My original TOM post follows.
(The photo is by cardoso on flickr. It is a reference to the very funny film Dogma which I'd recommend only if you don't mind being offended.)
And then I had a little glimpse of meeting Jesus face-to-face in heaven. And all of a sudden I realised how wrong my perspective was. It caused me to laugh-out-loud at how ridiculous and self-centred my thoughts had become!
How important (or not) I am, how much I appear to be advancing God's kingdom, whether I'm the one who reaps or sows... it's not what Jesus is looking at. There are two things that Jesus tells us to be concerned about. In Mark's gospel when one of the religious teachers asks Jesus which is the most important commandment Jesus replies "The most important commandment is this: 'Listen, O Israel!" The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these." (Mark 12: 29-31)
Paul says in 1 Corinthians "We are only God's servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It's not important who does the planting or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together for the same purpose." (1 Corinthians 3:5-8)
I wonder how much time, effort and emotions we waste by having the wrong perspective? How much of our time is spent worrying, striving, engineering, self-promoting...? We are simply God's servants. He's the one who makes the seed grow. We just need to focus on doing the work the Lord gives us (v5), and doing it with a heart of love for Him and for our neighbour.
We need to keep an eternal perspective and remember who Jesus calls us to be and how he calls us to live. I wonder how different our lives and our communities would look if we really lived this out.
Written by Anna R
Picture by Francesco Marino from www.freedigitalphotos.net
I've been reflecting recently on the responsibility we all have to make disciples of people who are not currently in relationship with Jesus. I know that in my embracing of post modern values some years ago, (many of them good), I essentially threw out my responsibility to proclaim the Gospel in favour of just living and demonstrating it. The problem has been – that decision has not proved very fruitful in terms of seeing people come to faith!
God has been taking me through a process of repentance – changing my wrong thinking, and challenging me to step out in faith in accordance with the truth of His Word.
Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go & make disciples..." (Matt 18 & 19)
It's easy to miss this vital part of the great commission Jesus has given us to make disciples - the fact that the absolute authority given to Jesus has, in turn, been given to us! Therefore, we should not be apologetic in our proclamation (and demonstration) of the Gospel. We speak with the full weight of authority of the King of the Universe, and it's reassuring to know the command also comes with a promise; He is with us always.
Paul says in Roms 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…"
And in vs 15, "I am so eager to preach to Gospel to you…"
Is this something we can say is true of us?
It's interesting to reflect on where shame and fear re; proclaiming the Gospel have paralysed us...Our own culture can intimidate us....many of us have worked so hard at being perceived as "normal" because we've thought people would receive our message better that way, but in the process have neglected the fact we still have a truth to tell. And this truth will get us into trouble – the early church were never in trouble for feeding the poor and rarely in trouble for healing people – the opposition came when they "spoke in His name"! The need for "Courage under Fire" springs to mind!
Satan does not want us to speak up because he knows the Gospel message IS the power of God for salvation! Jesus didn't say,
"Go into all the world and befriend people."
He said,
"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (Mark 16:15)
Signs and wonders accompanied and confirmed this spoken Word. (See Mark 16:20)
I'm convinced our confidence in the power of the spoken Gospel (not just the Gospel demonstrated through loving actions or even healings) needs to be refreshed. As does our confidence in the simplicity of the Gospel – Paul did not use clever arguments designed to impress people, on the contrary he preached the simple message that God justifies the ungodly by faith. - That's it!
It's true that timing is important and this takes discernment - we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us recognise the times to sow and the times to reap. We don't want to fall into the trap on the other side of the pendulum swing of pushing people to pray prayers before they are ready or declaring them Christians when they haven't yet understood or responded to the invitation to discipleship. But this is not the challenge for the majority of us.
For most of us, the challenge is more likely to include repenting of being ashamed of the Gospel message & stepping out in renewed faith & confidence in it's (Jesus') power to save.
If this resonates with you, I'd encourage to engage with this process, both personally and in your communities. My prayer is that we will all do business with God on this, and ask Him to replace our fear and shame with His love, faith & courage! Amen.
written by Linz
The English language has a marvellous repertoire of word play options. I like word play. And deciphering its meaning.
I think thinking about the words and phrases we use and what they actually say can create surprising insights, funny recognition, and astonishing revelation about ourselves and how we talk. I wonder whether we always know and mean what we say...Want an illustration?
But it does get trickier with some of our other lingo:
Say, we want to decipher the meaning of the word ‘community’.
Now, you might think that we can’t just base our understanding of unity on a little word play. That’s right: Let’s come up with some scripture to back up the newly found project pursuit.
Why unity? And...what is it actually?
Here’s for a starter:
To me that sounds like some proper incentive, if effective mission is something we’re after. Besides, doesn’t it just seem clever to put it on our wish list if even Jesus asked for it?
Now, while making Paul happy might not be the prime motivator of our lives, my guess is, he may just have had a point.
So, I can see this unity theme crop up in our very bible and it confirms that I want to ask a few more questions about it. Hopefully, next time I get to write on here, we’re a bit further on in our appreciation of what? why? and even how? Yeah, that’s right, I do mean we, cause after all, I can’t do unity by myself, can I?
I’d like to ask for some help, then, in asking these questions:
1) What is unity in our contexts? (and is it achieved by drinking tea at uni?)
2) What is its potential?
3) And where in my life can I make a start pursuing it - as of today
Let’s get cracking – by way of asking the Father, I’d say.
How do you feel about time?
Have you ever heard those in your communities say things like “We’re just too busy” or “We don’t have enough time”?
Given that there are just 7 days in a week, how can we choose to invest our time well?
We want to live lives of adventure but can often end up just about surviving the busy rush of daily life and then crashing in exhaustion. How can we do mission in a way that is honouring to our call and and yet doesn’t lead to burn out?
Here are 3 thoughts from our experiences about how to Reduce, Re-Use and Recycle from the perspective of time:
Reduce the number of things your community is trying to do at once
Rather than attempting to do everything at once try to articulate with the group what God is currently teaching you about. Do this for the areas of worship, of mission and of community. To invest time in these 3 things you may need to reduce time spent on other good things. Within the missional community members will have taken on different responsibilities. Encourage group members to take an honest look at what is absorbing time and give permission for some things to stop or be done less well.
Consider - What am I doing that could be done with less investment of time? What am I doing that I can stop doing all together?
Re-Use the life rhythms of your group members
Missional Communities are about a lifestyle of worship, community and mission. Instead of adding on extras to an already busy lifestyle try instead to think about what things you already do. An easy place to start is with meals. Invite others over for dinner. Over the dinner think about how you want to use this time and use a question to direct conversation. Maybe ask that everyone shares something they are thankful for while you eat. Re look at your everyday life of shopping, exercise, walking home and think about how to re use the time you already spend to include others.
Consider - What do I already do that I can include others in?
Re-Cycle the time your community spend together
Take a look at the next few months and what the group has planned to do together (including time spent at small, medium and large church gatherings.) Think about if some of these opportunities can be recycled and used differently to more match what God is saying and what the opportunities or needs that you can see. For example, if someone is moving house, your group could spend the time normally given to meeting together that week to help with the move.
Consider - What time have I already committed which can be used differently?
These are some practical ideas. The foundation to getting healthy rhythms always needs to come back to grace: If you’re feeling tired, overworked and low on time as a resource, the answer isn’t to try harder. It’s to come to Jesus and ask him to teach you how to do it.
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:29-30 (The Message)