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Reframing The Gospel

February 14, 2012 in Bible, church, God, MISSIONAL with 0 Comments

Unfortunately, many of today’s Christians have come to believe in a gospel that is only concerned with praying a prayer, getting individuals to heaven. And then they go out and pitch this limited gospel message to others in ways that devalue the holistic nature of the message itself.

Scot Mcknight says ” the soterian gospel resolves one problem — our broken relationship with God. The soterian gospel focuses on one event — the cross as the place where Christ takes our place, shoulders our sins, removes our guilt, and forgives our sin. The soterian gospel pleads for one major response — trust in that Christ for that problem.” (See King Jesus Gospel)

The Story gospel is otherwise urges us to see the gospel in Story terms. The gospel is that the Story of Israel comes to its definitive completeness in the Story of Jesus. In this video you will be introduced to the holistic nature of the gospel and challenged to return to the Bible to get a better picture of the story and how it should shape your whole life. I love this!

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Missional Defined

February 13, 2012 in church, MISSIONAL with 0 Comments

“IT IS NOT THAT THE CHURCH HAS A MISSION BUT THAT GOD’S MISSION HAS A CHURCH.”

The word missional has become a buzzword that so many are using but not living. It must be defined. To help my readers understand what I mean when I use the word missional here is a conversation with Glenn Smith about defining missional church: (Glenn Smith is a world-renowned theologian and missiologist who has been leading “Christian Direction” in Montreal for a couple of decades. Glen is a huge influence in my life and ministry and is becoming a dear friend)

Have you been following this discussion about the missional church? Perhaps you have asked yourself

Is this just another fad?
What is this word, missional?
Does it mean anything for me, for my church?

Let me try to unpack what it means…
When we talk about a novel, we refer to it as “fictional literature”. The noun, “fiction” becomes the adjective, “fictional”. It is same thing with the wonderful word “mission”. When it is used as an adjective, we say “missional”, for a church that is dedicated to mission. But I call it an accordion word – the more air you pump into it, the more noise it makes! At the core, in spite of all the noise, there are four key ideas:

First, we are affirming that God is missionary in His character – His Being in Action. Mission is first and foremost God acting through Jesus in His creation by the work of His Spirit. Yes, God is love, just, holy…and He is also missionary!
When we use the word missional, we are reaffirming the Gospel . Jesus is LORD. A king has a kingdom; the Good News is about the LORDSHIP of Jesus over all His creation, in our lives, in His Church and over our cities.
When we use the word missional, we are admitting that we live in a new period in our history. Some people call this, “Post-Christendom”, a period where Christianity and the Church are no longer at the centre of our culture. We may grieve, but we also need to think and act in fresh ways.
When we use the word missional, we are affirming that the Church, by its very nature, is living out the implications of the Gospel; we are a people sent into our neighbourhoods and cities.

Read the rest of the article by Glenn Smith

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EAT: A Life Rhythm

February 11, 2012 in Bible, FAMILY, friends, Life, MISSIONAL with 0 Comments

One of our core rhythms at The Journey is EAT. We tell people that to be a part of this community your discretional spending should go down and your food budget should go up. We encourage people to have 3 meals a week with others… opening their home and their lives.

Tim Chester: “Jesus didn’t run projects, establish ministries, create programs, or put on events. He ate meals. If you routinely share meals and you have a passion for Jesus, then you’ll be doing mission. It’s not that meals save people. People are saved through the gospel message. But meals will create natural opportunities to share that message in a context that resonates powerfully with what you’re saying.”

Meals continue to be integral to the task of mission. Theologian and chef Simon Carey Holt says:

It’s good to be reminded that the table is a very ordinary place, a place so routine and everyday it’s easily overlooked as a place of ministry. And this business of hospitality that lies at the heart of Christian mission, it’s a very ordinary thing; it’s not rocket science nor is it terribly glamorous. Yet it is the very ordinariness of the table and of the ministry we exercise there that renders these elements of Christian life so important to the mission of the church. . . . Most of what you do as a community of hospitality will go unnoticed and unrecognized. At base, hospitality is about providing a space for God’s Spirit to move. Setting a table, cooking a meal, washing the dishes is the ministry of facilitation: providing a context in which people feel loved and welcome and where God’s Spirit can be at work in their lives. Hospitality is a very ordinary business, but in its ordinariness is its real worth.

Elsewhere Holt says: “Whatever it looks like, your own table is a sacred place and one just as implicated by the lavish nature of God’s grace as any other.”

Meals bring mission into the ordinary. But that’s where most people are—living in the ordinary. That’s where we need to go to reach them. We too readily think of mission as extraordinary. Perhaps that’s because we find it awkward to talk about Jesus out- side a church gathering. Perhaps it’s because we think God moves through the spectacular rather than the witness of people like us. Perhaps it’s because we want to outsource mission to the professionals, so we invite people to guest services where an “expert” can do mission for us. But most people live in the ordinary, and most people will be reached by ordinary people. Even those who attend a special event will, for the most part, have first been befriended by a Christian. “For those looking to connect with people in the local community it isn’t that hard if you really want to. Just invite people round, let them know they can go home if they need to and then enjoy a meal together. You’re going to eat anyway, so why not do it with others!”

Jesus’s command to invite the poor for dinner violates our notions of distance and detachment. Mission as hospitality undermines the professionalization of ministry. Mission isn’t something I can clock out from at the end of the day. The hospitality to which Jesus calls us can’t be institutionalized in programs and projects. Jesus challenges us to take mission home. It may be a surprise, given my emphasis on meals, but I loathe church lunches—those potluck suppers in drafty church halls. They’re institutionalized hospitality. Don’t start a hospitality ministry in your church: open your home.

Much is said of engaging with culture—much that’s right and helpful. But we must never let engaging culture eclipse engaging with people. People are infinitely variable and rarely susceptible to our sociological categories.

If you want to understand a person’s worldview, don’t read a book. Talk to them, hang out with them, eat with them.

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Getting Through The Challenges of Mission and Community

February 9, 2012 in church, God, Leadership, Life, MISSIONAL with 0 Comments

In planting a church that longs to see its people live on mission, if I am honest, it is super challenging. The cost that people have to count is so much higher than attending a designed program at church. I understand why Jesus constantly is reminded those following him of the cost involved in such a decision. Jonathan thanks for the honesty and the encouragement… as Eugene Peterson says “it is a long journey in the same direction.”

Article by Jonathan Dodson

The popularity of missional community is rising among evangelicals, and yet, the American church is nowhere near a missional tipping point. I’ve faced missional highs and missional lows. Along the way, I’ve considered a number of things that are absolutely necessary for us to endure the transition to missional church. How should we respond to the challenges of missional community? Here are three things to keep in mind as you lead in God’s mission (and thanks for doing so).

1. Building Missional Community Requires Stretched Grace. We need more than a drop of grace to get us going on God’s mission. We need an ocean of grace to swim in to continue on God’s mission together. Do you remember when you knew nothing about “missional church”? That’s where many people are. Do you recall how long it took you to process, assimilate, and live out the principles of missional community? This probably took a couple of years, and if you’re a leader, you are in it “full time”. When leading others in missional community, remember the slowness in your own story and extend others the same grace and patience King Jesus extended you. After all, the kingdom of God is slow, and thank God for that! We need more than a drop of grace to get us going on God’s mission. We need grace stretched across the length of our lives and depth of our missional failures and successes. Jesus secured this grace, so revel in it and splash it on others.

Leader Tip: Try to avoid making mission a new benchmark of religious performance. Instead, motivate people with grace. Grace preached and grace embodied. Embody the grace of Christ, who has put up with our missional fumblings for centuries, as you lead others on mission. When it comes to mission, it’s not perfection overnight but progress over a lifetime.

2. Community is What You Make of It. In order to make progress with your community, remind them that community is what you make it. Community isn’t an idea; its real people, awkward, struggling, weird, different, funny, slow, arrogant, sheepish, humble, curious, skeptical, excitable. You get the idea. Jesus didn’t die to make cliques; he died and rose to form diverse communities. Diverse and different is hard. It requires love, effort, and patience. Community doesn’t just magically appear in a church. In fact, churches don’t have community at all; they are community. The question is, “What will you make of the community?” I’m falling in love with real community, which is really messy, with people who are so different from me and yet so alike in Jesus. There’s nothing like pursuing difficult people, being loved by different people, serving alongside a diverse people. What a display of grace (nothing else could hold us together).

Leader Tip: In a highly consumeristic, individual-centered society, it will take at least a generation to get back to the biblical notion of community. And even then, we will need more than community to sustain community. Let’s all agree to shatter our ideal of community and enter the real community of people God has placed in our lives. Let’s lift Christ higher than the community. Jesus is head not the body. He’s lord of the church. He’s the hope of the community, not the community itself. Community needs a center deeper than connection and a purpose greater than comfort. It needs the Lord of Community, Jesus Christ, to knit unlikely people together as a display of our common need for grace. Insist on this.

3. Labor for the Lord of Mission not the Fruit of Mission. With all the missional hype, our faith can easily slip from trusting in the Lord of the Harvest to trusting in the fruit of our labors. I’ve had several deep relationships with non-Christians dissolve over the past year and a half. This came after spending a lot of time with them over meals, out for philosophy discussions, in our home for counseling, and with our family doing fun stuff. They were loved and heard the gospel in ways that were profoundly relevant to their own fears, struggles, and hopes…and they walked away. They walked away from Jesus and created distance from us. That’s hard. If I’m putting faith in the fruit of my missional labors (at least at what I can see), then I’m discouraged. But if I’m putting faith in the Lord of the Harvest, I can be confident that he has been lifted up and that he is in charge of all salvation. He has endured much more to witness friends walk away from his costly sacrifice. He’s not only a model of missional endurance; he’s the hope for missional endurance.

Leader Tip: Put your faith in the Lord of Mission not the fruit of mission. It can be easy to congratuate ourselves when mission is high and berate ourselves when mission is low. That’s a sign that we’ve misplaced our faith. We put it in ourselves or our “fruitfulness.” Come back to the gospel every single day and ask the Spirit to put Jesus highest among your affections and greatest among your hopes. Keep repenting and putting your faith in Jesus and he will take care of the mission.

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Missional is NOT a Project

February 3, 2012 in church, FAMILY, friends, Life, MISSIONAL with 0 Comments

Here is a great post by Michael Stewart. Even missional can become a word that is diluted and co-opted for safe programs.

Living in an under-resourced, inner-city neighborhood I had become accustomed to the constant knocks on the front door. But this was different. As I opened the door I was taken aback at the large group of youth and adults, all swarming around my front door like a pile of hungry ants – all with perfectly matching shirts that had the logo of their church emblazoned on the front and back along with the phrase “Outreach Ministry” in big, bold letters. It was at once a scene that was one part intimidating, one part awkward, and one part funny.

One brave soul in the group who had been convinced of the worthiness of their missional efforts piped up with a semi-rehearsed speech:

“Can we mow your yard? We’re just here to love on you people.”

“You people?” I thought to myself. I’d been called a lot of things in the past. “You people” was not one of them. That was a first.

And it was also the first time that I had ever felt the sting of losing a little bit of my dignity. The first time, as a person of resource, I had ever been on the receiving end of a missional project dripping with good intentions, but bad implementation.

You see, to them I was not “Stew” (as all my friends call me) – I was a nameless project – something to be accomplished. Me and my yard were a benevolent deed in a long list of good deeds to be accomplished that day under the impatient heat of the summer sun. The question seemed harmless enough, but even a sharp knife that comes wrapped in good intentions hurts nonetheless.

Now contrast that picture with this one: A 4-alarm fire ravages an apartment building in ourneighborhood. A single mom with 2 young children is displaced, along with 45 other families, from her home. A friend in our Missional Community at the time lives a block away from the fire, shows up on the scene as the 6 fire trucks are dousing the flames, and feels led by the Holy Spirit to talk to this single mom. He connects her with us and she ends up moving in with us.

5 kids under the age of 6 are now packed into our little house, and in the middle of the chaos, transition, pain, struggle and tears, our little community of believers surrounds this mom and her children with support, affection, listening ears, and everything in between.

The love, sacrifice, and difficulty was not glamorous – it was not sexy – it was not easy – it took time…lots of time – and this family was certainly not a project to be completed, a task to be accomplished. This family had become our family and our family had become their family. It was the weaving together of both families.

Like a fabric, this was a network of relationships weaving their lives, sweat, time, energy, prayers, and tears together. This was incarnational ministry in its essence:

living among
learning from
working with
being shaped by
and walking alongside.

What excites me about the current missional conversation is that it seems to be catalyzing a resurgence for activism. That is a good thing.

“Let’s go!”
“Let’s do something!”
“Let’s be active!”

But the first story is what happens when “missional” is not joined with “incarnational.” Missional is the “what” but incarnational is the “how.” They are inseparable, as they were with Jesus. Jesus was sent by God on a mission, but “how” he was sent was just as important as “that” he was sent. “Missional” without “incarnational” devolves into mere projects. “Missional” without “incarnational” at best will be a passing fad, a short-lived experiment that has no staying power, or a kind of paint that we plaster on our current methodologies until some new, shiny paint comes along to replace it.

But I have a greater hope because of the incarnation of Jesus. Because He accomplished his mission, because he came to live for us, suffer for us, die for us, and be raised for us, now we are freed, because of His work and performance, to purse the long-term, difficult, self-denying incarnational mission to love others for the sake of the gospel.

Dreamer, catalyst, avid indoorsman… Michael Stewart (who goes by “Stew”) is Founder and Director of the Verge Conference and Verge Network, a network created as an advocate and champion for movements of gospel-centered missional communities. He is also Pastor of Missional Communities atAustin Stone Community Church. He has lived in at-risk, inner city neighborhoods in Memphis and Austin where he has, with his family, lived out his passion for holistic community development, advocacy for the poor, and gospel-centered justice. His passion is to see ordinary people radically transformed by the gospel of grace and engaged in the mission of God.

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Life Rhythm – Listen

January 30, 2012 in Bible, God, MISSIONAL with 0 Comments

This week at The Journey we tackled the life rhythm listen.

We are called and sent to BE the Church on mission for God’s glory ALL the time whenever we gather, wherever we go and in whatever we do – every part of life is supposed to be dedicated to the ministry and mission of the gospel.

To walk in line with the gospel means that the truth of the gospel gets worked out in the stuff of everyday life – through everyday activities. Although it may seem strange to a world that is perishing, it should not seem strange or abnormal for us to live our lives with gospel intentionality on gospel mission because of our gospel identity.

LISTEN

We submit to God through consistent backward and forward listening

Jesus listened to God in prayer to know his Father’s will. We listen to God because through the Gospel we are now aware of our ongoing need for Him. We listen ‘backward’ by regularly interacting with God’s Word–the Story and the Son. We also listen ‘forward’ to hear what God is saying to us today. We believe He declares to all people what He is like through His creation and specifically speaks to those who belong to Him through His Spirit.

Everyone is listening to someone or something as the primary voice or voices that they submit their lives to – an expert or teacher that they follow. These might include a school of thought, a leader or charismatic personality, demons, or lies from the past. Until the Creator is THE Expert and THE Teacher to whom they compare all other voices, they are prone to deceit and lies and worship of self or others.

So here is the question… Do you create the margin in your day to silence the other voices and listen to God?

I’d conclude that people in our churches are hungry to be with Jesus. (at least I would hope they are)

What I WONDER is if we can actually sustain this practice–this commitment to carve out time and space to be with Jesus on a regular basis—in the midst of our present cultural milieu. So much of what we do is to fill our day with busyness, even our churches have bought into this cultural reality.

Every time (ok maybe not every time but a lot of the time) I get together with church leaders they talk about all God wants to do… It’s almost like we can’t believe that God can actually do something unless we’re talking about God doing something. Do we have such great faith in the power of words and information that we can’t trust God to speak in our silence? and then walk in obedience to what we hear! I invite you to embrace finding silence in our world of noise and hype.

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How You Live Matters

January 30, 2012 in Bible, church, God, Life, MISSIONAL with 0 Comments

At The Journey we are continuing our series on life rhythms. As we receive the gospel and allow Jesus to reign in our lives we can’t go on doing the same things. We know who God is by what God does! How we live matters. Too often the extent of our new life is about “going to church” or telling those around us what we are against but it is all to rare to find someone who has genuinely been transformed by the gospel and they live a different life.

Imagine showing up at work on Monday being asked about your weekend and you respond…”I went to church on Sunday”, then silence and you both go on with your day. Your response does not demand further dialogue because you are not living different, you simply attended something.(same response occurs if you say you went to a restaurant) BUT what if you respond “we spent the weekend moving”,- “oh wow did you move into a bigger place?” – “No we moved into a smaller space”, – “really, how come? Are things tight financially?” – “No we desire to live a more generous life so freeing up money going into our mortgage will help us give more to people in need”… – “I have never heard any one doing that before what caused you to make that decision?”… now that is a conversation based on you living out of a new story that allows you to give a gospel answer because they asked! Are you getting the point.

We want to tell others about Jesus outside of allowing our very lives to tell the gospel story. People know who your god is by what you do!

The pastor I was serving under in Vancouver is a great example of this. As Kari and I were living missional in our neighbourhood we came across a single mom in need. She had 4 kids, a problem with alcohol, and very little money. As a group we began to love them, serve them, and care for the kids. To make a long story short things became more difficult and the kids were about to be split up through the foster care system. This is when the gospel of love and sacrifice moved Greg and Debbie to take the 4 kids. Yep crazy… nothing like doubling the family overnight. What would happen if you told people that on a monday morning at work? God is inviting us into a new way of living modeled by Jesus and empowered by the Spirit. We live a different story showing people the trailer to the coming Kingdom of God.

Too often can live in the pendulum swing between being and doing, and miss the point completely. Biblically these two are very integrated. I would like to call it Being In Action… It is a matter of order, being precedes doing but always results in action. It would be crazy to think loving my wife would not result in new behaviours. Love results in a new way of living.

Too often we study God (attributes) apart from what God does. We have divorced the churches nature from her mission. No longer are we the echo, the trailor to the coming Kingdom of God, we don’t show the world a different story they could live their life from.

If you are interested in a new way of living start with the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. Jesus calls his disciples to follow and then shows them in chapter 5 – 7 how to live. He concludes with this verse:

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

May people be introduced to Jesus because of the way you live!

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Story-Formed

January 23, 2012 in Bible, church, Life, MISSIONAL with 0 Comments

At The Journey we desire to live a different kind of way, showing to the world our allegiance to Jesus and what life in His Kingdom looks like. Too often we define being a Jesus follower by where we attend church or what we are against BUT Jesus says “it is by your fruit you recognize who my disciples are”, it is about how we live.

This Sunday we talked about the first of our everyday rhythms, Story-Formed.

Every person on the planet is living their life inside of and in light of a larger story shaped by the country they live in, the cultures surrounding them, the family they were raised in, the worldview they believe… Until they understand all of this in light of the Redemptive Story of God, they will give themselves to lesser stories that do not work.

A story is just a person that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. And we are all telling stories.

But stories aren’t neutral. The stories we hear change the way we see life. Stories teach us what is worth pursuing, what is worth living for, what is worth sacrificing for. If we are a person that wants a BMW and is willing to work overtime to get it, than the moral of the story we are teaching the world is work hard and some day you’ll get a BMW. It’s not a bad story, but it’s not a good one, either.

As a Christ follower we are a story-formed people who are living our lives based upon and within an incredible story. All of our beliefs, identity and actions are all connected to the dominant story. This is why we need to know it and we are to talk about it when we sit, stand, walk along the way, eat, lie down, etc…

In this case, the Good News is that God sent his Son to redeem the world and create a new humanity. Eventually the whole world will be renewed. Death, decay, injustice, and suffering will all be removed. God is saving a people and sending them out for His Mission so that Christ will be glorified in all things.

The Church has been saved BY God’s work FOR God’s work (Ephesians 1, 2:10,14-22; 2 Corinthians 5:15-21; Revelation 21).

The Gospel is not just about my individual happiness or God’s plan for my life. It is about God’s Glory and His plan for the world.

There is a movement afoot. God is doing something and we have been called to His purposes. The people of God are participating within God’s redemptive plan by being a display people offering a foretaste of what the future will be like under God’s rule. This is an amazing story I am living within!
(Jeremiah 29; Matthew 5:3-16; Luke 6:20-36; 1 Peter 2:9-12).

We are like a trailer to a movie…giving a foretaste of the kingdom fully consummated by Jesus that makes people long for the future redemption of all things under Jesus as King…the difference is that unlike a movie trailer we are often a poor reflection of a far better future.

How is your story connected to the larger story of God? OR Are you living the worlds story of success?

What are some next steps your Missional Community should take in order to be a Story-formed people?

What is Storyline? from Donald Miller on Vimeo.

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Why Church Planting?

January 23, 2012 in church, MISSIONAL, Pastors, Religion with 0 Comments

One of my kingdom desires is to see churches planted in the urban centres of our nation. Last week I was being interviewed by the C2C Network about our story and after the interview was reminded how passionate I really am about church planting.. Here’s some quotes from Tim Keller that are featured on the blog of Scott Thomas (President of the Acts 29 network which has planted 400 churches in the last few years.)

Tim Keller states the vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else–not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, growing mega-churches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes–will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. This is an eyebrow raising statement. But to those who have done any study at all, it is not even controversial.

So, why is church planting so crucially important? Because…

We want to be true to THE BIBLICAL MANDATE

Jesus’ essential call was to plant churches. Virtually all the great evangelistic challenges of the New Testament are basically calls to plant churches, not simply to share the faith. The ‘Great Commission’ (Matt.28: 18-20) is not just a call to ‘make disciples’ but to ‘baptize’. In Acts and elsewhere, it is clear that baptism means incorporation into a worshipping community with accountability and boundaries (cf. Acts 2:41-47). The only way to be truly sure you are increasing the number of Christians in a town is to increase the number of churches. Why? Much traditional evangelism aims to get a ‘decision’ for Christ. Experience, however, shows us that many of these ‘decisions’ disappear and never result in changed lives. Why? Many, many decisions are not really conversions, but often only the beginning of a journey of seeking God. (Other decisions are very definitely the moment of a ‘new birth’, but this differs from person to person.) Only a person who is being ‘evangelized’ in the context of an on-going worshipping and shepherding community can be sure of finally coming home into vital, saving faith. This is why a leading missiologist like C.Peter Wagner can say, “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven.”

Paul’s whole strategy was to plant urban churches. The greatest missionary in history, St.Paul, had a rather simple, two-fold strategy. First, he went into the largest city of the region (cf. Acts 16:9,12), and second, he planted churches in each city (cf. Titus 1:5).

We want to be true to THE GREAT COMMISSION.

New churches best reach a) new generations, b) new residents, and c) new people groups. First, younger adults have always been disproportionately found in newer congregations, and second, new residents are almost always reached better by new congregations. Last, new socio-cultural groups in a community are always reached better by new congregations.

New churches best reach the unchurched–period. Dozens of denominational studies have confirmed that the average new church gains most of its new members (60-80%) from the ranks of people who are not attending any worshipping body, while churches over 10-15 years of age gain 80-90% of new members by transfer from other congregations.

We want to continually RENEW THE WHOLE BODY OF CHRIST.

It is a great mistake to think that we have to choose between church planting and church renewal. Strange as it may seem, the planting of new churches in a city is one of the very best ways to revitalize many older churches in the vicinity and renew the whole Body of Christ. Why?

First, the new churches bring new ideas to the whole Body. There is no better way to teach older congregations about new skills and methods for reaching new people groups than by planting new churches. It is the new churches that will have freedom to be innovative and they become the ‘Research and Development’ department for the whole Body in the city.

Second, new churches are one of the best ways to surface creative, strong leaders for the whole Body. New congregations attract a higher percentage of venturesome people who value creativity, risk, innovation and future orientation. Many of these men and women would never be attracted or compelled into significant ministry apart from the appearance of these new bodies.

Third, the new churches challenge other churches to self-examination. The “success” of new churches often challenges older congregations in general to evaluate themselves in substantial ways. Sometimes it is only in contrast with a new church that older churches can finally define their own vision, specialties, and identity.

Fourth, the new church may be an ‘evangelistic feeder’ for a whole community. The new church often produces many converts who end up in older churches for a variety of reasons. Ordinarily, the new churches of a city produce new people not only for themselves, but for the older bodies as well.

As an exercise in KINGDOM-MINDEDNESS

All in all, church planting helps an existing church the best when the new congregation is voluntarily ‘birthed’ by an older ‘mother’ congregation. Often the excitement and new leaders and new ministries and additional members and income ‘washes back’ into the mother church in various ways and strengthens and renews it. Our attitude to new church development is a test of whether our mindset is geared to our own institutional turf, or to the overall health and prosperity of the kingdom of God in the city.

SUMMARY

New church planting is the only way that we can be sure we are going to increase the number of believers in a city and one of the best ways to renew the whole Body of Christ. The evidence for this statement is strong–Biblically, sociologically, and historically. In the end, a lack of kingdom-mindedness may simply blind us to all this evidence. We must beware of that.

*Adapted from an article written by Tim Keller, titled “Why Plant Churches”. To download full-length article as a PDF, click HERE

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Is Your Gospel Right?

January 17, 2012 in Bible, church, God, MISSIONAL with 4 Comments

This got me thinking and I like his take on it… what is the good news you are announcing in your life? Worth the wrestle.

*The following is an article by Joe Boyd. Find his info at the bottom of the page.

I am reading the book unChristian with about ten of my friends. It’s a book primarily about why people outside of Christianity don’t like Christians much anymore. (I didn’t need a book to learn that one.) A certain paragraph really struck me. It angered me, actually. Here it is:

Most outsiders are familiar with the story of Christianity-that Jesus was God’s Son who came to die to take away our sins if we believe in him. As you will see later in this book, the premise of Christianity is not a mystery because the vast majority of outsiders have been to Christian churches and have heard the message of Christ. -David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters

What stung me was the authors’ unconditional assumption that the story of Christianity (I think we would both call that the “gospel”) is that, “Jesus was God’s Son who came to die and take away our sins if we believe in him.” And, they claim, that most “outsiders” (cringe) also believe that to be the gospel.

My blink thought was, “Well, that’s not my gospel. I must be really UnChristian then.”

To be fair, it used to be my gospel. But not so much anymore.

I said this in our group discussion and one of my friends asked earnestly, “What is the gospel?” For some reason I stammered. I mean, I’m a pastor – the Teaching Pastor at a rather large and respected evangelical church. But I stammered over the question, “What is the gospel?”

You’d think that would be a hanging curve over the plate. But is wasn’t.

I spit out something like this: “I think it is the story of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and his message of the Kingdom, blah, blah, blah.” I was (mis)quoting Scot McKnight, the last author I read on the subject.

Nine months ago I would have quoted N.T. Wright and said something about the promise of Resurrection. Before that I would have regurgitated Dallas Willard or Stanley Hauerwas or whomever. Heck, if you traced my understanding of the gospel back far enough, you would eventually find the exact definition that angered me in the book.

In that moment I decided that what I think the gospel is doesn’t matter.

First, because I know that my definition changes every 6-18 months anyway. So why should I trust this current manifestation so much? Second, the gospel – any gospel – is supposed to be good news. The good news of the reign of God through Christ. That’s all the gospel is. Good news should flow easily from the heart, not methodically from a textbook.

The gospel is the good news you tell people.

So, that was my huge breakthrough. It seems simple, but it hit me like a right hook on the jaw this week.

My gospel is the good news I tell people.

Everyone who has ever tried to lift a friend out of mucky place has used their own gospel.

“Cheer up, man. There are more fish in the sea.” –The gospel of the next hot thing.

“It’s ok. Things happen for a reason.” – The gospel of magical destiny.

“Dude, let’s grab a beer. Don’t sweat it.” – The gospel of Sam Adams Winter Ale.

“Hey, we still got each other.” –The gospel of friendship.

So what is the gospel of Jesus?

Well, it seems to come in different forms. We should quit trying to pretend that it doesn’t.

Listen closely to these gospels of Jesus from some recognizable sources.

Do they all sound like the same gospel to you?

God knows who you are, He loves you, and He wants you to know and love Him. How do you do that? You must first admit that, like everyone else, you are a sinner. Being sinners means that we are imperfect and do wrong; we fall short of God’s perfect standard. It also means we are separated from Him and deserve His judgment.But He loves us! God sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. He died for your sins. He was punished so you don’t have to be. Not only that; death did not defeat Him. After three days, Jesus rose from the dead, alive again! – Billy Graham

Jesus’ good news was God’s peace to all men of good will. That peace is something which is fundamental to the satisfaction of our most basic desires. It is a peace of the heart. -Mother Teresa

Good news! God is becoming King and he is doing it through Jesus! And therefore, phew! God’s justice, God’s peace, God’s world is going to be renewed. -NT Wright

Or, let’s just bite the potentially heretical bullet and go straight to the source(s):

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” – Isaiah

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” – Jesus in Mark

“The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” -Jesus in Luke

“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. – Jesus in John

^“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.” – Paul in I Corinthians

And, let’s throw in one more version just to make most of us, including me, twitch a little:

“For many years, people have heard that God’s mad at them — they can’t live up to the standards. But our message is about the goodness of God, and it seems just that people come alive when they realize ‘God is for me. He’s got a plan for my life, and I can do something great. I can be who he wants me to be.” – Joel Olsteen

I hope you noticed at least one thing:

It is all good news.

It’s all gospel. And, if we are honest, it’s all a little different. Billy Graham’s gospel isn’t quite St. Mark’s gospel, which isn’t quite Paul’s gospel, which isn’t quite Joel Osteen’s gospel. And as much as I would love to bash Joel Osteen, his gospel isn’t that far from St. John’s, the author of my favorite book in the Bible. They both seem to want you to have “your best life now.”

Luke’s gospel smells a lot like Mother Teresa’s good news. And it seems to me that Billy Graham and the Apostle Paul would likely ride in the same golf cart in my dream foursome.

All of these are the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, they are all the same.

But, all of these are also a gospel of Jesus Christ. So, they are all different.

Historically, we as Christians have spent a lot of time, energy and money trying to prove that our gospel is the gospel. I’m tired of it. It’s exhausting. I quit.

But…I do have my gospel. It is influenced by all of the gospels above. (Even Brother Joel’s if I am forced to be embarrassingly candid.) My gospel is evolving. It changes. But when I look back over the last decade of my life and ask what “good news” I actually tell people, my gospel starts to become increasingly more legible.

I tell my friends (and myself) that there is hope. I often say that whatever Jesus meant by “God’s Kingdom” is worth seeking. I say that when we all look for this Kingdom together, we start to find it. I say that in those unique moments when God breaks in and love reigns, we begin to experience eternity in the present. So, I will often say, let’s spend our lives bonded together in hot pursuit of Kingdom come with the belief that one of these days it will actually happen. Fully. On our watch. That’s my gospel. It’s the good news I always tell everyone, including myself, whenever I get the chance.

So what is your gospel, really? Not how you define the gospel, but what good news do you actually tell people? What do you tell your friends on their dark days? What do you tell yourself to pull away from the ledge?

That’s your gospel…whether you believe it or not.

Right?

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About Joe Boyd:
Joe Boyd has forged a unique career as a movie producer, author, actor and pastor.
Joe is the President of Rebel Pilgrim Productions and the producer of four feature films including A Strange Brand of Happy, where he plays the leading role along side Academy Award Winner Shirley Jones. The film expects a national theatrical release in late 2012. Joe is also the director of Hitting The Nuts, a poker-themed comedy farce that has won three film festivals including the 2011 Las Vegas Film Festival.
Joe is the author of the fantasy novel, Between Two Kingdoms (Standard), now in its second printing.
As a pastor, Joe teaches at Vineyard Cincinnati, a 6,000-member church in Cincinnati, Ohio where he lives with his wife and two sons.

A pioneer of the blogosphere, www.joeboydblog.com enters its tenth year in 2012.

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