Paul Stewart

Cutting Edge Bible Technology

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Grace is Irrational

Grace is irrational, unfair, unjust, and only makes sense if I believe in another world governed by a merciful God who always offers another chance. 

Think of the Samaritan women in John with the five failed marriages, the dishonest tax collector, the adulteress, the prostitute, Peter who denied Jesus three times – all of these received from Jesus not the judgment they expected, but forgiveness and reinstatement.

Grace is shocking and even scandalous. It is much more than just a nice idea or a pretty word, it is revolutionary. Grace will transform lives, restore marriages, unify the church, and truly change the world.

The Most Important Marketer of the 21st Century

Like most of the rest of the world I was deeply touched last night when I first encountered Susan Boyle. The decidedly unglamorous 47-year-old who lives alone with her cat “Pebbles” that captured the world’s attention on her audition for “Britain’s Got Talent,” the British version of “American Idol.”

I’m honestly not a huge fan of reality television, viral videos, and YouTube sensations, but this feels so different. In a world where everybody is looking for their 15 minutes of fame and every advertiser is shouting for our attention, along comes Susan Boyle, and for seven minutes the world seems to come to a screeching halt.

Her story is so arresting, and so emotional, that it seems to change all of the rules. Yet, characteristically, it is already being touted as an example for marketers, something that even marketers like Dorothy Crenshaw are a little uncomfortable with.

… to talk about “marketing” doesn’t feel quite right when you consider Boyle. At a time when authenticity is routinely offered as a brand attribute, hers is the real deal. At first blush, what her story said to me is simply that talent will win out. The woman can sing. But, it wasn’t just Boyle’s striking vocal ability, or even her soaring song choice (”I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Miserables… what could be more quixotic?) that moved so many to tears.  It was the set-up. The contrast between the patronizing smiles and eye rolls of her audience with the shocked faces and emotional outpouring when she nailed the song. As our most purely authentic new star, Boyle is also the perfect symbol for a culture that’s newly in love with simple pleasures and basic values. Andrew Eklund of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune proclaims her “the most important marketer of the 21st century.”

What I like best about this story is the complete ‘upside-down’ nature of it. An unemployed, middle-aged woman from a small village who is in one moment mocked and ridiculed and in the next praised. In a world that values power, recognition, wealth, and status, Susan Boyle is for me a picture of heaven. Jesus said blessed are the meek and the humble, the poor and the persecuted for the Kingdom of God is theirs and for one brief moment last night, I could almost imagine that. 

Generation F

The Facebook Generation. That’s what Wall Street Journal blogger Gary Hamel recently called the next generation. He claims that the experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the outlook and expectations of this generation.

Perhaps more than any other, this generation has grown up in a culture completely foreign to that of their parents. This is not a matter of simply being more “tech-savvy”, the democratization of the internet has completely altered many of the basic assumptions of previous generations and has altered the worldview of its most active participants. 

What are the expectations and basic assumptions this generation shares? Gary has compiled an excellent list of twelve characteristics of online life:

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
On the Web, every idea has the chance to gain a following—or not, and no one has the power to kill off a subversive idea or squelch an embarrassing debate. Ideas gain traction based on their perceived merits, rather than on the political power of their sponsors.

2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
When you post a video to YouTube, no one asks you if you went to film school. When you write a blog, no one cares whether you have a journalism degree. Position, title, and academic degrees—none of the usual status differentiators carry much weight online. On the Web, what counts is not your resume, but what you can contribute.

3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
In any Web forum there are some individuals who command more respect and attention than others—and have more influence as a consequence. Critically, though, these individuals haven’t been appointed by some superior authority. Instead, their clout reflects the freely given approbation of their peers. On the Web, authority trickles up, not down.

4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
On the Web, every leader is a servant leader; no one has the power to command or sanction. Credible arguments, demonstrated expertise and selfless behavior are the only levers for getting things done through other people. Forget this online, and your followers will soon abandon you.

5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
The Web is an opt-in economy. Whether contributing to a blog, working on an open source project, or sharing advice in a forum, people choose to work on the things that interest them. Everyone is an independent contractor, and everyone scratches their own itch.

6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
On the Web, you get to choose your compatriots. In any online community, you have the freedom to link up with some individuals and ignore the rest, to share deeply with some folks and not at all with others. Just as no one can assign you a boring task, no can force you to work with dim-witted colleagues.

7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
In large organizations, resources get allocated top-down, in a politicized, Soviet-style budget wrangle. On the Web, human effort flows towards ideas and projects that are attractive (and fun), and away from those that aren’t. In this sense, the Web is a market economy where millions of individuals get to decide, moment by moment, how to spend the precious currency of their time and attention.

8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
The Web is also a gift economy. To gain influence and status, you have to give away your expertise and content. And you must do it quickly; if you don’t, someone else will beat you to the punch—and garner the credit that might have been yours. Online, there are a lot of incentives to share, and few incentives to hoard.

9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
On the Internet, truly smart ideas rapidly gain a following no matter how disruptive they may be. The Web is a near-perfect medium for aggregating the wisdom of the crowd—whether in formally organized opinion markets or in casual discussion groups. And once aggregated, the voice of the masses can be used as a battering ram to challenge the entrenched interests of institutions in the offline world.

10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
As many Internet moguls have learned to their sorrow, online users are opinionated and vociferous—and will quickly attack any decision or policy change that seems contrary to the community’s interests. The only way to keep users loyal is to give them a substantial say in key decisions. You may have built the community, but the users really own it.

11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
The web is a testament to the power of intrinsic rewards. Think of all the articles contributed to Wikipedia, all the open source software created, all the advice freely given—add up the hours of volunteer time and it’s obvious that human beings will give generously of themselves when they’re given the chance to contribute to something they actually care about. Money’s great, but so is recognition and the joy of accomplishment.

12. Hackers are heroes.
Large organizations tend to make life uncomfortable for activists and rabble-rousers—however constructive they may be. In contrast, online communities frequently embrace those with strong anti-authoritarian views. On the Web, muckraking malcontents are frequently celebrated as champions of the Internet’s democratic values—particularly if they’ve managed to hack a piece of code that has been interfering with what others regard as their inalienable digital rights.

If the church hopes to attract “Generation F”, it will need to understand and adapt to these Internet-derived expectations.

Now before you freak out about all of this change, consider this: some of these -- especially #2,#4,#8, and, #11 -- actually seem to be more conducive to the gospel than their predecessors.

What do you think? What does the church need to do to adapt?

Stewart's Love Cupcakes

 

The Silver Lining

I just read the cover story article of Newsweek The Decline and Fall of Christian America by Jon Meacham. The article is filled with more sobering statistics on the meteoric descent of the church and its influence in America. For those of us who have been following the research from Barna, Lifeway, and the Pew Forum for the past few years, the term “post-Christian” is not a new one. Our society has changed and clearly no longer a hospitable environment for Christianity – if it ever was.

But before we shake our heads in disgust or worse yet, redouble our efforts to take America back by force, we should step back for a moment to consider the silver lining in this cloud.

The truth is that while the church sat comfortably in its perceived position of cultural authority for most of the twentieth century we have, as a community of believers and as individuals, been thoroughly sucked in to our secular culture. Our consciousness, our imagination, our vision has been captured by consumerist perceptions and ways of life. While we were fighting with each other about evolution, the infallibility of the Bible, spiritual gifts, and various other issues, we were falling into a deeper and deeper sleep in relation to the materialistic cultural. We were asleep to the secularization of our lives and some of our most fundamental values. We simply bought into the materialistic, prestige oriented, secular values of our culture without ever noticing that that is what was going on.

It is my belief that despite, and maybe even because, of the recent “post-Christian” cultural shifts in North America the church is finally beginning to awaken to the reality that we embody a clear social alternative that the world cannot on its own terms know. In our increasingly minority position the church may finally begin to recognize its own distinctive calling and live out its convictions with the humility of a slave rather than the arrogance of a master.

I was so inspired by Dan Kimball’s response to Newsweek this morning. Acknowledging along with the article that there is a decline within the church at large, he pointed out that there is, at the same time, a “rising and surging of missional church leaders, church planters, and Christians who have already recognized that we are in a "post-Christian" America. But that recognition has simply fueled creativity, prayer and passion for mission and because God is God, people are coming to a saving faith in Jesus. So it is ironically quite an exciting time period in the midst of this gloomy title and cover. It feels as though some expressions of church and Christianity maybe is fading out. But at the same time there is excitement and energy and hope as churches who have already recognized what this article says about being in a "post-Christian" country - and have made changes to become churches on mission.”

What do you think? How should the church respond to its new surroundings?