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

No Imagination For Our Culture?

"While in reality we are in a post-Christian context. The Western church still operates for the most part in a Christendom mode. Constantine, it seems, is still the emperor of our imaginations."

(The Shape Of Things To Come. Michale Frost, Alan Hirsch. Hendrickson, 2003. pg 9)

Much Work To Do About Slavery!

After reading this note, from a confidential source I can't name, it makes one realize that slavery is not only an issue for the rich, but also about slavery of the mind too. This is for real!

"Senegalese people are obsessed with wanting to go to America.  They think we’re all super rich, and that by coming here, they can be super rich too.  Recently one of my friends was talking with his family about slavery in America.  His description was somewhat as follows: “yeah, boats would come to Africa, and fill up with Africans that were to go to America to work.”  Well his family was so keen on the idea that they asked him if boats like this still existed, and if so, how they could get on one."

My Dream Church

Is there more people like this? I want to walk with you. I would even consider ministry full time for a church people with this desire.

"(missional)..... Such a church makes it's mission its priority and perpetually asks itself, 'What has God called us to be and do in our current cultural context?' ... the missional church shapes itself to fit the context in order to transform it for the sake of the kingdom of God....missional church is always outward looking, always changing (as culture continues to change), and always faithful to the Word of God. In many places it is so radical it barely resembles church as we know it. In other cases it might appear conventional but is in fact incarnating itself into its community in surprising and exciting ways."

(The Shape Of Things To Come. Michale Frost, Alan Hirsch. Hendrickson, 2003. pg 7)

Why Would They Choose You?

I have found this to be true.

".....the best and most natural way to win someone’s heart is to model a way of life that’s attractive to them.

In old Christendom, leaders got to pick their followers. In the post-everything, no-authority world, followers now choose their leaders. They won’t be picking leaders based on the leaders’ ability to preach or organize a religious institution. They will be following people they want to be with and live like."

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 78. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

Oh Come, Come, Come, ........What's Up With That?

I really, really, despise that song.

First for the very unbiblical usage of the word "Church". Church is not a building its the people of God in the NT. The church never had Church Buildings" for the first 300 years.
Secondly, it bothers me because Church is about "coming", coming to a brown building, for an event, more than it is about "being" in relationship with others while on a journey or mission of the kingdom.

The hymn reflects the "Attractional Model" we have been using for some time now. Come to us! Come to Where We are! When its suppose to be come to Jesus, and discover what we have discovered in Him.

"The danger we speak of regarding the paradigms of the contemporary church isn’t that we’ve lost our heart for the world or that we do bad church. The problem is that our present evangelical “Come to us” paradigm of church has not been an appropriate missiological response to the paradigms that exist in our world."
(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 62. 2008, Jossey-Bass)

"The Gospel says, "Go," but our church buildings say, "Stay."

The Gospel says "Seek the lost," but our churches say, "Let the lost seek the church." (Howard Snyder "The Problem of Wineskins")

"...the disobedient Jonah sleeps in the bottom of the boat, oblivious of the fact that the storm is directed at him. At times the Church, too, sleeps right through the storm of God’s judgment passing over the world, assuring herself that the wind outside has nothing to do with her."

(Verkuyl. Pg 46. Perspectives. 2009, William Carey Library

"Jonah is lesson in educating person to be a missionary: it reveals the need for radical conversion of one's natural tendencies and complete restructuring of his life to make it serviceable for mission......The author of Jonah warns his readers against this intolerant attitude and sets before each of them the question of whether he or she is willing to be transformed into servant who works to accomplish the mandates of God."

(Verkuyl. Pg 45. Perspectives. 2009, William Carey Library)

Life Choices For The Poor!

Statistics show that by the end of grade 4 in Mali, only 23% of boys and 10% of girls can read a simple sentence in French. Mali ranks at the bottom of the United Nation's literacy rankings. .....Can you imagine sacrificing an extra pair of able hands on your farm and paying for your child's education only to have them come home having learned nothing? That's what happens in Mali.

God is Great! Beer is Good!

Chorus to a Song on the Radio today.

GOD is Great!

BEER is Good!

And people are crazy!

Song "People Are Crazy"by BILLY CURRINGTON

There have been days where I might have "amen-ed" this. But, my I really can't get into country music.

No Results!

"It just flat hurts when you've given generously of your time, money, and emotional energy to missional efforts without seeing results."

(Hugh Halter "Tangible Kingdom"Jossey-Bass, 2008. pg 16)

Why Plant your feet in Africa?

"It is the responsibility of your feet to take you places it was not obvious to your heart that it should go."

Tuareg Proverb

Are People Reached?

Missional or Attractional is not the issue, are people reached......

"I hope my perception based on my interaction with the missional movement is wrong. But for now, I would rather be part of a Christ-centered megachurch full of programs where people are coming to know Jesus as Savior, than part of a church of any size where they are not."

Missional Misgivings, Dan Kimball
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/fall/14.112.html

Missional Means?

"A missional theology is not content with mission being a church-based work. Rather, it applies to the whole life of every believer. Every disciple is to be an agent of the kingdom of God, and every disciple is to carry the mission of God into every sphere of life. We are all missionaries sent into a non-Christian culture. Missional represents a significant shift in the way we think about the church. As the people of a missionary God, we ought to engage the world the same way he does—by going out rather than just reaching out. To obstruct this movement is to block God's purposes in and through his people. When the church is in mission, it is the true church.

"

Alan Hirsch. "Defining Missional" http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/fall/17.20.html

Church Planting Is Planting What?

Do you see the difference?


"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)

Where There Is No Doctor!

Getting ready for NGO community development & Church planting work among an Islamic group of people in Mali, West Africa.

Health in the bush 8 hours & 500 miles from adequate health care is a reality. What do you do of you get very sick. A sickness in the bush is a real possibility, and concern , as locals are not always able to get you on a transport quickly.

So we have some good bush medical guides for tropical African diagnosis and treatment in the bush. One classic is " Where There Is No Doctor" which I am re-reading right now in preparation for going back to my second home, Africa.

There are about a dozen top notch free books to help people in rural areas isolated from health care.
Get these books for free.

http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php

Get Out Of Church, Or The World Gets Nothing

John Bowen, director of the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College in Toronto says,

"We need to recognize there are a lot of people who will only encounter the gospel if Christians go to them."

The need to go missional. Sept 1, 2010. http://www.christianweek.org/stories.php?id=1040&cat=vitalsigns

Here we sit in our churches trying to get people to come to us. Mission (going) is actually easier, and more fruitful, than attraction (come to us). We are killing ourselves doing it the hard way.
The most fruitful times in my ministey life have been those times I was operating outside the local church ministry structure. Basically, when living like a missionary in stead of preacher. It's too much about what happens inside the church.

The Best Satan Video Ever!

We need to read this.

So Sad! Work first Family Second!

This was written by a Peace Corps Worker in Mali,West Africa

"Peace Corps staff, all Malian, get training on American work values so that the office can be more efficient, punctual, and reflective of an American office. I was once in the office of a certain staff member, and noticed a small-typed list hanging behind his desk: 50 Successful Tips for Working in an American office. There was one highlighted. I leaned over the desk and squinted to read it. "Work first. Family Second." My heart fell. I pitied him, and in doing so, pitied myself, and the millions of Americans who have internalized that."

Work First, Family Second!

I thought this was well written. Peace Corp Worker in Mali, Aug 2010

As an American, I value achievement, intellect, individuality.....Amidst the constraints of poverty and the lack of access to opportunity, Malians have developed a strong values system. So if not competition and education, what are Malian values? Practicing utmost respect for people. Taking an interest in other people's affairs and endeavors. Sharing everything you have and not taking anything for yourself unless there's some left over. Stopping to help everyone you pass who may need a hand, not thinking twice about if it will make you "late" or if it's "not your problem." And though I've been annoyed with people persistently insisting on helping when I can clearly draw my own water or change my own bike tire, people stopping me to give an unending string of blessings and greetings, people constantly inquiring about my comings and goings or dismissing my polite declines to ask me to eat toh with them for the fourth time in a row, I know now, they just care about me. They give everything, which is nothing in our sense. But blessings, care, small acts of generosity, is all they have. And they have been offering it to me from the day I arrived. They are putting their values into practice and in doing so, show me that maybe the way I do things isn't necessarily right. I'm that girl who whizzes by on her bike because stopping to great a group of 10 women on the way to the market would take up way too much of my precious time. I'm the girl that has nice food and medicines in her home that she hides from the rest of the village. And how many nights have I dismissed someone who wanted to chat because I'd rather have my head in a book? What really gets me- is the individualism. I'm catching myself- my thoughts. Self-centered, so often about me. When I peer into the brain of my fellow Malian, who could be resting but instead goes over to help her neighbor wash clothes, I see her thoughts of society, and love for others suppressing that "me! me! me!" voice that is always trying to scream the loudest in our minds. Mali peace corps worker ...............
Peace Corps staff, all Malian, get training on American work values so that the office can be more efficient, punctual, and reflective of an American office. I was once in the office of a certain staff member, and noticed a small-typed list hanging behind his desk: 50 Successful Tips for Working in an American office. There was one highlighted. I leaned over the desk and squinted to read it. "Work first. Family Second."

My heart fell. I pitied him, and in doing so, pitied myself, and the millions of Americans who have internalized that."

Malian Proverb

"No matter how long a log sits in the stream, it will never become a crocodile."

Malian proverb meaning, ultimately, you are what you really are in any environment.

Some Fights Are Worth It!

"While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight - I'll fight to the very end!" William Booth

Too Small To Be Church!

Was reflecting on how difficult it was for the Jews to accept Jesus, and I tried to place myself in the routine of daily Jewish life and routine to understand why that might be. Well, you know, just about every structure and habit I had associated with my worship, and my place in that stricture would have been ripped away from under me.

Jesus was the end of the priesthood. Now everyone was to come to God, and live as an ambassador.

Jesus was the end of Animal Sacrifice. No more specialists required to worship God.

Jesus was the end of the Temple. God does no live in Temples built by human hands.

The synagogue was no longer needed. The river, the home, any place was ok to worship now. Many say church today is similar to synagogue structure. Oh my no. It is today but should not be. Because temple like places like synagogue are not required.
Jesus said not to go and hang out with the 99. He said to go seek lost sheep, and when you find him bring him to meet the ready of the family. Go to the ditch to pull out lost sheep. He never said that for our own health you need to be with the 99.

Jesus did away with Gathering size. Synagogues required 10 males to be formed. So it would have to involve at least 30 to 40 family members minimum. Jesus said where two or three gather in my name, I am there. But most Christians think its a false doctrine or only rebels or loons who actually practice it. Just about anyone is thought to be so. Never heard an exception yet.

You know, after thinking about it, If Jesus came to my church and said the same things
1. You are all priests, live like it. Stop waiting for "leaders" to do it for you. The Gospel has given you a ministry to do do it, there is nothing to figure out.
2. You don't need a building to meet with God, gather people anywhere and everywhere. "Jesus says go, but our church building says stay. Jesus says to seek the lost & we say let the lost seek the church." The Problem With Wine Skins
3. A good church is not measured by numbers, but faithfulness of those gathered. Two or three IS a church and could be a health on too....

I'm not so certain how many would hear it today. Would not be asked to come back and preach. There is much of the simplicity of the first century church we will not look at.

It's Just Life For Most

"Many of the crisis problems which are considered disasters in the United States would only be normal, everyday living conditions in most of Asia."

-K.P. Yohannan, Revolution in World Missions

Too Much Of Our "Stuff" With Gospel!

"Have Asians rejected Christ? Not really. In most cases they have rejected only the trappings of Western culture that have fastened themselves onto the Gospel."

-K.P. Yohannan, Revolution in World Missions