Sunday night reflections

Another Sunday, another Broncos loss! Bummer! And even worse the Raiders won. Yet in spite of that we had a great day. Here's some rambling thoughts about today:

• We had a great crowd at church this morning
• I loved the worship music today!
• It was awesome to have Tessa play this morning (thanks Tessa!)
  
• We finished up our series on the Essentials: I am really looking forward to Jesus coming back!
• I found this funny movie about Jesus this morning (I laughed out loud!)
  
• We continue to have a great response to the Reading the Bible for All It's Worth class
• The Rockies forced a one game playoff against the Padres for a playoff spot!
• Luke Hochevar started his first major league game today against the Cleveland Indians!
• Marnie goes to Denver tomorrow to begin planning with the team for their trip to India in February
• Bayleigh needs to get some sleep after sleeping over at a friend's house last night!
• For the first time in 3 weeks I don't have a funeral scheduled for this week!
• Bayleigh beat me in Yahtzee

Good night Wray

What would they say about us?

Another Barna Update is out and this one looks at how Christianity is perceived by young people in our country. The news is not encouraging. So according to Barna, how do young people view Christianity? "...just 16% of non-Christians in their late teens and twenties said they have a "
'good impression' of Christianity." Ouch. For evangelicals, the news gets worse: "The new study shows that only 3% of 16 - to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals."

Apparently many Christians are aware of this. I know as a pastor I am. Here's what the study found from pastors: "Among senior pastors, half contend that 'ministry is more difficult than ever before because people are increasingly hostile and negative toward Christianity.'"

What is driving this negative image of Christianity? Read on:

The study explored twenty specific images related to Christianity, including ten favorable and ten unfavorable perceptions. Among young non-Christians, nine out of the top 12 perceptions were negative. Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%) - representing large proportions of young outsiders who attach these negative labels to Christians. The most common favorable perceptions were that Christianity teaches the same basic ideas as other religions (82%), has good values and principles (76%), is friendly (71%), and is a faith they respect (55%)

Ouch again! But researchers found that young Christians also feel many of the same things!

Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical, and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.

If I'm honest, I'd have to agree with these young church goers. My experience with Christians has sadly often proven these perceptions to be true: that Christians are judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, and out of touch with reality. (As to too political, I think Christians can often be blindly loyal to a particular political party and agenda. Perhaps that is the subject of a future post!)

Apparently experience has influenced the views of these young people. David Kinnaman who worked on this project had this to say:

Going into this three-year project, I assumed that people’s perceptions were generally soft, based on misinformation, and would gradually morph into more traditional views. But then, as we probed why young people had come to such conclusions, I was surprised how much their perceptions were rooted in specific stories and personal interactions with Christians and in churches. When they labeled Christians as judgmental this was not merely spiritual defensiveness. It was frequently the result of truly ‘unChristian’ experiences. We discovered that the descriptions that young people offered of Christianity were more thoughtful, nuanced, and experiential than expected.

These attitudes have been shaped by young people's experience with Christians! Ouch yet again!

That brings me to my question for our church: what would they say about us? How are we perceived in our community? Do people see us as judgmental, hypocritical, irrelevant, old-fashioned? If they do see us in a negative light, how do we change that?

I remember Jesus having something to say about this: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." It would seem we are not doing a very good job of this.

REVEAL

I'm reading a very challenging book called Reveal. It is based on research that was done at Willow Creek Community Church. Every few years, Willow has surveyed their congregation to get a feel for how they are doing. They want to know where they are so they can become more effective as a church.

Before doing any research, they made three hypotheses. They "hypothesized that spiritual growth depended on increasing participation in church activities."

They discovered that this wasn't true. They found that spiritual growth is related to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Not surprising if you ask me. What is clearly revealed is that church activities don't often help people develop a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Yikes!

So where are we, First Christian Church of Wray, Colorado? Does our church help you develop a growing relationship with Jesus Christ?

The research is ongoing and there is a blog that continues the conversation. In a recent post, charts were shown that reveal how the congregations of 20 different churches feel about their church's role in their spiritual growth and their own satisfaction concerning their spiritual growth. Ideally, churches want congregations who see their relationship with Jesus Christ as very important and feel that the church plays a positive role in their spiritual growth.

Is that the case with our church? Do you feel that your relationship with Jesus Christ is very important? Do you feel that the church is playing a positive role in your spiritual growth? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

Sunday Night Reflections

I'm watching the Cowboys vs. Bears game and reflecting on the day. Hopefully you all had a great Sunday!

Several thoughts about church today:

• Keep Norma Jean in your prayers. I here she's okay after her scare at church
• Marnie had a great time at Women of Faith this year! Sounds like it was an awesome event for all the gals that went
  
• I'm so excited about our Sunday school! We had 33 kids in 252Basics today and 28 adults in my class!
• Thank you to our great Sunday School teachers! You are all doing a great job!
• Thank you to everyone who gives so faithfully to our church! I knew this church was ready to step up and have it's own pastor again!
  
• I've enjoyed the sermon series on the Essentials
• In 2 or 3 weeks we will be starting our next sermon series Just Walk. This will be a great sermon series and I am being greatly challenged as I read Bill Hybel's book and prepare for this series.
• Marnie and I are preparing for a cruise to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary! We are both so excited and will be gone October 13-23!
• I was bummed watching the Broncos game...
• I'll be doing a funeral at the Methodist Church on Wednesday as Pastor Stott is out of town this week...glad I can help but a little anxious doing a funeral for someone I don't know

Good night Wray

Don't miss tomorrow!

I am really pumped up for Sunday School tomorrow! It is going to be a great class and I hope we will have some lively discussion. Tomorrow we will be learning how to study the epistles. You can preview some of the material here at Google books. Pretty cool that Zondervan made a lot of the book available for preview online. Have a look and come ready to learn tomorrow!

Also, you don't want to miss our Sunday morning service. It is filled with great worship music, communion, and a message on the church! It'll be great and you'll be disappointed if you miss it!

Tattooed Bill and remorse

Tattooed Bill
Originally uploaded by Lorcan Otway

Have you ever done something that you later regret doing? Maybe you took a job that didn't work out. Maybe you bought a car that was always in need of repair. Maybe you threw something out that you later wish you had kept.

According to this article, apparently growing numbers of people regret their decision to get a tattoo.

The American Academy of Dermatology reports tattoo regret is common inthe United States. Among a group of 18- to 50-year-olds surveyed in 2004, 24 percent reported having a tattoo and 17 percent of those considered getting their tattoo removed.

Wow! That's a lot of remorse!

Our decisions and behaviors have consequences. This is often a difficult lesson for many people to learn. In our new Sunday School curriculum called 252Basics, we seek to teach kids three basic truths. One truth we want kids to learn is, I need to make the wise choice. Just think if every kid that comes to our church internalized this basic truth. How would this impact their life? How would it impact our community?

I'm not seeking to pass judgment on those who get tattoos. I don't believe it is wrong or necessarily an unwise decision. But if it is something that you might regret later and can only reverse through a "painful, expensive and time-consuming" process then perhaps you shouldn't do it.

And if you have a girlfriend or boyfriend you might want to rethink your plan to permanently etch your undying love for them into your skin. According to Dr. Karempelis, "the most popular tattoos to be removed in his office are the names of old boyfriends and former spouses."

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Hochevar's Major League Debut!

Looks like Brian, Carmen, and Dylan were able to attend Luke's major league debut on Saturday night! By all accounts his first major league outing was a success! Way to go Luke!

You can read the story here.

Sunday night reflections

We had a great day today at church! At 9:30 it didn't look very promising for the morning worship service but by 9:40 we had close to a full house! I sure hope everyone is enjoying the worship. I know I am.

Yesterday was the first day for our new Sunday School class on "How to Read the Bible." We had 31 folks stay for Sunday School! I am thrilled and humbled. Hopefully everyone found the class to be interesting and something they look forward to each week.

Sunday night, we had a men's BBQ. Several of us got together for burgers and brats. It was a great time and I hope to see the men in our church get together more often.

Time is short

Today is a very difficult day. This afternoon I am officiating a funeral for a man from our community. His family says he wasn't a very religious man...

I always struggle with what a pastor (typically a very religious person) should say at a funeral of someone who wasn't very religious.
This morning, I also received news that a young man from our community died tragically. Sometimes words seem so shallow when the pain is so deep.

We never know when it might be our time. We don't know how many more days we may have. This should motivate followers of Jesus to be passionate witnesses to the work and person of Jesus Christ. How are we doing church? Are we witnessing to Jesus in our words, in our actions, in our homes, in our work, in all we do?

When we finish our sermon series on the essentials, we will be doing a series called "Just Walk Across the Room." It is based on a book by the same name by Bill Hybels. I hope and pray this series will place an all-consuming passion in each of us to invest in the lives of those around us so that we may invite them connect with God through Jesus Christ.

Finally I offer a prayer for the grieving: Lord bless these grieving families in our community. Jesus, call in the Holy Spirit to comfort, guide, and counsel these families in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. Amen.

Don't miss Sunday!

I am really excited about this upcoming Sunday. Not only is it the beginning of the Denver Broncos regular season but it is also the beginning of a 9 week class called "How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth". It is based on the book by the same name.

Also this Sunday, our children's ministry begins a new season using a wonderful curriculum developed by North Point Community Church called 252Basics. Please be sure to get your kids here for a great time of singing, sharing, and learning. This month's virtue is initiative.

We also continue our sermon series on The Essentials. This week come to here some really funny and embarrassing stories about me as we look at what Scripture teaches concerning humanity.

Then Sunday night we have a Men's BBQ at 6pm. I am really looking forward to getting the men in our church together and hope to make this a regular part of our life together.

It's going to be a great Sunday...don't miss it or you'll hate yourself!