Read part 1 of ‘Redefining Radical’

Consider who is celebrated in most churches. Typically it is the person who is engaged in “full time Christian work”–the pastor or missionary, or people who pursue social causes that result in a big and measurable impact. (Who isn’t talking about William Wilberforce these days?) Similarly, those who behave like pastors or missionaries periodically in their workplace, neighborhood, or perhaps on a short-term trip overseas are praised for these actions. But a church will rarely, if ever, celebrate a person’s “ordinary” life and work.

For example, Andy Crouch tells about a pastor he met in Boston. The pastor recounted the story of a woman in his congregation who was a lawyer for the Environmental Protection Agency. She played a vital role in…

How do you define success? It goes without saying that those committed to Jesus Christ and his purposes in the world ought to define success differently than other people. After all, Jesus himself refused his culture’s narrow view of success; in fact he regularly clashed with his own disciples about it. While they were excited by growing crowds and political power, Jesus reminded them that “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34). Faithfulness to the Father led Jesus to defy the crowds and accept the cross.

A lot has been said about the danger of putting church growth and effectiveness ahead of all else. Gordon MacDonald calls this temptation missionalism and powerfully explains how younger…

(This prayer is attributed to Oscar Romero, archbishop of El Salvador. He was assassinated in 1980 while saying the mass in San Salvador.)

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set…

Last week I came across one of those news articles that makes you wonder if we’re all just flying upside down. This headline comes from the Telegraph in the UK”Council sets up scrutiny panel – to scrutinize its scrutiny panels”

A spokesperson from the Wealden District Council said a working party was established in July to oversee the decisions of its three existing scrutiny panels and to “scrutinize the Council’s scrutiny arrangements.” It sounds to me like the citizens of Wealden District are the ones getting scrutted…but I digress. The article continues:

Mark Wallace, from the Taxpayers Alliance, said: “Whilst it may be well-intentioned the council appear to have wrapped themselves up in knots and ended up in an absurd situation. By all means they should

…

Mike Foster thinks we should stop calling ourselves “Pastor.” In a tweet last summer he wrote: “If I don’t make employees/clients call me ‘Creative Principal Mike’ then why do some expect ‘Pastor’ in front of their name?”

He’s not the only one dropping the “Pastor” prefix. Erwin McManus is known as the “Cultural Architect of Mosaic.” I’ve also met a few executive pastors who are the”Chief of Staff.”

Maybe they’re all on to something. After all, “pastor” doesn’t carry the cache it once did. According to one survey the profession of “pastor” is near the bottom of the list of most-respected professions…just above “car salesman.” To make matters worse, pastors don’t seem to think very highly of their profession either. The following stats come from The Fuller…

Today I’m at Northwestern University to speak at the “Leadership for a Religiously Diverse World” conference hosted by the Interfaith Youth Core. I’ll be sitting on a panel with representatives from a number of other faiths to discuss why we believe cooperation between religions in worth the effort.

I was connected with the conference and IFYC through Eboo Patel, the president of IFYC. Eboo and I actually grew up together in Glen Ellyn, IL, and attended elementary through high school together. We lost contact after high school, but our lives took interesting parallel paths. Eboo’s parents and my father both immigrated to the US from India. And after years of exploration, Eboo came to embrace Islam and pursue issues of interfaith cooperation. I, on the other hand, committed…

I’m in Atlanta this week for the Catalyst Conference. The blog I manage for Leadership journal, Out of Ur, is one of the official blog sites for the event. I’ll be posting regularly on the site, as will Marshall Shelley, Kevin Miller, and Drew Dyck. You can keep track of what’s happening at OutofUr.com.

If you’re at Catalyst, let me know. It’d be nice to see some friends and interact with Leadership subscribers and Urbanites.

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