What You Are Reading

My father, Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, wrote the following post after doing an unscientific Twitter survey. Feel free to chime in with your comments and some of your favorite books of the last two years.

I returned to the Twitterverse to listen to what people are reading these days. Since I have 13,000 “followers,” it seemed likely that we could at least get an idea of the books that are really capturing the attention of folks.

Once again, I must remind you that a Twitter survey is not a scientific poll. Though there were many responses, this approach does not use validated sampling techniques. It is at best an indication of interest. A majority of my Twitter followers are Christians, so you shouldn’t be surprised at the choices.

Some selections had to be eliminated. I asked for books of choice of the past two years, so I allowed any book with a copyright of 2007, 2008, and 2009 to be considered. Some folks provided older books. In fact, Simple Church by Eric Geiger and me would have made the top five, but its publication date of 2006 eliminated it from consideration. I should have thought about that when I asked my question! Also, some people selected more than two books when the question asked for one or two books. In those cases, I eliminated any books listed after the first two.

So here are your selections from my modest slice of the Twitterverse. It will be interesting to read your reactions.

1. The Reason for God by Timothy Keller (2008)
2. Death by Love by Mark Driscoll (2008)
3. The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller (2008)
4. Crazy Love by Francis Chan (2008)
5. Tribes by Seth Godin (2008)

Is Your Church Sticky and Magnetic?

After digging into Census data, the Pew Research Center has uncovered trends about each state and uniquely packaged them in a memorable format. They have created a typology that groups states as “sticky,” “magnetic,” both, or neither.

They define each term: “Magnet” states are those in which a high share of the adults who live there now moved there from some other state. “Sticky” states are those in which a high share of the adults who were born there live there now.

It’s a great way to look at population changes and migration between states. Each state can be grouped into one of five categories.

High Sticky/High Magnet. Attract a lot of people and retain most of the population born there. My current state of residence, Florida, is an example.

Low Sticky/Low Magnet. Do not attract a lot of people and lose much of the population born there. Maine is an example.

High Sticky/Low Magnet. These states retain many of the people born there, but do not attract people from other states. My home state of Kentucky is an example.

Low Sticky/High Magnet. These states attract outsiders but do not retain people that were born there. Alaska is an example.

Neither here nor there. These states rank near the middle for both stickiness and magnetism, an example being Connecticut.

After reading this study, I see much application for the church. The below matrix represents how a church should strive for both stickiness (assimilation) and magnetism (outward focus).

It’s a simple (and admittedly incomplete) way to think of the church’s mission, but what are your thoughts?

Additionally, a great resource for stickiness is Larry Osborne’s book, Sticky Church.

The Next Generation and Changing Suburban Schools

One of the most dramatic demographic shifts in the past 15 years has occurred in our suburban public schools. The Pew Hispanic Center recently released a study from data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. Here’s what they found:

When it comes to increases in public school student enrollment, the suburbs are where most of the action has been over the past decade and a half. Since 1993-94, two-thirds of the 5.1 million increase in public school enrollment nationwide has occurred in suburban school districts. In 1993-94, city school districts educated a majority of the nation’s minority students. That is no longer the case.

The student population of America’s suburban public schools has shot up by 3.4 million in the past decade and a half, and virtually all of this increase (99%) has been due to the enrollment of new Latino, black and Asian students, according to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of public school data. Once a largely white enclave, suburban school districts in 2006-07 educated a student population that was 41.4% non-white, up from 28% in 1993-94 and not much different from the 43.7% non-white share of the nation’s overall public school student population.

The next generation in the United States will be impacted by a variety cultures and ethnicities, but particularly by the growing Latino influence. Additionally, many more school-age children are third culture worlders than in the past. Third culture is a sociological term used to describe a person who has spent significant time in another culture, thus incorporating their birth culture with a second culture and creating a third culture. The term is typically attached to children who spend large portions of their developmental years outside of their parents’ home culture.

These changes will be positive in many ways, but it is also bound to produce some tension within individual communities. These changes also create opportunities for the church to reach a generation that will be more religiously integrated and tolerant. According to Gallup, Americans already show more interfaith cohesion than Europe – they are more “integrated.” Gallup defines integrated people as those who seek to know more about and learn from others of different religious traditions. They believe that most faiths make a positive contribution to society. Furthermore, integrated people do not only feel respect toward people from other faith traditions, but they also feel respected by them.

These cultural changes are already in process. The younger generation will better embrace people from different backgrounds, a positive movement in the culture. However, they are also more likely to be religiously tolerant of a variety of beliefs, an alarming cultural shift for the church looking to reach them with a message of the exclusivity of Christ. So how should the church communicate an unchanging gospel message to a more integrated and diverse generation that embraces others, specifically those in changing suburban public schools?

Stop-and-Go Ministry

Below is my column from the most recent issue of Outreach Magazine. With the newest issue, they’ve updated the format, and it looks great. If you’re not currently subscribing, the bi-monthly magazine is a great resource for reaching your community.

I once thought my father had incredible power. My brothers and I savored the days when he would pick us up from school and take us back to his office at the church. On the way he would demonstrate his authority over stoplights. At each one, he would wait dramatically and then yell, “Krrrpow!” The red light would change green. The car would go. We were spellbound.

It took us a couple of years, but we figured out Dad’s trick of timing the opposing yellow light. My brothers and I, however, will never forget the fun ride of stopping and going.

When God guides a church, it’s not a smooth journey. Ministry in a community is stop-and-go. The church is called to go share the only message of hope and stop for those in need.

Many people are aware that something bigger than their personal world exists. They desire to take part in something that makes a difference. In fact, recent research reveals that the majority of churched and unchurched young adults rated the opportunity to meet the needs of others (locally and globally) as extremely important in their lives.

To impact the world, however, God requires the Church to stop and go.

The Ministry of Going

The Church’s mission today is the same mission given to Peter, Paul, Silas and Barnabas. We live sent. We live like Christ. Jesus came incarnationally. He was God in the flesh dwelling with the people. We too are called to live incarnationally, going to and living among the people. The people of the Church are described as light and salt, the guide and flavor of culture.

In Luke 10, Jesus sends 70 people to an abundant harvest in the surrounding towns. His directive is short and clear, “Go.” Their ministry would not be easy, but they were called to move quickly and impact widely. Jesus made the implications of his mission unmistakable: You cannot go without moving and impacting.

Moving implies that you meet people where they are. The church should be more “go and tell” and less “come and see.” Impact implies that the church changes the community. Our purpose is to make Christ known and to help transform people’s lives.

The Ministry of Stopping

We hear a lot of church talk about going. Deservedly so, it’s a huge part of the church’s mission. Equally important as going, however, is stopping. And no one better than Jesus demonstrates the importance of stopping. Mark 10 reveals this critical element of Jesus’ mission.

Traveling through Jericho on the road to Jerusalem, Jesus hears a blind beggar named Bartimaeus crying out to him from a large crowd. Jesus was on his way to the cross. The entire redemptive history of humankind was at stake. He was on his death march to save the human race. If anyone ever had an excuse not to stop, it was Jesus at this moment. Jesus did not push forward through the crowd. He did not offer the excuse that he must deny one to save many more. This passage reveals a significant part of Jesus’ ministry in two powerful words: “Jesus stopped.”

In this passage Jesus demonstrates one of the major implications of stopping. To reach those society has labeled the least, we must be willing to put them first. This blind man became a child of God because Jesus took the time to stop and make him the priority.

The Church’s mission is stop-and-go. We go to people. We stop for people. We go with urgency. We stop with compassion. Jesus demonstrates both, and we are called to do the same.

Thom Rainer Online

My father has a new website. Check out ThomRainer.com for his insights about church health and other topics. Today’s post is about prayer – an appropriate and relevant first topic:

I miss Frances Mason.

Frances was a member of a church where I served as pastor. She died three years ago. I still miss her.

She came by my office the first week I was on the field in the church. “Pastor,” she told me, “I want you to know that I will pray for you every day. As spiritual leader of this church, you will experience some tough days. The Enemy doesn’t want you or our church to do God’s work. He will oppose you constantly.” Frances paused for a moment and then said with a smile and twinkle in her eye, “And there are some pretty mean people in the church. You will need prayer to deal with them.”

Read the rest of it here.