Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of [...]
Category Archives: Movement lifecycle
Drifting in calm waters
7 July, 2010 – 4:55 PM
Our nature lies in movement; complete calm is death. Blaise Pascal I caught up with an old friend a few years ago over coffee. He confided in me that he wasn’t sure if he believed in hell any more. He was a church leader with an evangelical background. He didn’t seem concerned. After all, he [...]
A case study in decline
6 July, 2010 – 7:32 PM
There is nothing more important to the vitality of a movement than it’s commitment to its core beliefs. Dynamic movements hold both orthodoxy (core beliefs) and engagement with the culture in creative tension. About a year ago my denomination (Baptist Union of Victoria) reappointed its New Testament professor, Dr Keith Dyer. The appointment was supported [...]
Neither “Progressive” nor “Christian”
6 July, 2010 – 1:25 AM
Earlier this year the Common Dreams conference drew together people from Australia, North America and the South Pacific to Melbourne, to explore ways that ”progressive religion” can contribute positively to the common good. I’ve just listened to a two part series on “Progressive Christianity” based around interviews with keynote speakers and participants. The interviews are [...]
Those wobbling bishops
2 July, 2010 – 9:04 PM
The Ugly Vicar explains the dynamics of how church leaders come to undermine the very beliefs and values they are called to uphold. Note the public silence of key moral issues until they build a consensus to change rules and regulations. The only effective response to this undermining of the Christian faith? — radical principled [...]
Why this deafening silence?
1 July, 2010 – 10:06 AM
But the intent of the same-sex ‘ ‘sacred union ceremony” at Brunswick Uniting Church was fairly clear: vows and rings were exchanged, there were prayers and blessings, and a multi-tiered white cake to aid post-service celebrations.
The Uniting Church of Australia has come a long way in the last 30 years since it was formed out of the union of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches.
Missional angst
3 June, 2010 – 9:44 AM
In 1997, Scott Adams the creator of the Dilbert cartoons, masqueraded as a management consultant to Logitech executives. He convinced the executives of the Logitech company to replace their existing mission statement with this one: to scout profitable growth opportunities in relationships, both internally and externally, in emerging, mission-inclusive markets, and explore new paradigms and [...]
The fall from greatness
21 April, 2010 – 4:07 PM
I’ve come to see institutional decline like a staged disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the early stages, easier to detect but harder to cure in the later stages. An institution can look strong on the outside but already be sick on the inside, dangerously on the cusp of a precipitous fall. [...]
How Brian McLaren lost his way
20 April, 2010 – 12:37 PM
Brian’s new kind of Christianity is quite old. And the problem is that it’s not old enough. Scott McKnight McKnight does an outstanding job of reviewing Brian McLaren’s ‘A New Kind of Christianity’ and explains why he thinks McLaren has drifted from both evangelicalism and orthodoxy and wandered wandered down the path of 19th Century [...]
British Methodists prepare to die
8 April, 2010 – 2:12 PM
We are prepared to go out of existence not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission. Rev David Gamble, Methodist Conference President (third from right). Addressing the Church of England’s General Synod, February 11, 2010. Once a world changing movement under John Wesley, the Methodist church has seen [...]
