Apr 8, 2009
By Mike Bell
Ike made a comment on my recent piece on Recession and Church growth that I think deserves some further attention. Ike begins by quoting from Thomas Kelley who wrote:
The deepest need of men is not food and clothing and shelter, important as they are. It is God. We have mistaken the nature of poverty and thought it was economic poverty. No, it is poverty of soul, deprivation of God’s recreating, loving peace. Peer into poverty and see if we are really getting down to our deepest needs, in our economic salvation schemes. These are important. But they lie farther along the road, secondary steps toward world reconstruction. The primary step is a holy life, transformed and radiant in the glory of God.
Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, page 123.
Ike continues by writing:
Our economic recession began in a recession of the soul. If our hearts were filled with the Holy Spirit, we would be so freed from financial foolishness that we would not have established lifestyles, personally and nationally, that we now know are practically unsustainable, politically divisive, economically backward and perhaps even militarily risky.
The most relevant message to our nation today, and to ourselves, is personal repentance, confession of sin, newness of life and hope in the gracious promises of God in Christ.
Over the last few days I have been thinking about this, particularly as it relates to this blog. I don’t won’t to get so wrapped up in other statistics and other thing that I forget the focus that this blog was supposed to be about. It is about the good news of Jesus Christ, and how that is lived out throughout Christianity. Sure I find the numbers interesting and I am going to continue to put up posts along those lines. As much as possible though I want to try and tie them back to what it means concerning the good news of Jesus.
As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.
3 Comments | 
Gospel, recession | 
Permalink
Posted by Eclectic Christian
Apr 7, 2009
Two blogs that I have been reading quite a bit recently are Girl in a Glass House and Willohroots. I don’t really care for either of the blogs’ artistic layouts, (sorry guys) but that is not why I go there. Girl in a glass house in an excellent writer who has written some wonderful stuff on her relationship with God. She has a wonderful way of weaving in quotations from other Christian writers. Willohroots tends to have interesting stories about being called into ministry in a small church. I feel a sense of kinship with him as he talks about how he is ministering to others.
Both of them have been a great encouragement to me and are among the most frequent Eclectic Christian commentators. If you haven’t had a chance to visit their sites please do so. I am adding them both to my blogroll.
4 Comments | recommendation | Permalink
Posted by Eclectic Christian
Apr 6, 2009
By Michael Bell
The following post was originally published at InternetMonk.com.
Michael Spencer recently republished an article which looked at the problems that wealth creates for discipleship. He writes:
Have you ever thought about this? We are living in the most fabulously wealthy, excessively entertained and unimaginably prosperous nation in the history of the world. We have a standard of living, and a level of comfort, that much of the rest of the world cannot imagine…
The Jesus of the Gospel proclaims the promises of prosperity, real estate and parking places to be empty. If we will listen. He’s just as discomforting now as ever, unless we render him the harmless servant of our desires.
Rather than telling us about your best life now, Jesus talks over and over about persecution, sacrifice, voluntary poverty and laying down the images and symbols of success for the lasting worth and influence of the Kingdom of Jesus.
In the story of the rich young ruler, Matthew 19:21-24, Jesus makes it clear that it is very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is so very true. When people are content in their present circumstances it is very difficult for them to hear the challenges of the gospel, and the demands of the Kingdom of God. This goes for both people with and without faith in God. For those with faith, it is a question of discipleship. For those without faith it is a question of evangelism.
Recession changes all that.
Read the rest of this entry »
15 Comments | church growth, recession, statistics | Permalink
Posted by Eclectic Christian
Apr 1, 2009
I have been posting on Eclectic Christian now for just over a year. This post is the amalgamation of two of my very earliest posts and is revisited now as Easter is just about upon us.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:8-9
22″What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23″Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Matthew 27:22-23
What a difference a week makes! In one week, the people have gone from shouting “Hosanna” to shouting “Crucify him!” Unfortunately, in almost every sermon I have heard on the topic, the pastor gets it wrong. (Not picking on any particular pastor here, I have heard this preached badly six or seven times.) The Pastor assumes that the crowd in Matthew 21 is the same as the crowd in Matthew 27. But this is not the case. Read the rest of this entry »
10 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Eclectic Christian
Michael Bell
Joshua Hearne
Tim Melton
Joel Black
