Stop Mimicking Culture

In an article titled, The 'Missional Church': A Model for Canadian Churches? David Horrox writes,

"The church should stop mimicking the surrounding culture and become an alternative community, with a different set of beliefs, values and behaviors. Ministers would no longer engage in marketing; churches would no longer place primary emphasis on programs to serve members. The traditional ways of evaluating 'successful churches' – bigger buildings, more people, bigger budgets, larger ministerial staff, new and more programs to serve members – would be rejected. New yardsticks would be the norm: To what extent is our church a 'sent' community in which each believer is reaching out to his community? To what extent is our church impacting the community with a Christian message that challenges the values of our secular society?"

Thoughts?

-Jason

Two Rails on the Same Track

Over the past few weeks, as a church family we have been talking a lot about missional and incarnational living. To most folks, these terms have to be explained. I wish there were a better couple of words to use, but I don't know any.

"Missional" is a term that describes a missionary lifestyle; adopting the posture, thinking, behaviors, and practices of a missionary in order to engage others with the Gospel message. This does NOT refer to foreign missions or special mission trips, rather it refers to being "on mission" with Jesus every day, in every activity, in every relationship. To be "missional" you must be aware of how Father is working around you and be prepared to get involved.

"Incarnational" needs to be broken down into its root form in order to get it. The root word "incarnate" means to make concrete and real. This is about living AS Jesus in the world, making him concrete and real to those around us rather than Jesus simply being a great teacher who lived 2000 years ago. Eddie Gibbs says, "Everywhere we go, we are His church, His Body, His life with skin on. We are on holy ground everywhere that we are because He is with us, in us, and working through us." To be "incarnational" we must allow ourselves to be physically disciplined into the same posture and actions of Jesus.

These two ideas are the requisite rails running the same direction, forming a track to get us to where Father is glorified an the Gospel is proclaimed. On one side is the rail of incarnation. This rail is how we must physically be prepared to act as Jesus did. One way to do this is to practice the disciplines of Jesus: prayer, solitude, meditation, fasting, compassion, forgiveness, generosity, etc. When we do as Jesus did, we can identify with Him and be more pliable in the hands of Father to accomplish His will.

The other side of the track is the rail of mission. This rail is how we must mentally be aware of what Jesus is doing in and around us. Do we recognize the way He is working in the life of our family, friends, coworkers? Even more, are we aware of what He is doing in anonymous relationships like the teller at the bank, the cashier at Kroger, the driver in the opposite lane. We must stop focusing on our own desires and needs and broaden our scope to see what is going on all around us.

If we commit to laying these two rails in our lives, Father will indeed be glorified. We cannot lay one rail and expect to move in His direction. Both are necessary.

Simply,

Jason

Dead Men Can't Be Offended

What are you entitled to? Many things may come to your mind such as freedom, food, and housing. In fact, our country was founded on the fact that we all have rights afforded to us in the Bill of Rights, but when we examine our position as believers, what do we find? We give up our rights when we are born again, the old man dies and the claim we have to this world dies with it.

Why is this so important? The answer is that most of the things that keeps us from the full service of The Lord are things that we feel we have a right too. Let's look at a simple example of this. If somebody does something that I don't approve of I can become offended, but shouldn't we look at why we are offended? I believe that you cannot offend a dead man. What ever you say to me are words spoken over a dead man. If it offends The Lord who better to defend the Lord than the Lord Himself? Is HE not the judge off all? Many times we are offended and judge very quickly because we are hurt right? But can you hurt a dead man? It's no longer that I live but Christ that lives in me. Get the point? A dead man has no rights! We are to be hidden in Christ, therefore if attacked who are they attacking me or Christ?

I really want to look at this on a personal level relevant to our everyday life. Many are walking around carrying judgment and hurt that they don't even have a right to have since they claim to be born again. Hebrews 12:14-15 deals with this very matter read it very carefully and pray over it. Pursue peace with everyone. Who is everyone? Whats it matter if you are dead? The pursuit of peace and holiness is totally foreign to the carnal man but not the spirit man. What happens when we are offended? Most of the time we hold judgment against the one who offended us. But, if we are dead and Christ is living in us then it is the Lords battle. Hebrews in this chapter warns us not to let the root of bitterness spring up in us. This is what happens when we do not forgive! We must let our rights, our life be hidden in Christ. This allows us to live in the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit and love in the Spirit.

First John 4:17 read very carefully says "as He is so are we in this World"!! Did you get it? As HE is so are we in this world. This means that the power of God is in us for all things. When I pray for someone, I step back and quote this verse then say Lord as you are so am I in this world so its you praying not me. The same with offense, I say Lord, as you are so am I in this world this is coming at you and you alone are able to withstand! We must be dead to ourselves and alive to Christ. Only Christ can save, only Christ can heal, only Christ can forgive. Brothers there are offenses that are so deep, so painful that come into our lives that are not humanly possible to forgive, but Christ in me the hope of glory can.

The principle of the Cross is all but lost in the modern church. We must regain it for this generation. If we want to see the full measure of Christ we must die to our self. We must give over our rights to our Lord. Remember, you were bought with a price, you are not you own any more if you are Born Again you are Christs own. This requires much sacrifice but brings about much glory.

Right now maybe you are going through one of these wonderful opportunities to die to your self and to pick up the cross and follow Him. Maybe you haven't looked at it in this light; maybe you feel like you are being treated unfairly, or maybe you have already been offended. Please take some time to seek the Lord and let Him guide you through to victory. We must not gage our walk by what the world deems successful, but only in the light of the Lord. We are to be the Church of the Overcomer. Read the letter to the Churches in Rev.2-3. All of these promises are made to those who overcome. How can we overcome if we are not challenged? If this letter speaks to where you are please stand firm in Christ. If you need prayer please contact us and we will pray for you. But remember, you are not alone, we are all being shaken right now to the very foundation but those who are His shall overcome.

[Adapted from an article written by Darren Smith of Streetscape Ministries]

Dead Men Have No Rights

One of the hardest things for us to do as believers is to give up our sense of entitlement. Whether we call it pride or self love, we all struggle with thinking we deserve better. In Colossians 3:3 the Bible tells us we are dead and our life is hidden in Christ.

If we are dead we have no rights.

Anytime that a circumstance in our life challenges us to the point we think we deserve better, we must remember we don't have any rights. Jesus said to take up our cross daily and follow Him, but it is far easier to talk about the cross rather than to embrace it. The cross is symbolic of death and our self-love doesn't want to die. The Father must allow things to come into our life that bring us to the cross.

When we let go of our life for God we gain the life of Christ. This brings up the point: do we want the life of Christ? His life on earth was full of sacrifice and sorrow. He didn't have a house or any type of comfort at all. His whole life was about doing His Father's work. He was always in company with sorrow and suffering right up to the cross. Even though he was the King of Kings he lived among the poor, never asking for anything for himself. I think we really only want the life of the king not of the servant.

As we strive towards living as Jesus did and being on mission with Jesus every day, then we must realize we have no rights. We should simply live in full submission to the will of Father.

"I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me." (Paul, to the Galatians)

[Adapted from an article written by Darren Smith of Streetscape Ministries]

Missional Living Tips

In my pursuit of other perspectives on missional living, I ran across a site tonight called The Resurgence (www.theresurgence.com). They had a cool post about "Simplified Missional Living". Check it out...

--Jason

Eat with Non-Christians
We all eat three meals a day. Why not make a habit of sharing one of those meals with a non-Christian or with a family of non-Christians? Go to lunch with a co-worker, not by yourself. Invite the neighbors over for family dinner. If it’s too much work to cook a big dinner, just order pizza and put the focus on conversation. When you go out for a meal, invite a non-Christian friend. Or take your family to family-style restaurants where you can sit at the table with strangers and strike up conversations. Have cookouts and invite Christians and non-Christians. Flee the Christian subculture.

Walk, Don’t Drive
If you live in a walkable area, make a practice of getting out and walking around your neighborhood, apartment complex, or campus. Instead of driving to the mailbox or convenience store, walk to get mail or groceries. Be deliberate in your walk. Say hello to people you don’t know. Strike up conversations. Attract attention by walking the dog, carrying along a 6-pack to share, bringing the kids. Make friends. Get out of your house! Last night I spent an hour outside gardening with my family. We had good conversations with about four of our neighbors. Take interest in your neighbors. Ask questions. Engage. Pray as you go. Save some gas, the planet, and some people.

Be a Regular
Instead of hopping all over the city for gas, groceries, haircuts, eating out, and coffee, go to the same places at the same times. Get to know the staff. Smile. Ask questions. Be a regular. I have friends at coffee shops all over the city. My friends at Starbucks donate a ton of leftover pastries to our church 2-3 times a week. We use them for church gatherings and occasionally give them to the homeless. Build relationships. Be a regular.

Hobby with Non-Christians
Pick a hobby that you can share. Get out and do something you enjoy with others. Try city league sports or local rowing and cycling teams. Share your hobby by teaching lessons, such as sewing, piano, knitting, or tennis lessons. Be prayerful. Be intentional. Be winsome. Have fun. Be yourself.

Talk to Your Co-workers.
How hard is that? Take your breaks with intentionality. Go out with your team or task force after work. Show interest in your co-workers. Pick four and pray for them. Form moms’ groups in your neighborhood and don’t make them exclusively non-Christian. Schedule play dates with the neighbors’ kids. Work on mission.

Volunteer with Non-Profits.
Find a non-profit in your part of the city and take a Saturday a month to serve your city. Bring your neighbors, your friends, or your small group. Spend time with your church serving your city. Once a month. You can do it!

Participate in City Events
Instead of playing XBox, watching TV, or surfing the net, participate in city events. Go to fundraisers, festivals, cleanups, summer shows, and concerts. Participate missionally. Strike up conversation. Study the culture. Reflect on what you see and hear. Pray for the city. Love the city. Participate with the city.

Serve Your Neighbors.
Help a neighbor by weeding, mowing, building a cabinet, or fixing a car. Stop by the neighborhood association or apartment office and ask if there is anything you can do to help improve things. Ask your local Police and Fire Stations if there is anything you can do to help them. Get creative. Just serve!

2009 Men's Retreat

This past weekend I was blessed to be a part of a most wonderful men's retreat at my dear friend Mickey Mooney's cabin just south of Paris, Tennessee. I want to say that I feel like this past retreat was the best one of my life. I feel so on fire. Not because of a motivational speaker or an emotional experience, but because I was able to talk at a deep level with my close brothers about what Father is doing in, around, and through them. I am not sure what it was that made me come so alive, but I so am grateful for the experience.

While we were there we were invited to spend time with as many others as we could one-on-one simply asking them what they feel Father is revealing to them. It was awesome to practice my listening skills while being blown away by what I heard Father was doing in my brothers' lives. I spent time walking and talking with Carson and it seems as if Father is speaking the same things to both of us. Later, I got to spend a couple of hours each with Chad, Mike, and David who are all close brothers of mine in the Way. Again and again it seemed as if Father was confirming in all of us the very same ideas. Even when our thoughts were different, it didn't take long to see how Father was doing this to knit us together to build the kingdom--different words from Father, but the same outcome in all of our lives. In addition to spending time with my close brothers from my local church family, I also got to spend time with Jeff who lives in the Memphis area and Grant who lives in Clarksville. I was blessed so much. Cody and Luis from Bowling Green also let me peek into what Father is doing in their family. It is all so amazing.

When I got home I immediately began asking my wife the very things I had asked my brothers. It led to a wonderful evening of spiritual discussions with my wife (and kids) about what Father is doing and what we are NOT doing. We discussed as a family some dramatic changes that we think Father may be calling us to. I got an email entitled "Dead Men Have No Rights" over the weekend and read it when I returned home yesterday. It reinforced the idea of radical communal living for me. (Interesting timing don't you think!) It isn't about what I think I am entitled to--the comforts of American life, etc. It is about following Him without being entangled in the world's affairs.

I am so grateful for Mickey being a tool in the hand of our Creator to orchestrate a weekend where we could go this deep.

--Jason

Are You a Missional Christian?

I was surfing the net today during lunch and came across a neat blog that gave some cool insight on what it looks like to live as a missional Christian. I thought it was interesting enough to repost here. Go to this link to see the original post.

Enjoy!
--Jason

1. A significant number of your friends are unbelievers. (Unbelievers like to spend time with you. Jesus seemed to spend a lot of time with unbelievers in the gospels and they were apparently comfortable with Him for the most part. Jesus was the friend of sinners – Luke 7:34. It was the religious hypocrites that felt threatened and couldn’t stand Him.)
2. Many of your Christian friends are from other denominations and churches. (You’re comfortable with the whole Body of Christ, not just your local part. You value the rich diversity in the Kingdom of God – 1 Cor 12:12-26)
3. You listen more than you talk. (You want to know where people are coming from and where they’re at. You genuinely seek to understand what people are telling you, not merely use it as an opportunity to mentally formulate what you’re going to say next. Jesus always began interacting with anyone by listening. Luke tells us that at age twelve, Jesus was in the temple with the Doctors of the Law, listening to them and asking questions – Luke 2:46. Before he healed people, Jesus listened to their stories of illness, loneliness, and rejection.)
4. You see no distinction between sacred and secular. (Everything you do in life is enthusiastically for the glory of God – 1 Cor 10:31. You live for and look to Christ in everything you do.)
5. You’re painfully aware of how little you really know and how far you have to go. (You never stop learning. You read a lot. You’re not afraid to say, “I don’t know.” The more you learn, the more you realize just how little you really know. Job learned this hard lesson in Job 38:1 through Job 42:3 - read through all 4 chapters!)
6. You take risk – enough so that you sometimes fail. (You like to push the envelope knowing those that never fail, never live to their full potential. You’re more afraid you won’t use your full potential than you are of failure. The words of Jesus in Matthew 25:28 as translated by “The Message” ring for you: ’Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’).
7. You have a long-term perspective. (You understand following and serving Jesus is a marathon, not a sprint. You’re in it for the long haul. You realize evangelization takes time; long-term results are more important than short-term trends. You don’t quit. Heb 12:1 exhorts us to “run with perseverance (endurance) the race marked out for us.”)
8. You tune in, not dial out, the culture. (Your unbelieving friends see you as a part of their culture – not outside it. You stay abreast of where the culture is and where’s its heading. You know how to connect with the culture without necessarily embracing it. Christ’s words in 1 Cor 9:19-22 as translated in “The Message” apply: “Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!”)
9. You differentiate between essential and nonessential. (You know when to fall on your sword and when not to. Not every battle is climactic; many are small skirmishes best fought with patience and love instead of brute force. In Luke 10:41, Jesus gently reminds Martha that some things are more important than others.)
10. You care for the poor (Your care goes beyond writing a check for a tax deduction. You give, not out of a guilty conscience, but out of loving desire. The wealthy loved Jesus until he started to talk about loving the poor (Luke 18:18-23.) In the gospels, Jesus spent far more time with the poor than with the rich. He exhorts us to give to the poor (Luke 12:33). It’s interesting that Paul records the other apostles only request of him to be that he remember the poor (Gal 2:10)

Tangible Kingdom Primer explained

This explanation was taken from Matt Smay's blog. He is the co-author of The Tangible Kingdom with Hugh Halter.

The goal of the [The Tangible Kingdom Primer] is to help every Christian to understand and experience a bit of what’s possible in an incarnational community.

The Primer is a spiritual formation journal that walks someone through an 8 week process to deal with the barriers to real apprenticeship. That is Individualism, Consumerism, and Materialism. This is an individual process, but the fifth day of each week is designed to be done with a group - a few friends, a small group, or a community group that’s just getting started.

Each week has 7 days of content and follows this format -

Day one: Exploration of the concept

Day two: Meditation on Scripture related to the concept

Day three: Change element: What will need to change to live out the concept

Day Four: Action day: Small steps into missional life

Day Five: Community Day: Where everyone processes their personal journey together

Day Six: Calibration Day: Serious reorientation to the new habit

Day Seven: Sabbath Communion

I think this is a good idea BECAUSE most of us were probably never taught how to live missionally. Nor were we instructed in to how to live as Jesus in all of our relationships. We have had training on evangelism, mission work, and spiritual disciplines, but we were never taught how to do each of these within a real life context.

We "do" evangelism. We "go on" mission trips. We "practice" the spiritual disciplines. Nevertheless, much of us--myself included--are still not living the life of Jesus, on mission with Father every day. I have a very strong desire to learn how to do this.

Admittedly, I have a strong knee-jerk reaction to anything that looks like a program. (Father is working on me about that!) But as Hugh talked about in the video, this is not as much a "program" as it is a "primer" (hence the title) to get communities of followers of Jesus to intentionally live life on mission with Father daily. With that being said, I would like to give this a shot--either as an entire group or even with just a few others who want to explore this.

Perhaps if we as a group wish to do it together, we can shoot for doing it in January. Either way, I plan to order some primers and begin working through it with Kristie and any others who want sometime soon.

Thoughts?
--Jason

The Tangible Kingdom Primer (video)

I am posting this video for local followers of the Way to watch and comment upon this week (October 18-24). Please watch and post your comments. Once we all watch and post our comments I would like us to decide whether or not to accept my invitation to purchase these workbooks and go through this together.

Thanks,
Jason

The Kingdom of God is Near (video)