 UPDATE: It would seem that the video I embedded and the original Indigogo page link are no longer active. This may be due to a lack of funding, but would seem has more to do with a possible copyright infringement. The main webpage is still up, but with much blacked out and some links showing dialogue about trademark infringements. That being said, the video and links below will not work for the most part. Saturday afternoons are usually a pretty lazy time for me. I bring the boys home from soccer, we have lunch and then my youngest heads down for his afternoon nap. With my wife at work and my oldest having some downtime of his own, I usually have a bit of time to be able to make a coffee, sit down by the fire and relax. My brain is always going, so finding outlets to shut it off is always therapeutic. Since I don't have cable or satellite, I usually find myself searching apps like ShowYou and Wimp.com. They are great to organize all my feeds and show me a snap shot of the things that are going on in the real and cyber world. While sitting and running through some of the most popular videos on my ShowYou app, I came across this unique... gem. To be honest, when the video was done, I wasn't sure what to think. It actually took me a bit to even process what I just saw and then I decided I needed to see if this was legit or some elaborate satire ploy to make some cosmic point. And low and behold, from what I can tell, unless I missed the man behind the curtain, this is definitely legit. You can find their crowd support page here and their official website here. The two tag lines that you will find on their website, as a sort of mission statement, are: CHURCHES NEED TO INNOVATE. LET'S BUILD THE MCDONALD'S CHURCH! #FEAST4JESUS Let me be clear. I am all for innovation in the church and I am all for creative ways for the church to bring in extra revenue funds (e.g. Leasing unused space in the week, or renting your facility for events, etc). This can counter-balance costs and cover things like operation and facility expenses and allow for giving and funds to be used more wisely. I serve in a context that is both innovative, and creative in finding ways to subsidize costs through extra revenue streams (like leasing and renting). We have even seen people bridge into our faith community and accept the Gospel because of these creative ventures. Being creative in our Kingdom work is not a bad thing and I think it is wise to become as self-sufficient as possible as an organization. I don't know if anyone is arguing against the fact that the church, as a whole, in North America has been declining in it's ability to engage people and therefore has been declining in peoples deep rooted connectedness and commitment to it. But I am not sure this is the best solution.  I see the sentiment behind what they are trying to do, but in my biased opinion, it so drastically misses the mark. Even if this idea didn't have so many complicated and numerous problems, honestly, it is the naive simplicity of this plan that really strikes me. The presentation seems so silly, and I think from the lack of funding, the general public sees that too (Though I guess they still have 48 days to raise to raise the rest of the $999,858, so who knows, right?). "Churches are dying, people are leaving in droves; we are becoming more and more irrelevant and ineffective in our culture. I know! Let's build a McDonald's in churches and that will solve all our problems." Really? All we need to do to get people back in the seats of churches, hearing the Gospel, having their lives transformed is build a McDonald's? Maybe, I am missing something here. Maybe I don't get the five year, ten year, twenty year plan they have set out and I just don't get the genius behind it all. But honestly, the 'Magic Bullet' idea and its fallacies are so glaringly obvious, that I feel bad for the branding agency that came up with this idea. It is at least a $1,000,000 gamble I am not willing to put my money towards. I mean, I admire their heart behind the whole idea, and I genuinely hope their end goal is for kingdom purposes. But honestly, it lacks wisdom, common sense and above all the creativity they think they are bringing to the table. From what I can tell, this campaign hopes that putting a McDonald's into a Church will both help in the so-called Great Exodus of people leaving the church, and the reality that so many churches are closing their doors due to financial burdens. In short, people like to go to McDonald's in droves (70 Million Served Each Day to be exact) and so if we put McDonalds in churches, people will return to Church. Furthermore, it goes on to say that the Ronald McDonald foundation helps families stay together (an estimated 9 million families), which is an important Church value, so it would seem that both McDonald's and churches would be the perfect partner... really they need each other, right? It is so obvious, so simple, why hasn't someone else thought of this before?   It misses the mark because it uses a gimmick to attract people to the same old dead model of church it had before. They see the church dying and instead of asking some hard questions of rethinking how we 'do church' we want to put a shinny new toy into the broken system, hoping that will fix the problem. What is saddest of all is that instead of realizing that we have the greatest treasure anyone could offer, we replace that with the allure of McDonald's and think that will solve everything. See, the issue isn't that we don't have something people need or want, but we lack in how we present it. The treasure is lost in the cultural traditions of the past that we hold sacred and choose to rather die than change. To engage the world, we need to ask 'why' we do what we do, and ask 'is this the best way to do it?' The Gospel and its message is sacred, but the form and vessel in which it is 'packaged' and 'presented' is not. The answer isn't even found in one form, and innovation can actually be ancient in some cases--it doesn't need to be new. But we need to be asking the hard questions, seeking what God would have us be in our context, and be willing to make some hard decisions to be effective for the work of the Kingdom.  The statement in the above graphic, I believe, has missed the mark in reaching it's goal and is actually quite short-sighted, though the sentiment behind it is bang on. Let us be innovative, creative, ground-breaking, dangerous, trail-blazers and let us pray differently, seeking God's face and His will in our context. Let us be willing to tear down the things that hinder the Kingdom from moving forward and build up new things that will engage people--putting the Gospel at the forefront of it's effort. Christ's church is moving forward and is changing lives and if we wish to be a part of it, we need to get on board with what God is doing and what God is building.
That being said, these are just the ramblings of one person. I am much more interested in your thoughts. Let this be a primer to stimulate conversation. Comment below and join in.
Comments
 Many of you have been in a classroom setting, whether it was college or high school, where the teacher takes an opinion poll. The dialogue may look something like this, “Hands up if you enjoy the taste of white bread? Okay, hands down. Now hands up if you enjoy the taste of brown bread?” The teacher may call on a few students to explain or defend their opinion but ultimately all opinions are respected and the exercise is a great source of initiating thought provoking conversation. These conversations are what teach us about each other but also what allows us to dig deeper into what we personally believe. Most of the conversation topics are kept light and fluffy, preference of music, movies, sports, how or if we exercise, etc. but what about when the questions get hard… when they start hitting closer to home (in terms of personal experience) or if they edge on the topics of political, religious and human rights. Do you still believe that the opinions of everyone in the class are equally respected or do social normalities all of the sudden begin to take precedence over personal opinion? If all of our beliefs were outlined in black and white… there would be nothing left about God to discover because we would know it all already.I have never personally been stuck in a classroom setting where my hand went up when everyone else’s stayed at their sides, but I have been in many conversations where my beliefs didn’t line up perfectly with the other persons. Needless to say those conversations ended quickly and there was definitely some tension felt for a short while afterwards. I wouldn’t say that my personal theological opinion comes from the far left or right field of Christianity, in fact I would say that it lies pretty close to right down the middle. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complacent in my beliefs to the point where there is no controversy; in fact for most people it initiates controversy simply because I’m not sitting in any particular denominational camp. I believe that women have a place in leadership but should not be the lead pastor of a church, I believe that sacraments are sacred and should be practiced but are not necessary to the Christian life or our salvation, I believe in a combination of predestination and personal choice, and the list goes on. So for the most part when it comes to having God conversation with friends and family I can pretty must relate on a variety of topics, and I have a fairly good idea of the basis of their belief. But when I run into people whose faith is so tunnel viewed that the mere idea of there being another way of looking at it, I must admit… I avoid having any deep or meaningful conversations with them. I usually try to limit it to weather & seasons, the “what’s new?”, and career. It’s not that I think they are a bad person or that I don’t want to get to know them, but why would I sit there and take hit after hit of “you’re reading that wrong” or “how can you view it that way” or simply, “You’re wrong”. The answer is, I just simply don’t. The funny thing is I love having religious or theological discussions with other people; it is actually one of my favorite things to do, especially if that person’s religious, denominational or theological beliefs are different than mine. I mean I could pay $1000 a class at my local Christian University to have a professor tell me all about it or I can sit down, get to know someone, and learn it firsthand! I mean it’s free education!! And heck, who knows, maybe some of my beliefs will change as a result. It doesn’t mean I was wrong to begin with but that I am learning more about myself, learning more about God and growing into the person He wants to be. I could change my opinion 1000 times in my life but in the end I’m still going to heaven. My opinion isn’t a life sentence, it’s a present observation. the grey areas that inspire conversation, encourage growth, build character, strengthen relationships and fuel the fire of our never ending yearning to get to know our God more.So if you are reading this and you think, crap is she talking about me… than chances are I am. Sorry to break it to you. Because guess what…. Life isn’t a competition. This is hard news to swallow I know, because I’m probably one of the more competitive people you will ever meet. I like to win, no, I love to win! But I have come to a point in my life where winning belongs on the sports field and never in my relationships or conversations. You will never hear me say “You are wrong” in any God based conversation. If I disagree, I will challenge you and I will ask you why you believe that and what your Biblical backup is. If you have answers for both, than I cannot change your personal conviction, I can only disagree and offer my view. You are not wrong and I am not wrong, you have your opinion and I have mine.
In the end your opinion is exactly that… yours. It’s not mine and nor do I want it to be mine. Just like I would never want to take your experiences away from you and call them my own. As Christians, we are connected by the very black and white points of the Bible. Points that all denominations agree upon, they are the ones that are written as plain as day. But the black and white of the Bible is the minority my friends and I don’t think that was any accident on God’s part. Because it is the grey areas that inspire conversation, encourage growth, build character, strengthen relationships and fuel the fire of our never ending yearning to get to know our God more. If all of our beliefs were outlined in black and white… there would be nothing left about God to discover because we would know it all already. We sat down with Prof. Michael Hardin and Dr. Martin Trench and tackled the idea of personal paradigms and how to wrestle with them, finding assurance in our beliefs and healthy dialogue in the midst of differences.
Where do we start? How do we go about it? Why does it even matter? You can view more content from Dr. Trench at martintrench.com, Michael Hardin at preachingpeace.org Let's Share A Bold Cup Of Coffee Together - CONFIDENCE NOT CERTAINTY Part 3 to our interview with Dr. Martin Trench: Bold Cup writer, Cole Benton Hatchard, sat down with Dr. Martin Trench getting a preview of his new book and the four terminal diseases Dr. Trench sees has infected the Church today.
You can view more content from Dr. Trench at martintrench.com More on the idea of Ages, check out his message: Welcome To The New Age Let's Share A Bold Cup Of Coffee Together - CONFIDENCE NOT CERTAINTY Part 1 of the full interview here (Inspire You To Think, Not Tell You What To Think): Part 2 (The End Times: What Is It Really Talking About?): Part 2 to our interview with Dr. Martin Trench: Bold Cup writer, Cole Benton Hatchard, sat down with Dr. Martin Trench, discussing his book 'Victorious Eschatology' and End Time Theology: when you miss some key facts, it can be detrimental to the way you see the world and God.
You can view more content from Dr. Trench at martintrench.com or gateway.ac As well, Dr. Trench has a whole USB on Eschatology His book Victorious Eschatology Let's Share A Bold Cup Of Coffee Together - CONFIDENCE NOT CERTAINTY Part 1 of the full interview here Inspire You To Think, Not Tell You What To Think Part 3 The Four Terminal Diseases Infecting The Body Of Christ To view more video content from Bold Cup Of Coffee, head to our youtube channel Part 1 to our interview with Dr. Martin Trench. Bold Cup writer, Cole Benton Hatchard, sat down with Dr. Martin Trench and discussed the idea of inspiring people to think and healthy dialogue.
You can view more content from Dr. Trench at martintrench.com Let's Share A Bold Cup Of Coffee Together - CONFIDENCE NOT CERTAINTY Part 2: The End Times: What Is It Really Talking About? Part 3:The Four Terminal Diseases Infecting The Body Of Christ To view more video content from Bold Cup Of Coffee, head to youtube channel  by Donna Reimer Donna and her family have been good friends of mine for a little while now, and is running a Feed the Kids Program in the Dominican Republic. I asked Donna to share a bit of her heart and journey with Jesus and being a follower of His on this earth. I hope you enjoy. You can find more about their ministry and what they do here. |
