Sunday School vs. Small Groups

Sunday School
Those of us who came to Christ (especially within the evangelical movement) in the 70’s and 80’s and before are very familiar with the notion of Adult Sunday School. We got much of our deeper teaching in this structure, usually either directly before or directly after our Sunday worship service. In the churches I attended in the 80’s and 90’s we had age based communities, that were rather larger (10-50 people) subgroups of the church, where people who had things in common could learn together. Usually there was a single teacher, or a rotation of teachers (opportunity for new teachers to develop) and a couple of administrative types (organize socials, coordinate teaching schedules, deal with coffee and treats, etc). The social life of the church was somewhat organized through these groups, who generally formed as new married couples, or new parent groups – who helped each other and grew deep friendships along the way. Kids grew up together. Often there were bespoke college age and adult singles classes, because they were different adult communities with different synergies that didn’t really fit well in the married adult communities. Continue reading “Sunday School vs. Small Groups”

Mission Vs. Discipleship

Talking about Mission vs. Discipleship and I have been noodling some dumb ideas for a couple weeks. A couple weeks ago when I was mowing the lawn for the last time this year, an analogy presented itself, and so I thought I would share that as a way of expressing how mission and discipleship work in the Body of Christ.

My analogy is that of an orchestra or other musical group. Mission is like the performance. We share our love for the music, and the composer with others who are not in our ensemble. Our mission is to help as many as possible take up an instrument. Continue reading “Mission Vs. Discipleship”

Church and State

I saw this article by Nova Spinack (internet entrepreneur, and pragmatist) who is advocating a separation of corporate interest and state. He patterns this after the separation of church and state (Establishment clause).

Except that most people today don’t understand certain truths about the founding of our country, the establishment clause, and freedom of religion. While I don’t claim to be an expert – I want to push a non-political view forward that will help us (Christians) understand what the founding fathers intended. Continue reading “Church and State”

Church as Ministry Platform

A few years ago, my senior pastor asked me what I looked for in a church. At the time, I had been attending and a member of that congregation for about 15 years, and I really hadn’t thought about it before.

The answer I blurted out was “a platform for ministry”. To this date, I do not know what pastor thought about my answer. He asked me what I meant, and I shared (see below) and about the only response I got was “Hmmm”. I however, have continued to value the church as a platform for ministry, and I think that many mature believers instinctively look for something similar. Continue reading “Church as Ministry Platform”