So what does a centered-set community look like? Check out Small Boat Big Sea, a missional community in Australia.
This community engages the world with an emphasis on BLESSing people through "EATing with people, LISTENing to God, LEARNing from God, and [strives] to see their life vocation as being SENT by God." The acroynm they use to represent this presence then is BELLS. Poke around a little and see how they seek, sail, float, and fly in New South Wales Australia.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
centered-set locale
So what does a centered-set locale look like?
In the music scene in Fort Wayne it looks like come2go (see below).
In Northern Colorado it looks like Everyday Joe's, a coffeehouse with live music and a focus on the arts that is located in Fort Collins. Poke around their website and see some of what they are up to in an attempt to dig a well in their community.
In the music scene in Fort Wayne it looks like come2go (see below).
In Northern Colorado it looks like Everyday Joe's, a coffeehouse with live music and a focus on the arts that is located in Fort Collins. Poke around their website and see some of what they are up to in an attempt to dig a well in their community.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
hard at the edges or at the core?
Consider these two images: A bounded-set of items where the set is determined by the fact that the items are enclosed within a firm boundary (like a herd of cattle that are enclosed by a fence); or the second image, a centered-set of items where the set is determined by the relationship of each item to a firm center with a soft and permeable exterior boundary (like a group of cattle in a field without a fence but with a well providing water in the middle of the field).
Which of these images sounds more like the church that you know in our North American context? Which of these images sounds more like what Christ has in mind when he asks us to “be light” or to share good news with the world? Click here to visit a good article about having a public presence as a centered-set church vs. a bounded-set church. The article gets pretty academic, but try to stick with it and consider this much needed TURN…
Which of these images sounds more like the church that you know in our North American context? Which of these images sounds more like what Christ has in mind when he asks us to “be light” or to share good news with the world? Click here to visit a good article about having a public presence as a centered-set church vs. a bounded-set church. The article gets pretty academic, but try to stick with it and consider this much needed TURN…
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
called to creativity
It never ceases to amaze me how the creative work of God manifests itself in the world. Not just in art, music, film, poetry, photography and the usual venues, but also in the way that we organize ourselves to extend God’s love into the world. Check out what folks are up to a Come2Go in Fort Wayne, IN with their GO TEAMS:
Go teams are small groups of people who support each other in their faith and go out into the community to share Christ's love. We currently have 12 active go teams and more in the formation process. Everyone is invited to join us in a journey of growing faith through the practice of serving others.
Friends Forever:
A group who meets two Tuesdays a month for 1/2 hour to sing and make friends at University Park nursing home. This is a wonderful group to get comfortable serving in an outreach ministry.
Wood Youth Ministry:
Teams of four are sent out every Tuesday afternoon to minister to incarcerated children at the Allen County Juvenile Center. These groups consist of one musician, one teacher, one personal witness, and a silent individual who has conversations with one or more individuals within the group of youth who gather.
Bar Flies:
Small groups who gather in local taverns to talk about life and apply put their faith in action in a natural setting with a heart of joy and fun. It is the goal of these groups to simply be a point of contact for non-Christians to have a first connection with a person of God.
You can do some exploring of Come2Go by visiting http://www.come2go.org/aboutus/. Pretty creative community serving an ever creating God.
Go teams are small groups of people who support each other in their faith and go out into the community to share Christ's love. We currently have 12 active go teams and more in the formation process. Everyone is invited to join us in a journey of growing faith through the practice of serving others.
Friends Forever:
A group who meets two Tuesdays a month for 1/2 hour to sing and make friends at University Park nursing home. This is a wonderful group to get comfortable serving in an outreach ministry.
Wood Youth Ministry:
Teams of four are sent out every Tuesday afternoon to minister to incarcerated children at the Allen County Juvenile Center. These groups consist of one musician, one teacher, one personal witness, and a silent individual who has conversations with one or more individuals within the group of youth who gather.
Bar Flies:
Small groups who gather in local taverns to talk about life and apply put their faith in action in a natural setting with a heart of joy and fun. It is the goal of these groups to simply be a point of contact for non-Christians to have a first connection with a person of God.
You can do some exploring of Come2Go by visiting http://www.come2go.org/aboutus/. Pretty creative community serving an ever creating God.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
grace and love loose in the world
"So faith, hope, and love abide; but the greatest of these is love."
Paul, 1st Century follower of Jesus
Monday, February 11, 2008
trekking together in faith
What does it mean to walk together in faith? Check out this quote from Luther about stepping out in faith and the change that takes place in us as we travel together with Christ as our guide:
"Faith, however, is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[:12–13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men [and women], in heart and spirit and mind and powers; and it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He [she] gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he [she] talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.
Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his [her] life on it a thousand times. This knowledge of and confidence in God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith. Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. Beware, therefore, of your own false notions and of the idle talkers who imagine themselves wise enough to make decisions about faith and good works, and yet are the greatest fools. Pray God that he may work faith in you. Otherwise you will surely remain forever without faith, regardless of what you may think or do."
Martin Luther, Preface to Romans
Our prayer for faith as we journey
To be one who is on a journey that is marked by gladness, boldness and happiness in our dealings with God and all creatures...
To be one who walks with a living and daring confidence in God's grace....
To be one who shares a living, busy, mighty, and active thing with those we meet along the trail...
To be born anew...
To be...
"Faith, however, is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[:12–13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men [and women], in heart and spirit and mind and powers; and it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He [she] gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he [she] talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.
Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his [her] life on it a thousand times. This knowledge of and confidence in God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith. Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. Beware, therefore, of your own false notions and of the idle talkers who imagine themselves wise enough to make decisions about faith and good works, and yet are the greatest fools. Pray God that he may work faith in you. Otherwise you will surely remain forever without faith, regardless of what you may think or do."
Martin Luther, Preface to Romans
Our prayer for faith as we journey
To be one who is on a journey that is marked by gladness, boldness and happiness in our dealings with God and all creatures...
To be one who walks with a living and daring confidence in God's grace....
To be one who shares a living, busy, mighty, and active thing with those we meet along the trail...
To be born anew...
To be...
Sunday, February 10, 2008
the first turn
Sometimes, we arrive at places in our lives when it seems that a moment of decision has been thrust upon us. Which direction do I go from here? Sometimes we know the turn that we should take. Only to head down the other path with plenty of good and justifiable reasons in our pockets for why we have not listened to that small voice inside of us. Frequently, we make first-rate decisions that are good for us and those around us and bless the world with their outcomes. And on other occasions, we find ourselves standing at a fork in the road and hoping (or praying) that the path we head down is the right one.
It can be easy to get caught up in replaying these personal moments of decision, sometimes for their glory and other times because they don’t seem to leave us alone. Christ comes to the world in order to free us from living (and reliving) these moments. His work on the cross frees us from the guilt of the poor moments of decision and keeps us honest with ourselves when our pride in good decision-making would offend our neighbor or hinder our own spiritual growth.
Christ comes not to equip us for these moments of decision, but rather, to gather us up into the momentum of his life-giving Spirit and the creative and redemptive work of God in the world.
Our true liberty is not found by us in the moment we make an informed, reasoned, prayed about, and contemplated decision. Our true freedom finds us in a life where the momentum of Christ is carrying us down his path. A life where our decisions become inconsequential to the creative and energizing tasks and relationships that he has called us to engage for the sake of God’s mission in the world.
A kingdom building life in Christ is not really about our decisions and the turns we make. Rather, it is about aligning our intentions with the momentum starting turn that God has made toward us in Jesus Christ.
It can be easy to get caught up in replaying these personal moments of decision, sometimes for their glory and other times because they don’t seem to leave us alone. Christ comes to the world in order to free us from living (and reliving) these moments. His work on the cross frees us from the guilt of the poor moments of decision and keeps us honest with ourselves when our pride in good decision-making would offend our neighbor or hinder our own spiritual growth.
Christ comes not to equip us for these moments of decision, but rather, to gather us up into the momentum of his life-giving Spirit and the creative and redemptive work of God in the world.
Our true liberty is not found by us in the moment we make an informed, reasoned, prayed about, and contemplated decision. Our true freedom finds us in a life where the momentum of Christ is carrying us down his path. A life where our decisions become inconsequential to the creative and energizing tasks and relationships that he has called us to engage for the sake of God’s mission in the world.
A kingdom building life in Christ is not really about our decisions and the turns we make. Rather, it is about aligning our intentions with the momentum starting turn that God has made toward us in Jesus Christ.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
sojourners
We don’t travel alone. It is as easy (or perhaps as difficult) as that. I used to think that our spiritual lives were private and self motivated. I have come to understand that depth in our spiritual lives comes from traveling together. It is in our sharing of personal experience and shared vision that we can figure out which way to hold the map, which trail to venture down, and when there is danger lurking in the woods.
Private, no. Personal, certainly. Self motivated, only for short periods. Energized by the company we keep, absolutely.
With whom are you traveling?
Private, no. Personal, certainly. Self motivated, only for short periods. Energized by the company we keep, absolutely.
With whom are you traveling?
Friday, February 8, 2008
need to set a destination
Here is another band where the message of Jesus Christ is loose in their music. Many of us pray “thy kingdom come,” but do we say this as a rote recital of words; or do we seek to be people and communities where we are completely sold out to the journey of seeking this dynamic Jesus-centered kingdom among us? How ‘bout this comment that someone posted: “This is what I wish I could hear as I walk into a church sanctuary. It's more honest and heartfelt than most worship choruses these days.” Honesty in the journey, with who we are and where we have been, it almost seems like a destination unto itself…
Thursday, February 7, 2008
first step in the journey is to know thyself
I have been following Jonny Lang since he was a 13 year old guitar genius splitting time between Fargo and the Twin Cities. Fame and fortune at fifteen followed by a freefall from drugs and alcohol led to a spiritual transformation that is expressed beautifully on his CD Turnaround. Check out Only a Man.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Ashes, Crosses, and New Life
In a few hours I will be standing with many of you with a piece of burned wood in my hand marking your foreheads with the sign of a cross and proclaiming these words, “From dust you have come, and to dust you shall return…”
Pretty grim words. Nearly enough to make you want to run as fast as you can away from the church. Talk about being the one who rains on the parade, nothing like slamming home our own finitude. ‘Yippee, I’m a human being who, just like every other human being is going to die someday.’ Isn't this fantastic news!
But this is the starting point for the journey we take toward the cross. We indeed are human in every sense of the word and live in a temporal and broken world. If in fact we are going to ‘turn’ and be changed in the lives that we live, we need to know that we all begin at the same trailhead and share the same map.
But our God has a plan, and even as we gather to rightly acknowledge our own limitations and our collective ineptitude in carrying out the plan for the world that God has called us to in Christ, God meets us as we turn back toward the one who creates, redeems, and sustains us. The second phrase that I speak tonight will be this, “but the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.” And as I say those words, I will trace a cross on your forehead in the same spot where many years ago a pastor or priest traced a cross beside a baptismal font and claimed you as a child of God for the sake of Jesus Christ and his redeeming work in the world.
What has happened between those two tracings is of no concern to Christ. He has died to make it all disappear the same way that the ashes will disappear when you wash your face. The questions that we are faced with are these: Do we really believe that this is true for us? Christ has obliterated all of our missteps and we stand as a new creation called to engage the world with purpose and passion? And if we dare to believe what our own experience tells us can hardly be true, are we ready to live into the new life that this good news brings to us?
For seed to take root, it must fall to the ground and die in order to bring forth new life and achieve its purpose of providing fruit for a hungry world.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. New life to new life.
Welcome to the journey.
Pretty grim words. Nearly enough to make you want to run as fast as you can away from the church. Talk about being the one who rains on the parade, nothing like slamming home our own finitude. ‘Yippee, I’m a human being who, just like every other human being is going to die someday.’ Isn't this fantastic news!
But this is the starting point for the journey we take toward the cross. We indeed are human in every sense of the word and live in a temporal and broken world. If in fact we are going to ‘turn’ and be changed in the lives that we live, we need to know that we all begin at the same trailhead and share the same map.
But our God has a plan, and even as we gather to rightly acknowledge our own limitations and our collective ineptitude in carrying out the plan for the world that God has called us to in Christ, God meets us as we turn back toward the one who creates, redeems, and sustains us. The second phrase that I speak tonight will be this, “but the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.” And as I say those words, I will trace a cross on your forehead in the same spot where many years ago a pastor or priest traced a cross beside a baptismal font and claimed you as a child of God for the sake of Jesus Christ and his redeeming work in the world.
What has happened between those two tracings is of no concern to Christ. He has died to make it all disappear the same way that the ashes will disappear when you wash your face. The questions that we are faced with are these: Do we really believe that this is true for us? Christ has obliterated all of our missteps and we stand as a new creation called to engage the world with purpose and passion? And if we dare to believe what our own experience tells us can hardly be true, are we ready to live into the new life that this good news brings to us?
For seed to take root, it must fall to the ground and die in order to bring forth new life and achieve its purpose of providing fruit for a hungry world.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. New life to new life.
Welcome to the journey.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
traveling together to the cross
We often think of Lent as a season of “giving something up,” which is okay but this does not capture near the scope of the season.
If we think of this next spiritual season we will walk together in relation to the theme of light that we have been working with since before Christmas (Christ as the inextinguishable and ever brightening light that has come into the world to provide warmth and new vision); the Lenten season becomes a time for us to realize the manner in which Christ warms us with his presence but also exposes our human faults and calls us to consider anew how we can change our lives for the betterment of this world and for the deepening (or reconciling) of the relationships that we share in our day to day lives.
As we journey together we will look at the ways that we TURN in our lives as individuals and as communities.
We are going to experiment with a little different type of journey together. If the application of ashes to your forehead on Ash Wednesday is part of your annual journey to the cross we will be gathering Wednesday February 6th from 6:15 pm to 8:00 pm at John and Kate Sandberg’s home. (19765 Erin Ave, Prior Lake) Come any time within this window and we will perform a brief service with you and your family and any who happen to be gathered there at the same time.
If this is totally foreign to your tradition, brings back bad memories of being dragged to church for no apparent reason, or seems really strange to go to someone’s home for a religious rite, exercise your freedom in Christ and pass on this opportunity. Action without meaning for the sake of the action alone is empty and worthless. If you have never participated in such a ritual you may want to try it. In either case, start your journey on Wednesday the 6th.
We will journey together for the next forty days as we listen to some of the same music, watch some of the same films, and read some of the same books. Each of these media focus on the theme of change or turning in one way or another. I would encourage you to acquire all of the music CD’s (in whatever format you do your music), watch all of the movies (save The Passion of the Christ for the week before Easter), and pick one of the books that might interest you.
So here are the books, films, and music.
Music
Derek Webb, The House Show. This is a recording of a house concert with plenty of dialogue between songs about Christ’s call to us to turn and to change both individually and as the church.
Jonny Lang, Turnaround. As the title indicates, this CD marks a change in the life of this Minnesota raised bluesy rocker. A star at 14 and realizing the brokenness of life by his early 20’s, this CD is out of this world in its honesty about life and the hopefulness we have with Christ as a guide.
U2, The Joshua Tree. A classic by a band that has been shaping the imagination of our culture (spiritually and prophetically) for the last two decades.
Books
Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change. If you haven’t read McLaren he pointedly asks the question, what does the teaching of Jesus mean for us as we live our lives and look at the global issues of today?
Par Lagerkvist, Barabbas. This Pulitzer winning novel takes a fictional dive into the life of the actual person for whom Christ died. As you read it, you will see that we are all Barabbas and be forced to consider how we keep the Barabbas’s we know out of many of our Christian communities.
Will and Lisa Samson, Justice in the Burbs. I have not read this but have been waiting for it to be published as it was recommended to me by Doug Pagitt at Solomon’s Porch.
Joanna Weaver, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. Another book I have not read but have heard good things about it as a resource for women in their spiritual life as they juggle schedules that are way too busy and taking the life out of life.
Films
Amazing Grace. The story of abolitionist William Wilberforce and his fight to end the slave trade.
Everything is Spiritual. Rob Bell (from the Nooma series) takes a look at the depth of spirituality in all of life. On sale this week at NW Bookstore.
The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson’s depiction of the last days of Jesus’ life. Not for the faint of heart and probably should wait until the week before Easter for this one.
So there you go. Let the journey begin next Wednesday. If you got to this site from the ROJ update, we will have some of these resources available to take home from worship and return the following week for fellow travelers. Peace and joy as we journey together.
I will post here every day during Lent drawing on some of these resources as we look at the ways that we TURN in our lives as individuals and as communities. I welcome your comments and thoughts as we travel down this road together.
If we think of this next spiritual season we will walk together in relation to the theme of light that we have been working with since before Christmas (Christ as the inextinguishable and ever brightening light that has come into the world to provide warmth and new vision); the Lenten season becomes a time for us to realize the manner in which Christ warms us with his presence but also exposes our human faults and calls us to consider anew how we can change our lives for the betterment of this world and for the deepening (or reconciling) of the relationships that we share in our day to day lives.
As we journey together we will look at the ways that we TURN in our lives as individuals and as communities.
We are going to experiment with a little different type of journey together. If the application of ashes to your forehead on Ash Wednesday is part of your annual journey to the cross we will be gathering Wednesday February 6th from 6:15 pm to 8:00 pm at John and Kate Sandberg’s home. (19765 Erin Ave, Prior Lake) Come any time within this window and we will perform a brief service with you and your family and any who happen to be gathered there at the same time.
If this is totally foreign to your tradition, brings back bad memories of being dragged to church for no apparent reason, or seems really strange to go to someone’s home for a religious rite, exercise your freedom in Christ and pass on this opportunity. Action without meaning for the sake of the action alone is empty and worthless. If you have never participated in such a ritual you may want to try it. In either case, start your journey on Wednesday the 6th.
We will journey together for the next forty days as we listen to some of the same music, watch some of the same films, and read some of the same books. Each of these media focus on the theme of change or turning in one way or another. I would encourage you to acquire all of the music CD’s (in whatever format you do your music), watch all of the movies (save The Passion of the Christ for the week before Easter), and pick one of the books that might interest you.
So here are the books, films, and music.
Music
Derek Webb, The House Show. This is a recording of a house concert with plenty of dialogue between songs about Christ’s call to us to turn and to change both individually and as the church.
Jonny Lang, Turnaround. As the title indicates, this CD marks a change in the life of this Minnesota raised bluesy rocker. A star at 14 and realizing the brokenness of life by his early 20’s, this CD is out of this world in its honesty about life and the hopefulness we have with Christ as a guide.
U2, The Joshua Tree. A classic by a band that has been shaping the imagination of our culture (spiritually and prophetically) for the last two decades.
Books
Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change. If you haven’t read McLaren he pointedly asks the question, what does the teaching of Jesus mean for us as we live our lives and look at the global issues of today?
Par Lagerkvist, Barabbas. This Pulitzer winning novel takes a fictional dive into the life of the actual person for whom Christ died. As you read it, you will see that we are all Barabbas and be forced to consider how we keep the Barabbas’s we know out of many of our Christian communities.
Will and Lisa Samson, Justice in the Burbs. I have not read this but have been waiting for it to be published as it was recommended to me by Doug Pagitt at Solomon’s Porch.
Joanna Weaver, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. Another book I have not read but have heard good things about it as a resource for women in their spiritual life as they juggle schedules that are way too busy and taking the life out of life.
Films
Amazing Grace. The story of abolitionist William Wilberforce and his fight to end the slave trade.
Everything is Spiritual. Rob Bell (from the Nooma series) takes a look at the depth of spirituality in all of life. On sale this week at NW Bookstore.
The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson’s depiction of the last days of Jesus’ life. Not for the faint of heart and probably should wait until the week before Easter for this one.
So there you go. Let the journey begin next Wednesday. If you got to this site from the ROJ update, we will have some of these resources available to take home from worship and return the following week for fellow travelers. Peace and joy as we journey together.
I will post here every day during Lent drawing on some of these resources as we look at the ways that we TURN in our lives as individuals and as communities. I welcome your comments and thoughts as we travel down this road together.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Care to Hear the Gospel through the Voice of a Child?
This is a recording from a call to a Houston radio station. May it bless your Christmas comings and goings into the new year.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Relay Leadership
The world record for the 3000 meter run is 7 minutes and 30 seconds. The world record for the 4x800 meter relay (3200 meters) is 7 minutes and 2 seconds. When we hand off the baton to each other we can cover more ground in a shorter period of time.
One of the problems we face as contextual missional communities is the challenge of developing and maintaining functional leadership structures. This is a vital component of all organizations but is crucial in faith communities; see Christian Schwartz and the work of the folks at Natural Church Development. Unfortunately, in many cases we as people of faith inherit a leadership structure, or bring an assumed leadership structure to our discussions about this issue that may or may not be effective or appropriate. These structural assumptions and practices are usually based on past congregational experiences; e.g. the church is led by the council, or the board, or the staff, or the executive committee, or the solo pastor. And in many situations the structure that are in place in faith communities are highly functional. But in others, the structure is lacking functionality and causing the entire community to become severely dysfunctional in practice and missional effectiveness.
One of the reasons for traditional church leadership structures losing their functional effectiveness is their inability to deal with the changing context of our ever busied (and over busied) lives. Now at this point, you may want to quit reading and close this window if you think that ‘if people would just get their priorities straight this would not be an issue.’ Our pace of life is a real problem I think, but a different issue entirely. The point I am making here is this: if we are serious about engaging people in their context (a harried and busy one), we need to think about how we are organized as the church in relation to this cultural reality. Can we expect a two year commitment from people to serve on church councils and committees? Does the thought of serving on a standing committee really bring you energy and inspire you to engage the world differently as Christ calls us to do? Is this a formula for success as the hands and feet of Jesus or a recipe for burnout and discouragement?
One of the functions of River of Joy is to provide contextual research and development for the larger church. As a mission congregation we are charged with the responsibility of taking risks and Biblically discerning new methods of engaging the world. For the last year we have organized ourselves around Acts 2:42 and the early apostle’s focus on teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. This loose structure has served us well as we have grown into our identity as a community. Long term however, it is not functional.
In Acts chapter 6, the new Christian community goes through the second phase of their organizational development. The community has become aware of its own capacity issues and realigns itself with a team of seven people who are devoted to attending to the ministry issue at hand in the short term. As we move into our next development phase, we are doing the same thing, retooling for short term leadership that is handed off and realigned as the next missionary opportunity presents itself.
River of Joy is committed to dedicating the next ten months to ministry seasons related to Jesus’ command in Matthew 25. We have dedicated our community efforts to the hungry (this past summer), to the thirsty (this fall), and will progress through Jesus’ command to interact and care for the stranger (this winter), the sick and imprisoned (this spring), and the naked (next summer). This focus has served us well in developing a missional outwardly focused identity. In order to provide functional structure to these efforts, we will be forming 3 different leadership teams of 7 leaders to lead the rest of the community through each of these different seasons.
This broad based structure does a few things: First, it maintains Christ’s command to attend to the life of the larger world as a primary function of the ROJ community. Second, it allows people to engage in leadership in areas where they are gifted and called in an empowered fashion with three month bursts of energy and commitment. Third, it does not set people up for leadership burnout by placing them in areas where (and when) they are not equipped to devote their time and energy. Fourth, it allows for collaborative leadership and diverse and creative expressions and activities that will address the spectrum of community life: our prayer, worship, engagement with the world, education, etc. Fifth, it allows for a reasonable expectation that everyone gets involved.
So there you have it. Chew on it. Digest it. Spit it out if you think it is rotten. Savor it if you think it sounds like a good idea. And shoot me an email if you are interested in getting your feet wet with leading the first season of planning, our winter for the stranger.
One of the problems we face as contextual missional communities is the challenge of developing and maintaining functional leadership structures. This is a vital component of all organizations but is crucial in faith communities; see Christian Schwartz and the work of the folks at Natural Church Development. Unfortunately, in many cases we as people of faith inherit a leadership structure, or bring an assumed leadership structure to our discussions about this issue that may or may not be effective or appropriate. These structural assumptions and practices are usually based on past congregational experiences; e.g. the church is led by the council, or the board, or the staff, or the executive committee, or the solo pastor. And in many situations the structure that are in place in faith communities are highly functional. But in others, the structure is lacking functionality and causing the entire community to become severely dysfunctional in practice and missional effectiveness.
One of the reasons for traditional church leadership structures losing their functional effectiveness is their inability to deal with the changing context of our ever busied (and over busied) lives. Now at this point, you may want to quit reading and close this window if you think that ‘if people would just get their priorities straight this would not be an issue.’ Our pace of life is a real problem I think, but a different issue entirely. The point I am making here is this: if we are serious about engaging people in their context (a harried and busy one), we need to think about how we are organized as the church in relation to this cultural reality. Can we expect a two year commitment from people to serve on church councils and committees? Does the thought of serving on a standing committee really bring you energy and inspire you to engage the world differently as Christ calls us to do? Is this a formula for success as the hands and feet of Jesus or a recipe for burnout and discouragement?
One of the functions of River of Joy is to provide contextual research and development for the larger church. As a mission congregation we are charged with the responsibility of taking risks and Biblically discerning new methods of engaging the world. For the last year we have organized ourselves around Acts 2:42 and the early apostle’s focus on teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. This loose structure has served us well as we have grown into our identity as a community. Long term however, it is not functional.
In Acts chapter 6, the new Christian community goes through the second phase of their organizational development. The community has become aware of its own capacity issues and realigns itself with a team of seven people who are devoted to attending to the ministry issue at hand in the short term. As we move into our next development phase, we are doing the same thing, retooling for short term leadership that is handed off and realigned as the next missionary opportunity presents itself.
River of Joy is committed to dedicating the next ten months to ministry seasons related to Jesus’ command in Matthew 25. We have dedicated our community efforts to the hungry (this past summer), to the thirsty (this fall), and will progress through Jesus’ command to interact and care for the stranger (this winter), the sick and imprisoned (this spring), and the naked (next summer). This focus has served us well in developing a missional outwardly focused identity. In order to provide functional structure to these efforts, we will be forming 3 different leadership teams of 7 leaders to lead the rest of the community through each of these different seasons.
This broad based structure does a few things: First, it maintains Christ’s command to attend to the life of the larger world as a primary function of the ROJ community. Second, it allows people to engage in leadership in areas where they are gifted and called in an empowered fashion with three month bursts of energy and commitment. Third, it does not set people up for leadership burnout by placing them in areas where (and when) they are not equipped to devote their time and energy. Fourth, it allows for collaborative leadership and diverse and creative expressions and activities that will address the spectrum of community life: our prayer, worship, engagement with the world, education, etc. Fifth, it allows for a reasonable expectation that everyone gets involved.
So there you have it. Chew on it. Digest it. Spit it out if you think it is rotten. Savor it if you think it sounds like a good idea. And shoot me an email if you are interested in getting your feet wet with leading the first season of planning, our winter for the stranger.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Worship Video from September 22
Some have asked for another peek at the worship video from Saturday. Here is a link to the site from which it came.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
The Road Less Traveled on the Main Traveled Road
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Robert Frost
Robert Frost
While my family was on vacation last week in Door County, WI we attended the debut of a new musical production entitled “The Main Traveled Road.” From the start I was skeptical. First, I did not like the title as Robert Frost is about the only poet I know anything about and the musical’s title was obviously intended to reference the audience to one of Frost’s most famous poems “The Road Not Taken.” And second, (and here you can see how utterly stupid we {read Steve} can be in assessing things) I did not like that fact that the title paired the word “Main” with the word “Road.” “Main” is a street not a road. Main Street. Not Main Road. Yes, I know, utterly stupid…
Anyway. The musical was actually quite good. It was set in 19th century rural Wisconsin but really could have been set anywhere. For me, the point of the whole production was that we all travel down the same road (the main traveled road) where we make decisions regarding our relationships with each other. And as we travel down this “main traveled road,” these decisions, and how they manifest in our interactions, have implications that are lasting in either life-giving or life-draining ways. As we travel this main traveled relational road, the decisions that we make with regard to our relationships are rarely neutral; they can either breathe life into those around us, or they can wound, maim, or even destroy.
As I reflect on this main traveled road of relationships that we all walk; I wonder if Frost’s “road less traveled by” is more a way of walking on this main traveled road than it is a separate path that we should seek to follow.
Perhaps the road less traveled is a walk on the main traveled road that pays special attention to those fellow travelers that we meet along the way; a walk where we see and embrace the fellow travelers with the open hand of friendship and a heart for our common joy-filled and often thorny journey down this main traveled road.
And
perhaps
Jesus
his teachings
his death
and
his
resurrection
are
a
faded
and tattered
map
for us
as we journey
together
down the main traveled road.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
i am haunted by waters
“I am haunted by waters.”
The last line of Norman Maclean’s book A River Runs Through It. The paragraph that precedes this sentence is often highlighted as one of the finest ever written in American literature, so rich in poetic depth and breadth that you could spend a lifetime searching and pondering its beauty and grace.
Lately, I feel like I am being haunted by waters.
This isn’t one of those scary movie hauntings that my 13 year old daughter is drawn to right now as she picks out movies at Blockbuster. I think it is more akin to Norman Maclean's haunting. It is more of an acknowledgment that there is more out there in my (our) reality that is related to water than I am perceiving, recognizing, and acting upon.
In some ways, perhaps it is just a confluence of water related events that has water bubbling in my consciousness: the 35W bridge collapse, a special baptism on Saturday, my family being at a wedding just a few hours before the flooding in Caledonia, the approaching hurricane and the upcoming mission trip in October to address the ongoing devastation of the last one, the ROJ fall focus on water, the research into global and local water issues I have been doing, the Biblical study related to all things water, and the roar of the neighbor’s lawnmower as I look out the window at four inch long grass that I just mowed a few days ago. Water. Bubbling in my mind.
The introductory address that I spoke at the beginning of little Bradley’s baptism said this:
The last line of Norman Maclean’s book A River Runs Through It. The paragraph that precedes this sentence is often highlighted as one of the finest ever written in American literature, so rich in poetic depth and breadth that you could spend a lifetime searching and pondering its beauty and grace.
Lately, I feel like I am being haunted by waters.
This isn’t one of those scary movie hauntings that my 13 year old daughter is drawn to right now as she picks out movies at Blockbuster. I think it is more akin to Norman Maclean's haunting. It is more of an acknowledgment that there is more out there in my (our) reality that is related to water than I am perceiving, recognizing, and acting upon.
In some ways, perhaps it is just a confluence of water related events that has water bubbling in my consciousness: the 35W bridge collapse, a special baptism on Saturday, my family being at a wedding just a few hours before the flooding in Caledonia, the approaching hurricane and the upcoming mission trip in October to address the ongoing devastation of the last one, the ROJ fall focus on water, the research into global and local water issues I have been doing, the Biblical study related to all things water, and the roar of the neighbor’s lawnmower as I look out the window at four inch long grass that I just mowed a few days ago. Water. Bubbling in my mind.
The introductory address that I spoke at the beginning of little Bradley’s baptism said this:
God, who is rich in mercy and love, gives us a new birth into a living hope through the sacrament of baptism. By water and the Word God delivers us from sin and death and raises us to new life in Jesus Christ. We are united with all the baptized in the one body of Christ, anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and joined in God's mission for the life of the world.
God, mercy, love, new birth, living hope, sacrament, Word, delivers, sin, death, Jesus Christ, united, one body, anointed, gift, Holy Spirit, joined, God's mission for life in the world.
There is enough spiritual (and poetic) depth and breadth in this paragraph that you could spend a lifetime searching, pondering and actively living into its beauty and grace.
And maybe
that is
exactly
the
point.
“Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Amen.”
And maybe
that is
exactly
the
point.
“Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Amen.”
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