All Christians are called to be watchful for other church members and to be watched over by other church members.  We call this disicpleship.  What that actually looks like from relationship to relationship can be quite different.  Some folk want to talk about their lives with others, some want to discuss the latest theological trends, and lets face it, some people want to talk about other people (not discipleship).  An issue we have at our little church is that there are not that many seasoned folk.  Most of us are close in age (the difference is typically no more than 10 years) and are in the same stage of life.  Ideally, the talking about your life scenario would have someone who is beyond a certain point of life who can reflect upon it and give advice to the young buck right in the middle of it.  Likewise, the young buck would encourage the older with zeal and enthusiasm.  It would be a win-win-win.    

In the wake of the siege of Rome by the barbarians in 410 A.D., Augustine defended Christianity against the accusation that Christianity had weaken the Roman Empire thereby making it vulnerable to the attack. Thus, came The City of God.

You’ve probably noticed from the news coverage that this week is the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, i.e. Hajj. It’s been particularly news-worthy because the president of the predominantly Shi’a Muslim and Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is on the pilgrimage and thereby inadvertently causing sectarian tension in the Sunni dominated kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

There’s nothing worse than a long delay between a two-part series, albeit you’re not refreshing the home page every hour in suspense of part 2. In part one, I summarized Christianity Today’s recent article about the new, “cutting edge evangelism. I now want to give a brief assessment of it.

I’ve been meaning to note an article by Christianity Today that was published about a month ago. Due to busyness I’m just now getting time to comment on it. It’s entitled “Go and Plant Churches of All Peoples” by Tim Stafford. Let me briefly summarize.

Don’t assume from the title that I’m going to start criticizing an evangelistic method whereby non-Christians don’t feel threatened by the gospel. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Any faithful gospel presentation should be life threatening. This is a post about the non-threatening nature of evangelism Christians experience in most “western” societies but is completely unheard of in most parts of the world.

I am going to talk more about a favorite theme — our community and neighborhood. This past Saturday I saw a friend who was a Seminary student. After completing his degree, he stayed here in Louisville for ministry. If you think that I have embraced Old Louisville and the city of Louisville, you haven’t heard anything until you have talked with this guy. He knows everyone and knows everything that is happening around here. There are moments when I verge on envy of his knowledge and connections, but I long ago faced up to the reality that I do not have the time or relational energy to talk with as many people and for as long as he is able to do. I can however raise awareness about our community and further our goal of indigenous evangelism.