What is the definition of greed? I find it hard to believe that every single one of us doesn't have some bit of greed in their hearts. If Cunningham has found more greed among the poor, what was her reason?
Those are very sad stories, however to me it seems that the people were feeling hopeless, not necessarily greedy. I cannot imagine being in those situations.
Really? No one you know desires things over God at least occasionally? Instructs their children to go into something that will make money rather than go into kingdom service? (seems there was a Banner Q&A about that recently). Works so much that they have no time for family or service in their church?
As for the Bible not instructing us to care for the poor . . . not even sure to start with that one. However I do agree that caring for the poor does not mean giving handouts.
Hi Doug, I did not mean those sentences as categories, merely as examples of where greed might be present. Also, I did not mean to imply that making money and kingdom work were mutually exclusive. Rather, in the Banner example, the parent was discouraging his child from going into nonprofit work because he was concerned that he wouldn't be able to afford to support a family or Christian schools. One might be surprised how often this happens - parents are dismayed that their child wants to be a youth worker or missionary because they will not make as much money as they might doing other things. If someone is called to be a lawyer, a doctor, or a business executive, that does not mean they are doing any less kingdom work than someone being called to be a pastor or a missionary. However, I do think it's wrong if people resist the call to do kingdom work if they are gifted in that area simply because they feel they won't make enough money.
Hope that makes sense. Miscommunication and assumptions are one reason I try to stay away from commenting on complex issues online. That and people are so quick to categorize and politicize. It's interesting, isn't it? If someone says that rich people just might be greedy, the assumption is that that person thinks the poor are special and somehow more godly. If someone says the poor might be greedy, the assumption is that they subscribe to health and wealth gospel and don't recognize that some people are poor due to circumstance or injustice.
yes, I'll be asking for votes in an upcoming blog post :-) I'm really excited about the second edition of When Helping Hurts. So many churches ask me what to do once they've read it.
You might have covered this in a previous post, but I've found Hootsuite to be a great tool for scheduling and keeping up with Facebook and Twitter. There are other social media dashboards that do similar things - sometimes it helps to have it all in one place.
Interesting - although, when one is managing multiple accounts, and time is limited, is it better to be able to post through Hootsuite vs. not at all? I've not noticed that posting through Hootsuite produces less engagement, although I did notice that Networked Blogs was awful.
I think an even better question is, WHY is it important to get youth involved in the denomination, and why would they want to be involved in the denomination?
Communities First Association, a nonprofit birthed out of CRWRC, provides training for asset based community development primarily in the U.S. Many of its members used to do diaconal training under CRWRC's North America Ministry Team, and although their focus is now on helping churches to do community development, a number of them also do deacon training http://communitiesfirstassociation.org
I like the idea of private groups. Sometimes I'd love to have a place I could talk with some of the church groups I'm working with in a way that doesn't result in everyone getting a ton of emails. We've looked into Big Tent but that has advertising and is sort of clunky to use.
Posted in: Guard Against All Kinds of Greed - a Reflection on Luke 12
What is the definition of greed? I find it hard to believe that every single one of us doesn't have some bit of greed in their hearts. If Cunningham has found more greed among the poor, what was her reason?
Posted in: Guard Against All Kinds of Greed - a Reflection on Luke 12
Those are very sad stories, however to me it seems that the people were feeling hopeless, not necessarily greedy. I cannot imagine being in those situations.
Posted in: Guard Against All Kinds of Greed - a Reflection on Luke 12
Amen!
Posted in: Guard Against All Kinds of Greed - a Reflection on Luke 12
Really? No one you know desires things over God at least occasionally? Instructs their children to go into something that will make money rather than go into kingdom service? (seems there was a Banner Q&A about that recently). Works so much that they have no time for family or service in their church?
As for the Bible not instructing us to care for the poor . . . not even sure to start with that one. However I do agree that caring for the poor does not mean giving handouts.
Posted in: Guard Against All Kinds of Greed - a Reflection on Luke 12
Hi Doug, I did not mean those sentences as categories, merely as examples of where greed might be present. Also, I did not mean to imply that making money and kingdom work were mutually exclusive. Rather, in the Banner example, the parent was discouraging his child from going into nonprofit work because he was concerned that he wouldn't be able to afford to support a family or Christian schools. One might be surprised how often this happens - parents are dismayed that their child wants to be a youth worker or missionary because they will not make as much money as they might doing other things. If someone is called to be a lawyer, a doctor, or a business executive, that does not mean they are doing any less kingdom work than someone being called to be a pastor or a missionary. However, I do think it's wrong if people resist the call to do kingdom work if they are gifted in that area simply because they feel they won't make enough money.
Hope that makes sense. Miscommunication and assumptions are one reason I try to stay away from commenting on complex issues online. That and people are so quick to categorize and politicize. It's interesting, isn't it? If someone says that rich people just might be greedy, the assumption is that that person thinks the poor are special and somehow more godly. If someone says the poor might be greedy, the assumption is that they subscribe to health and wealth gospel and don't recognize that some people are poor due to circumstance or injustice.
Posted in: Name Change: Will It Be a Relief to Be “Renew?”
Here is a link to the CRWRC news story: http://www.crcna.org/news.cfm?detailid=3556&newsid=3528
Posted in: Deacon Support Networks
yes, I'll be asking for votes in an upcoming blog post :-) I'm really excited about the second edition of When Helping Hurts. So many churches ask me what to do once they've read it.
Posted in: 3 Quick Social Media Tips
You might have covered this in a previous post, but I've found Hootsuite to be a great tool for scheduling and keeping up with Facebook and Twitter. There are other social media dashboards that do similar things - sometimes it helps to have it all in one place.
Posted in: 3 Quick Social Media Tips
Interesting - although, when one is managing multiple accounts, and time is limited, is it better to be able to post through Hootsuite vs. not at all? I've not noticed that posting through Hootsuite produces less engagement, although I did notice that Networked Blogs was awful.
Posted in: How Do We Get Youth Interested in Our Denominations?
I think an even better question is, WHY is it important to get youth involved in the denomination, and why would they want to be involved in the denomination?
Posted in: Deacon Support Networks
Communities First Association, a nonprofit birthed out of CRWRC, provides training for asset based community development primarily in the U.S. Many of its members used to do diaconal training under CRWRC's North America Ministry Team, and although their focus is now on helping churches to do community development, a number of them also do deacon training http://communitiesfirstassociation.org
Posted in: Celebrating Our Network "Winners"
Hi Kim,
I like the idea of private groups. Sometimes I'd love to have a place I could talk with some of the church groups I'm working with in a way that doesn't result in everyone getting a ton of emails. We've looked into Big Tent but that has advertising and is sort of clunky to use.