National Back to Church Sunday, Sept. 13

This past week, I downloaded a free resource from backtochurch.com which says: "According to research conducted by Life-Way, the top two life-situations that prompt adults to stop attending church include being “too busy” (19%) and the burden of “family/home responsibilities” (17%). The next most common category of reasons involves disenchantment:
 

“Church members seemed hypocritical.”– 17%
“Church members were judgmental of others.” – 17%
“The church was run by a clique that discouraged involvement.” – 12%
"The church today is challenged to warmly welcome everyone who chooses to attend and to give them the opportunity to connect. Your
church cannot take responsibility for all the criticism, but you can work to provide a loving place for every attendee to discover—or rediscover—
God’s love and truth. Perhaps they will notice that things have changed since they last attended, or maybe even they themselves have changed. The outcome of a return visit is in God’s hands. Even so, the Church must do everything possible to provide a non-threatening
and loving entry into the family of God.”

Although the back to church website and campaign are directed at churches in the US, churches in Canada including our own congregation face the same challenge.  And I’m impressed by the back to church organization that followed up my website request for a free kit with a personal phone call to tell me that the kit is on its way, giving me a toll free number for any questions, and saying I’ll receive another call in a few weeks. That’s the kind of deliberate but non-threatening follow-up they recommend in welcoming people into the church, and I can see they practice what they preach!

Do you know someone who doesn’t come to church because they are too busy, or otherwise occupied with family/home responsibilities, or have become disenchanted? Does that describe your own situation?  How might we make Sept. 13 a back-to-church Sunday in our own congregation?

Aug 29, 2009 at 9:06 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Bad Parent/Good Parent

I read in last Saturday’s Vancouver Sun “Bad-parenting voyeurism is the new porn”—which highlighted the apparently boundless popular appetite for “Octomom” and other very public examples of bad parenting on tv and in the tabloids. It argued that “bad parenting has emerged as its own entertainment genre” where “as long as the children don’t appear to be in imminent danger, the more egregious the adult behaviour, the more they’re subject to public censure and, therefore, the more satisfying the viewing experiences.”

I didn’t watch the two-hour Octomom special--and Nadya Suleman is not a household name in our house--but still I read the article with interest since I’m very aware of other examples of bad parenting/good parenting, and how easy it is for us to focus on the bad with all of the indignant cluck-clucking and morbid fascination that the article describes.

The article also got me thinking: how do we support and encourage parents in good parenting? In our congregation, we celebrate the birth of a child with a flower, we pray for parents as they dedicate themselves and their children and dedicate ourselves as a church to support and assist them. That’s all good, but then what?

Some churches are deliberate about pairing new parents with more experienced mentoring parents. Others offer parenting classes. Or some kind of cradle roll system. What can be done beyond simply leaving parents and children to their own devices, to whatever models of good parenting and bad parenting that happen to be handy?

Parents, is there something that you would find helpful? 

Aug 28, 2009 at 9:34 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Jesus Matters Ordering Info

I've just received confirmation that I can use my author's discount to order copies of Jesus Matters: Good News for the 21st Century at about $13 Canadian including GST and shipping. The exact price will depend on how many we order, but it'll be less than the regular $19.54 Canadian plus shipping.

For the table of contents and a book excerpt, please see store.mpn.net/productdetails.cfm   To place your order at the reduced price, please add a comment to this email, or sign up at the Welcome Centre in the church foyer.

Aug 21, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Permalink

Comments (2)

Day-cation, Stay-cation, Vacation

A number of years ago, when Gary and I were living in Richmond, Virginia, some friends came to visit us with their three pre-school boys. At that time, their middle son couldn’t say “vacation,” and instead, he would happily announce, “We’re on day-cation.” Since then, we’ve used the word to mean any day trip, like the time we drove to Seattle for Gary’s birthday, or even going in to Vancouver for dim sum and a movie.

Recently I’ve been hearing about the “stay-cation” where people take a vacation from work but don’t actually go away anywhere. The term might be new, and tailor-made for these leaner economic times, but the concept is actually very familiar to me. In my family growing up, the stay-cation was more the rule than the exception, and even now I’m such a homebody and usually so much on the go that staying at home seems like a great luxury!

Day-cation, Stay-cation, Vacation—whatever this summer holds, I’m glad that God is never on vacation :-)   

Aug 14, 2009 at 5:37 PM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Prayers for a Privileged People

Every so often the name of Walter Brueggemann makes an appearance in one of our sermons. I’ve referred to him on a number of occasions, Rod quoted him last Sunday, and Charlotte Siemens noticed his name coming up as she prepared for a recent sermon at Eben-Ezer. Perhaps most well-known for his Old Testament scholarship, Brueggemann has also written a book called Prayers for a Privileged People.

Like Brueggemann, we too are “privileged people” with many many material resources, connections, and much power compared to the rest of the world. How do we pray? How can we pray? Brueggemann’s book is filled with prayers of confession, prayers of honesty, prayers of transformation. In some ways, these prayers are very much contextual and very much American, with references to the State of the Union and Superbowl Sunday, and what he says doesn't always match up with what I would say or how I would say it—and yet, as I read his prayers, I find myself praying also. “Enter the deep places of our life and claim us for your purposes. We would be more free than we are, more bold than we dare, more obedient than we choose. We wait for the gift of your large gift of life that will wrench us away from death to the miracle of Easter joy.”

Aug 9, 2009 at 6:13 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Jesus Matters - Now in Print!

A few weeks ago, I received my advance copies of Jesus Matters: good news for the 21st century, published by Herald Press, with a foreword by Shane Claiborne (of "Jesus for President" fame who seems to be speaking at youth and young adult events everywhere these days), and chapter one by yours truly. . . .

I haven't had a chance to read the finished book yet, but the process to this point has been very satisfying (see earlier posts, April 12, 2008 and March 14, 2009), and I'm excited now to see the book in print!

Copies were actually available at the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly in Saskatoon, and I understand that the book table sold out at that time--which I hope indicates a strong interest in the book, and not just that the book store had brought in too few copies in the first place!  Stan, did you get a chance to pick a copy up for the library?

Since then, I've also heard from the editors that funds were provided so that all lead pastors in Mennonite Church USA received a copy, as well as every leader for youth and young adults at the recent Mennonite Church USA Assembly (with over 4000 youth and young adults registered, that means a lot of young leaders!).

Since the book focuses on Jesus, and since our worship and preaching theme for  the coming year Sept-June 2009-2010 will be "Jesus Be the Centre," I hope that the book will be useful for us as a congregation as well.  And beyond that, I pray that it will also reach those in our community and world who are sorely in need of good news, the good news of Jesus.

I'll have more info soon on ordering books at a discounted price, so stay tuned!

Aug 2, 2009 at 7:24 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post