the    sides

Catalyst – Len Sweet

“It is the height of spiritual arrogance is to ‘take Jesus’ somewhere.  Like we got there before Jesus did.  Like we brought to Jesus’ attention this people.  Like we cared for them before Jesus did.â€?

“Ironic that I’ve been asked to speak at a ‘leadership’ conference – me, being the anti-leader guy.  I still go back to the fundamental job for us is to understand followership.  Jesus used the term disciple, He is our leader and we just follow him. “

Even our evangelism has failed in this area.  The chief cry of the church today is to sign off on this list of intellectual, spiritual truths/teachings.  We define Christian as one who follows these teachings.

Jesus defined a believer/follower as one who followed HIM.  

What is needed are semiotics – those who have the ability to read the signs and know what to do about them.  

Why do civilizations crash?  The failure to read the signs around them – contextual ignorance.  

Our current culture is NOT mission driven but EPIC driven.  Double meaning of the word – timeless as well as timely.  

Major cultural shifts this past century:

Industrial Revolution to Technology to Information to Service to Experiential

We no longer buy cups of coffee OR the image but the EXPERIENCE.  

The EPIC culture we live in seeks for, values, desires…

Experiential
Participatory
Image Rich
Connectional

It is time to reframe the conversation in church culture.  We are not abandoning the rational, we are expanding it to include these elements.  No half-measures and will require more than just commitment but rather emotional investment.  

The refusal to change or to ‘half-measure change’ is resulting in 75 churches closing a week in the US.