While we’re talking about having children, here’s an illuminating excerpt from Rodney Clapp about the way consumerism impacts our society’s view of children. Right now we are working on the summer issue of Leadership Journal on the theme of “Generations.” At least part of that will explore the possible shortcomings of segmenting the church by age, and the impact of viewing children as a separate, rather than core, part of the church community. I believe consumerism, as Clapp explains, is part of the reason.

This comes from his 1996 article “Why the Devil Takes VISA.” I highly recommend reading the entire (but lengthy) piece.  It was immensely helpful in my research while writing The Divine Commodity.

The excerpt:

Another sign that consumption is our way of life is the profound societal…

In my last post I discussed the belief that singleness is leading to a decline in church attendance. Traditional marriage defendants like Al Mohler believe that if more Christians would marry at a younger age they would not only “grow up” faster, but they’d also realize how important the local church is for their lives.Let’s take that logic one (big) step further. Today NPR featured a piece on the Quiverfull movement. These are conservative Christians who do not practice any form of birth control. They find biblical justification in Psalm 127:

“Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

The belief that children are a blessing from God is a wonderful doctrine of Christianity. And…

Two weeks ago the American Religious Identification Survey [ARIS] released its findings and announced that “secular” Americans now account for 15 percent of the population. That is up from 8 percent in 1990 and just 2 percent in 1962. Among the young the trend is even higher. Only 25 percent of people between 21 and 45 years old regularly attend church. Who is responsible for this dramatic downturn in commitment to church attendance? According to Al Mohler there are two culprits: the government and single adults.

In a blog post from March 19, Al Mohler discusses a column in The Wall Street Journal by W. Bradford Wilcox who believes “the expansion of the government sector to offer cradle-to-grave social services contributes to the secularization of society.” According to Wilcox, and Mohler…

Michael Spencer has written a very sobering article in The Christian Science Monitor. The entire piece is worth reading. An excerpt:

Despite all of these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has already said, “Christianity loves a crumbling empire.”

We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century.

We need new evangelicalism that learns from the past and listens more carefully to what God says about being His people in the midst of a powerful, idolatrous culture.

I’m not a prophet. My view of evangelicalism…

What’s the point of Lent? That’s a question worth asking given that many Christians seem opposed to traditions not found in Scripture. (Of course most people have no problem observing Christmas. The Puritans rejected the holiday for the same reason some contemporary Christians reject Lent…it’s not biblical.) My friend Bob Hyatt has posted his thoughts about Lent on his blog. Here’s an excerpt:

So what is Lent about for me?

Learning to say no. It’s about detaching from many of the things I have attached to unthinkingly, not because they aren’t valuable or are necessarily bad for me, but so that I can look at my life, assess what my real priorities are and begin, when this period is over, to reattach to certain things more thoughtfully. And perhaps, leave some…

Some of you might be aware that I am part of an upstart network of church leaders. The team currently includes Dan Kimball, Josh Fox, Dave Gibbons, John Park, Erwin McManus, Eric Bryant, Scot McKnight, Rick McKinley, Margaret Feinberg, Mark Batterson, Naeem Fazal, and myself. We had our first gathering last month in San Diego to dream about what this community should become.

The group has been using Mosiac’s Origins Project as a starting base, but we realize the network needs it’s own name and digital home. Over 600 people have registered for the network through the Origins Project website, and now we’re asking everyone for help brainstorming a new name and focus for the group. Dan Kimball sent out an email update last week, and everyone on the…