Dear Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labour and not to seek reward, save that of knowing that I do your will. [...]
Archive for March, 2008
The church is missionary by nature, created by the Spirit to participate fully in the redemptive reign of God. The very existence of the church in the world creates a missionary condition. All that the church does in living its life and in carrying out its ministry is missionary by intent. The church is missionary [...]
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Listening is always involved in hospitality. The most gracious attempts we can muster are meaningless if we do not actually hear the stranger. Listening is the core meaning of hospitality. It is something we can give anyone and everyone, including ourselves. It takes only a few minutes to really listen. A young man who worked [...]
One of the passages to consider when highlighting the missionary/sending nature of God in the Old Testament is Isaiah 61. In the Hebrew, the phrase “he has sent me“ is the main verb controlling each of the redemptive deeds that follow. Unlike most English translations, the CEV and NEB have arranged the words to emphasize this [...]
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Here are the links to two good articles on missional distinctives. The first is the latest entry from David Dunbar’s Missional Journal. This issue is titled “A New Imagination for the Church.” The second is an article from Christianity Today’s Building Small Groups website by Alan Hirsch. In this article titled “Small Groups and the [...]
Hospitality is not optional for Christians, nor is it limited to those who are specially gifted for it. It is, instead, a necessary practice in the community of faith. . . . Several aspects of early Christian life combined to make hospitality central to Christian practice. First, shared meals were a significant setting for struggling [...]
Hospitality, rather than being something you achieve, is something you enter. It is an adventure that takes you where you never dreamed of going. It is not something you do, as much as it is someone you become. You try and you fail. You try again. You make room for one person at a time, [...]
Matthew 5:43-48 You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain [...]
In preparation for a message that I will be sharing this weekend on the missionary nature of God I read again the book “God Who Sends” by Francis M. DuBose. The book is a wonderful survey of the sending passages found throughout scripture. DuBose provides a wealth of insight towards the use of sending as the necessary and best [...]
The Church Between Gospel & Culture
Posted: 1st March 2008 by Brad Brisco in Books, Church, MissionalOne of the most helpful books from the reading list in the previous post has been “The Church Between Gospel & Culture” edited by George Hunsberger and Craig Van Gelder. The book is a collection of twenty essays organized into four major categories, which include: “Focusing the Mission Question,” “Assessing Our Culture,” “Discerning the Gospel,” [...]