Making Jesus "Stuff"

And the more we reproduce him, the more we forget about him......" (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel, pg 108)

Wounded Warriors!

“Anyone God uses significantly is almost always deeply wounded.” (Brennan Manning)

Do We Protect Our Rights In Crisis?

Consider the source. However, I see this dynamic at work in Africa. What do ordinary people do when the law is overwhelmed (it only take 20,000 people) banks close, and food stocks stop circulating. 

We have little comprehension how fragile our security, and food security is, until food transportation, and money is cut off. Within days chaos arrives as survival kicks in,  and our little world changes.

How did this play out in The tsunamis of Asia? Did a state of lawlessness occurs, or did people ban together?

<blockquote>"In a massive social collapse, law and order break down and man’s true nature will be revealed. During this time of chaos, an individual will have rights only as long as he can defend them.... During the years of our lives we have lived in an orderly society, where most people obey the laws and those who do not are dealt with by the police and the justice system. Most criminals are held in check by the threat of force by the police who enforce the law which results in a mostly orderly society. When there is violence to be done, the police handle it......" Following a major social collapse however, the criminal element will be unleashed while the police become overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the collapse coupled with the fact that many of them will be busy defending their own home, property, and family......." (Survivalist Daily)<blockquote>

If you think it sounds alarmist consider what is happening right now in South Sudan.

"As many as 22,000 people from around the world — from France and New Zealand, Ethiopia and South Africa — have found themselves at a camp set up inside a United Nations peacekeeping base just outside the northern city of Malakal. They are bound together by hunger and thirst, fear of the soldiers and rebels fighting outside, and a desire to go somewhere safe.

“We need the humanitarians to take us somewhere to save our lives,” said Hoth Gatkuoth, 27, who had taken shelter in a broken-down white sport utility vehicle before moving into the camp. He said that people had begun to quarrel and that he feared it would get worse if conditions did not improve. “After two days, the people will fight inside the camp,” he said."  Link 

Church Prevents People From Hearing The Gospel?

Interesting article....

Church buildings (as they are called) prevent people hearing the good news about Jesus

"I Believe that the current use (1996) of buildings that are set apart for “church” use is one of the greatest hindrances, in the United Kingdom, to the spread of the good news about Jesus.  These are the reasons for this contention:

(1)Church buildings are “closed” to the community at large.  They are closed physically by being locked but even when unlocked they are closed by virtue of being intimidating to people outside the group.  They are closed because some people feel that only “good” people can go to church and other people feel that only “Christians” can go to church.  There are various consequences of this:
(a)Those on the outside rarely, if ever, hear the good news told to them.  It is possible therefore for whole communities (such as communities composed mainly of adherents to the Hindu and Muslims faiths) to go from cradle to grave without once hearing about God's desire and power to save their souls.
(b)
Those on the inside are in a closeted and relatively secure environment where they will rarely, if ever, be challenged in their purported faith and they will have few reasons to question what it is that they believe.  In turn this means that their mettle is never tested — they never have to defend their faith in a way that would convince a non-Christian.

For the true believer this will hinder their growth.  However it also means that it is possible that somebody who attends church only because of tradition and habit will never be sufficiently awakened that they pass from spiritual death to spiritual life.

(2)The church building is a massive drain on resources — time, money and effort — that could be used in training believers, distributing tracts or helping those in need.  In short those resources are often not being directed to the activities that the bible tells us we should do.
(3)The church building becomes an object of derision and the focus of the attention of outsiders who do not know differently.  The “church roof fund” or its equivalent gives non-Christians the impression that the building is intrinsically important to the Christian faith and that Christians are only interested in raising money.  In fact, the building is not in any way essential to the Christian faith.
(4)The building is often described, by those within as well as those without, as the “house of God”.  This is inaccurate to the point of being blasphemous because it negates the fact that the believer (the follower of Jesus Christ who has been “born again”) is the house of God — the temple of the Holy Spirit.  If Jesus does not live in us then we do not live at all.  If we are not the house of God then we have not been born again and have not entered the kingdom of God.  The good news about Jesus is weakened by denying (or failing to affirm) these very important truths.  The message of good news is further weakened because when a person believes that a physical location is the "house of God" then meeting God becomes a matter of going to that location.  Thus the initiative is apparently with the person.  However, a vital part of the good news message is that it is God who takes the initiative; it is he who travels to find us, not vice-versa.  The distinction is crucial because
(a)the Christian message, (“the gospel” which means “the good news”) would not be good news if we had to get to a God who was outside space and time; it would only be a cruel message of certain destruction.  The whole point of the “good news” is precisely that God takes the initiative and comes looking for us — remember the parables?  Our Jesus is the shepherd looking for the sheep gone astray, the doctor who did not come to applaud good people but who came to heal those of us who are morally and spiritually sick.
(b)
if God is who the bible says he is (i.e. creator) then it is not possible for things to be otherwise.  Every (or almost every?) other faith in the world teaches that the believer must search for God but if God is outside the universe (which as creator he must be) then he cannot be found unless and until he chooses to reveal himself (which he does by entering his own universe in the person of Jesus).  The vitality of the good news message and of the person of Jesus is weakened when the initiative is thought to rest with us — as it is when the building is thought of as the House of God and therefore a place where God can be found.

(5)The church building is (in general) not a place where people meet but only a place where they gather.  True meeting between two people is more than merely occupying the same building at the same time and participating in group activities.  For two people to truly meet one another there has to be a sharing of lives.  This is possible with or without a church building but the focus on the church building tends to discourage it because it is neutral and public ground where most people are on their best behaviour and barriers of etiquette (formal good manners) are erected between them.
(6)The maintenance needs of the church building can encourage unbiblical hierarchies to develop because the church building becomes the special property of the select few who then control what happens within it.  This is not good for the edification of the local Christians.  Additionally, those who end-up with “positions” are not necessarily selected because they match the biblical criteria; in particular the bible requires that they should be of good reputation within the “community”.  This, in turn, implies that they should actually be known in the local community at large and this does not happen because the church building acts as a magnet to draw people out of their local community to whatever church it is that they happen at that moment to feel attracted to.
(7)The church building encourages people to think in terms of numbers and the importance of filling seats.  Growth in quantity becomes more important than growth in faith and fruit.  Large groups coupled with the hierarchical structure mean that spiritual gifts are not developed or encouraged.  Large groups also make “meeting” other believers more difficult because the atmosphere lacks intimacy.  This can be overcome by arranging smaller groups, but then small groups do not need church buildings!
(8)The church building does not encourage people to look outwards from their own group.  It encourages introspection rather than external action.  The activities within the building are not observed by those who do not belong to the group.
(9)The church building encourages the formation of “religion” by allowing people to form habits that are not necessarily edifying but which become an important part of what they consider to be their Christian experience.  These habits might include sitting in particular places, singing particular types of songs, following a particular order of service, ...  Religion is always opposed to the message of good news because salvation depends on having a personal relationship with the God who came to save us but “religion” makes it difficult to form such a relationship.
(10)The activities of the corporate church are perceived, by those on the outside, to be a genuine demonstration of “Christianity”.  The focus of attention is on the “church” rather than on Jesus.  The wonderful Christian message is rejected before it is even heard because the “church” does not meet expectations.  This could be a problem even without church buildings but the organised church has very little identity apart from the buildings and Christians have very little identity apart from the organised church and the buildings.
(11)
Two types of meetings are described in the new testament books and letters:  There are meetings that take place in public places such as the temple courts and the lecture hall of Tyrannus, and there are meetings that take place in peoples' homes.  A public meeting must, by definition, take place where anyone and everyone has unhindered access; it is a meeting that anybody should feel they can attend if they wish.  Since church buildings do not meet this criteria (they are not places that unbelievers would want to come near or feel comfortable to enter), it would be better to admit that they are almost useless for the purposes of public meetings and find some other location that is genuinely open to the whole community.  Meetings in homes are meetings of intimacy and closeness and church buildings are useless for this type of meeting also.

This shows us that church buildings are actually useless for both types of Christian meeting.  To continue to use the buildings for these types of Christian meetings is merely an act of self-deception.

Of course, it need not always have been like this and, in the future, if God turns the hearts of this nation around it may again be different.  In a land where almost everyone knows and believes the Bible texts then church buildings might well be appropriate for both public and intimate meetings.  But we can only deal with the present situation — not what was nor what might be ...

However, some people believe that church-buildings are necessary.  These are the reasons that I have been given and my response.

Reason 1.  In a wet and cold land like Britain it is not practical to meet outdoors.

Response 1:  There may be days when it would be merely foolish to assemble outside but there are other days when it would be delightful.  This reason therefore only applies to some days of the year — not to all — and at the best of times is therefore only a partial reason.  The cold, wet climate of Britain does not bring many other outdoor activities to a complete standstill.  Why should it prevent Christians gathering to encourage one another.  Also, as mentioned in paragraph (11) above, church buildings are actually hopelessly impractical for the purposes of Christian meetings in contemporary Britain.  Meeting out of doors might sometimes be less comfortable than we would like but it would not be any less practical for Christian purposes than the meetings that occur in church buildings because those indoor meetings fail to achieve many (and sometimes all) of their goals anyway.

Reason 2.  Nobody has yet given me a second reason.

Response 2.  ?

Remove The Church Building? Is It Enough?

"There was a time once, when I used to wish that God would overnight remove every church building. Sovereignly and supernaturally. A sort of church building "rapture" if you can imagine it. If that happened, I reasoned, both the world and Christians would have to discover what "church" really is. . Think about it! There would be nowhere to "have church" any more. We would have to BE it instead. We would no longer be able to pass our act of "service" off on to an hour or two's attendance at a religious ritual, and worship could no longer take place in the "sanctuary.... Phew! We might just have a chance to discover what new covenant worship really is! And we could be confronted with the reality of having to find out what "church" really means! It could even mean that ultimately, the world might be faced with the reality of an invisible God in a visible people!..... I've changed my mind. I've realized that would never be enough.

Over the past ten years of being "outside the camp," I have come to learn that there is a process needed which must be far more radical ("to the root").. And far more uncomfortable. You see, its not the things which are outside of us that need to be impacted. It's the things INSIDE of us. And those things go far deeper. They are buried beyond the roots of our traditions and culture in the things which actually CREATE culture and tradition. The desire for identity, the need to belong, the fulfillment of finding a tangible purpose, acceptance from our peers, the comfort of being organized and finding our place - Powerful driving forces! "
(Alan Richardson. To The Church Outside The Camp )

If I Had My Life To Live Over Again, I'd Say To Hell With Grass Stains

“lf I Had My Life to Live Over Again”?

"I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded. I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains. I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. When my child kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now get washed up for dinner." There would have been more I love yous, more I'm sorrys, but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at it and really see it, live it, and never give it back."
(Erma Bombeck, a column entitled “lf I Had My Life to Live Over Again")

Fined For Being Part Of The Problem

I think a lot of us, myself included, churches and church boards should be fined.

"A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who, when he was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of
World War II, was called “the Little Flower" by adoring New Yorkers because he was only five foot four and always wore a Carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the
he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids.

One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom
the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. "It's a bad neighborhood, Your Honor," the man told the mayor. "She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson."

LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said, "I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions—ten dollars or ten days in jail." But
even as he pronounced the sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant."

So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of
bread to feed her starving , fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner. while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.

What an extraordinary moment of grace for everyone present in that courtroom! The grace of God operates at a profound level in the life of a
loving person." (Brennan Manning Ragamuffin Gospel. Pg, 92-93)

You Talk To Much In Nature

"We religious people walk amid the beauty and bounty of nature and We talk nonstop. We miss the panorama of color and sound and smell. We might as well have remained indoors in our closed, artificially lit living rooms. Nature's lessons are lost and the opportunity to be wrapped in silent wonder before the God of creation passes." (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel. Pg, 92)

When Worldly Wonder Ceases

"By and large, our world has lost its sense of wonder. We have grown up. We no longer catch our breath at the sight of a rainbow or the scent of a rose, as we once did. We have grown bigger and everything else smaller, less impressive. We get blasé and worldly-wise and sophisticated. We no longer run our fingers through water, no longer shout at the stars or make faces at the moon." (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel. Pg, 89)

More Wonder

“Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for Wonder, and He gave it to me.” (Rabbi on deathbed)

You Can't Insult Honesty.

"When a man or woman is truly honest (not just working at it) it is virtually impossible to insult them personally. There is nothing there to insult.....Their inner poverty of spirit and rigorous honesty had set them free." (Brenning Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel. Pg 86)

Huffing And Puffing For Piety Is Over?

"Grace means that in the middle of our struggle the referee blows the whistle and announces the end of the game. We are declared winners and sent to the showers. lt’s over for all huffing, puffing piety to earn God’s favor; it’s finished for all sweat-soaked straining to secure self-worth; it’s the end of all competitive scrambling to get ahead of others in the game. Grace means that God is on our side and thus we are victors regardless of how well we have played the game. We might as well head for the showers and the champagne celebration. (Donald McCullough)

Legalistic Religion Can't Trust!

"The tendency in legalistic religion is to mistrust God, to mistrust others, and consequently, to mistrust ourselves." (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel, pg 76)

The Christian Division Of Asleep Or Awake.

"Perhaps the real dichotomy in the Christian community today is not between conservatives and liberals or creationists and evolutionists but between the awake and the asleep." (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel, pg 71)

A Church With No Exit

"Burkhardt writes, "I fear for the lawyer whose only life is corporate tax, the doctor whose whole existence is someone else's prostate, the business executive whose single responsibility is to his stockholders, the athlete who puts all his eggs in an 18-inch basket, the theologian who thinks the world can be saved by theology ..... A closed mind kills marriages and human relations; it deadens feelings and sensitivities; it makes for a church that lives in a thousand and one tunnels, with no communication and no exit." (Quoted by Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel. Pg 65)

Selective Hospitality Only Mirrors Relationships With Ourselves

"An open attitude is like an open door—a welcoming disposition toward the fellow travelers who knock on our door during the middle of a day, the middle of the week, or the middle of a lifetime. Some are dirtballs, grungy, disheveled, and bedraggled. The sophisticated adult within me shudders and is reluctant to offer them hospitality. They may be carrying precious gifts under their shabby rags, but I still prefer clean-shaven Christians who are neatly attired, properly pedigreed, and who affirm my vision, echo my thoughts, stroke me, and make me feel good. Yet my inner child protests, "I want new friends, not old mirrors." (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel. Pg 65)

Good Schemes!

"Dishonesty, deceit, and defiance are everywhere, permeating both those working in the government and the man on the street as well. Stealing is permissible on every level. The misuse of government funds is one of the country’s most serious problems, and though it is talked about everywhere, no one is seriously interested in ending a custom that seems to benefit so many. Elaborate programs are popular because there will be more money to rake off. And in all classes of society there is the dishonesty of making grandiose plans with no intention of carrying them out." (The Barrios Of Manta. Rhoda Brooks. Pg 115)

Almost all Muslims & Christians Live in Peace With Each Other.

"As a result, Christians hid with Muslim families before fleeing south, recalls Oumar Cisse, who used to live in Timbuktu, another northern city seized by militants.....Local people protected the Christians because they had lived peacefully next to each other for decades," Cisse says. "They became friends and in some cases, family......Malians say they must return to their long tradition of religious tolerance and turn their back on militancy. Some planned to do this by celebrating Christmas, which has long been a national day of feasting in Mali, regardless of one's faith."I'm a Christian, but I am part of a group of 20 people who are all friends," says Michel Diarra, 30, of Bamako. "There are only two Christians in the group, and we will gather ... to celebrate Christmas. It's like that every year. I know many Christians who will invite their Muslim friends home.""http://www.dailyworld.com/usatoday/article/4198045

When Scholarship Fails At Connection

My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of God came not from exegetes, theologians, and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in the presence of the living Word and beseeching Him to help me understand with my head and heart His written Word." (Brennan Manning Ragamuffin Gospel)

In my conversations with people, few say they need more information. However, the majority do say they really struggle with a real connection to Jesus despite having all the information.  

Accepting Our Limitations

"We are no longer preoccupied with being powerful or popular. We no longer fear criticism because we accept the reality of our human limitations." (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel, pg 49)

Admitting weaknesses, or having them be found out because we fail to play the required game to hide them, will halt ones advancement in ministry and the church. This is why much about "ministry" is an illusion at best, a lie at worst.  Is there a place for real people there, other than the ones who play their cards close?

Preaching Madness

"Oh God, what madness I have preached in sermons!" (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel, pg 25)

If you knew how often we church leaders look back and say we were mistaken or misguided, you would begin to think, study and learn for yourselves, and rely far less on us to guide you.

An Angel With And Incredible Capacity For Beer

"When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about
feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am
a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side, I learn who I am
and what God’s grace means. As Thomas Merton put it, "A saint is not someone who is good hut who experiences the goodness of
God.” (Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel)

If Our God Is Small-Minded Bookkeeper, Then So Are We

"The bending of the mind by the powers of this world has twisted the
gospel of grace into religious bondage and distorted the image of God
into an eternal, small-minded bookkeeper. The Christian community
resembles a Wall Street exchange of works wherein the elite are
honored and the ordinary ignored. Love is stifled, freedom shackled,
and self-righteousness fastened. The institutional church has become a wounder of the healers rather than a healer of the wounded."(Brennan Manning. Ragamuffin Gospel)

When Rigidity Is Mistaken For Faithfulness.

"And it did what the gospel can’t help but do: It broke the power of mere “moralistic religiosity" in my life and revived a deeper acceptance that had long ago withered in me.
ln our society, we tend to swear unyielding allegiance to a rigid position, confusing that action with finding an authentic connection to a Life-giving Spirit."

(Rich Mullins in forward to "Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning)

Directed Personal Giving

"It is impossible to describe the big difference this direct-line foreign aid made in our work. Imagination and elbow grease can go only so far and then what has been begun may be lost without a little impetus in the form of cash. The American dollar goes a long way in Ecuador and with it some wonderful things can happen: a family able to save the Life of a child, or a carpentry workshop able to buy tools for its students, etc. This is the core of our Peace Corps experience-things happening on a personal level that could never happen through the conventional channels of foreign aid." (Rhoda Brooks. Barrios of Manta. Pg 103.)

The Invisible Humanitarian

Check my new website for Live Stories from Mali, West Africa.

The Invisible Humanitarian 

Christian Sophisticates Always Do Nothing

He has a point. We will argue about your how..... But we still do nothing, stand for nothing.

<blockquote>"This whole thing makes me think it is some kind of reprise of the Chick Fil A uproar. Somebody strayed from the Appointed Way, the homolobby flexed in order to shut up a critic, middle America responded by buying so many metric tons of chicken sandwiches, and then sophisticated Christians sneered at this inadequate and “entirely predictable” and “red statey” response. The same thing has happened in the aftermath of Robertson’s comments. He said what he did, A&E suspended him for it, and more than a million regular folks have signed on to a “Stand With Phil” website. And, here comes the point of this post, Christian sophisticates are critical of . . . you guessed it! But this reminds me of something that D.L. Moody once said — “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”
The contrast must not be between how unsophisticated Christians fight and how sophisticated Christians . . . what do they do? At most, they demur, with a throat-clearing caveat or two. Theologians and ecclesiastical eggheads can make merry over this kind of pop culture melee if they like. The material is there — “look at those rubes, standing against the principalities and powers with their duck calls, zz top beards, and chicken sammich haute cuisine, hold the mayo.”
But the lack of self-awareness in this criticism is staggering. These are shepherds who feed only themselves (Ezek. 34:2). When shepherds have neglected the flock for so long, and the wolves are ravaging them, and the sheep come up with some kind of strategy to defend themselves, and the shepherds sit up on the ridge, laughing at the tactical inadequacy of what the sheep are attempting, what shall we call that?
So what do we need? We don’t need generals. We have that. We need generals who fight. We don’t need leadership councils. We have those. We need national leaders who fight. We don’t need pretty boy preachers. We have those. We need preachers who fight. We don’t need evangelical regiments of pajamaboys. We have that. We need fight, and we need to fight with everything we have — heart, strength, and brains. All in.
Show me your forearms. Unless there are scars all over them, then I honestly don’t want to hear your views of the inadequacy of these cultural clashes (Gal. 6:17). When the barbarians are throwing their scaling ladders against the city walls, if the only defenders at the top of those walls are Chick Fil A employees in paper hats and hot grease from the deep fryer, and rednecks with their beards and shotguns, and nobody at all there from Red Brick Memorial Reformed, Rev. Forsythe P. Snodgrass, D.Min, minister, then let us be frank. We shouldn’t blame the folks who are there.
“His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” (Is. 56:10)."
(Douglas Wilson. Accessed Dec 12, 2013)<blockquote>

Church Still Works When Governments Don't.

"The church is the only institution in the country that operates with continuity when everything else falls into turmoil during a revolution or a coup d'etat.” (Rhoda Brooks. Barrios Of Manta. Peace Corps worker in Ecudar, pg 99 )

Not Now.... Maybe Later

Don't push the maybe, baby!

<blockquote>"The most dangerous risk of all - The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can by yourself the freedom to do it later." (Unknown)<blockquote>

The Common Ground of All Humanity

Changes how we see and treat people, does it not?

<blockquote>"Everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something " (unknown)<blockquote>

Christian Cannibals?

"I’m still in the church, despite lots of scars on my back from the Christian Cannibals out there. I just managed to find a congregation I feel safe with to be me, who are, mostly, not scared of hard questions" (Drew) post comments on a blog post I read somewhere.

Stop Dragging Me To Church!

"Let go or be dragged". (Attributed as Old Buddhist Saying)

I have no idea if this is an actually Buddhist saying or not. I came across it in an article one time.
However, I felt it had some implications for believers as well. Not because it is "Biblical truth". Rather, because practically it seems to make some since sometimes.

So many people really want to connect with Jesus, and they never set out to bash the local church (Prescribed more than described, by church folks), I know I didn't. But, anything but "I accept this, it is so helpful" is not welcome.

People are trying to find Jesus, to connect with him and others in him name. Is it happening for most of you?

Busy as "Old Blazes" in the church system, doing all these great programs and ministries that are suppose to help people grow in Christ, and we have come to believe we NEED them to grow in Christ.

However, in the end we look around, WE who are running all this stuff, and confess, "This is not helping me get closer to Jesus". Then we look around and ask others,"Is it working for you?" and the answer in private is usually, "No!". However, that is not the face put forward on Sunday. If we put on the true self, the true face, that face gets slapped by the church saying, "This Does help.... it's just you."

Let me in on the little underground secret. It's not just you. It's most of us.

Church programs were fun in their own way, and I enjoyed the people I met, but this stuff did not get me closer to Jesus, no closer to people. No! In fact, this had so cluttered my life it hindered the process, the program did the opposite of what it was intended to do. It became another thing, hurtle, obstacle, barrier to me connecting with Jesus. Something else I have to pass through to get to Jesus. We are throwing something else second hand in between us and him.

Then we get it one day. I need him... just Him, and other to walk with, in him.

I do not suggest anyone (Never have - not once) leave their local church, personally.
But I would suggest that you drop everything you are doing until you have space and time for Jesus. Spending more time sitting and thinking about Jesus, and get to understand and sense the reality that he is with me all the time. ALL... OF.....THE... TIME..... :-) There are no sacred places, sacred events, sacred times, sacred buildings, sacred land. All of life is lived under the breath of God, and the reality of his Son Jesus. Life is Sacred. Gardening is sacred, Scripture is sacred, time with believers is sacred, time with non Christians is sacred. It's all lived and experienced under the reality of Jesus.

The best advice I ever received was. "Andy, stop trying to promote it or defend it to people, just live it."

Does it mean we should never talk about our journey into real connection with others and with Jesus?
No, but I recommend that you share it with only those who seek you out. People who are looking for answers for their own journey, and they have seen something in you, so  they seek you out. Speak to only who God puts in your path, not who you have chosen to put in your cross hairs.

I see no need for you to go explain it to your Pastor, the elders, the church structure, or anyone.  All they hear is church bashing. They will not get it, some might, but they can not bless it usually.

• We are your Leaders... we have not lead you to this where is this coming from?... Issues
• Serve More, Attend this Group, It will Help..... I gets in my way, so I'm going to step back.... Issues
• We are growing this church........ I may need to step out for a while ...... Issues
• Why is participation in events decreasing? You need  these to grow child...... They exhaust me more than they help........ Issues.
• This is the churches and Leaders vision..... It's not my vision.......... Issues.
• We are the Spiritual Leaders....... Why are you telling people about your simple path?....... They asked me..... Issues..
• Why Are You Supporting the direction of the church?....... I Personally can't do that, But I'm Being silent about it...... Issues.

My experience is that when you talk about what you are running to..... you have to begin with the starting line.

"I left my old life, and moved into this Cabin on this mountain in the Canadian Yukon".

Means something different for the guy who then points saying, See that cabin over there on the other side of the valley? That is my mom and dad over there, I grew up there as the son of a mountain man, and felt it was time to build my own cabin.

Very different than the man who says, "I lived in Florida, got tired of the city life, traffic jams, an the heat. I had a small business but grew weary of the stresses of business, finances, Long hours doing something that did not satisfy me. I was never home, My wife cheated on me eventually. My daughter had to be treated for depression. I remarried and it was ok, but the rat race of that Florida life was the problem. I knew I needed to simplify my life, so I came here to begin a new life. I built this cabin and have been here since.

Every testimony I ever heard at church. "Life was bad, I was bad, Jesus broke through, got me to the good place.......... I've been in Church ever since."    And we say...... Amen!

Continuing testimony,

"You brought me into this church body, I liked the people, they are all good people. But after a few years I was sinking in over my head being busy serving in the programs, I was not home for my family, I was out 3 or 4 nights a week with church stuff. I had absolutely no time to make any nonchristain friends to evangelize, I was tired, I was feeling stressed, I was not growing in Jesus. Had not tie to read my bible, I was never home. Had not time to pray as I was at all the events. So to help me grow, I attended more and more discipleship programs and bible studies designed to help me.... Nothing seemed to help. I was sinking brothers and sisters. Then I realized, I don't need to fill my life with all this stuff to Grow in Jesus, I need time with Jesus, to grow in Jesus. So I stripped most of it away."

 Can I hear and Amen Brother! Nope!

"Let go, or be dragged?  I think it goes both ways for the Church Institution.

1. I have to let go of you:  Or I could be a burden to you doing church that way. Out of love I try to stay with you, but because I have simplified my life, I no longer go that speed, I'm like a dead weight to you, and you find me frustrating.

2. You have to let go of me:   I feel it's time to go, but you won't let me go. You keep your hands on me, dragging me back, dragging me away from this silly new path, Draggin me back to this kind of church experience. By doing so you only further damage my body and soul, being dragged hurts me.

I'm Questioning Humanity - Not God.

"I have never questioned my faith in God, I have questioned my faith in humanity" (Priests comments to BBC's Mark Mardell over Newtown killings

Time To Sit And Visit People

"More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence.
Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress.
But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn't be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them."
(Henri Nouwen)

Legitimate Grief Over Church

"Christian culture doesn’t have a category for grief and anger at wrongs done in God’s name. They see it all as cynicism." (Jim Palmer).

I've treated people this way..... Sorry! Sometimes people have been hurt and we focus more on their need to accept it, and get over it, quickly. We do not permit them time to recover from wounds. Wound them more by suggesting they should get over it fast or they are sinning.  All the while we do little to address or acknowledge the causing factors.

Typical Church People Response to Organic or Simple Church Ideas

I'd have to say that this about summarizes it very well. 

"When Nicole and I started down the road of beginning an organic church..... we knew in our earliest of conversations with people that the greatest “persecution” we would face would be from those we loved most. From other believers, friends, even family....The reason Nicole asked me to write this was due to my sadness, confusion even, in reading some of the comments she’s received the past few weeks when writing about organic church. They are the same types of remarks we have become accustomed to hearing firsthand. Things like…
- Are you just a group of people who are disenfranchised with the church?
- You clearly have a problem with authority.
- What did the church do wrong to you?
- That’s not church.
http://www.churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-

Get Out of Your Mind?

"Get out of your head and live your life.... Be careful of a spiritual life that is mostly mental – accumulating more and more information and knowledge, conceptualizing new and improved concepts, analyzing and debating this or that idea, latching on to the latest and greatest spiritual guru. (Jim Palmer)

Neil Cole's Letter About Starling Initiatives

MISSIONS IS BROKEN AND NEEDS TO CHANGE 
Missions is broken and needs to change
As I have traveled all over the world equipping the church to do mission I have discovered that the way missions has been done for the past 100+ years is broken.
For two decades we helped to get the missional church on track but we found the avenues for international missions were not suitable for this new breed of kingdom minded missionaries. There was a breakdown in the mission. Those trained in organic church struggled in suffocating organizational structures. At the same time, the mission organizations that have been in place were often threatened by the emerging new forms of church and leadership and were also incapable of initiating works with this new paradigm. In fact, their livelihood depended upon them not understanding and accepting the new paradigm.
In just ten years time (ca 47-57 AD) the apostle Paul was able to establish a thriving expression of the kingdom of God in five different provinces of the Roman Empire: Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia, Asia Minor and Illyricum. After that he had nothing more to do there and was off to other places further west. Today we do not see even one people group reached in the same amount of time. We have air travel, mobile phones, the internet, rapid transit, computers, Bible aids, mass communication and a an abundance of publications, none of which was available to Paul. At the same time, we also have the same God, the same empowering presence of the Holy Spirit and the same powerful good news that he had. Nevertheless we are struggling to see even a fraction of the fruitfulness he saw and it is taking us a whole lot longer for what little fruit we see. Surely we are doing something wrong.
I am convinced that we can save billions of dollars and accomplish 10 times the results if we have the courage to do missions differently. Mission agency dysfunction has been a well-known secret that can no longer be denied or contained, yet is unpopular to speak about. We are sending too many people, the wrong kind of people, who are staying too long, costing too much, and not leaving behind a healthy, well-rounded and indigenous movement that is strong enough to endure let alone send missionaries to other places. This must change. The past 20 years God called me to give mission back to the church. Now God is calling me to bring the healthy church back into missions.
We simply cannot expect current mission agencies to correct a problem that they are contributing to and not designed to fix...and one that they actually benefit from maintaining. More of the same will only produce more of the same. So I, and a few others, feel called to start something new, something more organic, movemental and indigenously empowering. And we need to start something that does not produce a dependence upon US dollars, leadership and models of ministry. This is why we are starting Starling Initiatives.

A Good Head, Heart, And Pen is Mighty

“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.” (Nelson Mandela)

Church is Big Business. The Power of the Evangelical Machine

Why would we air the dirty Laundry of the church? Because dirty Laundry needs to be washed, not pushed under the bed. Period! The church is a hush it up environment.  Those to voice the concern are LAMBASTED....... When something can not be corrected, and error can not be acknowledged and discussed, that thing has been corrupted.

When I first read that staff members before being hired at Mars Hill Church must sign a "Non Disclosure: Agreement to be hired, and are threatened to be sued - if they reveal things about their job, the church or the staff environment or the nature of their dismissal.  Bottom line there is one Head of the wolf pack, and anyone who does not do as told, is eliminated. And when you are eliminated "Shut the Hell up".

These underlined words below do not surprise me. I am in no way speaking about Mark Driscoll.... However, I think his predicament, and the reaction of those involved to to it, show us how the machine works. The church Institution always wins. I mean... no matter how corrupt, or twisted the institution becomes, it preserves itself.  The machine will crush, question, malign, and destroy you simply because you dared to ask ,Why?  Power baby.... don't question mine.  This is what I am running from.

Over the Mark Driscoll Plagiarism conflict

"I was a part-time, topic producer for Janet Mefferd until yesterday when I resigned over this situation. All I can share is that there is an evangelical celebrity machine that is more powerful than anyone realizes. You may not go up against the machine. That is all. Mark Driscoll clearly plagiarized and those who could have underscored the seriousness of it and demanded accountability did not. That is the reality of the evangelical industrial complex........I’ve read much speculation online, which is understandable given the confusing situation, most of it dead wrong. Being limited in what I can share, let me just say that truth tellers face multiple pressure sources these days. I hosted a radio show for 23 years and know from experience how Big Publishing protects its celebrities. Anything but fawning adulation for those who come on your show (a gift of free air time for the author/publisher by the way) is not taken well. Like Dr. Carl Trueman so aptly asked yesterday in his column at Reformation 21, does honest journalism have any role to play in evangelicalism now? (It was rhetorical.) My own take on that question is, no, it does not. The moment hard questions are asked, the negative focus goes on the questioner, - See more at: See more at: http://jonathanmerritt.religionnews.com/2013/12/06/mefferd-producer-resigns-driscoll-controversy/#sthash.J6DOvfin.dpuf"

Deathbed Regrets.....?

A point well taken. 

People continually post these posts about the only thing you regret on your deathbed being what you did not do. As in, you should have done a lot of stupid shit and taken a bunch of risks that, I dunno, could have gotten you eaten by a bear or impregnated by a stripper or dead leaping out of a plane.
I think those people are full of shit......
Most of the things I regret in my life are things I did that were unwise or in some way cost or injured me.......
There are things you do not do in this life because of a sense of overbearing caution or fear. Sometimes that overbearing caution or fear is justified. Like, you know, don’t shake hands with the Grizzly. He is not a cartoon. He will rip your arm off, watch you bleed out, and then floss his teeth with your tendons while he eats your liver.
But that is a bit extreme.
Sometimes you do not do something because you are living in a brain box of your own making that is cauterizing your life and cutting you off from any opportunity.
And sometimes it is maybe hard to tell the difference.
I think maybe that is who that statement, “You’ll regret what you did not do more than what you did do,” is meant for. (Celluloid Blonde - Regret whut?)

A Translator Goes To Heaven..............

A sad Day.....  A translator killed in Central African Republic.  A heavy heart of prayer goes up for this family.

The words of an ancient father of faith comes to mind.

"....the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church....... The more you mow us down, the more numerous we grow; the blood of Christians is seed." - Tertullian

http://www.wycliffe.ca/wycliffe/newsroom/release.jsp?uuid=57fe0a84db

Mandela Made A Marriage Possible

At the news of Nelson Mandela's death, my friend Catherine Robar, originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and now living and working in South Africa with her South African husband, wrote today, December 5th 2013)

"Without these sacrifices Gcinisizwe would have been jailed or murdered for being found in the presence of white people, and I would have been deported back to Canada for fraternizing with black people. Thank you for sacrificing your life for our freedom."

Nelson Mandela Dies But Not His Words.

"No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his
background, or his religion. People must learn to hate,and if they can learn to hate,they can be taught to love for love comes more naturally the human heart than its
opposite." (Nelson Mandela)

Calvinists probably doubt it. But I don't. I've seen it everywhere, and in many a remote place

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in such a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." (Nelson Mandela)

No More Shame........

"I grew up going to church and though church can be beautiful, I’ve noticed religious communities are especially adept at getting people to carry buckets of guilt and shame around. After the horse experience, I decided to leave the guilt and shame with the church and walk off with Jesus."(Donald Miller Does Attending Church Mean You Must Carry “Buckets of Shame?” Dec 2, 2013)

Full Article here

Bastions Of Democracy

"The elections have one great benefit for Hotel Djenne Djenno: the International Election Observers  are staying at the hotel and eating here too.  There are two nice young European men staying: one Hungarian and one Romanian, sent here by the European Union.  And then there are two Africans: one from Liberia and one from Sierra Leone.  Keita  giggled about this: ‘ Those two  great bastions of Democracy and Human Rights are overseeing our elections!’ Malians, inspite of their two year crisis, still feel that they lie well over the West African average when it comes to progress, civilization  and democracy" (djenneDjenno.blogspot com)

Don't Criticize The Church Just Accept The Pain And Abuse As Good For You

"Expressions of sharp and even violent criticism of religion and the church have been welcomed [in this collection], for they usually imply sincerity of thought. If caustic criticism of religious institutions and practices is irreligious, then Amos, Isaiah, and Jesus were very it religious men. In fact, that is exactly what many of their contemporaries took them to be."
(Halford E. Luccock (1885-1960) & Frances Brentano, The Questing Spirit)

The Church That Doesn't Change Me.

Like..... da!..... That dirty little secret we can't talk about.... Church attendance does not actually help grow many people.
Jesus has this job......

"More and more researchis disclosing something the Christian churchwould rather deny. Church activity does not
necessarily result in spiritual growth.
We do a lot of good things, but we aren't doinga very good job carrying out our core mission,which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

After five years studying 1200 churches andexamining the results of 280,000 in-depthresponses, Willow Creek's seminal "RevealStudy" concluded, "Church activity IS NOT ablueprint for spiritual growth." In fact, theydiscovered that the longer someone attendschurch without significant spiritual growth theless likely they are to ever experiencesignificant spiritual transformation."

Save The Worlds Dishes

"Everybody wants to save the earth;nobody wants to help Mom with the dishes." (P. J. O'Rourke)

Knowing.... In The Real Sense

"We live in an age where we know
about a lot of things, but we don't really know them"
(Richard Louv. Last Child In The Woods)

"Nouny" Community Is For Me

"One of the missiological 'misses' of our day is the use of the term 'community' as an adjective, and not as a noun." (Pathfinders Fellowships)

Religious Shaping

Winston Churchill remarked that "we shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."

What If Church Fundraising Just Disappeared?

"One of the greatest challenges which the organic church movement comes up against in the West, is the refined, efficient and effective culture of fundraising which is so often associated with full time ministry / church leadership ... clergy roles. As one who excelled in these in the past, it has taken me years to reframe the legitimate (and limited) role these truly have in the big picture." (Pathfinders Fellowships Canada FB Page)

The Diabolical Self

"If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and backbiting; the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither."
Clive Lewis

Thy Kingdom Came.....

Nowhere in the New Testament are we told to "build the Kingdom." It is already built "from the foundation of the world," built into the nature of reality. You "see," "enter," "proclaim," "suffer for" the Kingdom, but never "build" it. For the
Kingdom is not a relativism to be built, but an absolute to be accepted, submitted to, obeyed. (E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), The Christ of the American Road)

A Sharing Poverty

"Although by our standards these were among the poorest people in the world, each of them would give free fish to those families most in need. Many centuries ago these people learned to share in both good and bad times; it is now their heritage.” (living Poor PCS )

Belonging to God Is Our Identity

"Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion." (Brennan Manning, 1934-2013 from Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging)

Things We Take and The Things We Leave Behind.

Describes the life of international workers well.

"Their’s will be a story of what they gain, and what they lose. Their’s will be a tale of the things they take with them, and the things they leave behind. Their’s will be a song that sings the names of the places they belong, and the places they never will.

And I feel like all I write is about how things are hard but good, but this is the experience that is constant: that nothing is constant. It is the tension of this fluid life."
Loss. Belonging.

"THERE ARE FAR, FAR BETTER THINGS AHEAD THAN ANY WE LEAVE BEHIND."
(C.S. LEWIS)

I Prefer A Bruised Church

Amen Pope Francis from a non Catholic....

“I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security,” the Pope said in a major new statement.

Neither Do I Pope Francis

“I do not want a Church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures,” (Pope Francis 2013)

Change Us Then Let Us Change The World

"The secret of Christian quietness is not indifference, but the knowledge that God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, and worry becomes an impossibility.
It is not so true that "prayer changes things" as that prayer changes us, and then we change things. Consequently we must not ask God to do what he has created us to do. For instance, Jesus Christ is not a social reformer, He came to alter us first, and if there is any social reform to be done on earth, we must do it. God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of redemption alters the way we look at things. Prayer is not altering things externally, but working wonders within our disposition." - Oswald Chambers 2 Corinthians 5:17

Church is....... According to Emil Brunner

"The ekklesia (church) in the New Testament is a communion of persons and nothing else."
(Emil Brunner, The Misunderstanding of the Church. 1952)

Adjusting To New Culture And Simple Living Situation.

"When I seriously thought about what I was going to do in this unrewarding spot for eighteen more months, it sent me spinning into a real depression. I locked myself in my room for three days and read Ian Fleming novels and drank about five gallons of coffee. In the afternoons when the little kids knocked at the door, I held my breath until they went away. I had thought that I could move into a completely different culture and, if not love it, at least accept it enough that I could do the job I had been trained for. It came as an ego-shriveling shock to discover after the first month that I wasn't doing much of anything but reacting naively and emotionally to the poverty around me. Then little by little I began, however superficially, to become involved with the life of the town."(Living Poor. A Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 35-36)

Twinkle In Worship...................

"Similarly, if we resort to techniques in our churches - or once we resort to them - it is very hard to get rid of them. Worship gimmicks create superficial Christians. Once we condition our congregation to Twinkles in worship, it is hard to help people appreciate good vegetables.12 As spiritual leaders, we must be constantly on the alert against methods, gimmicks, marketing strategies."

(The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call.  by Marva J. Dawn, Peter Santucci, Eugene H. Peterson)

Drinks Only Beer - No Water

"He never drinks water, you know, only beer, about a case a day. Imagine being so rich that you don't have to drink water." (Ecuadorian Alexandro's observation about a balsa mill "gringo" owner, who was a good man.

When A Church Building Kills Mission To Muslims

”A physical church building is not important and is sometimes a liability
more than an asset because anyone who enters it will be branded as an
apostate from Islam. There is no such negative stigma against joining a church meeting in someone's home. Newcomers, seekers, those not so
strong in their faith can more easily attend a meeting in a home without
facing the wrath of their community." (SIM Now Magazine. Pg 8. October 2013)

Love Everyone Mr Rogers

"Frankly, there isn't anyone you couldn't learn to love once you've heard their story." 
(Social worker quote carried in Mr. Rogers' wallet; shared by Andrew Stanton, PIXAR director of Toy Story WALL-E, in TED Talk The Clues to a Great Story.)

It's Always Your Fault

According to any institution.

"Christian culture has no category for anger at harm done in God’s name. They label it all as cynicism rather than the first step to healing” (Stephanie Drury)

C. S. Lewis Did Not Like Church

C. S. Lewis wrote in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy,

Here is what he wrote:

"The idea of churchmanship was to be wholly unattractive. I was not in the least anticlerical, but I was deeply antiecclesiastical.
…But though I liked clergymen as I liked bears, I had as little wish to be in the Church as in the zoo.
It was, to begin with, a kind of collective; a wearisome “get-together” affair. I couldn’t yet see how a concern of that sort should have anything to do with one’s spiritual life. To me, religion ought to have been a matter of good men praying alone and meeting by twos and threes to talk of spiritual matters.
And then the fussy, time-wasting botheration of it all! The bells, the crowds, the umbrellas, the notices, the bustle, the perpetual arranging and organizing. Hymns were (and are) extremely disagreeable to me. Of all musical instruments I liked (and like) the organ least. I have, too, a sort of spiritual gaucherie which makes me unapt to participate in any rite."

God Gets Lonely When God Has No One To Walk With in the Dew of the Day.

If this is true..... It is the most hopeful, powerful, encouraging, and enriching message behind the scripture accounts. Makes the Cross make sense.

"Why did God create us? There is only one answer: for relationships. God
decided not to have a life of God's own but to share the divine life with us.
God gets lonely when God has no one to walk with in the dew of the day. This
is one of the greatest self-disclosures in all of history. Amazing, vulnerable,
divine self-disclosure. God created us for companionship."

(Leonard Sweet. What Matters Most. Pg 16)

Decisions For Beauty

"I came to a decision. Whatever anyone said they believed, including myself, if it didn’t produce love, freedom and beauty, I didn’t want to have anything to do with it." (Jim Palmer. On Being Off The Grid of Christendom.)

"I found that most people don’t really want to know the truth. There are plenty of people who want to know the truth on their terms or require that the truth be contained within certain boundaries of comfort. But truth can never be known this way. You have to seek truth from a place of not knowing, and that can be a very threatening place because we think we already know the truth or we are afraid of what the truth might be."

Women Can Not...........?

"When I Googled “women cannot,” the popular searches (each search page has eight of the most popular searches for each term towards the bottom of the page) include “be priests, speak in church, teach the Bible, be pastors.” In this search, 50 percent of the issues mentioned were church related. In contrast, the corresponding search for “men cannot” had only one that is church related–man cannot live on bread alone;  that is hardly gender specific." (Felicity Dale)

Popular Google Search Terms to Show How the World Really Feels About Women
A campaign from UN Women places popular search terms about women in front of portraits

A  cartoon sketch about women and church by the NakedPastor, David Hayward.... What do we do with women

12 Symptoms of Spiritual Awakening

12 Symptoms of Spiritual Awakening
1. An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
2. Frequent attacks of smiling.
3. Feelings of being connected with others and nature.
4. Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experience.
6. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
7. A loss of ability to worry.
8. A loss of interest in conflict.
9. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
10. A loss of interest in judging others.
11. A loss of interest in judging self.
12. Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything.

Go Ahead - Criticize The Church

Expressions of sharp and even violent criticism of religion and the church have been welcomed [in this collection], for they usually imply sincerity of thought. If caustic criticism of religious institutions and practices is irreligious, then Amos, Isaiah, and Jesus were very irreligious men. In fact, that is exactly what many of their contemporaries took them to be.
(Halford E. Luccock (1885 1960) & Frances Brentano, The Questing Spirit.)

Truest Friends Are Few

"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away." (George Eliot)

I Found A Bigger God

"Aslan says to Lucy, "Every year
that you grow, you will find me
bigger."  (In C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian.)

Distorted Pastoral Power

"If your Christianity depends upon a pastor’s preaching, then you’re along way from being where you should be." (AW Tozer)

Immensely true......

When Church Organization Takes All Your Time

"The Church ceases to be a spiritual society when it is on the look-out for the development of its own organization." (Oswald Chambers)

A Good Religious Experience Market

"There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness."  (Eugene Peterson)

God Bless You With Anger At Injustice

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
- Franciscan Benediction

The Kingdom is Already Built. So You Don't Have To.

This just blew me away.....theologically and practically. A good reminder of my actual position in things.

"Nowhere in the New Testament are we told to "build the Kingdom." lt is already built "from the foundation of the world," built into the nature of reality. You "see," "enter," "proclaim," "suffer for the Kingdom, but never "build" it. For the Kingdom is not a relativism to be built, but an absolute to be accepted, submitted to, obeyed."
(E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), The Christ of the American Road)

"

multiplication of man's machinery and the diminution of God's power

"We live in a day characterized by the
multiplication of man's machinery and the
diminution of God's power. The great cry of our day is work, work, work, new organizations, new methods, new machinery; the great need of our
day is prayer. It was a master stroke of the devil when he got the church so generally to lay aside this mighty weapon of prayer. The devil is perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations, and deftly contrive machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ if it will only give up praying."
R. A. Torrey (1856-1928), How to Pray

multiplication of man's machinery and the diminution of God's power

"We live in a day characterized by the
multiplication of man's machinery and the
diminution of God's power. The great cry of our day is work, work, work, new organizations, new methods, new machinery; the great need of our
day is prayer. It was a master stroke of the devil when he got the church so generally to lay aside this mighty weapon of prayer. The devil is perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations, and deftly contrive machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ if it will only give up praying."
R. A. Torrey (1856-1928), How to Pray

School Destroys Some Kids For No Reason

"But what hit me hardest was this. One boy stood out: he had remarkable powers of observation and intuition. When I mentioned this to his teacher, her reply astonished me: “I must tell him. It’s not something he will have heard before.” When a child as bright and engaged as this is struggling at school, the problem lies not with the child but with the education system. We foster and reward a narrow set of skills." (George Monbiot. Rewild The Child)

We Are Church Members. Some Just Can't See It.

"Are we all members of one Body? Yes. Does every member need every other member? Of course.

And that is exactly why so many millions of people are leaving institutional Christianity. It is not because they don’t want to be members of Christ’s church, but because they are members of Christ’s church, the Body, and have found that Jesus wants them to serve the Body and love the world in ways that waste less time and money." (Jeremy Myers. I Am A Church Member (but Thom Rainer doesn’t get it))

"Here are Rainer’s six recommended commitments (summarized and reworded for this review):

I will devote as much time and energy to my local church as possible, because if I don’t, I am letting Jesus down.
Nobody is perfect. Not even my pastor. So I won’t talk or think negatively about him in any way, or challenge anything he says or does, because doing so would damage the gospel.
Church isn’t about me. Even if I don’t like the music, can’t stand the preaching, there’s nothing for my kids, and I think the church is wasting my time and money, I will still attend faithfully.
No matter what, I will support my pastor and pray for him every single day.
I will bring my entire family to church with me, because the future of my family, the church, and the entire world depend on it.
I love being a member of this church, and I never, ever, want to stop being a member. It’s the best! I promise. It’s a gift from God.
Yes, yes, my summaries are a bit snarky. But if you read Thom’s book, you will see that my summaries are not that far off from what he actually wrote. I am using satire to point out how guilt-laden and performance-driven these commitments are.

Why do I feel so strongly about this? Because I am tired of church leaders with expensive church buildings and bloated church budgets trying to shore up their ineffective church programs by demanding further sacrifice and greater commitments from tired and weary church members. What ever happened to “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”?

While there may be some people are leaving institutional Christianity because they are rebelling against God or forsaking Jesus, the vast majority are leaving so that they can better follow Jesus into the world. Isn’t this something to be praised and encouraged?"

Why Our Life Is Like This.

When our lives aren't what we long for them to be, we often fall into blaming someone else. At first glance all of our problems appear to be because we didn't get something—or someone—we wanted. It often takes years of life chipping away at us before we’re willing to peek inside ourselves for the source of our discontent" (Kimberly L. Smith)

Getting Rid Of The Life We Planned For A New Ecosystem

Choices exclude other possibilities, and in life we have to understand this, or we will never be happy. The path we have chosen means we get to share in the enlightenment, joy, or sorrows following that path brings. We get to experience, enjoy, or despise the kind of people and relationships that are nurtured among people who choose this same path. It also means we cannot experience or benefits or struggles this other path and people share. How's your path working for ya? You can always change routes, but you can't have both. "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us ."(Joseph Campbell. Reflections on the art of living. 1991. Pg 18)

"Whether it is the character you show or the persona you project, the individual is part of an ecosystem or group., integrated into a community or group. And almost by definition, being fully integrated into one ecosystem means pulling away from another-following something or someone means not following something or someone else." ( Leonard Sweet. I Am A Follower. Pg, 217)

The First Step Is To Leave.... Just Go!

For all the longing, crying, and whining, about a new journey, vision, or direction. The first step is always the one that trips most people up..... you've got to leave the old first. If you stay, you will tweak what you have, you will never venture out to  new reality. This my friends is what separates the crowd. Most never leave the familiar to risk encountering the unfamiliar. I was there for a few years and then went. Returned "home" and it became a prison to my mind, soul, and body. I had to leave once again to stay alive. But this time the leaving is divided between six months here and there.  Read this Quote, he hit a studio point.

"The very first sign of a potential hero's journey is that he or she must leave home, the familiar, which is something that may not always occur to someone in the first half of life. (In fact, many people have not left home by their thirties today, and most never leave the familiar at all!) If you have spent many years building your particular tower of success and self-importance —your personal "salvation project" as Thomas Merton called it—or have successfully constructed your own superior ethnic group, religion, or "house" you won't want to leave it. (Now that many people have second, third, and fourth houses, it makes me wonder how they can ever leave home.)

Once you can get "out of the house" your "castle" and comfort zone, much of the journey has a life—and death—of its own. The crucial thing is to get out and about, and into the real and bigger issues.

In fact, this was the basic plotline of the founding myth that created the three monotheistic religions, with Yahweh's words to Abraham and Sarah: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's house, for the new land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1), We seem to have an amazing capacity for missing the major point—and our own necessary starting point along with it. We have rather totally turned around our very founding myth! No wonder religion is in trouble."
(Richard Rohr. Falling Upward)

The Worst Disease is........... Acording to Mother Teresa......

"Mother Teresa once was asked about the worst disease she had ever seen. Was it leprosy or smallpox? Was it AIDS or Alzheimer's? No, she said, the worst disease I've ever seen is loneliness." (What Matters most. Leonard Sweet. pg 20)

By My First Pair Of Shoes....

"That night Ramon came by the house and apologized for the long doubts he had had about me. "I want to get started right away on the new chicken house," he said. "I'd like to buy forty-three of the new chickens to make an even fifty, and then after the corn is planted, build another chicken house. By June, God willing, I will have one hundred chickens. You know what I'm going to buy when I am rich?" he said, beginning to laugh with delight at the idea. "A pair of shoes. Oh, my God. My God."
(Living Poor. A Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 83)

Impatience With Religious Games

WORD

"The first indication of spiritual health is your impatience with religious games Accepting church politics, empty routines,
meaningless repetitions, and other vacuous practices does not make you a saint; it makes you a robot, The point of the Christian faith is not to be a good church member; it’s to be a transformed child of God whose mission is to bless God and other people in ways that change human history." (Maximum Faith. George Barna)

Dressing Scandalously

"His beautiful old mother, the Senora Pancha, stopped me on the beach one day. She needed a sewing machine, one with a pedal. Would I please bring it to her the next time I went to Quito? "No." I told her. "I don't have that much money: it's impossible."
"When it comes," she said, "I'll patch your clothes; the way you walk around is scandalous."
(Moritz Thomsen. Living Poor. Pg 130)

Who Would Simply Help For No Payback?

"Wai could never understand what the Peace Corps was all about. It went against everything he had learned about life;there was something preposterous, something dangerous, about a rich white man living in his town and talking about working with him, helping him make more money—for nothing. He knew that there were strings attached, that he would end up compromised, his integrity flawed. No, no, no. No thanks.......
Later in  that same month Wai  came to my house on a Saturday night. He had been drinking a little, which was about the only way he could ever talk to me easily. He began to thank me for the rice, but he choked up, stopped talking, and suddenly burst into tears. When he could speak again, he told me that I was the only one in town who had helped him and that I was his friend forever. For a dollar's worth of rice and beans, I figured it was the biggest bargain of my life. He told me that he had talked everything over with his wife and his mother, and they had decided that there would be no danger in working with me. "The truth is," Wai said, "you were like a god out of heaven to us." Since I was already secretly convinced that Wai was some primitive deity, it turned into a real confrontation of the gods.
(Moritz Thomsen. Living Poor. Pg 128, 129)

"A Few"... Means Different Things In Different Cultures

"I think it was at this meeting that I asked a farmer if he would bring me a few bananas next time he came to town. He would be enchanted, he told me, and the next day he appeared in the street below my room leading a horse almost crushed beneath at least two hundred pounds of bananas, for which he charged me twenty-five cents. I hung them up on the porch, and the kids used to steal them and bring some of them to me as presents.
(Living Poor. A Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 55-56)

We Need More Lousy Followers.... Courage To Step Out!

When you begin to think outside the box, you often become some other "leaders" lousy follower. This usually costs something"
(Andy Rayner)

There are so many books on leadership today and yet, the New Testament never once uses the word leader. (I will continue to point this out for years to come)

We have a great fear of bringing people to Jesus and leaving them there with him.  We seem to act as if we have this great doubt that our indwelling Jesus can show people what to do, how to serve, or how to live.

We have this visceral need to get up in front if them to show them how it's done, as leaders. How's that working for us?  Under this new leadership ethos, the last 25 years has seen pew sitter activity reduced from 20% doing the work, to 10% doing the work (but they are more highly professional).

Let's put it back on the followers, and teach them how to think, listen, hear his voice, and get direction for themselves ("my sheep know my voice"- I can assure you few do.... Few even know what that means, understands how that looks, or how it's even possible- most get visions of some crazy, hippy, wing nut, loose cannon, kind of person )

We often substitute His direction, for the voice of a man with his own vision.
My sheep know my voice? (Ask your church buddies if they experience this living reality)

I'm not saying that what leaders point us to is wrong. What I'm asking is if leaders should be doing that much pointing to "things" anyway. They should be sending us to Jesus to get orders. 

A leader always points us to Jesus, every time. Not to some "thing" Jesus might want us to do, but to Jesus himself, period.

Yes, being that kind of follower of Jesus, makes us some other leaders lousy follower.

However, as for myself, I want more lousy followers, of me.

 AJ  (Somewhere in Islamic North West Africa)

They Don't Know They Are Beautiful

"I am singing about all my relatives and friends living in the countryside in Mali and in Africa," Rikia Traoré says in the song "Sarama." "These women are simply amazing, because when I feel tired I imagine them in their life of every day. They never show that they are tired. They are like iron women: all the time working, but working and smiling and taking care of everything with nothing to support them.

"The amazing thing," she adds, "is that when I go back to my parents' village ... all these people telling me that they are impressed by me, it really makes me cry because they cannot imagine how beautiful they are in the middle of this very difficult life."
(Interview with Rokia Traoré. Sept 2013). Internationally famous singer from Mali)

Africa Us More Than Sickness And War

"But honestly, I mainly go to Africa because I like it. Africa isn’t all terrorism, famine and disease. It just seems like that because those are newsworthy topics. Outside of those stories, there’s art, kindness and beauty like I’ve never witnessed before. It’s a huge continent with all-night clubs, traditional ceremonies and everything in between." (Amy Maxmen)

We Just Don't Care

"Malaria causes more deaths in sub-Saharan Africa than car accidents, cancer, AIDS or war, even though the disease can be easily cured with an inexpensive pill. I find that fact incredibly disturbing.....” (Amy Maxmen Postcards from Mali
Sep 25th, 2013)

When It's Time To Go Home!

"Usually when I come home from a trip I feel like my life has changed, and everyone else’s has stayed the same, this time it’s the opposite. I struggled in Africa, too. I fought with malaria, I was broke almost the entire time, and I’ve never been so lonely in my life. After Cape Town, home was the only place that I wanted to be.

Though inspiring and beautiful, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t putting on a brave face for much of South Africa. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t where I wanted to be. I wanted to be home. I wanted to see family, drink with friends, and maybe even just spend a couple days doing absolutely nothing travel related.

In Durban, I sat in my hostel room almost the entire time like an enslaved worker waiting for his holiday. I forced myself to visit the waterfront, aquarium, and the town center. And well beautiful, my heart had long left Africa.

Maybe there is a time I’ll return. Maybe someday I’ll buy another scooter and drive up the east side. Maybe I’ll live there someday. Maybe I’ll never travel to another country in my life. The only thing I know, is right now it’s time to go home."

 (Brendan van Son is a travel writer and photographer from Alberta, Canada.
http://www.brendansadventures.com/struggling-with-the-end-of-africa/

Can Christianity Survive Modern Leadership?

"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. Thus we may be preparing ourselves for the tragic hour when God may set us aside as so-called evangelicals and raise up another movement to keep New Testament Christianity alive." (A. W. Tozer, Keys to the Deeper Life)

All Of Humanity Is Basically the Same....?

I wonder if we really believe this about all of humanity, in all of her cultures and diversity? We are basically the same?

"The physical world has been mapped; but in the last analysis the Peace Corps is an intellectual exploration, the chance (if you are patient enough) to enter in some degree into the hearts and minds and feelings of alien peoples with exotic cultures. The final discovery, that we are all ultimately alike, is a hard-earned revelation. And it is well worth the trouble."

(Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen.)

Missionaries to be Example to Nationals

This is a quote from over 30 years ago. Insightful!

“As missionaries we need to set the example and pace for the national churches and pastors. Our responsibility is to keep moving out to the cutting edge of the work. As new churches are planted, we will continue to break new ground rather than limit our efforts to organizing and training.”

Joseph S. McCullough, Our First Priority”, The Andean Outlook (Plainfield N.J.), Fall, 1971, p7

Wash Your Hands Or Rats Will Chew On Them

"Rio Verde was a seacoast town, and there wasn't a house, of course, that wasn't cursed with rats. A bamboo wall was no challenge at all; a good self-respecting rat could walk through one without slowing down. I had awakened several times, my flesh crawling, with rats running across my legs or over my arms, and the kids told me that they must wash their hands after having eaten fish or the rats would chew on their fingers while they slept."
(Living Poor. A Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 68)

Getting Rid Of Old Life.

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."  (Joseph Campbell)

Some Journeys Are Against the Flow.

"I know that I have life only insofar as I have love.....Help me, please, to carry this candle against the wind." (Wendell Berry)

Romanticising Poverty

The poor have all kinds of relational problems, attitudes, and issues too, just like the rest of us. How true this is, we sometimes romanticize poverty by mistaking it for "Simplicity".....

"It was a romantic conception, because at that time I thought that poor people were somehow better, more honest and more alive, than people with money, not realizing that the absence of money in a society built around it could be as corrupting as money itself. The little village was going to be romantic as hell."(Living Poor. A Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 24) 

New Website The Invisible Humanitarian

I'm now known as "The Invisible Humanitarian" Check out my stories and African Adventures at www.theinvisiblehumanitarian.com

Or twitter as "invisiblengo"

Church Has Changed But the "Church" Does not Know It Yet

Peter Wagner has had a large influence on the church over the past several decades from his focus on church growth to prayer movements.  While we might argue the merits of how some of his thoughts have shaped the contemporary church, he is, nevertheless, a senior voice at 82 years of age.
I would like to quote part of a recent article in which he looks at “The America of Tomorrow” and the future of the church.

“We are now experiencing the most radical change in the way of doing church since the Protestant Reformation. Notice the words, “doing church.” We are not talking about a change in the theology of the Reformation. We believe in the authority of Scripture, justification by faith, and the priesthood of all believers as strongly as did Luther or Calvin. However we are talking about the ways in which the church is beginning to live out these theological convictions day after day…

“In fact, of all the radical changes characteristic of the New Apostolic Reformation, I consider this the most radical of all: The amount of spiritual authority delegated by the Holy Spirit to individuals. Notice that the operative words in this statement are “authority” and “individuals.” We Protestants are not accustomed to individuals having much spiritual authority.  Traditionally, the final authority in our church bodies has resided in groups, not individuals. That is where we get such ecclesiastical terminology as “deacon boards” or “synods” or “sessions” or “congregations” or “general councils” or “presbyteries” or “vestries” or “state conventions” or “monthly meetings” or any number of similar terms-all referring to groups as over against individuals. The inevitable implication? Individuals cannot be trusted with final authority in the churches.

While I do not envision this “New Apostolic Reformation” the same way that Wagner does, I certainly agree with him on two fronts:

1. The church is re-defining Biblically what it means to be the church and, thus, what it means to ‘do church.’  There is no going back.  The implications of this are far reaching as more and more people truly understand that we are the church… period.

2. Spiritual authority is becoming highly decentralized (not non-existent) and we will have to step into the new wineskins in order to see how God will orchestrate His leadership throughout the whole body. 

Interesting times!