Another religious gimmick?
Visited a church this morning with a friend and enjoyed the services but there is one thing that bugged me. In the middle of the sermon, they break away for a commercial promoting a self-discovery ministry called PLACE. Below is the description from their web site.
The P in PLACE is for Personality Discovery. Participants use the unique assessments to discover their Personality based on the DISC model. (Having taken this test and being rated a D, the ol' dominating personality, then I would assume my "place in ministry" will be dominating other folks. Cool, forget humility, domination is my gift and I need to be using it!)
The L represents Learning Spiritual Gifts. PLACE promotes a scripture-based, 16-gift model using our comprehensive 112 question assessment. (Well, this becomes a little more difficult since there really aren't any scriptures supporting domination tendencies, so maybe I will re-assess my gifts and go for something fun, like miracle making. We all could use that talent, right?)
The A stands for Abilities Awareness. Here, participants complete an assessment to discover the most effective environment for them to comfortably serve. (I find I work best in a football environment. Can I do all of my ministering at Buffalo Wild Wings with a basket of wings, cold drinks, and a game on the big tube?)
The C is for Connecting Passion with Ministry. PLACE’s unique curriculum helps Christians identify their passions for ministries and people, and discover how they best demonstrate passion. (You should see me at a football game, I get pretty passionate then. Does this mean I need to be spending all of my development at the local stadium? I could sure grow my passion there...)
The E in PLACE deals with Experiences of Life. This session allows individuals to explore the effects of their past experiences and how those experiences play a vital role in finding their place of service. (Hmm, maybe if I did all of this examinating at Buffalo Wild Wings I could really find those life experiences to match my passion. I am thinking I can skip the classes and go straight to BWW and start feeling my gifts grow.)
Okay, I am not much of a gimmick person. I didn't jump up and slap a WWJD bracelet on or even buy a Tshirt. I sure didn't buy into the Prayer of Jabez, or even got excited over the 40 Days...
Perhaps if folks would spend more time serving the hurting, poor, hungry, and sick instead of wasting all our time trying to figure out our purpose, our talent, our whatever the hot item is, maybe we would actually make progress in our communities.
Now excuse me, I think I need to go explore my gifts at BWW.
The P in PLACE is for Personality Discovery. Participants use the unique assessments to discover their Personality based on the DISC model. (Having taken this test and being rated a D, the ol' dominating personality, then I would assume my "place in ministry" will be dominating other folks. Cool, forget humility, domination is my gift and I need to be using it!)
The L represents Learning Spiritual Gifts. PLACE promotes a scripture-based, 16-gift model using our comprehensive 112 question assessment. (Well, this becomes a little more difficult since there really aren't any scriptures supporting domination tendencies, so maybe I will re-assess my gifts and go for something fun, like miracle making. We all could use that talent, right?)
The A stands for Abilities Awareness. Here, participants complete an assessment to discover the most effective environment for them to comfortably serve. (I find I work best in a football environment. Can I do all of my ministering at Buffalo Wild Wings with a basket of wings, cold drinks, and a game on the big tube?)
The C is for Connecting Passion with Ministry. PLACE’s unique curriculum helps Christians identify their passions for ministries and people, and discover how they best demonstrate passion. (You should see me at a football game, I get pretty passionate then. Does this mean I need to be spending all of my development at the local stadium? I could sure grow my passion there...)
The E in PLACE deals with Experiences of Life. This session allows individuals to explore the effects of their past experiences and how those experiences play a vital role in finding their place of service. (Hmm, maybe if I did all of this examinating at Buffalo Wild Wings I could really find those life experiences to match my passion. I am thinking I can skip the classes and go straight to BWW and start feeling my gifts grow.)
Okay, I am not much of a gimmick person. I didn't jump up and slap a WWJD bracelet on or even buy a Tshirt. I sure didn't buy into the Prayer of Jabez, or even got excited over the 40 Days...
Perhaps if folks would spend more time serving the hurting, poor, hungry, and sick instead of wasting all our time trying to figure out our purpose, our talent, our whatever the hot item is, maybe we would actually make progress in our communities.
Now excuse me, I think I need to go explore my gifts at BWW.
Labels: Ranting
posted by Frustrated Writer | 4:11 PM
8 Comments:
If you do ministry at BW3 while watching football, at least it would be on Sundays often.
This was a fun post.
AMEN, AMEN, AMEN
Wow. I think I'll just stay Catholic. That's just a little too... much.
That's not even an EASY gimmick! Most acronyms are supposed to be simple easy ways to remember deeper spiritual ideas? WWJD, corny though it may be, is a fairly easy gimmick to grasp (although I really truly struggled when it came to making decisions about whether Jesus would eat at BWW. In the end, the dilemma was just too much and I had to give up the gimmick. What? I wasn't going to give up BWW - are you crazy?)
Anyhow I digress. The point being, that PLACE actually takes fairly simple concepts of service, love and grace and makes them INFINITELY more complicated. Do you have to take an exam to go to this church?
well..you know how feel..i totally agree..im really fed up with it all..i mean seriously where was this?
amazing, huh?
Um, that's really kind of annoying. And it sounds like an internet test as well.
I avoid such people. Its easy to do. Just get a double handful of blankets, and cruise downtown at 2AM and give them to folks shivering under the bridge. Just once I would like to meet a pastor, or somebody other than a Sally Ann rep whilst doing just that.
I'm actually writing this from the "Shepherds" building downtown. Its the alternative to the Sally Ann. A young "pastor in training" is looking over my shoulder, and thinks PLACE is wonderful. I notice his boss isn't here. Ever. (He is such a puppy!)
Well, we have a nice large pot of hot chocolate to get out into the lobby. The pubs are letting out soon, and the clientelle will soon be stumbling in, bumming cigarettes and coffee, and trying to sober up enough to convince the workers here to give them a room. WITH a bed.
Hot chocolate with rum is not so bad you know! Yeah, I think I"M the smart one! Grin!
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