Simplicity

Have you ever had so much to blog that you can't get your thoughts straight? I wish I could just transfer what is in my brain right to the page. I suppose that's what I get from taking so long to blog again. I've rewritten this so many times and what I ended up with is this summary of where we are at.

The people of God (at least in our area) are being taught by God in a very deep way right now. Many Christians seem to be getting very serious about their faith, studying the Scripture, and praying less to get God to move and more to hear Him.

As a church we coming to grips with the fact that our great ideas are not what God wants. We can engineer church because we are good at it, but that is not God's way. Church growth models and plans that we read in books are not what God desires. And so we are continually moving toward more and more simplicity.

We can no longer depend on men or men's products to change society. A move of God is the only thing and so we are encouraging people to seek Him. Sounds simple, sounds basic, sounds Scriptural, but how much does the church really do this? And if we do this, is it really the core of our Christian community or an add on? Maybe we need to take away some of our supports and see if we sink or swim...I'll keep you posted.

Getting Sassy Back

Wow June 17th huh? I am such a bad blogger. I was reading Hurd's blog today and discovered that I have become brain dead. Everytime I read his blog I laugh so hard that my eyes water and my nose runs. As I was reading his blog, I discovered that I no longer get to think for fun. Instead I'm forced to think about things like curriculum, gender, wait time, multiculturalism, inclusion, etc. All of these things would be great if I could think of them on my own time without having an assignment to do on them. Every time I get the urge to blog I think about the time I would be wasting that I could be spending on school work. In fact, I'm thinking about that right now.

Contemplating random things in life was the purpose for this blog and so I need to go back to doing that. Right now I am neither creative nor funny. I really need to get my sassy back. I think my next blog will be written as I watch Obama's inauguration - US politics is usually a good time, although not nearly as funny as Canadian politics... (Dion's cell phone video to Canadians - case in point, totally hilarious).

Oh Disrespectful Canada!

I love living in Canada mainly due to government healthcare and our disrespect for pretty much everything. I was watching the news this morning and they had a live feed announcing the Juno nominees. This was both the lamest and the funniest thing I have watched and was definitely the highlight of my morning.

First of all it looked and sounded like someone set up the backdrop and a sound system in their garage. Then some lady, I think she was the head of CTV, got up to introduce the host for this years Junos. She must have had about seven cue cards for about 4 lines, stumbled through what she wanted to say and mispronounced one of the performer's names so badly she had to appologize. So, I'm thinking why didn't CTV put on someone who is used to public speaking?

The host for this year is a comedian who tells mostly racial jokes. In his comments he mentioned that he was the first non-white Juno host and proceeded to overpronounce and make fun of all of the French names of nominees. THEN as if he wasn't enough on the edge, he said that he would never watch the Junos and made fun of one of the corporate sponsors! He was proceeded by a couple of bands who were reading off nominees but looked as though they had never read the cue cards before (which by the way, had the same 6 names on them each time so they should have been paying attention and they would have picked it up). Measha Brueggergosman was the funniest and the only one who actually spoke as though she had prepared.

I thought this was so funny! As I listened to this I thought, "only in Canada, eh?" In Canada we are not impressed by fame or money. It is almost appauling to our senses. We make fun of the famous and the rich. We make fun of ourselves, our politicians, our neighbours to the south, everyone. If you are in the public eye, you will be made fun of. This makes me glad to be Canadian. I am glad that we do not bow down and worship those with a lot of cash. Comedy seems to be how Canadian peasants take their power back in a weird kind of way.

Here's how I think the Junos started. Two people from CTV were sitting at Tim Hortons one day when one guy said, "So, I was watching the Grammy's last night eh, and I was thinkin' that we could make a lot of money if we made a Canadian version of the show." His friend said, "Yeah, we have some good talent in Canada. My neighbour has a band called "Ice Fishin'" that plays at the bar down the street there, he might like to be in it."

Sore and Lazy

Well I have nothing deep to write today that's for sure. I am sitting at the university library during a snowstorm. My class has been cancelled and this would be prime paper writing time. But noooooo I choose to blog about nothing becuase I don't want to write the introduction to a thesis or a commentary report about the US media giants. I would much rather read friends' blogs and veg out. I have so much to do this week that my brain might explode and so I justify blogging by claiming I am doing it for my mental health. But really...why do I do this???

I hate philosophy by the way. I have no desire to throw around opinions on concepts that have been chewed on for hundreds of years. People have devoted their lives to these things and still noone knows the answer! How frustrating. I would get an F in a few of my classes if I was caught saying this. "F" is for frustrating.

I went to the gym again today and I'll probably feel it tomorrow. I had a hard time raising my hands in church on Sunday because my arms were so sore from last week's upper body workout. Oh well, that's what you get when you slack off and lose all your strength and have to get it back. T-Rex will have her muscles back.

Speaking of muscles...I love the show American Gladiators. I am stuck with the suspicion that the gladiators rarely truly try to take out the competitor. I mean really, they could beat the snot out of those people if they really wanted to.

Now I must go and get it over with....

Square Peg in a Round Hole

The question that I have been asking for the last couple of years is why do I carry the title "pastor"? Why do a lot of us carry that title, when in fact, we may not even have the pastoral gift? There are more equipping gifts than just pastors (prophets, evangelists, apostles, teachers) but we only seem to license people as pastors or "special workers".

So what about me? I fall into that other group. Luckily, I am in a place where I can use my giftings as I like, even while having a label that doesn't fit me. But what about those who cannot? Is this maybe while people feel tired in ministry? People expect certain things from you because you carry a certain type of stamp. This can be frustrating and tiring.

I think it would be great if we would recognize church leadership (those who equip the saints for the work of the ministry) as having some variety. A gifts-based ministry where everyone is passionate about what they do, and are energized by it instead of fatigued. I think we are going that way, so that gives me hope.

The Imaginary Pet

Here's a question. So get your thinkin' caps on (that includes you Antonio Martinez) cause this one's deep. The nature of the kingdom of God is often debated so let's hear your opinions.

What is the kingdom Jesus talked about?

What implications does that have for us?


P.S. I am reading the book This Beautful Mess by Rick McKinley. I like it so far - refreshing and thought provoking - but I'm not sure I agree with him yet.

Ox Bile Holds No Attraction For Me.

Check this out! I was at the university running some errands, got lunch at Tim's, and sat in front of the library and picked up this weeks issue of [here]. On the front page, the title is "Generation Wired Gets Loaded on More Than Just Energy". I hate those dumb energy drink things and this article just gave me more ammo. The actual article on the inside is by Melanie Taylor called "A Wired Generation Gets Their Buzz On, But At What Cost? [here] explores crack in a can."

Now here's the gross part...Energy drinks also contain a main ingredient called Taurine, which the article says, hasn't been tested in any long-term studies. Taurine is an acid that is found in human bile and in other tissues. It helps with muscular contractions to break down your food. In the case of energy drinks, it is isolated from ox bile - probably where Red Bull gets its name - Bleck!

It is believed that Taurine can play a role in the development of seizures. A study of rats fed high amounts of Taurine exhibited a high level of anxiety, irritability, increased sensitivity to noise and even self-mutilation. Sound like anyone you know?? Maybe they need to get off the ox bile.

Taurine was just one ingredient - there were others in the article. And there actually is an energy drink called Cocaine.

They'll Have To Kill Me First!

Usually I am in a pretty good mood when I write these things...as you can tell by the previous blog...but not today. I have discovered I have become too old for the baby having stage and I am now on to the divorce stage. I am convinced of this after learning about what appears to be a rash of separations and divorces of my peers over the last month. No it isn't the hot weather that is doing it, if it were that simple we would all buy air conditioners.

Here's what I figure. No one is immune. A relationship can never be neglected and must always be maintained. Because this whole divorce thing can get you when you least expect it; like a mosquito at a bonfire. Whether you have been married for 30 days or 30 years.

I don't claim to be an expert. I get bitten by mosquitos all of the time, so feel free to add your own advice to this list. But if you are getting married or if you are married and believe you are happily married here's something that might help you take inventory of your marital bliss - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

1. Have things you like to do together and things you like to do apart. Both are necessary, but don't let the apart things overshadow the together things.

2. Have friends of your same sex outside of your marriage relationship. This is good and healthy. Do not spend more time with these friends than you do your spouse. Don't talk to these friends more than you do your spouse either. It is good to have friends who will be totally honest and give you a swift kick in the rear when you need it.

3. If you are planning on getting married, then store in your mind the hints from those who have done it already. Don't take them too seriously but keep them around for the time when you need them. When you need them, you will remember them. Never think that you know all there is to know - That's like going to the bonfire feeling pretty proud of yourself for thinking ahead by wearing your Deep Woods and then realizing you forgot to spray your ankles - woops too late.

4. Don't ever talk about divorce. If you talk about it, it will happen. This is a statistically proven fact - proven by the people I know who have divorced. Even those who joke about getting divorced, have a higher chance of following through. Treat it like the most offensive bad word you know, and just don't say it. Once you start talking about it, it is only a matter of time.

5. If your spouse says that you work too much, then you are probably on really thin ice (pobably a lot thinner than it even appears). Time to make some adjustments - nuf said.

6. Talk about your day. Even if you really don't feel like it, do it anyway. You need to know what each other is up to. You don't need to comment on what the other person says, in most cases you probably shouldn't. Just ask a lot of questions and listen.

7. Don't let yourself go. No I am not talking about continuing to look like Ken & Barbie. Not letting yourself go applies more to behavior and is probably the most important thing on this list. It is not how hot you look that will keep your marriage strong in the end. Old age catches us all - but ignorance and disrespect does not. It is very easy to let ourselves go with someone who knows us the most. We stop paying attention to what we say and how we say it. We have proabably all seen the sarcastic couple who is kind of mean to each other but still in love. They are the exception, not the norm. Those people have always been that way, even when they were dating. It's their way of communicating. They didn't get married and then become that way. Things we say can hurt people. Our mouth can be a weapon of disrespect and abuse. If we wouldn't use a certain tone with people outside of the house, then why should we use it inside with people we say we care about? It's all about respect.

8. Discover that respect and commitment are the two pillars of relationships. Without respect you have a crappy suffering marriage and without commitment, you have an amicable divorce. Without both respect and commitment, you have nothing so just forget it. So if you are planning on getting married, then think about whether or not both of you have respect for each other and commitment for the long haul.

There is something weird about marriage. We maintain our dating relationship because we want to keep someone interested, but often we do nothing about our marriage relationship. When we are dating, either party can decide they don't want to be a part of the relationship anymore and move on. The same thing happens when people live together. There is always the chance to get out so we must work harder to maintain what we have if we want to continue it. But, as soon as people sign on the dotted line and are pronounced husband and wife, there is no way out that doesn't lead to checking the "divorced" box on your income tax forms. It is the commitment of marriage that causes people become slack in their relationship.

I think commitment is great (as I said above, it is one of the two most important things) but if we are going to go for it, we need to get back in the game. If we value the commitment we made and truly respect the person we are married to, then marriage should actually cause us to up our game. It should cause us to go to the bonfire wrapped in mosquito netting and screaming "They'll never take me alive!!"

HA-HA (as said by Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons)

I am an email horder. I clean out my inbox about 3 times a year. Today I was cleaning out my inbox and came across an old forwarded email. Usually I hate forwarded emails especially the ones that say "If you really love Jesus, send this email to 5 friends to prove it". Does this mean that if I care enough not to spam my friends' inbox, that I don't love Jesus? Does this mean that Jesus wants me to spam my friends??? You can see how weird Chirstian chain letters can be. If I happen to find a hilarious (very hilarious, and most often a video) email, I cut that chain letter thing off, so none of my friends (whom I have chosen to receive this email, not my entire contact list) have to go through the same moral dilema of whether or not Jesus wants them to spam in order to show their our love for him.

So with that rant behind me, here's the quasi-funny email that I found lost in my inbox since April 20th (an email that I am sure has been around since the birth of the internet). It gave me a little chuckle today.

You Know Your A Maritimer When.....
1. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
2."Vacation" means going to Moncton for the weekend.
3. You measure distance in hours or the number of hills you have to drive over.
4.You know several people who have hit a deer.
5. You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events.
6.You install security lights on both your house and garage and go and leave both unlocked.
7. You think of the major food groups as: Meat, Fish and Tim Hortons.
8. There are seven empty cars running in the parking lot of the Canadian Tire store at any given time.
9. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit. (I remember this well - tell me how you can really be a punk-rocker and wear a snowsuit. How mortifying!)
10. You know all 4 seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Construction.

The New Cat

We have a new cat named Gordo. He's affectionate, well-behaved, and cute. Mike likes him and Missy gives him 2 thumbs up. He puts on a good show when people come over. He is a nice cat. Despite all of that, our other cat, Rufus, has no use for him what so ever. Gordo wants to be friends but when he sniffs Rufus' behind he gets hissed at. When he follows Rufus to the food bowl, he gets hissed at. When he jumps on the bed where Rufus is, he gets hissed at. Rufus avoids Gordo as much as he can but when Gordo gets too close - hhhisssssss. Rufus is huge and looks very menacing but he is a big baby and afraid of cats he doesn't know. That is most likely the only reason why Gordo isn't wanking around with one ear and a limp.

There is a reason for Rufus' social problems. We had to put our first cat down because he had cancer. His name was Wally. Wally and Rufus were best buddies. Wally had a bad attitude toward other cats and would protect Rufus even though Wally was scrawny and declawed. It's all about attitude :) Anyway, these two would go wandering in the woods together, sleep together, eat together, and most nights there would be feline wrestlemania on our living room floor in front of the TV. They were hilariously entertaining. When Wally died Rufus didn't know what he was doing. He would hang around the house, going in and out the door. Wally was his only friend because he was afraid of every other cat in the neighborhood.

I think we can learn a lot about people behavior from animal behavior, even though they have no concience and a pea size brain. I think my cats demonstrate resistance to change.

1) Gordo is cute, most people like him, but he's not the same. - A lot of times we love what we had and don't want it replaced by something new. Even though a lot of people like it and we know in our heads that it isn't bad (this is where the analogy breaks down becuase we can reason and cats can't) but we still do not like it because it is not familiar to us.

2) Gordo pushes himself on Rufus. - Sometimes people just need to get used to things and then they'll come around. If we push change on people, they will turn around and hiss at us (figuratively of course). Sometimes in our attempts at trying to get people to change, they can feel that we are violating their personal preferences or their history. Much like butt sniffing to a cat, and no one wants their butt sniffed.

3) Rufus is afraid. - People do not like things that replace things that were important to them. They have nothing to identify with; they are alone. No wonder people hiss at new ideas, especially when it eliminates something they love. Many times instead of hiss, they will just avoid the topic. Especially if there is no one else of like opinion.

So what's the solution then? Wait it out. Here I have two cats who really are very similar, but they just don't know it yet. Instead, they hiss and avoid. I don't know how long they can keep it up but eventually they will have to get along because they live in the same house.

Developing A Theology of Failure

Here's a great - but fairly long - teaching based on lessons from Dennis McCallum and Gary DeLashmutt from Xenos Christian Fellowship. It was given at a time when some of their home group leaders had or were failing at leading their groups. If you are doing anything in life this is a beneficial read.

Developing a Theology of Failure
The biggest problem with many of us is that we are soft from too much success. We are like a child riding a bike on training wheels who thinks he has actually learned to ride. His parents warn him, "It's a little harder when you take the wheels off," but until you actually do take them off, the kid continues to enjoy a false sense of mastery. Once the wheels come off, the child may have to endure a few nasty crackups that could lead to tears, and even a refusal to ride any more. But without removing the wheels, he will never learn to ride.

In our training, failure has played a prominent role, and in fact a crucial role that success never could have played. We have failed at more ministry attempts than most in our church have ever tried! Bible studies, personal evangelism, discipleship, and overall fellowship direction are all venues where we have tasted deeply of failure, often with embarrassment and disgrace. While we still don't like to fail, we increasingly realize that nothing teaches us more than our failures.

From failure we learn what works. Biblical guidance is important in ministry, but we are still left sto apply biblical teaching in area after area, and these are often judgment calls requiring wisdom and experience. Success in ministry can often lead to the wrong conclusions. We may conclude that because of our success, our ministry methods must be on a especially correct. Meanwhile, our success may be the result of something completely different. Our attribution of success to our superior methods is wrong, but we usually have no way of knowing that until we fail using those same "miracle methods." The experience of failure throws us into state of amazement and disillusionment, and this confused state of mind is exactly what God needs to bring us out of our ego-driven paradigm. Only then can we listen to new ideas, new ways of explaining past success, and engage in original thinking for the future.

Through failure we learn dependence (2 Cor 11:30-33): At the heart of our carnality in leadership is often a self-sufficient attitude. Our shortchanged prayer life is a warning signal, but we find that easy to ignore. Failure is much harder to ignore. As we strike off in first one direction and then another, failing at each turn, God is able to corner us into conclusions we weren't willing to look at before. A growing sense of ineptitude at the deepest level begins to strike a note of caution in all we do. Ironically, this sense of helplessness grows at the same time we know we are increasing our competence in the basic skills of ministry. Such an inner tension is exactly what God uses to convince us that he alone can bring us to ultimate spiritual success.

Through failure we deepen our discernment: One of our problems in ministry that we may be driving for the wrong goals. We often assume that things which bring more results, like greater numbers, are the will of God. We may think certain types of people are best suited to lead. These assumptions may be partly right, but they often overlook important exceptions that could lead to unfairness or corruption in the church. God often shows us through failure that we are looking at things superficially and that we need goals more in harmony with the deeper picture. We may realize that our pragmatism leads to outward results without inward spiritual reality. At other times, we may see that our super-spirituality has led us to ignore the plain facts of our situation. After training in failure, some things that used to impress us as guaranteed to succeed now remind us of times when similar things or people were great disappointments. Our pronouncements become less dogmatic, and more humble. At the same time, we may have viewed certain problems as negative, but not really dangerous, until one of those problems rose up and confronted us with outright failure because we ignored it. We cannot downplay such problems in the future. Therefore, a leader trained by failure may become concerned about things that seem less important to others.

Through failure we learn how to minister under grace: Personal sin often teaches us the urgency of clinging to the grace of God in our lives. In the same way, failure in ministry teaches us how urgent it is that we learn to appreciate and appropriate God's grace in a living way. Most of us come into ministry feeling on some level that the work depends on our competence and personal charisma, and this becomes confusing, because on some level our gifts and abilities are instrumental. God may have to work with us for years to bring us to the place where we understand in our heart how it can be possible that my abilities matter, and yet take no sense of egotism from that fact. Most young ministers insist on taking their identity from their ministry results. Usually, only profound failure will convince us that "apart from the vine we can do nothing," and yet we need to strive all the harder. (I Cor 15:10) This is the paradoxical outlook of the mature worker--an outlook only accessible through a combination of success and failure.

Through failure we develop deep spiritual convictions about ministry: Most of us become excited about doing ministry because of the thrilling experiences we have while doing it. Such profound thrills are hard to find apart from illicit drugs, romance, or materialistic advancement. On one level, God must approve of our feeling good from ministry victory, because he says we will be more "blessed" if we serve. (John 13:17) But feeling pleasure is not the proper foundational motive for serving God. We must learn to do it because God wills it, even if no one else does it, even if we don't succeed at it, and even if it brings us pain and frustration. (1 Cor. 4:2 note, "trustworthy" not "successful") Failure separates the quitters from the servants. Failure is a painful experience that puts the question squarely: Am I going to continue doing something that often brings me pain? God also uses other painful experiences to put this question, such as betrayal by friends, suspicions, lack of appreciation, and accusations from our people, but failure seems to be the supreme negative experience. God wants to know whether we are prepared to serve in failure, or only in success? (II Tim 4:3) Isaiah's call in Is. 6:8-13 basically promised a ministry characterized by failure throughout. But Isaiah was willing and faithful to that calling. God will test each minister on this point (often though failure) to purify our motives.

Leaders thus broken through failure become suitable tools in the hands of the Lord. But unbroken leaders pose a threat to the health and spirituality of the church. Leaders accustomed to nothing but success become, themselves, hard to lead. They are always convinced they are right, and will fight to preserve their base as though their self-worth depended on it, which it often does. In their dread of failure, they may become downright unethical and manipulative. They find it hard to listen to the wisdom of others because they can't help but observe that their own ideas seem to be working perfectly well. Such unbroken leaders not only fear failure in themselves, but also in others. They may become unwilling to let others have the chance to fail, and this leads to poor delegation in discipleship. When success becomes the be-all and end-all in ministry, it is an idol that God must throw down. Note that failure may come in an area other than our main ministry, but it will surely come.

Nothing would advance most of us more than getting some good failure under our belts! It isn't that bad once you get used to it, and the fruit over the long haul is well worth the pain. Consider how fear of failure can affect the church:

Home church leaders who suffer from excessive fear of failure are reluctant to plant new churches. They know the mother church works, so why take risks with an unproven plant? The result is tardy planting or no planting, both of which retard the growth of the church and stifle the development of young leaders.

Young leaders are hardly ever as competent as older ones, and history shows they are more likely to fail. But this observation begs the question: Is such failure necessarily a bad thing? We argue that it need not be bad, especially when our new leaders have been well-trained in their view of failure. The experience of failure is always a crisis, since Satan will move in and suggest God let them down, or that they are unworthy for such work. But as discussed above, failure becomes the occasion for a new questioning of motives and deepening of commitment if properly understood. We should be actively preparing our disciples for failure as well as for success.

Those who dread failure tend toward a conservatism that seeks to protect the existing ministry rather than to open new ministry. When the church becomes conservative and self-protective, it loses the offensive spirit needed in spiritual war. We find ourselves unable to penetrate tough sectors of the non Christian community.

If you suffer from fear of failure, ask yourself, "What is the worst thing that can happen to me if I fail?" Does failure in ministry really endanger our lives, or only our egos? The ego-centered minister dreads failure mainly because he will have to admit it to colleagues or others he hopes to impress. Just imagining himself admitting defeat can send the ego-driven leader into a panic of self-protection. But God calls us to deny self and serve in ministry, not to glorify ourselves through it. Mentally practice shrugging your shoulders before colleagues and saying, "Yeah, that didn't work out, but at least we tried" and don't forget to add, "I guess we'd better try again!" The only defense you need is, "I felt like I did my best."

The Death of "I"

Here's some more random thoughts for all 8 of you who enjoy my blogs. It's been awhile since I have had a chance to sit down and really think about anything at all, so I am probably full of rants right now.

Have you ever noticed how it is very easy to become convinced that you need to be the best or do the best according to the world's standards? That we can subconsciously compare ourselves to others? We don't even know we are doing it but it is easy to do when we are told what success is. Success is being the smartest, richest, and most respected, right??? Wrong. We are told every day, in a variety of different ways, that these three things are important and then we get to a point of realization. These things are useless. They don't make us feel better about ourself. There will always be people smarter, richer and more respected than us, but for some reason we have convinced ourselves that there is an attainable goal. If you are in this way of thinking, you usually say things like, "When I am less busy, I will _____", "If I do _______ then I will be _______" (you fill in the blank with whatever your thing is). Notice how much this pronoun is used in these sentences: I

The truth is, there is no end. We can do this until we are old and then look back and see how much of life we wasted chasing something. I think this is what Solomon meant when he said, "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Not that life is pointless, but that things we think are important, really are not that important in the grand scheme of things. God's priorities are are very often different than ours. Isaiah 55:8- "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine".

There are many, many, many opportunities in the Kingdom of God. Ways to serve, ways to learn, ways to be a blessing to others. Satan uses our well intended goals as a distraction from what really counts. I speak from experience. I love goals. I love to see things progress and that includes my personal life, my work, and my ministry. I can get lost thinking about and doing things that don't matter one iota to the Kingdom. Really, even though I don't even realize it at the time, they are so I can feel successful. Somewhere along along the way I have to take "I" out of it and think about what God would rather have me invest my time and energies in rather than continue on with Satan's distractions.

This is where the cost of being a disciple is. We seem to think that what Jesus says in Matthew 16:24-27 is only meant for the disciples and not for us, and that it is only about being willing to die physically. Many of us will not of the chance to die physically, but we have a choice every day for our "I" to die.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross (the same discussion recorded in Luke 9:23 inserts the word "daily" here. How can you take up your cross daily? Obviously it is not just talking about physical death here) and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done." (Matthew 16:24-27)

Who is the Church?

It is interesting to read people's comments to your posts. So here's some props to Shannon Marden who had the best comment to my last post - thanks to everyone else who commented too...good to know there are some others who have the similar twisted (although very sane to me) thoughts.

Shannon in the trenches and is still positive (some people in the trenches can get pretty jaded). I think it is great that someone other than me sees the glass half-full when it comes to the church. Many people are negative toward the church (a lot of time for good reason!) and then just check out of the whole thing. I totally acknowledge the way the church has screwed up and is still screwing up (see my last post), but change starts from the inside out. If all those people who are discontented and want change bail, then there is no hope and the baby goes out with the bathwater. The reason we bail really isn't about what was done to us, but rather a misunderstanding about who the church really is.

If we truly believe that the church is the people of God and not not a building, and not a company (most of us say this but do we understand what we are saying?), then we have to cut each other some slack. It is impossible for any of us to go through life and never offend anyone; all of us are dysfunctional at some level. We are deluded if we think the problem is everyone around us.

So yes Shannon, we do live in a day and age where things are exciting for the church. Exciting because, as you say, we are returning to what we should be. So, thanks to everyone who involved in God's church. You are changing things and making a difference in your families, communities and the world around you. I think we underestimate the little part each of us plays, in the grand scheme of things but all those little parts add up. All of our little parts fit together to create big change.

We become critical of the church when we see it as only an institution, an organization, or a corporation. Who isn't critical of all of those things these days, ha! But Scripture is pretty clear about what the church is. Search the word "church" in the Bible and see what it says about it - you won't find reference to any of the three things mentioned above. These are very exciting times. We are heading toward a clearer understanding of the essence of the church - Not mystical, not superior, not faultless - just normal people.

Believing Barna???

George Barna (US church pollster) says that America's faith community is changing (no kidding....does he think we have been asleep, I suppose some are). The reason he gives for this is that "there are more than twenty million adults who have dropped out of church, not because they've lost interest in spiritual matters or are disconnecting from God, but because they want more of God in their lives. These are believers who are less interested in attending church and more interested in being the church" (A New Kind of Church, Baker Books 2007).

I read this on the weekend and it reminded me of Wednesday night. One of the guests at our home group this week asked how we all got involved with the church. Did we grow up in it and if not, how did we get here? It was interesting to hear everyones stories. A few of us were brought up with the church as an important part of our lives, others of us had been involved in the church and had given up for various reasons, and still some others had not much history with the church at all. There was a common thread that ran through each story - the reason why they are actively involved in the church now is because they feel they are learning more about Jesus and less about the church.

Isn't this the whole purpose of the church's existence? To follow Jesus' command when he said "go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you" (Matthew 28:19-20, NLT).

Am I blind or something? Because I don't see it saying go and make disciples by teaching them rules that will set them above everyone else and church politic so they will eventually run themselves ragged and be driven into the ground. I understand that these are done under spiritual words, such as "holiness" or "commitment." We make ourselves feel better about doing these things to people if we can somehow find an obscure Scripture that "supports" what we are doing.

I believe in holiness, commitment and the church. But we have taken Jesus, his teachings, and his people and turned them into a strange religion where we decide to play God. The truth is we are not playing God because God wouldn't do these things; we are playing puppet master with God's people.

Instead of telling people what to, we need to value their relationship with God and trust God to speak to them and trust them to listen. If we can help people to listen to God and do what he tells them, isn't that the biggest thing we can ever teach. I know people who have done a lot in a church building, and who appear to have it together on the outside, and then flame out miserably. And then I know people who others might look down because they do certain things or look a certain way, and these people have gone on to be huge influences for God in their families and communities. So we never know...and so it's best not to pretend to know...and best to play our parts and not the part of God.

Yippee For Wesleyan World!

...I never thought I'd say that...

I was encouraged when I read this quarter's Wesleyan World magazine. The concept of partnership between countries and between churches is beginning to be lived out. For so long we have paid money to send people to other countries who don't speak the language and don't know the culture - and that worked in our context for a while. We have often sent them to a country where the local church is already doing a fantastic job. (Don't get me wrong, missionaries from here are still needed where the Church is struggling, but for equipping and support instead of actually doing the ministry). Short-term teams are a great way to encourage and support the local Church worldwide. I am sure that if they had the financial resources, they would want to bring people here to encourage us as well.

I am so glad that we have done away with that superior North American attitude that says we have cornered the market on how the Church should function. Last I read, the Bible was the final word on what should be done in the Church. The whole concept of being in partnership with other countries is more in line with the Scripture than a type of parent/child relationship(there was no heirarchy - Galatians 3:28, an often quoted verse by good card carrying Wesleyans). The Church in other parts of the world would put us to shame.

This partnership thing has been in the works for a while. I think the first I heard of it was 2000, so to seven years later to see it lived out and to see that an International Conference of the Wesleyan Church (made up of various nations, not just North America) would meet in 2008 made me very happy. It is about time we visibly demonstrate what we say. If we believe that all people are created equal, it goes without saying that they should have authority over their own governance and their own future. It is about time that we show we truly do value different cultural perspectives.

And...yes Druh Noj it would be Sregor Anwahs but I think Anwahs Sregor has a better ring to it.

Stupid Kids And Their Stupid Internet! What Do You Want To Know? I'll Tell You Right Now!

Ok today I'm going to crack techie code talk. So if someone has ever told you anything about a computer and then walked away and you still had no idea what they were saying, then this blogs for you.
So here's the translations...

"I can fix that. It will only take a minute" - means you better have five hours to let me play around with it and I may or may not find out the problem.
"That's your anti-virus interfering" - means I have no idea what the problem is but I can't admit it.
"You'll have it back in a couple of days" - means it will be a couple of days before we get around to looking at it.
"Oh that's bad" - means you better start shopping around.

Can you tell my computer is ready to be thrown out the window??? I have absolutely nothing spritual to say today.

On a different note, one of our friends writes their name backwards on her emails. Mine looks really weird - Anwahs Sregor

A New Kind of Ministry...Period.

Here's a quote from the book, A New Kind of Youth Ministry by Chris Folmsbee (Zondervan, 2007):

"If young people are to practice faith when they "graduate" from youth ministry, the most important gift the church can give them is lifestyle faith instead of program faith. Of course, that doesn't mean that Christian programs don't have a role to play. But young peple aren't looking for programs; and when the church makes faith into "one more thing to do," we turn the gospel into an extracurricular activity, one among dozens, and in so doing we gut it of its transforming significance" (p.50).

I believe that this is true for adults, children and teens; people of any age. Who needs something more on the list of their already busy schedule? I would rather spend my days living like a Christian and meeting people through my job than worrying about whether or not I have enough people to staff a program, whether or not my idea is interesting enough, or always feeling like I have to top what I did before so people don't get bored. Doesn't just living life as a Christian and making a difference in the lives of people around us sound a whole lot easier and more natural?

Why I Think Blogs Are Stupid

Ok so I've given in... I used to think people who blogged had no lives and nothing better to do and some probably don't.

However, I really enjoy reading a blog from a pastor from Wisconsin. He has changed my mind because his entries are thought provoking stories that I have enjoyed. So, I figure if people like him can share their little gems with me, then I should share mine with them. Only time will tell how often I will use this thing. It is my hope to keep it interesting by ranting about things I think are important and by providing things that other people can use.

Now I need to go and think of something deep to write in this space so that I don't prove my own theory about bloggers having no lives to be correct!