Beth wrote on my wall on Facebook (you should be on facebook if you are not) and referred me to a Batterson Blog post. But if you went beyond the post and read the comments, there were some AWESOME ideas...Here are a few that I think would really work well and speak to a need. They are NOT my ideas. I put them in blue and then I ask you a question below:
PARADOX.
Week 1: Tithing (90% blessed is better than 100% cursed)
Week 2: Sabbath Day's Rest (6 Days blessed is better than 7 days cursed)
Week 3: Serving (the world measures success by how many people serve you, but God measures success by how many people you serve)
Week 4: Grace (we're saved by faith, but works matter)
"What I Wish Someone Had Told me" it's a walk through some life lessons out of proverbs.
"Crave" about craving the things of God. Making lots of sensory ties with food for this one.
"Karma". Basically disproving this secular theory with biblical truths. (BRIAN: what if we did 3 weeks addressing 3 'new age' kinds of topics: Karma, Reincarnation, ???)
Doing a series called Crazy in August...focusing on our crazy calling, our crazy mission as a church (it's our anniversary), and showing crazy love to our community.this will lead us into September, where we're doing a series called Amazing Grace, where we will basically present the gospel. The idea is for these two series to go hand in hand...fire our people up about our mission and challenge them to invite, and then follow up with a series built on the Gospel.
Some of these are very workable for us. Do any of these really strike you? Why?
Thoughts on Life, Leadership and The Church
I am struck by the last two ideas: Karma and Crazy.
ReplyDeleteI can already think of some songs. But more importantly, I think out of all the proposed topics, these are very fresh for us. Crazy follows well after Unexpected Adventure. Karma is important, because people need to hear it, and we haven't really done it before.
My two cents worth.
(Karma, Reincarnation, ???) In trying to find a third subject I tried to identify the shared meaning of the first two in the perspective of a non-believer. They both have to do with explaining away abstract concepts with the belief that all things are cyclical or circular. Karma: What goes around comes around. Reincarnation: A person’s spirit gets recycled into some other physical form after death. So, in order to stay on point the three week series should include the subjects (Karma, Reincarnation, Haley's Comet).
ReplyDeleteI pretty much have to echo what Connie said. This is very intresting, Erwin Lutzer actually has a whole series devoted to God being incompatible with new-ageish/eastern polytheistic pantheons. I think Robbie Zacariah has something like that too. But yeah everything in your post sounds like pure awsome.
ReplyDeleteAlong the lines of Karma, Reincarnation (probably not a big issue in our neck of the woods) etc. Instead of just disproving those false views would we be so BOLD as to incorporate the Christian view (the Gospel of Jesus and the rest of God's Word, our Bible...who He is and claimed to be, our natural born state, what He did, why He did it etc)and here is what I am calling BOLD...Would we dare say the teachings in the Bible are absolute truth. Jn. 17:17? The teachings of the Bible are the only way/Way? Christianity is an exclusive religion all others are false at some point. Meaning it claims to be the ONLY way to an eternal relationship with God. I call it BOLD because I SO often, even in the halls of PCC hear..."This is what I think" or "I respect your/his/her views and they should respect mine." That just says to me, you're ok, I'm ok we're all in the same boat headed to where ever our belief takes us. Brian, I believe you have a gifted way of speaking the truth in a loving compassionate way without compromise. This would step on toes. Hopefully some would get crushed but through the help of the Spirit and your gift of teaching, hearts would begin to see more of God and less of self and what "I think."
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