GOD STEPS...

GOD TODAY…

Isaiah 54:1 – 8, Theology of Enlargement,

Acts 14:19 – 30 Ecclesiology of Impact,

It is my conviction we are going through a time in the history of the church that historians will view at least as a REFORMATION, or possibly as a revolution. These last two or so years have endorsed this over and over. Yet sadly, it is also a time when some will be left behind nurturing yesterday’s memories and stories. It is a T JUNCTION in the road… the right turn goes down the manicured paddocks of the known, predictable and repeated. The white picket fences belie the sweet waters of surrender… the known is preferred to the unknown... the certain for the uncertain.

The left turn soon disappears into the uncertainty of divine order, namely the jungle. It creates both the exhilaration of its sheer immensity as well as the breathlessness of the unknown. Cutting the pathway through these murky waters of unpredictability requires the humility of uncertainty. It is not for the proud, nor is it for the arrogant.

Jesus’ teaching around fasting soon disappears into the seeming distraction of wineskins and garments. That is not due to a geriatric moment. It is an intentional pronouncement that fasting is pivotal to the anticipation of new wine. When the Spirit is on the move, we MUST relinquish all rights to control of two pivotal Lordship matters namely;

o How we do church at this time?

o What is our job description shifting into?

As challenging and changing as the 60’s were, as heady and intoxicating as the 80’s were, as we explored the pioneering father apostolic men, through the 90’s, so revolutionary these days are.

I believe God is offering and acting out of:

· Mercy – because he loves us,

· Redemption. – Because he saves us from our errors and defaults and desires to enlarge not reduce us,

· Restored inheritances – because he wants to return what the enemy has stolen, what we have dropped, what has been missed in divine nuance moments.

THIS IS WHO WE ARE:

It is the time for redefining ourselves with a passionate and conviction filled vision, without apology but in full humility:

· Theologically:

o Gospel centered, reformed, Christfollowers,

· Philosophical:

o Transformational Christllike impact players [leadership],

· Ecclesiological:

o Missional, charismata, multi site communities filled with grace,

· Anthropological:

o Global, urban, creative, thinking, for the un or exchurched,

THIS IS WHO WE ARE!

OUR ANTHROPOLOGY:

“There is a fundamental schism in American cultural, political and economic life. There’s the quicker – growing, economically vibrant… morally relativist, urban-oriented, culturally adventuresome, sexually polymorphous and ethically diverse nation… and there’s the small-town, nuclear-family, religiously oriented. White-centric, other America…[with its diminishing cultural and economic…two countries…” Michael Wolff “The Party Line” Feb 26, 2001

• Global

“Mission is the mother of theology” Martin Kahler

“Today, one in ten Americans was born in another country” Stetzer “PMC pg 19

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” Matt 24:14

• Urban

Jonah 4:11 “Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left…?”

• Creative

“While the small town was ideal for the premodern and the suburb was ideal for the modern people, the big city is loved by the postmodern people with all its diversity, creativity and unmanageability” Tim Keller pg 114 The Supremacy…

• Thinking

“We are facing… a truth problem… the guilt problem…a meaning problem…” Tim Keller Pg 108 The Supremacy of Christ…

“This is the truth of the gospel. It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, whereby the knowledge of all goodness consistheth. Most necessary it is therefore, that we should know this artlcle well, teach it also to others and beat it into their heads continually” Martin Luther

CHALLENGE: finding ourselves living in the tension of –

• Contending for the faith Jude 3

• Contextualizing our message Acts 17,

But who am I? – Each one of us must ask…

Peter Drucker said something like this:

“I do not know a successful man who is good at three things”

Paul said of himself: “Of this gospel. I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher” 2Tim 1:11.

I believe that God has required all of us to be delivered from the curse of generalism and submit to the freedom of “what does the Lord require of you?” At the end of our lives we will be required to give an account to the Father for his “good works he has prepared in advance for us” not the pressure, distortion, expectations of those around us who are simply trying to impose their selfish means of subtle control onto us.

Therefore we must now fully and completely accept and embrace the role that we are to play as strong, key, strategic BASE CHURCH. This is a very sacrificial and weighty mandate that we need all hands on deck to achieve:

· Harbor - a safe place to gather cargo, deliver cargo, get built or rebuilt but always sent back out to sea – always missional, always generous,

· Boot camp – recognize, train and equip then release to war advancing the Kingdom and its gospel,

· Seedbed of leaders – to send them into every area of society and the world,

· City set on a hill – a visible example and source of inspiration and faith for others around,

What are our greatest strengths?

· Communitas – we have learnt to fight and friend together,

· Scripture – passionate love affair with His Word,

· Entrepreneurial – ready to experiment and risk in obedience,

· Charismata – we know we cannot do it by ourselves,

· Presence – we long to be at His feet, worship and prayer,

· Passion – zeal for his house consumes us,

· Sacrificial – growing to lay down our lives,

· Humility – we are amazed that He would chose us,

· Partnership – we desire to journey with others,

· Diversity – our strength is our width,

· DNA – we are comfortable with our distinctives,

· Honor – an ever increasing virtue,

What are our weaknesses?

· Battle weary – the war has been long,

· Replanting – has been costly esp. in relationships,

· Replacing – great, wonderful people / leaders sowed into plants,

· Credibility – needing to be established in the new city,

· Excellence – poor and inconsistent,

· Missional – not yet an impacting revelation, still too reliant on the attractional mindset,

· Process – follow through with consistency…

What are the next steps?

· Be found in prayer and fasting,

· Each person to know and do what the Father requires of them,

· Be intentionally missional, as well as attractional,

· Mobilize your world of influence,

. Partnerships, allies, friends - we cannot do it alone,

· Go to the nations… receive an apostolic reward,

· Love… lead…feed…

THE DAYS WHICH LIE AHEAD...

Don't these days intrigue you? There is something so weighty about the days that we awaken to. Tony Fitzgerald said that 2009 was a year of repositioning whilst 2010 will be a year of fruitfulness and harvest. Now I am not sure how he reaches that conclusion but it certainly sounds profoundly encouraging.

These days seems to be loaded with:

1. Uncertainly - it is driving us to our knees,

2. Vulnerability - I am not in control,

3. Loneliness - friends have not been there for me,

4. Fragility - my 'Braveheart' passion has been found wanting,

5. Disappointment - the way things were supposed to turn out, did not happen,

6. Weakness - mine, have stared me in the face,

Obviously, this is not true for everyone. However, for many, this time has been very challenging. Could it be that God is on about a number of things that have required this level of shaking? Let me try to suggest what God could be doing yet in no way suggesting I am a prophet:

1. Humility - CS Lewis said that success is the first step towards failure. God still loves a humble follower who is more impressed with their Jesus than they are with themselves;

2. Theology - By divine mercy, the Father has revealed to many that theology had been replaced by many other things as the hubs of believers, churches and movements. These distractions include - ecclesiology, prophecy, causes, celebrities, power, encounters, manifestations... all except the gospel;

3. Reinvention - the sociology of movements clearly show how the 25 to 30 year window in a movement is when it is at its most vulnerable. It is around this time that the prophetic barbarian energy that changes the "world" slowly drifts towards defense of the past and status quo repeated - those who reinvent themselves will reemerge from the ashes of uncertainty;

4. Partnerships - there are definitely realigned friendships - many old but some special God authored new ones as well;

5. Mission - will never be forgotten by the Holy Spirit - the nations beckon, multitudes in the valley of decision;

6. Community - must be biblically compelling, it must stand the flames of testing and find a deep and sublime love for each other;

7. Priesthood of all - captivated the reformers. We are being detoxed from the celebrity brand of Christianity but I do wonder how long that will last!?

8. Marketplace - that is where we do our best faith expression, where our Christianity finds its greatest traction and where its impact is most measured...

Ok, these are just a few thoughts as I sit in London waiting to go away with a group of pastors... got to love this life

JUST THINKING MISSIONAL some more...

Staying with the Missional theme:

Ed Stetzer quotes Steffen on the list of question that we need to ask when entering a culture:

• What is the worldview of the target audience?
• What is the culture’s decision-making pattern?
• What does it cost a person in this culture to become a Christian?
• What redemptive analogy is best for this culture?
• How does the culture view Christianity?
• What does the culture understand about the basic components of the gospel story?
• Is this culture based on shame or guilt?
• How will culture understand Christian rituals?
• What is the best delivery system for exposing the people of this culture to the gospel?[1]

My evolving thoughts... on being "missional"

· The Gospel centrality has to be the hub around which every thing spins – that means:

o Understanding the full width the

§ Creation,

§ Rebellion,

§ Redemption,

§ Consummation,

o Land all our preaching in the gospel – to provide meaning, clarity, liberty,

o The key to our discipleship,

· The Priesthood Priority - of all believers must find expression both inside and outside the community,

· The Family Model – this mindset requires us to see healthy kingdom minded families as the foundation for all missional activities,

· The Missionary Mindset - Every believer should see themselves as being both incarnational [to serve their community] as well as missional [to save their community]

· The Zip code Ownership - Missional believers see that God has ‘ordained the time and places where they should live’ – this means that the perfect storm in their lives take place where talents, giftings, relationships, vocation, the gospel and context come together,

· The Cobbler Connection - Every person’s spiritual journey is valid and essential. The attractional model empowers the superstars to great acts of faith. The missional revelation empowers all believers to do ‘good works God has prepared in advance for us to do’ Eph 2,

· The Cultural Conversation - Exegeting culture is the second language of this missionary – there is an understanding that I must adjust to impact my world but never at the expense of scripture,

· The Contextual Evolution - A missional mind is never stagnant. By its very foundation it is adjusting as the people, context and situation requires… the wineskin changes to accommodate the wine,

· The Poor Partnership - They never forget the poor…it is a matter of continual kingdom focus,

· The Prayer Passion – It is impossible to enter the world of missional impact without a weighty theology of prayer, matched with a sustained lifestyle of prayer and fasting with appropriate spiritual warfare,

· The Ant Trail – we need both observer sharpness matched with revelatory edginess to discern where the flow trails of city life is,

Hope this is helpful

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[1] Ed Stetzer: Planting Missional Churches; pg 34

MISSIONAL CONVO INTRO...

A peep into a portion of my notes for today's EXPLORATION convo for pastors @thegallery around developing a practiacl theology for Mission Communities:

Love to hear from you on this mammoth matter...

“Experimental groups seeking to engage the Christian faith in a postmodern context will often lack the resources, profile or success record of the Boomer congregations. By definition, they are new, untried, relatively disorganized and fearful of self-promotion. They reject the corporate model of their Boomer forebears and thus do not appear, according to existing paradigms, to be significant. But don’t be fooled. Somewhere in the genesis and genius of these groups, is hidden the future of Western Christianity. To dismiss them is to throw away the seeds of our survival.” Gerald Kelly[1]

---

[1] Frost and Hirsch; The Shaping of things to come; pg x,

Some of my thoughts on being ‘missional’:

· Gospel centrality has to be the hub around which every thing spins – that means:

o Understanding the full width the

§ Creation,

§ Rebellion,

§ Redemption,

§ Consummation,

o Land all our preaching in the gospel – to provide meaning, clarity, liberty,

o The key to our discipleship,

· The priesthood of all believers must find expression both inside and outside the community,

· Every believer should see themselves as being both incarnational [to serve their community] as well as missional [to save their community]

· Missional believers see that God has ‘ordained the time and places where they should live’ – this means that the perfect storm in their lives take place where talents, giftings, relationships, vocation, the gospel and context come together,

· Every person’s spiritual journey is valid and essential. The attractional model empowers the superstars to great acts of faith. The missional revelation empowers all believers to do ‘good works God has prepared in advance for us to do’ Eph 2,

· Exegeting culture and context is the second language of this missionary – there is an understanding that I must adjust to impact my world but never at the expense of scripture,

· A missional mind is never stagnant. By its very foundation it is adjusting as the people, context and situation requires… the wineskin changes to accommodate the wine,

· They never forget the poor…

SIMPLY FRIENDSHIP II

... The late 70's saw the Invis plant churches. From Joburg, to Pretoria. From planting in East London and Port Elizabeth to Capetown. Pinetown and Pietermaritzburg soon followed. When London and Amsterdam were planted, the excitement and imperialistic expectation grabbed our hearts. Matched with a move from the little Lutheran church to the big warehouse, we were stirred. Folks those were the 70's.

At the home base, the leadership now shifted from Nelson to Carl, and we explored the cell, congregation, celebration model of Yonghi Cho. This was multi-siting before its time. Rob, Big Dave and I were sent out to lead the Westville congregation. We had fun out there. The three of us worked so well together. I was around 20 years old, Rob a seasoned 25 year old and Big Dave a bullet at about 32.

It would seem that the power of friendship, beyond simply beers and BBQ's, is to labor together. Even face weighty challenges together. Rob and I are peculiar. In many ways we are so different. He is older than I am. His journey through an agnostic home, into the wild Rhodes Univ [the one garment parties] into Hinduism and the farm, was so foreign to my world. My father was a blue collared worker, my mother a woman of great faith within a more traditional framework. My suburban teens kept me in touch with church although I first came to faith on my bed at home in 1976.

When God put us together, our lives intertwined. We led home groups together, we were in the worship together, acted in salvo plays together spending much of our times together. I remember the evening Rob was preaching on the street. We were in different parts of a particular stretch of the beach front, when Rob appeared with a look of horror / amazement. He was witnessing to someone who, being somewhat drunk, turned and punched Rob on the side of the face. He had lost his hearing. So we did what we knew to do. We laid hands on him and God did the rest [although Glenda does seem to think that the hearing is not fully recovered. It seems that chores around the home could possibly see an unhealing manifest - but I am not sure!]

True friendship has to have some guts and fight. My friend Alan Hirsch calls it communitas - friendship forged under fire. When Rob and Big Dave planted the Invis Pinetown, we were stoked - and Rob was petrified. What so few understand is how shy my friend is. He overcomes that shyness every day. With bold Reformed foundations Rufus started preaching. His primary source outside of the Bible was Spurgeon - afterall we had just been schooled in straight up 5 pointers and we preached it with passion. I preached my first message on propitiation when I was about 21 - that was a long time ago.

I was so stoked for Rob and Glends. As I was soon going to do my military service, I did not join them although I did help out with worship when they needed a hand and I was around. We prayed together, theologized together, ran together, trusted God together. I marvelled at Rob's prayer life. I was intrigued by his remarkable mind to process weighty theology. I was delighted that such a shy retiring man would take on such a mammoth task of planting a church. Under the fire of planting, our compelling friendship of fun, just transitioned to friends who needed each other in times of fighting that only pioneering can require...tbc

FROM A FATHER'S PEN-Feb 2010

I love pens. The collection on my desk next to my computer is loaded with stories. Of course, the Mont Blanc fountain that M gave me, rises supreme among the others. Mark gave me a beautiful green fountain pen that cuddles up to the one JD gave me, which was hand made by a friend. The one I bought in OZ is in convo with the one I picked up somewhere. I love pens.

Actually I love writing. Writing is not always for the reading. It is just the need to give air to the word pictures that flurry around in the soul. Writing is not about words. Words can be cold impersonal and so functional. Writing is about art. When God created, he invested with wonder of imagination in all of us. This heavenly inspired imagination needs to find expression in our worlds. To sow, to draw, to kick, to sing, to play, to think, to talk, to design, to dream... each speak of a creator God who giggles with delight when we 'art'. I am a wordsmith. I see the words as picture stories. They scamper before me like puppies, each focussed on the sheer exuberance of life. Life, that glorious celebration of divine intent, finds words displayed in me.

But I am a father. From the first moment I heard the cry of a fragile little girl as she climbed her way our of her mother's tummy, I knew I had found my highest call. The trauma of a near death at birth galvanized M and me to fight for our little girl's life. She had to live. The toxemia that threatened her mother, was now threatening her too. Stuck in the pelvic canal required an emergency caesarian section surgery. The little girl's heart pounded in phoetal distress as we rushed to the OR.

Tears. We wept when she came into our world. Little, tiny, vulnerable, hurting, bloodied but loved. She was alive and she was ours. Our little "miracle of God" had entered our world.

Heaven celebrates every birth. None are surprises in God's authorship. Piece by piece, he spent nine months putting you all together. The wonder of the womb held you in place as the cosmic artist splashed you with mystery, uniqueness, personality, destiny. Heaven sang their songs of joy. Angels visited your very and every first moments. And there was a Father who laughed. Tears streaming down his face, he laughed as you breathed your first. As the lady in blue, pushed and probed your fragile body under lights and clinical functionality, the angels chuckled. You were celebrated.

How do you know? Well they did it to him. The hidden birth in a manger — probably a cave, heard the chuckle of heaven, heard the angels sing and felt the smile of the Father. That is how I know. I know because they were there when my trilogy of gifts graced our anticipated worlds. They were there because I did not celebrate it alone.

Welcome to our world of wonder. He made you with a chuckle, smile and dance. I remember...

SIMPLY FRIENDSHIP

There is something rather amazing about friendship. This one started in 1977.

1976 saw me studying at Rhodes University in South Africa. Our hair was long, our guitars were tuned and our dreams were endless. In December of that year, Jesus called me, embraced me, loved me. The response to this level of grace was not difficult. He was more appealing than anything or anyone else. I fell in love with Jesus. I had to tell others. "Jesus is alive" punctuated our lives. All else seemed to pale into insignificance.

In March of 1977, I was asked to speak at a Methodist Church camp for high schoolers. This Jesus, that I just could not keep inside, spilt over into their lives and most of those present, wept their way into eternity. That night, I met a quiet, totally feminine, beautiful 15 year old. Her subdued strength was matched by a mystery that captured me, and has held me for these 33 years. Jesus was our conversation. He was our worship, our affection, our priority, our revealer, our journey. By October of '77 M and I began dating and our story began — but that for another time.

Some months after that, I was asked to speak at a Christian Club meeting of the local Boys High School. Something sweet had started to happen there. Many of the seniors had come to Christ and the school was abuzz with God wonder. Jesus still saves. Historically, these meetings were often for the forgotten few. But when I arrived, the main hall in the school was abuzz. This school of about 1000 boys saw about 600 in the meeting. It was cranking. Boys were talking about Jesus. The crowd of boys suddenly parted and the teacher stepped through to greet me. I immediately recognized him. He had played for a band called "Crutch" at Rhodes Uni. The times I had seen him on stage, well, let me say he was not altogether of sound mind. Of course, we had not met there but that day, we became friends. Actually an extraordinary styled friendship had begun

After the meeting, Rob asked me to come to his house that night. He was having some of his old surf mates around for dinner and a movie [Quo Vadis]. He asked if I would come and we could do some music together and tell about Jesus. It was an amazing evening. I entered a world fairly different to my own but one that was full of Jesus. I met Glenda. She was and remains beautiful. With her long hair combed hippy styled down the middle, her little chuckle connected her to M and me immediately. With two little boys on hand, she loved, cared, fed, laughed and infused us with delight. WIth no real possessions to speak of [except of course the rusted Volkswagen], they loved Jesus, loved each other and loved the church, whilst desperately wanting to see people come to Jesus. We became friends — simply and deeply friends.

Without apology I tried to get them from the AOG church to join us at the "Invis". Our inner city church was raw, scruffy and wild about Jesus. Eventually they joined us. Street preaching loaded our weekends. The sound of a folksy guitar pounding the African sidewalk would soon attract a crowd. We had just a few minutes to talk about this Jesus before the sidewalk would clear. There we laughed together. There we found faith to pray for strangers and testify boldly of the Father's great love. Friendship was forged in these fiery times.

The JC Country Band has been added to folklore with a touch of urban legend. Rob and I formed a band during those "heady and intoxicating years"[Rob's phrase]. We even practiced-mostly Rob's songs as well as a few Barry Mcguire and Randy Matthew's songs. Open air concerts and the great concert at WBHS was our 'Last Waltz'. That was still the 70's. The friendship had begun... tbc