With these elements in place, a Gospel Ecosystem is up and running. You will know that it is working when you see two tipping points pass.
The first is a tipping point in the churches. That is when you see growth happening all over the city spontaneously, not just in one or two churches or movements. That is when you will start to see the percentage of Christians in the city grow (and not simply move around).
The second is a tipping point in the city. That is when, at some point, the percentage of Christians in the city actually gets big enough to make the cities look different. (Maybe 10%, as Chuck Colson suggested is the tipping point in prisons.) At this point the change is unmistakable, and even those who don't like the Gospel message like what the Christians are doing in the city.
Keller closed the talk by making an important point for church planters. He said that he wants to "raise your eyes beyond the current horizon." The first horizon for a church planter, he noted, is usually simple: he doesn't want to be a failure! The second horizon is when the church planter has succeeded long enough that he wants to start another church, or a network or movement. The true horizon for our work, Keller says, should be the existence of Gospel Ecosystems in our cities.
The first is a tipping point in the churches. That is when you see growth happening all over the city spontaneously, not just in one or two churches or movements. That is when you will start to see the percentage of Christians in the city grow (and not simply move around).
The second is a tipping point in the city. That is when, at some point, the percentage of Christians in the city actually gets big enough to make the cities look different. (Maybe 10%, as Chuck Colson suggested is the tipping point in prisons.) At this point the change is unmistakable, and even those who don't like the Gospel message like what the Christians are doing in the city.
Keller closed the talk by making an important point for church planters. He said that he wants to "raise your eyes beyond the current horizon." The first horizon for a church planter, he noted, is usually simple: he doesn't want to be a failure! The second horizon is when the church planter has succeeded long enough that he wants to start another church, or a network or movement. The true horizon for our work, Keller says, should be the existence of Gospel Ecosystems in our cities.
Now, for some more of the usual potpourri... I also appreciated these reflections on The Death of Embarrassment:
Far from dividing people, embarrassment "can be a peacemaking force that brings people together - both during conflict and after breeches of the social contract, when there's otherwise great potential for violence and disorder." By expressing embarrassment we put others at ease by reinforcing our commitment to group norms. Keltner encourages us to see embarrassment as "a window into the ethical brain."
But in our nonjudgmental, individualistic culture, it is often uncomfortable and occasionally dangerous to attempt to enforce social norms. Even when people are objectively behaving badly - like the people who flout cell phone bans in trains or doctors' offices and impose their conversations on everyone else around them - it is often difficult to muster the courage to tell them to be quiet. In his book Embarrassment, psychologist Rowland S. Miller argues that, far from being inappropriate, embarrassment "is often a desirable, correct response to social predicaments." Our fleeting sense of embarrassment when reminding someone else to follow the rules is normal, and as Miller reminds us, people who are unwilling to express embarrassment mark themselves as socially suspect. "A capacity for embarrassment is a marker of normal humanity," writes Miller. Or at least it should be.
But in our nonjudgmental, individualistic culture, it is often uncomfortable and occasionally dangerous to attempt to enforce social norms. Even when people are objectively behaving badly - like the people who flout cell phone bans in trains or doctors' offices and impose their conversations on everyone else around them - it is often difficult to muster the courage to tell them to be quiet. In his book Embarrassment, psychologist Rowland S. Miller argues that, far from being inappropriate, embarrassment "is often a desirable, correct response to social predicaments." Our fleeting sense of embarrassment when reminding someone else to follow the rules is normal, and as Miller reminds us, people who are unwilling to express embarrassment mark themselves as socially suspect. "A capacity for embarrassment is a marker of normal humanity," writes Miller. Or at least it should be.
A news item from our motherland:
Dale McAlpine was arrested for saying that homosexuality is a sin and for doing so "in a voice loud enough to be heard by others."
A strong reminder (Doctrine Rightly Held from the Banner of Truth article collection):
A person who has a great grasp of the great doctrines of the Bible and yet is unloving toward people is in reality a spiritual freak and does not know what he thinks he knows.
Lastly, Werner Herzog reads Curious George: This spoof is probably funnier if you know something about Werner Herzog, but any fan of dry (and slightly dark?) humor might enjoy it. Two others exist (Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel AND Madeline). My wife and I thought Madeline was the most fun, but it was a little too edgy for me to post directly.
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