A thought. And an unfinished one at that. I am looking for input.

Why are Christian denominations in the western world failing? I don't think it is worth debating "if" they are failing. Patently I think every indication is that they are. So the question is why?

Simple answer: people are no longer interested in procuring what we are producing.

This leads to a more complex question: What is it that we, as denominational leaders, and denominations in general (the human institution) are tasked with producing?


I think the short answer for myself and many of my colleagues has been that we are tasked with producing "The Church" . This is something of a problematic answer. In truth, it is Holy Spirit which is tasked with producing "the Church". The Spirit inspires faith in Jesus Christ. The Spirit calls the sanctified to Christ. The Spirit is tasked with gathering the believers together. I think we can all agree that the scriptures would point to all those truths and we have paid rather extensive lip service to these concepts, but I don't think we really believe them. If we did, we would not proliferate methods, models, techniques, and tricks to inspire, call, and gather the saints. In truth I believe that if the Christan denominations all closed up shop tomorrow the Holy Spirit would go about it's work with equal gusto and success. The church is the sum total of those whom God has called, sanctified, gathered, and sent. We cannot claim domain over these functions, or over "the church" proper, without supplanting the Spirit.

So what is it we as the human stewards of the institution of the church tasked with producing? I think we are tasked with creating a human institution that supports, enables, exhorts, and enriches the faith life of those whom the Spirit has gathered into the Church. If this is true, then this is our product.

Is the world no longer interested in this product? No, and again I emphatically say NO. In fact the notion of a human which has no interest in living a full and robust faith life seems to me to be illogical. I would go so far to say that Humans seek lives of faith instinctually. I would propose this is our great purpose. A human which does not seek a life of faith is like a monkey that does not seek a tree to climb.

So, what does this mean when you take into account that people are turning away from organized religion in hordes here in the US?

Answer: we are no longer producing a product that sufficiently supports, enables, exhorts, and enriches the lives of those whom the Spirit has called. Much like blacksmiths trying to sell horseshoes to people driving cars we keep trying to "sell" the same old organized church to people who's life perspective has drastically changed.

If the Spirit is still successfully calling, sanctifying, and gathering the Church, what is it that we, the leadership of God's community, are doing wrong? I don't have a great answer for that one but I have stumbled across some pretty bad answers. I have failed enough to know that certain things are not the solution:

Contemporizing worship is not the answer. It may turn out to be part of the answer, but it is not THE answer. In the end it becomes a form over function conundrum.

Retrofitting or repristinating old, or "traditional" worship is not the answer. In the end it becomes a form over function conundrum again.

Embracing worldly perspectives and values is not the answer. Though it seems denominations are lining up to try this one out, it does not seem to work at all. If it did Lutheran, Episcopalian, UCC, Presbyterian, etc congregations would be full to the brim.

Withdrawing from society does not work. It produces a nasty echo chamber effect and ultimately the communities cannibalize themselves.

Producing slick programs does not work. Sure, we should aim for quality in all we do, but this is not the answer unto itself. In the end it becomes all about having an entertaining "show" or meeting the endless treadmill of human greed for new, shiny experiences.

Polarizing into factions does not work. It is a tempting quick fix, but in the end the human agenda winds up over-riding the divine agenda and everything goes south pretty quick.

Sticking one's head in the sand and repeating "la la la la la" over to ones self seems pointless, but it sure seems popular. Do I need to even say that this one does not work?

Saying obvious platitudes like: "we need to get back to the Bible", or "it's all about community", or " it's all about love" is nice, but hardly instructive. Sure. True. Now how?

I am beginning to suspect that the answer has something to do with hardcore disciple making.... but I am still fuzzy on the details. I would be curious to hear your thoughts.

Public Opinion and Sex in the Church

If sex sells why isn't the church doing better? OK, churches I know are rarely sexy, but if one "Diggs" the word 'church' at popular news agrregator Digg.com 8 out of the 10 top stories have something to do with the church and sex. Topping the list: the Catholic pedophilia scandal, next down: the pro/anti homosexuality conflict in the USA with all the lunatic fringe weighing in. So has the church become all about sex these days?

In a word, no. In fact most places I have been sex is rarely mentioned let alone made a topic of frequent or contentious debate, at least up till the last few years. In my home tradition of Lutheranism we have had a recent spate of uproar about blessing same sex unions and gay clergy. For it or against it, you cannot deny it is polarizing. It has been all folks are talking about in the denomination. So what gives? Jesus rarely preached about sex. The apostles certainly brought it up, but it was hardly central to their message. Even Old Testament references to it, though strong, were passing. When did we get the idea that we should be all about sex?

Here is the real kicker. I don't think that us Christians did decided to be all about sex. In fact l don't think it is any more of an issue now than ever before. I think the world is talking about Christians and sex, and even Christians are talking about the church and sex, because it is the only interesting thing we seem to be doing. The bottom line seems to be that we have allowed Christianity to become boring. It is no wonder the press of the world jump on anything titillating happening with us. Otherwise we would disappear off their radar. Westboro Baptist Church is nobody. A fringe of the fringe of the fringe of the lunatic fringe. But they get on the news all the time because what they do is interesting. Horrifying, but interesting.

How did the most exciting thing to happen to humanity become something so boring? So passionless? So bland that the world is more interested in our scandals than our accomplishments?

I'm going to let you chew on that yourself. No answers here. I have opinions, but not answers. You need to find the answer for yourself. So, move on folks. Nothing to see here. Hey look over there! I think someone did something controversial!

PrayNow App for iPhone

June 4, 2010

Concordia Publishing House, the publishing arm of the LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) has been pushing the envelope of online accessibility for the last year or so. Based on what I have seen this seems to be largely the work of Pastor Paul McCain the Publisher at Concordia Publishing House and Executive Director of their Editorial Division who is quite the tech maven. You can read more about, and by Paul HERE.

Most lately, the LCMS has turned out some of the first Lutheran Apps for the iPod / iPad crowd. (So far no word on whether an Android version is forthcoming.)

The App looks OK, though it won't win any beauty contests for flashy interfaces or slick graphics. It has basic iPod menus that link almost exclusively to text. No video. No audio. No bells, whistles, or smoke. That said, it does exactly what it advertises to do:

Readings The app provides you with all the psalms, and some canticles.

Services It provides you with the text to Matins, Vespers, Compline (three prayer services that are designed to bookend the day with prayer) I have to admit to finding this an odd application. These services are designed to be read aloud, responsively. That is to say, in a call and response service with other people. So is everyone supposed to stand around with their own iPod and read from them? Books seem a more logical approach to this sort of thing. I have to admit I was a bit confused by how to use this effectively.

Prayers For those who like to have pre-written prayers on hand for their devotional time, this is a wonderful treasury of well written prayers.

Daily Readings Here is where the app shines. You can look up by day the RCL readings including hymnody and suggested readings from the Book of Concord. For any clergy who preach from the lectionary this is a wonderful resource to have in hand.

Raves: The Daily Readings are the reason to buy this app. By a long shot, any other function in this app would be as well served or better served in dead tree format. However, having a readily searchable data base of readings with suggested hymns and suggested prayers for worship is a real strong element.

Rants: The app costs $8.99. Bottom line, it costs too much. If I was not reviewing it, I would not have bought it. The price point puts this app in the top 5% cost wise in the iTunes store. But, it certainly lacks the flash and functionality of it's fellow expensive apps.

Let's be honest, this is a niche driven, long tail reliant app that will only appeal to a limited number of people. This is not a populist offering, nor was it meant to be. In fact, very little Concordia Publishing House does is crowd friendly. This is for serious traditionalists who want a serious app for serious prayer. I say that with no malice or judgement. I will use the app myself in my more serious moments. If traditional liturgical based devotions and prayer are your cup of tea, you will like this app.