A continued vent from facebook

Okay - so on fb I posted this and would like to continue the discussion:

Thinking about the paradigms within the church world...I want to consider this question: If making disciples is the primary mission of the church, then why do we use the paradigm that we do on Sunday mornings? Is it an effective means to meeting the goal or is it just an old ineffective paradigm? And if it is ineffective, what are other options/paradigms that might be more effective?

What do I mean? Well, simply put, most every church does the same thing on Sunday's. Generally it looks like this:

• Opening song
• Greeting/Welcome
• Music we sing to (anywhere from 3-7 songs)
• Message (anywhere from 20-60 minutes depending on the ego...err...uhm...wordiness of the pastor/teacher)
• go home

There is some variations like those who do communion every week, or special music (btw - what makes one song more "special" than the other?), or videos...but this is essentially the layout of most church worship services.

So - the question to consider is: Is this the best use of 1-2 hours every week in an effort to fulfill the said goal of making disciples? And if not, why do we do it this way? Is it biblical - therefore - we must? Is it cultural - therefore we do?

And if changes were to occur - what would they look like? What would take its place?

Let's get creative!

An Initial Vent: Why is there no opportunity, within the church, to vent?

Venting, or expressing one's displeasure and desire for change or alterations is often seen as a negative. While it is true that venting just for the sake of venting, can be psychologically and emotionally (even spiritually) beneficial, it ultimately changes nothing; except of course for letting off steam.

Thus this blog. At times I may just vent and anyone reading (or just the air if no one reads) may just need to say, "feel better John?" However, the goal of this blog is to use our venting expressions as a means of bringing creative change, if not to the church at large, then to this local Eugene, Oregon expression.

A couple rules:

1. no foul language. (I will try hard to obey this one too.) Foul language simply isn't creative enough to belong on this blog.
2. no putdowns of others opinions. (Again - be creative. saying one's idea is stupid isn't creative, its juvenile. Use creative reasoning to debate and discuss)
3. no holding onto past traditions just for the sake of...well...holding onto past traditions.
4. no other rules.

So...let's vent away...creatively.