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Missions
Thoughts on Gaining Traction in Northampton.
Traction: From the Medieval Latin tracti, tractin-, from Latin tractus, past participle of trahere, to pull, draw.], 1.e., Adhesive friction, as of a wheel on a track or a tire on a road.
Since the turn of 2012, I've found myself noticing and referring to the sense that imagine/Northampton is gaining a little traction with our mission in these parts. It feels as if we've begun to turn a corner of sorts. We are "adhering" to the city a bit; gaining a frictive foothold so to speak.
It's been three and a half years since our arrival - a tough three and a half for sure. This church planting stuff ain't for the faint of heart. I've not felt the traction of which I now speak.
So why do I say we're "gaining traction?"
Well first, it appears God is beginning to bless our perseverance in the face of trials, discouragements, pressures within and without, a myriad of spiritual attacks, and our own ineptitude being rookies at this church planting enterprise, to name a few. We still have serious financial pressures, but there are glimmers of relief. God seems to be showing us favor in that people, not just imagineurians, speak of us as a reality; they pray for us and refer people to our doors.
Also, in late 2011, we began to see folks sticking around. We've had people checking us out almost from the beginning, but they'd not stay. Now we have students from Smith, a few young families, and couples, talented musicians on the verge of becoming a Worship Team, a spunky survivor of woman in her 60's, a jazz trio of considerable potential, people with servant hearts, visual artists and a dancer, and kids full of life. We're beginning to bust out of our little space. We are also seeing a little multi-cultural diversity. We want more of that, Lord! Draw us further into your will, Father!
People who are adhering and have been so for awhile, talk of what they value in our church ethos and DNA. They refer to imagine as "our church," or "my church." Most thrilling to me is they're embracing (all at their own pace, of course), our mission of "helping people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine." They are taking it seriously, and working at deepening personal intimacy with Jesus while also striving to live out the Kingdom missional way of life devoted to loving and serving people who yet cannot see him. Their response is a dream come true for me. It makes my heart sing, giving refreshing grace to the burdens we've carried to plant imagine from a wisp of thought.
Another marvelous development is imagineurians are inviting friends to come to our gatherings, both Sunday mornings and the inward/OUTWARD Missional Cohort. They didn't really do that before - there were exceptions to that. Their willingness is a kind of "come and see" freedom beginning to settle into our hearts. When everyone wants others to experience what they've some to value, we're moving toward the heart of our Kingdom mission. By the way, I'm not saying we identify traction mostly by how many people "come to church" on Sunday. Far from it. We identify traction as imagineurians sacrificially loving and serving people in their families, neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, etc. We recognize traction when imagineurians love the least of God's people or the pariahs of American culture. We see traction by how deeply they are actually surrendering their hearts to Jesus, and offering him the best of their lives, not the leftovers. We confirm traction based on how much grace we actually accept, and how much grace we all routinely offer others.
I also recognize traction in the fact that many of the the homeless in town know who we are, and we remain committed to helping them find life in the Life-giving Lover of their souls. We long for the day when they will feel loved enough by us enough to join our community.
In sum, another of my hopes for this year is that this traction to which I refer will settle to a firm foothold, and then generate the sinking of a deep taproot from which we'll grow fruit full of seeds to be transplanted elsewhere.
Since the turn of 2012, I've found myself noticing and referring to the sense that imagine/Northampton is gaining a little traction with our mission in these parts. It feels as if we've begun to turn a corner of sorts. We are "adhering" to the city a bit; gaining a frictive foothold so to speak.
It's been three and a half years since our arrival - a tough three and a half for sure. This church planting stuff ain't for the faint of heart. I've not felt the traction of which I now speak.
So why do I say we're "gaining traction?"
Well first, it appears God is beginning to bless our perseverance in the face of trials, discouragements, pressures within and without, a myriad of spiritual attacks, and our own ineptitude being rookies at this church planting enterprise, to name a few. We still have serious financial pressures, but there are glimmers of relief. God seems to be showing us favor in that people, not just imagineurians, speak of us as a reality; they pray for us and refer people to our doors.
Also, in late 2011, we began to see folks sticking around. We've had people checking us out almost from the beginning, but they'd not stay. Now we have students from Smith, a few young families, and couples, talented musicians on the verge of becoming a Worship Team, a spunky survivor of woman in her 60's, a jazz trio of considerable potential, people with servant hearts, visual artists and a dancer, and kids full of life. We're beginning to bust out of our little space. We are also seeing a little multi-cultural diversity. We want more of that, Lord! Draw us further into your will, Father!
People who are adhering and have been so for awhile, talk of what they value in our church ethos and DNA. They refer to imagine as "our church," or "my church." Most thrilling to me is they're embracing (all at their own pace, of course), our mission of "helping people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine." They are taking it seriously, and working at deepening personal intimacy with Jesus while also striving to live out the Kingdom missional way of life devoted to loving and serving people who yet cannot see him. Their response is a dream come true for me. It makes my heart sing, giving refreshing grace to the burdens we've carried to plant imagine from a wisp of thought.
Another marvelous development is imagineurians are inviting friends to come to our gatherings, both Sunday mornings and the inward/OUTWARD Missional Cohort. They didn't really do that before - there were exceptions to that. Their willingness is a kind of "come and see" freedom beginning to settle into our hearts. When everyone wants others to experience what they've some to value, we're moving toward the heart of our Kingdom mission. By the way, I'm not saying we identify traction mostly by how many people "come to church" on Sunday. Far from it. We identify traction as imagineurians sacrificially loving and serving people in their families, neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, etc. We recognize traction when imagineurians love the least of God's people or the pariahs of American culture. We see traction by how deeply they are actually surrendering their hearts to Jesus, and offering him the best of their lives, not the leftovers. We confirm traction based on how much grace we actually accept, and how much grace we all routinely offer others.
I also recognize traction in the fact that many of the the homeless in town know who we are, and we remain committed to helping them find life in the Life-giving Lover of their souls. We long for the day when they will feel loved enough by us enough to join our community.
In sum, another of my hopes for this year is that this traction to which I refer will settle to a firm foothold, and then generate the sinking of a deep taproot from which we'll grow fruit full of seeds to be transplanted elsewhere.
Categories: Missions
Engendering a Culture of Spiritually Fecund Leaders and Jesus-Followers, Part 2.
Continuing with Part 2 of our response to the question put: how can we engender that sort of leadership, that conviction that it is the "normal christian life" I'll begin by averring that a spiritually fecund culture I began describing in Part 1 will gradually be characterized by individual and corporate devotion to Christ, the One who is ever alive and present in our midst, coupled with a consequent lived-out devotion to what matters most to him. Character development, then I think, becomes centered in spiritual formation lived out by sacrificial love and service as the way of life.
In my mind, that means at least three things - under the guidance and with the help of the Holy Spirit of course: 1.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for their emotional and relational health/maturing; 2.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for their on-going spiritual growth; 3.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for embracing God's mission, culminating in embodying the Gospel of Christ in a person's world.
Let me set the stage of bit. Beginning at age 35, the Holy Spirit began to pull me into the world of inner healing, first my own healing, then Tricia's. It took a couple of years. But the end of my soul work, a leash to self-hatred and fear had been cut. I was freed. I knew what it felt like and looked like. I knew how God did it.
Very soon after, God brought someone to us and our 26 years of inner healing and counseling began. Over the course of those years, I started to notice an unmistakable pattern emerge. I saw that men and women who decided to "own" their responsibility for pursuing healing got better. Those who didn't, for the most part stayed bound to their pain and/or darkness. They dwelt in immaturity unawares. It soon was plain to me that an engaged will cooperating with the freeing work of the Holy Spirit increased a likelihood for emotional, psychological and relational maturing. Conversely, when people came to my office looking mostly to blame others, find an easy, painless fix, or were not really serious about heading into distress, fear, and sin, it never went well and they remained spiritually infantile or adolescent . . . again unawares.
To the point of this blog, engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers requires leaders model and facilitate, i.e., foster the setting where wills are motivated to engage such spiritual maturing because spiritual maturing is communicated as the desired Christian life, and opportunities for such growth are many. In such a cultural atmosphere, people become well aware that emotional and relational maturing is not solely the job of the pastors, elders, Sunday School teachers, small group leaders or "spiritual parents." People are poked graciously, creatively and often to "do what it takes" to mature, as well as, heal rifts between one another. Help is generously offered, but people must step up and engage. Then again, time, emotional and relational growth is not seen as an end in itself. Rather, it is viewed as a gradual spiritual tempering and tuning, deepening character and making one fit for the Kingdom work to which he or she has been summoned.
Therefore, in my eyes, emotional and relational maturing is foundational to engendering a culture of spiritually fecund leaders and Jesus followers. Graciously expecting everyone is summoned to do such internal work themselves as the Spirit prompts is a Kingdom enterprise of leaders no matter how programmatic their church milieu. If it's not done, a church can wind up with perpetual "feed me" spectators, and burning out leaders scrambling to pour milk into all the open mouths gaping from one week to the next.
In my work helping people free and grow up, I also realized those who pursued (as the normal Christian life) knowing Jesus intimately became spiritual leaders from their heart-driven following of him. Merely going to services on Sunday to sing, hear a good, uplifting sermon, and be prayed for after church was not enough for them. They took and held responsibility for finding and using the richness of what God made available to the Church for learning and followed hard from a surrendered heart and an informed mind. I liken it to becoming deeply knowledgeable or skilled with the essentials of one's work. There is investment and motivation and individual effort. Such people don't have to be enticed, or prodded. They embrace Jesus, His Gospel and Kingdom mission as their primary identity out of which all life flows - their normal Christian life.
Therefore, engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers in this regard means being less: "well, how about if we do this or offer that? Maybe this will be an exciting sermon series, or let's bring in that big gun, or have you heard about what's going on with revival over there; how about we get in on that? I'm not saying new ideas or nascent moves of the Spirit are to be ignored outright, but the discipling bar has to be held high, and kept there, not as some legalistic super-spiritual club for elites, but as an inestimable treasure, well-worth everyone giving their all for, even if a person's life is a mess and it's going need some fixing. Spiritually fecund leadership and followership must reflect a passionate longing and resiling dedication for the glory of God manifested, so the bent-over are given generous dollops of the Good News. It's a matter of the heart in leaders and followers; what it truly desires . Hungering for spiritual growth and maturing is like glimpsing the beauty of heaven's standing invitation because one is family member, and spending life pursuing it, and then out of a joyous overflow, reflecting the family values to family members who've never dreamed they're invited.
I'll close my post with the idea that engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers will be a training environment, particularly as it pertains to fostering a growing embrace of God's Mission culminating in embodying the Gospel of Christ in a person's world. Everyone in church communities should be gradually trained to recognize they are a Kingdom missionary selected by God, sent into the world under the guidance of the Holy Spirit "to proclaim the excellencies of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light," (1Peter 2:9), and to enflesh his love through sacrificial service and manifesting the good. The Gospel mission of God is entrusted to the people of God, each and every one. It is their calling and their completing.
Therefore the normal Christian life is life on mission. Church leaders are tethered to the task of proclaiming, modeling, counseling, exhorting, encouraging, and inspiring people to follow Christ into their neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, towns and cities - ready to live the Gospel in a way others can make it out, and be intrigued (even if,at first, they're antagonistic, by the way). Leaders do well to communicate the reality of the call in a way that people can see it's really possible for "ordinary ol'" them to take up the mission. It will require patience and time to help people unlock or open to the possibility God uses folks, and the story they have to tell of how Jesus moved into their lives, changing the whole deal.
Leaders also need to train people how to overcome the relentless intimidation (at least, at first) of their adversary who assaults them with fear, lulls them into spiritual sleepwalking, or obstructs with life's exasperating entanglements and roadblocks. They must be given spiritual eyes to see (read discern) the tricks and subterfuges of the one who seeks to grind them down, turn them aside, or trap them in labyrinths of sin. He's part of the missional landscape, but we've the Cross, the Resurrection, the Scriptures and Spirit.
Leaders give them spiritual tools for the fight and fight along side them. Spiritual fecundity grows strong in the fight when people press on because Christ in them has overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.
By the way, lest I sound insensitive to the reality of crippling human pain, sorrow and suffering, I'm not. I know what it looks like from the work I've done, and what my family has endured. I've been asked to help in almost every variation of evil possible within the human condition, at least in my various necks of the woods. I agree leaders must create healing communities as well where the wounded and breaking can come to rest and refresh. Sometimes that takes a while . . . a long while. Occasionally, there are tragic casualties. The world we find ourselves in gives place to the church as a sanctuary and spiritual hospital. Our leaders are to help care for the sick, wounded and deeply tired or severely broken in our midst as they are also training up people to: mature emotionally and relationally, take responsibility for their spiritual growth, and enter the mission of the Kingdom in their sphere's of influence.
I know there's much more to be said about this spiritual fecundity business, but I'll let you chew on what I've offered for awhile.
I'd love to hear your questions and concerns.
In my mind, that means at least three things - under the guidance and with the help of the Holy Spirit of course: 1.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for their emotional and relational health/maturing; 2.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for their on-going spiritual growth; 3.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for embracing God's mission, culminating in embodying the Gospel of Christ in a person's world.
Let me set the stage of bit. Beginning at age 35, the Holy Spirit began to pull me into the world of inner healing, first my own healing, then Tricia's. It took a couple of years. But the end of my soul work, a leash to self-hatred and fear had been cut. I was freed. I knew what it felt like and looked like. I knew how God did it.
Very soon after, God brought someone to us and our 26 years of inner healing and counseling began. Over the course of those years, I started to notice an unmistakable pattern emerge. I saw that men and women who decided to "own" their responsibility for pursuing healing got better. Those who didn't, for the most part stayed bound to their pain and/or darkness. They dwelt in immaturity unawares. It soon was plain to me that an engaged will cooperating with the freeing work of the Holy Spirit increased a likelihood for emotional, psychological and relational maturing. Conversely, when people came to my office looking mostly to blame others, find an easy, painless fix, or were not really serious about heading into distress, fear, and sin, it never went well and they remained spiritually infantile or adolescent . . . again unawares.
To the point of this blog, engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers requires leaders model and facilitate, i.e., foster the setting where wills are motivated to engage such spiritual maturing because spiritual maturing is communicated as the desired Christian life, and opportunities for such growth are many. In such a cultural atmosphere, people become well aware that emotional and relational maturing is not solely the job of the pastors, elders, Sunday School teachers, small group leaders or "spiritual parents." People are poked graciously, creatively and often to "do what it takes" to mature, as well as, heal rifts between one another. Help is generously offered, but people must step up and engage. Then again, time, emotional and relational growth is not seen as an end in itself. Rather, it is viewed as a gradual spiritual tempering and tuning, deepening character and making one fit for the Kingdom work to which he or she has been summoned.
Therefore, in my eyes, emotional and relational maturing is foundational to engendering a culture of spiritually fecund leaders and Jesus followers. Graciously expecting everyone is summoned to do such internal work themselves as the Spirit prompts is a Kingdom enterprise of leaders no matter how programmatic their church milieu. If it's not done, a church can wind up with perpetual "feed me" spectators, and burning out leaders scrambling to pour milk into all the open mouths gaping from one week to the next.
In my work helping people free and grow up, I also realized those who pursued (as the normal Christian life) knowing Jesus intimately became spiritual leaders from their heart-driven following of him. Merely going to services on Sunday to sing, hear a good, uplifting sermon, and be prayed for after church was not enough for them. They took and held responsibility for finding and using the richness of what God made available to the Church for learning and followed hard from a surrendered heart and an informed mind. I liken it to becoming deeply knowledgeable or skilled with the essentials of one's work. There is investment and motivation and individual effort. Such people don't have to be enticed, or prodded. They embrace Jesus, His Gospel and Kingdom mission as their primary identity out of which all life flows - their normal Christian life.
Therefore, engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers in this regard means being less: "well, how about if we do this or offer that? Maybe this will be an exciting sermon series, or let's bring in that big gun, or have you heard about what's going on with revival over there; how about we get in on that? I'm not saying new ideas or nascent moves of the Spirit are to be ignored outright, but the discipling bar has to be held high, and kept there, not as some legalistic super-spiritual club for elites, but as an inestimable treasure, well-worth everyone giving their all for, even if a person's life is a mess and it's going need some fixing. Spiritually fecund leadership and followership must reflect a passionate longing and resiling dedication for the glory of God manifested, so the bent-over are given generous dollops of the Good News. It's a matter of the heart in leaders and followers; what it truly desires . Hungering for spiritual growth and maturing is like glimpsing the beauty of heaven's standing invitation because one is family member, and spending life pursuing it, and then out of a joyous overflow, reflecting the family values to family members who've never dreamed they're invited.
I'll close my post with the idea that engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers will be a training environment, particularly as it pertains to fostering a growing embrace of God's Mission culminating in embodying the Gospel of Christ in a person's world. Everyone in church communities should be gradually trained to recognize they are a Kingdom missionary selected by God, sent into the world under the guidance of the Holy Spirit "to proclaim the excellencies of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light," (1Peter 2:9), and to enflesh his love through sacrificial service and manifesting the good. The Gospel mission of God is entrusted to the people of God, each and every one. It is their calling and their completing.
Therefore the normal Christian life is life on mission. Church leaders are tethered to the task of proclaiming, modeling, counseling, exhorting, encouraging, and inspiring people to follow Christ into their neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, towns and cities - ready to live the Gospel in a way others can make it out, and be intrigued (even if,at first, they're antagonistic, by the way). Leaders do well to communicate the reality of the call in a way that people can see it's really possible for "ordinary ol'" them to take up the mission. It will require patience and time to help people unlock or open to the possibility God uses folks, and the story they have to tell of how Jesus moved into their lives, changing the whole deal.
Leaders also need to train people how to overcome the relentless intimidation (at least, at first) of their adversary who assaults them with fear, lulls them into spiritual sleepwalking, or obstructs with life's exasperating entanglements and roadblocks. They must be given spiritual eyes to see (read discern) the tricks and subterfuges of the one who seeks to grind them down, turn them aside, or trap them in labyrinths of sin. He's part of the missional landscape, but we've the Cross, the Resurrection, the Scriptures and Spirit.
Leaders give them spiritual tools for the fight and fight along side them. Spiritual fecundity grows strong in the fight when people press on because Christ in them has overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.
By the way, lest I sound insensitive to the reality of crippling human pain, sorrow and suffering, I'm not. I know what it looks like from the work I've done, and what my family has endured. I've been asked to help in almost every variation of evil possible within the human condition, at least in my various necks of the woods. I agree leaders must create healing communities as well where the wounded and breaking can come to rest and refresh. Sometimes that takes a while . . . a long while. Occasionally, there are tragic casualties. The world we find ourselves in gives place to the church as a sanctuary and spiritual hospital. Our leaders are to help care for the sick, wounded and deeply tired or severely broken in our midst as they are also training up people to: mature emotionally and relationally, take responsibility for their spiritual growth, and enter the mission of the Kingdom in their sphere's of influence.
I know there's much more to be said about this spiritual fecundity business, but I'll let you chew on what I've offered for awhile.
I'd love to hear your questions and concerns.
Categories: Missions
Village Fire
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var fo47_1 = { params : { wmode : "opaque", allowfullscreen : "true", bgcolor : "#FFFFFF"}, flashvars : { langOpenImage : "Open Image in New Window", langAbout : "About", xmlURL : "http://garrett.with.sim.org/prayer/wp-content/plugins/nextgen-flashviewer/xml/autoviewer.php?gid=47"}, attr : { styleclass : "autoviewer"}, start : function() { swfobject.embedSWF("http://garrett.with.sim.org/prayer/wp-content/plugins/nggflash-swf/autoviewer.swf", "fo47_1", "500", "375", "7.0.0", false, this.flashvars, this.params , this.attr ); } } fo47_1.start();Many of you may remember the village that we worked in from ’03-’07. We had Bible storying groups, did projects, and built many special relationships. My (Corey’s) namesake lives in this village. The week before last we heard that there had been a fire and went out to visit and see how we could help. The fire didn’t touch our closest friends but did basically wipe out one large extended family’s compound – a total of nine married couples’ homes. We were able to discuss with the affected men how we could best help them and took out later that day the basic initial needs–grain for food, mats for sleeping, buckets for carrying water, cement for starting to rebuild. Because of our history we were able to clearly give the help in the name of Jesus and briefly recall to them the gospel.
The funds came from many of you who contributed in the past to the Disaster Relief Project, which is an account that we can use to respond to disasters here in the Kaffrine area. This is an important ministry, as many of the villages have no other help after a fire. In another nearby village where we were able to help in response to a serious fire last year, there were two NGO’s who sent representatives to survey the damage – both groups promised to bring specific desperately needed items, and then they never brought anything!
We were able to visit with our good friends, particularly with the family of my namesake. It was good to catch up as we hadn’t been to visit in quite a while. Pray for these folks that this reminder of Christ’s love for them would stir them to renewed reflection on Him and His offer of real life.
Categories: Missions
Engendering a Culture of Spiritually Fecund Leaders and Jesus-Followers, Part 1.
Recently someone asked me to offer my thoughts on " how can we engender that sort of leadership, that conviction that it is the "normal christian life"? The question came in response to a recent blog I'd written called Character and Spiritual Formation: Fitness for the Work: http://oldmenplantingchurches.blogspot.com/2011/11/character-and-spiritual-formation.html. In it, I highlighted five character qualities I saw in folks who exemplified to me the "normal Christian life": (humility; (people taking)responsibility for their own spiritual growth and character development; (they having the) desireto serve, and when they accepted responsibility, they followed through; (a) penchantfor hard work; and love (for God and for others because they were convinced he deeply loved them). I admired such folks whether they were in formal leadership roles or not.
I love this question because it's one I've wrestled with over my almost 40 years of Christian life. For some reason and from the beginning, I thought that my salvific encounter with Jesus was supposed to change everything: how I thought; how I acted; what I desired; what mattered to me; how I'd spend my time and effort; what my core values should express, and whether I could be anywhere near authentic in this following Jesus business. Before I knew anything Scriptural or theological, I somehow understood that what overtook me was a "sea-change;" an existential revolution which couldn't be adequately measured by which local church I attended, or not cussin', drinkin', and smokin,' (or not being around those who do), looking, talking, and praying a certain way, or being nice. It quickly didn't make a great deal of difference to me if I read the officially authorized Bible version, what music I should or shouldn't listen to, whether I prayed in tongues, was Calvinist or Arminian, or whether I thought women could be in leadership over men. Even in my spiritual toddlership, I was becoming fairly aware of the manifold positions people held in Christendom, and the controversies they sparked, but none of it gained much traction my heart for very long.
The change Jesus wrought in me owned my heart in ways I couldn't comprehend yet.
As a result, what seemed to persistently spark my imagination and fill me with wonder (even in the dark and dry times - I've had plenty), was the reality of this living God/man - Savior/Lord Jesus, the Christ. A decade into it when I found out I could hear his voice through the indwelling Holy Spirit, I experienced healing, and learned a depth of intimacy which eventually led to the ministry Tricia and I would live and teach for almost 25 years now. Then as I've written about previously, two years before moving to Northampton, I was also profoundly changed by the ancient Christian belief that I was summoned to reflect the Kingdom reign of God by loving and serving people who can't or won't see him. I'd spent most of my ministry life helping his people come to and sojourn near the heart of God. Now, I was also supposed "go out" and help the "stranger" accept God's gracious offering of friendship.
Intimacy and Mission came together for me.
They are still joined in my eyes and heart.
Why that's important to the question I'm addressing is because I'm convinced engendering a servant and servant-leadership culture in the local church begins with enticing people all the time to open their hearts to the ravishing and intimate love of God, including men. People's hearts can fall into slumber or grow lukewarm while their outward churchianity stays in tact. It's slowly morphs spiritual sleepwalking or becomes brittle in a shallow religiosity. Church culture offers people routines to follow. It's all predictable and scheduled. They show up, but not necessarily awake to Christ.
Penetrating, life-altering spiritual transformation, on the other hand, happens most profoundly in the furnace of God's love over time. So, the first thing necessary to such a spiritual culture of transformation is pastors, elders, teachers, and other leaders eager and willing to reflect, with a growing transparency, how they are being transformed by Christ's love for them. He needs to be talked about and referred to in the present tense, coming from the experience of encountering him in prayer, worship, conversation, retreats, study, serving, and on and on. Jesus is the point, and the exclamation mark. Such leaders also need also to wrestle persistently with their own soul numbness and habits of religious routine which can slowly deaden spiritual responsiveness to the Holy Spirit's enticing.
The fact is leaders become spiritual catalysts when they lead from their tethered hearts earnestly pursuing his heart, including the deepest thinkers in the church. I'm not talking about mindless, sentimental manipulating of feelings, I hope you realize. Right thinking married to enchantment over the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit balances the Christian mind and heart. Anyone leading from such an informed heart, and motivated to connect others hearts to the heart of God, does so because he or she has practiced abiding in his love (an act of the will at first), and then becoming a tireless, courageous advocate of people's need to learn to live freely from there.
Engendering a spiritually fecund culture is also viewing everyone showing up as a Jesus-follower on the way, or in potential. Each person is graciously enticed to take or head deeper into Kingdom mission as a way of life. The Kingdom and the Missio Dei are not spectator sports. They're not programs, campaigns or discrete experiences to be savored as mountaintops along the way. Becoming and remaining an intimately devoted follower of Christ is the biblical, normal Christian life. While we more than likely will have seasons of rest, illness or preparation or temporary derailment in the course of our following, our primary call and identity never changes.
Therefore, spiritually fecund leaders fulfill their roles best, in my opinion, by transparently embodying, teaching, and kindly exhorting life in and with Jesus. They've been given a calling to communicate him as really alive and really with us, 24/7. While church cultures, especially as they grow large, require all sorts of routine operations and staff management, problem-solving, program management, and keeping the ship on course, all of that should never supersede alluring people come to see, surrender to, and follow Jesus whose life animates it all. Conviction about the normal Christian life gathers around Emmanuel. The closer we come to him daily (intimacy), the nearer we come to the normal Christian life (spiritual fecundity).
In Part 2, we'll look at the need for character development that becomes centered in spiritual formation lived out in sacrificial love and service as the way of life.
I love this question because it's one I've wrestled with over my almost 40 years of Christian life. For some reason and from the beginning, I thought that my salvific encounter with Jesus was supposed to change everything: how I thought; how I acted; what I desired; what mattered to me; how I'd spend my time and effort; what my core values should express, and whether I could be anywhere near authentic in this following Jesus business. Before I knew anything Scriptural or theological, I somehow understood that what overtook me was a "sea-change;" an existential revolution which couldn't be adequately measured by which local church I attended, or not cussin', drinkin', and smokin,' (or not being around those who do), looking, talking, and praying a certain way, or being nice. It quickly didn't make a great deal of difference to me if I read the officially authorized Bible version, what music I should or shouldn't listen to, whether I prayed in tongues, was Calvinist or Arminian, or whether I thought women could be in leadership over men. Even in my spiritual toddlership, I was becoming fairly aware of the manifold positions people held in Christendom, and the controversies they sparked, but none of it gained much traction my heart for very long.
The change Jesus wrought in me owned my heart in ways I couldn't comprehend yet.
As a result, what seemed to persistently spark my imagination and fill me with wonder (even in the dark and dry times - I've had plenty), was the reality of this living God/man - Savior/Lord Jesus, the Christ. A decade into it when I found out I could hear his voice through the indwelling Holy Spirit, I experienced healing, and learned a depth of intimacy which eventually led to the ministry Tricia and I would live and teach for almost 25 years now. Then as I've written about previously, two years before moving to Northampton, I was also profoundly changed by the ancient Christian belief that I was summoned to reflect the Kingdom reign of God by loving and serving people who can't or won't see him. I'd spent most of my ministry life helping his people come to and sojourn near the heart of God. Now, I was also supposed "go out" and help the "stranger" accept God's gracious offering of friendship.
Intimacy and Mission came together for me.
They are still joined in my eyes and heart.
Why that's important to the question I'm addressing is because I'm convinced engendering a servant and servant-leadership culture in the local church begins with enticing people all the time to open their hearts to the ravishing and intimate love of God, including men. People's hearts can fall into slumber or grow lukewarm while their outward churchianity stays in tact. It's slowly morphs spiritual sleepwalking or becomes brittle in a shallow religiosity. Church culture offers people routines to follow. It's all predictable and scheduled. They show up, but not necessarily awake to Christ.
Penetrating, life-altering spiritual transformation, on the other hand, happens most profoundly in the furnace of God's love over time. So, the first thing necessary to such a spiritual culture of transformation is pastors, elders, teachers, and other leaders eager and willing to reflect, with a growing transparency, how they are being transformed by Christ's love for them. He needs to be talked about and referred to in the present tense, coming from the experience of encountering him in prayer, worship, conversation, retreats, study, serving, and on and on. Jesus is the point, and the exclamation mark. Such leaders also need also to wrestle persistently with their own soul numbness and habits of religious routine which can slowly deaden spiritual responsiveness to the Holy Spirit's enticing.
The fact is leaders become spiritual catalysts when they lead from their tethered hearts earnestly pursuing his heart, including the deepest thinkers in the church. I'm not talking about mindless, sentimental manipulating of feelings, I hope you realize. Right thinking married to enchantment over the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit balances the Christian mind and heart. Anyone leading from such an informed heart, and motivated to connect others hearts to the heart of God, does so because he or she has practiced abiding in his love (an act of the will at first), and then becoming a tireless, courageous advocate of people's need to learn to live freely from there.
Engendering a spiritually fecund culture is also viewing everyone showing up as a Jesus-follower on the way, or in potential. Each person is graciously enticed to take or head deeper into Kingdom mission as a way of life. The Kingdom and the Missio Dei are not spectator sports. They're not programs, campaigns or discrete experiences to be savored as mountaintops along the way. Becoming and remaining an intimately devoted follower of Christ is the biblical, normal Christian life. While we more than likely will have seasons of rest, illness or preparation or temporary derailment in the course of our following, our primary call and identity never changes.
Therefore, spiritually fecund leaders fulfill their roles best, in my opinion, by transparently embodying, teaching, and kindly exhorting life in and with Jesus. They've been given a calling to communicate him as really alive and really with us, 24/7. While church cultures, especially as they grow large, require all sorts of routine operations and staff management, problem-solving, program management, and keeping the ship on course, all of that should never supersede alluring people come to see, surrender to, and follow Jesus whose life animates it all. Conviction about the normal Christian life gathers around Emmanuel. The closer we come to him daily (intimacy), the nearer we come to the normal Christian life (spiritual fecundity).
In Part 2, we'll look at the need for character development that becomes centered in spiritual formation lived out in sacrificial love and service as the way of life.
Categories: Missions
Thoughts on imagine's First inward/OUTWARD Missional Cohort, January 11, 2012
Ever since we started dreaming in Simsbury about how we were going to become imagine/Northampton, we knew that having some sort of small group culture would be an essential part of our DNA. One of my very first experiences of church was spending seven spiritually formative years in a small house church of Christian artists. I learned the meaning of communitas there, especially regarding companionship in Christ. We had some flaws, but we were genuinely in each others lives.
So as Jim, Tricia, Catherine and I were developing the concept of imagine/Northampton prior to even having a Launch Team, we knew at some point we'd need to provide the spiritual/missional richness of small group church culture. But before I go any further, I should note we are a small group already because we are a small church. And too, in the last three and a half years, we've gathered in all manner of small group configurations such as imagine/WORSHIP, missional outreach projects, workshops, brainstorming sessions, brunches, picnics and parties, creative events, Visionation meetings, 1FlightUP, the Leadership Team, and soon: the Creative Arts Team. None were the species of small group we knew we'd need to put in place.
To that end, last year, the Holy Spirit repeatedly prompted me to conceptualize, put together and offer, with Tricia, the first inward/OUTWARD Spiritual Formation Workshop (subsequently changing the name to the inward/OUTWARD Mission Formation Workshop for its second iteration) designed to link the spiritual disciplines promoting intimacy with Jesus with the outward disciplines of the missional mindset central to closely and persistently following him.
The Holy Spirit also made me aware that from the workshop, we could form an inward/OUTWARD Missional Cohort. I picked the word "cohort" to capture the notion of a group of dedicated companions associated in a common cause that would be difficult to do - communitas. It's an ancient Roman military term that I think accurately reflects the missional life in the midst of very real spiritual warfare, particularly as Christ-followers start to make real inroads into the community and people open to discover and follow Christ. I know Christ or the Church never adopted the term, but I think it fits, especially because it can become a communitas culture. I don't want to overstate the Military or battle side of it, however.
In essence, the i/O Missional Cohort is a training environment. In each gathering, we begin by silence and settling. We pray - including listening prayer - for the needs of Northampton, each other, people we are praying for individually, and working to build relationships with, plus imagine's Kingdom mission to Northampton. We all dialogue about Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}what God is teaching each of us; how we see him working in and through us, and what we're working on: the attempts, insights, opportunities, challenges, struggles,obstacles, spiritual battles and breakthroughs we experience during the week.Over the course of the weeks, we'll also read helpful articles, and look at the Scriptures. As it seems right to us and the Holy Spirit at any point in our journey together, we may even embark on a short-term missional project or trip together. We'll see.
So last Wednesday evening we set out on our maiden voyage ensconced in our Main Street apartment. There were 13 of us. We'll add 2 more this Wednesday. I have to say it set an atmosphere where you could sense the presence of the Holy Spirit. I don't say that all the time. People were open, vulnerable, real and engaged. It felt they really wanted to be there; to head out on this opportunity to help each other learn a growing intimacy from Christ, and from there, follow him into the Kingdom mission he has for each of us and all of us. The energy was high and people connected with one another. In fact, we hung out for another half hour around a lavish spread Tricia had made. People seemed to like being together, building relationships and sharing life.
A pleasant surprise for me was the relational atmosphere and spiritual tone the gathering had for me, and I think Tricia as well; an unmistakable" feel" we used to experience when we'd lead Listening in Christ Retreats at the Center For Renewal in Simsbury. Something transcending happens when a group opens to the Spirit and thus one another. We let out our common humanity and our desire to know God more and be found in his will. I think this "feel" was most in evidence when we prayed for Jenn, anointing her with oil and asking for all that God wanted for her in our learning and mission together. Hearts are knitted together in such intimate prayer. I love that!
My deepest hope for this group and the groups which follow if God so opens the way, is we'll experience a depth of unselfconscious intimacy with the magnificent One who has deep affection for us, our desire to make him real to others could become infectious, or "viral," if you like. What we experience might even be shared naturally, and God will be magnified.
Tall order . . . astounding God . . . and he's gotten the likes of us this far . . .
So as Jim, Tricia, Catherine and I were developing the concept of imagine/Northampton prior to even having a Launch Team, we knew at some point we'd need to provide the spiritual/missional richness of small group church culture. But before I go any further, I should note we are a small group already because we are a small church. And too, in the last three and a half years, we've gathered in all manner of small group configurations such as imagine/WORSHIP, missional outreach projects, workshops, brainstorming sessions, brunches, picnics and parties, creative events, Visionation meetings, 1FlightUP, the Leadership Team, and soon: the Creative Arts Team. None were the species of small group we knew we'd need to put in place.
To that end, last year, the Holy Spirit repeatedly prompted me to conceptualize, put together and offer, with Tricia, the first inward/OUTWARD Spiritual Formation Workshop (subsequently changing the name to the inward/OUTWARD Mission Formation Workshop for its second iteration) designed to link the spiritual disciplines promoting intimacy with Jesus with the outward disciplines of the missional mindset central to closely and persistently following him.
The Holy Spirit also made me aware that from the workshop, we could form an inward/OUTWARD Missional Cohort. I picked the word "cohort" to capture the notion of a group of dedicated companions associated in a common cause that would be difficult to do - communitas. It's an ancient Roman military term that I think accurately reflects the missional life in the midst of very real spiritual warfare, particularly as Christ-followers start to make real inroads into the community and people open to discover and follow Christ. I know Christ or the Church never adopted the term, but I think it fits, especially because it can become a communitas culture. I don't want to overstate the Military or battle side of it, however.
In essence, the i/O Missional Cohort is a training environment. In each gathering, we begin by silence and settling. We pray - including listening prayer - for the needs of Northampton, each other, people we are praying for individually, and working to build relationships with, plus imagine's Kingdom mission to Northampton. We all dialogue about Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}what God is teaching each of us; how we see him working in and through us, and what we're working on: the attempts, insights, opportunities, challenges, struggles,obstacles, spiritual battles and breakthroughs we experience during the week.Over the course of the weeks, we'll also read helpful articles, and look at the Scriptures. As it seems right to us and the Holy Spirit at any point in our journey together, we may even embark on a short-term missional project or trip together. We'll see.
So last Wednesday evening we set out on our maiden voyage ensconced in our Main Street apartment. There were 13 of us. We'll add 2 more this Wednesday. I have to say it set an atmosphere where you could sense the presence of the Holy Spirit. I don't say that all the time. People were open, vulnerable, real and engaged. It felt they really wanted to be there; to head out on this opportunity to help each other learn a growing intimacy from Christ, and from there, follow him into the Kingdom mission he has for each of us and all of us. The energy was high and people connected with one another. In fact, we hung out for another half hour around a lavish spread Tricia had made. People seemed to like being together, building relationships and sharing life.
A pleasant surprise for me was the relational atmosphere and spiritual tone the gathering had for me, and I think Tricia as well; an unmistakable" feel" we used to experience when we'd lead Listening in Christ Retreats at the Center For Renewal in Simsbury. Something transcending happens when a group opens to the Spirit and thus one another. We let out our common humanity and our desire to know God more and be found in his will. I think this "feel" was most in evidence when we prayed for Jenn, anointing her with oil and asking for all that God wanted for her in our learning and mission together. Hearts are knitted together in such intimate prayer. I love that!
My deepest hope for this group and the groups which follow if God so opens the way, is we'll experience a depth of unselfconscious intimacy with the magnificent One who has deep affection for us, our desire to make him real to others could become infectious, or "viral," if you like. What we experience might even be shared naturally, and God will be magnified.
Tall order . . . astounding God . . . and he's gotten the likes of us this far . . .
Categories: Missions
Objective Overview of the Bible
Categories: Missions
Things I'd Like to See imagine/Northampton Accomplish in 2012.
As I sit in front of the blank screen, I'm asking myself why I'm writing this post. Well, first, writing a blog helps me clarify thoughts, ideas, hopes, dreams and concerns. The blogging process lets me explore and bring to the fore what's been percolating in my heart or resonating in my head. Sometimes it's cathartic; sometimes it answers questions with which I'm wrestling. Most times, I merely want to share what's on my mind.
Today's post is my way of articulating what I hope we'll accomplish, or at least, be heading resolutely toward in 2012. The list is not exhaustive nor is this my "Encyclical" to the church (as if I even had that place, authority or influence in the imagine community, or thought it important). I know, too, that imagine/Northampton is God's to do with as he wishes. I want him to be glorified in, through and by what we do: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He's the point. He's the means. He's the end. Ours is to obey what he desires.
Having said the above, I'm just sharing my heart a little bit:
1. We'd move to a new place where we could worship through song, where there's room enough to grow, play music with a Worship Team, and have a better place for imagineKIDS.
2. imagine/Northampton would grow, especially from new believers.Those who stay would be be plugged in and using their gifts in the Kingdom mission we have.
3. Young or new leaders would emerge and be equipped to take responsibility in leading the imagine mission in some way.
4. A Creative Arts Team would coalesce, and add to the quality, beauty and impact of our worship as well as connecting to Northampton and its arts community.
5. The CHAPTER TWO of imagine/Northampton's story (CHAPTER ONE being we're planting a church - we're planted), would be told and established effectively.
6. We'd take productive steps toward the vision of a 3rd Place in Northampton.
7. We'd grow our base of supporters, including internally.
8. 1FlightUP (our jazz trio) would establish a place in the Pioneer Valley arts community and make a difference.
9. All of us in imagine/Northampton be emboldened to graciously help anyone discover the God who is far more than they imagine.
10. Our ministry to kids would develop into one of the main reasons families come to imagine.
11. All of us would have a deepened love for Jesus, his way of life, and for people who don't know him.
12. The inward/OUTWARD Missional Small Group beginning in January would launch and establish a model for imagine's small group missional culture.
May it be as He has given, and may the above, be at the very least, a part of what He's given.
Today's post is my way of articulating what I hope we'll accomplish, or at least, be heading resolutely toward in 2012. The list is not exhaustive nor is this my "Encyclical" to the church (as if I even had that place, authority or influence in the imagine community, or thought it important). I know, too, that imagine/Northampton is God's to do with as he wishes. I want him to be glorified in, through and by what we do: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He's the point. He's the means. He's the end. Ours is to obey what he desires.
Having said the above, I'm just sharing my heart a little bit:
1. We'd move to a new place where we could worship through song, where there's room enough to grow, play music with a Worship Team, and have a better place for imagineKIDS.
2. imagine/Northampton would grow, especially from new believers.Those who stay would be be plugged in and using their gifts in the Kingdom mission we have.
3. Young or new leaders would emerge and be equipped to take responsibility in leading the imagine mission in some way.
4. A Creative Arts Team would coalesce, and add to the quality, beauty and impact of our worship as well as connecting to Northampton and its arts community.
5. The CHAPTER TWO of imagine/Northampton's story (CHAPTER ONE being we're planting a church - we're planted), would be told and established effectively.
6. We'd take productive steps toward the vision of a 3rd Place in Northampton.
7. We'd grow our base of supporters, including internally.
8. 1FlightUP (our jazz trio) would establish a place in the Pioneer Valley arts community and make a difference.
9. All of us in imagine/Northampton be emboldened to graciously help anyone discover the God who is far more than they imagine.
10. Our ministry to kids would develop into one of the main reasons families come to imagine.
11. All of us would have a deepened love for Jesus, his way of life, and for people who don't know him.
12. The inward/OUTWARD Missional Small Group beginning in January would launch and establish a model for imagine's small group missional culture.
May it be as He has given, and may the above, be at the very least, a part of what He's given.
Categories: Missions
Tested to the Edge of Faith; Tethered to a Short Leash.
I wonder if you've experienced what I'm about to tell you?
Since we moved to Northampton, my faith has undergone frequent and substantial testing. Our task has been no easy road from the git, as I've written about before. When I undergo such testing a pattern of questions comes into view for me:
Or perhaps the most sobering, and frankly, frightening:
I've come to realize since settling into the Pioneer Valley that the boundary line will move as if by some "unseen Hand" and consequently, the edge of my faith extends as if attached to the line. The reality seems I need times to stand and accept the truth of the faith-boundary line when it appears to there's no way forward, or it feels like the bottom is soon to fall out. During those uncomfortable hesitations I remind God, sometimes vehemently, that we're in deep, and if he doesn't do something, into the abyss we'll surely tumble pell-mell. Those times cause me to really put it on the line with him, acknowledging my sheer, unending dependence on his grace and power to actually get any of this Kingdom stuff done from my side of the table.
I'll bet you've had similar faith wrestlings to the edge. Reality affirms faith untested is faith dormant or flaccid. Faith tested to the very edge is faith on the verge of deepening and extending, or tragically for some, cast off as a cruel joke, the silly wishful thinking of children who'll soon grow up to "smell the coffee" of the wind of your own making.
It turns out as long as I'm trying to follow Jesus with any integrity or resolve, I'll be brought to the edge of faith repeatedly. You will too.
"For you know that the testing of your faith (not perhaps if your faith might be tested) produces steadfastness." James 1: 3
"So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1: 7
"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes (not if it comes to an unfortunate few) upon you to test you, as though something strange (This is the normal Christian life, dude) were happening to you." 1 Peter 4:12
Faith has to be repeatedly proved and tempered in difficulty at the edge. Through faith tested, we have the chance to learn to withstand adversity with courage and flexibility -- two gifts of priceless worth. Acquiring those character essentials helps us not be easily hamstrung by sometimes unrelenting, even devastating hardship. The tempering of faith takes you and me beyond lip service, platitudes, and psychologically soothing good intentions. Resilience can be trained into us when our thin faith is stretched taut. If knocked to the ground, we find an unexpected capacity to spring back. When faith is drawn into the empty, arid places of life, it's graciously offered the chance to learn persevering, a steely, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other attitude of the surrendered will, or a stubborn waiting with rooted expectation God will bring water and oasis, as he sees fit.
There are treasures of character (a treasure in itself), to be uncovered in life's testing grounds of faith.
From 40 years of trying to walk out my faith in the real world of multiple edges, I also understand God chastens and disciplines all of us at critical points in our lives - even if we're not particularly aware we've reached a critical character juncture at the time. I also see the degree of his graceful severity changes depending on how much spiritual darkness or danger we might blunder or bull our way into. He is loving and good to those he loves, does not give us what our sins deserve, is slow and anger and quick to forgive, but he also disciplines his beloved to make each of us fit for eventually bearing the weight of glory.
So sometimes God tethers you and me to a short leash for a period so we can we learn to discern and acquire wisdom -- one of the true headwaters of life to the full. When so tethered, we simply can't wander off no matter how much we strain against the leash. We're stuck to where we have to pay attention.
For example, since mid-summer, and with increasing frequency, I've found myself having to clean up messes I made in relationships with other people, often because of what I've said or neglected to follow through on. In one acutely painful instance, I came unhinged publicly and wounded a dear friend of mine who did nothing to invite my 25-second apoplectic rant. I'd not listened to the subtle cues that something worrisome was building up in me in the preceding days, and because I did not address the dissonance inside, I and my friend paid a high price: me because I neglected what God wanted to face, and he because he just sadly happened to be in my vitriolic line of fire.
The above is an egregious instance of me not doing some critical, internal character work when the Holy Spirit prompted . . . and more than once I might add. It seems always a matter of character in my case and has to do, as I said earlier, with what I say and/or neglect to do. Wounding my friend was the extreme reason why I'm tethered these days. I tend not to breathe fire on people at the drop of a hat. But, I think it also it points to a lack of charity in all my dealings with others. I don't carefully and wisely consider my words or nodding of my head in agreement when I've not weighed the implications of what I'm communicating by them, even when in a simple conversation. I send mixed messages and people get confused, frustrated or hurt by me. God wants more circumspection and prayer from me, not impulsive words even if well-meaning.
Follow-through on things which intimidate or summon anxiety in me is another character flaw God has tethered me to facing. I have a post-graduate degree in procrastination around stuff that spooks me. So these days this leash is uncomfortably short. He's not giving me much latitude. He wants change toward integrity from me. In other words, I have to acknowledge my failure soon after I fail. He wants my "yes" then follow-through;" and my "no" when I disagree or will not do it. He hates when I appear to go along with something I've no real intention of supporting or undertaking. It's a habit he's been checking me quite regularly.
While being tethered to a short-leash restricts for sure, and sometimes uncomfortable, I'm convinced in God's hands it works to free people to integrity and authenticity - an irony of grace. Good things come from it. Godly character does form as we learn to surrender, and live within the limits he's ordained for spiritual formation and training in character.
I'm not sure how long I'll be tethered in the manner I described, that's the Father's privilege, but I do know I need to grow in character regarding these weaknesses. He's being plain with me about how he wants my behavior to change. I need his grace, but my will is engaged.
That's a good start.
Since we moved to Northampton, my faith has undergone frequent and substantial testing. Our task has been no easy road from the git, as I've written about before. When I undergo such testing a pattern of questions comes into view for me:
- Will you really believe I am sufficient for your lack or what you still need?
- Will you trust me anyway?
- Will you follow me anyway?
Or perhaps the most sobering, and frankly, frightening:
- Will you follow me no matter what even if you go down in flames or lose everything?
I've come to realize since settling into the Pioneer Valley that the boundary line will move as if by some "unseen Hand" and consequently, the edge of my faith extends as if attached to the line. The reality seems I need times to stand and accept the truth of the faith-boundary line when it appears to there's no way forward, or it feels like the bottom is soon to fall out. During those uncomfortable hesitations I remind God, sometimes vehemently, that we're in deep, and if he doesn't do something, into the abyss we'll surely tumble pell-mell. Those times cause me to really put it on the line with him, acknowledging my sheer, unending dependence on his grace and power to actually get any of this Kingdom stuff done from my side of the table.
I'll bet you've had similar faith wrestlings to the edge. Reality affirms faith untested is faith dormant or flaccid. Faith tested to the very edge is faith on the verge of deepening and extending, or tragically for some, cast off as a cruel joke, the silly wishful thinking of children who'll soon grow up to "smell the coffee" of the wind of your own making.
It turns out as long as I'm trying to follow Jesus with any integrity or resolve, I'll be brought to the edge of faith repeatedly. You will too.
"For you know that the testing of your faith (not perhaps if your faith might be tested) produces steadfastness." James 1: 3
"So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1: 7
"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes (not if it comes to an unfortunate few) upon you to test you, as though something strange (This is the normal Christian life, dude) were happening to you." 1 Peter 4:12
Faith has to be repeatedly proved and tempered in difficulty at the edge. Through faith tested, we have the chance to learn to withstand adversity with courage and flexibility -- two gifts of priceless worth. Acquiring those character essentials helps us not be easily hamstrung by sometimes unrelenting, even devastating hardship. The tempering of faith takes you and me beyond lip service, platitudes, and psychologically soothing good intentions. Resilience can be trained into us when our thin faith is stretched taut. If knocked to the ground, we find an unexpected capacity to spring back. When faith is drawn into the empty, arid places of life, it's graciously offered the chance to learn persevering, a steely, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other attitude of the surrendered will, or a stubborn waiting with rooted expectation God will bring water and oasis, as he sees fit.
There are treasures of character (a treasure in itself), to be uncovered in life's testing grounds of faith.
From 40 years of trying to walk out my faith in the real world of multiple edges, I also understand God chastens and disciplines all of us at critical points in our lives - even if we're not particularly aware we've reached a critical character juncture at the time. I also see the degree of his graceful severity changes depending on how much spiritual darkness or danger we might blunder or bull our way into. He is loving and good to those he loves, does not give us what our sins deserve, is slow and anger and quick to forgive, but he also disciplines his beloved to make each of us fit for eventually bearing the weight of glory.
So sometimes God tethers you and me to a short leash for a period so we can we learn to discern and acquire wisdom -- one of the true headwaters of life to the full. When so tethered, we simply can't wander off no matter how much we strain against the leash. We're stuck to where we have to pay attention.
For example, since mid-summer, and with increasing frequency, I've found myself having to clean up messes I made in relationships with other people, often because of what I've said or neglected to follow through on. In one acutely painful instance, I came unhinged publicly and wounded a dear friend of mine who did nothing to invite my 25-second apoplectic rant. I'd not listened to the subtle cues that something worrisome was building up in me in the preceding days, and because I did not address the dissonance inside, I and my friend paid a high price: me because I neglected what God wanted to face, and he because he just sadly happened to be in my vitriolic line of fire.
The above is an egregious instance of me not doing some critical, internal character work when the Holy Spirit prompted . . . and more than once I might add. It seems always a matter of character in my case and has to do, as I said earlier, with what I say and/or neglect to do. Wounding my friend was the extreme reason why I'm tethered these days. I tend not to breathe fire on people at the drop of a hat. But, I think it also it points to a lack of charity in all my dealings with others. I don't carefully and wisely consider my words or nodding of my head in agreement when I've not weighed the implications of what I'm communicating by them, even when in a simple conversation. I send mixed messages and people get confused, frustrated or hurt by me. God wants more circumspection and prayer from me, not impulsive words even if well-meaning.
Follow-through on things which intimidate or summon anxiety in me is another character flaw God has tethered me to facing. I have a post-graduate degree in procrastination around stuff that spooks me. So these days this leash is uncomfortably short. He's not giving me much latitude. He wants change toward integrity from me. In other words, I have to acknowledge my failure soon after I fail. He wants my "yes" then follow-through;" and my "no" when I disagree or will not do it. He hates when I appear to go along with something I've no real intention of supporting or undertaking. It's a habit he's been checking me quite regularly.
While being tethered to a short-leash restricts for sure, and sometimes uncomfortable, I'm convinced in God's hands it works to free people to integrity and authenticity - an irony of grace. Good things come from it. Godly character does form as we learn to surrender, and live within the limits he's ordained for spiritual formation and training in character.
I'm not sure how long I'll be tethered in the manner I described, that's the Father's privilege, but I do know I need to grow in character regarding these weaknesses. He's being plain with me about how he wants my behavior to change. I need his grace, but my will is engaged.
That's a good start.
Categories: Missions
Character and Spiritual Formation: Fitness for the Work.
Recently, someone asked me what do Christian people mean when they say someone is not ready to assume a certain role or take on a particular responsibility in the church. I thought it a great question. So we had a conversation and I surfaced what seemed to me to be a few essentials for determining who was and might not be quite ready to carry the weight of a substantial responsibility.
By the way, I'm not in any way, shape or form assuming: 1.) I've arrived and can pontificate from a position of superior maturity, and supremely seasoned readiness, or 2.) I'm quite the expert on such matters. I haven't and I'm not. I'm still on my way with all sorts of stubborn rough spots, self-absorption and immaturity to work through. Don't like that much, but it's reality. I desperately need the cross and the Spirit to turn me into someone useful for the Kingdom, even at 62. Borrowing a word Brennan Manning used well in one of my favorite books of his: I'm a ragamuffin . . . 24/7/365.
With that necessary disclaimer, I must also say I've been "on the team" so to speak since age 23. I've been in some manner of ministry leadership, both formally and informally since my late 20's. I've had all sorts of occasion to wrestle through being fit to carry the responsibility I was given (failed at that more than I'd like to admit - still do), and I had the great blessing and privilege of being around some very mature believers, male and female. I saw what it looked like many times from leaders and "followers." There are certain characteristics which manifest in a man or a woman who takes seriously the work of the Kingdom, no matter how great or small the responsibility, whether shouldered upfront or behind-the-scenes. Through such characteristics I think we glimpse Christ in them.
So I want to note a few character and spiritual qualities which seem especially pertinent.
All of them displayed a simple humility in spite of their "formal" spiritual or organizational stature. They got their hands dirty. They were not comfortable being elevated in the eyes of others. To the contrary, they preferred to be seen as anyone else: a person imperfectly trying to follow Christ, being loving and of service, no matter how menial. From them, I recognized gradually how important attitude was, especially "I'm not too important to be asked to do anything, or to be confronted with my sin and selfishness." Their humility reflected grace under fire in and out of the limelight. Humility demonstrated how fit they were for reflecting the values of the Kingdom of Christ.
Related closely to the above attribute was the fact they all, men and women, took responsibility for their own spiritual growth and character development. Once they had a grasp of how to do so, it was no longer the pastor's or the elders' or the leader's job to "grow them up and sustain them" in their spiritual maturing and character developing. Such leaders, teachers and mentors certainly contributed vitally, but at some point into it, these folks knew the buck stopped with them. So they carried forward developing the necessary spiritual disciplines, i.e., they read and learned to study the Scriptures, they read Christian books, they prayed, they worshipped alone and with others, they built relationships with believers or allowed others to build a relationship with them, they worshipped, and they developed the desire and ability to serve people, including, sometimes especially, non-believers. It took time, but they were in up to their eyeballs, full of passion for learning to live with and follow Christ.
Thirdly, they had a desire to serve and when they accepted responsibility they followed through. They were the kind of folks who you know would accomplish the task if they shouldered it. It has to do with character and integrity. If so-and-so says she or he will do it, you can "take that to the bank." They just come through and you don't have to think or wonder about it. These folks also have a habit of asking how they can help or what they can do. Sometimes they just step up and get the job done without being asked because they see it needs doing. In fact, they look for opportunities to do so. I'm sure that if you've been around church for very long you've heard the maxim, "10% do 90% of the work." They gravitate by values to being in the 10% - they see it as the "normal Christian life."
Fourthly, they had a penchant for hard work. These men and women rolled up their sleeves and dove in. I've known men who routinely labored long hours at jobs and family life, then stayed up late or worked all weekend to pitch in with the church, (often behind the scenes), whether it was a project, event or a routine task needing doing. No matter, they saw all of their responsibilities as one service to God and others. They embraced obligation and duty as their usual contribution. I've also known women who dedicated themselves sacrificially to the church community and beyond, exhibiting a love of God and their brothers and sisters admired by all who knew them. Interestingly, when told of such admiration, some would get a puzzled look and others would turn red. They saw nothing extraordinary about their service.
Lastly, much if not most of what these folks did, stemmed from love. They loved God and knew he loved them. In gratitude, they learned how to love him and other people. Their obedience grew from being loved by God. They came to grasp what he'd freely done for "the likes of" them, and responded by working at being loving people. Their spiritual formation (becoming like Christ), and character formation (embracing and living the values of Christ) made them fit for the work of the Kingdom. They served out of love, not some gushy, syrupy caricature of love, but a roll-up-your-sleeves, show-up-every-day love not about feelings, but conviction. Such love takes courage, persistence, resilience and even a sense of humor. They loved with words, and with actions backing them up.
The folks that came to mind as I wrote this are people I look up to and am inspired by. They mentored me, befriended me, served with me, challenged, encouraged, loved and taught me. They are my contemporary examples. I aim for their maturity still. They're real people with chipping feet of clay who still need the cross and the work of the Spirit, but they've chosen repeatedly to go deep into being formed by Christ knowing that without him their best righteousness is filthy rags. I've watched them. I watch them. I will still watch them.
* * * * *
May you reflect all this week on those men and women who've been spiritual and character exemplars (spiritual fathers and mothers, perhaps), to you and may you head deep into where Christ bids you go for his glory and your fitness in the Kingdom work beckoning you.
By the way, I'm not in any way, shape or form assuming: 1.) I've arrived and can pontificate from a position of superior maturity, and supremely seasoned readiness, or 2.) I'm quite the expert on such matters. I haven't and I'm not. I'm still on my way with all sorts of stubborn rough spots, self-absorption and immaturity to work through. Don't like that much, but it's reality. I desperately need the cross and the Spirit to turn me into someone useful for the Kingdom, even at 62. Borrowing a word Brennan Manning used well in one of my favorite books of his: I'm a ragamuffin . . . 24/7/365.
With that necessary disclaimer, I must also say I've been "on the team" so to speak since age 23. I've been in some manner of ministry leadership, both formally and informally since my late 20's. I've had all sorts of occasion to wrestle through being fit to carry the responsibility I was given (failed at that more than I'd like to admit - still do), and I had the great blessing and privilege of being around some very mature believers, male and female. I saw what it looked like many times from leaders and "followers." There are certain characteristics which manifest in a man or a woman who takes seriously the work of the Kingdom, no matter how great or small the responsibility, whether shouldered upfront or behind-the-scenes. Through such characteristics I think we glimpse Christ in them.
So I want to note a few character and spiritual qualities which seem especially pertinent.
All of them displayed a simple humility in spite of their "formal" spiritual or organizational stature. They got their hands dirty. They were not comfortable being elevated in the eyes of others. To the contrary, they preferred to be seen as anyone else: a person imperfectly trying to follow Christ, being loving and of service, no matter how menial. From them, I recognized gradually how important attitude was, especially "I'm not too important to be asked to do anything, or to be confronted with my sin and selfishness." Their humility reflected grace under fire in and out of the limelight. Humility demonstrated how fit they were for reflecting the values of the Kingdom of Christ.
Related closely to the above attribute was the fact they all, men and women, took responsibility for their own spiritual growth and character development. Once they had a grasp of how to do so, it was no longer the pastor's or the elders' or the leader's job to "grow them up and sustain them" in their spiritual maturing and character developing. Such leaders, teachers and mentors certainly contributed vitally, but at some point into it, these folks knew the buck stopped with them. So they carried forward developing the necessary spiritual disciplines, i.e., they read and learned to study the Scriptures, they read Christian books, they prayed, they worshipped alone and with others, they built relationships with believers or allowed others to build a relationship with them, they worshipped, and they developed the desire and ability to serve people, including, sometimes especially, non-believers. It took time, but they were in up to their eyeballs, full of passion for learning to live with and follow Christ.
Thirdly, they had a desire to serve and when they accepted responsibility they followed through. They were the kind of folks who you know would accomplish the task if they shouldered it. It has to do with character and integrity. If so-and-so says she or he will do it, you can "take that to the bank." They just come through and you don't have to think or wonder about it. These folks also have a habit of asking how they can help or what they can do. Sometimes they just step up and get the job done without being asked because they see it needs doing. In fact, they look for opportunities to do so. I'm sure that if you've been around church for very long you've heard the maxim, "10% do 90% of the work." They gravitate by values to being in the 10% - they see it as the "normal Christian life."
Fourthly, they had a penchant for hard work. These men and women rolled up their sleeves and dove in. I've known men who routinely labored long hours at jobs and family life, then stayed up late or worked all weekend to pitch in with the church, (often behind the scenes), whether it was a project, event or a routine task needing doing. No matter, they saw all of their responsibilities as one service to God and others. They embraced obligation and duty as their usual contribution. I've also known women who dedicated themselves sacrificially to the church community and beyond, exhibiting a love of God and their brothers and sisters admired by all who knew them. Interestingly, when told of such admiration, some would get a puzzled look and others would turn red. They saw nothing extraordinary about their service.
Lastly, much if not most of what these folks did, stemmed from love. They loved God and knew he loved them. In gratitude, they learned how to love him and other people. Their obedience grew from being loved by God. They came to grasp what he'd freely done for "the likes of" them, and responded by working at being loving people. Their spiritual formation (becoming like Christ), and character formation (embracing and living the values of Christ) made them fit for the work of the Kingdom. They served out of love, not some gushy, syrupy caricature of love, but a roll-up-your-sleeves, show-up-every-day love not about feelings, but conviction. Such love takes courage, persistence, resilience and even a sense of humor. They loved with words, and with actions backing them up.
The folks that came to mind as I wrote this are people I look up to and am inspired by. They mentored me, befriended me, served with me, challenged, encouraged, loved and taught me. They are my contemporary examples. I aim for their maturity still. They're real people with chipping feet of clay who still need the cross and the work of the Spirit, but they've chosen repeatedly to go deep into being formed by Christ knowing that without him their best righteousness is filthy rags. I've watched them. I watch them. I will still watch them.
* * * * *
May you reflect all this week on those men and women who've been spiritual and character exemplars (spiritual fathers and mothers, perhaps), to you and may you head deep into where Christ bids you go for his glory and your fitness in the Kingdom work beckoning you.
Categories: Missions
Pastor’s Book Set 2011
SIM International’s Pastor’s Book Sets (PBS) Project is for the equipping of Christian leaders around the world. The Francophone edition of the Project includes Senegal. I was able to be in Dakar last week and help out with the conference. It was very encouraging for all of us to have 300 pastors together learning and worshiping together over four days. Below is a video I made of highlights of the week.
Each pastor had to contribute almost $90 (although I understand some of their organizations helped out). The value of the book sets each pastor received was over $1,000. One pastor said, “I know they said the value of these books is over $1,000, but it’s worth much more than that to me! Getting to see all these pastors and meet those from other denominations was priceless.” Many others echoed his comment, saying they so much appreciated being together in a way that bridged denominational differences–the pastors might see those in their own denomination regularly but not necessarily those in other groups.
Some of you may be thinking–”Pastor’s conference–isn’t Senegal unreached?” A 2011 Senegalese government census document reports Senegal is 94.5% Muslim, 4.2% Christian, and 0.4% animist. Of those 4.2% Christian the majority are Catholic. The Wolof are the largest people group in Senegal, comprising about 40% of the 13 million people (so about 5 million), and at last count there were 120 Christians among the Wolof–so the Wolof as a group are about 0.002% Christian.
There are, however, terrific things happening among the Sereer and Diola people groups, and most of the pastors at the conference were from one of these two groups, with a sizable contingent of non-Senegalese Africans working in Senegal. Of the 300 conference participants, there were only two Wolof, one a pastor and the other a lead elder from his church. It was in many ways very encouraging to see the church in Senegal in such a visible way–at the same time sobering to realize that the biggest people group in the country were among the least well represented in the church.
But God is building his church in Senegal in many places, and although evangelicals are few, their number is slowly growing. Mark Garrett, our colleague and the conference organizer, told me that he estimates that, comparing this conference to the last PBS conference which was held 10 years ago, each denominational group has grown about 50%.
- Pray for the church in Senegal, that it would grow in power and in knowledge.
- Praise God for the PBS project that has equipped these leaders.
- Pray for these churches that they would have outreach to their Wolof neighbors a top priority.
- Pray that the rest of the funding for the Francophone PBS project would come in.
Categories: Missions
We're Gonna Do What???
Over the last month or so, imagine/Northampton has been working through what we're calling Visionation: http://oldmenplantingchurches.blogspot.com/2011/10/imaginenorthamptons-visionation-meeting.html. I've been immersed in that, both at the front-end, and in the process. It has been a substantially more arduous task than I expected, sometimes bewilderingly so. I guess I'm still a rookie at this.
Those of you who know me well, know I am most alive in trying to pursue a heart-mesmerizing vision, one chock full of promise and worth, especially when it furthers the Kingdom in a creative and compelling way. I naturally live there and am repeatedly inspired around people who throw their lot in as well. My imagination juices surge; my mind comes fully alive, and my heart strains toward what could be, if only . . .
Truth be told, I'm not much good for anything else.
The fully-realized potential of imagine/Northampton's vision of building Kingdom-focused communities where we creatively engage the culture to help people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine aims me toward striving ardently to realize it on my watch. I see it in my minds-eye. I pray it when I walk. I reach for it when confusion and darkness impedes my view. I long to see real life spring from what began as a inchoate nudging in Simsbury almost 5 years ago.
But, lest you think from the paragraph above that I'm merely pursuing some ersatz monument to inflated human pride, rest assured Jesus commands the center off my passion. I want him seen and known by how we live, what we care for, and what we give our lives to as imagine/Northampton. He needs to increase as we follow him through love and service in his Name.
As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, communicating the vision has been much tougher than I thought it would be. It's one thing to have a picture in your head and a concept grabbing your attention like my granddaughter, Maddie, grabbing your face. It's quite another to get others to see it with the same fire and acuity you do, including people who are on-board from their hearts. Ideas and dreams need time to settle in for more than a meeting or two.
So here's what I'm coming to understand regarding this vision business.
1. God-sized visions scare most people. Because they are only possible by his power, they just look impossible, more than can be handled, impractical, overwhelming, unrealistic and way more than anyone thinks possible at the time. By their nature, they require Kingdom-sized faith, guts, ingenuity, creativity, tenacity and grace which can only be called amazing in the end. The Holy Spirit needs to open and lead the way as we all follow behind. Also, while people like variety, even a new challenge from time-to-time, they don't want to feel they're going to be chasing after the wind. When it looks too big, it seems to big. When it seems too big, it is accepted as just too big, and people wilt.
2. Vision has the task of inspiring a convinced willingness to risk much, even everything for what is worth more than everything risked. Without the habit of faith-infused risk, things imperceptibly settle into management of the manageable, predictable, and routine.
"VISION is to PURPOSE as HOPE is to STRIVING. Vision DEFINES purpose; hope ANIMATES its heart." People truly inspired by a vision God has given them are steeled by the hope God will help them create and do what he's asked of them, i.e., his heart is in what he has summoned them to. It is God's character and initiative which gathers their trust and fuels their striving.
3. Vision illuminates what could be better, even worthy of wonder. For people graciously inflamed with God's Kingdom reign and mission, the future holds the possibility of the sick being healed, the poor being clothed, fed and set on their feet, the oppressed being freed, the voiceless finding an advocate, the defenseless being defended, the weak being protected, and the lost being found. They see ways of bringing life into death and hope into despair. While there will always be suffering, strife, and sorrow until Jesus returns to set everything to right, in the meantime, his grace can be generously offered to calm a storm and unlock the afflicted, giving them a hope and a life.
4. Vision well-conceived and clearly said entices people to seek their place in a compelling movement or cause. There is a joint hill to climb, a battle to fight, a wrong to right - all riveting enough to galvanize their time and money and talent, even blood, sweat and tears. The task or mission ennobles them and helps everyone feel they are making a real difference in something grander and more important than all of them. Such people contribute the means to make it happen, however large or small. The question animating them is "What if we really could do this?" God has put a spark in the human soul which ignites when it locates its purpose in the right, true, freeing and beautiful. One of life's greatest pleasures is being able to say "I helped make that happen," especially when the "that" actually changed people's lives for the better. God -breathed visions unfetter motivation.
5. Over time, vision can cool and fade. I remember hearing Andy Stanley say "vision leaks." It sure does. What seems so compelling by some isn't embraced or remembered by others. I've known very few people in my life who spent much time prayerfully pondering what each word of a vision implied so they could intelligently take responsibility for seeing it realized in and through them. In other words, it functioned as a personal mandate, a persisting reference point and gut check. For most, intriguing visions seem to have genuine buzz initially, and then fade quietly into the background as the details of life overtake their days or the visionary gets lost in the weeds. I have to say I've been guilty of letting the weeds choke out the vision. As Paul Simon once wrote in a lyric, I've had "a short, little attention span," even when I felt deep loyalty to an idea or mission. Life can glitter and sparkle from a thousand paths.
6. Visionary leaders must be courageous and resilient. I am convinced it's the responsibility of visionary leaders to keep the vision flaming at the forefront of its execution at any given point in time, almost like a standard or rallying point:
Vision in the hands and hearts of the courageous helps everyone become resilient in the face of disappointments, delays and setbacks. When malaise smothers enthusiasm like a fog, courageous leaders stay at the helm, calling people forward, keeping hope stirred, and drawing from people what they thought they couldn't give.
7. What visionary leaders see, and the future they are transfixed by needs to be shown as possible before anyone will really come aboard.
People who have to live with visionaries need to recognize that for these folks "why not?" and "Who says we can't?" are normal for them. They dwell in possibility. They make their home in what could be and what must be- in the liminal state between what is and what could be. The status quo is a wasteland for them when the status quo is easily settled for. Visionaries aim for the stars in hopes of finding transcendent value. Christian visionaries long for the Kingdom to come in ways that are dazzling and wondrous because living death is pushed back. injustice is slapped down, human pride and greed are put in their place.
If you want to peer into the heart of Jesus's redemptive dreamers you'll find love: love of God and love of others, especially the unloved, the unlovely and the unlovable far from him. Such Christian visionaries who are yoked to Christ, and desire for him to be glorified in the vision - to be seen, exalted and followed. Therefore, they will tirelessly help people see what they see and work diligently to realize it. They will paint a picture that the vision can be fulfilled because God is in it, and then throw themselves into leading the way toward achieving it.
I've found if others can see it and believe God is in it, they will help, some sacrificially so. They trust God and the man or woman leading the way. When that happens the world gets changed by the Kingdom for which it waits.
Those of you who know me well, know I am most alive in trying to pursue a heart-mesmerizing vision, one chock full of promise and worth, especially when it furthers the Kingdom in a creative and compelling way. I naturally live there and am repeatedly inspired around people who throw their lot in as well. My imagination juices surge; my mind comes fully alive, and my heart strains toward what could be, if only . . .
Truth be told, I'm not much good for anything else.
The fully-realized potential of imagine/Northampton's vision of building Kingdom-focused communities where we creatively engage the culture to help people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine aims me toward striving ardently to realize it on my watch. I see it in my minds-eye. I pray it when I walk. I reach for it when confusion and darkness impedes my view. I long to see real life spring from what began as a inchoate nudging in Simsbury almost 5 years ago.
But, lest you think from the paragraph above that I'm merely pursuing some ersatz monument to inflated human pride, rest assured Jesus commands the center off my passion. I want him seen and known by how we live, what we care for, and what we give our lives to as imagine/Northampton. He needs to increase as we follow him through love and service in his Name.
As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, communicating the vision has been much tougher than I thought it would be. It's one thing to have a picture in your head and a concept grabbing your attention like my granddaughter, Maddie, grabbing your face. It's quite another to get others to see it with the same fire and acuity you do, including people who are on-board from their hearts. Ideas and dreams need time to settle in for more than a meeting or two.
So here's what I'm coming to understand regarding this vision business.
1. God-sized visions scare most people. Because they are only possible by his power, they just look impossible, more than can be handled, impractical, overwhelming, unrealistic and way more than anyone thinks possible at the time. By their nature, they require Kingdom-sized faith, guts, ingenuity, creativity, tenacity and grace which can only be called amazing in the end. The Holy Spirit needs to open and lead the way as we all follow behind. Also, while people like variety, even a new challenge from time-to-time, they don't want to feel they're going to be chasing after the wind. When it looks too big, it seems to big. When it seems too big, it is accepted as just too big, and people wilt.
2. Vision has the task of inspiring a convinced willingness to risk much, even everything for what is worth more than everything risked. Without the habit of faith-infused risk, things imperceptibly settle into management of the manageable, predictable, and routine.
"VISION is to PURPOSE as HOPE is to STRIVING. Vision DEFINES purpose; hope ANIMATES its heart." People truly inspired by a vision God has given them are steeled by the hope God will help them create and do what he's asked of them, i.e., his heart is in what he has summoned them to. It is God's character and initiative which gathers their trust and fuels their striving.
3. Vision illuminates what could be better, even worthy of wonder. For people graciously inflamed with God's Kingdom reign and mission, the future holds the possibility of the sick being healed, the poor being clothed, fed and set on their feet, the oppressed being freed, the voiceless finding an advocate, the defenseless being defended, the weak being protected, and the lost being found. They see ways of bringing life into death and hope into despair. While there will always be suffering, strife, and sorrow until Jesus returns to set everything to right, in the meantime, his grace can be generously offered to calm a storm and unlock the afflicted, giving them a hope and a life.
4. Vision well-conceived and clearly said entices people to seek their place in a compelling movement or cause. There is a joint hill to climb, a battle to fight, a wrong to right - all riveting enough to galvanize their time and money and talent, even blood, sweat and tears. The task or mission ennobles them and helps everyone feel they are making a real difference in something grander and more important than all of them. Such people contribute the means to make it happen, however large or small. The question animating them is "What if we really could do this?" God has put a spark in the human soul which ignites when it locates its purpose in the right, true, freeing and beautiful. One of life's greatest pleasures is being able to say "I helped make that happen," especially when the "that" actually changed people's lives for the better. God -breathed visions unfetter motivation.
5. Over time, vision can cool and fade. I remember hearing Andy Stanley say "vision leaks." It sure does. What seems so compelling by some isn't embraced or remembered by others. I've known very few people in my life who spent much time prayerfully pondering what each word of a vision implied so they could intelligently take responsibility for seeing it realized in and through them. In other words, it functioned as a personal mandate, a persisting reference point and gut check. For most, intriguing visions seem to have genuine buzz initially, and then fade quietly into the background as the details of life overtake their days or the visionary gets lost in the weeds. I have to say I've been guilty of letting the weeds choke out the vision. As Paul Simon once wrote in a lyric, I've had "a short, little attention span," even when I felt deep loyalty to an idea or mission. Life can glitter and sparkle from a thousand paths.
6. Visionary leaders must be courageous and resilient. I am convinced it's the responsibility of visionary leaders to keep the vision flaming at the forefront of its execution at any given point in time, almost like a standard or rallying point:
- always reminding people of why we gather and strive at all;
- challenging them, young and old, to step up and keep the focus on the mission actualizing the vision;
- checking the all-too human impulse to head down rabbit trails or amble off into sparkling distractions;
- keeping fear at bay when the going gets tough, squabbles escalate, resources are few, and the way forward seems impenetrable so people lose heart.
Vision in the hands and hearts of the courageous helps everyone become resilient in the face of disappointments, delays and setbacks. When malaise smothers enthusiasm like a fog, courageous leaders stay at the helm, calling people forward, keeping hope stirred, and drawing from people what they thought they couldn't give.
7. What visionary leaders see, and the future they are transfixed by needs to be shown as possible before anyone will really come aboard.
People who have to live with visionaries need to recognize that for these folks "why not?" and "Who says we can't?" are normal for them. They dwell in possibility. They make their home in what could be and what must be- in the liminal state between what is and what could be. The status quo is a wasteland for them when the status quo is easily settled for. Visionaries aim for the stars in hopes of finding transcendent value. Christian visionaries long for the Kingdom to come in ways that are dazzling and wondrous because living death is pushed back. injustice is slapped down, human pride and greed are put in their place.
If you want to peer into the heart of Jesus's redemptive dreamers you'll find love: love of God and love of others, especially the unloved, the unlovely and the unlovable far from him. Such Christian visionaries who are yoked to Christ, and desire for him to be glorified in the vision - to be seen, exalted and followed. Therefore, they will tirelessly help people see what they see and work diligently to realize it. They will paint a picture that the vision can be fulfilled because God is in it, and then throw themselves into leading the way toward achieving it.
I've found if others can see it and believe God is in it, they will help, some sacrificially so. They trust God and the man or woman leading the way. When that happens the world gets changed by the Kingdom for which it waits.
Categories: Missions
2 Strange Encounters of the Creepy Kind.
Last week had more than it's share of weirdness for us.
It began early in morning and early in the week as Tricia and I were returning to our apartment from an exercise/prayerwalk. We were on Main Street. It was around 7:30. On a bench across from Haymarket Cafe sat a young man I've seen before. He has a slight build and looked to be in his early to mid-20's. He generally wears soiled brown pants and a soiled brown sweatshirt with a hood pulled over his head. He has dreads, is usually smoking, and has an unfriendly manner about him, sometimes downright agitated or surly.
So the first time I walked by him last week, he laughed and said what sounded like expletives not too far under his breath. He stared at me the entire time, and would shake his head. A day or so later, as Tricia and I walked by him again he glared angrily at us and quietly hurled a string of expletives our way. There was no laughing. It actually felt a little menacing as he looked at us. I don't know if he is mentally ill or a drug user who needed a fix, but there was disdain in his tone of voice and through the stare. I suspect if I'd said something to him it may have provoked a more rigorous response. I didn't. I just prayed.
A couple of days later, walking at about the same time in the same direction on Main Street, and a half block before Starbucks, a young Asian man was slowly walking toward us. Walking doesn't capture his gait: he was sort of gliding, almost robotically. It looked really weird, but what riveted me most was his gaze. His eyes were locked wide open as if he'd seen a ghost. The rest of face was expressionless and flat. As he came closer he began to line up with where I was walking as if to walk right into me. I'd never seen such a spooked look. I was taken back, and didn't know what to think
He never turned his head as I stepped out of the way. The most remarkable sense I got as I looked into his eyes for a second or two just before he walked by, was the impression there was someone or something else looking at me through his eyes. The young man was like a zombie and not there. I also felt intense fear much the same way I felt 2 years ago when a young woman stood motionless to my left as I was facing Main Street, and stared at me for 4 or 5 minutes as I stood outside of CVS waiting for Tricia. I felt a stab of fear then as well, and immediately began to pray in tongues under my breath and soon realized she was there to pray against me.
Both of the encounters with these young men felt demonically influenced, as if we were being noticed by alien and malevolent entities residing in troubled people.They happened within a few days of each other and in close physical proximity.
Odd coincidence? Perhaps . . .
Mental illness? Sure . . .
Drug-induced? Could be . . .
All those conditions could have been contributing factors. But there was another dynamic going on and it was palpably spiritually dark. Evil has a presence and calling card one can sense. It was there. My response was fear and then prayer. I didn't have to think about it.
I don't know why things like this happen when they do, but I've experienced them before and suspect I will encounter them again, especially here in Northampton. Such activity appears up, especially on the weekends at night.
May these young men and others who know little of the power and redemptive love of Christ be freed by him, and may I get to see or even be a part of it.
It began early in morning and early in the week as Tricia and I were returning to our apartment from an exercise/prayerwalk. We were on Main Street. It was around 7:30. On a bench across from Haymarket Cafe sat a young man I've seen before. He has a slight build and looked to be in his early to mid-20's. He generally wears soiled brown pants and a soiled brown sweatshirt with a hood pulled over his head. He has dreads, is usually smoking, and has an unfriendly manner about him, sometimes downright agitated or surly.
So the first time I walked by him last week, he laughed and said what sounded like expletives not too far under his breath. He stared at me the entire time, and would shake his head. A day or so later, as Tricia and I walked by him again he glared angrily at us and quietly hurled a string of expletives our way. There was no laughing. It actually felt a little menacing as he looked at us. I don't know if he is mentally ill or a drug user who needed a fix, but there was disdain in his tone of voice and through the stare. I suspect if I'd said something to him it may have provoked a more rigorous response. I didn't. I just prayed.
A couple of days later, walking at about the same time in the same direction on Main Street, and a half block before Starbucks, a young Asian man was slowly walking toward us. Walking doesn't capture his gait: he was sort of gliding, almost robotically. It looked really weird, but what riveted me most was his gaze. His eyes were locked wide open as if he'd seen a ghost. The rest of face was expressionless and flat. As he came closer he began to line up with where I was walking as if to walk right into me. I'd never seen such a spooked look. I was taken back, and didn't know what to think
He never turned his head as I stepped out of the way. The most remarkable sense I got as I looked into his eyes for a second or two just before he walked by, was the impression there was someone or something else looking at me through his eyes. The young man was like a zombie and not there. I also felt intense fear much the same way I felt 2 years ago when a young woman stood motionless to my left as I was facing Main Street, and stared at me for 4 or 5 minutes as I stood outside of CVS waiting for Tricia. I felt a stab of fear then as well, and immediately began to pray in tongues under my breath and soon realized she was there to pray against me.
Both of the encounters with these young men felt demonically influenced, as if we were being noticed by alien and malevolent entities residing in troubled people.They happened within a few days of each other and in close physical proximity.
Odd coincidence? Perhaps . . .
Mental illness? Sure . . .
Drug-induced? Could be . . .
All those conditions could have been contributing factors. But there was another dynamic going on and it was palpably spiritually dark. Evil has a presence and calling card one can sense. It was there. My response was fear and then prayer. I didn't have to think about it.
I don't know why things like this happen when they do, but I've experienced them before and suspect I will encounter them again, especially here in Northampton. Such activity appears up, especially on the weekends at night.
May these young men and others who know little of the power and redemptive love of Christ be freed by him, and may I get to see or even be a part of it.
Categories: Missions