Check out Tim Chester’s comments regarding community and the centrality of Christ here.
Affluenza: Have you caught it?
PBS ran a TV series called Affluenza. In 2001, this series was followed up by a book by the same name. Influenza is “a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” Creators of Affluenza report that Americans spend an average of 21K on consumer goods per person per year, that we spend more on shoes, jewelry, watches (80B) than on higher education (65B). Many of us do this, not with money we have, but with money we don’t have, with credit. We have plenty of stuff. Consider this story from the book.
In his office, a doctor offers his diagnosis to an attractive, expensively dressed female patient. There’s nothing physically wrong with you,” he says. His patient is incredulous. “Then why do I feel so awful?” she asks. “So bloated and sluggish. I’ve got a big new house, a brand new car, a new wardrobe, and I just got a big raise at work. Why am I so miserable doctor? Isn’t there some pill you can give me?” The doctor shakes his head. “im afraid not,” he replies. “There’s no pill for what’s wrong with you.” What is it doctor? She asks, alarmed. “Affluenza,” he answers gravely. “It’s the new epidemic. It’s extremely contagious. It can be cured but not easily.”
How can it be cured? Does it need to be cured?
Total Church – (Extensive Notes from Session 1)
Here are Chris Marlow’s more extensive notes from the Total Church conference.
Total Church – III (Church Practices)
Throughout the Total Church conference we learned of various ways the Crowded House pushes gospel-centered community and community-centered gospel through their church practices. Here are a few:
- Baptism: They view baptistm as a visible sign of entrance/way into the community. “It is attractional because it says to others that anyone can come in. It is a declaration of leaving the community of judgment and entering into the community of grace.” Not clean up first, make sure they are a “believer” for a while and then baptize. Baptize upon conversion.
- Communion: If baptism is the way into the community, communion way to stay in the community. Consider Isaiah 55 as a communion text. It is always a opportunity to proclaim the gospel. Communion as meals, not plastic cups and wafers, creates a community context in which the gospel is celebrated and witnessed.
- Preaching: The West has unduly given the sermon primacy in the ministry of the Word. In fact, it has reduced the ministry of the Word to the sermon. All the energy, time, and money spent on preparing for a one and a half hour event on Sundays betrays American ecclesiology: the Sunday service is teh church! What we need is a complete ministry of the Word, which includes mutual counseling—“gospeling”—to promote a Word-centered life, not just a sermon-centered service. Crowded House asks the question: “How are we going to live together in submission to the Word.”