tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190787522011-04-21T15:24:46.552-07:00Cyber Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12434398974571311516noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19078752.post-1132273107029172582005-11-17T15:57:00.000-08:002005-11-17T16:59:57.130-08:00I recently watched a presentation over CCTV on the recent book by George Barna called Revolution. In this presentation, George and two ministers discussed revolutionary Christians who are not spiritually fulfilled in the local church establishment.<br /><br />They have seven passions:<br /><br />1. Intimate Worship<br />2. Faith-Based Conversations<br />3. Intentional Spiritual Growth<br />4. Servanthood<br />5. Resource Investment<br />6. Spiritual Friendships<br />7. Family Faith<br /><br />In general, these revolutionary Christians are "on fire" for the Lord and are not finding what they want and need in the typical local church. Because of this, they seek others of like mind in several less conventional venues like home churches, family churches, cyber space and para-church organizations.<br /><br />I myself have become somewhat of a revolutionary in the mentoring and nurturing of my four children and seven grandchildren.<br /><br />Some time ago, while reading "Right From Wrong" by Josh McDowl, I read something that stuck, and stuck deep. Josh said that one of the reasons that he believes is responsible for the difficult, difficult time our children have as teenagers stems from the mobility of our modern society. We no longer have three-generational families where grandpa and grandma live with the children and grandchildren and aunts and uncles are close at hand. Because of this dissipation of the extended family unit, when a teenager needs to talk to someone about something that he or she can't share with parents, there is not an aunt, uncle or grandparent near with the trust relationship necessary for the hurting teen to confide his/her innermost thoughts and feelings.<br /><br />Instead, the teen is left in most cases with no one but their peers. Peers lack the wisdom and maturity that the adult family members can bring to the relationship and more often than not, the teenager makes avoidable mistakes.<br /><br />My wife and I have been nurturing our relationship with all four of our children, two spouses and seven grandchildren. We have accomplished this thus far by choosing a local church in which all members of the family feel comfortable. This way we are there for every occasion and can help with rides, etc. The entire family worships together and has the Sunday noon meal together almost every week. We can accomplish this without too much burden by having dinner first at one house, then another with each couple taking turns for one meal to provide the food, cook and clean up.<br /><br />Having the family so close in relationship and distance (we all live within 5 miles of each other) has made car-pooling, babysitting, picking kids up from school, etc. very easy to accomplish.<br /><br />This blog is an attempt to share some of the ideas that George Barna spells out in his book "Revelation" about the changing environment and format of the Church (all Christians) vs the church (local church). I hope that it will stimulate thoughtful discussion and lead to a deeper relationship between Christians and between fellow Christians and Christ.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/19078752-113227310702917258?l=christiancyberchurch.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Cyber Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12434398974571311516noreply@blogger.com1