Embarking

(Download a free chapter of Jeff’s book “The Land Between” here:http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/2010/between.asp)

Jeff did a great job of exegeting Numbers 11, and what he calls “The Land Inbetween.”  He equated these time in our lives when we are stuck wandering in the desert between land of blessing and land of blessing to the time when Israel was wandering between fertile Egypt and the fertile crescent of the promise land.  He reminded us that the story of Moses and the people is a real story of real people going through real problems and issues.  He reminded us that the land between is fertile ground for complaint. (Numbers 11:7-9) I laughed hard when he read this passage, and said it had to be read in a “whiny voice.”   The land of between is not only fertile ground for complaint, but it goes further than that to the place of meltdown. (Numbers 11:10-15)  Moses is done, fed up, and says, “Kill me right now!”  We have all been in this place when the finances are gone, we’re jobless, stuck in an unhealthy marriage, nailed with cancer, in a broken relationship, when our friends betray us.

Often we’re prepared for some disappointment, but not necessarily for years of disappointment.  After awhile we just get crushed by ongoing disappointment after disappointment.

And God doesn’t leave Moses alone, but says that he will provide to help Moses carry the burden.  God provides other people to shoulder the load with us in the land between. (Numbers 11:16-17) What if God provides not only for Moses and the Israelites in the land inbetween, but also for us?  What does it look like for us to leave our hands open to let go of the crushing anxiety that is beating us down.  What if he’s good?  What if he provides for us, like he provided lunch instead of a lecture for Moses?

Why do we respond like the Israelites do, thinking we are better off on our own without God?  It’s interesting when the people complain that God responds, and we find that the land between is fertile ground for God’s discipline (Numbers 11:18-20).  Pain, from God, is not to hurt us, but it is for redemptive purposes, to rescue us from something.  He does not hurt us to hurt us.

The land between is fertile soil for transformational growth. But, God says that in order for transformational growth to happen, we have to trust him in the land between.  It is in this space that we learn to pray, to depend, and to trust God.

Jeff used a great metaphor of battling roommates.  Complaint comes unexpectedly into the house and resists eviction.  Trust seeks to move into the house, too, but can’t live with complaint, and eventually, when we begin to trust God, trust is the thing that evicts complaint.

May God bless you int he land between.

May you guard your heart.

May trust grow.

Z

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Last week I read And: The Gathered and Scattered Church by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, and am finally blogging a few of my thoughts.

I had heard of this book initially after a few friends were at Exponential this year.  I couldn’t go because I’d just been at the Q Conference in Chicago.  However, I probably should have been there because I’m in the throes of planting Fair Haven’s first multi-site right now called South Harbor Church (a week and a half from the first preview, with launch on 10.10.10.), but I couldn’t give up the Q experience.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and will recommend it to several people – particularly certain chapters.  Let me begin with a critique, and end with some things I liked.

The premise of the book is basically to stop fighting over different models of the church and honor one another in our differences but seek to use whatever models work in seeking the kingdom.  The book talks often of mega and mini churches, and of missional and attractional.  These are important dichotomies on the one hand – and ones I’ve struggled with myself.  On the other hand, it’s too easy a division to hang a hat on and there are deeper issues than the book goes into.  Ultimately, I love title, but think the book got into too much about Adullam (Halter and Smay’s church), and only scratched the surface of these deeply ecclesiological issues of our time.

“And” does a good job of articulating the need for working together through various models with the same ends in mind, but in my estimation never gets to some of the deeper issues about how much a model influences the end goals.  For instance, Halter does a good job talking about moving people out of consumerism and into transformation and into dying to oneself for Christ.  He nails the issue that disciples are not consumers (chapter 3), but then never really deals with models of doing church these days that promote consumerism of a Christian sort.  In an effort to be unifying, Halter sometimes borders on not being critical enough where healthy critique is necessary.  Other times, though he says that both types of models are helpful, but then tends to tip towards favoring the missional impulse.  One question that would be more helpful to me would be around how the mega church can remain missional enough to be Christian and how does the missional church become attractional enough to stay alive and have an influence beyond a small group.  Overall, I think he tries to be balanced between multiple models, but speaks only out of the Adullum experience.  It would’ve been nice to see a balanced approach in this book with multiple models all expressing the unifying aspects of the gathered and scattered church.

Where “And” does hit the nail on the head in terms of what’s necessary for both the scattered and gathered, missional and attractional, mega and mini is the incarnational community.  Here is how it’s put on page 66:

“Whether you’re starting from scratch and moving down the missional flow or starting from an existing structure and moving up, you’ll notice that the center of the process is ‘incarnational community.’”

By incarnational community, they mean here bands of people with the missional heart of God integrating their lives with those who don’t know Him and are doing something intentional about.  Simplistic, yes, but true none-the-less.  Too many churches lose the core mission of God to reach his people far and wide and lose their very nature as church altogether.

For me, chapter 4, “Spiritual Formation for Missional Churches” was the best chapter in the book.   This chapter really deals with how to move someone from being far from God through the discipleship and growth process to the place of mobilization in ministry (in their words from Observance to Preparation to Participation to Partnership).  This is such a key issue, and one that churches tend not to do well.  We call it a “people pathway” or a “people process” – but who wants processed people!  However, churches today desperately need a pathway of discipleship that includes evangelism, grounds people in the basics, and moves them towards influential leadership in the use of their gifts.  With studies like Reveal and churches realizing their lack of depth, discipleship pathways are getting popular.  Chapter 4 is all about how to go about that, focusing on the transitions in stages, and developing a clear pathway.  I like it. This chapter is one that I will recommend several people read.

Chapter 5 is also very helpful in describing the difference between modalities (structures focused on caring for those already in the church) and sodalities (those that push toward those on the outside).  This is a helpful chapter, finding its roots in the missiology of Ralph Winter.  This is where the book gets closer to living up to its name.  I think if the book had moved this chapter earlier (after the biblical foundation of Chapter 1) and then built upon it, dealing with the centripetal and centrifugal forces necessary for the gathered and scattered church to remain in balance, it would’ve felt more balanced and helpful.  This chapter is one that I will recommend several people read (like church planting interns, student and children’s ministries staff, seminarians, etc.)

I mentioned in an earlier post on the book “Multi-Site Road Trip” that I had the opportunity to meet Dave and Jon Ferguson several years back.  I remember meeting with them, and Dave Dummit, as they were considering a site in Brighton, Michigan.  They had graciously met with Dan Reeves and myself to share their wisdom then on multi-site and the Big Idea in a time when very few people were talking about it.  I later was able to hear from them again at Third Reformed in Kalamazoo (now CenterPoint), and also had a chance to visit the Big Yellow Box and bring some friends along while I was in Chicago back in 2005.  What’s been really cool is to see these guys stay so focused on the mission that God called them to long ago to reach the city of Chicago, and to do it consistently and yet creatively.  So much has changed in their movement in terms of the creative energy and leadership they’ve brought to multi-site, and yet in some ways, so little has changed.  The heart of the message to see people find their way back to God is consistent, persistent, and powerful.

All that to say that I’ve just finished reading Exponential:  How you and your friends can start a missional movement.

Z

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This was a fabulous read for me.  First, something personal.  I’m embarking right now on Fair Haven Ministries’ first site called South Harbor Church that will launch on 10.10.10 in Byron Township in south Grand Rapids, Michigan(along with many others in the 10.10.10 Initiative).   In fact, this morning I’m headed to hand out free cookies and lemonade at a local Little League to meet people and learn about the community.  Anyway, this book right now for me is a God-send in the sense that it affirms so many things that God is doing out of our church right now and also gives incredibly practical handles for being lead by Jesus, leading and reproducing leaders, tribes, communities, and movements.  What I love about how Dave and Jon wrote the book, was that it’s written with deeply biblical values, immensely practical, tested, and proven in the trenches of missional multi-siting.  I also love the real-life stories of real people and real churches.  The story of Community Christian (and all it’s sites) and many of its leaders is woven throughout the pages and gives you a sense of the messy reality of a true movement as well as the powerful stories. This isn’t just ideas… it’s the real deal.

For the past 5 years, a couple of my responsibilities as a spiritual formation pastor at Fair Haven have been leadership development and small groups.  I’ve been to many conferences and read many books and tried to implement many theories and ideas in both of these areas.  What’s awesome in this book as well to see is how small group life really works in this church, and especially how the leadership development pathway is integrated with not only small groups, but also with missional communities and in the raising up of artists.

This is probably one of the best books I’ve read on the practical side of the church multiplication movement.  It’s a must read for any church that is serious about multiplying leaders, churches, sites, disciples, and influence.   This summer, we took on 4 interns in church planting and we also have an on-site venue with a Campus Pastor.  We just talked this past week about all of them reading this, and I hope we can make that a reality.

Here are a couple of great tid-bits you’ll find:

• Real practical help on the leadership development people pathway and the importance of apprenticeship.
• Great illustrations of vision and strategy on napkins!
• A wonderful passage on scripture reading and journaling and how it affects leadership and vision for Dave Ferguson (see my recent post on YouVersion and LifeJournals)
• A great chapter on coaching, its importance in leadership development, and practical questions and a format for coaching.
• Encouragement that you, too, can really be used by God to multiply disciples, leaders, teams, sites, and churches.
• A focus not just on church growth, but on being missional.
• Much more.

Loved the book, and look forward to re-reading it and reviewing it with more care for some direct implementation in our new site.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

6 or 7 years ago, Dan Reeves introduced me to something called the LifeJournal produced by Wayne Cordeiro at New Hope Church in Oahu.  Back then, I was part of a network of pastors in the Detroit, Columbus, Toledo, and Cleveland areas and Dan was doing some consulting with our network of RCA Churches.  It’s a simple little book that helps a person be more disciplined in their daily Bible reading.  Apparently, Wayne has used this with his whole church to much success.  We started using it for our daily devotional time, but also as a way to do some prayer and Scripture work together as a group whenever we would meet, seeking what God might be saying to us at that time.  We were literally, on the same page of scripture every day, and then when we came together, we had a chance to share what we heard as well as hear some interesting parallels with one another.

Here’s how it works.  If you’re familiar with a reading through the Bible in a year plan or a lectionary readings, you already know most of it.  Basically, Wayne has put together a Bible Reading plan for the year.  He then provides a little explanation of how, simply, to approach the text using the acronym S.O.A.P. – Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer (simplified Inductive Bible Study).  Wayne talks about looking that day for what the Holy Spirit has highlighted in the chapters for you that day, trying to see it, understand it, and apply it.  There is space to write down a scripture, and journal out your observation, application, and prayer.  There’s also a section to keep a prayer list.  That’s it.  Simple.

Sometimes I realize that all I really need is some simple organizational help to get me going on something I’m undisciplined about.  This is a great way to get into the Bible daily, create some accountability (if you do it with friends), and keep a record of what you see.

Since that time, I’ve moved on from my leather bound paper journal to an online version.  If you haven’t seen YouVersion produced by Craig Groeschel’s team at LifeChurch.tv, you have to check it out.  It’s an online (and mobile phone) app that gives you a ton of different translations, the ability to make notes – public or private – and to tag scriptures, etc.  It also has a bunch of Bible Reading plans that will help you track your progress.  They even have some built in accountability tools if you want to use them. They’ll email you, or a friend, to remind you of your reading.  You can also do online journaling as well as see how the passages have affected other people.  Be careful… this is an open application, so you have to listen to people’s interpretations and check them out.  Taking them at face-value could get you in trouble.  This kind of media is great for a lot of reasons, but it’s also great for spreading misinformation or misinterpretation.  (Of course, that happens in real life, face to face encounters just as well!)

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It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Max Lucado book.  Lucado’s new book, Fearless, is a book about the fears that are so prevalent in our lives and how they affect us.  Lucado takes these fears on head on and matches fear with courage, and fright with faith, with heavy doses of mercy, grace, and generous love.  It’s an uplifting book that en-courages by giving you a dose of an alternative, biblical reality of a God in control.

What I like about Lucado is his ability to use Scripture, prayer, stories, examples, and easy to read, engaging and creative writing.  In this book, Lucado looks past fear and into the heart of the pain behind and inflicted by so many of our fears.  He is engaging in stories and metaphors, and then is a straight shooter with the clarity of biblical truth.

The promise of Christ and the contention of this book are simple: we can fear less tomorrow than we do today. [p. 13]

Destructive anxiety subtracts God from the future, faces uncertainties with no faith, tallies up the challenges of the day without entering God into the equation. [p. 46]

I just finished reading A Magna Carta for Restoring the Supremacy of Jesus Christ aka A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st Century Church by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola.  I enjoyed reading it, and many things resonated with me.  Apart from potentially being a marketing tool to sell more books possibly suggested by the publishers (my cynic is always present), the manifesto essentially highlights the importance of Jesus the Christ over and above anything in his name – be it justice, being missional, good works, laws or any other thing.  It is a reminder that Jesus it the one important thing, not anything else.  True.  I think what stood out for me were a couple of phrases:

Christianity is the “good news” that Beauty, Truth, and Goodness are found in a person.

This connects to what I’ve always said that truth is relational rather than (or superceding) being objective.  Jesus – as a member of the Trinity – is truth, and truth is personal.

We believe that the major disease of the church today is JDD: Jesus Deficit Disorder.  The person of Jesus is increasingly politically incorrect, and is being replaced by the language of “justice,” “the kingdom of God,” “values,” and “leadership principles.”

I agree with this in principle, but also want to make the point that much of the [evangelical] church has for far too long ignored issues of justice and particularly the gospel focus on kingdom.  Some of the strong language in these directions is to recapture the biblical messages of Jesus in a more holistic fashion.  Agreed that Jesus himself is the point, but because he is the point, his kingdom and justice are important.  I’m not as big a defender of “values” and “leadership principles,” although I certainly do have both, and the bible speaks to both as well.

The center and circumference of the Christian life is none other than the person of Christ.

Those of you who know my story of conversion to Christ know that Paul’s statement in Colossians that “in Christ all things hold together” means a great deal to me both existentially and philosophically.

Christians don’t follow a book.  Christians follow a person, and this library of divinely inspired books we call “The Holy Bible” best help us follow that person.

Well said.  Many people never get through the book to Jesus the Christ.

Christians don’t follow Christianity; Christians follow Christ.

Scott Thumma and Warren Bird have released another study on America’s Megachurches.  The last 10 years, a number of studies have been released through the Leadership Network.  The new one is called “Not Who You Think They Are“.  Some of the other studies are the following:

• Megachurches Today 2005
• Changes in American Megachurches: Tracing Eight Years of Growth and Innovation in the Nation’s Largest-attendance Congregations

There are a number of interesting items in this report.  Here is a quick list of their findings:

• Young and single adults are more likely to be in megachurches than in smaller churches.
• Nearly two-thirds of attenders have been at these churches 5 years or less.
• Many attenders come from other churches, but nearly a quarter haven’t been in any church for a long time before coming to a megachurch.
• Attenders report a considerable increase in their involvement in church, in their spiritual growth, and in their needs being met.
• Forty-five percent of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church.
• New people almost always come to the megachurch because family, friends or coworkers invited them.
• What first attracted attenders were the worship style, the senior pastor and the church’s reputation.
• These same factors also influenced long-term attendance, as did the music/arts, social and community outreach and adult-oriented programs.
• Attenders can craft unique, customized spiritual experiences through the multitude of ministry choices and diverse avenues for involvement that megachurches offer.

What do you think?  Read the whole piece if you can.  I think there are some interesting things to reflect on here.

Wes Grandberg-Michaelson

The General Secretary’s report tonight is great (still happening).  I couldn’t log into my blog, so I wasn’t able to type while he was talking and hit some very pregnant ideas and powerful challenges.  However, couple things…

• Wes started by talking about Gordon Cosby, the Church of the Savior, and Potter’s house.  I was at COS and Potter’s house this spring, and it has had a profound effect on my own life, particularly in thinking missionally, about ministry to those on the lowest rung, about God’s care for the poor, and about the necessary connection between an evangelical and missional identity that seeks to live out the missio dei to the lost and the broken and all God’s people.
• Wes was nails about the importance of discipleship, and particularly how the inward journey has and will lead to the outward journey – the deep effects of transformation which we have seen in the RCA in revitalization and multiplication.  Discipleship is a foundation.  “Be one… make one…”  Importantly, Wes said that this is not about saving the RCA for the future, but about reaching the world for Christ.
• Wes spoke powerful and passionately about the Sankofa (see here and here).  A powerful statement was that as a denomination, we must take a Sankofa journey together.
• Wes advocated for the approval of the Belhar as historic.
• Spoke about the Mobilization to End Poverty and in particular the speech by Richard Stearns from World Vision.
• Spoke about Christian Churches Together
• Awesome!!  The Gospel that brings evangelical passion and social justice together.   Bam.  That’s what I’ve been waiting for and believing in.  I’ll post later about this and Gordon Cosby.  Remind me if I don’t.  It matters. (You’ve read my passion about the holistic gospel if you’ve read my blog).
• Spoke about the Dominican Reformed Church just recently organized as a denomination.  I met two of these pastors today… they’re in my advisory committee.  Awesome pastors hearts.

Paraphrased statements:

• “Living water is what Jesus offered to the Samaritan women.  Living water is what our culture needs today.”
• “We need to learn to shout the gospel with our lives.  That will inspire new and radical forms of discipleship.”

Closing Pastoral Plea:  “Let us embrace the whole gospel, wiht our whole lives, for the whole world.  Let us commit, from the depths of our hearts, to be disciples of Jesus Christ.”