Challenged to think critically

I need the challenge of faithful Christians to help me think critically about the Christian faith.

Conversations in the church office, at the coffee shop, in the social hall, at the door leading out from the worship space, at the mail box, in the gym, on the playground, on the hiking trail, at the grocery store, in the hospital room, at Farmers’ Market can lead to new ways of thinking critically about the Christian faith.

Reading thought provoking books, blog posts, Facebook notifications, on-line editorials, magazine articles, can lead to new ways of thinking critically about the Christian faith.

This week I was challenged to think critically about the Christian faith from a professor who I know and respect. I’ve been learning from Rolf Jacobson for twenty years now. He is a professor of Old Testament studies at Luther Seminary. I’ve heard him in the classroom, in lecture halls, on DVDs, on-line at www.workingpreacher.org (sermon preparation website) at Chico Hot Springs (a lovely setting in late winter), and from the pulpit. Rolf is of my age and vintage. He’s very humorous and very astute theologically.

Prof. Jacobson wrote an article for the theological journal “Word and World” entitled “Rethinking Stewardship: An introduction.”

In the article he makes the argument that many churches operate their stewardship campaigns from a Christendom model whereas the culture is now is post Christendom.

For example: most congregations collect offering weekly in worship.

Jacobson goes on to argue that the tradition of collecting offering in little envelopes was because a century ago many workers were paid weekly in cash and merchants balanced their tills weekly. In that context, collecting gifts weekly in little envelopes was a perfect fit.
In today’s world, many of us receive our pay stub on-line and our earnings are wired into our bank accounts. The church is using a Christendom model for offering in a post Christendom culture.

Jacobson goes on to say “Most of us church leaders give lip service to the fact that we live in a ‘post-Christendom era,’ but most of us have not let that assertion about reality trickle all the way down to the level of our congregational practices. It is time for that to change.” Ouch! Rolf got me there.

He goes on to say that we live in a culture that does not support the formation of Christian faith: one that neither teaches the Christian story nor lives within the Christian story.

Congregational practices that were designed to serve congregational mission in a “Christian culture” are not going to work in as well in a post-Christian culture.

Once again, Professor Rolf Jacobson has caused me to think critically about the Christian faith.

“We need to redesign our practices so that they help form people who belong to God (rather than assuming that the culture has helped to form them as people who belong to God, in which case stewardship is only about planning for next year’s budget).

Here’s to critical thinking (and conversation) about the Christian faith in this post-Christendom era.