Life or Death Questions for the Church?

I personally don't see anything that I would disagree with in those eight questions....I believe in the right context they are great questions to be asked and an important path to follow in examining what we are doing and why we are doing it.
 
1. Are we really all about Jesus?
Is He the head? Does He have pre-eminence? Are we clear with people that it is to Jesus, and not to a consumer-oriented experience that we are inviting them? Attraction is good. Jesus was attractive. But are we honest about to Whom we are inviting people?

2. Will we hold tightly to our historical, biblical theology?
Will biblical inerrancy, which has survived a tough struggle in some circles, continue to thrive among evangelical leaders? Will we be faithful to the word of Him who is the one and only Way, Truth and Life?

I think that if these two questions even need to be asked, the church is in deep trouble. I also understand that some do look at church with a consumer, what's in it for me mentality....but surely the church body isn't crass enough to purposely advocate such a method for simply drawing a crowd.

Biblical inerrancy isn't the problem as much as Biblical practice in my experience.
Many claim to believe in inerrancy, but their practice often doesn't reflect it.



3. Will we place our need to control, which is based on fear, on the altar as a sacrifice and begin to rely on the Holy Spirit?
Will we trust His undershepherds without the red tape of boards, committees and votes? Will we listen to Hebrews 13:17?

I thought from reading the FFF, the dictator Pastor was the greater threat. :)

4. Will we embrace people from other cultures and backgrounds?
Will we finally put to death the idea of the “white church,” “black church,” “hispanic church,” etc.? Can we value our cultural heritage without the competitive idea that my culture is better than your culture?

I think question 4 is based on a flawed view of the church as a whole. Even in the south, this attitude is in decline.
 
5. Will we create a safe place for people to deal with their hurts, habits and hang-ups in the light of the gospel?

Can we ever assure people that we won’t use their past against them and handcuff them to their shame?
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That makes the assumption we aren't doing that, already.

6. Can
we grow up and get over our demand for our own preferences to be met?

Will we be able to adapt our communication to the language of humanity instead of church-ese? Will we welcome newcomers with love and wisdom, and listen and learn from them rather than leaving the responsibility of adaptation to them?
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I don't know what he really means by most of that.

7. Will we make prayer and submission to God the priority over polished productions and performances?
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He's obviously speaking to the hip, relevant, laser light show churches with that...:D


8. Will we take risks?

Spend money, change names, reconstitute, relaunch, help the new church plant down the street, and venture into new mission fields by faith rather than remaining safe and comfortable? Not all of these apply to everyone, of course, but will we take the necessary risks?
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I just think he's making broad, general, stereo-typical assumptions.
 
[quote author=Tarheel Baptist]6. Can
we grow up and get over our demand for our own preferences to be met?

Will we be able to adapt our communication to the language of humanity instead of church-ese? Will we welcome newcomers with love and wisdom, and listen and learn from them rather than leaving the responsibility of adaptation to them?
Click to expand...

I don't know what he really means by most of that.[/quote]

I think he is just talking about how we tend to use "church talk" to describe things to non-believers and expect them to know what we are talking about. We can talk about "the gospel" or "sanctification" or "substitutionary atonement" or "propitiation" all day long, but if John Q doesn't know what those terms mean, it's not doing him any good. (I'll agree with him, but I'll also point out that we should expect baby Christians to grown into big Christians and learn some of these hard terms.)

[quote author=Tarheel Baptist]
7. Will we make prayer and submission to God the priority over polished productions and performances?
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He's obviously speaking to the hip, relevant, laser light show churches with that...:D[/quote]

I thought he was talking about Schaap with the "polished" reference. ;)

[quote author=Tarheel Baptist]
8. Will we take risks?

Spend money, change names, reconstitute, relaunch, help the new church plant down the street, and venture into new mission fields by faith rather than remaining safe and comfortable? Not all of these apply to everyone, of course, but will we take the necessary risks?
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I just think he's making broad, general, stereo-typical assumptions.[/quote]

I pretty much agree with what he's saying but I think your comment here is accurate. He's talking as though every church is on fire because of how they answer these questions where there might just be a candle burning at many (if not most) churches.
 
I thought it came across as a quiz somewhat akin to what you might have seen in Seventeen or Redbook.
 
Anchor said:
I thought it came across as a quiz somewhat akin to what you might have seen in Seventeen or Redbook.
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"What your congregation is really thinking"
"Seven steps to a better Or.....dination"
"Saintly summer hair"
"His six secret soul spots"
"Ways to look saintly"
"How to really turn on... your building fund drive"
"The one thing every pastor wants...but is afraid to ask for"
 
Anchor said:
I thought it came across as a quiz somewhat akin to what you might have seen in Seventeen or Redbook.
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I so disappointed that you know what's in Seventeen and Redbook!  :D
 
They are very good questions. But the blogger starts with the erroneous assumption that we all are or want to be "American evangelicals", a particular movement  I was part of, but no longer wish to have any association with. Accordingly, I don't think the right answers are the same as he does, and I might phrase some of the questions a little differntly too. I may come back to this later; I don't have time now.
 
Izdaari said:
They are very good questions. But the blogger starts with the erroneous assumption that we all are or want to be "American evangelicals", a particular movement  I was part of, but no longer wish to have any association with. Accordingly, I don't think the right answers are the same as he does, and I might phrase some of the questions a little differntly too. I may come back to this later; I don't have time now.
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He was writing in a forum for evangelicals, so that's understandable.
My problem is that he bases many of the questions on broad assumptions.
 
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