Rick Warren and Six Trends

In May the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life held its biannual Faith Angle conference, inviting Rick Warren, author of the bestselling book in the world, The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of Saddleback Church, to address “Myths About Megachurches.” However, some of the most interesting things said by Warren were concerning the “Six Trends” he has observed in culture and Christianity.

To be honest, I don’t know a lot about Warren or the Forty phenomenon, but the article is intriguing: http://pewforum.org/events/index.php?EventID=80 I’ve summarized the Six Trends here. What do you think? Is Warren wrong or right? How will these trends affect Christianity both national and global?

  1. Burgeoning Growth of Compassionate Activism
  2. Explosion of 40 Days of Purpose across cities and churches (10%)
  3. Small Groups is the means of the next Spiritual Renewal
  4. Shift of Power from Parachurch to Local Church
  5. Three Great Questions: 1) Will Islam modernize peacefully? 2) Will the US return to its religious roots? 3) What will replace the Marxist vacuum in China?
  6. Partnership between Protestants and Catholics on Evangelical issues is changing the cultural landscape.

Live for Tomorrow

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” ~ Revelation 21:1

How Do We Love Everybody?

“Love Everybody” is what the sign said as it was being held by some rock-country musician at the 4th of July celebration in Boston. With the Pops behind him and the people in front of him, he had one message, “Love Everybody.” A commendable message, don’t you think? Of course, he didn’t give any clues on how one is supposed to go about loving everybody. I guess he figured we don’t need any help, we just need to love. I guess he banked on the power of his appeal and the love that lay hidden in every human heart. That doesn’t cut it for me. I know my own heart, how un-loving, how selfish and self-absorbed it can be.

It’s almost impossible to read through 1 John and not wonder what love is, how manifest it is in your own life and how you convey it to others. However, those questions start at the wrong place; they start with me, which is the problem (and what I find unlovable about others). If “all we need is love,” then why is the world filled with so much hate, or worse, indifference? Seven bombs and several hundred injured in London, thirty thousand Africans dying a day from poverty-related, preventable diseases, child conscription for Burmese warfare and on and on…do I care? Do I love? Are these the kind of questions should I be asking when I read the Scripture, “Love Everybody”? (1 Jn 3.11, 23; 4.7, 11, 12)

How about asking, Who is love? After all, love isn’t a thing, an emotion; it’s person-al. Trees don’t love, people do. So maybe we should ask what person best embodies love. Who is love? God is. Who is God? Jesus is. Who is Jesus? The most precious person in the cosmos to God, his Father. Why did he die? Because God is love. Why did he resurrect? Because the Spirit is love. Who is the Spirit? Love.

St. Augustine put it together like this: Lover, Beloved, Love = Father, Son and Spirit. A trinitarian love triangle, which is where love begins and ends. We just need to get caught up in it. But how? No one has ever seen God!

John tells it this way. No one has seen God but if we love one another we abide in God and his love is perfected among us. How do we get close enough to abiding in Someone we have never seen? We receive his love. After all, he loved us first by giving up what was most precious for those who were most perverse. How do we know if we are abiding in God and not some figment of our imagination? We receive his Spirit, who enables us to love others. What does loving others look like? Telling them about the Beloved, the Lover and Love. Confess that Jesus has been eternally loved by the Father through the Spirit and that if we renounce our two cent notions of love, we can enter the love triangle and love everybody.

What are some ways we can love? Receive and rejoice in God’s love for us. Pursue righteousness (3.10). Give away our goods to those in need (3.17). Love our enemies and our friends. Lay down our own lives for our brothers (3.16).

Read =

Listen to God. Wash the dishes. Give your good shoes to Goodwill. Pray for terrorists. Take a day off of work to help a brother move. Tell someone about Love.

These are not random acts of kindness; they are purposeful acts of love.

If You Blog Read This

Since I started blogging, I’ve noticed a tendency towards solipcism, both in my own blog and others’. Solipcism is essentially a philosophy of life that is radically centered on Self. A blog promotes everything about you and from you, from your point of view. Therefore, it is dangerous. If you were the most important person in the world, then there would be no danger, but there are many more persons more important than you (or me), Three whose perspective is infinitely more estimable. There are a variety of other dangers, like cyber-ranting your opinons and settling for virtual community, which can threaten genuine relationships, both with the Trinity and others.

So what’s the solution to these dangers? Drop the blog and hang out at coffeeshops with friends? Not exactly. Like every other cultural and technological phenomenon, blogging must be engaged critically and carefully. Setting some personal guidelines isnt a bad idea. I came across these from a random blogger. Whether you adopt them or not, give them some thought and consider making your own.

  • Does this blog honor Jesus Christ as my Savior and King? This is my first test because I am a Christian. I dare not assume the affirmative and go on. In a sense, the other questions are simply an elaboration of this overarching test.
  • Is this a waste of my time? Is this an excellent use of my time, or is it simply my own version of solitaire?
  • Is there any value in the words? Is my blog valuable to myself and others, or is it just twaddle?
  • Am I taking myself too seriously? Am I pridefully exalting myself? Is this an excercise in vanity as I espouse the superior importance of my own inflated opinions?
  • Am I unaccountable? Is anybody going to read this who can really take me to task for my words?
  • Do I have a critical spirit? Is this a forum for complaint and criticism, or is it primarily for edifiation?

http://firstimportance.blogspot.com/