embracing the tension...life inside the grey

A Forever Family for Christmas

2011-12-21T12:57:00.001-06:00

Update: All of the money necessary to bring this precious girl home (plus some) came in within a few hours yesterday! God's provision is good, and this family will forever have a reminder of that in the face of their daughter. Your continued prayers for the transition are appreciated.

Grace to you this Christmas. Be reminded that God loves you enough that He pursued you to bring you into his family, as well. He became like us, wrapped in flesh, and humbled himself to the point of death on a cross. That little pudgy baby in the Nativity on your mantle represents God himself, who came to you, lived your life (except without sin), and died your death on your behalf. Celebrate Him this Christmas, and remember his words found in John 20.21 - As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. As I have been encouraged and challenged by this family, I pray that you would be, as well; encouraged and challenged to give yourself away in light of the gift you have received. Merry Christmas!

I received an incredible phone call this morning from a good friend. He, his wife, and their sweet toddling daughter have been preparing their home, planning, praying, and hoping for the chance to open their lives to a child in need of a family. They have been working so hard, ensuring they have no debt constraints, filling out paper work, enduring numerous home visits and meetings, and planning to adopt sometime within the next year or two.

But God had a little different plan. My friends received a call this week asking them if they were ready to bring a child into their home. An adoptive mother read their profile and requested them to be a forever family for her little girl, who is now a couple of weeks old. Everything has quickly fallen into place to enable her to have a new home within the next week and a half. Well, almost everything. There is part of the cost of the adoptive process that still remains. They have about 10 days to raise another $10,000.

What an incredible story here at the time we celebrate God's loving act of breaking into our world in order to bring us into His own family - to adopt us as sons and daughters - to give us a new name - His name. My friends are ready; ready to open their home; ready to give this little girl a new name; ready to cross cultures and bring this beautiful girl home.

They need a little help. The news is till fresh, and they are still sharing it with friends and family, so I can't share a name right now. So, if you would like to join in and be a part of this Gospel story, email me at rodney@theupstreamcollective.org or comment below with a way to connect with you. I will pass along the information you need in order to give.

Please pray for this family and the little girl as God continues to work out knitting them together. Please give if you can. Please pass this along to others, as well.

This family is precious, and I can think of no better gift for this little girl than to find a forever family in them this Christmas.

The Christmas Muzaks...

2011-12-16T13:52:00.001-06:00

As we move about during the Christmas season, we are inundated with images, sounds, and ideologies at every turn - in our cars, on television, in stores, restaurants, and public restrooms. The most common format is the Christmas soundtrack that has been birthed mixing histories and traditions and 80s keyboards and jingle bells. Much (most) of the Muzak we are forced to endure is as hideous as the wreath/music staff creation to the left.

Just once more through the drama of giving my heart to the wrong person last Christmas who then, in turn gave it away the very next day, and I will likely gouge my eardrums with a chop stick. Well, that seems extreme now that I've written it, so likely I will just complain more about it as I am now. So, be prepared...

The problem, for me, is that my girls love Christmas music and have been listening to it for about a month solid now. I am ready to not listen to Christmas music now. However, there are a few glints and glimmers of hope amongst the train wreck that is the genre of Christmas music. There are actually some brilliant lyrical creations that masterfully weave incarnation and redemption seamlessly into musical form. Unfortunately, they are oft lost in the fray and the depth of their meaning is overlooked. I thought I might offer a few of my favorites from some recognizable tunes and ask you to weigh in with yours, as well. Consider the words, and feel their weight and meaning.

So, Merry Christmas to you, and please keep a sharp eye on your Grandmothers and your hearts this holiday season, as both seem to be in innate danger this time of year...

Joy to the World
Joy to the World the Lord has come.
Let Earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room...

O Come Let Us Adore Him
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee. Born this happy morning.
Jesus, to Thee be all glory given.
Word of the Father now in flesh appearing.
O come let us adore Him - Christ the Lord.

O Holy Night
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope - the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees!

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease!
Fall on your knees!

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.

The Wexford Carol
Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider all and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending His beloved son

What Child is This?
This, this is Christ the King!
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary.

In the Bleak Midwinter
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man I would do my part;
Yet what can I give Him - give my heart.

The First Noel
Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made Heaven and earth of nought
And with his blood mankind has bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, NoelBorn is the King of Israel!

These are a few of my favorite lines from Christmas tunes that boast of the initial advent of our King and point to a glorious return still to come. What would you add?

Ambassador (pt 3)

2011-11-15T13:19:00.001-06:00

I have been writing on ambassadorship for a few posts now. You can catch up here, here, and here, if you'd like.

In the last post, we left off with Paul's statement that all who are in Christ are new creations - the old is gone, the new has come. There is a complete change of identity. Who they once were, they are no longer (2 Cor 5.16-17; Eph 4.17-22), and all for a specific purpose:

¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Reconciliation.

Christ reconciled us to God through Himself, Paul says; and, in doing so, He has given us new identities as His ambassadors who carry the message of reconciliation. It is not we who enable reconciliation to God, but carry the message that in Christ, reconciliation is a reality. As ambassadors, we are representatives of this truth at all times. We represent to the world what it means to have been reconciled to God, by grace assuming His character and attitude toward those around us. Just as the ambassador from my example a couple posts back, this is not a job that turns off after hours. It is an all-consuming identity in which our sinful lives have been replaced and we have become the righteousness of God in the earth.

William Barclay wrote of 2 separate meanings of the word presbeutes (ambassador), and applied both to Paul's writing in 2 Cor 5. The first manner of use denotes a man directly commissioned by the Roman Emperor to oversee an imperial province. In this way, says Barclay, Paul speaks of Jesus' new creations as directly commissioned by their King to continue the work He began (and will complete - Phil 1.6). The second usage is even more powerful than the first:

When the Roman senate decided that a country should become a province they sent to it ten...presbeutai, that is, envoys, of their own number, who, along with the victorious general, arranged the terms of peace with the vanquished people, determined the boundaries of the new province, drew up a constitution for its new administration, and then returned to submit what they had done for ratification by the senate. They were the men responsible for bringing others into the family of the Roman Empire. So Paul thinks of himself as the man who brings to others the terms of God, whereby they can become citizens of His empire and members of his family...There is no more responsible position than that of ambassador.

How incredibly important a role to carry to others the terms by which they may enter the Kingdom and be counted children of God (1 Jn 3.1)!

Barclay points out that the importance of the role is three-fold, and I will summarize his thoughts here:

1. An ambassador is always such in a foreign land. He is a stranger. The same is true of Jesus' ambassadors. He lives and takes part in the world, but his citizenship is in Heaven.

2. An ambassador speaks for his country, his voice is that of his home country. The Christian must sometimes speak for Christ and bring His message to the human situation.

3. The country's honor is in the ambassador's hands. People judge the character of a country and its people by the words and actions of its representatives.

It is the great responsibility of the ambassador to commend his country to the men amongst whom he is set...The honor of Christ and of the Church are in his hands. By his every word and action he can make men think more - or less - of his Church and of his Master.

It is a weighty matter to represent Jesus among the peoples of the earth. It is an unmatched honor, as sons and daughters of God to indeed be salt and light, a city on a hill in hopes that the world will see and glorify our Father in heaven (Mt 5.13-16). This, I believe, is the life of the ambassador...

Up next, we move on to 1 Peter 1 & 2 to frame our actions/morality in light of life as an ambassador...

All quotes and summary from-

Barclay, William. The Letter to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975). p 209-211.

Ambassadors (pt 2)

2011-11-10T11:53:00.002-06:00

In my last post, or maybe the one before that, I began a foray into a discussion of ambassadorship, or -ness, or whatever the correct term is. A couple points of clarity regarding my last 2 posts:

1. In using a US ambassador as an example of what an ambassador is, I meant only to do just that - give an example. I did not/do not equate "American" with Christian. FYI...

2. I also did not suggest that every follower of Jesus should move to a foreign culture. Instead, I said that all followers of Jesus are missionaries (and Spurgeon offered his support to my thesis - I am a pretty influential guy, you know). I would suggest that you are already in a foreign culture. You are already a sojourner and exile. You don't have to go anywhere to be a missionary, though you may be called to do so...which brings me to the next step of our discussion...

At the end of my last post, I asked if you would read 2 Cor 5 for a bit of context for our ambassador talk. Did you? If not, go ahead. We'll wait here for you.

Go ahead...

Back so quickly?! Hmmm...

2 Cor 5 begins with these words:

¹For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ²For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, ³if indeed by putting it on^[a] we may not be found naked.⁴For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
⁶So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, ⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

You are not home here. You who follow Jesus - this world is not your home. This is a common statement amongst evangelicals longing for home, and rightly so. Paul expressed the same sentiment in his letter to the Philippian church. He was eager to put the very real pains of this world behind him and be with his precious Jesus. However, here in 2 Cor 5, the focus is not necessarily on the incredible inheritance we will gain when we see Christ face to face, but on the implications of our earthly tent here and now. Paul's intent is for his readers to understand the temporary nature of the tent and the eternal reality of your new identity in Christ. What you do now has implications for this temporary life, sure, but with eternal weight. We are citizens of an unseen Kingdom and serve a King we've not met face-to-face. We have experienced His goodness and been made alive by His grace; yet we walk by faith.

Paul's point in the passage, if I may be so bold as to offer my opinion (and since it's my blog, I will), is that this life is not a throw-away. You're purpose now is not to simply long for home, but as a stranger here to represent your King and his Kingdom well. It is who you are. Your salvation isn't all about you and your reward (though that is certainly a part of it). You have become part of an unseen Kingdom, though temporarily housed here for God's glory and the good of those around you who are not a part of the Kingdom. Paul continues on:

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

He harkens us to peer beyond people's exterior. The tent is not the person. We regard no one according to the flesh any longer. We don't identify them by their race, physical attributes, accomplishments, jobs, talents, or social status. People are spiritual, and they follow Jesus or they do not. They are in the Kingdom or they are not. Those who are in are new creations. They are alive. They have an identity, a purpose - something they were given life to do, and it involves Jesus, His Kingdom, and those who are not a part of it. Paul gives the people who identify with Jesus a name. They have an identity that comes directly from the covenant relationship they have with Christ (like Abraham was given a new identity representing the covenant God had made with him in Gen 17). He calls them ambassadors. That is their new identity, and it defines them, not their tent.

Ambassadors of Christ (pt1)

2011-11-04T11:27:00.002-05:00

The seal to the left gives a great deal of power to its bearer. It means safety for the traveler in a foreign city. It gives the power for treaty, or the halting thereof. It means authority to the one sworn to its duty. It is the seal of the United States Embassy and identifies the sovereignty of the United States and its holdings around the world. Land/buildings in countries all over the world that are marked with this seal are considered to be on American soil and under American law, even in the middle of a foreign nation.

American ambassadors live and work inside embassies all over the world, and they carry the full authority of the United States and are protected by her law. Most carry some form of diplomatic immunity in their host country (fodder for many a film and/or crime drama) as a perk of their status. They are powerful people, not because of their individual stature or power, but because they represent the United States, with all of its power and authority. American Ambassadors are most often treated incredibly well by their host countries, because they hold the power to invite others into or remove them from the good graces of the U.S.

Whether inside the embassy or out, the ambassador remains an emissary for the U.S. It is not something they can turn on and off. They cannot be ambassadors from 9-5 at the office and not while they are out and around town in the evening. That is why the character, attitudes, and behavior of ambassadors is so important. There is a prescribed behavior that should be true of them. They represent the authority. They are representatives (representations) of the one who sent them. American ambassadors should exemplify American laws, values, and priorities; and they must do it all the time. They should live among the people of the nation to which they have been sent by the United States government as exemplary Americans, living out exactly what it means to submit to her authority and be and American. It has to be who they are. They are Americans representing our nation to others who may or may not understand it and working to promote American values and priorities as useful values for them to adopt.

Imagine then, an ambassador who lives a life worthy of that call during business hours, and then lives "anti-American" at night (whatever that might be) - breaking laws and promoting anti-American sentiment in her life. That would make for a terrible ambassador, and I would say that this person is not an ambassador at all.

Ambassador is not a job, it is an identity. Again, ambassadorship is not something to be turned on and off; it is who a person is and exemplifies the authority who sent them.

Dictionary.com offers a few definitions of ambassador that I find helpful:

a
diplomatic official of the highest rank, sent by one sovereign or state to another as its resident representative.
a diplomatic official of the highest rank sent by agovernment to represent it on a mission, as for negotiating a treaty.
an authorized messenger or representative.

In my last post, I alluded to Paul's words in 2 Cor 5.20 in which he designates followers of Jesus as ambassadors. I think some of the implications of the above on that statement are pretty obvious, but I'd love it if you would go and read 2 Cor 5, as well as 1 Peter 1 & 2. I would like to make a few observations in my next post regarding life as ambassadors (read: exiles in 1 Peter), but I would love to hear your thoughts, too. What does it mean to be an ambassador of Christ?

Not gifted for...mission?

2011-11-02T16:00:00.002-05:00

"Other people in our church do mission; I am gifted to teach," said the church staff guy to my friend. They were discussing a local mission opportunity. He continued, "We don't really talk about missions much in our church, but our people are engaged."

That, my friends, is a cop out, and it is misinformed and dangerous, at very best.

The man - we'll call him Tim - is responsible for part of the teaching load in the church, which is a highly respected body and home to several professors at a local Christian university. They all have Dr. before their names, as does Dr. Tim. He carries a lot of weight when he speaks, and rightfully so, which saddened me all the more when I heard his comment.

I understand gifting, and I get what he was trying to say. I just disagree. Some of us (followers of Jesus) are gifted teachers, others wise, others administrators, and still others are wonderful at throwing parties (hospitality, for those taken aback at the mention of a party), etc...I am even aware that there are those with a supernatural penchant for crossing culture in a way that others cannot easily imagine. They are cultural wizards, learning quickly to walk the thin and often hazy line between cultural ignorance and faux pas as accepted outsiders in a "foreign" culture. I believe that ability to be given to them by God the Spirit as a gift. It is part of who they are made in Christ. My question, though, is does their supernatural ability to do mission preclude those of us who are less inclined to an almost ninja-like culture crossing capability from engaging in mission? Certainly not.

Dr. Tim believes mission to be "out there somewhere". Mission is around the globe. It is a place to go and a thing to do, and it is meant to be undertaken only by those with a specific gift set apropos for the task at hand. It is for the professionals.

I think not. Mission is for the follower of Jesus. It is not a department in a church; it is the response of one saved by grace. Jesus has saved us and co-missioned us by His Spirit to join Him in His mission. Each of us has been given a new name, a new identity as son or daughter and co-heir. All that is His is now ours, including His mission. We are His ambassadors to the places we have been sent, and our giftings serve us well in building up the church in those places. They do not determine if we go on mission, but what tools we use as we do.

We are all missionaries.

There is an oft-quoted line from a message preached by C.H. Spurgeon that I would encourage you to read in its entirety (you can do so here). I have included a bit more than the usual quotation to give you a bit of context and flavor. I would encourage you to remember Spurgeon, as well, as pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, which both preached the Gospel and lived it out as a change agent in the city and sent people out to do the same elsewhere. Under his direction, the church built orphanages, fed and clothed tens of thousands, and planted over 200 churches led by his students in the surrounding counties. Here, as in many other places and ways, he called his people to be missionaries:

...[H]e who really has this high estimate of Jesus will think much of him, and as the thoughts are sure to run over at the mouth, he will talk much of him. Do we so? If Jesus is precious to you, you will not be able to keep your good news to yourself; you will be whispering it into your child's ear; you will be telling it to your husband; you will be earnestly imparting it to your friend; without the charms of eloquence you will be more than eloquent; your heart will speak, and your eyes will flash as you talk of his sweet love. Every Christian here is either a missionary or an impostor. Recollect that. You either try to spread abroad the kingdom of Christ, or else you do not love him at all. It cannot be that there is a high appreciation of Jesus and a totally silent tongue about him. Of course I do not mean by that, that those who use the pen are silent: they are not. And those who help others to use the tongue, or spread that which others have written, are doing their part well: but that man who says, "I believe in Jesus," but does not think enough of Jesus ever to tell another about him, by mouth, or pen, or tract, is an impostor. You are either doing good, or you are not good yourself. If thou knowest Christ, thou art as one that has found honey; thou wilt call others to taste of it; thou art like the lepers who found the food which the Syrians had cast away: thou wilt go to Samaria and tell the hungry crowd that thou hast found Jesus, and art anxious that they should find him too. Be wise in your generation, and speak of him in fitting ways and at fitting times, and so in every place proclaim the fact that Jesus is most precious to your soul.

I am not saying that Dr. Tim does not love Jesus, nor that his local body is not engaging the lost. I am quite sure that both of those statements are terribly inaccurate. I am saying that mission requires us all, and to insinuate that some are exempt by reason of gifting or lack thereof, or for any reason at all is to rob them of their right and responsibility as ambassadors of Jesus. It is to change their identity. I am drawn to part of the quote above that speaks of eloquence. Spurgeon suggested that our eloquence gives way to passion as our hearts and eyes speak of the sweet love of Jesus. Nothing else is required but to share His story and how He has written and re-written ours.

You are an ambassador. You are a missionary.

More on the role of an ambassador next...

A Simple Missiology - pt 1

2011-10-13T13:21:00.003-05:00

(I know, I talked about this in my last post, but it is important, and I have a point, I promise.)

I want my kids to understand who Christ makes them.

They are 6 and 3 years old right now, and their identities are already well-formed. They already know who they are and to some degree who they want to be. They are continually shaping themselves and being shaped.

My oldest is all girl. She loves to dance and loves music. She is pink. She lives and breathes it. I had high hopes that my second daughter would be a bit less pink, but I think she has actually upped the ante. She is just as girly, if not moreso than the first. There are so many things that they do simply because they are girls- things they have not been taught to do, but do instinctively. For instance, Tthey already have a well-developed mothering instinct. Apart from being swung around by head and hair, their dolls are incredibly well cared-for. Obviously, they have learned much of that (not the hair-swinging thing) from their own mother, but we have seen them both do so much that we have not specifically taught them. It is just who they are.

My prayer is that the same would be true of who they are in Christ. As they learn who Jesus is, my prayer is simply that they would be who He makes them. Obviously, they both have much to learn about what that means, about who Christ does make them and what their identity is in Him. We have been teaching them for a while about reflecting God's character in our own, which shapes our attitudes and actions. It shapes the way we treat people. I realized, though, that I have been neglecting teaching them about a large part of our identity, and that is our sent-ness.

I want my children to understand that being in Christ means being sent as much as it means forgiveness, redemption, adoption, and so on. These things (along with many others) are all true of Christ-followers - we have been forgiven through Christ on the cross (1Jn 1.9; 2.12); Christ has redeemed us by His blood (Eph 1.7; Col 1.14); we are adopted as sons and daughters of God (Rom 8.15; gal 4.5); our debt has been paid (Col 2.13-15); we are new creations (2 Cor 5.17; Gal 6.15); and we have been sent by our King as emissaries to the kingdoms of this world (Jn 20.21; 2 Cor 5.20). It is who we are.

So, I am teaching my children missiology. We are walking through all the passages of Scripture that contain sending language. And. They. Are. Many. We are pulling out principles and characteristics of what makes God's people, well, God's people. I am going to periodically share some of what we are doing here on the blog. I am not sure why. I don't think any children read my blog. Maybe it will be helpful to someone else who is wrestling with how to teach their children these ideas. The ideas will be simple and basic. Maybe missiology should be, though, because it is just understanding who we are. I am including some of the questions I am asking my daughters as we learn. I would love to hear thoughts or questions you might add to the mix.

So, the first installment is from Abram's story (Gen 12-17):

Abram lived in the land of Ur in his father's house. He married Sarai. They wanted to have children but could not. They moved with his father and family to Haran, where Abram's father eventually died. Shortly thereafter, God told Abram to leave 1) his country, 2) his family, and 3) his father's house. He then promised to make of Abram a great nation and a blessing to all the world.

What did God ask Abram to do?
Do you think it was easy for him? Why (not)?
What would you do if God asked you to do something difficult?
What do you think Abram did?
What was God's first promise to Abram?

Gen 12.4 tells us that God sent Abram, and Abram obeyed.

God sent. Abram went. (This has become a bit of a sing-song-y chant at our house).

God showed Abram the land of Canaan and promised it to his offspring. Abram and his family settled for a bit in the land of Bethel and built an altar to worship the Lord. Then, he journeyed on...

God made another promise to Abram in Gen 15. Remember that Abram and Sarai were unable to have children. Having a son and heir was important to Abram, so that his name would be carried on. God had promised to make a great nation of Abram, but how? In Gen 15, God promised Abram a son, and that his offspring would number as vast as the stars.

Finally, God made one more promise to Abram in Gen 17. This is the greatest promise God made, and it is one that we will continually see throughout Scripture. It is such a big promise that God changed Abram's name to Abraham and Sarai's name to Sarah as a part of it. They were given a new identity by God when He made His covenant with them. It changed things so drastically, that they needed new names.

God promised Abraham that He would be Abraham's God. God promised Himself. God's greatest promise was that He would be with Abraham. He would be their God, and they would be His people. God's presence is what made God's people, God's people. The difference between Abraham and his family and other nations is that God was with them. He was leading them, sending them to the places He wanted them to go. He was there with them, which defined who they were.

God sent, and Abram went; but he didn't go alone. God was with Him, and that defined Him.

We are sent, but never alone (Mt 28.18-20). When we go, we go with Him, as His emissaries, His people. He defines us. We are His.

Newbigin Says...

2011-09-22T15:52:00.000-05:00

...I am suggesting that the Gospel is to be understood as the clue to history, to universal history and therefore to the history of each person, and therefore the answer that every person must give to the question, Who am I?...I have suggested that we are to understand the mission of the Church in light of the fact that the meaning of contemporary history is that it is the history of the time between Christ's ascension and His coming again, the time when His reign at the right hand of God is a hidden reality, the time in which signs are granted of that hidden reign but in which the full revelation of its power and glory is held back in order that all the nations - all the human communities - may have the opportunity to repent and believe... (Newbigin. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p 128)

Paul said it like this (2 Cor 5):

¹¹Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. ¹² We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. ¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling^[c] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Newbigin and Paul are saying the same things here, in large part, just in reverse order. There is a Kingdom not understood by men. We, through the redemptive work of Christ on the cross have understood the Good News and been created anew, citizens of the Kingdom. As such, all the old is gone and our identity has changed. We are ambassadors of the King. Our identity is bound up in the reality of the unseen Kingdom. We are who we are by the blood of Jesus and for the furtherance of his Kingdom.

Mission, therefore, is not a task to be completed. It is an identity to be lived out. We ARE ambassadors. We ARE emissaries. We ARE co-laborers.

My good friend, Ernest Goodman wrote a post recently that painted a beautiful picture of mission according to identity. It is well worth the read. And re-read. You can find it here.

Disciple-Making Re-Visited

2011-08-29T13:46:00.000-05:00

Discipleship has been defined, redefined, and defined yet again over the years within our churches, so much so that I am not really sure what people mean when they use the word. In context of conversation, discipleship could mean a Bible study program, teaching a body of knowledge one needs to know in order to be a disciple (another widely misappropriated term), Sunday School, any number of programs within a church, etc...

To Jesus, though, disciple-making was more relational. Jesus taught a lot. He taught big crowds. It was a good thing. The Bible never calls the crowds disciples, though. They are called crowds. The disciples were those who were with Jesus when the crowds left. They were the ones asking Jesus tough questions. They were the ones Jesus hung out with, lived with, called dull, and sent out under His authority.

Disciples are still made, and prayerfully they are disciples of Jesus, not disciples of ours. Paul said to the Corinthian church, "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ" (1Cor 11.1). In context, he was talking about doing all things for the glory of God. He was telling the Corinthian church to imitate his motives and character, not necessarily his all of his actions. He was not creating a model, but encouraging Christ-like character that would lead them each to not "seek [their] own good, but that of [their] neighbors (10.24)." Likewise, we make disciples, living as an example of lives worthy of the calling to which we have been called (Eph 4.1; 2 Thes 1.11-12) and consistently pointing others to Christ through teaching, encouragement, taking them with us when we go, and sending them out in the same way we have been sent.

I think defining discipleship has been done backwards in some cases. We look to define the process, and then set that process in stone. Unfortunately the results are often overlooked. What if we looked instead at the end result, asked ourselves what a disciple of Jesus should look like, and then shape the process to achieve the desired result? If in the end we desire a mature believer displaying the character of Christ, seeking the good of his neighbor, and living lives sent out under the authority of Jesus, what must we do to get there?

Questions and evaluations are often a good thing. Looking at our processes and the "disciples" we are producing is an important part of understanding how we are doing in regards to the mission of the Church. One of the questions I think is useful is what kind of disciples are we making? Are we producing people who can spout off information about Jesus, or ones who can reproduce a program, or organize a Bible study? Or are we equipping others to display the character of Christ as they work for the good of their neighbors and the nations and make disciples of Jesus themselves? Are we sending our people out to the places they work, play, eat, shop, go to school, and hang out with the notion that they are foreigners in those places living as representatives of a Kingdom on a mission to this world? Are we helping them develop Christ-like character? Are we equipping them to develop others who will do the same? If not, then I would say something needs to change. Our methods are not producing the desired results.

Hear me - I am not saying that all programs are bad. We just need to be sure that, in the end, the disciples we are making are disciples of Jesus and not of our programs. The outcome should not just be more programs, but more disciples of Jesus. Jesus certainly saw the need for teaching the crowds, but there was something more to the disciple-making process. He lived with 12 men, challenged them, scared them, loved them, taught them, shepherded them, equipped them, empowered them, disciplined them, loved them some more, and sent them out to carry on his mission in the world. As we consider those sovereignly under our own care and within our own circles, we may need to ask some questions and make some changes. Paul was not the model for disciple-making. Nor are we.

Jesus is.

I like this video I have seen going around the web a bit. Props to the Foursquare Church. It demonstrates some of these things pretty well. Enjoy:

This is Discipling from The Foursquare Church on Vimeo.

Being Good Table Guests

2011-08-08T12:19:00.000-05:00

Ramadan is in full swing, and Muslims around the globe are engaging in day-long fasts from sun-up to sundown and breaking those fasts in community around the table to celebrate the holiest month of their year. Every Muslim who is physically able will fast each day for the month and end the day with a communal meal, prayer, and reading from the Qu'ran.

This year, a group of friends and I have been invited to join some Muslim friends as their guests around the table and break fast with them in their mosque. We are honored to have received the invitation and want to be sure we are good table guests. My prayer is that we would receive their hospitality well - Luke 10 (my friend Michael wrote a good post on it here). I am not Muslim. I follow Jesus. I know some Muslim history and have read some of the Qu'ran. I have never, however, been a part of Muslim worship or even been in a mosque. So, I would love to hear from some of you...

What would make us good table guests?
How do we accept the food and drink set before us and "proclaim that the Kingdom has come near" without offending our hosts (the Gospel is offensive enough without our adding to it)?

If you have had interaction with Muslims in this manner, I would love to hear from you. If you know someone else who has, please forward this to them and encourage them to lend us their wisdom...

We want to be good guests and we want them to know that we represent a Kingdom and a King. We want them to experience his grace. We also want to be their friends.

Can you help?

Lesson Learned...again...(Birmingham Tornado)

2011-05-05T09:35:00.002-05:00

I have been out trying to serve this week as much as possible within my city. Last week, many parts of Alabama were utterly devastated, including Birmingham, where I live. By God's sovereign grace, my family, home, and neighborhood were unaffected by the storm itself, but we are hurting along with the people who have lost everything. You have likely seen pictures coming out of the state and heard the stories of tragedy and loss. I promise you, they do not do justice to the reality of the situation.

I was invited to help a group from a large church who was going into one of the hardest hit areas to feed people and just be there to talk, pray, and be with them yesterday. It was a classic situation - I went in thinking I was bringing help and I would offer hope to broken people. When I arrived, however, I was overwhelmed by the severity of the situation. I cannot describe to you what I saw. Words fall short. My heart broke as we entered what appeared to be a war zone. As we passed out hot meals and cold drinks, people were so appreciative, so thankful, and so kind. They wanted to talk, and we were there to listen.

Many of the families who had lived there were not there, because their houses were either gone or uninhabitable. There were a few families we met that were broken and asking for prayer and any assistance they could get. We spent time with them, listening and praying, and took down their information. I think the church I was serving with is going to adopt those families and help them rebuild. Pray with me that they would be served well and that they would meet and follow Jesus through the process.

The vast majority of the families I met, though broken and hurting, were joyful and happy. We heard laughing and saw neighbors caring for neighbors. We saw people who had lost houses, cars, and everything they owned working in their neighbors yards helping them cut up trees and remove debris. We saw self-sacrifice and service and people loving their neighbors, and I was so excited to learn why so many of those people were responding the way they were. They are followers of Jesus, and their joy is beyond possessions.

I met one family in particular- a husband and wife. The wife had survived Camille in Mississippi, though her family lost their home. After marrying, the couple moved to New Orleans, where they eventually endured Katrina, losing everything and being displaced to Birmingham. Last week, the tornado took it all again. As they shared their story, I began to tear up, and she comforted me. "Oh honey, it's alright. It ain't nuthin' but stuff. God is good, and we're all okay. God will provide. He always has."

Lesson learned.

Again.

It is often through suffering and deep despair that our trust and faith in Christ is exposed. I went into Pratt City to "minister to" the hurting, and though I was able to do some of that, the most memorable moment for me will be the challenge I received in my faith from a family who is certain and secure and who's faith has been thoroughly tested and not found wanting.

The following pictures are a few a shot with my phone as we passed through the neighborhoods. This is the backdrop against which that family shared their story and their hope with me.

1 Peter 3.15a

...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Important Questions

2011-04-18T09:47:00.001-05:00

There are lots of great questions coming out of Budapest and the Church in a Broken World dialogue led by Michael Frost.

One of the most important questions I have heard is the following:

When was the last time your church got on their knees and asked 'to whom are we sent'?

What a heart-wrenching and important question. We church leaders have sought direction in so many places in order to identify who we should reach. My friend and Upstream Director, Larry McCrary wrote a great post on how the church actually uses where they meet to determine the people to whom they are called.

We turn to demographics- a great tool to help us know where certain people are, but they cannot tell us to whom we are sent. We turn to lists of unreached people groups- also a wonderful tool, and something that should consistently drive us to our knees, but they cannot tell us to whom we are sent. We turn to conferences and meetings, and ask all kinds of questions about engaging cultures. We use online research, vision trips, and a globe or city map and a dart. All of these, save maybe the dart thing, are excellent tools in learning about people, studying culture, developing strategies and the like. But they do not tell us to whom we are sent.

God does.

In Acts, it is the Holy Spirit who commissions the church and empowers them as sent ones (Acts 2); it is the Holy Spirit who sets people aside to be sent to a specific place (Acts 13.2); it is the Lord who sends Peter to Cornelius through a vision and opens the Gospel to those outside the Jews (Acts 10); and it is the Holy Spirit who sends, changes course, and redirects the early church as they went (Acts 8.29, 39; 13.4; 16.6, 9-10; 22.17-18; 28.25-28).

It is unfortunate that the people of God (self-included) will often go to such great lengths to make decision in the name of God about the mission of God without actually asking God. I think we would do quite well to consider the above question, and, if answered in a negative manner, to remedy the situation and beg God for His forgiveness, His presence, and His direction as we go.

After answering this important question, several other questions would be in order (others that have come out of the Church in a Broken World dialogue, as well):

Where will you go?

With whom will you go?

What does the reign of God look like there?

What does the Gospel (Good News) look like in that culture?

What does the Church look like there?

My friend and co-founder of Upstream, Caleb Crider wrote a wonderful post on the idea of being Spirit-led for the Mission Book, where you will also find many of these other questions addressed.

Church in a Broken World Video

2011-04-16T08:05:00.001-05:00

The Upstream Collective has been leading a Jet Set trip this week to Prague and Budapest. Australian Missiologist Michael Frost has been leading the discussion. All of the quotes that have spawned posts on the blog this week have been his. Below, I have embedded the video from the first session on the trip. It is an hour of video, but if you are serious about engaging a particularly post-Christian culture with the Gospel, it is an hour well worth spending, or your money back.

Frost says that the mission of the Church is Proclaiming and Demonstrating that OUR GOD REIGNS!

Check it out:

Church in a Broken World Session 2-part 1 from Upstream on Vimeo.

Church in a Broken World Session 2-part2 from Upstream on Vimeo.

It's Already Offensive

2011-04-15T09:09:00.001-05:00

What about the cross is not offensive? Are you not broken and repulsed by the picture to the left? (If not, you may just be numb to the reality of the suffering of Jesus)

What about sin is not offensive?

What about "apart from grace you have no hope" is not offensive?

What about "all your best and most righteous efforts are as dirty menstrual cloths" is not offensive?

What about "you are sinful and have fallen short of God's perfect standard" is not offensive?

The answer you're looking for is "nothing". Nothing about those things is not offensive. The reality of the human condition is ugly and dark, and when you are the one who points out that reality to people, you could very easily be a bad guy.

For that reason, context is important. All of the above is terrible news. When in context, however, everything changes. When set against the backdrop of the King who set the perfect standard sending an emissary of His Kingdom, His own Son to pay the price for our sin, it becomes Good News- God's own Son came to reconcile us to God and pay the penalty for our sin (Ephesians 2.13-16; Rom 5.6-11). Add to it the incredible fact that the Son commissioned and sent out more ambassadors of the Kingdom as witnesses of Jesus who came to reconcile people to God:

2 Cor 5
¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus sent out His ambassadors to go in the same manner as He came- as an ambassador of the Kingdom, announcing the Good News that the Kingdom has come, and living out the reality of the Kingdom on earth (Jn 1.14; 20.21; Phil 2.5-11)- incarnating the Kingdom- taking Kingdom principles and wrapping them in flesh.

So, context is terribly important. The Gospel is offensive enough on its own. The last thing it needs is our help in making it moreso. The following quote came out of the JetSet trip from Michael Frost:

Contexualization is presenting the Gospel in a way that CORRECTLY offends people.

Again, the truth of our sin in comparison to the perfection of God and His Kingdom is stark and offensive. That is why the whole of the Law pointed to Jesus (Gal 3.24), our only hope.

Reality is that it is difficult to learn a new culture. There will be great sacrifice for those who choose to do so. People who cross culture effectively become like those to whom they are sent in order to contextualize the Gospel (Eph 2)- to present it in such a manner that it is actually Good News to the people there. What a disservice we do to the Gospel if the thing we make central to the mission is our cultural preference for how we do "church", not the Good News of Jesus, so that the chance for misunderstanding and offense among a different people is high.

We know that the Gospel will offend. Shouldn't the thing that offends be the direct contrast of God's Kingdom and worldly values (the part for which Jesus gives hope for an alternative), not our forms and traditions? Not our cultural insensitivity? Not our refusal to learn a language and a history- to listen to a people and hear their hurts? If we are to actually incarnate the Gospel, we must listen to the people to whom we are sent and understand their hurts. They will tell us, if we give them opportunity. (By the way, I do not just mean foreign cultures across the ocean from you. This also includes local tribes with their own language and culture- artsy hipsters in the city, farm-living country folk, Trekkies that meet once a week to talk about...whatever Trekkies talk about, bikers, hiking clubs, etc...)

I have heard it said man times by my good friend @almostm (not sure where he heard it or if it is his) something to this effect:

If someone must learn a new culture in order to understand what you are telling them about Jesus, you are not preaching the Gospel, you are preaching your preferences. Incarnation means that the Kingdom comes to them... (or something like that)

I think that is brilliant. The Kingdom came to us in human form. We did not have to search out God's kingdom, learn it's language and cultural norms, dig through its history, and approach it through some relevant liturgy.

Jesus came to us. All we had to do was listen as he spoke to us in our own language and told stories we would understand and pointed us to the beauty of life in God's Kingdom.

Are we doing the same? Are we showing people a picture of God's glorious kingdom by exposing them to the love of Jesus through living a life of love and sharing stories they understand? Are we incarnating the gospel or spreading our specific cultural norms?

I would love to hear some stories of incarnational living, if you would be so kind as to share. Wins and losses? Stories of people coming to Christ through a picture of the kingdom in your life or someone you know?

Following along with the Jet Set @ www.theupstreamcollective.org or hashtag #js2011 on Twitter.

Ahh, Controversy and Irreverence...

2011-04-13T21:50:00.001-05:00

Nothing stirs up conversation like some good ol' controversy and irreverence, right?

That's the hope here on this post.

This blog gets a lot of traffic from a lot of different folks. Apparently though, either everything I say is spot on, so there need be no discussion (this is what I choose to believe), or none of you like each other, so you're not talking. So, I thought I'd throw out a few of the one liners coming from the ongoing Prague/Budapest JetSet trip (#js2011) and see if anyone had any thoughts, or if we might stir up a little controversy. Please join in the conversation and add your thoughts, comments, questions, ideas, etc...We're all friends here, so let's get some good chatter going.

from Michael Frost and the One Day event in Prague:

You know there actually is a devil when he starts to bribe you with a church building to walk away from the mission of God.

Megachurches on highways will 1 day be big empty churches unless we figure out how to be missional churches.

I don't want to change the church, I want to participate with God to change the world.

It's a lost cause trying to be like Jesus, but it is the only cause worth living for.

What kind of freedom does your church offer your city?

Don't just do something...sit there among the people to whom you've been sent.

You will not change a post-Christian world w more missionaries & ch leaders. It requires artists, teachers, docs, etc living on mission.

The goal is to eliminate the "laity." Every follower should be considered an ordained minister/missionary.

Clergy isn't the answer 2 transforming culture. It's every Xian proclaiming & demonstrating the reign of God.

Listen to your city, it will tell you what it needs to be rescued and renewed.

The church is to live the most orgasmic lives in our neighborhood.

I cannot go back to where the mission of God means getting new recruits to come to church.

You are not responsible for creating a mission statement. Partner with God in HIS mission.

Mission is to be a communal, not an individual activity.

Now that's a good place to start. Surely there is something on that list worth a little discussion, right? What tweaks a nerve, raises your ire, inspires you, challenges you, makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes blood shoot out your eyes- anything? Let's do keep it civil, and remember, these are one-liners taken completely out of their context, tweeted, and now copied onto a blog for your enjoyment. Let's get rolling...

Editorial Note- Video of the session from which many of these statements were taken is online now. You can hear it in context and learn what Michael meant by the statements.

The above picture was taken in Prague by a JetSetter - @Mark_Michael. I stole it from him, so you should follow him on the Twitters as payment for its use.
Thanks,
the Management

Disorientation and a JetSet...

2011-04-12T13:34:00.008-05:00

disorientation /dis·or·i·en·ta·tion/ (-or″e-en-ta´shun) the loss of proper bearings, or a state of mental confusion as to time, place, or identity.

Disorientation is a potentially common occurrence among pilots or seafaring folk in which they lose direction in the vast "sea" of sameness. Imagine how easy it would be without the proper guidance equipment to become lost at sea when all you can see in any direction appears exactly the same; or in the sky, when all you can see is clear blue sky or white swirls of cloud in every direction. Everything looks exactly the same, and therefore completely unfamiliar. There are no markers to guide, so finding your way back home is more difficult than you imagined.

The church has a daunting task ahead. She has been called to join God in His Mission of making disciples of all nations. Every culture, every tribe, every tongue is our mission. The hardest part about that call is that we must take the Gospel to people unlike us, who think and live differently, may not understand our culture, or may even hate it. We must be aware of the cultural dynamics we face and handle the Gospel and the people to whom we are called accordingly.

Jesus is the Good News for every culture. The Bible remains true in whatever language. However the manner in which people approach Jesus varies dramatically from place to place and person to person. Therefore we must follow the example of Christ "who, though He was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself..." (Phil 2.6-8). "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1.14). "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you" (John 20.21).

Alan Hirsch says it this way:
If God's central way of reaching his world was to incarnate himself in Jesus, then our way of reaching the world should likewise be incarnational. To act incarnationally therefore will mean in part that our mission to those outside of the faith we will need to exercise a genuine identification and affinity with those we are attempting to reach. (The Forgotten Ways, p133)

If we are to reach them with the Gospel, we must understand them. We must become students of their culture and present them a Jesus that makes sense to their thinking (again, not changing the Gospel itself- Christ is still all- just contextualizing the wrapping).

Enter JetSet. Sounds like fun, eh? Jet setting off to a beautiful, luxurious location for massages, drinks with tiny umbrellas, and the sounds of the surf breaking on the beach in the background.

Yeah- not what I'm talking about...

The Upstream Collective is helping the Church to think and act like a missionary, both locally and globally. That means opening up the missionary conversation, the missionary toolbox to the local church. For generations now, missionaries have been engaging foreign cultures, contextualizing the Gospel, and reaching across cultural boundaries for the sake of Christ and the Gospel. They have developed ways of thinking and common practices that have been a means of much success in taking the Gospel to the nations. As the church engages in mission, either locally or globally, she needs to have access to those tools. The wisdom gained from years of living on mission by missionaries in all types of contexts needs to be informing the local church as she goes on mission.

One of the ways in which Upstream goes about helping churches to learn missionary ways and develop missionary tools is through JetSet trips, which are a process of purposeful disorientation. JetSet trips take pastors, leaders, and other American church people out of the comfort of their home culture and context and drop them into a culture completely foreign to them. They are overwhelmed with information on the culture, taken to see its icons- social, political, and religious- and immersed in its ways. They are introduced to missionaries who give them further information on the culture and challenge them on how they would take the Gospel to the people there.

It is when the participants are thoroughly disoriented that they truly begin to think in missionary/missional terms.

They are forced to interact in a language they don't know, a culture they don't get, formed from a history they don't know or understand that has produced a people who act, think, talk, and live differently than they do.

It is a wonderful thing, because then they are thinking incarnationally. They begin to think about learning the language, studying culture and history, immersing themselves in the lives and thought processes of the nationals, and figuring out what the Gospel and the Church might look like for them.

It is a wonderful (and Biblical) way to think, and useful not only on foreign soil, but also in understanding how to take the Gospel to their neighbors at home. Once they realize that different cultures require a different approach to the Gospel, they can begin to consider the myriad different cultures that surround them in their own hometown and what the church might look like to them. They will think about the artsy family with the airbrushed Vanagon two streets over and all of the folks who hang out in their art supply shop. What would Church look like for them? They will think about the small population of Chinese people that have moved in a few blocks away and wonder what indigenous Chinese worship of Jesus might look like in their own neighborhood. They will think about the number of families in their neighborhood that look and act just like them with professional parents who work too much and struggle to pay the bills. They will wonder, "what is Good News to them and how can I be the bearer of that Good News?" They will begin to wonder what it might look like to be emissaries of the Gospel to all the guys in black jeans and horn-rimmed glasses at the coffee shop, the Toms wearing crowd hanging out at the park taking plastic water bottles out of the trash and putting them in recycling bins, or the other Trekkies at the monthly meeting. They will be thinking like missionaries...

We are strangers in a land that is not our home. We are here joining God in His mission. Unless they are also joining God in His mission, people do not have the same world view as we do (even if they look, dress, talk, eat, work, and play in exactly the same way, and this is the only home they know. We are the outsiders incarnating the Gospel to those around us. Taking the Gospel to anyone ALWAYS crosses culture. ALWAYS. Again, I turn to Alan Hirsch- All ministry is mission, and all mission is cross-cultural.

There is currently a JetSet Tour in progress in Prague and Budapest this week. There is opportunity to join in a "virtual" JetSet as the conversation springing from this tour will be well-documented and discussed on a number of blogs online. Please see how you can join in the conversation here and here. If you are interested in joining us on a JetSet Trip, go here and let us know where you'd like to go and who you'd like from.

Where do you get your missiology?

2011-04-08T21:24:00.001-05:00

The mission of God belongs to the people of God, the Church. We are a sent people (Jn 20.21; Mt 28.18-20; Acts 1.8; Matt 5.14, 1 Cor 5.11-21; Rom 10.14-17; etc...).

God incarnate, the Word wrapped in flesh, the True Light came into the world to dwell with us (John 1, Phil 2). He left the comforts of Heaven so that Heaven could invade earth in human form. He lived and died on our behalf to reconcile us to God. He told us to do what He did, and do it all over the world - love God, love people (Matt 22.36-40; Jn 13.34-35), and make disciples (Matt 28.19-20).

I attended a missions conference this week. It was my first time, which is weird, since I've been a pastor for 11 years and I work with the Upstream Collective. I learned a lot, but not necessarily what I had thought or hoped. Honestly, it was a disappointment in a lot of ways. I heard a great deal about the wonderful work of many missions agencies and organizations. I heard their plans, dreams, and visions. Unfortunately, though, I heard very little about the Church in those plans. It was heart-breaking.

See, as I said before, God's Mission belongs to God's people, namely the Church. It is not the work of para- organizations. The hope of the world is not a missions agency; it is Jesus' Church under His direction and through the power of the Holy Spirit incarnating the Gospel in community throughout the nations. To see that responsibility handed over to para- organizations is a disturbing thing.

I saw and heard it this week- missions agencies patting each other on the back and boasting about their plans to evangelize all "unengaged unreached people groups". But the Church wasn't at the table, for the most part. Don't get me wrong, I believe missions agencies are a wonderful thing and have a tremendous opportunity to work alongside the Church in her mission. I just think they have co-opted the responsibility of the Church and pushed Her aside, acting as the expert. It seems now that churches are serving the missions organizations, keeping them funded and serving their various visions, rather than the appropriate opposite. I actually heard someone say this week of a church wanting to pursue mission in a different manner than the norm, "they are just the church, what do they know about mission."

Jesus disagreed. He said the Church has all it needs. He said He was the example, and even though He went away, He sent resident God to live inside of us and direct His Church through one-on-one relationship. He said the Church can and will do the job. In fact, He staked His entire reputation on it and gave us His name.

I was sitting in a group of "missions mobilizers" this week discussing resources they use to engage people in mission. There were lists of books, videos, study guides, etc...The lists were pages long. The Bible did not make the cut.

Did you read that right? The Bible did not make the list.

There was one list that had the Gospel of John on it. The sad thing is that there was a discussion around the table among the missions mobilizers about how you could possibly use this gospel to engage people in mission. They didn't understand.

Really?! I was dumbfounded.

John tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He lived and died to reconcile sinful men to God. He literally came to earth on mission. Then He told us that we should join Him on that mission. That is all quite plain in the book of John (and that just scratches the surface). How could you not see a missional mandate there?! In the incarnation?! Really?!

It was very telling for me. There was an extremely long list of resources, books, videos, pamphlets, workbooks, and study guides from which these men could engage people with some form of prescribed missiology. But they couldn't do it from the Bible. They couldn't just echo Jesus' words, "as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."

I don't mean to be down on others, and I know those guys want and are working very hard to see the Gospel go to the nations. Also, I am flawed just as they are. And I have much to learn.

One request, however, if you would indulge me:

Church, if you plan to be sent (and you are sent if you are a part of the Church), know the One who is sending, not what someone else says about Him. Let the Sender Himself tell you where to go; don't just follow the whims or conventional wisdom or vision of someone else. The Sender may very well tell you to join them, but follow His voice (Jn 10), obey His leadership, and go where He is sending you for the glory of His name and the good of the nations.

A bit of a shameless plug:
I have been a fan of the Upstream Collective for a couple of years now. They helped me to understand and implement a practical BIBLICAL missiology in my life and in the local church I pastored. I was so into what they did that I joined the team and now work with the UC full time. I left the conference this week even more excited and passionate for the UC, because I fully realized how rare what we do actually is. Upstream does not tell churches how to approach mission, where to go, or what to do. We don't ask them to be a part of our vision or accomplish our specific mission. We ask them to join His. We simply encourage them to study Scripture and develop a Biblical missiology, to listen closely to the Spirit as he leads, and to go where and how He leads (and we are eager to help at any point along the way). The UC helps churches think and act like a missionary. That's it. And for free. There is nothing in it for Upstream other than serving the Church as She fulfills her role in God's Mission. If this is a conversation you want to join, please check out the site, comment, or shoot us a message. We'd love to serve you and your church...

The Sending Church (part 1) Religion or Mission?

2011-02-11T13:43:00.000-06:00

I have a new "job" working with an incredible organization called the Upstream Collective, which is a collection of churches thinking and acting like missionaries, both locally and globally. As such, I am now constantly thinking about ways to help churches think and act like missionaries (which, of course, requires me to do the same). As I've talked about Upstream with friends and family, and they have checked out websites and information, they have seen much about sending churches, and many have inquired about what they are. The answer is simple- a sending church is one that is actively sending people out to take the Gospel to other cultures. So, technically, it should be every church, because all ministry is mission, and all mission is cross-cultural. More on that another time...

I thought I might spend a little time talking about some of the marks of a sending church over a few posts. This one starts it off...

I live in Birmingham, AL, the "buckle" of the Bible belt, and likely one of the most religious places on earth (at least as far as Christian cultures are concerned). Everyone here is a Christian. Everyone. We all think we are Christians mainly because everyone here has a grandfather or uncle who used to be a Baptist preacher and we all go to church on Easter. Also, "Christian culture" (read: morality) still pervades our fair city (or at least talk of it does), though it is ever-increasingly losing its grasp and will continue to do so (read this incredible post for an idea of where I think we are heading). Religion rules here. Obeying rules, most of which have nothing to do with Scripture in the first place, is the accepted practice. And many of our churches have bought into it, or worse, promote it...

There is a beautiful story in Acts 10 where Peter took the Gospel to Cornelius and his people, who all happened to be Gentile. Of course, this was a big 'no-no' for a Jew. Cornelius and his family heard the Gospel, believed, and were filled with the Holy Spirit, adding to the number of those in the church. However, as soon as Peter made his way back to Jerusalem, he found that he had some explaining to do (Acts 11). He was immediately criticized for eating with the Gentiles and defending the actions he had taken under the direction of the Holy Spirit before there was ever any celebration of those who by the work of the Spirit had been added to the church.

The question really being asked by "those of the circumcision party" was not about food at all, but about sharing the intimacy of life around the table with dirty, sinful people. Peter could not help but recall the words he heard in his dream (Acts 10), "what God has made clean, do not call common." Jesus had changed it all. In Him, the Law was fulfilled, and He had completed it with one word- Love. He had gone to people- the dirty, the sinful, the broken, the outcast, the lonely- the irreligious- the ones outside the religious norm. He went to them, and he paid for it with His life at the hands of the religious.

Peter had done the same. He went to those outside the norm and called them to Jesus. Even though they answered, the religious chastised and questioned him. The church stood at a crossroads. A pivotal decision would be made. Would they heed the words of God and join Jesus on His mission, inclusive of those on the fringe? Or would they hold tightly to the rules and the morality which set them apart and excluded those outside of their religious culture?

Apparently, they chose the first, or at least to some degree. Some commentators say that it was likely the apostles there that really celebrated, while many of the church people were less ecstatic (see Acts 21.20- they loved the Law...). Those of the circumsion party did not easily go away. They made another appearance in Acts 15 and Paul warned against them in both Galatians and Titus.

Following Peter's defense of his actions, though, there is an interesting juxtaposition of missional activity (Acts 11.19-26). It tells of those who fled Jerusalem after Stephen's stoning and were going with the Gospel, but only to other Jews. There were those from other areas (Cyprus & Cyrene), however, who had come to Antioch and began interacting with the Hellenists there (Greeks = Gentiles). These would have been Christian Jews who had considered the same questions as the church in Jerusalem and answered them in the way Peter had. They were taking the Gospel to the Gentiles, and they were seeing results! The church in Jerusalem heard what was going on and sent Barnabas to see what was happening. Having seen the manner in which they had just treated Peter, I imagine the questions they had for the new church in Antioch must have been fairly direct. Barnabas, however, could not help but celebrate what the Lord was doing. In fact, he remained in Antioch, invited Paul to come join him in teaching the church, and the church in Antioch became the one that sent them out on further missionary journeys.

There is an interesting change in the story from here. The church had revolved around Jerusalem to this point in the book of Acts. However, from this point on, Antioch became more of the center of the mission activity of the church. Sure, the church in Jerusalem still functioned and there were decisions made there (Acts 15), but Antioch was the place to which Paul returned and was sent out again. It became the center of the sending efforts of the church.

I can't help but think that the response of the church in Jerusalem to Peter and his actions had something to do with it. Obviously, some of this is speculation and observation on my part, but I can't help but think that "those of the circumcision party" had a great influence within that church and crippled its ability to send its own to those outside of their cultural and religious norm. I wonder if they didn't choose religion over mission...

Either way, we most certainly face that choice in our churches today. The first mark of a sending church that I want to highlight is the ability to put Christ's mission above our religion, morality, preferences, and prejudices. It is the ability and willingness of the church to actually send our people to the places where those who need the Good News of Jesus actually are. They are outside our church walls, outside our morality, and outside our comfortable places. For Jesus, that meant eating in the homes of tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes and the like (Luke 5). It meant sending His followers beyond the expected crowd out into the fringes (Matthew 22).

What does it mean for our churches? Where is our religion stopping us from sending and going? What traditions are we holding higher than our purpose just for the sake of tradition?

More to come...

Hindsight for a Pastor

2011-01-26T17:08:00.001-06:00

Captain Hindsight.

I can relate to him. I have the incredible power to look into the past and see things I didn't see before they occurred.

It's amazing, I know.

I have done a lot of it of late, and by grace, I have seen and learned a lot from my mistakes. I write this to see if I can help you avoid some of them yourselves.

I looked back on the past nearly 11 years of pastoring in a local church only to realize that for most of those years I really had no idea what a pastor was supposed to do. As a result, I made some pretty big mistakes, and let the mistakes of others go pretty well unchecked. The greatest of those mistakes, in my estimation, was that of misunderstanding the role of equipper in Jesus' Church. Sadly, I do not think I am nearly alone in that mistake...

Jesus asked a lot of questions of His followers, didn't he? He told stories. Deep stories. Stories that made people think. On purpose.

There is one such account in Mark 8, when Christ warns His followers of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. The disciples thought that Jesus was talking about the fact that they only had one loaf of bread with them. He was not. Strangely, though, the passage does not then tell of Christ laying out some detailed explanation of what He did mean (which is exactly what I, and most pastors, would do). Instead, it details several questions He asked them in order to remind them of what they had already seen Him do and to get them to think and begin putting the pieces together. He gently (and other times forcefully) prodded them to try to understand who He was without being spoon-fed the answer. Why? He knew they needed to be able to effectively operate on their own. He knew that His time would come, and He would leave the mission in the hands of these men. He knew that they were with Him for a time, but that He would eventually go away and send them out without Him. They had to be able to think critically, wrestle with Scripture, listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and make decisions on their own. To do so, they had to learn the disciplines he practiced, not just a list of answers to specific questions.

Alan Hirsch suggests in the Forgotten Ways that many pastors tend to fall heavily into teaching/preaching mode and equipping is often forgotten. I would agree. At least it was true for me. Many times pastors fall into wanting to communicate grand truths of Scripture (not a bad thing, by the way); but in doing so, they forget to equip their people to find those truths themselves. It seems that Jesus chose to act in quite the opposite manner. He seemed far less concerned about His followers completely grasping the information and far more concerned about their owning the process. You can see the same method employed in Paul's actions, as well. He directed the Corinthians to imitate him as He imitated Christ (1 Cor 11.1). This particular admonition followed a general teaching in chapter 10 that all things should be done for the glory of God, not a specific teaching on the seven steps to... (again, not that such messages are bad). He was not conveying information or specific answers, but a guideline for the Corinthians to follow in answering the questions for themselves.

(I am not here suggesting that pastors never teach information. Obviously, Paul did answer many doctrinal and functional questions of the church in his writings. I am just saying that at the end of the day, I believe his goal was to equip them to understand those things of their own volition. He saw no need to continue in a certain place downloading information long-term. Instead, he raised up others who would raise up others who would raise up others...2 Tim 2.2)

Here is reality- Pastors, if those you lead are constantly looking to you for all the answers, and you are constantly giving them, you are not equipping your people. You are causing a dependency issue and actually becoming the Holy Spirit for them. Pastors should constantly be re-adjusting the gaze of their people toward Christ and teaching them how to hear from God themselves through Scripture and the Holy Spirit. They no longer need a priest to mediate for them. They, themselves are part of the priesthood.

There is great danger in this costly mistake. When people become dependent upon a pastor to hear from the Lord or understand a passage of Scripture, he has literally usurped the role of the Holy Spirit in their lives. People will stop praying and listening to God for themselves. Often when this takes place, there is a pastor who desires control and people who fall into his control because they are either deceived or it is easier than taking the time to develop relationship with Christ themselves. Either way, the pastor has overstepped his bounds, and both the pastor and the one(s) being led are hurt.

The danger of this kind of relationship is apparent- the follower eventually ceases listening to or building relationship with Christ. That has obvious implications for them individually. It also has implications for God's mission. As it is the Holy Spirit that commissions, empowers, and sends people on mission (Acts 1.8; 2.4; 13.2), our not hearing His voice is detrimental to our being able to join Him on mission. The end result is usually either our joining the mission of some other passionate individual or simply taking a seat on the sidelines.

The pastor's role, as a part of the leadership of the church (as described in Eph 4), is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. It seems that for Jesus equipping His disciples meant walking with them, allowing them to join in the work of ministry (even before they were really ready), asking lots of questions, and leaving many others unanswered. He encouraged them to wrestle with truth and gave them space to be wrong and to fail. He praised right response and scolded and corrected wrong. In everything, however, He consistently pointed them to the Father, the one who was leading Him.

Pastors, how are you equipping your church? Are you answering all the questions or consistently re-directing those under your care to Christ who is leading you? Are you helping them discover the beauty of Scripture AND equipping them to wade into its depths on their own? Are you encouraging them to listen to the Holy Spirit for direction on how they live as emissaries of the Lord, or are you giving them all the directions yourself? Are you preparing them to run with the mission on their own?

Mistakes are painful, but Hindsight is 20/20. Please allow my confession to give you pause just long enough to examine and ask yourself a few questions. Your ministry is at stake. More so, your people are at stake. Even more so, God's mission is at stake. They are all just too important to ignore. Jesus died for them.

Merry Mission!

2010-12-28T10:24:00.007-06:00

I'm a little behind for a Christmas post, but here I go anyway...

I love the Advent season, hearing words of hope from the mouths of God's people in the Old Testament as they longed for the coming promised Messiah...

Isaiah 9

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end, on the throne of

David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.

...rejoicing with God's people and the angels that the Messiah has come...

Luke 2

Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased...

...my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel...

...and looking forward to the promised advent yet to come...

Rev 19

...on His robe and on His thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords...

Christmas is an incredible time of celebration for followers of Jesus, but it is also a time to re-evaluate our role in His mission. Phil 2 explains why and how the incarnation occurred. Christ, God Himself, set aside his throne and humbled Himself. He, perfect, and fully unlike us wrapped Himself in humanity for a single purpose- to make possible the salvation of men through the cross. He became like us in order to live a sinless life we could not and die a death that was not His, but ours.

Simply put, we see in the Christmas story our example for joining God in His mission (Phil 2 says that Christ is our example). Jesus said as much in John 20.21- As the Father sent me, so I am sending you. Jesus was sent to a people not like Himself. He took on the form, the culture, and the nature of the people to whom He was sent to love in order to bring them to the Father. Our role is the same. We are being sent into the world as strangers here, pilgrims far from home, to love people in the same way Christ did, pointing them to the Father through Christ.

The challenge: looking back over this season, as we take down the lights and trees and take out the trash from where wrapping paper factories threw up all over our living rooms, let's be reminded. Let's take time to consider the lengths to which Christ went to bring Heaven to earth. Let it settle in. Now let's consider the mission to which we have been called. The mission cost Christ His life. Are we still hanging on to ours?

Christ new the cost- the humiliation, the pain, and death itself- yet He chose to act in spite of it, for the glory of God in the earth and the good of those who would be redeemed . He told us the cost would be high for us, as well. His kind of love is costly (Mt 10.38, Mk 8.34, Jn 15.13), but our mission is clear...

I Jn 3.16

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives...

Rom 12

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Matt 28.19-20

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you...

There is an incredible promise, though-

...And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Christ came, and we are not alone. It is His mission, and we are privileged to join Him in His incredible story of redemption, for His glory and our good!.

Merry Christmas to you! And Merry Mission!

The Duality of the Incarnation

2010-12-21T12:49:00.001-06:00

I have a friend who is a missionary in Copenhagen who just sent his latest update on how things are going there in the city. He wrote about the Incarnation of Christ as well as the incarnational work they are doing within the city to which they have been called. It is an incredible, beautiful story. Please be encouraged by it, as well. He wrote:

He could have done it so differently. He could have came for a visit...”Now Showing...Jesus, the Son of God for a limited time!” He could have sent angels to every town to announce His plan. He could have invited key religious leaders to heaven...and then sent them back to earth to convey His message. But He didn’t.

Instead He clothed himself in humanity...lived off of milk...wore a diaper...cried when He was upset, woke up through the night. Yes He was Son of God...but He was also the Son of Man. Did he spit up? Did he scrape his knee? Did he need other’s help to do things?

We tend to focus on His birth and then fast forward until His ministry began...but what about the middle? For 30 years Jesus lived in the duality of the incarnation. He possibly struggled to say his r’s.....needed help with his homework. As he got older did he ever need help when he was working as a carpenter?

His incarnation is the example for missionaries (and all of us as believers). He learned the language...it became His own. He worked at a craft...He was a carpenter. Only at age 30 did his role change...prior to that He was a carpenter...it wasn’t merely a platform...it deﬁned who he was.

We’ve been on the ground in Copenhagen for almost 6 months now and we’re living in the duality of the incarnation. We’re here as missionaries but also as artists. We’re all in the process of learning Danish...and in doing so seeking to understand the cultural traits of the community around us.

We’re adapting our dress, lifestyle, customs, rhythms to fall in line with the Danes. We don’t want to stick out as foreigners...we want to follow Jesus example and be fully Christian and fully Danish.

We’ve spent a lot of time and energy this year on developing our craft of photography, writing and design. Much like Jesus who lived in a pre-Christian culture we ﬁnd ourselves in a post- Christian culture. This culture doesn’t think about God/religion/church. If we announced ourselves as the religious experts we would ﬁnd ourselves with a limited potential to reach people.
Instead we follow His example and seek to be known as the “artists in Copenhagen”.

We’re asking God to help us as we truly begin our journey into Danish community. We’re all making friends, connecting with artists, beginning to uncover people of peace.

We’re really excited about what God is doing in this city in and through our lives. We’re so grateful that He’s allowing us to live out our dreams...as He uses our creativity to impact this great city!

Joining the Mission as a Trader

2010-12-08T08:30:00.004-06:00

I saw this video through a tweet from my friends @ the Upstream Collective, and I had to share it. It is such a beautifully simple way to explain and encourage others to join God on mission, to trade the shiny things we naturally pursue for what has eternal value.

Where you live does not make you a missionary- the mission you're on makes you a missionary...

Will we join the mission? Will we trade it all for the sake of God's glory? Will we intentionally sacrifice it all? Give it away? Will we join the mission at work? At play? Will we worship in all things?

Will we do it...Now?

Thanks...

2010-11-26T19:53:00.008-06:00

This Sunday marks the first anniversary of a significant day for me and those who were a part of the Downtown church. At this time last year, we as a church family were in the midst of a deep struggle that would literally mark and change us forever- eventually for the good- though it has likely been the most difficult year of my life (as well as for many in the church family who walked through this transition together).

In the past year, we have followed hard after Jesus, we have fought to free people from the long-lasting bonds of oppressive and heavy-handed leadership, we have grounded a people in Biblical theology, and we have re-oriented all of our lives around the Gospel. We have literally sent people out on mission; and ultimately, to our surprise, we sent out everyone out to hear from God inside a new found freedom and be sent by Him to new places and/or types of ministry under His direction. There were certainly setbacks along the way- struggles, hard conversations, and hurt feelings were unfortunately a regular part of the work we were charged with completing as a family.

That being said, I wouldn't trade it.

Sure, I could wish for less hurt, but we were shaped so much by the grace and complete healing of God- I would not want to have missed it. And I am so glad that so many of you found it, as well. We were solidified as a family with deep and lasting ties that would otherwise not have been formed.

I have much to be thankful for from this time in my life, and I would love to express a few of those things here in this season of thanksgiving (apart from what I hope is always evident in my life- thankfulness for God and His salvation and the joy of my incredible family). So, here goes:

1. I am thankful for 2 Godly men who walked with me in boldness, able to see and say difficult things I was unable to see or say. I am thankful that those 2 men were willing to be both pastors and friends to me, to share my struggles and bear my burdens- to laugh, cry, pray, repent, and beg God for direction with me, both for the church and for my family. They taught me so much, challenged me at each step, and encouraged me continually. Keith and Brandon, I love you guys and you remain pastors to me.

2. I am thankful for Godly men outside of our gathered family willing to lovingly listen to me, pray with me, and honestly share with me. These are men with their own families, churches, jobs, friends, and lives to live who made time for me simply because they saw my need. They are many-
- a group of local pastors (many of whom are new friends) who meet once a month simply to encourage one another, pray, and give themselves away. You have done all three for me, and I am terribly thankful for each of you. You represent Jesus well, and He is transforming lives in Birmingham in the midst of your efforts and through your churches.
- my friend Steve, a local pastor who has loved me, listened to me, cried with me, hurt for me, corrected me, and mentored me. And continues to do so. Thank you so much. You will not know the depths you have touched by your concern for me until Jesus rewards you for your work. You are one of the most gracious and yet boldest men I've known, and I pray that I may encourage and challenge you, as well.
- my friends @theUpstreamC, Michael Carpenter, Ed Stetzer, Jason C Dukes, and Shawn Lovejoy. You are all incredibly busy men with much going on in your lives- some of you often not even in the same country I am, and none in the same state. Yet, you continually make time for me. You encourage me, pray with/for me, and challenge me. You refuse to tell me what to do, even when I beg, but continually point me back to Jesus and His Word. It is humbling to hear your voices on the phone/skype, read your emails, or share a meal with you, and I look forward to serving alongside you in whatever capacity the Lord appoints in the days ahead.

3. I am thankful for the old friends with which we have been able to reconnect over the past year that were at some point a part of the church throughout our history. You have graciously received and heard to me. You have extended your hands of friendship to me and opened your lives to me and my family once again. You have been the picture of grace and forgiveness, which was strength for me many times when I did not want to endure any longer. I am thankful for you and I cherish the relationships we are building again.

4. Finally, I am so thankful for my church family. You remain my family. You have loved my wife, my children, and me. You have held my children and showed them Christ. You have prayed with and for me and my family in many different situations. You have cared for and provided for us. You have given me the incredibly high honor of being your pastor, of shepherding and guarding you and equipping you for ministry. You have trusted me and given me room to speak truth to you and give you direction; yet you have tested my words against the measure of Scripture and challenged me to grow and know God more deeply. You have taught me immeasurably about grace and shown me Christ in your words and deeds. You have been living examples to me of the Gospel as you have literally gone on mission in your lives. I have seen the excitement and fear in your eyes as you are exploring new means of taking the Gospel to the nations through the places you already are- and I have been challenged to do the same. You men, my brothers, have taught me what brothers do, what husbands and fathers are, and what happens when men surrender themselves to the lordship of Christ in their lives. You have held me up when I was tired, encouraged me when I stumbled, and prodded me on to far more than I thought I was able. I have seen in you the kinds of husbands and fathers that Scripture prescribes- your families are strong, your wives well-loved, and your children obedient. You ladies, my sisters, are incredible and beautiful women. You are hard-working wives and mothers, spiritually in tune with God. You are pray-ers and you have a deep affinity for giving yourself to one another. Your children rise up and call you blessed and your husbands shout your praises, and rightfully so. Because of your discernment, you have challenged me to be more still and more quiet and listen more closely to the Spirit's gentle whisper. I am thankful for you all, church family, for your trust and concern and support through the past year that continues even now. I am blessed to know you, and I love you.

As I look ahead into uncertain territory, I am both excited at the prospects ahead and completely freaked out. I am reminded, though, that I have much to be thankful for, and I have but scratched the surface here...

God is always working for His glory and our good. I am thankful to be the recipient of so much good...

Embracing the Tension (Freedom)

2010-11-18T18:15:00.006-06:00

The ole blog has received a little face lift and a new name. You may have noticed. Or not. Either way, there is a purpose...

Already, but not yet...
We are strangers and pilgrims...
This is not our home...

We live in an unclear time. We serve a King not with an earthly kingdom, but one unseen. We see as in a mirror dimly and we know in part (1 Cor 13.12)...

There is much about the Kingdom that I don't understand, some because we are not meant to; and some, I believe, because we are meant to wrestle and struggle with what it means to serve a King inside an opposing kingdom. So much is unclear. So much is not black and white.

This much we know- Christ- the Truth.

Who He is has been well defined by Scripture, creation, and history, and our need for such a Messiah has been made clear, as well. The Bible defines the Gospel, but leaves so much about how we interact with God and other people up to our discretion (with certain caveats, of course). The result of knowing the Truth (Christ) is that the Truth sets you free (Jn 8.32)- free from sin, the Law, your past, etc... Free from much, but free to what?

Gal 5.1 tells us that our freedom has been given to us in order that we would remain free, not submitting ourselves again to a yoke of slavery. In context, Paul was talking about Christians returning to the Law/works (particularly circumcision) in his letter to the Galatians. He is, in essence, inviting these new Christians to embrace and explore relationship. In Judaism, the Law was the way to know God. There was no one-on-one communication/relationship with God. Priests were required. Everything was black and white. It was easier to see how to "live right", but it was impossible to do. No one could fulfill the Law until Christ, who did fulfill the Law on our behalf...

Enter grace, by which we are invited into personal relationship with God Himself. We are free from the Law; so how do we remain in that freedom? Paul continues in verse 25 of that same chapter, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

If it is the Spirit who gave us life (saved us), why would we return to the Law (or formulate new ones for ourselves)?

The Law has been replaced with something much better but far more difficult- relationship. We no longer know God through the Law written on tablets, but through His Spirit, a living Being desirous of our attention, affection, and obedience. Relationships are hard. You know- you have them. None are easy; but this one in particular is difficult if for no other reason than He is invisible. It is difficult to follow someone you can't see or obey directions you can't hear spoken. That is why we struggle so much. We want the directions written down, without question or ambiguity- no room for mistakes.

But. God. Thinks. Of. Everything.

He reveals Himself through His written Word so that we know the kinds of things He says and does and how He talks to and interacts with people. He puts Himself inside of us in the form of His Spirit who reveals God to us (2 Cor 2.10). He gave us Jesus who lived the life we are supposed to live as an example for us (Col 1.15). He gave us a form of communication by which we talk to Him and He speaks to us, as well as gives us the things we need (Luke 11.1-13).

God is good and loves us beyond imagination. He would not and did leave us alone. He simply invites us to more.

He invites us to freedom. To relationship. He invites us to ask Him about all the parts that are unclear. He promises that we won't ever have to go through any of it without Him, because we are never anywhere He is not (Ps 139). He even asks the right questions on our behalf when we have come to the end of our words (Rom 8.26).

So we have a choice- relationship or law? Freedom or bondage? Will we relish the opportunity to wrestle with the tension knowing full well that it means deeper relationship with God who will lead us? Or will we cling to law and the safety of the black and white?

The implications of these questions are far-reaching, but I think their effects come down to two major categories:

1. How we pursue relationship with God on a personal level- works or freedom...
2. How we approach the mission we are on as Christ's Church- contextualization...

My story is strange and varied. There are many times I thought I was walking in freedom only to realize after the fact that I had been in bondage to law. Graciously, however, God has taught me deeply over the last couple of years that has changed much in both of the above categories for me (and, I believe, for the people I was so privileged to pastor). I want to share what I have learned and am learning. I will share some of my story, and I want to hear yours as we struggle to embrace the tension of life outside of the black and white and inside the grey...

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts...

How not to help the poor...the state of the welfare state...

2010-11-16T14:26:00.009-06:00

I have found myself in many, many conversations (debates, arguments, whatever...) over the years concerning the role of the Church in serving the poor. The Gospel certainly demands it, but how do we do it?

For much of the Church, it seems that the answer has been political involvement, backing government programs designed with the poor in mind and voting for those who create such programs focused on social justice issues. Having worked in and studied the culture of government housing projects myself (I am no expert by any means), however, it seemed to me that many of the programs begun to help the poor became a weight on the back of those wanting something better. They became locked into the programs, dependent on the government, with no way out. It became a culture. I have read as much from many authors who have studied these programs and their effects over the years. I digress...

My point here is not political, it is a simple plea in favor of the Church- the powerful, Spirit-filled and led, hands and feet of the King of the Ages- and her ability and need to accomplish all that Jesus said we should do. I hate that the Church (self-included in many cases) has handed the responsibility and privilege of serving the poor among us to the government. The government tries to help and fails, but it tries to the glory of sinful men who cannot save. When the church walks according to the Gospel, showing kindness, hospitality, and sharing all of the great gifts of God with those around her who lack, it is for the glory of God and the good of the hurting. Not only can we bring them food, clothing, housing, shoes, school supplies, clean water, etc..., but we bring them the Bread of Life; we offer Living Water; we bring them the literal Source of not just what they have, or even what we have, but of all things (Lk 11.13)! They gain access to the very Creator and Sustainer of life itself!

Failed government programs are no substitution for the self-sacrificial love of the Church who goes out sent by Jesus (Jn 20.21) to do the same things He did among the people He did them. Long-lasting transformation (in this context, particularly helping the poor) happens when the Church puts down roots and loves and attaches her own welfare to that of the people who they are there to love (Jer 29.5-7). It happens when the children of God share the good gifts of God in community (inclusive of those with whom we might not normally share our meals, homes, or lives) as we practice the ministry of reconciliation as His ambassadors (2 Cor 5.14-20). It is messy, and it scares many in the church. So, many in the Church have handed the responsibility given us by the Gospel to the government.

The following is a video I pulled from a post by my good friend, Jason C Dukes, on the www.ReproducingChurches.com website. They talk a lot about city transformation and city churches there, and what they say is quite good. You should read it. This particular video speaks to the problems of failed attempts at helping the poor that actually leave them in a different sort of bondage. The men speaking are deeply entrenched in serving the poor and have great and sobering insight into the situation. Please watch it (about 6.5 minutes):

The answer? The Church makes the Gospel its one and only priority. People who follow Jesus share their stuff, take people into their homes, give up many of our comforts, and sacrifice- really sacrifice- for the glory of God and the good of the Gospel and those around us.

I don't know how to do it, but I'd sure love to figure it out. Maybe if we work together...

Like A Sloppy Wet Kiss

2010-10-11T14:46:00.005-05:00

This is an article from Christianity Today concerning the current state of worship music in the church. It's good. So I stole it and posted it here. You should read it:

Like a Sloppy Wet Kiss

While it's easy for me to criticize modern worship, I also criticize my own criticisms, based on what I observed at David Crowder's church music conference.

W. David O. Taylor | posted 10/08/2010 02:32AM

You know you are at a worship conference sponsored by David Crowder when a fog machine kicks in and gobo lights wash the stage in color while the Welcome Wagon sings an exquisitely spare version of "Hail to the Lord's Anointed." It makes you wonder what the Moravian James Montgomery (1771-1854), author of the hymn, would have thought.

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending Crowder's Fantastical Church Music Conferencein Waco, Texas. Presenters included folks like Louie Giglio and Francis Chan. The songwriters spanned a broad range of musical styles: from the "liturgical" BiFrost Arts group to the R&B sounds of Israel Houghton, from the hard rock tones of Gungor and Paper Route to the minimalist soundscape of The Civil Wars. Never heard of them? Mostly neither had I.

Author David Taylor (2nd from right) with Joshua Banner, Derek Webb and David Crowder

I had, however, heard of Charlie Peacock and Matt Redman, second and third generation songwriters of contemporary worship music respectively. I had seen Derek Webb the "firebrand" live in 1993. I had watched Jars of Clay on David Letterman in 1996. I knew many at Duke Divinity School did not think highly of Hillsong music. I knew Rob Bell was persona non grata in certain Reformed circles. And I knew that this lyric might cause near cosmic eye-rolling: "So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss," courtesy of North Carolinian songwriter John Mark McMillan. Oh, the sentimentalism of it. Did it have to besloppy? Could it not be transcendently circumspect?

For the two thousand of us in attendance, one question occupied our minds: What do all these musicians have to do with each other? The easy answer is nothing. According to David Crowder, however, much. For me the conference represented an exercise in subversive hopefulness.

But since it's more fun to criticize, I'd like to share four things that rubbed me the wrong way. In fact I'm going to do what annoys me: impulsively react. I'm going to criticize, then criticize my criticism. Why? For two reasons: one, I too frequently find critiques of contemporary worship music to be lazy, and two, I left the conference feeling very encouraged. Did that surprise me? Sure. But that only tells you something about my little faith.

Ok, then, let's criticize.

1. Circumcision! No, skinny jeans!

In the book of Galatians, St. Paul rebukes the "foolish" believers for looking to circumcision as a way to establish an identity marker over against outsiders. He tells them that the only identity marker that matters is the presence of the Spirit. Looking around the Green Room at the conference, I saw lots of skinny jeans. I saw baroque tattoos trailing down people's arms, funny hats and thin mustaches, raggedy hair and fussy glasses and a handful of scowls. I thought, "This is so goofy. Skinny jeans are goofy. It's just a way for artists to be cool, which is another way for them to be not like normal people. And what's up with wearing funny hats when you lead us in worship? All that does is to draw attention to yourself."

Then I thought, a suit and tie is goofy. So too are liturgical robes. At one level they symbolize a theological and spiritual posture before God. They matter, yes. But at another level they represent cultural ideas of what is appropriate, and therefore to those outside the given culture they seem "goofy." The suit and tie appears as a 17th century invention, while ecclesiastical robes exist as leftovers of late Roman culture. So why should skinny jeans be intrinsically inappropriate? They are not. In fact, once I imagined the "alternative" crowd that Michael Gungor leads into worship in Denver, Colorado, I got over my bad attitude and gratefully received his hymns.

2. All this I-me-mine-my music will give you indigestion of the soul!

Yes. It will. There was a lot of it, I confess. The bounty of "I live for you" and "I'm gonna give my praise to you" songs kept reminding me that me, myself and I were engaged in something terribly important right then. After a while, as my grandma might say, I plum wore out. I got tired of me. But for those of us who allergically react to the wealth of I-songs, we need to remember that the Psalter includes a surplus of first-person singular prayers. There's the simple Psalm 18:1: "I love you, Lord, my strength." There's the emotive poetry of Psalm 38:9: "All my longings lie open before you, Lord." Say that phrase too loudly in a worship assembly, and we might feel uncomfortable. For many of these songwriters, however, it is anything but that. The Psalter's language, to their mind, rightly gives voice to the heart's response before the throne of grace.

Something these songwriters might want to note, though, is that, far from denying the role of first-person prayer, the Psalter sets these prayers within a corporate context and in this way protects the congregation from sinking into a distorting subjectivism. The British theologian David Ford explains the Psalter's dynamic well. He observes, "The Psalmist's 'I' accommodates a vast congregation of individuals and groups down the centuries around the world today. It amounts to an extraordinarily capacious and hospitable 'I'." So while it's good for me to sing my song to God, it's also good for me to sing our song to God.

Egocentric rock stars (question mark) No, just humble musicians.

3. These musicians aren't worship leaders, they're egocentric rockstars!

Exhibit A: Check out this video clip of the conference host and his band.

In an e-mail prior to the conference, Crowder shared with me a concern about rock music. He asked, "Is the pop-rock song 'disposable', as many suggest, and if so, what does that mean about basing our congregational singing on such a thing?" One might ask the same thing about the pop-rock musician. Does the stage-centric, unidirectional, heroic-leader, "passive"-audience, shout-fest, heart-on-the-sleeves culture of pop-rock music militate against healthy worship practices? Maybe. But notnecessarily.

In conversation with the songwriters who attended the conference, I discovered a great deal of humility. Matt Redman said to me, as we walked across the campus, "I ask theologians for help with my music because I'm scared. I'm putting words in people's mouths. I'll be judged for that!" John Mark McMillan acknowledged: "As songwriters we need to expand our vocabulary so we can say things carefully." Both Derek Webb and Dan Haseltine (of Jars of Clay) readily confessed to me that they had made mistakes in their earlier years. They recognized a constant need for their pastors to speak into their lives. It might be easy, then, from a distance at least, to dismiss these musicians as "egocentric rockstars," but up close I found a group of songwriters who earnestly wrestle with their responsibility as servants of the church.

4. Rob Bell? Philistine rebel! Louie Giglio? Emotionalistic preacher!

On Friday morning Rob Bell challenged his audience to drop "blood guilt" and "three-tiered universe" metaphors in their songwriting. He said we needed metaphors that connected to people today. Plenty of people in North America, he said, feel an aching sense of loss of home and we need songs that offer Christ as their true home. On Friday night Louie Giglio thundered: "Worship is what awake people do. Are you alive? I don't care what denomination you go to. All that matters is, Are you alive?"

As I listened to both of these men, it dawned on me that I was watching evangelicalism unfold before me. On the one hand, you had Bell the prophetic voice calling the church to contextualize its faith. On the other hand, you had Giglio the preacher calling the believer to conversion again. If you throw a David Crowder into the Louie Giglio mix, you get the latest iteration of evangelical history: Wesley and Wesley, Moody and Sankey, Graham and Barrows, Giglio and Crowder. You get a classic pattern of preacher and musician, working together to bring the church to a renewed encounter with the living God.

In the end: Who sings and why does that matter?

David Crowder posed a question to all of us at the fantastical conference: Why do we sing? I wonder if the question might rather be, Who sings and why does that matter? We know from the book of Hebrews that Christ is the true worshiper. By the Spirit he sings his true song in us and presents all our worship as pleasing before the Father. David Dark on the final morning said, "Right worship is a communal undertaking, responding to God's song." I liked that. It was a helpful reminder that the Body of Christ not only sings together but learns how to sing together.

Mike Crawford and His Secret Siblings

The temptation at a conference like this is to be cynical and judgmental. Cynicism says these people are phony. Judgmentalism says these people are doing it wrongly. But I beg to differ. I found a lot of songwriters who humbly seek to provide the church with good worship music. If I had a wish, it would be this: that pastors and theologians would want to come alongside these songwriters, in mutual submission, to discover together music—even rock music—that enabled the church to worship, as skinny-jeaned, raggedy-haired songwriter Mike Crawford might say, with "words to build a life on."

W. David O. Taylor, a doctoral student in theology at Duke Divinity School, is author of For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts (Baker). He blogs here, and has also written four essays on contemporary worship.

The Centrality of the Church

2010-10-05T14:35:00.013-05:00

I know it.
I have heard it.
I have taught it.
I believe it to be true...at least, I think I do...I want to...

The Church is central to God's Mission- central to the Gospel.

Right? I mean, every preacher asks the question at some point,(I've heard it since I was a kid)-

What is God's Plan A for taking the Gospel to the world?

The Church! is the booming response.

What is Plan B? we then ask with a sly tone (we are being coy here- we know there is no plan B)...

(For sake of clarity, let me interject before you get the wrong idea- as I have heard Ed Stetzer say time and again, the Church is not the Center of the Gospel. Jesus is. The church is central to the Gospel.)

The Gospel and the Church are inextricably tied in both directions. Of course, the Church is to be fueled by the Gospel in everything (every decision, every ministry, every dollar spent), ultimately, for the glory of God in the world. I think, however, that we often forget, because of her blemishes and, unfortunately, often her misunderstanding of and dissociation with the things of Christ, that the Church is an important part of God's eternal purposes. Simply put, the Church, despite Her scars, is a necessary and important part of the Gospel; the Gospel is incomplete without the Church.

John Stott writes:

The good news of the unsearchable riches of Christ which Paul preached is that He died and rose again not only to save sinners like me (though He did), but also to create a single new humanity...the Gospel is good news of a new society as well as of a new life.

Our tendency is often to write-off churches or church people with whom we disagree instead of working toward redemption as people of grace. How quickly we forget the grace of Christ given us and in some cases write off the Church altogether. There's a big problem here,- if the Church is the vehicle for the Gospel, what happens when Jesus' people walk away from one another?

I am currently walking through the book of Ephesians with some friends, and on Sunday night we dealt with the central theme of the book- mystery. The message in chapter 3 is profoundly important to me and likely most of you who would read this blog. The mystery is this:

The Gentiles are heirs together, members together, and sharers together of the promise of Christ through the Gospel. Paul is making reference here back to what he had briefly mentioned in Chapter 2- that we were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. He is saying that all of the promises to God's people in the Old Testament have now been extended in the New Covenant to those once outside the covenant between God and His people with the addition of personal access to God Himself (an upgrade from the Old Covenant)- inclusive of you and me!

Paul says that he is a prisoner of the Lord; therefore, his entire purpose is to take that Gospel (good news) to the Gentiles and to expose the truth of the mystery of Christ. There is an amazing outcome:

...through the CHURCH the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places.

We learn a couple of things from this statement:
1. The angels do not know all that is to come as salvation and redemption play out over time. This idea can also be seen in 1 Peter 1.10-12 as angels literally stoop to look into the things the Holy Spirit has communicated to man. (As well, see 1 Cor 11.10).
2. What the angels do not know they learn from us, watching salvation history unfold before their eyes, which serves to fuel and deepen their worship. As they see Jew and Gentile come together as one into this new third race, they give glory to God for the great wisdom He has displayed in the Church!

R. Kent Hughes writes:

God has not revealed His complete plan for history and reconciliation of the universe to the angels, so they observe us to learn about it...as they watch the church, God reveals His manifold wisdom (literally the many-colored wisdom , a rare poetical adjective used in the Septuagint to describe Joseph's coat of many colors). The many-colored fellowship of the Church, the variegated third race of Jews and Gentiles- multicultural and multiracial- shows the many-shaded wisdom of God. Through studying the Church the angelic host observes the reconciling work of Christ, which is the model for the reconciling of the universe when everything on Heaven and earth will be brought together in Him...

John Stott says it this way:

It is through the old creation (the universe) that God reveals His glory to humans; it is through the new creation (the church) that He reveals His wisdom to angels.

The church, then, has a great responsibility in the Gospel. We are the ones through whom God (according to His eternal purposes- Eph 3.11- not by accidental inclusion) is revealing His glory to the nations.

The church is central to the Gospel. More succinctly, the Church is the new race of God's people under a new and everlasting covenant, ratified by the blood of Christ with a singular purpose of God's glory in all the world. When the Church is obedient to that call, the angels worship, the enemies of God tremble, and people are reconciled to God.

So, I ask again, what happens when we walk away from the church? The angels are driven to worship (give God glory, weight) when we, with all of our differences and dysfunction come together as a single body and move as one. Walking away from one another means disabling the body and lessening the emphasis on God's glory by focusing on our own. By focusing on our own desires and continually pointing out the blemishes in Jesus' bride instead of working to heal them, we take the focus off of the beauty and wonder and supremacy of Christ and posit that somehow we know a better way than the one He has chosen- His Church.

Our glory takes the place of His and we worship creature rather than Creator.

Ultimately, Paul's message in Ephesians is that the Church has the same purpose as all created things- to glorify God. She will accomplish it by manifesting His wisdom- the wisdom that has brought together Jew and Gentile into one body- the Church. As John MacArthur has written, the Church is not an end in itself but a means to an end, the end of glorifying God. So we are faced with a great choice. Will we submit to the authority of our Sovereign King to make much of Him through the vehicle of the Church? Will we love the church despite her scars and fight for her? Or will we, at the slightest hint of diversity of opinion or frustration or disagreement turn and run, seeking our own way? Will we love and support her even when we see things things differently? Or will we fight amongst ourselves and diminish her beauty?

When we choose to take part in the infighting, we are literally attacking ourselves. It is what Paul addresses in 1 Cor 12. One part of the body says to the other, "you do things differently than I do, so I don't need you." This can be translated as, "hey, you're a hand, not an eye. I don't need you." And so we attack ourselves and the body is broken.

The last year and a half or so has been tough for me and the people I pastored; and if I'm being honest, there are moments that I fought (and still fight) the urge to walk away from the dysfunction that often is the local church. Having been led by God into a certain model of the church that I loved and found to be incredibly well-suited for joining God on mission, it is difficult and a bit of a culture shock to look around and try to discern where my family and I now belong.

I see some expressions of the church around me with which I have deep theological and pragmatic disagreement, many of which are insurmountable divisions, unfortunately, because I believe them to be a distortion of the Gospel itself. I must pray for those churches, that Jesus would be sovereign King there and shape them into the active vessels of God's glory they are meant to be. I see others with whom I have much in common theologically, but whose practices honestly frighten me (not necessarily because they are wrong, but because they are different than the handling of the Gospel I would adhere to). I don't see around me other gatherings of the body like the one I came out of and that I long for still, so I must be vigilant in my prayers and in listening to the Spirit. I must avoid my natural temptation to point out the "flaws" as I see them in every expression of the body that is different than what I have done or would do (as if mine was/would be perfect). My supernatural response should be instead to point out and encourage her beauty and grace- to love her and do all that I might to prepare her to stand before Christ without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish. I would likely also do well to be silent and listen to the people in many of these other expressions of the church as they have things to say that I need to hear and that very well may shape my understanding of Christ and His Church...

I think Paul chooses wisely in the order in which he presents the direction for the Church in Ephesians. He spends the first 3 chapters talking about God and what He has done according to His eternal purposes through Christ. He starts with God and makes much of grace. Wouldn't it be great if all of our conversations about the Church began there, too?

Then, chapter 4 begins with a "therefore"- an "in light of all of that".

It is literally a call to worship:

God, in His wisdom has done this. You are included only because He is gracious and kind. Now as an act of worship, act this way as "Church" people (I mean that in the way Paul did- people inextricably linked to one another by the beauty of the Gospel). And remember, you can only do it because God has given you grace, so you should give grace, as well.

He continues by describing the activity and relationships of the church, the unity of a diverse group of people who are held together by One Spirit under the authority of One Lord!

Amazing.

May we be constantly amazed by the splendor and majesty of God and the many-faceted wisdom of the manner in which He has chosen to display His glory to the world- the Church. May we keep that in mind as we think, dream, correct, and speak about His Church.

(On a side note, the reality of a New Race of God's people brought together under a New Covenant ratified by the blood of Jesus -the Church- should have deep and lasting consequence on our understanding of Communion. Just sayin'...Maybe more on that later...)

A Sunday Off

2010-09-28T09:16:00.008-05:00

It was really strange.

I am not sure how I am suppose to feel, or if I should even feel any different at all.

Maybe ashamed? Condemned? Or just more well rested....

I have been on staff @ one church or another with Sunday morning responsibilities for the last 15 years of my life. I don't remember a time in those 15 years when I chose not to attend a worship gathering "just because."

I have not "gone to church" while on vacation or been out of town for various and sundry reasons or I have stayed at home sick, but I don't remember a time when I stayed home just because.

I am not on church staff as of about a month ago, so I do not have Sunday morning responsibilities anymore. My family and I have visited churches the past three weeks, but I am not really sure why, honestly. I don't know if we were looking for something in particular, or if we just did not think we could stay at home. We have enjoyed the places we have gone, but we have not had any specific purpose in our attendance apart from just being with other Christians.

This past Sunday, though, inspired by the story of a friend who had "skipped church" the prior Sunday to drive around town with his family, we did it. We stayed home (duh, duh, duh - that is the scary 3 note shock and surprise music from bad movies. I'm not exactly sure how to write it...but imagine a really fast zoom in on the face of a blog reader with wide eyes and hand over mouth).

My family and I did not leave the house all day. We did a lot of nothing. We played, we napped, we ate, we sang songs to Jesus and danced and read the Bible together. We prayed. We had no agenda but to be at home with each other. It was a good day, but I am at a loss over how I should feel about it, and honestly, I wonder if there will be some feelings that will pop up throughout the week and toward next weekend. I wonder if I will feel ashamed or empty, like I missed something. I wonder if I will be affected at all...I just don't know.

I do know that having been inside the church culture in the South my entire life, the "Sunday is the most important day of the week" syndrome has deep roots in me. I know that having been on staff with responsibilities and expectations of excellence for all of those Sundays has shaped my understanding of the importance of that hour and a half on that one day of the week. I know that for half of my life, most of my time has been focused on planning and preparation for that hour and a half, and the other half of my life was spent living in order to "act right" during that hour and a half.

Don't misunderstand me, I love the corporate gathering of the church. I believe it is Biblical and important, necessary and beautiful. I love the thought of the sent ones gathering together to celebrate the glory of God and share together in how He has used them for His glory throughout the week. There is a deep, rich record throughout Scripture and church history of the people of God joining together to celebrate His great love, to know and share His Word, to love one another and share around the table, and to be sent out through the power of the Spirit to make known the Good News of the Gospel and become the touch points of the Kingdom of God in the earth.

That being said, there has certainly been too much made of that hour and a half in recent church history, such that we have defined church by that Sunday morning time slot. I have been guilty of propagating that idea in the past, adding to the overemphasis of the time. Defining church in such a limited manner has had far-reaching effects on the understanding, ability, and desire of the church to join the mission of God to make disciples of people in all parts of the earth (there has been much ink spilled over this point, so I will not add to it here).

I guess what I am pondering here is whether or not it will have an effect on me. Am I so entrenched in church culture that a Sunday off with my family at home to rest and worship together is somehow less "holy" than gathering with other believers in a church building- even believers I don't know or with which I don't have any real connection?

I don't know yet.

Sunday at home was good. We enjoyed it. However, Monday did feel a little weird, like when you know you forgot to do something important, but you just can't remember what it was...

Honestly, my prayer is that I will just not feel anything. I pray that I won't feel empty just because I took the day to rest with my family and hold my wife and children and sing songs and dance and did not "go to church". I have no less passion for corporate gatherings of the sent ones and I do look forward to those times in the days ahead.

For now, though, I pray that I would continue to learn and teach my family of the importance of the rest of the week and of how we worship the remaining 166.5 hours- how we live for the glory of God among the people and places He has sent us.

(For the sake of clarity- my family and I will plant down with a family of believers again soon. This post is not a question of whether or not we should disconnect from the church, but a wrestling with the result of what we have made priorities in the past. I just wonder, even with all that God has reshaped in me over the past several years, teaching me the importance of mission and "living sent"- to rob a term from my friend Jason C Dukes- do I still not get it? Do I still think of church in the same manner I always did, just now using different terms? Have I just adopted other peoples' language and ideas, or is God really changing me?)

What about you? What are your thoughts? Have you "skipped church just because" What did you feel? How should we feel? How should we think about these times? What does it say about what we believe the church is to be doing?

For the glory of His Name

2010-09-09T08:41:00.005-05:00

Names.

They are so random in American culture. We name our children after celebrity stage names on popular television shows. Or fruit. Or cars. Surely, we aren’t naming them those names because we actually want them to become like those things. (Really? Dylan from 90210?)

Biblically, however, names had great meaning; names of people or places. They could be named for certain occurrences, good or bad; but often names were meant to encompass the fullness of the individual’s character (either proven true or prayerfully so in the hopes of the one doing the naming). This is particularly true of God. His name(s) engulfs His character- the reality of who He truly is. For instance, a name Christ is called for which we are extremely thankful is Emmanuel, which means ‘God with Us’. It is a name that was both prophesied as truth and fulfilled as God came to earth in Human form (Mt. 1.23; Phil 2.6-9).

In the Bible, name is everything. It carries tremendous weight.

God made a big deal of His Name in Exodus 3, when He called Moses to lead His people out of the affliction of Egyptian tyranny. Moses was afraid of the task (maybe rightfully so). Was he to go before the Israelites and Pharaoh and expect them to listen to him? Who was he? So, God unveiled His secret weapon- His Name. “I am who I am. Tell them ‘I am has sent me to you.’” The implication was that the people would trust His name, because it represented the character he had manifested so faithfully for generations. It was the symbol of hope and promise for deliverance for the Israelites and remains so for all of those who call on His name for eternity. When God manifests His Name (His character) in a broken world, salvation comes, displaying His love, His justice, His mercy, His sovereignty, His grace…

Jesus picked up on this idea in His prayer in John 17. He said that He had glorified God and manifested His Name (His character) in the earth, bringing salvation. This was Jesus’ purpose, and in doing so, He had made disciples of those entrusted to Him by the Father. Then, He turned His attention from His own purpose to that of His disciples, and prayed to the Father, saying “As you sent me into the world, so I am sending them.” He continues, “I have made known to them your Name, and will continue to do so.”

God’s Name made manifest in a broken creation, the result of which is the manifestation of His character bringing salvation and making disciples of Jesus- sounds like something important, right? Sounds like something His Church might be called to do. Actually, it sounds like Paul’s explanation of those called to the ministry of reconciliation in 2 Cor 5.18-21, in which He said we (Christians) are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. Wow. That sounds important. That sounds like something that might actually define us; that we should give ourselves to and defend.

Christians- ‘little Christ’s’- those who make up His Church- are those who act like Jesus as God’s appeal to broken creation. Oh, that our name would carry Biblical weight. May we be known (according to our name) as those who join God’s Mission to manifest His Name among the people in all nations for His glory and our good.

It's His Story

2010-09-03T08:54:00.009-05:00

Today's post is brought to you by guest blogger, Captain Obvious...

The ocean is big.

Really big.

(Thank you, Captain Obvious for the deep life lesson...)

I went out on top of the ocean in a kayak for a while this morning. As I floated across the waves, I listened to the cry of the gulls and the splash of the water against the side of the little boat, which drew my attention to the 6 feet of plastic holding me afloat atop the emerald green depths.

The ocean is big. My boat, not so much. I saw dolphins and other various and sundry fishy things frollicking in the depths in front of and below me. So much life. So much that is bigger than me.

The water was calm and I looked out across the face of the ocean toward the horizon and it served as a perfect reminder of just how small I am and how great He is, something about which we should often be reminded.

Isaiah 40
¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? ¹³ Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? ¹⁴Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? ¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coast lands like fine dust. ¹⁶Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. ¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

I am really thinking a lot about me right now- what does God want from/for me? What is next in His plan for me? You know, the normal 'my life is flip turned upside-down' and 'what-the-____ do I do now' kind of questions.

As I sat on the waves contemplating His big-ness, I was reminded that maybe those are not the best questions to be asking. My tiny six feet of plastic atop the vastness of the water reminded me of how small a part I am of the great big story He penned before time began that is playing out in real time. The stark reality is that I have been asking God and His plan for me- I've been asking Him to join me in my story.

It's as though I have been begging the ocean to join me in the kayak. Instead, I should be allowing God to steer me along with the waves of His sovereign design as a part of History, not acting as though it revolves around me.

It's His story, not mine, and I am honored to play whatever role I may, however large or small. So, my prayers were re-shaped a bit as I began to ask God to open my eyes to the movement and activity of God through His people in His story of creation and redemption. And then help me join in that movement to be a part of His story- reset my intentions and reshape my idolatrous and arrogant heart to recognize the beauty of His story and the significance of any part He allows me to play...

The Morning After...

2010-08-30T08:25:00.004-05:00

Today feels weird. It's the morning after.

Yesterday brought to close an almost eleven year journey with some of the most incredible people I've ever known. We celebrated our final gathering with the local expression of the church that has been out family for all of these years (Ecclesia, CrossRoads CC, the Downtown Church, the "Downstairs Church").

It was terrible.

And it was beautiful.

It hurt like hell.

I don't want to ever do it again.

We sang. We told stories. We shared Scripture. We cried. We laughed. We shared communion. We encouraged one another. Some of us didn't want to be encouraged. We just wanted to mourn and hurt. We prayed for each other. We sat on the floor and ate fried chicken. We cleaned out the basement we have called home for a while now. We hugged and waved awkwardly, not wanting to walk away.

And then it was done.

Now I'm tired. Haven't slept in days. Don't think I can cry any more, but I also don't think I could have ever explained God's grace the way I can now without this part of the story.

And now I find myself more deeply connected to His story, for which I am terribly grateful. And I am swallowed up in the sufficiency of His grace...

To you, my family, who have walked with us (especially in this last year) through some of the most painful yet beautifully restorative moments- I love you, and I am deeply honored that you have trusted me enough to call me pastor. You have loved, cared for, and provided for Mel, our girls and me as if we were your own family. Of course, we only have our girls because you were willing to pray for us. I am anxious and excited to see what is next for each of you, and hopeful as our relationships transition from pastoral to friendship and brotherhood. You guys are and will continue to be my family, and I look forward to gathering around dinner tables in the days ahead.

To those of you who have been a part of the church at some point in the past- thank you. You are eternally a part of her story and mine. Some of you were gently moved along by God to other places of ministry, and I pray that He uses you far beyond your wildest imaginations in the spaces and times in which He has sovereignly placed you. Some of you, unfortunately, were deeply wounded within our history and left in a flood of unexpected pain. I don't know the full extent of many of your stories, but on behalf of myself and the church, I want you to know how deeply sorry I am. I have talked to many of you personally in the last 8 months, but I know there are others who need to hear the healing words "I'm sorry", and I would love to offer them to you, face-to face, if possible. But for now, these words must suffice. I am truly, deeply sorry...

To the other pastors who have been an encouragement and a listening ear for me (especially you, Steve, having listened to me every week. what a blessing you have been)- thank you. You are great friends, and I have learned from you. I am encouraged to hear your stories and to see the faithful representations of the Gospel that your churches are. I am praying for you.

To the huge number of you who have been praying and rooting for us this past year- other churches, pastors, friends, across the country and literally around the world- thank you. Your prayers have been such a deep encouragement to us, and I know God has heard and answered. Our history is difficult, and the story is strange. It has ended in a way we did not imagine or desire, but we believe it to be right.

One of the guys in the church talked about success in our final gathering, and how it needs definition. Often it is equated with accomplishment, a definition that led to much hurt in our past. Within the church and following Jesus in general, success is obedience. It is doing what God has said to do, whether you understand it fully or not. (Failure should then be defined as disobedience.)
A lady within the body reminded us that what we need in situations like ours is not all the answers, per se, but peace. God's peace. And that can come without full understanding (Phil 4).

At this point, we understand Heb 12.1-2 a little more deeply, understanding that running is hard work, and through our suffering and tears, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the joy set before us. We will hurt for a while. So, if you see one of us at Wal-Mart or the park, give us a hug, and let us know you love us and are praying.

I think I want to share some of our story here over the coming days because 1) it will be therapeutic for me and 2) it may encourage some who read it. That is to come.

For now, I leave you with this:

Though we do not fully understand our circumstance, our hope is that through our obedience God is glorified. For His glory we have been sent by Christ into the world:

John 17
¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

And given the ministry of reconciliation:

2 Cor 5
¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. ¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

So, with saddened hearts and joyous expectations we go...

Grace and peace...

Sending...

2010-07-19T09:06:00.008-05:00

What an incredible time of worship and prayer together yesterday, as we sent out a young woman on mission from our ranks. She is headed out for 2 years across the globe, and though we are excited to be able to share in the Gospel work she is undertaking, the day was full of mixed emotion. Goodbyes are difficult, but pale in comparison to the surpassing joy of releasing someone to carry the Gospel to unreached people. We look forward to being able to support and pray for her and listen to the beautiful stories of redemption that come back to us as a part of her work. Would you join us in prayer as she says her final goodbyes this week and soon boards a plane?

We love you, Christy, and we are with you as you go! May you be used, poured out, and wasted for His glory and the good of those who are lost!

It's Not YOUR Church

2010-07-17T18:51:00.007-05:00

I have come to the conclusion that all of life is transition.

All of it.

Certainly, Scripture would agree- we are pilgrims here and being changed into his image from one glory to another. Always, we are changing- hopefully growing (though sometimes that is questionable for me).

On a personal note, a little downtime from the constant transition would be appreciated right about now.

I find myself in transition in most every area of my life. I usually handle it pretty well and actually embrace and enjoy it; but I find myself a bit overwhelmed currently. Unfortunately, much of the current state of change is completely unavoidable and requires a great deal of hard work. Strangely, I have actually been alright with those aspects of transition, but frustrated by those aspects that are outside of my control, a large percentage of which is associated with the church.

As a pastor, my natural inclination is to work harder to make transition within the church smoother, quicker, and easier on everyone involved. Therefore, knowing that much of it is outside my control is frustrating. However, I have begun to realize such situations should elicit a completely different response...

When I talk about the church I serve, I often speak of "my church", which is harmless enough . Most people who attend church would probably use the same phrase, and it is likely alright for church members to do so, because it serves to identify them as a part of a specific faith family and demonstrates the strong connection they have with those people. However, when a pastor says "my church", no matter how innocent the context, it bears a different weight and communicates (whether inadvertently or not) an ownership or control of the church, not just a sense of belonging.

I am not saying that the intent of pastors who use the phrase is to control, but words have meaning. Words have power. So, speaking of the church as your own can inadvertently add a responsibility men are not meant to bear. It is Jesus' church, not mine. The responsibility for its growth is His, not mine. The healing and empowerment of Her people rests under His control, not mine.

Pastor, it is not your church, so let go of the weight of making it happen (Rodney, I hope you are listening, too).

You can't time the transition, shape it, or make it shorter in order to make it easier. Jesus has purposes for His Church. He does what He does within the Church to fill those purposes. His ways are better and His purposes higher. Your responsibility is only to obey. He is glorified when you do.

I want to learn to rest in the things that are completely outside of my control, because they are in the very hands of Sovereign God and will result in His glory and my good. My attempts to control those circumstances are disobedient, at best, and will only result in frustration and likely the lengthening of the process.

This post is mainly for me. I needed to hear these words, so I said them to myself. I just bet I am not alone, though...

On a related note, there is a useful post from earlier this week on rest and balance for pastors from Ed Stetzer here.

Mission and the Marketplace

2010-07-02T10:03:00.008-05:00

My last post was on hospitality as a large part of our responsibility as believers toward those who do not know Christ and maybe a good alternative to some of the standard missionary tactics we have historically employed. I quoted Justo Gonzalez from The Story of Christianity. I would like to repeat a small part of that quote and add another:

...in the early church...evangelism did not take place in church services, but rather...in kitchens, shops, and markets.

he continues...

[A] surprising fact about the early expansion of Christianity is that, after the New Testament, very little is said of any missionaries going from place to place, like Paul and Barnabas had done. It is clear that the enormous spread of the Gospel in those first few centuries was not due to full-time missionaries, but rather to many Christians who traveled for other reasons- slaves, merchants, exiles condemned to work in the mines, and the like...

Unfortunately, much of the work of evangelism has been relegated to the professionals over the last decades- pastors on a local level and missionaries on a global level. There are many contributing factors which are for another discussion altogether. What I want to point out here very simply is the need to re-assimilate the people of the church in the great responsibility of the Gospel. All Christians bear the joy and responsibility of the Gospel, not just the ones who are paid.

The early church saw great results not just from the work of the early missionaries, but also from the continued work of everyday people who lived in the power of the Gospel. They were merchants, slaves, and tent-makers alike who worked with other merchants, slaves, and tent-makers. The difference is that they did so under the power of the Holy Spirit and with the joy of Christ among their tribes. And the church grew tremendously.

I am certainly not saying that we need not to have professional ministers (I currently am one), but that we need to rethink mission and hand it back to the whole church. I am saying that sending churches should be focused on both sending and supporting those who go out to global mission, as well as those who are sent on mission in the marketplace in their own hometowns.

We can also rethink how we go about sending people into global mission with less of an emphasis on the necessity of being called to be a "professional" missionary (inclusive of quiting a job) and more so on sending business men and women, artists, and the like who can take the mind for business or art they have been given and employ it for the sake of the Gospel among an unreached people group around the world.

Larry McCrary, writing in a post about sending churches and the many ways churches can approach mission, said this:

A person does not need to leave his/her job and go with a mission organization to work cross-culturally. Pastors and church leaders can encourage their church bodies to think in these directions when they, as leadership, see these as viable missionary expressions, and thus promote or lift them up as such in the church. “Tentmakers” or people doing business internationally are not second-class missionaries, but can make a huge impact for the kingdom in their marketplaces all over the world.

God's mission is not just the responsibility of the professional minister, it is the privilege of each individual within the church. We may need to become more creative about how we approach this mission, but the good news is that we are not alone. We have each other, and for churches like the one I pastor, who are just beginning this new journey, we can look to many others who have forged a path ahead of us and are eager to help. One such organization is the Skybridge Community, a group of mission-minded folks who are encouraging and resourcing business people of all types to engage missionally in Europe.

The marketplace is/should be an important part of our missionary strategy, both at home and abroad. How are you (and your church) making it a priority? (This is a real question, not rhetorical. I would love to hear your answers, in order to learn from them.)

Missionary Tactic

2010-06-23T16:46:00.006-05:00

I am doing a great deal of Church History study right now. I re-read a powerful quote today from Justo Gonzalez in The Story of Christianity- maybe it's just a reminder for us...maybe more:

The enormous numerical growth of the church in its first centuries leads us to the question of what methods it used to achieve such growth. The answer may surprise some modern Christians, for the ancient church knew nothing of "evangelistic services" or "revivals". On the contrary, in the early church worship centered on communion, and only baptized Christians were admitted to its celebration. Therefore, evangelism did not take place in church services, but rather, as Celsus said, in kitchens, shops, and markets. A few famous teachers, such as Justin and Origen held debates in their schools, and thus won some converts among the intelligentsia. But the fact remains that most converts were made by anonymous Christians whose witness led others to their faith.

The kitchen.

This is hospitality. The sharing of life around the dinner table. More than a response to the Biblical call to serve the widows, orphan, and sojourner, it remains a necessary and life-giving response to God's Mission for the church. And here we see in the early church that hospitality is to blame for much of the church's growth in her early days.

My friend, Michael, has written extensively on his blog about the topic. Here is one such case that I find particularly intriguing (though there are many, and you would not be disappointed in a little search for the rest). The good thing about Michael and his faith family is that they not only talk about the topic, but have shaped the church around the practice of it. You should read it.

We should talk about it. Moreso, maybe we (I) should practice it more. Who has been invited to your table lately?

(More on shops and marketplaces to come...)

Missional Community...Simple

2010-06-22T15:40:00.004-05:00

The same guy who made the "Missional Church...Simple" video I posted a few weeks back has posted a follow-up that very simply explains Missional Community and addresses the tension often created through traditional church methodology that immediately removes new Christians from the tribes they are later encouraged to reach with the Gospel and indoctrinates them and introduces them to a new tribe, the Christian tribe, that has already received the Gospel...

What's that got to do with Jesus?!

2010-06-09T16:23:00.014-05:00

I have tried.

Really, I have.

I have tried to stay away from the social justice argument that has been swarming around both political and social circles in everyday conversation and on this blog. I will still do my best to stray from it here on a political level, but I cannot let the Gospel be hijacked for the sake of a social/political agenda that gives way to pluralism and say nothing.

There is a contention within sections of the church that the Gospel means social activism; that because Jesus was justice-oriented, we are also here to make things right- to bring what is broken in the world into harmony. I disagree. More importantly, the Bible does- it is when the Kingdom comes in fullness that all things will find redemption. No tears. No hurts. Healed bodies. Why? Because we will be in the presence of the King who redeems all things.

When Jesus walked the earth, He did bring justice, because He is Jesus, in whose character is the very definition of justice. Our character is not just. It is at best a broken reflection of and a poor substitute for His. It is His character as the slain lamb who is at the same time sovereign and gracious, just and forgiving that enables Him alone to open the scroll in Rev 6. Jesus unveils the horrendous events that follow in order that He might hear the cries of the broken (sa'aq) and bring salvation. Jesus is forever and always the only One who can bring justice. That is why we have been given the ministry of reconciliation, to reconcile the broken to God, not to employ justice.

Jesus still brings justice. We cannot, so instead, we bring Jesus. There is no justice apart from Jesus.

None.

Ever.

Anywhere.

No matter how hard we try, no matter how much "wrong" we "right", it will never be justice. Instead, we bring the Gospel. We bring Good News of the one who can make all things right.

How sad and unjust that we take only a bottle of water to the thirsty, when we have the Fountain of Life to offer. How unjust that we offer to help someone financially and hold back the Source of every gift and provision. How unjust that we offer someone a doctor's visit or vaccination without even a mention of the fact that we know the great Healer. That is not justice. It is the epitome of unjust.

On this point, the Father promised that when we ask for anything, He will give us Himself in the person of the Spirit (Luke 11.13). That is justice. We ask for provision- he gives us the Source of provision. We ask for direction and He gives us a Guide. We ask for healing and He gives us the Comforter. He does justice because He is just.

Now, lest I be misunderstood, I am all for serving the poor, meeting needs, sharing our stuff, etc...I am a proponent of all of those things, and anyone who knows me would attest to that fact. However, it becomes a problem when that activity becomes the Gospel- the Social Gospel.

There is no Social Gospel. There is only THE Gospel. God is the Gospel. And in the wake of the Gospel, there is justice, because God is there. When we seek to impart social justice apart from the presence of Justice, we work in our power and we fail. We could feed, clothe, and house every individual in need on the planet, but unless we have also given them Jesus, we have been unjust (and we have not loved them).

And that is not the Gospel.

At this point, I guess it might be useful to tell you why I have suddenly felt the urge to share my thoughts. The following short video was posted on the blog of a well-known thinker/leader in the church world today. I would normally not concern myself with what is on his blog, but I know this mentality is becoming more pervasive within the evangelical world. Watch:

Here is a terrible understatement: What the church offers and what these other religions offer is not the same, and we must fight for that distinction with every fiber of our being. It is the core of the Gospel. To deny Jesus but want the good gifts He gives is offensive. There is no justice without Jesus; therefore those without Jesus cannot offer justice because they cannot offer Jesus. This video offers us a weak and invalid answer to the brokenness of humanity- pluralism- which gives false hope to hurting people.

Unfortunately, many in the church have sacrificed the work of disciple-making for the this sort of hope-less social action. Instead, let us work hard to show them Jesus, THE necessary ingredient for real and lasting hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Rom 15.13

Tozer's Pnuematology...

2010-05-27T09:41:00.007-05:00

“For a generation certain evangelical teachers have told us that the gifts of the Spirit ceased at the death of the apostles or at the completion of the New Testament. This, of course, is a doctrine without a syllable of Biblical authority back of it. The result of this erroneous teaching is that spiritually gifted persons are ominously few among us. This frightening hour calls aloud for men with the gift of prophetic insight. Instead we have men who conduct surveys, polls and panel discussions. We need men with the gift of knowledge. In their place we have men with scholarship—nothing more...The truth of the matter is that the Scriptures plainly imply the imperative of possessing the gifts of the Spirit. But I must also add a word of caution. The various spiritual gifts are not equally valuable, as Paul so carefully explains. Certain brethren have magnified one gift out of seventeen out of all proportion. Among these brethren there have been and are many godly souls, but the general moral results of this teaching have nevertheless not been good. In practice it has resulted in much shameless exhibitionism, a tendency to depend upon experiences instead of upon Christ and often a lack of ability to distinguish the works of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit. Those who deny that the gifts are for us today and those who insist upon making a hobby of one gift are both wrong, and we are all suffering the consequences of their error.”
A.W. Tozer

Pneumatology is conspicuously absent in much of the current discussion of the missional church, or at least downplayed (inclusive of my own discussion on the subject). I find this disturbing as it is the Spirit who commissioned the church, empowers the church for ministry, sends the church, and has appointed ministries inside the church (Acts 1.4,8; 2.4,33; 1 Cor 12.4-7,11; Rom 12.3-8; Eph 4; 1 Peter 4.10-11; Acts 13.2).

I would echo Paul's prayer on the matter:

Eph 3

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul's assumption is that in order to fulfill our mission to make great the name of Christ in the nations, we will need the power of the Spirit at work in our lives. May it be so with us...

What is Missional Church?

2010-05-24T12:12:00.004-05:00

I have seen this video floating around for the past couple of months, but I never took the 2 minutes to watch it. My bad.

It is relevant to the larger conversation in the Church right now and particularly so in our local community.

Simple. You should watch.

Going to Nashville...who's coming? who's got stuff to send?

2010-05-07T10:23:00.011-05:00

I will be headed to Nashville with a friend Sunday evening to take supplies and work in the cleanup effort in the city. For all my Birmingham friends who would like to help out, as well, here are a few ways you can:

1. I could take a couple more guys that would like to go. Let me know ASAP if that is you. It will be a quick trip. Just going up Sunday night, working Monday, and heading back Monday night.

2. There is a great need there for supplies, from bottled water to cleaning supplies. So, check out the following list and rummage through your cabinets or head to Wal Mart. Contact me to drop off your supplies. Or, if you would like to take up supplies from your church or Sunday School class or neighborhood, collect them, contact me and we will come get them Sunday afternoon before we head out. I know this is quick notice, but that's the way disasters work. We may try to make another trip in a few weeks as cleanup will be going on for several months:

Bottled Water
Garbage Bags
Bleach
Bug Spray
Kroger and Walmart Gift Cards
Diapers
Powdered Baby Formula
Wet/Baby Wipes
Lowe's or Home Depot Gift Cards
Antibacterial Gel
Utility Knives
Floor Scrapers
Duct Tape
Rubber Gloves
Allergy/Dust Masks
Cleaning Supplies
First Aid Supplies

Of course, if you do not have time to do all of that, you can just go to the Samaritan's Purse website and donate online here.

3. Please continue to be in prayer for the people of Nashville (actually all of TN and parts of Kentucky). This is a beautiful time for the church to rise. We live in a fallen creation, broken to its core, as evidenced by such disasters as seem to be growing more and more rampant on a daily basis. Juxtaposed against such brokenness, the Gospel, which is always Good News, seems even sweeter. The redemptive nature of God's sacrificial love stands in stark contrast to the black darkness of overwhelming disaster. People are crying out (sa'aq), and victory is coming! So, please pray. Pray for the people who have lost everything. Pray for those around them who have not to be moved to compassion and serve them. Pray for the Church to be a shining light in the darkness, a city on a hill which cannot be hidden. Pray that His love will shine through His people acting as His hands and feet as mediators of the grace of God and ministers of reconciliation.

Contact me @ rodneycalfee@gmail.com if you want to help in any way and/or visit the Samaritan's Purse site to give.

Grace to you all...

Helping our friends in Nashville...

2010-05-05T11:40:00.003-05:00

Pray. Please pray for our friends in Nashville. Last I heard, 19 people had lost their lives. That is 19 families who are broken, and friends who are searching for answers. Some of them may have died without Christ. Heartbreaking.

Thousands are homeless and billions of dollars of physical damage has occurred. The devastation is staggering, and our response is both imperative and urgent. Much of the need is immediate, though a continued presence in the area will be appropriate and necessary.

People are crying out. They hurt. They have deep needs. The Gospel carries the answer for the physical needs there as well as the spiritual and emotional brokenness that will be wrecking people in the aftermath of this event. So, how do we help?

Below is a video from Ed Stetzer talking with a few local pastors in Nashville on how we can help:

I plan on putting together a team next week to go and serve there for a day or two in whatever way we can. If you are interested in joining us, let me know...

You can also go to these sites and give or join in some form of service:

Samaritans purse
NAMB Disaster Relief
Nashville Redcross
Hands On Nashville
Crosspoint
Bethel World Outreach

Grace in Community

2010-04-23T10:16:00.008-05:00

I was challenged this week while meeting with an older, wiser pastor friend/mentor of mine. He is an overtly gracious man and has developed within his church a deeply-rooted desire to lavish the grace of Christ on others. We meet for lunch on Tuesdays so that I can talk about my ideas for the church and he can say really wise things that correct/encourage me. It's good. I am very thankful for him.

He accidentally double-booked this week, so we had another man join us who wanted to talk with his pastor (my friend) about some personal issues. He did not seem to mind that I was there. It was, however, a bit awkward for me. I learned some things, though...

In a roundabout way at the end of the conversation, we came to discuss those things that are required of people who would lead in the church (as prescribed in 1 Tim 3; Titus 1). Those in a community of people who have hope only because of God's grace, who are to be the imprint of God on their culture, are by nature (spirit) people of grace; therefore we see through the lens of grace, our attitudes are bathed in grace, and our actions are fueled by grace. We talked specifically about the issue of men leading churches when they have rebellious wives and/or children @ home (among other "shortcomings" churches tend to hold as reasons why people cannot/should not lead). Should they?

I know how I would answer that question as a generality. However, as I am seeing more clearly now, there are very few generalities that hold fast when the currency is relationship. I know what the Bible teaches re: husbands/fathers and their families with regards to leadership, and it seems simple at the outset- if he leads well @ home, he is able to lead within the church. The opposite is also true, per Paul. But there is something left out of the equation in many of our discussions of these things- people's stories, including the times and places they have been overwhelmed by grace, and His kindness has led to repentance.

For instance, there is a man very dear to me who was denied the opportunity to serve as a deacon in the church he dearly loved, because decades before (before He even followed Jesus) he had been divorced. Kindness led to repentance, and God redeemed and forgave him. The church, however, new better, apparently. This was, and remains, a travesty; yet the church stood on Biblical principle as they understood it. In my estimation, they stood for truth, not tethered to grace, which manifested in legalism and hindered a wonderful, godly man from service.

I do not want in any way to posit that truth is somehow relative to circumstance. Truth is true as a measure of God's character and standard of righteousness. Truth is true because God is truth, and God is unchanging (though the beauty of sovereign grace is that it changes the truth about us- we were once clothed in sin and darkness, yet now we are made righteous in Christ).

This leads to what I believe to be a great failure on the other end of the spectrum, as well. I have, on many occasions made a decision based on the following standard (even this week):

I would rather err on the side of grace than...

I would rather err? Should that ever be our standard- to choose error in any situation? It seems lazy, and an oversimplification of our responsibility to love. To err on the side of grace is still to err. I understand the sentiment that we would rather be accused of being too gracious than too judgmental. Fine. But what happens to truth when we knowingly settle for error, even in the name of grace? Wouldn't it cease to be grace?

There is a balance of grace and truth found in Christ (Jn 1.17), the image of the invisible God (2 Cor 4.4; Col 1.15) and our example (Jn 13.15; Rom 15; Phil 2), in which the two are held perfectly in tension. It seems more fitting than choosing error that we would withhold judgment and wrestle with the tension until we are able to rightly understand God's desire for the situation, which He reveals through His Word (Ps 119.11, 15-16, 105) and by His Spirit (1 Cor 2.9-16). Seems like this would help us avoid the pitfalls of both legalism and relativism...and balance grace with truth...

I would love to hear your thoughts. What say you?

Communitas

2010-04-09T10:38:00.006-05:00

Just thinking out loud here...

Communitas- the sense of sharing and intimacy that develops among persons who experience liminality as a group.

Liminality- the transitional period or phase of a rite of passage, during which the participant lacks social status or rank.

Communitas is not merely community as normally defined (i.e. community defined by residence in a certain area or around a certain set of ideas or common interests). It is a deeper connectedness that is born only through a common life change that reshapes everything- liminality.

Victor Turner, a British Anthropologist who spent many years living with and studying the Ndembu people of Zambia brought these terms into common use. He studied specifically the rites of passage within the tribe and wrote extensively on the subject. He recounts numerous stories of young boys thrown into the wilderness together as a rite of passage. The importance of the mission of survival and returning home safely became the centerpiece for a sense of communitas others within the community did not share. In the face of life-endagering decisions, the boys would easily set aside petty differences, dissolve normal social constructs, and cling to one another in a unity they had never experienced. Imagine the disorientation they must have experienced- the insecurity of not knowing. They were between childhood and manhood. There in that common place of liminality, they formed a bond that would hold them together as they rediscovered what life would be on the other side of the change. They would be different people altogether with new responsibilities and new social understandings. The easy concerns of childhood were gone and the weight of the responsibility of walking as a man now lie on those bony 13 year-old shoulders. The days of frolicking freely without a care were gave way to the hard realities of becoming something new- a man. They realized something along the way- it was easier together. They needed one another because:

Everything changed.

The metaphorical ties of communitas and liminality to the Church are many- some obvious and others less so. I am far from the first to make these observations, as they are ideas commonly discussed among theologians. However, they are new to my faith family, so I would like to discuss many of them more deeply in posts to come. Here I will suggest only the most basic and obvious understanding-

We were once children who walked in a certain way, secure in our own identity and sure we knew our way. Then Jesus called us to Himself.

Everything changed.

We began a journey that would cause us to lay down our old identity and take up a new one. All things were made new. All that we knew to be true before changed as we responded to Christ's call to join Him in the most important mission we ever could. We laid down our rights for the freedom of becoming slaves to Christ.

All that we once thought we were dissolved in light of the ever-increasing light of the Glory of God in our lives.

Along the way, Jesus has been so gracious to give us companions in His mission so that we might not bear the burden of it alone. We have labored together and borne the burden of the Gospel, and now we experience a connection with one another that can only be blamed on Jesus and this common journey. What was our home is no longer as our attentions turn from that which is momentary to that which is eternal. Our mission is clear, though it is not ours, but His. We are not children, but men and women who can no longer lightly enjoy the frivolity of life and shirk responsibility; for we carry the deepest responsibility, the greatest freedom- life and death- eternity itself is on our lips and in our hands, begging to spew forth and give life to the ears that will hear. We have joined God on His mission and we cannot help but speak of the things we have seen and heard- the deaf walk, the blind see, the dead are raised to life, and we have been grafted into the greatest narrative of all time. We must know our lines and speak our parts and join the rest of the cast in communicating and living out this story together.

This is communitas. This is the denial of self, the burden of taking up of someone else, the complete reversal of everything we had known (the first is last and the way to the top is to be humbled), and you cannot do it alone. I cannot do it alone. We need each other.

Everything is changing.

One day the change will be complete. We will see Jesus face to face, and we will become as He is. We will find perfect rest and experience the perfection of community in Him who is perfect community in and among Himself. Until then, I am all you've got; and you are the gift given to me so that I would not have to shoulder this burden alone. If we join together in this life-or-death mission, our connection is no longer common interests or goals, but something much deeper, something through which all petty squabbles can and must be tabled, our interest in who will be first or greatest will lose its luster, and the survival of as many as possible will be the end gain.

Come on. Take my hand. Please. In this season of liminality, a time of limitless change, let's walk together, love one another, and set aside the division for the glory of God in His church and to the world.

1 Tim 1.17
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory [in and through his church] forever and ever. Amen.
(italicized words mine)

Best "Business Meeting" Ever...

2010-03-24T10:46:00.006-05:00

Making the transition to house church from a more traditional model has been quite an adventure thus far. There have been struggles- change in surrounding, worship style, teaching style, new spatial considerations, weird conversations with friends and family describing what we are doing, and much more- Sunday's gathering found us completely out of space with people standing for lack of seating. As well, that many bodies in a tight space makes people sweaty. It was warm in there.

There are also amazing upsides to our new way of doing things including a new depth to relationships, discipleship, and accountability, a new focus on equipping and releasing people according to their gifting to do the work of ministry, deeply encouraging and challenging conversations in our gatherings, and a deeper focus on mission both in our own communities and to the nations. There is so much more, but I would like to share a little about one of the best church "business meetings" of which I have ever been privileged to be a part.

This past Wednesday night, we had our monthly leadership meeting, the focus of which was how we would deal with a new and interesting dilemma for us, namely, how we use our financial resources. Having cut out building expenses, we, for the first time in quite a while actually have money in the bank. Crazy, right? It was quite a fun and exciting time. There was no arguing over budgets, no fighting for funding for certain ministries, and no wondering how we would stretch the resources we have to cover the bills at the first of the following month (a discussion we have had all too often in the past). There was only celebration over God's bountiful provision, and discussion about the specific things on which we saw the early church spending their money. It was decided that those would be the same places we would use ours. If you have been in budgetary business meetings before, then you know that often coming out of them still in tact as a church and with only a couple of minor injuries is often considered a win...I'm just sayin'.

(A sidebar- Lest I offend, let me offer a word of clarity here. I am not proposing that others adopt our positions on stewardship matters as prescriptive; I am but describing- with great joy and enthusiasm- the decisions we as a faith family have made in regards to stewardship of the abundance of God's hand in our community. I do not intend to demean those who choose differently, only to celebrate the willingness and faithfulness of the community of which I am priviliged to be a part to follow God's direction for us. So there.)

It was our conclusion that a lot money was spent by the early church on benevolence (caring for those within the body) and mission (caring for those outside the body in the name of the Gospel of Christ with great intentionality). There are obviously other things that are useful for churches now and that history tells us the early church would have spent money on, as well. However, we see that these two things would have born the weight of the ministry expense, and rightly so.

It was a proud evening for me (a pastor), when our community decided that there should be no one among our ranks who has any need (Acts 2.44-45; 4.32-35; I John 3.16-17) so that we would be obedient to Scripture in loving/caring for one another well, seeing as that is how Jesus said the world would know His disciples (John 13.34-35). We don't know exactly how that will work, but we are committed to wrestling with it and holding it in tension as we try to figure it out. As well, seeing as Jesus declared in Luke 4, by quoting Isaiah 61, that His call was to ease the suffering of those who are visibly and audibly crying out, we decided that we would use our resources to serve those people as well (James 1.27). And who better to understand the needs of those who are hurting than the people of God living among them, on their streets and in their neighborhoods, who are in tune and listening for their cries.

I know that sounds simple, but I have known many a pastor who would envy such a situation as this, where the people are not clamoring over a use of resources that might benefit them directly, but instead be eager to give it away, in order that the Name of Christ might be made great to the glory of God the Father! I am so thankful for these people who have chosen to do so. Wednesday night, we decided that we would build a bit of a reserve for the church in the immediate (a nod to you Dave Ramsey fans out there) and we would make sure that needs within the church are met. Then, we will immediately begin giving away 50% of what we bring in for mission in different forms, whether it be in meeting needs within our communities, supporting people on mission to the nations out of our own community, planting churches, or any number of opportunities that might present themselves to us.

(In case you do not know, churches typically give 10% or less of their annual budget to mission and benevolence combined, mainly because of restrictive overhead expenditures, such as buildings and salaries. Again, it is not my intent to speak negatively of those churches- just reporting the facts. I am employed by our church and am thankful that they have seen fit to do so.)

On a personal note, the best part of all of this for me is that, though I am encouraged tremendously by our decision, it was not my idea. It came from the people in the room collectively who saw the importance of using the resources we have to fund mission. So, to you, my faith family, now lovingly (and temporarily) known as the "Downstairs Church" meeting in the "Lower Room", I am so thankful to serve with you, to walk with you into a new adventure, and to share with you in the responsibility of God's mission.

I cannot wait for the days ahead. Really, if budgetary business meetings can be that fun...I mean, come on!

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, ⁵ hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, ⁶ that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. ⁷ For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

Have We Hated Them?

2010-03-18T13:58:00.011-05:00

It is no secret these days that many churches are sensing a renewed calling to champion long-forgotten issues of justice, a sense of calling I have shared and taught, and fought to advance within my own faith family. People have a renewed interest in loving people in a very tangible, physical manner; and that based on the teachings and life of Jesus (Lk 4.18-19, for example).

However, there is a facet of this work we must not ignore. Though it certainly is true that Jesus expressed his call as one to the poor and broken and down-trodden, it was not simply a call to fix their problems or meet their needs. He came to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (again seen in the passage in Lk 4). The result of the Gospel would be liberty for the captive and oppressed, sight for the blind, and favor and provision for the poor. Jesus met the needs of people, and then, strangely, they all wanted to follow Him. They wanted to be where He was (a wonderful model for us- we serve others and then they want to be near Jesus).

Recently, there have been a couple of great posts on the topic of balancing the preaching of the gospel with meeting physical needs. You can find them here and here. I believe each of these speak well of the balance between the two, so I will focus my efforts here on one side of the discussion (the side that seems to be the danger for many rediscovering their part in meeting physical need):

We must not overlook the Gospel.

It is a frightening reality we face in that we might easily allow our work to meet physical needs to become the Gospel we "preach by our actions", setting aside the proclamation of Christ's work on the cross; yet anything we do that can be accomplished without Jesus is not the Gospel (though it may be part of our response to and outflow of the Gospel). Maybe we should dwell on that thought for a moment...

Anything we do that can be accomplished apart from the atoning work of Jesus Christ is not the Gospel. It is not.

The weight of Scripture, the whole of the Story, and all of history is rooted in and points to Jesus. He is not a means to some superficial end. He is the end, the fulfillment of all things. He is the highest good, the treasure buried in a field for whom we would sell everything; he is the One for which we would choose to suffer in light of His goodness and the One for which we would freely give our lives. He has loved us first, so that might love Him and love others.

The problem comes in how we define loving others. Do we love others by meeting their physical needs? Or is there something better?

Frederick Faber said:

Wherever we turn in the church of God, there is Jesus. He is the beginning, the middle, and end of everything to us...there is nothing good, nothing holy, nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which He is not to His servants. No one need to be poor, because, if he chooses, he can have Jesus as his property and possession. No one need be downcast, for Jesus is the joy of Heaven, and it is His joy to enter into sorrowful souls.

AW Tozer said:

When the Lord divided Canaan among the tribes of Israel, Levi received no share of the land. God said to him simply, "I am thy part and thine inheritance," and by those words made him richer than all his brethren, richer than all the kings an rajas who have ever lived in the world...The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One...all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight...

We must fight the urge to allow our actions to be the only thing that speaks; for though we meet every physical need in the life of an individual- provide them with the finest home, constant source of income, food, clothing, every physical desire they may have- and do not give them Jesus, we have not loved them; and if we've not loved them, we have hated them. We have met their momentary need through a physical gift and held back the Source from which every good gift flows. We have served them a cup of cold water without pointing them to the Fountain of Living Water that would give them eternal life. We have hated them.

There is a tension, a balance that we must continually wrestle to find between word and deed. A large part of the conversation in the church as a whole right now is bound up in what we do; and though it is an important discussion, it cannot be the totality of the conversation.

If we are going to love people, we will indeed meet their needs. But we must remember that the greatest need they have is the need for redemption. They need Jesus. We have Jesus as our own; and if we are to love them and not hate them, we must give them Jesus, not just our stuff.

May He be so glorious to us that we cannot help but speak of Him continuously and serve Him by loving others...

What about Accountability?

2010-03-10T10:40:00.007-06:00

Accountability- an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions...

Jesus employed accountability among his disciples. He sent them out into the harvest two by two. Why? Accountability. He had taught them to live in a certain way. He knew the nature of men, and that living against cultural norms is much more difficult alone than together. So, he sent them out together, that they might hold one another accountable for the decisions they made. They were to follow Jesus' direction and flee sin. That is accountability- sharing life together in such a way that each is free to hold the other responsible for his own actions, and in doing so, avoid sin.

Accountability has to do with obedience and sin. The right accountability helps one to avoid sin. That is its purpose.

In my last couple of posts, I quickly differentiated between discipleship and accountability, a subject I would like to explore a bit more deeply now. The main difference I see in the two is leadership, or authority- authority of one freely given to him by the other, or the lack thereof. In other words, one person freely submits himself to the teaching of another who is deeper in the faith in a disciple/teacher relationship, and knowingly yields himself in deference to the wisdom of the teacher (This is not a relationship where one lords over the other, but where one recognizes the spiritual wisdom and experience of the other, and willingly defers to his care- see prior post on it here). In accountability, on the other hand, there is no distinct leader. It is two or more individuals who choose to give one another the freedom to correct their wrongs and hold each responsible for his own actions (a freedom that I believe is inherent in the church, Biblically speaking, though often not in reality).

There are numerous references to relationships in which people are accountable to one another in Scripture. Jesus tells the disciples in Matthew 18.15-17 that there should be accountability within the church, an idea that Paul employs in 1 Cor 5.1-13 when he tells the church not to tolerate brothers who continue in unrepentant sin. Accountability is the goal in the first missionary journeys when men are sent out in pairs or groups. They knew they would face much suffering and that their resolve must be strong. Ephesians 4.25-32 addresses the idea calling for truth, setting aside of anger, and tenderhearted forgiveness. As well, there is a beautiful passage in Gal 6 on the matter:

¹Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression,you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. ² Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Accountability requires no teacher/student relationship. Only two or more people willing to be held responsible for their own choices and actions by the others.

So why is this an important distinction? I believe the answer is simple. How can one be held accountable for those things he has not yet been taught? How can we hold someone accountable to behave according to Christ's character and commands if we have not first graciously taught him those commands?

Jesus first called his disciples saying, "follow me." These words clearly define the relationship- Jesus leads and the others follow. And follow they did for 3 years. Somewhere along the way, just before Jesus' death on the cross, He turned the tables a bit, changing the scope of the relationship:

John 15
¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide...

Do you see? Suddenly, the students were no longer just students, but friends. This is a part of the same conversation in which Jesus told his followers that they would actually do greater things than He did (John 14-12) and is reminiscent of Luke 6.39-40. Look closely at why Jesus said the relationship changed in the above verses. "I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my father I have made known to you."Jesus said that He had taught them what they needed to know. Now, they would no longer just be Jesus' servants, but His friends.

I believe this to be a crucial turning point in the lives and minstries of the disciples. In essence, Jesus had told them they were now peers in the work of the Gospel, well-trained and ready to accomplish much for His sake. Imagine, though, if Jesus had simply set out to hold the men responsible for their actions 3 years prior without teaching them His ways. They would have had no clue who He really was or what they should do about it, much less how. Would He have been able to expect them to accomplish anything? Absolutely not. But Jesus chose another way. He trained them well before releasing them to minister, and then accountable to one another.

Discipleship is a necessary and beautiful process by which one generation (either physically or spiritually) commends God's Kingdom to the next, teaching them the truths of Scripture (Ps 145). Accountability is an outflow of discipleship. At some point, when well-trained, the disciple becomes like the teacher and the relationship shifts. Even then, however, there can still be deference to the teacher. Jesus released His disciples and called them friends, yet they were still continually learning, taught by the Spirit.

I began a discipling a man a couple of years ago (AG that I mentioned in my last post). He believed in Jesus, but he openly admitted that he did not see the point of reading his Bible; however, he did want to know how the Bible effects "real life" (marriage, job, etc...). So, we began to meet and study the Bible together. In the beginning, I talked a lot- way more than he did. He listened. We would talk through Scripture passages and ideas, an he deferred to me when we disagreed or in things he did not yet understand. At that time, I would not ask him for input into my life. Why? It was not the point of the relationship and he was not ready for that responsibility. Over the past couple of years, though, the relationship has morphed into a deep friendship. We argue more now (in a good way) over Biblical passages and theology and he is completely free to speak into my life. I consider him my friend. He is doing ministry now (much more than he realizes). He is working for the Gospel. I learn from him (as you saw in my last post). You know what is strange, though? He will still often defer to me. Even though the relationship has changed, he still gives me the freedom to lead him in many ways (though he needs it increasingly less and less). Admittedly, some of that may be because I am still his pastor, but I think it illustrates my point well.

I think we churches need to be careful moving ahead. Many of the organic/missional/house church movement folks are afraid (self-included in some ways) and teetering on the edge of ignoring a big chunk of the New Testament and promoting a weak theology, free of any semblance of Biblical authority. We have seen authority misused, and therefore our natural tendency is often to throw the baby out with the bath water instead of redeeming something beautiful and Biblical. We are so afraid of falling into what we have seen and heard that we push back against any leadership at all. Accountability becomes over-emphasized and disciple-making is lost in the fray. The real danger in this is that in a culture built solely around accountability, the lost remain lost and the ones who should be disciple-makers remain untrained. People cannot be "accountabilitied" to Jesus. They must be discipled. Even those already belonging to the faith can only be encouraged to so much growth through accountability (and only in avoidance of sin). To grow in right application of spiritual truth (active theology), there must be a teacher to teach and a willing student to learn.

We must not be afraid to allow others to lead us. We cannot be afraid to learn from the wisdom of those who are deeper in their faith. We cannot allow our pride to rob us of the gift of experiential wisdom handed to us for free by those who fought for years to gain it. Oh, that we would treasure it.

Discipleship Defined (at least, as I see it...)

2010-03-08T14:19:00.007-06:00

Last weekend, a group of ladies from our church headed off on retreat and spent time talking about discipleship. There were some inspired conversations that took place as they had all prepared beforehand individually, studying Scripture and bringing together all that they had learned. They learned so much from the Bible and one another over the weekend and are now wrestling with the specifics of application. And I am so proud to be connected to them. Their desire is to decipher the Biblical call of disciple-making and spur one another on to Christ-likeness. They are amazing women.

Before they left, one of the ladies sent me a couple of pages of notes she had from her studies and asked for my input. There was some really strong information, as well as a few questions. She has allowed me to share some of that info here, and I will add my thoughts. Her clearest and most profound revelation was that we need to be constantly aware that we are making disciples of Christ, not of ourselves. A good word, and a necessary reminder. She is right on.

Lest I get ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning. Discipleship does not begin only after one has decided to follow Jesus, which seems to be how much of the church defines discipleship (Go look up discipleship materials and see what comes up. Does any of it cater to the unbeliever or is it mostly directed toward the new/maturing believer? We normally call the first part evangelism and separate it out from disciple-making. I think they are part and parcel of the same process). Per Jesus' instruction, we are to go into all the world and make disciples. That does not mean that we go find Christians all over the world and then shape them into better Christians. It means that we intentionally go into the world making much of Jesus among those who do not follow Him at all so that they might change their minds and follow Him with us. Discipleship continues after Jesus saves them...

(This is actually a new idea for me. A good friend asked me to decipher between discipleship and evangelism a few months ago, and I espoused the idea that you could not "disciple" someone to Christ- a view I now reject, as you might have noticed. Sorry about that, AG- it's partly your fault that I changed my mind. Good on ya!).

Jesus discipled in close relationship (as I talked about in the last post here). There was no doubt, though, who was in charge in those relationships. Paul must have picked up the cue from Christ, because He certainly seemed to walk the same way- calling those who would follow Him, teaching them, instructing them, not lording over them, but pointing them to Jesus in all things. He recognized that he was not creating little Pauls. He knew that if he did, they would have tendency toward the same sins he did and they would try to walk in the specific gifts he did, though they were not actually gifted in those ways (hence all of the gifting and body talk in 1 Cor and Eph). He knew that he must point them to Christ. That is why the guy who said, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ" (1 Cor 11.1) also said "I am the chief of sinners" (1 Tim 1.15). He recognized a need for humble obedience to Christ's every command, as well as recognition of how short he falls of perfect obedience.

In essence he was saying to those who would follow Him, "I recognize that I am not perfect. I am the worst sinner of all. Yet, in all things I do, I am seeking to honor Christ, whose singular purpose was to honor God. He did nothing except what the Father did, and my goal is to do nothing except what have seen Him do. As I imitate Him, imitate me (recognizing and avoiding my sin), and you will become like Christ."

Rick Warren said that we learn best by models. I think he is right, at least on this topic (probably on lots more).

God calls His people to be priests all throughout the Scriptures (even the Old Testament- Ex 19.6). Under the Old Covenant, priests were actually mediators- stand-ins between God and man- who would perform the acts leading to forgiveness of sins and, in doing so, reflect the very character of God (loving, just, righteous, forgiving, holy, gracious, merciful...) to the people. Jesus is now our mediator, so that we require no other; therefore, it is no longer necessary that priests (now all of us- 1 Peter 2.5,9) perform sacrificial acts on behalf of the people. However, we still bear the responsibility of reflecting God's character to the World (i.e. God loves. We love, because He first loved. God seeks justice. We seek the justice we can only understand because of Him. God forgives. We forgive as we have been forgiven). It is our choosing to mirror the character of God that causes the world to understand the difference between it's systems and His. If we imitate Him rightly, we do not then point to ourselves, but to Him. In doing so, we do not create mirror images of ourselves, but other imperfect purveyors of the beauty of Christ Himself.

We must not be afraid to model our faith and to follow the model of those deeper in their faith than we. Paul encourages it. In 2 Tim 2.2, Timothy is encouraged to take all that he has learned from Paul and pass it on to faithful men who will pass it on to faithful men, etc...He expects the same of the other men and women in the church (Titus 2.1-5). We must recognize our call to make disciples, which does not make us better than those who do not believe, but differentiates us as those with the Good News that must be shared. We must remember that Jesus makes us who we are and rest in His righteous call.

Ed Stetzer recently said it like this- Humility is not in thinking less of ourselves; it is in thinking of ourselves less.

If Christ lives in you, you are an adopted child of God, forgiven and empowered, covered not by your own attempt at righteousness, but graciously hidden in the glow of His life perfectly lived and dipped in the blood of the spotless sacrifice. You have been raised up and seated with Him in heavenly places, and the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead now strengthens you. Yet, you are but a vessel, void and without purpose apart from Him. You are not the hope of the world. Discipleship is not about you (or me), it is about Christ in you, the hope of Glory (Col 1.27).

Next up, accountability...

Jesus Made Disciples. We Should, Too...

2010-03-02T11:19:00.007-06:00

The question is, how did He do it? How do we do it?

That has been the subject of some recent conversation around our church and with a few good folks I know. There are some interesting thoughts here, mixed with some light-hearted (or maybe heavy-hearted) satire, from my friend, AlmostM.

I would like to address a few ideas here to see if I can add anything useful to the conversation.

Unfortunately, the idea of discipleship has been muddled into a process, or a Bible study, or a group of some sort in much of the church. I have been a part of many a discipleship or accountability group in the past, and as they have been good and useful for my Biblical understanding, Bible studies do not disciples make. Disciple-makers make disciples. There is a difference. Studying the Bible is certainly a part of disciple-making, but it is not all-encompassing. (Please do not hear me bashing Bible studies, books, etc...I am all for those. I am just not for doing that and calling it discipleship for reasons I will discuss below.)

Jesus called His disciples to Himself. Then He spent a lot of time with them. They lived together (not necessarily in the same house). They ate together. Jesus told them stories and they asked Him questions.They participated in His ministry, and He taught them the truths of the Kingdom. He gave them the tools they needed and freed them to use those tools. He sent them out on mission; then He disciplined them for being too excited about the wrong things having been on mission. He loved them honestly and openly and it shaped who they would become.

Disciples are made when one walks so closely in the shadow of the other that "the dust of the rabbi covers his/her head." This is implicitly relationship and dependency. That is to say that there is implicit in disciple-making, because of the nature of the relationship, one who leads and one who follows in the midst of relationship (the relationship part of that statement is of the utmost importance. Teaching, again is part of disciple-making, but, in my experience- and I think in the experience of the disciples of Jesus in the Gospels, it is the moments when there is no stage or microphone or crowd and only a cup of coffee or a fish sandwich or a problem to be solved between disciple and teacher that the deepest things are shared and learned. It is then that the real questions, the ones that have been disturbing the souls of both can be asked and grappled with; and those are the moments that solidify a disciple in the care of his teacher. He can see that his teacher does not want to just download information, but loves him enough to share his life and the wisdom of experience in ways that lay open the soul, which makes one incredibly vulnerable. That is where truth takes on flesh. That is incarnation. I am getting ahead of myself...)

A disciple by definition is one who follows the teaching of another. There is inherent in that definition both a learning of and adherence to the teaching of the disciple-maker by the disciple. This is what Jesus did and commanded us to do. However, I believe we have confused the role of "accountability partner" with that of disciple-maker, thereby lessening the value of the precious gift that those deeper in their faith have to offer to those with less experience walking with God. The proverbs teach us that wisdom is a gift and that the gift of wisdom is oft denoted by a crown of gray hair gained through a righteous life (16.31). Those of us lacking that crown should seek the wisdom of those who bear it. This is not to say that there cannot be much gained through the same relationship by the one who is leading. A disciple-maker should always be listening to those who are being led by him, for the goal is not to build perpetual students in ministry, but equals in the shared load of the Gospel (Luke 6.39-40). However, there is great importance, Biblically speaking, on the one who is wise leading, lest both end up in a ditch.

So, what is the difference in accountability and discipleship? I will post on that next, but I would love to hear your comments, as well...

Conferences Teach Me Things

2010-02-24T16:07:00.007-06:00

Really, though, they sometimes teach me things I don't expect.

I went to the ChurchPlanters.com conference this week with expectations of learning some things- some specific things. There were some guys there that I expected to say certain things, and they surprised me by saying other things I did not expect. My friend AlmostM posted some great things people said here.

I went to the conference looking for some specifics on how to move our church-in-transition ahead through some trying times, and I was not disappointed. I expected to find it in meetings with popular speakers and breakout sessions with brilliant teachers and practitioners. In some ways, I did. There were several speakers who said things that left me near breathless and one that left me in tears (darn you, Dave Gibbons!). But I found the greatest comfort, healing, and growth hanging out with people and sharing stories- asking questions and listening to answers fraught with joy, pain, excitement, and overwhelming despair. I also was able to share my story with several people who intently and lovingly listened as I droned on and on. And it was so healing.

My friend Sasha was with me, and I believe He heard some things that were life-giving for Him, and it was good to be with him for a couple of days and laugh a lot. We connected with good friends and made some new ones. And we told stories. And laughed. And now I remember that we are in this together. And it is good. They all have good things to say, and I want to point you to some of them now. They have important things to add to the conversation, maybe your conversation:

The Upstream Collective
@theUpstreamC (Twitter)

Larry McCrary
@LarryMcCrary

Caleb Crider
@CalebCrider

Michael Carpenter
@MicCarpenter

AlmostM
@AlmostM

Grady Bauer
@GradyBauer

@SashaRMoore

There will be more to come on things I learned at the conference, but these two things stand out-

1. I am constantly reminded of my need to have people around me who know my story and can speak freely into it. It reminds me that it is a common story and that I should be narrating for others, as well.
2. The people that I can learn from may not look like me, live like me, think like me, like the things I do, etc...I need to constantly be aware of opportunities to be shaped and to shape, as there may also be times that I can add to other people's stories- even when unexpected.

One such instance when some one spoke into me that I did not expect is the one pictured above (that is actually Rick Warren, not a cardboard cut-out). I thought that I wanted to hear Rick Warren speak simply because he is Rick Warren and kind of a big deal. I did not think he could speak into my context and give me direction where I am. I was so wrong. He said things that only people who have been leading/loving churches for 30 years can say with any certainty, and many of them were things I needed to hear. Though he will never read this, I must publicly thank him for speaking into my story, along with many others who did this week.

Dave Gibbons said this of the church yesterday at the conference:
There are many forms of the church, and they are all good. It is not about the forms, but the way the gifts of the leaders and the people combine to build the church.

There are many forms of churches, but one Church. There are many narrators, but one story- His story. Though the church is not perfect, she is beautiful and diverse. May we love her in spite of her flaws and listen to one another and share freely in the story...

Theology is Doxology or it is Nothing at all.

2010-02-18T16:16:00.012-06:00

Theology is Doxology or it is nothing at all.
Ethelbert Stauffer

Doxology- from Greek Doxa, glory and Logos, word or speaking. Literally means "glory-speaking".

Everyone does it. Everyone speaks glory to something. Everyone.

You should eavesdrop. Seriously. Start listening to the conversations around you. You will hear what people praise; what they worship. You will hear the weight they give certain people or things as they speak. It is doxology. And it betrays their theology.

The same is true of us all. Our theology becomes evident in our talk, and even moreso in our activity. What we truly believe about God is evident in our priorities, both in speech and action.

We are undertaking a daunting task within our church right now by teaching theology in our gatherings. We are beginning with the Doctrine of God and will move through the Doctrine of Christ, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, the Cross, the Resurrection, Sin, and finally into Ecclesiology (study of the church- how we do church). We are doing it in that order on purpose, because before we can understand and rightly be God's people on His Mission, we must understand (as well as we can) God, who called us into His Mission.

Our theology will shape our ecclesiology, not the reverse, because our ecclesiology is also doxology. In other words, the way we move as His church is glory-speaking. We give Him glory by living the mission He gave His church. We study theology in order to understand and know God, so that we can rightly give Him the glory He is due.

God forbid that we study Him and only walk away with facts that do nothing to shape and change us. Theology is useless if it is only informational. It is however, life-giving and formational when a solid theology sends us out on mission.

Paul had a deep and well-developed theology (says Captain Understatement) and it led him to one conclusion. Christ is all (Col 3.11). Of all worldly goods, nothing compares to Him (1 Tim 6.6-8). Even all that he once knew and owned was worthless in comparison (Phil 3.7-11). And he would give everything, his life included, for the sake of the One (Phil 1.21).

For Paul, all things were sacred- all things were worship (1 Cor 10.31). His life was doxology, and he was on mission for God's glory.

May we become a people intent on "glory-speak", as well; for having known God, how can we be silent?

Psalm 30

¹I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
²O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
³O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

⁴Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
⁵ For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

⁶As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
⁷By your favor, O LORD,
you made mymountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.

⁸To you, O LORD, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
⁹"What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
¹⁰ Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me!
O LORD, be my helper!"

¹¹You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
¹²that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Breaking the Silence...A New Kind of Community...for Us, Anyway

2010-02-14T17:50:00.007-06:00

It has been a while since I have posted here- a necessary break during a time of great transition. I would like to begin posting again- personal stories, thoughts on the church and her mission- God's Mission, stories of hurt and triumph- the realities of joining God on His mission for His glory.

This post is simple. Our church has changed- is changing. We are learning. And re-learning. All things, all methods are on the table. Everything is up for discussion. Except the Gospel. The Mission is sure. Our focus is becoming ever more clear- our responsibility is the nations. Including our own. Including our own neighborhoods, our city, and our state. But it does not end there. Though we are not sure exactly how that plays out in the end, we have taken a few steps toward that end.

This morning, our family met together for the first time in a new space.

The mission has nothing to do with space, but it has everything to do with stewardship of resources. Last week, we met for the last time in a building where we have met for almost all of the last 10 years. We turned that building over to a wonderful ministry that is serving men and women coming out of the prison system back into society. We praise God for that ministry. In giving them the space, we also freed ourselves from a debt load that has been nearly debilitating to our church family over the past couple of years. Because of it, money (or the lack thereof) has determined much of the ministry we have done. It has determined our ability (or inability, as the case may be) to show tangible love for one another by being sure that none in the church has any need that goes unmet. It has severely limited our abilities to love our neighbors as ourselves, by stewarding our resources and sharing them with those who are poor and hurting. We are free of that load. We have no desire to carry it again.

That brings us back around- this morning we met in a new space. We met in the home of one of the families in our ekklesia. We began putting flesh to a new understanding of Biblical community developing within us. It was strange and new and we tried not to expect too much, though I am not sure why. Either way, my expectations were blown away. Not because it was some smooth, perfectly constructed worship service with all the right elements; but precisely because it wasn't. And it was okay. The people were there. More importantly, God was there with us.

It was a beautiful morning, not because of a space, or sound and video, or a well-put-together sermon, but because the people God has called together as a family chose to let go of those things in favor of something better. This is not a post to bash traditional, institutional church. I am thankful for churches of all types and I pray for more relationships between local expressions of God's family, so that we might accomplish together what we cannot apart. This is just our corporate obedience to God's direction for our family.

Today, we ended our time together with 2 men spontaneously picking up a couple of guitars and leading us in a few songs. As we sang, we passed the bread and wine around the room and served one another. Everyone was able to partake and everyone was able to serve someone. Seems about right...

It is a new kind of community for us- one of which we have often spoken and dreamed, but has always existed just outside our reach. Thankfully, it is now coming into reach, not that we have attained it, but that we have begun to remove barriers that have historically inhibited us.

I am thankful for the opportunity to transition and for people who are continually choosing a different way- a seemingly more difficult way- but what I am sure is the right way for this people.

...He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 1 Tim 6.16

Much more to come...

Missional Leadership- better understood in the Business World than the Church?!

2009-11-13T14:44:00.012-06:00

I have been re-reading a book by a guy named Seth Godin called Tribes. He is a business and marketing guru who writes blogs and books on...(wait for it) business and marketing. However, with several expected exceptions, you might think he is writing to churches about how to shift from consumerism to joining God's mission.

I have been thinking a great deal about leadership within the Church (and it has, of course, been a big part of the consumer/missional conversation). I have really been wrestling with the role of the pastor and how he should spend his time. Of course, one can respond that "prayer, ministry of the Word, and equipping the saints for the work of ministry" are the answers to that question. I would agree, but I am wrestling with how to actually flesh those out within the church. We see it happen over and again in large churches and small alike, when people within the church are taught to do ministry, and even taught that they have been given gifts to accomplish that ministry, but still feel ill-equipped to use those gifts. Even in churches that heavily emphasize that every member has a certain role to fill, the members often end up unable to walk in their gifts and calling. I believe the reason lies with leadership (pastors)- the ones responsible for equipping the saints, and the answer lies in the way people are motivated (equipped) to use those gifts.

Seth Godin has these things to say of tribal leadership:

"...there's a difference between telling people what to do and inciting a movement. The movement happens when people talk to one another, when ideas spread within the community, and most of all, when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing. Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. They establish the foundation for people to make connections..."

Two things are required to create a tribe:
1. A shared interest
2. A way to communicate

4 ways to communicate within the tribe:
1. Leader to tribe
2. Tribe to leader
3. Tribe member to tribe member
4. Tribe member to outsider

A leader can help increase the efectiveness of the tribe and its members by:
1. Transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and a desire for change
2. Providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications
3. Leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members

...a tribe is extraordinarily well-connected, communicating up, down, and sideways, and...have a passionate mission, not just a common idea.

These quotes sound as if he is writing directly to the church and just echoing the commands of Scripture. Isn't that the mission of the church- to create disciples? Not blind followers, but fully invested contributors wholly committed to the Mission of God.

Leaders cannot hoard ministry. Rock star leaders quash the ability of the church to fulfill the mission of God. And I don't want to be one of those. (Let me be clear here, too, this is not a large vs. small church discussion, thought they are related. It is a delineation between leadership styles and connecting people to a common mission while equipping them to join it.) The leader that understands his role builds the passion of the people for the mission of God, teaches them to communicate it through their specific gifting, and releases them to ministry- to serve the church and carry the Gospel to the nations, thereby creating more fully invested disciples. If we do not rightly equip and release people to serve, we are effectively binding the hands and feet of Christ.

There is a guy I have been discipling the past year or so. In the past month, we came to the place where I thought it profitable to begin to look at his spiritual gifting and to equip him specifically to use those gifts (though he has been serving through those gifts for a while unknowingly). Since working through his gifting and talking about how it might flesh out in ministry for him, he has gained confidence and authority in the places of ministry in which he serves and is becoming much more vocal in those avenues. I have pointed to specific avenues through which he can use his gifting now and have released him to do those things (though under my care and direction as he learns to walk in them). He has since expressed a desire to plant a church in his house to reach his neighbors (with which he already has relationships). It has been incredible to watch him experience a new freedom just because he understands what his place is within the church, he feels as though he is being equipped to fill it, and trusted to do it.

Just as amazing, I have shared pieces of his story with a few other guys around me in the church, and each man, having heard the story, has asked the following question:
So, what do you think my gifts are?

Do you see? It is passion and freedom to join the mission of God breeding passion and freedom to join the Mission of God. When people experience people walking in their calling, they are energized and driven to walk more fully in their own. You have experienced it, right? You see someone doing what they do with great vitality and vigor and passion, and your passion is increased, as well.

It seems our tendency in the Church has been one of the extremes- either lead forcefully, with a thumb on everything that happens within the church, micromanaging every decision or give complete freedom to serve with no direction at all. The first method leaves people frustrated because they do not share ownership in the mission and it quashes their ability to use their gifts. The second method leaves people wandering aimlessly and disconnected from the larger mission of the church with no support system at all. Neither is healthy, and neither leads to sustainable mission.

Pastors must take seriously the Biblical mandate to connect people to God's mission, not just conversions, and not for our own glory, in order to create a missional force for the good of the Gospel.

Thank you, Seth, for the reminder.

Developing Churches- Networking Churches Together to Plant Other Churches

2009-11-05T15:55:00.004-06:00

The Downtown Church is part of an incredible network of churches who have joined together for the sole purpose of funding/resourcing church plants and shepherding their leaders called the Developing Churches Network. The network is about 4 years old now and has been consistently funding church plants since its inception. The above picture is a report of the 2009 accomplishments of the network (click to enlarge). There were several coaching sessions this year, including intimate setting with Hal Haller, Ed Stetzer, Matt Keller, and the Upstream Collective. The best thing on the report, however, is that there were 6 church plants funded through the network this year! All of this in the midst of a terrible economy, as well.

There are currently 6 applications on hand with the network for funding next year, so 2010 is shaping up to be a great year, too. There will also be a Georgia chapter of the network starting up in 2010 with plans to expand into more states in the days ahead.

The churches planted are all different makes and models, each one carrying its own DNA. They look and sound different from one another, meet in different types of spaces, and have their own ideas for how to live the Gospel in their own communities. The unifying factor in these churches is the Gospel (an obviously Christo-centric, Biblically and theologically sound Gospel) and a passion for seeing it go to the nations through the chosen vehicle, the Church, the hope of the world.

Here is a little information from the Network's website:

//Here's where we're coming from

3,000 churches close their doors every year. At the same time, in the West, the church does not consistently make an impact that is proportional to her size and strength. Some missions-sending organizations report, too, that the United States is now receiving more missionaries from foreign countries than we are sending.

We believe that the Church is the hope of the world. We believe that the Church is empowered with the living presence of Jesus to become His hands and His feet. We believe that by working together we can multiply churches and multiply impact.

And here is a link to a promotional video for the network.

We are proud to be a part of this network of churches planting churches and look forward to much in the years to come!