Mindi's Blog

i’ve been thinking a lot lately about what attracts people to jesus particularly due to this election, a talk by francis chan, conversations with a new british friend about religion and life and politics in england, and knowing some ‘churched’ teens who are struggling with having a faith worth calling their own plus a long conversation with a youth ministry educator about the ‘disney-ification’of the american church.

all of this has messed with my head and heart in really good ways–challenging my assumptions, thinking and complacency.

tonite, i received a targeted ad saying “Loud Music at Church? You bet! You’ll get loud music, relevant messages, great kids’ programs and a casual atmosphere.”

really, we’ve got jesus and the best marketing hook we can come up with is loud music at church? i get that we need to have the gospel be understood and relevant, but is loud music going to be that draw?

i’m sure i’ll post more about all of this in the coming weeks, but for the moment, i’m just shaking my head about how the church is positioning itself sometimes.

there are a couple thoughts that have been dancing around in my head for the last day or so. at first they were just waltzing around and now they’re holding a rave with a full-on mosh pit. i’m hoping that putting them down here as place holders will get them to sit down and be quiet for a few minutes.

the cynicism, sarcasm, bitterness continuum. is it a continuum? is it a cul-de-sac? i know they’re related but i’m trying to clarify in my head how that relationship plays out. plus, there’s a tie in this to the ‘out of the heart, the mouth speaks’ thing.

moving beyond isolation… when one finds they’ve become isolated, how do they begin to repair that? how do they figure out how they got there so they don’t go back again?

as i have time in the upcoming weeks to dance with these a bit more, i’ll update this.