August 24, 2006
I read a brilliant quote by Rob Bell yesterday, that sums up what becoming missional and going 'out there' is all about.
He writes, "missions then is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of God who is already there."
We are not bringing God, he is bringing us into what he has been doing all along. In this sense we are discovering God afresh in a new place and among a new people group.
Showing up on the streets is our response to the divine invitation to be engaged with what the father loves.
July 22, 2006
In the movement I serve, we have a saying; go where the power is pointed. It took me a long time to recognise that it was usually among the lost and the least.
As I read Acts 1:8 I had a startling realisation that forever changed my pneumatology and my practice. So here it is... the power was given for the lost, not for the church. The power was given to the church, but it was given for the lost. There is a connection between prioritising mission and experiencing the Spirit's power. The more we engage his agenda the more of himself he gives; There is a divine entrustment of power given to the church, as it commits to scattering among the lost.
An analogy that often helps me in this, is to think of something I wanted to give to my neighbour which I gave it to a friend to take to him. If the friend opens the gift and then spends it on himself, I will still ensure that my neighbour receives what I have for him, but I will look for a friend capable of handling the entrustment. When I find someone like that, I will keep resourcing him so that I can reach my neighbour.
The friend is the church and the neighbour is the lost. When God finds a group of followers who are willing to give away what he has given them, to the people he gave it for, he continues to resource that group of people, continuously increasing his power among them. A scattered church is not only reliant on the Spirit of God, it is resourced by the Spirit of God to reach people far from God.
July 22, 2006
Its not accidental that the early church was known as followers of 'the way'. They were not embracing missional strategy, they were simply engaging in life along the way. Much of what we implement as programs in church ought to be by-products of life along the way.
As we prioritise lost people, along the way, we encounter poor people and care for their needs. As we engage in mission, along the way, people say yes to God and new communities of faith emerge. As we scatter together, along the way, relationships are deepened and authentic sacrificial community develops. As we share our story, along the way, persecution is experienced, and our faith is stretched and strengthened. As we commit to the exaltation of Christ in our community, along the way, outpourings of the spirit occur and signs follow our proclamation.
All of these things happen along the way, as the church lives outward and forward. I am still learning that its really not about developing ministries, its about sharing life with people who are without hope and without God in the world. Church at its best is church scattered.
July 22, 2006
The natural inclination of life is inward. Left to ourselves we constantly drift from missional priorities. Sometimes this happens through replacement. We focus more on pastoral care, healing the sick, church planting, caring for the poor, all of which are biblical but need to happen along the way.
Its encouraging to me that the early church frequently wrestled with missional drift. They understood intuitively that the cross is for the spiritually lost; And yet they drift. We continually read of them huddled around one another, instead of engaged in mission. Throughout the book of Acts, the Holy spirit has to break up their party because there are others he wants to invite.
And every time they move beyond themselves to the mission, the Spirit endorses their action with his presence and power. How could he not, he is the Spirit of Jesus, and these were the people Jesus spent his life moving towards. When the church scatters, lost people are prioritised, found people are mobilised and God things are catalysed.
July 22, 2006
There is much emphasis these days on the demonstrated unity of the church - which generally relates to a gathering of christians from many tribes/denominations in one place. It's always exciting to see worship like this and I am sure its a terrifying sight for the enemy. And yet there is a greater sight than even this, when the church scatters together, spirit empowered and missionally focussed, intent on demonstrating the good news in every locality. Every true experience of the Spirit results in a distribution of faith. He simply won't let us hold onto that which belongs to the nations. He scatters his gifts to the poor. I long for the days when churches gather to scatter in order that still others might be gathered. Significant shifts happen in our community as the church scatters.
July 22, 2006
You might have noticed this week we have worked on a single theme - namely pastoral care. The essence of effective pastoral care is influencing people to life change. Its my understanding that such change occurs best in a missional context. Indeed, the NT knows nothing of discipleship outside the context of mission. Sometimes its tempting to see maturity as the gateway to mission rather than mission as the gateway to maturity. The truth is we serve our people best when we encourage them to serve, and our people grow most as they give away what they have received. I am learning that commissioning people and caring for people are unlikely allies in spiritual formation.
July 22, 2006
Jesus approach to pastoral care has always intrigued me - mainly because he did things which seemed to lack sensitivity and care. The account in Luke 9:59-60 is one such example - where in a time of crises, he doesn't counsel or comfort but challenges the man towards outward focus, and then he leaves him! On the surface it looks like he wasn't there for the man, when the man needed him most; it looks like he chose mission above compassion
In our therapy culture, its easy to read our understanding of comfort/pastoral care into the biblical text and yet when we begin to think mission critical, we become aware that obedience to the great commission must somehow be tied to our own spiritual transformation - it is the source of great comfort. There is something that unlocks in a heart when it begins the journey of reaching out to others. He who is kind to others nourishes his own soul.
Therefore, there will be times as a pastoral leader, when you must for the sake of the mission, decline others invitation to spend time with them [Acts 18:20] and call them from their moment of pain, into a movement for change. In so doing, you remain kingdom directed and you model movement and outward focus to your community. So I encourage you to stay mission critical even when others are critical of your mission!
July 12, 2006
Intentional imbalance recognises that all things don't hold equal importance in the heart of God. There are divine priorities. When it comes to people, Jesus is quite clear that he came to seek and save that which is lost. He intentionally structured his days to optimise his engagement with spiritually lost people. This is deeply challenging for me in seeking to imitate his example - it seems he at times is more missional than I would want to be. In navigating pastoral care, its a reminder to me that those on the outside rarely call out for my attention, and remain on the periphery of my vision unless I develop an intentional imbalance in my heart to move forward and outward. I don't know why its so much easier for me to be a carer for the found than a seeker of the lost, but I do know that if I am to reverse that bias in my life, I need to be intentionally imbalanced. How do the rest of you navigate this tension?
Pastoral Care - an adventure in missing the point?
July 11, 2006
There is something about the term pastor that conjures images of continual closeness with people or bringing comfort to people. When embraced it causes us to spend our lives on people which sounds noble but really misses the point. The role of authentic disciples and therefore pastoral leadership, is to point people towards God's good future [the kingdom], and to catalyse movement in that direction. It sometimes means refusing to answer their questions, it sometimes means introducing other questions, it usually means stripping away sources of false comfort. It's inconceivable that there would be kingdom invasion without life disruption. In helping our people seek first the kingdom, we are really inviting them to a disruptive lifestyle. I am learning to not be in a rush to bring comfort and encouragement where God is bringing questions and disruption. Courageous pastors do more than spend themselves on people, they help people spend themselves on what really matters.
July 06, 2006
In reading Acts 9:1 today, I was reminded that some of the leaders who will carry us into the future are not yet convinced by Christ. Some of our best leaders are not yet Christians but this very day God might be moving in their lives. Your best leaders may not yet have experienced God's power for themselves and many of them will experience that on the streets where you minister. An interesting study in leadership development is to look at how many leaders Jesus took from the synagogue and how many from the streets. It might cause us to rethink leadership development in our church - I guess finding new leaders might mean moving out there.
July 03, 2006
I grew up in a tradition where equipping the saints essentially related to imparting information to be practiced at a later date. The idea behind the equipping, was mandated in Ephesians 4:12, namely so that the body of Christ may be built up. Years later, I still hold to this and yet have recognised that equipping the saints might also have a broader missiological emphasis, namely to reach a wide range of lost people. There are several reasons for this but let me highlight a couple;
1. Jesus method/model of equipping occurred in the context of mission - the idea of divorcing equipping and mission is foreign to NT thinking
2. People really do grow as they go. We learn far more about our prejudices, our faith and our God as we engage with spiritually broken people.
My early views on equipping tempted me to view/use sunday services as the primary equipping environment, instead of regarding it as a wonderful missional environment. What I am realising is this; as our people bring their friends and family to our services, they are growing through that very act, much more than they would simply by hearing me speak. I think that's why Paul says 'if i have one prayer for you Philemon its that you become active in sharing your faith, so that you may come to the FULL understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.' PHIL 1:6 Our people will never be fully equipped until they start giving away their faith, and one of the best places to model giving away our faith is the weekend service.
July 02, 2006
Just a couple of thoughts on some interesting experiences at church this morning. As I was leading a couple of people to start their spiritual journey, I had some knowledge of their struggles prior to committing their lives to Christ in that moment. It interested me simply because I have experienced the role of prophecy in bringing people to the place where they say yes to God, yet I have never as I led them in prayer to open up their lives to Christ, broken off that prayer to give them some words. It almost seemed sacreligious, to be postponing new birth and yet it seemed this what what the Father was doing. I know the 'sinners prayer' isn't specified in the scriptures - so my question is, has this ever happened to any of you guys?
July 01, 2006
I was reflecting again this morning on how much of the miraculous in the gospels and Acts occurs among the people. The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. Acts 5:12 - there is a sense in which the apostolic functioning in the NT catalyses this movement among the people. Indeed in Acts 5:20 after an angelic visitation, the encouragement is not to return to the community but to 'go stand among the people'. It seems to me that the church has always struggled to stand among the people; sometimes fearful that what we have to bring is insufficient, sometimes mindful that the task is difficult. And yet as I read it, the greater the frequency of time among the people, the greater the potency of the message in signs and wonders. When our communities know that we are going to continuously show up among them and that sometimes when we show up, He shows up, they make a point of showing up too. Once the people recognise us among them as bringers of hope and life, they begin to journey towards God, searching for meaning and healing. But it all begins as we stand among the people.
June 30, 2006
A number of years ago I was reading an article that highlighted an approach to evangelism used by North Point community church. The approach was called invest & invite. Immediately I was taken by its simplicity and potency. Since that time we have adopted invest and invite as our primary evangelism strategy and have adapted/enhanced it to fit our local community. Its not uncommon for around 10% of people in our church on any given weekend to be unbelievers brought by a friend or family member.
So here it is, a brief outline of our Invest & Invite strategy...
1. Initiate conversation with non-believers: the natural drift of our life is inward and we have to take significant steps to move outward. This one is the simplest. Simply start conversation with people at work or in your neighbourhood who are far from God
2. Involve them in your life: If you are watching the world cup - invite them to watch it with you.
3. Invest in them through prayer and fasting: Pray regularly and consistenly, and fast occasionally asking God to show you their heart and their hurts and how you can serve them.
4. Invite them to church: This is the one where we gulp hard and our palms sweat, but its surprising how many people will come to church when invited by someone with whom they have relationship and whom they regard as credible.
5. Influence them to life change: We never have a Sunday without encouraging people to say yes to God for the first time, and take the next step on their journey.
In the last 30 months we have seen over 300 people start their spiritual journey this way. Enjoy the journey!
June 29, 2006
On monday this week, a friend of mine who lives and pastors a church in SoCal took our staff meeting from his living room. It was quite an experience. We hooked up Kate's Mac and webcam, put it through our projector in the offices and were able to continue a creative conversation on missional churches and multiple services with someone on the other side of the world. If any of you who aren't already doing this kind of thing would like to know how this works, give me a shout.
June 29, 2006
I had an interesting experience this week that challenged me to rethink how God touches people. I was praying for a catholic lady to be healed, and after praying she held out her hand and asked if I could bless two pieces of material. I dont think I have ever thought of so many reasons not to pray for something. Everything in me wanted to correct her thinking, to rescue her hope, to remind her there is one mediator. And yet my Father was doing something completely different. While I was busy correcting her in my mind, he was busy connecting with her heart. It was like a glimpse into the largeness of his heart. So I gulped hard, took her hand [and the material] and invited God's favour on her life [not on the material]. God was so gracious and spoke into her situation revealing his intimate knowledge of her pain. As she wept, I wondered at the largeness of heart along the narrow way.
June 29, 2006
I am increasingly aware that much of catalysing movement is about living with questions. Its tempting as a pastor to provide people with solutions and yet far more is accomplished by rasing questions. When a human being encounters the Divine it would be unrealistic not to expect questions to emerge. Much of my time has been spent chasing answers with people instead of chasing questions but I feel like I am learning slowly.
As Andrew my friend reminded me today, questions give God the opportunity to teach me. So in pastoring people I am learning to give them permission to live with questions in order that God himself might teach them.
June 20, 2006
I was reminded this week again that the big story isn't always the best story. Its tempting when God shows up in incredible ways to share that with our congregation. However, if we are to maximise the amount of people 'out there' and enlarge their missional understanding we need to learn to tell the small stories. When people hear a big story, their response can often be 'I could never do that'. When they hear a small story they begin to picture themselves doing what they heard. Since ministry is about mobilising and catalysing movement its imperative you learn to celebrate the day of small things and hold them up as effective models for the people you lead. Look again at the stories you haven't told that you could have told - the first step stories.
June 20, 2006
Life coaching is all the rage at the moment. I am personally beginning to see the benefits of having a council of investors. A group of people outside of my context who are able to speak into my life and the life of the church I lead, helping us clarify the way forward. They are in effect my outer circle. So much is made of an inner circle of advisors, but an outer circle allows me to see dimensions that I would never see without coaching. As Nelson searcy says, 'coaching narrows the gap between practice and performance.' It allows us to operate at maximum capacity. I want to encourage you, if you haven't already found a coach, get hold of someone who will help you discern, clarify and optimise what God is doing in your context.
June 19, 2006
One of the primary tasks of leadership is to recognise the movement in the moment. Identifying where the wind is blowing and responding accordingly. This weekend we got to see the wind a little more clearly. We took a team to Cavan in the South primarily because a paralysed woman from there had recently been healed at our healing in the streets and we thought the moment might involve a movement. It was like living in the pages of the book as God revealed his love and power. The blind saw, the lame walked, the hunchbacked was healed, as well as those with various skin diseases. What made it more sweet was the mother of the 'travelling' family who experienced so much of the healing had prayed that morning asking God to send someone to help her family. God is so merciful. And does so much more among the people. I discovered again that Kingdom activity is so much bigger than the church and anything might happen when we lean into the wind.
