Tag: gathering

Mótsstaður Guðs og manneskja

Hugvekja/prédikun flutt í Langholtskirkju á kirkjudegi safnaðarins, 14. sunnudegi eftir Trinitatis, 25. september 2011. Notast var við A-textaröð (Slm 146, Gal 5.16-24 og Lk 17.11-19).

Ég var á Heilsudögum karla í Vatnaskógi, sumarbúðum KFUM og KFUK fyrir réttri viku. Heilsudagar marka lok sumarstarfsins í Vatnaskógi en þá mæta yfirleitt um 50 karlar á aldrinum 17-99 ára í skóginn, taka til hendinni í hvers kyns verkefnum og njóta samveru hver með öðrum. Continue reading Mótsstaður Guðs og manneskja

Fast Five

Freedom without responsibility, is not a real freedom. To be free does not take away our responsibility for each other. The message is clear in the movie about the Fast Folks. We are responsible for our own kin, our people, our family. We are called to care for the community we belong to, are part of. Continue reading Fast Five

Söfnuður sem heimahöfn

Ég var að glugga í bækur um hlutverk og stöðu kristninnar á fyrstu tveimur öldunum eftir Krist, m.a. í ljósi deilna postulanna í Jerúsalem og Páls. Það er áhugavert að kristni er í upphafi fyrst og fremst borgartrú, þ.e. hún dreifist, vex og dafnar í borgarumhverfi. Lykilleikmenn í útbreiðslunni eru iðnmenntaðir farandverkamenn sem fara úr einni borg í aðra og stunda iðn sína. Gæði samgangna og færanleiki vinnuafls (mobility) í rómverska keisaraveldinu eru auðvitað vel þekktar stærðir. Ekki síður mikilvægt er að þessi færanleiki kallar á þörfina fyrir “fjölskyldu” fjarri blóðfjölskyldunni og skapar kjöraðstæður fyrir safnaðaruppbyggingu og samfélag.  Continue reading Söfnuður sem heimahöfn

How Facebook Killed the Church

Sure, Millennials will report that the “reason” they are leaving the church is due to its perceived hypocrisy or shallowness. My argument is that while this might be the proximate cause the more distal cause is social computing. Already connected Millennials have the luxury to kick the church to the curb. This is the position of strength that other generations did not have. We fussed about the church but, at the end of the day, you went to stay connected. For us, church was Facebook!

via Experimental Theology: How Facebook Killed the Church.

Thoughts about the “Tribal Church” by Carol Howard Merritt

When a young person walks into a church, it’s a significant moment, because no one expects her to go and nothing pressures her to attend; instead, she enters the church looking for something. (16)

Tribal Church is one person’s attempt to put it out there; her thoughts and feelings about being a parent, a spouse, a seeker, a rostered church leader, a young adult, a person-in-debt, all while living in a world of constant changes and uncertainty. She addresses the struggle of being a follower of Christ in a world were young people outside the church walls “seem much more gracious, loving, and responsible, more consistent with Christ-like behavior.” (2) Continue reading Thoughts about the “Tribal Church” by Carol Howard Merritt

Church’s Evolution

Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship. Then it moved to Greece and became a philosophy, then it went to Rome and became an institution, and then it went to Europe and became a government. Finally it came to America where we made it an enterprise.

This quote is said to be by Richard Halverson and I borrowed it from Kim Conway’s Facebook wall. Intriguing indeed, but lacking for sure.

Að takast á við áhyggjur

Fyrir nokkrum árum endaði ég fyrir tilviljun á aðalsafnaðarfundi í lútherskri kirkju. Fyrir fundinum lá að samþykkja eða synja hugmynd um að leyfa félagasamtökum í bænum að nýta lítinn skikka af kirkjulóðinni fyrir ákveðið verkefni. Enginn á fundinum var í sjálfu sér mótfallinn verkefninu, en margskonar áhyggjur voru viðraðar. Continue reading Að takast á við áhyggjur

Sparnaðarleiðin “sjálfboðin þjónusta”

Á liðnu aukakirkjuþingi var bent á mikilvægi sjálfboðinnar þjónustu á lista yfir mögulegar leiðir til sparnaðar í þjóðkirkjunni í ljósi breyttra fjárhagsforsenda. Ég hef tvívegis síðan þá skrifað langlokur í svarhala Facebook um málið, en ákvað að taka saman þanka mína hér.

Í upphafi er mjög mikilvægt að taka fram að ég held að það sé öllum ljóst að safnaðarstarf framtíðarinnar í íslensku kirkjunni verður að byggja meira á sjálfboðinni þjónustu. Það er hins vegar ekki sama hvernig það er gert. Það að fá einhvern til að gera eitthvað frítt í sparnaðarskini er ekki það sama og að virkja fólk til sjálfboðinnar þjónustu. Continue reading Sparnaðarleiðin “sjálfboðin þjónusta”

Confidentiality in the Church

From the article Confidentiality in the Church: What the Pastor Knows and Tells, by D. Elizabeth Audette.

A recent survey I conducted of 300 Congregational clergy and laity uncovered some assumptions about confidentiality. No members of the group articulated ecclesial or theological grounds for their assumptions. Continue reading Confidentiality in the Church

Effective Youth and Family Ministry

On the website of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network (Warning: it has sound), one can find various resources for youth and family ministry. On of them is “Definition of Effective Youth and Family Ministry: A Working Document (ver. 1.2).

The document as based on ten words that should describe Youth and Family Ministry, and what those words should entail.

The Document can be accessed via ELCA YMNET -> Resources -> More Resources … .

The Religious Landscape in America

Here, I will look at few issues addressed in the book After the Baby Boomers and/or the US Religious Landscape Survey. Those issues caught my attention when I read those originally two years ago, but it is not an attempt to represent either reading, far from it. I decided to write them down randomly as an invitation to further speculations rather than trying grasp them in any fullness. Continue reading The Religious Landscape in America

The Hidden Lives of Congregations

Israel Galindo’s book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations: Discerning Church Dynamics, is in three parts. The first two address the congregation and the forces behind it. The third part is about being a leader in a congregation. When reading it in one setting Galindo seems to repeat him self somewhat when it comes to the third part, as he tries to apply the first two parts to the function of pastoral leaders. Continue reading The Hidden Lives of Congregations

“Power” is Not a Bad Word

Some people are put off by the blatant appeal to power, which is an integral part of congrega tion-centered organizing. We tend to think of power as manipulative, as domineering, as too political, as “power over” someone else, and we suspect such power is out of keeping with our Christian values. We recall Lord Acton’s famous dictum: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.”

More recently, however, we have come to recognize that power in and of itself is neither good nor bad. Power is nothing more than the ability to accomplish something.

Whether the goal is to accomplish something helpful or harmful is another question, but power itself is a necessary ingredient for any action. Power is constitutive of life. (Mark I. Wegener)

from  Congregation-Centered Organizing: A Strategy for Growing Stronger Communities via The Gamaliel Foundation an organizing institute.

‘Virtual preaching’

The process may sound impersonal, but churches that use high-def video technology say congregants don’t have to lose touch with ministers. They hire other church pastors to serve their satellite locations by leading Sunday morning services and meeting with people afterward.

Those ministers simply exit the stage when it’s time for the sermon and video screens to descend over the altar.

via ‘Virtual preaching’ transforms Sunday sermons – CNN.com.

There are many interesting questions that come up when reading about satellite churches. For one, what does it say when there is only one considered qualified to preach? What does it say about our understanding of community? What is the role of the church pastors, if not to deliver the Word? How does this works if there is a Eucharist? And so on and on.

Search Institute

Search Institute® is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization committed to helping create healthy communities for every young person. Because we believe that “all kids are our kids,” we create books and other materials that welcome and respect people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, genders, religions, economic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and abilities. Our Mission: To provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities.

Search Institute: 50 Years of Discovering What Kids Need to Succeed | Search Institute.

Of special interest at Search Institute are the well known “Developmental Assets.” The Developmental Assets are 40 “qualities essential to raising successful young people.”

From άδελϕοί to οἰ̑κος θεου̑

David G. Horrell looks in his paper at how the Pauline literature moves away from using sibling language (άδελϕοί) and starts to refer to the Christian community as a household (οἰ̑κος θεου̑:) and wonders whether this is an indication of growing hieararchial tendencies in the early Christian church, as the household was a hierarchically structured entity.

From άδελϕοί to οἰ̑κος θεου̑: social transformation in Pauline Christianity – University of Exeter.

Sizing Up a Congregation

Arlin Rothauge’s “Sizing Up a Congregation” (pdf) is a great overview of the dynamics found in different sized churches.

It addresses the Family Church (0-50), The Pastoral Church (50-150), The Program Church (150-350), and The Corporation Church (350-500+). From the perspective of the pastor, the issues are different in each of those. The smallest one calls the pastor to be innovative and finding things to do, but at the same time be available. The Family church is all about being reactive, there is not a lot of room for innovation, the pastor often seems to have favorites (those that have initiative to be in contact). When we move into the program church, the root of complaints towards the pastor is that he is not available for all groups, and does not participate in all programs. The issues in the largest church group are seldom about the pastor, more about lack of space for various tasks (lets build something together).

Rothauge does not address what we might call mega churches or multisite variations.

Prep, Inc

PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) is one of the most comprehensive and well respected divorce-prevention/marriage enhancing programs in the world. PREP is a skills and principles-building curriculum designed to help partners say what they need to say, get to the heart of problems, and increase their connection with each other.

On their website are various resources about marriage, cohabitation, and divorces. It has a bend towards traditional understanding of the family, but valuable nonetheless.

Prep, Inc – Articles. – Of special interest is Marriage in the 90s: A Nationwide Random Phone Survey (PDF).

Islam

Another visit during my stay in Detroit was to a mosque in Dearborn and a visit to an American Arab museum. The fact that not all Arabs are Muslims and not all Muslims are Arabs is obvious but very often forgotten. The website www.discoverislam.com offers some helpful information about the faith. In the context of the US, a fatwa from July 2005 is very important:

Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians’ life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram – or forbidden – and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not “martyrs.”
The Qur’an, Islam’s revealed text, states: “Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.” (Qur’an, 5:32)

Prophet Muhammad said there is no excuse for committing unjust acts: “Do not be people without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well, and that if they do wrong you will do wrong to them. Instead, accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do wrong (even) if they do evil.” (Al-Tirmidhi)

via Fatwa against Terror (PDF).