Missional Images

April 30, 2007 | Filed Under incarnational, missional | 9 Comments

Taking a page out of Rick Meigs “Missional Word Images“ from December of last year, here are ten word pictures that give me a helpful image of what being missional looks like.

Image One

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood. - John 1:14 (The Message)
More>>

Origins Conference

April 28, 2007 | Filed Under culture, missional | 4 Comments

I am leaving Monday for Mosaic’s Origins conference. I am looking forward to seeing what being missional looks like for Mosaic and how they are getting it done. I hope to blog throughout the couple days in LA. Have any of you been a part of Origins in the past or been around Mosaic? If so, are there any recommendations? Are there certain places or people I should look for?

Praying with Aelred of Rievaulx

April 27, 2007 | Filed Under prayer | 1 Comment

Lord, I sometimes wander away from you. But this is not because I am deliberately turning my back on you. It is because of the inconstancy of my mind. I weaken in my intention to give my whole soul to you. I fall back into thinking of myself as my own master. But when I wander from you, my life becomes a burden, and within me I find nothing but darkness and wretchedness, fear and anxiety. So I come back to you, and confess that I have sinned against you. And I know you will forgive me.

- Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)

Why Plant New Churches? #2

April 26, 2007 | Filed Under church planting | No Comments

I shared in an earlier post that when I discuss the topic of church planting people will inevitably ask if there is a real need for more churches. I usually respond with a list of reasons why we need to be involved in planting new churches. Here is reason number two:

Reason 2: The Decline of the American Church

The decline of the church can be observed both numerically and in regards to influence. The church-to-population ratio based on statistics from the U.S. Census for the past century are as follows:

In 1900, there were 28 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
In 1950, there were 17 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
In 2000, there were 12 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
In 2004, the latest year available, there are 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans. More>>

Why Plant New Churches? #1

April 25, 2007 | Filed Under church planting | 1 Comment

I have many opportunities to speak to individuals and churches about church planting. One question that inevitably comes up each time there is a discussion about church planting is “Do we really need another church?” Sometimes the question is asked this way: “Why don’t we invest resources in the existing churches that are struggling rather starting new ones?” In the coming days I plan to share seven of my top reasons for planting new churches. Does it mean that we don’t care for or do not focus attention on existing churches? Of course not, we need to strengthen existing churches, but at the same time we must plant new churches that connect with a diverse and ever changing culture that is obviously not connecting with today’s church.

Reason 1: Church Planting is Biblical
More>>

Being Sent and the Prophets

April 23, 2007 | Filed Under books, incarnational, missional | 2 Comments

In Francis DuBose’s book “God Who Sends: A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission” the author highlights the sending theme found throughout scripture by surveying the theological sending passages within 7 Scriptural categories. Last time I shared a portion from the book concerning the theme of sending found in both the Historical and Poetical books. This week I want to review the emphasis on sending in the prophetic books of the Old Testament. More>>

Praying with Francis of Assisi

April 21, 2007 | Filed Under prayer | No Comments

Lord make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, let me sow pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith.
Where is despair, let me give hope.
Where there is darkness, let me give light.
Where there is sadness, let me give joy.
Grant that I may not try to be comforted, but to comfort;
not try to be understood, but to understand;
not try to be loved, but to love.
Because it is in giving that we receive, in forgiving that we are forgiven,
and in dying that we are born to eternal life.

- Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

Missional & Emerging

April 19, 2007 | Filed Under church, missional | No Comments

Here is an interesting conversation on the Allelon Netcast between Fuller Associate Professor Ryan Bolger and Alan Roxburgh. Bolger talks about the emerging church in light of the missional conversation - citing the research done by he and fellow Fuller Professor Eddie Gibbs in their book Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures. He also describes a bit of his own journey in the missional/emerging conversation and how he teaches missional church issues in the classroom.

The “System” is Flawed - Continued

April 18, 2007 | Filed Under leadership, missional, spiritual formation | 1 Comment

In an earlier post I shared with you that the pastor of the church where my family and I attend resigned this past Sunday after confessing an adulterous relationship with a fellow staff member. Dan Southerland, author of “Transitioning,” founder of “Church Transitions” and frequent guest teaching pastor at this church brought the message this past weekend. Southerland’s message focused on how to understand and deal with crisis in our lives. He then transitioned into discussing the period of crisis that this local congregation was about to enter, in light of the moral failure of the senior pastor. I thought he did a very fine job. He spoke frankly about the moral failure of the pastor, but he did so with grace and an eye towards redemption. He spoke to the variety of feelings that people would experience and the proper way each ought to respond.

One of the major themes of Southerland’s message was the importance of not confusing the message with the messenger. A statement that was emphasized along this thought was: “Do not let the mess of the messenger negate the message.” While I thought this was an appropriate response and was surely helpful to many who were struggling to make sense of the circumstances, I later found myself reflecting on the delimma this statement creates. More>>

The “System” is Flawed

April 16, 2007 | Filed Under ecclesiology, leadership | 9 Comments

This morning (Sunday) the pastor of a large church where my family and I attend two or three times a month resigned after confessing an adulterous relationship with a fellow staff member. It was an enormous blow to everyone. If there was one pastor among the group of churches where I work (as a Church Planting Strategist) that I thought “had it all together” it was this pastor. In every area of ministry he seemed to always do the right thing. Over the past 17 years he led the church from a group of 75 to a church with an attendance of over 5,000. The church is a full blown PDC model with six services including one on-site video venue and two regional campuses. More>>

Being Sent and the Historical Books

April 13, 2007 | Filed Under books, missional | 1 Comment

In Francis DuBose’s book “God Who Sends: A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission” the author highlights his contention that “mission means sending” by surveying the theological sending passages within 7 Scriptural categories. Last week I shared a brief portion from the book concerning sending and the Pentateuch. Today I want to consider the sending theme found in both the Historical and Poetical books. More>>

Praying with Erasmus

April 13, 2007 | Filed Under prayer | No Comments

“Adorable Spirit, may the rushing wind of your mercy blow away all trace of sin within us, and may your unquenchable fire purify our souls. We believe that you comfort those who mourn, uplife those who are depressed, calm those who are angry, guide those who are confused, console those who are lonely, reconcile those who are estranged, and bring joy to all who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. We pray that you will live in our simple and humble hearts, and so make us truly temples of your glorious love.”

- Erasmus (1469-1536)

The Forgotten Ways - Chapter 6

April 9, 2007 | Filed Under alan hirsch, books, leadership, missional | 1 Comment

In chapter 6 of “The Forgotten Ways” Alan Hirsch focuses on the issue of leadership in the missional church. He begins by reflecting back on the introduction of the book where he discussed the phenomenal Jesus movements of history, namely the early church up until 300 AD and the Chinese church during the reign of Mao Tse-tung. The question that begs to be answered with each of these movements is “How did they do it?” Or more specifically for the focus of chapter 6, “What kind of leadership?” More>>

Missional Theology & Chalcedon?

April 7, 2007 | Filed Under missional, theology | No Comments

In light of a post over at bob.blog where Hyatt discusses a misleading take by Phil Johnson on the theology of Dan Kimball, (you will just have to read the post to get all the ins and outs of Johnson’s inanity) I was prompted to revisit “A Sense of Mission: Guidance From the Gospel of John” by Albert Curry Winn. The book which I believe is now out of print was published in 1981 when Winn was President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In a section titled “Developing a Missionary Christology” Winn offers a very interesting perspective on the outcome of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD and the problematic influence of its legacy in light of missional thinking. Winn writes (p. 38): More>>

April Missional Network Gatherings

April 5, 2007 | Filed Under networks | 2 Comments

A reminder of the dates and times for the Missional Network gatherings coming up later this month. We will continue our discussion of “The Forgotten Ways” by Alan Hirsch by examining chapters 3 through 5. Also remember there is a short summary of each chapter here, here and here. Feel free to invite anyone else who might be reading the book to join the discussion.

KC Network
Thursday, April 26th
4:00pm-7:00pm
Kansas City Association
8745 Ballentine
Overland Park

Newton Network
Friday, April 27th
12:00 - 3:00pm
The Journey
7th and Plum
Newton, KS

Being Sent and the Pentateuch

April 4, 2007 | Filed Under missional, scripture, theology | 2 Comments

I mentioned last week that I have been reading an excellent book by Dr. Francis DuBose titled “God Who Sends: A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission.” The book was published in 1983 when Dr. DuBose was professor and director of World Missions Center at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. In chapter 3 DuBose presents a survey of the theological sending passages within 7 Scriptural categories, the first being the Pentateuch.

While DeBuse hightlights multiple sending passages in the Pentateuch there are two specific references that seem to be most significant. The first is the climatic use of the sending in Genesis as seen in Joseph’s words to his brothers, “God sent me before you” (Gen. 45:5). More>>

The Power of Story

April 1, 2007 | Filed Under networks, scripture, theology | No Comments

An interesting thing happened last week with the direction of the group discussion in both of the network gatherings. While the ”plan” was to discuss the first few chapters of “The Forgotten Ways” by Alan Hirsch, in both cases the group couldn’t get past the first sentence of chapter one. Actually it was the first half of the first sentence were Hirsch writes, “In true biblical fashion, a reliable understanding of the nature of things comes out of a narrative - a story invovling God’s dealings with human beings.”

Hirsch’s purpose in this statement I believe was to introduce his story of moving a faith community to become more participatory and missional. However, in our network gatherings we all began to discuss the importance and power of story. In the first two hours we struggled with why the church typically fails to recognize the power of story - telling our personal faith story, telling the stories of others, “preaching” the story in a coporate service setting, but most of all reading and understanding the story of God as the story of God.

What are your thoughts on the power of story? Why don’t we “tap into” story in the church? Why don’t we more often recognize the Word as the story of God? And what is lost in the reading and interpreting of Scripture when we do not recognize the story?

Eugene Peterson in “Christ Play in Ten Thousands Places” writes, “The moment we formulate our doctrines, draw up our moral codes, and throw ourselves into a life of discipleship and ministry apart from a continuous re-immersion in the story itself, we walk right out of the concrete and local presence and activity of God and set up own shop.”

Keep Moving Forward

April 1, 2007 | Filed Under missional | No Comments

This weekend my boys (6 and 12 years old) and I went to see the ”Meet The Robinsons” in digital 3-D. While the movie would have been worth seeing even without the 3-D technology the added feature created a wonderful experience. However, beyond the great effects there were a couple of themes that created some profitable discussion between the boys and I. First was the point that when bad things happen to us we need to strive to let them go so not to open the door for bitterness and resentment which only hurts the one with the festering attitudes.

The second theme was a simple phrase that continued to lead one of the characters on to accomplish great things. The phrase was “Keep Moving Forward.” Regardless of what level of disappointment, discouragement, or failure in life it was a good reminder that we are to keep moving forward.