The last thirty years—ironically, about the same time I’ve been alive—have been an incredible time of technological growth, fueled the convergence of many factors. In fact, there are so many factors to this growth that it would be hard to pick one, but acknowledging the risk of minimizing the others, can we say that “openness” was a huge factor?
I don’t have time to go through and list all of the technology we take for granted that we owe, to some degree, to openness, but I can assure you that it’s staggering.
This leads me to the topic at hand: What if the Church functioned on the principle of openness?
Introducing… Open Church
Open Church is a multi-denominational, international non-profit dedicated to resourcing the Church. I’ll let Open Church founder, Kent Shaffer, tell you more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJiWbtUMyGM
I’ve heard a lot of promo videos in my time, but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone sound as earnest as Kent.
An End to Constant Wheel Reinvention
I love the idea that we’ll one day be done with reinventing the wheel. I’m so sick of wasting my time doing what I know someone else has done. That’s why ChurchMag and I gave away these templates. That’s why I’m blown away by the scope of Open Church’s mission.
Who needs a thousand wheels?
I’d rather get a copy of someone else’s wheel and use the time this saves me to develop something new and unbelievable cool that could then be used by another church to do something even cooler. And so and so on with improvements made with each change of hands. This is more than just a way to save time for pastors and lay-people—this is living out the love of Christ by ceasing to compete with each other and learning to work together to further Jesus’ Kingdom instead of our own.
It’s time for the Church to stop being so fragmented and redundant. It’s time to be open.
For more information about Open Church, you can visit their website or read their 2015 Vision Blueprint.
Consider donating to help Open Church help churches.
[Full Disclosure: ChurchMag Proprietor & Editor Eric Dye has recently become Programs Director for Open Church]
Andrew Terry says
This is a great idea. This is something I would love to get involved with. My own ministry works to equip pastors in rural Kenya. I look forward to what Open Church will grow into. Maybe perhaps I can be a contributor some how in the future. I don’t know what to say other than I am excited to see what God is going to do!
Phil Schneider says
That’s awesome, Andrew! I love that one of your first thoughts was, “Hey, maybe I can help!” Fantastic.