All-hands-on-deck moment in history

My friend Thom Olson is right. Thom is a really bright guy with experience as a theater director, seminary graduate, Chemical Dependency Counsellor and Post-prison Program Director. 

Thom says things like “my faith has been made so much better by spending time with and learning from liars, cheaters and convicts”.

Spend any time with Thom and you will hear him say “We live in All-hands-on-deck moment in history”.

Thom is right. Especially when it comes to what it will take for us to pursue and achieve a Generous Christianity in the 21st Century.

We do need all hands on deck. We can’t make the world we dream of by leaving anyone behind.  The possibilities are too great and the amount of creativity too great to go forward with anything less than all of us. All hands on deck is not easy. It means that we will have to move beyond the persistent classic divides of denomination, race and theology, and also move beyond the new divides of progressive/conservative; rural/urban; hip/traditional.

If we indeed want to do great things, make great strides and see generous faith alive and growing in new ways in our world we need an “all of the above” sensibility.  We will have to listen and talk. We have to hear what others and the “the other” are saying and we have to share what we have. We have to receive and give in full measure.

This new era is going to require new ways of sharing our best with one another.

The Cana Initiative is working on ways for this sharing to happen.

We are working on a ways to find the best of Generous Christianity and share it.

We are imagining a daily resource including new worship music, original poetry, prayer, books – print and digital, videos, podcasts, organizational structures, ideas and opportunities for engagement coming from organizations, churches, individuals and communities.

If you are interested in helping us create this resource please join our Facebook Group – Generous Christianity Resources – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GenerousChristianityResources 

Doug Pagitt is the Director of the Cana Initiative and Pastor of Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis.