FIVE MINUTE FRIDAY: Stop The Juggling Act

On Fridays I drop an idea/thought for our leaders.  Here is this weeks musing…

Continually remind yourself that “church” is your new identity in Christ!  This changes the way we move and function as a community.  It is not just about “going to church”.  The real emphasis needs to be on “being the church”.

 

We all know we live in a fluid culture.  Things move fast and it feels sometimes in life like there is a lot to juggle.  This is not the way we think about the church.  Church is not something you juggle.  Church is something you are.

 

The book Total Church has really helped shape our ecclesiology.

 

In the West we continually face the pressure to make “church” a program.  We have our career, decisions, finances, our social lives, our family, sports, school activities, etc. to juggle and we often throw “church life” into the mix (see diagram below).

There a couple major problems with this.  First, it makes church something you turn off and on.  Second, it hinders mission because we are compartmentalizing our lives.  Life simply becomes a juggling act and Jesus is thrown in.  When we throw Jesus into the mishmash of life we remove him from the centre and this leads to greater problems.

 

The reality is that God’s transforming work of salvation saves you from your sin, but it also calls you to be a people (1 Peter 2:9-10).  Instead of viewing the church as another ball to juggle we see in the scriptures that we are people in community and everything we do in life filters through us “being the church”.

This idea should also change the way we function as small communities or in our context Community Groups.  Yes, gathering together both corporately on Sunday and in small communities is vital.  It still goes deeper.  Even our Community Groups need to caution from simply being a place to go on a Wednesday night in someone’s house.  The deeper call is to be a community on mission 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

 

You are the church!

 

Know your identity and know it well!

 

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.  (Ephesians 2:11-22 ESV)

Total Church

In week 3 of our series ONE PRAYER at RVC we talked about Gospel Community.

There is a fantastic book by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis called Total Church.  Total Church discusses a radical reshaping that needs to take place in the church around Gospel and Community.

It is hands down the best book I have ever read on Gospel Communities.  It is reformed and theologically robust, while at the same time practical with insight in how to see Gospel Community happen.

If you are passionate about the Gospel, community and mission and are a small group (community) leader this a great resource to look through.  I am hoping to have a summary of the book done over the summer at some point.

Also, the Resurgence has provided training from Steve Timmis on Gospel Communities.  You can find the sessions linked below:

Total Church Training – Session 1

Total Church Training – Session 2

Total Church Training – Session 3

For The City

I created the video below for the kickoff of our 50th Anniversary Celebrations at RVC.  

The last seven weeks we have been going through the book of Nehemiah.  It’s an amazing story of someone who was used to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

As the church it is our mandate to join God in the rebuilding of the spiritual city (the church) within our city.  For those of who us have grown up in church we hear the verse Jeremiah 29:11 thrown around a lot.  It’s a great verse, but I think we can often take the verse out of context.  Often we apply it to ourselves as individuals, not realising what precedes verse 11.

Israel once again is in exile.  This time to the Babylonians.  You would think that if you were taken into exile by a particular people that you would expect your God to say “stay away, don’t interact, and shun the pagan culture around you.”

That’s exactly opposite of what God tells Israel to do.  In Jeremiah 29:5-7 God says,

⁵ ”Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

What’s the context of Jeremiah 29:11?  That’s not a statement from God to an individual.  That is a statement from God to a community of people (Israel) who have been taken over by a pagan culture, yet God instructs them to flourish even in exile.

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city!  That’s what the church is called to do.  We are not simply to be in the city, we are called to be FOR the city!

Shane Claiborne at Exponential

I still have lots of notes from Exponential last week that I haven’t posted.  There was a lot to process.

What I enjoyed about the conference was the diversity of content and speakers.  You had guys sharing from mega-churches to house church movements, to anywhere in between.

Shane Claiborne shared one of the afternoons on community transformation.  

I had read bits and pieces of his book but never heard him live.  His talk was fantastic and easily one of the best presentations at the conference.

Here’s a little recap and some notes and quotes. 

Shane Claborne

 ”Transformation takes more than a doctrinal statement”

 ”Doctrines are important things and we need to have that right but it is love that draws people to community”

 ”Discipleship is more about than just what we believe”

“The final judgment will not require you to submit your doctrinal statement”

Listen to what Jesus says about us standing before him… 

Matthew 25: ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“What do your doctrines look like?  What are you practicing?”

Transformation is more than: 

1. Transformation takes more than ideologies.

How are you proactive?

2. Transformation takes more than just a good vision

“The person who is just in love with the vision of community will destroy community”

 ”You can be obsessed with social justice and still be mean towards each other”

I’ll pipe in here and say BAM!  I’ve run into a lot of people who are Claiborne groupies and heavily opinionated about social justice yet treat people like crap.  

3. Transformation takes a neighborhood

“Move in… Learn… Listen…”

“It takes patience”

“One of my greatest temptations has been to come a church planter”

What he means by this is that it could be easy for him to start a church in Philly where he is because of the need.  His philosophy is that he wants to join God in what he is doing and help the churches that are established in the area.

“In my neighborhood we don’t need more churches, we need the church.”

 ”There’s a whole lot of counterfeit community” – talking about virtual community

 ”Do something crazy.  Go face to face to someone and ask them to be your friend!”

What Does Transformation Take?

1. Transformation takes imagination

 ”We’re all addicted to something.  We are all recovering from something.”

He shared a powerful story of gun violence in Philly and how the community came together to not just transform the problem but transform the root of the problem (gun shops selling guns illegally).

2. Transformation takes humility

“It isn’t about the donkey.  It’s about who (Jesus) rode the donkey.  We are just the asses that get to bring Jesus in.”

For more on Shane check out the Simple Way.

Nehemiah: A Model For Prayer

In our series Fifty To 50 at RVC we have been walking through the book of Nehemiah.  In chapter 1 we see an outline in verses 5-11 of Nehemiah praying to God because his city is in ruins.  What is amazing about these verses is that we see Nehemiah model how to effectively pray when communicating with God. 

So often prayer consists of us coming before God with our laundry list of things we need Him to do for us.  We see through the example of Nehemiah that what he prayed went much deeper than a “to do” list of requests.

Look at what Nehemiah did:

1. Nehemiah acknowledged the greatness of  God  (vs 5)

 And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

2. Nehemiah confessed Israel’s sin  (vs 6-7)

Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.  We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

3. Nehemiah proclaimed the promises of God  (vs 8-9)

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’

4. Nehemiah brought his petition before the Lord (vs 11)

O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

To watch week 2 of our series Fifty To 50 click HERE.

Fifty To 50 Day 2

We had an amazing weekend to kick off our Fifty To 50 series and campaign!  Each weekend over the 50 days we are showing a greeting from friends from different churches we are partnered with.  Here is this weekends greeting:

This Weekend!

It’s been a lot of hard work and we are excited!  Fifty To Fifty starts this weekend.  If you’re part of the RVC community get ready!

Easter Recap

We had a banner Easter Weekend at RVC.  Check out what happened!

Really excited!…

I am definitely excited about the spring!  Easter is always a great time around here with our gatherings and Easter Egg Hunt.  Super excited to see Ava hunt for eggs for the first time.

Then after Easter we are doing something huge!  I’ve put a lot of time into this and I’m excited in what God is going to over these days.  Check it out!

THE FIFTY TO FITY CAMPAIGN

Many of you know that Royal View Church is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary this Spring.  To prepare for this celebration we are having a campaign and message series called Fifty To 50.

For more information on how you can be apart of things, click on the videos below.

WHAT IS IT?

The Fifty to 50 campaign and message series is a fifty-day movement leading up to our 50^th anniversary celebrations on the weekends of May 28/29 and June 5/6.

We have a very rich heritage as a church and want to take fifty days to prepare ourselves as a community in the areas of serving, prayer and generosity.

This means that we are challenging our church to step out and commit to the fifty-day journey.  Commitment cards are in the mail and in the church foyer that outline where you can get involved! 

Fill one out, bring it to our weekend services on April 10/11 and reveal what you are committing to for the fifty days.

From April 10/11 to May 28/29 we will be focusing in our teaching series on the areas of serving, prayer and generosity.  These are things that have been in the DNA of our church from the very beginning!

Grab a card, fill it out, get involved and jump both feet in with our FIFTY to 50 campaign!

 

HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?

Anyone can get involved.

We are looking for people to serve in different areas, pray for our church, take the fifty-day tithe challenge and give to a special anniversary offering.

Young and old can participate for the 50 days.

Just grab a card, check in the boxes indicating what you are committing to and submit it in one of our weekend gatherings.

PURPOSE AND VISION

God has done amazing things through Royal View Church in the last fifty years.

The purpose and vision of this campaign is first and foremost to give glory to God for what he has done in our community.  We want to continue to see the gospel preached and biblical community take root in our city.

Our vision is to see our church continue on in the vision that God has placed in our hearts and we want to see every single person involved.

We believe that if people commit to at least one thing for fifty days they will see the impact of what God is doing in our church community!

Will you take the challenge?

The Big Red Tractor

We showed this video last weekend as we’ve been talking about mission and missional living.  Definitely a great analogy.   Maybe the church is more simple than what we’ve made it.