A thought for all of my "church of christ" friends that read this blog
It seems that you can't open any church blog, christian magazine, or even hear a sermon lately that isn't to some degree mentioning some change for the church of christ. I have yet to talk much about this because having grown up very traditionally it can be a bit unsettling, a little for me and a lot for my loved ones. As a memeber of Richland Hills Church of Chirst, we are about to face maybe the bigest change in church of christ history. This saturday night will be our first Sat. evening service and it will be instrumental. I have experienced a lot of personal growth because of this decision, but I have to tell you that I am constantly seeking new ways to view this situation and my perspective on "church" in general. Since I am taking Sociology, I have been encouraged to view everything from a "socialogical point of view". I was reading late last night and found something that was very interesting to me.
Could we view change in the church from a sociological point of view? Here is a sociology term for you: ethnocentrism. It means the tendency to judge others in relation to one’s own cultural standards. Here is the biggest disadvantage of ethnocentrism; it may create such a high degree of integration and stability that innovation is hampered. Societies whose members are too firmly convinced of their righteousness may choke off exploration for new solutions to persistent problems. Further, they may reject, without examination, solutions that might be gleaned from other societies. And if, heightened ethnocentrism impeded both the internal creation of ideas and the external influence for solutions to longstanding problems, it may create an even greater disadvantage in facing the challenge of new problems and unfamiliar circumstances. This is from my sociology text book (sociology Jon M. Shepard Ninth Edition)
Trey had a great post on change.
Rick had a series of sermons about it.
The Christian Chronicle has covered it.
Wade Hodges had a great series about it.
Christian Unity covers a lot of heritage information.Restoration Unity has some alarming statistics and surveys.
Just wanted to share some brain food and hopefully encourage us to all stretch our minds to see things from a broader prespective. Any thoughts?
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7 comments:
Monica,
Good post. I grew up at the church in Turkey where we didn't have Bible class or even a fellowship hall for a long time. When they finally built the fellowship hall it was across the parking lot from the church and we were not allowed to even play games in there as a youth group, all we could do was eat there. The first time I attended Bible class at Childress Dr. Green asked me to read the scripture and I was mortified. Sometimes change can be very benefical and I think a person needs change in order to grow. I know that my relationship with God has certainly grown over the last 13 years and it all has stemmed from things changing. Good blog and I am so proud of you for going back to school. I will pray for you if you will pray for me because I am taking a statistics class this semster. Have a Great Day! Stachia Washington
Hi Stachia,
What a pleasent surprise to see your name on here. Thanks for sharing your experience with church change. I have heard a lot of stories like that. It is funny to me that the only "allowed" fellowship was eating. No wonder everyone struggles with their weight. Ha Ha
Thanks for the prayers. You are taking a much more difficult class than me so I'll send one back your way, too.
Thanks for the comment!
Monica
Stachia's pretty cool hua, Monica! I like her.
Hey Trey,
I think that maybe Stacia needs a blog. What do you think? You need to work on her about that.
Me, again.
I am talking about spiritual ethnocentrism.
It seems there is some incongruence in the idea that we are striving to reach the masses without becoming them. And the whole "narrow is the way and few there are" thing? Does any of this rambling make sense?
Neva
Neva,
You make sense, but I agree that our message doesn't always. I think that we sometimes use the scipture "narrow is the way" as our excuse that we are the only righteous and therefore have no obligation to "the world". We don't get to heaven on our rightness only through Jesus and the great commision says we are to share Jesus "with the world".
I think that the most difficult challenge in "sharing" is NOT acting self righteous. So how about that for me rambling....
You make a great point! Thanks for sharing.
Monica
I appreciate your comments. So that you don't think I have totally lost my mind, I had made an earlier comment that must not have posted. That is why I started with "me again". Anyway, I stated I have often wondered how we avoid being ethnocentric since God uses words like "chosen people" and "set apart" etc. He even instructed His own to not intermarry with others and when they defeated them in battle to annihilate the entire tribe or city. I have studied and prayed about this for several years and still do not really have a handle on it. Just wanted to know your thoughts?
Neva
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