More and more in my professional life, I'm coming face-to-face with situations that force me to ask myself, "Is this going to be something that feeds the flesh, or something that feeds the spirit?"
You would think that working at a Christian Non-Profit Organization would eliminate a lot of those predicaments, but in just a few short months I've quickly learned that, if anything, this growing threat to our shared faith is amplified in the explicitly 'Christian' arenas.
I suppose that could be due to a mix of factors, but the predominant one to me seems to be an over-emphasis on worldly means of attracting 'new business' at the expense of spiritual ones (i.e. faith and prayer).
The mere fact that there's so much talk of obtaining 'new business' of the 'secular' sort in the first place rather than talk of 'Christian programs' that will help to further spread the Gospel and mature those already within the Body of Christ underscores this point I think.
I just hate that it's becoming such a persistent issue in such a Christian environment.
Perhaps that's why this next article I came across from a 2004 Preaching Now magazine resonated with me.
It's an absolute shame that it's so-called 'Christians' who are most guilty of this sort of thing too. I mean, why is there this perpetual perspective present that says that we have to make God and His Word 'more relevant' to people living today? It's absurd.
Guess what? People are the same they've always been (Psalm 51:5) and God's Word is supposed to change us (2 Timothy 3:16); we're not supposed to change it.
One thing we must be ready for are situations that demand our willingness to be consistent in our faith; consistent not just in our private lives, but in our public lives as well (2 Timothy 4:2). Be ready.
Keep looking up!
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You would think that working at a Christian Non-Profit Organization would eliminate a lot of those predicaments, but in just a few short months I've quickly learned that, if anything, this growing threat to our shared faith is amplified in the explicitly 'Christian' arenas.
I suppose that could be due to a mix of factors, but the predominant one to me seems to be an over-emphasis on worldly means of attracting 'new business' at the expense of spiritual ones (i.e. faith and prayer).
The mere fact that there's so much talk of obtaining 'new business' of the 'secular' sort in the first place rather than talk of 'Christian programs' that will help to further spread the Gospel and mature those already within the Body of Christ underscores this point I think.
I just hate that it's becoming such a persistent issue in such a Christian environment.
Perhaps that's why this next article I came across from a 2004 Preaching Now magazine resonated with me.
Have any of you experienced this problem in your church yet? Your place of work maybe?
In a recent Breakpoint commentary, Chuck Colson cited a couple of examples of ways in which technology is driving churches:
"A congregation was faced with a financial dilemma. They had just installed a very expensive, high-end audio and video system for their church sanctuary and were way over budget. To solve the problem, the congregation decided to lay off one of its two pastors. Technology, they were forced to conclude, had a higher priority than pastoral care. In another congregation, the pastoral staff no longer makes decisions about what to preach. Instead, the authority falls to the technologists who run the high-tech worship. Their ability to get images to project during the service dictates the preaching topics."
I am an advocate of using technology as a tool to communicate more effectively in this visually-driven age. Nevertheless, even with a good tool, there are always dangers. (One only needs to see what I can accomplish with a perfectly good hammer and saw to realize that quality tools are not enough!)
In a quest to be cutting edge, some churches may be cutting the wrong things.
As Colson points out—citing Quentin Shultze's book High Tech Worship? Using Presentational Technologies Wisely— "if we're not careful, worship through technology 'can be reduced to engineering maximum impact on audiences. This mechanistic concept assumes that worship should be like a machine, calculated and packaged to meet spiritual and religious needs. 'When that happens, technology robs us of true worship.' He (Shultze) goes on to say, 'This is a deeply held belief in America: Money buys technology, which can improve just about everything. Yet technology doesn't improve 'just about everything.'
It does change just about everything, for it is not neutral. Technology changes the way we view the world, and when used in worship, it can change the way we view God, ourselves and our faith. Technology must always be a means, not an end."
It's an absolute shame that it's so-called 'Christians' who are most guilty of this sort of thing too. I mean, why is there this perpetual perspective present that says that we have to make God and His Word 'more relevant' to people living today? It's absurd.
Guess what? People are the same they've always been (Psalm 51:5) and God's Word is supposed to change us (2 Timothy 3:16); we're not supposed to change it.
One thing we must be ready for are situations that demand our willingness to be consistent in our faith; consistent not just in our private lives, but in our public lives as well (2 Timothy 4:2). Be ready.
Keep looking up!
Share|
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