The ECRA: A Modest Proposal
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA.org) was launched in 1979, in response to growing concern “over an increase of [sic] questionable fund-raising practices in the nonprofit sector.” As their website explains, Senator Mark Hatfield challenged “a group of key Christian leaders” to begin policing their own mission agencies as a kind of “Christian Better Business Bureau.”
Perhaps thirty years later Evangelicals, because of "an increase in questionable rhetorical practices in the nonprofit sector," need to form the ECRA: the Evangelical Council for Rhetorical Accountability. Those of us who have a lot of pew time know … not to mention those who listen to religious broadcasting and partake of religious literature, websites, and blogs (!) … that such accountability is sorely lacking.
The need for an ECRA became clearer than ever to me this week when a beloved elder in the Evangelical broadcasting community spoke out against Senator Barack Obama. What is evident to me in this interchange is not just a difference in policy, but also a ...
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An encouraging note …
Every once in a while, I think it's good to share some of the encouragement I receive ... because we're all in this together! This one comes from the RUN conference in England ...
Dear Run team and speakers.
On the way to the RUN conference my pastor asked me what I hoped to get from the conference. My answer , "A sense of hope for the church (national), that I might see some point to it & feel positive about it again".
I write this with tears of relief & gratitude. I have found there are others like me. I am not alone in my huge disappointment & desire. There are others who are desperate for Christ's body to look, sound & act different; to be 'more than this'. Not only are there people who join me in this but there are those who are able to articulate what we might look like & what things we can do to help us sound & act differently. My hope was restored.
For me listening to Brian was like soaking in a bath of salt water & hope that, whilst washing off surface dirt that had begun to cling, sully my appearance and cause infection, was also a balm to my soul.( ..and I didn’t go all crinkly from being in it 3 days!). At times I felt I was being anointed, at others it cut me to the quick; for both I am very grateful.
It is my guess that ministerial training in this country needs this kind of ‘surgery’ , huge doses of this teaching, in order that the church’s sickness gets healed and the body of Christ in this nation might spread the gospel instead of dis-ease. My hope is partly that the church instead of anaesthetising itself to reality & the nation’s pain, might embrace it as Christ did the cross and indeed as He embraced me….even me.
Thank you Brian and RUN for the opportunity to step off a while from my clumsy, slow journey and now to continue with the re -assurance that, despite the fact that I have only recently set out and have gone only a tiny way so far combined with the utter lack of a map, it is a journey worth continuing and even it is worthwhile me continuing on it.
May God bless you, rest you and multiply all you do in His name.
May these words encourage all of you who are bringing hope that there can truly be "more than this."
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Everything Must Change PowerPoint Slides
The following are links to download or view the PowerPoint slides from Brian's sessions during the Everything Must Change Tour. They are posted on slideshare.net.
Feel free to adapt them or use them in ways that will be useful in your context!
Session 1: Waking up from a bad dream
Session 2: Which Jesus?
Session 3: How will the revolution happen?
Session 5-1: Living the dream: A revolution of hope!
Session 5-2 A and 5-2 B: Pictures from the Apartheid Museum
Final portion of Session 5
Prayers
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Thanks, Chris Abani
People often ask me what I'm reading, and this year, I've been reading works by Chris Abani.
I met this gifted Nigerian-born novelist in Switzerland in January. He shared his story of becoming a teenage novelist and later a young activist, being imprisoned and tortured by the corrupt dictatorship there, escaping to England, beginning to write again, and coming to the US. On top of being an excellent writer and speaker, he was a delightful person.
First I read Song for Night, the story of a boy soldier. It's haunting, hypnotic, and at once humanizing and disturbing.
Then I read Abani's poetry - Kalakuta Republic, a testament to surviving imprisonment and torture.
Today I finished Graceland - one of the best novels I've read in many years.
If you're looking for a worthwhile summer read from a gifted writer ... check out Chris Abani here.
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July 14 – Breakfast gathering in Maryland
For friends, readers, etc. in the Maryland area, I'd be happy to hang out for coffee/breakfast on July 14, 2008, at the Daily Grind in Fulton, MD. You can get directions, etc., here.
Bring a question or topic you'd like to talk about. There might be 2 of us or 10 ... we'll have some good coffee and conversation.
Let's meet at 8 am, and we'll wrap up by 9:30 or 10.
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