Just started reading The Unnecessary Pastor (Peterson & Dawn). Thought I would pass on a few snippets from the first few chapters..for those who are curious..or...are about to become curious(?)....
Peterson writes:
Christian Leaders... are too often "So busy working for Jesus that we forget about living for Jesus"... (p 14)
We often get so into the leading part that we forget the being a Christian part..the part that requires we also be followers (that's a CBS paraphrase). We "become used to people following us....humility recedes as leadership advances....we become bosses on behalf of Jesus..barely disguised pious bullies. ... The first causalty is usually the neighbor. The men and women with whom we live and work become objectified..they gradually become functionalized." (p15)
Dawn, in her chapter "Preludes to Rediscovery" writes:
As we contemplate who God is and how God works through us, we won't have to hide behind false selves ("glittering images"). ...We will learn the glory and mystery of praise so that we can be set free from ourselves in order to do our "unnecessary" work. (p. 25)
Part of the weakness of many churches today is that our doxology (our praise that names the glory of God) is not trinitarian enough. It is vital that our churches invigorate genuine trinitarian thinking .... in order to understand who we are and to be continually renewed in response to the Triune God....
We have lost our words of power, our symbols.... We live by sound bites. We dare not evacuate our faith and make it shallow.... Pundits say the US churches are a mile wide and 6 inches deep. We need to reinvest in our deep symbols. (p33-34).
also:
Tradition is important. Tradition is not Traditionalism. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living; Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Valuing tradition does not mean one is closed off to new expressions of faith. (p35)
...and quoting from Neil Postman: In our age of information we have developed a "Low Information-Action ratio." We are not able or willing to respond to what we hear and see. (L.I.A.R.). It makes liars out of us to read Scripture and not act on it...
We choose to live on feelings...acting only if we feel like it. What would happen if Christians developed a High Information-Action ratio? (p38)
So..there's a few tid bits from the first 40 pages.... stay tuned....
