INCOME LEVELS ACCORDING TO RELIGION

Pew Research has released a new study that ranks income levels according to one's religion. It's interesting that Christians for the most part have lower incomes in North America than some of the other religious categories.

There is also a strong tie between education levels and income. Read the New York Times article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/magazine/is-your-religion-your-financial-destiny.html

MINISTRY LESSONS FROM A MUSLIM

Eboo Patel has a message for evangelical leaders.

'While holding firmly to his belief in Islam, he also affirmed church leaders. "Even though it is not my tradition and my community," Patel wrote after the conference, "I believe deeply that this type of evangelical Christianity is one of the most positive forces on Earth." '


Intrigued? Read the Christianity Today article at:

http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/2009/spring/ministrylessonsfromamuslim.html

PROSELYTIZING IN MULTI-FAITH ENVIRONMENTS

Church consultant and trend-watcher Ed Stetzer wrote this insightful article in Christianity Today.

If you are wondering where you fit into today's religious realities, consider this quote from the article and then jump to the link to explore some good insights into multi-faith relationships.

If anything, "God is dead" has been replaced with "God is back." Economists John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, an atheist and a Roman Catholic, wrote a fascinating book in 2008 with that title. In it they noted that while statistics about religious observance are notoriously untrustworthy, most surveys seem to indicate that the global drift toward secularism has halted. Quite a few surveys show religious belief to be on the rise. They reference one source that says that "the proportion of people attached to the world's four largest religions—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism—rose from 67 percent in 1900 to 73 percent in 2005, and may reach 80 percent by 2025."

Full article here at http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2011/april/proselytizingmultifaith.html

NON-NEGOTIABLES IN MINISTRY

“What are three non-negotiable principles upon which I base my pastoral ministry?”

1. Humility
2. Listening
3. Grace

The scripture says Jesus knew who he was, where he came from and where he was going.  This is the foundation of humility.  We cannot serve humbly if we feel the need to constantly defend and explain ourselves.  Knowing that we are children of the Father and having a sense of our own history and destiny gives us the freedom to be who we truly are.  Humility keeps us from getting overly self-absorbed.

The ministry of listening must be rooted in humility.  If we are willing to listen to those above us and those below us, God will always have something to say through them.  We must meet the challenge of listening without rushing to our agenda for that moment.  If we feel that those in authority above us are unsuitable, we stop listening.  If we feel that someone is below us, we are tempted to stop listening or hear what we want to find fault.

Isaiah said the Messiah would not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick.  That would be grace.  If I do not practice grace in my ministry to others, I lose sight of what it means to be a pastor.  Jesus takes a ‘bruised reed’ and binds it up.  He adds support to sustain the life in that person.  The one who has lost their fire is not snuffed out, but nurtured back to flame.

It is my prayer that New Song Church will embrace these qualities in greater measure.  This three-fold braid makes for a strong rope.  Humility, listening and grace – that ought to pull a big load.

BABY BOOMERS ARE TURNING 65

John Armstrong has some good thoughts about the Baby Boomer Generation turning 65 at the rate of 10,000 Americans per day.

http://johnharmstrong.typepad.com/john_h_armstrong_/2011/01/the-longevity-revolution-the-boomer-shift-is-coming.html

ISLAM AND CHRISTIAN CHARITY

John H. Armstrong raises some interesting questions about Christian hospitality to Muslims in our places of worship.  You can read his article at http://johnharmstrong.typepad.com/john_h_armstrong_/2011/01/islam-and-christian-charity-how-far-should-we-go.html

MY NAME IS JESUS AND I'M AN ALCOHOLIC

(By Harry Nigh)
www.friendsofdismas.ca

It's become a tradition at Dismas Fellowship to put on a skit at our Christmas celebration. The Christmas story always comes across in a loving though somewhat "twisted" way as some have called it. We like to have as many people involved as possible and to act like kids again.

If your memories of Christmas include your father pulling down the Christmas tree in a drunken rage, this may be the first time you've ever acted in a Christmas pageant and who cares if you're entering middle age.

This year Marie suggested we give the Dismas twist to the Huron Christmas Carol. Some of the guys at Keele got busy making angels wings and a portable moon. We bought plastic bows and arrows at the Dollar Store for the "wandering hunters (who) heard the hymn". We scrounged some fur coats for rabbit skin and then we looked for people to play the holy family.

We asked Dawn if she would be Mary and Keith to be Joseph and then we asked Joe if he would be the "radiant boy" Baby Jesus. We wanted Keith a.k.a. Joseph to carry him into the room and place him on Mary's lap with the angels and the hunters looking on.

I admit that in the picture he may look more like a corpse than a bouncing and messianic baby boy, but his entrance in Keith's sturdy arms was the hilarious high point of the play.

It was a comment though, that Joe made when we first asked him to be Baby Jesus that has stuck with me this Christmas. Without missing a beat he quipped, "My name is Jesus, and I'm an alcoholic."

Joe is full of quips but this off the cuff comment had bite. I sensed that he had struck the essential reality of Christmas.

This Christmas Day as we do every Christmas we will read from the Gospel of John "and the Word became flesh and lived among us".

We give this truth a fancy name - incarnation, "embodied in flesh", but when Joe puts it in the classic words of AA, "My name is Jesus and I'm an alcoholic", he startles me with a new picture of God's acceptance of our humanity.

Not even dying between two convicts lies outside the circle of his love.

Not even our half-baked skits can diminish its power.