I recently saw an interview with an economist named Roland Fryer. He pointed out some statistics concerning low achievement in schools by American children. He noted that minority students are showing especially low performance and have the highest drop out rates. I could elaborate on these statistics, but many of these issues are well known and the information is widely available for your own research. The interesting thing about this interview was his solution to the problem.
In New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago, schools are beginning to offer money to students for good performance in school. Fryer stated that a student can earn $50 every five weeks for an "A" grade in each class. That is a possible $250-300 every five weeks! This innovative strategy is in the beginning stages and no one knows if it will work. However, I believe there is a fundamental flaw in this strategy: a need for basic parenting.
In the last few years, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of mentorship, investment in others, and serving people. It is pretty clear from the Scripture that we are called to serve and sacrifice for others. We are to live in community and learn and grow together. This includes some valuable lessons about parenting. I am not a parent, but I do have a couple people that I am mentoring. Investment in others is a key to healthy development as a human being. I know my parents taught me so many important lessons and this is the key to healthy child development.
The social crisis America is experiencing in education, finances, and morality must be addressed from a healthy perspective that looks at core problems. Healthy mentoring, an attitude of service, and a worldview of sustainability must be present for a cultural shift. I may be simplifying complex issues, but I know that in this specific example of paying children to succeed, the core problem of terrible parenting must be addressed to really solve this problem.
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Breaking Point
We are at a breaking point in the Church. There must be a revolution in how we deal with the complex issues of our day. There are a few points I want to make on this subject:
1. The moral movement of our society is a symptom of a sickness in the Church and is a signal at our ineffective methods by which we deal with issues in this world.
The fact that our society is struggling with issues that challenge Godly values is an indicator that Christians are failing to influence our neighbors with the love of Christ. With divorce rates, abuse, and other issues plaguing Christians as much as non-Christians, it is obvious that we are not upholding a Godly example for the rest of our society. We have traded deeply devoted, loving relationships for shallow imitations of God's intent for us. Our church communities have created a group of converts who hold a faith that has little bearing on their daily lives. They see the American dream and God's dream for humanity as synonyms. We have lost our creativity in dealing with people's life change through the power of God.
Additionally, we have failed to realize that the means by which we influence society have been corrupted. We have been convinced that we can control the morality of our society by wielding political power. This is the same dangerous trap that Jesus was tempted with, Constantine fell to, and American Christianity has been co-opted by. We must learn to resist the temptation to achieve immediate results through political power when Jesus taught us to take the long, slow, difficult road of serving and suffering for those in need. By getting deeply involved in people's lives, we can experience real life change by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Church must find common ground to unite to be "like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." (Phil 2:2).
This point is so important in light of how divisive social issues have become in recent years. There are simple Biblical truths that we must use as our foundation, but the way we express those truths in our relationships with others can differ. Since a grounded Christian worldview is becoming the minority in America, we must rethink what it means to be effective in living a life of love, and showing others the Kingdom of God here on earth. I have some interesting ideas on this issue, but I don't have the time to write them all down now. However, these are questions we need to be asking in the Church. This is a new time, a new generation, and a new opportunity to help God in His work of redeeming His creation.
1. The moral movement of our society is a symptom of a sickness in the Church and is a signal at our ineffective methods by which we deal with issues in this world.
The fact that our society is struggling with issues that challenge Godly values is an indicator that Christians are failing to influence our neighbors with the love of Christ. With divorce rates, abuse, and other issues plaguing Christians as much as non-Christians, it is obvious that we are not upholding a Godly example for the rest of our society. We have traded deeply devoted, loving relationships for shallow imitations of God's intent for us. Our church communities have created a group of converts who hold a faith that has little bearing on their daily lives. They see the American dream and God's dream for humanity as synonyms. We have lost our creativity in dealing with people's life change through the power of God.
Additionally, we have failed to realize that the means by which we influence society have been corrupted. We have been convinced that we can control the morality of our society by wielding political power. This is the same dangerous trap that Jesus was tempted with, Constantine fell to, and American Christianity has been co-opted by. We must learn to resist the temptation to achieve immediate results through political power when Jesus taught us to take the long, slow, difficult road of serving and suffering for those in need. By getting deeply involved in people's lives, we can experience real life change by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Church must find common ground to unite to be "like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." (Phil 2:2).
This point is so important in light of how divisive social issues have become in recent years. There are simple Biblical truths that we must use as our foundation, but the way we express those truths in our relationships with others can differ. Since a grounded Christian worldview is becoming the minority in America, we must rethink what it means to be effective in living a life of love, and showing others the Kingdom of God here on earth. I have some interesting ideas on this issue, but I don't have the time to write them all down now. However, these are questions we need to be asking in the Church. This is a new time, a new generation, and a new opportunity to help God in His work of redeeming His creation.
Friday, August 15, 2008
More thoughts on American Culture and Christianity
As I have been thinking more about The Church, I realize that my perspective often is very narrow. I focus on the Church in the US, while there are more true followers of Jesus elsewhere in the world. However, my passion is for the American Church and its struggle to justify wealth, power, and success while preaching a gospel of humility, meakness, and peace.
This morning, I was reminded and challenged further in my understanding of cultural Christianity in the US. The guest speaker at our church stated that recently he was surprised to learn of a movement in Islam where people were coming to Jesus, transforming their lives, and yet still maintaining their cultural Islamic practices. They pray 5 times a day, maintain their dietary restrictions, and yet they have chosen to follow the one true God and be redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
If you're like me, you may not be able to envision this. It's not that I don't think its possible, it's that I'm fairly ignorant about Islam and what following Jesus would look like in that culture. The reason he mentioned this stemmed from the book of Galatians. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter in part to tell the people to not let things such as cultural difference, views on the Law, or other barriers keep people from truly and honestly choosing to follow Jesus.
One example was the argument that Gentiles should become Law-abiding Jews before they can choose to follow Jesus. To cut to the chase, Paul basically said this: there is no correct way to follow Jesus in terms of cultural practices, regional proximity, or any other restriction. It is by faith in Jesus Christ that we are redeemed. It is by loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves that matters. How someone models God's love, grace, peace, and forgiveness is different in different culture and circumstances.
Here's the challenging part of this for the American Church: we have packaged Christianity in such a way that many people want nothing to do with Jesus because of our actions. We export not only our faith in Jesus, but our cultural understandings, doctrine, and worship practices to the rest of the world. On a more dangerous level, we have mixed our culture with our faith. The American Dream becomes God's Dream. I have personally talked to people who look at American Christianity and see militarism, war mongers, greedy, wealthy, selfish, arrogant, and clueless people.
Americans try to justify our culture with our faith. We build our priorities, purpose statements, and church budgets around the subversive priorities of our culture. Its time for an awakening.
One last thing, I heard a pastor from Kenya speak at the Urbana Missions Conference in Dec. 06. He said this concerning The Church in Africa, "To drink from the cup of Western Christianity is to drink from a poison chalice."
This morning, I was reminded and challenged further in my understanding of cultural Christianity in the US. The guest speaker at our church stated that recently he was surprised to learn of a movement in Islam where people were coming to Jesus, transforming their lives, and yet still maintaining their cultural Islamic practices. They pray 5 times a day, maintain their dietary restrictions, and yet they have chosen to follow the one true God and be redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
If you're like me, you may not be able to envision this. It's not that I don't think its possible, it's that I'm fairly ignorant about Islam and what following Jesus would look like in that culture. The reason he mentioned this stemmed from the book of Galatians. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter in part to tell the people to not let things such as cultural difference, views on the Law, or other barriers keep people from truly and honestly choosing to follow Jesus.
One example was the argument that Gentiles should become Law-abiding Jews before they can choose to follow Jesus. To cut to the chase, Paul basically said this: there is no correct way to follow Jesus in terms of cultural practices, regional proximity, or any other restriction. It is by faith in Jesus Christ that we are redeemed. It is by loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves that matters. How someone models God's love, grace, peace, and forgiveness is different in different culture and circumstances.
Here's the challenging part of this for the American Church: we have packaged Christianity in such a way that many people want nothing to do with Jesus because of our actions. We export not only our faith in Jesus, but our cultural understandings, doctrine, and worship practices to the rest of the world. On a more dangerous level, we have mixed our culture with our faith. The American Dream becomes God's Dream. I have personally talked to people who look at American Christianity and see militarism, war mongers, greedy, wealthy, selfish, arrogant, and clueless people.
Americans try to justify our culture with our faith. We build our priorities, purpose statements, and church budgets around the subversive priorities of our culture. Its time for an awakening.
One last thing, I heard a pastor from Kenya speak at the Urbana Missions Conference in Dec. 06. He said this concerning The Church in Africa, "To drink from the cup of Western Christianity is to drink from a poison chalice."
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Burdens
I've been struggling today with some thoughts about The Church (capital C). In so many ways I have been feeling burdened to challenge The Church in its understanding of what it means to be a Christian. This connects to my feelings on my trip to Africa.
Here's my main beef: the line between the pursuit of the American Dream and following Jesus has become so blurry. Instead of challenging the culture we live in, the Church reinforces the values and way of life of popular culture. Mostly, this is not overt. We subversively applaud home ownership, career success, wealth, selfishness, greed, individualism, and consumption. The identity of a Christian in the United States closely resembles that of any other citizen pursuing the American Dream.
There are a few reasons (among many others) that I want to highlight which cause this problem. First, our Church leaders and pastors have an inadequate or incomplete understanding of theology and philosophy. This is a bold statement for me, an undergraduate student, to make. However, I feel that many pastors and leaders in the Church lead with minimal training in philosophy, theology, and sociology. They make assumptions based on ancient philosophical and/or theological debates without really examining these ideas. The congregations learn about the Christian faith without truly understanding how their doctrines and theology was formed. My comments are a stab at the schools these leaders attend also, but not intentionally. I feel that many pastors and teachers stop learning and seeking understanding after they graduate. These leaders have a narrow and unchallenging understanding of philosophy, theology, and pop culture.
Second, I believe that there has been a co-opting of political hot topics by Christians. We have chosen the wrong channels by which we engage our culture. Instead of the work of the Spirit, we rely on our votes to enforce our moral agenda on the rest of society. We do not express love. Instead, we express judgement on others. We are commanded by God to love others and live according to a different constitution. We are citizens of heaven and God is our King. Its time we started acting like it.
Third, I believe we have a blindness to the rest of humanity due to our wealth, success, and power in the United States. With our busy schedules, lattes, and our "drive-thru" lifestyle, we have blinded ourselves from not only the suffering in our own backyard, but the suffering of humanity across the globe. Sure we read about Darfur, Tibet, and New Orleans, but we fail to take any action or even ask tough questions about how those events occur. American Christians live in a dream world and must come to understand how our success and power has placed us in a dangerous situation. God has always worked through the weak, the poor, and the incompetent. He has always warned against power, earthly kingdoms, and religious systems of authority. We must change our perspective as Christians in a society that has everything. We are not fulfilling the mission of Christ in our culture. We are conforming.
Here's my main beef: the line between the pursuit of the American Dream and following Jesus has become so blurry. Instead of challenging the culture we live in, the Church reinforces the values and way of life of popular culture. Mostly, this is not overt. We subversively applaud home ownership, career success, wealth, selfishness, greed, individualism, and consumption. The identity of a Christian in the United States closely resembles that of any other citizen pursuing the American Dream.
There are a few reasons (among many others) that I want to highlight which cause this problem. First, our Church leaders and pastors have an inadequate or incomplete understanding of theology and philosophy. This is a bold statement for me, an undergraduate student, to make. However, I feel that many pastors and leaders in the Church lead with minimal training in philosophy, theology, and sociology. They make assumptions based on ancient philosophical and/or theological debates without really examining these ideas. The congregations learn about the Christian faith without truly understanding how their doctrines and theology was formed. My comments are a stab at the schools these leaders attend also, but not intentionally. I feel that many pastors and teachers stop learning and seeking understanding after they graduate. These leaders have a narrow and unchallenging understanding of philosophy, theology, and pop culture.
Second, I believe that there has been a co-opting of political hot topics by Christians. We have chosen the wrong channels by which we engage our culture. Instead of the work of the Spirit, we rely on our votes to enforce our moral agenda on the rest of society. We do not express love. Instead, we express judgement on others. We are commanded by God to love others and live according to a different constitution. We are citizens of heaven and God is our King. Its time we started acting like it.
Third, I believe we have a blindness to the rest of humanity due to our wealth, success, and power in the United States. With our busy schedules, lattes, and our "drive-thru" lifestyle, we have blinded ourselves from not only the suffering in our own backyard, but the suffering of humanity across the globe. Sure we read about Darfur, Tibet, and New Orleans, but we fail to take any action or even ask tough questions about how those events occur. American Christians live in a dream world and must come to understand how our success and power has placed us in a dangerous situation. God has always worked through the weak, the poor, and the incompetent. He has always warned against power, earthly kingdoms, and religious systems of authority. We must change our perspective as Christians in a society that has everything. We are not fulfilling the mission of Christ in our culture. We are conforming.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
The Ghetto, or not
I have something on my mind I just need to say something about it. As many of you know, Sarah and I recently moved to a house here in San Jose. This great retired couple let us "housesit" for them while they are in Turkey for a year serving as missionaries. In a conversation I had with a friend a month ago, I was disturbed by a comment with guy said.
He wanted to know where I was moving to, so I told him the approximate location of the house. He said, "Oh, that's almost in the ghetto man." This comment really made me mad. Here's why:
-The term "ghetto" comes from the era of the Jewish Holocaust (I think). This is where the Jews were required to live while they were being persecuted. Using this term to describe a neighborhood today is an insult.
-Secondly, I resent the fact that someone felt like they had to warn me that I might be moving into a bad neighborhood. It was like this person was saying that this "ghetto" neighborhood was not an acceptable place to live. Well, there are plenty of good people who live in this neighborhood and many of these people cannot help their economic or social condition.
-I felt like this person had a certain standard for a "good" home. It really bothered me that someone could make a comment like that. Why do I deserve a "better" neighborhood? Maybe I'm part of the reason why there are these "bad" neighborhoods. Maybe instead of retreating to the "good" neighborhoods, I could be an influence for God's love in this "ghetto".
(By the way, the neighborhood I live in is great! I don't know what this guy was referring to because I love this place!)
He wanted to know where I was moving to, so I told him the approximate location of the house. He said, "Oh, that's almost in the ghetto man." This comment really made me mad. Here's why:
-The term "ghetto" comes from the era of the Jewish Holocaust (I think). This is where the Jews were required to live while they were being persecuted. Using this term to describe a neighborhood today is an insult.
-Secondly, I resent the fact that someone felt like they had to warn me that I might be moving into a bad neighborhood. It was like this person was saying that this "ghetto" neighborhood was not an acceptable place to live. Well, there are plenty of good people who live in this neighborhood and many of these people cannot help their economic or social condition.
-I felt like this person had a certain standard for a "good" home. It really bothered me that someone could make a comment like that. Why do I deserve a "better" neighborhood? Maybe I'm part of the reason why there are these "bad" neighborhoods. Maybe instead of retreating to the "good" neighborhoods, I could be an influence for God's love in this "ghetto".
(By the way, the neighborhood I live in is great! I don't know what this guy was referring to because I love this place!)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Colson, Boyd, Claiborne
An election year special, here is a fabulous discussion between Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Claiborne concerning the role Christians should play in politics and government.
Chuck Colson was a part of the Nixon Administration and was imprisoned for his involvement in Watergate. After turning to Christ, he founded Prison Fellowship which ministers to prisoners. He has also authored many books on Christianity and politics.
Greg Boyd is the founding pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN (yeah baby!). He is the author of the book Myth of a Christian Nation.
Shane Claiborne is a founding partner of a community called The Simple Way in Philadelphia, PA. He has recently come out with a book called Jesus for President.
Please check out THIS link to see a video of the discussion.
Chuck Colson
Greg Boyd
Shane Claiborne
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Chuck Colson was a part of the Nixon Administration and was imprisoned for his involvement in Watergate. After turning to Christ, he founded Prison Fellowship which ministers to prisoners. He has also authored many books on Christianity and politics.
Greg Boyd is the founding pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN (yeah baby!). He is the author of the book Myth of a Christian Nation.
Shane Claiborne is a founding partner of a community called The Simple Way in Philadelphia, PA. He has recently come out with a book called Jesus for President.
Please check out THIS link to see a video of the discussion.
Chuck Colson
Greg Boyd
Shane Claiborne
.jpg)
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Headache - Hope
I'm getting a headache (figuratively) from some of the things going on in my church community. Some of the issues I've been advocating for, such as turning our focus outward and setting a missional priority, have been deflated. Recently, I have become frustrated by so many missed opportunities to reach people, while we make things more comfortable for the people who are already Christians. So often, we've been taught to place harmony and comfort as a priority over transformation, healing, and dealing with the tough questions.
I'm kinda fed up with the notion of "if we build it, they will come" mentality. It may work in other regions, but the Bay Area does not have a community that is used to church culture. They are not inclined to show up early on Sunday morning and stay for 3 hours. We need to ask some different questions.
Basically, I'm getting a headache from beating my head against the wall with some of this stuff. I want to see transformation, life change, redemption, and humility. I do think there is hope though. Our college group is trying some new things. We are doing something called "Recre8" this year. Basically, on Sunday mornings our college students will be involved in sub-groups that have specific action plans. Each group will spend the morning working out details of their projects. These action-oriented groups will be putting into practice our faith by focusing our strengths, talents, and skills toward a specific purpose based on a way we want to reach people with the love of Jesus. We are living out the gospel.
I'm kinda fed up with the notion of "if we build it, they will come" mentality. It may work in other regions, but the Bay Area does not have a community that is used to church culture. They are not inclined to show up early on Sunday morning and stay for 3 hours. We need to ask some different questions.
Basically, I'm getting a headache from beating my head against the wall with some of this stuff. I want to see transformation, life change, redemption, and humility. I do think there is hope though. Our college group is trying some new things. We are doing something called "Recre8" this year. Basically, on Sunday mornings our college students will be involved in sub-groups that have specific action plans. Each group will spend the morning working out details of their projects. These action-oriented groups will be putting into practice our faith by focusing our strengths, talents, and skills toward a specific purpose based on a way we want to reach people with the love of Jesus. We are living out the gospel.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Erwin! (updated 1/31)
Today I got the chance to sit in on a taping of a series of seminars by Erwin McManus. He was asked by a christian television station to record a bunch of seminars that will be aired on TV in the spring and summer.
The studio was small; there were only about 25 people in the audience. About 12 people from my church overwhelmed the other attendees. Some of the other people who went were our Worship Pastor, Senior Associate Pastor, Men's Ministry team leaders, Junior High Director, Director of Women's Ministries, and our Leadership Development Team Leader. I sat about 10 ft. from Erwin as he spoke about his books Unstoppable Force and Uprising. It was amazing.
I have been getting very discouraged with the ministries I am involved in at my church. I feel like I am being chewed up and spit out by the system. Yesterday I had a bit of a breakdown as I struggled to understand why I felt my passions being sucked out of me.
Erwin inspired me so much today. He reminded me that people are really what matter. He reminded me to go after my passions. I understand more fully how the church should be and I know things can get better. I'm still struggling with all the pain of trying to create change and inspire extraordinary things in the church. Sometimes I cry, sometimes I whine, sometimes I scream, and sometimes I leap for joy (although more rarely). Things are hard, but God is Good.
Update: 1/31/08
Here is a comment I left on a special blog set up for the participants of this seminar series from my church:
- I am becoming more and more aware that Hillside's Ethos does not match up to the values written down on paper. Our mission statement is "Introducing people to Jesus, and inspiring everyone to follow him fully." However, the areas of ministry that accomplish these values often slip under the radar and have the fewest volunteers. Even the 4 principles we subscribe to (Caring, Reaching, Growing, Developing) become lost in the culture of Hillside. I personally know people who have left Hillside because their leadership abilities have been stifled, or their spiritual/emotional needs have been neglected. These young leaders that left Hillside went on to other churches to become lay-leaders, paid staff, and pastors.
Honestly, I believe that Hillside has many values that are not stated in the mission statement. These unsaid values shape the culture of our church. For example: loyalty, longevity, family, and harmony. I have come to understand that Hillside is a place where (if you fit the right criteria) you can fit in like a family. The problem is that I believe we miss much of the challenge to "follow Jesus fully" when we get blinded by our desire to avoid conflict, keep the status quo, and put a smile on because we're with our family.
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