Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Something Old, Something New

I was reading some C.S. Lewis yesterday and he made a very insightful statement about what we read. It is his opinion that we balance our reading by reading as much of the classic/older works as we do the latest and greatest. This is wisdom that many of us (church planters & pastors) need to hear even if we fail to heed it. Classic books on belief and practice are classic because they have stood the test of time. Most of us are futurists and we try to understand our culture and how to best do ministry here and now. Unfortunately some of the latest books have yet to be defined as either classics or fads. The difficulty is that we will not know until the theories have been tested and tried. A balanced approach will help us be more effective and more discerning of the books that we do read. And, I have the wisdom of the classic author C.S. Lewis to thank.