Ann Mara and I were in a meeting today with a trademark attorney as World Relief wanted us to pursue trademarking "World Relief NEXT."
It turned out to be a really fun and engaging meeting as the lawyer took an interest in what NEXT is doing and also knew some of Ann's friends. As a result, we dialogued a lot about ideas and the whole trademarking arena.
One of the things he taught us fascinated me.
The idea is simply that if you have a trademark and the industry changes so much that the phrasing becomes commonplace and you lose distinctiveness - you can actually lose your trademark. The example he gave was of a company that had "e" in front of their name and then lost their trademarking when everyone started putting "e" in front of their name with the whole internet "e" revolution.
This process of losing your trademark by becoming too generic or commonplace is called "Genericide."
It made me think of my ongoing reflections on church culture and the need to reform it to look more like New Testament Christianity than American Cultural Christianity.
In other words, if we spend too much time copying other churches or building too many programs to serve people rather than lead or teach people we lose distinctiveness. The uniqueness of each church should arise from focusing squarely on discipleship - equipping and empowering people according to our own unique God given style.
If we lose focus or authenticity and become diluted, then we risk becoming too generic.
We risk genericide.
Here's a fun little video that Kip Jones put together for our Child Dedication service at Antioch this past Sunday.
The point of the video is that the next generation isn't something down the road... rather, the next generation is already here.
An old Rush song (I think from the Fly By Night album) had the lyrics, "If you choose not to decide - you still have made a choice." I think the same is true with education and nurture. "The next generation is being learning - whether you're teaching them or not."
If we love our kids then we'll see that the time for nurturing and loving on them is now - not later.
Anyway, I thought the video was pretty fun!!
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the American Christian culture.
The latest statistics (a landmark study just came out two weeks ago) continue to demonstrate that Christianity is shrinking rapidly and that "non religion" is the fastest growing religious category.
Other statistics show the huge drop off (70 - 80% depending on the study) of Christian kids who walk away from the faith at university.
Here's my issue: if your system is designed to give you exactly the results that you're getting... then based on the data our system or particular brand of Christian culture must be broke.
And if the system is broke - it seems to me, either you try to identify what is wrong and fix it or you are stupid, lazy, afraid, disengaged, dispassionate or a combination of the above.
So what is wrong with the system? What is wrong with how we do church? What is causing us to succumb to secularism at an alarming rate?
I don't pretend to have the answer to such a complex problem, but here are some of my guiding thoughts:
- Christianity should be seen as profound and respectable - it was for Jesus' followers and it seems to be viewed this way in Africa, Asia and South America where the church is growing. May our Christian gatherings be profound and not forgettable.
- Maybe we shouldn't be afraid to deconstruct some of the cultural and church norms. If an engine is broken you usually take it apart and then rebuild it with integrity. I think there are plenty of routine things that we should probably hold up to the light of scripture and rethink, rebuild and reform.
- The glue that holds people to God is a deep transforming experience of God. It is easy to walk away from a concept - much more difficult to walk away from a relationship. What are we doing in North American churches to help people or youth not simply be entertained, but experience God in a life changing relational manner?
- I think we mistakenly try to be good Christians so that our children will become good Christians. Rather, we must be good Missionaries in order for our children to become good Christians. Bystanders rarely beget bystanders. Players, however, draw a crowd and inspire followers. Our kids need examples to follow, not others to congregate with. (I am defining "Christian" here as primarily cultural and focused on personal faith and morality. I contrast this with "Missionary," which assumes the same faith and morality, but adds the active component of working with God as well as seeing the adventure, potential and urgency of reaching out to a lost and dying world.)
- Just me talking... but I think we lack faith. Our problems are bigger to us than our God. Our wants are bigger than our God. Our fears are bigger than our God. The threat of peer pressure is bigger than our God. Our own projects are bigger than God's call (see the book of Haggai).
I think we all yearn for an authentic expression of Christianity and church - our faith and our church.
I think we all know something is broke... and the question I'm asking myself is, "Do I have enough faith in my own life for God's call and presence to be bigger than the sum total of all my issues, insecurities and selfish desires?"
... praying that I can be fixed.
Check out the blog that Matt Smith is now keeping for World Relief NEXT!!
(He and the team are also going to load up some stuff to the blog in April while they are in Rwanda, DR Congo and Burundi.)
I watched the movie "Religulous" the other day.
It is an overtly anti-Christian / anti-religious documentary that seeks to point out the ridiculous nature of religion and religious people.
The hard part for me -- I agreed with 90% of it.
Why do Christians have to be so weird? If Bill Maher was making a documentary in Jesus' day he would have interviewed many of the religious leaders and Pharisees and come to some of the same conclusions that Jesus himself held.
The most difficult part of my job as a church planter hasn't been working with non-religious, non-Christian or flat out pagan people... it has been interacting and working with Christians themselves.
Many of the non-religious people that I know and talk to are actually more interested in real answers and authentic faith than a lot of Christians who are either legalistic or self absorbed.
Don't get me wrong... not all Christians are weird, legalistic or self absorbed.
The problem is that none of them should be.
The problem is that those who are are usually blind to it.
The problem is that those who are are usually the most vocal, time consuming and undiplomatic in the crowd.
The problem is that there is too much truth in Bill Maher's documentary.
I'm loving this little fundraiser idea that the World Relief NEXT Congo team put together to raise money for their upcoming trip in April -- a benefit photo shoot with Benjamin Edwards.
Families, couples or individuals get a quick portrait photo session with all the proceeds going to the trip. They are calling it "Photos for Change."
If you live in the Central Oregon area and would love to participate, contact Andrea Dunker at the info below to sign up for a day and time:
541-633-6435
andrea@aniaexperience.com
Good news... we just confirmed our reservation for the family to get away to Mount Hermon this summer!
It seems like Tamara and I dream about vacations all the time these days - probably because they're hard to come by with 4 kids and a dog.
Anyway, we're absolutely stoked about a whole week at Mount Hermon with the kids in the middle of the Redwood Forest.
I love traditions and intentionally creating memories so our hope with Mount Hermon is that it can become a regular summer tradition for our family...
Kip loaded up "The Antioch Story" to the web page.
It's fun seeing the broad strokes as well as all the little links and gadgets that Kip put into it.
Check it out!!
We've been highlighting the Antioch Kids program weekly this past month during Sunday mornings at Antioch.
It has been something we've wanted to do for a while since we're pretty excited about what is going on in the kids area of things.
We began by talking about the philosophy of ministry - that church alone isn't the goal with spiritual growth of kids, but a collaboration between parent(s) and the church.
This past Sunday we talked about the volunteers. It's amazing to me how much talent and passion the Antioch Kids group has for loving and impacting children.
We also showed this short video clip that Kip put together!!
Jane Johnson was gracious enough to hook me up with a new blog design.
She's a pretty stellar graphic artist and photographer (check her out at www.ethniphotography.com).
There's still a little work to be done to dial it in... but go ahead and tell me what you think!
(I love it!!)
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