We are in exciting times for Evangelicalism. The world is changing. Church attendance seems to be dropping, our culture seems to be getting more secular, Web 2.0 and other media are connecting us like never before, and Post-modernism is giving us a run for our money!

In response to this we have: the emergent church, the missional church, the Church Plant Explosion, new monasticism, the Simple Way, and all kinds of other stuff.

There are several new thoughts and strategies (and books and CDs) about how to reach the lost in America. One strategy is to use Pop Culture to reach un-churched people and make the Gospel relevant to their lives. Of course you've heard of Tim Stevens' new book, Pop Goes the Church. While he has big fans of the book here and here, there is a critical voice here (that Tim Stevens graciously linked to and humbly wonders if there is a kernel of truth in what they're saying).

We will probably always debate about what strategy is best for advancing the Kingdom. Wouldn't it be great if there was one all-encompassing forum where we could debate with grace and love and the whole Church could be on the same page? Until then, what do you think of Tim's strategy? OR, what is your strategy?

Had breakfast this morning with a friend and our pastor. We like to grease our insides with Waffle House at 7am one day a week. But I digress.

Our discussion centered on Timothy Keller's new book The Reason for God. His approach to apologetics is refreshing - less evidential, more presuppositional. He alludes to the fact that more and more people are flocking to Christianity because of its doctrine - not because the church cafe serves Starbucks. Our pastor commented that one of the reasons Islam is taking Europe by storm is because people desire a belief system. Who knew?

The current (fading) trend in the western church downplays denomination, is light on sacraments and is bent on innovating the latest-greatest church experience. While we at Catalyst love a creative experience we wonder how long this mode of church will hang on.

If Keller is right (and this is not his central theme, just a point that sparked some thought) that "robust religious beliefs dominate the world," then perhaps we should move from this wishy-washy postmodern approach to doing church and put a doctrinal stake in the sand, put on our work clothes and get dirty spreading God's love and his message.

For ongoing thoughts and reflections on Keller's new book, hook up to our feed and throw some thoughts in the ring.


Tim Willard is a consistent contributor to Catalyst Monthly and was the managing editor for the Catalyst GroupZine. Check-out Tim's blog - FlickerNail.com

There has been some interesting news regarding homosexuality this week.

Last week's "Day of Silence" - a day where students protest the lack of acceptance of homosexuals - was met with love from Christian groups this year, rather than boycotts and animosity.

From the Christian Post:
As part of the "Golden Rule Initiative," students passed out cards throughout the day vowing to live in the manner of Christ's teaching to "Do to others as you would have them do to you" in reference to the passage from Scripture. The cards also read, "As a follower of Christ, I believe that all people are created in the image of God and therefore deserve love and respect."
...
"The LGBT community saw something revolutionary – they saw Christians loving them and more than that, they saw the love of Christ. What would happen if next year, hundreds of Christian students walked around with duct tape in silence?" she recalled in her email, a day after the event.

This is very interesting indeed. One of the few examples I've heard of homosexuals feeling loved by Christians. This story comes from The Christian Post, a very conservative and traditional source of Christian news. I hope more of us can make a change from condemning people to loving them. Is this marking a turning point for Christians?

This is an open invitation to all artists. I would like to personally invite you to join in this collaborative art project for Catalyst, "Artists Together."

In an age that is increasingly creating individualism and an unconscious separation from true community, we are fighting back. This year at Catalyst, we want to bring communities together for bigger ideas than individuals could do on their own. So, we are calling all artists to join in this fresh story of intentional community. We are calling artists from all over the nation to submit their artistic expression of what "together" means to them. Our hope is to create an art installation of the work created as an exhibit at Catalyst in October. As we receive these creations, we will be featuring the pieces online, promoting your work, linking to your website, sharing your stories, and together offering a beautiful example of creating an exhibit together through the Catalyst Blog.

WHAT DOES 'TOGETHER' MEAN? It is difficult to define and laser focus our ideas around what together means this early in the conversation. Between now and the event we will have numerous creative meetings to really define our distinct definition of our theme and how to communicate that at the event. In the mean time, the best we can give you is a manifesto of some thoughts we have in relation to this theme. Hopefully, one of these thought progressions will resonate with your creation.

1. A leader is dependant on others - people you influence, people who influence with you, and people that create with you. You can't be isolated and expect to succeed; to succeed we need each other.
2. Catalyst has an uncanny ability to bring leaders together.
3. There are unfortunate things separating communities of faith today including denomination, ethnicity, gender, and politics ... lets try to limit the things that are not essential and focus on the things that unite us.
4. Imagine the Church working together to be the church. What could happen?
5. We are shaped by others around us, and must rely on others to win as a team.
6. This is the largest gathering in the country of like-minded young leaders.
7. Being at Catalyst is a great way to catch up with friends from around the nation and world.
8. Community is found by working together (thanks to Mike Metzger and the Fermi Project interview).
9. Jesus had 3, and then 12 and then 120 - a social network (thanks to Andy Crouch).
10. The world has never been so small (globalization), lets think about community from the aspect of our global neighborhood and take advantage of the global community by introducing leaders from around the world.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We are looking for a wide array of artistic expressions and mediums represented. We do not want to limit the creations in any way, so please create how you see best fit. Please submit a high resolution version of your creation and a picture of the artist to jeff@jeffshinabarger.com by May 9. By submitting your work, you give digital rights to Catalyst for digital distribution, prints, and to exhibit the collection, while giving credit to the artist. Catalyst will not offer any original art pieces for sale unless agreed upon with the artist. By submitting your artwork, Catalyst agrees to promote you and your artwork however they see fit in the months and days ahead and will communicate with the artist as they promote the work. Catalyst may or may not ask to have a video or audio interview with selected artists to promote the work and project.

Thank you for participating in this project with us.