Style and Principle

I have a few blogs that I like to read ... some of them say things are I agree with, others don't, but both are important for defining what I truly believe.

Here are some comments from one of those blogs.

The third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson said something very profound nearly 200 years ago:

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."

In matters of style, the church has to swim with the current. We must be able to communicate and relate to people (both saved and unsaved) in a language they understand. Yes, we must be relevant to the culture and communities in which they live. That is why we have cowboy churches; Asian, Hispanic, and Chinese churches; hip hop churches; churches for men; contemporary churches, and traditional churches. It is a matter of style. It is a logical conclusion that to reach certain segments of society, the church needs to speak their language or relate to their style.

As Jefferson said, in matters of style, you have to (HAVE TO) swim with the current... In matters of principle, the church must stand like a rock. In areas of doctrine, right and wrong, and sin—the church must stand firm. It cannot waiver. It must stand like a rock. The confusion comes for some when they try to make style and principle the same. They are not. A successful church is one that can navigate the sometimes ferocious waters of style, and stay anchored to the rock of principle. In fact, if a church does not navigate the style current; it risks becoming ineffective in reaching the people it is trying to reach. How’s your church doing with style and principle?

Have you ever gotten the two confused? If so, Thomas Jefferson’s quote from nearly 200 years ago may help you communicate the difference between the two in a way that people will easily understand.

Thoughts to chew on today

Have a great Day

David

2008 Foursquare Report

This last Sunday we talked about everyone in the body of Christ is important. Which is very true ... they are placed there by God for a particular reason. The first reason is that you came into a living and lasting relationship with him.

Pastor Jack Hayford, president of The Foursquare Church, commented on the salvation's that were experienced in Foursquare churches outside the US churches by saying, “I praise the Lord for His faithfulness and blessing upon our churches around the globe. Rejoice with me as we celebrate the more than 2 million new souls born into the Kingdom in 2008. That is 6,768 souls saved every day--and that does not include those born again in Foursquare churches throughout the U.S.! We have already begun to experience God’s ‘plenteous redemption.’”

Here are the numbers.

In 2008 Foursquare Europe planted 17 new churches, and India, with a renewed vision for church planting, started more than 20 churches. Fiji had its first official convention and ordained 27 new pastors. God is moving in powerful ways; our prayers, along with the investments we have made in leadership development, are bearing much fruit.

Last year our overseas ministries reported the following:

• Salvations
  2,470,219 (53% increase)
• Water Baptisms
  628,200 (47% increase)
• Holy Spirit Baptisms
  794,165 (82% increase)
• Members
  3,770,789 (6% increase)
• Churches
  57,761 (7% increase)
• Ministers
  63,286 (3% increase)
• Bible Colleges/Inst.
  1,363 (191% increase)

So we an all praise the Lord for what he is doing world whide

Have a great day

David

Faith in America

This morning, I sat down to read some of my blogs ... and I came across a survey by The Barna Group, however, indicates that people's views have changed. The study discovered that half of all adults now contend that Christianity is just one of many options that Americans choose from and that a huge majority of adults pick and choose what they believe rather than adopt a church or denomination's slate of beliefs. Still, most people say their faith is becoming increasingly important as a source of personal moral guidance...

Over 50% of people agree that Christianity is no longer the faith that Americans automatically accept as their personal faith. 64% of evangelical Christians and 60% of Hispanics embraced this position.

By an overwhelming margin - 74% to 23% - adults agreed that their religious faith was becoming even more important to them than it used to be as a source of objective and reliable moral guidance.

By a three to one margin (71% to 26%) adults noted that they are personally more likely to develop their own set of religious beliefs than to accept a comprehensive set of beliefs taught by a particular church.

What are the implications? Here’s what Barna says:

Asked to describe what the research means for American society today, researcher George Barna offered several insights.

1. The Christian faith is less of a life perspective that challenges the supremacy of individualism as it is a faith being defined through individualism. Americans are increasingly comfortable picking and choosing what they deem to be helpful and accurate theological views and have become comfortable discarding the rest of the teachings in the Bible.

2. Growing numbers of people now serve as their own theologian-in-residence. One consequence is that Americans are embracing an unpredictable and contradictory body of beliefs. Barna pointed out, as examples, that millions of people who consider themselves to be Christian now believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the lessons it teaches at the same time that they believe Jesus Christ sinned. Millions also contend that they will experience eternal salvation because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior, but also believe that a person can do enough good works to earn eternal salvation.

3. In the past, when most people determined their theological and moral points of view, the alternatives from which they chose were exclusively of Christian options - e.g., the Methodist point of view, the Baptist perspective, Catholic teaching, and so forth. Today, Americans are more likely to pit a variety of non-Christian options against various Christian-based views. This has resulted in an abundance of unique worldviews based on personal combinations of theology drawn from a smattering of world religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam as well as secularism.

4. Faith, of whatever variety, is increasingly viral rather than pedagogical. With people spending less time reading the Bible, and becoming less engaged in activities that deepen their biblical literacy, faith views are more often adopted on the basis of dialogue, self-reflection, and observation than teaching. Feelings and emotions now play a significant role in the development of people's faith views - in many cases, much more significant than information-based exercises such as listening to preaching and participating in Bible study.

Things to think about.

David