A Message Collaboration Process

We’ve been experimenting for the past few years on ways we can move beyond a model of communication that sees a single person’s ideas presented from the platform versus the potential combined creativity that can come from more collaborative approaches.

The opportunity to discuss often comes only after you’ve already heard the “final word” on Sunday. And your "discussion" isn't going to change it! We'd like to put the opportunity to contribute on the front-end so the final teaching represents many perspectives, and, perhaps, a measure of ideas that would not have come from the presenter alone.

So what does the process look like? A message “starter” is offered as a first step. It’s a simple paragraph that poses a question or suggests a message theme or a possible range of conclusions. That idea is “blogged”, discussed, developed, refined and poked around until it turns into a finalized body of teaching for a Sunday service.

So contribute. It makes a difference. The next opportunity to contribute (for February 19) is below.

"Starter" for February 19

"Here's the part you won't get told in church - and don't tell them you heard it from us"

Is closure a myth? Is there some list of facts and figures we could lay out on a chalk board that makes such a solid case for what we believe that almost everyone else will have to believe it, too?

There is almost always another side to the story. I think we all have to admit that there are great people out there - just as smart as us that have found really good reasons to believe something different than us. Not everyone who finds themselves outside Christianity is “deceived”, “dumb” or about to become one of us.

So can we admit that there are other plausible explanations for our universe beyond Genesis? Or would that cause our system to come crashing down like a house of cards? What do you think about “closure” and “certainty”? How much of each is possible?

Does “faith” mean one has leapt over missing evidence to draw a conclusion which isn’t fully supported?

I’d love to hear your reaction to the following statement: “Christianity is not the only thing you can or need to believe.” And, if closure isn’t possible, then is there good cause to believe anyway? You’d think God would leave at least enough evidence behind to make it harder to miss. Or do you think He has made it hard to miss?

Hey - I'm Speaking This Weekend on the Quiet Genius of Christianity

And the idea is this - Christianity is a confrontation designed to pull you out of your own skin.

First, in God, there is a contradiction of ideas to pull us out of our logic.
Second, comapssion is a challenge to be pulled out of your stuff.
And last, relationship is a challenge to be pulled from your self.

It's all part of the kick off for a new experiment we're calling "The Thomas Question".

For more information, times and location check http://www.askthequestion.ca/when.html.

See you there...

The Success Gambit

Ambition may very well be a snorting, voracious beast of a thing gobbling up resources and creating powerful (and hard to control) urges.  And we are in a culture addicted to it.  But here a few sentences about a poassible "flip side".  What about the understated virtue of a normal life – one lived NOT in pursuit of some grandiose idea, but something that seems far more mundane on the surface:  serving?

I believe our appetites would kill us, given the chance.  They are linear equations (more, more, always more) not unlike cancer (a tumor is uncontrolled growth).  Our appetites would have us dream a thing that could kill us to achieve (Mt. Everest – see Into Thin Air by John Krakauer or Deep Survival by Laurence Cruz).  Sometimes it is fitting to say “no” to our heart’s desire.  Even further – sometimes it is NOBLE (see the Bible – all of it).  

What could we call the other side of success (the one we don’t talk about in a culture that has “phallicized” it – the darker side of success)?  After all, it is a bit of a gambit:  maybe when you set out on a path to touch great things, you trade the mundane you didn’t know you needed for a shot of glory you only thought would fix it all.  You could call that a dangerous trade to be sure.  

So it is that many have ended up in bed with a prostitute or wrapped around a needle because of desires they couldn’t control.  The size of the thing you want is matched by the size of desires/holes/needs/thirsts it creates.  I think we should be cautious about what level of appetite we unleash.  We ought to be careful it is something that can be satisfied in the context of a healthy life.