Silence in the face of opposition

Simply an outstanding quote "The answer is simple: for myself, I do not believe that it is appropriate that I spend my time defending my name. My name is nothing—who really cares about it? And I am not called to waste precious hours and energy in fighting off every person with a laptop who wants to have a pop at me. As a Christian, I am not meant to engage in self-justification any more than self-promotion; I am called rather to defend the name of Christ; and, to be honest, I have yet to see a criticism of me, true or untrue, to which I could justifiably respond on the grounds that it was Christ’s honour, and not simply my ego, which was being damaged. I am called to spend my time in being a husband, a father, a minister in my denomination, a member of my church, a good friend to those around me, and a conscientious employee. These things, these people, these locations and contexts, are to shape my priorities and my allocation of time. Hitting back in anger at those who, justly or unjustly, do not like me and for some reason think the world needs to know what they think of me is no part of my God-given vocation. God will look after my reputation if needs be; He has given me other work to do." Carl Trueman

Gospel Centered Leadership I

What a journey it has been! The recent years saw us preoccupied with an ecclesiology that, Michael Eaton called "over realized". We preached 'model', 'pattern' passionately. But our God is gracious, kind and infinitely generous. He walked us back to the edges of our faith... to the gospel we had so sadly sent to the bookends of our convictions and gently drew us in. After 25 years of pastoral ministry I had to admit to a wonderful community that I had erred. This was a most humbling realization.

Those years saw us use many hubs as the center piece of our faith. At times we placed 'the nations' as our focus. At other times it was leadership development, church planting, being missional... of course we splashed it with community and even thought 'encounters' were worthy center pieces. What a tragedy. When we found that the gospel was not a tag on to a sermon to test the waters of salvation but the very vertebra of body life we knew so much had to change. When I read that Paul wanted to 'preach the gospel even to you [the church]' in Rome I knew I had lost my way somewhat. Then to read that he chose to know nothing but "Christ and him crucified" to the Corinthians, I knew a new and fascinating journey lay ahead of me.

This blog will take a few days to explore what gospel centered leadership might look like. I look forward to our conversation...

QUICK UPDATE

Morning all

My silence over the last week or so has been due to the mania of moving. SO Alan F teaches that can is sometimes late -[read Lazarus story] so I have to live his message! A fight to close escrow... that went 21 days late. The seller put the home back on the market. The loan was denied [which I was not told till later]. My new neighbour finds himself at our front door crying our on our behalf not to lose the house... what a fight of faith.

Now obviously there is much more to the story but this I know-we got the "keys" at 5:00pm on the 31st of the month. It went to the wire. It tests all your vulnerabilities-did I hear God? Was it my desire not a clear word? Tests all your theology. How sovereign is God? Is favor truly in the atonement?

OK so I relieved now. He is a wonderful God and always has been. He just will not let us stagnate. He loves us too much

PASTORS WIFE - what is she like?

I fell in love when I met her... it was March 1977. Meryl was 15 and I was 18. That is how our journey started. Unfortunately it did take awhile for her to get "the revelation" but it did - that was almost 29 years ago.

Of those remarkable marriage years, 26 of them have been spent "loving, leading and feeding" His wonderful bride [to quote my friend Dudley Daniel]. We were full of the life of youthful exhuberance. Our world had no care but the next college paper, the next fun event and the weighty task of dreaming together. There was no "Choosing your pastor wife manual" . So what does she look like?

FROM NETWORKS TO MOVEMENTS PART 2

Now, being a New Testament people by ecclesiology [but a whole bible people by theology], we watch the journey of these apostles with interest. Understanding that the way to interpret the book of Acts could be either descriptive or prescriptive, I have asked many leaders who espouse a one-man leadership model who and how they interpret the Acts of the Apostles through their lenses.  Each reaches a place of honesty after trying to argue for their guy [Peter or James]. The scripture gives no clear mantle of ultimate authority to anyone but Jesus. It seems that the fact of ‘relationship and gift recognition” was quite sufficient for brothers to journey together. Peter gets up on the day of Pentecost… “The Peter stood up WITH THE ELEVEN raised his voice…” Acts 2:14. The other apostles were seemingly totally satisfied that he was the man, with the anointing, for that occasion.

 

The captivating Acts 15 is worthy more conversation than this paper allows. One sees the convo developing around sharp dispute and debate…after much discussion… Here a brotherhood is happy to convo together to find the mind of the Lord. This time it is not Peter or even the great Paul who leads the closing wrap up. It is James who provides insight, theology and clear leadership. Yet he was not the over riding “apostle for all nations”.

 

Galatians 2 helps with this journey of discovery. From Gal 1:11 to Gal 2:11, we see how Paul responds to this matter. Firstly, he recognizes in the Jerusalem apostles a framework where he wants to be accountable. He chooses to go to Jerusalem “to those who seemed to be leaders…” 2:2. If there was a “top leader” surely he would have sought him out. But he describes the scenario as being very fluid, open ended and changing. He then adds, rather cheekily “As for those who seemed to be important… those men added nothing to my message…” 2:6. Then the part I love, “James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they [plural] to the Jews… When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face…” 2:9 – 11

 

What we have in this text is weighty:

1. There was no one clear leader amongst the apostles in Jerusalem,
2. They operated in mutual consensual team – Peter, James and John… as well as Paul and Barnabas in Antioch, [they could disagree over John Mark…]
3. Paul wants to be accountable to other apostles,
4. They recognize the grace gift upon Paul’s life,
5. Peter James and John want Paul and Barnabas to be part of a ‘brotherhood’ – now the difficulty is that we struggle to find bible words to give architectural shape to this evolving wineskin. Whilst this is ‘abiblical’ we are to be careful that we do not create something in our systems minds that will shoot us in the foot down the road. So the struggling scaffolding words we have used to describe this Gal 2 picture includes:
1. A Fellowship of Apostles,
2. A Koinonia of Apostles,
3. A Forum of Fathers,
4. A Band of Brothers…
5. Other? – I guess we are going to need to get the God heart on the matter first before we lock ourselves into the vocabulary.

 

 

 

Last year we were away as an eldership team. As we sat around the pool chatting about the future, the question was asked; ‘ Can we architect the future using only bible words?’ We all sat rather challenged for a while.  I remember hearing the story told of the diamond grader. This person would arrive at the office daily with the remarkable job to grade these beautiful stones. The process was a simple one… on the desk was a stone as perfect as the graders could determine. The grader would put the eyepiece to his eye and examine this stone with some patience and intent. He would put it down, and pick up the first ungraded stone and take his time to examine it against the first “perfect stone”. He would place it in the appropriate tray and pick up the second stone and do likewise. After just a handful of these stones, he would return to the ‘perfect stone’. The reason is obvious. Each stone will be measured against something. If is not the ‘perfect stone’ each stone will begin to be measured against other imperfect ones. The parallel is obvious. If we do not keep returning to the scriptures, we will interpret this pivotal moment in the modern Apo narrative against other most unhelpful measures. These could be the corporate world, missionary organizations, megachurches, other apo households and we will struggle to find the Father’s “perfect” blueprint for us in this third phase.

 

How does one move from being “a network – one leader, one place, one way” to becoming “ a movement – many leaders, many places, many ways”? These are my tentative proposals:

1. We are to accept the power role and part that pioneering apostles play. God has raised them up in times past and will do so again in the future.
2. By their very gifting and revelation they will tend to present a “one way” approach to doing church.
3. They will have sons. To simply “do ministry” is to leave a legacy of memories. To leave sons is to leave a legacy of momentum and continuous enlargement but not surrender to promoting a global brand.
4. Sons must become fathers! One does not even have to spend much time dwelling on the natural parallel to see any other option as ridiculous. We are all a little suspicious of a 34-year-old still living at mom’s home, like a teenage son. We will all suspect a dysfunctional family… Sons are designed by the great Creator to grow up and become men.
5. Each son must leave home to get his piece of the pie – to go and fight for his inheritance. In 2 Cor 10 esp vs. 13, Paul speaks of the sphere / field God has assigned to us. We only have what God has given us. Never more nor less. The joy is that we can explore and fight for what God has given us – not each other but against the realm of darkness. And I suspect we will need each other to get this achieved.
6. The pioneering father I want to suggest, should not hand over to one man, to operate the way he has. This has not worked as a model for an apo future for there is NO APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. The new leader will reduce the household to the size of his sphere and not see the joy of the size of the informal togetherness of a multiplied brotherhood. If however there is no fear or resistance to this becoming a denomination then a one man succession model may work well [the Vineyard story is an example if this]
7. The second generational picture of the scripture is clear – no apostle operated alone. This tendency to go out alone is very vulnerable, truly dangerous and weightedly unbiblical. Jesus sent them out two by two…
8. The love and trust developed after years of journeying together, creates the platform for a new form of leadership pattern. I remember my father in the faith, Dudley Daniel, saying to us in the 80’s that title or position can never give us true recognition. The only God endorsement comes from “relationship and gift recognition”. We must show enormous caution when the right to speak, minister, lead is based on a title. That is denominationalism! Our true authority comes from being [or not] an Ephesians 4 grace gift to the church… not because we are “on team”.
9. May I take this a step further by saying that anytime we need to set in a middle management we are teetering outside of Scripture. To set in “national or regional coordinators” or the like is to set oneself down the road of denominationalism. The texts used to justify this approach are normally around the Davidic model. The only difficulty with that is that it will almost always lead to a hierarchy. If that is not the chosen destination then simple biblical obedience is demanded.
10. Alan Hirsch introduced me to a book called “The Starfish and the Spider”. This is a management book that argues for a more partner driven, decentralized model of leadership. The spider dies when the head is cut off. The starfish multiplies when this takes place. The church of Jesus is being prepared for the last of the last days. The church that survives in the dark days of sustained persecution will be one that is not built around “one leader, one place, one way”. We should be in a place that if the head is chopped off, the body will multiply.
11. May I add in here, the attempt to make the translocal ministry look like or work like a local eldership, is both unbiblical and very unhelpful. They are two very distinct and different governmental designs for two very different mandates. Not in heart but in ‘how to’…
12. There is no APOSTLE TO ALL NATIONS – this is not a bible grace gift. Not even Paul was that.
13. Could it be that the pioneering father should hand over leadership to:
1. Emerging apostles who already have some form of a track record? [Jesus handed over to the 12]
2. These [EA] should have been groomed to mature under his watch. Jesus does this wonderfully.
3. Sentimentality should be redirected to a vision of multiplying families or apostolic households,
4. Loyalty needs be seen as a commitment to:

                                              i.     God,

                                             ii.     His word,

                                           iii.     The mandate,

                                           iv.     Each other…

                                             v.     Not to a system or even a history,

5. The local church must once again become the central focus of our ecclesiology. She is why we do what we do…As much as the gospel is the center of our message, we are to ensure that the Eph 4 giftings live for the benefit of the churches, to bring them to wholeness and maturity. It is not the churches that are there to endorse or uphold the system.
6. Strong vibrant growing base churches once again become the nodes on the nets. If the early church did not start organizations or systems, how did they get “the job done”? It seems like these key strategic churches like Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus became the central hubs of service, resourcing, training and impact. Amazing that in an age of such limited communication, the apostles were still so effective. It seems like this was done because of the churches they operated out of.  A great example of this can be found in Acts 19:10 This went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Paul spent two totally focused years getting the base in Ephesus strong, stable, strategic.
7. Spheres should be allowed to be developed, without the notion of  them being “our churches”. I find it wonderful that Paul was clearly the father to the Corinthians church, however he was adamant that they did not get embroiled in the chats about “being of Paul, Cephas, or Apollos…”
8. The elders are the highest human authority in the local church. They have the God responsibility and freedom to decide who they wish to partner with in a translocal journey [Phil 1:5] Rigby Wallace has a cool set of 4 questions that each eldership should ask in this regard.
9. A “Fellowship of Apostles” [or a better name?] can emerge under the founding apostle’s enlarging eye and can begin to partner together.
10. All must be prepared to let God remove the old ways, systems and even the name but not the DNA. That should remain in our hearts no matter what the name is [or isn’t]. It is very dangerous to try to interpret the future through the model of the past. It was brilliant then but it will not be wondrous for tomorrow. A new dawn, a new day, a new way… that is what the apostles of the book of acts had to face… as we have to now or we will see: ‘History repeats itself, has to, no one listens” Steve Turner
11. As the Father reveals his blueprint for this chapter, so He blurs the lines moving all from a closed set, restricted, convergent group to a divergent open set of partnerships, alliances and allies – wonderfully more kingdom. The sense of belonging need never be lost, as it now remains relationally real and not hidden in the folds of artificiality that a system can present.
12. The final and pivotal matter is that of leadership. If we are not building an organization, denomination or corporate model, we can and should sculpt more of an organic, fluid, changing, evolving brotherhood that is truly held together by the “relationship and gift recognition” that we see in the scriptures. There does not need to be a “pope”, “an apostle for all nations” even one “team leader”. There is no picture of that in the New Testament. All these men are now fathers in their own right. As each develops their own sphere, they can find each other and be comfortable to let leadership be led by the moment, occasion, and journey. It may well be that 3 or so apostles emerge as the point of the arrow. Whoever hosts the event / occasion has captaincy on their shoulders and then Peter stood up with the eleven… This was not now his movement but his moment. The others saw it and supported him. The rest is history. These brothers can meet regularly, [even including others from other flows, and streams] deeply enjoying the delights of their ‘mateship’ which lays the platform for the weighty times of energetic convos and even disagreements that lie ahead…

 

The next chapter of the journey has just begun…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ELDERS / PASTOR'S WIVES

Skype is a great church planters gift. Seeing the wonderous face of these heroes is so much more satisfying than calls or email. We had one of those wonderful skypes yesterday. Great feedback , matched with the joy of watching the family in full flight was quietened when asked what resources we had about elder's / pastor's wives. 

Well, we have our journey. We have our counsel and perspectives that we have offered others but nothing in writing. So, the suggestion was, why do we not start a blog and engage others in mutual counsel and prespective to share their story with us. So here we are...

We are going to spend some of our blogging time to explore the wonderful mystery of this most noble task.  

FROM NETWORKS TO MOVEMENTS PART 1

FROM A NETWORK TO A MOVEMENT.

 

On my recent trip to Seattle, I found a chat that Mark Driscoll gave us ‘internationals’ very helpful. He was talking about the evolution of organizations. He said that networks are characterized by being driven by “one leader, one place, one way”. But, movements are characterized by “many leaders, many places, many ways”. Now we may debate which way around the definitions best fit, which is a network and which is a movement, but what matters is that many apo households are facing the crucial set of questions that relate to their evolution – “what does the next chapter look like?”. In many ways this was a very helpful observation that adds a crucial piece of the puzzle in our “maturing apostolic journey”.

 

Lets step back for a moment. What is the matrix around our conversation? May I argue that four essentials ingredients need to be in place, lenses to see a new uncertain future…

1. Theology – what does the scripture teach us?
2. History – what did the pioneering fathers have in their hearts, as well as the great body of historical journeys,
3. Prophecy – gather with due respect and process the key prophecies given to networks,
4. Philosophy – what are the DNA convictions that must not be lost?

 

This paper is not to explore the nature or the form of the ‘network’ [by Driscoll’s definition]. This has already happened and many of us have lived under the sheer privilege of “those days”. However the huge question remains; “how do we intentionally shift to becoming a movement”? Now because these are unchartered waters, and so few households have transitioned well from one generation to the next, it places great weight on us to administrate this sacred moment with intentionality and Spirit sensitivity. Lets go to the scriptures firstly…

 

Based on the Law of First Mention, Genesis 1 introduces us to the apostolic heart of the Father. “So God blessed them and said to them ‘Be fruitful, and increase in number; fill the earth…’” I love this. The Father sets a pattern for ‘filling the earth’ by family multiplication – sons who become fathers who have sons…. This in a perfect world was the Father’s Kodak moment to take his glory to the uttermost. Not systems or organizations, just families multiplied.

 

Our narrative journeys us to the great father of our faith, Abraham. Not only was the gospel announced to him in advance, but the apostolic heart of the Father is revealed in his mandate to “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” Genesis 12:1. Here we see the wonder filled humility of a pioneering father’s obedience, but also we see how the Father keeps passing on the same mandate to the fourth generation. [13:14 – 17, 17:3 – 8, 26:2 – 6, 35:9 – 14, 48:3 – 4.] Here the continuity of father to son gives way ultimately to a nation. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, to the boys. Filling the earth by family multiplication.

 

Our story takes us to the grand Exodus. The pioneering father, Moses remained on the banks before the land of promise. Joshua had to lead the nation into the width of the Promised Land. The first 12 chapters deal with Joshua as the focused leader. The next chapters from 13 to 24 revolve around the different tribes being given the space to go and find their land, their inheritance, and their sphere. [PJ Smythe from NFI does a wonderful job in exploring this book as a model of apostolic transition] Again the obvious glares at us - the land was possessed by each family, taking their God appointed inheritance.

 

Enter Jesus – the apostle and high priest, Heb 3:1 No words can truly account for the genius of his apostleship. His incarnation and missional lifestyle dumfounded the leaders of the day. His death was to end another fad, a fleeting pietistic move and frivolous political agenda. However the lasting legacy and multiplied continuity of his apostolic work was now seemingly wavering. The apostles appeared greatly perturbed by his imminent going. [John 13 – 16,] What would he do? The vulnerability of his imminent departure was only appeased by his assurance that the Holy Spirit was on his way. What must those early apostles have thought? “Cool for you to say, but we need flesh and blood? We need to be loved and led by some skin!” The upper room must have been awash with anticipation. “Surely the big J was now going to appoint the big dog”. But the Holy Spirit came with power, but with no single bigger flame, no sticks with growths or commission papers. That just did not happen. The glory brought his presence… just like Joshua asked for but this time, there was no person appointed as ‘the’ leader. Now I have to speculate a little. Did they reflect back on his last words? Did they reflect back on Jesus giving all of them all the authority, together? [I do not believe in egalitarianism but on God anointed and appointed leadership where the grace gifting is clear and evident] “ All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” Matt 28:16 – 20.