First book was "Sticky Church" by Larry Osborne. Its a book about how small groups can close a church's back door. He hits some models I prefer pretty hard but makes good arguments. Will be interesting to try to apply some of his perspective to the LifeGroup challenges we are facing at Legacy.
Second book was "The Monkey and the Fish" by Dave Gibbons. He writes about how globalization has changed the world and left the church behind. He challenges church growth people not to simply reach others like them but to really reach out to all of our neighbors in such a diverse and connected planet. He is offended by the many efforts to make church more comfortable for people at the expense of loving, serving and growing people. He calls us to causes that are worth giving our lives for. And I am left wondering. He is undoubtedly right as he describes what business leaders have known for at least a decade (see Tom Friedman's books "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" and "The World is Flat").
And here's the thing - as I'm reading this book, Heather and I experience the impact of globalization. At a church meeting, we heard about www.kiva.org, a website that allows people to give micro-loans to impoverished entrepreneurs around the world. We sat in our living room in suburban Dallas and viewed business opportunities in countries like Sierra Leone, Indonesia, India, and Nigeria. And with a click of a button, we could invest in these start-ups - thereby improving quality of life in a village thousands of miles from us.
I have a globe on my desk - a Christmas gift from my grandma. Its the size of a basketball. Apparently the globe in which God is calling us to serve and minister is not much bigger. So what does the church do? What is church in a world like this? What does it look like? How do I lead? How do I partner with people across the world? And so I wonder . . .
