Unforced Rhythms of Grace

It May Look Easy, But It's Not

Tim Stevens posted today (It May Look Easy, But It's Not) about some of the challenges associated with doing ministry in a large church setting. Although the grass may look greener, that isn't always the case. Whichever larger or different church you look to with a bit of envy, consider Tim's list.

Progressive Christianity

I was flipping through the latest Relevant magazine the other day and came across an ad for a new book entitled The Phoenix Affirmations: A New Vision for the Future of Christianity. The book description drew me to investigate further. "A concise statement of 12 central affirmative principles of Christian faith, built on the three great loves: love of God, love of neighbor, love of self. Transcending theological and doctrinal wars, inclusive and generous in spirit and practice, these principles ask believers and seekers alike to affirm the essentials of Christian faith in a fresh way." I googled this title and found a web site entitled crosswalkamerica.org.  You can read more about The Phoenix Affirmations there. The "summary" that follows is lifted from that site.

Summary Version 3.7

The public face of Christianity in America today bears little connection to the historic faith of our ancestors. It represents even less our own faith as Christians who continue to celebrate the gifts of our Creator, revealed and embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Heartened by our experience of the transforming presence of Christ’s Holy Spirit in our world, we find ourselves in a time and place where we will be no longer silent. We hereby mark an end to our silence by making the following affirmations:

As people who are joyfully and unapologetically Christian, we pledge ourselves completely to the way of Love. We work to express our love, as Jesus teaches us, in three ways: by loving God, neighbor, and self. (Matt 22:34-40 // Mk 12:28-31 // Lk 10:25-28; Cf. Deut 6:5; Lev. 19:18)

Christian love of God includes:

1. Walking fully in the path of Jesus, without denying the legitimacy of other paths God may provide humanity;

2. Listening for God’s Word which comes through daily prayer and meditation, through studying the ancient testimonies which we call Scripture, and through attending to God’s present activity in the world;

3. Celebrating the God whose Spirit pervades and whose glory is reflected in all of God’s Creation, including the earth and its ecosystems, the sacred and secular, the Christian and non-Christian, the human and non-human;

4. Expressing our love in worship that is as sincere, vibrant, and artful as it is scriptural.

Christian love of neighbor includes:

5. Engaging people authentically, as Jesus did, treating all as creations made in God’s very image, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental ability, nationality, or economic class;

6. Standing, as Jesus does, with the outcast and oppressed, the denigrated and afflicted, seeking peace and justice with or without the support of others;

7. Preserving religious freedom and the Church’s ability to speak prophetically to government by resisting the commingling of Church and State;

8. Walking humbly with God, acknowledging our own shortcomings while honestly seeking to understand and call forth the best in others, including those who consider us their enemies;

Christian love of self includes:

9. Basing our lives on the faith that, in Christ, all things are made new, and that we, and all people, are loved beyond our wildest imagination – for eternity;

10. Claiming the sacredness of both our minds and our hearts, recognizing that faith and science, doubt and belief serve the pursuit of truth;

11. Caring for our bodies, and insisting on taking time to enjoy the benefits of prayer, reflection, worship and recreation in addition to work;

12. Acting on the faith that we are born with a meaning and purpose; a vocation and ministry that serves to strengthen and extend God’s realm of love.

When you unpack the full version of these affirmations and you probe around in this web site, you find some striking statements. I was drawn to explore this because I too wrestle with how many Christians and the church act which paint an unhealthy picture of the church which bears little resemblance to the church described in the New Testament. I too feel like apologizing for much what Christians have imposed upon the world in the name of Jesus. I too feel that we are often too judgmental, too political and do not exhibit enough love and grace along with our truth. However, I'm somewhat afraid of the fine line that at least two of these statements attempt to walk.

First, Statement #1. Walking fully in the path of Jesus, without denying the legitimacy of other paths God may provide humanity. While I agree that for us to judge is not our place, our place is simply to share what the Bible teaches about the gospel and about Jesus. In doing so, we must be careful to share it as good news and not judgment. However, should we assume that all religion is equal truth and only seek to reach out to those who claim nothing? Where should we draw the line as to what "counts" and what does not?

Second, Statement #5. Engaging people authentically, as Jesus did, treating all as creations made in God’s very image, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental ability, nationality, or economic class. Again on the surface, I agree with this statement. We should engage all people as Jesus did, treating everyone as a beloved creation of God. None of these issues should get in our way of communicating and sharing God's love and grace. However, for someone who accepts Jesus as the Leader and Forgiver of their life, pointing them towards the full measure of transformation and discipleship as revealed in Scripture should be our aim. While we should never expect someone to change their sexual activity in order to become a Christian just as we wouldn't ask an alcoholic to stop drinking before they came to Christ, teaching Christ-followers how to live rightly in light of Scripture is part of our responsibility. As you read further in this site, sexual orientation is described as a non-issue in living out the Christian faith and is looked at in the same light as these other classifications cited in this affirmation statement.

I'm all for looking at the ancient truths of Scripture and the example of the early church and looking for how we can be relevant to our culture today. The church needs to be re-born so that the body of Christ more resembles Jesus and not Pat Robertson. There is a common statement in our movement of churches that "we speak where Scripture speaks and we are silent where Scripture is silent." This view helps us to not create essentials out of non-essentials. This view calls us to carefully navigate the truths of Scripture and the ancient examples of the faith in light of today's culture. We must be sure that we do not add our own preferences to Scripture. However, we must be equally as careful not to be silent where Scripture speaks. Our efforts to be inclusive, progressive, or tolerant should not take precedence over Scripture. We must hold forth the word of truth. Somehow we must hold forth grace and truth. Letting go of either does not represent our Savior or his body well.

It's a Kingdom Thing!

I'm in Brazil this week to participate in a conference to train church leaders and church planters. I have been reminded during this time of the incredible beauty  and breadth of the body of Christ. These Brazilian church leaders have a contagious heart for lost people in their country and around the world. They have a tremendous burden for church planting that has seen 20 churches grow to well over 500 churches in the past 30 years. Geraldo Borges, the former Presidente do Concilio Ministerial das Igrejas de Cristo (President of the Pastors Council of the Churches of Christ), shared the following comments through tears today. (He's the guy in the orange and black soccer jersey in the photo). May his words be an inspiration to you as they were to me.

"I was a member of the Catholic Church but I was converted when I read the Bible myself. Brazilian Catholics are not Christians, those of us who were Catholics before coming to Christ understand this. I'm so grateful that America sent missionaries to Brazil because through them over 200 members of my family came to faith. Initially, my burden was just for my family and for the people I knew in my life.

Virgil Smith was a missionary that came to Brazil in 1927. One day I saw him praying. He was down on his knees with his arms outstretched weeping and cyring out, 'Oh, God, please send workers, so many don't know the Lord.' Then I also saw the multitudes and how many people didn't know Jesus. I would preach to people at bus stops and on buses. I wasn't trying to share my religion, I just wanted to share the good news that I had found.

Our church planting efforts were not initially focused on planting churches but in sharing the gospel. One family coming to Christ led to another and before long a small group of believers had formed. The next thing we knew a church had been formed. Virgil Smith has died and gone on to heaven but his prayer and his mission continues.

In 1994, I went to CMF to see how we could partner with American churches to reach people in Mozambique. I had heard that Brazilians have easier access than Americans into many unreached people groups. (This is even more true today). However, I was skeptical that Americans would give money to Brazilians to do mission work in Africa. But I was wrong. Today we work with three different previously unreached people groups in Mozambique.

It is time for Virgil Smith's vision to be realized. I am seeing signs that this can happen in Brazil and Mozambique. The harvest is even much bigger than it was in Jesus day but we have much greater resources than the first church had. We have a vast number of churches and believers around the world. Our transportation and communication technology open doors never before available. 

My head is turned to plant churches. While we are seen as a mission field in Brazil, we are striving to turn our churches hearts towards unreached people groups beyond Brazil.  We  have hope that everyone in the world will come to know Jesus as Lord. I'm not young anymore but I haven't given up this hope. I'm encouraged by being together this week that this hope is indeed possible in my lifetime. My prayer is that Jesus prayer for unity in John 17 can be realized in Brazil and around the world through gatherings like this."

Amen!

Life Change

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

This past weekend we were planning to focus on Life Change as we continued in our 8 week journey through Acts.  For this weekend, we were planning to walk through Acts 9 and Paul's conversion.  However, one of the top 20 snow storms in Maryland history dumped about 15 inches of snow on us Saturday night and Sunday morning causing us to cancel our services.  I've been reminded this week of how amazing God's transforming work can be.

All of our preparation for this service and sharing life change stories, caused me to reflect on the amazing transformation that God still brings about. God transformed Saul from a prideful persecutor to a servant and missionary. Both the Jews and the Christians were amazed at the difference in Saul after he came to faith. Life change always causes people to stand up and notice what God is up to.  Life change awakens a watching world to the grace of God and it awakens Christ-followers to the movement of God.  Something stirs within us when we see God transform a life.  Seeing someone else transformed by God makes us recognize His hand at work in our life and our need to continually be changed until we are formed into his image.

Two of my favorite life change stories also came to mind as we prepared for this service. First, is the story of a man, jewish by birth not faith, who was looking for a church to attend on Easter because his visiting sister wanted to go to church. To see how God has transformed this man over the past three years has been amazing to watch. Today, Ken leads our CD Ministry team, serves as part of our IMAG team each week, and is an enthusiastic representative of Christ wherever he goes. Read Ken's story for yourself at the website he started after coming to faith www.jesusisthechrist.org.   

Second, is the story of a man who was impacted by several Christ-followers from Mountain at a homeless shelter. It was his first night at the shelter and the first week that Mountain volunteers had participated. Conversations that night started a journey of faith and Wayne made a commitment to Christ and was baptized within the next week. Check out Wayne's story at his blog.  Wayne now serves in ministry as an usher each week, he has found a job through a man in our church, and now he continually invites others to join him at Mountain. Wayne attended our last 'Welcome To Mountain' class along with three other homeless guys and Wayne's mother.  Wayne even baptized his mom after the class.

I'll never tire of seeing God at work in this way. It inspires me in my own walk, it envisions and emboldens me in ministry. It reminds me that God's heart truly is for every person to accept His grace and that the grace of their transforming life would be Good News for all to see.

How Does Your Church Measure Spiritual Growth?

Todd Rhoades raises a great question on how churches measure spiritual growth.  This also prompted me to remember Mark Waltz raising similar issues with hard and soft measurements.  We are currently in the process of identifying "metrics" to measure our "success" at accomplishing our mission as a church.  Some of the factors that contribute to our success are quantifiable while others would involve what Mark refers to as soft measurements.  Several churches (Gateway Community Church-Austin, TX, East 91st Street Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN, and Pantego Bible Church, Ft. Worth, TX) have identified spiritual growth assessments which help them measure growth individually and corporately as well as develop individual and corporate spiritual growth plans.  We're undertaking the same task here at Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, MD While we must find a way to measure growth, it feels like we lose something when we try and measure a subjective or "soft" element, such as the state of a soul, with an objective instrument.  Is it possible to create objective measurement tools to help individuals and churches assess themselves spiritually and develop spiritual growth plans? 

Choosing not to measure or evaluate our progress is not acceptable but the wrong tool may focus our energies on performances and practices rather than a change of the heart. How does one go about measuring heart change or a renewed mind? Thoughts??

Next Hills for Mountain

Our Leadership at Mountain has identified 4 big hills for us to take in the coming years.  Our mission has long been to make disciples-more and better disciples, but we have sensed that God was calling us to think "off the map" or beyond our church walls.  Toward that end we have identified the following hills and challenged our staff and leaders forward. 

First, we want to reach more, grow deep.  Basically, this is to continue striving towards our mission.  We don't want to ever let up at either end of our mission.  We want our hearts to burn with the burden to help people find their way back to God AND we want to always feel the burden to help people keep maturing in their faith as they become better disciples. 

Second, we want to increase our community impact.  We are sensing that God is calling us beyond the walls of our church to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our community.  I think it was Rick Warren who challenged us with the question, "what if your church ceased to exist, would anyone in our community notice or care?"  Our goal is that Mountain will be known as a community that loves people and steps up to meet the needs around us.  We want to be a people that transforms society by serving others beyond our walls. 

Third, we want to continue planting churches.  Although Mountain has helped plant several churches over the years, we want to play a lead or significant role in planting churches throughout the greater Baltimore/Washington D.C. area and throughout the Northeast.  Our region is one of the largest population centers in the country but is disproportionately unchurched.  Our first project is launching in White Marsh, MD on March 5, 2006 (communitycc.net).  We are sending 250 people, 4 staff members, and loads of startup cash.  We are already looking forward to where God would have us go next - Annapolis, Columbia, Hunt Valley, Aberdeen, Towson?  We're shooting for 20 new churches by 2020. 

Finally, we sense God calling us to step up as a resource church.  We know that God has blessed us and now we are responsible to share with others.  We want to invite other churches to take part in our leadership training opportunities offered throughout each ministry.  (For example, four area churches recently took part in a leadership training event for small group leaders and coaches.)  We also want to make our staff available to area churches for consultation and as resources.  Our goal is that other churches in our region sense that we are their partners in a Kingdom work to build Christ's body which is much grander in scale than any of our individual congregations.

First Blog Attempt

This is my first blog attempt.  I'm stepping cautiously into the blogging world and look forward to the dialogue.  The title of this blog is from Matthew 11:28-30, The Message, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly." 

All too often I find myself becoming tired, worn out, and more than a little burned out (especially with religion), and I need this simple reminder that this is not what Jesus intended.  I find myself longing for a real rest and to learn the unforced rhythms of grace and how to live freely and lightly.