MAKINGS OF A MOVEMENT PART 1.

MAKINGS OF A MOVEMENT.

The Great Commission – Matt 28

16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them; "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." ESV

There is something so raw, rough and gutsy about this text. These last words of Jesus have been both celebrated and have haunted the church through the ages. Just four verses, have shaped so many lives, fashioning so many life decisions. They have caused many foreign shores to be overshadowed by the faith of zealous Jesus lovers, who so desperately want to engage a new context and culture with the Jesus story. The challenge of conversing around this text is that one can write volumes of books on it. However, we will seek to be disciplined to limit our convo to a few prevailing thoughts:

1. ‘Now…’ Whist this can purely be a figure of speech, whenever it appears in the text, it represents a time quotient to me that requires immediate obedience. It is easy to ‘rabble-rouse Braveheart styled’ calls to great sacrifice, but this Jesus journey is both counter-intuitive and counter cultural. It calls us to make decisions that go against the grain of so much of what we were taught growing up. When He speaks, will we listen, instantly?
2. ‘ the eleven…’ I guess we will always limp forward, with the broken heart that not all “12 of us” will journey together. Our relationships need to be more and more shaped by the kingdom and not by sentiment. I have loved the 27 years that I have walked in a “relational model”. However, when we do not submit these relationships to the mystery of the scriptures we will end up in a swamp of sentimentality, where our loyalty to these friendships, begin to take precedence over our obedience to the King of Kings. A brief review of Paul and Barnabas’ parting of ways over John Mark in Acts 15 illustrates this.
3. ‘…disciples…’ There seems to be two major ‘wows’ about the use of this word. The scripture could of course have spoken about Jesus meeting with the ‘apostles’, which would have been true. Yet the word “disciples” was chosen. Why? This is an inclusive conversation. It is not for the Special Forces elite of the church. It is the call, commission and command of every believer. These last words of Jesus require every believer to come humbly before the Father with some regularity; to see if the call to the nations is what is required, now - in some level shape or form.
4. ‘…disciples…’ Hidden in this text is the reminder that we are all on a journey. Jesus called these 11 men, after a night of prayer. Their journey from Jews to followers, to believers to leaders, to apostles was one that every believer goes through. No, not everyone will become an apostle, but the journey is so similar. Every spiritual journey has value and cannot be relegated to irrelevant or insignificant. Even at this late stage, some still ‘doubted’. I loved the integrity of the scriptures.
5. ‘went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.’ We all have a place to meet with Jesus in prayer. I am not sure if they went there to receive the ‘Great Commission”. I am not sure they went there for a prophecy, a word or an encounter. It would seem they simply went there to meet with Jesus. That was enough. Is it possible that the modern church is so productivity orientated that simply meeting with Jesus is not enough? May there be a call from heaven that returns us to the simplicity that Jesus satisfies. Our return to the garden, of walking with our God in intimate fellowship, communing in transparent affection, fully refreshes the soul in this life of vulnerable uncertainty. Both alone as well as with the 11, we can find ourselves in Him.
6. "All authority^…’ This is a very profound moment. What did the disciple expect at that moment? I guess we will never know. One wonders whether they were so mesmerized that they did not anticipate any specific thing to happen. Or, were there amongst them some expectation that He would hand on the baton of the movement to them? We just don’t know. From an all bible conversation, may I suggest the following:
1. There is the fundamental authority that Jesus hands over to all believers, to advance His kingdom against principalities and powers, with signs, wonders and miracles… We are all His ambassadors on project planet earth.
2. There was the apostolic authority that Jesus handed over to the 11. This authority was not to be king but humble servants, “the scum of the earth” to lay their lives down for the church. With the exception of John “the beloved”, every one of these men was martyred for their faith. This was not a ticket to CEO Christianity with perks and privileges, but a sacrificial life of surrender and loneliness. This was not an elevated gifting that was limited to these men who walked with Jesus, As seen with Paul, Barnabas, Timothy and others being anointed to this noble office, it was a practical, in the trenches-type calling, loving, caring, leading, serving, teaching the church walking them through entrepreneurial roads of creative obedience.
3. The 11, who became the many, were not papal in their leadership of all nations. They each developed a God-given sphere [2 Cor 10] – Paul to the Gentiles, Peter to the Jews. Yet they were not territorial or possessive of their spheres. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians made this wonderfully clear, He was as a Father to them, yet demanded that they did not choose one or another of the apostles – in effect saying we all need each other, avoiding a denominational mindset [us and them] like the plague.
4. All of these apostles journeyed with churches. These were not ‘conference apostles’ whose majestic gifting was publicly captivating but never find themselves in the day-to-day realities of church planting / replanting leadership, so clearly evident in the text. Paul carried ‘the burden of all the churches daily’. He prayed for them consistently, helping in the training, choosing and ordination of leaders. Those he ‘apostled’, were churches who shared a common creed [theology], common mission [vision] and a common bond [friendships]. He was ‘first of all’ but not ‘over all’ – such a simple statement but if worked out will be a major transformation on how leadership is done in these apostolic households..
7. ‘Go therefore…’ The gospel story is compelling. When it truly grabs our soul, we cannot remain silent. Nor can we remain stationary. In Eden, the Father gave to Adam and Eve a wondrous call to “increase, multiply, fill the earth.” His intention was never for us to reside in a garden. The full width of the earth beckoned. Now the gospel restores Eden lost. The stirring to go to the shadowlands of the world and bring His wondrous light, is in keeping with the gospel impact. We can do no other.
8. ‘…make disciples…’ Welcome to the wonder of the journey. This “great Omission” [to quote Dallas Willard], is born out of weak understanding of church life. When we forget this, we tend to measure the applause of our communities by the seats occupied on Sundays, the effectiveness of scripted meetings and the dollars in the bank. Yet Jesus named none of them as a “fine church”. The journey called ‘discipleship’ is one the clear clarion calls. Taking the non-believer from a journey from non-belief to conviction of sin, to repentance, through the wondrous waters of baptism to a surrendered life, obedience to the text and advancing the kingdom through missional living. That may be closer to the truth of that mountain top moment.
9. ‘…all nations…’ The Greek word here is actually all “ethnos” – “ethnic groups”. Oh dear, so much can be said here, but I must limit my thought to these few:
1. Every believer should surely burn with one ethnic group [culture or context] that is a Holy Spirit prompted ‘yoke’ or ‘burden’.
2. Every believer will engage that context with a missional mindset which says that “I am a missionary, called by God, to be a voice of redemption, of Kingdom clarity and sanity to usher God’s presence to that darkness",
3. The biblical flow is to plant churches to complete this impact with greater weight and substance. Church planting is not for the fringe nor fragile. It is the Father’s way to model a new way, a raw, honest, real compelling community who live out their faith in a way that will invoke a righteous jealousy by the non-believers with –‘wow how they love each other’
4. Both believer and church need to do their homework [like Paul at Mars Hill] to understand their culture. Engage their culture, presenting the gospel in a way that this culture will understand, is essential. This does not compromise the gospel but make it reachable to the hearer. Stated simply, I do not preach in Afrikaans in America. No matter how accurate my message, I simply will not be understood.
10. ‘…the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…’ Our theology needs to be earthed, founded and born out of a Trinitarian conviction. I suspect to many of our congregants have a Trinity understanding from their Sunday School days. The weak, if not fragile metaphors of ‘candle’, egg’, tree’, and the rest, open our folks to misunderstandings that can build a leaning tower of Pizza. “One God… three persons… all three are fully God” require at least an annual visit in our pulpits.
11. ‘…teaching them to observe all that⁽ I have commanded you…’ The spirit of the age, Paul suggests to Timothy, will increasingly be lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure. Or one could say – rampant individualism, insatiable materialism, pursuance of pleasure. Legalistic pummeling or licentious acquiescence cannot counter this. The pulpit, the dining room table and the coffee shop is to be littered with God conversations where the scriptures soaks every subject with revelation, insight and mind transforming truth. The biblical text must not be relegated to an optional extra but a full and complete matrix for all of life’s decisions.
12. ‘…I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ The future is around both a Word and Spirit journey. There is simply no room nor freedom to choose. To my reformed brothers, my appeal is to revisit the Spirit wonderland without the seminarian prejudice that is clouding your true God encounters. To my charismatic brothers, there is a scary preoccupation with prophecy, manifestations and encounters, without a full scriptural journey. What is being seen as desirable and essential lacks biblical substance or example. The ‘paracletos’ will walk with us to the end of these days. As counselor, comforter, helper, revealer, empowerer comes, we will so sorely need to walk with Him in the days that lie ahead.

So much more to say. These 12 points can provide a framework for future conversations. The next chapter of the apostolic households forged from the 80’s is not to fragment into many maverick mini-movements. Nor is it the Father’s desire for these to pleasantly drift towards institutionalized denominationism. Seeding many apo households, just like Jesus did here seems to be the way forward. He handed over to 11 men, and then kept seeding the church with more of these nation discipling, missional-minded movements that walk in love and respect of each other, yet with individual focus and calling.

COMMUNITY QUESTIONS...

Questions...

Some key questions that are worthy conversations with your strategic thinkers as you prepare for the new chapter in your community:

• What are the three most important things the Father has said about your church?
• How have you reached this conclusion?
• Who have you discussed this with?
• How have you kept this before the people?
• Currently what are the three things that you do really well as a community?
• How has this been determined?
• How are you affirming this?
• How can you ensure that these things continue to be strengths?
• What are the three things you are least effective in?
• Locally and translocally, who do you process this with?
• What steps are you taking to upgrade these weaknesses?
• Where and who can you learn from?
• What do you believe is the God – emphasis for this next season?
• What is the main bible-book / texts that will be preached through?
• How has the priesthood contributed towards this focus?
• How is this emphasis best communicated, in all its forms, to your community?
• How can the message be aided by media / drama / music…?
• Who should be included with the preaching team, God stories?

• Regular discussions that can to be revisited at least annually:
• How often do we have corporate prayer? And how do we ensure this is a priority in our community?
• What, where and how does your church engage in theological studies? What is your role in that?
• Leadership:
• What form does your leadership training take? What are the essential ingredients in this training? Who does it?
• How often do you meet with all the leaders [past, present and future?] What is the purpose for this gathering? What is the format that best suits this agenda?
• Who are your ‘franchise players’? What are you doing to ensure they become the pivotal players that you believe they should be?
• Is discipleship a key cornerstone in your community? How is it communicated? How is it facilitated?
• Do the newcomers to the church or new believers, have a clear sense of the track that they need to be on:
• To grow to maturity,
• To belong to community,
• To express their gifted passions?
• Are all our current programs, activities and facilities those necessary for the task at hand?
• Being missional has many expressions – does your community understand this weighty calling? Is it growing in their daily lives? Are they feeling the weight of the nations, seeking to serve there in some capacity every few years?
• To whom are you accountable – locally and translocally? Who do you dream with? Who are you honest and vulnerable with?

SIGNS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH

Hey guys

This is a quick read from info I shared with the pastors here in LA.

1. What ingredients are essential for a healthy New Testament Church?

i. George Barna: Habits of Highly Effective Churches:

1. Rely on strategic leaders,

2. Organized to facilitate a highly effective ministry,

3. Develop significant relationships within the congregation,

4. Invest themselves in genuine worship,

5. Engage in strategic evangelism,

6. Get people involved in systematic theological growth,

7. Utilize holistic stewardship practices,

8. Serve the needy in the community,

9. Equip families to minister to themselves.[1]

ii. Dudley Daniel the founder and former apostolic leader of NCMI:

1. A genuine and deep love for the Lord,

2. True worship as a lifestyle,

3. Meaningful relationships in the body,

4. Living healed with an outward vision,

5. Effective evangelism as a lifestyle,

6. Training and releasing leaders,

7. Everyone maturing together,

8. Working meaningfully with a translocal, apostolic / prophetic team,

9. Living with eternity in mind.[2]

iii. Acts 2: 1 – 47

1. All of them was filled with the Holy Spirit,

2. Listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man…

3. Devoted to… the apostles teaching,

4. … to the fellowship,

5. … to breaking of bread,

6. … to prayer,

7. Many miraculous signs were done,

8. All the believers were together,

9. Gave… to anyone who had need,

10. Met together in temple courts… homes,

11. Praising God,

12. Lord added to their number daily… saved.

iv. Here are some of my thoughts on healthy churches:

1. Hold to a clear Trinitarian based, gospel centered theology, strongly preached, gently applied,

2. A passionate pursuance of a Word and Spirit journey, whilst we remain sensitive to the culture and context conversations,

3. Clear leadership, well trained, biblically qualified, God anointed and appointed with the freedom to lead,

4. Priesthood of all believers is both believed and practiced in all matters of community life for all believers,

5. There is a strong sense of compelling community that is a major God healing ingredient,

6. Personal and public commitment to praise, prayer and piety,

7. Giving is a revelation that starts with honoring God with our ‘first fruits’ and includes caring for the needy,

8. Being missional starts with our ‘Jerusalem’ but is continuous to the uttermost part of the world – from marketplace engagement to church planting…

---

[1] From old notes of mine from the 90s. I included this to show how Barna has shifted out of his frustration with the church. It also gives an inkling into the ‘seeker friendly’ era that he prophetically challenges.

[2] From Dudley’s notes I edited into Lets Talk magazine-an in house communication tool.

Movements

A movement that refuses to take on some organizational characteristics - authority, tradition, unity of belief, and quality control - will fragment and dissipate [from Tim Keller]

This quote is from a very powerful article written by Tim Keller - it is worth both a read and a study. The new should surely not throw out all that is old. The true genius of leadership is to extract the very best from the old, cut and pasting it into the new without losing the wonder of the organic. As students of the past, we know that an over reaction to the yester-year will leave us needing to learn her lessons again. Rather, lets keep the spaciousness of the organic, yet live with comfort and trust of architecture, shape and form.

The wonder of this gospel journey is that we do it with friends... even Jesus said that. However, this friendship is not a one-dimensional solution to rid us of the fear of institutionalization. The New Testament sketches for us a way that includes gift recognition, partnership, unity, government, leadership, pattern, togetherness... no one saying I have no need of you.

We will pick up this conversation again. I just wanted you to enjoy Tim's article:

http://ht.ly/2iSQS

REFLECTIONS FROM THE DESERT

Thanks for your patience.

I was somewhat amazed when I opened my blog site to see when last I wrote. The last few months have been so intriguing, demanding and at times, overwhelming. That is the wonder of the God we serve. He is so preoccupied with the largeness of our journey, that he just will not let us surrender to the place of comfort, security and repetition that our hearts cry out for sometimes. We on the other hand, can choose to sacrifice these moments to choose a more simple route, but we will never know what we will leave on the shelf of unachieved opportunities, if we choose the safe...

Obedience not popularity:

In my devotional reading this morning, I was reminded that Jesus would not entrust himself into the hands of men and our fragile opinions. Of course I want to be accountable to friends, but the call to obedience before the Father, must still be our highest call. Every leader will experience a number of moments in his / her leadership journey where obedience to the mighty God will lead to a loss of popularity — even being hated for the decision. Will we be courageous enough to love God enough, to view this act as an honor, with all humility and tenderness? Followership of Jesus is just not a popularity contest. Please do not let your obedience to the Father be colored by pulpit lashings of those who do not agree with us or who even seek to destroy us. The pulpit is a sacred calling used to preach Christ and him crucified. It is not a moment of self defense, nor of attacks at those who are against us.

Humility not self promotion:

We live in a culture driven by marketing. The sell is so much part of the story. I have wrestled my way through the challenge of being culturally aware and relevant yet biblically filled with integrity. When the disciples approached Jerusalem, they commented to Jesus on how great this time would be, to really make a grand entrance. He would not. Can we still hold to the fact, that "our gift will make room for us"... is God still big enough to make a forgotten prisoner into a president as in the Joseph story? Of course one must not be passive, always walking through the doors that Jesus opens before us. We can even be bold in the closet of prayer, to ask him for things even if "my time has not yet come". However the raw naked self promotion that the Christian TV channels offer, matched with the celebrity status that so easily finds home in the church, must be resisted at all cost. When the coffee conversation is more around a personality and their gifting than around Jesus... danger, danger, danger...

Scripture not prophecy:

The last few months have made this question a very real challenge. When our backs are against the wall, do we turn to "prophecy" as our measure of truth, our rock, our fortress or do we hold true to the biblical text with all our might? There is such a temptation to work "words" to the place of "final authority"- meaning we base our decisions and justify our actions on these "words". The scripture is clear that we "prophecy in part". It has been saddening to see that the manipulation of prophecy has created an end that then justifies the means. Where does the fear of God fit into this? "God is in a good mood" may sound inspiring as we offer a Father Christmas God to the church. We cannot remove Acts 5 from the text as much as some would love to. Yes, the wrath of God has been fully satisfied in Christ and turned to favor, but he also disciplines those he loves.

Thanks for the read, but more importantly, thanks for joining in this journey together.

PAST AND FUTURE LEADERSHIP STYLES REQUIRED

Last week I had a most wonderful time visiting two church plants in North Carolina. A number of times during this short week, I was reminded that this is why I do what I do. There is nothing clamorous about partnering with churches. It is raw, honest, real. Sometimes our times together are stirred by great God stories. Other times that are simply tender tears that punctuate our conversations. The pain of a Judas revealing himself, a Korah led rebellion, an Absalom styled takeover attempt, are some of the common stories that pierce the heart of the planter. I wish deeply it were not so. But they do occur, and we have to simply love the planters through this dastardly pain.

I have just started reading a new book on Leadership called: "Leaders who last" by Dave Kraft. It is inspiring in its simplicity by a seasoned author. Here is a little excerpt from the introduction:

"I share Paul;'s sentiment expressed in 2 Corinthians 11:28: 'There is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.' There are many things to be concerned about today in the church scene:

• A multitude of churches have plateaued, are dying or are already dead.
• Antiquated forms and methods that no longer work are still in use today [some are from the 90's that are not in today's vocab- my addition]
• Worship wars are raging.
• There is a lack of deep spirituality among church members.
• There is an absence of intentional and relevant outreach....

Here are a few obvious contrasts in the way we need to lead today compared to the ways we've led in the past:

Past leaders Future leaders

Organizational Relational

Operate in Committees Operate in teams,

Command and control Permission-giving

Degreed and elected Gifted and called,

Linear and pyramidal Overlapping circles

Share propositional truth Tell stories

People of the written page People of the screen

Tightly structured Highly flexible

Emphasize position Emphasize empowerment

Some very good convo pieces as we evolve our churches in their God authored journeys.

TURNAROUND CHURCHES-LEADERSHIP REQUIRED

I love the study of leadership. Of course it has to start with the Trinity. Any other point of departure will drift us towards personality bias, cultural convictions, gender emphasis, age influences and simply personal preferences. Three very distinct personalities [each celebrated], each fully and equally God [without jealousy or territorial lines], each in love with each other [easily pointing to one purpose]. Yet the Father is the one of whom Jesus says ; " I only do what I see my Father in heaven doing".

Turnaround churches [or replanting] truly require a specific form a leadership — not unlike parents taking in a foster child who has been deeply hurt by their journey, now lacks trust and lives with suspicion. Rather than bearing one's own child, this new child has developed habits — some good, some bad yet the love of the parent, with perseverance and tenacity may bring the child back to wholeness.

George Barna "Turnaround Churches" lists the following attributes necessary for these kinds of leaders:

Intro comments:

• Christianity is revolutionary in nature. The basis of this faith movement is to motivate people to willingly and joyfully accept and practice things that are unnatural in light of the prevailing influences and systems in our world,
• ... the end of the goal of a movement is to bring people closer to the very being of God by radically transforming the beliefs, values, and lifestyle of the individual,
• Such a movement, which is spiritual in essence, cannot be sustained without the blessing of God and the power of the Holy Spirit pg. 61

Attributes:

• A Team builder,
• Provides Vision,
• Grows Spiritually,
• An Encourager,
• Strategic Thinker,
• Takes Risks,

Ed Stetzer says that comeback churches were always led by strong leaders. Christian or biblical leadership can be defined as:

• A person,
• involved in a process
• of influencing and developing a group of people,
• in order to accomplish a purpose
• by means of supernatural power pg. 37 "Comeback Churches"

This has been a long journey for me. Almost 14 years ago, M and I arrived to take over a limping community with a greater past than they were currently living in presently. Four years ago, the Father spoke very clearly about replanting. One year ago we eventually moved to a new county and city yet only about 10 minutes apart by car but another world apart in decision making. Here is my list of leadership attributes I had to find in His grace. Unfortunately I have not led well at all times through this process, so these are not a record of my photo album of performance. Rather they are more like lessons learnt:

• A very clear word from the Father, endorsed by those "over us in the Lord" as well as those "alongside us",
• A deepened daily prayer life unlike any one has ever had before,
• A disciplined study of theology so that one never gets sidetracked by other ingredients nor place too much importance on perspectives, prophecies...
• Preach the gospel! The tendency is to make the pulpit a combat zone. Jesus is our advocate! The pulpit is sacred to the pure proclamation of the scripture, not for self defense,
• Is the hill that we will die on, one that is truly of eternal consequences?
• Have a team in place of those empowered by God to give sound counsel in all the facets that this change will bring,
• Be very careful in the extent to which we involve our spouses. They are our friends, lovers and partners. We must show huge wisdom in this partnership during this change,
• Be patient-it is through faith and patience we inherit the promises,
• Set up many "Community Conversations" to empower the congregation through openness, transparency and letting them be part of the journey,
• The pastoral team needs to be on their toes to discern the wiles of the enemy to sift some, show much love, grace and patience-but when folks have decided to leave, let them go,
• It will take raw guts! Please do not be easily swayed by the nuances of those who are unhappy or disgruntled. It is a time for true, strong, humble Jesus Lover leaders,
• Set yourself in for the long haul-this is not a part-time lover moment. The church must know you are there for the journey, that this change is essential for the future impact of the church,
• If there is a replant in a new city, enter the city with gratitude for those who have gone before, engage those who are there now, making sure that you are not using the city to prostitute your pleasures,
• Take some time to exegete the new context and culture,
• Read, read, read... it requires so much humility to learn from others,
• Define the vision, preach a large picture that folks want to be part of, letting everyone see that their story fits into the bigger story,

I would love to hear from those of you who have beens stretched to the hilt as you have had to lead turnaround churches....