Many years ago, when public access to the internet was in its infancy and dialup was the only means to connect, I pondered the idea of church online. The World Wide Web did not exist then, so I considered if Usenet (online discussion boards), file sharing, and email could cobble together a church experience. I […]
Consider the Importance of Church Attendance I often write about the importance of being in meaningful community with other followers of Jesus. I also lament that churches frequently fail to provide significant community. While many churches offer superficial community, few are able to provide a deep, nurturing, caring place. I long for this level of […]
As I consider biblical Christianity, I feel a strong pull to community, a place where significant spiritual connections occur. This should be our experience at church, the reality of church, but it seldom is. We need true Christian community. A friend read my updated home page on this website and asked, “Where do we find […]
Pursue Christian Community As a child, my parents told me we went to church to learn about God. The sermon was when I learned about God, so I assumed the rest of the service was unnecessary. I deemed everything outside the message as obligatory filler and tuned it out, waiting for the main event. According […]
A few weeks ago, the church service kicked off with a discussion question: “What is church?” We broke into small groups with those sitting around us. After exchanging introductions (why hadn’t we already done this?), we stared in silence. As a visitor, I didn’t want to go first, but the silence invited me. “I’ve thought […]
Don’t Celebrate Your Successes and Hide Your Shortcomings A friend once told how he gave his TV away; he didn’t want one anymore. It was a spiritual act, a voluntary fast from television and the distractions it provided, in order to give him more time for God and family. He reveled in his decision and […]
Reasons People Give for Going to Church I often wonder why I go to church. Seldom do I come up with a good answer, that is, the real reason why I show up on Sundays. I’m not even sure if I know the theologically correct response. Here are some reasons I’ve heard over the years: […]
Push Aside the Past to Worship God Today To the homeless man who complained about our church service, I said, “It sounds like you wanted a Baptist experience.” When he continued his rant, I became more direct: “If you want a Baptist experience, you need to go to a Baptist church.” I later told my […]
In farming, a silo is a tower used to store grain. The business world, however, turned silo into a metaphor, such as information silos or organizational silos, symbolizing assimilation and isolation. These business silos function as a repository of information or power—hoarded and not shared, either by plan or by practice. With silos, there’s an […]
It’s fun to be in the company of likeminded individuals. It’s comfortable to hang out with people similar to us. But are fun and comfortable, necessarily good things? Do they promote personal growth and advance understanding? Being with people like us?—uniform or at least similar in perspective—is a homogeneous experience. The opposite of homogeneous is […]