More thoughts on Where I think the church will be in twenty + years...

I recieved this comment on my previous post "Where I think the church will be in twenty + years..." and I just had to write my comments on it. I know I am sort of rambling here, but I have a lot of questions and a lot to discuss. Please join me in this discussion. I would love to hear what everyone thinks.

Krismisstree posted...

“Interesting...what's your take on the Hebrews 10:25 verse, then? Don't give up
meeting together as some are in the habit of doing? Do you think that command is
'covered' by meeting in small weekly groups, and not getting direct food from a
church service preaching the Word? Just curious on your take on Hebrews 10:25
and how it relates to your post.”

Hebrews 10:25 says "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (NIV)

I am not suggesting that all meeting together will be stopped by what the future has in store. Today I was talking to a professor from Central Baptist Theological Seminary and he was saying that “home churches” have been on the rise. They are the people who don’t find the conventional church appealing to them, so they have a church in a more comfortable setting. That is a lot of what I mean by small family groups/Bible studies.

Church doesn't necessarily have to be a structured, liturgical style. As long as people are coming together to worship God, does He really care how it is done? Granted, there will be those that will only get their spiritual “food” from what they listen to on their I-Pods or what-have-you. If those people are to truly live in the Word of God, they will understand that fellowship is an important part of being a Christian.

They will need to have someone to bounce questions off of. However, like we are doing here, they may still not come face to face. I think eventually if they understand, and are reached out to by those that are a part of a community (whether bigger or smaller), they will join a community and have that fellowship.

I do believe that each person needs to have a day of rest. How that person chooses to rest is a part of their own lifestyle. Each person is different. In this day of age, not every person has the liberty to be off of work on Sundays. Therefore the church needs to be flexible with how they offer that fellowship to individuals. If that means that the only time someone can join in some kind of worship is with a small group, at least they are in fellowship and worshiping a God who knows all and understands.

Does that make any sense? Does it matter if someone is hearing the word through preaching or discussion? Can a discussion take place of a sermon? What do traditional sermons do for you? Do you really come away from a traditional sermon every week wanting to implement everything you just heard into your daily life? If you had to choose, which would you prefer as a worship setting... the traditional church or small family style discussion group worship?

Let me know what you think.

Where I think the church will be in twenty + years...

I must say, looking at my church today and looking at where I think it will be in the next twenty years, I don't see it being at all the same.

With the advent of webcast ministries, and the ever popular I-Pod, I think the Church is going to have to figure out how to reach those of this technology savvy world. We are a society of constant motion and multi-tasking. Churches may find they have members who want to listen to the weekly sermon while riding mass transit to and from work. In the working world it is also a known fact that the younger generation has strong ties to family. We’re seeing more and more where families spend their weekends together, not in church. Making church services available anytime will provide the desired spiritual lessons people are seeking on their terms not on the terms of the church. Along with this, churches need to be open to giving up the traditional Sunday morning worship for a more family friendly evening session

The "old" way is dying, and that may be bad or it may be good. There will still be those who will need to attend a church in a "church building" but I see more people getting their spiritual fulfillment over the internet. Churches are going to have to start sharing their buildings, or selling them to move to smaller, more environmentally friendly buildings, so they have less to maintain on their own. They will not always have the monetary funds to keep a church building up and running. Churches will have to choose between having a great, nice, huge, archaic building, and having a meaningful and productive ministry to the world. Christians will have to figure out how to reach the world and those who are lost through alternate means.

The sense of community that a church provides will have to be broken down into smaller groups. I don’t see the huge gatherings of people coming together but a couple of times a year (i.e. Christmas, Easter, and a couple of other special days.) Sermons are going to have to be extremely relevant to a person’s everyday life, or they will get bored and go someplace else for advice. Small “family” group Bible studies focused on relevant issues may be the main source of religion for many people.

Pastors may have to change tactics in the way they work. Bi-vocational pastors may become the norm. If the church as we know it now still exists, the standard sermon will have to be altered to a way that makes people think and want to come back that next week to hear more (Isn’t that the ultimate challenge now?!)

People are less and less willing to give up their money to an entity in which they don’t feel connected closely to. Church giving is down in almost every single church in the United States. However, when a crisis comes along, people will give up their Starbucks for a week to help out. For example, when the tsunami hit on Dec. 26, 2005 in South Asia, churches came together and gave millions upon millions of dollars to the cause. When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, churches gathered together money, manpower, and supplies and contributed to that cause. Mission opportunities will need to be available for people to attend. This will need to be spearheaded by mission-minded people. Churches will have to be willing to reach out to other churches and become communities with other churches to make these options viable.

As for mega-churches... I think the gigantic, make-me-feel-good, not have to think because I am being told what to think, churches are going the way of the smaller Bible studies and smaller, more connected churches. However, each church has to find its niche market (to use business terms) and appeal to the people that will support it. Each age group and ethnic group will have to be satisfied and that means each church will have to be different. Churches will have to understand that they can’t reach everyone, but they can help those people they don’t appeal to find a church that does appeal to them. Therefore, churches need to be connected to one another through the wider church community.

16 Month Old Can Read!!

This video is amazing!! You must go see it.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?from=msnextra&fg=gtlv2&mkt=en-us&showPlaylist=true&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:d08578c7-81bf-4cc0-8c13-db119e392bf2

Why aren't we in our 20s considered "adults" in anything but government....?

I was reading a demographic description of a church today and I saw something that made me so very mad. It said that their congregation has 5 children under 10 years old; 10 teenagers and 20s; and an even mixture of people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Do you see anything wrong with this??? I do, and I am becoming increasing frustrated with our society. People say that we are the "future" and they need to listen to us, but when it comes time to actually listen or count, we get pushed aside and put into the "to young to know any better" category.

I was told once by a boss that I didn't know anything because I was too young to know. She said that she was my age once and thought she knew everything and that I am the same way. I think I know everything. (Well, when she is 50 and doesn't know how to run the internet and I obviously do, I think I know something.)

Anyway, religious institutions frustrate me also. They say that they are fading away and the only way they can stay alive is to bring in younger people. Well, when it comes time for those younger people to become a part of that religious institution they don't listen to them and they push them aside telling them that they don't know anything! No wonder churches cannot hold on to their young people.

When they are pushed out and told that until they are 40 years old they don't matter, the church shouldn't count on them being there till they are 40 years old. By then, however, those people will be stuck in their ways and won't go back to church. Therefore, the church, or religious institution, will cease to exist!

Oh, I am just sooo frustrated. How can religious people be sooooo dense? Don't they remember when they were that age? Well, they might, but they weren't allowed to have any control either. So once they finally did get some control, they are hanging on to it and just doing the same thing their elders did to them!

As my husband has said about this same thing "You can either bang your head against the wall and drive yourself crazy...or you can quite caring and only look out for yourself and say who cares about anyone or anything else. Why do you think our generation has turned out the way we are? When people comment that our generation is a bunch of selfish people that only care about themselves...this is exactly why!"

Why do you think a lot of the people in our generation like the mega church. So they can walk in, sit down, not connect with anyone, and not have to worry about being told they don't matter. Mega churches are florishing because the younger generations don't have to care and don't have to worry about their ideas being shot down every time they present one because they are "too young to know any better."

I better stop now. I am just frustrated.... Any thoughts would be welcome....

Recent pictures of Jet

Jet was being such a poser the other day. Here are some of the shots we got. :-)

Abolish the Fat Tax!

If you do anything today, I think you should go read this. It is about being fat, and obeisty, and all the stuff that goes along with it. I have to say that I agree with this article.
http://www.slate.com/id/2184475/pagenum/all/#page_start

I really need to get back on track

I dreaded stepping on the scale this morning. I didn't follow the WW this weekend and I paid for it dearly. Plus I haven't been able to work out since last Monday. I'll explain that later. But anyway, the scale said 255. I haven't been that high for a long time now. This is agrivating me, but I haven't been following WW very closely since Christmas and now I realize I need to.

Well, I went onto my WW website and put in my points for the week and I was over 50 points! That is over and above my weekly allowance of 35 points too. Now I know why I gained 3 pounds! Oh that sounds so bad saying it like that.

As for the working out. I was called in to work on Friday because my co-workers Dad was put in the hospital. Then we went to my parent's house for the weekend and I skipped working out any, and ate a lot. Then, when I was supposed to go in and workout on Monday, we were driving home from my parents' because we had been snowed in. Then I had to work yesterday.

But!!!!...... I did work out some last night (Tuesday night). I was going to go to the gym but I couldn't find my membership card. So, I took 15 minutes and walked up and down our flight of stairs. (Each time I went up I took something that had to go upstairs with me so I was multi-tasking!) But then, when Biggest Loser came on at 7:00 I ran in place, did crunches, and push-ups for 1/2 hour. I should have done it through the entire show, but I got lazy. I don't know why but I am having motivation issues right now.

Well, it is back to the grind. I am going to try and be better this week and really keep track of my points and work out (except I can't Friday cause I am going to have to work). I'll do some this weekend then.

Weight Watchers Update

Well, I have been procrastinating putting my weight watchers stuff back up on here because I gained quite a bit over the Christmas holiday and haven't been able to get it back off.

I am now (as of yesterday morning) at 253. I have given up pop. Really, this time! I haven't had one since Tuesday Feb. 5! I feel like an alcoholic saying that I have been "sober" for a week and 2 days now! :)

Anyway, I was going to try and give up on "white" sugar, but with Valentine's day looming, I just couldn't. The chocolate was just calling my name! So, I am trying to be moderate with the sweets and really not eat too much of them.

As for the exercise, I have started something new. On my days off (not counting weekends) I go to the gym and walk/run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Usually I burn around 250 calories. Then I do a little bit of weight lifting and then go home. I usually only do that on Mondays and Fridays.

On Tuesday nights, when I am watching "The Biggest Loser" I do an hour of different workouts in front of the TV. For example, this past Tuesday I ran in place for about 30 minutes, then I put two dining room chairs in front of me and did some step aerobics for about 5 minutes. (I about died!) I then did sidesteps for about 10 minutes. I did 30 pushups and then did probably 50 crunches, 20 side crunches (on each side), and then did some stretches. Then I did 30 minutes of "Shimmy."

Ok, so "Shimmy" is a really cool show on the Fit TV channel. It is a belly-dancing workout. I really like it. It isn't too hard, and it really is working my belly. It is getting flatter and fitter. Obviously not too much cause well, it's still there! :) But I really like doing the Shimmy workout. I try to do that on the weekends, but if James and I are doing other things around the house I don't usually get to. But thats ok, at least I am up moving around.

Well, I think that is all for now. I will try to keep up dating from now on.

My sister's babies! February 6, 2008

Here are a couple of pictures of Elizabeth and Dan's babies. Elizabeth said "the doctor said the kids we all a great size for their age. A-10 oz., B-9 oz. and C-11 oz. They didn't measure length but they should be around 6 inches from head to rump." I think they are at 18 weeks. I am not sure though. I'll get more information soon. She should be posting all of the pictures they have on her blog, which is http://nebelsicktriplets.blogspot.com somtime soon. So here are a few of the pics.


This picture is of the two boys. They are kind of huddled together. The one you can really see is Baby A. He was cooperating Elizabeth says.

This picture is of Baby B, the girl!!

The picture below is of Baby B (the girl) kissing Baby C's (a boy) head.

Honest to God

"We avoid Lent and Holy Week because it isn’t a happy and uplifting time—but to be honest, neither is most of life. Sometimes we come to church all scrubbed up, dressed nicely, with smiles on our faces, and when people ask how we are, we reply that everything is fine and we even boast how wonderful things are—but it is all a lie. Life is not always uplifting, or wonderful, or pleasant, or joyous—but we have been taught the lie that for spiritual people like us, it must be so. So we become play actors, hypocrites—telling ourselves that by lying, we are having faith, and that if we lie enough, the bad things will fade away, like a dream upon awakening." -Rev. Ken Collins

Read the rest of this essay at http://www.kencollins.com/hope-23.htm. It is very interesting!