blog.worship.com

FaithBook: Churches Use Facebook to Develop Online Congregations

Inside Facebook notes that "While church-focused Facebook applications have been around for years, now real-life churches across the country are spreading their messages online, giving more people access to worship services and helping the churches reach a broader number of people."

How to Identify a Reliable Preacher

Our friend Tullian Tchividjian offers biblical insight into making wise decisions regarding the preaching one chooses to listen to. 

Virtual Church v. Reality Church

From Aaron Menikoff at Church Matters:

Does someone really want to make the argument that a group of individuals meeting virtually in SimCity is a biblical church? Apparently. See this article about pastor Douglas Estes's new book, SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World. Thankfully, the article includes a healthy critique by a Portland, Oregon pastor who doesn't buy it: "The worship, equipping, and discipling ministries of the church simply can’t take place through the internet. Pieces of them can, but eventually the jump has to be made," he said. "A truly biblical Church requires that we heed the biblical call of Hebrews 10 to not give up gathering together and being present to one another in real, actual life." Well said.

Unfashionable

"Is it possible that the contemporary church has been so caught up in the quest for relevance that it has ceased to be noticeably different from the world? That's the thesis of Unfashionable, a new book by Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham, and pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. Michael Horton talks with Tullian about his important new book."-- White Horse Inn

Matt Redman: Worship Songs Aren't For Blokes

"The church has been under-fathered and over-mothered." -- Matt Redman

Break Us

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. - Ps 51

God does not care so much that we bring a sacrifice.  He isn't impressed when we sit in church and sing things we really don't believe.

He is more concerned about our spirit.  Is it broken and contrite?  (Contrite means to show sorrow for sin.)  God will not turn away from that.  

He may be unimpressed with our songs.  He may be indifferent toward the few dollars we toss in the offering, but what really lights him up is when we are broken and sorry.

God, break us.  If it means that you come closer, break us.

Scot Longyear, Resonate

photo by kwerfeldein

A Conversation with Three Pastors

A Conversation with Three Pastors. Listen to Dr. Al Mohler as he discusses the future of the local church in America with three pastors: Mark Dever, Matt Chandler, and J.D. Greear.

What is a Christian Church?

Free book chapter from Vintage Church: Timeless Truth and Timely Methods

Matt Chandler - Irreverent, Silly Myths

Matt Chandler on "A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep".  From the 2009 Desiring God Conference for Pastors, February 3, 2009

The Chronicles of Jesus and His Victory in the Real Worship War

By Scotty Smith

With respect to the worship, I began studying the past, present, and future of worship from God's perspective, which led me to wrestle questions such as: what was God's original design for His worship?  What has happened to his worship as a result of the intrusion of sin and death?  How is God's worship being progressively redeemed through the work of Jesus?  And how will we worship God perfectly and eternally after the second coming of Jesus?

Pondering these questions pushed me toward the second major infuence God used to reshape my understanding of worship: the Book of Revelation.  I've carried on a long-standing wrestling match with Revelation since I became a Christian in the late '60's.  Though it confused and even frightened me as a young believer, three and a half decades later, Revelation has become one of my favorite three books in the Bible--probably because of its story structure, and the visual and auditory imagery the apostle John used in writing His masterpiece; but, most definately, because of its emphasis on worship and the centrality of the work of Jesus.

Today, I think of Revelation as "The Chronicles of Jesus and His Victory in the Real Worship War."  Because the main story that John is telling is the story of God's worship--the past, present, and future of the most defining and contested category in all of life, and Jesus' central role in this story.

In particular, God has used the last two chapters of Revelation to radically reorient my understanding of worship and everything else.  Since God has been pleased to give us a glorious glimpse, however partial, of the fully restored world of the new heaven and new earth, doesn't it stand to reason that He intends for us to become as familiar as possible with our destiny?  The more we fill our hearts with a vision of the perfect world of tomorrow, the better equipped me will be for living as agents of hope and restoration in the broken world of today.  And the better acquainted we are with God's perfected worship, the more faithfully we will worship Him, and help others worship Him today.

For example, I was far better equipped to converse about Switzerland and introduce friends to my favorite country in the world after I had actually been there a few times for myself.  Two viewings of the movie Heidi, a few yodeling lessons, a pair of lederhosen, and a love for Swiss chocolate doesn't make you a Swiss tour guide; any more than knowing a few Chris Tomlin worship songs, mastering four or five guitar chords, loving Jesus, and having an audience makes you a worship leader.  We've got to be worshipers before we can lead worship.  And this involves becoming far more familiar and engaged with God Himself and with His design and delights in worship.