” pastor. Without giving away my biases…I’ve not had a great experience with people who fit that description.

I was pleasantly surprised by Chandler. Not only did he offer thoughtful, reflective, and self-aware responses to our questions (rare qualities among large church pastors who tend to be “doers” more than “thinkers”),  he was also humble. But Chandler isn’t known as a touchy-feely. He likes speaking boldly and even abrasively about the…

There’s an unemployed man in your congregation. After searching for months for a job, he’s finally gotten a position on a landscaping crew. On Sunday, before the close of the worship service, a leader calls the man up to the platform. He tells the congregation about the member’s new vocation and then invites others up to the platform to place their hands on him. Together the church prays and ordains him for his new work, asking God to make him an instrument of his beauty and care for creation, and praying that he would bring pleasure to God and goodness to others through his labor.

How would your church be different if this sort of scene was a regular occurrence? For landscapers? For business people? For students going back…

Do you believe your work matters to God? That question has been on my mind as I prepare a sermon for September 20th. It seems like people in the church are often celebrated for what they do within the church or through the church or for the church, but we offer little attention or affirmation for the labor done outside the institutional structures of the church. The message we subtly communicate is that the 2 or 4 percent of a person’s time spent engaged in activities related to the church are what matter to God–they “count”–but the 95+ percent of the time they spend at work, with family, preparing meals, changing diapers, or mowing the lawn don’t really matter to God unless they incorporate church/missionary actions into those…

In recent months Out of Ur has posted a number of really interesting articles on the “virtual church” phenomenon. The debate is around this question-Is online church really church? The question is simple but how you answer it has profound implications for how we think about church-both online and in the real world.Opinions fall into three general categories. 1) Virtual church IS church and can be a spiritual community as legitimate as any other church in the real world. 2) Virtual church IS NOT church and should not be a substitute for physical participation in a spiritual community, BUT online campuses can be effective ministries of a church. 3) Virtual church IS NOT church and poses a danger to the incarnate expression of the church God intended.

I’ve just finished…

In recent weeks we’ve posted a number of articles on Out of Ur debating the nature of the church. This is an interesting turn in the conversation. For a few years now church leaders and theologians have been debating the nature and scope of the gospel. It seems that conversation has now spilled over into a debate about the church-what is it and what constitutes a legitimate expression of the church?On Out of Ur, Frank Viola speaks against the notion that any gathering of two or more Christians qualifies as “church.” And an excerpt from a new book features arguments pro and con the validity of internet based congregations.Today I came across a blog post by Kyle Strobel that’s definitely worth reading. Based on what’s being discussed on Ur,…