I attended the local Catholic Church this morning. The Monsignor was looking splendid in his robes, with his white hair, and he seemed relaxed and contented. He said, “Don’t you have your own congregation today?” I said, “It’s my Sunday off.” He said, “I wish I would get time off.” I said, “This Church has picked up very nicely since your predecessor was here.” He said, “All my predecessors are dead, you know.” OBSERVATION: I suspect that the Catholic Church has a master plan. In every one that I attend, it’s the same: a message of great simplicity, and (as far as it can be done in the Catholic Church) the priesthood of believers.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
† Rob Robertson
I attended the funeral of Rev. Rob Robertson today (see photo). Among other things, he was known for pioneering multiracial congregations in South Africa. Not a few prominent people came out of his Churches. At 82, he was hit by a car while jogging. OBSERVATION: He had a personal influence on me many years ago. The man leading the funeral service (in the photo), Rev. Dr. Robert Steiner, was in the same doctoral programme as wife M.
NOTE: This has been a sought-after post. Therefore I have upgraded the photo to VGA resolution. You may click on it to enlarge it. See http://thomasscarborough.blogspot.com/2008/11/rob-robertson-bio.html for a bio of Rob.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Homogeneous Principle
I was reading Aubrey Malphurs this week (Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century). He believes in the “homogeneous principle” for Churches -- that is, grouping people by culture -- a view that originated with Donald McGavran. He considers that e.g. young marrieds naturally group together, therefore ditto for cultural groups. But did he consider that e.g. young marrieds of different cultural groups might group together? Malphurs considers that it all comes down to the changes people are willing to make (or not) to their cultural "values", but that people resist such changes. And here, perhaps, lies the rub. It is values that separate. But the desire to worship -- the desire to minister to each other -- the desire to love -- unites. In my view, NON-homogeneity of various kinds is a litmus test of spiritual health in a Church.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)