'Cultural relevance'.. or cultural snobbery?

Often this passage is used to justify a new expression of church, in the name of cultural relevance:

1 Corinthians 9:19-23
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

And it's a fair call, I myself subscribe to a modern church methodology. But are we at risk of becoming the new cultural snobs?
I can't help but think that hip music, no robes or rites, 'missional' language and preaching to the postmodern persuasion is alienating many from the Gospel.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Are we possibly becoming too much of a Gentile to the Gentiles at the expense of becoming a Jew to the Jews?

Beach Soccer

It's coming up to the summer holiday season, and it's about the time when people start pulling out the BBQ, hitting the Gym, going to Music festivals and eating too much Icecream.

An initiative of Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Hobart is the 'Endless Summer of Love' (Their brochure is here and here)
This is an excellent encouragement to actively seek to use those summer months for the furthering of the Gospel.

Along independent but similar lines, I am looking to begin somewhat of a Beach Soccer mission or ministry.
I don't know how it's going to take form yet, there are many ideas going round in my head, but here are a few currently in focus:
- Provide regular (weekly) game/games of soccer on a Sandy bay beach. (local for most)
- Provide an opportunity for Christians and non-Christians to mix in fun, team based, but completely informal sport. Extending to potentially a few games running simultaneously.
- Potentially Christians can provide food or drinks weekly for those attending and spending time after playing sharing a meal together.
- Prayer time before and after our games, and seeking opportunity to invite our friends along to church, or where our model of church may not resonate with them, invite them to a different church!
- Actively initiate healthy discussion on issues of faith amongst those attending.

My difficulty is in knowing how far to go. This is essentially 'pre-evangelism' (not so much a fan of that concept, as pre-evangelism is still evangelism in my mind) and will depend on the individual to use the opportunity to expose their friends to the Christian community, and seek the support from fellow Christians to talk about topics of faith.

Any thoughts, suggestions, critiques? Feel free to pass on this blog if you feel others can contribute to the discussion, I'd appreciate the input!

Edit: I must give much credit to my friend Hannah, who got 'the ball rolling' and had all the enthusiasm!

Small Groups

I know Mikey loathes the word Missional. But the title of my blog contains the word, so I shall use it. Now I've conceded that, I will go on to talk about 'missional stuff' :P

At Wellspring Resonate, we have a desire to equip members of our church to live a life of witness in all areas of their lives. One way we do this is through our small groups.
The model is changing, developing, and our recent expression of it is called 'Communities'.
Communities is designed to serve both those inside the church, and outside the church, with bible-based studies, prayer, support, accountability, and the most important and obvious thing: true community.

In our small-group model, we have a system, where a member of the church will step up, or be invited to lead a small group. Some of these small groups have a focus in a particular part of our culture, eg. Live music, Outdoor/Adventure, Book Clubs, Mentoring. Others are simply called 'Tuesday Night community group' or 'Monday Night community group'. All these groups were previously called missional teams, as the focus was and is one of mission. Now there is greater focus on building one another up, we have adopted the much more inclusive name of 'Communities'.