Jesus stated his purpose clearly to those who questioned his motives. "I have come that all may have life and that this life will be abundant." This powerful statement came with heavy hitting, but simple, statements like, "See, I am am making all things new." If you're anything like me you marvel at statements such as these. In so few word the power of the gospel and the encompassing view of Christ's mission on earth seem to be neatly packed into small space with potential for explosive repercussions like nitroglycerin in a little red stick of dynamite. They are a driving power for God's purpose and plan for His people and his world.
We are great at taking these statements metaphorically with eyes and minds of romance and find endlessly deep meaning for the future perspective of our souls. It is a wonderful thing to grasp the hope of salvation for its immeasurable value as our prospects of eternity find unending glory. We are to live forever in the presence of Christ and to be in complete fellowship with Him until unending days. We are wonderful at hoping for that and dreaming for that day.
But, though we are well acquainted with the abundance of eternity, we fail to see the scope of eternity. Moreover, we fail to grasp what it means to live in light of the abundance of Christ. We are need machines in a cycle of endless desire. Our media, our fashion, our recreation and even our arts reflect an incessant need for more; it is like salt water poured down the throat of a dehydrated generation. When we achieve our goal of the new Ipod, the new car, the bigger house or the cute tank top at the Gap, there is always something else ready to takes its place the very instant it reaches the hands of the customer.
It is not only monetarily, but socially that we live this way as well. We are bored ,often times, regardless of th 24 hour video store, bowling alley down the street, movie theater just in town, the restaurant on the corner or the t.v. in our living rooms. Vacation is never long enough and once we get done with vacation we can't wait until the next. We sit and stare at each other wondering who is going to do something interesting to blow wind in the sails of our dormant ship of life.
Our situation, however, is not new or specifically exclusive to our American Society or even to our time. God brought Israel out of Egypt with a promise of an abundant land and a place they could call home after hundreds of years in slavery and imprisonment under a tyrannical leader. God promised his provision and his abundance to a people and then led them into the desert. I think it is significant to note this very progression of events because it indicates something about the promises of God; often times they are made to be a hope that carries us through. They were forced, after this promise, to wander the desert until a whole generation of faithlessness died off in their midst. Simply put, their forefathers did not trust the abundance of God and made their physical reality their God; they relied on their wealth (in this case a golden calf) to be a source of solidarity and a physical representation of abundance rather than God.
Yet God gave them food, clothing, and shelter for forty years in the a place that embodies scarcity. God then led them to a land overflowing with abundance and promised in Isaiah 59:9 that he would make a new covenant with His people that restored the scarcity into abundance in a way that his flock would feed on the side of the road and the streams would flow with fresh water.
We live in a place where those who surround us have no shepherd and no promise of abundance. They are aimless in the frantic pursuit of their scarcity; they see no food or drink; they have no hope. But we live in the promises of God in this very moment and the Holy Spirit has become an abundant promise of what is to come. That means that our eternity and our abundance are not reliant on what is seen and the situations that we encounter. We have a choice to accept or reject daily the abundance of Christ in our lives. The shepherd has promised not only to lead us to a promised life, but to make that which seems barren abundant.
So what are we to become and how are we to react when life seems scarce or when we feel that we are at risk of scarcity? Do we build idols that temporarily reassure our abundance; do we trust in earthly things as our gods and suffer the wrath of a jealous God?
Do we decide that God is enough and everything he has promised is better than the desert of promises the world makes? We must decide right now and each day because our witness is determined by how much we believe, trust, and hope in the promises of God in a way that affects our current situations. We live in a land that looks and feels like desert, but it is merely a shroud of deception. Look deeper past the disguise. Find abundance and dwell there.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Mission Part 3: Natural Ministry
Have you ever been to a farm? Chances are, because we are living in Indiana, that you have, at least once, been to a corn field. I often marvel at the achievements of technology in producing millions of ears of corn all planted in uniformity as if to be an army at attention. Farming has become a science based on strategies developed from the industrial revolution: produce mass quantities of product (in this case food) with efficiency in cost and time. It is a commonly accepted practice among farmers. In order to achieve this efficiency, chemicals are added to the soil and the plants that, in nature, are unavailable in those quantities to protect and nourish the plants. It is a very effective way for man to control the environment to produce the results desired: mass quantity.
However, our need to deal in such volume has led us to subject our bodies to chemicals that can and do harm our health to some affect. This is because, in order to get the results we need or want, we necessarily manipulate the natural in order to achieve success agriculturally.
Now, have you ever come upon fruit growing in the wild? Maybe a strawberry bush or bananas on a tree during vacation. For me it was the blackberry bush growing in front of our house when I was a child. We would put on over-sized leather gloves and carefully wiggle each of the berries off the stem, all the while avoiding the thorny bush they grew in. I remember them being sweet and full of flavor. We never watered or fertilized these thorny clumps in our front yard, but every year they came back. They just grew naturally in an environment that provided the means for growth.
Our church is a church where wild things flourish and have roots planted. I am not bragging, nor am I chastising our church. Rather, I am making a plain statement about our growth. We are not always organized and the ministry that happens within our people is anything but uniform. What we have realized in our efforts in ministry prior to this church is that building big buildings, large ministries and having huge groups of people happens in the right environment. There are environmental factors that contribute to the natural growth of a church in its ministries, size, and capacities.
Unfortunately, people visit churches like this and go away thinking that God's undeniable plan is to grow a church where a million people are all part of it and they have huge stadium sized sanctuaries where the pastor's face is plastered on a jumbo-tron. Don't get me wrong; I'm not poking fun or devaluing these ministries. But we have encountered many people who take something they see naturally and spend countless hours fertilizing, buying fancy equipment and introducing toxic chemicals into their ministry that end up doing more harm in the end than good. We have seminars, retreats, and books to tell us how to cultivate ministry, but in the end it can be something born of man that has no place in heaven or in God's ministry.
Other than the obvious side effects of trying to manufacture ministry for the masses in a numbers driven church society, we also run the risk of wearing our people out by toiling for something that can and will be taken care of naturally by God. This requires a humble admission of our weakness and inability to minister beyond that weakness. It also requires that people be patient with the growth of a church and see it more qualitatively than quantitatively. Ministry done naturally by God requires that it be done with His timing in mind.
Psalm 1 talks about the blessing of being planted in the word of God because man becomes like a tree near water that always flourishes. We believe that, if we uphold our previously mentioned value of teaching and living in the word, in time (in God's time) we will bear fruit that has significance in eternity.
This value of natural ministry need not be as messy as we sometimes are, and I admit on behalf of our local church that this loosely organized structure for ministry does not fair well for right brained thinkers who need a two page itinerary of minutes for each Sunday Morning gathering. We validate that God uses these people and their minds to do ministry. However, it would seem that God continually sends us people who are burnt out and weak from the poison of man-made ministry who have had guilt heaped on them for not buying into striving and toiling in ministry.
Simply put, God wants ministry more than we do: He has a deeper love for His people than we do and definitely knows perfectly how to grow His people into an intimate relationship with him. Our job in ministering, then, becomes a process of searching out what God is naturally growing in people and doing our best to release people into being bearers of fruit.
Have you ever been to a farm? Chances are, because we are living in Indiana, that you have, at least once, been to a corn field. I often marvel at the achievements of technology in producing millions of ears of corn all planted in uniformity as if to be an army at attention. Farming has become a science based on strategies developed from the industrial revolution: produce mass quantities of product (in this case food) with efficiency in cost and time. It is a commonly accepted practice among farmers. In order to achieve this efficiency, chemicals are added to the soil and the plants that, in nature, are unavailable in those quantities to protect and nourish the plants. It is a very effective way for man to control the environment to produce the results desired: mass quantity.
However, our need to deal in such volume has led us to subject our bodies to chemicals that can and do harm our health to some affect. This is because, in order to get the results we need or want, we necessarily manipulate the natural in order to achieve success agriculturally.
Now, have you ever come upon fruit growing in the wild? Maybe a strawberry bush or bananas on a tree during vacation. For me it was the blackberry bush growing in front of our house when I was a child. We would put on over-sized leather gloves and carefully wiggle each of the berries off the stem, all the while avoiding the thorny bush they grew in. I remember them being sweet and full of flavor. We never watered or fertilized these thorny clumps in our front yard, but every year they came back. They just grew naturally in an environment that provided the means for growth.
Our church is a church where wild things flourish and have roots planted. I am not bragging, nor am I chastising our church. Rather, I am making a plain statement about our growth. We are not always organized and the ministry that happens within our people is anything but uniform. What we have realized in our efforts in ministry prior to this church is that building big buildings, large ministries and having huge groups of people happens in the right environment. There are environmental factors that contribute to the natural growth of a church in its ministries, size, and capacities.
Unfortunately, people visit churches like this and go away thinking that God's undeniable plan is to grow a church where a million people are all part of it and they have huge stadium sized sanctuaries where the pastor's face is plastered on a jumbo-tron. Don't get me wrong; I'm not poking fun or devaluing these ministries. But we have encountered many people who take something they see naturally and spend countless hours fertilizing, buying fancy equipment and introducing toxic chemicals into their ministry that end up doing more harm in the end than good. We have seminars, retreats, and books to tell us how to cultivate ministry, but in the end it can be something born of man that has no place in heaven or in God's ministry.
Other than the obvious side effects of trying to manufacture ministry for the masses in a numbers driven church society, we also run the risk of wearing our people out by toiling for something that can and will be taken care of naturally by God. This requires a humble admission of our weakness and inability to minister beyond that weakness. It also requires that people be patient with the growth of a church and see it more qualitatively than quantitatively. Ministry done naturally by God requires that it be done with His timing in mind.
Psalm 1 talks about the blessing of being planted in the word of God because man becomes like a tree near water that always flourishes. We believe that, if we uphold our previously mentioned value of teaching and living in the word, in time (in God's time) we will bear fruit that has significance in eternity.
This value of natural ministry need not be as messy as we sometimes are, and I admit on behalf of our local church that this loosely organized structure for ministry does not fair well for right brained thinkers who need a two page itinerary of minutes for each Sunday Morning gathering. We validate that God uses these people and their minds to do ministry. However, it would seem that God continually sends us people who are burnt out and weak from the poison of man-made ministry who have had guilt heaped on them for not buying into striving and toiling in ministry.
Simply put, God wants ministry more than we do: He has a deeper love for His people than we do and definitely knows perfectly how to grow His people into an intimate relationship with him. Our job in ministering, then, becomes a process of searching out what God is naturally growing in people and doing our best to release people into being bearers of fruit.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Mission Part 2: People First
Church for the past twenty years has been slicker than a ten gallon bucket of pig fat. Bright lights, hot music and relevant teaching have been the norm for most baby boomers, and for right reason. The boomer church is focused on excellence in tangible form and has attracted many people to the faith through practical teaching, great songs and flashy media (hooray for Powerpoint). This, however, has been something our church has deviated from.
Let me make clear early on that our church, is by no means (nor should it be), a reaction to the disenfranchisement we feel about the previous generations way of doing things. It is a shame that we have devalued the work of God in churches to draw people to Him simply because it doesn't fit our paradigm for life or ministry. We do not want to undermine the Spirit's work in the previous generations due to our lack of common stance on how ministry materializes.
Ministry has formed in our church based on promises from God. One of the clear promises for the movement of churches we are linked to has become a sort of mantra for the way we operate in ministry; God wants it worse than we do. It has come as no shock, but in clear revelation, that God has a deeper love and passion for His people than we ever could. This means that He has the best plan for drawing people to Him and developing them.
Many of our pastors learned this truth the hard way. In fact, after years of what many would call very successful ministry, the lead Pastor of Exit 59, Darren Campbell was completely burnt out. He realized that recruiting people to ministry on his own strength meant maintaining their development in that same strength. It is the story of human weakness and self-centered thinking applied in ministry; the false assumption that he, rather that we, are strong enough to take care of ministry. Darren as well as me and many others have been clearly called out of this "Laodecia" mentality where we rely on gifting or personality to draw people when the most attractive and the only eternal thing we can give them is Christ.
In light of that, we cheer for the B team and they are the champions of our church. There is no Spiritual gifts testing, no auditions and no delineation between those who are "good enough" to serve on Sunday mornings and those who are not. We believe firmly that God calls people to our church (our community of people) to grow in their life by being used on Sunday mornings and beyond. We have music, arts, coffee, teaching and preaching all done by lay people without degrees, title or salary; they are the gold of our church. They are who we are; young people who may not be fully developed, fully knowledgeable, or even fully certain, but they are the people who God has sent. It is in our youth, our weakness, and our childlike dependence that God's name is known for it's greatness because He reaches beyond what we possess in and of ourselves to speak eternally on behalf of His kingdom.
Though we do have people "on staff" at our church, both necessity and practicality have brought us to all be part time (some with no pay). This has also paved way for a unique partnership between business and ministry. This is not to say that we view ministry as business, but that we all have jobs outside of the church that take us into the world daily and expand our world view along with creating opportunities to integrate our faith into what most people would call the daily grind. Though it is not for everyone, we do encourage those who are torn between a calling to ministry and a call to business/service outside full time ministry to experience a marriage of the two.
The byproduct of laity in charge of church is messiness; it's not slick or smooth; sometimes it's downright disastrous. However, if our value is people over production and development over professionalism, then we have no choice but to let everyone on team. In any sport or business this would mean the demise of success and/or profitability, but it's not business to us; it's family. Therefore, if people are the church and the church is to be the body of Christ, we must take care to see that all parts find their usefulness and operate in their place so that the mind and Spirit of Christ becomes an agent of change not just for those who come on Sunday mornings into our crowded little space, but to those who neither know nor fear God that we may become the change that brings His Kingdom.
Let me make clear early on that our church, is by no means (nor should it be), a reaction to the disenfranchisement we feel about the previous generations way of doing things. It is a shame that we have devalued the work of God in churches to draw people to Him simply because it doesn't fit our paradigm for life or ministry. We do not want to undermine the Spirit's work in the previous generations due to our lack of common stance on how ministry materializes.
Ministry has formed in our church based on promises from God. One of the clear promises for the movement of churches we are linked to has become a sort of mantra for the way we operate in ministry; God wants it worse than we do. It has come as no shock, but in clear revelation, that God has a deeper love and passion for His people than we ever could. This means that He has the best plan for drawing people to Him and developing them.
Many of our pastors learned this truth the hard way. In fact, after years of what many would call very successful ministry, the lead Pastor of Exit 59, Darren Campbell was completely burnt out. He realized that recruiting people to ministry on his own strength meant maintaining their development in that same strength. It is the story of human weakness and self-centered thinking applied in ministry; the false assumption that he, rather that we, are strong enough to take care of ministry. Darren as well as me and many others have been clearly called out of this "Laodecia" mentality where we rely on gifting or personality to draw people when the most attractive and the only eternal thing we can give them is Christ.
In light of that, we cheer for the B team and they are the champions of our church. There is no Spiritual gifts testing, no auditions and no delineation between those who are "good enough" to serve on Sunday mornings and those who are not. We believe firmly that God calls people to our church (our community of people) to grow in their life by being used on Sunday mornings and beyond. We have music, arts, coffee, teaching and preaching all done by lay people without degrees, title or salary; they are the gold of our church. They are who we are; young people who may not be fully developed, fully knowledgeable, or even fully certain, but they are the people who God has sent. It is in our youth, our weakness, and our childlike dependence that God's name is known for it's greatness because He reaches beyond what we possess in and of ourselves to speak eternally on behalf of His kingdom.
Though we do have people "on staff" at our church, both necessity and practicality have brought us to all be part time (some with no pay). This has also paved way for a unique partnership between business and ministry. This is not to say that we view ministry as business, but that we all have jobs outside of the church that take us into the world daily and expand our world view along with creating opportunities to integrate our faith into what most people would call the daily grind. Though it is not for everyone, we do encourage those who are torn between a calling to ministry and a call to business/service outside full time ministry to experience a marriage of the two.
The byproduct of laity in charge of church is messiness; it's not slick or smooth; sometimes it's downright disastrous. However, if our value is people over production and development over professionalism, then we have no choice but to let everyone on team. In any sport or business this would mean the demise of success and/or profitability, but it's not business to us; it's family. Therefore, if people are the church and the church is to be the body of Christ, we must take care to see that all parts find their usefulness and operate in their place so that the mind and Spirit of Christ becomes an agent of change not just for those who come on Sunday mornings into our crowded little space, but to those who neither know nor fear God that we may become the change that brings His Kingdom.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Mission Part 1: Inductive Teaching
Mission. It's a word that gets thrown around in church life very flippantly. Nevertheless its implication is the source or driving point for what course a church takes. What a church values and integrates into their life is often a result of a statement of mission. Churches for centuries have taken on certain causes and crusaded over the statements made and values implied, and it has been done with mixed result.
I'll be brutally honest about things that I care and don't care for in the church, but let me clarify one thing before I proceed: when I speak of the church I do not speak of the "institution" or even "religion"; I speak of the people. The common misappropriation of this term leads to finger pointing and, at the same time, a lack of responsibility for actions taken and statements made on behalf of the "church", but I digress.
When I think of mission I think of carefully crafted and refined statements commonly written under the name of any said church that attempts to cram all of its doctrinal beliefs into one neat, tidy phrase/sentence/mantra. I don't care for the church's tendency to want to neatly fit all of their beliefs into one succinct statement. I feel that the deep things of God change in our minds as we change. This is not to say that there are not concretes or unchangeable dogmatic beliefs that we adhere to. Rather, it is the realization that we are weak and so are our minds. This is why God stoops to our weakness in grace to reveal what he's always said since before time and show us in a way we understand.
That being said, I want to speak to a value we hold as people who come together in community. This is the commitment to preach and teach through passages of the Bible rather than preach and teach topically. It's a point of interest among our people and many have shared that they deeply value this approach to Scripture. Why, though, do we hold this as a driving point for our ministry?
1.Context- The Bible was not written last week and it wasn't written in Gas City. We want to be mindful of where the text is coming from culturally, religiously, socially and, in many cases, what church body the text addresses. It is a shortcoming of some pastors to read their context exclusively into the text because it risks isolating the text from it's meaning to accomplish personal conviction or agenda. While we believe that topical preaching can be and is healthy, we have concluded that it is safer for our pastors and people to hear the first word. It can be commonly agreed upon, however, that a return to original context does not isolate it from the issues of today's society and our current context. Because the Word is Spirit-breathed, it is able to convict, encourage, and teach today.
2. Unity- With the unique setup of our church movement, it has been beneficial for all of our pastors to come together weekly and study the Word together. This not only unifies the direction of all of the church bodies that form the Movement of Alliance Communities, but it also provides accountability to the text. All pastors are forced to answer to the voice of the group concerning their understanding and application of the text. Therefore, there is less tendency to speak something into the text that is not there or ramp off into territory that the Scripture is not addressing. Because, up to this point, all of the pastors live in relatively close vicinity to one another, all of the pastors share the accountability that both the word and the community of pastors provides.
Moreover, the blessing of teaching and studying in the context of a community of pastors provides a more complete understanding of the Scriptures as opposed to what one might derive from their studies alone. Because of the diverse range in age, life position and vocation (most pastors are bi-vocational), each person has unique perspective that balances and completes. Those involved in group study are not constricted by their own perspectives and have a unique opportunity to draw from a well of insight larger than what is contained by their own knowledge or wisdom. It helps dreamers see the practical and a-types gain vision; it helps those focused on spiritual to see the tangible and concrete and vice versa. All in all, it is a valuable resource in expanding personal views on the impact of the Kingdom and Scriptures part in restoring it.
3. Common Ground- Worship gatherings can easily become a part of duty or task in any person's life, but college students are especially prone to this given their long lists of mental obligations. Teaching through text and through books of the Bible gives students and others all an opportunity to spend time in the text before it is preached in small groups, after the sermon in post-script discussion, or in individual devotion. Our belief is that the opportunity for our people to live in the Word as we study it together. It brings our minds and hearts to a common place.
Though there is more to be talked about in the way of teaching through Scripture, these are a few of the major reasons we teach in such a fashion. The word is living an active; the Word is Christ and the center of Christ's ministry was restoration. That very word is at work bringing to fruition the very purposes of God. We value and revere the power of the Word to do only what God can do and has always done; making things new.
I'll be brutally honest about things that I care and don't care for in the church, but let me clarify one thing before I proceed: when I speak of the church I do not speak of the "institution" or even "religion"; I speak of the people. The common misappropriation of this term leads to finger pointing and, at the same time, a lack of responsibility for actions taken and statements made on behalf of the "church", but I digress.
When I think of mission I think of carefully crafted and refined statements commonly written under the name of any said church that attempts to cram all of its doctrinal beliefs into one neat, tidy phrase/sentence/mantra. I don't care for the church's tendency to want to neatly fit all of their beliefs into one succinct statement. I feel that the deep things of God change in our minds as we change. This is not to say that there are not concretes or unchangeable dogmatic beliefs that we adhere to. Rather, it is the realization that we are weak and so are our minds. This is why God stoops to our weakness in grace to reveal what he's always said since before time and show us in a way we understand.
That being said, I want to speak to a value we hold as people who come together in community. This is the commitment to preach and teach through passages of the Bible rather than preach and teach topically. It's a point of interest among our people and many have shared that they deeply value this approach to Scripture. Why, though, do we hold this as a driving point for our ministry?
1.Context- The Bible was not written last week and it wasn't written in Gas City. We want to be mindful of where the text is coming from culturally, religiously, socially and, in many cases, what church body the text addresses. It is a shortcoming of some pastors to read their context exclusively into the text because it risks isolating the text from it's meaning to accomplish personal conviction or agenda. While we believe that topical preaching can be and is healthy, we have concluded that it is safer for our pastors and people to hear the first word. It can be commonly agreed upon, however, that a return to original context does not isolate it from the issues of today's society and our current context. Because the Word is Spirit-breathed, it is able to convict, encourage, and teach today.
2. Unity- With the unique setup of our church movement, it has been beneficial for all of our pastors to come together weekly and study the Word together. This not only unifies the direction of all of the church bodies that form the Movement of Alliance Communities, but it also provides accountability to the text. All pastors are forced to answer to the voice of the group concerning their understanding and application of the text. Therefore, there is less tendency to speak something into the text that is not there or ramp off into territory that the Scripture is not addressing. Because, up to this point, all of the pastors live in relatively close vicinity to one another, all of the pastors share the accountability that both the word and the community of pastors provides.
Moreover, the blessing of teaching and studying in the context of a community of pastors provides a more complete understanding of the Scriptures as opposed to what one might derive from their studies alone. Because of the diverse range in age, life position and vocation (most pastors are bi-vocational), each person has unique perspective that balances and completes. Those involved in group study are not constricted by their own perspectives and have a unique opportunity to draw from a well of insight larger than what is contained by their own knowledge or wisdom. It helps dreamers see the practical and a-types gain vision; it helps those focused on spiritual to see the tangible and concrete and vice versa. All in all, it is a valuable resource in expanding personal views on the impact of the Kingdom and Scriptures part in restoring it.
3. Common Ground- Worship gatherings can easily become a part of duty or task in any person's life, but college students are especially prone to this given their long lists of mental obligations. Teaching through text and through books of the Bible gives students and others all an opportunity to spend time in the text before it is preached in small groups, after the sermon in post-script discussion, or in individual devotion. Our belief is that the opportunity for our people to live in the Word as we study it together. It brings our minds and hearts to a common place.
Though there is more to be talked about in the way of teaching through Scripture, these are a few of the major reasons we teach in such a fashion. The word is living an active; the Word is Christ and the center of Christ's ministry was restoration. That very word is at work bringing to fruition the very purposes of God. We value and revere the power of the Word to do only what God can do and has always done; making things new.
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