View attachment 49146
I have been very fortunate to have travelled to some really cool places in my life time. In 2004, I visited Microsoft's Campus at Redmond, WA, as well as Electronic Arts in Burnaby, near Vancouver. Pardon the namedrop, but a friend of mine named Jeff Boettcher (who is a Christian) was the guy that created the Windows Logo, and who inspires me to encourage those with a creative energy to seek influence in the arts etc.
Listening to Steven Spielberg talk at the XBoxReveal Opening at Microsoft, I'm reminded at how games and interactive media are now more relevant to us than the cinema, but continue to remain frustrated at the way many Christians back off from, or fail to effectively engage with, social media and digital technology. As a former member of Artisan, a Christian prayer network which supported those in theatre, television and the arts, I know God is creative, and yearn for the day when Holy Spirit inspired filmmakers, artists, sportspeople etc. can break into the mainstream, and show the world just how much.
In Genesis 1, we read about how the world was formless and void; total chaos. It says the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep; and then, God said let there be light. The Lord's words spoke light from darkness, they spoke man into being, surrounded by the animals and birds and seas and oceans that poured forth from God's creative energy. It was exciting, it was fresh, it was new. And yet, millennia later, the Church lies relatively weak, reacting to the culture, instead of shaping it the way Our Creator loves to. He created us in His image, so what's wrong? Why is this a problem?
Well, I think it's because we have lost sight of the need to engage with culture at all. Listening to some people, I'm sometimes confronted with a reluctance to enter into areas that might be considered dangerous. We have lost our edge, and mainly dare I say it because the church is overrun with thoughts of family, and settling down, rather than pioneering (I'm not anti-family etc., I just know that God is a warrior). It is no coincidence that as the men have run off, our churches and communities have become more reactionary, as throughout the bible it is the Father who is the lifegiver.
God the Father in Genesis 1; Jacob the Father as he spoke into his sons individual destinies later in the chapter, james 3; our words carry power, and yet the church is silent, our communities stay broken, and another generation goes by, descending into moral and spiritual darkness. If we are made in God's image, it is we who are responsible for carrying on His DNA.
The truth is, we have become churched, sterile and downright unadventurous. Our political landscape is broken because those 'with the Light' have turned it off. Our children play video games inspired by demons rather than the Holy Spirit, because those with the Spirit of God have rejected their divine mandate to speak words of hope and life into areas of entertainment and culture.
In the book of Nehemiah, it says that when the people got up to build the wall, the High Priest's family were the first to build. The Priest, the Holy One, the Blueprint of what God commands was on the forefront of change and fresh enterprise. It's not the politicians fault the world's a mess, or whoever. It's our fault... When our churches shut their doors instead of taking it to the people, and taking the lead, the aggressive spirit of the age remains on the offensive, relentless in its pursuit of blood. What are we doing to release believers into the areas of culture and society to push back the darkness? It is only then will we see change.
I have been very fortunate to have travelled to some really cool places in my life time. In 2004, I visited Microsoft's Campus at Redmond, WA, as well as Electronic Arts in Burnaby, near Vancouver. Pardon the namedrop, but a friend of mine named Jeff Boettcher (who is a Christian) was the guy that created the Windows Logo, and who inspires me to encourage those with a creative energy to seek influence in the arts etc.
Listening to Steven Spielberg talk at the XBoxReveal Opening at Microsoft, I'm reminded at how games and interactive media are now more relevant to us than the cinema, but continue to remain frustrated at the way many Christians back off from, or fail to effectively engage with, social media and digital technology. As a former member of Artisan, a Christian prayer network which supported those in theatre, television and the arts, I know God is creative, and yearn for the day when Holy Spirit inspired filmmakers, artists, sportspeople etc. can break into the mainstream, and show the world just how much.
In Genesis 1, we read about how the world was formless and void; total chaos. It says the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep; and then, God said let there be light. The Lord's words spoke light from darkness, they spoke man into being, surrounded by the animals and birds and seas and oceans that poured forth from God's creative energy. It was exciting, it was fresh, it was new. And yet, millennia later, the Church lies relatively weak, reacting to the culture, instead of shaping it the way Our Creator loves to. He created us in His image, so what's wrong? Why is this a problem?
Well, I think it's because we have lost sight of the need to engage with culture at all. Listening to some people, I'm sometimes confronted with a reluctance to enter into areas that might be considered dangerous. We have lost our edge, and mainly dare I say it because the church is overrun with thoughts of family, and settling down, rather than pioneering (I'm not anti-family etc., I just know that God is a warrior). It is no coincidence that as the men have run off, our churches and communities have become more reactionary, as throughout the bible it is the Father who is the lifegiver.
God the Father in Genesis 1; Jacob the Father as he spoke into his sons individual destinies later in the chapter, james 3; our words carry power, and yet the church is silent, our communities stay broken, and another generation goes by, descending into moral and spiritual darkness. If we are made in God's image, it is we who are responsible for carrying on His DNA.
The truth is, we have become churched, sterile and downright unadventurous. Our political landscape is broken because those 'with the Light' have turned it off. Our children play video games inspired by demons rather than the Holy Spirit, because those with the Spirit of God have rejected their divine mandate to speak words of hope and life into areas of entertainment and culture.
In the book of Nehemiah, it says that when the people got up to build the wall, the High Priest's family were the first to build. The Priest, the Holy One, the Blueprint of what God commands was on the forefront of change and fresh enterprise. It's not the politicians fault the world's a mess, or whoever. It's our fault... When our churches shut their doors instead of taking it to the people, and taking the lead, the aggressive spirit of the age remains on the offensive, relentless in its pursuit of blood. What are we doing to release believers into the areas of culture and society to push back the darkness? It is only then will we see change.