Carey Nieuwhof

Wanna Get Your Copy of Hip 2B Holy?

Many of you have asked how you can get a copy of Global TV's Hip 2 B Holy, a documentary that heavily profiled our ministry at Connexus and several other Ontario churches.

The cost is $30 CDN ($28 USD) + GST (6%) and PST (8%) for a total of $34.20 CDN.  Send your requests to:

90th Parallel Productions Ltd
203 Gerrard St. E.
Toronto, Ont  M5A 2E7
Phone: (416) 364-9090
Fax: (416) 364-0580
E-mail:  [email protected]
www.90thparallel.ca

They'll send you a DVD. 

Thanks to our friends at thinkyouthministry.ca for the info.

An Open Letter

Dear Hip 2B Holy Viewer,

If you happened to have watched Hip 2B Holy on Global, and you're one of the people who hasn't gone to church for a long time or ever, this letter's for you.

First, I just want to say sorry for keeping you away for so long.  The church has not done a particularly good job of being clear or even being open to people who aren't part of our club.  That needs to change and I hope it is changing.

Second, sorry for any and all anger directed at you by Christians.  I'm always amazed that Jesus rarely had a harsh word for religious "outisders".  Instead, he kept his harsh words for insiders who didn't reflect God's heart (usually religious leaders).  How we got it backwards, I'll never know. So for the times we've held placards denouncing you and whatever your group stands for - sorry.  It's not like Christ to attack the people He died for.

Third, sorry for behaving like Jesus died for the church.  His compassion and affection were actually sent for the world, not just for a small minority of people or peoples.  When Jesus died and rose again, we were all covered by that.  Sometimes we in the church behave like it was for us only.  That's wrong.

Fourth, sorry for making it so hard to understand what God is saying.  If you've tried church, you realize that often we just get "weird" about how we do church and we make it hard for someone with no background to understand what's happening or going on.  That needs to stop.

Finally, while the documentary did a great job in many respects, I felt a bit bad about its portrayal of mainline Christianity.  Yes, it's in decline.  Yes, I was in mainline circles for a decade and left, but there's no bitterness.  There are pockets of life and some fantastic Christ-followers in mainline churches.  Wish that had come out.  

There is a lot more to be said.  But the bottom line is this: Jesus loved this world passionately enough to die for it and offer us new life.  

I hope you can be part of a new dialogue - a new beginning.  Many of us are still getting our heads around what it means to be loved by God.  I don't fully understand it. 

When we gather, we want to create an open, accessible, even irresistible environment in which people of all backgrounds and life-stories can come together to discover grace, forgiveness, transformation and hope.  

We need you.  We need skeptics, doubters, people who think they are beyond the reach of love, people who feel the whole Christianity thing is garbage.  We need you in community - in our community, to be part of the community and part of the dialogue.

Thanks for watching...If we can help in any way, we're in.  Post a comment.  Drop by our website. Send me an email.  Come to one of our services or drop by a church in your neighbourhood.  

There's a powerful message and relationship with God that's really worth exploring.  I hope we can do that together. 

Carey

Follower Trap #5

Continuing with our list of the top ten traps followers of Jesus fall into, and having fallen into most/all of them at one point myself....from the home office in East Oro, Ontario....

#5 Expecting Someone Else to be Responsible for Your Spiritual Growth
My basement flooded last week.  Thankfully, it appears my insurance is covering it and, after some initial long hours of hard work, contractors and clean up crews will pretty much do the rest.  (Which works well with my non-existent handy-man gift set).    We delegate and outsource so much these days.

How many of us expect something/someone other than us to be primarily responsible for our spiritual growth?  I think Christians look to their churches to "grow" them spiritually, while not asking the tough personal questions or doing the hard soul-work that comes in an authentic relationship with Jesus. 

In my work with Reggie Joiner and Orange over the last few years, this truth has been driven home to the core of my being: we can't just expect one hour of exposure on a Sunday morning to effectively shape a child's future.  We become so much more effective when church leaders work in partnership with parents to leverage every day at home plus the time together at church to shape a child's future.

The same is true of us.  The more we put into our relationship every day -- personally -- the closer we grow to Jesus. 

Do you feel the pull to hold someone else responsible for your spiritual growth?