Mission Shift: From Good News to Good Deeds

Wall Street Journal published a fascinating article by Brad Greenberg on the shift in missions from "preaching the gospel" to "serving the needy". It is entitled, "How Missionaries Lost their Chariots of Fire" and is worth the 3-4 minutes to read.

Supreme Court Ruling

There has been a fair amount of conversational stir created by the recent Supreme Court ruling, CLS vs Martinez. Since I am not a lawyer, I will refrain from adding my ignorance to the discussion. However, since others (like me) would like some perspective, I offer this link from Jesus Creed:

Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez: "T" Weighs In

Q Conference

ABC News did an interesting interview at the Q Conference on the "End of Christianity", as embraced by, well, Christians.

Thoughts?

Random Evangelism? Stop it!

"Random Evangelism" is a phrase I have heard often in my 30 plus years of ministry. I have heard it again a couple of times lately. But I wish it would go away. Why? Because there is no such thing of "random evangelism", at least for a Christ-centered, Spirit-filled witness.

The phrase "random evangelism" is used to describe the process of approaching strangers for the purpose of witness. But the word "random" means "lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance".

Since "evangelism is first and foremost a work of God" (a phrase I commonly use when teaching our Evangelism Model), it cannot be random unless God is not in it. The phrase "random evangelism" is a very man-centric view of evangelism and leaves one with an entirely wrong impression (or worse, the wrong mindset.)

I doubt this phrase is used broadly in Christian circles. But there is a certain ministry, of whom I am very fond, who has this ingrained in their language. My counsel is, (to quote Bob Newhart) "Stop it!"

I don't mean stop the practice of engaging strangers for the purpose of witness. The Sovereign God, Lord of the Harvest, still delights to work through such conversations when they are guided by his Spirit, motivated by love and practiced with genuine sensitivity and situational appropriateness. My counsel is to stop calling this "random".

Law & Gospel

Run, run, and work, the law commands, But gives me neither feet nor hands; But sweeter sounds the gospel brings, It bids me fly, and gives me wings. (Spurgeon)

The Illuminated Atheist

I have a casual interest in reading the writings and considering the thinking of atheists. I am generally intrigued by their logic, fascinated by their experience and concerned for their well-being. I don't have the time (or probably more honestly, the desire) to be an avid reader of their writings or engage deeply in on-going dialogue, but my interest is genuine.

So I take note of things like Fast Company's article: "Atheism Gets a Much Needed Rebranding". The intriguing quote is,

"Atheism is quite often mistakenly seen as a cold and distant world, rather than the beautiful, important, and engaging philosophy that it is," says Matt Luckhurst, a student in the School of Visual Arts Designer as Author MFA program.

It intrigues me to consider in what sense does an atheist see their philosophy of "beautiful"? "Important" and "engaging" are easier to understand. But the beauty of atheism? Intriguing.

Fortunately, Matt has provided a glimpse into reality as he perceives it with his website The Illuminated Atheist. It's mission is thus:

Illuminated Atheist is a website dedicated to making stories and writings of non-theism by illuminating them with exceptional artwork, design and photograpchy: subverting the concept of illuminated manuscripts the church once used to socialize its ideas. For those void of religion and full of belief.

"Void of religion and full of belief". A very winsome description of atheism. I'm looking forward to perusing this site more.

Return to Blogging

Been awhile since I have actively blogged. What does that suggest about the last two months? Yep, it is true. I have had my margin sucked up and energies focused on the ministry at hand. That is actually a good thing -- it means that I have been privileged to see God at work in many ways over the last two months.

Now that the summer slow-down is beginning (hopefully this is true and not just blind optimism), I intend to return to the things that I have learned, seen and experienced through the spring. I trust that this will have value to those of you who return to this blog.

Thanks for your engagement with me!

As Paul wrote & NIV translated...
"...to win as many as possible...by all possible means..." (1 Cor. 9:19, 22)
Keith