Outrage sells. It's plain as day. If eyeballs on articles are the currency of new media, there are few things that attract those eyeballs more effectively than outrage. In the wider cultural context of new media there is always lots to work with: Alec Baldwin's homophobia, Steve Martin's racism, Patton Oswalt's insensitivity. It goes on and on. There is always someone saying something dumb or unwise, and new media's response is immediate, fiery indignation.

We as Christians are also easily outraged. Sometimes we seem to forget that we are sinful people living in a sin-stained world and that sinners—even saved ones—will behave like sinners. Sometimes we appear to hold the people we admire (or admired) to the impossible standard of perfection. We don't mind if our historical heroes are deeply flawed, but we can barely tolerate the slightest imperfection in our contemporary heroes. When they fail, or even when they falter, we respond with, you guessed it: outrage. For a few days we light the torches and lift the pitchforks in our empty protests. And then we move on.

[Aside: I wrote this article last week, so don't think that any event that happened this week was the catalyst.]

They call it outrage porn. Like pornography, this kind of outrage is ultimately self-centered and self-gratifying.

A new term is entering the lexicon to describe this phenomenon. They call it outrage porn. Like pornography, this kind of outrage is ultimately self-centered and self-gratifying. One person calls it "self-gratification through feigned indignation." Even when it isn't feigned, there is still that element of selfishness, of self-pleasure, in it. The outrage isn't for them, it's for us. We feel better for having done it, for having participated in it. It is expiating in a sick sense. With the outrage behind me, I am satisfied that I have done my bit, and now I can move on to the next thing. Expressing outrage is almost a kind of brand loyalty—we are outraged together in this common cause.

Last week in an interview with Ed Stetzer I asked about the challenges that face the church of the 21st century. As the president of Lifeway Research, Ed sees a lot of statistics, and the stats that excite him the most are directly related to the challenges that face the contemporary church. Below are my questions, and Ed's responses in his own words:

Dave: As president of Lifeway Research you see a lot of stats, tell us about one of the statistics that excites you most.

Ed: Well, you might be surprised. I think that the decline of nominal Christianity, and by that I define two broad categories: Cultural Christians (people who identify themselves as Christians perhaps because they live in North America) and Congregational Christians (people who maybe had an infant baptism or some sort of Easter or Christmas involvement with the church) that they then call themselves Christians because of those things.

Those two categories are declining, partly because Christianity is becoming more distinct in our culture. As such I see in years to come that "Convictional Christians" will become more clearly identifiable in culture. Nominal and Congregational Christians will be more honest about their commitment and that gives Convictional Christians the opportunity to witness without having to deconstruct a false understanding of Christianity.

Ed has written more about this both on his blog where he talks aboutChristianity not collapsing (and here) and in a USA Today article in response to the Pew Forum releasing research on the "Nones".

Beginning at 10am on April 26 in a service at the Church of the Redeemer (Highland Park) I will be ordained into the Sacred Order of Deacons.

I grew up among America's Baptists (CBofA), attended Cornerstone University (GARB sponsored at the time), went to TEDS (EvFree) and then did my doctorate at Nottingham, began my teaching career at TEDS and then moved to North Park (EvCovenant) and am now teaching at Northern, which is an American Baptist Church sponsored seminary. For almost a decade Kris and I attended Willow Creek but it became increasingly too far for us to travel and, when one Wednesday night it took me nearly two hours to get to Willow, it became clear we'd have to think of a church closer to home.

Which gave us the opportunity to find an evangelical Anglican fellowship. Nearly two years ago we visited Church of the Redeemer the first time and have been part of that fellowship since that day. We are grateful to the Rev Canon Jay Greener, a master liturgist and pastor, and Rev Amanda Holm Rosengren, pastor and worship leader, for their encouragement and to Bishop Todd Hunter, of the Anglican Church of North America, for this opportunity.

You are welcome to attend the ordination should you care (directions at link above).

Where did this all begin? September, 1981, at St Peter's Toton outside Nottingham Kris and I and kids wandered into the neighborhood Anglican church, loved both Curate John and Elisabeth Corrie, and we began our lifetime appreciation and formative influence of The Book of Common Prayer, and you may have detected my own interest in prayer books through my small book Praying with the Church. So there's nothing at all close to any kind of major shift in our life to become Anglicans — we have sustained an Anglican connection for three decades.