Missional Church

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10 things that didn't exist 10 ago (and why they're crucial for the future church)

Welcome to 2017! I hope you made it well into the New Year, and that you have a lot of reasons to be hopeful for the future. 10 years ago we celebrated our first New Year’s Eve in Sweden. We had just moved here from Germany in order to develop new ideas and approaches for the church of the future, and coming from a tiny Bavarian village it felt as if we actually went into the future. But today I’d like to present to you ten things that did not exist 10 years ago - or at least hardly anyone was aware of them. Ten things that nowadays are a regular part of our daily life. Let’s go! 1) YouTube Actually, YouTube was already founded in 2005, but in my part of the world nobody really noticed it unit 2007. Today it’s nearly impossible to imagine a world without this video sharing site. Tutorials, trailers, vacation memories everything and way, way more is available around the clock. 2) Spotify A true Swedish invention from 2006: Music, music, and even more music. CD’s a...

...and only a few find it.

"The broad and the narrow road", a German painting from 1866 seems to appear a little spooky nowadays, but it was a presentation about that very painting that led me to start following Christ in February 1982. "Narrow is the road that leads to to life, and ony a few find it" (Mt 7:14). One could say a lot about how to interpret this statement of Jesus - for instance how his original hearers up there in the mountain must have heard it. But one thing is for sure: In a post-Christian Europe there will be only a few indeed who'll find the road to life. Reason number one for this fact: disinterest. "Church? I've been there. I don't need it." "Jesus? Oh, yes, I know. No, thanks!" "Resurrection? I remember. That was this religious talk from former times. Nowadays we have different topics." For everyone that finds the small road in Sweden there are many, many more who leave it again - plus all these old, faithful believers who...

False Prophets

It's interesting how Jesus starts talking about the false prophets immediately after naming the broad and the narrow path, isn't it? "Be careful!" he says. As if it were those false prophets that would keep people from wandering on the narrow road. We recently discussed that passage at "impressions", our bi-weekly gathering, and we noticed that "prophets" always want to talk on God's behalf. After all, prophets make God's voice known or speak in His name. And immediately we got all the stories. Stories about Swedish pastors in recent times that have exploited people or misused their position. Stories about (non-Swedisch, in that case) catholic nuns who behaved like maniac. I remembered stories of my friends wehen we still lived in Bavaria, a still pretty catholic state of Germany, how they got ringing slaps in the face by the priest because the children couldn't sit as still as they were supposed to in an completely non-understan...

New-Reformation in English

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