Kingdom Come!

So what exactly was the NoBrand NonConference Retreat?

That’s hard to say.  Really. (One guy said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to come because he always thought of retreats - even mens retreats - as being kinda “girly.”  But he ended up saying this one was far from “girly.”)

Last year, I felt the Lord wanted me to spend some time with men this year, pouring into their lives in some way.  I endeavored to meet with younger guys and renew relationships with guys with some sort of history with me.  We have relationships from pre-JoyFull Ministries, days of ministry on college campuses, ministry overseas and now ministry with Globe and IGM.

After issuing about twenty-five invitations to friends, mentorees and colleagues from thirty years of ministry, we had a gathering of four guys and me at Beckwith Conference Center in Fairhope, Alabama .  These four guys – Casey, Eric, Ken and Jim – represented a history and revolving relationship with Phyllis and me of eighteen years to six months. 

The plan was to have a laid-back low agenda time with God.  We all wanted to hear His Voice and come away with a better sense of His Plan for our lives.

Arriving at Beckwith on Thursday evening, we spent time chatting and exchanging stories.   Casey brought Phyllis from Valdosta to Pensacola and we rode together to the conference grounds about an hour west.  We ate dinner together, then we watched the Globe BootCamp AOTW video   I’d not planned to do this but Jim was late arriving and the other guys wanted to see it.

Friday morning following breakfast, we spent time dwelling in the Word.  I taught about lectio divina and everyone scattered to different corners of beautiful Beckwith for an hour to read from Luke 10:1-24 and listen to God.  We then returned to discuss the “shimmering verses” that the Lord illumined to each of us.

Somehow, I’d pulled or aggravated an existing problem in my left shoulder.  The pain was excruciating but it came and went and was not (thankfully) constant, but it necessitated my resting often and not doing a lot physically.  Ice bags helped!  And prayer.  (In fact, by the time we left on Sunday morning, I was pretty much healed and pain-free.)

We spent a lot of time talking, exchanging stories and looking at Romans chapters 6-8 as well as deeply reading Luke 10.  We talked about church and missions and being missional in our approach.  We talked about being fathers and husbands and just being men of God.  We talked about losing our religious outlooks and taking on a real spirituality of grace.  I told stories of Africa and the Middle East and ministry successes and business failures and frustrations.

We watched a Brian Regan video and laughed a lot.

Saturday afternoon a couple of the guys went out in canoes.  I writhed in pain most of the afternoon, but then when we prayed again for healing – it came and the pain was gone.

And we agreed to begin – however we can in our own worlds and spheres of influence – BELLS.  We’ll see where that goes and how it happens.  I expect to hear a lot in the next few days and weeks.

We were all making great adjustments:

• Me, coming back from living outside the USA … developing the whole Globe training thing…
• Jim, working as a substitute teacher and looking to do a major mission trip this summer as well as get certified to teach rather than sub…
• Casey, changing churches because of conviction and expanding his work in many areas…
• Eric, resetting his defaults to take more risks in faith,,,
• Ken, looking at how he can move more in missions… 

We talked about doing another one of these in maybe October and expanding it to include another circle of friends and relationships.

We’ll see…

Fred Paetross does an interview with Alan Hirsch here.

In it Alan says:

“Quite simply because when you adopt an missional-incarnational approach to engaging our world, then you are forced to a go-to-them, hang-out-with-them approach to mission before you ever get to ask the question, “What is church for this people group?” The problem is that we usually frontload our idea of church into the missional equation. And while the reality of the Church as God’s community is a vital, non-negotiable, part of the Christian faith, the forms that the church must take are almost entirely to be guided by the cultural context of the church. If this were not the case, the Paul’s argument in Galatians is flawed and we all should be adopting Jewish forms of church, including circumcision! Ouch! The church follows mission and not the other way around.”

My thought… somehow we have to reset our default swith of “what is church” so as not to always frontload this into every missional equation…

My friend James Graham sent me this link to a video lecture by Patrick Dixon.  Dixon is a futurist and gives some real insights into what the future holds.  (It’s about 45 minutes, so take some time to actually listen to what he says…)

Seems to me as we balance the globalization of our world (off-shoring services and multi-national manufacturing) and the tribalism (bikers, skaters, gear-heads, music-heads) of society, it becomes more important that we know and understand both The Gospel - what it is and what it means! - and the Church. 

Dr. Dick Braswell, pastor of a large church in Mobile, AL spoke last night at IGM and admitted that after 50 years in ministry and 45 years leading the same church (!) he’s questioning more and learning more about NT Church than at any point in his life! Yikes!

I’m excited by what I see and feel is happening in the marriage of “church” and “mission.”

And basically that’s what “missional church” is all about: the reclaiming of “mission” above “church” — or at least church as we know it (CAWKI)…

I like it when ”mission(s)” is no longer delegated to a small, under-funded, neglected part of “church.”  Mostly “church” is the “real thing” and “missions” is a once-a-year conference with fireworks and hoopla.  And the other 51 sundays are “real church.” 

(“Missions” is kinda like your Aunt Betty Jean’s 75th birthday party that you have to attend.  Have to.  And you have to eat the bad cake with too sweet frosting with gaudy yellow roses.  Have to.  And you have to drink that red punch that reminds you of antifreeze.  And you have to shake hands with Uncle Elmer and talk to cousin Frank with the bad breath.  You have to go and you have to be nice.  But basically - thank God! - when you leave, when you walk out the front door, you can get back to normal.  And you won’t have to see those people or think about them until Aunt BJ’s 76th birthday party.  Back to business as usual!) 

Reclaiming the missio dei - the mission of God - as the primary motivation and reason for church changes everything.  And making every person a part of that “mission” makes it real!

I’m excited when I see pastors and church leaders who begin to see beyond their dream, their vision, their world, their “in-flow” to see a bigger world where CAWKI no longer works.  Where CAWKI fails to impact and we look in The Book and see that CAGWI (Church as God wants it) functions and serves the People of God igniting their dreams and fueling their passions so that they can change their world!

When christology drives our missiology, then our missiology will shape our ecclesiology. 

OK, there I said it!  And I’m not taking it back!

Rev Magazine has an internesting article regarding ministry in ten years… And my friend Alan Hirsch as well as Thom Raler and Sally Morganthaler make pertinent comments.

I can only think of friends who are investing their lives in developing what is described as “Big Box Churches” that are geared toward performance (the pastor up-front doing his thing), command-and-control (vision handed down form the elite to the followere) and comsumption (“I come to consume… feed me, love me, help me, encourage me, entertain me, make me grow”).

And as I’m reading The New Conspirators, I’m sent to an article in Christianity Today by John Stackhouse where he calls us to live “lives of difficult paradox, of painful negotiation between conflicting and competitive values…”

We live in a time where every ounce of energy can be utilized just to exist.  Just to think through the paradoxes.  The rapid change of our world makes me dizzy.  The demands of ministry make me weary!  Such is our world today.  What will it be in another decade?

And yet, the Church - as I’ve told people all over the world! - is the hope of the world.  The church is the only thing Jesus died for and promised to return and collect!

So I am hopeful for the church, but concerned…  Can you tell?

Last week in Michigan, my friend Ken and I were chatting about church…  (Do I ever chat about much else besides Jesus, church, misions and culture?  What a drag I am!  Or OCD about Jesus…)  And I mentioned my take on Jesus’ parable about going into the highways and hedges to bring people to the Banquet.  (LUK 14)  My take on this is that participation is more impotant than perfection.  Involving people in the Good Things of God (aka Gospel) is more important than everything being perfect: perfect attendees, perfect food, perfect message, perfect…

But it is about not being a spectator but a participant!  Seems we’re a group of spectators watching the professionals do their ego-centric thing and mess it up.  That’s not Gospel 

In doing a little reading ths morning in the Blogsphere, one thing led to another (as it seems to do in my life…) and I ended up on a blog quoting John Wimber, one of my heroes!  So, I thought you should share in it with me…

As John Wimber wrote, everyone seems to be able to see this except those of us in the church.

Folks, the world knows what this is supposed to look like. Years ago in New York City, I got into a taxi cab with an Iranian taxi driver, who could hardly speak English. I tried to explain to him where I wanted to go, and as he was pulling his car out of the parking place, he almost got hit by a van that on its side had a sign reading The Pentecostal Church. He got real upset and said, “That guy’s drunk.” I said, “No, he’s a Pentecostal. Drunk in the spirit, maybe, but not with wine.” He asked, “Do you know about church?” I said, “Well, I know a little bit about it; what do you know?” It was a long trip from one end of Manhattan to the other, and all the way down he told me one horror story after another that he’d heard about the church. He knew about the pastor that ran off with the choir master’s wife, the couple that had burned the church down and collected the insurance—every horrible thing you could imagine. We finally get to where we were going, I paid him, and as we’re standing there on the landing I gave him an extra-large tip. He got a suspicious look in his eyes—he’d been around, you know. I said, “Answer me this one question.” Now keep in mind, I’m planning on witnessing to him. “If there was a God and he had a church, what would it be like?” He sat there for awhile making up his mind to play or not. Finally he sighed and said, “Well, if there was a God and he had a church—they would care for the poor, heal the sick, and they wouldn’t charge you money to teach you the Book.” I turned around and it was like an explosion in my chest. “Oh, God.” I just cried, I couldn’t help it. I thought, “Oh Lord, they know. The world knows what it’s supposed to be like. The only ones that don’t know are the Church.”

When you joined the kingdom, you expected to be used of God. I’ve talked to thousands of people, and almost everybody has said, “When I signed up, I knew that caring for the poor was part of it—I just kind of got weaned off of it, because no one else was doing it.” Folks, I’m not saying, “Do some-thing heroic.” I’m not saying, “Take on some high standard, sell everything you have and go.” Now, if Jesus tells you that, that’s different. But I’m not saying that. I’m just saying, participate. Give some portion of what you have—time, energy, money, on a regular basis—to this purpose, to redeeming people, to caring for people. Share your heart and life with somebody that’s not easy to sit in the same car with. Are you hearing me? That’s where you’ll really see the kingdom of God.

I want to spend the next few Fridays looking at what it means to be the “Sent People of God.”  I’m not going to footnote nor quote… too much.  My hope is this will spark some modicum of discussion and freedom. 

My premise is that God is a sending God. 

In the Bible, before we identify God as a “loving God,” we see Him as a “sending God.”  He sends His Spirit in creation.  He sends Abraham from Ur to the unknown.  He sends Joseph as the preserver.  He sends Moses as the deliverer.  He sends His Word.  He sends His prophets.  He sends John the Baptizer.  Finally He sends His Son.  He sends His Spirit at Pentecost.  He sends His People into the world.

A sending God!

Let’s start with Jesus’ exhortation to the disciples in the upper room of John chapter 20.  Here Jesus sends the disciples – and by extension you and me – in the same way the Father has sent Jesus.  We’ll look at this “sending of the disciples” and then go back throughout John looking at each reference of “Jesus’ sending.”

 

JOH 20:19-23 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (NIV)

Of course this is a post-crucifixion gathering.  There is rumor of resurrection.  A shocked Mary Magdalene has discovered an empty tomb.  Simon and John (presumably) has verified that the body of Jesus is missing.  Subsequently, the risen Jesus has appeared to Mary Magdalene and she has reported back to the disciples.

And then Jesus shows up.

The extension of peace

JOH 20:19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

Jesus begins many tumultuous situations by sharing “peace.”  In other Gospels, we hear Jesus speak peace to wind and water, disciples and demons.  He has pre-crucifixion given the disciples peace; not a worldly peace, but a messianic, victorious-Jesus peace (JOH 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid…”).

But now after a horrific few days, here’s Jesus entering a locked room filled with frightened, confused disciples: men into whom He had invested His life.  They had traveled and conversed and been with Him.  They had eaten together – many times.  They had walked dusty roads together.  They had been with Him as He healed, delivered, feasted and fasted.  They had prayed together.

And (at least from a distance) they had watched Him die.

Now, in the midst of speculations surrounding the disappearance of His body, rumors of resurrection and questions of personal security, Jesus just shows up, apparently materializing like someone transporting from place-to-place in Star Trek.  The Book says “Jesus came and stood…”  The Greek words here mean, well, he “came and stood.”  So there’s nothing figurative.  The mystery is that He enters the room and stood there.  His greeting was one of peace, and I’m sure “peace” was the needed element in the fearful room.  They were thrilled and overjoyed to see the Lord – alive and well, and in the room with them.

In my mind, I hear Jesus saying “Shalom.”  Probably in the same way he’s said it hundreds of times in their hearing.  He says, “Shalom” – with all its Hebrew connotations and meanings.  He says “Shalom” to despairing, frightened friends.  And I’m pretty sure that shalom from your master who you thought was dead is a great blessing!  To hear Him speak and to hear His words of peace add to the confusion, but also bring the peace. 

The wounds of redemption

JOH 20:20  After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Since Jesus seems to always teach using his current environment (“Consider the lilies…;”  “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden…;”) I think Jesus is using the unhealed wounds as object lessons, not just of his resurrection, but of the way He is sending His disciples.

Jesus shows His hands and side – “and this is how I’m sending you.”   Bruised, battered, broken.  Redemptive.

Jesus shows His hands and side.  In doing this He is saying:

·        “This is really me!”  These are real…

·        “These wounds are for redemption!”  This is why I was sent…

·        “This is how I’m sending you.”   Bruised, battered, broken, redemptive…

The power of regeneration

JOH 20:21-22 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

The breathed Spirit

Creation began with a breath of God saying, “Let there be.”  The new creation through true blood-bought redemption imparted through a breath of the Redeemer.

The supremacy of forgiveness
JOH 20:23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

As new people – the beginning of the new creation – there is the ability to forgive.  

As Jesus was to Israel , so we are to the world.

My friend Mark Priddy does an amazing post concerning Business, the Gospel and the Consumeristic Church. 

Also my other friend Bill Kinnon has a lot to say about this… and does some linking to David Fitch’s blog… and beyond.

Being a very lazy, overweight poster-boy for consumption myself, I appreciate these smart cerebral guys doing the hard lifting and giving us links.  It makes life easier and gives me more time to get my Christmas shopping done.

But seriously… For those of us who hunger for “incarnational” to become the norm and for us who attempt to live out those things Jesus taught and embodied, the reductionism rips at my very soul.  And my task is to keep my heart soft and my spirit sensitive so that I can hear God speak among the noise and static of our world and consuming church.

Bravo Mark, Bill and David! Pray for me!

“When you become a Christian, Jesus will invade your life and make you into somebody he can use to change the world. Through you, he will challenge racism. Through you, Jesus will attack sexism, poverty, and militarism. That was never taught to me when I was growing up. I never heard that I could be an instrument that God could use to change the world. All I was told was that being a Christian meant I would go to heaven when I died. I was never told that the primary reason Jesus saved me was to make me into somebody whom he could use to change the world into the kind of world he willed for it to be when he created it.” - Tony Campolo

At Andrew’s Happy Hour, Wolfgang Simson said, “I think the whole ordination process of legacy churches is taken into what we call organic growth phases: kid, adult, parent, grandparent which are easily recognizable.  Church 2.0 is so different from church 1.x that this will be hardly recognizable.”

I think Wolfgang is really, really right on!  (As if my opinion matters!) 

He was answering someone’s question about how House Church, Simple Church, Organic Church (choose one…) can set up ordination tracks.  It seems to me that ordination - the setting apart - is something God does and man recognizes.  It is more about “anointing” than education or run of the gauntlet.  Seems that’s what we see in NT times.  Of course in the OT, leadership roles both in the Temple and on the “throne” were familial, hierarchical and inherited.  And then Jesus comes and makes us all priests and gives us all authority…  Messes up the whole OT system thing. 

And this seems to be the great progress within the missional movement.  God is on a mission and He - by his grace and mercy - calls us to be with Him so that we can be sent in His Name and authority.

Wolfgang’s Church 2.0 seems to be back to basics, by-passing some of the system.  And I like his term “legacy churches.”  Seems to resonate in a deeper way than some other titles…

A new article in Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal says what we know, but now we’ll believe it because it’s been researched!  And we dig research!  And by CT!  (And I suppose it’s about North American Christians…)

Most Christians (60%) worship in congregations of less than 300… and struggle for resources
Faith is relevant, but Church is not…
The local church is no longer considered the only outlet for spiritual growth…
Churches must develop relational and community-oriented outreach…
Lay people have to be better equipped to be God’s ambassadors…
A growing element of the Christian population is disappointed with or frustrated by the local church…

And the 5 groups:

Active Christians 19%
Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
Committed churchgoers
Bible readers
Accept leadership positions
Invest in personal faith development through the church
Feel obligated to share faith; 79% do so.

Professing Christians 20%
Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
Focus on personal relationship with God and Jesus
Similar beliefs to Active Christians, different actions
Less involved in church, both attending and serving
Less commitment to Bible reading or sharing faith

Liturgical Christians 16%
Predominantly Catholic and Lutheran
Regular churchgoers
High level of spiritual activity, mostly expressed by serving in church and/or community
Recognize authority of the church

Private Christians 24%
Largest and youngest segment
Believe in God and doing good things
Own a Bible, but don’t read it
Spiritual interest, but not within church context
Only about a third attend church at all
Almost none are church leaders

Cultural Christians 21%
Little outward religious behavior or attitudes
God aware, but little personal involvement with God
Do not view Jesus as essential to salvation
Affirm many ways to God
Favor universality theology 

Time to “move back into the neighborhood,” become real ambassadors for Jesus and identify with people… their pain, their hopes, their dreams!  Of course this is time intensive and requires us to actually get to know people…

And of course, many folks who read this article/survey will just get mad, talk about how we in America are going to hell in a handbasket, and long for the ‘good ole days’ when we were the majority culture and we didn’t have to take this ‘back-sliding’ seriously!  We didn’t have to think about being missionaries or being missional.  We could just relax…  Oh, for the ‘good ole days!’