Looking to Europe

Whether we want to admit it or not the religious landscape of North America is changing. Rapidly. Living in the Pacific Northwest, the most unchurched region of the U.S., this is very evident, but it is a much more widespread reality. Unfortunately, however, many Christians do not know how to handle the shifting scenes, and common reactions are denial or entrenchment.

Certainly within my own district we are attempting new approaches to respond to these changes, and my current doctoral work is exploring missional communities, one of the emerging fresh expressions of the church in response. Much of my inspiration comes from watching what is happening in the Church of God in Europe through the Three Worlds missions effort. I've had an opportunity to see some of this first-hand during a visit there, and I continue to observe how the various efforts of 3W unfold in a number of countries.

Patrick and Jamie Nachtigall lead the 3W team, as Regional Coordinators in Europe/Middle East for Global Missions of the Church of God. In a recent blog post, "COG Europe:  'The Silicon Valley of the Church of God'", Patrick points out that the vision for 3W is to be "a hub of innovation and experimentation for the Church of God," much like the technology center located in the south Bay Area of northern California.

I am convinced that there are many lessons we can learn from Europe, both in terms of cultural trends that seem to be inevitably making their way to North America, and in how the Church of God is responding with a spirit of risk for the sake of expanding God's Kingdom.

This is an important article to read: LINK.

General Director's open letter

Hopefully you've been too preoccupied with Christmas preparations to keep up with everything online. If so you may not have noticed the lengthy open letter that General Director Jim Lyon posted to Facebook yesterday. In many ways this is his year-end message to the Church, and it he talks about his first 140 days in the job, and specifically more reflections on the recent announcements pertaining to the 2014 Convention and the new logo, both of which have generated considerable attention across our movement in North America.

Jim points out that "the Church of God as we know it is near death", and that visionary leadership and action are required for us to enter a new day. For those wanting to preserve status quo or some idealistic notion of our past changes are threatening, as they are for a growing number of American Christians who feel our religious foundation shifting under our feet. It's much easier to get all worked up over the Duck Dynasty controversy than to commit ourselves to being part of Jesus' mission in the world.

I appreciate Jim's open and direct communication, and look forward to 2014 as the Church of God boldly moves forward.

And, by the way, Merry Christmas!