Morning Prayer

November 30, 2007 | Filed Under prayer | No Comments

Let me not, when this morning prayer is said, think my worship ended and spend the day in forgetfulness of You. Rather from these moments of quietness let light go forth, and joy, and power, that will remain with me through all the hours of the day;

Keeping me chaste in thought:
Keeping me temperate and truthful in speech:
Keeping me faithful and diligent in my work:
Keeping me humble in my estimation of myself:
Keeping me honourable and generous in dealings with others:
Keeping me loyal to every memory of the past:
Keeping me mindful of my eternal destiny as a child of Yours.

God’s Heart for the Poor

November 26, 2007 | Filed Under justice | 11 Comments

If there was any doubt about God’s heart for the poor, widows, orphans and foreigners then consider this sampling of scripture.

Exodus 22:21
“You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.”

Exodus 22:22-23
“Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me. I will certainly hear their cry.”

Exodus 23:3
“And do not slant your testimony in favor of a person just because that person is poor.”

Exodus 23:6
“In a lawsuit, you must not deny justice to the poor.”

Exodus 23:11
“. . . but let the land be renewed and lie uncultivated during the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest whatever grows on its own. Leave the rest for wild animals to eat. The same applies to your vineyards and olive groves.” More>>

Praying with Francis of Assisi

November 24, 2007 | Filed Under prayer | No Comments

This is a prayer from Francis of Assisi that was a part of the missional images post from several months ago. I was reminded of this prayer during this season of thanksgiving.

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)

Temple Church vs. Tabernacle Church

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

Over the past year I have been attempting to read through each book from the Gospel and Our Culture Series written or edited by such authors as Darrell Guder, Craig Van Gelder, George Hunsberger, Lois Barrett and others. Thus far my favorites have been “Missional Church” and “Confident Witness - Changing World.”

In additon to the book in this series I have also tried to find writings by each author that were pre - GOCN. One such book is “Be My Witnesses” by Darrell Guder. In chapter ten, titled “Correcting The Church’s Course” Guder offers an excellent contrast between what the church is and what it should be using the images of the Temple and the Tabernacle. He writes:

“With regard to the church’s interpretation of its role in history, I suggest that the church has developed, from early on, a “temple” interpretation of itself, whereas the biblical image of the church is more the “tabernacle” of the Old Covenant. The difference between these two images is profound.

The temple is an unmovable building, a center for religious activity, even a headquarters for a religious elite or massive building housing an organization whose commitment is to its continuation as it is. Temples often are walled compounds, separated from the world without, architecturally symbolizing a chasm between the so-called sacred and the secular. Temples can be places in which religion functions as an arcane discipline, reserved for the initiates. They are built to last forever, to resist change, to maintain their form and activity in as pure a fashion as possible.

Tabernacles, on the other hand, are a unique expression of a people’s faith. The “tent-church” of the Old Covenant was not permanent but moved with the people whenever they followed God’s leading into new territory. The furnishings of the tabernacle, and the acts of worship and community that took place there, constantly focused the people upon their God, his actions on their behalf, his presence in their midst, and his will and direction for their future. More>>

Tim Keller and The Growth of Christianity

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under church, church planting | No Comments

“Isn’t evangelical Christianity growing—at least in North America? Look at all the megachurches spouting up! But we must remember that the new situation Lloyd-Jones was describing has spread in stages. It was in Europe before North America. It was in cities before it was in the rest of the society. In the United States it has strengthened in the Northeast and the West Coast first. In many places, especially in the South and Midwest, there is still a residue of more conservative society where people maintain traditional values.

Many of these people are therefore still reachable with the fairly superficial, older evangelism programs of the past. And if we are honest, we should admit that many churches are growing large without any evangelism at all. If a church can present unusually good preaching and family ministries and programming, it can easily attract the remaining traditional people and siphon off Christians from all the other churches in a thirty-mile radius. This is easier now than ever because people are very mobile, less tied into their local communities, and less loyal to institutions that don’t meet their immediate needs. But despite the growth of megachurches through these dynamics, there is no evidence that the number of churchgoers in the United States is significantly increasing.”

Tim Keller, The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World
(HT: Sets ‘n’ Service)

Moving From What Is To What Must Be

November 16, 2007 | Filed Under church, missional | 1 Comment

“What seems clear is that we have both a profound consciousness of the utter futility of life without God, and at the same time an altogether new hunger and thirst for spiritual reality. What is equally clear is that the old order of the established and organized church, relying on its structures and traditions instead of the renewing of the Spirit of God, will not do. The formularies and creeds of the church, devoid of spiritual life, will never satisfy those who in their own different ways are searching for the living God.

If, however, the church is able to rediscover its identity, as originally given by God in the Scriptures and made alive and relevant by the Spirit of God for every generation, we could be in the most exciting and exhilarating time in the history of the church that has ever been.

Humanly speaking, everything depends on our ability to catch a new vision of the church as it ought to be, on our willingness to change where necessary, and above all on our determination to keep our lives continually open to spiritual renewal.”

- David Watson in I Believe in the Church

(image ht: jonathanbrink)

Praying with Ignatius

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under prayer | No Comments

O Christ Jesus,
when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence, Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust in Your protecting love
and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for living close to You, we shall see Your hand, Your purpose,
Your will through all things.

- St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

Finding the Missional Path

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under books | 1 Comment

In 1999 Dr. Barry Winders resigned from the church where he was the senior pastor for twelve years. Leading up to the resignation, Winders was driven by numerical growth and consequently had become a proprietor of all aspects of the church growth movement. At the end of the day, however, he realized that his determination to grow a church had come at a high relational price.

As a result of Winders’ experience he recognized the need for a new approach for “distracted churches” and busy pastors who had left their first love. The outcome of his research and reflection is a new book published this past August titled “Finding The Missional Path: Five Steps to Transforming Distracted Churches Who Leave Their First Love.”

In chapter one Winder highlights the missional reality of the church and how churches become distracted from that reality. Discussing the issue of becoming distracted, Winders asks: “What would the church look like if we stopped counting people, stopped soliciting new donors, and stopped staffing or funding ministry programs that serve only our members?” The answer, hopefully would be that the church would develop an externally focused, missionary perspective that would have eyes for those outside the church. More>>

Missional Meanderings

November 13, 2007 | Filed Under meanderings | 2 Comments

David Dunbar has written a great article on biblical hospitality for Allelon. He states: “Christian hospitality is the art of sharing with others the gracious welcome that we ourselves have received from God.” Read the entire article here.

Joe Thorn offers an excellent post on 6 Rules of Cultural Engagement.

I know several of you that read this blog on a regular basis are in education at some level. Here is a good post by Aaron Ghiloni titled 10 Propositions on Education.

Rick Meigs at The Blind Beggar found the words to a poem by Adrian Plass titled “When I Became A Christian.” I have heard Michael Frost read this poem a couple of times on different podcasts. It is good to have a copy of the words.

This past weekend my son, Joshua and I drove to Springfield, IL for a great Relient K and Switchfoot concert. Here is a picture of each band from the concert. More>>

Free Rice & Improved Vocabulary

November 12, 2007 | Filed Under justice | 3 Comments

If you haven’t yet discovered Free Rice be sure to check out this vocabulary game that adjusts itself to your level of language skill. The more questions you get right, the harder the questions. However, the main purpose of the game is that for each question you get right 10 grains of rice are donated through an international aid agency to assist in global poverty. Now that may not sound like a lot of rice but you will see how quickly it adds up.

Bono & Poverty

November 9, 2007 | Filed Under justice, missional | 3 Comments

We are the first generation that really can do something about the kind of “stupid” poverty that sees children dying of hunger in a world of plenty or mothers dying for lack of a 20-cent drug that we take for granted. We have the science, we have the resources, what we don’t seem to have is the will. This is an opportunity to show what America stands for.

Bono in Tom Davis’ Red Letters

Red Letters: Living A Faith That Bleeds

November 7, 2007 | Filed Under books, justice | No Comments

I recently finished reading Red Letters: Living A Faith That Bleeds by Tom Davis. With heart-wrenching stories Davis shines the spot light on the devastation surrounding the issues of world poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. His message to the church is that the gospel is not just to be read, but it is to be lived. Furthermore, there is absolutely no excuse for the church to not step up to the task. He writes:

Poverty has many faces and none of them is pretty. Consider these difficult-to-comprehend facts: 1.2 billion people are estimated to live on less than one dollar per day, and almost 3 billion on less than two dollars per day. Do the math: That’s 3.9 billion of the 6.5 billion people who live in our world.

Doesn’t it seem ridiculous to you that billions of people are living in poverty? With all our wealth, all our technology, and all our resources, why haven’t we solved this problem? Almost 2.5 million children die every year because of malaria. Hello? We have medicine that kills malaria. It’s cheap. It’s easy to transport. Yet, we aren’t doing what it takes to get the medicine to the people who need it. Here’s a surprising and disturbing truth about poverty that really ticks me off: It’s preventable.

In regards to AIDS, which Davis calls the “greatest crisis” he states the following:

Experts tell us World War II killed 62 million people. Even with all of the advances in medicine, AIDS continues on a path to eclipse that number, having already killed 25 million people since the first case in 1981. The UN estimates that 39.5 million people are now living with HIV. Of that total, 4.3 million were new infections in 2006. There were 2.9 million AIDS deaths in 2006, the highest number reported in any year.

How do you describe a crisis like this? Catastrophic? Disastrous? Devastating?

Words just can’t paint an accurate picture of what this disease is doing to our world. Dr. Peter Piot, the executive director of UNAIDS, said, “Countries are not moving at the same speed as their epidemics.” Without rapid improvements, the pandemic will only worsen, the officials said. This is the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced.

Davis doesn’t leave the topics of poverty and AIDS without some specific ways to get involved. “Taking a step of faith can rescue someone from poverty, provide life-saving medicine for a person suffering from AIDS, or offer an educational opportunity otherwise unavailable to a school-age child.”

In the last chapter of Red Letters Davis shares 5 things every person can do to help the 50 million people in our world suffering from HIV/AIDS. Here’s how it works:

Give 5 minutes a day to pray for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Give 5 hours a week to fast for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Give 5 dollars a month to the Five for 50 Fund and support worthy causes.
Give 5 days a year to travel overseas & help alleviate poverty & suffering.
Give 5 people an opportunity to join you on your journey.

You can learn more about what you and your church can do at 5 For Fifty.

The Missionary Nature of the Church

November 6, 2007 | Filed Under books, dmin project, ecclesiology | No Comments

There is no other Church than the Church sent into the world, and there is no other mission than that of the Church of Christ. . . . If one wants to maintain a specific theological meaning of the term mission as “foreign mission,” its significance is, in my opinion, that it keeps calling the Church to think over its essential nature as a community sent forth into the world.

Seen in that light missionary work is not just one of its activities, but the criterion for all its activities . . . . It is exactly by going outside itself that the Church is itself and comes to itself.

- Johannes Blauw in The Missionary Nature of the Church

Re-Imagine: A Missional Church

November 3, 2007 | Filed Under dmin project, missiology, missional | 1 Comment

Here is a excellent introduction to what a missional church would look like in very practical words and images by Jonathan Dove, Pastor of Mt Albert Baptist Church in Ackland, New Zealand.

One Hit Wonder

November 2, 2007 | Filed Under justice | No Comments

Alan Hirsch has a post up this morning on onehitwonder. Here is a bit of what he had to say:

Here is a great idea that is easily achieved! My dear friends and colleagues from Third Place Communities and Forge Tasmania have come up with a way of blessing the world’s poorest. And all it will cost you is $1!!! ? Its called One Hit Wonder. Here it is…

We hope to gather 7.29 million dollars, one-dollar at a time, then give it all away to those who need it most. Here’s how we seek to do it. What if everyone in the world gave you one dollar? Have you wondered what you’d do with it? We have, & we’d like to see how many people across the planet will give a dollar & then give it away to the poorest communities in the world. Currently 729 million people have internet access. Imagine if just 1% of these people were willing to get involved & give one dollar. That would amount to over 7 million dollars to give away. Not bad for a measly dollar!

On December 25, 2008 we’ll begin to give away every dollar-90% to the poorest communities in developing countries, & 10% (plus interest) will be utilised locally. The money will be given through registered well-known organisations across the globe covering many regions & needs. Not one dollar will be used for administration or any other associated expense. These costs will be covered by us & our partners. For those concerned this is a scam we’ve asked Deloitte, one of the world’s leading accounting firms to audit onehitwonder.

Want to know more? Check it out at www.onehitwonder.org

Cutting Edge Magazine

November 1, 2007 | Filed Under church planting | 1 Comment

Last week I received the Autumn 2007 issue of Cutting Edge, a church planting magazine published by Vineyard USA. This issue is the ten year anniversary of the publication. In it they revisit many of the best interviews over the past ten years, including Dallas Willard, Eugene Peterson, Jim Wallis, Phyllis Tickle and others. While this newest issue is not yet online you might enjoy the over 20 back issues that are available here.