Hollyannewilliams

I'm moving out

2007-02-27T18:09:00.000-08:00

I'm really not sure that anyone reads this, since I pretty much never post, but I have started a new blog at wordpress which I plan to update regularly. So.....come check it out!!

Incarnational not Colonial

2006-08-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

The point of this session deals with the church not being willing to change with the culture.

I'm observing that there are three types of people here from the comments being made. There are people who disagree with everything being said, there are people who think they already know everything and he is really just speaking to the other people in the room, and then there are the people who are excited to hear what he has to say, because they are headed in teh right direction but know that there is always room for improvement. I have to say that the people in the first two groups really grate on my nerves, and I hope that I always will fall into the third catagory.

It is frustrating that the churches who need to learn the most about changing with the culture are the ones who refuse to listen.

Well that was my rant, but here's back to the point......

He states that the challenge is to incarnate the Gospel into a culture where the middle is dropping out and people are congregating at the extremes.

If you hug the middle of the road, you'll be hit by both sides of traffic. Churches like this will be roadkill.

How do you function in a culture of opposites?

The problem of either or, is a western one. Eastern culture is comfortable with "both and"

Our God is a God of extremes. He is three, He is One, they are the same. Jesus was fully God and Fully Man.

We need to build a bridge between extremes. You don't build a bridge by starting in the middle.

We need to connect people who are lost, with people who are in Christ.

I think this is a good point, connecting extremes..... If we take people from two extremes, whether it be economic status, generational exteremes, political allegiances...and through the church those extremes come together, they are connections that will stand out to the world.

In the post modern culture the way to reach people is not to preach the Gospel but to be the Gospel.

Lenard Sweet - Relational not Propositional

2006-08-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

The Key point to this session was that we often go out with the idea that we are bringing Jesus to a person, block, neighborhood, country, whatever. We need to come to an understanding that Jesus is already in those place, and working in those people's lives. What we need to due is tune into what Jesus is doing in those areas and allow Him to use us.

Also he pointed out that we are a culture hungry for Relationship. Even though we think of MySpace and AIM as things that keep us from face to face conversation, they really are a way of staying connected, and tehy cause us to want relationship even more. He pointed out that most advertising plays products off as something that develops a relationship.

The Uniqueness of Christianity is that it is a Relationship Religion. It isn't about following rules, but it is about knowing the One we Follow.

Related Leaders, Leanard Sweet http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

2006-08-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

Session One: From Attractional to Missional

I'm excited to be here with Lenard Sweet today. He spoke at Riverside yesterday morning, and I could tell right away that he was extremely intelligent. He just commands my respect because he knows what he's talking about.

He starts off by telling us that right now the church is operating from an APC base, Attractional, Propositional and Colonial, when we should focus on being Missional, Relational and Incarnational.

Len confronts us on the fact that the Gospel takes place out of doors. Jesus came and took Judaism, which met INDOORS, and reformed it as He preached outdoors. Many of our churches today spend our energy trying to attract people to our building when we should be attracting people to Christ.

The challenge is to become more missional, and to do this we need to create a new metaphor within our church. What kills us is the metaphor of Safety, that the church is a safe place to be. The truth is that while the center of God's will might not be the safest place, it is the only place for us to be. We need to change the image to safety to one of a safe place to take risks.

I am excited about this, and the fact that there are over 200 leaders from our state here today to be inspired to get out of their buildings!!

Missions and Ministry

2006-03-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading a book titled The Hip-Hop Church, and in it the author brings up an interesting point. Have you ever noticed that when we prepare for foreign missions, we spend time studying the culture and learning how to preach the Gospel in ways that will be relevant to them. When we try to reach the people of different cultures in our own community however, we expect them to conform to our ways of thinking. (The book puts it much better than I just did, but I don't have it in order to get the quote.)
Now, think about that in reference to the hip-hop culture. Hip-hop is not just a style of music but it effects the clothes, language and attitudes of the people who are part of it. Interestingly, hip-hop culture has managed to break down race barriers and draw people of different backgrounds together in ways that the church has not been able to do. The people who are living in this culture are in our neighborhoods, schools, and communities. Shouldn't the church take this as an example, and study the culture, developing ways to preach the Gospel in ways that are relevant to the people living in this culture? I think so.

Thoughts On Race

2006-03-27T12:59:00.000-08:00

I remember the first time I thought about the question of what it means to be white. At first I didn't have an answer, but I soon learned taht being white meant not being forced to confront my race. People of other colors, however, confront their race on a daily basis. Why is it that people take the time to say "I talked with a black man today" instead of not mentioning the race? If the man had been white, chances are that his race wouldn't be mentioned at all. I talked with one of my professors today, he is the one who got me thinking about issues of racial identity. I told that I want to teach this concept to 5th graders, which would involve breaking things down quite a bit. He suggested that I start by keeping a journal aobut my racial experiences as well as investigate further into the eurocentric lense, and how it effects the way I see the world. I would also like to learn more about the afrocentric lense and how it is different. Another thing he suggested was that I begin asking white people what it means to them to be white. If you are white, and reading this...

What does it mean to you to be white?

I hope that as I find out more about white racial identity and how it has formed the lense from which I see the world that I will be able to form a new lense for my own life that is not culturally biased, or at least as little as is possible, and that I can encourage others to do the same.

#1

2006-03-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

Well, I had to make this account so that I could comment on someone's blog....
Maybe I will start blogging now.....