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Religion in contemporary society
Religion and loss of spirituality in brave new world
Religion in contemporary society
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People Are Not Leaving the Church Because It Isn't Fun Enough
"And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Cor. 2:4-5).
The power of God is not found on a fancy stage, under bright lights, working through cool bands, or streaming across video screens. The power of God is found through the Holy Spirit who appears through holy fire. That's not to say that God cannot work in a place that has a nice band or tech savvy production team, but when your church depends on you to draw the people in instead of God, there is a good chance you won't find the Spirit there.
Charisma magazine shares this story: One day a youth leader made an appointment with his pastor to discuss the implementation of a new program for the young people. The pastor, a deeply spiritual man, listened patiently. After the young man finished talking, the pastor
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They chase after every new fad and program. They are more interested in gaining numbers than discipling saints, they are more interested in collecting tithes than saving souls.
What churches end up with is a fancy church filled with non-Christians because all of the Christians have left. None of the members get saved because a salvation message is never preached, repentance is never called for, and Jesus is never proclaimed Lord. Or, as Charisma puts it, Christians leave because "they are not encountering God any more."
Yes, you need to meet the needs of the people and there is nothing wrong with living in the 21st century. But we must not forget about the supernatural, about the renewal that only comes through the Holy Spirit. Would people be leaving a church where the power of God was manifest, where the light of the Gospel shone bright, where Jesus' Lordship was proclaimed and lived with power from on
Andy Stanley shows how to become deep and wide by staying simple in a church. First, he accomplishes this by keeping programming simple. By making the programs simple he can get more involvement from those who attend North Point. Secondly, Stanley demonstrates easy simplistic ways to move people through the discipleship process. By making this process simple those who attend North Point can more easily reach the community around them. Even though these are a few of the many applications used by Stanley he effectively helps pastors by giving them simple steps to bring people closer to Christ without a church background.
Faith plays a pivotal role in our construction of religion. The work of Dr. Sharon Parks analyzes faith development throughout one’s life span but pays special attention to emerging adulthood. Dr. Parks has an extensive academic career which incorporates her attendance of Princeton University’s theological seminary. As well as her attendance of Harvard University’s divinity school where she obtained her doctorate. Through her extensive research in areas such as “developmental psychology, religion, theology, leadership and ethics” (Service Resources, 2014) Parks is able to focus her work on faith development. Her work is influenced by theorists such as Erickson, Piaget, Perry and Levinson but primarily it is based off of Fowlers work in faith development. Her background in teaching and counseling has allowed her close access to seeing students during this important portion of their lives.
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
Meyer, J. (2003). How to hear from God: Learning to know his voice and making right decisions. New York, NY: First Warner Books printing.
All of us have encountered someone in our lifetime – a family member, a co-worker, a neighbor, or an acquaintance – who asked us WHY? Why do we pour all of our talents, all of our gifts, and all of our service into church?
Bryant and Brunson have done a terrific job of assessing the pastoral ministry and giving sound advice, to the young or prospective pastor. The present author believes that this book should be standard in every pastor’s library. “God promises to be with his servants as they follow” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 16) The apostle Paul gave three rules to keep the pastor on the track of a good reward: “Fight the Good Fight; Finish the Race; and Keep the Faith.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 240-242) The greatest joy for a pastor is to, “Finish well.”
The church has more than one definition. The local church, which is a body of believers that have a specific place that they gather to worship and study the Word of God. The other definition is the Body of Christ, which includes every person that has accepted Christ as personal Lord and Savior. Both of these “organisms” preach and nurture Christians, which is missions.” God birthed the church, and when the church puts God at the center of the church, the focus of the church will change from being a church centered mission to a mission centered church and God will begin to use the church as His instrument for missions. Jesus after He was raised from the dead told all of His followers to proclaim that salvation was complete through His death burial and resurrection and it was/is free to those who will receive it. (Luke 24:44-48) The church has been divinely appointed by God to get the Gospel out into the world. The work of the church and God’s message of salvation will be for nothing if the church is not obedient and follow through with the instructions that God has tasked it with. (Acts 10:36) When the church is in line with God’s intention and is Spirit led, God the Father will be preparing hearts, Christ the Son will invite “whosoever will” and the Holy Spirit will convict and draw sinners to respond. (Rev.
I’ve met many people who say they’re Christians but don’t really exhibit the Christian attitude. They don’t try to have a loving or patient attitude or try to spread God’s word to others. There are some who also don’t go to church. Personally, I think some of these trends have reasons. Some of the “non-dedicated” Christians may still be learning how to properly communicate God’s word. Also, attending church is not required. Faith in God is what truly makes one a Christian. There may be some people who don’t have true faith in God, but, as I said before, we should force feed God onto them. If they truly desire God, then God will go to them.
I agree with Kitchens, Mead, and Roxburgh who all basically say in their own way that one change in ministry that we need to focus on more is the congregational life of the church. However, I think Mead explains it best when he says that the future church must be more intentional in the spiritual formation of its laity (Mead, location 919). According to Mead, the church is moving towards becoming a more missional institution that cares for the needs of the community. Therefore, oftentimes laity will be the ones on the front lines and will need the capacity to minister to people on their own without the help of clergy. In order to do this they will need more directed and intensive training to deal with...
In today’s society, there are a large number of individuals who are on the pursuit for spiritual development that is consistent with their “belief that spirituality is vital for growth and essential for dealing with life’s problems” (Morrison, Clutter, Pritchett, & Demmitt, 2009). Even moreso it’s no surprise to learn about the movement among the vast number of clients seeking to address concerns of spirituality within their counseling sessions.
Dear Bob, so I've been realizing many things have been changing with the community around the church. Many are starting to believe that some of the church's teachings are FALSE and wrong. Many are starting to believe theories that are completely FALSE. I'm afraid that we will lose many followers to these simple FALSE theories. Dear Luis,
The shepherd and sheep relationship is the best illustration for the relationship between pastor and parishioners. When Jesus asked Simon Peter does he love him three times and said to him “Feed my sheep”, the shepherd and flock relationship has been set. Since Jesus is our good shepherd (Jn. 10:11a), he laid out a good example for us to follow - to lay down his life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:11b) Thus, the wellness of both in and out of the parishioners should always be the concern in the pastors’ hearts. Soul care for the people is essential. Christian friendship is the foundation of Christian soul care. Pastoral ministry including preaching, teaching, and worship forms the broad context of pastoral counseling. Pastoral care is within pastoral ministry but broader than pastoral counseling. God’s love is the source and motivation. Within the pastoral care, there are spiritual direction and pastoral
Jesus said, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one” (John 17:20-21. NIV). As the head of the church, Jesus wanted all Christians to unify in their belief that He died for their sins. Nevertheless, people have always had various interpretations of the Bible and needed different ways to worship which led to the formation of denominations. Forming denominations has allowed like-minded people to gather together to worship God. Also, churches have benefited from belonging to an association because it gives them added support and programs.
To lure in the lost, entertainment and social events replace the gospel. There is nothing wrong with fun, nor is there anything sinful about being social; but when the gospel is overshadowed by them, so is God’s power to save (Rom. 1:16). Another typical issue is a failure to spread the gospel. Most congregations are concealed from sight because they never tell others about Jesus. This is certainly a violation of the Lord’s will (Matt.
One of the many benefits of going to church and becoming a christian is understanding your purpose of being on earth and understanding how to live your life with utmost fulfillment and achieving joy while preserving your morals. While all humans are innately built with a need to achieve pleasure the main difference between those of the world and those in the church are the means and ways of accomplishing this goal. The deviation stems from the difference in the types of pleasure each set out to attain. Many of the world's pleasures conflict with our conscience and morals, and the teachings of the church. It's these conflicting actions which lead to many non-christians being dissatisfied and being unhappy. “Many who don’t belong to a church try desperately to convince themselves that they are happy. They fool everyone but themselves. Or they know they are not happy and try to drown their sorrow in drinking, drugs, sports, work or something else to keep their minds off their unhappiness”(Gritters). This dissatisfied feeling leads to thousands and thousands to suffer from d...