A gadget
Every once in awhile something comes along that is so brilliant you can’t believe it hasn’t been done before. Behold the faucet that indicates the temperature of the water using LCD lights. Very sexy.
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A blog
Some of the churches that are involved in Love Winnipeg are dipping their toes into the blogosphere and posting their experiences on the Love Winnipeg blog. I especially like the little graphic my pastor put up to encourage another pastor to try out blogging…. and how Love Winnipeg showed up in Nepal.
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Why I’m reading ‘Mega Shift’…
I have a philosophy in reading where I will throw books into my reading mix that I know in advance are from the fringes of what I might consider or agree with. I do this to keep myself balanced… or unbalanced… and keep myself exposed to perspectives and views outside the range of my current views or favourite authors so as to avoid tunnel vision. I recommend this practice… if you’re able to read with an open mind.
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‘Mega Shift’ is from a very charismatic viewpoint. It’s a great read. The author is quite humourous and self-deprecating alongside equal doses of the typical charismatic language and bravado. Mega Shift essentially examines the explosive growth of Christians and churches in non-western countries and usually through charismatic or pentecostal minstries… and the corresponding increase in occurances of documented miracles… particularly resurrections from the dead. Whatever negative emotional reaction you had to that last sentence… there must have been at least a little sense of intrigue buried somewhere in there. 
One gem:
“…at the rate we’re growing now, to be comically precise, there would be more christians than people by the autumn of 2032.”
Apart from reading it to expand my horizon, it’s estimated that by 2010, the ratio of non-western evangelicals to western evangelicals will be 7 to 1. So I read both with curiosity as well as with a realization that it might perhaps be helpful (and maybe even non-optional) to find out how the most predominant form of doing church on the planet will look like. We can only insulate ourselves for so long, fellow westerners. There’s a whole non-western church out there that we don’t usually hear about…
where a 30-year-old peasant farmer in China with a cell phone oversees 30,000 full-time church planters …
where christians in Cambodia grew from 200 to 400,000 in 14 years…
where 2 sisters in China who became believers were embarrassed and ashamed to admit they only started 29 churches in 2 years - the largest of which has 5,000 members…
so you might want to read up on what’s coming down the pike…like it or not.
Has anybody else read this? What did you think?
nooc
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June 7, 2006 at 4:41 pm
tony sheng
I read MegaShift a few months ago - but need to go back and re-read it. Some of it sound so sensational, but I think that’s part of the point. Just that God is doing some amazing things outside the Western world and no one talks about it very much.
If for no other reason, it gives an interesting, like you said, balance, to our perspectives huh….
June 8, 2006 at 8:27 am
Nathan
Great post! I too enjoy reading books from the “fringes” of my usual thought patterns. These days, there are so many varying statistics on world-religion growth. I’m not AT ALL disagreeing with Megashift’s facts, but I’ve seen so many stats that prove Islam is growing the quickest, then Christianity, then Islam, so on and so forth. I also know how serious many pentacostals are about advancing the Kingdom. It seems that those who EXPECT God to do great works often see them the most.
Cool post!
June 8, 2006 at 8:53 am
nooc
Thanks for the thoughts Tony and Nathan.
Stats can be a tricky thing and estimates even trickier… which the author talks a bit about.
I found it interesting to compare the concepts of “core apostolics” and “team christianity” to the mystic… or at least what the mystic aspire to.
The biggest cross-over is a very high value on their communities being “intensely missional”. Btw, “intensely missional” is a phrase we at Riverwood are slowly working into our vernacular, our mission statement and, more importantly, our identity and core values. Now we just have to live up to it. A challenge I would also put forth to the mystic.
Mega Shift intensely advocates the smaller, “open”, house church concept where they are more like missional action teams. That got me wondering, in the case of the mystic, if that could work online? What would that look like?
nooc
June 14, 2006 at 10:13 am
Nicolas Nelson
Great post and discussion, Greg.
I’m so glad you have raised the twin issues of charismatic theology and non-Western evangelical growth. Through no merit or intent of my own, I have been assistant pastor at a charismatic Latino church in South Central, and been privileged to take graduate-level courses with evangelical leaders from overseas. Both these experiences (and many others, including my wife’s miraculous healing 12 years ago) mean that, although I am put off somewhat by charismatic authors’ “bravado”, I take their thinking and actions very seriously.
The charismatic movement, like the emerging-church/po-mo-christian movement, has been and still is led mainly by pastoral types, not theologians and scholars. So it majors on ACTION– witness their accomplishments!– but often falls short on doctrine.
We who come from traditions that emphasize doctrine over action (oh, just admit it, you who were surprised to hear of laymen planting 29 churches in 2 years and apologizing for the feebleness of their efforts) do need to humbly learn from their strengths, but we also ought to humbly participate in their theological discussions, to help them think clearly and connectedly about God and his word.
One example of this bridgebuilding that I recommend: _Spirit and Power_, by Robert and William Menzies (father and son). Here are two charismatic theologians who invite Western-evangelical participation in their movement. If you are looking for a book that will stretch your envelope, this will do it, whether you are charismatic or “NONcharismatic”.
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310235073/sr=8-26/qid=1150301266/ref=sr_1_26/002-4510770-8831225?%5Fencoding=UTF8
July 20, 2006 at 12:08 pm
nooc
“We who come from traditions that emphasize doctrine over action … do need to humbly learn from their strengths, but we also ought to humbly participate in their theological discussions, to help them think clearly and connectedly about God and his word.”
Nic - I LOVE this perspective! It so captures my own heart and attitude. Probably easier said then done I suppose… in places outside of Winnipeg at least.
nooc