Jerusalem Sabbatical

2011-12-31T15:08:00.000-08:00

“BROKEN ALTARS”

A new year is just around the corner. What will it bring your way? What do you hope and dream will happen in your life in the coming year? What concerns do you have? In what ways would you like to grow, improve, and end next year significantly better/stronger/richer (and I don’t mean monetarily!) than you are right now, on December 31, 2011?

A recent writing in my daily devotional, “Magnificent Prayer,” cut me to the heart and challenged me to consider how I’ve been, how I’ve compromised my life, my faith, my values, etc. and how much I want to be significantly better/stronger/richer (and also deeper in my relationship with the Lord) than I am today when December 31, 2012 rolls around.

Here’s what I read. The author is Vance Havner, a popular preacher and conference speaker from earlier in the past century. I’m going to separate the various thoughts that he has for us, to create space for you to think and ponder what he has to say.

“And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.” (I Kings 18:30)

“We read that Elijah began the demonstration of the true God by repairing the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Never was there a revival that did not so begin.

And if today God answers from heaven we must begin to repair His broken altars:

•Altars of consecration, where once we gave ourselves to God and promised to do His will alone; where we offered Him our talents and time and possessions, ourselves…but with the years we have kept back part of the price and lied unto God until it is a wonder we do not drop dead like Ananias and Sapphira;

•Altars of dedication, where we gave our children to God…but later chose our way for them and denied God;

•Family altars, where once we gathered to read the Word and commit our way unto the Lord…but now abandon with the silly excuse that since times have changed, it is no longer practical;

•Altars of praise and testimony, where once the redeemed of the Lord said so…but sin and worldliness and neglect have closed our lips and stolen our song;

•Altars of service, where once we lived only, always, for the King…but have now deserted because we live for self and none beside, just as if Jesus had never lived, just as if He had never died.

Here is our task: to repair these broken altars. All our pious dodges and clever substitutes to avoid repentance will never avail. Stained glass windows and robed choirs and anthems and banquets and dramas and eloquence in the pulpit and elegance in the pew have never fooled God. He demands truth in the inward parts, and heaven will keep silent and no fire will ever fall until we approach Him with rebuilt altars in the name of the Lord.” (Vance Havner)

I think this devotional also struck my heart because of the situation here at Hilmar Covenant. For many years, people have prayed for revival. People have wanted the congregation to grow. People have wanted the church to be alive. We have tried new programs, new activities, new fads, new facilities, new staff...but to what end?

Through the Veritas evaluation process, we were shocked to discover that the health of our congregation was not real good. Instead of revival and growth, we had plateaued – and were even declining! We were a “critical moment” church. Deeper study showed some of the reasons for this.

Why the discrepancies between what we as a congregation desired and the reality that we were faced with?

I think it was because of “broken altars.” Some of the things mentioned in Havner’s comments. Some of the peripheral issues and concerns that we as a congregation got caught up in, expending our energy and emotion on secondary matters instead of focusing on our primary calling as a church: pursuing Christ and Christ’s priorities in the world. Things like worship style, music style, preaching style, length of worship, staff personalities, habits/traditions vs. change/new relevancies, people's fears, etc. became priorities and took our attention and energy away from the central, essential elements of being the church, like our relationship with the Lord, Bible study, prayer, worship, community/fellowship, acts of service, concern for those who do not yet know and follow Christ, forgiveness, grace, trust, and so forth. Being human got the best of us! American individualism triumphed over how we are to live together, serve God and others, and “be” the Church. Our culture’s insatiable thirst for personal satisfaction, comfort, security, and pleasure triumphed over putting other’s interests first, sacrifice, embracing the unfamiliar, and generously deferring to others.

There is only one way for revival to occur – in one’s personal life and in the community life of a church: PRAYER. Focused, committed, communal prayer. Tinkering with the outer things (worship, programs, stylistic choices, fun activities, minimal commitment, new staff, etc.) will never bring revival and true spiritual growth. Appealing to people’s preferences will never bring a church alive either, because the focus is 180° in the wrong direction: on people, and not on God! Prayer brings the necessary change of heart, known as repentance, and that brings a deep desire to repair broken altars in one’s life. The result will be revival.

I believe we at Hilmar Covenant have made good progress forward in becoming a more healthy congregation. We have addressed some of the issues that made us a “critical moment” church. For those of us who continue to be committed and active here, there is a sense of expectancy and hope for better days ahead.

However, the truth of the matter is that we have declined. The only way to reverse this process is through revival – which is the work of the Holy Spirit, not human efforts. And the only way to unleash the Spirit and bring revival to us is through PRAYER.

As the New Year begins, I want to call us as a congregation once again to prayer. For us to be a praying congregation – not just a couple dozen of us, but everyone; 100%! If you have an asterisk by your name in the church directory, you are a member of Hilmar Covenant. When you joined this congregation, you made a number of promises before God as well as before the rest of your brothers and sisters in Christ, and one of these was to pray for the ongoing life of Hilmar Covenant. Are you faithfully doing so? Or is this a “broken altar” in your own life?

If we want to see our church thrive and grow and erupt in excellent health, it is our responsibility, individually and corporately, to seek an active, alive, vibrant relationship with God. This is what it means to repair broken altars, personally and together as a church. If we get our priorities straight, if we will forgive and seek unity, make the Lord first in our lives, and PRAY, “we can approach Him with rebuilt altars” and the Lord will pour out revival in ways we have never seen before.

I close with another selection from “Magnificent Prayer:”

“Brethren, we must fight for the prayer time! We must have time to pray. If we wait until we have some leisure moments to pray, we will never have the chance to pray. We should set apart some definite time for prayer. ‘Those who have no set time for prayer,’ warns Andrew Murray, ‘do not pray.’ For this reason, we need to watch that we may get time to pray. We must also use prayer to protect this prayer time from being snatched away through the wiles of the devil.” (Watchman Nee)

PRAY ON!

2011-12-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN!

I hardly know where to begin…

I first became acquainted with this organization when FMSC was at CHIC in 2006 and 2009 and students and leaders packed hundreds of thousands of meals for hungry children around the world.

Over a year ago, Hilmar Covenant committed to hosting a “Feed My Starving Children” food packing event, after I learned that another Covenant church in New England had raised the money necessary to do such an event. Each meal now costs 24 cents, and to make the event cost effective, we had to commit to packing a minimum of 100,000 meals – which meant raising $24,000! I was apprehensive about this; with the economy the way it is (especially here in Merced County), the number of organizations and groups seeking financial support these days, and the many other ministry responsibilities that are on my plate, I saw a long hard road ahead, trying to make our FMSC food packing event a reality. We had a big publicity kick-off for our congregation in March.

Our food packing event takes place on January 20 and 21, 2012. Volunteers sign up for two hour shifts, and work in cells of 20 people, to assemble as many packets of food as possible. Children as young as 5 years old can participate, making this a tremendous intergenerational and family event. Students receive two hours of community service credit for their involvement. Businesses, schools, churches, clubs, and other organizations receive excellent publicity for helping to sponsor the event. Best of all, a food packing event is both FUN and meaningful, knowing that you are doing a very practical, hands-on activity locally and, at the same time, doing something to make a huge difference globally: feeding hungry kids.

Fast forward to today: Not only did we meet our minimum goal before the end of October, we are currently at about $40,000 – and 166,666 meals! Through matching grants, generous donations, advertising spots, an ingenious M&M tube program (fill the tube with quarters – that’s $14, and 58 meals!), and many solicitations, we have been stunned at the tremendous response to our FMSC event.

Last week, it was time for two of us on our FMSC committee to get trained in how to sign up volunteers for the food packing shifts in January. This took about 45 minutes. At the end of our training, the woman at FMSC headquarters in the Twin Cities encouraged us to consider going ahead and committing to our “God-sized miracle goal” of $72,000, 300,000 meals, and nearly 1500 volunteers! These numbers had been thrown out in one of our early committee meetings, and we have continued to keep them before us as a goal that was FAR beyond what our human abilities would ever be able to achieve. Our trainer kept offering us positive information and encouragement and…(gulp)…well…WE SAID YES!

It’s still rather unbelievable to me that these are the new numbers we are now working with, leading up to our January event. Yes, it does seem totally insane – impossible – irresponsible, even! But somehow, we are convinced that we’re being called to take this huge leap of faith and give God space “to do immeasurably more than all we could ever ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3:20)

Also last week, I was interviewed by the biggest newspaper in our area, the Modesto Bee, about our FMSC food packing event. It made the front page of the Sunday “Lifestyle” section of the paper...

And since then, it’s been all I can do to keep up with the interest, the inquiries, talking with people, making connections, discovering new funding sources, registering volunteers, etc. all week long! New signs of support are popping up all over the place, including our local Hilmar public schools (which is very cool)! It’s almost like God is saying to us: “You did the right thing. You tested me in this, so now “see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it!” (Malachi 3:10b)

That’s why I have not had time to even think about writing another provocative blog post. Instead, I’m sharing my current, incredible experience with any of you who are now reading this so you will know what’s going on in my life right now. Click ModBeeArticle to read the Modesto Bee article, which is super! And if you would like to donate to this food packing event and be part of the miracle that God is doing in our midst, you can end your contribution to: Hilmar Covenant Church, PO Box 340, Hilmar CA 95324 (with “FMSC” on the memo line). We only need 288,000 quarters to reach our goal! And if you live close to us, why not sign up for a food packing shift and be part of this fantastic opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children around the world? Go to www.hilmarcovenant.org for loads of information about Feed My Starving Children, and to volunteer.

Finally, PRAY for us! The semi truck arrives on Thursday, January 19, full of everything we’re going to need to fill 300,000 bags with rice, dehydrated vegetables, vitamins and minerals (with chicken flavor), and soy protein. In the meantime, we have a huge financial commitment to reach and hundreds of people to organize for the food packing event. The whole thing is going to takes supernatural strength and action.

And I can’t wait to see what God is going to do as we keep stepping out in faith!

2011-11-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

GOD KNOWS YOU!

Today, November 22, is mostly remembered for the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. Did you know that it was also on this date that C.S. Lewis died? At 5:30 p.m. (in England) at The Kilns, one week short of his 65th birthday. No doubt Lewis’s death was overshadowed by the Kennedy tragedy, but I’ve always wondered if more would’ve been made in the news about the death of C.S. Lewis if it hadn’t been for Kennedy’s assassination.

I bring all of this up today: 1) because it is the 48th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’s passing, 2) because of the selection I read this morning in a devotional I’m using again this year based on quotes from Lewis’s classic works, and 3) because it beautifully highlights something I shared with my high school small group on Sunday afternoon. I find it amusing that all of these elements came together today! Once again, “Surprise, surprise, God is a surprise!” (Carey Landry’s marvelous lyric from his album, “Bloom Where You Are Planted.”)

I was sharing with the guys some reasons why I believe that Christianity IS the “true religion” (the “myth that is true,” as Lewis himself once put it). I pointed out to them the claim Christians have in Scripture that the God of the universe loves us and is reaching out to us, as opposed to other religions where it is all about humans reaching to God, trying to appease God, be good enough for God, etc. This is what makes Christianity unique, beautiful, amazing, almost unbelievable. It turns religion on its head – the way so many things we read in Scripture are turned upside down in God’s economy (the last shall be first, the older will serve the younger (Esau/Jacob), whoever loses his life (for Christ) will save it, etc.).

I tried to impress on these four high school guys how utterly fantastic this reality is: God love us and God is seeking us! It’s not about us being the center of things, our personal faith, our personal salvation, our attitude toward God – no! Instead, it begins with God. God knows us, loves us, and is reaching to us – first and foremost – so that we are known by God even before we ever know about Him! When people say that Christianity is all about “do’s and don’ts” and rules and regulations and limitations and “have to’s” and oughts and shoulds and boring rituals and learning about all sorts of irrelevant religious stuff…well, they are really missing the point. The majority of all this stuff is man-made, mostly; human attempts to control and manipulate both God and people, and not at all what the essence of Christian faith and truth is about. Christianity is “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” and “While we were still sinners Christ died for us” and “Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.” Christianity is the beautiful reality of grace and forgiveness and a relationship with a loving God who desires us to call Him Father and Friend – even Abba (daddy!) – not a distant God who is unknowable, fickle, fearsome, and expects sacrifices to be made if you want things to go well in life (sort of a tit-for-tat, I’ll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch-mine situation).

How much more glorious and freeing and almost laughable is it that the Great God of All seeks us, reaches out to us, knows us – and wants so much for us to know and love Him in return. All we have to do is accept this gift from our loving, all-knowing Abba Father and respond appropriately and responsibly out of love and thanksgiving to this God who gives Himself to us. It’s not rules and regulations and expectations – no! It’s easy. Simply desiring to please the very One who first loved us. Expressing love in similar ways to how we show love to our spouses, our children, our parents, our friends: wanting to please them, spend time with them, give to them, respond to them, be there for them no matter what, with no strings attached. Seeking to do whatever will delight the object of our affections. It’s not hard! Challenging…yes – but not oppressive or drudgery or impossible to fulfill. It’s as simple as the way Jesus put it, in Matt. 22:37-39: “Love God and love others.” In this way we are known by God and we know Him!

Here is how Lewis puts it in his sermon, “The Weight of Glory,” first preached in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford on June 8, 1941:

Perhaps it seems rather crude to describe glory as the fact of being “noticed” by God. But this is almost the language of the New Testament. St. Paul promises to those who love God not (as we should expect) that they will know Him but that they will be known by Him (I Cor. 8:3). It is a strange promise. Does not God know all things at all times? But it is dreadfully re-echoed in another passage of the New Testament. There we are warned that it may happen to any one of us, to appear at last before the face of God and hear only the appalling words: “I NEVER KNEW YOU. DEPART FROM ME!” In some sense, as dark to the intellect as it is unendurable to the feelings, we can be both banished from the presence of Him who is present everywhere and erased from the knowledge of Him who knows all. We can be left utterly and absolutely OUTSIDE – repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored. On the other hand we can be called in, welcomed, received, acknowledged. We walk every day on the razor edge between these two incredible possibilities. Apparently, then, our lifelong nostalgia – our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off (to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside) is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation. And to be at last summoned inside would be both glory and honor beyond all our merits, and also the healing of that old ache.

When we are in an all-knowing relationship with God, we are united with that “something in the universe from which we now feel cut off.” To be known by God and to know Him – this is uniquely Christian. Best of all, we do not have to wait for it to happen in some future afterlife in heaven. We can live in the midst of it and live it out here and now, in the present, in the world as it is today. Wow! Such an incredible, loving reality that God gives to us right here, right now, in the present! We can choose to live on the positive side of that “razor sharp edge” and experience the reality of being “called in, welcomed, received, and acknowledged” by God right now, if we are simply willing to open ourselves to Him. He already knows us! Why hold back? This is life abundant.

My prayer is that I can help people grasp the beautiful reality of all of this more and more and better and better as I begin a new chapter in my ministry responsibilities here at Hilmar Covenant. Resources like C.S. Lewis and Oswald Chambers will be helpful in articulating what Scripture describes. I pray that You, O God, will go ahead of me and plant a hunger, a curiosity, and a longing in many from our congregation that I can follow up on, enter into a relationship with, and through the power of Your Holy Spirit awaken them to the delight of a loving, living, knowing relationship with You, the God of the universe who made Yourself most clearly seen in the person of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus. Amen!

2011-11-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

"WORDS MATTER"

I'm resorting to someone else's writing again for this blogpost - but it's about something important to all of us who are involved in ministry, especially worship arts/music. A topic that got a lot of attention in our "Better Together" Covenant Worship Leaders Facebook group a couple weeks ago became the topic of this blogpost on the Covenant's website, and I want to share it with you and see if it creates any discussion here on my blog. It's all about words; how we use them, how they convey meaning, their ability to express truth, and so forth.

Words are very important to me - if you've ever received my annual Christmas "epistle," you KNOW about me and words! When I choose music for Sunday worship each week, I always consider the words of every song I pick for the congregation to sing. So when people say they just want "pep-y" songs and don't care about the words (because they don't listen to them anyways), I am always amazed, a little hurt, and more than a little pissed off! Words are getting a lot of attention in our angry, divided, uncivil society today too, as people, groups, organizations, the media, government officials, etc. attack each other with extreme, over-the-top, vitriolic charges and counter-charges, using words that cut and bite and devalue.

See what my friend and fellow worship pastor, Matt Nightingale, has written about words. Then, put down some words and respond here on my blog to what he has to say! I'm waiting to hear from you...

"WordsMatter"

2011-10-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

DISCIPLESHIP

I just returned from ten days of vacation and have no time to come up with a new blog post! So I am going to offer you a link to a fantastic article I read on the plane home last Sunday. It is from the latest "Mission Frontiers" bulletin, and addresses what I believe is the single most important reason that churches (and Christians) are floundering in America these days: a lack of DISCIPLESHIP! After 31 years in ministry, I am realizing (as the article points out) that churches have focused so much on "getting people saved" (and on programs, church growth strategies, and lots of busy activities) rather than on "making disciples" (Matthew 28:19) that "there seems to be a great deal of confusion in the Church about what is and what is not the mission that God has given us. And if the leaders are confused, then how can the average church member possibly understand what God has called us to do? The more ominous question is whether the Church as a whole has adopted the wrong mission and as a result we have not fulfilled what God has intended."

Intrigued? Read on: Discipleship

2011-09-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

"CULTURE IN WORSHIP"

I'm not finding much time to write my own blogs these days. Too many things to juggle in my life to be able to sit and think and write about things I feel strongly about. So instead, for this blogpost, I'm going to sent you to a link that is really interesting - and challenging! It is from two members of our Covenant worship leaders Facebook group, "Better Together." They wrote this week's blogpost for the Covenant website, WorshipConnect, and it expresses very well my own feelings/concerns/interest regarding multiethnic worship. I believe that we at Hilmar Covenant need to be wrestling with this issue much more than we are - and to consciously educate ourselves on the issue so we can embrace it better. Whether we like it or not, we are becoming an increasingly multicultural, multiethnic society and churches MUST reflect this reality better in the future if they are going to not only survive, but thrive. To ignore this reality and cling to a homogeneous mindset will be the kiss of death for churches. The cool thing about this link is that the blog also provides you with links to other stimulating locations (ex. our superintendent, Efraim Smith's, perspective on diversity and North Park's approach to multi-ethnicity in their worship life). And you can also comment on the article itself! Click ConversingOnCultureInWorship - and enjoy!

2011-09-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago during my prayer time, I was spending reflecting on our church, my ministry responsibilities, this transition time that we are in, various issues and concerns, etc. In the midst of these quiet moments, I began to get a series of rather poetic couplets that seemed to express what was on my heart. Out of this, the following prayer emerged:

A PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH
(as a new year of ministry begins...)

O God, the fall season is just around the corner. New opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus, to grow in discipleship, and to reach out in ministry and service abound. As a new season awaits your Church, there is an eagerness and excitement to start new and fresh once again.

Thank you for your love and faithfulness to us.
Thank you for the hope of our salvation, made available to us through your Son, our Savior, Jesus.
Thank you for your Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who enlivens our faith, helps us grow in awareness and understanding of you, and sends us out to minister in your name.
Thank you for the community of faith, the Church, which is your means of reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we be faithful in this calling.
Thank you for the resources you have given to us, your Church, the body of Christ on earth: spiritual gifts, talents, creativity, finances, sacred spaces, artistic expressions of every kind, materials and property and the freedom to use them all.
Thank you for the privilege of including us in your mission to reach all people, for “you do not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (I Peter 3:9)

But sometimes, Lord, our humanness, our selfishness, and our bent to sinning get in the way and get the better of us. Then your Church doesn’t look so good, grows increasingly unhealthy, and gets sidetracked with issues and concerns other than your mission. Forgive us, O God.

If we have been self-centered, we repent...
If we have hardness of heart, we repent...
If we are have a critical spirit, we repent...
If we are holding grudges, we repent...
If we have been judgmental, we repent...
If we have been antagonistic, we repent...
If we have been resistant, we repent...
If our words or actions have hurt or alienated others, we repent...
If we have set up roadblocks to progress and change, we repent...
If we have been lazy in our relationship with you and with others, we repent...
If we have relied on human efforts instead of the power of prayer and on your Holy Spirit, we repent...
If we have made the life of the Church about something other than your Kingdom priorities, we repent...

Thank you for confession, repentance, and forgiveness, O God. May we exercise these healing expressions often and freely so your Church can remain strong in unity and love.

Finally, dear Father, we pray for those who struggle with life and faith. The world has changed in so many ways and many of your people are apprehensive about what’s happening with your Church today.

For those in fear, bring peace and understanding.
For those who are disheartened, bring hope.
For those who are hurt, bring healing.
For those who are mourning losses, bring fresh vision.
For those who are angry, bring resolution.
For those who are bitter, bring sweet release.
For those who are frustrated and upset, bring patience and perspective.
For those who are suffering, bring comfort.
For those who are wounded, bring healing.
For those who feel broken, bring restoration.
For those who are sad, bring joy.
For those who feel neglected, bring connection.
For those who don’t feel heard, bring opportunities for listening.
For those in broken relationships, bring confession and forgiveness.
For those who are dry in faith, bring renewal.
For those who are resistant to change, bring openness and courage.
For those who are impatient for change, bring patience.
For those in leadership, bring wisdom.

Hear our prayer, O Lord.

And now, as we go forth into another season of ministry in your Name, may we be ever attuned to your leading, always pursuing Christ and Christ’s priorities in the world.

Amen.

2011-08-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

'MISSIONAL CHURCH"

I'm too busy to blog about anything right now! But I did see a fantastic YouTube clip about being a missional church that is worth sharing, especially since I have written about and referenced other people's writings about this important perspective as we move into the future. Remember the Covenant's definition of a "healthy missional church" too: healthy means "pursuing Christ" and missional means "pursuing Christ's priorities in the world." Enjoy...

MissionalChurch

2011-07-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

NEW & EXCITING POSSIBILITIES FOR MY STAFF ROLE!

In the June church newsletter, I gave a brief summary of some new staffing ideas that came to me as a result of Janelle’s resignation from children’s and youth ministry. One idea of mine is to combine a new youth ministry position with worship/music ministry (the scope and specific responsibilities of both roles to be determined). I said that I believed a new, younger worship leader would be beneficial as we strategize for the future; someone “up front” on Sundays with a different skill set than mine and a fresh approach to worship. This would clearly demonstrate to everyone - young people, visitors, community, and our “committed core” - that we are serious as a congregation about change, new approaches, and engaging today’s culture.

With weekly worship responsibilities off of my plate, I briefly outlined the areas of ministry that I would like to expand, or move into. At the congregational meeting on July 10, I explained more fully what I would like to do, why I feel these areas are important and strategic for us at this time, and shared rather passionately why I am so excited about being able to oversee these aspects of congregational life and ministry.

But many people missed my June summary and others missed the congregational meeting.

Because I feel that communication, awareness, and understanding are critically important to us here at Hilmar Covenant during this transition time, especially as the pastoral search team begins its work and as the council and staff continue to offer vision and new considerations to the congregation, I want to make sure everyone is clear about my proposal, what it entails, and how I believe it can help propel us forward into that “preferred future” that we all desire for our church.

Let me share the excitement I feel about these new possibilities for my ministry at Hilmar Covenant!

•CONGREGATIONAL CARE: This is a ministry area of vital importance to us right now. I want to reach into our congregation to learn why so many people are uninvolved, uncommitted, and disengaged, especially those who once were more actively involved in the life of Hilmar Covenant. Our membership is 410 - but only about 130 people attend worship, and an extremely small percentage of us participate in any other spiritual growth opportunities during the week. As a congregation, we have not followed up well - or at all - with people who have disappeared from our church. These people are a rich resource of insight and information, especially about the “how's” and “why's” and “what's” that brought them to this point of disengagement. My sense is that we have a large number of “church-damaged” people in our midst, and we don't even know it - or how and why this came to be. These people are also a source for teaching us what changes would help us become a more healthy church once again. I foresee this area taking a great deal of my time and focus in the coming year.

•SPIRITUAL DISCIPLESHIP: Encouraging, modeling, and strategizing for deeper spiritual growth, apart from Sunday worship. This involves a variety of things to help awaken people in today's culture to what a “Christian life” and “relationship with Jesus” is all about, including people who are members of Hilmar Covenant. I want to create opportunities for spiritual discussions, questioning, and learning for different groups of people in various venues, and to help organize specific small groups around biblical, topical, theological, and spiritual themes and interests, with varying degrees of commitment and length. Of course, I will be making prayer an even bigger emphasis in this area of my ministry.

•MULTIETHNIC MINISTRY: I am excited to help us strengthen our commitment and movement into being a more diverse congregation. We have taken tiny, informal steps in this direction already, so we are in a very good, positive, healthy place in this regard! Our Covenant denomination is committed to this aspect of building God's Kingdom too, and predictions of the future only underscore the reality of increasing multiethnic diversity in every part of American life. As we become more multicultural and multiethnic in our communities, strong churches must reflect--and embrace--this priority and reality. To ignore the signs and the warnings will put us in a precarious position as a congregation in the years ahead. We must be intentional in order to move in this direction, and embrace the struggles and discomfort that multicultural ministry entails. The end result, though, will be a huge blessing, to us within the church and to the Kingdom of God - for we will truly reflect His Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven!”

•MISSION: This is outreach ministry - both global and local - which dovetails beautifully into our congregation's commitment to serve our world and our community in tangible, practical, meaningful ways. Again, strong churches in the future will live much more of their “life” outside the four walls of their buildings. A workshop leader at this year's Midwinter Conference put it this way: “There is a world that is crying out for more embodied Christ following on the streets than bodies of Christ followers in church buildings.” This also affirms the full gospel of Jesus, which is always about one's faith and one's actions. The Persecuted Church, human trafficking, Feed My Starving Children, school chaplaincy, Celebrate Recovery, volunteering at the Children’s Center, service through Turlock Gospel Mission, Hilmar Helping Hands, Merced County Rescue Mission--these connections and commitments can be developed and expanded to offer our congregation more ways of fulfilling another of the Covenant's affirmations: Compassion, Mercy, and Justice.

•RELEVANCE: Our congregation has said it is committed to “relevance;” to thinking and acting and reaching out in ways that are meaningful and engaging to those around us who have no background or interest in Christianity, the Church, Scripture, and so forth. We cannot be afraid to change our methodologies and approaches in order to reach those who are not or may never be drawn to traditional “church;” to the forms, routines, activities, patterns, and familiar things that are meaningful, enjoyable, and comfortable to us inside the Church but are irrelevant and of no interest to those in our increasingly post-Christian culture. To be unleashed into relevant ministry in all of these areas of our congregational life is absolutely thrilling to me!

•MUSIC??? It will, of course, be impossible for someone to come in and continue all of the music and worship responsibilities I currently lead and cover children’s, youth, college and young adult ministries. I am very happy and willing to continue in music ministry in various capacities as needed, depending on the musical skills, priorities, and interests of the person who comes as our youth/worship leader and the span of youth ministry responsibilities that this person is called to lead. Certainly youth ministry will be the major emphasis of the final job description. Choir, bells, special instrumental musical offerings, and seasonal concerts and/or presentations are parts of the wider worship/music ministry area that I would love to continue to be involved in.

Some of you may be asking, “Why is Dan interested in changing his ministry roles? What’s happened to make him want to move out of leading worship?” Most of you know how I have grown more passionate about spiritual discipleship, prayer, congregational health, multiethnic ministry, mission (both global and local) and service since my first mission trip to Mexico in 1999. That was one of the most transforming experiences of my life. A step was made in the direction of having me strengthen these areas of Christian life and ministry in 2006 when my job description was altered. I believe that by capitalizing on these areas of ministry at this time that God will help us move toward that healthier “preferred future” that I mentioned above. All of these are areas that the Covenant is also currently pursuing for effective ministry in today’s culture. Finally, giving attention to these areas of ministry will help us address four of the five Veritas challenges identified for our congregation in 2009.

Transition times open up opportunities to re-think, re-prioritize, and re-structure many aspects of church life and ministry. One of the purposes of this time is to deal with past issues and concerns that need to be addressed and resolved so the congregation is in a better, healthier place when the new pastor comes. Then he or she does not have to confront these things and deal with resistance and conflict. Instead, the new pastor can dig in and help us continue to move toward being a “healthy missional church,” unfettered by old baggage that would otherwise weigh us down. Transition times are also opportunities for people to be challenged with new approaches and understandings; to think “out of the box” and lean into fresh approaches and priorities for ministry in order to be a church that is fulfilling its purpose and mission in today's world. This is tough to do, but a “must” if we want our church to be around in the future.

One way to shake things up and show that we are serious about being a church that is responding to the needs of today (both inside our body and outside in our wider community and world) is to re-align staff and leadership responsibilities to respond to the realities facing us.

This is what I am suggesting with my proposal. As I have developed this vision of ministry for myself in recent weeks, prayed about it daily, consulted with others, and visualized a million scenarios of what could transpire through these ministry roles, my energy and excitement have gone through the roof! I believe that by making these areas of ministry a high priority at this time, God will enable us to experience a fresh, energizing movement of His Holy Spirit, renewing us as a congregation, enriching our spiritual “soil,” making Hilmar Covenant an attractive church to people, drawing them to Christ and enabling them to put down deep spiritual roots that will transform their lives.

What do you think? Let me know! Text me, e-mail me, call me up, stop by the office and chat with me, send me your suggestions, questions, and concerns. Everything is fluid right now; ripe with potential and possibility! I want to be responsive to your considerations as a congregation too. Together, let’s explore new emphases for effective ministry in the Name of Jesus, our Savior.

Pastor Dan

2011-07-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

CHALLENGES FROM THIS YEAR'S MEXICO MISSION TRIP

Our Mexico mission team returned from Tijuana again last Saturday, after another incredible week serving the Lord together with our sister church, Iglesia Bautista-Bethel, in the colonia of Francisco Villa. Five of us from Hilmar Covenant, two from Turlock Covenant, and ten from Iglesia del Pacto made up this year’s team. Most of us had been on this YUGO Ministries mission trip before, but we did add a few new people, and once again we grew into a strong close-knit team--especially because once again we were the ONLY mission team at the YUGO site, ready to serve for the week! Sadly, churches or youth groups or church leadership bodies are buying into the media’s overblown and extreme reports of violence in Mexico and are not sending mission teams to help Mexican churches and to give their youth the opportunity to experience cross cultural ministry.

They also missed out on the challenging teaching of this year’s YUGO speaker, Bill Drake. Bill serves with Operation Mobilization, and travels the world as the OM music/arts coordinator of teams that share the gospel of Jesus in dozens of countries through music and the arts. His passionate commitment to evangelism, his keen biblical understanding, and his sharp, pointed criticism of American Christianity challenged all of us once again to consider our relationship with Christ, how we live out our faith at home, and to recommit ourselves to a bolder, uncompromising Christian life.

Let me share Bill’s inspiring quotes, highlights of his insightful thinking, and some of his pointed challenges:

Monday’s focus was “Serving God”
•Are my purposes wrapped up in God’s purposes for the world? Don’t miss out on the reason I am alive.
•Don’t be afraid of failure; be afraid of things that don’t matter!
•”A person doesn’t know why he is alive until he knows what he is willing to die for.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Tuesday we were inspired with “Freedom From Fear”
•Many people have a “grasshopper” mentality (from Numbers 13 - the spies’ frightening report of walled cities, giants, and a land that devours its inhabitants)...NO! We are not created to abide in fear.
•”When Christ calls a man, He bids him to come and die.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
•We are free to be who Jesus made us to be; free of the world’s standards and values.
•He has no fear who has nothing to lose.
•”We’re already dead.” (quote from a Turkish Christian pastor to Bill, who had a death threat against him and his family from local Muslims - but he refused to hide, run, soften his convictions or compromise his faith. This pastor even had his son on his shoulders as he was organizing the event where Bill and his team were to perform, knowing full well that at any moment his life could be taken.)

Wednesday was about “Our Identity In Christ”
•Scriptural words for who we are in Christ: His child, His workmanship, a chosen people, witnesses (Greek word: martyros - this is where we get our word for martyr!).
•What do terrorists, Navy seals, and Buddhist monks all have in common? They are highly trained, committed, focused, and motivated. What about us? What is our motivation in life? As Christians, are we as trained, committed, focused, and motivated as these groups are? We have a higher calling - but the Enemy distracts us!
•The biggest sin of the USA: our individualism/focus on self/what I want!
•The biggest reason fewer American young people are going to the mission field: Christian parents discouraging their kids from doing so! They are telling them: “stay home/be safe/get a good job/stay close to family.”
•Bill’s words to our mission team: “WE WENT!”

Thursday began with a look at the meaning of Jesus’ temptations from the devil, and then the question posed to us was: “Who/What Do You Serve/Worship?”
•Temptation #1 - You have the power/ability/opportunity, so DO IT! Satisfy yourself.
•Temptation #2 - Avoid being rejected - be popular and loved - Compromise yourself! (“I am defined by nobody! Not by Nike, Budweiser, Ford - nobody!”)
•Temptation #3 - Worship me - get creation back without going to the cross!
•”What you worship, you will serve.” What do we serve?
•There is no worship without obedience. (“To obey is better than sacrifice.” I Sam. 15)
•There is no obedience without seeking first the Kingdom of God (top priority!).
•There is no seeking first the Kingdom of God without being involved in God’s mission. And what is God’s mission? To reconcile all humans to Himself!
•And THE CHURCH is God’s program to accomplish His mission!
•”Missions is not a program of the Church - the Church is God’s program to accomplish His mission!
•If you aren’t involved in God’s mission, you are not worshiping God!
•MISSION = WORSHIP If we love God, we must love what God loves.

Finally, on Friday we were simply given the word, GO!
•”Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” God wants everyone to worship Him, but we (humanity) worship and obey other things than God.
•Matthew 28:19 is known as the Great Commission, but Bill calls it the Grand Assumption. It is best translated “As you’re going, make disciples...” The active verb is “make,” not “go!” Jesus assumes we are going! Sending is in the DNA of God - God is a missional God - being a witness (martyros!) is not optional!
•”Are you preparing to go, but willing to stay; or are you willing to go, but preparing to stay?” The strategy of the Evil One is to de-rail GO.”

Bill ended his final teaching by reiterating what he began the week with: "If the purpose of my life is not wrapped up in God’s purposes for the world, I will miss the reason I am alive.” What a challenge! What a warning. What a wake-up call!

Ponder these important, insightful, clarifying points regarding our Christian lives and commitments. What might change if we who say we love Jesus actually lived out these principles that Bill put forth? I found it refreshing and bracing to be challenged by these pointed, no-holds-barred words from Bill, and appreciated his strong words directed at us who too often compromise and settle for comfortable, self-centered interests. I had to ask myself: what is, indeed, my motivation and commitment to Christ? Is it as focused as the motivation and commitment of terrorists and Navy seals? Am I truly willing to be a witness - a MARTYR - for the sake of Christ?

What say you???

2011-05-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

“CHURCH IN TRANSLATION” continued...

This week I promise to conclude my summary of the things Dan Collison shared in his Midwinter workshop. The final two categories of Mission and Evangelism for us to consider in re-shaping how we do mission and evangelism in a post-Christian world:
•Leadership and Evangelism: Merging Missiology And Ecclesiology
•Worship and Evangelism: Practicing Missional Worship

LEADERSHIP AND EVANGELISM: MERGING MISSIOLOGY AND ECCLESIOLOGY

Dan continually underscored the fact that CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING! If we are serious about merging our ecclesiology (our understanding of the Christian Church - origin, purpose, doctrine, its discipline, relationship to Jesus Christ, etc.) with our missiology (cross-cultural communication of the Christian faith), we will only proceed as far as our ability to engage our context (our environment, those around us, cultural realities, etc.). And this is more difficult work than we can possibly imagine!

No wonder most established congregations put their hands up, resist the hard work required to do this, draw back in fear and apprehension--not even knowing where to begin--and simply try to sustain “what has been” (what they know, love, are comfortable with, is meaningful to them, etc.).

To help us get a handle on this, he recommended the book, “They Like Jesus But Not The Church.” It’s a book that seeks to answer why only 20% of Americans go to a church of any kind. Dan reasoned that if the secular person is intrigued about Jesus but not institutional Christianity, there must be a disconnect between what churches are valuing, doing, and messaging and what Jesus values, does, and communicates. He then checked out a broad sampling of evanglical churches across America to see what they were messaging, and discovered that many had the same basic grid of vision statements, strategic plans, and statements of purpose that sounded a lot like what Saddleback and Willow Creek constructed in the 1990’s! Which built church institutions and a balanced diet for the Christian faith in the context of a 20th century church institution-centered world. But these are not adequate for the 21st century world we are now living in! The CONTEXT has changed! Their language is not strong enough to transform people and churches in a world that is crying out for more embodied Christ-following on the streets than bodies of Christ followers in church buildings. We need to expand these simplistic grids and think more deeply on more levels, which can happen with this second proposed move for churches to become more effective in evangelism and mission in the 21st century by merging our ecclesiology with our missiolgy. This is done by placing the best thinking and practices of both disciplines side by side and looking for connecting points, then identifying a set of values that represent these merged expressions of ecclesiology and missiology, which can then guide one’s congregation into the future.

Values are an interesting and crucial phenomenon because, while we can state what we believe, we always live out what we value. Values trump belief every time! Churches often have very clear belief statements, but the difference between what they believe and what they live lies in their stated or unstated values. So the purpose of merging ecclesiology and missiology into stated values is to help us live more like Jesus in our time and place (our CONTEXT).

Now what does all of this mean and look like, practically speaking? Dan worked out nine values, which are discussed at length in his book, “Church in Translation.” Here they are, briefly stated:

VALUE 1: “Live God’s Word With Humility” - Express the Covenant’s “where is it written?” with humility! People don’t know the Bible today - help rebuild Bible-love! Use non-Christian language and vocabulary of people in the 21st century. We must be thoughtful and graceful too; declaring “We are Bible-based!” slams the door in the faces of unchurched people. We must reframe and reintroduce Jesus to people (He’s known already in some way by them).

VALUE 2: “Pray As If It Matters” - Design churches through PRAYER!

We go for techniques, planning, budgeting, resources, etc. It seems that fervent, persistent, pervasive, and systematic prayer has not been a core value of American churches Many churches have social groups, music groups, support groups, and even sports teams, but if this is all the church does, with an absence of focused prayer, the church is treating prayer as an ‘add on.’ Perhaps this correlates with the statistical decline in church attendance and fewer people coming to faith in Jesus!

VALUE 3: “Stay Curious” - This is key for the 21st century because people are curious. We must nurture the life of the mind and encourage intellectual pursuit, not the anti-intellectualism of some evanglical streams. Diverse meta-narratives surround us today--learn about them! Make biblical facts fun and attractive!

VALUE 4: “Hold Community Close” - The value of relationship is at an all-time high. Practice “belonging before believing” with people. We do this with children in our churches! We must do it with unchurched secular people coming into our churches too. Altar calls and strong pushes for people to accept Christ is seen as manipulative and pushy, especially to people who have been damaged by the Church. We must be more subtle and persuasive by creating safe space for people to be in community together before they believe.

VALUE 5: “Collaborate In Healthy Leadership” - Pursue an organic, holistic team approach (not looking to the pastor alone) and seek collaboration. Embrace Christian organizations working with both Christian and non-Christian organizations. When moving into revitalization, get a strategy team and then move into the imagination of the community.

VALUE 6: “Express The Artistry Of God” - The arts and artistry abound in Scripture, so use them today! The importance of creative arts was embraced by the Christian Church until 1517, then the Reformation simplified and purified the Christian faith. One unfortunate change was the almost complete removal of creative arts from the Christian community. The Reformers declared “faith through Scripture alone!” We need much rethinking in the Protestant world in the 21st century regarding the creative arts in the life of the Church. The arts are also deeply significant and meaningful to postmoderns.

VALUE 7: “Risk Love” - The mission-minded church is people that are sent into the world to risk loving in the name of Jesus Christ. The Church as people is truly the “church without walls” and considers the church building a mere missionary outpost that sends everyone into the work of mission. Shades of John Notehelfer, 15 years ago! 21st century pastors: let your congregations know you cannot be their chaplain if you’re going to be a missionary to the world. The reality of the world we’re in: multicultural, diverse, complex. Risk missiology (I Cor. 9:19-23 MSG).

VALUE 8: “Seek Justice for Everyone Else” - Justice is a way we can advocate for people who are oppressed and stand up for marginalized. This has a big impact on mission and evangelism. The Church is perceived to be a selfish institution that only cares for itself (buildlings, politics, money). The socially aware church reverses these perceptions. Non-Christians value justice! This can be a bridging component for us. How do we lead a congregation into this? Leaders must pastor it! Social justice establishes credibility - and it is messy! Process the stories in front of the congregation with honesty! Journey together into being a 21st century church.

VALUE 9: “Live Glocal” - We exist in a “glocal” reality (the convergence of local and global cultures) There is pain in the midst of our multicultural, diverse culture. Ask questions and seek advice and help. There is an urgent need for multicultural conversations to take place and multiethnic churches to be developed. The Covenant is committed to this and has been intentional in implementing this value throughout our denomination!

WORSHIP AND EVANGELISM: PRACTICING MISSIONAL WORSHIP

This was Dan’s third and final category for us to consider in re-shaping how we do mission and evangelism in a post-Christian world. He started this section of the workshop with this statement: “For better or for worse, our corporate worship experiences are the most revealing demonstration and outworking of our practices of mission and evangelism. Existing in a predominantly post-Christian secular Western world, how we think about and plan our public worship experience is of critical importance. It can make or break our desire to be healthy missional churches.”

Evangelism provides the introduction to the Christian faith and continues the pulsing framework for all of church life. (My question to us at HCC is: does it? Or in reality is evanglism just part of our mission statement; words on a bulletin or overhead, yet not truly practiced--or downright avoided--in most of the life of our church? Are people finding Jesus in our midst? Or are we more focused on other, more inner, concerns?) Corporate worship is the congregation’s unique and penetrating experience of God which reflects the voice of the congregation and discerns the voice of the community surrounding it. Today, because the world is an increasingly complex and discontinuous reality, churches must develop strategic, collaborative teams with multiple competencies to guide the evangelical church toward opportunities and away from pitfalls. This is particularly true for designing the corporate worship experience. Finally, the missional church movement is a clarion call for the evangelical church to return to its most simple, accessible form: the basics of the gospel mandate.

Dan proposed three steps for engaging missional worship:

#1: Define the church’s mission. Again, this requires an honest examination of what the church’s mission is, even if one does not currently exist. Leaders must be completely honest about failures, disconnects to mission, embedded theology, and all practices that are self-serving. Armed with this strong self awareness, the leadership team must then study the gospel mandate, the church’s specific cultural context, characteristics of the missional church movement, and discern the strengths of their faith community. Step 1 is completed when the team synthesizes and summarizes into a clearly written document the purpose and mission of the church.

#2: Define the church’s specific worship mission. This includes decisions about worship theology based on the biblical story of worship, Christian history, and the church’s affiliations (Covenant, in our case). The leadership team must also come to conclusions about a missional philosophy of worship based on the church’s context, artistic abilities, and interpretation of postmodern issues. When these are established, a team should develop a planning process to create, implement, and evaluate the design of corporate worship.

#3: Explore the entire worship spectrum. One element of being missional is connecting to and with the “big picture” of what God is doing in worship. This requires crossing denominational, stylistic, cultural, and socioeconomic boundaries in order to learn and share frameworks of worship.

Other missional worship considerations:

•consider the sacraments as the new moment of invitation.
•create safe space for people to journey to Jesus and be ruthless about removing church subculture (careful with church vocabulary, “insider speak” and practices, de-politicize Christianity)
•deconstruct evangelical Church pathologies (wide-swinging pendulum between liberal revisionists and conservative fundamentalists)
•refrane critical conversations of today (ex. Andrew Marin in his book, “Love Is An Orientation: Elevating the Conversation With the Gay Community”)

Dan began his concluding thoughts by saying that his workshop is a moot point if we can’t lead our congregations into these new ways of reframing mission and evangelism in the 21st century. Many of our congregants will be reluctant if not downright resistant to these ideas. As pastors and leaders, doing mission and evangelism in a post-Christian world could be one of the most difficult tasks of our lives. Dan offered the example of the apostle Paul waking up to his call to extend mission and evangelism to the Gentiles:

Acts 22:21-22 - “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. They they raised their voices and shouted: ‘Rid the earth of him! He is not fit to live.’”

When Paul said this to his Jewish listeners it was too much for them to bear. They would have to expand their views and accept that God was moving beyond their Jewish cultural borders and barriers to God. We must have courage to make the three shifts: from Modernity to Postmodernity, merging Missiology and Ecclesiology, and Practicing Missional Worship. But it will require us to think differently, pray differently, act differently, and lead differently.

Dan finished his presentation with some quotes from “A Credible Witness” by Brenda Salter McNeil, who is well known in Covenant circles in coaching multi-ethnic leadership:

“I believe that God is calling all of us to make a difference, but to do this we will have to be intentional about leaving behind what is safe and familiar to us. We will have to put ourselves in places where we are not in control, and this makes us uncomfortable. For most of us, this place will be our ‘Samaria.’ Metaphorically, this is the place we’d prefer to avoid. It is the place where we are not in power. It’s the place where we don’t like the people, we don’t speak their language or understand their customs. We feel out of place. It may be that we’ve had a bad experience and are somewhat frightened of the people there. Whatever the reason, we really don’t want to be with them.

Where is your ‘Samaria’? Who is it that you avoid?

Geneally, ‘Samaria’ is relatively close to us, but we feel alienated and distant from the people there. It could be...a table in the cafeteria where people of certain ethnic groups eat together (or) a street corner near your church where homeless people regularly beg for money. Perhaps you feel most uncomfortable in a store or business establishment where the people don’t speak your language. You may find that ‘Samaria’ is with estranged members of your own family (or) a place where young, rowdy teenagers hang out (or) where many gay and lesbian people live. Whatever it is, ‘Samaria’ is a place where people are not in power and feel marginalized by us. It’s the place where people who differ from us gather, and if we intentionally sit down by the “wells” there, we just might have a life-changing encounter.

If we are going to regain our evangelistic credibility, we must recognize our need for people who are different than us and invite them into our lives. Instead of evangelizing from a place of power, we must begin by affirming that other people have something valuable to offer us. This will radically change how we approach people and how we invite them into our Christian communities.”

Can we--will we--embrace and practice what is required to be a church for the post-Christian postmodern world? Are we ready to re-think, re-evaluate, and re-organize our understanding and practice of being a church; one that will effectively wade into the unknown, frightening, disturbing, messy realities of people’s lives in today’s world (not some former understanding or view of the world people once lived in) and renew our commitment to see people come to Jesus? Can we give up what is comfortable, familiar, routine, and meaningful to us who are “insiders” in terms of the Church and faith and embrace these fresh attitudes, methodologies, understandings, and patterns that can effectively reach those who are “outsiders” to the Church and faith? Are we willing to be wholly uncomfortable in order to become a holy space for those we say we want to reach with the “good news” of the gospel?

Are we ready to recommit ourselves to walking closely with Jesus, to prayer, and listening to the Holy Spirit so we are a healthy, vibrant, deeply spiritual community of believers (not a collection of individuals of varied commitments, priorities, and spiritual “temperatures) that will be intriguing and enticing to all kinds of hurting and seeking people--church-damaged people, postmodern seekers, people with no religious or spiritual convictions or backgrounds? If we do, the Holy Spirit will bring people into our lives, individually and corporately, and we will joyfully and gracefully receive them, respond to them, build relationships with them (not simply remain with our already-Church friends), pray like mad for them, and help them in their journey toward Jesus. We will no longer rely on our abilities, methods, programs, attempts, and energy to “get people saved.” Instead, we will have discovered how to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and partner well with what the Spirit is doing in people’s lives today. No more “5 Easy Steps To...” or purchasing a program from some expert with workbooks, tapes and a leader’s guide that guarantees huge numbers of results. Instead, through prayer, corporate listening and seeking, personal and community worship, and intentionally doing whatever it takes to engage those in today’s culture, HCC will be a church that the Holy Spirit trusts to receive and respond to people He is already at work in--and He will bring them to us! Oh, that this would become our reality as a church today!

2011-04-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

“CHURCH IN TRANSLATION” continued...

Three categories of Mission and Evangelism for us to consider in re-shaping how we do mission and evangelism in a post-Christian world:
•Culture and Evangelism: Shifting From Modernity To Postmodernity
•Leadership and Evangelism: Merging Missiology And Ecclesiology
•Worship and Evangelism: Practicing Missional Worship

CULTURE AND EVANGELISM: SHIFTING FROM MODERNITY TO POSTMODERNITY

Dan identified three shifts for doing evangelism and mission in a post-Christian world:

1. Shift our imaginations from “modern” to “postmodern” - Face reality and live in the present.
This is really nothing new; I have written and quoted others regarding this key concept often. Still, many people who have grown up in “church culture” don’t get it. For some, it is impossible to see and realize that the way we understand and interpret faith is through a specific set of cultural lenses. They think that the way we believe, express faith, and understand Scripture, church, doctrine, etc. is exactly how it really "is." However, we in western culture have been formed by an array of factors that affect our approach and grasp of faith. We have a “modern” worldview heavily influenced by the Enlightenment, where reason is advocated as the primary source of legitimacy and authority. Everything must make logical sense, so we look for rational, logical explanations and responses to everything--so everything (including faith) must be provable in terms of how we understand the world today (through our cultural world view).

See the irony here?! Faith - Provable...! For example, “moderns” read the Bible rationally to prove or disprove every word of the Bible in modern terms. The results of this thinking range from complete disbelief in miracles and relegating the Bible to fables (because they are not rational or compatible with the “ultimate reality “ of modern science) to completely airtight solutions and theologically forced dogmas on the other. The modern mind seeks to nail everything down into absolutes that can be proven empirically (with our senses; demonstrated by experience/experiment). This is how truth and enlightenment are figured out and, when carried to the extreme, result in dramatic systematic theologies like dispensationalism and the harder manifestations of fundamentalism. (Note: This modern, “enlightened” worldview is very different from that of the biblical writers, who came out of oral story telling traditions with high imagery and broad theological frameworks. No doubt they would be completely frustrated by much of our “modern” approach and understandings!)

The “postmodern” worldview is still not completely defined and understood. However, at its foundation, secular postmodernists reject the notion of absolute truth, along with “modern” assumptions and constructs of reality on the grounds that, basically, it has failed to live up to its billing! The Enlightenment said it could figure out this world and make it a better place, so why, after centuries of attempts, is it still a mess? Postmoderns deconstruct modernism and, in doing so, are actually returning to much of the mystery, possibility, and awarenesses of the ancient worldviews that surrounded the biblical writers. The deeper motivation of most postmodern thinkers, particularly for postmodern Christians, is not to reject truth or what is right and wrong, but rather to question the “modern” worldview assumptions that it has everything figured out. In many ways, Christians should be excited about postmodernism because postmodern people are more open to the reality of God’s mysterious, creative, unpredictable work. (ex. Romans 11:33 - “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom of and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!”).

Bottom line: “It is time to recognize where we have made cultural philosophies steeped in the Enlightenment more of a basis of our understanding of truth than the writers of the Bible intended. If we are willing to let go of the parts of the Enlighten-ment that are real encumbrances and lean into the best of postmodernism, we will begin to imagine a future that is throbbing with possibilities for mission and evangelism.” I like that!

2. Shift our conversations from propositional to invitational - Focus on relationships and have real conversations.
Early in the redevelopment process at First Cov. Minneapolis, Dan identified two groups of new attenders who were interested in what they were doing: 1. churched followers of Christ who had left the Church because had been severely damaged by it to the point where they swore they would never return to the institutionalized Church. (They even coined a word for these people, from the German: gemeindebeschaedigt!) There are LOTS of gemeindebeschaedigts in America right now, and they may be the best group of people to bring new life and mission into our church contexts. 2. postmodern seekers invited in by personal invitation. This is essential: postmodern seekers must be personally invited in. The average secular postmodern person is so inoculated against the Church that they resent it for what it represents and will never visit a church out of curiosity. They have had enough organized religion, sound bytes, and judgmental versions of Christianity, so the only way they will even come close is by many conversations over a long period of time to establish personal relational credibility with us who are inside the Church.

The way we converse with people like those described above is critical! Our conversations must be less propositional and more invitational--that is, relationships are more essential than facts and information and being “right.” From discussions with postmodern seekers at First Cov. Dan made the following observations:
•The most honest conversations that many Christians have are with people and in situations outside of the church. The Church tends to uphold a veiled (less-than-honest!) authenticity.
•The Church often makes Christian faith a construction and not a journey...a series of transactions and propositions and not a process.
•Many churched people shut down real conversations before they can even happen! Quoting Scripture, declaring answers, making judgments, pointing out the person’s errors, etc.
•In the Church’s inability to have dialogue, there tends to be an unhealthy extreme of either too many answers (which come across as simplistic platitudes) or no answers.
•Christians need to be able to express themselves in ways that do not put people on the defensive.
•Christians need to learn how to bring people together before they can bring people to Christ. The way we approach people in today’s culture is different than before.
•We always need to be learning what Church is, not just reinforcing the same thoughts and ideas that are more rooted in sociological practices than theological realities (ex. busy activities labeled “Christian” or “ministry”).

3. Shift our perspective from dualism to holism - Revisit theological moorings and view the the world differently.

“Dualism” is the practice of pitting things against each other. “Holism” is the practice of seeing everything as a whole. A dualistic Christian believes God created everything, that we are all created in the image of God, and God loves everyone. But they look at the devastating results of human sin and assume that its effects are so damaging that no one except those who have committed their lives to Christ can know much about God. Also, dualists hold that the starting point of God’s relationship with people is His wrath and anger against people because of the sin they’ve inherited, often inferring that people are worthless before they make a confession of Christ--and in some cases they are made to feel worthless afterwards as well. It is very much an “us” and “them” view; an “in” and “out” understanding of reality; “God likes me better than you”--dualistic!

Dan asked: “Why do evangelicals have interfaith debates rather than forums or conversations? Is Jesus not winsome enough and the Holy Spirit powerful enough that, when He is presented clearly, He will make Himself known in the hearts of people? Many evangelical Christians do not believe this to be enough and would rather describe our relationship with other religions and lifestyles in dualistic war terminology.” Jesus taught humility, servanthood, kindness, loving our enemies, living sacrificially, giving anonymously, praying for others, not judging others, not buiding self-esteem around material things. When people say they follow Jesus, then trample on His life ethic, they appear hypocritical. And American culture rightly calls out this “dualism” (ex. Christian pastor and congregation from Topeka, Kansas picketing military funerals, preaching that the casualties of war are God’s punishment for our society tolerating homosexuality!

“Christians” preying on the bereaved! Broadcasting simplistic political assumptions about complex issues!). The Church has a lot of work to do here. Much of the decline and rejection of the Church is because of dualism, and rather than be defensive when gemeindebeschaedigts rip into Christianity and the Church, we need to sit with them in their anger and disappointment and call it out for what it is: hypocrisy!

Dan again: “Imagine Christianity as a movement of people known for not condemning people. A movement where there are no threats to burn other religion’s holy books. No signs being held up at public events that say “God hates...” No broad or wildly insensitive judgments and condemnation against people groups (or worse yet, entire nations) who have been devastated by natural disasters or unimaginable terrorists attacks. Imagine more Christians and Christian denominations being more like Jesus, creating safe space for sinful, imperfect people to journey to God.” (ex. our Covenant “evangelism” approach: “One Step Closer!”)

In the book, “Unchristian,” the authors conducted thousands of interviews with late teens to 30-somethings and found common perceptions and themes: the Christian Church is hypocritical, driven by ulterior motives to get decisions for Christ, anti-gay, sheltered, too political, and overall, angry, anti-everything, and judgmental. Shifting from dualism to holism is our best chance at correcting the harsh truths of these claims. This shift is a big one! It is often masked by such common church phrases as “standing up for truth,” “slippery slope” arguments, debates about what is sacred and what is secular in our culture, etc. And of course there is no guarantee that just changing this aspect of our approach will overcome people’s objections to the message of Jesus Christ and the Bible, which exist in every age. It does guarantee to remove many of the false and unnecessary barriers between people and Jesus Christ, including institutional, sociological, and theological barriers.

Shifting from dualism to holism asks us to reflect deeply on the impact of our theological moorings and assumptions. This is why the view of atonement embraced by the our Covenant denomination is so important to Christian mission today! P.P. Waldenström asserted that “atonement has its origin in God’s love.

All of God witnesses to this love, but only in Jesus is its essential nature fully disclosed. There it is seen to be unconditional; ‘it does not love for any other reason than that it is love.’ Love moves God to stand at the side of sinners and to identify with them at whatever cost.” Evangelicalism has lived under the Reformed teaching of wrath for so long that it doesn’t even recognize its on vitriol! We need to hear again the words of Paul: “Don’t show contempt for the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience by not realizing that God’s KINDNESS leads you toward repentence.” (Romans 2:4) And this, from Franciscan friar Richard Rohr: “God does not love us if we change; God loves us so that we can change.”

Well, as usual, I added more detail than I orignally intended, got long-winded, and only just summarized the first of three parts of Dan Collison’s inspiring, insightful workshop from the Midwinter Conference! So I think I better stop here for now and conclude with a third installment of my blog in two more weeks, hopefully finishing up this topic with just one more part. The rest of Dan’s material is more specific and less conceptual (?) so it can be communicated with shorter points and headings. Look for it after Easter. And let me know what you think of Dan’s perspective! If the old adage, “the proof is in the pudding,” is true, what is happening in the life of First Cov. Minneaplis certainly bears out the truth of Dan’s teaching and approach to ministry! A blessed Holy Week to you all...

2011-03-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

BLOG DETOUR...

Well, I was planning to conclude the blog I posted two weeks ago, with Dan Collison's insightful, helpful, practical ideas for reshaping how we do mission and evangelism in a post-Christian world. However, a few days ago a FB friend posted a link to the following blog that I thoroughly appreciated. I thought many others would be interested in what this young woman has to say too, so I'm going to hold off on my other blog post and offer this one for you to read and ponder instead. What she has to say is also very relevant to the things Dan described in his Midwinter Conference workshop, so there is a tie-in to what I'm sharing in my blog as well.

Probably most of you are aware of the brouhaha surrounding Rob Bell's latest book, "Love Wins." I started reading strong reactionary comments from a host of people about a month ago, even before the book was released. The hubbub has only increased, even making headlines in the mainstream media. Certainly Rob's appearance on "Good Morning America" two weeks ago helped increase his exposure to people outside of the evangelical world. And today, "Love Wins" is #2 on the NY Times Bestseller List (Hardcover Advice and Misc.).

Throughout these weeks, I grew more and more sad, frustrated, and embarrassed at the way people-Christians-were carrying on about Rob Bell, the book, the Bible, theology, and so forth. Most of it has been harsh, condemning, critical, with broad scathing comments, probably the most famous (and, to me, uncalled for) being the tweet from John Piper: "Farewell Rob Bell." Once again, my heart aches over the way Christians are acting, with nasty, cutting demonstrations of incivility, once again giving those outside the Church more ammo to criticize and rail against us and heap up more resistance to faith. Who would ever want to join a family that treats one another so badly?! "Judgmental, hypocritical, homophobic" - these are the top three ways we are perceived by those outside of the Christian faith (according to Shane Claiborne). This most recent event will only confirm this in the minds of many. Jesus, forgive us...

I think Rachel's comments and perspective is very helpful, healthy, and perceptive. See what you think. Click here: FutureofEvangelicalism

2011-03-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

“CHURCH IN TRANSLATION: MISSION AND EVANGELISM IN A POST-CHRISTIAN WORLD” presented by Dan Collison, lead pastor at First Covenant Church, Minneapolis

How’s that for an intriguing workshop title? It was one that I signed up for at this year’s Covenant Midwinter Conference, and It was every bit as intriguing--and exciting, challenging, and FUN--as I’d hoped it would be. I want to do a two-part blog about what I learned because, if your church is similar to Dan’s (First Cov. Minneapolis), or mine (Hilmar Covenant), or to any number of older, more traditional, firmly established churches in America that are declining in attendance, seeing fewer young people, sensing a waning interest in church, and feeling concern or even apprehensive about the future of one’s congregation, this workshop is for you!

It clarified many of the issues and reasons why traditional, institutional Christianity is in serious decline across America, how those outside of the Church view it and us who are inside it, and offered many excellent, helpful, hopeful solutions to the frustrating reality so many Christians in so many churches are facing today.

Dan began by stating what most of us already know: the era of Christendom in America is over! We might not want to believe it, we might resist it, we might even be trying to re-establish the prominent, privileged place of Christianity in our country and culture. But the reality is that in the course of the past 50+ years, everything has changed for institutionalized Christianity in America. Our culture as a whole no longer encourages or subsidizes Christian faith, Christian values, Christian views, or church involvement; in fact it is often antagonistic and even hostile to Christianity.

But then Dan erupted with excitement, saying this: “What a great time to be alive!” What? This made me sit up! He certainly had my attention now. “What a great time to look for God’s surprises and unexpected moves that will advance His mission of love through our churches and our lives into an increasingly complex culture and into our increasingly complex contexts. As pastor of First Covenant in Minneapolis, God has given me the opportunity to lead a church through a complex re-birth process in one of the most challenging and post-Christian contexts in America. I am convinced now more than ever that our churches’ greatest opportunities for effective mission and evangelism are right in front of us: our contexts; the places where our church buildings are located; the people and experiences who surround us.”

Now let me try to summarize all of the nuggets of insight and understanding that Dan shared with us for the rest of the workshop. First, his own context:

First Cov. Minneapolis was planted in downtown Minneapolis 135 years ago. It was the biggest Covenant church for 101 years in a row! It used to be a “big time” church with thousands in attendance. National and internationally recognized preachers and leaders “left echoes of preaching greatness rattling around the nearly 100,000 square feet of our church building,” which includes a sanctuary that seats 1500.

But beginning even in the 1950’s, the church began its early stages of decline. As we all know, America has gone through many stages of change and upheaval in the decades since then. However, First Covenant Minneapolis remained largely the same congregation with the same worship styles and approaches to ministry throughout these years without much regard to the changing landscape around them. As time went on, the disparity between the congregational life and ethos with its surrounding context was a set-up for serious decline--and it happened!

When Dan arrived a year and a half ago, the church had shrunk to about 100 people in worship. Finally, rather than see their congregation die, the people called Dan to be their lead pastor while agreeing to intimidating words like “re-invention” and “re-development” and “re-start.” They dug in, and began the difficult work of re-thinking, re-orienting, and re-forming their church. After 18 months, it is thrilling to see how the church has progressed, even doubling in size. But they “still rattle around [the] large sanctuary like bee-bees in a tin can.” That huge space “strips our egos bare, giving us a striking mirror image of the broader reality taking place in our culture.”

As Dan got to know the area surrounding First Cov. he asked: “What transformational 21st century change do we have to offer East Downtown Minneapolis?” In so doing, he realized that if they weren’t careful, the congregation was “at risk of driving headlong into the same ditch that so many American churches die in. "Like a scratched compact disc stuttering on the same two seconds of sound over and over again, churches across America get stuck.”
----------
Scene One: A church originates with a group of people drawn together around a common mission at their unique location.
Scene Two: At some point, the context surrounding the church (population, culture, housing, business, community needs,
etc.) changes.
Scene Three: In response, the church changes little to nothing in its own practices, assuming (falsely) that its past
successes assure future effectiveness.
Scene Four: The people surrounding the building begin to ignore the church.
Scene Five: The church loses a sense of purpose in its time and place.
Scene Six: The context ignores the church altogether and pushes it to the margins of its imagination.
Finale: The church inevitable closes its doors or hands its building off to a new church that is more committed to the current context, or to a developer who does something entirely different with the building and property.
----------
Dan realized First Cov. was ending Scene Six and about to begin its Finale “when God put into motion an amazing string of events that have now put the church on a path to revitalization and changed much of what I thought I knew about the missional nature of the Church.”

The workshop continued with a brilliant combination of academic information, sociological statistics, literary and media resources, and the very practical, specific things “happening in real time at the Ol’ First Covenant Church ‘Brick House’.” Dan covered three categories of Mission and Evangelism for us to consider in re-shaping how we do mission and evangelism in a post-Christian world:

•Culture and Evangelism: Shifting From Modernity To Postmodernity
•Leadership and Evangelism: Merging Missiology And Ecclesiology
•Worship and Evangelism: Practicing Missional Worship

First, we got a primer on defining some of these key words: culture, modernity, post modernity, missiology, ecclesiology, and missional. (See end of blog) None of this was new to me. I’ve been studying, absorbing, and identifying with this framework that Dan was presenting for probably a decade. However, the way he combined them and described the process of utilizing them to help bring about the re-vitalization of FIrst Cov. validated them all over again for me. It got me thinking again: If congregations across America that are similar to FIrst Cov. Minneapolis could grasp these realities, take a deep breath, choose to become un-stuck, and embrace the understandings and awarenesses that are helping churches like First Cov. come alive in mission and ministry again, there is much hope for the future of Christianity in America!

The question is: can we? Another question: do we want to? Or perhaps even more importantly: will we?

(MISSIONAL: a quick word about this word because, to me, it is absolutely essential that we get inside of its meaning. It was coined in the ‘80’s through the writings of well-known missiologists Lesslie Newbigin and David Bosch, regarding the changed nature of the Christian institution in the West. The conclusions were twofold: 1. What had been a Christendom society (a broad cultural alignment with Christianity as the dominant faith experience) was now clearly post-Christian and, in many ways, an anti-Christian culture. 2. A missiological response to this challenge was an emphasis on the term, missio Dei, or “Mission of God.” Instead of an “ecclesiocentric” (institutional church-focused) understanding of mission, where for centuries the Church focused on shaping Christian communities in the image of the Church of western European culture, this needs to be replaced by a profoundly theocentric (God-centered) understanding of Christian mission. Mission is not merely an activity of the Church! Mission is the result of God’s initiative, rooted in God’s purposes to restore and heal creation. “Mission” means “sending,” and it is the central biblical theme describing the purpose of God’s action in human history. To be missional is to be externally oriented and primarily a sending entity. The key to unlocking this vision for individual churches to become and remain God-centered mission outposts (John Notehelfer, take note!) requires a deep, intentional commitment to contextualized ministry: the practice of fully engaging the people, circumstances, and location where the church (i.e. the people) gather in Christian community.

This is it for this first installment. If you are committed to and engaged in ministry in a church, I hope it has whetted your appetite and you’ll be ready to read Dan’s perspectives and practices that he brought to us in the workshop which have already made such a positive difference in the life of First Cov. Minneapolis. Till then, do some reflecting on your own context and then, in two weeks, see what you can glean from Dan and apply within your context. A blessed Lent to all of you...

2011-02-16T13:33:00.001-08:00

I have not been a very faithful blogger these past weeks, have I?! Getting back into the swing of things after the Christmas season, coupled with extra responsibilities and commitments, two weeks in Chicago, and two deaths in the Hilmar community have taken my time and attention away from being able to write.

I still don't have the time or focus right now to write on a couple of very interesting and challenging topics related to the Church and ministry today. Instead, I am going to post the sermon that I gave last Saturday at the memorial service for my dear friend, Delton Nyman, who died while I was in Chicago. Before he passed away, Delton told his wife that he wanted me to do his service, and so the day after I returned from the Midwest, I had the great privilege of officiating at his memorial service. I must admit that this kind of ministry responsibility is WAY out of my comfort zone! On top of that, there were nearly 600 people in attendance, packed into our Hilmar Covenant sanctuary that only holds 290! I can do music in front of lots of people, lead various parts of worship in front of people, even pray very easily in front of people (something most people are totally terrified of doing). But handling an entire service, with preaching--and a memorial service at that...well, let's just say I thought I was gonna throw up when, a full half hour before the service was to begin, the sanctuary was already packed and more and more people kept coming in and we were scrambling to find chairs and places to put everyone! We even used the choir loft for seating.

I am posting my sermon because it has deeply touched many people throughout our community, and also because it is a testimony to something I experienced at the death of my dad more than 36 years ago. It also rings with hope and truth; that there is a reality bigger than the everyday experience we are living in right now.
--------------------

Ezekiel 21:26 - “Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are.”

We all know that nothing ever stays the same. Change is inherent to our lives. From the time we are conceived, changes happen to us. As we grow from fetus to baby to child to adolescent to adult to senior citizen, changes occur to us, within us, and through us as we interact with the world. I often wonder why it is, when change is indeed inherent to us as humans, that we resist it so much! If change is in our DNA--and in the whole wide world around us--why do we push against it? Why do we settle into comfortable patterns and routines and try so hard to maintain a status quo existence? As we heard in the reading from Revelation, Jesus Himself said, “Behold, I am making all things new!” If our Savior and Lord proclaimed such a message, should we not embrace it joyfully and accept with excitement those new things--those changes--that Jesus said will inevitably come into our lives? Yet, when changes occur, we usually resist them, defend ourselves against them, even buy insurance to protect ourselves from whatever “new thing” might pop up to disrupt our carefully constructed lives and force us into directions and situations that, frankly, terrify us.

So how do you feel when you hear these words from the prophet, Ezekiel: “Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are.”? I first learned of this verse from Ezekiel 21 in a frightfully disturbing way, one September Sunday in 1974, two days before my dad died of cancer. The verse was in the church bulletin as the “Thought For Worship” that day. And when my dad did pass away on Tuesday, after battling cancer for two years, this word of Scripture came rushing back, knocking the wind out of me with a force of truth that sank deep into my heart and soul. It was crystal clear that things in my life would not be as they had been--not ever! My dad was gone, another brave soul who had lost his battle with this devastating disease. My mom and brothers and I, along with the rest of his relatives, friends, and co-workers, now faced new changes and challenges in our lives, living without our husband, father, and friend. It was terrifying. It was totally unsettling. Life as we had known it would never--could never--be the same. A huge chasm had opened up and now existed in our lives. How in the world would we ever be able to adjust to such a dark, empty, all-consuming void in the midst of our everyday lives? Talk about change! It was beyond overwhelming. The ramifications of my dad’s death were numerous, unimagineable, affecting every aspect of our lives. How does anyone deal with such a deeply emotional, tragic, gut-wrenching reality: the reality of death?

It was precisely at this point of immeasureable grief that the reality of my faith--or more precisely, my relationship with my Savior, Jesus--took a giant leap forward; a transformative turn into a deeper dimension I had never known or experienced before. In the midst of the chasm of my grief, out of nowhere, it seemed, I suddenly perceived a firm, sustaining, transcendent strength welling up within me. It erupted in a flash, flooding out of all the things I’d learned from my many years growing up in a Christian family and in my church. In the ensuing hours and days after I received the news of my dad’s death, the words of Scripture, the tenets of faith learned in Sunday School and Confirmation, the inspirational insights from pastors and professors--all of the elements that were the building blocks of my faith--came alive with fresh vitality, infused with new clarity and energy that I’d never realized before. Now I knew, beyond a shadow of doubt: “it’s all TRUE!” Everything I had accepted and claimed in an intellectual way for 21 years: it really is the TRUTH!”

It was totally amazing; shocking even: in the midst of searing loss, I received a rock-solid conviction about everything I believed, and I discovered something thrilling: a joy, a confidence, and, indeed, the reality of Phil. 4:7: a “peace that passes all understanding.” The words of Scripture were not just ink on a page or verses in a sermon. Now they were alive, as never before! Three dimensional! Infused with freshness and meaning that enlivened my relationship with the Lord as never before--and of all places, right in the middle of my sadness. I totally knew that my Savior was right there with me, in the chasm of my grief; that He knew everything I was feeling and going through, and despite the uncertainties swirling around me, He was completely trustworthy! Scriptures flooded my mind, pulsing with new meaning for me: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of who shall I be afraid?” “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” “We do not grieve as others do, who have no hope.” “I will not leave you comfortless.” “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labors.” (After seeing my dad struggle for so many weeks against the cancer spreading throughout his body, this verse was especially meaningful to me. Maybe it can be the same for you too, Kathy.) “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

All of this was certainly a change--change unsought, change unexpected, change I at first resisted. Yet it was also change that uplifted, soothed, strengthened, and brought wonderfully rich perspective and depth of insight that sustained me through the many weeks and months following my dad’s permanent absence from our lives. Which is not to say that all this made my dad’s death OK, or easy, or acceptable. Not at all--because death is not what God ever intended for any of us in the first place. Death is the result of willful, human sin coming into our world, infecting all of creation and impacting every living thing. God created all that is with a very differnt purpose in mind. The hurt and sadness and evil that haunts our experience today is our own doing, and will be part of this earthly experience till Jesus comes again.

However, the gospel of our Lord Jesus--the “good news” that He brought to us--is that sin and evil, death and the devil himself do not have victory over us! Though we still live with the devastating effects of these realities, they have already been undone, dismantled, and destroyed through what God Himself accomplished in Jesus’ death and resurrection 2000 years ago.

This “good news” is not just a bunch of religious dogma, theological debate, or a matter of personal belief either. The truth of Jesus Christ is the true reality that undergirds and permeates our existence. He is the truth that every restless soul on this earth is seeking; the truth behind humanity’s never-ending search for God; the truth that fills the God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person (as Pascal put it); the myth that became real and true (as C.S.Lewis put it). The truth of Jesus Christ is the reason so many religions exist, as humanity has tried, in so many imperfect ways, to make sense of the world, seeking the true Deity that all of us intuitively know exists--and Who is seeking us all the time!

This “good news” of Jesus is the truth that Delton embraced many years ago when he committed himself and his life to his Savior. It is the truth that enabled him to bravely face the difficult, daunting challenges of the past 18 months battling with cancer, yet knowing there is so much more than the everyday reality of our present lives. The truth of Jesus Christ gives all of us who know Him a fuller perspective on life; that life is much bigger, grander, and far more multi-dimensional than the time-and-space existence we now inhabit. It is the truth that brings meaning, perspective, and the ability to deal with the grief and sadness over Delton’s death that will certainly continue to wash over us in waves in the days to come. If the truth of Christ is something you have not embraced for yourself, I know that nothing would make Delton happier than for you to use this occasion of his memorial service to embrace the same Savior he knew, and to start your own journey of faith with Jesus, making His truth your own. And for those of you who have committed your lives to Jesus, I pray that in the days and weeks ahead you might have a similar experience to mine, where the things you’ve read and heard and believed for, perhaps, many years would leap off the page and into your hearts in ways that will take you deep into a more intimate and honest way than ever with your Savior. Remember that Jesus IS “the way, the truth, and the life.” Ponder this, and discover the real Truth that we are blessed to have in our Christian faith. For when it comes alive in you, it is the source of immeasureable joy, confidence, comfort, strength, hope, and peace.

C.S. Lewis used a different word than change to describe the basis of reality. He said: “The basis of things is not rational, but tragic.” We know this; Delton’s death is a terrible tragedy; devastating for us who knew him, lived with him, and loved him. Lewis continues: “When you enter the domain of suffering and sorrow you find that reason and logic can only be your guide amongst things as they are, but nothing more. Is it rational that I should be born with an heredity over which I have no control? Is it rational that nations that are nominally Christian should go to war? The basis of things is tragic, and the only way out is through redemption.”

Redemption. The very thing that Christ offers everyone who believes in Him and who desires to follow Him. The very thing that Delton received long ago from his Savior, Jesus, and that he is now experiencing in all of its fullness in heaven, face to face with the One he served all the years that he lived on earth: Jesus, his Savior, God’s only Son. Redemption - the very thing we are all seeking in one way or another throughout our lives. Redemption itself is about change; changing one way of living for another, one way of thinking for another, one reality (based on the things of this world) for another ultimate, eternal reality that puts one into a loving relationship with the God of the universe. This is where our security, our hope, our freedom from the fears and anxieties that continually nag us truly lies. Take the Lord at His word, just as Delton did. Let these words of Scripture be your comfort and confirmation in the Lord: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels or rulers, nor things present or things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Amen.

2011-01-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

"THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD"

“Happy Epiphany!” Or, is it “Merry Epiphany?” Or “A Blessed Epiphany to You?” How about “Have A Joyous Epiphany?”

Whatever...

Did you know that today, January 6th, is “The Epiphany Of Our Lord” in the calendar of the Church Year? Epiphany occurs twelve days after Christmas (that would be “12 drummers drumming”--and being a percussionist, my personal favorite from that tedious Christmas song!). Epiphany means “manifestation” or “appearance,” and is the traditional day when the Magi arrived in Bethlehem with their gifts for the infant Jesus.

Epiphany refers to the new manifestation of God to the whole world through the coming of Jesus Christ--and indeed, the Wisemen were the first Gentiles to witness the Savior.

Maybe that’s more than you cared to know about Epiphany. Sometimes I wonder if people are even aware of this important day in Christian history, or if they care at all. Some ethnic traditions around the world do wait to exchange gifts on this day,

but you have to admit that we don’t hear much, if anything at all, about Epiphany in our American culture. By January 6th, Jesus’ birth is mostly forgotten; a blur behind the wild celebration of New Year’s, and with students back in the routine of school and holiday decorations gone in most locations, anything associated with Christmas is also packed away with the rest of the lights and wreaths and lawn ornaments, out of sight and out of mind till next December.

But today, I remembered how Harvey and Linda Lundquist always celebrated Epiphany every year in Turlock with a huge party, incredible food, sweets, exotic decorations (camel statues on the table!), and lots of fellowship. I just heard on NPR about “Three Kings Day” in the Puerto Rican community, and the big celebration and parade down Lexington Avenue in New York’s East Harlem, complete with live camels! (Hmm...urban New York City...winter...snow & ice...camels...go figure...)

I bumped into Chaplain Paul Barnes at Covenant Village today, and lo and behold he was wearing an “epiphany necktie!” A colorful piece with wisemen, star, and camels cascading down the front! A tie which he only wears once a year, on this special day of Epiphany.

So I guess there is more acknowledgement of this Church Year day than I thought.

Is the calendar of the Christian Year part of your life and tradition, personally or in your church community? Do you observe the seasons of Advent and Lent, Holy Week and Pentecost, Transfiguration and Reformation Sundays? Of course, more formal, liturgical denominations have followed this holy calendar for centuries, but evangelical denominations have been slower to catch on to the richness of this tradition. I was fortunate to have grown up in North Park Covenant Church in Chicago, where the Christian Year was strongly celebrated, so I was in tune with the rhythm and cycles of Christian faith and history long before many other Covenant churches and other evangelical groups began to discover this wonderful practice.

This past fall, I wrote an article for our church newsletter about the Church Year to refresh the congregation’s understanding and appreciation of the various seasons and observances of the life of Christ and the Christian Church. As we begin a new year, I thought it might be an interesting piece to post on my blog. Here it is:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
CELEBRATING THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH YEAR

Have you ever wondered about those words you see at the top of the bulletin every Sunday? Like “Second Sunday in Advent,” “Fifth Sunday after Epiphany,” or “Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost?” These headings describe various occasions in the life of the Christian Church. They help us recall, re-enact, and celebrate the most significant story in human history, Jesus Christ, and to commemorate the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Savior.

Human beings have always created cycles, rituals, and habits in their lives to mark the passing of time. Life is patterned by an assortment of calendars. For some in the U.S., the year begins around Labor Day with the return to school (and everything that goes with it!). For others, the year has to do with the cycle of planting, growing, and harvesting. However, everyone acknowledges that holidays mark our seasons! These include special theme days (Valentine’s Day, Halloween), important events (4th of July, Veteran’s Day), significant people (Martin Luther King Jr, President’s Day) and religious observances (Christmas, Easter, Passover, Hanukkah, Ramadan).

However, as Christians, our allegiance is to our Savior, Jesus. We acknowledge that He is the pattern for our lives and is the One we follow. We often claim we are “in the world but not of it,” and we sing “this world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through.” Observing the Church year demonstrates the truth of our Christian convictions. Following the cycle of the Christian year proclaims that we order our lives with a different set of rhythms, patterns, and observances than the world does, and that we find more significance in celebrating the events of Jesus Christ instead of Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, and jack-o-lanterns.

An important part of celebrating the Christian Church year is the reading of Scripture. Eugene Peterson rightly states that “Scripture and souls are the primary fields of operation of the Holy Spirit.” Indeed, one cannot develop spiritually without a corresponding interest in the Bible. The “lectionary” is a helpful tool for reading Scripture and to remind us what month or season in the Church year we are observing. The lectionary is a schedule of biblical readings that helps immerse Christians in the Word of God and takes us through almost the entire Bible every two years. It is a powerful discipline that helps us grow closer to Christ. As we grow deeper in our discipleship, the richness and value of the Christian year also increases, as we realize we are part of God’s incredible history. Marked by holy days and structured by Scripture, the cycle of the Church year is a daily reminder that life with God is a present anchor and a future promise.

Observing the Church year as a spiritual practice can also build a deep sense of the community we share as followers of Jesus. It is a way to remember that we are part of God’s global Church, knowing that members of Christ’s body around the world are also observing the same Christian calendar and reading the same passages from Scripture that we are. Reading, praying, remembering, and worshiping the one God together with brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world, seven days a week, is powerful! Year after year, the biblical story informs our own life stories. Our daily grind is placed in context. God moved in Deborah and Daniel way back when, and God still moves in our lives in 2010!

Our lives are already ordered by many schedules: personal, family, school, cultural, and seasonal. Deeper fulfillment awaits us by surrendering our ordinary schedules to the rhythm of God’s story read daily in Scripture as directed by the cycle of the Church year.

The Christian year begins with the season of Advent. This year the first Sunday of Advent is November 28th. As we continue throughout the coming year, I will be writing brief, informative sketches in the bulletin each Sunday describing the Christian season we are in, and its significance and importance in the history of our faith. I hope this will be educational, helpful, and challenging, and will be a way for you to appreciate and go deeper in your Christian walk.

So as Advent begins, let me be the first to wish all of you a blessed “Happy New Year!”

Pastor Dan

Online Resources:
--The Daily Lectionary www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/bcp
--Colors of Church Year www.cresourcei.org/colorsof.html

The Revised Common Lectionary (Sundays only) is available in the back of our hymnals. This year, 2010-11, is “Series A.”

(Some of the material I reference here comes from an article in "The Covenant Companion" about the Church Year.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Have an exciting, exquisite, exceptional Epiphany. And Happy New Year 2011 too.

2010-12-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

TRUTHSEEKERS FOOTWASHING RALLIES
NOVEMBER 18-26, 2010

I’m back from India--and where to begin to tell about all that I saw, experienced, and learned! As one of our leaders said, it was like taking a drink from a fire hose! The amount of input was so enormous that I’m still trying to process both the information and the emotional responses that were called out of me during our week in Delhi. I think the best way to capture all of this here, in my blog post, is to let my thoughts flow freely and to write down whatever comes to mind as I recall everything that struck me on this incredibly powerful mission trip:

India Today: India is a country of both shining accomplishments and acute suffering. Politically, it is a democracy, but practically speaking, literally millions of its people (the lower castes, Dalits (“untouchables”), and other tribal groups) have suffered and labored under “divinely” sanctioned slavery for over 3000 years.

The Caste System: You probably learned about this in school. Hindus believe in a system of almost endless reincarnation, and that the level or station you are living in now is a result of the way you lived your past life--even if that station is child prostitution or slave labor. It is your divine fate. Therefore you deserve what you are experiencing in your present situation, and there is very little sympathy or desire to help and change the conditions in which people find themselves. Unfortunately, the upper castes only comprise about 10% of the Indian population. The rest of India is Shudra/”Other Backward Castes” (OBC) or outcastes (Dalits, people in religions other than Hinduism, tribal groups, etc.). In 1948, India became a democratic nation with a constitution. The claim is that the caste system no longer exists, and that huge strides are being made for social reform and to help the poor of this huge nation. But as Braj (one of the Truthseeker staff) explained to us, “The caste system is continually reinventing itself!” It is still very much in force, continuing to oppress millions of Indians today in subtle, insidious ways that are almost impossible for us in the West to detect, comprehend, imagine, or understand.

We certainly saw the disturbing, destructive effects of this evil system. We were with “the poorest of the poor” during our week in India. We experienced firsthand the harsh conditions that so many Indians live under, the hard existence they are forced to endure, the extreme physical, mental, and emotional state of these beautiful, gracious people, and the hopelessness that is present in the miserable jobs, routines, and cultural systems that dictate their daily lives. It was heartbreaking. It quickly highlighted to me the things that are truly important in life, and how petty and trivial so many of our issues and self-centered concerns are here at home in the USA, with all of our affluence, comforts, and individualistic well-being.

Truthseekers: Tradition has it that the apostle Thomas brought Christianity to India. Christian outreach has been going on in India since the days of William Carey, and Christianity has grown--even in the face of persecution, which continues today. The bulk of these efforts have been toward the Dalits, tribal groups, and to a lesser degree the higher castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Baniyas). However, the largest single group in India is the nearly 700 million members of the Shudra/OBCs. They have been considered unreachable; so locked into the caste system that they are beyond help.

Enter Sunil Sardar, the founder of the modern day “Truthseekers International.” Sunil believes that God has already made Himself known to the OBCs, much as God made Himself known to the Athenians as recounted in Acts 17. A native of central India, a Dalit, a third generation Christian, with decades of pastoral, church planting, and social activist ministry, Sunil has discovered monotheistic, pre-Christian, and even Christian roots within OBC beliefs and traditions! It centers around “Baliraja,” a sacrificed king who was righteous and benevolent, identified himself with his Shudra/OBC people, and strove to bring peace and prosperity to them. However, through the treachery of another god, he was put to death, so for centuries the people have waited and yearned for Baliraja’s return, when he will bring justice to all the oppressed. Do you see all the elements of the Christ story here?! There is also a type of “communion” (using coconuts as the elements) and “baptism” for washing away sin (in the Ganges River) in these ancient beliefs and traditions.

Sunil has taken up the mantle of the 19th century reformer, Mahatma Jotirao Phule, who is known as the “Martin Luther of India.” Phule founded the original Truthseekers Society in the late 1800’s to push for spiritual and social reform in India, and he is revered throughout the nation. He sought nothing less than spiritual, mental, social, economic, educational, and physical freedom for India’s slaves (the OBC’s, Dalits, and tribals). The story of Phule’s life, passion, activism, and unceasing efforts to advocate for the poor castes of India is so stirring, so noble, and so captivating that it would make a compelling, blockbuster movie! He called upon Indians to abandon the polytheistic system of oppression that had been imposed on them and to embrace Mahadeva, the Most High God, Jesus Christ! Sunil reestablished Truthseekers to complete what Phule started, so wherever he goes, wherever he speaks, Sunil proclaims to the people that the Baliraja they have been waiting for all these years has already come--and He is Jesus Christ! “Baliraja Yeshua!” Sunil describes how this Savior loves everyone, how there is no caste, no higher or lower levels of humanity, no greater or lesser people--all are accepted, embraced, and treated equally by Baliraja Yeshua. Sunil tells of the transformation and healing this Savior brings into people’s lives and into their relationships through reconciliation (a word that does not exist in the Hindi language!). Most of the people have never heard these radical ideas before. It is indeed “gospel” (“good news”) to them! As you can imagine, this message creates much excitement, conversation, hope--and many conversions.

This is where the footwashing comes in. Several years ago, Sunil and the Truthseekers team discovered that holding public rallies where the message of Christ is not just proclaimed but demonstrated by Westerners kneeling and washing the feet of India’s oppressed men, women, and children is a powerful tool for spreading the message of spiritual and social freedom in Christ. Sunil describes to the crowd at the footwashing rallies how Baliraja Yeshua demonstrated His love, compassion, and service to all people by washing the feet of those who were followers of Him. Since “no servant is greater than his Master” (John 13:16), this act of humility, equality, and service is what the Truthseekers team would like to offer to everyone gathered there. The eldest members of the community are invited to come first, and the effect of Americans (who are considered by most Indians as being from the highest caste of all) touching the feet of these “untouchables” is astounding! For most, it is the first time they have ever been touched by someone they consider to be from a higher caste. Sometimes the people would touch our heads as we knelt before them, washing and drying their hard, calloused feet. Many would embrace us afterwards, delighting in this human contact and connection that they have not known or experienced before. Quite different for people who are accustomed to being “touched” by upper caste persons only when they are struck or pushed aside!

Sunil also challenges the people at the rallies to cut off their red wrist bands to proclaim their desire to be free of the oppression of caste. These red bracelets are tied onto the people by the Brahmin priests, and everyone believes they are a blessing and a means of protection. However, Sunil lets the people know that the bands are actually a curse, binding them to the hurtful beliefs and structures and gods of Hinduism, keeping them in their place of servant duty and exploitation in the caste system. Because the words are recited in Sanskrit, and only Brahmin people are permitted to learn this language, the people have no idea what is really being done to them. When people come forward at the rallies and have these red wrist bands cut off, they are making a significant public decision to renounce all of this. Of course, there are huge implications in doing this.

During our week in India, our team of 27 participated in three footwashing rallies: one in a poor urban neighborhood in the city of Lucknow, one in a shepherd caste community, and one in a scavenger community--where the people are the garbage collectors of Delhi and literally live at the dump. (See my photo album for more about these rallies: photos) I also visited a school started two years ago by a Truthseekers member for Muslim gypsy children who, because they are not even in a caste, have no legal standing, no documentation, and therefore no access to even the most basic government services. Deshpande was appalled at the blatant discrimination that was happening to these people, and so with very few resources at his disposal, he hired two teachers, built a flimsy tent structure, and started the school. Today there are more than 80 children enrolled here! Deshpande has also been able to rent a nearby building for the students to meet in, so now the school has a roof, a lock, and a toilet!

For just one day on our trip, we were totally “tourists” and traveled to Agra to see the Taj Mahal--a place I have always dreamed of visiting. This amazing, exotic, exquisite, ancient piece of architecture continues to be one of the “7 Wonders of the World,” and it is easy to see why. The entire Taj Mahal complex is perfectly balanced, orderly, beautifully landscaped, and the artistic craftsmanship of the Taj itself, built entirely of marble, is truly breathtaking. Unfortunately, the day we visited, it rained--up until the time we began our tour! At least we did not have to endure getting drenched... However, it remained cloudy and overcast throughout our time there, so we were not able to see the Taj in all its translucent beauty against a blue sky and enjoy the colorful splendor of the enormous gardens and reflection pools surrounding the complex. When I travel to India next time, I certainly plan to return here when I can appreciate this historical Indian treasure even more.

A few more things that I learned while in India:

•Ghandi is not revered by everyone in India! His approach to social and political reform in India did nothing to help the OBCs and Dalits, who, again, make up well over half of India’s population, and so Ghandi is not held in high esteem by them.

•Truthseekers is a movement, not a strategy or a system. “To make Baliraja Yeshua known!” This is the purpose and goal of Truthseekers. And to do this, they must remain flexible. Many Indian Christians are caught in “religion”--do’s and don’ts, keeping Christianity clean and neat and orderly and “true”--but Christianity is dirty and messy! Following Jesus is never nice and clean and orderly.

•There are no preconditions in Truthseekers; just people coming together around the common cause of social reform and justice--and seeing what God will do. People from different religions, beliefs, philosophies, even atheists are welcome in the movement. As long as you are a “truthseeker,” grace covers all beliefs, actions, mistakes, etc. as people are on the way to following Jesus. All “right” and “correct” and “orthodox” ideas and understandings are not required first. JESUS HAS ALL TRUTH! Truth is truth--it’s all of God, whether by Christians or others. Truthseekers is about connecting Truth with what the various leaders have been saying and doing already--connecting it to Jesus. Whatever they have done to fight oppression, Jesus completes.

•We do not lead people to Christ--we welcome them into faith! Sunil has seen nonbelievers in meetings suddenly convert, in the middle of everything, as the Truth becomes clear and real to them!

•We must remember that God is already at work in every place in the world to accomplish His purposes before Christians ever show up. (Look at all the examples of “redemptive analogies” that are keys to Christ and already present in the beliefs and traditions of the Indians.) Jesus is not the property of Christians!

•In the West, we think (organize, plan, strategize) and then we act. In the East (India), they act first and then think it through (implications, logistics, meaning, etc.). Sunil reminded us that the Bible is an “eastern” book as well! So we need to read it with “eastern eyes,” not with a western viewpoint.

•Serving, caring, helping, etc. is more radical than revolution--totally different from most people’s understanding of Christianity in India.

That’s it - that’s all - that’s enough! I could go on about much more (impressions, challenges, learnings) but I hope these paragraphs have given you at least a taste of what happened on this mission trip and of the issues, realities, differences, and demands that I’ve been confronted with and now must grapple with--and respond. I think you can tell that, overall, this India adventure was an incredibly exciting and rewarding experience. So let me end by challenging all of YOU to take part in future Truthseekers Footwashing Rallies. These happen twice each year, in March and November. You’ll be glad you did.

You will never be the same.

Some fantastic links to related sites:
Truthseekers International
Truthseekers North America
WorldNextDoor
•This is an amazing website! Check out "Photo Gallery: Dignity" (Nov. 29) and "Photo Gallery: Dreams For the Future" (Nov. 17); these are Barry Rodriguez's impressions of our trip. Here's what the website is all about:
World Next Door, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our mission is to use entertaining, thought-provoking and heart-breaking journalism to change ordinary people into wild-eyed revolutionaries and to unleash them on local and global issues of social injustice.
Footwashing Blog

2010-11-07T18:13:00.001-08:00

“EMBODYING OUR FAITH”
(Part 4)

This final installment of my blog on Tim Morey’s book will offer some very practical suggestions and practices that Tim and his church have found to be most effective in responding better to those around us that we want to reach with the gospel of Christ. These ideas fall under the “embodied apologetic” headings described earlier: experiential, communal, and enacted.

EXPERIENTIAL: “As we consider how we can embed this aspect of our witness in the life of the church, the worship gathering is a key ministry structure. In worship, we bring God the praises he deserves, and as we do, believers are shaped into the image of Christ and inquirers experience the present reality of God in a unique way.”

•Worship gatherings are one of the church’s primary ministry structures for disciplemaking. The worship gathering can serve as a powerful experiential apologetic.

•A young atheist began attending (Life Covenant) only out of the sheer pain following his wife’s affair. When he eventually received Christ, it wasn’t the logical arguments that convinced him (though they helped)--but the undeniable sense that God was actually present with the church as we worshiped.

•In a postmodern world, experiencing God’s presence in the praises of his people carries a weight that an evidential argument typically does not.

•As we consider the role the worship gathering plays in our 21st century mission field, what theological and practical aspects of worship will emerge as especially important? And what are the characteristics of worship that will best contribute to its function as an experiential apologetic?

--God Centered: Worship must remain focused on God and not become a means to another end. Our goal must be to help people see God and cry out to him from the heart, not to engineer a hip, flashy, or entertaining event to elicit a desired reaction or result from people. The goal must be to help people grow as worshipers of God and apprentices of Jesus, not as consumers of religious programs.

--Authentic: In many boomer churches, worship is watered down in an attempt to make it more palatable to those who are seeking (religious symbols removed or minimized, worship space made less “churchy,” difficult theological language avoided, etc.). Spiritual life is made to appear “normal” and less mysterious. Those who are coming as inquirers do not want something devoid of spiritual mystery that looks identical to the rest of life. Ironically, they often reject Christianity because it does not appear spiritual enough!

--Contextualized: While issues of style are secondary to authenticity, it is deeply important that our worship is culturally relevant as well. To be effective in making disciples of the postmodern generation, we must worship in a way that allows them to cry out to God in their own heart language. Erwin McManus: “Perhaps the greatest tragedy of our time is that we have kept our pews and lost our children.” The goal is not to mimic popular culture and therefore better market the church (but) to let worship grow in our churches in ways that are indigenous rather than badly fitted imports from somewhere else.

--Transcendent & Immanent: We need to consciously pursue both reverence and intimacy. Postmoderns certainly want to experience God as near, but at the same time they react against God being reduced or tamed to look like “Buddy Jesus.”

--Historically Rooted: Postmoderns have a deep appreciation for the more ancient aspects of the faith. The rootedness that comes from knowing they are part of a rich historic community adds depth to their faith. Consequently, there is great interest in the spiritual practices, symbols, and teachings of earlier generations of the church. When we introduce aspects of ancient liturgy, spiritual disciplines, and the stories of historic figures in the church, we invite our people to be part of this history.

--Symbolic: In the modern age, easier access to printed media made the Bible accessible. The written word became the dominant means of communication and symbolic communication diminished. Mystery tended to give way to explanation and played a smaller role in understanding faith. In the postmodern era, there is a deep longing for a recovery of awe and wonder. “What materials do we need to construct a postmodern faith? Besides the message of premodern faith, and the reasons of modern faith, we need to supply the right signs and symbols for a postmodern faith.”

•In shaping the way we approach Sundays (at Life Covenant): 1. We inverted what most of us knew as a “normal” order of worship. Many of us are from traditions where the sermon was the main event and musical and other worship forms were treated as a warm-up for the message. As our understanding of worship took hold, it made more sense to begin our service by reading and teaching the Scriptures (God revealing himself to us) and then to build the rest of our time around responding to that word. 2. Our understanding of worship has caused us to value a sense of sacredness. 3. Our focus on worship--God revealing Himself, and our response--has led our congregation to value simplicity in worship.

•Elements incorporated into Life Covenant’s worship:
--Prayer
--Music
--Teaching/Preaching - 21st century preachers must become skilled at exegeting three sources: the biblical text, the surrounding culture, and the human heart. We try to approach preaching less as giving answers and more as raising the right questions, and to preach in a way that the mysteries of God are not alleviated but embraced.
--Communion (celebrated weekly) - In many churches, communion has been reduced to a mere intellectual recall of Christ’s suffering. The mystery has been removed and we are left with little expectation of actually meeting God.
--Giving
--Story
--Psalms
--Ancient Prayers & Writings - We are part of something very ancient even as we follow God into the future.
--Food
--Silence
--Art
--Meditation
--Benediction - “You do not dismiss a church--you disperse it!” (Martin Luther) Go out of the church door and into the world to be the church. We don’t go to church; we are the church.

COMMUNAL: Being made in the image of the triune God, the desire for community is imprinted on our souls. “Evangelism is less an invitation to an event and more of an invitation to enter into community.” (Dan Kimball) The most significant source of spiritual growth for most believers is the people they are journeying with..members of a small group, a mentor or apprentice, accountability partners, or simply good spiritual friends. Expressions of community such as these are one of our congregation’s three primary ministry structures. They serve as a crucial vehicle for spiritual formation, and simultaneously function as a communal apologetic for those outside the faith. How does this take place?

--Community As Theological Reality: connectional (doing life deeply together); authentic community (a greater reality; what it truly means to be the church). Our task is not to create it out of thin air but to recognize it’s presence, and to cultivate an environment that will help that community flourish. Community is based in the very existence of God: Triune God! The communal nature of Christ’s work, especially reflected in the sacraments. “At the moment of baptism we are no longer merely ourselves by ourselves; from then on we are ourselves in the community of similarly baptized persons.” (Eugene Peterson) For the ancient church, the tremendous bond that exists between believers was pictured in the communion event. There is a sense in which fellow believers are more closely connected than blood relatives or friends who know each others’ deepest secrets. Vibrant, life-giving community does not happen automatically. As with all living things, it must be cultivated and nurtured.
Community is messy! At its best it involves real people bringing their truest selves into the presence of others. Community is messy because grace is messy. The more graceful we become as a church, the more freedom people will feel to be real and the messier life will become. Ironically, this messiness is part of what attracts emerging generations to faith. An embodied apologetic is only effective as the church looks like Jesus.

--Authentic Community As Apologetic: (a story of Tim’s that described nonbelievers coming to Christ through involvement in small groups aimed at strengthening believers) “The missional church evangelizes primarily through immersing the unchurched in the experience of community.” (Robert Webber) All people are created with a deep need for community. For postmoderns, however, this need is often right on the surface (because of breakdown of the family, tripling of divorce rate, rise in dual-income families). A most fundamental question: "Will you be there for me?” The community that has been transformed by Christ may be our greatest apologetic. Inviting outsiders into our small groups allows them the opportunity to belong before they believe. If this is the case, it serves to further highlight the need to emphasize spiritual formation as part of discipleship. Not a seeker approach.

--Belonging Happens In Multiple Spaces: Not everyone has the same belonging needs. There is a temptation for churches to find one vehicle (usually small group ministry) and treat it as a panacea for all of the people’s belonging needs. What we need are relationships that are significant, not necessarily relationships that are close or intimate. Four levels of belonging: public, social, personal, intimate. (Need for) strategy that will entail creating an atmosphere where people can grow significant relationships in all four of these spaces.

•Cultivating an environment for community:

--Commitment/Membership -The view that one can claim membership in the universal, invisible body of Christ without identifying with a visible community of Christ followers would not be recognized by the New Testament writers. “We can no more be a Christian and have nothing to do with the church than we can be a person and not be part of a family. It is part of the fabric of redemption.” (Eugene Peterson) Membership as a truly valuable tool for spiritual formation. We have begun calling out our generation’s fickleness and calling believers to make a significant commitment. This is radically countercultural, serves to remedy the consumer mentality that plagues the church, and aids in growing into Christlikeness. The flabby commitment exhibited in many local churches today: too often Christians see themselves more as consumers of than contributors to church. Our growth as Jesus’ disciples is dependent on a commitment to belong to a community of believers.

--Small Groups - Two primary types of small groups that are fairly typical of churches: 1. Bible study model, with an emphasis on life application. Primary strength: it helps people engage deeply and be shaped by Scripture. 2. Therapeutic model, with the primary goal of listening to and helping one another in our walk with Christ. Primary strength: it can effectively connect believers in community as they seek to follow Christ in day-to-day life. Life Covenant’s approach is a sort of hybrid: Missional small group, characterized by both study and fellowship, but within the context of mission. Study of the Bible is not reduced to mere knowledge acquisition, and fellowship is never reduced to mere therapy. These groups function as missionary bands...as they embark on mission together. 3 goals: to facilitate the spiritual formation of believers; to seek out, welcome, and embrace those who are from God; and to serve together in ministries of compassion and justice. Life Covenant also encourages smaller gatherings of two or three people to meet for mentoring or accountability with peers. “In a community where confession of sins is not taking place, only a thin veneer of fellowship can exist. Pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

--Hospitality: Practice of inclusion (ex. Jesus’ radically inclusive table fellowship in which he regularly welcomed notorious sinners (Samaritans and Gentiles) to become his friends). Jesus’ first followers continued his practice of hospitality and table fellowship. Hospitality is a central practice of emerging churches, meeting the postmodern generation’s hunger for community. These churches see hospitality as a two-sided coin: welcoming the stranger and serving the stranger. Life Covenant eats together every six to eight weeks. Families fill their tables with others from the church on a monthly basis. This simple ministry has been a key facet of assimilating newcomers into the church, as well as developing bonds between those in the church who might not naturally cross paths.

ENACTED: (a story of Tim’s about a young couple he met at Starbuck’s who were not interested in church or talking about God, but the door to spiritual conversations began when he told them about Life Covenant’s compassion work. “Our ministries of compassion and justice gave them a reason to listen and entertain the idea that there might be something good about Christianity. Also the way the church reached out to them with food and cards when their baby died: ‘None of them have even met us. Why would they want to do all this for us?’”) If our witness is to be plausible in a postmodern world, our faith must be lived out in ways that show God’s compassionate heart. It is not enough for us to talk about God’s love for the world--we have to enact it.

--Compassion And Justice In The Mission of God: Giving is at the heart of the gospel. The biblical record is the story of God giving Himself to His people. Scripture has much to say about God’s heart toward issues of poverty and injustice. “We are not elected for privilege but for service; to live not as exclusive beneficiaries of God’s saving work but as bearers of this grace to the rest of the world.” (Leslie Newbigin) This truth needs to be seen in a church that is focused outward, committing itself to the work of evangelism, compassion and justice on both a local and global scale. When we neglect this we fall short of the biblical understanding of righteousness. Some of the harshest critiques that the prophets uttered were aimed at those who claim to worship God but neglect the poor and those suffering injustice.

--Compassionate Service As Enacted Apologetic: “In North America, our primary method of bearing witness to the cross of Christ is verbal. We have little room in our understanding for incarnational action constituting evangelism.” (Eugene Peterson) In a postmodern society dominated by skepticism and distrust, something more (than verbal witness) is needed, often before a verbal proclamation is given. Actions precede words. Postmodern generations are longing for purpose, and are eager to give their lives to causes that will change the world. An apologetic that is enacted speaks to this longing. “Those outside the faith are more interested in the ethics of Christians than their doctrines.” (Gibbs/Bolger)
Such an approach is well-supported by Scripture, the early church, and beyond the first century as well.
In the 21st century, a faith community that looks like Jesus is itself a powerful, enacted apologetic. Postmodern generations need to see our faith embodied if they are to accept the claims of Christ. The evangelistic function of compassionate ministry is much like that of worship: evangelism comes as a byproduct. Good compassion is good evangelism. To have an apologetic function, our compassion ministries must not have a hidden agenda. While our earnest hope is always that those we serve might come to know Jesus, we have to make sure our efforts aren’t just another kind of bait-and-switch ploy. If we are to enact our apologetic, these acts of compassion cannot be programs that come and go, but must become part of the fabric of the church--the stuff of the everyday lives of our people.
As spiritual formation, we dare not underestimate the shaping power of compassionate ministry as a discipline itself. How many in our churches...are immature not for lack of biblical knowledge, but for lack of obedience to Christ’s command to serve those in need? As we reach out to others in need, we find that our compassion expands, and consequently so does our capacity to receive and give away God’s grace. Through compassionate service we learn humility. The compassionate life develops in us an appropriate selflessness. Compassionate service also shapes us in our relationship with our money. The disciplines of simplicity and generosity historically have been used by God’s people to keep money from occupying an improper place in our hearts. 21st century Americans are the most affluent people to ever walk the earth. For Christians in America, we need to accept the responsibilities that come with being the church at this junction in history. On a corporate level, making compassionate service one of the primary ministries of the church keeps the church focused outward.

--Evangelism Or Social Action?: For the first half of the 21st century, a debate raged in the church over whether evangelism or social action was the more faithful embodiment of God’s mission. Scripture makes it clear, however, that both of these activities are critical in God’s mission (and consequently in the mission of the church). Many churches struggle to live out social action when evangelism, with its eternal ramifications, seems it should be the church’s priority. Ultimacy rather than primacy of evangelism: priority implies that an activity is most important and should be our starting point, while in reality this is not always possible or practical, nor does it reflect the ministry of Jesus. “Mission may not always begin with evangelism. But mission that does not ultimately include declaring the name of Christ, the call to repentance, and faith and obedience..is a defective mission, not a holistic mission.”

--Giving Shape To Our Compassion: If we are to see an enacted apologetic embedded in the life of the church, it needs to be more than a stated value. We need to provide specific ministry structures that can serve as vehicles for this value to be lived out. Our goal at Life Covenant is to provide multiple vehicles, both locally and globally, to enable us to carry out this aspect of our discipleship to Jesus. (In doing this) we want compassion to be part of what the normal Christian life looks like, and not something that is only practiced on “field trips.” (Also) we want the community God has place us in to see, hear and feel the benefits of his work through us in their midst.

•Tim concludes his book with specific examples of how his congregation does this, both locally and globally: ministry to the homeless and working poor, education help, “Do! Team” (practical help to people, like home repair, babysitting, etc.), micro enterprise ministry in Mozambique, and more.

•One of the primary questions postmoderns ask is, “Do I want to be like you?” Living out God’s compassion is part of embodying our apologetic, and it gives them reason to answer “Yes!” to that question. In the same way, as we prayerfully engage in worship and nurture authentic community in our churches, we not only are formed as apprentices of Jesus but also find opportunity to embody our apologetic and allow those around us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” May God use our humble efforts to his glory.

So that’s it! MUCH to ponder and chew on. Tim’s practical experience, as well as his theological understanding, seem to hit the nail on the head though, as to how churches in our day need to shift their understanding and approach to “being Church” today if we hope to be vital, vibrant, authentic congregations in our communities. “Church as usual” simply will not do. We will not survive with such a mindset and pattern--no matter how meaningful, relevant, and comfortable "Church as we know it" is to us.

May God guide us and enable us to shift, change, and embrace new understandings and approaches so our “embodied apologetic” will truly reflect our Savior, Jesus, and serve as a beautiful magnet that attracts others and makes them want to follow Jesus too.

My next blog will happen after I return from India! I’m sure I’ll have LOTS to share. Thanks for reading.

2010-10-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

“EMBODYING OUR FAITH”
(Part 3)

I closed my last blog post with Tim’s provocative challenge to “Sunday churchgoers: "we must begin to approach our culture (meaning the people around us) more like missionaries in our post-Christian world."

I’ll bet this aroused some deep feelings and reactions in some of you! Feelings of fear, doubt, question (“whatever does this mean?!”), rejection, irrelevance (“doesn’t apply to us in Hilmar...”), maybe even complete incomprehension. But Tim is helpful. He goes on to describe what this means and how it can be implemented today, through 1. contextualization and by getting a truer understanding of what it means to 2. make disciples.

CONTEXTUALIZATION: “The dynamic process whereby the constant message of the gospel interacts with specific, relative human situations.” (Michael Frost; Alan Hirsch)

•The gospel is always presented in a particular packaging. There is no such thing as a pure gospel if by that is meant something which is not embodied in a culture. Every interpretation of the gospel is embodied in some cultural form. It is important that we make this distinction between content and container.

•Contextualization follows the pattern of the incarnation and the model set by the New Testament Church. In Christ, God performs an unrepeatable feat of contextualization in taking on human form. For Jesus, becoming human also meant taking on the particular cultural garb of his environment. He came not as a generic human being but as a Jewish male, wearing Jewish clothes, speaking Aramaic, and living by the cultural values of first-century Israel. In the book of Acts, we see both the struggles and joys that the earliest churches experienced as the gospel spread...to Jerusalem and Judea (same culture), Samaria (different culture), and to the ends of the earth (very different cultures). The New Testament records the growing pains the Church experienced as it faithfully brought the gospel to these differing settings.

•Example of PAUL IN ATHENS - his response is a great model of contextualization:

a. Finding common ground: Paul finds areas of agreement between his faith in Jesus and the religious beliefs of those he seeks to evangelize. As we engage our unbelieving friends in dialogue, elements of their belief systems and world views will be true. In a postmodern world, there is no shortage of common ground. (Example: spiritual disciplines - Tim shared with a young woman that he regularly practiced meditation, and she was shocked. Her impression of Christianity was that it was only about holding certain beliefs and not about the actual practice of spirituality.)

b. Looking for God at work: Paul recognizes God’s fingerprints in Athenian culture. Long before a gospel witness ever arrives, God is at work in the lives of those who will come to faith. Much of our task as evangelists is to help our unbelieving friends identify the work that God is already doing in their lives. (Example: redemptive analogies - In local customs and traditions, folk stories and legends, linguistic elements, and even in the prophecies of local shamans, foreshadowings of the gospel spring to life when it is presented - Messiah figure “Bali raja,” coconut communion, and baptism in the Ganges River as background for the Truthseekers Christian movement in India).

c. Arguing to the Scriptures: Paul relates the truths of the gospel to sources the Athenians are already familiar with. The gospel story becomes the larger story as it subsumes and explains the rival story (of the Athenians). The rival world view ends up being explained with the biblical world view. (Paul) attempts to introduce the truth of Scripture to his hearers in a way that they will accept. Rather than arguing from the Scriptures (as he does with the Jews), he takes a roundabout journey through Greek philosophy and argues to the Scriptures. This is critical to the way we approach missions in our cultural setting as well. In bringing the gospel to a postmodern world, we are encountering people who are increasingly unfamiliar with the biblical story and who do not recognize the Bible as an authoritative source. (Example: appeal to the culture’s own poets, philosophers, make an ally of pop culture, and argue to the Scriptures rather than from them.)

d. Starting the story farther back: When sharing Jesus with Jews or God-fearers, Paul was able to appeal to their shared history and Scriptures to persuade the that Jesus was the promised Messiah. In Athens, no such common ground exists. Paul’s hearers subscribe to a different view of the universe and worship different gods. Consequently, Paul cannot meaningfully proclaim the Messiah has come without first introducing the Athenians to the God of Israel (Acts 17:24-31). For most of our country’s history, a basic understanding of the Christian God could be assumed, Bible stories and scriptural references were common enough...that biblical allusions would be recognized in the public square, and most people had some basic understanding of who Jesus was. In our shifting culture, we can no longer assume (this). In a post-Christian context, we should assume people know nothing about the Bible and the Good News until we have evidence to the contrary. (Example: Evangelism (in the past few centuries) consisted of calling people to commit to something they most likely already believed on some level. Evangelistic tools like the altar call, mass evangelistic rallies, and tract evangelism were developed. The revival model lent itself to a sort of sales approach, complete with an emphasis on “closing the deal.” Immediate decisions were called for and became the norm. Evangelism as a decision-oriented event becomes far less effective in the absence of a Christian world view.)

e. Preaching without compromise: Paul does not water down the message of Christ. This is the classic task of the cross-cultural missionary: to engage culture without compromising the gospel.” (Frost/Hirsch) We misunderstand contextualization if we see it as an attempt to make the gospel more palatable. Nor should people misunderstand contextualization as a way of better marketing the Church.

•Either accommodation to or isolation from the culture means God’s mission goes unfulfilled. Every missionary path has to find the way between these two dangers: irrelevance and syncretism.

•We have to remember that even if we do not change our approach for the receiving culture, we are not necessarily presenting a “purer” gospel or a gospel that is culture free. Rather it is quite possible that in not changing we are insisting that a person conform to cultural wrappings originally suited for another time and place (presumably our own preferred time and place). Many of our faith expressions are out of touch, not because they’re ancient but because they’re antiquated. Relevance is not about conformity; it is about clarity and connectedness.

MAKE DISCIPLES: “(The Great Commission) to make disciples has been understood in different ways. Many understand it as evangelism - converting people to saving faith in Jesus.

Many others see mere evangelism as a shallow reading of the text and emphasize that these converts need to be discipled, which means attention must be given to the spiritual formation of believers. I think we would benefit from revisioning (evangelism or spiritual formation) in a more holistic way. Discipleship IS the Christian life. And the goal of the Christian life is to become like Jesus.” At the heart of Christian mission is the ministry of disciplemaking.

•Two models of disciplemaking:
MODEL 1 - Evangelism was...everything that happens to lead a person toward Christ until that person becomes a Christian. Discipleship was...everything that happens to help a person grow in their faith after the person becomes a Christian. The two were totally separate. I became disillusioned (with this model) over time. Why was it that new believers were so prone to fall away if follow up was not immediate? Was conversion to Christ that fragile a thing? Why were new believers so resistant to follow-up? (And) when had I ever challenged someone to count the cost of being Jesus’ disciple? The answer was never. I was selling people a ticket to heaven, not a life of becoming like Jesus. The model I was using was making it more difficult for people to live as actual disciples of Jesus.
--Conversion is treated more as an event and less as a process.
--Rarely are potential disciples truly challenged to consider what it will cost them to follow Jesus (and) may actually serve to inoculate people against the gospel by offering them an inadequate experience of Jesus.
--Issues of trust and assimilation into the church family: new believers frequently feel as though they have been sold one thing, only to discover that they have bought another (unappealing requirements i.e. attending a church, prayer, reading the Bible, witnessing to others, giving, etc.)
--The gospel presented to and accepted by them is essentially self-centered, and becoming other-centered seems an intrusion rather than a normal part of Christian living. Their faith is seen as a personal matter. An overemphasis on personal decision can lead to a personal, and ultimately private, version of Christianity.
--(When) evangelism and discipleship are treated as completely separate entities, it feeds a pick-and-choose mentality among believers. Discipleship becomes the primary activity for believers. Evangelism is seen as optional; it rarely happens in the lives of most believers. In fact, one of the greatest barriers to evangelism is the sheer volume of activity we ask our congregants to participate in.

MODEL 2 - A more holistic approach allows conversion to take place via a process rather than an event, and encourages potential disciples to see the Christian life up close and to count the cost of becoming a Christ follower. Jesus seemed largely unconcerned who was in and who was out, but simply called all to follow regardless of where they were at in the process, always inviting them to go deeper. Jesus’ approach fostered a process that naturally included both aspects of disciplemaking: evangelism and formation. Such an approach is biblically faithful, brings with it a number of benefits, and is especially suited for ministry in a postmodern context. Three broad shifts: 1. from evangelism as an event to evangelism as a process (postmodern people typically need more time/truth is discerned primarily by experience), 2. from impersonal to personal (most tools utilized in modern evangelism are essentially impersonal: crusade evangelism, between a speaker and a stadium full of people, between a Christian with a tract and a total stranger, etc.), 3. from a rational to an embodied apologetic. Evangelistic methods that are event-oriented, impersonal, and more rational than embodied contribute to the bracketing off of evangelism from the rest of a Christian’s life.

•These approaches should also raise some concern in terms of the authenticity of the resulting conversions. Have those who prayed a “sinner’s prayer” actually come to a saving relationship with Jesus? Is there saving faith behind the the prayer or are they merely mouthing words? It is faith that saves, not the words a person recites. Too often we treat such a prayer as a defining test of salvation, rather than looking at the fruits that come with repentance. Time and the resulting fruit will tell if the conversion is real or not.

Howard Snyder: “Church people think about how to get people into the church; kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; kingdom people work to see the church change the world.”

•When the mission degenerates into serving ourselves, we not only fail to live out God’s mission but miss much of the rich formation God would birth in us as a result. More than ministry to those within the church, it is mission to those outside the church that brings the spiritual vitality the church desires.

Disciplemaking: Spiritual Formation As Apprenticeship To Jesus Three elements necessary for lasting spiritual change to occur: 1. vision (salvation not just as forgiveness of sin but as a process of becoming like Jesus; God’s kingdom is available now, and as Christ’s disciples we participate in extending God’s kingdom rule to the ends of the earth; the Church serves as the world’s first taste of the kingdom), 2. intention (we must make a decision to apprentice ourselves to Jesus - too often we present the gospel as a set of truths we must subscribe to, as opposed to a relationship with Jesus, (and people) have no idea that they will be changed by him; in the Church we nurture intent as we present a compelling vision of the discipled life, offer clear means by which people can move into this vision, and urge and model doing and not merely hearing the Word), 3. means (simply trying harder (to be a disciple) will not be enough; training is different than trying; spiritual disciplines make ourselves pliable for God’s work in our lives).

Attitudes And Practices To Cultivate As We Make Disciples Of Postmodern People

1. authenticity (no phoniness, open and honest about our failures and humble in our successes, no sugarcoating, speaking plainly about our beliefs and stance on issues), 2. humility (posture of “fellow traveler,” not of one who has arrived or who has all the answers, remembering that God has already been working in a person’s life before we arrived as a messenger, arguing to our basis of truth rather than from our basis of truth), 3. be a listener (evangelism involves listening as opposed to simply informing them of truth and asking them to believe it; this generation is unsatisfied with being spoon-fed the “right” answers - (need to) process these deep questions), 4. be a storyteller (faith that captures their imagination, share your story, tell God’s story, an approach to spiritual formation that lives in the real-life stories of those around them), 5. make room for mystery and ambiguity (God is bigger than we can fully comprehend, allow our faith to be filled with awe and wonder, choose to live in (rather than alleviate) the tension that comes from the many paradoxes inherent to a faith as rich as ours), 6. make an ally of pop culture (communicate with our culture utilizing media that is familiar to them), 7. embrace the mystical element of faith (experiential faith, experience God, not just acquire fact about Him), 8. avoid a shrunken gospel (present a full picture of the message and avoid any kind of bait-and-switch approach - evangelism does not merely invite people to heaven but to participate in God’s world-changing mission.

Whew! This was a dense blog post, to say the least. But I hope it helps you get a better grip on what it is we are facing as “church people” seeking to live out our calling as Christ’s Church in our “post-Christian” and “postmodern” world today. The issues, dynamics, and challenges that we face are immense, complex, and different from what many of us who are older grew up with.

In my final post, I will offer Tim’s very practical suggestions and practices for how to be a congregation that is “embodying our faith,” based on the real-life practices of Life Covenant.

2010-09-27T18:41:00.001-07:00

“EMBODYING OUR FAITH”
(Part 2)

This installment on Tim Morey’s book focuses on what what an “embodied apologetic” looks like, what it is that hinders this from happening in many churches today, and what will need to change in our thinking and outlook if we are going to pursue this approach in trying to reach those in our post-Christian culture with the gospel of Jesus.

First, an important definition that must be kept in mind throughout your reading:

apologetics: the branch of theology concerned with the defense or proof of Christianity; the explanation, defense or justification of a belief, idea, etc.

Now Tim’s comments continue:

•The early Church incarnated its message in such a way that people recognized it as truth. Though appeals to reason were an important part of early Church apologetics as well, they did not dominate evangelistic methods until much later in church history. Particularly as Enlightenment thinking took hold and empirical methodology moved to center stage as the most trustworthy way to discern what is true, the Church’s apologetic followed and become more rational and evidence based.

•There is always a temptation for the Church to stick with what is familiar and has worked in the past. (Tim cites numerous biblical and church history examples to show the challenge Christians have always faced at numerous cultural crossroads.)

We face a similar challenge in our time. It seems as if our apologetic, which has largely been shaped by modernism, has been perfected just as the rules of the game have changed. Modernism, with its idolization of reason, progress, individualism, and scientific naturalism, was originally perceived as a tremendous threat to the gospel. Yet over time, the Church responded with a new, finely reasoned apologetic that was well-suited to the challenge of the day. (In the midst of this,) the Church has grown comfortable with the modern world view. The tools necessary to construct that modern apologetic (reason, evidence, scientific method) have become so identified with evangelical Christianity that, to some, the suggestion of a different set of tools strikes the ears as something close to heresy.

•In the apologetics of modernism, we were best equipped to defend the faith against the atheist or the scientifically minded agnostic. In the postmodern context, however, the debate is rarely theism versus atheism. More likely, the existence of God is presupposed. A bigger issue might be which God and why. The question we encounter is that of religious pluralism: does any one faith have the right to claim it has the truth? The old arguments no longer hold sway.

•Many churches (particularly those who are consciously attempting to engage postmodern people) are beginning to ask what kind of apologetic will be effective in this new context. For most people, traditional apologetics become useful at a later point in the process (of evangelism) than they have in the past. Before the faith can be plausibly argued and the very good reasons to believe are accepted by the hearer, it must first be embodied over time in real people in a way that is winsome and convincing.

•One helpful way to speak of postmodernity is as a collective loss of confidence in what we are actually able to know. What has become clearer in the postmodern shift is that the modern era’s primary means of arriving at truth (through reason, logic, presentation of evidence, and scientific method) has its limitations. Reason, it would seem, is not infallible, even when grounded on beliefs we believe to be basic or foundational. (Tim offers several examples of this, especially of younger generations’ skepticism regarding truth claims.) For the typical postmodern, personal experience is a key arbiter of truth. Competing truth claims are processed on how coherent they are with other beliefs the person holds. Similarly, something is deemed to be true if it “works” or somehow has beneficial consequences. Factored into both of these approaches are the shared beliefs of that person’s immediate community. It is for this reason that traditional apologetics often seem completely lost on postmoderns.

•Skeptical people need to have those in the Church present the gospel in a way that it will be heard. We must remember that as missionaries to our culture, we have to approach people where they actually are, not where we wish them to be.

This points us all the more readily to the need for an apologetic that goes beyond rational arguments and is actively embodied in Christ’s people.

Philip Kenneson: “What our world is waiting for, and what the Church seems reluctant to offer, is not more incessant talk about objective truth, but an embodied witness that clearly demonstrates why anyone should care about any of this in the first place.”

•Three hungers seem to be particularly close to the surface in our post-Christian society: 1. a hunger for transcendence 2. a hunger for community 3. a hunger for purpose. We in the Church should find ourselves challenged by the presence of these hungers, because the gospel addresses all three. The ‘embodied apologetic’ I am fleshing out here corresponds with these hungers, as well as with the ministries of the Church. It is an apologetic that is experiential, communal, and enacted. This kind of apologetic presupposes that evangelism will most often occur as a process, rather than as a one-time event.

•EXPERIENTIAL: In the modern church, experience is suspect--risky at best and deceptive at worst. However, a Christianity that is only cerebral is also misguided. The Christian life is not meant to be an objective pursuit of orthodox doctrine but is embodied in those who follow a Person rather than a dogma.

•Jesus’ ministry was characterized by an experiential apologetic.

•The worship gathering particularly lends itself to an experiential apologetic.

•COMMUNAL: The hyper-individualism and family fragmentation of late modernity have left the postmodern generations with a great hunger to be connected meaningfully to others. The Church itself becomes a powerful apologetic as it strives to be what it is supposed to be.

•In a communal apologetic, evangelism has less to do with inviting people to events and more with inviting them into our lives. This means churched people will be encouraged to greater involvement outside the church, cultivating friendships that serve as bridges to allow others to investigate the faith community.

•ENACTED: Too often, Christianity is seen by those on the outside (and often those on the inside as well) as concerned only with believing the right things, attending church, and avoiding certain behaviors. What a contrast this is to the Kingdom announcement of Jesus!

•Our primary vehicle of an enacted apologetic are our ministries of compassion and justice. It is important to recognize that to our spiritual friends with whom we share Christ, we are not (at first) who we are, but who they think we are. Until we have shaken loose whatever stereotypes they have attached to Christians, our message will not be heard in context. Engaging in ministries of compassion set the words of Jesus in a context that mirrors the heart of Jesus and allows the hearer to see the reality of the message as it is acted out.

David Blosch: “Mission is not primarily an activity of the Church, but an attribute of God. God is a missionary God.”

•We understand that the Church is meant to carry out the mission of God, and may even be quite passionate about it. But our enthusiasm is often tempered when the mission comes too close to threatening an aspect of church life that we hold dear. On the mission field we take for granted that we must shift our methods to bring people the gospel in ways they will understand. But to think in these terms as we look at our own culture can feel quite threatening. Eddie Gibbs: “The reality is that the mission compound, which we have abandoned as a viable method in global missions, now exists in the U.S. in the form of the local church.”

•Somewhere along the line there was a split between our theology of church and our theology of mission. “Church” became the building on the corner were we worship on Sundays. “Mission” became an activity that happens somewhere else, usually by someone else. Rather than seeing the Church as missional in nature and existing for the good of the world, we came to see the Church as existing for our benefit and missions for the benefit of others. The primary concern (of the Church) becomes whether or not my needs are being met.

•If we take seriously the decline of the Church in America and our vocation as God’s missionary people, then we must begin to approach our own culture less like Sunday churchgoers and more like missionaries in a post-Christian world.

Next time, I will share Tim’s perspective on two aspects of this: contextualization and what it means to make disciples. Because cultural relevance is not optional! And discipleship is not a second-stage, elitist concept; it is synonymous with being a Christian.

Thanks for reading...

2010-09-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

“EMBODYING OUR FAITH“
(Part 1)

After Pastor Bruce retired earlier this spring, I picked up Covenant church planter Tim Morey’s book, “Embodying Our Faith.”

I was interested in what he has to say about “church” today because if anyone has the pulse on what is going on in our culture and how to effectively reach out to people with the gospel, Tim’s the man! As founding and lead pastor of Life Covenant Church, Tim has very real, practical experience, awareness, and understanding about the challenges all churches are facing today. I was sure that his insight and expertise would be valuable for us here at Hilmar Covenant as we are in this time of transition, seeking how best to move forward and truly be a church that can communicate well and respond to the community we are in.

Tim did not disappoint either! Almost every paragraph had nuggets of wisdom and clearly articulated things that describe the situation the Church in America finds itself in today, and ways to make Jesus known, accessible, and desirable to people all around us. I underlined practically the entire book! And because I believe that what Tim has to share is so profound and timely for us here at HCC, I would like to share in my next three blogs some highlights of Tim’s book.

Also, Hilmar Covenant had a part in birthing Life Covenant! Tim’s congregation was the first one to receive the funds we set aside for church planting from our Family Center building project in 2002.

This first blog will recap Tim’s information about “the lay of the land;” the who, what, where, and why of Christianity and the Church in America today. Hopefully, many of you who are reading this are already well acquainted with these realities. However, I know that too many of us within the Church are not aware of what we are facing. Maybe what I have to share this time will finally open the eyes, hearts, and minds of those who, for whatever reason, just haven’t grasped the severity of the situation we’re in as Christians today or, perhaps, have simply resisted it. My next two postings will offer some helpful, positive information about how to better respond to those we want to reach with the gospel of Christ, and what Tim and his church have found to be most effective. First some background:

Life Covenant Church was planted in 2003, but has already daughtered two churches--and only twelve months apart! The way they raised the funds in order to do this is almost miraculous ($40,000 in six weeks for the first church plant, and the same amount in just three weeks for the second). They also have an ongoing partnership with an orphanage in Mexico and a special burden and call toward Africa. Through Opportunity International, Life Covenant is working to establish microenterprise in Mozambique. This work has expanded to include a seminary and another orphanage, especially for children at risk. The conclusion of their vision page states: “We dream of being used of the Lord to bring change locally and globally, and pray that He will make us the kind of church that if it ever closed its doors, the city would rise up in protest.” Under Tim’s leadership, Life Covenant is commited to reaching those under age 35, a group whose numbers are shrinking the fastest in the churches of North America.

Now the news from Tim that we probably wish was not true. As you read his words, apply them to our congregation and what his perceptions might imply for us:

• I was midway through college when the love of Jesus recaptured me, and I was anxious for my friends to experience what I was experiencing. But what I quickly found was that my church, which was a truly wonderful place, was not a good cultural fit for me and my peers.

The church prided itself in being contemporary...but it felt foreign, out of place. It wasn’t just the programs and the style of music; it was the posture, the place the church seemed to occupy in the world. So much about the church felt foreign, as if it had been plucked from another time or place. It was hard to picture the church as a place you would go if you were really looking to find answers about life, God, and reality.

• For a long time the church in the U.S. has enjoyed a sort of “home-court” advantage. The nation was culturally Christian, and the language we used to describe God, salvation, heaven, hell, Scripture, etc. was understood by the vast majority of Americans. All this is changing. As our culture moves deeper into the 21st century, none of these assumptions holds true. America might be best described as post-Christian, and tenets of postmodern thinking which once were fringe have trickled into our culture and become normal. If the church is to impact our society today, it must recognize that it no longer enjoys a “home court” advantage” but must gain a hearing among a cacophony of conflicting messages. It must be able to demonstrate convincingly the impact of its message, as well as declare its content with accuracy and clarity. A postmodern generation will judge the truth of a message by whether or not it is seen to be working.

• In looking at the religious landscape of emerging generations, there are three terms our church finds helpful in describing those who are outsiders to the church: unreached, unchurched, and dechurched. It is sobering to look at the number of people who fall into these categories. Church allegiance in America is in serious decline, even as interest in spirituality is on the rise. When actual head counts (as opposed to self-reporting) are used, the percentage of [adults attending church on a typical weekend is] 17.5%. What’s more, this number is steadily declining, even as the U.S. population grows. Beyond this, approximately 3700 churches close their doors permanently every year (71 per week). The situation is even more serious when considering young people in the U.S. Indeed, a large portion of the decline seen in these numbers is the result of the postmodern generation’s non-participation in the church.

• [A 1998 report found] that only 12% of the 31 million young people in the U.S. go to church, and 88% of those who attended as teens dropped out of the church by their sophomore year of college. Some in established churches would characterize this nonparticipation as youthful rebellion. However...rebellion presupposes some level of intimacy with what they are rebelling against. On the whole, this is not the case with this generation, as fewer of them have been raised in the familiarity of the traditions and rituals of the church, and, even among those who have, there has been an ever-widening disconnect between the church and the world they live in. While there are some large emerging churches, most are 30 to 100 people which, on the one hand, reflects a preference many younger evangelicals have for smaller communities of faith. Yet I believe it is a reflection of the difficulty of evangelism with this population as well.

• ...another sobering trend among Christians: many of those leaving the church are doing so not because they have lost their faith but to preserve it. Their contention is that the church no longer contributes to their faith, but instead has become a detriment to it.

• The response of many churches to the absence of the postmodern generation is denial. Most have downplayed the cultural changes that have occurred, while others have consciously written off any attempt at reaching postmoderns and hope or assume that they will return when they have children themselves or otherwise “grow up” (an ironic statement [since these individuals] are approaching their forties). These churches see little need for change on their part and instead wait for their prodigal children to return, and for those who were never part of the church in the first place to come to them.

• Another approach I think is both realistic and honorable: Some churches, looking at the reality of the situation, see the need for change in bringing the gospel to this culture, but must honestly admit that, for whatever reasons, they are not capable of making the needed changes. Instead, they choose to serve as parents or grandparents, using their financial resources and wisdom to empower others to reach those they cannot. Life Covenant Church is the recipient of this kind of blessing. Much of our startup cost was covered by a hundred year old church in a small farming town 300 miles from Torrence. < THIS IS US, HILMAR COVENANT! >

• All of these approaches (responding to the loss of young postmoderns in churches) run the danger of missing the point. Many, if not most, churches hold an underlying assumption that if only they “did church” better, people would come. This is not the real issue. The culture around us does not wake up each day thinking they would go to church if only there was a good one to attend. Church leaders seem unable to grasp this simple implication of the new world: people outside the church think church is for church people, not for them.

We may have saturated the market of people who want church the way we do it in North America. In response to this reality WE MUST BECOME MISSIONARIES IN OUR CULTURE! We need to apply ourselves to the hard work of understanding the culture God has placed us in, while prayerfully bringing the gospel to that place in a language and manner understandable to those we seek to reach.

• Christianity has lost the cultural position of privilege it has enjoyed since Constantine. As a faith with very particular truth claims, Christianity is seen as synonymous with intolerance, exclusivism, condemnation, bigotry, and oppression.

• How do we bring the message of Jesus to a culture that is deeply skeptical about truth claims, rejects metanarratives (such as the gospel), considers the church a suspect institution, takes offense at moral judgments and believes any religion will lead them to God?

There is a sense in which this is familiar territory. In many ways our missionary situation is more like the world of the New Testament and early centuries of the church than the subsequent eras. From the beginning, Christ’s church has lived in cultures with differing systems of morality, religious pluralism, syncretism, and deep skepticism over the claims made by Christians. Only in the West, and only in recent centuries, has the church ministered primarily within a predominantly Christian culture. < SO WHY DO WE LIVE SO DEFENSIVELY AND CRITICALLY AS CHRISTIANS TODAY (RE. THE DEMISE OF FAITH AROUND US)? OUR SITUATION NOW HAS BEEN COMMON TO CHRISTIANS THROUGHOUT MOST OF HISTORY. >

• Even as these cultural shifts present new challenges, they present tremendous opportunities as well. This is a great moment for the church. The church, now relegated to a marginalized role in society, has the opportunity to recover its vocation as God’s missionary people. This situation will require churches to study the Scriptures and our culture, lean heavily on the Holy Spirit’s guidance and power, and relearn how to think like missionaries. The “containers” in which the church brings the gospel will look different for those brought up with a more postmodern world view.

• Many have wondered what the new model will be for churches in the coming generation (in the way Willow Creek and Saddleback were the model for many baby boomer churches). I do not believe there will be one model. Rather, the new model will be to create one’s own model, to live as highly inquisitive missionaries who exegete the culture, understand both the believers and nonbelievers living in it, and build the church to function effectively in that context.

• My position is that as we move deeper into a post-Christian 21st century, the people of God will need to rediscover the power of an embodied apologetic. By this I mean an apologetic (defense; justification) that is based more on the weight of our actions than the strength of our arguments.

This is an apologetic that is high-touch, engages people relationally, ordinarily takes place in the context of an ongoing friendship, and addresses the needs inquirers have and the questions they pose. It provides the weight to our answers that reason by itself cannot.

• If we aren’t living like a church, are we a church? If we don’t care about being transformed into the image of Christ or about the world God loves, can we call ourselves a church? Is a church a church if it exists only for itself?

Well, that’s a lot to chew on and digest! But I hope you have found it challenging, intriguing, even exciting, as you have considered Tim’s experienced perspectives. Will we let ourselves be informed by his insights? Can we glean important instruction for our congregation here in Hilmar from the wisdom Tim has shared?

More to come - have a wonderful two weeks...

2010-08-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

"INTERESTING!"
Two Links...

I had hoped to share some interesting thoughts and ideas this time from Tim Morey’s book, “Embodying Our Faith.” It is an insightful look at “church” today, and how the very young congregation that he pastors is approaching faith and ministry and mission in ways that are very engaging to those in our wider culture.

However, my life is kinda crazy right now, after a kinda crazy month of August (death of my aunt in Seattle, my mom’s broken leg and two scary stays in the hospital, arrival of our new transition pastor). I just haven’t had time to put together the things I want to share with you from Tim’s book.

Instead, in order to keep my blog alive and active, I’m going to put up two links to information that I recently found fascinating. The first one, “The Perils of Hipster Christianity,” generated quite a bit of dialogue when I shared it with a bunch of twenty-somethings on Facebook. The second one, “Open Source Church,” was a suggested read from Don Johnson, a pastor friend from Santa Barbara. It will shake up what you might be assuming about the Church right now--and where it is headed! Consider these links a kind of “wake up call” for all of us who are comfortable with the Christianity we’ve always known, grown up with, and assumed to be standard. How will we adapt to the changing face of our world, of ideas and processes, and of the Church itself? Consider this blog post an education in “Church Next!” Enjoy...

Perils of Hipster Christianity

Open-Source Church

2010-08-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

“ARE YOU PLAYING YOUR POSITION?”

The fourth day at chapel, Richard began with a history lesson of the Church, and how “the game” was played way back at the beginning of the Christian faith. He cited Acts 1:8, where Jesus tells his disciples that they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth--clearly indicating that “the game” is to be played on the entire field. The gospel was to go to the whole world.

The Church stayed local though, right there in Jerusalem. Believers didn’t venture out with the “good news,” but stayed together in that familiar, intimate, comfortable place where all those big events of Christ’s final days took place, and near to the temple, the geographical center of their faith.

And what was the impetus that finally got the Church to move out? Persecution! Acts 8:1 describes how believers were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria when a great persecution broke out against the Church at Jerusalem. Richard compared this with the situation facing the Mexican Church today, with fewer Americans coming to Mexico now because of fear, border issues, violence, and drug and gang warfare. This might be the “hour” for the Mexican Church to step up and step into roles that they have relied on others for--in essence, to move out of their own familiar, comfortable “Jerusalem” locales and into “the game” that is about bringing the gospel to the whole world.

Richard also talked about another way of being in “the game” today: Think It - Ink It. The point being if something is good for me, then it might be for someone else too, so it’s important to share it through writing, blogging, texting, Twitter, Facebook, etc. It might contribute to God’s game plan and make a difference in the final outcome of the game because these are ways to impact more people in more ways than ever before with God’s game plan.

The fourth question that Richard posed was: “Are you playing your position?” He reminded us that there are different roles on a team and it is important for everyone to know where they are supposed to be playing in order for the team to function well and to be successful in the game.

One position is OFFENSE.

These players are on the attack! Going forward, pressing hard to make a goal. Romans 10:14-15 puts it well:

“How can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

God sends some on offense, bringing “good news” to those who have never heard it, locally, nationally, and globally. These are people on the front lines of “the game,” who go out and do the immediate work of evangelists, actually speaking and living out the gospel in the midst of people who are not acquainted with it. This could happen in a series of steps too, over a period of time, as people feel the call, prepare and train for “offensive positions” for the game, and finally go out throughout the world to spread the good news of Christ’s salvation. Richard stressed that if offense is one’s calling--one’s position--in the game, it is important in marriage to choose a spouse who is looking in this same direction. Otherwise they will always hold you back from your calling--from playing your position on the team of Coach Jesus. Richard shared very personally about this from his own life experience.

Another position is DEFENSE.

These players do the sending! Assisting and making it possible for those going on offense to have the resources and everything they need to do their work throughout the world. People who play defense are not less important or any less involved in the game than those playing offense. Both are needed for “the game” to be played well, completely, correctly. They are in it together. It’s as if a person on defense is saying: “You be the beautiful feet that go; I will be the beautiful hands that send!”

One helpful way of playing defense is making money for the Kingdom. Some Christians are gifted with the ability to make money--lots of it--and when they dedicate themselves to advancing the Kingdom of God with their gifts--playing their position, as it were--they can have a tremendous impact on the playing field, on other players, and on the “the game.” Other crucial defensive players include administrators, logisticians, strategists, “cheerleaders,” and perhaps most important of all: pray-ers.

In the final analysis, it’s not a matter of how much I’ve got to give (from my wallet, my abilities, my gifts, etc.) but rather of how much the Lord has got of me! When He has captured my heart, I willingly put my hand into someone else’s and use all that I have to help them play their position in “the game.”

Of course, there are MIDFIELDERS too.

These people actually live out there where the action is, on the field where the evangelists, missionaries, and other people on offense are playing on the front lines of “the game,” sharing the gospel. However, their jobs are defensive, supportive, assisting, and making possible the plays that the offensive team are running.

How do we know what postion we are meant to play in “the game?” As we seek and pray and assess who we are, our interests, our gifts and abilities, etc. we can trust that “Coach Jesus” knows how we play best, and He will use others to confirm how God wants to use us in “the game.”

Finally, there are those who SIT ON THE FENCE.

These people don’t even have a position on the team because they are not players in “the game” at all. They’re just watching, waiting, talking about what’s going on, perhaps offering their critique as observers, but not realizing they are clueless about the actual dynamics and reality of “the game” because they aren’t part of the action. Revelation 3:16 might be directed at them: “Because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Christians who sit on the fence tend to think of their faith as a personal matter, about having correct belief and doctrine, yet ignoring or forgetting the important scriptural truth: “Faith without action is dead.” (James 2:26) Christians who are not on the team, who are out of shape, and who don’t know their position in “the game” are clueless that their relationship with God is tenuous at best--that “such regulations have an appearance of wisdom...but they lack any value” in being a player on God’s team and in “the game.” (Colossians 2:23 - modified) Those who are sitting on the fence need to wake up, shake off their lethargy, and jump into “the game!”

In the end, God calls all of us to the position we are going to play in His game. We can trust Him to show us, equip us, and place us where we will be most strategic in accomplishing His game plan. Again, it’s not a matter of how much I’ve got to give (from my wallet, my abilities, my gifts, etc.) but rather of how much the Lord has got of me!

Does God have a grip on you? Are you committed to His game, and to His team? Are you totally sold out to “Coach Jesus” and willing to go and do whatever He asks of you, for the good of the game and the team?

This is how our mission team was challenged throughout our week in Mexico.

I hope you’ve been challenged by my summaries too!

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

This is the game plan that Coach Jesus gave his disciples when He ascended to the Father 2000 years ago. It is the same one for us today. So let’s get in spiritual shape, commit to His team, take up our positions, and play “the game” that God has designed for us to win: taking the gospel of salvation to every tribe and tongue and race until the whole world hears. Amen.

2010-08-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

“ARE YOU IN SHAPE?”

On our third day at chapel, Richard began by reminding us that there are people who are not on the team today. Once they were, but for a variety of reasons they are no longer players, which is very sad. Richard also reminded us that the Lord is our coach, and that He calls the plays!

Then came the next question for us to consider: “Are you in shape?” Because in order to play the game well and to be a strong member of the team, you need to keep fit, exercising regularly and staying healthy so you are ready for whatever comes your way. Richard broke it down into three areas:

1. EAT RIGHT! Not “Christian junk food” that is tasty and satisfying for a few minutes, but doesn’t last. There is so much “Christianity Lite” being served up these days; books and conferences and music and teaching that offer “feel good” spirituality. Many believers settle for this quick and easy “fast food” fare that is being offered, rather than the healthy, hearty, balanced nourishment that is required if we are to grow deeper spiritually. We need to get beyond milk to the meat of God’s Word (see I Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12; my blog on Oct. 23, 2008). Richard shared how this gets tougher as we grow older because the Opposition wants to take us out--out of the game and off of the team. The more ineffective we are, the better! Richard suggested that we take the “No Bible, No Breakfast” challenge in order to maintain a healthy spiritual diet. The Enemy tries to keep us from this Book any way he can, and messing with our feelings is one of the biggest ways he does this. To grow strong, we cannot go by how we “feel.” If we do, we will never get in shape nor be able to go the distance required for God’s game. The parallel to sports is obvious. Superb, successful, winning athletes train and push themselves regardless of how they “feel” on any given day when they are working out. They are disciplined and committed to becoming a finely tuned competitor and capable member of the team and they never allow their personal, passing feelings to affect their training. Richard reminded us that “discipline” means doing what you know to be right even when you don’t feel like it. And it is this kind of discipline that is required in our spiritual eating habits, taking in God’s Word regularly, deeply, intentionally if we are going to get into shape and maintain our spiritual health.

Richard quoted Richard Wurmbrandt, founder of “Voice of the Martyrs” and who was held in a Romanian prison for 14 years: “I read (the Bible) when I feel like it, when I don’t feel like it, and until I feel like it!” He also offered us a picture of “a cord of three strands...not easily broken” (Ecc. 4:12), using the words in, around, and for:

•We need to be in the Word for ourself, learning and growing and maturing as we grow ever stronger and more familiar with its richness for our lives.
• We need to carry the Word around with us for others so we can share it and allow it to impact those we meet.
•We need to be under the Word from our pastors and leaders, submitting to its authority as it is preached and taught by our spiritual instructors, for the Word of God is never just a private, personal matter of interpretation and study.

When the Word of God is consumed in this way, it will strengthen and equip us as team members for the game.

2. DRINK RIGHT! “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into on body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (I Cor. 12:12-13) Richard reminded us how essential water is to life, and how quickly we die without it. It is the same spiritually. We need to drink of the Spirit ALL the time! This is what refreshes us, keeps us healthy, keeps us connected and unified as the Body of Christ. In the Corinthians passage, Richard pointed out that baptism is done to us, as we submit to God, die to self in the waters of baptism, and afterward enter refreshed into new life with Christ. But drinking of the Spirit is done by us. It is us taking in the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, and allowing Him to continually refresh us, inspire us, lead us and guide us so we are fit spiritually. If we don’t drink of Him, we will quickly wither, dry up, and die.

Richard said that fear is the biggest quencher for growing spiritually. Fear of what will happen, and of what we will have to do, if we drink of the Spirit. He quoted I Thessalonians 5:19: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.” And fear always quenches the fire of the Spirit. He said that today in the Church there are many “charisphobics!” People afraid of the Holy Spirit, at least practically speaking, who are very doubtful, suspicious, and “hands off” about Holy Spirit stuff. Richard also said that anger is the biggest opposition against the Spirit and hindrance for growing spiritually. Anger hurts and grieves the Spirit, and can become a foothold for an “evil spirit” to take root in people. He said that fear is found more in introverts, holding them back so they don’t do what they should do, and anger is found more in extroverts, prompting them to do what they shouldn’t do. Both fear and anger must be overcome in order to “drink right” from the Holy Spirit and become fit for God’s game.

3. EXERCISE RIGHT! This is about our faith! About building strong spiritual muscles so we can play the game well and be a responsible, “in shape” member of the team! It means stretching ourselves, learning to trust God more, venturing out and pushing ourselves beyond what is comfortable, easy, and familiar. In order to build more muscle and burn off excess fat, athletes continually add more to their exercise regimen (more weights, more repetitions, longer distances, etc.). So it is for us if we want to grow stronger in our faith, and in our relationship with God. Exercise is not always fun or pleasurable either--we all know this! Sometimes we just don’t want to do it. We’re tired, or sore, or it’s too hard, or it’s gotten boring, or we want to do something else instead, or we just want to take it easy--and we give up! Stop. Forget how important it is to keep fit and healthy. Allow ourselves to get out of shape, flabby, lazy, slowly, first a day and then a week and then a month at a time, until exercise is no longer part of our lives. That “discipline” we once had is gone. We have capitulated to just doing what feels good, easy, takes no effort or energy or learning, and lets us zone out. The necessity of constantly exercising our faith is obvious.

Finally, Richard asked us this question What are you trusting God for this week in Mexico? He reminded us that GOD will touch someone or some people, drawing them to Himself. It takes faith for this to happen. It means we have to trust more, do more, let the Spirit take charge, exercise our faith, and then trust God for even more yet.

So can you go the distance? Can you play the full 90 minutes of the game? Can you take the “hits” of the game? The message is clear: We MUST be in shape! We need to eat right, drink right, and exercise right. This is the way to play the game--God’s game--and to be on the team with Coach Jesus!

2010-07-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

“ARE YOU ON THE TEAM?”

The second day at chapel, while tossing the soccer ball back and forth to us, Richard posed this question: “Are you on the team?” Because if you’re going to be “in the game,” you have to be “on the team!”

Richard described what it’s like to be on a team; things like cooperation, understanding the game, playing your position, listening to the coach, and so forth. Then he read a passage of Scripture, Matthew 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will say to them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

“...I never knew you...” A warning, from Jesus...

Richard reminded us from the previous day’s teaching that lots of churches are not “in the game” that God has for us to play. These churches only think locally, or maybe nationally, but they are not fully participating in the whole game that is God’s strategy for spreading the gospel.

Then he went on to say that Jesus is our coach! In this game of spreading the “good news” to all the earth, Jesus is the one who leads the team, calls the plays, corrects, encourages, mixes things up when necessary, keeps the bigger picture in mind as the game unfolds, etc. The question is: are we on the team, following Coach Jesus, and being a team player? It takes more than saying “Yes,” having good intentions, and kicking the ball around a bit. Richard pointed out that these verses from Matthew serve notice that not all churches and not all individuals are “on the team.” They might think they are, saying good things and even doing nice things, but no! They are not committed to the game--to God’s game. They are not full participants and, therefore, not submiting to the authority of His coach. Saying ‘Lord, Lord!” and doing a few religious things does not mean that people are “in the game” or “on the team.” And when the clock runs out and the game is finally over, instead of celebrating with the team, Coach Jesus will say to them: “Who are you? You’re not winners with my team. Get out of here!”

Ouch! That’s pretty harsh.

What happened? What might a player do to remove themself from the game and to disqualify themself from the team that Jesus is coaching?

1. A person might say, “I’ll follow what the coach says if I like the play.” But what if Jesus calls another play? A hard play? A play they don’t like? This is where many of us who claim to follow Jesus fail to follow through. As long as the game and the plays are going our way, to our satisfaction, for our benefit, we’re committed. But when things get tough or frustrating, when it’s not easy or fun anymore, or when there’s struggle and conflict involved, many of us back off, let down, make excuses, criticize the game and the coach, even leave the field and the game. Or we start a new game, one where we call the shots, make up the rules, manipulate the outcome, do what’s more fun and personally appealing to us, and since it has the appearance of being the same game as the one we left, we foolishly believe we’re in the competition. Again, Matthew 7:23 spells it out plainly. Jesus says: “I never knew you. Away from me!”

2. Another attitude that shows a person is not on the team is when they ask: “What am I getting out of this?” Richard said this is especially true of American Christians, because we tend to make everything related to faith “all about ME!” You know what I’m talkin’ about! You hear it all the time: “I’m not being fed.” “I want something more spiritual.” “It didn’t inspire me.” “It’s not my kind of music-message-style-worship space-presentation (fill in the blank...)” “The service is too early-too late-too long-too boring (fill in the blank...)”. “That meeting-program-event-activity-service (fill in the blank...) isn’t convenient for me.” Underlying all of this self-centeredness are a number of assumptions: a sense of pride (“I do the right things and don’t do the wrong things”), which breeds a sense of entitlement (“I deserve certain “perks” because I’m a good Christian-good church member-committed-faithful”), a sense of self assurance (“I’ve got things organized, have the anwers, and know what’s best”), and even a sense of control--to the point where people say: “I’m not getting much here, so I’m leaving!”

Clearly, these attitudes demonstrate that a person is not on the team, because the only consideration the person has is for themself, not for the good of the team. And they certainly are not taking direction from their coach, Jesus. The Message puts it this way: “All you did was use me to make yourself important.” (Matt. 7:23) Certainly not something a team player wants to hear--and would never even consider!

3. One more attitude that shows a person is not on the team is this: “I’m in the game--as long as it doesn’t cost me anything!” There is a quick, pointed response to a person who takes this position. It comes in the words of Coach Jesus himself:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34)

If you are going to be a player on the team that Jesus is coaching, you must be willing to give up everything for the good of the team. Your life is not your own anymore, and it never will be again. "You were bought with a price” (I Corinthians 6:20)--by the Coach Himself! You owe Him your total allegiance and commitment, and must be willing to do whatever He says and go wherever He commands, despite your personal preferences, concerns, apprehensions, doubts, desires, etc. Jesus expects your full cooperation and willingness to respond to His direction. You must submit to Him completely. This is the only way you can be on His team.

Many Christians make excuses for their poor performance in the game and try to justify their attitudes and actions: “I said the ‘sinner’s prayer! I ‘went forward’ and gave my life to Jesus! We’re saved by faith and not by works, so I’m good to go!”

But again, from The Message, Jesus says this: “Knowing the correct password...isn’t going to get you anywhere with me.” (Matt. 7:21)

The words of Jesus ring out: “I never knew you. Away from me!” It is “not he who says...but he who DOES the will of my Father!”

This question, “Are you on the team?”, was as difficult for me to hear as the one the day before. It made me think long and hard about whether or not I’m a good team member and following through with the plays Coach Jesus has for me to execute in the global game of spreading the gospel. I know that in my heart of hearts I want to be a vital member of the team! I try to follow what the coach is telling me, even when it stretches me beyond what I think I can do, or what I think is fair, or when the plays don’t seem to fit the game that I’ve been trained for up until now.

This last point is, I believe, the situation most of us are facing today. It is extremely difficult for us who have been team members for many years to stay the course and obey our coach when the game plan switches, especially the way it is being formulated today. Our team seemed to be doing so well before, in the past! Every player knew their part, what to do, where to go, how the plays worked. Doggone it, why is Jesus switching it up now? We were comfortable with the game before! Everything made sense to us. Everyone knew the code words, the game book, the runs and the passes and the customary ways to move the ball around the field. The new plays that Coach Jesus is calling, in order to spread the gospel these days, make us uncomfortable. They don’t make sense now. The language, the instructions, and the methods seem strange, ineffective, even wrong!

I like the old ways of playing the game! I like the old words and phrases and plans and actions! I want to do everything so it’s comfortable and meaningful to me again! The way the game is supposed to be played. Let’s just do what we’ve always done harder-stronger-louder-flashier..that’s all we need to do! Let’s just tweak those good old plays that we already know, just a bit...they’ll work just fine!

But Coach Jesus says “NO!” The GAME is the same, but now the PLAYS must be adapted in order to be effective in the world today. “My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)

Will we trust our coach, submit to Him and to His will, His way, His game plan? Will we discipline ourselves to learn the new game scenario, the new, more effective and relevant strategies for playing the game, and train ourselves so we can be competitive members on God’s team today? Better equipped to be His witnesses in all the world and to effectively spread His “good news” to every corner of the playing field that is our world?

Next week: “Are You In Shape?”

2010-07-16T22:21:00.000-07:00

“ARE YOU IN THE GAME?”

It’s been a long time since my last blog post, I know, but being gone on the Mexico mission trip for a week and then dealing with a load of church business when I got home, I simply haven’t had time to put anything together.

Now I’m excited to get back into it though. And our speaker at YUGO this year has given me some great material to delve into for my next four posts!

Richard Sharp, from “Operation Mobilization,” inspired us each morning at chapel with the topic of bringing the gospel to the whole world, using soccer/the soccer field as the analogy to get his message across (so very appropriate, with the World Cup happening...). With his charming British accent, engaging smile, and relational style, Richard hit us hard each day with challenges that were relevant, biblical, pointed, and practical. I’ll try to be as faithful as possible to his well-crafted presentations.

First of all, every day as he began his teaching time with our mission team (we were the ONLY group at the YUGO camp this year - too many churches afraid to send teams because of the media’s hype about gang and drug violence), Richard tossed a soccer ball randomly to people while asking the question of the day.

He expected an honest answer too! So on the first day, he asked this of us: “Are you in the game?” How would you respond? That’s what we heard, without yet knowing the context of the question nor the theme of the week. We were definitely intrigued!

Before delving into his topic, Richard first did some other reflective work with us on that first day. He asked us to write down what our biggest hope and our biggest fear were for the week of ministry that lay ahead of us. This made us put all of our cards on the table, right from the start; what we were thinking, concerned about, preoccupied with. We shared our answers with the group, and the results were very insightful. From there, Richard reminded us about our role as “evangelists” in the coming week, and the picture he drew formed (what else?) a cross. The horizontal part represented “making friends.” The vertical part represented “introducing our best friend, Jesus, to our friends.” Where the two come together is the “sweet spot,” where the connection is made and our friends also encounter our best friend and want to join in our camaraderie with Jesus too.

Then Richard went into the main focus of the day which, again was: “Are you in the game?” He talked a bit about soccer, and then he drew a large soccer field on the board.

Next, he read Acts 1:8 to us:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Richard said that this is God’s “game plan” for His Church, and that the soccer ball is “the gospel.” Back on the board, he described how the goal area is like the local congregation (Hilmar Covenant Church), the penalty area is like the nation (the United States), the half of the field on the side of the defending team is like the regional area (Canada & Mexico; nations around us), and the far half of the field is the entire globe (the whole world). Comparing this to what we read in Acts, Hilmar Covenant = Jerusalem, the United States = Judea, the nations around us = Samaria (and like the Jews in Jesus’ day, many Americans don’t much like “those people!”), and the global world = the ends of the earth. Culturally speaking, the local and national areas have the same culture, the regional areas have a similar culture, but the global world areas have a separate culture.

God’s game plan is that we, His people--His players--are to GO to ALL of these areas and cultures! The gospel is to go everywhere - to every part of the world, just as in the game of soccer, the soccer ball goes everywhere on the soccer field. So when Richard asked us “Are you in the game?” he was trying to find out if we are fully engaged in the game that God wants us to play; fully obedient to what God desires and expects from us.

He pointed out that most churches only stay in the goal area, self-absorbed and comfortable in their own little home territory, never stepping out and getting into the game at all. Some churches do go farther and get involved in spreading the gospel beyond their local congregation, which is better, but it is still quite easy and, again, is not really playing the game at all. A few churches step out into the more uncomfortable and challenging regional areas and seek to reach people who are different and who require certain sensitivities and different approaches in order for the gospel to impact them. However, this still takes place in only part of the world - on just one half of the soccer field.

In order to play the game of soccer though, you must play on the entire field! And in order to be fully in God’s “game” of bringing the gospel to every tribe and tongue and nation, we must go all the way, everywhere, “to the ends of the earth!”

Richard underscored this by showing how the book of Acts itself describes the progression of the gospel message (which was intended by God to continue for all time). Acts 1-7 describes the gospel being proclaimed locally and nationally (Jerusalem and Judea). Acts 8 and 10 show the gospel moving out into a wider region (Samaria, Ethiopian eunuch, Roman centurion Cornelius). Finally, in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas set off to take the gospel to the then-known world.

This presentation was deeply convicting to me, and it had a strong impact on the rest of our mission team too. I reflected on the ways I am “in the game”--and the many ways I am not participating fully in it. Now, it’s true that I’m a total failure at soccer! My interest, skills, techniques, understanding of the game, and commitment to it are nil. I’m definitely not “in the game” of soccer. But I am a Christian! And for us who are, the gospel is the core of who we are! As essential and as indispensible as the soccer ball is to soccer. If we claim to follow Christ - if we claim to be soccer players - then we must have great facility, familiarity, appreciation, and experience with what is necessary to be “in the game” (i.e. the gospel - the soccer ball). If we aren’t thoroughly familiar with them, comfortable with them, skilled with them, or if we utilize them poorly, we will be ineffective participants “in the game,” whether it is the Christian life or soccer itself.

It won’t be easy. Jesus never said that it would be, and soccer coaches guarantee that to be a great player it is going to be mighty tough, in every way (physically, emotionally, mentally). Perhaps that’s why there are so many lukewarm Christians and mediocre soccer players! When the demands of these “games” get more intense, most of us tend to pull back, ease up, and ultimately step out of the game, becoming “armchair experts” instead! Thinking we know all about the game and how it should be played, but not actually particpating in it, only watching from the sidelines.

Richard talked about how, in our Christian lives, we tend to want an “out” when things get uncomfortable, unfamiliar, tough, and tragic. But God never said He would take us out of the hard difficulties that we face in life. Instead, God says: “I will take you through this!” To do so, we are made “FIT” to handle the process: F = FOR you (God says He is always for us), I = IN you (God says He dwells within us, through His Holy Spirit), and T = THROUGH you (God will triumph over the difficulties through us). Our attitude, then, needs to always be a “FIT” one so we can be fully engaged “in the game” and be ready for whatever comes our way.

I hope you’ll spend some time this week chewing over these concepts and applying them to yourself. Again, how would you answer the question: “Are you in the game?” Can you say, as we were asked to do at YUGO: “Lord, have your way in me.”

Next week: “Are you on the team?”

2010-06-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

It's been more than three weeks since my last blog post. Someone even emailed me and asked why I haven't put up anything new here! Sorry about that; I had a week's vacation in Seattle visiting family I haven't seen in 24 years, then came back to lots of details for our upcoming Mexico mission trip, preparations to perform a wedding, and all of my regular duties (which are much expanded these days without a senior pastor in place). Here are some of my thoughts about something I've been tossing around in my brain for awhile:

"POINT OF VIEW"

A few weeks ago our visiting preacher did a four week series on John 9: “The Man Born Blind." Pastor Mike had many good and relevant insights into the text, but one in particular caught my attention and I have continued to ponder it ever since. It came out of the early verses of the narrative:

John 9:2-3 “His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.’”

Pastor Mike pointed out how easy it is for us to make assumptions about things, to understand situations in certain ways, and to believe our view of reality is the right and true one. The common thought of Jewish people in Jesus’ day (and today too, really) was that “you reap what you sow,” and so if bad things are happening to you, they are the consequences of doing wrong, of breaking the rules, of sinning. You’re getting what you deserve. This was what Job was also charged with by his friends: all of the calamities that had befallen him meant he must have offended God. To be honest, there are places in Scripture that indicate this “tit for tat” understanding of life too. Check out Deuteronomy 28, for example. God spells out very clearly that obedience to Him brings blessing and disobedience brings curses--and lots of ‘em!

But in this passage from the gospel of John, Jesus once again turns conventional wisdom upside down, as he so often does, and refutes the common “everybody knows that” understanding. The infirmity of the man born blind, with all its attending issues and problems, was not the result of error, broken rules, or sin, but in order for “the work of God (to) be displayed in his life.”

Wow! What an incredible perspective on infirmities, on problems, on struggles, on all the “bad things” that occur to people in life. These situations are not necessarily the consequences of our poor choices, wrong decisions, bad behavior, or “sin” at all! They just might serve a purpose that is higher, or be part of a larger picture that only God can presently see, and so the reasons for the tough realities that people are facing are more complicated than what we humans can figure out or deduce.

In fact, might it even be possible that the “bad” things (as in: “Why do bad things happen to good people?”) are not really bad at all? From a human standpoint, yes. But what if we step away/step back/step out of our customary frame of reference and, instead, gain a different viewpoint--which Jesus often brought to situations wherever he went--and understand “bad” in a different light? For example, we have all heard the testimonies of people with disabilities who say the challenges they face in dealing with their “bad" thing actually strengthens them, gives them a deeper appreciation for life, and makes them better people. Some have even said that they are grateful for the “bad” thing in their lives. Some who have spent time in prison say that this “bad” thing was actually a “good” thing for them, because it helped them straighten out their lives. I haven’t seen it, but someone told me about a movie where a person who had been blind from birth is suddenly able to see--and that vision is so overwhelming for them that they want their blindness back! Vision...bad? Who can even imagine such a thing?

Even in our Christian faith, we view “bad" things (especially death) with a positive attitude. Paul states that he is grateful for the difficulties he has faced because of how they have challenged him, changed him, and allowed the gospel to be received by people. Even death, the worst of the worst of all ”bad" things, is cast as a good thing; as something to be desired by those who know Christ: “To die is gain.” “I would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” “We groan, longing for our heavenly dwelling.”

Christian funerals and memorial services are full of references to the fact that death is not the final reality; that from a Christian perspective (again, stepping back/stepping out of our customary human, worldly frame of reference) the loss of a loved one is only a temporary “badness.” We claim with Paul: “Our light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Even in the face of death, we proclaim hope! One day we will be reunited--forever!

We have a “heavenly” perspective, not a human, earthly one. Our understanding of the “badness” of death is that it actually brings about good things for us in the end!

Could it be possible that the things we call “bad” (infirmities, disabilities, hardships, and so forth) are not bad to God? That perhaps they are just another way--another aspect or different experience or expression--of living?

Now, I realize that what I’m saying here is kinda risky. I certainly do not mean to trivialize anyone’s hurts, troubles, or suffering by putting a “smiley face” on them and saying they are really just fine; that all you need is a different attitude or perspective about your situation. I do not advocate ignoring problems either, which is actually just avoiding them and all the inherent conflict that occurs when intentionally dealing with one's issues. Jesus himself faced the pain, the suffering, the agony--the BAD--of crucifixion and did not minimize the horror of it at all. He cried out to God to spare him from it! He knew it would be terrible, and no amount of changed attitude or fresh perspective changed the awful, BAD reality of it.

But I am curious about these verses from John that do indicate how our customary, conventional view of things in life can be completely wrong. They are not God’s perspective, desire, or reality at all! Something else is going on, and we need to allow the Holy Spirit to help give us God’s view and purpose in every situation in life. “My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) I fear that sometimes all of our reasoning and theologizing and thoughtful doctrinal responses to the “bad” things that happen to people are neither right nor helpful at all. Too often we have only sought answers intellectually, when what we need to do is seek them spiritually through prayer, meditation, silence, insight. A rational approach might be easier, clearer (for some), seem more sensible, yet completely miss the mark--just like the disciples’ question of Jesus about the man born blind.

“But we have the mind of Christ.” (I Corinthians 2:16) This is my desire. May we all pursue this worthy, vital goal so we can more clearly discern the Lord’s activity in our lives every day. What better way to deepen our relationship with Him too!

I'll write again after we return from Mexico, but it will probably be at least three weeks again. Be patient! I've got a good blog post idea coming up. Pray for me and for the mission team while we're south of the border - thanks everyone!

2010-05-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

FAITH/WORKS (again...)

“WHERE IS IT WRITTEN?”

If it were possible for an evangelical church to have a mantra, this would certainly be the one for the Evangelical Covenant Church! This foundational formulation guides every aspect of our denominational life, from Bible study to worship to the sacraments to the living out of our faith. So, it is written:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

And it is written:

“You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24)

And again it is written:

“We have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:16b)

And again:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:34,40b)

And yet again:

“Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11)

And......

“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17)

Faith - works - grace - law - belief - deeds - yep, there sure are lots of things “written” in Scripture; lots of ideas, instructions, and truths that often seem quite diverse, contrary, situational maybe. What does all this mean? Why would God allow these conflicting sentences into His “perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct” (another one of our major Covenant affirmations)? You’d think that something as significant as our salvation would be spelled out so clearly, so unequivocally, so unambiguously that there would be no hint of confusion, no need for interpretation, not a bit of conflicting thought or instruction for us, God’s people. It should be presented plainly, objectively, exactly (like a “how to” book), in plain English, everything defined with a precise meaning: “This is faith! This is what belief is! This is how it works! These are the steps/procedures/formulas for correct faith and getting to heaven.” Black-and-white answers; all doubts and questions resolved.

Maybe this is why we create things like “The Four Spiritual Laws.” Things that simplify the complexities of faith so we can manage it, prescribe it, control it.

Yet there it is, in just some of the verses of Scripture I chose: different ideas, plainly saying that faith is not about what we do--and also that faith apart from what we do is useless; no faith at all; dead.

If you know church history, you know that this was one of the key issues during the Reformation: justification by faith/justification by works. Protestant theology has affirmed that salvation is sola fide, through “justification by faith alone.” Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theology exclude such a firm, strong, single-minded stance, holding instead that grace implies good works, and so they are also necessary for salvation.

(Let me state clearly at this point, so no one can charge me with Covenant heresy :) that I ascribe fully to “justification by faith alone!” As both a member of the Covenant Church and the Covenant Ministerium, and as a follower of Jesus, this tenet seems most real, miraculous, unique, TRUE--so refreshingly different from all other religions where salvation must be achieved and where actions and consequences create uncertainty, fear, and distance from the deity, rather than the confidence, hope, joy, and intimate relationship with the God of the universe that we graciously have through our Savior, Jesus. The question is: what defines “faith?”)

Why am I rehashing all this topic? I got to thinking about faith and works again because of something I read in a recent teaching letter from “Bridges For Peace,” the organization I volunteered with on my sabbatical in Jerusalem four years ago:

“In rabbinic teaching, we find a great depth of instruction on the importance of what we do. In at least modern Western Christianity, we find the emphasis placed on what we think or believe. Sadly, sometimes this difference has been exaggerated and portrayed as Jewish people only caring about “deeds” and being bound to legalism. A more accurate criticism is sometimes leveled against modern Western Christianity: that we only care and teach about what we think or believe and not about what we do. Neither of these extremes is a fair portrayal of either rabbinic Judaism, nor of biblical Christianity.”

This made me wonder if what needs clarifying are our definitions of faith/belief and works/actions. It seems to me that what we have done is to divorce what was never intended to be separated at all. That “faith” is, in and of itself, an active thing; a demonstrative thing; an embodied reality of one’s strongly held tenets of truth. It is not merely an intellectual, ideological, theological doctrine to which one gives mental assent. The way the writer of James frames his instruction on faith affirms this more unified, integrated, Jewish approach to belief.

But is this the way we Evangelical Covenant Protestant Western Christians really understand faith? To be honest, in my growing up years it was firmly planted in my Christian education that faith has nothing to do with what we do. For years, faith to me was very much an idea, right thought, correct belief, specific knowledge, and orthodox doctrine--in short, a mental exercise, giving assent to and consciously accepting this entire slate of information. Being open to other information and ideas was risky and dangerous. It might be unorthodox, erroneous, even heretical! People would be suspicious of you, God would surely disapprove, and you certainly were in danger of not going to heaven.

This “either/or” understanding of faith and works is what I picked up as I was growing up as a Covenant youth. Perhaps this was meant to distinguish us from Catholics, or to help us steer clear of “works righteousness” (I’m not sure why...maybe that’s just the way we evangelicals assumed faith to be in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s).

No wonder I experienced several crises of faith at various times throughout my life as I tried hard to resolve all the conflicting “bits” of theology, teaching, preaching, and information I was continually receiving and discovering as I sought a closer, deeper walk with Christ. I really wanted to know the TRUTH! I really did seek to honor God with all of my life! I really did want to understand this whole Christian deal; to have it make complete sense. But I kept bumping up against things that raised questions and doubts, that did not make sense to me, and that sometimes just made me want to throw in the towel on the whole business of Christianity. I’m grateful for the many teachers, counselors, authors, pastors, and other spiritual advisors who walked along side of me through these “dark night(s) of the soul” and helped me discern and develop better, bigger ways of grappling with Scripture, theology, ethics, and all the other aspects of faith with healthy, critical thinking.

But back to faith & works - belief & actions...here are some things rattling around in my brain:

•Can we distinguish between “works” and “actions?” Might “works” be human attempts to achieve one’s own salvation, while “actions” are the seen embodiment of faith/belief; the inevitable evidence of one’s deepest convictions?

•Faith: it is NOT works. But is it NO works?!

•It seems to me there is a lot in our faith that is not meant to be pinned down and dissected like a frog in an anatomy lab! The realities of God’s designs are too immense, too beautifully rich and complex, too intricate to be contained in the logic and thinking of finite humanity. Remember, Jesus spoke in parables! “The kingdom of heaven IS LIKE...! It cannot be precisely defined. Maybe it isn’t meant to be. It can only be grasped obliquely; subtly; with something akin to peripheral vision. This kingdom is too spectacular and wonderful to nail down or to be viewed directly. Same with faith and works. They are best approached with “parable” language, best understood as elements in a relationship, intricately and intimately connected, like a marriage--and not meant to be sundered. We get into a can of worms when we try too hard to specify and delineate and pinpoint each element--faith and works--and mess up the rich relational reality of belief and action as they are lived out in actual life.

Overall, I think the author of the teaching letter gets it right when he says the extreme portrayals of faith and action in Judaism and Christianity are not fair in either case. It seems obvious--and biblical--to me that faith is not just an idea or construct, mental assent to something, or vocal statement of what “I believe.” It has within it implications of action/deeds/works--evidence that what is inside one’s head and heart is actual, real, alive. The book of James clearly testifies to the interconnectedness of faith and works. We need to get over our human tendency to demand hard, definitive, intellectual constructs regarding these two components. We need to realize that the Jewish understanding of faith as a lived-out active reality beautifully compliments the more intellectual, mental, in-the-head understanding of faith that has been characteristic of Western Christianity. As we do, the world’s rather jaded and negative perception of the Church as a hypocritical religious institution obsessed with irrelevant, divisive agendas will be changed, “and they’ll know we are Christians by our love” as we offer the world obvious, irrefutable evidence of our faith in Christ.

Whadayah think?

2010-05-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

WORSHIP (again...)
"FEED ME!"

How many books, articles, devotionals, bulletin inserts, blog posts, workshops, seminars, Sunday School classes, sermon series, experiential teachings, discussions, and arguments have I read, written, taught, created, led, attended, and engaged in over these past 30 years that I have been a minister of music/worship pastor/associate pastor here at Hilmar Covenant? And what has been the #1 point that I have always driven home in my speaking, writing, and modeling regarding worship?

WORSHIP IS ALL ABOUT GOD AND NOT ABOUT US! We are never the focus of worship. It is not something for us to observe or “enjoy,” to get warm fuzzy feelings from or make us content. It is not something we consume, like entertainment, to satisfy ourselves. Worship is not about what we like or don’t like, and it is NEVER about “meeting my needs!”

This is nothing new. And I am not going to rehash what I’ve been over so many times before. I do believe that people “get it” intellectually (that worship is all about God and not about me). We understand it, and most of us who think about these things from time to time do agree with this truth regarding worship.

But when it comes to the practice of worship, the vocabulary we use in describing worship services, the expectations we have on any given Sunday as we walk into the sanctuary or worship center or whatever we call the gathering space, I’m afraid our best understandings and intentions vanish in a moment. As soon as we hit the parking lot, open the doors and enter the church building, our all-too-human habits and expectations rise up within us and worship once again is about what we want, what makes us happy and content, what is meaningful/familiar/ comfortable to us, and so once again worship actually does become much more (if not 100%) about US.

We might not want it to be this way. Our intentions may, in fact, be very right and true. We really do desire to make the entire time of worship all about GOD; to give everything of ourselves completely to Him during that time. But then, well...”There’s that song again--I just can’t stand it! And why can’t that person reading Scripture dress better--it’s Sunday, after all. Why doesn’t the power point person change the words faster? Wow, that choir anthem sure was a dirge...(or) Wow, that choir anthem sure gave me chills! Whew, this sermon sure isn’t feeding...oops! Don’t go there... But why does the offering take so long? And why do we have to keep standing up...?

You get the picture. We’ve all been there. Because for many of us in our American culture (or at least those of us 40 and older), “good” or “meaningful” or “effective” worship means a smooth, well ordered, carefully crafted event that unfolds the same way an excellent movie or concert or play does: in a timely fashion, without mishaps or mistakes, completely engaging us and striking all of the right chords within us. More on this in a moment. But first...

I bring up this theme of worship again because of something I came across recently--something we need to be continually reminded of regarding worship--and the very humorous response it brought forth in me:

Worship should never be pursued as a means to achieving something other than worship. Worship is never a step on our way to any other experience. It is not a door through which we pass to get anywhere. It is the end point, the goal. (John Piper)

I read this quote while I was eating breakfast, and it was a good, bracing jolt of reality for me again. Piper is essentially saying what I’ve been advocating for 30 years.

But as I reflected on Pipers words--probably because I was taking my morning nourishment--a crazy image came to mind.

It was of that huge ugly plant, Audrey Two, from “Little Shop Of Horrors” booming out: “FEED ME!”

Can’t you just see that enormous, hideous mouth, opening and closing, needing more and more nourishment to satisfy its ever-increasing needs?

Then I superimposed this image over that of worship, and I got this hilarious picture of an entire church full of little “Audrey Twos” sitting in pews, demanding: “FEED ME!”

Pretty funny, don’t you think? Especially if you’ve seen “Little Shop Of Horrors...”

But what if this is how it looks to God, peering down on His people in church: Yikes! A “Little Shop Of Horrors”--week after week!

(Once again, let me be clear to those who are missing the point and starting to take offense: I am being humorous here! Not specifically criticizing anyone or any one church. I’m ust trying to help us be reflective, to challenge ourselves and our relationship with God. I am not being negative or haranguing...)

So what’s the point here? What does all this say about our worship, particularly as Americans with a strong Western cultural perspective? Picking up where I left off earlier...

Through my study and involvement in global missions, I know that we humans view everything in life through a set of cultural lenses--including our religious values and beliefs. Also, culture is so elemental to being human that we are rarely conscious of it, nor of how all the things we do, say, value, expect, and assume in life are filtered through the cultural reality we live in. Like fish in water, where the water provides everything that fish need to live, but the fish have no conscious awareness of the water, we humans are not conscious of the ways our culture affects and touches every aspect of our live--including our religious values and beliefs. Thus, there is no “pure” Christianity; no completely unadulterated pristine Christian faith unaffected and untouched by the many world views held by people around the globe. For there is no “faith” apart from its lived out expression and context--which by necessity occurs in and through a particular people’s culture. (Ooo! There’s another interesting topic to blog about...) This is precisely the reason why missionaries spend so many years and strive so hard to get inside the cultural world view of the people they seek to reach with the gospel.

Two of the most highly esteemed values held by us in America are individualism and consumerism, and I strongly agree with the many writers who have articulated the many ways Christians have unknowingly embraced and allowed these cultural values to infect, influence and shape every aspect of our faith in America. In oh-so-subtle ways over time, we have allowed our particular Christianity to be co-opted by these priorities. We clearly see these two values at work in the individualistic consumer-driven expectations, attitudes, understandings, and approaches to worship that I described above. Volumes have been written elsewhere and more extensively about all of this, as well as about how individualism and consumerism have shaped the way we in the West read Scripture, organize ministry, prioritize moral values, pray, understand “faith,” manage our assets, interpret Christ’s teachings, and so forth.

I wonder: why haven’t we in the American Church rejected these two values in relation to our faith? Instead of allowing individualism and consumerism to invade and affect our Christianity, why don’t we strive to transform these values in ways that would better reflect Kingdom values in the world today?

John Piper’s words challenged me to think again about the many ways I have unknowingly contributed to this process of allowing individualism and consumerism to contaminate my Christian life and faith. I recognize this has happened in ways that I have talked about faith, managed my ministry responsibilities, understood “success” in our church, counseled individuals, etc. And I know there is a bit of Audrey Two in me too!

But hopefully just a small part--like, maybe just the size of the plant in the coffee can...

Lord, help all of us to listen to Your voice and leading, to live with Your values and perspective, and to better discern the influences and forces that drive our lives each day. May we not fall into the trap of letting the world’s priorites infect our thoughts and actions and be totally unconscious to the subtle ways these values manifest themselves in everyday life. Amen.

2010-04-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

LOVING BIN LADEN

How’s that for a provocative title for a blog post? Rather jarring, don’t you think?

That’s what I thought when I picked up the March/April issue of “Mission Frontiers” to read when I was on vacation in Chicago. The full title was: “Loving bin Laden - What Does Jesus Expect Us To Do?” The idea seemed absurd...

But just a few lines into the first page editorial, something went haywire inside me. Things started spinning and I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach, or hit with a fist smack dab in my solar plexus. A profound conviction settled upon me as I continued to read, and a “shift” of seismic proportions jolted within me. I know this feeling; I’ve had it before. It’s the Holy Spirit speaking loudly and boldly to me: “Pay attention, Dan! This is very important!” And for the next few hours I responded intently to what I was reading, evaluating, reflecting intently, praying, facebooking and instant messaging people, and considering what all of this might mean in my areas of ministry--and for my own faith convictions.

Basically, I realized that this was not what I have been doing. I have not been loving “enemies” of any kind--personally or generally, locally or globally. Even more disturbing, I realized I have hardly been praying for them, if at all, and if I have, it has always been “negative” praying; more about protection from them, thwarting them, praying against them, their attitudes, and their actions. Even though Jesus’ injunction is quite unequivocal in Scripture (“I tell you: love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Matt. 5:44), we always worm our way around this one, trying to soften and situationalize it, to do something "spiritually" with it, to justify why we do not love our enemies, and to make excuses why we can’t love them. “It’s impractical,” we say; “unrealistic, extreme, idealistic, not meant to be taken literally.” I have been as good as the next guy playing fast and loose with this expectation/dictate/ command of my Savior.

What was especially hard for me to realize was how different and far I have come from the convictions I once held regarding my “enemies.” In high school, leading up to the time I had to register for the draft at age 18 (yes, I am THAT old!), I agonized long and hard about war, killing, enemies, the use of violence, self-protection, etc. It was the late ‘60’s. Vietnam, civil rights, the Cold War, rebellion against authority and the “status quo”--you know what I’m talkin’ about--this was the environment in which I was growing up. Even in the Church, there were ripples of dissension, questioning, doubting, rethinking of ethical issues and belief, and so forth. However, when it came time to register for the draft, and to the possibility of having to kill our “enemies,” I simply could not square this with my faith/my relationship with Jesus. With the help of several pastors, counselors, friends, and reading sources, I realized that I would have to register as a conscientious objector. This was quite a process, requiring a paper that clearly stated my convictions, several letters from people that affirmed I was “sincere” in my beliefs, and a face to face encounter with the local draft board. I had to articulate my position with clarity, respond to “what if” scenarios (“what if” your family was about to be killed by a gunman in your home and the only way to protect your loved ones was to kill him first?”), be against all war (not just the Vietnam War--so then, what about Hitler, Pearl Harbor, World War II? And all of my family members who have served in the military?), and clarify how it is that God orders entire nations to be killed in the same Bible that declares: “love your enemies”?

I pressed ahead--and received my CO deferment without even going before the draft board! Somehow, my convictions spoke clearly and sincerely enough to the fact that I believed violent responses to enemies are immoral, unscriptural, ineffective, and un-Christlike; impossible behavior for those who truly love and follow Jesus. I still believe this...sort of, I guess...

Yet something has happened over the years. WIth the passage of time, through different experiences, fresh perspectives, having to rethink my convictions, and seeing issues in a new light, the harder, absolute, more literalistic approach to the teachings of Jesus that I had in my teenage years have softened and shifted. I understand life and faith differently now, with more maturity, realizing that many things are not as simple nor as black-and-white as I once thought. God is way bigger than I can figure out, and “His ways are not our ways.” There are complexities all around us, aren’t there? The Bible is very complex! We don’t take everything in it literally, by any means. Many of its teachings are irrelevant; transformed and fulfilled by Jesus Himself! Regarding our “enemies,” and war and defense and a government’s response to those who want to annihilate its citizens, self-defense is certainly appropriate--even Scriptural--is it not?

Then why did this issue of “Mission Frontiers” mess with me so profoundly? Why did I feel “checked” by Holy Spirit and convicted to start looking at my “enemies” through different eyes, and with a different heart? Clearly, something in my understanding and belief system was not quite in line with what Jesus would have me think and do. Reading the articles and perspective in this magazine was a moral checkup for me, and it has changed my heart, my intentions, and my behavior toward my “enemies” already. Especially in the realm of prayer: from now on, concern for the welfare and well-being of our “enemies” will be a continuing priority for Hilmar Covenant’s prayer ministry. It will be a way for us to be countercultural; perhaps to show our community and the world that there is another way--a better way--to live, to look at the world, to engage in relationships. Perhaps people will start asking questions about the ways we live out our faith in Christ, our understanding of Scripture, even worship. Loving our “enemies”...maybe it will even create such curiosity and interest in our church (that is, in our witness as people of faith) that people will be enticed and come to us, wanting to learn more, because the way of Jesus really does shake up the “status quo.”

In closing, let me share some of the parts of the magazine that touched my heart so deeply:

How does God want us to respond (to our “enemies”)? It might be natural for us to be fearful, but we are called to supernatural living. And fear is not part of supernatural living.

Carl (Medearis) and Ted (Dekker) have just released an exciting new book, “Tea With Hezbollah,” the incredible, heart-pounding account of their journeys in the Middle East to meet with a number of Muslim leaders whom many would likely call terrorists. Is it possible to love these kind of people with the love of Christ? To put our fears aside and to reach out to Muslims, especially Muslims in our midst? Do we care enough about these people to move outside of our comfort zones, conquer our fears, and bring the love of Christ to them in genuine friendship? It is the love of Christ that transforms lives, and it is the love of Christ that can transform the Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist worlds.

Jesus is welcome (by Muslims), but our Christianity is not. We must come to terms with the fact that our job is not to go around the world and force our versions of Christianity on people and “convert” them to our side. This is not a contest to see how many people we can get to become like us and join our “team.” Our job is to introduce them to Jesus and His love for them, and let the Holy Spirit guide them into following Jesus in their own unique way as they learn about Him from the Scriptures.

(face to face with the #2 man in Hezbollah) I knew why I was there: to visibly share the love Christ with an enemy. But was he actually my enemy? Did he personally want to harm me? I doubt it. Yet by most definitions he was the enemy of my people, Americans. Maybe even the enemy of Christians. And for sure the enemy of the Israelis. But how could I follow the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth to love my enemies if I never met any?

It’s one thing to ask Western Christians to follow Jesus and point out that one of the things he clearly said and taught was to love our enemies. It’s another thing altogether to make that teaching specific with an actual enemy. Like bin Laden. The question is a good one: what do we do with our actual, physical enemies (rather than our theoretical enemies), people who might want to kill us if they had the chance? Most Christians are left with only two choices, both political: the more “conservative” route of building a strong military case against our enemies, or the more “liberal” route of favoring diplomacy. But isn’t there a third way that’s actually more powerful, more pragmatic and therefore more effective? How about the way of Jesus? It’s not passive, not wimpy, but instead an incredibly compelling method that moves beyond mere dialogue to actual solutions. But because politicians and believers of all stripes don’t think this way of Jesus is very useful, it’s simply ignored.

(To leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas, the bin Laden brothers): What was Jesus’ most famous teaching? Most of them said: “To love your enemies.” We’d then ask: “So how is that goin’ for ya?” To which they’d respond: “Not very well because it’s not practical.” I assured them that unfortunately most of my American friends thought the same.

The three most common objections to loving our enemies:
1. “It sounds like pacifism, and I believe in the Just War theory.” But I am not speaking politically, so that argument simply becomes an excuse to not personally follow a direct command of Christ,
2. “It doesn’t take into account that there is real evil in this world and that some Muslims are, in fact, engaging in a jihad against the West.” While I agree that some Muslims have and will engage in clear and horrific acts of terror, it doesn’t follow that we should stop loving our enemies. In fact, this may be the best argument for loving them. Could it be that this is our best, and possibly only, weapon against potential future terrorists? That if they personally experience the love of Jesus from one of his followers, they would not engage in such activity? Very possibly.
3. “Love” doesn’t always work.” If we’re using love as a strategy to “get them”, then it won’t work. But if we love our enemies because God does, and if our hearts are soft toward them because we see God weeping over them, the effect is direct and powerful.

Three steps for employing the strategy of Jesus:
1. Take time to think about who your actual enemies are. Then engage that person emotionally and spiritually. Imagine what his or her life is like. Why are they the way they are? NOW PRAY FOR THEM. (emphasis mine!) Allow God to begin to place compassion and insight into your heart for that person, and to give you perspective.
2. Begin to ask God for a plan for meeting this person and talking to him or her. Make it real. Make it practical. PRAY that you will have the courage and the words to say what God gives you to say when the time comes.
3. Go. Across the street. Around the world.. But you have to go. It’s not rocket science for a reader like you. I’m guessing you’ve traveled before. This is simply one step further. You’re now going to meet an actual enemy.

To read the full issue or selected articles, click here: Loving Bin Laden

I’m convicted. I must “love my “enemies.” I’m not completely sure what this means or looks like, exactly. But certainly not the way I’ve been dealing with it and thinking about it in recent years. Most essentially, I am going to approach love of my “enemies” through prayer, enlisting a corps of people who are willing to commit to this new, different journey with me. If you want to join me, let me know. I know that prayer is powerful, that prayer changes things, and that Jesus told us to pray for our “enemies.” Sounds like a pretty sound prescription for positive, substantial change!

Jesus, show me the way......

2010-04-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

FOLLOW-UP...

I just read some more of Oswald Chambers that goes along with what I blogged on last week. Here are his words from yesterday's "Daily Thoughts For Disciples:"

"Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

The words our Lord uttered in reference to Himself are true of every seed that is sown--"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." All Christian work, if it is spiritual, must follow that law, because it is the only way God's fruit can be brought forth.

Be endlessly patient. There is nothing more impertinent than our crass infidelity to God. If He does not make us plowers and sowers and reapers all at once, we lose faith in Him. Modern evangelism makes the mistake of thinking that a worker must plow the field, sow the seed, and reap the harvest in half an hour. Our Lord was never in a hurry with the disciples, He kept sowing the seed and paid no attention to whether they understood Him or not. He spoke the word of God, and by His own life produced the right atmosphere for it to grow, and then left it alone, because He knew well that the seed had in it all the germinating power of God and would bring forth fruit after its kind when it was put in the right soil. We are never the same after listening to the truth; we may forget it, but we will meet it again. Sow the Word of God, and everyone who listens will get to God. If you sow vows, resolutions, aspirations, emotions, you will reap nothing but exhaustion "...you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it" (Leviticus 26:16); but sow the Word of God, and as sure as God is God, it will bring forth fruit...A person may not grasp all that is said, but something in one is intuitively held by it. See that you sow the real seed of the Word of God, and then leave it alone.

It's those lines I've emphasized that caught my attention. Once again they got me thinking about how we have approached evangelism in the past, and if there are not better ways of introducing people to our Savior. Perhaps the reason we tend to avoid evangelism-type actions and speech with people is because we are exhausted (and perhaps intimidated) by the methods, vocabulary, and "push" that most of us remember from years past.

So once again I lift up the "one step closer" understanding and approach which seems so much more natural, genuine, patient--not expecting an immediate conversion, the way we have tried so hard to "do evangelism" before (though, to be honest, most of us never really did at all...).

That's it; just wanted to add these words of Oswald Chambers to my previous post.

A Blessed Easter to all of you - more when I return from Chicago...

2010-03-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

"LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO JESUS"

Whew! It has certainly been a busy few weeks, full of added responsibilities and no small amount of stress since Pastor Bruce retired on February 28. Daily ministry activities, people “issues” and concerns, the death of a parishioner (with all of the attending details of that), some deeply emotional situations--all of this, on top of trying to handle my own areas of ministry. Then, added to this, the countless details of presenting our huge Holy Week production, “A Living Easter”--my life has not been slow or dull, to say the least!

But in the midst of everything swirling around me, I am adamant about keeping myself centered and solid in my relationship with God. It’s amazing how I can wake up in the morning and feel the pressures of the day as soon as I open my eyes, but everything shifts into its proper place and perspective as I read the Scriptures, my three devotional helps, and I turn to God in prayer. The load is lifted, even the most intense and difficult situations that I know I will have to face later in the day, and I always gain fresh understanding and a certain peace about the responsibilities that lie ahead.

There definitely IS something to this “Holy Spirit” presence that is available to us who follow Jesus; the Counselor-Comforter-Advocate-Intercessor-Paraclete whom our Lord promised to send our way once He ascended to His Father.

I wish we talked about the Holy Spirit more in our evangelical Covenant expression of Christianity! Guess we’re just a little too afraid of getting all pentecostal......

“Following Jesus...” This admonition from our Lord showed up again Thursday in my Oswald Chambers reading.

His daily devotional contained a provocative perspective that I’ve continued to reflect on since reading it. Here it is:

March 24: Jesus said to them, “Follow Me.” (Mark 1:17)

We have come to the conclusion nowadays that a person must be a conscious sinner before Jesus Christ can do anything for him or her. The early disciples were not attracted to Jesus because they wanted to be saved from sin; they had no conception that they needed saving. They were attracted to Him by a dominating sincerity, by sentiments other than those which we say make people come to Jesus. There was nothing theological in their following, no consciousness of passing from death to life, no knowledge of what Jesus meant when He talked about His cross...They did not follow Jesus because they wanted to be saved, but because they could not help following. Three years later when again Jesus said, “Follow Me,” it was a different matter; many things had happened during these years; now it was to be a following in internal martyrdom (see John 21:18-19). (emphases mine)

Is this true? Was it a “dominating sincerity” that caused those early disciples to follow Jesus, “so they could not help following” Him? What exactly were those “sentiments” that attracted them to Jesus; sentiments that Oswald Chambers says were different “than those we say make people come to Jesus” today? It seems that, if these ideas ARE true, then they have important implications for the manner and methods we use today in getting people to “follow Jesus.” Personally, I think Oswald’s ideas are very much in tune with contemporary thinking regarding evangelism, outreach, and salvation--and he was writing a hundred years ago!

Earlier this spring, I read another similar thought from Chambers: “We are in danger of putting the cart before the horse and saying one must believe certain things before one can be a Christian, whereas one’s beliefs are the result of being a Christian, not the cause.” Chambers is shifting the emphasis to a more practical, practiced, lived out, “real life,” “put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is” approach from the strong dependence on intellectual processes and theologically systematic ideas that have characterized most evangelical approaches and understandings as to how and why people come to Christ.

I think the impact of the way Oswald is grappling with “following Jesus” could have a strong, positive impact in our culture today. We are well aware how resistant people are, generally, to former approaches to witnessing. In our increasingly post-Christian society, many people don’t believe many of the essential components of our faith, and don’t even grasp the meaning of the words we toss around when we try to present Christ to them. New times demand new methods (NOT a new message!!!). Sincere relational approaches to evangelism, rather than the more intellectual ones we have relied on to hook people and get them to believe first and then follow, will certainly be more effective in this day and age. I don’t think nabbing people on the spot and coaxing them to “accept Jesus” is what our Lord ever had in mind either. This method comes out of our Western cultural heritage and understanding and approach to life/reality.

What would it look like to help people get acquainted with Jesus first; to experience Him, hear Him, get a grasp of the amazing, unique, topsy-turvy twists and turns Jesus took in His approach to life, relationships, spirituality, etc. before getting people to believe certain propostions and truths about Him? How might people embrace our Savior if they became attracted to Him the way Chambers says the disciples did (“they could not help following”)? Perhaps too often the Jesus that people experience from us who have followed Him for many years is a Jesus of do’s and don’t’s, who demands right and wrong ways of believing stuff, a rather distant, high expectations, holy, unrelatable type of figure who is not very compelling to follow. This is not, of course, universally true, but...I don’t know; I’m just musing here!

But what if Oswald Chamber’s ideas and approach are, indeed, true? Then how will people meet this Jesus; the Jesus the disciples “could not help following?”

Well, probably not in a book. Probably not just by hearing someone preach or talk about it. For most people, probably not through a rational, intellectual exchange or apologetics approach. Maybe by seeing a portrayal of this Jesus (think “Jesus” film, or “A Living Easter”).

Of course, we already know where and how people would meet this Jesus: in and through US! You and me. And in the “body of Christ” on earth, the Church. Basic; simple--the way it has always been!

Now, if this is actually going to occur, it means that we who are going to “incarnate” our Savior must “be” the same kind of living, breathing, active presence that Jesus was when He was incarnate on earth 2000 years ago--again, the same kind of Jesus the disciples “could not help following!” All of our talk and action and interaction and values and convictions will need to line up with the Jesus his followers were attracted to ”by sentiments other than those we say make people come to Jesus.” People will be watching us all the time, wondering if such a life can really be true--and once they see the implications and observe the redemptive, grace-filled, sacrificial and saving truth of Jesus, they will embrace the fullness of Christ with passion, thankfulness, and joy!

Doesn’t this seem like a positive, unencumbered, even exciting approach to reaching people for Christ? A more natural, relational, unmanipulative way for people to follow Christ? Perhaps churches--the body of Christ on earth--could once again grow in America and help people give their lives to Jesus if those of us within churches focused more on being the body of Christ consistently, individually and together, rather than on all the other matters, concerns, and issues that monopolize our time and attention these days. These priorities of ours matter only to us who are already inside the body of Christ. They don’t mean much, if anything, to those outside the Church.

Next Sunday at Hilmar Covenant we will be bringing our “One Step Closer” cards back to church and offer them to God, filled in with the names of people we know and care for--and who we desire to help take “one step closer” to Jesus. Perhaps they are already Christians, and we want to encourage them in some way (“prayer--care--share”). Or maybe they are people who are interested in Jesus and just need encouragement to know Him better. Maybe they are family and friends who have drifted away, or who have never shown any interest in our Lord. “One Step Closer” is a way to show our concern and commitment to help everyone in our circle of relationships to do just that: draw nearer to Christ.

To me, this is the approach Oswald Chambers is encouraging in his devotional. It is an organic, genuine, natural way of living out our faith in Jesus and helping others answer His call: “Follow me!”

What say YOU?

2010-03-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

LOOKING BACK/LOOKING FORWARD
or
BACK TO EGYPT/FORWARD INTO THE PROMISED LAND!

Nearly a week has passed since our farewell weekend for Pastor Bruce. It was quite a time, full of wonderful memories, acknowledgements, humorous moments (Bruce’s driving, Arie Roest’s colorful stories!), sincere tributes, visual histories, a celebration of the many good things that occurred under Bruce’s pastorate. It was an emotional time too, as the realization that “This is it!” truly sank in. Pastor Bruce is, indeed, retiring; leaving as senior pastor of our church after 28 years; no longer the spiritual leader that we have known, grown accustomed to, and relied on.

It really struck me the previous Sunday during the Confirmation service. As I watched Bruce interact with the students and heard their stories of coming to faith, I got that empty feeling in the pit of my stomach that always signals EMOTION! I felt a wave of sadness and loss sweep over me. It hit me hard, that I will no longer experience the many things that Bruce and I have been through together, from the daily routines (worship planning, ministry discussions, practical details, etc.) to the bigger occasions (holiday planning, special events, Holy Land tours, etc.). I will no longer be able to count on the familiar patterns and habits that characterized our working relationship, and our friendship. All of the unspoken awarenesses and understandings that we’ve developed over 28 years are now over, and will have to be consciously begun all over again with someone new/someone different. Wow! This is difficult. A huge unknown. A seismic shift. A time for new behaviors, attitudes, understandings, patterns.

A part of me just wanted to freeze the proceedings, halt the action, and hit REVERSE. To take back all we’ve been through as a congregation recently, back before Bruce even mentioned the word “retirement,” back into a comfortable bubble of familiarity full of “knowns,” assumptions, customary patterns and habits. It was so much easier then! So much less unsettling that way! Remember when... Remember how... Remember the...

But nice and warm and fuzzy as those thoughts and desires may be, they are not reality. We can never truly go back to what was. We know this--we really do! And we know that the past we want so much to recapture was never as pristinely perfect and delightful as we imagine it to be. The challenges, the discomforts, the bad stuff that was also part of “back then” falls away when we recall “what was,” leaving just the “good bits” for us to dwell on and long for: a reality that never was truly real at all. (Makes you wonder if you can even trust anything that historians tell us about our past, doesn’t it?!)

This week in my Bible reading I was continuing through the book of Numbers when I came across something that got me thinking about where we are as a congregation these days. It’s from Numbers 11 and 20:

“Now the people complained about their hardships. The rabble with them began to crave other food and again the Israelites started wailing, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.’”

“The whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin. Now there was no water for the community, and the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink.’”

Earlier in Exodus, not long after they passed through the Red Sea and away from their slavery in Egypt, we read of similar complaints and familiar memories:

“The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve the entire assembly to death.’”

Not much later in Exodus:

“The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephadim, but there was no water to drink, and they grumbled against Moses: ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children die of thirst?’”

It occurred to me that we, as a church in this extended time of transition, are in a kind of “desert” between what we knew so well (Egypt) and where we are headed, into something new, different, unknown (the Promised Land). It is not pleasant here in the “desert” either! What we’ve counted on in the past, assumed to be available and present for us, felt in control of--whoosh! It’s no longer here. We are vulnerable, surrounded by uncertainty, very much the way the Israelites in the hot, dry, barren desert were vulnerable. They no longer had their homes, the food and water they had always taken for granted, their familiar routines, their usual patterns of living--no! Now they were adrift in the desert, wandering around, only able to rely on what was present in that moment, for that one day. The Promised Land, and all the good things that it held (“a land flowing with milk and honey”) seemed far far away, completely unreal and unattainable; an impossible goal. In the midst of the many discomforts of the present, they harkened back to what they thought was a much better existence in Egypt--totally forgetting the oppression, the hardships, and the cruelty of slavery that was their lot in that previous place. In the middle of the desert--that in-between place of uncertainty and not knowing--their memories captured their hearts, grew bigger and stronger than their hopes and dreams of what lay ahead, dampening the incredible, wonderful promises that the Lord had in store for them in Canaan.

But as we learned through the Veritas process, “If your memories are bigger than your dreams, you are on the path to death!”

Now before I say anything more about this Egypt/Promised Land analogy, let me make it abundantly clear what I am NOT saying! I am not insinuating that our “Egypt” here at Hilmar Covenant was negative and bad, the way “Egypt” was for Israel. Of course not! Nor am I implying that we are like the rabble in Numbers, wailing about our current situation and grumbling about what has taken place. No! I’m using “Egypt” as an attitude or perspective, and the “desert” as an image of vulnerability and insecurity. (I feel I have to spell this out because sometimes people jump to conclusions, make wrong connections from what I am trying to say, and think I’m being negative, cynical, or critical in some way...)

My point is simply this: It is very easy, in the midst of a “desert” experience like the transition time we are currently in as a church, to wish for the past; to harken back to “what was;” to avoid the discomfort, uncertainty, and painful change that are called for in a more fluctuating, moving, “nomadic” existence, like the one we are living in right now. It is hard to keep our “preferred future”--our Promised Land--in view when we are experiencing the continuous uncertainties of these transition times.

Human beings crave stability. We like predictability. We prefer certainty, what we can expect, the assurance that “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” (Julian of Norwich) Thus, it is natural for us to feel nervous, unsure, even frightened--both about our current state in this “desert” of transition and about what the Promised Land actually holds for us in the future. (Remember: some of the spies said “There are giants there!” Ahhh! Scary...)

My hope, and my challenge to all of us here at Hilmar Covenant, is to embrace fully this journey that we are on together right now, to trust that we are solidly in the midst of God’s plan for us, no matter how unclear it might seem to us right now, and that He will continue to direct us, just as He did His own chosen people from Egypt through the desert to Canaan. Let us go forward as a strong, united, committed community of faith, and not be like those Israelites who grumbled, trusted other things than God (think “golden calf”), and doubted that the desert was the perfect place for them to be: the place where their faith and relationship with God would be forged even stronger, deeper, and made more real. This is our opportunity during this time of transition too: to see our faith and relationship with God strengthened, deepened, and made more vibrant as well.

And always, it will be about making us ready to enter a new chapter--a new, promising reality--as a congregation: a truly revitalized, healthy (“pursuing Christ”) missional (“pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world”) church here in Hilmar.

The journey has begun...

(Watch our church website for a photo gallery of Pastor Bruce’s many farewell moments!)

2010-02-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

RECAPTURING THE ROLE OF SUFFERING

I’ve just finished reading the latest issue of “Mission Frontiers” with this provocative title. It was very stimulating and challenging. The articles shed light on this very difficult subject in ways I’ve never considered before. Since we are entering the season of Lent this week (Ash Wednesday is Feb. 17)--a time when we as followers of Jesus begin to reflect on and prepare for the incredible suffering Christ underwent on our behalf, leading up to His glorious resurrection on Easter--I decided to share some of the things I gleaned from this interesting issue of the magazine. Let me know what you think.

Suffering. We hate it. And in one way or another, it strikes all of us at various times in our lives. We in America do everything we can to avoid it, resist it, stop it. We try to ignore it, pretend that it will not happen to us, wipe it out it when it does descend on us with drugs, distractions, denial--any means at our disposal. We distance ourselves from suffering, or at least try to buffer ourselves from it, with things like insurance, comfort, safety, familiarity, predictability, and so forth.

Still, suffering continues to affect us. Why? What is the purpose? This is undoubtedly the biggest question--and biggest barrier--that disturbs people everywhere and makes them question God, or reject Him altogether.

Does God have a purpose for our suffering? Actually, we should expect suffering in this life. Jesus promised it to us! We cannot expect God to spare us from all suffering when He did not spare His only Son from suffering. Jesus gives us a key into how and why God allows suffering to happen: Jesus came on a mission to suffer and die for the glory of God! Did this idea ever cross your mind? And God has appointed us to “go and do likewise” in the advancement of His kingdom. God seems to have set it up so that it is through much pain and suffering that His kingdom is established and advanced among all the peoples of the earth.

Therefore, the real question is: will we accept the assignment, or resist it in a futile effort to avoid suffering? The purpose of life is to glorify God and to make His glory known to every tribe and tongue. This is God’s grand design for history, and suffering has always gone hand in hand with spreading His glory in all the earth. Will we choose to trust His sovereignty and purposes and not shy away from proclaiming the gospel in order to protect ourselves, even when suffering comes? When we come to faith in Christ, we receive a new master who has called us to be on a mission with Him, and faithfulness to that mission will, undoubtedly, involve suffering. Therefore, let us resolve to respond to suffering in our lives and in the lives of others in such a way that God receives the glory and His kingdom is established in all the earth.

This is, again, a very hard teaching for us in the consumer-driven culture of the West, designed around satisfying our every desire and to avoid suffering at all costs (unless, maybe, it will help you win the Super Bowl...). What was even more challenging for me to read was: what about believers living in the midst of persecution in dozens of countries around the world?

These hurting brothers and sisters in Christ suggest that the Church in the West has lost its missiological edge and has grown soft in the face of overt persecution. No wonder the Church is in decline here. They rightly understand that, biblically, a life lived in the presence of God will be framed by suffering and persecution. Can the same be said of us? We, who are the modern carriers of this Word of God, do we understand the central place of suffering and persecution in the faith we claim? Or, in light of the freedom that has shaped us, have we written these troubling truths out of our story? Are suffering and persecution essential parts of the story--or are they relics from the past? Western believers today may revolt at the thought, but unless we find our identity as God’s people in the midst of suffering and persecution, we will sadly discover that we have no identity.

Recently, I blogged about the twelve years that our “Friends of the Persecuted Church” prayer and advocacy team has been trying to help our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ by praying, writing letters, sending funds--anything to try and stop, or at least alleviate, the suffering of believers in oppressive countries around the world. This is certainly logical, compassionate, and biblical, isn’t it? One of the articles acknowledged this approach too, stating that many Western-based and well-meaning organizations have developed a protocol for responding to events of persecution: petitioning governments to intercede and stop the persecution, bringing our democratic political perspective and might to bear on the situation, even threatening the persecutors, and calling the Church to pray that persecution might end. Then I read this: “A truly biblical vision would likely respond in a different way.” The author suggests that a biblical vision reminds us that believers should not fear the persecution that is inherent in following Christ. Believers living in the midst of persecution say that when they are rejected by their families, thrown into prison, beaten, and killed for their faith, then that is precisely the time for the global Church to rejoice and give God praise--for His glory is being made known in that moment!

These overt acts of persecution reveal the persecutors’ abject failure to silence the witness, diminish the faith, and slow the Holy Spirit’s arrival in the midst of a resistant culture. The number one cause of persecution is people giving their lives to Jesus. Put another way, the major cause of persecution is refusing to deny others access to this very same Savior! Therefore, we can reduce persecution most easily by reducing the number of those who come to salvation! Is this, perhaps, what we in the Western Church are doing unconsciously, in order to avoid suffering? Salvation and witness inevitably result in persecution for Christian believers. Quite simply, persecution is normal for Christians. This is what a truly biblical missiology looks like.

Another author echoed this perspective. He writes: “More and more I am persuaded from Scripture and from the history of missions that God’s design for the evangelization of the world and the consummation of His purposes includes the suffering of His ministers and missionaries.” “Suffering is part of God’s strategy for making known to the world who Christ is, how He loves, and how much He is worth.” The “voluntary suffering and death (of Jesus) to save others is not only the content but it is also the method of our mission to proclaim the Good News of what He has accomplished.” This is both frightening and encouraging. It frightens us because it is so completely counter to the culture we live in, including our Christian sub-culture here in the West. The idea that a loving Father willing allows--and even designs--that His children suffer and endure persecution for His sake (to make His glory known to all the nations) strikes us as cruel, inconsistent with who God is, even sadistic.

But perhaps this is just one more of those strange, illogical, inexplicable paradoxes that are characteristic of our Christian faith. It can only be rightly grasped from the inside out, looking at the whole issue with eyes of faith, not with the sensitive, emotional, very compassionate and well-meaning eyes of the world. As Christians, we claim: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20) The author continues: “We proclaim the Good News of what He accomplished and we join Him in the Calvary method. We embrace His sufferings for us and we spread the gospel by our suffering with him.” Joseph Tson puts it this way: “I am an extension of Jesus Christ. When I was beaten in Romania, He suffered in my body. It was not my suffering; I only had the honor to share His sufferings.” In other words, when we suffer with Christ in the cause of His mission, we display the way Christ loved the world, and in our own sufferings extend His to the world.

How illogical and contrary this sounds to those who do not see and hear with the eyes and ears of faith!

Finally, in an article entitled “The Other Side of the Cross: Suffering and the Glory of God,” the question is asked: “Did Christ think of me ‘above all’ (as the contemporary worship song goes) while He was on the cross? The Scriptures don’t point us in that direction. Did He think of us on the cross? Yes. Above all? No!”

“Let’s get this straight. There are two sides to the cross. For generations, many in the Church have known only one side...a side that can point to ease, safety, and comfort. But it’s time for the Church to grow up and look at the other side of the cross--the one that points us to suffering. The first side we are all familiar with: Christ died for us. But there is a second side to the cross: Christ died to magnify and vindicate the glory of His Father. This is the side where we are weak and need to grow deep roots.”

Why would Christ’s death be primarily for His Father’s glory? John 12:27-28 gives a clear picture of how Christ primarily viewed his death on the cross. He does not say “Save these people from hell, for they don’t deserve it.” He says “Father, glorify Your name.” Once again, we see that Christ’s primary focus was on His Father’s glory. Why? Because of all the sin that had not been punished and had tarnished the reputation of God. Christ was first and foremost concerned for His Father’s glory. He was saying “Father, I am going to the cross to show how holy, righteous, and just You really are.” This was primary. We were secondary.

This is strange indeed to our American evangelical ears--scandalous, even heretical perhaps. But we must ask ourselves: Isn’t it possible that, in this regard, we have allowed our secular sensitivities to infect our sacred realities with the individualistic, personalized, “well-being” view that permeates our understanding of Christianity? Making it ‘all about us’ rather than ‘all about God’?

This other side of the cross views suffering as first and foremost about the Father’s glory. Since Christ suffered primarily for the Father’s glory, then He has given us an example. We must be willing to suffer for the Father’s glory as well.

So once again, does the Bible call us to suffer? The “Mission Frontiers” answer is unequivocally YES! Jesus foretold us that it is going to happen. As the disciples saw suffering take place in their own lives, they wrote about it to each other, and those letters became part of our Holy Scriptures.

The question to be asked then is this: Why aren’t we suffering?

Answering this question falls into two categories. The first is found in the fact that we--the Body of Christ--are suffering. Just ask our brothers and sisters in Christ in China, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, India, and a multitude of other countries.

They are being beaten, persecuted, tortured, raped, and killed. Just go to the websites of any of the Persecuted Church organizations and read about what our brothers and sisters are going through this very day.

Do we Americans get a “pass” on suffering? Most Christians are “passing” on suffering not because it’s not God’s will for their lives, but because they’ve only viewed one side of the cross. They are living a safe, soft, comfortable life because they think Jesus lives primarily for them ‘above all’. If they were to view the other side of the cross, they would find that Jesus lives primarily for the glory of the Father and suffering is to be part of their lives, though not necessarily the kind of suffering that would make it on The Voice of the Martyrs website. Paul spoke of different levels of suffering, including dishonor, bad reports, sleepless nights, emotional distress, and so forth. Many Christians in America experience this kind of suffering--emotional or “light” physical suffering--in their lives of faith. Though few Americans are involved in “great” physical suffering, many are experiencing suffering on a regular basis.

And finally, here’s something I’ve never considered before: one of the primary reasons why God wants suffering to be part of our lives is that suffering reduces sin in our lives! When I thought about this, and about the times in my life when I’ve experienced the most stress, uncertainty, and suffering, it is true that the weight of these realities kept driving me closer to God, spending my time and energy addressing these issues, rather than getting caught up in more questionable “sinful” thoughts and activities that always come when life is easy, routine, and rather dull and boring.

There was much more detail in “Mission Frontiers” regarding suffering that I’m still chewing on. However, I appreciated the challenging approaches and perspectives that the various authors presented. They seem to be on to something when suffering is connected to the gospel, evangelism, the kingdom of God, and the Body of Christ. It may not answer the perennial question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” but in the context of our faith, these insights were provocative and helpful.

I end with this, from one of the authors: “Discover the other side of the cross. Make the glory of your heavenly Father your highest priority, and live out the reality of Romans 11:36: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.”

(quotes and ideas taken from the January-February 2010 issue of Mission Frontiers - The U.S. Center for World Mission)

2010-01-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

MISSING MIDWINTER!

The Covenant Midwinter Conference, that is (not the snow, cold, ice, frigid temps of the middle of winter...). This year I chose instead to stay home in Hilmar so when the film, “To Save A Life,” opened I could experience it again with the junior guys in my small group. This movie made such an impact on them at CHIC, and when I was filling out my Midwinter registration form, my hand literally froze, preventing me from completing it--and I knew I was supposed to be here and help students process everything that this very honest, graphic movie might bring up for them. It was the right thing to do, and worth it too.

Also, we’re experiencing budget challenges, like churches everywhere these days, and so my decision helped our current financial situation too.

Then, there is the fact that Pastor Bruce is leaving us soon. Just four more weeks! I feel it’s important for me to stick around and be present here at church during these closing days of his ministry at Hilmar Covenant, so that’s another reason why I didn’t dash off to Denver for a week.

But I sure missed not being at the Midwinter! It is always such a great time of renewal, stimulation, challenge, re-connection with people, worship, learning, and encouragement, coming in the middle of the ministry year when pastors and church workers often feel tired, frustrated, disillusioned, even burned out with the many responsibilities and burdens of ministry. The Midwinter is a real shot in the arm, and always helps me get rejuvenated, recharged, and excited again about the important responsibilities that are mine as a full time minister here at Hilmar Covenant.

Praise God for the internet! This made it possible for people at the Conference to share what was happening in Denver all week, and give those of us who could not attend a taste and a summary of the experience. Just reading the reports of each of the speakers’ presentations got me fired up and passionate again about the privilege it is to be a minister of the gospel of Christ.

So for my blog post this week, I am going to give all of you an opportunity to taste the Covenant Midwinter Conference too. I’m going to highlight a few of the points from the messages of the various speakers that were particularly insightful, provocative, and challenging to me, and then attach the link to the message so you can learn more--if your interest is piqued!

FYI, the theme of this year’s Midwinter was “Living Our Affirmations: The Necessity Of New Birth.”
----------
Monday night, January 25
“These four words - Your sins are forgiven - are still the most powerful words on earth.”

“When God’s word is taught passionately, it draws a crowd. This is as true today as it was 2000 years ago. There is no need for flashy technology...or video clips or gimmicks to draw people in; just a bold and passionate presentation of the gospel.”

Four characteristics of good evangelists: 1. a good evangelist’s heart aches for those who don’t know Christ. “In our churches today, we can become so focused on doing our ‘Jesus thing’ that we are not aware of those around us who need Christ.” 2. a good evangelist is willing to break the rules. “Too often in churches today we focus on all the reasons we can’t reach out rather than the reasons we could. Sometimes God does not give us everything we think we need to push us to be innovative...and break some rules.” 3. good evangelists offend Pharisees. “Things that are closest to the heart of God are often most offensive to Pharisees.” (um, that would be US in our churches...) 4. good evangelists change lives.

"Your Sins Are Forgiven"
----------
Tuesday morning, January 26
“There is no cookie cutter approach to individual spiritual growth - it is not something that can be mass-produced, but must be handcrafted for each individual.”

“How do you define a person who is mature in Christ?” Some responses: loving, generous, joyful, humble, forgiving, active, confident, serving.

Three questions: 1. are our churches regularly producing this kind of people? 2. how is your church doing in producing people with these qualities? “On a scale of 1-100, where does your church fit?” A show of hands revealed...most hands falling into the 40-60% range. 3. if at my church we keep doing what we’ve been doing, will it get us to where Paul thought we ought to be? “It’s not about programming. It’s about this gospel gripping real human beings.”

“We give people the wrong gauges to measure spiritual life. The difficulty in gauging spiritual life by the level of spiritual activities is that, in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees would have come out on top! The great challenge for us today is how to gauge in such a way that the Pharisees do not come out on top.”

"Remaining In the Flow"
----------
Tuesday night, January 26
“What about our (Covenant clergy) journeys of transformation? Are we as diligent in caring for our own souls as those that we serve?”

“Within the Christian Church, we tend to view spiritual growth as disengagement from the world instead of engagement with the world. Many Christians are content to measure their spiritual growth by the effort to learn about God, serve in the church, and enjoy their quiet times. Many times discipleship has been redefined as a weekly meeting at Starbucks with a mentor who helps me grown in my understanding of God and how my spirituality facilitates my personal growth. That has nothing to do with the world. Many pastors or Christian leaders do not include evangelism or service as part of the growth and maturation process. As a result, our version of discipleship looks very different from the experiences Jesus introduced to his disciples.”

"Spiritual Growth: More Than Hanging Out With Believers"
----------
Wednesday morning, January 27
“We say we want to follow Jesus, but at the same time we want a map. And then we worship the map because it gives us security. If there were a formula to fix life, certainly Jesus would have told us. He didn’t. Formulas do not offer heart change, only control. The path with Jesus is not a ‘safe’ way.”

“I have grown weary of being handed packets of spiritual formation materials. The ‘rules’ for proper spiritual formation do not fit every situation. If the spiritual practices one is using do not lead to God, then one should feel free to pursue a different path that ultimately leads to God.”

“We need conflict and loss and surrender in our lives. There is nothing like crises to break down our infrastructure and require us to be dependent on God.”

“We cannot hurry transformation. It is not about efficiency. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry.”

“Comparison is one of the deadliest obstacles to our spiritual development. We all have a calling of who God is calling us to be. And you won’t find that in the life of someone else.”

"Formula & Transformation - They Don't Equate"
----------
Wednesday evening, January 27
“Church can be a scary place to go. Many people lack familiarity with the religious trappings that most Christians take for granted.”

“People have special parking places, they have special seats, and they are very friendly--with each other.”

The reality: analysts today are trying to understand why fewer people darken church doors and remain disengaged from traditional religious institutions.

“I know that signing a card or walking forward in a meeting does not a conversion make. Only God knows when it happens.”

“A gospel that has no words is not the gospel. Some things are so complex that it takes words to get them across. The gospel of Jesus Christ is more than words, but never without words. But it also takes works! If it wasn’t important for God to send Jesus to show us his love, he would have sent us a book to read. (citing Haiti) When the early new reports were able to get out to the public, the only people they could interview were missionaries who were there long before the earthquake. They were loving on people before it happenend. And the truth is that when all the governments have ended their aid, the church of Jesus Christ will remain.”

“Wherever people are being saved, and wherever compassion and justice are happening well, the Holy Spirt’s in command. We need to see the miraculous to really believe God is here in this suffering world.”

"A Simple Old Message"
----------

Every year when I return from the Midwinter Conference, I know that the almond trees are getting ready to bloom, my camellia buds are bursting, days are getting longer, and winter is essentially over. This week, I have watched this process with my own eyes, and it is a relief to see the first huge bright red camellia blooming outside my kitchen window right now! May your winter end soon too--wherever you live! And may forgiveness, renewal, transformation, and growth be yours as we move into spring 2010.

2010-01-13T18:09:00.000-08:00

“REMEMBER THE PERSECUTED”

Many of you are aware of the interest and involvement I have had with the issue of Christian persecution around the world. For years, I have coordinated a prayer and advocacy group here at Hilmar Covenant: “Friends Of the Persecuted Church.” These people are activists, shining a light on the terrible things that many of our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ endure in the countries where they live, simply because they love Jesus. Each month, I put together a newsletter with a particular focus (persecuting country, prisoner, issue, etc.), a list of leaders and addresses for writing letters of protest and advocacy, specific situations, people, and updates to pray for, opportunities to support organizations that are addressing Christian persecution, and “FYI” news related to this important issue. Many of you are also aware of the significant relationship we had with two Nigerian and two Filipino Christians who were imprisoned for years in Egypt, raising thousands of dollars to support them and assist them with their daily living and legal needs. I was even able to visit two of these men in Kanater Men’s Prison outside of Cairo when I went to Egypt during my sabbatical in Israel in 2006.

This month, I realized that it has been 12 years since our “Friends Of the Persecuted Church” advocacy group first organized! This is amazing to me; that we have been able to sustain this ministry for this long, and that people continue to be committed to such an intense issue. Often, when people get excited and involved in such difficult, emotional, on-going issues, they burn out after a few years. The disturbing, never-ending, depressing realities become overwhelming and eventually get to people and they can’t take it anymore. A few “FOPC” people have stepped back and removed themselves from our group, but not very many. The on-going commitment and involvement from most of the team is a testimony to their willingness to stand in solidarity with those who never gain relief from persecution either.

The Hilmar Covenant Church “Friends Of the Persecuted Church” truly embody the verse from Hebrews 13: “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” (v. 3)

To acknowledge the consistent commitment and work of our advocacy group, I decided to start this new year with an account of what has occurred these twelve years to inspire and encourage the 23 members of our “FOPC” team. This was the focus of our January 2010 newsletter. I decided it would make for an interesting blog post, so I am making it my entry for this week.

And just maybe, it will challenge, inspire, and encourage some of you out there to join our “FOPC” group too! I already send four envelopes each month to people who do not attend our church, so if you would like to commit to our important work, just send me your address and I will add you to the team.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HILMAR COVENANT CHURCH’S “FRIENDS OF THE PERSECUTED CHURCH”

I first became aware of the issue of Christian persecution through a video in November of 1997: “Shatter the Silence.” It was produced for the second annual “International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church” Sunday, and somehow, I got ahold of a copy. When I viewed it, I was completely stunned, disturbed and outraged. I, like many American Christians, was not aware of the extent of persecution happening to believers around the world. I did not realize that more Christians died for their faith in the 20th century than in all the previous 19 centuries combined, since Christianity first began.

And I never imagined that this issue would become the long-term passion and commitment that it has--not only for me, but for all of you too!

I invited others to view the video on a Sunday evening at church (including some of you who are reading this brief history right now) and several felt the way I did, wanting to take an activist approach to the issue of Christian persecution. In January 1998, I put out a plea for people of Hilmar Covenant to join a “Friends Of the Persecuted Church” prayer and advocacy team, and so our group was born. Our first monthly newsletter came out in March of that year, and the country focus was China.

Our group continues its important ministry today--12 years later! Who can believe that we are still at it, writing and donating, reading, speaking and praying about the persecution of our Christian brothers and sisters all around the world. Many things have happened along the way too:

--we have highlighted Christian persecution every November in worship on “The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church”--sometimes in very creative ways!

--we highlighted Christian persecution for many years in the monthly church newsletter and on the bulletin board before the sanctuary was refurbished.

--we endorsed the “International Religious Freedom Act” that Congress passed in 1998, getting people in the congregation and in town to sign petitions and to call our elected officials in Washington to support the bill (it passed in October of that year!).

--we hung a huge banner, “Remember the Persecuted,” on the front of our church to let everyone traveling on Lander Ave. know about Christian persecution, and we sold bumper stickers for people to put on their cars to bring this issue to people’s attention.

--we got the congregation involved with “Blankets of Love” in 1999 and collected over 100 blankets to send to Sudan.

--our “Friends” group has been featured twice in “The Covenant Companion.”

--Wendy Lawton and I participated in a Pacific Southwest Conference workshop on Christian persecution in 2000.

--several of us attended a “Voice of the Martyrs” day-long regional meeting in Sacramento.

--we did a graphic re-enactment of what persecuted Christians face when soldiers burst into church one Sunday during our worship service, guns drawn, accosting several worshipers, and threatening the congregation, just to give our people a taste of the fear and uncertainty that these Christians live with every day .

--we got connected with Jacob Oky, a Nigerian Christian in prison in Egypt, in 2003. This relationship expanded to include three other Christians in the prison, Martin Emeto, Nestor Tamisen, and Paterno Fabuna. We raised thousands of dollars to help them with their finances, and I was able to see Jacob and Martin face to face when I visited Egypt during my sabbatical in 2006.

--we have donated funds to Persecuted Church organizations for all kinds of needs and causes.

--many of you have given funds and materials to Persecuted Church organizations on my behalf at Christmas.

--we have written all kinds of letters on behalf of persecuted Christians to our national leaders, government leaders around the world, various heads of state, military and law enforcement people, diplomats, and ambassadors asking for an end to persecution, the release of prisoners, for justice on behalf of persecuted believers, and to stop the death penalty from being carried out.

--we have written letters to persecuted Christians to encourage them.

--we have PRAYED!

Through it all, I would like to think that our “Friends Of the Persecuted Church” team has made a difference---an impact--on the lives of many people regarding this issue of persecution. We have spread the word, educated, interceded, encouraged, and supported. Our constant, faithful, intentional attention to Christian persecution has borne much fruit! Though we might not know every person that we have influenced, God is aware of our efforts, and I look forward to the time when He says to each of us: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You remembered those in prison and those who were mistreated (Heb. 13:3).” And then we will see exactly who and how many benefited and were affected by the work of our team.

Thank you for your faithful perseverance in prayer and advocacy on behalf of the Persecuted Church.

2010-01-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! Things have settled down a lot since December 25th, and I have something important to share with you that I've had on my mind for nearly two months. It is very timely too, since the topic is "prayer" and, starting tomorrow, January 3rd, Covenant Prayer Week begins. Let me know what you think...

PERVASIVE OR PERFUNCTORY PRAYER?

In November I was asked to take part in a class for orientation students who are meeting their requirements for Covenant ordination and credentialing. The class focused on the nature and mission of the Church, the state and health of the Church today, and the dynamics and realities the Church is facing in an increasingly pluralistic and secularized society. I was one of two pastors asked to speak about Veritas, a ministry of the Covenant to help in the revitalization of older, established churches in our denomination. The two of us shared how our churches, New LIfe Covenant (formerly First Covenant) San Jose in an urban environment and Hilmar Covenant in a small town setting, are trying to negotiate the new terrain/playing field of real, practical ministry today.

At one point in the class, the facilitator, Alan Forsman, said something that cut deep into my heart. After several hours of teaching, stories, and discussion, which revealed the incredible challenges facing the Church in the West today, Alan suggested that the crux of these problems and challenges is prayer--or more specifically, the LACK of prayer--in the life of churches and Christians today. He said something to the effect: “Are we practicing pervasive or perfunctory prayer today?” From all of his travels, interaction with dozens of churches, discussions with pastors, church staff, lay persons, councils, many experiences with how Christianity is expressed throughout the U.S. and Canada, Alan came to the conclusion that the dilemmas so many congregations find themselves in these days are the result of the lack of deep, vibrant, pervasive prayer.

Wow! And OUCH! As the impact of this settled into my being, it became very clear to me that Alan had hit the nail on the head, speaking profound veritas (truth) to all of us gathered in that fireside room of Mission Springs.

I think it especially resonated with me because one of the areas of ministry for which I am responsible here at Hilmar Covenant is prayer. Since returning from my sabbatical in 2006, I have been developing and deepening this essential, spiritual component of our church life. As I have sought ways to lift up prayer, teach about prayer, engage the congregation in prayer, open up the richness and reality of the power of prayer, and so forth, I have heard many comments, perspectives, responses, and interesting excuses regarding prayer. Bottom line: it has made me wonder about the importance--and pervasive place--of prayer in the life of our congregation as a whole.

I say this because of the numerous comments people have made to me when talking about prayer: “I can’t sit still,” “My mind continually wanders,” “I have a difficult time focusing,” “I can’t concentrate,” “It’s hard,” “It’s boring,” etc. and more. (Again, let me be clear: I said “our congregation as a whole!” Of course there are people in churches everywhere for whom prayer is pervasive, dynamic, central to their daily walk with the Lord, and a living reality in their lives.) When we have included extended times of silence during our worship services for personal prayer, confession, intercession, and meditation, there are always people who make it quite clear that the quiet time was too long and, by implication, an ineffective or not-very-meaningful part of the service. And when I ask people about the “Morning Prayer” offered by the pastor each week on behalf of the congregation, you should hear what they tell me is really going through their minds!

As I pondered Alan’s statement, I wondered: Do Christians in our churches today even know how to pray? I don’t say this as a criticism or judgment either, because I am a relative newcomer to discovering the incredible, alive, engaging, supernatural power and reality of prayer. But how many of us just settle for quick prayers, formal prayers, self-centered prayers, safety prayers, or prayers only spoken by someone else? How many of us only utilize prayer as a last resort, or as something we do at the end of our busy days when everything else we want and need to do is accomplished and, hopefully, we won’t fall asleep in the middle of doing!? This is “perfunctory” prayer, and if this, indeed, is the kind of prayer most Christians engage in today, or more tragically, is the only kind of prayer Christians know how to do, it is no wonder that congregations everywhere are struggling. It means that churches have no dynamic strength, no muscle, no kinetic force to address the pressures and realities that Christian faith is facing today.

Often in conversations about prayer, people counter with evidence that they do, indeed, practice pervasive prayer: “I talk to God when I’m driving,” “I listen to Christian music and praise God as I’m studying/exercising/cleaning house...” “I commune with God when I’m out in nature,” “I talk to God all day long,” “You don’t have to fold your hands, close your eyes and bow your head to pray,” “Prayer can happen anywhere, anytime,” “All of life is supposed to be prayer to God.” These are just a few examples I’ve heard that people believe are evidence of a strong prayer life. I confess that, in years past, I have also said similar things to support the idea that I was a praying man. There is an element of truth to these descriptions and definitions of what constitutes prayer too. Prayer is BIG! Multidimensional and multifaceted. Every one of these and other, wider perspectives of prayer can be embraced and should be developed and exercised.

But you know what? They are also a pile of excuses! Ways of getting around the essential ingredient of a relationship with the God of the universe: focused, uninterrupted, conscious time together with the Lord of All. Extended, heartfelt, pervasive prayer that has depth and weight and substance to it. This is a requirement for any meaningful relationship, for unless two individuals give specific, intentional time and attention to one another, the relationship will only be a thin, weak, gratuitous, tenuous one at best.

I like to compare our relationship to God with that of a husband and wife. Consider a couple who say they love each other, say “I do” to one another, and set out in life together. But what if they simply live in the same house, sleep in the same bed, eat dinner at the same table, drive around in the same car, think about the other person, perhaps, and occasionally send off a quick text or e-mail message, sometimes even sharing the same space with one another, but never end up being together? Never truly connecting, never giving themselves to one another with focused intentionality, never completely present for the other, never communicating, expressing emotion, responding to the other, helping and supporting one another in such a way that each can know the other in the profound, deeply intimate, indescribable way that only married couples experience together? It goes without saying that this kind of attitude and behavior in a marriage would provide nothing substantial for a rich, intimate relationship to develop.

This is why those other ideas I mentioned about prayer (while driving, being in nature, etc.) are really excuses--even hindrances--to settling down and giving total concentration to God, and God alone. At first glance, they appear to be pervasive, ongoing, quite pious and sincere, but they only slide along on the surface of life. They are only like the table of contents of a book. In reality, they are perfunctory prayer; prayer that accompanies us throughout the day, along with everything else we are doing and thinking and enjoying and getting stressed about. Those attitudes and practices of prayer do not descend to a deep, engaging connection with God in prayer that only comes with intentional, focused time and attention with our Lord. With Alan Forsman, I agree that it is this aspect, quality, and practice of prayer--pervasive prayer--that is so desperately needed in our churches today. It is also more difficult than ever to discover and do, because we are part of a society attuned to and plagued by constant activity, busy-ness, distractions, multitasking, and the like. Many of us who are followers of Christ no longer know that rich, deep place of profound intimacy with our Lord that takes time to nurture, strengthen, and discover.

So how can we who claim to love God, follow Jesus, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit once again mine the riches of pervasive prayer? What can inspire us, motivate us, open our eyes and hearts to something we seem to have lost touch with in so many churches today? (Ex: offer a program, activity, meal, or social opportunity and watch people turn out in droves--but “come to a prayer meeting” and see how many show up...) This kind of prayer is tough! It is arduous, time-consuming, not easily learned in a book or a workshop claiming “Five Steps to Pervasive Prayer.” It must be sought after, like that “pearl of great price” we read about in Scripture. It must be a “desire of the heart,” and practiced regularly, habitually, with the same commitment, passion, and desire for excellence that superb musicians, athletes, artists, writers, doctors, teachers, and others give to their area of expertise. Here are some things here at Hilmar Covenant that can help you exercise your “pervasive prayer” muscles:

•come to the prayer corner in the chapel after worship on Sundays, to receive prayer--or volunteer to be one who prays with those who come with their requests.

•utilize the prayer request cards to express your praises, needs, concerns, etc.

•ask for prayer and anointing from the team of people who offer this specialized aspect of prayer ministry (Bill & Carolyn Ahlem, Art DeRooy, and myself, as well as Pastor Bruce and Marvin).

•find a prayer partner--someone you know and trust who would be willing to dig deeper with you into prayer--and become part of the prayer team ministry.

•commit to practicing pervasive prayer in the coming year. Make it a priority. Give it as much time and attention as you give to TV, hobbies, recreation, sports, and eating! Make it a habit. (Habits don’t come easily, but repeat the same behavior over and over again and gradually a new habit will be formed.)

•begin to (gulp!) pray out loud--and then (panic!) offer to pray during Sunday worship in church! As with anything else that is hard and frightening in life, we only overcome it as we practice whatever is difficult and seemingly beyond what we think possible.

•most importantly, and before you can even put any of these suggestions into practice with energy, desire and intent, pray and ask that God would give you a desire for pervasive prayer. Ask the Lord to give you ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart attuned to what this kind of prayer is all about.

If this is what you earnestly seek, I pray that you will receive a similar epiphany that I had, back when the reality, power, and beauty of prayer finally came alive for me. Suddenly, my relationship with God took on new, more brilliant color and light and a freshness I hadn’t known before, compared to the more muted tones that seemed to characterize my faith before I awoke to the magnificent world of deep, rich, intimate pervasive prayer.

This week, January 3-9, is the annual “Covenant Week of Prayer.” I hope what I have written and suggested in this blog post will intrigue you, excite you, and challenge you to begin a new journey in your prayer life along with other Covenanters across the globe. Let me end with these words from the daily devotional on prayer that I continue to use, year after year. The author is Nick Harrison:

As we learn and put into practice the kind of prayer that God hears--magnificent prayer--I believe we’ll see answers to our prayers daily as we turn our hearts boldly toward God who is eager to hear from us---and anxious to answer. As Billy Graham has noted, heaven is full of answers to prayers that nobody has bothered to pray.

Church: let’s bother to pray. It’s time to return to persistent, pervasive, powerful praying.

2009-12-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

IT'S ADVENT!

I hope you are having a quiet, reflective, meaning-filled Advent season as we move toward the celebration of Christ's birth once again this Christmas...

When in reality you are probably running here and there, attending services and concerts and special presentations, going to parties and shopping and baking and writing Christmas cards and...on and on and on.

I thought that, after "A Living Nativity," I would have time to post a new blog, but it hasn't worked out--sorry! I have a good one coming up too; it has to do with prayer. So since the first week of January is "Prayer Week" in the Covenant, I think I'll just wait until then to share my thoughts with you. Can you wait that long?

And in the meantime, I'm making Heavenly Hot Fudge and English toffee and pepper nuts and dipping pretzels and baking loaf after loaf of Swedish cardamom bread and trying to finish my annual Christmas epistle--

And looking forward to next Monday, when I will celebrate my 3000th time at "Fit 'n Free" aerobics! If you're in the area, come to the party at about 9:30 a.m. Or better yet, come and work out with us at 8:15. There's no better way to work off those extra holiday calories!

Merry Christmas everyone.