Blog - Page 30 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Why Do Churches Not See the Mission Right Next Door?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:17-05:00August 25th, 2014|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Evangelism, Gospel/Good News, Missional Church, The Church|

My son, Matthew Armstrong, directs a ministry that began over fifteen years ago when a Christian businessman developed a plan to reach children in public schools. He invited my son to lead this effort which is now called Crossroads Kids Club. I am often in awe of this ministry and of my son, not because Matt is my son (which is enough in itself really) but because the ministry is so effective and so powerfully connected to the church and her mission to kids without hope in this world.

Recently Matt sent a letter to friends of the ministry that included the following:

We are in a very interesting place. If things come together in the next few days and weeks, we could have 30+ clubs. Likewise, we could end up losing ground from last year. I am someone who is a doer, and I have done all that I can do. I don’t see anything I could do differently or better, but simply we need God to intervene. Here are some very specific things I would […]

Personal (Non-Scientific) Reflections on Millennials and the Church (Part Two)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:17-05:00August 22nd, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, American Evangelicalism, Culture, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church, The Future|

Yesterday I shared seven observations that I’ve recently made based upon personal experience and conversation with leaders in the Millennial generation. These reflections are not all rooted in scientific social data but most that I say here can be seen in this kind of data if you look at it carefully.

Most churches tell Millennials, at least by their actions: “We have a program for you. Get married and have a family and you will find a place to join in with our community.” Given the large numbers of single Millennials, and the large number of Millennial couples who do not have children, this message pushes Millennials away from the church more and more. Large numbers of Christians who are now single young adults have left the church and have no plan to return. Thinking they will come home like previous generations is a huge mistake in my view.
Millennial Christians would rather not start another “generational” church but this will inevitably happen because of the reality of what I stated above.
Millennials can be reached but very few will be […]

Personal (Non-Scientific) Reflections on Millennials and the Church (Part One)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:17-05:00August 21st, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, American Evangelicalism, Culture, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church|

I have had my fair share of engagement over the last few years with the Millennial generation (born since 1982). I am quite sure that most church leaders have very little understanding of this generation. Large numbers do not see the importance of what is transpiring in terms of the religious beliefs and practices of the majority of young Americans.

Here are a few observations I’ve recently made based upon personal experience and conversation with leaders. This is not all rooted in scientific social data but most of it can be seen in this data if you look at it carefully.

Millennials really are leaving the church in a way unlike any other generation in my lifetime. The rise of the “nones” (no-religious preference or church) is not being overly exaggerated in the least. In fact, Millennials may be leaving the church faster than any previous generation in our history except perhaps those who were young adults between the years 1790 – 1810. (An awakening began on college campuses during this period that many feel turned the tide in […]

The Growing Desire for Silence in the Church – How Shall We Respond?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:17-05:00August 20th, 2014|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Contemplation, Current Affairs, Personal, Roman Catholicism, Spirituality, The Church|

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, recently said that at a time when young people are bombarded by noise and distractions, especially from the social media, there is a “deep desire” for silence and personal encounter with Christ. (The Tablet, July 12, 2014).

While I am not sure there is enough hard data to support this sweeping conclusion my own anecdotal experience says he is right.

The archbishop added, while speaking at a July 4-6 Catholic UK discernment festival:

Today there is so much noise, with social media, we don’t understand the value of silence. We go away from it, from ourselves. In silence . . . we encourage ourselves, and God. There is a desire for silence, desire for spirituality [amid] the problems of society. If we take time in silence we find the answer to this desire.

In the same issue of The Tablet, the leading Jesuit magazine in the UK, several Catholic bishops suggested that the Mass has become “consumerised.” Alan Hopes, the Bishop of East Anglia, says […]

The Abuse of Women and Our Response (Part Two)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:18-05:00August 19th, 2014|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Sexuality, The Christian Minister/Ministry, The Church, The Future, Women in the Church|

The case of Baltimore Ravens football player Ray Rice’s assault on his fiancé in February of this year underscores a major problem in the NFL and our culture in general – women are still being abused and many institutions (mostly those led by men) cover it up or deny its importance. They do this by being “tone deaf” to the deeper issues involved in this problem. I suggested yesterday that the NFL represents a larger problem in our society, a problem that extends into the leadership of our churches. Let me explain.

The Baltimore Ravens consider Ray Rice an important leader on their team and to their organization. Their response to this assault has been to address the whole nightmare as a public relations problem. They had Janay Rice sit beside her husband in front of a Ravens backdrop for a press conference after his arrest. This strikes me as major “damage control.” They were attempting, suggested Phil Taylor in the August 4 issue of Sports Illustrated, “to repair their star running back’s image.” This press conference even included […]

The Abuse of Women and Our Response (Part One)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:18-05:00August 18th, 2014|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Sports, The Christian Minister/Ministry, The Church, Women in the Church|

Women are abused every day, perhaps no less so than a few decades ago when the problem was not as open for the public to see as it has been in the early 21st century. This abuse might be even less understood by the general public than it was a decade ago, at least based on some data I’ve studied. Reports of such abuse are as common now as ever but the response to them has not improved nearly as much as we should desire. Many abusive situations are settled in ways that leave me uneasy, to put it mildly. Let me cite one story to underscore how my sense of outrage about this issue was spiked just a few weeks ago.

Exhibit A – The recent ruling of the National Football League (NFL) in the case of Ray Rice. Rice, a star running back for the Baltimore Ravens, received a suspension of only two games for a domestic violence incident in February. This particular incident left Rice’s fiancé Janay Palmer (who is now his wife) lying unconscious […]

Luminosa Award Acceptance Speech (Part Five)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:18-05:00August 15th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church, Unity of the Church|

Chiara Lubich ends her reflections upon the “inundations” of this love by providing two notes of commentary.

1. First, she says there are times when we think the gospel does not truly solve every human problem. “It brings only the kingship of God; understood in an exclusively religious sense” (The Cry, 132.) The gospel is not simply a private message that only solves religious problems with religious answers. She adds, “That is not so. Of course, it is not the historical Jesus, or him as head of the mystical body that resolves all problems. It is done by Jesus-us, Jesus-me, Jesus-you” (The Cry, 132.)

Paul says, “Christ in you the hope of glory.” Jesus said, “We are a city set on a hill” and “We are the light of the world.” Do we believe this? Not arrogantly. No never. God forbid. But do we believe, humbly, that we (together) are the Jesus that meets people in their deepest need and that in this process of loving and serving we actually meet the Jesus who is present in others (Matthew […]

Luminosa Award Acceptance Speech (Part Four)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:18-05:00August 14th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church, Unity of the Church|

The late Paul Harvey had a tag line that any listener to his radio broadcast will always remember. He would tell an intriguing story and then end by saying, “And now you know the rest of the story!” Well, brothers and sisters, the rest of my story is why I am here today.

Time will not permit me to say nearly as much about Chiara Lubich and the spirituality of the Focolare as I would like. So I want to end by sharing the part of her life that has most shaped me.

At almost the exact time that God gloriously brought me out of a twelve year period of exile and personal darkness he introduced me to this lovely woman and to her distinctive spirituality of unity and love.

Chiara said, “In Christianity love is everything.” Ponder that for a moment. How can this not be so? But do you believe that? Really? I do. I’ll stake the rest of my life and ministry on this.

I am currently trying to write a book titled Our Love Is Too Small. […]

Liminosa Award Acceptance Speech (Part Three)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:18-05:00August 13th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church, Unity of the Church|

After being at Wheaton for one semester I returned home for a summer mission experience among the Navajo Indians in New Mexico. When I returned to Wheaton I experienced a deep sense of aloneness and spiritual malaise. The Spirit prompted me, I now believe, to organize a student-led movement of prayer. This movement was used by God as a precursor to a genuine outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our campus that came on a memorable Thursday evening in February of 1970. I was transformed by this renewal of grace so powerfully that I would never be the same. I went on to do graduate work in theology, mission and ministry and became a church planter. In 1976 I returned to Wheaton and served a local church as pastor for sixteen years. My last Sunday, in April of 1992, I preached from John 17:21. I cannot tell you how all this happened but this text so deeply transformed my life that I have never been able to go anywhere, or do anything, without these words being at […]

Luminosa Award Acceptance Speech (Part Two)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:18-05:00August 12th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church, Unity of the Church|

Today I post the second of five parts of my Acceptance Speech after being given the 2014 Luminosa Award for Unity on June 22.

The plaque I was given reads as follows:

The 2014 Luminosa Award for Unity

Presented to Reverend Dr. John H. Armstrong,

Founder and President of ACT3 Network

by

The Focolare Movement North America

For his tireless work in Ecumenical dialogue, helping Christians from different denominations work toward unity.

Mariapolis Luminosa, Hyde Park, NY

June 22, 2014

During these recent months I have tried to gain a sense of the history and development of the Focolare Movement. This reading has made me profoundly aware of the significance of this honor. This is why I stand before you with a deep desire to honor Christ by advancing his kingdom of love in all that I say and do. This is true not only today but will be, God helping me, in the days that lie ahead. I ask for your prayer that he will lead me into deeper love […]