I know I post about vision in the church a great deal. It is one of my pet peeves because I think it is probably the worst affliction the church suffers from. My posts make some people angry, frustrated, or confused. I receive frequent comments or emails from people saying that my insistence that there should be no vision is in itself a vision. Others assert that my repetitive rant that it is unhealthy to envision change for the church... Read more
This is a kindly joke. Pastor: which one are you? Member: which one is your pastor? Maybe have a small group about it. I’ve been all of them, depending on my particular state of mind. There are others I could have included, but hey, there’s only so much room. You can buy a print of this cartoon here. Great gift! Read more
As the philosopher Slavoj ŽiŽek suggests, there is on the “mere authoritarian lust for power“, but there is also a “totalitarian ideology“.* We would be best to resist the manifestation of these in the church. It would not be in the church’s or the member’s best interest to allow the lust for power to be expressed in the church. Not only could we say it is it contrary to the spirit of Jesus, but contrary to what is best for... Read more
This cartoon was posted 2 years ago. Here it is again! Read more
People mistake my critique of the church as hatred for it. If they read me carefully they would realize that I love the church, that I believe in it, that I care about Christians and their spiritual well-being, and that I am passionately concerned with how Christians can gather in healthy ways. I’m often asked if I will ever pastor again. My immediate and visceral response is “Never!” But what I mean by that is I will never pastor a... Read more
I would like to share with you an incident that may illustrate why I am so against vision and the driving of vision in the church: This was years ago. I was out of the ministry at the time. I had been dismissed as an employee of an international ministry and as the pastor of the church that this ministry hired me to plant and grow. It was largely due to my style of pastoring that my boss and so... Read more
Here is a quote from Ray Monk’s book on the great philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. I think it is important and necessary for the present dialogical climate: In his lectures on religious belief he concentrates only on the first part of this conviction– the denial of the necessity to have reasons for religious beliefs. In their rejection of the relevance of the scientific mode of thought, these lectures are of a piece with those on aesthetics. They... Read more
I’m having a 50% off sale on all my art and prints: go here or here and type in “bluesale” in the coupon code box. Good until midnight tonight! Read more
nakedpastor
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In