Church Tradition Is A God Now!

What is so alarming is that the right now the majority evangelical, though convinced they have a Biblical worldview and handle on scripture (especially fundamentalists), actually believe that the package in which we "do" church, and especially "church services" is biblical, even Apostolic, in the modern execution.

Where does one begin? What can one say to such people with such false impressions?
How do you begin to "reason" with a people captivated with a great delusion?

"Some institutions are allowed to grow so old and venerable that the idea if scrapping them is unthinkably sacrilegious."
F.F. Bruce

"We are living in an age hopelessly below the New Testament pattern- content with a neat little religion."
Martin Lloyd-Jones

"....You are experts at setting aside the commandments of God in order to keep your tradition." Mark 7:8-9

Vertical lock Down

This is the nature if all the conversations, meetings, seminars, church growth books & teaching I have been exposed too the last 20 years.
Climb the ladder higher, with more "excellence", "professionalism", more "intentional".
Good words, just based on a vertical perspective. We need to shift horizontally to new ground and build fresh movements without the same old baggage, not simply building on the same, better.


"Christendom has been worked and reworked and tweaked every which way possible, and yet we still persist in doing it the same way, only 'better'."

(The Shape Of Things To Come, 2003, Alan Hirch, Michael Frost)

Sterile Faith

Hate to admit it, but he summarized many evangelicals, certainly fundamentalists, very well. We are not much fun to be around.

Jesus defines our concepts of God, getting it wrong here means getting it wrong everywhere....And because Jesus defines and models for us perfected humanity; He shows us the way of true holiness. We will present to you a holiness more akin to a gutsy, inclusive, gritty faith than to the moralistic, exclusive, sterile version Christians have come to be known for.

(Alan Hirsch. "untamed" baker, 2010, pg 26)

Listening!

"Much silence makes a powerful noise." African proverb.

Bring on the Color in World Worship!

This quote so mirrored what I just sent to a journal group, about West Africa.
I am working among an unreached Islamic people group, with one Christian in the whole ethnic group.
However, in a small city of the region there are a half dozen churches, and except for local language and dress, it look, feels, and is organized like a typical western church. It's sad to see this repeated all over the world with little thought. What about the great diversity they can bring to God in worship? This is what I like to refer to as the "Default". This is why church becomes when we do not do the harder work of contextualizing.

"Allen and Michael...... traveled around the world in order to dig out some of the more innovative missional expressions of the church. The itinerary included the US, the UK, Italy, France, Israel, New Zealand, and South Africa. One of our lasting impressions of the churches in all those contacts is that, by and large, in spite of language differences, they tended to be in terribly dull and rather predictable. They had a disturbing propensity to look, feel, and act in basically the same way. They sang the same basic songs and follow the same basic order of service in their corporate worship. The sheer predictability of it all was quite shocking and deeply disturbing. It sometimes seems as if there is some form of 'template' at work in Evangelical churches all over the world, regardless of language and culture.......
When the church has embraced an alternative approach, it has been marginalized and is often so underground it's hard to find. All this, we believe, amounts to nothing less than the triumph of technique over substance - the death of the art of ministry and mission.
We would love to know who, or what, exactly is responsible for this malaise of the Spirit, this absence of creativity. Who can tell us where this stifling 'template' came from in the first place? And why do we seem to follow it so on questioningly in almost every setting in the Western church?
(The Shape Of Things To Come. Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch. Hendrickson, 2003, pg 182-183)

I Hope You See The Simple Beauty In This Song!

Two Kinds of People!

"There are two types of people in the world. Those who divide the world into two types of people, and those who don't" Tony Hendra

Transporting What?

I just returned from Africa and saw it first hand. An expensive, self-centered, expression of faith.
More spent on themselves for a sunday show that looks more southern American, than Africa. Little for the poor.
Only thing is I'm not sure it's pushed on them, they seem to willingly lap it up. Oh and prosperity gospel, modern prophets with perceived power connections direct to God, and bizarre manifestations attributed to the Holy Spirit.
Africa needs "saving" from these bizarre, unbiblical theologies too.


"The kind of Christianity that is being exported to the rest of the world (particularly the developing world) from America is incredibly harmful. As a Malawian Christian, I am concerned about negative influences of the American Church in my home country at different levels, not the least of all theologically."

Worth a listen!

This Audio Clip helps us focus on some good things.

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Let's Not make it a Selfish Journey!

"More is at stake in discipleship than our own personal salvation. The gospel cannot be limited being about my personal healing and wholeness, but rather extends in and through my salvation to the salvation of the world world."

(Alan & Debra Hirsch. "Untamed" Baker Books, 2010, pg24)

What I Become!

"To believe means go be so rooted in Christ that he becomes the foundation of one's existence, the beginning and end of the movement known as life, its measure and source and strength.
The extent to which we succeed depends on our loyalty and on our power of sacrifice. Hence the believer does well to say not that he is a Christian, but that he is becoming one."
--Romano Guardini

Church - Don't Jip People of Relationship!

People don't want to be the object of your church program. The moment you knock on their door they feel just like you do, with some cult shows up ringing the bell.

The assumption, clear as crystal, right up front is this; I'm at your door because you are lacking, in need, mistaken, not.....

Yet we approach people like a door to door salesman, trying to convince people of their "need", their lack. Starting off a relationship with, "I'm here because you are lacking" is really not the best starting point. Have we thought of that. Would never have won me my wife.

We build relationships first. Could it be that in a relationship with another unbeliever, we may have something very needed to receive form them too? Sure! Relationships are exchanges of the sweetest kind.
However, if we make it about words first, few will ever hear the gospel from us. Connect with people. Be their friend if they every accept Christ or not (We hope they do). It will be good for them, and you too!

"If you’re truly living the good news, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to explain the theological aspects of the gospel. But if we continue to lead off with words about the gospel instead of acts of the gospel, we’ll continue to jip people."

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

What Love Is!

This is for Lynn.
Readers, If this song does not make you smile, what would?
Did you smile?

Second Hand Hopefulness!

"If the Gospel isn't transforming you, how do you know it will transform anything else?" N.T. Wright

At times I feel we invite people to church, making promises of how wonderful this will be fore THEM, all the while hoping they will receive what we do not necessarily experience ourselves!

Jesus can transform us, but do we let him?

You Must Learn What to Fear And What Not To Fear

"But I was frightened of everything that moved - every insect, every animal. My Grandmother would sometimes try to reason with me 'A wild horse that bolts at every moving thing stumbles and breaks its leg,' she told me. `As you run from your small insect you may fall onto this bush and die, because it is poisonous. You may fall onto this mound and die because it hides a snake. You must learn what to fear and what not to fear"

Ayaan Hirsi Ali about her Somali Grandmother,

(Infidel. Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Free press, 2007, Line 473-476 (kindle))

God Loves Me So I Am Paramount?

"Christianity's object is me.
Therefore, when I look for a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family. When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works best for me and my family. When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best for me. This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture.
But it is not biblical Christianity.
The message of biblical Christianity is not "God loves me, period," as if we were the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is "God loves me so that I might make him--his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness--known among all nations." Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is."


(Radical, David Platt, kindle line 997)

Holed Up Church!

"Recently I walked by a 'church' that was holding services on a Sunday morning in an upscale community in Northern California. Organ music drifted out of the open doors, spilling onto the streets where passersby made their way to coffee shops, art galleries, and antique stores, oblivious to the goings-on of the band of worshipers ensconced behind stucco walls.

Is this situation worrisome to that congregation? Apparently not.

No one was outside to engage anyone on the street. Nametags were on prominent display in the entry plaza next to the 'sanctuary'. The clear message was 'members only'. If you wandered in on the activities absent a nametag, you'd stick out like a sore thumb.
Contrast this picture with what you see and experience as you read about the early days of the Christian movement in the Book of Acts. The kingdom was spreading like a virus, invading every aspect of society. There wasn't a possibility of containing it inside a building; it was unleashed onto the street.

If you are a church leader, you will self-select into your own future of spiritual expression. Either you will participate in some kind of religious activity that is increasingly disconnected from its surrounding culture, or you will join the ranks those who want to experience the life of a Jesus follower."

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg xiii, 2008, Jossey-Bass. By Reggie McNeal in forward)

Digging In The Same Hole!

Fear to make change. Why do we keep digging in the same hole?

"One of the most subversive questions Alan asks you when he is doing church revitalization consultation with a local congregation is this: "If you could start again from scratch, would you do with the same way?"... and the usual answer was "no." If they could start over and begin doing church from scratch, they ususally said they would not do it the way they were currently doing it. For Alan then, it begs the response, "Then, why are you not changing it now?"
If you are digging a hole in one place and you realize you need to dig and elsewhere, you don't get there by digging in the same place, only deeper. And yet churches, when they realize that the old attractional model isn't working, seem to believe that if they just do what attrctional l church better, it will work. And, let's face it, so many of the church growth seminars and conferences or are simply repackaging the traditional attractional mode and promoting it to small, struggling, and dying churches as the only way to grow. There is a whole industry devoted to such conferences in the production of such materials that simply encourage struggling congregations to keep digging the same hole deeper.".

(The shaping of things to come innovation and Mission for the 21st century church by Allan Frost and Alan Hirsch 2003 page 62, 63)

Take the Exit from the Church Parking Lot!

This resonated with me, as it is how I feel church can be out side the walls of traditional brick. I like to see people living out Christian community from the opposite side of the church parking lot - the Exit side!

A friend of mine said that during worship one day their leadership was stressing to the congregation how important it was for members to invite people to church, after all "If we can't get them in the door, we can't minister to them."

This is a church starting a 4 million dollar church building expansion. Getting them in the door is what the whole methodology is about. And if the don't come in the door who's going to pay for it right?

That my friends is exactly why we must change what church means. We can minister to them, even if they don't come in the door. It's called the 'Priesthood of all Believers".

UK: In Every Community, a Church that Fits

Source: Joel News International 761, January 26, 2011 (http://www.joelnews.org)

Church on the beach, church in the skate park, churches that bake, and churches that get messy. Goths gathering to celebrate communion, and football fans worshiping together. The Fresh Expressions initiative, a missions partnership of various denominations in the United Kingdom, has seen hundreds of these new forms of church spring up around the nation and Europe in the last five years. These new churches are supported and encouraged with the aim of seeing the gospel planted into communities to which people actually belong.

This month Fresh Expressions started a partnership with youth prayer movement 24-7 Prayer. "The young people I know resonate with the idea of connecting their faith with the real world they live in and the world around them, and that's been an emphasis of 24-7," says Andy Freeman, spokesperson for the new partnership. "We're not shutting ourselves away in a prayer room. It's prayer to go out, it's prayer that connects."

"For some young people it's very difficult to find a home within church as it looks right now. Our culture is fragmenting and we can't expect to meet all the needs with one form and style of church. So I'm very much in support of a 'mixed economy' or 'mixed ecology' of church. My vision is a church that fits. Many people have a hunger for God. We want to provide a home for them."

When Mighty Church Crushes Mighty Men!

There's a lot of criticism, crazy expectations, and foolish demands of ministers/pastors today, and pressure is mounting. What are you doing different to minister to your minister? What makes you think its any better at your church then the next? Do his wife and kids a favor and let him, and them have time for relationships - NOT AROUND A MEETING TABLE.

"Somehow the leaders of the good news have become bad news to their spouses and children" Hugh Halter (Tangible kingdom)

Higher than average rates of depression, and higher rates of church drop out for pastors kids.

"When you don't have all the "stuff", you're left with a lot of time to spend with people." Hugh Halter in Tangible Kingdom"

Church, your "stuff" is killing people, and they are tired weary and worn.
If you don't believe me ask them.
There are simpler ways, follow them, please.

Wimpy Jesus Or Wimpy us?

"We have taken the infinitely glorious Son of God, who endured the infinitely terrible wrath of God and who now reigns as the infinitely worthy Lord of all, and we have reduced him to a poor, puny Savior who is just begging for us to accept him.
Accept him? Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don't we need him?"
(Radical, David Platt)

Church Planting or Raising Missionaries!

Which comes first? The more people live the missional life, the more churches will be planted.

"The goal of our missional life is not to grow churches. The goal of the church is to grow missionaries."

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

Scraps!

"What would happen if together we stopped giving our scraps to the poor and started giving surplus?"(Radical, David Platt)

Lesser Dreams

"It's a foundational truth: God creates, blesses, and saves each of us for a radically global purpose. But if we are not careful, we will be tempted to make exceptions. We will be tempted to adopt spiritual smoke screens and embrace national comforts that excuse us from the global plan of Christ. And in the process we will find ourselves settling for lesser plans that the culture around us--and even the church around us--deems more admirable, more manageable, and more comfortable."

(radical, David Platt,kindle line 1018)

I'd Rather Stare at the Back of your Head?

I guess we must be much brighter today, and require more gimmicks to "Attract" people. In the old days it worked through building simple genuine relationships in the community. Conversation, interaction, and involvement with people's lives. Now it takes a guitar, sitting in the pew staring at someones head in front of you I guess. Thrills me to do that for sure..., I'm sure it thrills you too. It has to be about relationships and connecting, in his name. Nothing wrong with doing things well, but don't make juggling the stuff , for the people, the main thing, instead of time with the people.

"We have to remember that the ancient faith communities that set a course to change the history of the world did so without church programs, without paid staff, without Web sites, and without brochures, blogs, or buildings. They were lean! The point of going without all the stuff is simple but profound. When you don't have all the 'stuff' you're left with a lot of time to spend with people."

(Hugh Halter "Tangible Kingdom" Jossey-Bass 2008, pg 25

Remember who....?

"History admires the wise, but it elevates the brave."

Edmund Morris

Humm!

African Proverbs

"When a needle falls into a deep well, many people will look into the well,
but few will be ready to go down after it."

"When a lizard decides to wear pants, one should not ask him what we will do with his tail."

"It is not what you are called, but what you answer to."

African Proverb: "When a head is too big it cannot avoid punches."

Beautiful Woman!

Africa Proverb: "He, who marries a woman only for her beauty, has ignored a major part of what makes a woman."

Why are So Few On My Road?

African Proverb: "When a road is good, it is used a second time."

Why People Who Care Are Sick Of Going To Church And Seeking more Authentic Expressions of Christian Community!

In a recent study, the Barna Group identified six major themes, regarding the church and Christianity in America, in 2010:

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.

2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented. With the advent of social networking technologies Christians are strangely enough becoming more tribal and connected-into than connected-out.

3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life. I theorize this is the Xer effect.

4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.

5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.

6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.

True!

"A true friend is someone who sees the pain in your eyes while everyone else believes the fake smile."

Whoever Invented Christmas Should Be Shot!

I read a story of a woman who was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours, looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable. And after hours of hearing both of her children asking for everything they saw on the shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids. Exhausted and a it short tempered about the whole experience.

Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the elevator and dragged her two kids in with her and all the bags of stuff. When the doors closed she couldn't take it anymore and stated, "Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot."

From the back of the elevator everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, "Don't worry we already crucified Him."

For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

It's Probably True!

If we think as foreigner, in another land, among a new people, that we are not sometimes the product of a joke.... Let me tell you about......

More African Wisdom!

"Stories can be either bacteria or light; they can infect a system, or illuminate a world....to poison a nation, poison it's stories. A demoralized nation tells demoralized stories to itself." Ben Okri of Nigeria

African Proverb: "Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped."

African Proverb:"No one can corrupt you unless you are corrupt," (ewe proverb from Ghana)

African Proverb: "MAN CAME TO THE WORLD TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION BUT NOT TO COMPLETE EVERYTHING."

West African Irrigation Overview! Click to read!

African Wisdom!

African Proverbs

"Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped."

"No one can corrupt you unless you are corrupt," (Ewe proverb from Ghana)

NewsPaper Interview With Journal Pioneer For Man of Peace Development

Canadian Registered Non-Profit Charity: Make a Tax Deductable Secure Online Donation www.manofpeacedevelopment.org

Link to Article: Kildare couple bring irrigation to Mali (Link)
http://www.journalpioneer.com/News/Local/1969-12-31/article-2052906/Kildare-couple-bring-irrigation-to-Mali/1
Picture:

Wild Oats!

A statement made to me yesterday by an Auto Repair Guy.
"My wife dated me for 8 years before she married me. At one point during our dating she asked me if i had sown all my wild oats yet. I told her I did sow all my wild oats, but I was still working on the other grains."

So are all world views conducive to good marriage? ;-)

Why Go?

Good Insight!

"The trip was going to cost me around three thousand dollars. It wasn't easy to travel into Sudan since they were still at war, and we would have to charter a plane and spend a few extra days to make that happen. I remember one dear lady in the church coming up to me and asking, "Why don't you just send the three thousand dollars to the people in Sudan? Wouldn't that be a better use of money than your spending a week and a half with them? Think of how far that money could go." I wrestled with that question. Was I wasting these funds in order to go when I could simply give the money instead? Should I even be going? I continued wrestling with that question until I got to Sudan. There I had a conversation with Andrew that shed some light on the question.
Andrew was sharing with me about his life in Sudan over the last twenty years. He had known war since he was born, and he described facets of the suffering and persecution his people had been through. He told me about the various groups, most of them secular or government organizations, who had brought supplies to them during that time, and he expressed thanks for the generosity of so many people.
But then he looked at me and asked, "Even in light of all these things that people have given us, do you want to know how you can tell who a true brother is?"
I leaned forward and asked, "How?"
He responded, "A true brother comes to be with you in your time of need." Then he looked me in the eye and said, "David, you are a true brother. Thank you for coming to be with us."
Tears welled up in my eyes as the reality of the gospel hit home with me in an entirely new way. I was immediately reminded that when God chose to bring salvation to you and me, he did not send gold or silver, cash or check. He sent himself--the Son. I was convicted for even considering that ! should give money instead of actually coming to Sudan.
How will ! ever show the gospel to the world if all ! send is my money? Was I really so shallow as to think that my money is the answer to the needs in the world?"

Richly Ignorant in Affluence

If we make only ten thousand dollars a year, we are wealthier than 84 percent of the world, and if we make fifty thousand dollars a year, we are wealthier than 99 percent of the world.

Eaten by Worms

"John Paton (1824-1907) is relatively unknown among Christians today. He served for ten years as the pastor of a growing Scottish church, but God began to burden his heart for the New Hebrides, a group of Pacific islands filled with cannibalistic peoples and no knowledge of the gospel.
He set his heart on one island in particular. Twenty years earlier two missionaries had gone to that island.
They were killed and cannibalized. So it was no surprise that many dissuaded Paton from even the thought of following in these missionaries' footsteps. Paton wrote, "Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, 'The Cannibals! you will be eaten by Cannibals!'" John Paton replied to this man, "Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can hut live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer." The old man left the room, exclaiming, "After that I have nothing more to say!"

At the age of thirty-three, John Paton traveled to the New Hebrides with his wife. The journey was not easy. His wife and newborn child died within months after arriving, and he found himself alone, digging their graves with his bare hands. He faced threat after threat upon his life. But in the years to come, countless cannibals across the New Hebrides came to know the peace of Christ, and the church across Australia, Scotland, and the Western world was challenged to rise up and make the gospel known among the peoples who are toughest to reach."
(Radical. David Platt)

African Time!

African Proverb: "The mud always settles, it simply takes time."

My Africa! Enjoy, It's Worth Watching

What is Church "For" Anyway?

Amazing thing to consider is that the term "worship Service" is never used, or alluded to in the NT. Why is this? Worship was never seen as an "event", that begins at a certain time or in a certain place in the NT.
The word worship is never used in that boxed in kind of way in the NT. To say we have a "worship service" would imply worship has a start time, and a stop time, or that worship is restricted to certain places or certain size gatherings. All of which is very errant theology.

Worship was seen as all of life lived out in Jesus. What people do on Sunday, in a gathering, is no more "worship" than what is done on tuesday.

Worship is not merely singing songs, praying, gathering together on Sunday. Certainly worship occurs there too, but only there. Worship never has a start or ending time - It's "all of our lifes" activities lived for the glory of God. This is how the word "Worship" is used in the NT. Go have a look.

See, singing, praying, scripture reading, or assembling at "Church", has a start & end time. Worship does not! The only time worship & Service are ever used in the same sentence is in Romans 12:1-2, where it tells us that worship is giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, this is our "Spiritual" or "Reasonable", ...... worship. Anything less is not spiritual nor reasonable.
I have heard so many very poor sermons on this passage.

Church gatherings are for, and about raising up, living breathing missionaries. People living for the glory of God "all night long, all night" .....and all day too!

This, and nothing less, is worship! Don't make Sunday into something it is not in the NT! Gathering together as the church, around things like Acts 2:42, is not optional. However, it's not "for" worship, it's an extension of our worship.

"The second thing that might be a switch is that when people are bent on mission first, the gathering takes on different purposes. We have found that when the primary values are outward mission and incarnational life, the gathering becomes more about connecting people, corporate storytelling, vision casting, and celebration. In settings where the church service is the main thing, Bible teaching, singing, prayer, and ministry to people becomes the priority. We prefer that Bible teaching, prayer, study, and ministry to people happen primarily in our communities during the week.............

We’re not anti-gathering; we just don’t care how many people gather, or when, or for how long. We don’t think smaller gatherings are better than larger gatherings. Our main focus is on why we gather and the meaning that is brought into our gathering due to our common story away from the gathering. This is why we encourage church planters not to start the church by launching a church service.

Instead, we advocate that they launch people and add the gatherings as needed.
For an existing congregation, the challenge is to sensitively “not provide” things at the gathering that you want people to experience out in the world and slowly reestablish the meaning behind the weekly church service. Maybe, it shouldn't even be called a “service.” That communicates, “You come here to get what you need.”

Please hear what we’re saying. We believe there is something very important about bringing people together........The key is to not let your gathering be more than it is supposed to be, nor to let people depend on the gathering for things it wasn't supposed to provide in the first place."
(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 169. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

Stop Focusing on Church Growth! Start Raising Members to Be Missional!

Really, which comes first? If people actually lived like missionaries to their community, culture, friends, country, church growth could not be stopped. Most pew sitters have been in spectator church for so long they think that is all they are called to. They don't even know they are suppose to approach the world like "missionaries". Would shock them too!

"I was driving the other day and heard an announcer on a national radio station say, “Remember, all Christians should he in church this Sunday?" When I heard it, I found myself bristling with anger. As I pondered my reaction I realized that we still think that’s the end game for people. That is, if we just get people to church, everything else will take care of itself. Why did they have to challenge people to go? Why did I rarely want to go as I was growing up? It’s an easy answer. The problem with church has been that we communicate that God is up in heaven, monitoring his cosmic seating chart, and he really wants our church buildings full.
That’s just not true.

Church gatherings were never the intended goal they were the natural result of people finding others who were living their alternative Kingdom story. The goal of our missional life is not to grow churches. The goal of the church is to grow missionaries. The goal of the Gospel is not to get to church. The result of the gospel is that people will find each other and gather because of the deep meaning of a common experience."

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 167-168 2008, Jossey-Bass)

The Church Vote!

Majority rules, right?
I have discovered in the last 10 years that I find I don't want to walk with the majority sitting in the pew. This is not because I have trouble loving them, I do. It's not because I harbor some unresolved ill feelings toward them.
It's simply because can not walk in the same direction of their gaze.
Some are not walking in any direction at all. Immobile! Seeminly immovable too!

I thought this was amazingly true in my experience. This is a worth while devotion book to get.

"Not surprisingly, this tendency to focus on the goal to the exclusion of the process is often reflected in our churches as well. For example, I suspect that our view of time and productivity affects the ways decision-making is carried out in many churches. There is a clear difference between operating by consensus and by majority vote: although the latter promises more productivity choosing to operate in this manner only makes sense if one has already determined that the final outcome of a decision is more important than the process. Furthermore, there seems to be little incentive for the majority to listen patiently to the concerns and objections of the minority if the former is certain that they have the necessary votes to impose their will. But what if God cares about not only the decision (and what results from it) but also the kind of people we become in the process? Operating by majority rule in the name of productivity and efficiency also assumes (wrongly I suspect) that God normally votes with the majority. It seems hard to account for why Israel needed the prophets, or for the lack of democracy displayed when the twelve spies returned from their trip to Canaan (Num 13—14), if one assumes that the best way to determine God’s desires is simply to tab a vote."

(Life On The Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. Phillip D. Kenneson IVP, 1999, pg 123)

Gritty Christianity!

This is so where I have been since Africa in 1995. Africa teaches one that community, relationships, are paramount. I've sought to also bring this home, and inject it into my spiritual life here, because it's a more biblical, and healthy way of doing life I think.

I'll be honest, traditional ministry, and the expectations of "What ministers do" just about choked any opportunity for me to live and grow into this while in "pulpit ministry here. That may very well be unique to my experience.

However, this is the direction I'm going, and I am extremely excited to be heading in this direction. The ministry journey is much more "gritty", as I get down into the lives of people, right out there in the market place of life. But it's given me more joy to be on the frontier were people "believe" different things. But I get to share Jesus too! It's where mission is lived out. Can't accomplish much relationally with people in an office all week. This journey has given significantly greater opportunity to touch and love people, in his name.

"......our new post-everything context is going to require that we belong with people as dear friends for quite a while before they’ll feel comfortable belonging with us. Our posture of how we communicate to them—that we are on their side and advocating for them—is how we enter their world. Instead of drawing a line in the sand and imploring them to “get right with God or get left behind,” we step across from our religious side into their all-too real world and ask how we can help. This too, can be done with or without words. Instead of picketing abortion clinics, we re-posture by taking the girls into our homes and lives and loving them and their children. Instead of putting another slick saying on our church billboard, we commit two years to getting to know someone. Instead of advertising our faith as superior to other faiths, we serve those with other faiths."

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 42, 43. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

The Power of Storytelling

"Stories can be either bacteria or light; they can infect a system, or illuminate a world....to poison a nation, poison it's stories. A demoralized nation tells demoralized stories to itself."
Ben Okri of Nigeria

(Telling God's Stories With Power: Biblical Storytelling in Oral Cultures. Paul Koehler. 2010, William Carey library pg 50)

Is Jesus & His Word Enough?

We western people insist we need the stuff.

"Despite its size, sixty believers have crammed into it. They are all ages, from precious little girls to seventyyear-old men. They are sitting either on the floor or on small stools, lined shoulder to shoulder, huddled together with their Bibles in their laps. The roof is low, and one light bulb dangles from the middle of the ceiling as the sole source of illumination.
No sound system.
No band.
No guitar.
No entertainment.
No cushioned chairs.
No heated or air-conditioned building.

Nothing but the people of God and the Word of God.
And strangely, that's enough.
God's Word is enough for millions of believers who gather in house churches just like this one. His Word is enough for millions of other believers who huddle in African jungles, South American rain forests, and Middle Eastern cities.
But is his Word enough for us?
This is the question that often haunts me when I stand before a crowd of thousands of people in the church I pastor. What if we take away the cool music and the cushioned chairs? What if the screens are gone and the stage is no longer decorated? What if the air conditioning is off and the comforts are removed? Would his Word still be enough for his people to come together? At Brook Hills we decided to try to answer this question. We actually stripped away the"

("Radical", David Platt, line
398 Kindle)

Leadership Style!

Illustration: If you came to an intersection and saw three people holding an AK 47 with the road blocked with old tires, and a big spike belt across the road, how would you feel? This happened to Lynn and I our first day in Cote D’Ivoire West Africa. We pulled up to a place where the road was all blocked off with huge tires and logs, with a spike belt across the road, and a half dozen burly men holding ak47 and various machine guns. They stopped everything and only moved the spike belt to let through who they wanted. They severely hassled many people too and make them sit there for hours, sometimes even days. It’s frustrating to be held up like that too. Sitting there waiting and waiting doing nothing, accomplishing nothing. Getting no closer to our destination, going no further on the journey.

However, have you ever come to an intersection with a traffic Director? Does That intimidate you? Not really? They are good, they keep the traffic flowing very well. If there is a bottle neck they will temporarily stop one direction to ease the congestion in another, but they son have you going again because the traffic director get things going smoothly again. They don’t examine every car so we might think the director is not paying attention. However, if we try to do something that stops the flow – Up comes the finger pointed at you. They will soon let you know that this is not permitted wise, or acceptable action. But they keep the flow going.

Some leaders are like the soldiers with the AK47 and spike belt. They see their job as to stop everything and then, only after sever scrutiny they let through those who seem to be ok, but it seems grudgingly done. Many others are keep back and hassled, keeping them immobile for long periods of time. They are stalling, frustrating their journey, and no closer to their destination.

Others Leaders are like the traffic director. They allow things to move and redirect the flow so as to optimize movement of the traffic. They will give is direction, They will wave their hands in a circle swiftly to tell us speed up, speed up, Our a patting motion to advise slowing down and be more cautious. They may even give us that corrective pointy Index finger pointed just as us, but their God is to help us all keep moving.