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Making Ready the Way of the Lord
2008-04-11 21:11:00
More from Luke... I've been meditating on John's prophetic mandate as a forerunner to prepare people for Jesus (Luke 1:16-17). So, what was John's prophetic message. How do we prepare ourselves for Jesus? Luke 3:8-10: "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." If I had been there, I would ask the same question they did, "Then what shall we DO?""The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise." (vs.11)And to the tax collectors, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered." And to the soldiers, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages." (vs. 14) [Don't use positions o...
More About: Lord , Ready , The Lord

Women and Children in Luke
2008-04-09 23:21:00
I've been feeding on Luke 1, slowly going through it, meditating and pondering and praying in this portion of scripture. I'm only up to verse 35, as I'm chewing slowly and prayerfully. Several things in this chapter have spoken to me, but one thing in particular has stuck out. This portion is all about barren (or virgin) women and supernatural child-bearing. An angel shows up and prophetically declares that they are about to birth a movement. Regarding John, the angel says, "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (vs. 17) And of Jesus, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High...and His kingdom will have no end." (vs. 32-33)Due to my culturally Hellenistic approach to the scriptures, I have had to realize that this is not just doctrinal/conceptual teaching. Th...
More About: Women , Children

My Story of Following Him Out
2008-04-07 19:34:00
This is the story of my journey following Jesus out of church-as-we-know-it. When I first followed Him out in 2003, I had never heard of "emerging" or "organic church" or "missional." In fact, I've only recently become aware of these movements. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that God has taken a number of people on this journey, and spoke to them many of the same things He was speaking to my husband and I. Anyway, here's my story:I left church primarily because I was I was discontent with my own spiritual barrenness, and the barrenness of the churches in my city. None of us were producing new believers. People were switching churches, so some churches experienced ?growth? from that. But the kingdom was remaining static. It was not growing in my city, and that broke me. I began to question why we were so inwardly focused on our own spiritual transformation while millions of hurting people outside the walls were ignored. Besides, I began to wonder why we thought that sitting...
More About: Story , My Story

I don't really know what I'm doing
2008-04-07 09:22:00
Maybe I was a bit sharp in that last post. I am just going to be a little vulnerable here... I am conflicted within myself. On the one hand, I have this fire burning inside me. I have this passion for God's purpose to come forth in and through His people, His church. I have this burning passion for reformation in our day, for liberty and freedom from religious mindsets that Jesus never intended us to labor under, and that aren't bearing much fruit. A passion for right foundations, for Jesus to be the only cornerstone. A passion for His kingdom to expand, to minister to the pain and loneliness of those who don't yet know Him. And on the other hand, I sometimes feel like the bad guy when I share my convictions. Or at least, I feel mean. I want to "honor what others are doing" as Mark pastorally suggested (thanks, Mark, and good point). But then I think, "Well, I want to honor people. But I can't honor certain things that compromise my convictions." So maybe I should just pipe down...

Crisis! What to do, what to do (wringing hands)
2008-04-06 21:03:00
Thom Rainer, President of LifeWay, wrote a sobering article on the current crisis in the American church. His main support comes from new 2004 data. He writes, ?It takes 86 church members in America one year to reach a person for Christ.? So a group of 86 average church members would require 86 years just to reproduce themselves (keeping the numbers static, nevermind kingdom expansion). Bill Dahl at the Porpoise Diving Life has written an amazing article titled The Red 'C.' He uses the Apollo 13 mission as a metaphor for the mission of the church, and how we respond to our own failure. Hopefully, we'll respond as NASA did, and take responsibility for the crisis. Or... Will we continue to ignore the missiologists, the researchers, the stats that reveal our inability to complete the mission (like Barna, Willow Creek's REVEAL, etc)? Can it be that faulty paradigms of 'church' are responsible for these statistics, these failures? Will we even confront and admit our own barrenness...
More About: Hands , Crisis

She's Done it Again
2008-04-05 22:13:00
Kingdom Grace has a way of facilitating the best dialogues on her blog. I love these kinds of forums since I learn so much from everyone who contributes, and I have a chance to throw in my .02 for feedback as well. Dialogue is a much more effective learning environment than monologue, don't you think? Anyway, Grace basically asks if toxicity is inherent in institutional systems or not. There's some great thoughts on the clergy-laity divide, the politics and power-plays within institutional systems, the knowledge=power colonial mindset, and a whole bunch of other concepts. You can read the discussion on her post "What do you think?". Thought-provoking stuff! This was my conclusion (having digested and pondered the question and the other contributor's comments):The only “power” we should respect and fear is the power of God. The “power” of man should not impress us or intimidate us. We may submit to the Holy Spirit in another person, but never to that person. We are all fal...

Reactionary maturity?
2008-04-04 21:22:00
First, I want to say that I struggled with writing this post. Because it's not really directed at the blogs I read by authors who have been victimized by very toxic spiritual abuse - their situations are unique (but I fear they are common). I think the nature of grace is that it allows space for understanding the particular cards one has been dealt, and their particular set of circumstances into the equation. Jesus dialed it up for some people, and dialed it down for others. Context matters. So please, when you read this, know that although I stand by what I'm preaching, I'm not trying to impose a standard universally. We all have process, and God is with us in that process. So please hear my heart... and understand my reservations about this post. Here goes:Reactionary maturity is a pretty obvious oxymoron. But I have come across a certain attitude in the post-church blogosphere that I want to explore in this post.Reacting to all the happy-clappy religious phoniness that people ...
More About: Maturity

Needed Wisdom in Times of Transition
2008-04-03 21:04:00
Len at Next Reformation has posted an excellent piece exploring some of the difficulties regarding the transitional seasons of life. I value his wisdom and recommend reading "Deconstruction, Rebuilding, God's Future."
More About: Wisdom , Times , Transition

Great News
2008-04-03 06:49:00
I'm originally from Seattle, so you know I'm a big fan of a fine cup of coffee. And then I read this BBC headline: Daily Caffeine Protects Brain. Oh good, if I keep up the coffee intake, I may overcome the risk of losing my marbles. Thank God, who causes all things to work together for my good, even a cup of joe. ;)
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What is "missional" all about?
2008-04-01 21:34:00
I love the word "missional" because it carries an apostolic seed. When we love God, experience Him, prophetically hear and see what He wants to speak to us and show to us, then His heart for others (His desire for reconciliation with the outside world) becomes a part of who we are. Our heart begins to beat with His. His dream becomes our dream, His love for the world is imparted to us, and we begin to love as He loves. We become an apostolic people in the simplicity of being sent ones; on His mission of love and reconciliation. It is no longer just about us, or our little community of faith.This term "missional" is being used in a lot of different ways, and that can add confusion rather than clarity. I found the following quote (from an interview with Alan Hirsch) and video (of Michael Frost speaking at a Presbyterian Conference) to be helpful in explaining the original heart behind the word "missional". The video is about 50 minutes, but well worth the watch. Let's start with the...

On the birthday of Cesar Chavez
2008-03-31 06:50:00
To honor the birthday of civil rights worker Cesar Chavez , I'm posting the Farm Worker's Prayer that he wrote:Show me the suffering of the most miserable, So that I may know my people's plight. Free me to pray for others, For you are present in every person.* Help me take responsibility for my own life, So that I can be free at last. Grant me courage to serve others, For in service there is true life. Give me honesty and patience,So that I can work with others.Bring forth song and celebration,So that the Spirit will be alive among us.Let the Spirit flourish and grow,So that we will never tire of the struggle.Let us remember those who have died for justice,For they have given us life.Help us love even those who hate us,So we can change the world.*If I had written the prayer, I would change this part to read, "For every person is Your creation, made in Your image." Otherwise, I think it's an excellent prayer.
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Deconstruction: only the beginning
2008-03-31 00:51:00
Dear Fellow Deconstructing Christians,It's true, there are a lot of us who have been in a process of deconstruction in our journey with Christ. But this is only the beginning. A lot of us can sense that the deconstruction is unto something. Just as the Exodus was not an end in itself, but unto something else. God doesn't only want to bring us out, He wants to bring us in.When He tears down that which isn't of Him or from Him (both individually and corporately), it is because He wishes to build something of His design (the kingdom) in its place. There may be a phase of disorientation in this process, but it will not last.Jesus said of us,"My sheep hear My voice, I know them and they follow Me." We will continue to get clarity as we continue to hear His voice and follow it obediently. We can't follow a Shepherd we can't hear. We can't run with a vision that we cannot see (Hab 2:2). I believe it is so vital that we be a prophetic people, to have eyes that see and ears that hear, ...

Shocking, I know.
2008-03-30 22:45:00
Ok, I am going to quote a pastor from an institutional church. Right here. On this blog.So, here goes:"How did Jesus's message of the gospel: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!' get watered down to 'Come with me, and let's go to church.'? Our meetings our great, but they aren't what it is all about. This is not what Christianity is about. This is not why Jesus died, so that we could all come to church." Pastor Bill Johnson, Bethel Church, Redding, CA.Ok, I guess it's not that shocking since he happens to be saying things I obviously already agree with. I believe that Pastor Bill is right and we've confused (or substituted) our church activities for the kingdom of God. But who am I to say that? Preach it, Pastor Bill!

Was Jesus a Terrible Leader?
2008-03-29 06:22:00
Jesus would flunk out of most modern "Christian" leadership training courses. Jonathan at "Missio Dei" does a great job pointing this out in a post called "Jesus was a terrible leader". Jonathan says: Jesus was a terrible leader, in the short run. He wouldn't get a job in today?s church marketplace. Think about it. He spent three years with 12 people. He talked to a lot of people but his primary focus was on twelve people who didn't always get a long and didn't always get it. "Where's the growth" people would ask? "How are we gonna pay the bills" others would say, albeit quietly in from the other side of the room. "This guy just doesn't seem to get it."Then, Jonathan concludes poignantly: I wonder if those in leadership will someday follow the model Jesus developed. He followed His Father?s voice to transform the lives of twelve ordinary people.Follow the voice of the Father... act like a servant, not a leader... pour your life into people... give up everything for tho...
More About: Jesus , Leader

Unconventional review of The Forgotten Ways
2008-03-28 18:11:00
In The Forgotten Ways, Alan makes a pretty solid biblical case for organic systems of ekklesia rather than institutional systems of ekklesia (which he convincingly explains as a particularly western cultural development). Not only that, he uses both the first century church (ancient example) and the Chinese church (modern example) as a basis to investigate the difference in fruit between institutional systems of ekklessia and organic systems of ekklessia. I ran a little experiment a while back with a post series called "Diversity or Dogmatism" to see what others thought. I realized that what we needed was a clear articulation of the differences between 'institution' and 'organic' and a clear articulation of biblical principles (non-negotiables) vs. cultural methods (negotiables) of ekklessia. I believe Alan's book provides such an articulation, and I highly recommend it.I have not been comfortable with the institutional, pastor-centric, sermon-centered model of ekklessia for se...
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Cyclical Learning
2008-03-26 20:33:00
Over the years of following Jesus, I've begun to discern a pattern of cyclical learning in the life of being His disciple. There are things that He teaches me and speaks to me and I "get it" to a certain degree, so I begin to "live it" to that degree of understanding. The mistake I have made in the past is to think my first (or even second or third) exposure to a truth is the arrival point in my life for that truth. Not so. I realize now that when I think I "get it," often, I'm only ankle deep and my understanding is yet merely shallow. Jesus patiently revisits the revelation/truth with me and He takes me to a deeper understanding, and therefore a deeper practical outworking of it in my life. We revisit the same truths over and over in a cyclical pattern, just going deeper each time. From ankle deep to waist deep, and hopefully to complete immersion. So the life of the disciple never ceases to include a steep learning curve, as the learning is cyclical (rather than linear). For m...
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Really and Actually Reformissional... Yes!
2008-03-25 18:40:00
So, I've finally gotten around to ordering Alan Hirsch's "The Forgotten Ways" and have started reading it. I can't put it down! Alan, Brother! So wonderful to read your book! It's a huge encouragement to me as it confirms so many things God has been depositing into my heart the past five years, and the book is bringing these things into greater clarity and understanding. What a gift to the body of Christ Alan is! (Consequently, this book has made me realize that I really must finish reading Don Slater's "Consumer Culture and Modernity".) Regarding the statistics, Hirsch says:"In fact, the church is on the decline right across the Western world, and we have had at least forty years of church-growth principles and practice. We can't seem to make disciples based on a consumerist approach to the faith (tweaking the "ministry mix" to try to attract people). We plainly cannot consume our way into discipleship. All of us must become much more active in the equation of becoming lifelo...

The Best Easter Post
2008-03-23 21:29:00
A friend in Germany recently lost his firstborn who was born prematurely. Him and his wife have been on my heart and in my prayers these past weeks. And then, on Easter Sunday, I read this post, and it too brought me back to what's really important. I so easily get distracted by so many things. I so easily take for granted so many things. Life is so precious, so fragile, and sometimes so short. Thank you Lord for your kindness in the midst of pain and heartache.
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Funny Starbucks Parody
2008-03-23 04:29:00
Bill parodied the Starbucks shut down (for retraining purposes) in this funny post. But it comes with a warning from Bill: "Warning: This is satire. All religious people with no sense humor leave this blog now while there is still time!"
More About: Funny , Parody

We Are the Church
2008-03-21 05:17:00
This is "I Am the Church Part 2". (I posted part 1 a while back). On a related note, there is a great discussion going on at Kingdom Grace in the comments under her post "Mini-church Done Badly?" (a post on house churches, but the discussion encompasses more than that and includes a lot of good insights from a variety of commentors).
More About: The Church

What's Happening?
2008-03-20 23:08:00
In light of the Carlyle Group's recent bankruptcy, something is afoot. Since the other major economies of the world (such as Europe and China) are dependent on American consumption, the state of affairs in this nation have global, far-reaching impact. There will be strong motivation on the part of these other nations to shore up our crisis. But what will happen? I don't know... but I'm paying keen attention to this.Dan posted a series called Banking on God and asked some good questions regarding how the people of God will respond to the possibility of extreme economic hardship. He asks, how can we prepare, if that ends up being the case?

On Knowledge... part 2
2008-03-20 07:13:00
"Ultimately, the Lord is unlikely to ask us, “Were you right?’ rather than, “Were you faithful to the truth you knew?” This latter question has to do with faithful following, the life of a disciple."I think this was my favorite part of Len's post, as it challenged me to be what I say. I look back and see how I have failed at that for so many years. (Especially since I might get revelation, but would go spout it out before it was completely worked out in my own life and walk. So I only saw in part, but ran with it anyway from a position of certainty.) The One we're following said, "Do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher. And you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for One is your Father, He who is in heaven." (Mt. 23:8-9) Apparently, there's little room for knowledge (or the prophetic, for that matter) as a tool of power or status in God's kingdom. His kingdom is the anti-thesis to 'empire' and its value system. (Last shall be first, serva...
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On Knowledge as Power, Enlightenment and Modernist Thinking
2008-03-19 04:28:00
Len over at Next Reformation posted something so good I wished I had posted it. :) I've posted my favorite bits here, but you can read it in it's entirety here if you want. (The words in parantheses are mine)."...and I chimed in with a favorite quote: ?God help me always to seek the truth.. and protect me from those who have found it? attributed to Sir Thomas More. Later I got thinking about the connection of knowledge and power; these two are inseparable in the modern world, as Foucault and others pointed out. Those who have knowledge tend to use it to strengthen their own positions, and to impose their will on those ?down the ladder.? Yes.. the whole issue connects with colonialism, the Enlightenment (and I would say modernism in general), and is through those grids to models of leadership and change....Brueggemann reminds us that fidelity (relationship, commitment to love) is far more important than certitude. Certainty is highly over-rated, and is the favorite bastion of every...
More About: Power , Knowledge , Thinking

We Want to Be Your Hands, Lord
2008-03-17 07:43:00
HT: K-BobThis is "I Saw What I Saw" by Sara Groves
More About: Hands , Lord

Turning Points
2008-03-16 17:46:00
Having returned from my local library, I'm enjoying "Turning Points : Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity" by Mark A. Noll. I was drawn to this books as I believe we are on the cusp of just such a turning point in the shared story of believers/disciples of Jesus. Here are some quotes (italics and bold are added by me, and I've added a couple comments in parantheses): "Notwithstanding the way that the Nicene Creed represented a charter of liberty for the church over against the empire, the more obvious reality after 325 (or even 312) was that a decisive corner had been turned in church history. Once Constantine began to act on behalf of the church, and once his successors began simply to assume that imperial rule had something to do with the church, the church had left behind the conditions of its first three centuries. Those conditions had underscored the church's existence as a pilgrim community, not at home in any part of the world, since the power of the state cou...

Really? Reformissional? Er.. um - No.
2008-03-16 07:59:00
Sick. (Shaking head in disbelief). The book's title is misleading, this is empire-building as usual. The picture is misleading too as the book has little to do with prayer or Bible reading... although it is all about one man (and his initials are MD). :)

Closed Doors
2008-03-14 07:07:00
All joking aside, the internship with ICG fell through and YWAM Seoul has no vacancies. So, we figure that door is closed. Another NGO doing work on North Korean issues responded positively to Shane's intern application, but nothing is confirmed. And housing is pretty expensive in Seoul. Anyway, Shane is probably going to go the dissertation route instead to satisfy the requirements of his program. For more gen-x humour, go to Despair, Inc. Cracks me up!
More About: Doors , Closed

Living out 'incarnational' Christianity
2008-03-12 05:12:00
I read some interesting examples from a variety of different groups/churches and how they are "living out" incarnational Christianity . One group in Tacoma is 'being church' as a social expression of community that is rather natural and organic. Having come from institutional models, they describe their shift from attractional church to incarnational church (bringing the church to the people rather than bringing the people to church). This was similar to what we were involved in while in Calgary at the university campus, but on a much smaller scale. Our Christian friends from various churches in Calgary just didn't get us (thankfully, this didn't negatively impact any of those relationships). So we followed Jesus out of the four walls and 'left the building' (as they say) to live as incarnational Christians in our context and started with unbelievers. They came into the kingdom without any preconceived notions about what it means to be the church and incarnational, organic chur...
More About: Living

Shared inheritance
2008-03-11 09:17:00
The other day I heard some stories I had not yet been told. They were the stories of three Christian martyrs of the Roman period. These three individuals had the possibility of avoiding martyrdom (through personal connections, loopholes in the legal system, and such), but instead embraced their sentences. These stories really impacted my spirit as I heard them and I remembered Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance... fixing our eyes on Jesus..." These three individuals are in that cloud of witnesses, along with so many others throughout history. They are connected to us, and we to them. We are part of their story, a continuation of their story (Heb 11:40). What we do in this generation is of import. These martyrs in history did not die to defend information. From my perspective, they lived lives of inspiration, of deep intimacy with God. The collective memory of who we are as Christians (and those...
More About: Inheritance

What Inspires... What informs...
2008-03-10 08:41:00
I am becoming aware of a real push-and-pull struggle in this season of my life (perhaps my age has something to do with it - just coming into our own, approaching mid-30s). At once I am pulled in one direction and simultaneously pushed in another. I am pulled by the Spirit of God to live an "inspired life" that is both animated by Him, and where He is the goal, the purpose, the reward. This relationship, this shared journey with Him, this conversation with Him equals the source of inspiration, the very source of vitality and fullness, and the impetus for everything else which I do. On the other hand, I am pushed by social mores, social pressures, the status quo culture to lead an "informed life." Informed by tradition, informed by my circumstances, informed by the goals and values of the dominant culture around me. I was reading in the Starfish Manifesto (an online book available for free download) and appreciated the following insights:"Here is an anatomy of the process of inspirat...