Tag: theology
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D-Church Panel: Redesigning Church in the Digital Era
Live Event hosted by Analog. Thu, April 27, 2017 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM PDT Google Mountain View Campus: LMK-2 Diller 1883 Landings Drive Mountain View CA 94043 US Update: Podcast audio now available. Abstract The modern church was born in the era of broadcasting: mass-market publishing, sound systems, radio,…
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Open to God: Holiness in Four Syllables
Third in an accidental series on Childlike Theology, after the Gospel and Discipleship
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Make Us Like Jesus: Discipleship in Five Syllables
A proposed process for fully fleshing-out the Six Syllable Gospel: as part of an accidental series on Childlike Theology: Join together to ask God to make us like Jesus. Interpret everything that happens as God answering that prayer. There is no step 3.
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Does Seminary Conquer Sin?
A kind friend pointed out that the seminary focuses I dissed in my last post: Theological knowledge Pastoral skills Relational experiences may not be sufficient for spiritual maturity, but are necessary. In fact, what I should have said is that the latter require the former:
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What Makes Spiritual Maturity?
[Based on a letter to my cousin-in-law, who runs a seminary in Chicago.] Most seminaries focus on: Pastoral vision and skills Theological knowledge Community and relationships Those are all good things. But are they the right things?
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Evangel, Part III: The Good News
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” — John…
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The Preschool Gospel, Take One
Yesterday my precocious 4-year-old said he wanted to be baptized. I don’t think he’s ready yet; our church doesn’t baptize kids until they are at least seven. But, how would I know if he was ready? What is the minimum someone needs to truly understand in order to authentically embark…
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North Point’s Basic Truth Curriculum for Kids
At Catalyst One Day, Pastor Andy Stanley explained how North Point Community Church‘s Sunday School curriculum focused on hammering home a small set of basic truths at each stage of life. Surprisingly, perhaps due to the decentralized nature of North Point’s ministries, I couldn’t find them written down in…
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The Virtue and Emotion Pride
One of the most controversial aspects of Knight Club is that it treats pride (“By Myself”) like anger (“Not Fair”): an emotion which is prone to sin, but is not necessarily a sin — and can even be a virtue. While it is true that the vast majority of Bible…
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“Who is God and What Does He Want?” Preschool Theology, Book I
My goal for this summer is to turn my 36-week Bible study “Growing Church Leaders” into a three-volume series of picture books for my preschoolers. Here’s my first cut at text for the first one, “Think Biblically”, written one tweet at a time:
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Knight Club: Moral Authority and the Fourth Dragon
One of the ways I tackle “wicked problems” is by exploring different possible answers in order to help clarify the essential question. My posts on flying and mastering the dragons of manhood have been useful in helping me recognize that the two main questions Knight Club is trying to answer are:…
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LEAD! Part A, Revisited
The LEAD! course format evolved considerably during the time I wrote it, especially in the first 3 months. We are working to publish it as a three-volume bible study, which means I need to go back and make the first few lessons consistent with the latter ones. So, I’ll try…
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Song: Gratitude
Part 3 of the Guilt–Grace-Gratitude musical trilogy, from my 1996 meditations on The Grace Cycle.
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LEAD! Syllabus for “Theological Foundations”
In thinking about it, I realized I should take my Curriculum one step further, and actually identify the passages and key learnings for each lesson. Not only will this help ensure I’m on the same page as my pastor, but it would enable others to write some of the lessons…
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LEAD! Curriculum Reset for “Theological Foundations”
So, the good news is that our church is gearing up to start LEAD! on September 4th, and already taking applications! That’s also the bad news, since I’ve only finished three classes. 😦 Still, it only takes me about four hours per class, which is two late night waiting-to-feed-Rohan sessions…
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LEAD! Part A: Thinking Theo-Logically
The LEAD! Bible Study is a tripod, built on three legs: theological education character formation skill development While these roughly correspond to three 12-week “trimesters”, the larger goal is to incorporate all three aspects in each and every segment. The question thus becomes, what is the most effective way to…
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Requirements for Transforming Leadership
As part of my journey to rethink leadership training, I wanted to summarize the goals and constraints of such a process. Here’s a first cut…
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CTE Light: Imago Christi
In my Rules of War, I assert that the most important challenge is to “Know your Objective” — i.e., understand where you are going. Earlier, I stated that The Purpose of Comprehensive Theological Education was: to equip leaders for a lifelong journey of bringing their “whole selves” (heart, soul, mind…
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Keys to the CTE
Even though I haven’t posted for a while, I’ve been thinking a lot about Comprehensive Theological Education. In particular, I’ve been trying to identify the key “success factors” necessary to improve upon traditional methods. Here’s my current list. Any thing you’d like to add, Gentle Reader? [Updated March 9th to…
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