Jason Locke's Blog

Here are five books I read & appreciated in 2022. Not ranked in any particular order: Book #5, Church for Every Context by Michael Moynagh If you’re familiar with any of my recent blog posts about my sabbatical partly spent in the UK, then this book by Mike Moynagh explains a big piece of my research before our trip. I also got to visit with the author this summer in Oxford. Mike is incredibly pragmatic, knowledgeable and humble. This is one of the best books on “doing church” I’ve ever read. Actually, I can’t think of a better one. I honestly don’t understand why this book isn’t being universally used in seminaries to train pastors and church leaders. It’s that good. Why so overlooked? Well, it’s got the weight of a doorstop. And it doesn’t seem as widely available in the US as it is in the UK. So perhaps those are obstacles. But why is this book so important, in my opinion? First, it’s written through the lens of mission. Mike grew up in East Africa, the son of missionaries. Like...

On my sabbatical this summer, I rediscovered several important priorities about how to "do church" in the 21st century. Instead of endless controversies about what should or shouldn't happen in a worship service, the church needs to rediscover a sense of mission outside the bounds of traditional worship gatherings. Simply put, the church must become a people once again shaped by the mission of God. In writing this, I am not at all down on the traditional worship gathering. Regular assemblies are an enormous blessing to many existing Christians, myself included. We need to continue to slowly walk these gatherings toward being healthy and edifying for those who depend on them. As we continue to do this, however, it's time to STOP putting the wrong expectations on these worship gatherings, be they comfortingly traditional or radically contemporary. We should NOT expect worship to carry the load for evangelism, education, revival, fellowship, and every other necessary asp...

The Sunday morning church service comes once a week. That hour occupies such a small sliver of a person's waking hours in a week (about 1%). Yet churches pour a huge amount of time and resources into thinking about, planning for and executing the weekly gathering. And no matter what they do or how well they do it, the vast majority of people will never show up or even consider showing up. This is true for nearly every church I know. The Sunday morning worship gathering is what churches in North America know how to do. Those with bigger staffs, newer buildings and more money are obviously able to do it at different level from most churches. Regardless of size, however, churches tend to measure their success based on that one hour. It's the primary focus. It's the main entrance into the church family. It's how churches teach, train, disciple, encourage, communicate, and evangelize. And yet, year by year, despite such massive investment, the number of people who show up fo...

Photo taken August 14, 2022. Credit: Tsenia Ellis. It's with great sadness that we announce the death of our beloved friend and brother, Arthur Wint. He passed into the loving arms of Jesus at about 5:00 am this morning. He was at home in his favorite recliner. His Alexa device was reading Bible verses out loud. We give our love and sympathy to Carlotta and to all their kids and grandkids. About 8 years ago, Arthur started having mysterious and concerning symptoms. After many doctors visits which included a few dead ends and wrong turns, they finally diagnosed him with ALS or Lou Gerhig's disease. He was told he would likely have only one year to live. While ALS quickly diminished his motor skills, it did not diminish his spirit or his voice. His medical team continually marveled at Arthur. The fact that his voice remained strong up until the final weeks remained a mystery to the therapists and doctors who treated him. We give thanks to God that he not only kept Arthur alive bu...

In an earlier article, I wrote about a key discovery from my recent sabbatical. It's that we need to start leaning into DISCIPLESHIP FIRST methods of reaching out rather than solely relying on WORSHIP FIRST approaches. A worship-first approach works fine in a world where people are looking to belong to a church, but this method becomes increasingly futile in a society where most could care less about attending a formal worship service. You can read my article about this here . But just what does it look like? Why is this important? I was a college student at a state university in the 1980s. I was one of the key leaders in our campus ministry there, and we had tremendous success in growing the campus ministry and affecting change. Then I worked as a campus minister at a different state university in the 2000s, hoping to see the same kinds of positive results. In the decade or more in between, however, a monumental change was occurring that would deeply affect ministry in the US. Thi...

On my sabbatical, I've made multiple (re)discoveries about how we might think differently about doing church work today. Here is number two! It's that we need to think of strategies that put discipleship first, not worship first. The pieces were already in place for me to understand this one. What was lacking, however, was the imagination to see what it actually looks like in practice. Sometimes you just can't think yourself into a better way of acting ... you have to lead with your feet! That's what this discovery will allow us to do, or so I think. Everything I've ever known about how to do church involves a WORSHIP FIRST strategy. This means that the goal of interacting with non-Christians or unchurched people has been to get them to visit and then regularly attend a church's worship service. As a missionary in Europe, I was always trying to gradually move people closer and closer to the ultimate goal of getting them to join our church worship gatherings. Eve...

As I begin this post, I'm in Ravenna, Italy. If you don't like history, you might want to skip the first three paragraphs. I was unaware of Ravenna's significance until recent years. Perhaps I was taught this crucial piece of history long ago and didn't absorb it. More likely, though, is the idea that this town is forgotten by many who teach Western or religious history. Ravenna was the western seat of the Roman (or Byzantine empire by then) for a few centuries. After the sacking of Rome, Ravenna became the ideal spot for the empire's western capital because its marshy, seaside location made it easy to defend. The city was easily accessible from the Byzantine capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). Great buildings, palaces, and cathedrals were built in Ravenna in the 4th-8th centuries. It was the last Roman or Byzantine foothold in an Italy dominated by Lombards, Goths, Vandals and so forth. Much of ancient Ravenna was destroyed over time. Allied bombing in...

Fifteen visits spread out over twenty-one days in the United Kingdom. It's been a whirlwind tour. I've visited with lay leaders and clergy. With those launching Christian communities in new developments. With those trying to renew a sense of mission in ancient, dying parishes. With those bringing new forms of Christian community alongside traditional worshiping assemblies. With budding enterprises in rural villages and creative outreach in urban areas. With leaders whose churches no longer meet on Sundays, or no longer use their sanctuaries. With churches who have transformed or rebuilt their spaces. With churches who have one vicar for eight congregations. With churches who have hired innovative lay leaders to reach out in their communities. With Anglicans. Baptists. Methodists. Scottish Presbyterians. And with those who coach, train and inspire these folks. I'm hardly the first person to have experienced such a journey or visited these church settings. But I don't kno...

Church leadership is messed up in the United States. Broken. Egocentric. Toxic. Nonexistent. Dysfunctional. That's the way it feels to lots of commentators and professional ministers like me. It's such a big deal that talking about it is kind of like watching replays of major racing accidents. You just can't look away. How else can one explain the great popularity of books and podcasts that do autopsies on some of the most dysfunctional church leadership structures of our day? (For those with an interest to explore what I mean, you can check out a few examples at the bottom of this article.) I have a much younger friend named Jacob. He served four years in the Marines before going to college. Once, he was telling me about being part of a flight crew for those giant refueling planes, something like a KC-130. It was fascinating to hear about flying with that huge plane all across Europe. As Jacob shared, I realized something shocking yet crucial about the way the US military ...

Here's a parable. Let's say that you love swimming. You love swimming so much in fact that you are part of a swim club. You believe that swimming is the healthiest thing a person could do, and you feel stronger and more vibrant when you are actively swimming. Every week, you meet with your swim club to do laps together and then go out for drinks. It's one of the most enjoyable parts of your week, and you see this as incredibly important. You and I are good friends, in this parable at least. And as an advocate for swimming as the key to a healthy life, you keep inviting me to the swim club. You use various enticements to get me to go. You even introduce me to another swim club member in the hopes it will push me over the edge. Do you know where this parable is going? Read on for the conclusion. (from www.goodlife.org.au/squads) Clear of Covid, I have resumed my planned sabbatical schedule. It was hard to let go of the planned visits in Hamburg and Frankfurt, but the wise pat...

Last Friday, we left for my first ministry sabbatical. The trip to Germany was mostly uneventful. Completely full flights. A strange delay of 2.5 hours at DFW. But no real problems. We had an eventful Sunday, which I describe below. On Monday morning, though, I woke up with congestion, headache and sore throat. Since I had a couple meetings planned that day, I believed it wise to take a Covid test to rule it out. The result was positive. Shocker! No idea if I picked it up before leaving Fresno or somewhere on the flight over. This has led to the very sad cancellation of a number of activities and appointments I had this week. We're extending our stay in Frankfurt to try to get well quickly. Back to our arrival in Frankfurt... We got checked in to our simple hotel in the heart of Frankfurt and then had one goal for that day: Stay awake until evening. The worst way to overcome jetlag is to succumb to the afternoon-nap temptation on day one. Mission accomplished. I was in Frankfurt on...