Shifting the way the church meets, learns, and leads
Last week, Kathleen at “Church in a Circle” warned us that she was starting a 12 part series on “how to change the church culture from within.” (See her post “A new format for a new era – a new blog series to change church culture from within.”)
Her first post in the series is called “Tomorrow’s church: Changing the way we meet, the way we learn, and the way we lead.”
She begins her post (and, thus, her series) by talking about many of the business and cultural changes that are taking place right now, fueled primarily by the internet. She says her goal is to discuss how some of the results of these changes can help the church shift the way we meet, learn, and lead:
Over the next few weeks I’m going to explore how the church can take advantage of this broader cultural shift to change church culture from within. The societal changes which are such a headache to businesses are a golden opportunity for the church. For the first time in many years, the church is poised to return to a more interactive model of meeting, where all of God’s people are empowered to participate and to minister to one another.
By the time we finish this series together, I hope to have communicated some adaptable strategies that every healthy church can consider to shift the way they meet, the way they learn and the way they lead.
Next she gives some specific examples in each category. (Jump over to her post to read about these specifics.)
I like the practical approach that she’s taking in this series. The things that we do (not always the things that we say or that we think we believe) demonstrate what we truly think about the church, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, salvation, etc. So, a practical approach can be helpful, as long as it is connected to a theological and spiritual reality.
I’m looking forward to Kathleen’s series, and I plan to follow along.
What do you think about her approach in this series?
Me too, Alan. I’m glad she’s tackling this topic, it needs to be debated widely. I’ve left a comment to her article.
Like you, I sense the need for this to be driven by the Father, Son and Spirit – not by us or by the internet itself. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds as Kathleen posts her articles.
Chris,
I appreciated the comment that you left on Kathleen’s post. I think this will be a very good series.
-Alan
Thanks, Chris and Alan! I agree with everything Chris said – God needs to be behind everything we do in church, Jesus needs to be at the centre of it, and the Holy Spirit needs to be revealing it to us.
I am praying that God helps me to communicate well and stay true to his purpose as I share these thoughts – not for my sake, but so that I might not steer anyone in the wrong direction. I can see God at work in his church, and it’s exciting and encouraging.
Thanks for your article, Alan.
– Kathleen
Kathleen,
Thanks for commenting. Now I’m looking forward to your series even more.
-Alan