Jude 2

The Incredible Mr. Hamby's posting of the editorial about names and such has got me thinking...

What are some of the things throughout the years that have been sacred cows that you recognized, or are recognizing as impotent and irrelevant?

What are you doing to change those issues?

Is your faith and the way you practice your Christian walk relevant? Would others around you agree with your assesment?

I chose the second option - my faith is constantly evolving. I recognize that what is relevant today will probably be irrelevant tomorrow.

I was tempted to chose the last option though! Despite the reality that I created the poll, I was torn with the belief that polls are already irrelevant.

evolution for the win!

So many of the sacred cows that I have recognized as irrelevant have to do with the area of worship.

I remember when I was pastoring the COGOP congregation in Indianapolis (Hoyt Avenue). We bought one of those new fangled projectors and screens. We were doing some choruses but were also doing quite a bit of hymns. We just put everything on the screen.

I had one elderly gentleman who would hold up his hymnal directly in front of his face (only inches from his nose) to avoid looking at the devil's screen on the stage. The funny part was he would hold the song book up even if the song was not in the hymnal!

That sacred and irrelevant cow had to die. That was some good steak!

Is your faith and the way you practice your Christian walk relevant? Would others around you agree with your assesment?

Relevent to whom really? Wouldn't different people have different responses as to what is a "relevent" Christian and a "relevent" faith? Some would say, and the Pope is getting some of this, that a relevent Christianity should be pro-abortion, affirming of homosexuality, "tolerant" and "respectful", not insisting that the truths laid out in the Bible are to be followed. So for myself, I really don't much care if others think my faith is relevent. I am seeking after something that transcends my time and isn't shifting about with each trend. I try to practice my faith the best I can and I strive to maintain its roots in the scriptures the best I can understand them (and I keep trying to expand that) and I try to root my practice in the same as well as the rich tradition of the Christian church. That's just how I see the issue.

I guess the answer to your question, Crispy, is that it depends on if you are impacting others with your faith. If it is truly relevant it will also be real and relational (there ya go PG)...

If it is real, relevant, and relational then others are entering the kingdom of God through your example and witness.

I would have to add here the words of Paul in I Corinthians 9:22, "To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some..."

So, is your relevant faith fulfilling one of the oldest mandates of God - are you truly being fruitful and multiplying?

HogWild wrote:The Incredible Mr. Hamby

Thought that bore repeating. Just kidding. Can I get that put on my business card, please? Sounds so much better than "DeWayne Hamby, esq."

For me, I agree with Crispfinagin on that we shouldn't let society dictate our values. However, I do look for things that get in the way of belief, some things that we have done out of tradition and not necessarily Scripture. We've of course seen a big move toward that in the past decade or so but there are still places where the church is like another planet to outsiders.

In our conversations with unbelievers, do we use church-ese that might alienate or be misunderstood, like "testifying" (one asked me "against who?"). I know Gary has mentioned this, but you can conduct "exit interviews" with visitors who never came back and find out if there are quirks that drive them away. Everything can be done to an extreme and surely there are churches where you can't tell if it's a church or an Amway meeting, but I think there are almost always some ways we've always done it that could be better done.

I guess the answer to your question, Crispy, is that it depends on if you are impacting others with your faith. If it is truly relevant it will also be real and relational (there ya go PG)...

If it is real, relevant, and relational then others are entering the kingdom of God through your example and witness.

I would have to add here the words of Paul in I Corinthians 9:22, "To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some..."

So, is your relevant faith fulfilling one of the oldest mandates of God - are you truly being fruitful and multiplying?

The reason I wrote my statement on being relevent is because the term is used by many people in many ways. I would see being relevent as presenting the gospel in ways that are understandable to our modern day, and building bridges within the culture ala Paul in Athens when he went from the unknown God to telling them about the true God and what he had done. And all this is hopefully done by actually building relationships with people.

I put evolving....I want to be relevant...and try to be....that is I try to reach out to individuals right where they are and present the Gospel in a manner that they accept and understand.....however, I find that even the most progressive pentecostal belief can seem conservative to a secular world and even strange...so I constantly try to examine what I believe and what I feel is necessary about my beliefs to share with individuals in an effort to win someone to Christ!