Are You Paying Attention?: The Human Network

Are You Paying Attention?: The Human Network

So I have been watching these series of commercials on T.V. during the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It is by a company called CISCO. You may have seen their logo. It looks like this:

welcome to the human network.

"Welcome to the Human Network". What does that mean?

The Human Network means that there is no more audience. There are no more users. There are only participants. Participants in a human scale network.

Participants do not passively consume what an author, creator, director, developer, editor, critic or media outlet has to publish. They do not accept the authority. They do not sit silently ready to have their eyeballs converted into cash.

Participants participate. They create their own original information, entertainment and art. They remix their own version of mainstream pop culture- copyrighted or not. They post their thoughts, publish their fears and fact check every announcement. They share with their friends and discover the quirky and interesting, making it an instant blockbuster- at least for 15 minutes.

Participants are no longer eyeballs to be converted. They are ideas to be declared. Individually they are a market of one. Collectively they are a trend, a publishing powerhouse and a voice to be heard. A voice that has something to say.

Participants have changed the way media is published and interactions are monetized. But more broadly and importantly than that, they have changed the flow of global information from top down to bottom up. They are changing the tone and tempo of the conversation.

So is this how the world looks today? If so, how does the church fit into something like this? New series of questions that has now sparked my interest: Can Fundamentalism fit into a world that looks like this?

Above All Earthly Powers: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

Videos :: Desiring God

These interviews with some of the speakers at the 2006 Desiring God National Conference (Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2006) were used in promotion of the event. I want you to especially watch the ones by John Piper and Mark Driscoll. Piper gives an overview of what this conference was to be about. Driscoll gives an emerging church point of view that sounds more thought out than the book that I am currently reading, Emerging Churches. He has thought about this and sees the Emerging Church "movement" for what it is, unlike the book which sees all emerging churches as on the same playing field. Let me know your thoughts.

Here are some notable interviews:

John Piper

• What is the nature of postmodernism?
• What are some effects of postmodernism?

Mark Driscoll

• Seeker vs. Missional- Part 1 and 2
• Biblical Principals and Cultural Methods
  
• Style in Ministry
• The Importance of Theology
• The Need of Cultural Immersion
• Relating to Sinners
  

Tim Keller

• Is the Bible Culturally Conditioned?

David Wells

• Postmodernity Defined
• Religious Pluralism in America
• Emergent vs. Traditional and Seeker
  

Discussion from Contemporary Theological Issues Class at Baptist Bible Seminary- My Reply to Other Students Reply

Be sure to read the previous post before this one.

In short, I reject the reactionary position that the church is to be summarized solely as missional. Mission is an essential part of the church, but it is only one of many essential parts. God is love, but it is wrong to say that love is God. Similarly, the Church is to be missional, but mission is not to be the Church.

I want to add some thoughts and through out some questions.

I am still trying to wrap my mind around all of this and have made some harsh comments in other discussions. But if the church doesn't take the role as the primary means of "missions", who does? Matthew 28:18-20 says,

18And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

The main verb here is "make disciples." We are to go make disciples, baptize those disciples, and teach those disciples. Now I don't know what order the last two (baptize and teach) come but we have to go to those people in order to let them know about Jesus. Evangelism only happens when we go to them. Sure we can invite them to our church and our pastor can evangelize to them but I pray we have already been evangelizing before they get to church. The gospel has to connect to every aspect of our ministry. Everything we are about has to be evangelizing. Why do we do what we do? Because of the gospel. Why do we believe what we believe? Because of the gospel.

What are we training our people for? Ephesians 4:12 "...for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ." How does the body of Christ build? By first evangelizing. The building has to grow in order to remain healthy. Just like us. We have to keep growing. We can not grow if parts start to die. And I think alot of churches are doing this today. We are so inward focused. You made the comment, "but I would suggest that the Scriptures indicate that our first and primary focus is to be on loving and meeting the needs of other believers" but I ask...How do those believers become believers? Can we really say that the primary focus is to be on loving and meeting the needs of other believers if we aren't creating other believers. Eventually those believers are going to die and then what? So what becomes the primary focus then?

I want to continue challenging this with a thought on being too "Jewish" in our thoughts. We can't discredit the unsaved public because we were apart of them at one point. The comment we made "I am unable to think of a text that exhorts the church specifically to meet the needs of non-Christian widows in the surrounding community." Let me help you with a couple. Mark 7:24-30 talks of a Canaanite woman that begged Jesus to heal her demon possessed daughter. Jesus and His disciples both strugged her off but she persisted to the point of going into the house and getting on her stomach, prostrate before Jesus' feet under the table in which He was eating. He became amazed by her faith and healed her daughter. But here is the point. Why did He help her? She was a gentile "dog" (grk. "puppy"). Because she recognized Him as Lord. She wasn't apart of Israel which He says in Matthew 15:24 that He was here only for the lost sheep of Israel. Not Canaan. Jesus extends a "mini-blessing" to this woman.

The second comes in the garden of Gethsemane. In John 17 Jesus prays threefold; He prays for Himself, His disciples, His disciples disciples. In verses 17 and 18 it says; John 17:17-18 17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. Jesus here again places an importance on going into the world. He even says that He sends them (the apostles). Then in verses 20-26 Jesus prays for me and you and everybody that is going to "believe in Me throgh their [the apostles] message." He prays that the world may know! Know what? Jesus as the Son of God the Father!

Now my goal in this long post is not to sound like I am on board with the Emerging Church in anyway but draw attention to the fact that they may be right in this area. The book of Ephesians stresses the point on the building of the Church but the goal isn't to just fill eachother full of knowledge. It is to prepare everyone for the "work of the ministry." In Ephesians 3 Paul talks about how he proclaimed "the mystery." What is this mystery"? It's the gospel! So back to my earlier point. The gospel has to be connected to every aspect of our ministry and our Christian lives. I believe that we have created these really good clubs that talk about, learn about, and sing about Jesus. But we really can't call ourselves a New Testament church, one that is concerned for Christless souls and does something about it, if we really aren't making the gospel THE priority.

Discussion from Contemporary Theological Issues Class at Baptist Bible Seminary- Other Student Reply

Be sure to read the previous post before reading this one.

“Our focus needs to change from just ministering to those within our midst to those that are outside our doors.”

I think I understand the idea behind this sentence, and I agree that Christians need to express genuine love and compassion for those outside of the church. At the same time, this sentence reflects a line of thought that emerged within our reading, that the primary focus of the church should somehow be on those outside of the church, essentially expanding the borders of the church, emphasizing an outward orientation versus an inward orientation.

The point at which I take exception with such a stand is at the point where the word ‘primary’ is inserted. Certainly, there is no doubt that we are to love our neighbors and our enemies, that we are to do acts of goodness and kindness to all men in all places, but I would suggest that the Scriptures indicate that our first and primary focus is to be on loving and meeting the needs of other believers.

As a quick example, consider the case of the widows. Throughout the New Testament, Christians are encouraged to meet the needs of the widows within their community, but I am unable to think of a text that exhorts the church specifically to meet the needs of non-Christian widows in the surrounding community.

As one other example, consider this statement from Earl Radmacher. (I have to paraphrase it, as he made the comment during a class session I attended, and I do not have the comment in writing.) He was speaking concerning prayer for salvation of the nonbeliever. He suggested that the biblical pattern calls for believers to pray for one another and to proclaim the Gospel to nonbelievers, and asserted that there was no

scripture that exhorted believers to pray for the salvation of nonbelievers. (Dr. Radmacher did leave one possible exception, the verse in which Paul says that his prayer, desire or wish is for the salvation of the Jews.) Whether we think he is overstating his case or not, we must agree that there is a difference in New Testament teaching between

how we are to act toward those within the church and those outside the Church. And, yes, this demands that we observe a boundary or separation between church members and non-church members.

In short, I reject the reactionary position that the church is to be summarized solely as missional. Mission is an essential part of the church, but it is only one of many essential parts. God is love, but it is wrong to say that love is God. Similarly, the Church is to be missional, but mission is not to be the Church.

Discussion from Contemporary Theological Issues Class at Baptist Bible Seminary

A student in my class began a discussion on "Missional Ministry" with this post. I am going to post a reply to this post and then my reply to that reply.

For many churches when we talk about missions or missions it is a program of the church. We have a missions committee and we have missions conferences. The emphasis is not on the here, but the far away.

Everything that we do as a church and as individuals should have a component of incorporating non churched people into the family of God. The emerging missional movement challenges the traditional approach.

"Rather than measuring the church by its attendance, we will measure it by its deployment," McLaren said.

Our focus needs to change from just ministering to those within our midst to those that are outside our doors. Many of these churches are holding so strongly to an old model that they are dying before our eyes. They are not making disciples and they are not reaching out. The real challenge is not change but will be survival. However, for most they are not aware of the situation. They have elevated the model to doctrine and thus are going down on a ship that needs not to be salvaged.

Becoming Missional

Becoming Missional

Here is a blog for those in favor of "missional" ministry.

ENGAGE Conference- (my church plug)

Are you engaging the world around with the message of Jesus Christ? Is the Gospel at the heart of your ministry? What would your ministry look like if you were to challenge yourself and your church to make Jesus Christ the center of everything that you do?

Over the past few years, the leadership of Saylorville Baptist Church has desired to host a conference in the Des Moines area that would cast a Biblical vision to connect the Gospel of God to every area of ministry. We are excited to announce that this is the year we intend to do so through the ENGAGE Conference.

Take a look around the site and explore the workshops and conference schedule. We look forward to seeing you and discussing ways that God says we are to engage our world with the Gospel! Please contact us via the contact form or by phone if there is any way that we can serve you.