I was thinking more today about the blog I wrote last night...after I finally got my ability to think back.
I was asking myself some of those questions about relating the truth of Christ's character to my culture. That and the fact that I just read an awesome key note speech by Barak Obama and some thoughts by Hillary Clinton got me thinking about how that story of Jesus calling and believing in those whom society sees as failures affects my political leanings.
I was asking Matt if he had heard any of the good excuses about why Congress voted to not raise the minium wage but he hadn't. He suspected that it had to do with the fear that companies would outsource more jobs if they had to pay Americans more money. Makes sense.
So my question is why aren't we creating laws that limit companies ability to outsource jobs? Oh yeah, free market. I think this is a perfect example of how we as a nation have a serious tendency to favor the rich and powerful and ignore those who are "less" in the eyes of society. We pass laws that benefit corporations and hurt the poor. That's crappy policy making in my opinion. It seems to me that if our political leaders claim to speak for God (or be placed in their positions b/c of God's favor) then maybe they should be trying to stand for the things Jesus stood for. If politicians are going to play the faith card, they should be fighting to overcome poverty and injustice for the weak and powerless, not seeking more and more ways to bless the rich and powerful.
I read an article that referred to the Bush administration as having a reverse robin hood complex. That phrase has rolled around in my head a lot.
By the way, you should check out the key note speech by Barak Obama. Great, fair and honest speech! I'm hoping he might be a possible candidate for the next presidential election...
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=C&NewsID=5454
Friday, June 30, 2006
It's about Jesus
I can already tell this is going no where, no where that makes a lot of sense anyway. I've discovered in the last few days why I've been blessed/cursed? with a minor ability to draw. Hours and hours of my time have been spent drawing large mural-sized chili peppers with cute little smiley faces. That's so not the point of this but perhaps a disclaimer...
Matt's sermon on Sunday got me thinking a few things. By the way, he's a good speaker! I mean I'm glad we're not in some kind of talent competition b/c with his guitar/vocal/piano/bass skills and now his preaching skills, he's totally kicking my butt in that department.
Ok to my point. Or to more ramblings, I don't know...
I feel like for most of my life, I've missed the point. My brain can't even begin to wrap itself around the new things I'm seeing in life but I can only believe that this newness, this constant confusion over truth and God is good b/c maybe for once I'm catching the bigger picture.
Matt said in his sermon that the Bible isn't about me. Yeah. It's not a rule book or a text book or a step by step how to book. It's a passionate account of God's working in the world, in all of creation. It's not about me. It's about God.
This led me to thinking more about the story of Jesus calling his disciples to follow him. I wrote about it in another blog so I won't go into it all. Growing up the point of that story was how the disicples dropped everything they knew and followed Jesus so that must be a rule. I should drop everything and follow Jesus. Not a bad point. But I'm just not sure it is the point. Maybe the point is Jesus. His character. His life.
Who did he call? The people that society looked down on as failures. He called them and believed in them. From that we can take that Jesus calls us and believes in us no matter who we are and what we've done.
Cool.
But I think it's bigger than even that.
If we are called to be like Jesus, than we are called to believe in those whom the world has deemed hopeless, lost causes, failures. How is that real to us? How does that play out in our culture, in our lives? We need to ask ourselves those questions every time we encounter the life and character of Jesus in the Bible. We need to stop looking for rules, and start looking for Jesus.
Crap, I wanted to go on but now I'm just too tired. Oh well, you get it...
Matt's sermon on Sunday got me thinking a few things. By the way, he's a good speaker! I mean I'm glad we're not in some kind of talent competition b/c with his guitar/vocal/piano/bass skills and now his preaching skills, he's totally kicking my butt in that department.
Ok to my point. Or to more ramblings, I don't know...
I feel like for most of my life, I've missed the point. My brain can't even begin to wrap itself around the new things I'm seeing in life but I can only believe that this newness, this constant confusion over truth and God is good b/c maybe for once I'm catching the bigger picture.
Matt said in his sermon that the Bible isn't about me. Yeah. It's not a rule book or a text book or a step by step how to book. It's a passionate account of God's working in the world, in all of creation. It's not about me. It's about God.
This led me to thinking more about the story of Jesus calling his disciples to follow him. I wrote about it in another blog so I won't go into it all. Growing up the point of that story was how the disicples dropped everything they knew and followed Jesus so that must be a rule. I should drop everything and follow Jesus. Not a bad point. But I'm just not sure it is the point. Maybe the point is Jesus. His character. His life.
Who did he call? The people that society looked down on as failures. He called them and believed in them. From that we can take that Jesus calls us and believes in us no matter who we are and what we've done.
Cool.
But I think it's bigger than even that.
If we are called to be like Jesus, than we are called to believe in those whom the world has deemed hopeless, lost causes, failures. How is that real to us? How does that play out in our culture, in our lives? We need to ask ourselves those questions every time we encounter the life and character of Jesus in the Bible. We need to stop looking for rules, and start looking for Jesus.
Crap, I wanted to go on but now I'm just too tired. Oh well, you get it...
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Thoughts on the "Un-Churched"
I'm not usually very good at actually reading the magazines I get. They sit on my coffee table for weeks and then get thrown in a pile in my closet. I just happened to open my "Rev!" magazine today and came across an interesting article titled, "What Do the Unchurched Want?" I have always struggled with traditional ideas of evangelism and church growth and what not so I found some great thoughts I wanted to share....
When you work in a church there's a lot of talk about why people come, why the stay and why they don't stay. There's a lot of speculation about what draws people to connect to a certain church over another. A lot of people think it's the music. Others think it's a great sermon. Others think as long as people are friendly, they will come back. Well for a new book, the Barna Research Group interviewed thousands of "unchurched" people and found some interesting things about this. 1) People won't remember the topic, much less the key points of a sermon the first few times they visit. 2) People don't come to church for good music. If they want music, they'll turn on their ipod. What they are looking for is "something unique and of value that justifies changing their habits of avoiding church." They don't understand worship but they can experience the presence of God. And truly experiencing God's presence, even though they might not be able to describe it, will usually cause them to want more of it. The other thing is that people can sense when a church is truly a community and not just a group of people fulfilling their duty. "The unchurched want to experience love - from God and people - and if they feel that in the church environment, they'll return. If they don't sense it, they're history - probably forever...."
After that George Barna shares some things he would do to reach people outside the church. He talks about how people aren't very likely to "accept Christ" in a church service. That is something more that comes out of personal relationships. So one of the key things he would do is gear worship services exclusively to those who love Christ. If a person who doesn't typically attend church wanders in, it's better for them to be blown away by the presence of God, commitment of the people to that presence, the passionate worship taking place and the sincerity of the people regarding knowing God more deeply. The goal of worship is worship, not evangelism. (Great book on this topic: "Worship Evangelism.")
Another point that really hit home for me was this: "I'd shift the strategy from training people in the steps we think will lead people to Christ to empowering people to just be real." He goes on to talk about how nonbelievers are more impressed by a good friend who truly loves Jesus and lives like he/she does than a by a well-intentioned debator who wants to argue everyone into the kingdom. He suggests that we stop looking for ways to manipulate situations to interject God and Scripture (and invitations to church - my addition) into conversations to accomplish our goals. People know when we are real. This has by far been the hardest thing for me about being a part of a church. Always being told that I should be looking for ways to get people to church. I always feel like I'm supposed to have this ulterior motive to building friendships with people. Like I meet someone in the store and try to be nice to them but I better find a way to tell them about my church in the meantime. I'd rather just try to live like Jesus and love people the best I can and hope that God's Spirit takes care of the rest.
The last point he makes I thought was a great one since I'm a kid's pastor...He says "I'd focus the majority of our outreach resources on children, not adults." He talks about how the majority of people are converted even before reaching their teen years and that it is much more effective to reach kids and empower them to reach out to their families than it is to target the families.
Anyways, just some good thoughts...
When you work in a church there's a lot of talk about why people come, why the stay and why they don't stay. There's a lot of speculation about what draws people to connect to a certain church over another. A lot of people think it's the music. Others think it's a great sermon. Others think as long as people are friendly, they will come back. Well for a new book, the Barna Research Group interviewed thousands of "unchurched" people and found some interesting things about this. 1) People won't remember the topic, much less the key points of a sermon the first few times they visit. 2) People don't come to church for good music. If they want music, they'll turn on their ipod. What they are looking for is "something unique and of value that justifies changing their habits of avoiding church." They don't understand worship but they can experience the presence of God. And truly experiencing God's presence, even though they might not be able to describe it, will usually cause them to want more of it. The other thing is that people can sense when a church is truly a community and not just a group of people fulfilling their duty. "The unchurched want to experience love - from God and people - and if they feel that in the church environment, they'll return. If they don't sense it, they're history - probably forever...."
After that George Barna shares some things he would do to reach people outside the church. He talks about how people aren't very likely to "accept Christ" in a church service. That is something more that comes out of personal relationships. So one of the key things he would do is gear worship services exclusively to those who love Christ. If a person who doesn't typically attend church wanders in, it's better for them to be blown away by the presence of God, commitment of the people to that presence, the passionate worship taking place and the sincerity of the people regarding knowing God more deeply. The goal of worship is worship, not evangelism. (Great book on this topic: "Worship Evangelism.")
Another point that really hit home for me was this: "I'd shift the strategy from training people in the steps we think will lead people to Christ to empowering people to just be real." He goes on to talk about how nonbelievers are more impressed by a good friend who truly loves Jesus and lives like he/she does than a by a well-intentioned debator who wants to argue everyone into the kingdom. He suggests that we stop looking for ways to manipulate situations to interject God and Scripture (and invitations to church - my addition) into conversations to accomplish our goals. People know when we are real. This has by far been the hardest thing for me about being a part of a church. Always being told that I should be looking for ways to get people to church. I always feel like I'm supposed to have this ulterior motive to building friendships with people. Like I meet someone in the store and try to be nice to them but I better find a way to tell them about my church in the meantime. I'd rather just try to live like Jesus and love people the best I can and hope that God's Spirit takes care of the rest.
The last point he makes I thought was a great one since I'm a kid's pastor...He says "I'd focus the majority of our outreach resources on children, not adults." He talks about how the majority of people are converted even before reaching their teen years and that it is much more effective to reach kids and empower them to reach out to their families than it is to target the families.
Anyways, just some good thoughts...
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Don't Be Silent
So our President and Congress are up to no good. Bush is out to help his wealthy friends by gutting the estate tax. The divide between the richest and poorest in this country continues to widen while the government makes tax cuts in a time of war where budgets are already being cut in unacceptable places. We must make our voices heard. We must let our senators know that it is not ok with us to bless the rich and hurt the poor. The ever-increasing number of people living in poverty in this country is ridiculous while Bush makes every efforts to keep his rich buddies happy.
Below I have copied the text from an article written by Jim Wallis regarding the Estate Tax. You can better understand this tax by reading this article. Then go to http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/chn/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=288 to email your senators and let them know that this is unacceptable.
To protect the common good by Jim Wallis (http://www.sojo.net)
According to the biblical prophets, the greatest moral offense of poverty is the inequality that often lies behind it. When poverty abounds and the wealthy refuse to share their prosperity, God gets mad. If the congressional leadership has its way, American inequality is about to take a giant step forward with their efforts to destroy or gut the estate tax - an effective measure to combat inequality that has been working for 100 years.
Sometimes, there are public policy choices that simply make no moral sense. When a nation is at war, when deficits are rising at record rates, and when everyone knows that even more budget cuts are coming that will directly and negatively impact the nation's poorest families and children, you don't give more tax breaks to the super-rich. But that is exactly what the administration and the Republican leadership are strenuously trying to do. And with the latest Census Bureau income and poverty report showing that the poverty rate has gone up for the fourth straight year, the moral offense is compounded. There are 37 million Americans now living below the poverty line, 4 million more than in 2001. That includes 13 million children.
So why are George Bush, the Republican leadership, and some Democrats on Capitol Hill pushing so hard to completely repeal or substantially gut the estate tax? It's been in place for nearly 100 years, is a substantial source of government revenue, and has been a major catalyst to charitable giving (including to faith-based organizations, something the administration claims to support). A repeal of the estate tax will cost an estimated 1 trillion dollars in federal revenue over the next 10 years (that's right, 1 trillion), substantially increase the deficit, dramatically diminish the resources available to help low-income families escape poverty, and further increase the pressure on the budget from the high cost of war. The only thing the repeal of the estate tax will accomplish is to make sure the wealthiest of Americans will bear no sacrifices during war-time belt tightening and tough decision making but, rather, will reap a windfall of benefit and be the only Americans who do.
Repeal supporters have cleverly changed the language of the debate by calling the estate tax "the death tax" and claiming that it mostly affects family farmers and small businesses who are unable to pass their farms and businesses along to their children. That is simply not true. To put it less delicately, they are lying to cover up the fact that the estate tax mostly affects their richest friends. The tax affects only the wealthiest half of 1 percent of Americans - estates with a net value of more than $2 million ($4 million for couples). That is exactly what this tax was supposed to do when it was introduced in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt (a Republican, remember) to counter the European practice of passing on enormous wealth from generation to generation, thereby encouraging aristocracy. The more American idea was to ask those who have benefited enormously by accident of birth to contribute back to the common good and expand opportunity for all. Many wealthy people, such as Bill Gates Sr. and Warren Buffett, agree and vigorously support the estate tax. But that American ideal is now under attack by a political leadership which seems anxious to restore an American aristocracy.
Those who want to retain the estate tax are willing to reform it to make sure that family farmers and small business people are not adversely affected and to ensure that the tax - let's call it a "common good tax" - is focused where it was intended, on those who have benefited so much from the opportunities of America. In a very real sense, the estate tax is a repayment for the public services and infrastructure that enable wealth creation - our transportation system of highways, bridges, and airports; our legal and educational systems; and many other investments we make in our society. It is only right that having benefited so much from the opportunities of America, the wealthiest should be obligated to return some of their good fortune to expand the opportunities of other Americans (maybe we should call the estate tax "the opportunity tax").
Is this the America that we want? One whose top policy priority is to make the rich richer while abandoning the most needed efforts to reduce poverty and protect the common good? That, in particular, was the original purpose of the estate tax, initiated by different kind of Republican president who was committed to the equality of opportunity for every American.
It is time for Democrats, moderate Republicans, and people of good social conscience across the county to draw a line in the sand against this administration's radical policies to redistribute wealth from the bottom and middle to the top of American society. It's time for a moral resistance to such unbalanced social policies and the place to begin is to defeat the dangerous and disingenuous effort to destroy the estate tax. In the name of social conscience, fiscal responsibility, equality of opportunity, protecting our communities, and the very idea of a "common good," it's time for the moral center of American public opinion to say "enough." The repeal of the estate tax would literally be an attack upon the common good and it must not succeed. Instead, we need policies that would create better and more balanced national priorities.
For even more information on this issue go to http://www.citizen.org/documents/EstateTaxFinal.pdf
Below I have copied the text from an article written by Jim Wallis regarding the Estate Tax. You can better understand this tax by reading this article. Then go to http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/chn/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=288 to email your senators and let them know that this is unacceptable.
To protect the common good by Jim Wallis (http://www.sojo.net)
According to the biblical prophets, the greatest moral offense of poverty is the inequality that often lies behind it. When poverty abounds and the wealthy refuse to share their prosperity, God gets mad. If the congressional leadership has its way, American inequality is about to take a giant step forward with their efforts to destroy or gut the estate tax - an effective measure to combat inequality that has been working for 100 years.
Sometimes, there are public policy choices that simply make no moral sense. When a nation is at war, when deficits are rising at record rates, and when everyone knows that even more budget cuts are coming that will directly and negatively impact the nation's poorest families and children, you don't give more tax breaks to the super-rich. But that is exactly what the administration and the Republican leadership are strenuously trying to do. And with the latest Census Bureau income and poverty report showing that the poverty rate has gone up for the fourth straight year, the moral offense is compounded. There are 37 million Americans now living below the poverty line, 4 million more than in 2001. That includes 13 million children.
So why are George Bush, the Republican leadership, and some Democrats on Capitol Hill pushing so hard to completely repeal or substantially gut the estate tax? It's been in place for nearly 100 years, is a substantial source of government revenue, and has been a major catalyst to charitable giving (including to faith-based organizations, something the administration claims to support). A repeal of the estate tax will cost an estimated 1 trillion dollars in federal revenue over the next 10 years (that's right, 1 trillion), substantially increase the deficit, dramatically diminish the resources available to help low-income families escape poverty, and further increase the pressure on the budget from the high cost of war. The only thing the repeal of the estate tax will accomplish is to make sure the wealthiest of Americans will bear no sacrifices during war-time belt tightening and tough decision making but, rather, will reap a windfall of benefit and be the only Americans who do.
Repeal supporters have cleverly changed the language of the debate by calling the estate tax "the death tax" and claiming that it mostly affects family farmers and small businesses who are unable to pass their farms and businesses along to their children. That is simply not true. To put it less delicately, they are lying to cover up the fact that the estate tax mostly affects their richest friends. The tax affects only the wealthiest half of 1 percent of Americans - estates with a net value of more than $2 million ($4 million for couples). That is exactly what this tax was supposed to do when it was introduced in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt (a Republican, remember) to counter the European practice of passing on enormous wealth from generation to generation, thereby encouraging aristocracy. The more American idea was to ask those who have benefited enormously by accident of birth to contribute back to the common good and expand opportunity for all. Many wealthy people, such as Bill Gates Sr. and Warren Buffett, agree and vigorously support the estate tax. But that American ideal is now under attack by a political leadership which seems anxious to restore an American aristocracy.
Those who want to retain the estate tax are willing to reform it to make sure that family farmers and small business people are not adversely affected and to ensure that the tax - let's call it a "common good tax" - is focused where it was intended, on those who have benefited so much from the opportunities of America. In a very real sense, the estate tax is a repayment for the public services and infrastructure that enable wealth creation - our transportation system of highways, bridges, and airports; our legal and educational systems; and many other investments we make in our society. It is only right that having benefited so much from the opportunities of America, the wealthiest should be obligated to return some of their good fortune to expand the opportunities of other Americans (maybe we should call the estate tax "the opportunity tax").
Is this the America that we want? One whose top policy priority is to make the rich richer while abandoning the most needed efforts to reduce poverty and protect the common good? That, in particular, was the original purpose of the estate tax, initiated by different kind of Republican president who was committed to the equality of opportunity for every American.
It is time for Democrats, moderate Republicans, and people of good social conscience across the county to draw a line in the sand against this administration's radical policies to redistribute wealth from the bottom and middle to the top of American society. It's time for a moral resistance to such unbalanced social policies and the place to begin is to defeat the dangerous and disingenuous effort to destroy the estate tax. In the name of social conscience, fiscal responsibility, equality of opportunity, protecting our communities, and the very idea of a "common good," it's time for the moral center of American public opinion to say "enough." The repeal of the estate tax would literally be an attack upon the common good and it must not succeed. Instead, we need policies that would create better and more balanced national priorities.
For even more information on this issue go to http://www.citizen.org/documents/EstateTaxFinal.pdf
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Oooops
So I just noticed that I wrote in my previous post that I'd mentioned in the past how much I loved Rob Bell's book, Velvet Elvis. But I remembered that I have not blogged about that book on this site. I blogged about it on my less "public" site. So I thought I'd add bits of my other blog here because it's just such a good book and I have to convince you to read it. lol...
"...This past week I finished reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. LOVED IT!....
...One of the things Bell talks about is a comparison of faith being a trampoline or faith being a brick wall. If your faith is a brick wall, one brick (doctrine) can fall out and the entire wall can crumble. And time is often spent defending the wall. A trampoline on the other hand is not something you spend time defending. You are excited to invite others to join you in jumping! If one spring (doctrine) breaks, the trampoline is still standing.
I really am not a fan of apologetics. Proving faith to be true on the basis of logical arguments just doesn't hold a lot of weight for me. I'm not saying others aren't convinced that way, I'm just not.... So you won't find me arguing the finer points of faith with people.... I believe faith is bigger than logic. If you know me (at least in my recent years) you probably wouldn't say I'm someone who blindly accepts everything that comes my way either. My husband actually described me as a "thinker" in the "feeler/thinker" comparison. I question...a lot. I desire to understand Jesus and his teachings better than I currently understand them. But I'm not going to argue them....
Now on to recent times...
{I talked about The Da Vinci Code hype here but it's not that important...}
...Back to the whole faith as a trampoline vs. brick wall thing... What if it were true? I'm not suggesting that it is. But what if it were? What if Jesus was married? Does that make him less divine? What if Jesus had a family? Does that make him a sinner? And what if there are descendents of Jesus and Mary today? Is our God not big enough that Jesus could have a family that was fully human, not divine, while he was still both fully human and fully divine? Would your wall crumble if it were true?
Our faith must be stronger than a brick wall. It must not crumble if our understanding of one thing changes....
I'm not trying to say that everything we believe to be true is wrong. I'm just saying that our faith has to be bigger. We have to believe that God is so much bigger than our simplistic understanding of things. We must be humble, not seeking to argue but seeking to understand and walk alongside. We must believe in God more than doctrine. Our faith must be alive not static.
...If a church is a church that follows Christ than it teaches the Bible. It may be a different understanding or interpretation of the Bible, but it is still the Bible. No one person or one denomination holds a monopoly on the truth of Bible. We all bring our own undestandings and experiences to the words on the pages. No one is objective when it comes to the Bible. That is why your faith cannot crumble if one thing you believe to be true is questioned...."
Anyway, that's just a peek at some of the direction of Bell's book. I appreciate the fresh perspective he brings on God, the church, the Bible, culture and more. Read it! :)
"...This past week I finished reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. LOVED IT!....
...One of the things Bell talks about is a comparison of faith being a trampoline or faith being a brick wall. If your faith is a brick wall, one brick (doctrine) can fall out and the entire wall can crumble. And time is often spent defending the wall. A trampoline on the other hand is not something you spend time defending. You are excited to invite others to join you in jumping! If one spring (doctrine) breaks, the trampoline is still standing.
I really am not a fan of apologetics. Proving faith to be true on the basis of logical arguments just doesn't hold a lot of weight for me. I'm not saying others aren't convinced that way, I'm just not.... So you won't find me arguing the finer points of faith with people.... I believe faith is bigger than logic. If you know me (at least in my recent years) you probably wouldn't say I'm someone who blindly accepts everything that comes my way either. My husband actually described me as a "thinker" in the "feeler/thinker" comparison. I question...a lot. I desire to understand Jesus and his teachings better than I currently understand them. But I'm not going to argue them....
Now on to recent times...
{I talked about The Da Vinci Code hype here but it's not that important...}
...Back to the whole faith as a trampoline vs. brick wall thing... What if it were true? I'm not suggesting that it is. But what if it were? What if Jesus was married? Does that make him less divine? What if Jesus had a family? Does that make him a sinner? And what if there are descendents of Jesus and Mary today? Is our God not big enough that Jesus could have a family that was fully human, not divine, while he was still both fully human and fully divine? Would your wall crumble if it were true?
Our faith must be stronger than a brick wall. It must not crumble if our understanding of one thing changes....
I'm not trying to say that everything we believe to be true is wrong. I'm just saying that our faith has to be bigger. We have to believe that God is so much bigger than our simplistic understanding of things. We must be humble, not seeking to argue but seeking to understand and walk alongside. We must believe in God more than doctrine. Our faith must be alive not static.
...If a church is a church that follows Christ than it teaches the Bible. It may be a different understanding or interpretation of the Bible, but it is still the Bible. No one person or one denomination holds a monopoly on the truth of Bible. We all bring our own undestandings and experiences to the words on the pages. No one is objective when it comes to the Bible. That is why your faith cannot crumble if one thing you believe to be true is questioned...."
Anyway, that's just a peek at some of the direction of Bell's book. I appreciate the fresh perspective he brings on God, the church, the Bible, culture and more. Read it! :)
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Chosen and Believed In
I know I already said how much I loved Velvet Elvis but there's another thought that has rolled around in my head for a while that I read there and thought I would share. Please bare with the "background" information because it's important to my point.
In Jewish culture boys at like age 12 would start this process of education with the hopes of someday becoming a Rabbi. At certain points during the process there would be an evaluation and boys who weren't cutting it were sent home to learn the family business. At the end of this process the boys that were left were to choose a Rabbi to follow. They would go to that Rabbi and request to be their disciple. The Rabbi would then put them through this evaluation that would help him decide whether the boy/man could be his disciple. If the Rabbi truly believed that this man could in fact be just like him (because that was the goal of a disciple - to be just like his Rabbi) then he would choose him. If he did not believe that he could be just like him, he would then send the man/boy home to learn the family business.
Along comes Jesus. A Rabbi. He finds fishermen, rejected boys sent home to learn the family trade, not good enough to be a disciple, not believed in by a Rabbi. And Jesus says to them, come, follow me, be my disciples.
Now it has always seemed strange to me that these men just dropped everything and followed this random man who came along and told them to. I now understand that it was common for a man/boy to drop everything and leave his family to follow a Rabbi and Jesus was known to be a Rabbi. It was an honor to be called to follow and any normal Jewish man would have been thrilled to be chosen.
The fascinating thing is this...Jesus called the rejected, cast out, not good enough men and believed in them. Jesus believed that these men had what it took to be just like Him.
Consider the story of Peter walking on water with Jesus. While we may think it strange that Peter would want to do this, it would have been common for a disciple to want to do exactly what his Rabbi did. Could it be that when Peter began to sink and Jesus said, "Why did you doubt?" he didn't mean "Why did you doubt me?" he insteand meant, "Why did you doubt yourself? I called you. I chose you. I believe in you. Why can't you believe?"
I imagine Jesus says this a lot to me. I used to be SO full of ideals and hopes and passions for what could be. I believed in who I could become. So much has happened in recent years that I find it hard to believe anymore. I find it hard to see myself as chosen and called and believed in. This deeper understanding of the reality of this situation with Jesus calling his disciples has helped renew that hope in me that I can be as Jesus called me to be.
We all need to see ourselves in light of that. We have been called by God. That means for whatever reason, he believes we can be like him. We put all this focus on getting into heaven when I wonder if really we are called and chosen so that we can be Jesus on earth. We can make this world a better place by being Jesus on earth. By following his teachings and fighing against the injustice of the world and standing for all that is weak and powerless, we can be Jesus on earth. We are called and chosen not for a "personal" relationship or "personal" salvation but to be Jesus for the world. To bring hope, life and love to a world desperately in need of those things. Being a follower of Christ isn't about crossing over a line from hell to heaven. It is about being like Jesus so the world can become a better place. It is not about waiting for heaven to come so we can be rid of all the junk of this world. It is about being like Jesus so the junk of this world becomes infested with the love of Jesus.
The Kingdom of God is now. Jesus believes in us. He believes that we can be like him. And as idealistic as it may sound, Jesus believes that we can make this world a better place. We are called to make this world a better place. We are called to stop waiting and wishing for heaven and to start working to bring heaven here and now.
In Jewish culture boys at like age 12 would start this process of education with the hopes of someday becoming a Rabbi. At certain points during the process there would be an evaluation and boys who weren't cutting it were sent home to learn the family business. At the end of this process the boys that were left were to choose a Rabbi to follow. They would go to that Rabbi and request to be their disciple. The Rabbi would then put them through this evaluation that would help him decide whether the boy/man could be his disciple. If the Rabbi truly believed that this man could in fact be just like him (because that was the goal of a disciple - to be just like his Rabbi) then he would choose him. If he did not believe that he could be just like him, he would then send the man/boy home to learn the family business.
Along comes Jesus. A Rabbi. He finds fishermen, rejected boys sent home to learn the family trade, not good enough to be a disciple, not believed in by a Rabbi. And Jesus says to them, come, follow me, be my disciples.
Now it has always seemed strange to me that these men just dropped everything and followed this random man who came along and told them to. I now understand that it was common for a man/boy to drop everything and leave his family to follow a Rabbi and Jesus was known to be a Rabbi. It was an honor to be called to follow and any normal Jewish man would have been thrilled to be chosen.
The fascinating thing is this...Jesus called the rejected, cast out, not good enough men and believed in them. Jesus believed that these men had what it took to be just like Him.
Consider the story of Peter walking on water with Jesus. While we may think it strange that Peter would want to do this, it would have been common for a disciple to want to do exactly what his Rabbi did. Could it be that when Peter began to sink and Jesus said, "Why did you doubt?" he didn't mean "Why did you doubt me?" he insteand meant, "Why did you doubt yourself? I called you. I chose you. I believe in you. Why can't you believe?"
I imagine Jesus says this a lot to me. I used to be SO full of ideals and hopes and passions for what could be. I believed in who I could become. So much has happened in recent years that I find it hard to believe anymore. I find it hard to see myself as chosen and called and believed in. This deeper understanding of the reality of this situation with Jesus calling his disciples has helped renew that hope in me that I can be as Jesus called me to be.
We all need to see ourselves in light of that. We have been called by God. That means for whatever reason, he believes we can be like him. We put all this focus on getting into heaven when I wonder if really we are called and chosen so that we can be Jesus on earth. We can make this world a better place by being Jesus on earth. By following his teachings and fighing against the injustice of the world and standing for all that is weak and powerless, we can be Jesus on earth. We are called and chosen not for a "personal" relationship or "personal" salvation but to be Jesus for the world. To bring hope, life and love to a world desperately in need of those things. Being a follower of Christ isn't about crossing over a line from hell to heaven. It is about being like Jesus so the world can become a better place. It is not about waiting for heaven to come so we can be rid of all the junk of this world. It is about being like Jesus so the junk of this world becomes infested with the love of Jesus.
The Kingdom of God is now. Jesus believes in us. He believes that we can be like him. And as idealistic as it may sound, Jesus believes that we can make this world a better place. We are called to make this world a better place. We are called to stop waiting and wishing for heaven and to start working to bring heaven here and now.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Preschoolers are Great
I teach preschool...3 year olds to be exact. And they are hilarious. Seriously, I love to just watch them explore and interact with each other. Today we were walking back from the playground and there were birds flying over head between a couple of trees and the top of the building. I never knew birds could be so exciting! They went on and on. They were all talking at once about the birds. About what color they were. About where they were sitting and where they were coming from. About the noises they were making. Then I turned around to see them flapping their arms like wings and making "tweeting" sounds. It was cracking me up because I was simply amazed at their amazement of something so simple.
I'm not one to say that I'm excited to have children of my own. I love being able to send them home after a few hours. But I think everyone should spend time with kids from time to time. They offer a perspective on life that so many of us have lost.
It's so obvious to me why Jesus talks about approaching the Kingdom of God like a child. You can't fully understand this unless you've spent a lot of time with kids but I think this may be one of the key points to a "religion" that is alive and powerful.
As adults we (I) are (am) SO cynical, so jaded. We can only see the world in the way we've always seen it. We miss so much. We read the Bible like a text book instead of a beautiful piece of mysterious literature. We approach God with three easy steps and we have patterns and plans for spiritual growth.
Kids don't see the world that way or experience the world that way. Every day is fresh and new and a little black bird is an awesome sight to see. Children ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. They love to learn new things and experience new things! They aren't embarrased to share their excitement and amazement. They find great joy in sharing their observations and joy with their friends and anybody who will listen. They don't get hung up on unnecessary details. They see life as something to be lived fully, without hesitation and without fear. They jump in head first! They love deeply and aren't afraid to show it. They forgive quickly and trust easily. The world to a preschooler is a great mystery to be loved and explored and passionately lived.
If we could catch just a mustard seed size of that "child-likeness," life and religion would be full of genuine joy and amazement each and every day.
I'm not one to say that I'm excited to have children of my own. I love being able to send them home after a few hours. But I think everyone should spend time with kids from time to time. They offer a perspective on life that so many of us have lost.
It's so obvious to me why Jesus talks about approaching the Kingdom of God like a child. You can't fully understand this unless you've spent a lot of time with kids but I think this may be one of the key points to a "religion" that is alive and powerful.
As adults we (I) are (am) SO cynical, so jaded. We can only see the world in the way we've always seen it. We miss so much. We read the Bible like a text book instead of a beautiful piece of mysterious literature. We approach God with three easy steps and we have patterns and plans for spiritual growth.
Kids don't see the world that way or experience the world that way. Every day is fresh and new and a little black bird is an awesome sight to see. Children ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. They love to learn new things and experience new things! They aren't embarrased to share their excitement and amazement. They find great joy in sharing their observations and joy with their friends and anybody who will listen. They don't get hung up on unnecessary details. They see life as something to be lived fully, without hesitation and without fear. They jump in head first! They love deeply and aren't afraid to show it. They forgive quickly and trust easily. The world to a preschooler is a great mystery to be loved and explored and passionately lived.
If we could catch just a mustard seed size of that "child-likeness," life and religion would be full of genuine joy and amazement each and every day.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Martin Luther and a New Age
I just picked up a book titled, "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. I read about half a page and was struck by something very interesting. Martin Luther ushered in a new era for the church. In his time the Bible was only read and understand by the priests, ministry was only done by the priests, and it wasn't all that easy to know and have a relationship with God. Luther revolutionized faith by fighting the institution and inviting people into a personal relationship with God. He insisted that the Bible should be written in a language that the average person could read and understand. He believed that ministry was the job of the people, not just those employeed by the church and he was certain that faith was about relationship, not money and power.
The people of his time must have sensed the greatest freedom as they began to experience this living faith. I bet they read the Bible like it was some great mystery that they had never been priveledged to but now by the grace of God have been given access to. I bet they passionately served God in their churches, sang with all their hearts in words that meant something to them and loved God like they never knew they could.
I wasn't there. But the world of Christian religion has been forever changed because of this time in history. It must have been a great time, a hard time, but a great time.
Looking at the state of the church today I fear that we have lost the power that was given us through this great movement. We are happy to let the priests do our reading for us. We are happy to let the priests do our serving for us. And to sing to God in words we can mean and understand has lost it's value and ferver.
The church today needs a revolution. A reformation movement of a new kind. As my generation sees and is frustrated by the institution we need to stop running for the hills and breaking with our passion for God's kingdom. We must be the life-bringers, the hope-givers, the passion-livers. We must seek and desire the fame of God above all else and in the spirit of Martin Luther, usher in a new era of faith for a new generation.
The people of his time must have sensed the greatest freedom as they began to experience this living faith. I bet they read the Bible like it was some great mystery that they had never been priveledged to but now by the grace of God have been given access to. I bet they passionately served God in their churches, sang with all their hearts in words that meant something to them and loved God like they never knew they could.
I wasn't there. But the world of Christian religion has been forever changed because of this time in history. It must have been a great time, a hard time, but a great time.
Looking at the state of the church today I fear that we have lost the power that was given us through this great movement. We are happy to let the priests do our reading for us. We are happy to let the priests do our serving for us. And to sing to God in words we can mean and understand has lost it's value and ferver.
The church today needs a revolution. A reformation movement of a new kind. As my generation sees and is frustrated by the institution we need to stop running for the hills and breaking with our passion for God's kingdom. We must be the life-bringers, the hope-givers, the passion-livers. We must seek and desire the fame of God above all else and in the spirit of Martin Luther, usher in a new era of faith for a new generation.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
I Hate Fear
I've been thinking lately about fear and how people use it to manipulate people into responding a certain way. You see it a lot even in simple ways..."You better not do that or you might end up on Santa's naughty list."
Truth be told my biggest complaint with this is how the Republican party manipulates Christians using fear. I know I've mentioned this before but it just bothers me how easily manipulated people are and how we then as Christians defend not just the cause of Christ but the cause of the Republican party as if somehow they have anything to do with each other.
Now, just to preface, I don't think the Democrates are the greatest. Mainly because I wish they'd just stand up for something instead of sitting around waiting for the Republican party to implode.
But back to my complaint...did you see the ads during the last presidential campaign? They were meant to make you think liberals were predators, out to destroy our families, our country. Now I can say that a great deal of me fits into that category of what is deemed a "political liberal." I don't like the death pentalty, I don't like guns, I care about our environment, I think we spend too much money on war and not enough on fighting poverty, I disagree with most of the economic decisions made by our president (at least the ones I know about)etc.... But I don't think those things make me evil. Perhaps the very opposite of such.
Even now, the Rebulican party controls all three branches of government and yet Christians run around afraid of the crazy liberals ruining our country. If things are bad, we might want to take a look at who's running things.
I was talking to someone the other day about this whole mindset that the world is just getting so much worse and I have to laugh because I remember that God destroyed the entire world at one point because things were so bad. People used to sacrifice their kids to gods. Entire nations have been masacared. We've always been a bunch of "crapbags" as my friend Sean likes to say.
Anyway, I've just been annoyed about it lately. I don't like having to pretend I'm something that I'm not because in the minds of most Christians, if you don't tow the Republican party line, you're a liberal, and to be a liberal is to not be on God's side. I don't buy it.
Don't vote for Republicans because they convince you to be afraid of everyone else. See for yourself what candidates and parties stand for and have an intellectually informed vote. If you're a Christian, don't let fear be your guide. The Bible says it the best, "perfect love casts out fear."
Truth be told my biggest complaint with this is how the Republican party manipulates Christians using fear. I know I've mentioned this before but it just bothers me how easily manipulated people are and how we then as Christians defend not just the cause of Christ but the cause of the Republican party as if somehow they have anything to do with each other.
Now, just to preface, I don't think the Democrates are the greatest. Mainly because I wish they'd just stand up for something instead of sitting around waiting for the Republican party to implode.
But back to my complaint...did you see the ads during the last presidential campaign? They were meant to make you think liberals were predators, out to destroy our families, our country. Now I can say that a great deal of me fits into that category of what is deemed a "political liberal." I don't like the death pentalty, I don't like guns, I care about our environment, I think we spend too much money on war and not enough on fighting poverty, I disagree with most of the economic decisions made by our president (at least the ones I know about)etc.... But I don't think those things make me evil. Perhaps the very opposite of such.
Even now, the Rebulican party controls all three branches of government and yet Christians run around afraid of the crazy liberals ruining our country. If things are bad, we might want to take a look at who's running things.
I was talking to someone the other day about this whole mindset that the world is just getting so much worse and I have to laugh because I remember that God destroyed the entire world at one point because things were so bad. People used to sacrifice their kids to gods. Entire nations have been masacared. We've always been a bunch of "crapbags" as my friend Sean likes to say.
Anyway, I've just been annoyed about it lately. I don't like having to pretend I'm something that I'm not because in the minds of most Christians, if you don't tow the Republican party line, you're a liberal, and to be a liberal is to not be on God's side. I don't buy it.
Don't vote for Republicans because they convince you to be afraid of everyone else. See for yourself what candidates and parties stand for and have an intellectually informed vote. If you're a Christian, don't let fear be your guide. The Bible says it the best, "perfect love casts out fear."
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Beach Trip
Matt, Bella and I were lucky to get away last week over Spring Break for a relaxing trip to the beach! We stayed at this incredibly nice home that is owned by some people that we know. Luckily it is pet friendly so our little dear could come along with us.Bella was cracking me up as she ran around on the beach. I think she liked the sand as it got kicked up in the air. She was jumping and pouncing and running around...except when I took her near the water. As the ocean slowly crept closer to her, she slowly crept backwards, away from the water! She finally let me walk her close enough for the water to cover her legs.
The weather was beautiful so we walked on the beach a lot. I tried to make pizza one night but it was total crap so we tossed it and went and bought a pizza instead. :)
Here's a couple photos...
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie
Wednesday I went with Matt, Joey and Kelly to see Franz and Death Cab and some band called the Cribs (I only heard a couple songs but wasn't a huge fan) in Portland. We enjoyed dinner at Rock Bottom (of course) and headed over in the Max which was actually my first ride. I know, I know, it's sad. I've lived here for two years and hadn't been on the Max.
Anyway, the concert was good. I really enjoyed Franz. It was the first time I'd seen them in concert. They are seriously the most catchy rock. Makes you just wanna jump up and dance! These two kids were down on the floor and this spot kept hitting them and they were dancing all over the place and they actually looked like they really knew what they were doing. They looked like they were maybe nine years old. It was cracking me up!
The weird thing was that they opened for Death Cab. Now I saw Death Cab at the Crystal Ballroom just a couple months ago and it was AWESOME! But I didn't enjoy it as much this time around. I think the band just didn't carry enough energy for that large of a room. It would have been better if Death Cab opened up for Franz and warmed us up. Instead the evening ended on a downer note and I was already pretty tired.
Don't get me wrong, Death Cab still rocks. I'll listen to them over and over on my CD player. But if I had a choice to see them in a smaller venue or a larger, I'd choose the smaller.
Anyway, the concert was good. I really enjoyed Franz. It was the first time I'd seen them in concert. They are seriously the most catchy rock. Makes you just wanna jump up and dance! These two kids were down on the floor and this spot kept hitting them and they were dancing all over the place and they actually looked like they really knew what they were doing. They looked like they were maybe nine years old. It was cracking me up!
The weird thing was that they opened for Death Cab. Now I saw Death Cab at the Crystal Ballroom just a couple months ago and it was AWESOME! But I didn't enjoy it as much this time around. I think the band just didn't carry enough energy for that large of a room. It would have been better if Death Cab opened up for Franz and warmed us up. Instead the evening ended on a downer note and I was already pretty tired.
Don't get me wrong, Death Cab still rocks. I'll listen to them over and over on my CD player. But if I had a choice to see them in a smaller venue or a larger, I'd choose the smaller.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
1 Corinthians 13: A Fresh Perspective
I recently read a GREAT article about 1 Corinthians 13 and it's context and a fresh look at it for the church as a whole rather than just as a marriage text. Check it out below. It's good for church leaders but also church attenders...
http://shop.grouppublishing.com/cvc/inside_track/2006_02/Youth.asp
http://shop.grouppublishing.com/cvc/inside_track/2006_02/Youth.asp
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Ignorance is Bliss
I'm apparently a VERY slow reader. I'm still wading my way through God's Politics. Of course it doesn't help that I read like once a week for half and hour. But I've decided as much as I enjoy this type of reading, I really shouldn't know anything about what the government does. It just REALLY irritates me. Ignorance is bliss.
The chapter I just finished was all about poverty and various policies regarding taxes and other things. For instance, it was talking about this child tax credit that was going to be giving money back to families but at the last minute the change was made to make it so that people in a lower income bracket wouldn't get the tax credit, only middle-upper class families would. What in the world!! You mean to tell me that there was free money going around and it went to families who didn't really need it in the first place because it's better to stimulate the economy by getting middle class families to spend more time at the mall than it is to help families who can barely feed their children from week to week? That's just sick.
The point the chapter made several times was that families who are working to provide for their families should have food to eat and a home to live in. Unfortunately many people living at the poverty level are working and doing the best they can but they can't keep up because their jobs don't provide adequate health care and the cost of owning a home or renting an apartment is astronmical and the cost of child care in order for single mothers to be able to work in the first place is insane.
Churches should be doing more than they do. I won't argue with that point. However, the government needs to have policies in affect that help those in the lower class rather than always favoring upper class families. The welfare system doesn't need to be dismantled, it needs to be changed so that working single moms have adequate childcare and all children have good health care available to them as well as proper education and people who are willing and physical able to better themselves by going to college to get more education to get a better job should be afforded that right without it causing them not to be able to pay for their housing.
Families who work should not be homeless. I spent some time at a homeless shelter and the gentleman giving the tour talked about how they have families living there who have both parents working but they lost their apartment because they couldn't make rent and then of course when they do get back of their feet, who will rent to them after being evicted. It's a nasty cycle that faith-based organizations need to be a part of solving but so does the government.
Tax breaks for rich people are not the answer. Cutting welfare programs is not the answer. Using the poor as a pawn for campaigns but never following through on promises is not the answer. Placing blame is not the answer either. The poor are caught in a battle of words between the two strong political parties but all the words aren't helping. The parties need to come together to work on a positive solution to the issues that face people living under the poverty level today.
The chapter I just finished was all about poverty and various policies regarding taxes and other things. For instance, it was talking about this child tax credit that was going to be giving money back to families but at the last minute the change was made to make it so that people in a lower income bracket wouldn't get the tax credit, only middle-upper class families would. What in the world!! You mean to tell me that there was free money going around and it went to families who didn't really need it in the first place because it's better to stimulate the economy by getting middle class families to spend more time at the mall than it is to help families who can barely feed their children from week to week? That's just sick.
The point the chapter made several times was that families who are working to provide for their families should have food to eat and a home to live in. Unfortunately many people living at the poverty level are working and doing the best they can but they can't keep up because their jobs don't provide adequate health care and the cost of owning a home or renting an apartment is astronmical and the cost of child care in order for single mothers to be able to work in the first place is insane.
Churches should be doing more than they do. I won't argue with that point. However, the government needs to have policies in affect that help those in the lower class rather than always favoring upper class families. The welfare system doesn't need to be dismantled, it needs to be changed so that working single moms have adequate childcare and all children have good health care available to them as well as proper education and people who are willing and physical able to better themselves by going to college to get more education to get a better job should be afforded that right without it causing them not to be able to pay for their housing.
Families who work should not be homeless. I spent some time at a homeless shelter and the gentleman giving the tour talked about how they have families living there who have both parents working but they lost their apartment because they couldn't make rent and then of course when they do get back of their feet, who will rent to them after being evicted. It's a nasty cycle that faith-based organizations need to be a part of solving but so does the government.
Tax breaks for rich people are not the answer. Cutting welfare programs is not the answer. Using the poor as a pawn for campaigns but never following through on promises is not the answer. Placing blame is not the answer either. The poor are caught in a battle of words between the two strong political parties but all the words aren't helping. The parties need to come together to work on a positive solution to the issues that face people living under the poverty level today.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Church Volunteer Central
Just a quick plug for all you church leadership people....
If your church doesn't have a membership to www.churchvolunteercentral.com you are really missing out on some wonderful resources! Church Volunteer Central REALLY cares about helping churches be more effective in ministering to, with and through volunteers. The membership cost is absolutely worth the resources you receive as a result.
Check it out!
By the way, if you're apart of my church and would like to check it out, please let me know and I will add you to our membership.
If your church doesn't have a membership to www.churchvolunteercentral.com you are really missing out on some wonderful resources! Church Volunteer Central REALLY cares about helping churches be more effective in ministering to, with and through volunteers. The membership cost is absolutely worth the resources you receive as a result.
Check it out!
By the way, if you're apart of my church and would like to check it out, please let me know and I will add you to our membership.
Honest Conversations
I've never really been a huge fan of attending Bible study groups. It always seemed like everyone just gives what they think are the right answers. Nothing ever really gets any where and we don't really grow because we are just touting off about what some preacher told us 10 years ago. We agree with what the Bible teaches but we don't face it in a way that helps us wrestle with it's application in real, messy, day to day life.
For those of us who've grown up in the church, some where along the way someone taught us what it looks like to be a good Christian. And every since we've been working hard at putting ourselves in that box and making everything we say and do reflect that image. I think a lot of us lose who Christ created us to be when we try so hard to fit a certain idea that others have imposed on us. I feel like for a long time I couldn't see what God had called me to be because I was stuck in that box. It's only been recently that I've really been trying to strip that away and understand who I am in relation to God and how I fit into His greater plan.
I think along with that image, I stopped thinking for myself. In college people were willing to and excited about having honest conversations about God and theology. But I wasn't really there then. I couldn't really talk honestly about what happens when your theology on homosexuality meets a person who loves God but is homosexual. I couldn't let myself think about the weird and confusing things in the Bible. I couldn't let myself question. Even though I lived in a world, created by God, that was full of color and beauty and diversity, I lived my life in black and white.
I'm a part of a group of people that meet weekly right now to talk about the Bible and stuff and it's the first time I feel like we're scratching the surface of talking about real stuff and wrestling with real life and real questions. It's the first time I've actually enjoyed being a part of that type of group. In my life I know I need more of that. I need to have honest conversations that don't put things into either/or categories. Through those conversations, I hope that God's Spirit will help me see the things I've been missing all along.
For those of us who've grown up in the church, some where along the way someone taught us what it looks like to be a good Christian. And every since we've been working hard at putting ourselves in that box and making everything we say and do reflect that image. I think a lot of us lose who Christ created us to be when we try so hard to fit a certain idea that others have imposed on us. I feel like for a long time I couldn't see what God had called me to be because I was stuck in that box. It's only been recently that I've really been trying to strip that away and understand who I am in relation to God and how I fit into His greater plan.
I think along with that image, I stopped thinking for myself. In college people were willing to and excited about having honest conversations about God and theology. But I wasn't really there then. I couldn't really talk honestly about what happens when your theology on homosexuality meets a person who loves God but is homosexual. I couldn't let myself think about the weird and confusing things in the Bible. I couldn't let myself question. Even though I lived in a world, created by God, that was full of color and beauty and diversity, I lived my life in black and white.
I'm a part of a group of people that meet weekly right now to talk about the Bible and stuff and it's the first time I feel like we're scratching the surface of talking about real stuff and wrestling with real life and real questions. It's the first time I've actually enjoyed being a part of that type of group. In my life I know I need more of that. I need to have honest conversations that don't put things into either/or categories. Through those conversations, I hope that God's Spirit will help me see the things I've been missing all along.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
For Church Leaders
I recently wrote this for Group Publishing. Just thought I'd include it here...
In less than two years a church can become stagnant, stuck in its ways and afraid of change. I know, I’ve seen it happen. One of my attractions to new church work was the fact that you weren’t fighting the “we’ve never done it that way” issues. The page was blank and ready to be written without the back story of tradition. I have discovered that the pages are quickly written and can be difficult to change even a year later.
In the beginnings of a church, everyone has to serve. A new church doesn’t have the luxury of having 20% of people serve while the other 80% sit back and enjoy the programs provided. Church plants are able to establish from the start, an expectation of ministry participation because their survival depends on it.
This can be good or bad depending on how it is approached. Starting out with a model of team ministry may be difficult when you have limited people who are already spread thin, setting up and tearing down every Sunday, running the children’s ministry, greeting guests, leading small groups and much more. Often one person is put in charge of an area whether they are gifted to serve in that capacity or not. The only requirement for service is availability.
The potential problem arises as the church begins to grow and suddenly there are more people to help and leadership and ministry become shared rather than a one-man show. It’s great to see people take ownership of a ministry but it can lead to a lack of willingness to share that ministry with others if that expectation isn’t stated from the beginning.
Ok, if you are just planting your church, my advice is this: VISION, VISION, VISION. Never stop communicating the idea that team-oriented ministry is the most effective and most biblical pattern. Every ministry leader should be trained with the idea in mind that they should find an apprentice. Each leader should have someone else who is learning how to lead the ministry. Don’t just talk about it though. Show that you are serious about being an equipping church by using that as a standard of evaluation. Put in place some type of process that allows you to sit down with your ministry leaders every few months to evaluate how things are going in their ministry. Building up and releasing other leaders should be one of the top priorities when evaluating a person’s leadership.
Also, giftedness is important. Young churches aren’t able to provide all the programs that a larger, more established church can. Don’t start ministries until you have leaders who are gifted and passionate about that area of ministry. Find ways to help people discover their giftedness from the start and place them in areas where they will be most effective.
And lastly, work with your leaders to help them develop a plan to build and release leaders within their ministry. Write it out and again, evaluate their progress as time goes on.
Most of us aren’t going to be able to start over and get it right from the beginning. My church will be two years old on Easter 2006. Already we are seeing that it is human nature to fear change. We did not start with the value of shared leadership. Again, availability was the only requirement. Someone once joked, “You step in the door for the first time and suddenly you are leading a ministry.” That wasn’t completely untrue of how we operated in the beginning of our church.
The ramifications of that are starting to hit us now as our church is growing and there are more people to share ministry responsibility. Some people are relieved and thrilled to lighten their load. Others are fearful to let others share in the work they have been doing. They’ve accepted ownership for the ministry and they are hesitant to let go of the control they’ve had.
Whenever you are going to attempt to bring about change in your church, start with prayer. Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to prepare people’s hearts for change.
After prayer, follow a few important steps to lead your church through this transition.
Communicate, communicate, communicate. The first step in transitioning a young church to becoming an equipping church is communicating vision. Staff members should begin meeting with and sharing the vision for an equipping church with the ministry leaders who are under their leadership. An equipping mindset has to come from every person in a position of leadership from your Sunday School teachers to your small group leaders. Find every opportunity to share about the benefits of being an equipping church. Communicating vision doesn’t always have to happen on a formal level. Go out for coffee, pass on helpful articles from respected authors, point out the giftedness in others and the benefits they would bring to the ministry if given an opportunity, share Scripture, and point out how even Jesus shared his ministry. Always communicate with enthusiasm and confidence. Excitement can be very contagious.
Don’t make assumptions about why a person is opposed to an equipping church model. As you communicate the vision of an equipping church you may be approached with some opposition. Don’t just assume they are simply difficult people who like to control things. It’s easy to see others as the villain when they communicate disagreement. Remember that God loves them and calls you to love them and that their reactions to the change you are trying to impose often come from a deeper reason than that they are simply troublemakers. Make every effort (with compassion) to get to the heart of their reaction.
Evaluate the current effectiveness of ministry leaders and their specific giftedness. Leaders may be unable to effectively train other leaders because they are in positions that are outside their gifts and passions. Before asking leaders to take on another responsibility, make sure they are all placed in positions where they can be successful.
Train your leaders how to equip and release others. Ministry leaders who are hesitant to accept an equipping church model may feel unprepared to train others. They may be fearful that they aren’t fully qualified. Give them the tools they need to confidently train other leaders and lead by example as you confidently train them.
Build relationships with your leaders. When you purposefully build relationships with the people you put in leadership you will earn the right to lead them. If they trust you, it will be easier for them to follow you. If you consistently prove that you will support them and help them through change, they will be less fearful in the face of it. Building relationships takes time. If it hasn’t happened before the change comes, it will be harder and take longer to lead them through change. Understand that and be prepared for it not to happen overnight.
Getting the support of your current leaders is the real challenge. If you win them over, they will be your greatest agents for change in your church. Unfortunately, from time to time, you will find a leader who is simply unwilling to change. There are times when it is ok to consider asking a person to step down from a leadership position. Don’t give up on them. Pray for them, keep seeking a relationship with them and continue to communicate and share the positive effects of the change as it happens.
People come first. Leading a church, even a young church, through a transition can be a difficult and even painful process. Love them even when they cause conflict, seek understanding and remember that Jesus would leave the 99 to find the one. Love that one.
In less than two years a church can become stagnant, stuck in its ways and afraid of change. I know, I’ve seen it happen. One of my attractions to new church work was the fact that you weren’t fighting the “we’ve never done it that way” issues. The page was blank and ready to be written without the back story of tradition. I have discovered that the pages are quickly written and can be difficult to change even a year later.
In the beginnings of a church, everyone has to serve. A new church doesn’t have the luxury of having 20% of people serve while the other 80% sit back and enjoy the programs provided. Church plants are able to establish from the start, an expectation of ministry participation because their survival depends on it.
This can be good or bad depending on how it is approached. Starting out with a model of team ministry may be difficult when you have limited people who are already spread thin, setting up and tearing down every Sunday, running the children’s ministry, greeting guests, leading small groups and much more. Often one person is put in charge of an area whether they are gifted to serve in that capacity or not. The only requirement for service is availability.
The potential problem arises as the church begins to grow and suddenly there are more people to help and leadership and ministry become shared rather than a one-man show. It’s great to see people take ownership of a ministry but it can lead to a lack of willingness to share that ministry with others if that expectation isn’t stated from the beginning.
Ok, if you are just planting your church, my advice is this: VISION, VISION, VISION. Never stop communicating the idea that team-oriented ministry is the most effective and most biblical pattern. Every ministry leader should be trained with the idea in mind that they should find an apprentice. Each leader should have someone else who is learning how to lead the ministry. Don’t just talk about it though. Show that you are serious about being an equipping church by using that as a standard of evaluation. Put in place some type of process that allows you to sit down with your ministry leaders every few months to evaluate how things are going in their ministry. Building up and releasing other leaders should be one of the top priorities when evaluating a person’s leadership.
Also, giftedness is important. Young churches aren’t able to provide all the programs that a larger, more established church can. Don’t start ministries until you have leaders who are gifted and passionate about that area of ministry. Find ways to help people discover their giftedness from the start and place them in areas where they will be most effective.
And lastly, work with your leaders to help them develop a plan to build and release leaders within their ministry. Write it out and again, evaluate their progress as time goes on.
Most of us aren’t going to be able to start over and get it right from the beginning. My church will be two years old on Easter 2006. Already we are seeing that it is human nature to fear change. We did not start with the value of shared leadership. Again, availability was the only requirement. Someone once joked, “You step in the door for the first time and suddenly you are leading a ministry.” That wasn’t completely untrue of how we operated in the beginning of our church.
The ramifications of that are starting to hit us now as our church is growing and there are more people to share ministry responsibility. Some people are relieved and thrilled to lighten their load. Others are fearful to let others share in the work they have been doing. They’ve accepted ownership for the ministry and they are hesitant to let go of the control they’ve had.
Whenever you are going to attempt to bring about change in your church, start with prayer. Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to prepare people’s hearts for change.
After prayer, follow a few important steps to lead your church through this transition.
Communicate, communicate, communicate. The first step in transitioning a young church to becoming an equipping church is communicating vision. Staff members should begin meeting with and sharing the vision for an equipping church with the ministry leaders who are under their leadership. An equipping mindset has to come from every person in a position of leadership from your Sunday School teachers to your small group leaders. Find every opportunity to share about the benefits of being an equipping church. Communicating vision doesn’t always have to happen on a formal level. Go out for coffee, pass on helpful articles from respected authors, point out the giftedness in others and the benefits they would bring to the ministry if given an opportunity, share Scripture, and point out how even Jesus shared his ministry. Always communicate with enthusiasm and confidence. Excitement can be very contagious.
Don’t make assumptions about why a person is opposed to an equipping church model. As you communicate the vision of an equipping church you may be approached with some opposition. Don’t just assume they are simply difficult people who like to control things. It’s easy to see others as the villain when they communicate disagreement. Remember that God loves them and calls you to love them and that their reactions to the change you are trying to impose often come from a deeper reason than that they are simply troublemakers. Make every effort (with compassion) to get to the heart of their reaction.
Evaluate the current effectiveness of ministry leaders and their specific giftedness. Leaders may be unable to effectively train other leaders because they are in positions that are outside their gifts and passions. Before asking leaders to take on another responsibility, make sure they are all placed in positions where they can be successful.
Train your leaders how to equip and release others. Ministry leaders who are hesitant to accept an equipping church model may feel unprepared to train others. They may be fearful that they aren’t fully qualified. Give them the tools they need to confidently train other leaders and lead by example as you confidently train them.
Build relationships with your leaders. When you purposefully build relationships with the people you put in leadership you will earn the right to lead them. If they trust you, it will be easier for them to follow you. If you consistently prove that you will support them and help them through change, they will be less fearful in the face of it. Building relationships takes time. If it hasn’t happened before the change comes, it will be harder and take longer to lead them through change. Understand that and be prepared for it not to happen overnight.
Getting the support of your current leaders is the real challenge. If you win them over, they will be your greatest agents for change in your church. Unfortunately, from time to time, you will find a leader who is simply unwilling to change. There are times when it is ok to consider asking a person to step down from a leadership position. Don’t give up on them. Pray for them, keep seeking a relationship with them and continue to communicate and share the positive effects of the change as it happens.
People come first. Leading a church, even a young church, through a transition can be a difficult and even painful process. Love them even when they cause conflict, seek understanding and remember that Jesus would leave the 99 to find the one. Love that one.
Having Hobbies is a Good Thing
I've noticed in my life that I have a tendency to work whenever I'm bored. I'm supposed to take a day off but I get bored and pull out my computer. So lately I've been forcing myself to enjoy a few new hobbies! That's part of the reason I haven't been blogging. I've been trying to do other things in my free time. Although I really like writing. Actually writing has been one of my hobbies. I recently wrote an article for Group Publishing. Maybe I'll post that next...
Painting has been one of my recent favorites. I've painted 3 small canvases and just bought 3 more of a larger size. I kinda want to take a class to actually learn how to do it! I already love to draw so this was a natural hobby for me to try.
Then I started a puzzle, a hard puzzle. I'm still working on it.
I don't really enjoy scrapbooking but I do it just to keep my pictures from piling up so I've done a little of that lately also.
I've noticed that "Sodoku" is a new popular puzzle hobby so I've been thinking about picking up a book and learning how to do it. So my sweet husband bought me a book of Sodoku puzzles from Valentine's Day.
And I decided to give cake decorating a try for a recent baby shower I threw. That was not my best attempt. It turned out a bit lopsided. Oh well....
What's my point...pick up a hobby! Not only does it provide a little fun for you, it helps you be more well-rounded and you may even find you have a special skill you never knew you had! Plus hobbies can really relieve stress!
Painting has been one of my recent favorites. I've painted 3 small canvases and just bought 3 more of a larger size. I kinda want to take a class to actually learn how to do it! I already love to draw so this was a natural hobby for me to try.
Then I started a puzzle, a hard puzzle. I'm still working on it.
I don't really enjoy scrapbooking but I do it just to keep my pictures from piling up so I've done a little of that lately also.
I've noticed that "Sodoku" is a new popular puzzle hobby so I've been thinking about picking up a book and learning how to do it. So my sweet husband bought me a book of Sodoku puzzles from Valentine's Day.
And I decided to give cake decorating a try for a recent baby shower I threw. That was not my best attempt. It turned out a bit lopsided. Oh well....
What's my point...pick up a hobby! Not only does it provide a little fun for you, it helps you be more well-rounded and you may even find you have a special skill you never knew you had! Plus hobbies can really relieve stress!
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Bono and The Constant Gardener
Ok so it seems I might be one of the few who really enjoyed the movie, "The Constant Gardener." Or perhaps I'm one of the few who actually saw it. Many of my Christian friends will see it and be so offended by the nudity that they won't be moved. I was moved. I know it's just a movie but I imagine the culture of Africa is very much like what this movie protrayed and I was moved. I was moved to want to help. I was angered by the thought that our government is perhaps not following through on their promises made at the G-8 Summit because we are putting too much money into killing lives rather than saving them.
Just today I was continuing to read through "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis when I came across this quote by Bono...
"So you've been doing God's work, but what's God working on now? What's God working on this year? Two and a half million African's are going to die of AIDS. What's God working on now? I meet the people who tell me it's going to take an act of God to stop this plague. Well, I don't believe that. I think that God is waiting for us to act. In fact, I think that God is on his knees to us, to the Church. God is on his knees to us, waiting for us to turn around this supertank of indiffernce, our own indifference a lot of the time. That God Almighty is on his knees to us - I don't know what that means. Waiting for us to recognize that distance can no longer decide who is our neighbor. We can't choose our neighbors anymore. We can't choose the benefits of globalization without some of the responsibilities, and we should remind ourselves that "love thy neighbor" is not advice: it is a command."
If you're interested in giving to help meet needs in Africa, go to www.samaritanspurse.org.
Just today I was continuing to read through "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis when I came across this quote by Bono...
"So you've been doing God's work, but what's God working on now? What's God working on this year? Two and a half million African's are going to die of AIDS. What's God working on now? I meet the people who tell me it's going to take an act of God to stop this plague. Well, I don't believe that. I think that God is waiting for us to act. In fact, I think that God is on his knees to us, to the Church. God is on his knees to us, waiting for us to turn around this supertank of indiffernce, our own indifference a lot of the time. That God Almighty is on his knees to us - I don't know what that means. Waiting for us to recognize that distance can no longer decide who is our neighbor. We can't choose our neighbors anymore. We can't choose the benefits of globalization without some of the responsibilities, and we should remind ourselves that "love thy neighbor" is not advice: it is a command."
If you're interested in giving to help meet needs in Africa, go to www.samaritanspurse.org.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Expanding our World View
I'm still wading my way through "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis, which I continue to say is an incredible book, easy to read and easy to understand. Currently I'm on a chapter about the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians and the need for peace. I hope to provide an abridged version of the struggle later for those of you who, like me, didn't know much existed outside of the United States for twenty some odd years.
I'm not really big on being taught but I love to learn. I tend to be more self-taught. Unfortunately, in order to teach yourself, you first have to be aware that you need to learn. Until the last few years I was never very curious about the things happening in the world around me.
COLLEGE STUDENTS....Don't miss out on the opportunity you have to educate yourself. Don't think that just because you are in college you are learning. You have highly intelligent people at your disposal. Soak up all you can from them and don't live your life unaware.
I think Christians can be especially guilty of this because often times if something doesn't have to do with a person's salvation, we don't catch the importance of it. The fact is, we can't imagine the life that people in places like Israel and Palestine have to live. We are very sheltered and very privileged. They live in constant fear of terrorism. Parents fear for the life of their children as they send them off to school or out to play.
We could all afford to expand our world view and open our eyes to the struggles of those living in world's outside of our own. So turn on the news (even the Daily Show can open your eyes to new things) or pick up a newspaper or browse the web.
Yes, there is life outside our little super power and it's time to start learning and start caring.
I'm not really big on being taught but I love to learn. I tend to be more self-taught. Unfortunately, in order to teach yourself, you first have to be aware that you need to learn. Until the last few years I was never very curious about the things happening in the world around me.
COLLEGE STUDENTS....Don't miss out on the opportunity you have to educate yourself. Don't think that just because you are in college you are learning. You have highly intelligent people at your disposal. Soak up all you can from them and don't live your life unaware.
I think Christians can be especially guilty of this because often times if something doesn't have to do with a person's salvation, we don't catch the importance of it. The fact is, we can't imagine the life that people in places like Israel and Palestine have to live. We are very sheltered and very privileged. They live in constant fear of terrorism. Parents fear for the life of their children as they send them off to school or out to play.
We could all afford to expand our world view and open our eyes to the struggles of those living in world's outside of our own. So turn on the news (even the Daily Show can open your eyes to new things) or pick up a newspaper or browse the web.
Yes, there is life outside our little super power and it's time to start learning and start caring.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Christmas Eve Tradition
I love Christmas!! :) And Christmas Eve is great too because it means I can stay up late and eat lots of yummy goodies and watch the best Christmas movie ever...ELF.
If you haven't seen it, it should become your newest Christmas Eve tradition! :) That and Chinese food...yum!
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