Frank Viola recently spoke at the NCY Ministers Conference. All of you guys from a Church of Christ/Restoration Movement background should hear his presentation, especially the introduction. I appreciate his kind words regarding the contribution churches of Christ have made to Christianity (first 10 minutes or so of the talk). I also appreciate Frank’s willingness to address and frame issues in loving and helpful ways. You can listen to the presentation or download it here
For God So Loved the World vs Love Not the World
If you aren’t as familiar with Frank’s books, he has some excellent ones including Jesus: A Theography, The Jesus Manifesto, & Reimagining Church. I love how Christ-focused Frank is. Check out more of his books here.
4 Responses
Awesome! I wonder how many churches, beyond the churches of Christ, that these men will be welcomed to speak in?
I was there, and I’m going to go out on a limb and speak for most of us who were present when I say that his comments took us completely by surprise (as he makes light of with the Amish-in-a-Best-Buy comment). We were totally caught off guard. It’s like we had never heard anyone speak that kindly of our “tribe” (within or without) before. And that, in and of itself, is a significant observation. We are often very hard on ourselves as a group of people. Sometimes it’s for good reason, but we’ve become almost like an abused puppy who cowers when you go to feed it. We’re waiting for the “BUT…” at the end. We need to get over ourselves and boldly stand for what we believe in. We need to remember that God really has done great things among us and through us.
Blessings.
Do I remember correctly that COC would be generally in agreement with these views of Spurgeon:
https://spurgeonwarquotes.wordpress.com/
Michael, thank you for sharing that link to Spurgeon’s quotes on war.
Matt, thank you for the link to Frank Viola’s presentation! If only we would live up to what he said about us in his third point.