Mission

Mission in the 21st Century

Frameworks for Mission: Vertical or Horizontal Conversion

In my last post (Frameworks for Mission: Direction or Dogma) we looked at the experience of Cornelius as described by Luke in Acts chapter 10. I asked the question, Are we saved by cognitive acceptance of certain doctrines or by the direction of our lives?   stained-glass-image.jpg Continue reading →

Losing Weight and Saving the Universe

The strangeness of my life hit me in a weird way today. I was taking a morning run. I’m trying to get back in shape and lose weight. I just need to do this.

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At the same time, as I pick up the pace of my walk to increase my heart rate, my thoughts are filled with the practical matters of running a household — pay the medical, take Erica to School, get Lucas to do his math, the car needs oil, how do I get Erica a harp, don’t forget to order Lucas’ birthday presents, etc. Continue reading →

The Kinds of People the 21st Century Needs (4)

This week:

The Turning to the Scriptures – Part 2

The four turnings are these:

  1. A turning to Jesus Christ as Lord
  2. A turning to some form of Christ following community
  3. A turning to the Scriptures – Part 1
  4. A turning back to the world on mission

We been talking about the 4 Turnings of the human heart that lead to the kinds of people Jesus needs in the 21st century. The third of the turnings is the essential turn to the scriptures. (Remember, these turnings can happen in any order).

Contexts and Trajectories for Faith

In my last post in this series, I wrote that the scriptures give us both context and trajectories for faith. I touched on how the scriptures provide historical context for faith. Today I want to touch on how the scriptures give us trajectories for our faith.

The canon, as I mentioned in the last post, is not revelation. Neither the canon nor the Bible are authoritative in and of themselves. But the collection of documents that have been passed on to us as the Bible do provide trajectories for a more human future.

When I speak of trajectories for the future I don’t mean a “Left Behind” kind of map to what will happen in the future. I mean a description of the human world we are called to create. Continue reading →

Is it possible to think too much?

Last March, I commented on several chapters from a book titled the Culture Code. [Interestingly enough, last May I met the author’s (Clotaire Rapaille) former Polo coach when he approached me because he had read my post]. Today, in an article –that collaborates Rapaille’s premise too well to ignore– titled “New Leaders Say Pensive French Think Too Much”, the New York Times quotes Finance Minister Christine Lagarde who “bluntly” advised “the French people to abandon their ‘old national habit.’ That old habit is a kind of “national laziness” and Lagarde hopes to push the French to work harder, earn more and maybe even get rich.

In a country where the rich are heavily taxed (and thus flee to greener pastures), the people expect a welfare state to take care of them, and the law mandates a 35 hour work week, it seems that the French want to eat their cake and have it too.

The article reports that some of the french elite can’t believe their ears. After all, France is the homeland of the Enlightenment, the land of Descartes dictum: I think therefore I am. Rappaille (who is also French) tells us in the Culture Code that the the single-word code that exegetes French culture is IDEA.

Maybe Lagarde brings an idea to the French whose time has come.

See the article here: “French think too much”
See my post on The Culture Code and the French

Enjoy. See you in the mystic…

Alex McManus

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