Religion Sucks. Grace Acts.

The Religion Sucks and Grace Acts Blog

Is it lawful to pay tax?

Posted: Friday, 2nd July, 2010 By: janamills

Did you know that there are two Christian traditions? Cornel West calls them the Constantinian and Prophetic traditions but others have called them by other names. Constantine was the Roman emperor who having seen a vision of a burning cross decided that the entire empire would adopt Christianity. That same empire which had killed Jesus and so viscously persecuted the early church. The Gospel was never designed to function hand in fist with empire, be it American, British or Roman.

God's got his own guest list

Posted: Saturday, 26th June, 2010 By: janamills

A few weeks ago Jim spoke a bit about learning to party like Jesus and God is continuing to teach us what parties look like in His Kingdom. You see it’s not only that we have something to celebrate that sets our parties apart, God’s guest list doesn’t look like you might expect. In Luke 14 Jesus tells the story of man that was preparing a great feast.

Once more into the breach....

Posted: Thursday, 24th June, 2010 By: jcdenison

Earlier I had someone ask me about "the vision." What is the future holding for us? Where are we headed? I love this question as I am all about seeing something great accomplished by God thru very normal and regular people. What is the vision? What a great question!!

We are twisting things.

Posted: Wednesday, 23rd June, 2010 By: jcdenison

Gospel as Heat Seeking Missile

Posted: Friday, 18th June, 2010 By: jcdenison

"If all the Christians in the world were suddenly killed off or abducted by aliens, and only one little Christian girl was left behind, all that is necessary to repopulate the planet with the Kingdom of God is found in her." Neil Cole

It's time to play the game

Posted: Wednesday, 16th June, 2010 By: janamills

10 Keys to defeating... Al Qaeda? Or...

Posted: Monday, 14th June, 2010 By: jcdenison

I was listening to an Alan Hirsch seminar and he mentioned this list from a comedian named Brant Hansen. Very good stuff and very insightful about another movement that was always meant to be grassroots oriented, exponentially growing and driven by "normal" everyday punters but has long ago lost that ethos and suffered immeasurable as a result. Any guesses to which "movement" I am referring?

Here they are... 10 Keys to neutralising Al Qaeda or, er... something else:

1) Complexify the message

The curse of the 40 year old 'radical' executive

Posted: Thursday, 10th June, 2010 By: janamills

As I write this blog, I'm on my way home from The Rage Factor. Rage Against the Machine's free gig in Finsbury Park, thrown in celebration of their Christmas number one over the X-Factor winner. For reasons that will hopefully become clear, being at "The Rage Factor" made me think a lot about how we gather as a church. I was surrounded by thousands of people passionately engaged with the experience, the music, the band and yes even the words.

Which way to Passion?

Posted: Friday, 4th June, 2010 By: jcdenison

A friend of mine asked me recently, “how do we find passion? Is it our job to create it or does God give it to us?” I thought this was a great question and one I’ve asked many times. I had a few thoughts that I shared with him that I thought might be helpful for some of you as well.

The rules are a-changing. Are you ready?

Posted: Saturday, 29th May, 2010 By: jcdenison

We talk a lot @ CV about how ALL of our people are missionaries... NOT just the ones in foreign countries who we get slideshows from once every three years. YOU are a missionary to your spheres of relationship. Full stop. The question is only whether you are effective or crap!

The secret to mountain moving. HINT: Not you.

Posted: Tuesday, 25th May, 2010 By: jcdenison

A few years ago I was at an event named The Call at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. An event dedicated to prayer for our city and our nation sounded a good idea so we took a bunch of our young adults along. There was much good about the day but after awhile I began to feel a niggling unease with a dynamic that was happening.

You see, as each person stepped up to the mic to pray they inevitably ended up screaming at full volume in order to somehow demonstrate that they were really passionate for God to do what they were asking.

Volume = passion?

Wanting it...

Posted: Sunday, 23rd May, 2010 By: janamills

If you've been around church for a while you already know all the stuff, you know that Jesus came to bring a revolution to your life, your family, your street, your city and the whole of creation. So often we stop at mere agreement. Thinking that simply a transformation in our belief equals a transformation of our life. But if Jesus had wanted your head, He could have just made a Power Point presentation.

The bad news

Posted: Thursday, 20th May, 2010 By: janamills

Jesus came to proclaim good news to the poor. That is bad news for the rich, especially when we are rich off the backs of the poor. The gospel of grace is bad news for the sorted out, for the secure and comfortable. The gospel is bad news for you until you become aquainted with your weakness.

If good news for the poor is bad news for your bank account,
Then you're rich and you find yourself on the wrong side of the gospel.

Are you a customer of Christ? Or a follower?

Posted: Monday, 17th May, 2010 By: jcdenison

Read on.

Engage. It can be fun!

Posted: Monday, 17th May, 2010 By: jcdenison

Enjoy this winsome take on something we can all dread sometimes. Very cool. Donald Miller has written Blue LIke Jazz which is a brilliant take on the Jesus Life. He was a mate of Scott Andreas who was a part of CV for its first 18 mos. Want to get to know someone, understand their story.