"When you begin to think outside the box, you often become some other "leaders" lousy follower. That usually costs something" (Andy Rayner)

"Our guardian angels are bored." (Mike Foster)

It's where I feel I'm at these days. “In the second half of life, it is good just to be a part of the general dance. We do not have to stand out, make defining moves, or be better than anyone else on the dance floor. Life is more participatory than assertive, and there is no need for strong or further self-definition” (Falling Upward. Richard Rohr.120).

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Welcoming Christian Kids Into Secular Republic

"The Challenge to the church is a Stark one: we must form a Christian mind in our young people so they become confident the orthodox Christian faith is true, relevant and good. If we do not persuade the next generation of the truth, relevance and goodness of the Kingdom of God, the secularists can be confident that they will capture that generation's hearts and minds and welcome our children to their secular Republic."
- Richard Cunningham . WinningHearts and Minds

If your church, and you as a preacher are not speaking about the Biblical teachings on these issues, while showing great care for the lost, you are preaching the gospel into irrelevance in the face of the fires teens and young adults are facing in our culture, that we've never given them an answer to, so they are never able to respond with an answer. We hang them out to dry.

"...Christian parents with children in secondary school are acutely aware that orthodox Christian faith is variously ignored and attacked in both science 
and humanities lesson, leaving Christian pupils feeling like 'flat-earthers'. How do 
Christian teenagers survive in this corrosive and toxic atmosphere, in which they are implicated in crimes of homophobia, transphobia and general intolerance simply for believing the Bible?...Is it any wonder that so many Christian young people fall away 
during their teenage years? It is patently obvious to them that Christian leaders 
need either to step up and defend the Bible to a watching world and commend 
Christianity as true, relevant and beautiful or (if they cannot do this) stop 
demanding that young people should embrace an outmoded dogma that is 
increasingly toxic to their friends..."

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