What is the role of Christianity?

Think about it. I think that in the same way that Jesus inhabited flesh and came to bring us healing, we are also to go and bring healing to those in our communities that need healing.

My friend Ryan Bell of the Hollywood Adventist Church came out with a video on the topic that’s been getting a lot of play and was featured on the Huffington Post.

He says:
“The idea originally came to me as I thought about how to respond to Glenn Beck’s recent comments about social justice being a foil for Nazism and Communism. I didn’t want to give Beck any additional press, but rather to seize a cultural moment and create a conversation about the centrality of social justice to our Christian faith.”

I encourage you to check out the website and decide for yourself: www.socialjusticechristian.com

And check out the video below.

So what do you think? Is this part of the role of Christianity? Yes or No?

Rob Bell has always been on the forefront of communicating the gospel in compelling ways. This newest video is no different.

I just read this great post by Seth Godin.

He says:

“The math is magical: you can pile up failures and still keep rolling, but you only need one juicy success to build a career. The killer is the category called ‘neither.’ If you spend your days avoiding by not doing much criticizing, you’ll never have a shot at success.”

I’ve found that fear of failure causes paralysis. So if you’re gonna fail, at least plan on failing big. That way at least you know there’s forward momentum in learning, character, and experience.

But do nothing and you learn nothing.

Your choice.

[image by department of development]

Wow. I just ran into this hilarious and really true video from Beyond Relevance blog.

Kinda makes you think about a couple of things. What do you think?

Whether you’re the leader or not in your church, I want to ask you one question: what’s the next big thing for your church?

I’m not talking about doubling your worship service or something like that. But what’s the next significant step you would like to see your church take? What do you think is the next thing your church needs to work on?

Just curious.

[image by mr pins]

In this post I wrote about some website options for your church or ministry. I mentioned several companies out there that are offering very high quality templates that your church can use. They’re systems that you can begin using almost immediately.

One of them was Bridge Element. I just got word from them that they want to offer a $100 discount to readers of Modern Ekklesia when you purchase their $499 website system. The offer is good for the next 90 days. Just tell them we sent you.

Seems like a pretty nice offer to me.

So if you don’t currently have a website or are looking to implement one soon, the clock is ticking. 90 days. Tick…tock…tick…

Easter is just a few days away. So here’s the question: will you be ready to receive guests that want to come?

I recently read a fascinating report by Bob Franquiz called  How To Think Like an Unchurched Person. You can download the pdf by clicking on that link. In the document he details his experience of what it was like being a first-time guest at a synagogue.

And the following are four pieces of information that an unchurched person will be looking for on your church website before they come:

1. Service Times. This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but many don’t have that info on their website. Someone should be able to find your service times quickly and without too much hassle. Do you have two service times? Do you start at 10:30am? Do you start at 11:30am? List the times.

2. Directions. Not only should you have the full address listed clearly, but you should also have a link where they can receive turn-by-turn direction through a google map. It’s quite easy these days to insert the Google map of your church address onto your website. For more info on how to do that click here. You should also include clear signage on the inside of your church to help them get around to where they need to go. There’s nothing worse than walking into a new place and having that lost feeling.

3. Service Length. You may list your service times on your website, but do you list how long the service actually lasts? People want to know if they’re going to be sitting there. If you don’t list the times, people may assume the service is three hours long. So share if it’s a 60, 75, or 90 minute service.

4. Dress Code. This is important. What’s the personality of your church like? Do people mostly dress in suits there? Do they mostly dress in jeans and shorts? If it is a more laid back atmosphere, but they come in a suit, they’ll feel quite out of place.

So how are you doing with those? This definitely made me do a double check on our church website. And I found things that I could tweak to make more clear. So if you found anything you need to change, jump on it now. Be ready to receive guests in your church this Easter weekend. So what do you need to add or change?

[image by guarsan]