With our one-year anniversary approaching (December 21 for Slicedlaodicea.com; January 6 for ChristianResearchNetwork.Info), it is time to revamp our “about us” section into something more suitable which gives a better idea of our mission here at CRN.Info

It has been noted by folks much brighter than me that one can only go on for so long as an organization by being defined by what you are NOT – and eventually you must define yourself on what you ARE. In this spirit, I am proposing the following description of our mission here at CRN.Info, and I am asking for input from all of our writers and readers (even the vast number of you out there who read but don’t comment) so that we can put this in place soon, when I revamp our static pages (don’t worry, Julie – I’ll keep the Glossary and the Logic Lessons!)

So, without additional introduction, here is my draft proposal:

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Our Mission

Jesus, the Messiah, once commented about the greatest commandment:

” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

With this in mind, we at CRN.Info seek first to love God in the following manner:

1. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command,” and so it is that first we seek to obey his commands and to teach others to do so. With many commands, this instruction on obedience is very clear, and so it is that we instruct others to follow in this clear teaching.
2. In many situations, we must make decisions based on scripture in which there are conflicting concepts at work, or unclear guidance – particularly when weighing literal meaning (ex. “I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair…”) and underlying meaning (”Women should dress modestly, not in the manner of prostitutes”). In these situations, it is necessary to take the advice of Jude 3 and contend (”To strive in opposition or against difficulties; struggle”) for the faith and search for the appropriate meaning and application of scripture to these situations.

3. Jesus said that we are to worship God and serve Him only. As such, we believe it is also important that we see worship in all that we do in service to Him – not just confined to a short period of time one day per week. In this vein, we see that it is important that we give specific devotions and worship to Him in our writing, and that all of our writing would honor Him, even when it is not “devotional” in nature.

With the second greatest command, “love your neighbor as yourself”. In seeking a definition of love, we view Paul’s writing to the Corinthians:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Also, we see guidance in our loving treatment of brothers in Christ in Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.

Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

1. Jesus said that we are to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We believe this is best accomplished by individual believers and the local church ‘living the gospel’ and sharing it in relationships with others. As such, we believe that the medium of the internet is not best suited to this purpose, but rather to use scripture and the talents granted to us by God to equip Christians for ‘living the gospel’. Therefore, this site’s primary audience is a Christian one, in which we can offer encouragement and new ideas to individuals and churches seeking to evangelize, rather than being a principal tool of evangelism.

2. Jesus also taught us, through the thread of all scripture, to care for “the least of these” – the sick, the poor, the hungry, the prisoner, the widow, the orphan, the stranger among us – and that when we do so, we are doing it for him, as well. However, our words cannot fill stomachs. Our sentences cannot heal the sick. Our graphics cannot bring the poor out of poverty. Again, as with evangelism, we can, through God’s help, equip individual believers to care for the ‘least of these’ and encourage all of us to be more “missional” in our outlook to the world around us.

3. For all of its advances, the internet as enabled Satan to re-tool his spirits of gossip, slander, deception and divisiveness to enter the sheepfold under the guise of “discernment”, attacking those whom are already saved in a dying world. This spirit of “discernment” elevates personal piety to new heights while completely missing the greater gifts of justice, mercy and faithfulness. This “discernment” is of the same spirit of the Pharisees of old to whom Jesus spoke:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

This “discernment” is of the same spirit which sought to slam the doors to the kingdom of God in the faces of those who sought to enter it, while denying that this kingdom even has begun its existence here on earth. This “discernment” spirit has sought to disrespect, disavow, discourage and disenfranchise individuals and entire groups of brothers and sisters in Christ as part of its elevation of external preferences and its adherence to systematic doctrines of men. With the tool of the internet, this spirit of “discernment” has pulled together its aberrant views and narrow, twisted “theology” has sought to do harm to the bride of Christ. And so, it is with this tool, the internet, that we believe that God has given us the time, the tools and the talents to battle this spirit within this present darkness. It is with this tool that we believe God has empowered us to focus on the lowliest of the tasks listed here.

Our Challenge

Our challenge in fighting this spirit is in not stooping to the same levels at which it does to achieve its ends. Our challenge is to fight this spirit in love and charity – both of which it will not grant in return. When we fail in doing all things in love, it is incumbent that we will admit our mistake and repent, once again following in the way of love.

Our challenge in fighting this spirit of modern-day phariseeism is to not become a tax collector, standing in a corner saying “thank God I am not like that Pharisee!” Our challenge is to find that middle ground where holiness, humility and grace meet.

Who We Are

We, the writers at CRN.Info, are volunteers across many denominations within Christianity, with a common faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. We also share a common desire to see the way of Jesus lived out in our world – seeking relational unity despite our doctrinal differences. We seek to model the way that Christians should disagree, and to model the way Christians to act when they fail in that end.

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My original thought was to circulate this amongst the writers here at CRN.Info and publish it in the coming weeks. However, because our readers/commenters are a vital part of our community here, I thought it would be best to open it up to all of us to discuss and challenge.

In doing so, I realize that I also invite risk as well.

To that end – if you are intent on making snarky comments, insults or unconstructive criticism, I would ask that you continue to do so on the other threads you’ve likely graced to this point. To the rest of you, I would ask that you not respond in kind to these types of responses, but rather to just ignore them as if they do not exist, and let their presence alone testify to the character of their authors, in light of this request.

So – what have I missed? What have I overemphasized? Is this the right direction?

Discuss.

I figured I’d put this up before CR?N or Slice does.

rel·e·vance \ˈre-lÉ™-vÉ™n(t)s\

1 a: relation to the matter at hand b: practical and especially social applicability

2: the ability (as of an information retrieval system) to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user

I was thinking about the word "relevant" today and how its become one of those phrases that Christians say without thinking, kind of like "born again", or "saved".  Unfortunately, we don’t think much about what it means to be relevant, instead we either embrace it or denounce it reflexively, which is a shame because there’s at least two different concepts that are meant when this word is word.

The first meaning is used by detractors to the concept of relevance. It means basically to pretend to like or be whatever is popular at the time.  Way back in the second incarnation of Slice of Laodicea Ingrid used to comment that it must be exhausting for pastors to keep up with movies, TV, etc to stay relevant.  This is a perfect example of this first meaning of relevance which essentially tries to use market studies to create relationships. It is also the meaning of relevance that is always referenced by people who who criticize relevance, and is never the meaning referenced by those who don’t.

The second meaning of relevance is the one used by those who don’t think its an FCC banned word.  It simply means letting your talents, interests, skills, abilities and passions breathe outside of the church.  Essentially it is a fulfillment of the command to be salt and light in places that are dark and bland.  It means using Christian as a noun instead of an adjective.  Instead of putting on a Christian battle of the bands, you are a Christian at a battle of the bands. To illustrate, let me quote from Penelope Trunk, one of my favorite secular bloggers:

If you are lost, and lonely, and wondering how you’ll ever find your way in this world. Take a job. Any job. Because structure, and regular contact with regular people, and a method of contributing to a larger group are all things that help us recalibrate ourselves. [emphasis mine]

In other words, relevance is about regular contact with regular people, contributing to their lives in order to be calibrated to them.  Ever wonder how Christians get to the point where they speak a different language than their non-Christian neighbors?  How it seems there’s no common experiences to build on between a church and the community that church exists from? 

The lack of relevance doesn’t come from failing to put in effort at whatever is popular, it comes from failing to be in regular contact with regular people. 

I was listening to the Mars Hill Seattle sermon this week and learned a lot about Isaac Watts. Here’s some info:

In this era hymns weren’t sung in English churches. German Lutherans had been singing hymns for over 100 years. Calvinists in France and Switzerland, however, had not. Calvin had wanted his people to sing only the psalms of scripture. English Protestants of Calvinist parentage had adopted the practice of singing only metrical psalms in worship. These metrical arrangements were awkward (”But we remember will the name/Of our Lord God alone”), the mood was ponderous, the tone of the entire service dreary. One day Watts discovered he couldn’t endure any of it a minute longer. Returning from the service one Sunday morning he complained vehemently to his father about the stodgy psalm-singing that put people off worship. “Why don’t you write a hymn suitable congregational singing?”, his father challenged him. Throughout the afternoon Watts did just that, and at evening worship that day the congregation sang hymn #1, “Behold the glories of the Lamb”. Six hundred and ninety-six followed.

Not everyone thanked him. Some of his contemporaries complained that his hymns were “too worldly” for the church. One critic fumed, “Christian congregations have shut out divinely inspired psalms and taken in Watts’s flights of fancy!”. His hymns outraged many people, split congregations (most notably the congregation whose pastor, years earlier, had been John Bunyan, the author of an English classic), and got pastors fired. Still, the multi-talented thinker knew what his preeminent gift was and why he had to employ it.

The Mars Hill audio also talks about his songs being called “whims” instead of hymns.

It’s nice to know that the ODMs were alive and well, even back then. There is nothing new under the sun.

*Update: Here’s the Mars Hill Seattle Video (thanks Brendt)