Lenten Series:
    1. What is Lent?
    2. Should Christians Celebrate Lent?
    3. What is Ash Wednesday?
    4. Should I Give Something Up for Lent?
    5. Giving Up Church for Lent

I once received a phone call from a woman who told me she would not be at church for the next several weeks. I asked her if she was going away, and she replied, “No, I’m giving up church for Lent.” I said, “Excuse me?” and she said, “I’m giving up church for Lent.” I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” She explained that she observes Lent every year and that this year she wanted to give up something that really meant a lot to her. She loves going to church and thought that would be a perfect thing to give up for Lent. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was determined. True to her word, she didn’t come back to church until Easter Sunday. She told me later, “I really missed church. It was a big sacrifice for me.”

My thoughts? Well, I agree if you are going to give up something for God, it should be something meaningful, rather than just chocolate or American Idol. (See my earlier post: Should I Give Something Up for Lent?) But somehow I don’t think God wants you to give up things like church attendance, Bible reading, or prayer. What is the strangest thing you have ever heard someone giving up for Lent?

One of our stated core values as a church is that the church is for children as well as for adults.

“We believe that children can become believers, grow spiritually and serve the church body, and therefore, we will have ministries designed to equip and facilitate this process.” (from Agawam Church of the Bible Core Values Statement)

As a result, we encourage our young people to serve in the church. Probably the most visible way our young people serve is on the church worship team, but others help with Sunday morning set-up, running the sound system, children’s church, nursery, and other areas. So I found it interesting to read that John Calvin also encouraged children to serve in the musical ministry of the church.

“The ministers expect the singing of psalms to have a positive influence on the prayers and on the glorification of the name of God. A number of qualified children are to be selected to lead the congregation in the singing of the psalms.” (Wulfert de Greef, The Writings of John Calvin, p. 111)

Does your church encourage young people to serve? If so, in what ways?

HT: Expository Thoughts

Here is your official New England Church Weather Report for 2009:

    1) Wake up.
    2) Look outside.
    3) If it is snowing, it must be Sunday.

Oh well, at least that’s the way it seems to be working out so far this year. Maybe we’ll get a snow-free Sunday next week?

Brad Wright reviews Willow Creek’s Follow Me: What’s Next for You? (Reveal II) by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson. What’s the difference between Reveal and Follow Me?

Reveal uncovers and explains a spiritual continuum that identifies four segments of the spiritual journey … Follow Me focuses on movement—the vital things that catalyze growth and move people from one segment to the next on the spiritual continuum.

Here are the links to Brad’s 13-part review:

Part 1:  A Review of Willow Creek’s Follow Me: What’s Next for You?
Part 2:  Summary of Findings
Part 3:  Strengths of the Study
Part 4:  Why Collect Data
Part 5:  What’s New?
Part 6:  Answering longitudinal questions with cross-sectional data
Part 7:  Which comes first? Spiritual growth or behaviors and attitudes?
Part 8:  Is the spiritual continuum a useful concept?
Part 9:  Do church services matter? Apparently yes.
Part 10:  The gap between importance and satisfaction
Part 11  Is academic research of value to the church?
Part 12:  Do breakthrough findings exist?
Part 13:  Conclusion

Related posts:
    • A Sociologist Reviews UnChristian
    • Willow Creek Shifts Model Based on Reveal
    • A Sociologist Reviews Willow Creek’s Reveal Study

From New Zealand: Church wants to set up self-contained city.

The leader of Destiny Church says plans are underway to create a self-contained “Destiny City” for its followers in the middle of South Auckland … Plans for the city include a 5000-seat church, maraes, medical centres and schools – eliminating the need for residents to ever leave. “Every child of every member of this church will never go to a state school again,” Mr Tamaki said. He urged the church’s 7000-plus members to sell their homes and move to his city “for the purpose of God”. (HT: MMI)

Even beyond the obvious financial abuse and manipulation, there is just so much wrong with this picture. As believers we are called not to isolate ourselves from the world but to reach out to the world. We are to be in the world but not of the world. (John 17:14-15). Jesus himself set the example when he left the glories of heaven in order to walk this planet with us.

Listen to this short cut from the following song and then consider:  In what ways do we sometimes isolate ourselves from the world as Christians? In what ways could we do a better job of engaging the world for Christ?

Click “►” button to play | Length: 0:47
[audio:SaraGroves_ToTheMoon_sample.mp3]
Sara Groves; “To the Moon” (from the album Add to the Beauty)

“TO THE MOON” – by Sara Groves

It was there in the bulletin
We’re leaving soon
After the bake sale to raise funds for fuel
The rocket is ready and we’re going to
Take our church to the moon

There’ll be no one there to tell us we’re odd
No one to change our opinions of God
Just lots of rocks and this dusty sod
Here in our church on the moon

We know our liberties we know our rights
We know how to fight a very good fight
Just grab that last bag there and turn out the light
We’re taking our church to the moon
We’re taking our church to the moon
We’ll be leaving soon

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.