Missional Jesus

Live has been more than hectic the past few weeks, thus the decrease in blogging. My wife and I are about to commence our move back to the States from Peru after finishing up a great year of ministry here. So in the absence of time to post my own stuff, I'll refer you to that of others.

I am especially a big fan of Scot McKnight, professor at North Park University and Seminary, and blogger extrordinare. He has a great series going on "Missional Jesus," that I highly recommend. His reflections on the meaning of the gospel are pervaded by careful and devotional attention to who Jesus is and why he did what he did. Please read with care.

"No-faiths" verses "Active-faiths" Barna Survey

The Barna Group has done a survey investigating the rising presence of atheists and agnostics ("no-faiths"), and comparing them to those people who are active Christians (have attended church, read their Bible, and prayed in the week before the survey). The survey makes for some interesting reading.

Here is part of the conclusion of the survey:

"Neither the 20 million no-faith adults nor the 58 million active-faith Christians are as internally consistent as those who write and speak on behalf of their groups make them out to be. Proponents of secularism suggest that rejecting faith is a simple and intelligent response to what we know today. Yet, most of the Americans who overtly reject faith harbor doubts about whether they are correct in doing so. Many of the most ardent critics of Christianity claim that compassion and generosity do not hinge on faith; yet those who divorce themselves from spiritual commitment are significantly less likely to help others."

I must say that I'm not very surprised by these results. Without my own Christian convictions, I'd most certainly horde my money, instead of just giving it away. But reorienting my life around Christ, with the total revision of values that it brings, means other people become far more important, and money becomes less.

Some Recommended Reading: A New Feature

I've been way too busy lately to do any blogging, which is too bad. I've barely had time to do any reading that isn't related to the classes I'm teaching or the messages I'm preparing. But I did want to note a new feature on the blog: I've added a "Some Items Worth Reading" list on the right-hand side of the page. It updates with items I'd like to recommend and share. It's a great new feature from Google Reader, a really easy-to-use RSS aggregator that I highly recommend for blog reading. It makes it so much easier to check a variet of blogs daily. Check it out at reader.google.com, and be sure to check out my recommended reading on the right.