NextGenKent

A Reaction Tim Challies,  The Next Story:  Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion,  2011. How has the “As Seen on TV” production infiltrated our society and our churches? “A solution to what was not really a problem." We have some problems that many church-assisting companies seem to sincerely help with: discipleship training, evangelism strategies, youth and children’s ministries, etc. and offer products that are meant to assist with the overall effectiveness of those ministries. But are we creating a solution to what really isn’t a problem? What if these are merely distracting us from what is REALLY important, a focus that if was met would provide its own solution? What if we focused on loving God and repenting of sin—what it takes to move us towards God and away from our idols? Would discipleship take care of itself? Would evangelism take care of itself? Would fellowship take care of itself? Would ministry take care of itself? Would keying up our l...

A Reaction to John Drane's,  The McDonaldization of the Church:  Consumer Culture and the Church’s Future . 2001 (215 pages).                 “If our faith was to make a difference to our nation…we could not continue to do the same things as our forebears had done before us” so we need to “find new ways of being church”—the church needs to “reinvent itself'. “the spread of Western influence during the last five hundred years or so has had a profound impact on the way today’s world has developed”. The sociological “bending” culture has is something that hadn’t clicked for me like it had before. In other words, culture has a developmental impact on people—it trains people to be the way they are.                 So what are we to make of this developmental influence culture has on the people who are coming into the church? Is the church infected by it? I...

Reaction to Eugene Peterson's   A Long Obedience in the Same Direction:  Discipleship in an Instant Society , 2000 (216 pages). I have heard of the Song of Ascents and I have read these Psalms prior but never with the insights Peterson had given. Peterson painted such a great picture of how these Psalms were used I wondered how I could have missed this before! As Hebrew pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem three times a year they would sing these fifteen psalms on their journey—a daily devotional in preparation for worship. With this in mind, Peterson gives poignant insights that make God’s Word in these songs stick to your conscience. The Psalms are convicting yet healing, rousing yet focusing, and giving depth yet breadth. One insight I gained was more of a confirmation and encouragement. I was challenged to read the Bible through in a year and that was two years ago. I had wondered why I couldn’t keep up with it and Peterson gave me an insight into this. When I read...

Reaction to Dennis Hollinger's,   The Meaning of Sex:  Christian Ethics andthe Moral Life. 2009 (272 pages).                 Hollinger will help you see how our society is a culture lost when it comes to the meaning of sex. As I began reading I quickly returned to the Ten Commandments and how sin flows from the top down—if we have broken any of the other nine commandments we have broken the first one too. I wonder if those commandments are progressive in this way—if we can keep the first one, will we be able to keep the others as well, including not coveting or committing adultery. Do the Ten Commandments speak about the significance of our sexuality and of its meaning in relation to God and our worship of Him?                 Is there hypocrisy within our culture to say certain things are wrong or need to have...

          If we are going to have a better picture of what conversion is, then we need to have a clearer picture of what the end, the telos , is. Gordon Smith gives the following qualifiers for whatever the end is as: both for individuals and corporate, Scripture based and historically approved, distinctly theological, integrates with the whole of life, reflecting God’s intention for creation, trans-cultural, incarnated, and ecumenical. I believe these are good touchstones in providing a biblically centered approach to true conversion to Jesus Christ.           “…preaching is not about urging hearers to work harder, try harder, and do more so they are more faithful… Preaching is about drawing the people of God into the grand accomplishment of Christ in the cross and the resurrection so that they can participation [sic] in this life, rest in the wonder of the gospel, and know the transformation that comes through the ministry of th...

Reaction to Marva Dawn's , Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down:  A Theology of Worship for This Urgent Time . 1995 (316pp) . “Since we have been doing this for 2,000 years, why can we not do it as well as a high school drama club cast can do after six weeks of rehearsing a play?” This statement was at the beginning of the book and I still continue to reflect upon it. Is the ‘dumbing down’ by our society forcing the Church to get better at asking good questions? Try this one for example, “Does our ministry’s effectiveness depend on the character that is formed in us?” Could it be that all of the problems that come within the church begin within us as church leaders? Maybe we need more instruction and guidance on deepening our character? Couldn't hurt. “It is urgent that Christians understand more clearly their position in this present culture as a minority, an alternative society.” When I read, “an alternative society” my eyes widened--That’s it! We are in the world ...

Reaction To:  Clark , Chap. Hurt 2.0: Inside the World of Today’sTeenagers. 2011 (288pp). To take to heart the challenge to be a youth advocate once reading Clark’s findings about today’s youth is rather a natural response. Adults who want to be effective in reaching out to this generation need to consider Clark’s presuppositions—today, not many are “getting it”—not the church, the schools, youth workers or parents. What IS going on inside the world of today’s teenagers? I am still in the process of re-wiring my mental thought processes to Clark’s ‘underworld’ schemata but frankly it is taking a while—he states in his update to his first edition, “It isn’t getting any better,” and that is the ‘why’ for this second edition. This is yet another book which speaks to the elongation of adolescence but doesn’t give a complete definition (explicitly) of what a healthy ‘normal’ teenager looks like today. One could glean implicitly from what Clark speaks against though. Clark repor...