Church As The Avenger

"The church is the face of Christ, but only Jesus is the face of God. In the past, the face of the church has been the Avenger, determined to root out all transgressors and transgressions.. "
( Leonard Sweet. The Well Played Life)

Our Natural Habitat is the World, Not Church.

"Fledgling disciples need wings to fly and roots to fasten if they are to live missionally, relationally, and incarnationally in the world. Our natural habitat is the world, not the church."
(Leonard Sweet. The Well Played Life)

Oh What We Learn From The Despised Ones

Yes..... Oh what we learn from the despised ones...... "Those at the edge of any system and those excluded from any system ironically and invariably hold the secret for the conversion and wholeness of that very group....

Only as the People of God receive the stranger, the sinner, and the immigrant, those who don’t play our game our way, do we discover not only the hidden, feared, and hated parts of our own souls, but the fullness of Jesus himself. We need them for our own conversion." (Richard Rohr)

16 Years Ago, I Died in West Africa,

"Searching for someone to miss me." (Paul Theroux)

This letter, written on March 20th, 1999, was handed to me today..... The letter was found in my my wife's late mother's things, who passed  in 2011.A letter containing the story about the day Lynn and I died in Côte D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa.

The Agni told me that according to their wisdom and proverbs I will now have a long life, as a result of my death....

I had almost forgotten we died.... But we did, and I should have known.

"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." - Mark Twain

 

Hello Folks

Life just gets more and more interesting these days in Africa. It seems like we are having many unsuspected surprises the last few months before we head to Canada.....

I have a funny story to tell you. I Died! Yep!

I have been mourned for, cried over. stuck in the ground.

I bit the biscuit ~ pushing daises!

Kicked the bucket.

It happened last Monday, in case you missed the announcement.

When I got home from Abidjan after the four days the boys were in the hospital, there was a live chicken left wait for me at my place. Jean Luc dropped it off. When he was out to Adjame and Abongoua (150km) on Sunday they were all crying and wailing (Africa!). On Monday they got news that Lynn and I had been killed in a car accident, so they were going off the deep end.

When they saw Jean Luc arrive, they just assumed that he was sent to give the official  announcement. But he was not saying anything at all. He could not tell what was up; some people were wailing. but they would not say what was wrong. (Here with the Agni and Attie it is rude to come right out and speak the name of someone who died. They just kind of hang around waiting the receive the announcement.)

Anyway, one of the "Atties" finally could not handle it, and asked what happened to Andy & Lynn. Jean Luc said, "What are you talking about?"

They said a man had come from Adzope on monday and said there was a bad accident near Adzope. Two white people were killed in the accident, and he said one of them was the missionary and his wife. They said it was Andy - The Big guy (I assume they are talking about my muscles, and not my gut?) The news had gone from Yakasse all over the bush, all the way to the southern Agni and Attie people near M' basso. Jean Luc told them that Jean Claude ate with me on Tuesday, and that we were alive Thursday when he saw me. So if the news came Monday it is not true; after Thursday, I don't know.

Anyway, they sent a chicken with Jean Luc in and said, "If Andy is still alive, he has to eat it for his health, and come and tell them he is ok."

Sooooo, I was suppose to be in Ebilassokro. but Damon will go there alone..... I must go to Adjame and Abongua Sunday morning in my resurrected form, to prove I still exist. Isn't that a hoot? Well, not- it is kind of sad really. I feel bad for the people down there. The good news is I did not die - Knock on wood! Bad news the people were pretty shaken. Good news is I know someone will miss me when I am gone.

Be sure there will be African rumors now. I will be a "revenon" for a few weeks — a Returning One. Some people will be scared to death when they see me arrive tomorrow, or driving by all those Villages who had the announcement made. It will be an interesting day tomorrow- But I also have been lined up with an Agni parable now. In the rare cases like this ~ when a man was believed to have died for so long, but is still alive - It is a sign he will live along life ‘

Anyway, Jean Luc and Jean Claude were over for FUTU and peanut sauce with hot peppers and smoked fish last night. We all had a good laugh over it.

Keep praying for the work here, as well as the workers, national or western. We sure have our ups and downs. Funny times, and sad times. Discouragements and Encouragements . But we are never defeated!

Andy

But I have to say.... I am still searching for someone to miss me.... But my hopes are set too high...

When Walking Is Betrayed by Destinations

"But the beauty is in the walking -- we are betrayed by destinations."
(Gwyn Thomas)

"Now shall I walk or shall I ride?
'Ride,' Pleasure said;
'Walk,' Joy replied.'
(W.H. Davies)

Oh The Places You Will Go....

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."
Dr Seuss, Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Abolishing The Laity....

"We don't seek to abolish the idea of clergy, we want to abolish the idea of laity." 

(Christopher Dather)

Scoundrel Men and Women Are The Best Church Planters

I'm trained in theology, missology up the wazoo. God has made it clear to me that what we view as our style of leadership in the west is not needed to advance the church. After working in pulpit ministry, and four pioneer works in French sub Sahara West Africa... The mass people movements taking place have many united characteristics (With asian people movements as well). The most interesting, and humbling, is that every one of them spread apart from theological school trained people or in association with theological institutions. 

In Mongola the Gospel was spread by young chtistian school girls. On weekends and school vacations one girls family would invite another friend home. And the young girl would tell their other friend the bible stories while they played. Not a planned thing. It just gappens, right.

The adults over heard them tell the stoies and listened in the yurt too. how do you get away in a yurt:-) By this the Gospel spread in a formerly inpenitrable region to foreign lead mission activity.

There is no talk about APEST gifts or leadership in these circles.

Old women, of no apparent leadership attributes have planted more churchs than I have. I've come to believe (shoved down my throat) no gift qualifies or disqualifies anyone from loving others, sharing Jesus, or from church planting. Church planting is the result of sowing Jesus....

We turned over a new work of eighteen communities of believers to a mission agency, and moved to start another new work.  The agency sent five mission families in... and the expansion of comminites stopped instantly. Four years later the westerners asked me to come back and do something, anything, to get mission and church planting to begin again. I spent 30 days in the bush with the local men and listened and listened some more. Did the same after that with the westerners... they were very critical of one farmer.
Finally,  I asked the five families how many church communities they started here. "None", they said.
"How many communities have you started anywhere in your life?", none they said.
I said, well, that farmer you are criticizing has brought the gosoel to nine villages. With no pay, no salary, no expense money, no bible college training, and he did it without your fancy training programs designed to teach him, and the others how it's done. (Same for every community. No western money was used for salaries, positions, constructing church buildings etc.) I share his story, and how this farmer has more gospel living and church forming experience in his pinky fingernail, right now, than all five western families will ever have in a lifetime, combined. So why don't we get out of the peoples way.

The uneducated rural farmers were defaulting to the educated imporant people, as they always do in those cultures. The farmers were submitting to all of the westerners meetings, classes, and training programs.. but for four years the advancement of the Gospel slowed to a trickle.  not one new community
Anyway, the five mission family team agreed to step back. So we went back to the bush, and all of the villages met. Within thirty days a new community sprung up, and by three months there were four new Jesus communities.

One of the worst men I know, he is an unusually large man among his ethnic group. He is brash, a big village bully, drinks a lot, and screws around with dozens of other women, sired children, gave his actual wife a STD because of it.  He and I locked horns many times. We loved, and hated each other at the same time, at various times. But coming from a fisherman family i'm used to brash burley men. 

He is not a leader, as he does not qualify in character. But the gospel is in his village because of him, and spread to four others because of him. Sometimes, I've seen him do it when visiting him,  telling other men the stories in a drunken stupor over too much palm wine that fermented a little too long. You can't kick him out of the local church, as church discipline, because he rarely attends one because of his life. You can't tell him, or make him stop talking about Jesus, because he sees the church men as brothers, not authority... who can deny a man the right to talk?

So he keeps talking about Jesus.... and the church spread where ever he goes, but he never leads the new groups, and is rarely part of them...
APEST, who's authority he's under, leadership traits, rights or qualifications were never discussions in these circles. We were unable to stop him from sharing Jesus, even though, as we would point out, he was "unqualified"

Irresponsible Adventure?

Last line changes perspectives. .. does it not?

"I am 41 years old, and I’ve worked since getting out of college as a computer programmer. I’m in decent shape for a person who’s been holed up in an office for so long. I’m married and have three little girls. Our fifteenth wedding anniversary will pass in my absence. Nothing is wrong with my life. My family is outstanding. I have what most people would consider to be a decent job. I’m not unhappy, and I’m not hiking to escape from anything. My life is precariously normal. I’ve been told that taking this trip at this time in my life is irresponsible, a charge I won’t contest. Maybe doing it later in life would make more sense. But my father had bypass surgery and my mom is fighting cancer. My opinion of “later”is jaded.
I’m headed for Maine.
(David Miller. AWOL On The Appalachian Trail)

Is Church a Meeting?

There are so many problems with a question like, “Is Church Attendance Mandatory?” Why is church about attendance at all. It’s a family not a meeting and there are many ways to assembling with others in our hearts is far more important than sitting in a meeting together.  (Wayne Jacobsen)

Needing Different Things, At Different Times.

"I've met people in the last year or two who have stopped going to their local church because people have started singing new songs and dancing in the aisles. And I've met others who have started going for precisely the same reason. It's time to give ourselves a shake--to recognize that different people need different kinds of help at different stages of their lives--and get on with it.” ― N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense

I Possess In My Hands.... A Book.....

In the same way many Christians--whole generations of them, sometimes entire denominations--have in their possession a book which will do a thousand things not only in and for them but through them in the world. And they use it to sustain only three or four things they already do.” ― N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense

Can I Be Cured?

"Do you know a cure for me?"
"Why yes," he said, "I know a cure for everything. Salt water.”
"Salt water?" l asked him.
"Yes," he said, "in one way or the other. Sweat, or tears, or the salt sea."

(Karen Christence Dinesen)

21 Mistakes l Made As A Senior Pastor:

21 Mistakes l Made As A Senior Pastor:

Putting church over community.
Putting orthodoxy over love.
Putting certainty over wonder.
Putting teaching over conversation.
Putting polished over real.
Putting answers over questions.
Putting membership over friendship.
Putting Christianity over Christ.
Putting knowledge over action.
Putting style over substance.
Putting appearance over authenticity.
Putting functionality over beauty.
Putting religion over spirituality.
Putting numbers over faces.
Putting holiness over humanity.
Putting accountability over acceptance.
Putting heaven over earth.
Putting reputation over risk.
Putting charisma over compassion.
Putting the Afterlife over the Herelife.
Putting thinking over feeling.

- Jim Palmer

Thorny Beliefs

"Jesus said you must deny yourself to embrace Truth. This is letting go of your insistence that the spiritual path be a certain way, and that it uphold your comfort and preferences. The Truth will challenge your most deeply held ideas. You must set aside all the things you think you know, and be willing to start from a place of not knowing. Count on this being thorny. You are vested in what you know, and have built your life around your beliefs."
(Jim Palmer. Notes From Over The Edge)

Truth...... My Way..... !

Interesting statement..... 

"The reason why so few find the Truth is because we impose our conditions and preferences upon it. We insist the Truth must look a certain way, including the path we take to get to it." 

(Jim Palmer. Notes From Over The Edge)

We Have a Serious "Yeah, But", Problem.

"You have a “Yeah, but ”problem. You say you want to know the truth but you have conditions....."
Yeah, I want to know the Truth…
BUT it must nicely fit into, complement or be consistent with certain beliefs and understandings I never plan on giving up, BUT it must not put me at odds with my family, friends, or faith tradition,
BUT it must be something I can figure out in, with, and through my mind,
BUT it must produce the outcomes I want on my terms."
(Jim Palmer. Notes From Over The Edge)

When Our Vision Permits Us To Run Over Others

Wow... what a story.... too focused on a goal when we disregard human life, value, and worth all to achieve our objectives.....

I see it in celebrity church leaders too.

"On May 16, 2006, David Sharp lay with his life in danger at twenty-nine thousand feet in the infamous “Zone of Death”on Mount Everest. It isn’t clear what ailed Sharp. Some say he had used all his oxygen, while others say he was suffering from standard altitude sickness. As Sharp lay fighting for his life it is said that no less than forty-two people passed by him. Many of those forty-two passed by twice—on the way up and down. What was their response? In most cases they did nothing. One of those who passed by Sharp was Mark Inglis, a forty-sevenyear-old New Zealander. Inglis had already lost both legs to frostbite on Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak. Now he was gaining national attention for his attempt to summit Mount Everest with two prostheses. Interviewed about the episode, Inglis said, “We talked for quite a while and it was a very hard decision.”They radioed down to their expedition leader who said the situation sounded hopeless. With that, they did what everybody else did. They left Sharp to die. This incident stirred an international debate about outdoor and mountaineering ethics. Edmund Hilary, the legendary New Zealander who was the first person ever to summit Mount Everest was outraged. “The people just want to get to the top,”Hilary fumed. “They don’t give a damn about anybody else. I think it was the responsibility of every human on that mountain to try to save his life, even if that means they don’t get to the top of the mountain.""
(Bill Walker. SkyWalker: Close Encounters On The Appalachian Trail)

Can We Shut Up?

"To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known."
(Henri Nouwen )

A Finely Tunes Bull-Shit Meter For Church

Jonathan Merritt:  "You say that the way to stop the exodus of millennials from churches isn’t cosmetic–better music, sleeker logos, more relevant programming, etc. Why are these methods ineffective in your mind?"

Rachel Evans: These aren’t inherently bad strategies and some churches would be wise to employ them. But many church leaders make the mistake of thinking millennials are shallow consumers who are leaving church because they aren’t being entertained. I think our reasons for leaving church are more complicated, more related to social changes and deep questions of faith than worship style or image.

If you try to woo us back with skinny jeans and coffee shops, it may actually backfire. Millennials have finely-tuned B.S. meters that can detect when someone’s just trying to sell us something.  We’re not looking for a hipper Christianity. We’re looking for a truer Christianity. Like every generation before and after, we’re looking for Jesus—the same Jesus who can be found in the places he’s always been: in bread, in wine, in baptism, in the Word, in suffering, in community, and among the least of these. No fog machines required."

Link

A Second Reformation Is Hitting The Church

"I think the change we’re seeing around us might one day be viewed on the same level as what happened to the church after Constantine’s conversion or after the invention of the printing press. Whatever the change looks like when it’s done, it will register as a seismic shift from what we’ve known." (Carey Nieuwhof)

Taming Your Theology

"And do not fall into the temptation to paint over them, to perfume them, to adjust them a bit and tame them, ..." (Pope Francis)

Mercy Is Larger Than An Attitude

"Mercy is not just a pastoral attitude but it is the very same substance of the Gospel of Jesus." - Pope Francis

When Theologians Tame the Mystery

"Without mercy our theology, our law, our pastoral care runs the risk of collapse into bureaucratic pettiness or ideology, which of itself wants to tame the mystery," (Pope Francis)

A People Pleaser Identity

“For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser, depending on others to give you an identity. But now you are being asked to let go of all these self-made props and trust that God is enough for you” (Henri Nouwen)

Killing Time....Injuring Eternity

"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Have Stood Up And Lived Before You Sat Down To Write?

"How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
(Henry David Thoreau)

Confounded House Keeping

"There is nothing more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends."

(Homer, The Odyssey)

Does Africa Have A Song of Me?

"If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?"
(Karen Blixen)

Different Silences....?

"There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing. There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and this is different from the silence of a sleeping city. There is silence after a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There is the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt....
This kind of silence can speak. Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so... Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its quality may linger in the silence that follows."
(Beryl Markham, West with the Night)