The Parrhesians
The Greek word is parrhesia" means “forthright truth-telling.” One who speaks with parrhesia doesn’t flatter, manipulate, or use rhetorical tricks. He doesn’t massage or bend the truth, and he doesn’t hedge. He’s confident truth is on his side, and he takes moral responsibility for speaking it. Join Kyle Bennett, Peter Chace and Nate Devlin as they offer bold truth and discuss how to be the church in a world possessed by lies.
The Parrhesians
No, You're Unhealthy: Taking Stock of Church Vitality and Effectiveness
“I told my doctor he was counting my heart rate incorrectly.”
You ever heard that before?
Yeah, me neither.
People who know, know, and we trust them.
“It’s all about perception.” “Your church is unhealthy.” “We’re just trying to help.”
You ever heard that before?
Yeah, me, too. All the time.
People who don’t know are always vying for your ear.
What does it mean that a church is healthy? What does it look like for it to be sick? When it’s sick, is it flatlining, or does it just need a few days to recover? Does it still have the power of Jesus in its blood? Is it just malnourished, famished, or parched?
In this episode, Peter, Pastor Nate, and Kyle talk about how we measure church health and vitality. Our Triune God likes lines and numbers, but are the lines we are drawing and the math we are doing consistent with His? How do our evaluative measures measure up to His? Maybe our scientific ruler is way sharper or shorter than His?
Perhaps lot of numbers aren’t always a sign of health or strength. One doesn’t seem very much to us, but that’s all it took for a Savior to accomplish redemption. Twelve doesn’t seem like very much, but that’s all it took to spread the gospel across the globe.
Maybe death is actually life.
Welcome to another episode of The Parrhesians Podcast!