BeChurch

I was just thinking about how much the internet has affected my life and outlook on reality. I'm starting to see how something as simple as message boards have had a profound impact on my way of thinking and my way of relating to others and authorities. I'm finding it more and more difficult to accept articles and books that don't offer me the opportunity to talk back to the author or to share my oppinions on what has been said. It's like I feel ripped off that I can't have my say on whatever it is. I have even subconsciously began to boycott websites that don't give me the opportunity to critique the articles they have posted. I get so mad that I can't talk back.

I find it fascinating that internet culture has so inflamed my pride. It's becoming all about me! I can stand to surf places where I'm not a part of what's going on. I like blogs with comments (even though I don't know how to get them myself) I like sites with an email address to the writers so I can tell them what I think or what I disagree with, I like my opinion, my voice to be heard. I like to be able to ask questions to the person who wrote the article or essay that I am reading. I almost expect it! I sometimes feel that if you wrote it for people to read you have a responsibility to allow people to ask questions or to make coments on your logic or thoughts. (it might be wrong, but that's how I feel sometimes!)

I think this is a something that's beginning to affect our worldview today. people need their voice to be heard and need to be albe to interact with the media that they are using. It's really making me think about how this will affect our culture in the future.
-How will the need for interactivity affect the education system?
-How will this need affect literature and essays?
-How is this affecting our view of authority? Especially since we feel we should have the opportunity to critique and have our opinions heard. What happens to the idea of submission to authorities or government? Or the Law?
-How will this affect ministry and church?
-Are sermons out of date... should we move to a more interactive teaching style?
-Should we have a little comment card (whatever that looks like..email, whatever..) that people can fill out at the end of church to tell us what they liked, what sucked, questions they might have... you know... that kind of stuff.
-how would you lead and interactive church as a pastor? Would we just end up being people pleasers? Would the congregation end up doing all the leading while the pastor is pushed around like a little boat in big waves?

just some thoughts... I've been wrestling with this for a few weeks now, and I'm hoping to make sense of it pretty soon. I think it's another key in how I can reach the people that God is calling me to reach.

anyway.. I'll probably write more on this later....

jamie



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Well.... It's been so darn long. I wish that I could get more regular with this whole blogging thing. It's been quite insane for the last couple of months. I'm just barely managing to keep up with what I HAVE to do. I just got married four months ago and all of a sudden I'm realizing the new stresses and business that goes with that. You don't think when you're single that it will be that much different, but it really is. All of a sudden I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to support my family and all of that stuff. I've finally discovered the "worries of the world" that Paul talks about. Right now Em (my wife) isn't working so we're really relying on God to take care of us. My job pays pretty well (for someone my age and with my experience) and I have always had more than enough, but since Em has been home it's been pretty tight. God has come through so often though. About a month ago someone from my small group felt led by god to give us $1000. What's most amazing about it is that the girl who gave it to us doesn't have very much herself. It was such a blessing. The day before we got it Em prayed for $1000 so that we could stay on top of our bills.... and He came through. Just wild. It's still been rough though. Our car hasn't been starting properly and a bunch of other stuff has gone wrong with it. We've dumped a couple of grand into it in the last 3 months. I've also had to pay a fortune on dental work ( a consequence from a few years of travelling and living on the street) Not good!!

Anyway... Other than all of the junk, stuff is going alright. The gathering that we have on thursday nights is going really well. I guess you could call it a small group, but it's not really the same. We're not doing it as part of a church. I just felt that God was leading me to start a group and to gather some people up. Part of it was to help me to grow in my faith and the other part is to be a blessing to others with the gifts that God has given me. The things that have been going on have been great. One of the main focuses lately has been something I call inreach. I'll probably write something on it in the next little while. the jist of it is that we as the church spend a lot of time trying to show the world that we love them, but then we stop loving them once they become a part of the church. We're good at saying that we love people and we do lots of acts of kindness, but it seems that we're not really good at loving our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. God really spoke to me a few weeks ago and told me that it was important to start working on really loving each other within the church. If we can get that right, then the outreach stuff becomes easy (we have a group that people will want to join, because they will know that we are a loving community). So I've been really working on building inreach into our groups DNA. Every week we try to meet each others physical needs by asking for what we need and offering what we have. (that's why the girl in our group gave us a grand... she had it to give and she felt that we could use it) We have seen tons of money change hands and lots of cool (sometimes wierd) stuff change hands. Everything from sun tan lotion to lava lamps and shower curtains. it's really going good. I'm finding that it's really knitting us together as a group as well...expecially my focus on guerilla giving. I'm trying to pick people in the group to serve and do nice things for throughout the week. I don't always succeed at getting it done, but for the whole week that person is in my mind. By the end of the week I feel closer to that person cuz they've been the focus of my spare time. With eveyone doing this the relationships can grow a lot faster.
Ok... I'm starting to preach on this now so I'm gonna move on...

The last few weeks has been a real time of intense study for me. I naturally lean to the brainy side of things, but lately I've been sort of stuck there. It seems like every day I have a zillion new questions that I need to find answers for or there's a bunch of poeple who are asking me to explain different theological concepts to them. i really love it. this is the stuff that I live for. The only problem I'm finding right now is that I don't have very many people in my life who have the answers to some of the questions that I"m having. I can answer questions for others, and I have a really good knowledge and resource base, but some of the topics I'm trying to resolve are too tough for a lot of people including my pastors. Em is trying to set me up with some profs at a local bible school so that I can chat with them. That way I'll be able to get some of the answers that I need. I'm really excited about it. I'm always dreaming that I could have the opportunity to go to seminary, but I just can't afford it and I'm missing the required BA to get in. I wish that I could just take the courses without having to spend four years to get there. Maybe later this summer I'll be able to catch some of the lectures at regent college in vancouver. They've got some good stuff going on there.

anyway... I've got to jet, but I promis I'll try to write more often. I just noticed today that I'm mentioned on someone else's blog so I guess I have a responsibility. I don't want people showing up here on a link and not finding anything. If you're one of those people.. I'm so sorry!!!! I'll try to get my act together and write some good stuff.


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