I’m excited and honored to speak at Mount Pleasant Church’s Sunday afternoon service. The third Sun of each month they focus on Evangelism and Missions.
My message will come from Luke 10:25-37, “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing!”
| Date: | October 19, 2014 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 04:00-5:00 p.m. |
| Event: | Speaking Opportunity |
| Venue: | Mount Pleasant Church and Ministries |
| Public: | Public |
Life is full of transitions. From each stage of physical growth, schools, friends, marital status, churches, housing, and jobs. The last few months has been full of BIG transitions for our family. It’s a lame excuse, but that’s what’s kept me from writing. It’s been WAY too long since I’ve written a post! I apologize for not keeping you updated! This post outlines the transitions we’re going through that will culminate in launching Restoration Church in October 2015!
I wrote a master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation. By far the hardest part was to get moving, to get started! Once I got the ball rolling the pieces fell into place. How many great opportunities are missed because we fail to get moving?!
Three years ago my wife and I began to sense that God was leading us to plant a new church. Not wanting to miss God’s plan we went to a church planting boot camp, read books, and I was part of a D.Min. church planting cohort. All that was easy. But to actually plant a church I had to get moving. Not so easy!
If you’re looking for a book filled with the latest and greatest innovative fads do not read this book. However, if you believe, like Greg Atkinson, that God is the Chief Innovator, and your best ideas and breakthroughs will come from the Holy Spirit, then read on.
This book is FULL of Scripture! Every idea and principle is solidly built on this foundation of Scripture.
Strange Leadership is really a book about being in tune with God and His Spirit. Atkinson argues this to be THE key to innovation. In the introduction he says,
This is at the very core of being innovative—to be so in tune with God; his dreams become your dreams.
When Christians put on the armor of God ALMOST nothing is impossible. With the armor on we are ABLE to live and experience the ABUNDANT LIFE that Jesus died and rose from the grave for us to experience. But the armor alone not enough!
I think most Christians, if they were honest, would confess that they are dissatisfied with their prayer life. They feel it is inadequate and perhaps infrequent. We pray but we don’t see answers. We don’t feel spiritual power. WHY? This was the topic of my last sermon in the book of Ephesians last Sunday. View part one is HERE. Part two is HERE.
I love my wife! On our wedding day I made a lifelong commitment to love her… no matter what. Add to that as a Christian husband I’m to love my wife like Jesus loves His church. Ah, who can do that! Any husbands out there feel like a failure compared to Jesus??!!
As much as I strive to be an unconditionally loving husband I fail a lot! I love myself naturally. Loving others, even my wife like Jesus… not so much!
Thankfully I haven’t completely failed! That’s my biggest fear. I’ve learned some things from my failure (correction: I’m LEARNING) that may help you too.
Everyone everywhere experiences spiritual warfare; it is not unique to Christians. But only Christians have what’s necessary to combat, to fight back, and win! Through Jesus we are able to combat and overcome. We do this by putting on the armor of God.
Last week I wrote that I believe the armor is Jesus. My post on the first three pieces of this armor is HERE and describes Jesus as our truth, our righteousness, and our peace.
When we feel discouraged, upset, defeated, depressed, anxious, fearful, confused, uncertain — whatever the form of attack may be — we are to remind ourselves of these three truths.
Our experience confirms that life is full of conflict, isn’t it! I usually think it’s conflict between people. Could be with my wife, our kids, our neighbors, our co-workers, or yes, even with people in our church!
According to the Apostle Paul and his letter to the Ephesian church our core conflict is not with people at all. The problem is much more serious. We are struggling against, “rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV)
The conflict can only be won with the right armor. Six pieces of spiritual armor make winning spiritual warfare possible. If you’re a Christian there are three pieces you already have on. If you aren’t yet a follower of Jesus consider these resources as strong consideration to follow Him.
Book Review: Creating A Missional Culture by JR Woodward (Downer's Grove: IVP, 2012)
I am entering a new season of life and ministry as I work with a team to launch Restoration Church (Fall 2015). The vision is to be a missional, multiethnic, and multiplying church. JR Woodward and the V3 Movement are significant influences and partners in the launch of Restoration Church, so a review of JR’s book, Creating a Missional Culture is relevant.
In the intro Woodward states, “More than a strategy, vision, or plan, the unseen culture of a church powerfully shapes her ability to grow, mature and live missionally.” (p. 19). This is similar to what Sam Chand says in his book, Cracking Your Church’s Culture. I highly recommend Chand’s book as a supplement and stand alone resource on church culture in general.
Creating a Missional Culture is broken into four parts…
In this section Woodward answers the question of how culture works. He identifies six elements that create culture. They are:
1. Language
So, what does the language of the congregation you serve reveal? Do the words people speak reveal an understanding that God is missional in his essence, and that we, like him, are a sent people, and that we are to live in the world for the sake of the world? (p. 36)
2. Artifacts: three essential artifacts are given: Scripture, communion, and the hymns and liturgy.
How do the members of the church you serve approach Scripture? Do they seek a theology of mission in the Scripture, or do they recognize that Scripture is a byproduct of mission, revealing missional theology, which is forming them to join God in his mission? Do they look to the Scripture to inform or transform them? Do they spend more time critiquing the Scriptures or allowing God to critique them through Scripture? Does the community understand the Scriptures as static or dynamic? (p. 37)
When people come to the Table in the congregation you serve, do they remember that Jesus’ body was broken for all and that his blood was spilled for the whole world, and thus seek to be bearers of God’s saving purpose for his whole world? Or do they view themselves as exclusive beneficiaries of God’s grace? (p. 37)
3. Narratives
As you consider the congregation you serve, is the narrative of the community shaping people to love Christ more, be more like him and deeply engage the world in order to see God’s kingdom become a greater reality? (p. 38)
4. Rituals
Rituals answer the question, What are our core practices? When talking about rituals, we will look at rites, practices, and liturgies. (p. 39)
5. Institutions
Understanding how a congregation handle power distribution and how they maintain unity when it comes to their vision, strategy and marks of faithfulness helps discern the culture of the church. (p. 41)
As you assess the congregation you serve, ask yourself these questions: Does the congregation take a hierarchical or grass-roots approach? Does one person wield authority, or is authority revolving and dispersed (a polycentric approach)? Is there a bottleneck in the structure, or does the church take a more open-source approach? Is cohesion maintained by rigid authority or through relationships and collaboration? (p. 41)
6. Ethics
As you consider the congregation you serve, is there a clear understanding of what it means to be faithful and fruitful, and does it reflect something more substantial than how many people come to a service and how large the budget and building are? (p. 43)
Chapter 4, Polycentric Leadership and Missional Culture, was a breakthrough for me. The foundation for this concept is a shift in how Ephesians 4:11ff is interpreted. Rather than eliminating the apostolic and prophetic gifts, as most do, Woodward suggests a fivefold ministry pattern as essential for the church today!
Paul seems to say that without a fivefold ministry pattern, we cannot mature and become the masterpiece that God intended. (p. 59)
The beauty of the vision that Paul is laying out for us [in Ephesians 4] is that we learn to develop a diverse team of leaders who together can cultivate communities to be more like Christ. (p. 59)
Woodward suggests,
One of the reasons the church is losing the digital generation is we have failed to incarnate an approach to leadership which takes seriously the major shifts our culture is experiencing… These cultural shifts highlight the vulnerabilities of a centralized leadership structure, which I contend never should have characterized the church in the first place. (p. 60)
See Alan Hirsch and Tim Catchim in their book, Permanent Revolution, for an in-depth discussion of this topic. A review of their book is forthcoming.
In this section Woodward builds a foundation upon which a polycentric model of leadership can be built. This has been transformational for me and the team I’m working with. Absolutely central for all leaders to work through.
In this section Woodward deals with Jesus as the ultimate five-fold equiper-leader. He then gives a chapter each to full descriptions of the five-fold equipping ministry.
This is the how-to section of the book. It’s full of examples and real life suggestions. If the church is to become a missional movement it’s leaders must wrestle with how to embody missional culture. Woodward’s book, especially this section, gives such leaders the fuel for fruitful discussion, prayer, and change.
Pastor/leader, do you, your team, and your church a favor and read Creating a Missional Culture together. I cannot wait to see how the church we are launching creates such a culture and participates in a missional movement. I hope to see you along the journey!
Life is full of struggles, isn’t it! It often feels like a wrestling match we just can’t win. But the Apostle Paul wrote to a church full of struggles 2000 years ago with answers. The answers given to the church at Ephesus are just as relevant today as they were then.
The bottom line is that the problems we face, the struggles we experience, are not primarily problems with humanity. They are what the Apostle Paul calls “rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” This was the topic of my sermon yesterday from Ephesians 6:10-13. You can find part one of the video HERE. Part two is HERE.
Many reject a supernatural view of life. They refuse to believe in unseen powers. They reject any kind of spiritual kingdom, saying there is no God or devil. Maybe you know someone like this??!!
Others believe only in a kingdom of good. They believe in God and maybe angels, but refuse to accept the existence of the devil and/or hell.
I urge you to consider taking God at His word. The answers the Apostle Paul puts forth are the only explanations that come to grips with the problems and struggles of life.