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)

No Such Thing as “The Gift Of Evangelism”

I enjoy Ed Stetzer’s thoughts here on the misconceptions we find in Evangelism. This is what he says:

“Recently, I spoke at the Church of God Triennial meeting in Decatur, IL. One of the things I talked about was my belief that there is no such thing as “the gift of evangelism.” Part of my concern is that I hear many people saying they don’t have the “gift of evangelism” and thus believing it is not their responsibility to do evangelism (since they don’t have the “gift”). And, since evangelism can be a challenge at times, that seems to be a “gift” that people don’t want.

In the mid-90s, a well-known leader who created a “spiritual gifts test,” told me that about 10% of people have the gift of evangelism. Yet, that number seems to be on decline. Barna recently released research saying, “Among the interesting facets of the research was that just 1% of believers claim to have the gift of evangelism (down from 4% five years ago).”

Hmmmmm.

I don’t think this means there is a widespread growing realization that no one has the gift of evangelism. My best guess is that it is because people are talking themselves out of their obligation to do evangelism.

I think that the current challenge of evangelism is why an increasing number of people do not think they have the gift.

Here are four proposals I made at that meeting.

1. All believers are given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). That is, their role is to be agents of reconciliation and share how men and women are to be redeemed and changed by the power of the gospel.

2. Timothy was called to do his work in evangelistic ways (2 Timothy 4:5) but based on the fact that all are called to present the gospel of reconciliation, it makes sense that we can heed that admonition in all our lives. Thus, I encourage pastors to do ministry in evangelistic ways, but particularly church leaders (since Timothy was a church leader). Like in 1 Timothy 3, leaders are almost always commanded to do the things believers do– just more so.

3. The church is gifted with evangelists (Eph. 4:11) who help us be faithful doing evangelism. We should talk more about the gifted people called evangelists.

4. It is unhelpful to refer to evangelism as a gift because it removes the responsibility of all believers. In other words, many think that if they don’t have the gift, it is not their job. Evangelism is not a “gift,” it is a call to all believers.”

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.

Exponential Day 1: Matt Chandler

Matt Chandler

“Paul continually preaches the gospel to people who have already heard it.”

Romans 1:13-15

1 Corinthians 15:1-6 – past tense, present tense, future tense

“The gospel should not be assumed.”

Galatians 1:6-9

Ephesians 2:1-10 – the gospel

“The gospel isn’t something that just saves you, it’s something you walk in.”

The Gospel Defined

Colossians 1:13-23

1. The Gospel On The Ground

Colossians 1 Verses 13-14, 21-23

GOD –  MAN – CHRIST – RESPONSE

GOD – creator/perfect

MAN – sinful and wretched

CHRIST – paid the price

RESPONSE – Christ’s work generates a response

 2. The Gospel In The Air

Colossians 1 Verses 15-19

CREATION – FALL – REDEMPTION – CONCEMNATION

CREATION – loving creator created everything good

FALL – fractures shalom, sin enters the world, the ground will war against you

REDEMPTION – Jesus becomes our righteousness, takes on our wickedness

CONSUMMATION – rescued from our sin and used as an agent of reconciliation

“Often the gospel on the ground and the gospel in the air play ‘textual tennis’.  They both might be true.”

“You and loving your city without the gospel is crap.” 

Luke 24:13

Implications Of The Resurrection 

In the cross we are being saved from SIN

In the resurrection we are saved to MISSION

We’ve been saved from SIN to the job of RECONCILIATION

Leadership and Mission Weekend

This weekend at RVC we are taking time together to look at Leadership and Mission.  It will be a weekend packed full of leadership training and discussion on how we can continue to see missionaries rise in our culture.

Here is the schedule for the weekend:

 6.30pm Saturday Night Gathering 

- Perry Noble “What Matters”
- Refreshment Break
- Craig Groeshel “IT”

10.30am Sunday Morning Gathering
- Ed Stetzer “Representing Jesus and His Kingdom”

12.30pm Leaders and Volunteers Free Lunch

1-3pm Leader and Volunteers Training Session
- for all kids, youth, and small group leaders, volunteers, board and staff at Royal View
- Plant To Protect
- Leadership process
- Josh Surratt “Leading Healthy Small Groups”

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.

The Missional Church

My prayer for our church!

ECCLESIA

We are very excited about our two week vision series called ECCLESIA.  We are going to take a couple weeks and look at what the church is and what God has called us to as a community.  We will be going through Ephesians 4 (if you want to get ahead on some reading) and we will be answering some of these questions:

Why are we adjusting our mission statement?

Why are the spiritual disciplines so important?

Why is life group community and spiritual growth vital for our lives?

Why is using our gifts important in the local church?

Why is every dollar at RVC a missions dollar?

We are working hard to share the vision and answer these questions in a clear and constructive way!  We are so excited to see what God is going to do in 2010 through our church community.

Join us for ECCLESIA week 1 this Saturday at 6.30pm or Sunday at 10.30am

Peter Dewit with us tomorrow night!

So excited to have our friend Peter Dewit tomorrow with us at EMG!  Peter is a true friend and has done incrediable things in Thailand over the last 17 years!  Come hear his heart and passion for God and the mission HE has for us on the planet.  

Here’s a little video of what Peter and Pat are up to:

Can I Get A Definition?… woo woo

I can’t explain why there has been such little activity on here the last couple weeks.  

Anyway..

I’m passionate about the local church.  One thing I’ve noticed is that most people have a hard time defining the Church.  People go to church all their lives and yet most, if you got down to it, could not tell you biblically what the Church is or at least what it is supposed to be.

I’m reading Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll.  Here is his definition:

“The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus as Lord.  In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and Communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy.”

Mark Driscoll, Vintage Church, pg. 38