Marginal Christianity

The church is not called to change the world, it's called to participate in and witness to the changed world brought by Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension. I posted this earlier on my facebook status and one friend responded: “I think that would change the world.” I agree but not perhaps in the sense my friend means and not as I suspect many American Christians, progressive or evangelical believe. My thesis is this: “Changing the world” is a mantra that has been present in many ways in American Christianity throughout its existence. Some of it came from post-millenial thought. Steven Pointer explains: “During most of the nineteenth century, American Protestants believed they were living in special times, that current events were hastening the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. Hymns like the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" became popular because they so well expressed this hope: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the...

Seth Richardson on December 23, 2015 This year, I’m dreaming of an apocalyptic Advent . I need fresh imagination for what God is doing in the waiting and hoping everyone keeps talking about, and I think it’s apocalyptic. That’s what Advent is, after all – the church’s choice to participate in the arrival , and then proleptic unfolding, of that Great Cataclysm: the Incarnation of the Son of God. In that Great Cataclysm, the Son unveiled God and made him known – at once answering, disrupting, and transforming the aching hope for deliverance. Yes, apocalyptic . Advent doesn’t really do much unless it’s apocalyptic . If Advent isn’t apocalyptic, then nothing ever changes. Advent is like the uncle who circles around once a year and stumbles into our living room. The routine feels a bit different from normal, but mostly predictable. It’s easy to put things back together like they were before, after he leaves. Read more at http://www.missioalliance.org/an-apocalyptic-advent/...

  Posted on September 16, 2014 by David Fitch — No Comments ↓ Several times, after presenting to a group of pastors on re-shaping the practice of the church for Mission, I lead a closing session where I ask pastors to share their top reasons for why “this will never work.” Last Spring I was in Nebraska leading a pastor’s workshop for the American Baptist Pastors, and during this session one of the pastors gave me his top ten reasons in written form. I think they are great. My apologies to the pastor who wrote this list because I do not have his name. The list is instructive as to what blocks congregations from change. Here’s the list in bold, along with my quick responses in italics. What other hurdles do you face in leading change in your church body? What responses might you have to this list? 1. “We’ve never done it that way before!”   And that’s possibly why we need to do this? Change requires doing something different than what ha...

http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/03/5-crucial-lessons-for-the-left-from-naomi-kleins-new-book/ September 3, 2014 by Ethan Corey and Jessica Corbett   This post first appeared at In These Times . Naomi Klein (Photo: Dale Robbins)   In her previous books  The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism  (2007) and  NO LOGO: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs  (2000), Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein took on topics like neoliberal “shock therapy,” consumerism, globalization and “disaster capitalism,” extensively documenting the forces behind the dramatic rise in economic inequality and environmental degradation over the past 50 years. But in her new book,  This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate  (due in stores September 16), Klein casts her gaze toward the future, arguing that the dangers of climate change demand radical action now to ward off catastrophe. She certainly isn’t alone in pointing out the urgency...

http://alutheransayswhat.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/invisible-paths-and-standing-in-the-gap/ March 8, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized — bweier001 @ 5:02 am Tags: culture change , God's mission , Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , mainline Protestant churches , transitions I don ’t think I would be offering anyone new information if I said to you, “we are in transition .” Now you might ask me where specifically we are in transition but I am afraid I would just respond to you with a shrug and say, “everywhere.” Because it’s true. We are in transition in our educational systems , we are in transition in our governmental systems, we are in transition in our communication systems, we are in transition in our churches, we are in transition in our homes. We are in transition. We are currently standing in the gap of where we were and where we are going. We can see the black abyss underneath our feet and it’s as frightening as all hell. Not only are we standing in the gap bu...

http://www.faithandleadership.com/blog/09-24-2013/leading-world-unreliable-information The changing context that corporate leaders face is akin to the “explosion of a supernova.” I was taken aback by this observation in the introduction to the 2013 Duke Corporate Education survey of global CEOs . “This supernova event has accelerated the move to an interdependent world and has untethered many of the assumptions and beliefs that leaders have depended on to frame their leadership,” the report says. In a weird way, I was comforted to think that 38 CEOs across the globe wake up worried about what they don’t know. Most Christian leaders have the same sense of uncertainty, but from a strikingly different sense of loss. In the 2013 CEO study, Duke Corporate Education made these three observations about information being less reliable: 1. “Access to knowledge is uncontrollable, and shelf life is low.” The internet makes information available to all and makes the publicatio...

From Take the Stairs: Seven Steps to Achieving True Success , by Rory Vaden, six tips for getting over the 30-day hump and sticking to New Year’s resolutions (or any other attempts to change): ( http://msainfo.us/2013/01/08/2013-living-on-purpose/ ) Pick one resolution – or pick none. We suck at multitasking. The more goals you have, the more difficult it is to achieve any of them – because the time and energy it takes to make behavior changes is spread too thin. Put a price tag on your failure. When we break commitments in life, there are consequences. Your resolution is a commitment to yourself, so there should be a cost if you don’t follow through. My friend promised his business partner $2500 if he didn’t lose 50 pounds in six months. Do you think he achieved that goal? You bet. Don’t measure your results – measure your efforts. Focus on stellar efforts – not results . Set a weekly alarm on your calendar. Schedul...

What really inspires positive change is hope, not fear, according to a leading writer on change and innovation. He uses compelling case studies to show how heart patients, criminals, drug addicts and multibillion-dollar corporations can improve their future prospects by embracing change that at first may seem impossible. “My research shows that what really stimulates and sustains a change effort is getting positive results, really being able to feel tangible benefits from the change fairly early on,” said Deutschman, former executive director of Unboundary, a strategy consulting firm for top executives. Deutschman also spent 19 years as a business journalist in Silicon Valley. He has profiled innovators around the world and discovered some of what makes up effective leadership, especially during times of change. His book outlines the “three F’s” -- facts, fear and force -- which he said are often employed but ultimately doomed to failure as change agents. Instead, he said, they...