Archive for Culture
Tyra Banks Sex Survey
Posted by: | CommentsSo, I am sure by now you have heard about this survey numerous times. In case you haven’t though check out this video:
What do you think? Do you think that this survey reflects your community? What implications for youth ministry are here?
To Tat or Not To Tat
Posted by: | CommentsOk, time for some fun around here! This one is an “all skate!” I know from the stats on this blog that there are a WHOLE BUNCH of you that are reading and not commenting, so jump on in!
You’ve heard of churches and conferences including live artists as part of their worship experiences, now Barton has brought our attention to a church that has used a live tattoo artist as part of their worship experience.
I’m curious as to where you all fall on this subject! Take this quick survey then leave a comment and let’s discuss!
Green or Not?
Posted by: | CommentsOk, let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of Relevant Magazine. I have been a subscriber since the second issue of the magazine came out. This magazine is full of thought provoking, real world, spiritually stretching stuff.
Today I got an email from Relevant with this advertisement:
I’m sorry, what!? I can go green by buying this magazine (which I already subscribe too!) and signing up for automatic renewal? This will save what? by my calulations this would save about two 8.5″ x 11″ sheets of paper and two envelopes per year to remind me to renew. That is going green?
This is an absolutely rediculous marketing ploy since it appears that Relevant does not offer an electronic version of the magazine (that would cut paper use, cut printing costs, cut delivery costs!)
What’s your opinion? Is this Relevant helping you go green? Have you come across others doing the same thing?
Breakout Session #2
Posted by: | CommentsThe Rhythms of the Missional Life – Jeff Vanderstelt
- Remember, do not think that just because you are leading a youth ministry you are not leading the church. You are leading the church, the students are the church.
The life of a missionary isn’t about a few scattered events, it is about entering into the life of the culture. Living in the rhythm of the world around. Read More→
Connecting Creatively
Posted by: | CommentsI see a great trend coming down the pike. A reconnection with the creativity that is within the church to convey the Gospel. Group Publishing is coming out with a new youth oriented Bible called Live
it is full of poetry, illustration, and space for students to create on their own. Just ordered a copy but it doesn’t come out ’til June so I’ll fill you in when I get it!
I also just cam across this vid posted by a Ragamuffin. It is great! Again, using the arts (poetry, performance, videography, etc.) to create a connection to the Message.
In A “Funk”
Posted by: | CommentsSo I have been in a kind of “funk” lately. I am not sure if it is one of those seasonal affective disorder symptoms or what but in thinking about it today, the last time I posted here is when the weather was still nice. Anyway here are a few updates:
- Had Wildside this past Saturday, and we were down 30% in attendance! Then I found out that over half of the mailed invitations were not received in the mail until Monday, two days too late. That was VERY disappointing since we put together the mailing and had it in the hands of the post office last tuesday morning. It took the post office 6 full business days to deliver mail to it’s own zip code!!!
- I am really excited about how our current XP3 series is going! We are going into our final week of “Attached” and we are going to be talking about the need to detach ourselves from the stuff in our lives and attach ourselves only to Jesus.
- Saw this awesome video project (Thanks Marko!) and am wondering how I can getter engage the teenagers in my community:
Creativity of Love
Posted by: | CommentsJust how much effort has the church put into creatively communicating God’s love to the world around us? Probably not nearly as much as this guy put into this wonderful “project!”
(Thanks to Scott for pointing this out)
Languages of Culture – Part 3
Posted by: | CommentsApproaching ministry from an attractional model only, means that we, as a church, have severely narrowed the span of creativity that is available to communicate the message of Jesus.
When we begin to think in terms of learning to speak the other languages of culture the every option for communicating Jesus to others changes.
- The church is made of of people that live their everyday lives in each of the other languages of culture.
- This makes the church the sole universal connecting point for culture as a whole.
- The church has unequalled leverage with the other languages because of all of the connections.
Communicating Jesus to the world means that the churched need to move into the culture, not the other way around.
Languages of Culture – Part 2
Posted by: | CommentsIt is so important for the church to connect with each of the 7 languages of chulture and not simply rely on an attractional model of ministry because even the most irresistable church is merely a sub-culture within the broader culture that we live in everyday. Think about it, if you went down to your local coffee shop today how many people would recognize these names:
- Andy Stanley
- Rob Bell
- Rick Warren (without mentioning Purpose Driven Life!)
- Donald Miller
- Bill Hybels
Sometimes we get so caught up in our own little worlds that we forget what is really going on in the world.
Relying on an attractional model of ministry means that the unchurched still must take the first step and cross a cultural boundary in order to connect with God.
Let’s remember that Jesus always took the first step, the intiative to cross cultural divides and connect with people.
Languages of Culture – Part 1
Posted by: | CommentsSo I started reading the Catalyst Groupzine – The Culture Issue and so far it is pretty good.
Here are some thoughts on the article by Ben Ortlip, “The 7 Languages of Culture.”
- Churches are great at communicating God’s love to people in our language.
- David Kinnaman from The Barna Group outlines 7 channels of language within culture:
- Government, Business, Education, Media, Arts & Entertainment, Family, Church
- Most modern churches rely on an invitational strategy for engaging culture.
- Churches try to lure, entice, coerce the unchurched into church life.
- The success of most modern churches hinges on the the prospect showing up in our world, the church is the center.
- This ultimately means that we are asking people to learn about about God in our language.
