Don’t forget to change your clocks back one hour tonight, or else you will arrive at church fifty-five minutes early tomorrow … instead of five minutes late.

Related post: The Thief

Are you having trouble promoting small groups (home groups, growth groups, life groups, etc.) in your church? Perhaps Yoda can help. In this video Yoda shares about his first experience at a small group. May the Force be with you!

(Video length: 1:39)

“Who wants some Cheetos?” (Mace Windu)

Related posts:

• Star Wars Pumpkins
• Tim Keller and Darth Vader
• Darth Vader Plays a Mean Harmonica
• Jedi Squirrels
• George Lucas Syndrome

I am teaching my oldest son church history this year, so I just had to put this one up. (Perhaps he can use it to study for his final.) I am not sure whether they should call it the Modern Church Historical or the Modern Church Hysterical!

(Video length: 2:34)

Parody of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Modern Major General covering the entire history of the church. From Paul Aldrich Comedy. (HT: MMI)

Ben Witherington posted a mammoth four-part review of Frank Viola’s Reimagining Church and then invited Frank to respond. The links are below.

Ben’s review:

• Frank Viola’s Reimagining Church– Part One
• Frank Viola’s Reimagining Church– Part Two
• Frank Viola’s Reimagining Church– Part Three
• Frank Viola’s Reimagining Church– Part Four

Frank’s response:

• Reimagining Church– A Frank Response Part One
• Reimagining Church– A Frank Response Part Two

Closing words from Ben and Frank:

• EPILOGUE TO A FRANK DISCUSSION
• A FRANK CODA

Ben has some strong critiques of Frank’s book and doesn’t pull any punches, yet the conversation remains respectful throughout. It is nice to see two Christians treating each other with civility and grace even when they disagree with each other — especially on the internet of all places!

Related post: Ben Witherington critiques Pagan Christianity

Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, attends Wasilla Bible Church, a non-denominational church in Wasilla, Alaska. The Christian Post has an interesting article about what took place at Palin’s church on Sunday. Apparently there were quite a few guests in attendance.

• Pastor Larry Kroon welcomed the attendees including the journalists and guests who were visiting.
• The pastor asked any reporters who might be in the crowd to respect church members’ opportunity to worship. “This isn’t the place to be fishing for interviews,” he said.
• He asked the congregants to pray for all of the candidates for president and vice president, and to be thankful that all four are willing to provide the nation with their public service.
• He urged churchgoers to “pray for the press.” Kroon said the media are to be “cherished and respected,” citing 19th century philosopher Alexander de Tocqueville’s works describing a free press and freedom of religion as essential pillars of democracy.
• He urged congregants to do their own thorough research and investigations when deciding who to vote for.

That all sounds reasonable to me. What do you think?

Related posts:

• Palin, Prayer and Pipelines
• Palin, Prayer and Precedent
• Journalists Code of Ethics
• Sarah Palin Roundup

                      (Photo from BiblePlaces.com)

The new ESV Study Bible Blog has a helpful article on the Gamla Synagogue which was built during the first century B.C and destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 67. The synagogue was never rebuilt which gives us a glimpse of what the synagogue would have looked like in the first century A.D. The structure measures 84 x 56 feet (26 x 17 m) and could have held a few hundred people sitting on rows of stone benches which lined the walls.

Here is a typical order of service for synagogue worship during the first century A.D. (from Luke, New American Commentary, by Robert H. Stein):

• Singing of a psalm
• Reading of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21)
• Prayers (including set prayers, like the Eighteen Blessings [the Shemoneh Esreh)
• Reading of the Law in Hebrew (then translated into Aramaic for those who didn’t know Hebrew)
• Reading of the Prophets in Hebrew (and in Aramaic)
• Sermon/teaching on the Scripture passages
• Concluding blessing/benediction by the ruler of the synagogue

Tony Kummer has some great advice on how to handle low summer attendance at church. Tony’s tips were directed towards children’s ministers, but I think they are great tips for all of us in churches.

1. Give thanks to God for those who have come.
2. Pray for those who are absent.
3. Remember that every child [person] matters to God.
4. Take advantage of the smaller crowd to build relationships.
5. Keep working hard and trust God to bring in the numbers.

Be sure to visit Tony’s blog and read the full post.

Brad Wright is associate professor at the University of Connecticut where he studies the sociology of Christianity. I enjoy reading Brad’s blog which offers up an interesting mixture of sociological analysis, Christian reflections, great photography and just plain fun.

Brad has written an excellent 13-part review of the recently published book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters, by David Kinnaman (president of the George Barna Institute) and Gabe Lyons (of the Fermi Project). The book is based on research from the Barna Group.

Here are the links to Brad’s series. Part five is especially good as Brad questions the lack of peer-review process in much research on Christianity and the church. Parts seven and eight are also very interesting as Brad compares the supposed “image problem” of Christianity with other groups, such as Atheists, Muslims, Hispanics and Jews. Finally, part thirteen raises the issue of the purpose of applied research on Christianity: Should research on Christianity be primarily useful or accurate? The whole series is excellent, and I encourage you to read through all the posts as time allows.

Part 1: Review of UnChristian
Part 2: Summary of Findings
Part 3: Reactions to UnChristian
Part 4: What Works Well
Part 5: Critiquing Research about Christianity
Part 6: Do Christians have an image problem? Compared to whom?
Part 7: Comparing the image of Christianity to other groups (I)
Part 8: Comparing the image of Christianity to other groups (II)
Part 9: Comparing the image of Christianity to other groups (III)
Part 10: Have attitudes toward Christianity changed over time?
Part 11: Age vs. cohort effects
Part 12: Evangelicals embrace of negative stereotypes
Part 13: Should research on Christianity be primarily useful or accurate?

Related posts:
    • A Sociologist Reviews Willow Creek’s Reveal Study

Piedmont College professor Barbara Brown Taylor laments her Christian students’ lack of knowledge of church history and tradition.

They never noticed that Matthew and Luke tell different stories of Jesus’ birth, or that Mark and John tell no such stories at all. They never imagined that the first Christians did not walk around with New Testaments in their pockets. No one ever told them about Constantine, Augustine, Benedict or Martin Luther. They never thought about what happened during the centuries between Jesus’ resurrection and their own professions of faith. In their minds, they fell in line behind the disciples, picking up the proclamation of the gospel where those simple fishermen left off …

College students in all other regards, they remain fifth graders in religion. How, when they meet someone who asks them intelligent questions about their faith, will they come up with equally intelligent answers? Keep your class notes, I tell them. You never know when you may need them.

Oh, the irony: Less than ten percent of adults in the United States tithe. The latest report from the Barna Group focuses on Trends in Tithing and Donating. Here are some of the results:

In 2007, the research revealed that just 5% of adults tithed. Not surprisingly, some population groups were more likely than others to have given away at least ten percent of their income. Among the most generous segments were evangelicals (24% of whom tithed); conservatives (12%); people who had prayed, read the Bible and attended a church service during the past week (12%); charismatic or Pentecostal Christians (11%); and registered Republicans (10%).

Interestingly, Christians gave the most of any one group of donors, and evangelical Christians gave the most of any Christian group.

Christians tend to be the most generous group of donors. An examination of the three dominant subgroups within the Christian community showed that evangelicals, the 7% of the population who are most committed to the Christian faith, donated a mean of $4260 to all non-profit entities in 2007. Non-evangelical born again Christians, who represent another 37% of the public, donated a mean of $1581. The other 42% of the Christian population, who are aligned with a Christian church but are not born again, donated a mean of $865. Overall, the three segments of the Christian community averaged donations of $1426.

From Christianity Today:

In the larger REVEAL survey taken by 200 churches, people were asked what they want most from their church. Three of the top four responses were:

1. Help me understand the Bible in greater depth.
2. Help me develop a closer personal relationship with Christ.
3. Challenge me to grow and take the next step in my faith.

What do you want most from church?

Related posts:

• Willow Creek Shifts Model Based on Reveal
• A Sociologist Reviews Willow Creek’s Reveal Study
• Quick Takes – 11/17/2007

Willow Creek Community Church basically wrote the book when it comes to seeker-sensitive churches in the United States. But now Willow Creek has announced a major shift in their model of ministry, based on the results of their Reveal Study published last fall.

Greg Hawkins, executive pastor at Willow … said they’re making the biggest changes to the church in over 30 years. For three decades Willow has been focused on making the church appealing to seekers. But the research shows that it’s the mature believers that drive everything in the church—including evangelism … Hawkins says, “Our strategy to reach seekers is now about focusing on the mature believers. This is a huge shift for Willow.”

In June Willow will end their mid-week worship service geared towards believers. Instead the church will offer classes for people at different stages of growth. Willow’s weekend seeker services are also being re-tooled.

In the past Willow believed that seekers didn’t want large doses of the Bible or deep worship music. They didn’t want to be challenged. Now their seeker-sensitive services are loaded with worship music, prayer, Scripture readings, and more challenging teaching from the Bible.

So, what are your thoughts?

Related posts:

• What Do People Want Most from Church?
• A Sociologist Reviews Willow Creek’s Reveal Study
• Quick Takes – 11/17/2007