When We Loose The People Because Of Seeking High Quality Show

"Any Christian can do this. You don't need to have inordinate skill or unusual abilities to make disciples. You don't need to be a successful pastor or a charismatic leader to make disciples. You don't need to be a great communicator or an innovative thinker to make disciples. That's why Jesus says every Christian must do this.
One of the unintended consequences of contemporary church strategies that revolve around performances, places, programs, and professionals is that somewhere along the way people get left out of the picture."

(Radical, David Platt kindle line 1266)

They Don't Want to Come Back to Church - Now What?

Invited people to church who simply have no interest in coming back? They said, "I tried that and it does not work for me."

Notice they said "Church" does not work for me". By that they mean this kind of church really is not for me. They said nothing bad about Jesus. Interesting, is it not? Is it possible our church culture can be a barrier to learning about Jesus? If you ever worked in other cultures you soon realize much of our "church Culture" is foreign and meaningless to many whole tribes, and ethnic groups of people. Same is true here also.

What is the response of the newest, hippest, live band, most amazing program, church, to people who have "Come to church" and find they really can't drag them back to this?

Then what?

Is there anything after that?

Nope! 99% of churches and church people will say, "Well, we tried".

We truly believe that church is a "one size MUST fit all".
We are learning that is not true. And like good missionaries, we are contextualizing the church for a new context. The diversity in expression will have to be accepted as some point because it has nothing to do with changing the doctrine or ordinances. It's simply letting church be what it should be. A peoples natural cultural expression of Faith in Christ assembling in his name. We don't tell them how that should look.

"As we’ve already pointed out, the relationship between the traditional Christendom mode of church and the world around it can best be described as being fundamentally attractional. The church bids people to come and hear the gospel in the holy confines of the church and its community. This seems so natural to us after seventeen centuries of Christendom, but at what price and to what avail have we allowed it to continue? If our actions imply that God is really only present in official church activities—worship, Bible studies, Christian youth meetings, ladies fellowships—then it follows that mission and evangelism simply involve inviting people to church-related meetings.

In fact, this is one of the core assumptions that the attractional church is based upon—the assumption that God cannot really be accessed outside sanctioned church meetings or, at least, that these meetings are the best place for not-yet-Christians to learn about God. (Blog note: would never say we "believe" this. we know its not true. However, iit is the lens by which we act, and criticize , with, so it is what many "believe") Evangelism therefore is primarily about mobilizing church members to attract unbelievers into church where they can experience God. Rather than being genuine “out-reach,” it effectively becomes something more like an “in-drag.”

Now, we are not suggesting that people can’t experience God in a church service. Of course they can, for in the preaching of God’s Word and the worship of God's people his true voice can be heard. But if the church limits God’s agency in this world to particular times and places that the vast majority of not-yet-Christians have no access to, or no desire to attend, then the gospel is effectively hobbled. God becomes mute to the vast majority of people in the Western world,
people who cannot interpret the church culture that has effectively imprisoned the good news within its cultural system. The only means to evangelize people becomes organizing little “patrols” to go into the world in order to rescue them and bring them back to the safety of “church.” Many westerners in our post-Christendom era report that they’ve tried church and found it wanting. If they don’t want to go back, what then?
If they won’t come to us, we have to go to them.

(The Shape Of Things To Come: Innovation and Mission For The 21st- Century Church. Michael Frost & Aln Hirsch, Hendrickson, 2003. pp 41-42)

Hunger & I

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"If I am hungry, it is a biological problem; if my brother is hungry, it is a spiritual problem"

Russian theologian Nicholas Berdyaev

What Are Chruch Planters & Missionaries Planting?

"In fact, it's more often than not been the case that Sunday services are planted rather than missional Jesus communities. "

(The Shape Of Things To Come. Michale Frost, Alan Hirsch. Hendrickson, 2003. pg 18)

I have served on Church planting organizations, and rubbed shoulders with many missionaries on the field. At times I have to say we accomplish only having a Sunday service going. However, these people have no real sense of any mission in their mind. These are the church plants that fail, not necessarily because of the weakness of the church planter, but because of the actual people who are "Non-Planted".

Accountants Mobilize For Mission

Mission not for select few. But for all.

for lunch with Steve, a businessman in our faith family, it's obvious we have different callings in our lives. He's an accountant; I'm a pastor. He is gifted with numbers; I can't stand numbers. But we both understand that God has called us and gifted us for a global purpose. So Steve is constantly asking, "How can I lead my life, my family, and my accounting firm for God's glory in Birmingham and around the world?" He is leading co-workers to Christ; he is mobilizing accountants to serve the poor; and his life is personally impacting individuals and churches in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe with the gospel.
Steve and others like him have decided that they are not going to take the command of Christ to make disciples of all nations and label it a calling for a few. They are not going to sit on the sidelines while a supposed special class of Christians aceomplishes the global purpose of God. They are convinced that God has created them to make his glory known in all nations, and they are committing their lives to aceomplishing that purpose.

(Radical, David Platt, kindle line 1043)

Christian Spectators - or - Christians in Training

Is church something done for me, and to me? How about a training ground, instead of a show where I come and fold my arms to watch so I can be entertained and enriched.

Your Leaders were given to you to help train YOU. Not do "it" for you, and to you. If you're not ever going to get in training to live the love and life of Christ with your family, friends and neighbors go skiing instead. We've got more things to do than do "it" to you, and for you.

"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service...." Ephesians 4:11 - 12 (NIV)

"An evangelists fruit is not a convert, but more evangelists. Strangely enough, exactly the opposite of this biblical model has become the norm: specialist teachers, evangelists, pastors..... move about at breathtaking speed, constantly overworked and under stress, with more than just their blood pressures in danger.

They give seminars and speak at conferences where they present the latest state-of-the-art discoveries in their specialty areas, but they are doing exactly the opposite of their true God- given task. Instead of equipping God’s people for the ministry they are performing it for them. Instead of teaching people how to teach, they are just teaching. Instead of equipping people to be evangelists, they are simply evangelizing.......and then leaving—and seldom leaving disciples behind."

(The House Church Book. Wolfgang Simson. Barna, 2009, pg 63)

Witch Doctor Bewitches No More

"One brother, Raden, shared his testimony. With a fiery look in his eye and an intense tone in his voice, he said, "Before I became a Christian, I was a fighter. I learned ninja, jujitsu, and a variety of other techniques for taking people down."
I nodded. I was making a mental note: Don't mess with Raden.
He continued, "One day I was sharing the gospel in an village with people who had never heard of Jesus.
I was in one house sharing Christ with a family, and the witch doctor from the village came to the house." Witch doctors and magic men are common in villages like these. They hold sway over entire communities with their curses and incantations.
"The witch doctor called me out," Raden said. "He wanted me to fight him." Raden smiled as he confessed, "My first thought was to walk out there and take the witch doctor down.
But when I turned to go outside, the Lord told me that I no longer need to do the fighting. God would do the fighting for me."
So Raden walked outside, pulled up a chair, and sat down in front of the witch doctor. He told his challenger, "I don't do the fighting. My God does the fighting for me."
Raden recounted what happened next. "As the witch doctor attempted to speak, he began to gasp for air. He was choking and couldn't breathe.
People came running to see what was wrong, and within a few minutes the witch doctor had fallen over dead." By now the entire village had crowded around the scene. Raden said, "I had never seen anything like this, and ! didn't know what to do.
But then I thought, I guess this is a good time to preach the gospel." Raden smiled and said, "So that's what ! did, and many people in that village trusted in Christ for the first time that day."
(radical, David Platt)

Do All Mission Minded people Move Overseas?

In all this missions talk, you may begin to think, Well, surely you're not suggesting that we're all supposed to move overseas.
That is certainly not what I'm suggesting (though I'm not completely ruling it out!).
But this is precisely the problem. We have created the idea that if you have a heart for the world and you are passionate about global mission, then you move overseas. But if you have a heart for the United States and you are not passionate about global mission, then you stay here and support those who go. Meanwhile, flying right in the face of this idea is Scripture's claim that regardless of where we live--here or overseas--our hearts should be consumed with making the glory of God known in all nations.................Because from cover to cover the Bible teaches that all the church--not just select individuals, but all the church--is created to reflect all the glory of God to all the world. Because every single man, woman, and child in the church I pastor is intended to impact nations for the glory of Christ, and there is a God-designed way for us to live our lives here, and do church here, for the sake of people around the world who don't know Christ.

(Radical: David Platt, line 1089)

Blueprint Church & Bad Photocopies!

I live, plant, promote and desire simpler church! This reminds me of how we try to "Design Church", in our image. Worth reading!

"Imagine a young boy unwrapping a new puzzle and immediately trying to put the pieces together. Out of the puzzle box he pulls a picture of a red race car, (He loves red race cars!) Excited, he tries to assemble the pieces according to the picture. But somehow the pieces do not seem to fit as they should. He tries to make them fit better by bending them or tearing off an edge here and there, but something is still not right. Finally his father comes to the rescue. Dad takes the picture of the red race car and turns it over. Lo and behold, on the other side is a picture of a beautiful tree, the “original” picture depicted in the puzzle. The race car is only an advertisement for another puzzle made by the same company! The boy sighs with relief and starts to put the pieces together according to the new original; within minutes it is done. What was wrong before? He had all the right pieces, but the wrong original. He had unquestionable and honest motives, but quite simply the wrong blueprint.

Is this the situation of a large part of Christendom today? We have all the right pieces: the Word of God, people, houses, prayer, motivation, money. But could it be that we are putting them all together according to a wrong original—our very own beloved red race car? Has the unthinkable happened? Has someone cunningly slipped us an impractical blueprint? Do we stand transfixed in front of our spiritual photocopiers (Bible colleges, publishing houses, seminaries, or leadership programs), continuing to hit that green button in an effort to make copies of what we are convinced is a biblical, canonized, unquestionable, firsthand original? I can imagine that Satan, the enemy of the church, has no problem with even the most fervent evangelistic mission activities or programs, as long as they are all about making copies of red race cars—our traditional pattern of church that makes no serious threat to his claims on humankind.

Maybe the time has come for us to stop bending pieces and tearing them apart in an effort to make them match our picture of what the church should be and instead allow God to recreate church in all of us. It might start with us reexamining our blueprints and turning over our originals."

(The House Church Book. Wolfgang Simson. Barna, 2009, pg 1-2)

Are You Consuming Your Church? Sanctioned Inactivity

I need to know more, I need to learn more, I need to grow up more, I need to become more comfortable with....., I need....... I need...... I need..... and never get around to serving.

We actually provide people with a Sanctioned Inactivity in Church today.When
2 Peter 1:3 says : " His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness..."
Notice the past tense here. We have already been given everything we need. We don't need anything more to serve. That total provision was given to us the day we were saved as the Holy Spirit (God) came to reside in side of us. Certainy we ned to grow "more and more" (DO a NIV search) but the seeds are planted and growing.


If you knew enough to accept Jesus, we now know enough to share how to accept him with others. The silly excuses we make. It's not a lack of anything other than a lack of will, or desire, or obedience, or love, that keeps us from missional living. I know this is true, because I have been there too.

If you have Jesus you have his mission. Can't have one or the other. Package deal.

"Consumerism is based on the belief that I can’t help others until I help myself, that my own wants and needs trump the needs of others"

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 151. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

Indian Skinned Alive

"Since that day countless men and women in the history of Christianity have died for their faith. Some of them were not just hung on crosses; they were burned there. Many of them went to their crosses singing.
One Christian in India, while being skinned alive, looked at his persecutors and said, "I thank you for this. Tear off my old garment, for I will soon put on Christ's garment of righteousness."
As he prepared to head to his execution, Christopher Love wrote a note to his wife, saying, "Today they will sever me from my physical head, but they cannot sever me from my spiritual head, Christ." As he walked to his death, his wife applauded while he sang of glory."
(Radical, David Platt)

West African Proverb!

"When an old man dies, the library burns"

(West African Proverb)

80% of the world population are oral learners. Many of the peoples we work with speak oral languages, never written.

How true this proverb is.

Cultural Blinders

"The most basic procedure in a study of culture is to become a master of one's own. Everyone has a culture. No one can ever divorce himself from his culture. While it is true that anyone can grow to appreciate various different cultures, and even to communicate effectively in more than one, one can never rise above his own, or other cultures, to gain a truly supra-cultural perspective. For this reason, even the study of one's own culture is a difficult task. And to look objectively at something that is part of oneself so completely is nearly impossible."

(Lloyd E. Kwast "Understanding Culture"ph 397, perspectives 4th Ed)

Critique Personal And Cultural Assumptions

"Following Jesus has a very clear cost. And the cost includes living a life that sometimes runs contrary to the culture around us. Serious believers who want to go deeper in their discipleship must be willing to constantly critique both personal and cultural assumptions for the sake of becoming more like Jesus."

(Untamed. Alan & Debra Hirsch, Baker Books, 2010, pg 14)

Women's Job Is To Give Life; Men take Care Of Putting it To Rest!

From Cote D'Ivoire village. She writes very well and describes Africa Like I have never seen before. I felt like I was back there on every page. Vivid and real. Her last phrase of this paragraph fascinated me and lead me to ponder a whole evening. It's about a village funeral.

"The wails subside, and three women carry out a tiny bundle. The old men stand in a line facing east, with the imam in white at the middle. He calls out a prayer in a clear tenor. Goutoumaya takes the baby and turns south, toward the cemetery. The men fall into place in single file behind him. The women follow. It's a long, tight procession, silent and quicker than the regular pace of village wandering. As we near the empty marketplace at the edge of Nambonkaha, the men stride on. As if a cord has snapped, the women curl off the path, the ones in front leading those behind to peel off to the side and find shade. Just as women don't kill the chicken for dinner, they don't go near the cemetery.
Woman's job is giving life; men take care of putting it to rest."

(Nine Hills To Nambonkaha: Two Years In The Heart Of An African Village. Sarah Erdman. Picador, 2003, Pg 191)

You Owe Someone........!

"Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell."

(Radical, David Platt, kindle line 1057)

Models and Strategies With Guaranteed Results

"This is where I am most convicted as a pastor of a church in the United States of America. I am part of a system that has created a whole host of means and methods, plans and strategies for doing church that require little if any power from God." (Radical, David Platt)

"Not Called!" No Just Not Interested/Listening

"I'M NOT CALLED" I wonder if we have in some ways intentionally and in other ways unknowingly erected lines of defense against the global purpose God has for our lives. It's not uncommon to hear Christians say, "Well, not everyone is called to foreign missions," or more specifically, "I am not called to foreign missions." When we say this, we are usually referring to foreign missions as an optional program in the church for a faithful few who apparently are called to that.
In this mind-set, missions is a compartmentalized program of the church, and select folks are good at missions and passionate about missions. Meanwhile, the rest of us are willing to watch the missions slide shows when the missionaries come home but in the end God has just not called most of us to do this missions thing. But where in the Bible is missions ever identified as an optional program in the church?"

(Radical, David Platt, kindle line 1025)

Describes Western Gospel To. "T"

"Haven't you heard of the power of positive thinking? I can become a better me and experience my best life now.
That's why God is there--to make that happen. My life is not going right, but God loves me and has a plan to fix my life. I simply need to follow certain steps, think certain things, and check off certain boxes, and then I am good.

Both our diagnosis of the situation and our conclusion regarding the solution fit nicely in a culture that exalts self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and self-confidence. We already have a fairly high view of our morality, so when we add a superstitious prayer, a subsequent dose of church attendance, and obedience to some of the Bible, we feel pretty sure that we will be all right in the end"

(Radical, David platt)

God is Off His Mountain?

"I remember sitting outside a Buddhist temple in Indonesia. Men and women filled the elaborate, colorful temple grounds, where they daily performed their religious rituals. Meanwhile, I was engaged in a conversation with a Buddhist leader and a Muslim leader in this particular community.
They were discussing how all religions are fundamentally the same and only superficially different. "We may have different views about small issues," one of them said, "but when it comes down to essential issues, each of our religions is the same."
I listened for a while, and then they asked me what I thought. I said, "It sounds as though you both picture God (or whatever you call god) at the top of a mountain. It seems as if you believe that we are all at the bottom of the mountain, and I may take one route up the mountain, you may take another, and in the end we will all end up in the same place."
They smiled as I spoke. Happily they replied, "Exactly! You understand!" Then I leaned in and said, "Now let me ask you a question. What would you think if I told you that the God at the top of the mountain actually came down to where we are? What would you think if I told you that God doesn't wait for people to find their way to him, but instead he comes to us?" They thought for a moment and then responded, "That would be great." I replied, "Let me introduce you to Jesus."

(Radical, David Platt)

New Church Plant With 30 Baptized People To Graduate

"I was in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, teaching in an Indonesian seminary. Before they graduate, the students in this seminary are required to plant a church, with at least thirty new, baptized believers, in a Muslim community. I spoke at their commencement ceremony, and as the graduates walked across the stage, I was captivated by the humble yet confident look on their faces. Every one of them had fulfilled the church-planting requirement. The most solemn part of the day was a moment of silence for two of their classmates who had died at the hands of Muslim persecutors."
(Radical, David Platt)

We Think We Save Others.

"An old preaching professor used to take his students to a cemetery every semester.
Standing on the perimeter overlooking scores of headstones, he would ask his students in all sincerity to speak over the graves and call people from the ground to rise up and live. With some embarrassment and an awkward chuckle or two, they would try it. Of course, one by one they would fail.
The professor would then look at his students and remind them of a core truth in the gospel: people are spiritually dead, just as those corpses in the cemetery were physically dead, and only words from God can bring them to spiritual life"

("Radical", David Platt)

A Chosen Incarnation!

There are many people moving into meaningful kingdom ministry by getting outside the fellowship and walls of the church. It's costing them, in terms of the institution of church, but what they are gaining is far too precious for them to give up such a movement. It's become more about a world of unbelievers all around them, than about themselves, or managing the institution.
They have gotten to the heart of what they have been looking for after years and years of service within the traditional track. Let's give permission for people to seriously move outside the walls, into darkness. They still know they still need fellowship with the "Church" around Acts 2:42. However, they do not need to "show up" at all the activities of "Your Church", free them to be an extension of the kingdom to that new little corner.

"Such people are all humble; they don’t rely on past experience or present ministry posts to define them. They grapple honestly with their financial stability and at times make incredible readjustments in order to spend time with the unchurched. Sometimes they get fired; often they are are misunderstood by those they leave in order to go with God into the world. These types of people are the ones who decide not to go to the next religious leadership conference so that they can stay home and go fishing with a friend who doesn’t know Christ. They leave the church office so they can do their work at Starbucks in order to meet someone new. They intentionally look out their window and see a neighbor and decide to act like they’re going to get their mail, just so they might strike up a conversation. These are the ones who embrace the fear, breathe, and then walk back into tension.
(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 33, 2008, Jossey-Bass)

There is something about the above quote that makes me smile.

Sit Down Hang Around

"... people in Western civilization no longer have time for each other, they have no time together, they do not share the experience of time. This explains why Westerners are incapable of understanding the psychology of sitting. In villages all over the world, sitting is an important social activity. Sitting is not a 'wast of time' nor is it an manifestation of laziness. Sitting is having time together, time to cultivate social relation"
- Andreas Fuglesang

Church "Stuff" Too Expensive!

I remember when I was preparing to take my first trip to Sudan in 2004.
The country was still at war, and the Darfur region in western Sudan had just begun to make headlines. A couple of months before we left, I received a Christian news publication in the mail. The front cover had two headlines side by side. I'm not sure if the editor planned for these particular headlines to be next to each other or if he just missed it in a really bad way.
On the left one headline read, "First Baptist Church Celebrates New $23 Million Building." A lengthy article followed, celebrating the church's expensive new sanctuary.
The exquisite marble, intricate design, and beautiful stained glass were all described in vivid detail.
On the right was a much smaller article. The headline for it read, "Baptist Relief Helps Sudanese Refugees." Knowing I was about to go to Sudan, my attention was drawn.
The article described how 35o,ooo refugees in western Sudan were dying of malnutrition and might not live to the end of the year. It briefly explained their plight and sufferings.
The last sentence said that Baptists had sent money to help relieve the suffering of the Sudanese. I was excited until I got to the amount.
Now, remember what was on the left: "First Baptist Church Celebrates New $23 Million Building." On the right the article said, "Baptists have raised $5,000 to send to refugees in western Sudan."
Five thousand dollars.
That is not enough to get a plane into Sudan, much less one drop of water to people who need it. Twenty-three million dollars for an elaborate sanctuary and five thousand dollars for hundreds of thousands of starving men, women, and children, most of whom were dying apart from faith in Christ.
Where have we gone wrong? How did we get to the place where this is actually tolerable?"

Radical .

What Our Decadent Living Costs Others.

"Wake up." Wake up and realize that there are infinitely more important things in your life than football and a 4o1(k). Wake up and realize there are real battles to be fought, so different from the superficial, meaningless "battles" you focus on. Wake up to the countless multitudes who are currently destined for a Christless eternity.
The price of our nondiscipleship is high for those without Christ. It is high also for the poor of this world.
Consider the cost when Christians ignore Jesus' commands to sell their possessions and give to the poor and instead choose to spend their resources on better comforts, largerChristians gather in churches and choose to spend millions of dollars on nice buildings to drive up to, cushioned chairs to sit in, and endless programs to enjoy for themselves.
Consider the cost for the starving multitudes who sit outside the gate of contemporary Christian affluence."

"Radical" David Platt Multanomah books

Tears!

"Imagine all the blinds closed on the windows of a dimly lit room. Twenty leaders from different churches in the area sat in a circle on the floor with their Bibles open. Some of them had sweat on their foreheads after walking for miles to get there. Others were dirty from the dust in the villages from which they had set out on bikes early that morning.
They had gathered in secret. They had intentionally come to this place at different times throughout the morning so as not to draw attention to the meeting that was occurring.
They lived in a country in Asia where it is illegal for them to gather like this. If caught, they could lose their land, their jobs, their families, or their lives.
I listened as they began sharing stories of what God was doing in their churches. One man sat in the corner. He had a strong frame, and he served as the head of security, so to speak. Whenever a knock was heard at the door or a noise was made outside the window, everyone in the room would freeze in tension as this brother would go to make sureeverything was okay. As he spoke, his tough appearance soon revealed a tender heart.
"Some of the people in my church have been pulled away by a cult," he said. This particular cult is known for kidnapping believers, taking them to isolated locations, and torturing them. Brothers and sisters having their tongues cut out of their mouths is not uncommon.
As he shared about the dangers his church members were facing, tears welled up in his eyes. "I am hurting," he said, "and I need God's grace to lead my church through these attacks."A woman on the other side of the room spoke up next.
"Some of the members in my church were recently confronted by government officials." She continued, "They threatened their families, saying that if they did not stop gathering to study the Bible, they were going to lose everything they had." She asked for prayer, saying, "I need to know how to lead my church to follow Christ even when it costs them everything."
As I looked around the room, I saw that everyone was now in tears. The struggles expressed by this brother and sister were not isolated. They all looked at one another andsaid, "We need to pray." Immediately they went to their knees, and with their faces on the ground, they began to cry out to God. Their prayers were marked less by grandiose theological language and more by heartfelt praise and pleading.
"0 God, thank you for loving us."
"0 God, we need you."
"Jesus, we give our lives to you and for you." "Jesus, we trust in you."
They audibly wept before God as one leader after another prayed. After about an hour, the room drew to a silence,and they rose from the floor. Humbled by what I had just been a part of, I saw puddles of tears in a circle around the room."

"Radical" David Platt Multanomah books

How Rich Are You Exactly?

UN latest report.

1% of adults own 40% of worlds wealth. 50% of world adults own only 1% of worlds wealth.

This is the difference between rich/poor.

Link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006/dec/06/business.internationalnews

Leaving - When is the "Right" time to Go to Africa?

"If you leave at a time that doesn't suit you, you'll arrive at a time that does". African Proverb

This was sent to us by Vida Cass, who served overseas for 47 years.

Vida understands that the choice to live life in distant, hard countries, like we do... On this side of the ocean, well, the time just never seems right to go.
But once you are there, serving, loving, connecting with great indigenous people, you know it was worth it - The Time was Right!

At every stage of our lives, there were always well meaning friends helping us find reasons why we should just stay home, and not be so concerned for Africans.

Our first Move to Africa - conversations were centered around the Kids being to Young. What about their health, education, language, socialization.

This re-entry to Africa sees conversations centered around - The kids are not established in life yet. They are in college, will be looking for jobs, how can you go? They may need you etc. I can talk to my kids any time for 40 cents a minute, and airplanes fly every day. If their is a crisis what do you think we will do?

Next African stage will be - The kids just got married and babies are on the way. What about the grand kids? They will need their grandparents. You need to be there to encourage their young families. Or, Son just lost his job, who will be there for them?

Well if we wait till they are established, what's next? You're too old to go. Your health is too bad. To many health risks for an old geezers like you two.
Shortly after that stage we will be dead.

I appreciated this African proverb sent to us from Vida Cass. She understands why one must go, and how no time really seems right from this comfortable vantage point. But from there, you can see you came just in time - The right time.

Test Your Manhood!

Macedonian Bishop Brent remarks: "We never know what measure of moral capacity is at our disposal until we try to express it in action. An adventure of some proportions is not uncommonly all that a young man needs to determine and fix his manhood's powers."

Work At Home First?

"Most of the Apostles died outside of Palestine, though human logic would have forbidden them to leave the coun- try until it had been Christianized." Charles H. Brent

"The challenge of the unoccupied fields of the world is one to great faith and, therefore, to great sacrifice. Our willingness to sacrifice for an enterprise is always in proportion to our faith in that enterprise. Faith has the genius of transforming the barely possible into actuality. Once men are dominated by the conviction that a thing must be done, they will stop at nothing until it is accomplished." Samuel Zwemer
Perspectives 4th Ed, pg 329

Sobering truth of Mission And Unreached Peoples

"........the beginning of the session highlighted that despite the fact that 86 percent of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists do not personally know a Christ follower, 90 percent of missionaries go to “Christianized” regions, according to the World Christian Database.............

“In my 14 years working with Muslims, mobilizing churches in Korea, I came to realized that Muslims haven’t been missing people to God, but to God’s people,” said Henry Lee, a mission leader based in Seoul, South Korea.......

“The Indonesian church, by its own confession, said we have ignored them (difficult unreached people groups in Indonesia) because we didn’t want to pay the price, we were afraid, we didn’t think it would work, we didn’t think they would change. That’s what it means to be unreached.”


http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101022/african-churches-need-to-connect-bible-to-life-says-mission-leader/

How True

"Learning happens in the hallways, not the hall"

High Tec Mission

Look at how mission people are using technology to help them with their job's. My Son laughs at My Wife and I saying, "You guys have all the new gadgets before the kids do now." That is not true. However, his point is valid. We have leaded to use twitter, Facebook, Skype, how to make video's and movies, and use Ipods as portable computers.

With the rise of Internet cafes the IPod, and with the love and drastic rise of cell phones in places like Africa, the IPhone has the potential to become the single most useful portable product for missionaries. Language & Translation programs etc should all have Iphone apps, Recording apps are already available, as are video & photo apps.
All helping to keep communication & information Flowing.



Link to Interview

Please Throw More Church Members Out!

Evangelicals largely do not live missionally, because many are taught you must avoid being to close with bad people. I see this a lot in the Home School Community.

My wife actually had a conversation with a 50 year old lady who said this at a ladies bible study,

"You can't be best friends with a non-christian because they might draw you away from your faith."

Lynn said,

"Are you kidding me? You have been in church for over 40 years. If being a friend to an unbeliever will take your faith away, there is something very wrong with that faith."

That is the kind of thinking and preaching going on these days. Scary! How can we live as missionaries to this culture and place with that attitude? I can assure you its not Biblical, and it's not how Jesus lived. He ate with sinners, and that REALLY chaffed those who preached this very same crazy idea in His day. They criticized, "He eats with sinners"

"For whatever reason, the church at large has theologized the idea of personal holiness to exclude normal interaction with the world. Many churches we work with have an alarming theology of "extraction" that creates a Christian peer pressure to move away form the world....." (Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 136. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

"I wonder how God might lead us if we were more concerned about being a “friend of sinners” than a friend to those inside our church or denomination?"
(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 46. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

We pat people on the back who are totally wrapped up in the church life and affairs. Those who are in the building doing things, and running programs all the time. Maybe its time to toss them out and tel them to get a real life, and a real mission.

In Luke 10:2 where Jesus said we should pray for the the Lord to "Send Forth/out" workers into the harvest field, is interesting. The Greek word for "Send out" is "Ekballo"- and it means to "toss out", "cast out", "throw out. Interestingly, the same word is used to describe Jesus casting our demons.

We need to pray that God "throw out" church members wrapped up in the church place to much. We would be doing them a favor. We are robbing them form some tremendous joy by interacting with people missionally in the community.

People over Institution

We have been found out.


Costa Rican theologian Ruth Padilla DeBorst has urged delegates to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization to make people more important than institutions.

The Valuable Things Are.......!

Been following a two year journey of a Peace Corps couple called Sam & Mark, as they live in a rural village in Mali, West Africa. They are at the end of their term now and on July 28, 2010, they shared these interesting words. I hope remember them, live them, for a long, long time. I think they shared a valuable life lesson with us all... Read on!

"We visited Yelimané for the last time this past weekend. As much as we realize things have changed since we first set eyes on that place, we also realize that nothing really does change. Kids get bigger, new ones arrive, older people leave, mud buildings are replaced with concrete, temporary markets are replaced with more permanent structures, true, but one could return there in twenty years and the same lives will still be going on. The spirit of the place will remain the same.... People will take time for people. Tea time will remain the most important time, the only real time. The joy in life will be, as ever, chatting with family and friends. Nothing will ever be more important than properly greeting people. We hope to take some of these last bits home with us…"

http://wheresamark.blogspot.com/

Give Yourself Permission To Go Missional!

If you are ready to begin your your missional journey, understand this. Not everyone around you will understand, or wish to join in on missional living. As a leader , one of the the toughest things to navigate is that point when you realize your path, and the path of those who hired you, diverges. Sometimes it's just best to walk away so you can make a fresh start, as many in our pews are simply not up for this, they don't want it. They really believe that what we do for an hour on Sunday is what the church always did on Sunday; that we look and act like the ancient church. Oh My! Let them go! But see this can divide churches- don't do that!.

Better yet, is to give yourself permission to let yourself go, and you follow the simpler path.
You don't have to be diverted from the mission, by using up all your time trying to drag everyone else along on the mission. Live what is right and true, and if others follow great, if not, keep living the mission and some might catch the vision. But staying back with them trying to move them, gives them no example to follow. See what I mean? Build with a few, like Jesus did.

This may mean that need to get another job (like me), for now, at least to live missionally. But the freedom to minister in simple relational ways, without all the pressure of managing the programming "stuff" is worth it. The time we get to spend with others, in his name, instead of spinning the often fruitless program plates, is really enjoyable.
However, I will warn you. The road is very loneley for the first 2-4 years. You will be misunderstood, and even missrepresented. Don't react, don't try to answer, just keep moving.

Here is are some interesting comments for thought.

".....you may understand that you can't keep everyone together when you move forward to the ancient incarnational way.... They don't want to go and make it very clear. Let them "not go" Some... will..... seem to want to go but really don’t. They are the ones who pay your bills if you’re a pastor, give you nice strokes after your sermon, and who generally make life peaceful for you as long as you keep it peaceful for them. They calmly nod and smile when you’re preaching what they want to hear, and for a while they even sound like they know where you’re going to take them.

“Oh, we’re going to be a missional church? Cool! It’s about time. I’ve been trying to get us to do this for years!”“Oh, we’re going to he really committed to ‘community.’ Count me in. In fact, I’d like to lead one.” But as soon as you suggest that this new journey will include some genuinely “lost” people from the world in your church; or that they may have to open up their homes once a week to create small communities; or that you may change the service time to accommodate searching souls; or change a little music; or let “nonbelievers” be involved in church ministries and activities; or give up their first baseline seating spot, their position as women’s choir post, or dive deeply into the life and activities of the culture around them, you’ll see their claws begin to come out..

If you try to keep everyone in the same cage of your missional journey, you’re in for some crud! Wise leadership requires that you steward everyone well; pastor everyone well; be honest with where you want to go and try to express what the journey will feel like, what they won’t get to take if they go, and what it will cost them if they do. Then let people decide for themselves.

For church planters and pastors who wish to move their congregations deeper into mission, this is quite difficult. We used to be told that the number one indicator of a new church’s success is how many people they have when they start. Now we say, the number one problem you’ll have will be based on bringing too many people with you. Why? Because a good majority of the Christian world ....... have good hearts, but they hate change, they’ve gotten used to being provided for, and many will take too much of your time and energy to try to keen on the mission.

("Tangible Kingdom". Hugh Halter, pg 27, 2008, Jossey-Bass. )

Africa Teaches Us Real Value!

This is from a Peace Corp worker in Togo, West Africa.
I appreciated her insight into the strengths of community in many villages and families in Africa.


"I have seen that in the absence of riches, the character of the people and the communities they create become the riches in great abundance. The only thing lacking in the US is this pervasive strength of character that can be found in every corner of Togo. I believe this character is not missing from the US, but simply hiding in a haze of consumerism and cheap distractions. My hope that it becomes prevalent again the way it has been in the past......"

A "Not Deep Enough" church & Christian!

All we have different than the world is the Gospel of Christ so Give it. If we think that the music, programing, and events in the average church are drawing people, we are deluded. There is much better entertainment in the community. The only thing that makes what we do different is Jesus. So give them Jesus; all of Jesus!

"Remember, when a Sojourner comes into your community time or gathering, he or she will be there voluntarily, because the Sojourner wants to know what a Christian really is. He will already be a part of your people; she will feel as if she belongs with you; and most likely the person has a high level of trust and respect for your opinions. All that is left for you to do is to be honest. “Going deep” isn’t about head knowledge or number of years following God. It's about honest, common struggle, and being transparent in both week and strong moments (These are all things the evangelical tradition has taught us to hide or cover, not to divulge....)

If you feel the need to lighten it up, you’re ripping off both the Sojourner and yourself. Jesus never lightened up his message, even with the most far-out Sojourners, so we probably shouldn’t either."

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 168-169. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

Most Leaders Are Starting With The Wrong Questions

I once played with string at a leaders meeting, because, frankly, it was more interesting than the discussion at hand. I've felt that way about the majority of the meetings I've participated in over my ministry time in Canada over the years. Very few of the discussions were pivital in my mind.

Always the same subjects, from the same perspective, and we go home with some busy work to make some cosmetic adjustments; But really, still doing the same thing. What can we do to make it better to "Attract" to "Draw", to "Lure" to "Appeal". I have come to really dislike this kind of discussion.

I've discovered that we can't lure people to church with a carrot. When it comes to church, everyone we speak to always knows our end goal, to "Get them to church". Do we think they don't know that we will be slipping in the gospel too? Of course they know that. If they come, it's not because of the music etc, it's because they are ready to hear a little of the gospel. So don't pat ourselves on the back for having found the right program or method. The dynamics are more complicated than that. Usually they come out of respect for you. So the real core is relational.

Here is a great summary the wrong Questions We discuss: I don't go to meetings like this anymore. Don't want to waste my time, that is why I'm so glad to be serving outside a paid traditional minister role these days. They have the hardest job in the world - Hats off to those who still do that.
This quite resonates with me deeply, as a former, current, and continuing missionary, be it in Africa or in the community where I'm involved in a new church plant. I believe if we approached every place like a missionary, with a missional mindset, it would be very good.

We would agree in principle that we are missioanries to this place. Truth is we are not applying much of the wisdom that our missionaries are using to engage people, and understand and enter new cultures, as insiders.

"USUALLY, WHEN LEADERS START to think about the call of missionality and to personal and corporate change, they begin in the. church parking lot asking questions like these;

• Why is the church failing?
• How should we do church?
• Should church be small or big?
• Mega-church or house church?
• What types of changes can we make to our programs or our presentation on Sunday?
• Should we build or buy a building?
• How can we increase funding so we can continue at the level we are now?
• What type of staff do we need?

Starting with any of these questions is the wrong place to start. Pastors, denominational leaders, theologians, and lay leaders usually begin here.

A missionary starts somewhere else.

Where Missionaries Begin: We must start with people like Fiona (from Chapter One) in mind—she and the millions like her who represent our mission field. We start with their assumptions, their experiences, their worldviews, their emotions. When we start there, everything changes: our posture with people, our livelihood, what we do with our spare time, who we spend our time with, how we structure the fabric of our lives, Yes, church is what we’re concerned about because we’re deeply entrenched in its minutia, but we can’t make transformative adjustments if we start there and work outward. We must go out and then let the church reemerge as a reflection and the natural outgrowth of our missional way of life.

Missional at its essence means “sent.” The idea is the exact opposite of waiting for the Fionas and their friends to come to us. It’s the antithesis of trying to “attract” them to us, our programs, our buildings, or our gatherings"

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 38, 2008, Jossey-Bass)

Canadian Church Is Taking A Year Off!

Where transfer growth is not so common, or rather on a much smaller scale, like in most rural churches, the frustration level can get elevated. As we try and try “New Thing” to attract people, with little results. This is what we have been taught to do, so we plan and organize more programs, exhausting ourselves in the process, while seeing no flocks of people coming. It’s because we are spending too much time on planning and supporting the programs and not enough time with people. Our core church people are tired. If you don’t believe me, ask them. They are tired of running, and running, and seeing few people unbeliever come to Christ, or too church for that matter. Its’ an exhausting treadmill. Here is a great Article from the chronicle Herald where a church decided to stop running.

Mennonite church takes a sabbatical

By JOHN LONGHURST Winnipeg Free Press
Sat, Aug 7 - 4:54 AM

WINNIPEG — It’s common for clergy to take sabbaticals — time off for rest and rejuvenation. But can a whole church take one, too?

That’s what the Whitewater Mennonite Church in Boissevain, southwest of Winnipeg, is doing. Starting in September 2009, the congregation suspended all its committees and committee work for a year.

"It’s been a year of letting go of the assumptions of how we do church," says lead pastor Judith Doell. "We’re not sure why we exist anymore. We know the church is changing. This is a way to try to figure that out."

The congregation still meets on Sundays, of course, and members also meet in small groups during the week.

"The point is to rest and get to know each other," Doell says, adding the congregation also gave itself the goal of reading through the Bible.

Church members also meet monthly to deal with any pressing decisions that need to be made. But if somebody comes up with an idea for a new project, and nobody volunteers, it doesn’t happen.

The church decided to take a year off because the way they were structured had become a burden for the small number of people who call it home.

Although the church can seat 300, only about 70 people attend on an average Sunday morning — and many of those are seniors.

"We needed to evaluate why and what we were doing, and we needed to pare down our structures," Doell says, noting that the church was finding it hard to fill all the committee positions.

Whitewater’s situation is not unique, she notes; many small-town churches are struggling to find people to run programs due to rural depopulation. "We were finding it harder to find volunteers," she says.

In deciding to take a year off, the church drew inspiration from the Book of Leviticus, where the Israelites were instructed to take a "year of Jubilee" every 50 years.

During that year they were supposed to let the soil lie fallow, give property back to those who had been forced to sell it due to financial hardship and free all the slaves — basically stop their regular work and release themselves from regular activities.

The church also took heart from the story of Mary and Martha in the Book of Luke, where Jesus praises Mary for taking time to sit and listen.

"We are trying to learn what it means to sit at the Lord’s feet," says Doell, adding that the year off is a time for members to "to stop our regular church work and seek a new sense of freedom and release in our life together."

And how’s it going so far? "It’s been challenging," she acknowledges. "We are such a doing society. It’s hard to stop and ask who we are, why we are here."

But one thing is already clear to Doell: "Not as much is required (of a church) as we think," she says. "Much of our busyness is just that — busyness," she says.

Plus, she adds, "much of Jesus’s ministry was just hanging out with people."

Organizational guru Peter Drucker liked to say that every business or organization should ask itself periodically: "If we weren’t doing what we now do, would we want to start doing it?" If the answer was probably not, he said, "then maybe it isn’t the right thing to do anymore."

‘Much of Jesus’s ministry was just hanging out with people.’

PastorJUDITH DOELL. [1]

---

[1] Mennonite church takes a sabbatical. By JOHN LONGHURST Winnipeg Free Press, Sat, Aug 7 - 4:54 AM. Accessed July 8, 2010 http://thechronicleherald.ca/Religion/1195671.html

Too Weak To Be Missional

This sounds a lot like how fundamentalist Christians view relationships. Have to avoid hanging out with people who might contaminate me. It's juvenile and immature to live within this fear. They have forgotten that we are to live as missionaries to the people and places around us. What kind of Faith do we have if it's in jeopardy of being lost by simply being with people, the kind Jesus want's us to love. We are playing the "weak" card too much.

"......he (Jesus) was not you ordinary evangelical guy. He was notorious (yes, that`s the right word) for hanging out with the wrong types. In contrast with today when so much of our Christianity is being with the right people in the right places at the right times, Jesus was always in the wrong places, with the wrong people, at the wrong times, according to the religious establishment."

>
(The Shaping If Things To Come. Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch. Hendrickson, 2003, Pg 114)

Courageous New Breed of Canadian Church Planters

Dad You Suck! Are We Bad News for our Wife & Kids?

"I put pressure on myself to live in such a way that people want to be with me.........During our first church plant in Portland, I came home from a normal ministry day, and while I was having a cup of coffee with my wife, she began to challenge me on my crankiness. It wasn’t just about me being an ogre that day. She seemed to be saying that there was a deeper problem with my level of stress and how it was being played out in our family and marriage. Adding to her list of concerns, she mentioned that my oldest daughter, who was six at the time, had said, “Dad sucks!” Now, I know where the word comes from, and how it’s been generalized down to simply mean “Dad’s no fun,” but it still seemed a bit overstated. So I called all the kids in for a family meeting. I asked them, “Mom says that you guys think I suck. Am I really that bad?” They all nodded and four-year-old McKenna said, “Yep, you suck.”

Cheryl later communicated that she married me because I used to be the “fun guy.” But that since we had been in pastoral ministry, I didn’t really turn her crank any more. She said, “I’m not going to divorce you, but just so you know, I’m not really enjoying living with you.”

As a pastor and a parent, I know the stats are stacked against my kids wanting to follow my faith. Somehow the leaders of the good news have become consistently bad news to their spouses and children, and I feel the most pressure to model the Kingdom from within my own house. If I’m not an inspiring person, I may not even influence my own family, let alone people outside the church. So what did I do? I began to “model up” and change. (Still working on it, by the way.)"

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 77. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

I've heard leaders that talk about how many "Hours" they put in. Also listened to church Elders criticizing their hired staff for what they perceived as a lack of "Sacrifice".
These guys talk about how, "I work full time and do all this church stuff after Hours" so why do they expect.... la.... de.... da...!

One church leader was singing this very song to me one day, and I bit my tongue. All I did was listen and watched his body language as he went on. He was not smiling about his service, was obviously tired and "burnt out" himself, and it was clear to me his "Sacrifice" was giving him little joy in the journey.

I wanted to ask him, "How's that working for you?" Would you really want to serve the same poison to your minister so he can be as burned out and joyless as you are about service? Boy, his wife and kids will thank you for that. Did you know that when church leaders kids leave home, ministers kids are more likely to be not involved in church than the average church kid.

The sure biblical Joy, and the occasional fickle fun, has been sucked right out of ministry and leadership for far to many today.
What's up with that?

Spontaneous Church

Some "Clergy" Are Just Crazy! This is Too Funny!

"In the past, I once enjoyed a season in a charismatic denomination. My spiritual formation was greatly enhanced by the denomination’s belief in the supernatural and their determination to “get their miracle.” If you’ve grown up in that environment, you’ll remember that at the end of every service you had an altar time. That’s when you let the Holy Spirit have his way over the people who went forward for prayer, healing, and so on.

Once, during a leadership conference, the speaker asked every minister to come forward, and he told us that God was going to slay us in the Spirit. I’d been open to this in the past, but for whatever reason, God seemed to always pass over me. As the speaker had warned, everyone fell over, except me. I was like the ten-pin that just wouldn’t go down. The minister looked perplexed and came over to me and gave it one more shot, but I just stood there, now smiling. He didn’t think it was funny and applied a bit of “unnatural” pressure to my forehead and then gave me a pretty good nudge. Still no response, except I was starting to get a little ticked off. Then he whispered in my ear.
“Son, your lack of faith is keeping you from God’s blessing.”

I whispered back, “Maybe God’s got bigger fish to fry than blessing a bunch of people who have been blessed their whole lives.” I was out of there in a hurry and spent the evening at a local pub enjoying the company of the unblessed.

I’m not sure how we got where we are, but it’s amazing that we think our most powerful times, our most intimate spiritual experiences, are supposed to happen within the comfortable confines of our church services. The biblical evidence is overwhelming and is crystal clear that God’s power is most naturally meant to happen “out there”!

The early church did meet in secret; the church has done so in times of persecution throughout the world, and many still do to this day. Jesus also pulled his disciples away at times to give them a break and to debrief. That’s okay, too. We’re not saying that we shouldn’t have private times with believers, but in early church times, the majority of the Christian activities were clearly done in plain view and for the benefit of the onlooking culture. They did meet privately, not out of separation theology, but because they had to. If God’s church is to regain its influence in the world, we will have to get much more comfortable doing “our stuff” out there again."

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 128-129. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

Mali, West Africa is Hurting!

72.8% the number of people living on less than $1 a day. And you wonder why we are launching work in 2011. Community and people transformation is needed.

God Uses Persecution To Spread The Gospel

"On one occasion he (Samuel Zwemer) was forced to leave Cairo on the grounds that he had illegally distributed tracts among university students, but the incident contributed to the conversion of one of those students. In front of his class, an infuriated professor tore to bits one of Zwemer’s tracts, and a student, curious as to why a small leaflet should create such an outrage, later picked up the fragments, pieced them together, and subsequently was converted Christianity."
(Encournering the World of Islam. (Kindle edition line 6454) Caleb project