There is this little site called is it old. What it does is you plug a link into the search bar, it will search for how long that link has been around and then give you a report of how old that link is. So while you may have just found this video of a tribe that has never had outside contact before (and it is still fascinating each time I watch it), according to is it old, this video is "really old".
What is nice about isitiold.com is that before I send a video out, I can sort of see if I am late to the party or not. It is like seeing a movie years after it has come out. No one wants to talk about Forrest Gump anymore. Even if you have just seen it for the first time.
Can you see where this is going with the way the Church proclaims the Gospel?
Each Sunday churches around the world have an opportunity to preach Good News to the world. And the problem is each week the Good News is presented in worship in such a way that, if it were plugged into isitold.com it would come back as "really old".
We tell the same story in the same ways that people can say "I get the gist of it" and walk away just fine without it. I do not need to see any more Tom and Jerry shows to "get the gist" of what is going on - Tom tries to capture the illusive Jerry.
People I encounter tell me that Christianity is nice because it teaches a good moral code or that it lays a good foundation for morality. Self-sacrifice, love, peace, reconciliation... I get the gist of what Christianity is about. I do not need to participate in a worshiping community to know what is being taught in the faith.
Christianity needs teachers and preachers who are willing and able to proclaim the Gospel in such a way that it captures the imagination of people once again. We need to stop preaching Tom and Jerry sermons, people get the gist of that rather quickly. No one tells their friends they need to see the new Tom and Jerry show because that way of telling the cat and mouse Story is really old. However, people told me that I needed to see the latest cat and mouse story out there.
What is nice about isitiold.com is that before I send a video out, I can sort of see if I am late to the party or not. It is like seeing a movie years after it has come out. No one wants to talk about Forrest Gump anymore. Even if you have just seen it for the first time.
Can you see where this is going with the way the Church proclaims the Gospel?
Each Sunday churches around the world have an opportunity to preach Good News to the world. And the problem is each week the Good News is presented in worship in such a way that, if it were plugged into isitold.com it would come back as "really old".
We tell the same story in the same ways that people can say "I get the gist of it" and walk away just fine without it. I do not need to see any more Tom and Jerry shows to "get the gist" of what is going on - Tom tries to capture the illusive Jerry.
People I encounter tell me that Christianity is nice because it teaches a good moral code or that it lays a good foundation for morality. Self-sacrifice, love, peace, reconciliation... I get the gist of what Christianity is about. I do not need to participate in a worshiping community to know what is being taught in the faith.
Christianity needs teachers and preachers who are willing and able to proclaim the Gospel in such a way that it captures the imagination of people once again. We need to stop preaching Tom and Jerry sermons, people get the gist of that rather quickly. No one tells their friends they need to see the new Tom and Jerry show because that way of telling the cat and mouse Story is really old. However, people told me that I needed to see the latest cat and mouse story out there.