I just watched Greg Hawkins' and Bill Hybels' videos on REVEAL, a study that was done that "revealed" that the megachurch way of doing church, of being "seeker-sensitive" enough to take the cross out of the church and rely on the programs that the church has to offer isn't doing it for people. But I'm not here to break it down for you. watch the videos, read the book, go to the website.
http://revealnow.com/story.asp?storyid=49 (Bill Hybels)
http://revealnow.com/story.asp?storyid=48 (Greg Hawkins)
Notice that their answer to the over-programming (and over-commoditization) of church is... (drumroll)...another commodity! "Personal spiritual growth trainers" or something to that effect. Awesome. The consumerism has made church lame. And now, let's get them a personal trainer so that they can then blame their lack of spiritual growth on their trainer. Yep. Sounds like a plan. Sign me up.
Okay, sarcasm aside, the question arises for me, "how do I get this rag-tag group of 25 or so inner-city youth to take the spiritual disciplines seriously? How do i distinguish between those that are ready for solitude and silence and prayer and those that need to be told that they aren't ugly and don't need to do drugs to fit in? What if there isn't so much of a distinction?" These aren't easy questions for someone like me to answer. They're not easy questions for anyone to answer. Anyway, I'm just wondering here. peace to you all. the Waiting is almost over!
one of these days, I'm gonna get around to writing about activism and ministry.
1 comment:
Hi, friend...
Well, as I'm not familiar with the writings you're referencing here, you're going to have to take this comment with a grain of salt.
That said, I'm not so sure that "personal spiritual growth trainers" are such a bad idea. Actually, that sounds like the sort of thing the First Century folk did with their catechumenates. Incidentally, I've heard Hauerwas and Co. advocate for a kind of ecclesial apprenticeship, assigning converts to correlate elders and letting them go at it.
Obviously the "personal trainer" language is a bit bizarre, especially to a rolly polly like me, but, I have to say, it's intriguing to be sure.
Post a Comment