Here's to the mentors!

I think I prefer the word 'mentor,' since it is more relational than the word 'leader.' At least when considering the nuances of our cultural perception words. I really don't have anything against the word 'leader' - but rather, against cultural understandings of it that are opposed to how the kingdom of God operates. 'Mentor' seems to capture the servant quality that Jesus manifests, while 'leader' tends toward an understanding that emphasizes the platform, or climbing the ladder above others. Real kingdom leaders could care less about either.

I do believe that some people can lead you closer to Jesus by living as a visible example without necessarily being directly involved in your life. For me, those people include Graham Cooke, Wolfgang Simson, Micheal Frost, Bill Johnson and Heidi Baker among others. But, for the purposes of this post, I want to talk about people who have been part of my life either for a season, or permanently (not in any specific order).

Thank you:

Georgia Penniman, for teaching me to hear God's voice, and facilitating deliverance and healing in some very broken areas.
Ron Jones, for modelling the father's heart toward me when I had no other godly model.
Shannon Jones, for being a praying mother. I would probably not even be alive, much less walking with Jesus if it weren't for you.
Joe Ozawa, for showing me what it looks like to genuinely care about people - little, insignificant people, in a sea of self-promoters who had bigger fish to fry. You were truly subversive in that way, and you taught me about the narrow gate and the humble way.
Alistair Petrie, for modelling how to affirm the good in everyone. And how to draw out of others what God has placed in them.
Heidi Plympton, although younger than me, I consider you a mentor for being a catalyst to rock my religious world and showing me what radical dependence looks like, among so many other things too numerous to list here.
Pete & Pip Gardner, for modelling what it looks like to radically obey when it costs you everything that you've spent years investing in and building. It's not often you meet people who are willing to lay down an entire ministry when God asks them to. You guys are my heroes! The best is yet to come...
Sheryl Lindberg, for showing me how to take off the Christian burka, and speak boldly and freely as a woman surrendered to God.
Charis Enns, although you are a relatively new friend, you're included on this list for breathing life and pouring water on a very dry and thirsty ground. I have a feeling I will continue to learn from you. :)

And, although you all are not part of my 'real' social life, thank you to all the bloggers in bloggerland encouraging and teaching and pouring forth the things God has given you. I am so much richer for it!

Practicing Love

I don't know how to share this. Some things are difficult to articulate, especially the things that are so simple that they are easily missed. I am being drawn back to love. Again and again. I changed my video bar to include Heidi Baker because God keeps reminding me of something she said that I knew was straight from His heart: "Just love the one in front of you."

It's too easy to find reasons to reject. We all have plenty of flaws! Have you ever looked down on someone because they thought they were better than other people? Have you ever rejected someone for not being loving enough? See the irony... no wait... the hypocricy in that? Like I said, we all have plenty of flaws.

If acceptance is grace, rejection is ungrace. That's probably not a word, but it sounds appropriately distasteful.

God keeps telling me that there is already plenty of rejection to go around, I don't need to add my bit to that pile of dung.

'Just love the one in front of you,' He says.

Some days, that's my teething and cranky toddler. Some days, it's my disapproving mother-in-law. Some days, it's a timid and insecure co-worker. Some days, it's a soft-spoken "person who lives outside" (other days, it's been a mentally ill one that called me the worst curse names you can think of). Some days, it's my friendly-but-don't-get-too-close single-mom neighbor, or my Spanish-only elderly neighbors, one of which is fighting cancer (as reported by her bilingual son). Some days, it's another parent on the playground, or the cashier at the grocery store who's carding me just because they believe drinking wine is a sin (I live in a very religious town where it's illegal to even buy alcohol on Sundays - go figure, life is weird). Anyway, on some days, it's a friend who thinks I should be doing something different than what I'm doing. Some days, it's a friend that exhorts me to keep doing what I'm doing. On special days, it's my jaded, broken and wounded big sister. Ok, you get the point.

Every day, I have this totally cool opportunity to be a vessel of God's very love for anyone who happens to come across my path that day. The coolest part about it is that it isn't even about my love. I've started to pray each morning for His love for each one I'll be with that day. Some people are naturally easier to love than others, when I'm operating in the realm of my own love. But His love is endless! I hope it grows in and through me as a result of this practice...

"Just love the one in front of you." John 15:12

Impressions of Uganda

My husband Shane is in Uganda, fulfilling a field requirement of his MA program in human security and peacebuilding. His last three posts are some of his reflections on this trip:

Experiencing Poverty in Uganda
World Malaria Day and Strange Days. (Two seperate posts, but I made them one link here).

Can churches be missional and dualistic at the same time?

Len at NextReformation has written the following:

It seems to me that there are two shifts we need to make in our church culture in order to engage more deeply in the Missio Dei, and we are well into one while the other is barely on the radar.

1. we need to recognize that the western culture is now a missional context. Ok, we got that one.

2. we need to recognize the way the private/public and sacred/secular duality has impacted our ecclesial and leadership models, and see how this duality is limiting our ability to transition from attractional and inward to outward and incarnational practice.

The way we mobilize and release workers continues to partake of that Christendom duality. Our practice, if not our words, in most churched circles, reveals our belief that some believers are called and anointed as workers, but not all. And even where we have this part down in theory, we still tend to exalt full time church-based ministry above other modes of kingdom engagement.

But so long as we work in that frame we will only make missionaries of those in full time ministry. (And some are thinking… “shades of Roland Allen.. Len, this isn’t really news”).

Nevertheless, our insulated church culture still sets the example that forms common thinking. People continue to think, “Sure, but you are paid to do it.. trained to do it… ordained to do it.. so go do it and leave me with my good christian life as it is.”
But we must confront that attitude. We have a WHOLE CHURCH that needs to be mobilized. And our church leaders are already way too busy to take on “local mission.” Until the “ordinary” believer believes themselves to be grasped by God for a kingdom purpose, we will have ten percent of God’s people feeling important and adequate and the rest uncertain of their identity and calling.
Am I making sense?
In his latest article Alan Roxburgh writes, in part..

“to this day in late modernity even when churches no longer enjoy management over the private, inner needs of citizens, the role of church leaders is still to oversee the inner space of church and the inner, spiritual needs of those who enter that spatial realm. The primary spatial metaphor for church leadership is inside the church. This is no small matter and one that cannot be sustained within a missional understanding of the church.”

My take: I find it difficult to reconcile attractional modes of church (come to our sacred space that is separate from your everyday life) with the missional-incarnational mode (we're coming to hang out with you in your everyday life, and be the church with you by loving on you in those places where your life takes place - whether that be school, the coffee shop, the mall, the hospice, or under a bridge). I tend to identify the latter more with "church" than the former - since I believe the church is people and relationships, not a special (sacred) place to go. Anyway, I liked Len's thoughts as I can really relate to the dualistic thinking. God's been addressing it in my own life at continually deeper levels (see Cyclical Learning).

A Couple Great Posts and One Cool Video

What's Your Number? posted at Windblown Hope is a must read for the little people. Jesus is taking His church back (His people, not buildings) and they are discovering that they can participate in kingdom reproduction in their own little spheres of their everyday lives without having to start a 'credible' church by having big numbers or critical mass. I absolutely love this post!

If Jesus Had a Blog posted at Letters from Kamp Krusty. Brant's been on a roll lately, and this one had me laughing deep, belly laughs. Too much fun...

On Being Right

Being right is over-rated. I want to be right all the time. Why? I don't know. Maybe it offers some sense of security. I want to have the right answers from God. I want to know what God thinks about stuff so that I can be right. (Even if people around me think I'm wrong - but I know I've heard God, and I fear Him more than the opinions of others). So it's not necessarily that I want everyone to know I'm right (well, that would make life so much easier for me, but that's totally unrealistic). ;)

No, I just want to be right. But somehow, I think that is missing the point altogether. I don't think God concerns Himself with giving me answers so that I can be right. I think God is concerned with giving out revelation with the purpose of transforming me into a more loving person, as opposed to making me right. Perhaps that is a revelation of the cross - that I am already made right through Him. I don't have to become right. I am already alright in His eyes.

The wonderful thing about being a disciple of Jesus is that even when I've got it wrong, He'll make it right. He is faithful to lead and guide me into all truth, to completely cleanse me of religious programming. He is my Rock. He is the Living Word, the Bread of Life, my very Sustenance.

Shedding the layers of Religion

In the previous post I referred to my process of repenting from religion for the last several years. Some people call it 'deconstruction', but repentance is a pretty accurate description of the process too. I wanted to elaborate a little more on where I started at the beginning of that process (as a product of North American religious culture) and how my paradigm has changed. This isn't an exhaustive list, just a few things that come to mind. Maybe I'll write more in the future.

1. I used to believe the only way to follow God wholeheartedly 100% was to either be a missionary or to be in "full-time ministry" or to "have a ministry" (a paid or fundraising-supported function within a Christian organization, ministry or church). I wouldn't have articulated it that way, and if someone had articulated it to me that way, I wouldn't have intellectually agreed. But deep down, this was my functional paradigm. This belief was affected by Hellenistic dualism and its false dichotomization of sacred from secular.

I now believe the only way to follow God 100% is to be obedient to all His commands and to follow the specific leading of the Holy Spirit in my life. Since God lives in me, missional living and full time ministry are embedded into my everyday life, wherever I may be, whatever I may be doing.

2. I used to believe "worship" happened when the musicians began to play in the "worship service" or when I popped a CD in the CD player, and I sang songs to God, or soaked in His presence. Again, this paradigm was influenced by a separation, in my own worldview, between spiritual activities and mundane ones.

I now see worship as something that arises out of #1 - a lifestyle of obedience and submission to the King of Kings. Worship includes, but is not limited to, music. Instead, worship is a 24/7 offering of your everyday life to God.

3. I used to believe the pinnacle of Christianity, or the goal of Christianity, was to achieve my destiny and accomplish my calling.

I now believe the goal is to love God and to love my neighbor. The two are inseparable because the second is a natural byproduct of the first. When you love someone, you begin to love what they love and value what they value. Part of loving God is adopting His passion and His purpose - to heal and reconcile the nations (ethnos/peoples) to Himself. It has ceased to be about my destiny and it has become about His purpose.

Random Thoughts

I'm feeling a little blue since my husband is leaving for Uganda for 3.5 weeks and he won't have much internet access, and probably little or no opportunity to phone. :( I'm just thankful this is his final residency for his program, and the last time we'll have to be apart for a long stretch like this. We live together, commute together, work together and play together - we are pretty much joined at the hip, so it's always weird when we're apart. My daughter and I leave in the morning to head to Montana to visit my family, so I am looking forward to that!

Anyway, I've been thinking about these posts by Brant Hansen:

A Bucket List: Things You can do Before Hell, and Kicking the Bucket List.

They cut to the root of religion and remind us that God is primarily after our heart. I appreciate the point of these posts. But I wrestled with this: if we open our heart to God, and give Him an unrestricted pass to deal with our heart brutally and wholely, won't we want to do some of the things on Brant's bucket list? Not because we have to, or because we want to get glory from each other, or because we are trying to earn our way, or earn His love, but because we want to please His heart and we've discovered that some of these things really are pleasurable to God...

And in that context of relationship with Him, wouldn't we want to exhort others to love and good works too? I believe that religion (of self) is a counterfeit to something that is authentic (of God). And I've been on this crazy and exciting journey of repentance from religion for about 5 or 6 years now, and still going. I'm slow... what can I say. But there is an authentic expression of following Him that I want to see come forth both in my life and in the lives of the true Church (the Body of believers who are following Him and giving Him their hearts). Any thoughts from those who've read Brant's posts?

UPDATE: I appreciate this follow-up comment Brant made:

I think it's giving God all of our hearts when we say, "Lord, I believe. Help me in my unbelief." That's where we are.

I suck at religion, too. Everybody does. I could pride myself on being one of those who admits it, but then I'd be sucking at religion again.

I talked about this kind of thing this morning on the air. I said that if you follow Jesus, you'll get blasted by the types of people who blasted Jesus, and you will draw the same people to you who were drawn to Jesus.

A guy called and blasted me for saying that. Not everyone has antennae for irony...

Good Reading

A couple posts stand out today:

Jeff wrote a brilliant post called "Redefining vs. Rejecting." Great stuff.

And Grace posted a short, but very sweet quote on today's installment of "Missional Monday." Fantastic!

Amen and amen. Now off to work I go...

Psalm 23

Author of The Shack

I haven't read this book, but it intrigues me. Especially the part about not using Jesus as a model for emulation, but rather appreciating that He already lives through us. That challenged me, and it seems to capture part of the tension between a religious approach to Jesus (past tense - what did Jesus do?) and a relational, living approach to Jesus (present tense - letting His life manifest through me today). Have you read this book? What did you think? Any wisdom to share?

Making Ready the Way of the Lord

More from Luke... I've been meditating on John's prophetic mandate as a forerunner to prepare people for Jesus (Luke 1:16-17). So, what was John's prophetic message. How do we prepare ourselves for Jesus?
Luke 3:8-10: "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." If I had been there, I would ask the same question they did, "Then what shall we DO?"



"The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise." (vs.11)



And to the tax collectors, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered." And to the soldiers, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages." (vs. 14) [Don't use positions of power/influence/authority to enrich yourself or malign or imprison others unjustly].

It seems that John's prophetic mandate of preparing people for Jesus centered around teaching them to live in a socially just manner. Perhaps this is how we bear fruits in keeping with repentance. Perhaps our faith is evidenced more by our actions and lifestyles than by our proclamations.
(ie: 'We have Abraham as our father'). What do you think?

"THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,
MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD..."

Women and Children in Luke

I've been feeding on Luke 1, slowly going through it, meditating and pondering and praying in this portion of scripture. I'm only up to verse 35, as I'm chewing slowly and prayerfully. Several things in this chapter have spoken to me, but one thing in particular has stuck out. This portion is all about barren (or virgin) women and supernatural child-bearing. An angel shows up and prophetically declares that they are about to birth a movement. Regarding John, the angel says, "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (vs. 17) And of Jesus, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High...and His kingdom will have no end." (vs. 32-33)

Due to my culturally Hellenistic approach to the scriptures, I have had to realize that this is not just doctrinal/conceptual teaching. This is the story of real people and how God dealt with them. Real women, real pain: Elizabeth with the stigma of being barren, and Mary with the stigma of being pregnant outside of marriage, and God's real purpose in the midst of it. But it's also about real children. Both John the Baptist and Jesus were born bloody and messy just like the rest of us. Weird.

Anyway, God is helping me to rediscover the Story that I'm now part of (His story) from a holistic, real life approach (as opposed to the separated, compartmentalized, sanitized, conceptualized Hellenistic approach that I'm accustomed to).

I can relate to these portions of Luke. I was recently pregnant and had my first child not that long ago. And now I am beginning to get a much deeper understanding of just how sacred the ministry of motherhood really is (just as all aspects of my life are sacred). The transition wasn't immediate for me. As much as I love missional living, and continue to seek that lifestyle, I have a mission right here in my household that is very, very important to the Lord. And I have this awesome sense of responsibility and stewardship in it. Even a healthy fear of the Lord in wanting to do it well. Reading about how part of John's ministry (in the spirit and power of Elijah - doesn't it sound so grand - Shaba-daba-da!) is turning father's (and mother's) hearts towards their children.

Pondering women and children, and birthing and motherhood, I also came across this passage: Is 66:9,12-13, "Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?" says the Lord. "Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?" says your God. For this is what the Lord says: "I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."

Since God is beyond gender, I can learn from (Him) how to be a good mom, as God models both fatherhood and motherhood for me. Wild. Awesome. The gospel of Luke starts with women and children. Wow. Radical.

My Story of Following Him Out

This is the story of my journey following Jesus out of church-as-we-know-it. When I first followed Him out in 2003, I had never heard of "emerging" or "organic church" or "missional." In fact, I've only recently become aware of these movements. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that God has taken a number of people on this journey, and spoke to them many of the same things He was speaking to my husband and I. Anyway, here's my story:

I left church primarily because I was I was discontent with my own spiritual barrenness, and the barrenness of the churches in my city. None of us were producing new believers. People were switching churches, so some churches experienced ‘growth’ from that. But the kingdom was remaining static. It was not growing in my city, and that broke me. I began to question why we were so inwardly focused on our own spiritual transformation while millions of hurting people outside the walls were ignored. Besides, I began to wonder why we thought that sitting for an hour to listen to someone talk to us about the Bible (which many of us already had considerable exposure to, having been Christians for years and years) and singing a few songs was forming Christ in us. An understanding of "worship" as liturgy is quite different from an understanding of worship as a life to be lived. (But that's for another post).

I left institutional church because I realized my Christianity cannot be about me (and my growth). It cannot be about my community of believers (and our growth). It has to be about love. Yes, love for each other (the faith community), but why do we stop there? (The statistics of North America, from a missiological perspective, are deeply disturbing to me). And then I went and heard Heidi Baker preach. That threw me over the edge. She said some not-so-nice things, but had the fruit to back it up. And I was confronted with my own personal barrenness and was forced to take personal responsibility for contributing to these statistics, I cried out to God this simple prayer: “Lord, heal my barrenness.” Barrenness in scripture has always been considered a curse, but I fear we are comfortable with it here in North America as normal Christianity. Normal Christianity is reproductive.

I left institutional church because God called me out (a lot of people would not believe that God would do that). But I believe He is retraining many of us as a process of healing our barrenness, and giving us an outward, apostolic focus that seeks to expand his kingdom (rather than merely maintain the believers we have now). And not just to outreach and in-drag. I am just beginning to learn about Jesus’s message of the kingdom. (He preached the majority of His messages on the kingdom, and mentioned the “church” only 2 or 3 times). Have we confused ‘church’ with the kingdom of God (and our goal of its expansion)? I think we have. In fact, I think we’ve replaced the latter with the former (and in a way, made the church into an idol. We cannot substitute an institution for the power of the Holy Spirit and the supernatural, otherworldly kindgom of God). And I believe that an incarnational-missional approach will birth faith-groups who maintain relationship. That's what my husband and I did in university in Calgary, and it worked. But we didn't have the language for it - we had never heard of Alan Hirsch or Mike Frost or any of them. In any case, I know from experience that we can lose a lot of the institutionalization, religious liturgy and paraphernalia that we associate with "church." And Christ will be revealed to new converts and formed in them. We never set out to start a 'church' so we didn't care that it was small. But being small, it was very effective!

Yes, relationship and relationships of diversity (in denominational background, personal opinion and gifting and calling etc) are very important. But I believe a natural and organic relational form of ‘church’ outside of institutions can reflect that kind of diversity.

For some of us, it isn’t bitterness or hurt that brought us out. I know that some have left because of toxic, unhealthy environments. And I also know that not all institutional churches are toxic. Some are very healthy, and I continue to learn from healthy leaders who are within those systems. However, my journey was a little different, so I just wanted to include it in the dialogue in hopes to contribute to mutual understanding. :)

PS. I think it's kind of ironic and amusing that 'platform ministry' led to this journey of mine. God uses everything, He really does. ;)

I don't really know what I'm doing

Maybe I was a bit sharp in that last post. I am just going to be a little vulnerable here... I am conflicted within myself. On the one hand, I have this fire burning inside me. I have this passion for God's purpose to come forth in and through His people, His church. I have this burning passion for reformation in our day, for liberty and freedom from religious mindsets that Jesus never intended us to labor under, and that aren't bearing much fruit. A passion for right foundations, for Jesus to be the only cornerstone. A passion for His kingdom to expand, to minister to the pain and loneliness of those who don't yet know Him.

And on the other hand, I sometimes feel like the bad guy when I share my convictions. Or at least, I feel mean. I want to "honor what others are doing" as Mark pastorally suggested (thanks, Mark, and good point). But then I think, "Well, I want to honor people. But I can't honor certain things that compromise my convictions." So maybe I should just pipe down and focus on obeying these convictions myself. Yes, definitely... but maybe no.

Yes to living out my convictions, but I can't seem to pipe down. Maybe it's immaturity on my part. Maybe it's impatience. Maybe I'm trying to "fix" something that doesn't belong to me in the first place. Jesus is Lord, and the last thing I want to do is be an agenda-driven person (because then I've just entered into the same religious spirit I'm so adamantly and verbally resisting). *sigh* I'm a recovering Pharisee.

So, anyway, I don't really know what I'm doing... Can you give me grace on the journey as I find my way?

Crisis! What to do, what to do (wringing hands)

Thom Rainer, President of LifeWay, wrote a sobering article on the current crisis in the American church. His main support comes from new 2004 data. He writes, “It takes 86 church members in America one year to reach a person for Christ.” So a group of 86 average church members would require 86 years just to reproduce themselves (keeping the numbers static, nevermind kingdom expansion).

Bill Dahl at the Porpoise Diving Life has written an amazing article titled The Red 'C.' He uses the Apollo 13 mission as a metaphor for the mission of the church, and how we respond to our own failure. Hopefully, we'll respond as NASA did, and take responsibility for the crisis.

Or... Will we continue to ignore the missiologists, the researchers, the stats that reveal our inability to complete the mission (like Barna, Willow Creek's REVEAL, etc)? Can it be that faulty paradigms of 'church' are responsible for these statistics, these failures? Will we even confront and admit our own barrenness? Or will we sink into denial, and just go about doing what we've always done, even though it's not working and eternity is at stake?! (As my friend Charis posted about recently, do we even care that our actions will be judged by God? Is there no fear of the Lord anymore?) Will our pride get in the way? Or will we face this crisis head-on, allow it to humble us and cause us to cry out to God? Are we even asking Him what this crisis means, and what He wants to reveal to us in the midst of it?

But wait, we already have it all figured out, don't we. We know how to do this. We've been doing it for hundreds of years now, we've got it down to a science, already worked out all the wrinkles - been there, done that. Eventually, those lost people are gonna wanna jump on board with our program! Right? It can't be that our paradigm and methodologies are off. Well, maybe the methodology only needs a little tweaking, but as long as our paradigm of 'church' remains in tact...

Here's a preview of Bill's article:

“As we move to the other side, our greatest enemy will not be our ignorance; it will be our unteachability. It won’t be what we don’t know that threatens us; it will be what we do know. We know too much --- so much that we can’t learn how much we need to learn.”[xxx] A crew member places his hand on Major Tom’s shoulder as they turn and gaze at the ‘C’ module marooned on the reef: “This won’t be an easy journey even after we have dismounted from the old dead horse.”[xxxi]

She's Done it Again

Kingdom Grace has a way of facilitating the best dialogues on her blog. I love these kinds of forums since I learn so much from everyone who contributes, and I have a chance to throw in my .02 for feedback as well. Dialogue is a much more effective learning environment than monologue, don't you think? Anyway, Grace basically asks if toxicity is inherent in institutional systems or not. There's some great thoughts on the clergy-laity divide, the politics and power-plays within institutional systems, the knowledge=power colonial mindset, and a whole bunch of other concepts. You can read the discussion on her post "What do you think?". Thought-provoking stuff! This was my conclusion (having digested and pondered the question and the other contributor's comments):

The only “power” we should respect and fear is the power of God. The “power” of man should not impress us or intimidate us. We may submit to the Holy Spirit in another person, but never to that person. We are all fallible as humans. So we need discernment to know the difference between the Holy Spirit manifesting through someone and what is just their personality or humanity coming through. (1Cor 10:15, 1John 2:20,27, John 16:13, 1Thess 5:21)

Institutions major on the power of man, and minor on the power of God. Institutions are inherently designed to protect the power of those who hold “leadership” offices conferred on them by the institutional system (clergy). Institutions themselves are not designed to empower those who “follow”(laity) in the institution. The leaders in institutions may have the heart desire to empower, but the nature of institutionalism itself actually hinders this and makes it an uphill battle (partly because people embrace the passivity of their laity role - they believe their job is to sit and listen, and to serve someone else's vision. Not exactly empowering).

Our ‘church’ institutions in Western Christianity are modelled on our university institutions (which in turn are modelled on a Greek paradigm of learning and development - which is about linear mastery of knowledge which leads to a know-it-all and we’ve-seen-it-all-before kind of arrogance). This is a faulty foundation since it is built on a cultural heritage (sand) rather than on Jesus, who is the Rock and the living Word. And it does not produce disciples of Christ who learn to obey all that He has commanded us, and learn how to hear Him and follow Him (thereby becoming transformed into his image).

The 'vision' is 'cast' from above, and the laity are there to serve the 'leader's' vision. I believe this is backward. Leaders help people identify their own visions that God is calling them to, and then seek to empower and facilitate the fulfillment of that vision. So leaders serve those they're leading, not the other way around. This is the servant model that God provided through Jesus (and then re-iterated through Paul). This is the heart of the Father. But it goes against the ideals of power inherent in institutions.

Instead, our institutions primarily teach people how to follow other men, and how to follow the institution. So the power of man is respected and feared more than the power of God. Or rather, the power of man (and institutions) is confused with the power/authority of God. I’ve actually heard people recount their ‘testimony’ and it was all about how they had stopped going to church, but now they are back in church. There was no mention of their relationship to Jesus, only talk of their relationship to the institution. Grieved my heart!

PS. Another noteworthy link: Christianity Today's interview with Alan Hirsch.

Reactionary maturity?

First, I want to say that I struggled with writing this post. Because it's not really directed at the blogs I read by authors who have been victimized by very toxic spiritual abuse - their situations are unique (but I fear they are common). I think the nature of grace is that it allows space for understanding the particular cards one has been dealt, and their particular set of circumstances into the equation. Jesus dialed it up for some people, and dialed it down for others. Context matters. So please, when you read this, know that although I stand by what I'm preaching, I'm not trying to impose a standard universally. We all have process, and God is with us in that process. So please hear my heart... and understand my reservations about this post. Here goes:

Reactionary maturity is a pretty obvious oxymoron. But I have come across a certain attitude in the post-church blogosphere that I want to explore in this post.

Reacting to all the happy-clappy religious phoniness that people have grown so sick of, some seem to embrace a negativity as somehow "more authentic". As if it is more spiritual to be immature, constantly struggling with your own carnal nature. Strange.

I believe in the importance of being authentic, and being free to be who you are and being free to be where you are at (warts and all). I believe in the importance of weakness, and knowing we don't have it all figured out, and we are imperfect and broken humanity.

But cynicism is NOT a fruit of the Spirit. Sorry. I have been as cynical as anyone in this deconstructive journey, but eventually, God deals with that. We cannot live there. God does want us to grow up. Maturity is about life in the Spirit, not looking perfect or looking like we have all the answers (which is what everyone is reacting to).

So if we reject the happy-clappy phoniness, let's embrace God's answer in it's place, not our own carnality. Right? Am I missing something? Is there something I'm not seeing?

Needed Wisdom in Times of Transition

Len at Next Reformation has posted an excellent piece exploring some of the difficulties regarding the transitional seasons of life. I value his wisdom and recommend reading "Deconstruction, Rebuilding, God's Future."

Great News

I'm originally from Seattle, so you know I'm a big fan of a fine cup of coffee. And then I read this BBC headline: Daily Caffeine Protects Brain. Oh good, if I keep up the coffee intake, I may overcome the risk of losing my marbles. Thank God, who causes all things to work together for my good, even a cup of joe. ;)

What is "missional" all about?

I love the word "missional" because it carries an apostolic seed. When we love God, experience Him, prophetically hear and see what He wants to speak to us and show to us, then His heart for others (His desire for reconciliation with the outside world) becomes a part of who we are.

Our heart begins to beat with His. His dream becomes our dream, His love for the world is imparted to us, and we begin to love as He loves. We become an apostolic people in the simplicity of being sent ones; on His mission of love and reconciliation. It is no longer just about us, or our little community of faith.

This term "missional" is being used in a lot of different ways, and that can add confusion rather than clarity. I found the following quote (from an interview with Alan Hirsch) and video (of Michael Frost speaking at a Presbyterian Conference) to be helpful in explaining the original heart behind the word "missional". The video is about 50 minutes, but well worth the watch. Let's start with the quote:

Fred: Can you explain to Wineskins readers how you think adopting a distinctly missional-incarnation approach will find a faith community emerging from mission, rather than mission emerging from a particular expression of church?

Alan Hirsch: 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.
(From an interview in New Wineskins)