PAY ATTENTION:
An average of 8500 people die from HIV/AIDS every day.
Every day.
That would mean an average of 2-3.1 million people die every year.
Children are left orphaned.
They bury their own mothers at 2-3 yrs. old.
Why? Easy: AIDS.
Why? Injustice.
Why? Because too many people don't care.
And it's not just because people don't have morals.
Mothers with 9 children, 5 of them not even being their own because their parents already died of AIDS, have to feed those children. But a lot of them don't have jobs. The only way to get food is to buy it; what little is actually available to purchase. With no education and a staggering illiteracy rate, mothers have two options: sell themselves for sex or let their children starve. So these women have sex for money with different men. These men have HIV. Then the women get it. Everyone that these men sleep with gets HIV. Every man that these women sleep with gets HIV. Every child these women have gets HIV. Why? They're trying to feed their children. They're trying to survive.
It's not that they don't know what's right and what's wrong.
They do.
There's just also larger issues.
And where's the church? Where's the church in America? As a majority, does it really care?
Probably not.
I like what Bono says. He calls the American Church the "sleeping giant."
For once, can we make that statement false?
May 30, 2007
May 28, 2007
Insight
"At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the invisible. The object of the Christians' faith is unseen reality. Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubquity of visible things, tends to draw a contrast between the spiritual and the real - but actually no such contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere, between the real and the imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real, never. The spiritual is real.
"If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning us through the Scriptures of truth, we must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. For the great unseen Reality is God. 'He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him' (Hebrews 11:6). This is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to unlimited heights. 'Ye believe in God,' said our Lord Jesus Christ, 'believe also in me' (John 14:1). Without the first there can be no second."
-- A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
"At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the invisible. The object of the Christians' faith is unseen reality. Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubquity of visible things, tends to draw a contrast between the spiritual and the real - but actually no such contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere, between the real and the imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real, never. The spiritual is real.
"If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning us through the Scriptures of truth, we must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. For the great unseen Reality is God. 'He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him' (Hebrews 11:6). This is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to unlimited heights. 'Ye believe in God,' said our Lord Jesus Christ, 'believe also in me' (John 14:1). Without the first there can be no second."
-- A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
May 25, 2007
Conviction
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." -- Matt 7.3-5, NIV
Those are tough words to swallow, especially for me. I wrestle with things a lot. I struggle with pride; thinking that I "get it" when others don't. I can be the biggest critic of the Church, of America, of other Christians. But at the same time, I refuse to turn the mirror on myself.
I haven't jumped on some spiritual and anti-religious or anti-American Christianity bandwagon. I know that in recent years it has become popular to be all anti-religion. "Jesus is not religion," and all that other blah. That's great. I'm glad some people are starting to understand that God is bigger than we have made Him to be, that God exists outside of this incredibly small religious and Americanized box that we've put him in. But honestly, I haven't jumped on a bandwagon. I haven't squeezed into a sweet VW Van with all the other 21st-century hippies. I just truly voice what I believe deep down... The problem? I just ignore the pride that I've developed as a result of that.
I was sitting in bed reading an amazing book, "The Power and the Glory," when this verse above popped into my head. I immediately felt conviction. A friend and I were talking earlier about how we both wrestle with the same thing, this whole pride issue, so it's not like I wasn't thinking about it already. But I truly believe that God threw this verse into the back of my mind to convict me.
Most people tell me that I'm humble, that I never say too much about myself and that kind of thing, but I'm one of the most prideful people I know. I seriously can't manage the "bull" by its horns. Pride stomps all over me. I'm a spiritual pancake on the inside. It's sick. It's ridiculous. So it's something I need to fix.
I'm not going to abandon my convictions. Those will remain. I believe that God has put those there for a purpose. I do, however, want to abandon my pride. I can't see past it. It's a giant plank and until I get it removed, there's no way that I'm going to be able to help my brothers and sisters see without blinding them with my fat thumb.
So Abba, remove my pride. Remove my plank. It's getting in the way of what You're trying to do with me. -- Amen
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." -- Matt 7.3-5, NIV
Those are tough words to swallow, especially for me. I wrestle with things a lot. I struggle with pride; thinking that I "get it" when others don't. I can be the biggest critic of the Church, of America, of other Christians. But at the same time, I refuse to turn the mirror on myself.
I haven't jumped on some spiritual and anti-religious or anti-American Christianity bandwagon. I know that in recent years it has become popular to be all anti-religion. "Jesus is not religion," and all that other blah. That's great. I'm glad some people are starting to understand that God is bigger than we have made Him to be, that God exists outside of this incredibly small religious and Americanized box that we've put him in. But honestly, I haven't jumped on a bandwagon. I haven't squeezed into a sweet VW Van with all the other 21st-century hippies. I just truly voice what I believe deep down... The problem? I just ignore the pride that I've developed as a result of that.
I was sitting in bed reading an amazing book, "The Power and the Glory," when this verse above popped into my head. I immediately felt conviction. A friend and I were talking earlier about how we both wrestle with the same thing, this whole pride issue, so it's not like I wasn't thinking about it already. But I truly believe that God threw this verse into the back of my mind to convict me.
Most people tell me that I'm humble, that I never say too much about myself and that kind of thing, but I'm one of the most prideful people I know. I seriously can't manage the "bull" by its horns. Pride stomps all over me. I'm a spiritual pancake on the inside. It's sick. It's ridiculous. So it's something I need to fix.
I'm not going to abandon my convictions. Those will remain. I believe that God has put those there for a purpose. I do, however, want to abandon my pride. I can't see past it. It's a giant plank and until I get it removed, there's no way that I'm going to be able to help my brothers and sisters see without blinding them with my fat thumb.
So Abba, remove my pride. Remove my plank. It's getting in the way of what You're trying to do with me. -- Amen
May 22, 2007
Rambling Thoughts
I was reading through my journal, again, and ran across this. Reading through it I wanted to stand up and shout, "AMEN!"
Bad idea.
It's 2:05am and everyone in my house is asleep in bed, one who wakes up in three hours to head off to work. Seriously though.
I read through this and it re-resonated with me. I think that it's bad though. It's definately bad that I feel this way and perhaps I shouldn't re-write it for the world to read, but it's how I felt/feel at times. If you're offended by it: get over yourself. If you enjoy it: pray for you AND me. We need changed hearts. We need our hearts to break and step up to change this world so that it isn't this way.
I always have this heavy burden of being weighed down by the things of this world. The feeling only gets heavier and heavier on my weakening joints. I feel like the very sub-structure lurking beneath my surface is about to shatter. All because I'm in America... I think.
This last year has been one giant lesson for me, especially in that.
There's a vibe that everything "American" gives off to me. Maybe it's centuries old. Maybe it's a result of popular culture, western thinking, or Christianity in the states. I'm not sure. I just know that there's something "plastic," "fake," and purely idealistic about anything that's American. It's cheap. It's quick. It's easy. Almost like sex at a brothel.
What frustrates me the most is that the Church, as a majority in the U.S., has taken on American values and ideals. Granted, I'm not saying that the American Church is like a whore that gives into everythi--...
Wait.
I am.
Let me think about this...
Nope. Don't need to.
American Christianity has become a whore that rapes whatever it can to sell itself. To make a profit. To become so relevant to the point that it's reached conformity with society instead of standing out. It's like the American Church has become a business or corporation where the pastor is the CEO and all of humanity is now customers seeking product.
It sucks.
American Christianity = fake Christianity.
I know, I know. Those are strong words. And I cannot possibly denounce that some churches in America, a lot of churches in America, still "get it." There's churches that reach thousands and millions for Christ and for the Kingdom by what they're doing.
More power to 'em.
I'm just saying, it's time we realize we're better than that. The Church, unfortunately, is a lot like a whore at a brothel. America's raping us. And we're enjoying it because we're numb to it. What's it going to take to stand out, to change, to use "protection"?
I was reading through my journal, again, and ran across this. Reading through it I wanted to stand up and shout, "AMEN!"
Bad idea.
It's 2:05am and everyone in my house is asleep in bed, one who wakes up in three hours to head off to work. Seriously though.
I read through this and it re-resonated with me. I think that it's bad though. It's definately bad that I feel this way and perhaps I shouldn't re-write it for the world to read, but it's how I felt/feel at times. If you're offended by it: get over yourself. If you enjoy it: pray for you AND me. We need changed hearts. We need our hearts to break and step up to change this world so that it isn't this way.
I always have this heavy burden of being weighed down by the things of this world. The feeling only gets heavier and heavier on my weakening joints. I feel like the very sub-structure lurking beneath my surface is about to shatter. All because I'm in America... I think.
This last year has been one giant lesson for me, especially in that.
There's a vibe that everything "American" gives off to me. Maybe it's centuries old. Maybe it's a result of popular culture, western thinking, or Christianity in the states. I'm not sure. I just know that there's something "plastic," "fake," and purely idealistic about anything that's American. It's cheap. It's quick. It's easy. Almost like sex at a brothel.
What frustrates me the most is that the Church, as a majority in the U.S., has taken on American values and ideals. Granted, I'm not saying that the American Church is like a whore that gives into everythi--...
Wait.
I am.
Let me think about this...
Nope. Don't need to.
American Christianity has become a whore that rapes whatever it can to sell itself. To make a profit. To become so relevant to the point that it's reached conformity with society instead of standing out. It's like the American Church has become a business or corporation where the pastor is the CEO and all of humanity is now customers seeking product.
It sucks.
American Christianity = fake Christianity.
I know, I know. Those are strong words. And I cannot possibly denounce that some churches in America, a lot of churches in America, still "get it." There's churches that reach thousands and millions for Christ and for the Kingdom by what they're doing.
More power to 'em.
I'm just saying, it's time we realize we're better than that. The Church, unfortunately, is a lot like a whore at a brothel. America's raping us. And we're enjoying it because we're numb to it. What's it going to take to stand out, to change, to use "protection"?
May 19, 2007
Exploring Community
Community is almost something of a lost concept these days. It is a lot fellowship that the world has unfortunately polluted with its own set of ideals, standards, and prerequisites to involvement within it. Community has become a giant country club where even Christians pay dues to remain a part of it. That is not a community. That is a clique. It is unfortunate that this is the idea that most people think of when they think of community, even Christian community. So what exactly is Christian community? What does it look like? Where is it found? Where does it begin? True Christian community, whether looked at biblically, theologically, or practically, should always find its foundation rooted in Christ Jesus. This is the point where community should bloom.
It is important to look at the idea of community from a biblical perspective. When one does, he better understands what the concept of community means both theologically and practically. If one does not examine community biblically, one runs the risk of mistaking community for personal ideals instead of structure and theology rooted in the word of God and Christ Jesus. So what does community look like biblically? In order to wrap one’s mind around such a thing, community needs to be explored in the Old and New Testaments as well as its interpretation, or lack thereof, in today’s world.
It is easy to jump straight into the book of Acts, seeing as that is where most people look to try to understand true Christian community. However, it is really important to start ones search in the Old Testament and the idea of it through the eyes of a Jew. The foundations of New Testament community gather some of their strength from their predecessor. So what does Old Testament Jewish community look like?
Community was initially formed to center around the worship of God. Israel, the covenant people, was this community. Robert Wall says of this community that “the worshipping community was also a witnessing community, called forth to reflect in its common life the very character of its transcendent God.”[1] In other words, the purpose of the original Jewish community was not just to worship God, but the fruit of their worship was their witness; their worship of God produced a gospel to be lived out in the everyday life of their community. However, it was not through the revelation of the Spirit that this community chose to base their witness and worship on, but the Torah. The word of God at that time was the Jewish community’s source of divine revelation, the source that they based their witness and worship.[2]
When Jesus came around he did not necessarily shatter this image or ideal of community, but he added to it and breathed new life into it. The New Testament community accepted the role of a worshipful witnessing community, however, this aspect was “decisively influenced by their conviction that Jesus was God’s Messiah, and that through him God had begun a new Exodus for the restored, eschatological Israel.”[3] The community was no longer something that centered on the Torah, but an element of Christian living that focused on Jesus and the hopeful future of the community that Jesus brought and drove them towards.
Wall argues that this pull, which fueled the Messianic movement, that is keeping God at the center, is what was at the core of Jesus’ idea of community.[4] Therefore, the New Testament community began to base their ideas and actions on this notion of keeping God at the center, which in effect, meant keeping Jesus and his message at the center of their community.
The early church community that is found in the book of Acts is a fine example of this type of community, one that keeps Jesus and his message and mission at the center.
"And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking of bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."[5]
This is a long passage of scripture, but it is necessary in order to understand not only Christian community in the first century, but in the 21st century, emergent church as well. One might notice that the early church community continued worship in the temple, much like those of the Old Testament community of covenant Israel. The early church community also cared deeply for one another. When the scripture says that “they had all things in common,” it means that they all had friendship with one another[6]. As a result, they cared passionately for one another and held a high concern for each other’s health emotionally, physically, and even spiritually[7].
This community also sold its property and redistributed the proceeds to those in need. By doing so, it demonstrated “the social character of God’s kingdom, where all share equally in the good gifts of God.”[8] The early church was not a communist community by any means; rather, they were a body who cared for each other, a community that strived to share in sufferings, joys and ownership.
There is another large difference between the Old Testament’s idea of community and the New Testament’s early church. That difference is the Spirit. “God’s gift of the Spirit to the community suggests a transforming presence that unites the believers in a common koinonia.”[9] The Old Testament community more or less lacked the gift of God’s Spirit. The New Testament community, however, had that gift. It rooted its community not only on worship, the word of God, and Jesus’ message, but also on the ever moving and untamed Spirit of its living God.
The emerging church, which is becoming more popular as time moves on, finds its influence in the structure of the early Christian church, especially the one in Antioch. That is where the heart of the emerging church movement lays. The church in Jerusalem more or less continued what the Old Testament Jewish community practiced. It focused more on tradition and less on the life-giving Spirit and revelation of Jesus Christ, which is what the church in Antioch structured itself upon. Ray Anderson says it best when he says, “they were not so much interested in kingdom building as they were in living on the growing edge of the kingdom of God, where the dynamic presence and power of the Holy Spirit was found in a community of the Spirit rather than in a sanctuary of stone and glass.”[10]
It is not that the church in Jerusalem was all that bad because it was not, really. It just left out a lot of important aspects of developing community. Mainly Jesus as the Messiah and the Spirit of God as the untamed force leading the community into new and better places. The emerging church is about the contemporary presence of the historical Christ.[11]
This is just one aspect of community. This is only community glanced at from a biblical perspective. Fortunately, it is something much more that just this. What, however, might community look like from a more theological perspective? Where is the transfer of thought? How does one even begin to think about applying some of these concepts from the Bible to everyday practice? There is a lot of confusion about what community might look like outside of the scriptures, so it is important to think about not only what that confusion is, but about what ideas of community one should apply toward everyday living. In other words, a look at the thought of community should be taken.
In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer examines the role of faith inside of community. He says a lot of good things, which can be applied to practical aspects of the community life. Bonhoeffer starts by exploring what community means for the individual. In simple terms, it means fellowship. There is a lot within fellowship for the personal believer. It is a physical presence, which brings joy and strength.[12] He goes on to mention how this fellowship is merely a gift of grace given to humanity, perhaps a glimpse into the kingdom itself.[13] So for the believer in fellowship, that is in community, it is a grace that allows one to experience just a piece of the oneness he might find in heaven.
Every community has a common ground. In fact, most friendships are built on things that two share in common. So goes the church community (just look at the early church for example). Bonhoeffer says, “Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ… we belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.”[14] In other words, ultimately, community does not begin in that all involved in it are hopeless sinners. Community begins and is grounded in the fact that everyone involved is one who belongs in Christ Jesus. This is similar to the early church community in that it found at the heart of its ministry the life, message, and mission of Jesus.
It is easy, especially for Christians in today’s society, to want to identify themselves with their commonness in sin. Bonhoeffer suggests that they do not do that. If that is the case, it becomes a hopeless band of individuals. However, a community with its foundations rooted in Christ is a community with a drive, with a hope, with a force greater that its own. It is a community that embraces the continuity of Christ and his impact on it, and allows that collision to carry it into the future.
Bonhoeffer next suggests that community is not a human ideal, in other words, its not something that man creates and invites others to become a part of, “it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”[15] How does one get to participate in this community? Through the Spirit of God, that draws people into fellowship with one another and gives to them the spirit of love.
Spiritual love, the result of community in Christ, is not something that man can manifest on his own. The only love that man can generate is human love. Human love, to Bonhoeffer is shallow and lacks the depth that only Christ can bring. “Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake.”[16] That love is manifested through and in Christ Jesus, again, where true Christian community finds its roots. It is not that love for a brother outside of a Christian community is bad; it is just selfish. That kind of love will not hold firm in the face of adversity. Spiritual love, however, when confronted will not waiver but only grow stronger for the sake of Christ. It introduces grace into the picture as well and “when grace of love shines on us, we experience the benefits of grace and are then empowered to move toward the source of grace – God.”[17] Spiritual love aids in the development of grace in the believer’s life and ultimately, in the community.
Christian community must also be rooted in the word of God.
"Life together under the Word will remain sound and healthy only where it does not form itself into a movement, an order, a society, a collegium pietatus, but rather where it understands itself as being a part of the one, holy, catholic, Christian Church, where it shares actively and passively in the sufferings and struggles and promise of the whole Church.”[18]
Life together is not something that one can separate itself from the church. Life together, that is, life in community, is the church. It serves the church. It should be a piece of the body rooted in the Word. Ray Anderson says, “Those who love Christ become his body, with a common life and one heart.”[19] Community should celebrate and rally around this idea.
Ultimately, community is “bound together by a common faith.”[20] It is something that as Bonhoeffer tries to demonstrate, even holds to the tradition of the early church. What he outlines as essential features of true Christian community also serves as a continuation of what began in the New Testament early church and even continues on to this day.
So what does this type of community even look like in practice? One might think that it is difficult to find a group of Christians embracing this type of communal society in today’s world, especially in America. Fortunately, it is not that hard to find at all! There are many people who actually live in the United States who have committed themselves to living this divine reality out. And look no further than Donald Miller.
Donald Miller is a popular author among college-aged students. Like several people living in America, he had a lot of wrong impressions about Christian community. Fortunately, Miller was willing to voice those whereas others were not. In his book, Blue Like Jazz, Miller spends a chapter exploring Christian community. He appropriately titled the chapter “Community: living with freaks.”[21]
He writes about his first and longtime impressions of faith and how he always thought that is was something that people did alone, “like monks in caves,”[22] due in part to impressions that Christians leave in bookstores, that is, sending the message that “faith is something you do alone.”[23] Thankfully, Miller had an experience that shattered this view and only by and through the grace of God. He moved into a house with five other Christian guys for the sake of community. It was not something they did intentionally, but rather something that him and his housemates had the desire to do. All of them eventually “had everything in common.”
And like in any experience or community, Miller learned a lot. He said “living in community made me realize my faults: I was addicted to myself.”[24] He was not, however, able to do that without the spiritual love he found in community. The men he lived with loved him unselfishly, for the sake of Christ. Of this kind of love, Miller’s friend, Bill comments “If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus.”[25] In other words, Miller learned that one could not be selfish in community without forsaking the spiritual love that the Spirit gives.
In an article by John Buchanan found in Christian Century magazine, he writes about an encounter that he had with true Christian community, as least in terms of hospitality. Buchanan’s wife’s grandfather had passed away and they had no place to hold a funeral service. The grandfather had attended a Lutheran church for about 30 years of his life, but after moving into a retirement facility, went to a Presbyterian church instead. However, when Buchanan’s family needed a place to do the funeral they did not think that the Lutheran church would let them do it there.
They could not have been more wrong. The Lutheran church that their grandfather had attended for so many years opened its doors to the Buchanans. The pastor presided at the service, the organist played the hymns, and the congregation catered a large lunch, and all of this when none of them even knew the grandfather! Buchanan says, “The hospitality was, I thought, pure grace, an act of simple, eloquent Christian love.”[26] This is also something that Christian community should be. It should be something that crosses denominational boundaries with the full knowledge that its foundation is in, and its service is to, a much higher King than what the worlds’ differences has to offer. In the words from another article in the same magazine, “it reminds us that Christian churches are connected,” especially when they come together like this.[27]
There is another article in Christian Century that also discusses community much in the way that Bonhoeffer does by saying what it is and what it is not. Apparently there was a horrible heat wave during the summer of 1995 in Chicago. Over 739 people died and unfortunately most of them died alone. Peter Marty blames the majority of those deaths on the absence of community.[28]
Marty goes on to say that the lack of community is due to the promotion of the individual that society pressures onto most people. Taking that even further, he examines this idea within Christian community. Marty clearly states what Christian community is not. “Inhabiting the same ecclesiastical space for an hour on Sunday morning is not the same as belonging to a community where your presence truly matters to others and their presence truly matters to you.”[29] This idea of community resonates with what Bonhoeffer said about the fruits that presence brings to the individual.
There is, in all sincerity, a difficulty in balancing the self, which is the beginning of an ideal the world promotes and that of a community. Marty says that a community’s actions reflect whether or not it is part of “the body of Christ or simply a religious club.”[30] This is so true. Just as an individual can know all that there is to know about love and not act on it, so can a community when it comes to living out the manifestation of God’s grace in its life.
And a community is anything but uniform, according to Marty. A true Christian community can “afford to be diverse.”[31] Without uniformity inside a Christian community, there is room for uniqueness. Better yet, there is more room for the Spirit of God to move and do its work. Again, as Bonhoeffer alludes to in Life Together, so too, does Marty. “They become captivated by a vision and get wrapped up in engaging their faith alongside the strength of others.”[32] This is part of fellowship. This is part of community. Just as the early church leaned on each other for support physically and spiritually, so must a community today, especially in this world that promotes and aids in the confusion of these truths.
There is an attempt out there to resurrect the type of Christian community that is found in the scriptures, namely in the book of Acts. Many have called it alternative Christian communities, or more or less appropriately named, “new monastic’s.” There has been a resurgence of interest in monasticism, but within the hustle and bustle of everyday living, hence, the new monasticism.
While most people within these groups may consider themselves original with their mode of thought and practice, they honestly do not differ from the life and mission of the early church. For example, they have sold all of their possessions, they share everything with each other, they practice hospitality, execute social justices, practice solidarity with the poor, and even worship together. These are all wonderful things and what these people are doing is revolutionizing community pracitices.
“Obedience means accountability not to an abbot but to Jesus and to the community.”[33] This is yet another way that new monasticism differs from some traditional monastics. The alternative Christian communities are whole-heartedly dedicated to one another but more so to the message and mission of the living Jesus, the very foundation that they build their community on.
Some of these communities are: Rutba, in North Carolina[34], Reba Place fellowship, in Illinois[35], and Church of the Servant King, in Oregon.[36] All three of these center what they do around intentional community for Christ’s sake and embrace the new monastic lifestyle. So what is the influence?
"Monastic communities have always had greater influence than their numbers. For one thing, they enable preachers and other Christians to point and say, ‘see, someone does try to live out the costly demands of Jesus with regard to possessions, family, nonviolence and love.’ Their presence also encourages more traditional churches to alter their life in small but significant ways."[37]
And perhaps this is the benefit to the practice of new monasticism. It gives searching Christian communities a model to go off of. It also serves the kingdom in a much broader and deeper way than other forms of Christian community.
True Christian community, whether looked at biblically, theologically, or practically, should always find its foundation rooted in Christ Jesus. This might be assumed to be true after examining it to this depth. Biblically community is founded around shared worship, possessions, experiences, friendships, struggles, the word of God, and even Christ Jesus. Theologically these aspects are just as important, which Bonhoeffer eloquently lies out. It is an amazing thing to see the biblical and theological aspects of community fit together so harmoniously and demonstrate the manifestations of fellowship so well. From the life of Donald Miller to the alternative Christian communities, the importance of community was hopefully implied.
[1] Community, by Robert Wall. vol. 1 of Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David N. Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1103.
[2] Ibid., 1104.
[3] Ibid., 1105.
[4] Ibid., 1105.
[5] Acts 2.42-47, NKJV
[6] Acts, vol. 10 of New Interpreter’s Bible, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002), 71.
[7] Ibid, 71-72.
[8] Ibid, 72.
[9] Ibid, 71.
[10]Ray S. Anderson, Emerging Theology for Emerging Churches. (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2006), 101.
[11] Ibid., 45.
[12] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1954), 20.
[13] Ibid., 21.
[14] Ibid., 21
[15] Bonhoeffer, 30.
[16] Bonhoeffer, 34.
[17] Ray S. Anderson, The Soul of God (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004), 101.
[18] Bonhoeffer, 37.
[19] Anderson, The Soul of God, 29.
[20] Bonhoeffer, 34.
[21] Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003), 175.
[22] Ibid., 175
[23] Ibid., 175
[24] Ibid., 181
[25] Ibid., 185
[26] Buchanan, John M. "Graceful presence." Christian Century 122, no. 7 (2005): 3-3. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 25, 2006), 3.
[27] "Radical relocation." Christian Century 122, no. 21 (2005): 5-5. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 25, 2006).
[28] Marty, Peter W. "Breathing together: community as a way of life." Christian Century 122, no. 17 (2005): 8-9. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 25, 2006), 8.
[29] Ibid., 8.
[30] Ibid., 8.
[31] Ibid., 9.
[32] Ibid., 9.
[33] "The new monastics: alternative Christian communities." Christian Century 122, no. 21 (2005): 38-47. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 25, 2006), 38.
[34] Ibid., 38.
[35] Ibid., 39.
[36] Ibid., 41.
[37] Ibid., 47.
Community is almost something of a lost concept these days. It is a lot fellowship that the world has unfortunately polluted with its own set of ideals, standards, and prerequisites to involvement within it. Community has become a giant country club where even Christians pay dues to remain a part of it. That is not a community. That is a clique. It is unfortunate that this is the idea that most people think of when they think of community, even Christian community. So what exactly is Christian community? What does it look like? Where is it found? Where does it begin? True Christian community, whether looked at biblically, theologically, or practically, should always find its foundation rooted in Christ Jesus. This is the point where community should bloom.
It is important to look at the idea of community from a biblical perspective. When one does, he better understands what the concept of community means both theologically and practically. If one does not examine community biblically, one runs the risk of mistaking community for personal ideals instead of structure and theology rooted in the word of God and Christ Jesus. So what does community look like biblically? In order to wrap one’s mind around such a thing, community needs to be explored in the Old and New Testaments as well as its interpretation, or lack thereof, in today’s world.
It is easy to jump straight into the book of Acts, seeing as that is where most people look to try to understand true Christian community. However, it is really important to start ones search in the Old Testament and the idea of it through the eyes of a Jew. The foundations of New Testament community gather some of their strength from their predecessor. So what does Old Testament Jewish community look like?
Community was initially formed to center around the worship of God. Israel, the covenant people, was this community. Robert Wall says of this community that “the worshipping community was also a witnessing community, called forth to reflect in its common life the very character of its transcendent God.”[1] In other words, the purpose of the original Jewish community was not just to worship God, but the fruit of their worship was their witness; their worship of God produced a gospel to be lived out in the everyday life of their community. However, it was not through the revelation of the Spirit that this community chose to base their witness and worship on, but the Torah. The word of God at that time was the Jewish community’s source of divine revelation, the source that they based their witness and worship.[2]
When Jesus came around he did not necessarily shatter this image or ideal of community, but he added to it and breathed new life into it. The New Testament community accepted the role of a worshipful witnessing community, however, this aspect was “decisively influenced by their conviction that Jesus was God’s Messiah, and that through him God had begun a new Exodus for the restored, eschatological Israel.”[3] The community was no longer something that centered on the Torah, but an element of Christian living that focused on Jesus and the hopeful future of the community that Jesus brought and drove them towards.
Wall argues that this pull, which fueled the Messianic movement, that is keeping God at the center, is what was at the core of Jesus’ idea of community.[4] Therefore, the New Testament community began to base their ideas and actions on this notion of keeping God at the center, which in effect, meant keeping Jesus and his message at the center of their community.
The early church community that is found in the book of Acts is a fine example of this type of community, one that keeps Jesus and his message and mission at the center.
"And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking of bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."[5]
This is a long passage of scripture, but it is necessary in order to understand not only Christian community in the first century, but in the 21st century, emergent church as well. One might notice that the early church community continued worship in the temple, much like those of the Old Testament community of covenant Israel. The early church community also cared deeply for one another. When the scripture says that “they had all things in common,” it means that they all had friendship with one another[6]. As a result, they cared passionately for one another and held a high concern for each other’s health emotionally, physically, and even spiritually[7].
This community also sold its property and redistributed the proceeds to those in need. By doing so, it demonstrated “the social character of God’s kingdom, where all share equally in the good gifts of God.”[8] The early church was not a communist community by any means; rather, they were a body who cared for each other, a community that strived to share in sufferings, joys and ownership.
There is another large difference between the Old Testament’s idea of community and the New Testament’s early church. That difference is the Spirit. “God’s gift of the Spirit to the community suggests a transforming presence that unites the believers in a common koinonia.”[9] The Old Testament community more or less lacked the gift of God’s Spirit. The New Testament community, however, had that gift. It rooted its community not only on worship, the word of God, and Jesus’ message, but also on the ever moving and untamed Spirit of its living God.
The emerging church, which is becoming more popular as time moves on, finds its influence in the structure of the early Christian church, especially the one in Antioch. That is where the heart of the emerging church movement lays. The church in Jerusalem more or less continued what the Old Testament Jewish community practiced. It focused more on tradition and less on the life-giving Spirit and revelation of Jesus Christ, which is what the church in Antioch structured itself upon. Ray Anderson says it best when he says, “they were not so much interested in kingdom building as they were in living on the growing edge of the kingdom of God, where the dynamic presence and power of the Holy Spirit was found in a community of the Spirit rather than in a sanctuary of stone and glass.”[10]
It is not that the church in Jerusalem was all that bad because it was not, really. It just left out a lot of important aspects of developing community. Mainly Jesus as the Messiah and the Spirit of God as the untamed force leading the community into new and better places. The emerging church is about the contemporary presence of the historical Christ.[11]
This is just one aspect of community. This is only community glanced at from a biblical perspective. Fortunately, it is something much more that just this. What, however, might community look like from a more theological perspective? Where is the transfer of thought? How does one even begin to think about applying some of these concepts from the Bible to everyday practice? There is a lot of confusion about what community might look like outside of the scriptures, so it is important to think about not only what that confusion is, but about what ideas of community one should apply toward everyday living. In other words, a look at the thought of community should be taken.
In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer examines the role of faith inside of community. He says a lot of good things, which can be applied to practical aspects of the community life. Bonhoeffer starts by exploring what community means for the individual. In simple terms, it means fellowship. There is a lot within fellowship for the personal believer. It is a physical presence, which brings joy and strength.[12] He goes on to mention how this fellowship is merely a gift of grace given to humanity, perhaps a glimpse into the kingdom itself.[13] So for the believer in fellowship, that is in community, it is a grace that allows one to experience just a piece of the oneness he might find in heaven.
Every community has a common ground. In fact, most friendships are built on things that two share in common. So goes the church community (just look at the early church for example). Bonhoeffer says, “Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ… we belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.”[14] In other words, ultimately, community does not begin in that all involved in it are hopeless sinners. Community begins and is grounded in the fact that everyone involved is one who belongs in Christ Jesus. This is similar to the early church community in that it found at the heart of its ministry the life, message, and mission of Jesus.
It is easy, especially for Christians in today’s society, to want to identify themselves with their commonness in sin. Bonhoeffer suggests that they do not do that. If that is the case, it becomes a hopeless band of individuals. However, a community with its foundations rooted in Christ is a community with a drive, with a hope, with a force greater that its own. It is a community that embraces the continuity of Christ and his impact on it, and allows that collision to carry it into the future.
Bonhoeffer next suggests that community is not a human ideal, in other words, its not something that man creates and invites others to become a part of, “it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”[15] How does one get to participate in this community? Through the Spirit of God, that draws people into fellowship with one another and gives to them the spirit of love.
Spiritual love, the result of community in Christ, is not something that man can manifest on his own. The only love that man can generate is human love. Human love, to Bonhoeffer is shallow and lacks the depth that only Christ can bring. “Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake.”[16] That love is manifested through and in Christ Jesus, again, where true Christian community finds its roots. It is not that love for a brother outside of a Christian community is bad; it is just selfish. That kind of love will not hold firm in the face of adversity. Spiritual love, however, when confronted will not waiver but only grow stronger for the sake of Christ. It introduces grace into the picture as well and “when grace of love shines on us, we experience the benefits of grace and are then empowered to move toward the source of grace – God.”[17] Spiritual love aids in the development of grace in the believer’s life and ultimately, in the community.
Christian community must also be rooted in the word of God.
"Life together under the Word will remain sound and healthy only where it does not form itself into a movement, an order, a society, a collegium pietatus, but rather where it understands itself as being a part of the one, holy, catholic, Christian Church, where it shares actively and passively in the sufferings and struggles and promise of the whole Church.”[18]
Life together is not something that one can separate itself from the church. Life together, that is, life in community, is the church. It serves the church. It should be a piece of the body rooted in the Word. Ray Anderson says, “Those who love Christ become his body, with a common life and one heart.”[19] Community should celebrate and rally around this idea.
Ultimately, community is “bound together by a common faith.”[20] It is something that as Bonhoeffer tries to demonstrate, even holds to the tradition of the early church. What he outlines as essential features of true Christian community also serves as a continuation of what began in the New Testament early church and even continues on to this day.
So what does this type of community even look like in practice? One might think that it is difficult to find a group of Christians embracing this type of communal society in today’s world, especially in America. Fortunately, it is not that hard to find at all! There are many people who actually live in the United States who have committed themselves to living this divine reality out. And look no further than Donald Miller.
Donald Miller is a popular author among college-aged students. Like several people living in America, he had a lot of wrong impressions about Christian community. Fortunately, Miller was willing to voice those whereas others were not. In his book, Blue Like Jazz, Miller spends a chapter exploring Christian community. He appropriately titled the chapter “Community: living with freaks.”[21]
He writes about his first and longtime impressions of faith and how he always thought that is was something that people did alone, “like monks in caves,”[22] due in part to impressions that Christians leave in bookstores, that is, sending the message that “faith is something you do alone.”[23] Thankfully, Miller had an experience that shattered this view and only by and through the grace of God. He moved into a house with five other Christian guys for the sake of community. It was not something they did intentionally, but rather something that him and his housemates had the desire to do. All of them eventually “had everything in common.”
And like in any experience or community, Miller learned a lot. He said “living in community made me realize my faults: I was addicted to myself.”[24] He was not, however, able to do that without the spiritual love he found in community. The men he lived with loved him unselfishly, for the sake of Christ. Of this kind of love, Miller’s friend, Bill comments “If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus.”[25] In other words, Miller learned that one could not be selfish in community without forsaking the spiritual love that the Spirit gives.
In an article by John Buchanan found in Christian Century magazine, he writes about an encounter that he had with true Christian community, as least in terms of hospitality. Buchanan’s wife’s grandfather had passed away and they had no place to hold a funeral service. The grandfather had attended a Lutheran church for about 30 years of his life, but after moving into a retirement facility, went to a Presbyterian church instead. However, when Buchanan’s family needed a place to do the funeral they did not think that the Lutheran church would let them do it there.
They could not have been more wrong. The Lutheran church that their grandfather had attended for so many years opened its doors to the Buchanans. The pastor presided at the service, the organist played the hymns, and the congregation catered a large lunch, and all of this when none of them even knew the grandfather! Buchanan says, “The hospitality was, I thought, pure grace, an act of simple, eloquent Christian love.”[26] This is also something that Christian community should be. It should be something that crosses denominational boundaries with the full knowledge that its foundation is in, and its service is to, a much higher King than what the worlds’ differences has to offer. In the words from another article in the same magazine, “it reminds us that Christian churches are connected,” especially when they come together like this.[27]
There is another article in Christian Century that also discusses community much in the way that Bonhoeffer does by saying what it is and what it is not. Apparently there was a horrible heat wave during the summer of 1995 in Chicago. Over 739 people died and unfortunately most of them died alone. Peter Marty blames the majority of those deaths on the absence of community.[28]
Marty goes on to say that the lack of community is due to the promotion of the individual that society pressures onto most people. Taking that even further, he examines this idea within Christian community. Marty clearly states what Christian community is not. “Inhabiting the same ecclesiastical space for an hour on Sunday morning is not the same as belonging to a community where your presence truly matters to others and their presence truly matters to you.”[29] This idea of community resonates with what Bonhoeffer said about the fruits that presence brings to the individual.
There is, in all sincerity, a difficulty in balancing the self, which is the beginning of an ideal the world promotes and that of a community. Marty says that a community’s actions reflect whether or not it is part of “the body of Christ or simply a religious club.”[30] This is so true. Just as an individual can know all that there is to know about love and not act on it, so can a community when it comes to living out the manifestation of God’s grace in its life.
And a community is anything but uniform, according to Marty. A true Christian community can “afford to be diverse.”[31] Without uniformity inside a Christian community, there is room for uniqueness. Better yet, there is more room for the Spirit of God to move and do its work. Again, as Bonhoeffer alludes to in Life Together, so too, does Marty. “They become captivated by a vision and get wrapped up in engaging their faith alongside the strength of others.”[32] This is part of fellowship. This is part of community. Just as the early church leaned on each other for support physically and spiritually, so must a community today, especially in this world that promotes and aids in the confusion of these truths.
There is an attempt out there to resurrect the type of Christian community that is found in the scriptures, namely in the book of Acts. Many have called it alternative Christian communities, or more or less appropriately named, “new monastic’s.” There has been a resurgence of interest in monasticism, but within the hustle and bustle of everyday living, hence, the new monasticism.
While most people within these groups may consider themselves original with their mode of thought and practice, they honestly do not differ from the life and mission of the early church. For example, they have sold all of their possessions, they share everything with each other, they practice hospitality, execute social justices, practice solidarity with the poor, and even worship together. These are all wonderful things and what these people are doing is revolutionizing community pracitices.
“Obedience means accountability not to an abbot but to Jesus and to the community.”[33] This is yet another way that new monasticism differs from some traditional monastics. The alternative Christian communities are whole-heartedly dedicated to one another but more so to the message and mission of the living Jesus, the very foundation that they build their community on.
Some of these communities are: Rutba, in North Carolina[34], Reba Place fellowship, in Illinois[35], and Church of the Servant King, in Oregon.[36] All three of these center what they do around intentional community for Christ’s sake and embrace the new monastic lifestyle. So what is the influence?
"Monastic communities have always had greater influence than their numbers. For one thing, they enable preachers and other Christians to point and say, ‘see, someone does try to live out the costly demands of Jesus with regard to possessions, family, nonviolence and love.’ Their presence also encourages more traditional churches to alter their life in small but significant ways."[37]
And perhaps this is the benefit to the practice of new monasticism. It gives searching Christian communities a model to go off of. It also serves the kingdom in a much broader and deeper way than other forms of Christian community.
True Christian community, whether looked at biblically, theologically, or practically, should always find its foundation rooted in Christ Jesus. This might be assumed to be true after examining it to this depth. Biblically community is founded around shared worship, possessions, experiences, friendships, struggles, the word of God, and even Christ Jesus. Theologically these aspects are just as important, which Bonhoeffer eloquently lies out. It is an amazing thing to see the biblical and theological aspects of community fit together so harmoniously and demonstrate the manifestations of fellowship so well. From the life of Donald Miller to the alternative Christian communities, the importance of community was hopefully implied.
[1] Community, by Robert Wall. vol. 1 of Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David N. Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1103.
[2] Ibid., 1104.
[3] Ibid., 1105.
[4] Ibid., 1105.
[5] Acts 2.42-47, NKJV
[6] Acts, vol. 10 of New Interpreter’s Bible, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002), 71.
[7] Ibid, 71-72.
[8] Ibid, 72.
[9] Ibid, 71.
[10]Ray S. Anderson, Emerging Theology for Emerging Churches. (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2006), 101.
[11] Ibid., 45.
[12] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1954), 20.
[13] Ibid., 21.
[14] Ibid., 21
[15] Bonhoeffer, 30.
[16] Bonhoeffer, 34.
[17] Ray S. Anderson, The Soul of God (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004), 101.
[18] Bonhoeffer, 37.
[19] Anderson, The Soul of God, 29.
[20] Bonhoeffer, 34.
[21] Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003), 175.
[22] Ibid., 175
[23] Ibid., 175
[24] Ibid., 181
[25] Ibid., 185
[26] Buchanan, John M. "Graceful presence." Christian Century 122, no. 7 (2005): 3-3. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 25, 2006), 3.
[27] "Radical relocation." Christian Century 122, no. 21 (2005): 5-5. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 25, 2006).
[28] Marty, Peter W. "Breathing together: community as a way of life." Christian Century 122, no. 17 (2005): 8-9. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 25, 2006), 8.
[29] Ibid., 8.
[30] Ibid., 8.
[31] Ibid., 9.
[32] Ibid., 9.
[33] "The new monastics: alternative Christian communities." Christian Century 122, no. 21 (2005): 38-47. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 25, 2006), 38.
[34] Ibid., 38.
[35] Ibid., 39.
[36] Ibid., 41.
[37] Ibid., 47.
May 15, 2007
May 10, 2007
May 9, 2007
Casey posted this a few days back and it just resonated with and spoke with me.
Watch Your Toes . . .Have you ever considered what Satan finds pleasurable?
1. When men of God abandon the preaching of the gospel to become "would be politicians" consumed with the political affairs of men.
2. When the preaching of God's Word is substituted with relational anecdotal experience, personal happiness programs, and human potentiality makeovers.
3. When pastors no longer shepherd God's people and the pulpits have become playgrounds.
4. When psychology has replaced biblical discipleship.
5. When men of God are flattered to become "late night talk show guests" on cultural and spiritual issues, but never once open up the Bible to develop their answers; or call the nation, other guests, or the talk show host to repentance by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation; they've simply become culturally acceptable biblical motivational speakers thinking that access to mainstream media means they are making an impact.
6. When the vicar of Rome is acknowledged as the vicar of Christ.
7. When sin is called sickness; when disobedience is called disease; and when adultery is called addiction.
8. When money becomes a prerequisite for ministry by charging people for the gospel, worship, discipleship, counseling, evangelism, Christian music, etc.
9. When we are liked by all people; when the world is not offended by the message we represent and relates to us for being "nice".
10. When church becomes just another predictable program we do one hour a week, one day a week.
11. When prayer becomes passé and the seldom thing we do.
12. When brothers and sisters hold ought against each other in bitterness and unforgiveness.
13. When church discipline of sin ceases.
14. When irreconcilable differences becomes an acceptable reason to break the covenant of marriage.
15. When the goal of faith is no longer holiness, but happiness.
16. When the object of faith is no longer Christ, but self.
17. When the foundation of faith is no longer the Scriptures, but my personal experience.
18. When error is tolerated and finally accepted as truth.
19. When Christians partner with nonbelievers in the work of the ministry.
20. When ministries are enticed to give up their autonomy and become owned by the world for just a little more money and a little more personal promotion.
21. When the worship and glory of God is treated as entertainment.
22. When the church bowes the knee to the seminaries and surrenders her duty to train men for pastoral ministry; thinking that the academic schools of religious learning actually can make a pastor when all they can do is make students.
23. When men can personally profit from the sale of God's Word.
24. When repentance is no longer part of the gospel.
25. When salvation is no longer proclaimed as being by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, on the Word alone, to the glory of God alone.
26. When Romanism, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Church of Christ (Bostonian), Seventh Day Adventists (and dare I say but to be consistent I must) Islamic moralists, Atheists, Agnostics, etc. are indirectly legitimized as being "morally sound and culturally chaste" by some naïve evangelical leaders who have forgotten their heritage, sold their spiritual birthright, and have laid down sound doctrine for the sole purpose of partnering with those same "religious" and individually politically-correct alliances to try and turn back the tide of social ills through cultural cobelligerence. In doing so, they have purposely divorced the centrality of the gospel of Jesus Christ from their burden for social change; this is foolish and the delight of hell.
27. When the offense of the cross is removed for cultural acceptance, media accessibility and endorsement
Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com
May 6, 2007
May 3, 2007
How Pastors Can Keep Youth Workers
by Mike Yaconelli
I have a solution for the long-held belief that youth workers average about 18 months in a church before they move on or are moved out. I guarantee if pastors implement my suggestions, the average stay of a youth worker could triple or even quadruple. We're talking miracle here.
Believe that your primary job as pastor is to care for the spiritual life of your youth worker. Support the youth worker at any cost, because it will cost you.
Explain to the church that you expect the youth worker to be "out of the office" most of the time because a youth worker's office is his car, McDonald's, football stands, band hall, and surfboard.
Remind the church that when your youth worker's at camp, she's working.
When your youth worker makes a mistake, come to his defense. Help the church understand that mistakes are part of the job and that you couldn't be more pleased that you have a youth worker who's taking risks and pushing the envelope.
Keep pushing to increase the youth worker's salary and the youth budget.
Once a year, encourage church members with means to provide a weekend getaway at a cabin or beach house or condo for the youth worker and her family. Stock the refrigerator with food, arrange baby sitting, and tell her to take the weekend off—she deserves it.
Support his family. Encourage the youth worker to divide the day into three parts and work only two of them. Check on his marriage, and give him plenty of slack when the new baby arrives.
Before the job even starts, meet with the youth worker and then the board to make sure everyone's on the same page when it comes to expectations and results.
Whatever you do, make sure that numbers and attendance are not the sole or primary success markers.
Don't expect that, now that you've hired a youth worker, she'll do all the youth work. Expect the congregation to volunteer to help the youth worker, and if there's no response, go with the youth worker to personally invite others to help. Believe that, for every five kids in the junior high or high school youth group, there should be one volunteer adult meeting with those kids on a regular basis.
Include the young people in the total life of the church, not just youth night. In fact, don't have youth night. Put them on boards, have them participate in the services and as greeters, and encourage the senior citizens to adopt someone in the youth group so each kid has an older mentor, friend, pen pal, and wise sage. Encourage both the kids and the seniors to exchange letters, tiny gifts for birthdays and special moments, and have the students put on a dinner once a year for their pen pals.
Spend a lot of your time working with parents, providing them resources and seminars (Understanding Your Teenager, for instance) to help families sift through what's important at this critical stage.
Part of the youth worker's job description should be the expectation that she takes one day a week on silent retreat, three days every three months, and one week a year just for working on her soul. Also give her a restricted budget for books that are just about our souls.
Meet with the young people on a regular basis, and have open question-and-answer sessions so they can get to know you as a person. Let them know your struggles, your flaws and your passion for them.
Ask the wisest elder in your church to attend the youth meetings and report back each month what he saw.
Plan service projects for both youth and adults.
Continually affirm and encourage your youth worker.
. . . . .
There you have it. A happy youth worker is a long term youth worker. Woo Hoo!
by Mike Yaconelli
I have a solution for the long-held belief that youth workers average about 18 months in a church before they move on or are moved out. I guarantee if pastors implement my suggestions, the average stay of a youth worker could triple or even quadruple. We're talking miracle here.
Believe that your primary job as pastor is to care for the spiritual life of your youth worker. Support the youth worker at any cost, because it will cost you.
Explain to the church that you expect the youth worker to be "out of the office" most of the time because a youth worker's office is his car, McDonald's, football stands, band hall, and surfboard.
Remind the church that when your youth worker's at camp, she's working.
When your youth worker makes a mistake, come to his defense. Help the church understand that mistakes are part of the job and that you couldn't be more pleased that you have a youth worker who's taking risks and pushing the envelope.
Keep pushing to increase the youth worker's salary and the youth budget.
Once a year, encourage church members with means to provide a weekend getaway at a cabin or beach house or condo for the youth worker and her family. Stock the refrigerator with food, arrange baby sitting, and tell her to take the weekend off—she deserves it.
Support his family. Encourage the youth worker to divide the day into three parts and work only two of them. Check on his marriage, and give him plenty of slack when the new baby arrives.
Before the job even starts, meet with the youth worker and then the board to make sure everyone's on the same page when it comes to expectations and results.
Whatever you do, make sure that numbers and attendance are not the sole or primary success markers.
Don't expect that, now that you've hired a youth worker, she'll do all the youth work. Expect the congregation to volunteer to help the youth worker, and if there's no response, go with the youth worker to personally invite others to help. Believe that, for every five kids in the junior high or high school youth group, there should be one volunteer adult meeting with those kids on a regular basis.
Include the young people in the total life of the church, not just youth night. In fact, don't have youth night. Put them on boards, have them participate in the services and as greeters, and encourage the senior citizens to adopt someone in the youth group so each kid has an older mentor, friend, pen pal, and wise sage. Encourage both the kids and the seniors to exchange letters, tiny gifts for birthdays and special moments, and have the students put on a dinner once a year for their pen pals.
Spend a lot of your time working with parents, providing them resources and seminars (Understanding Your Teenager, for instance) to help families sift through what's important at this critical stage.
Part of the youth worker's job description should be the expectation that she takes one day a week on silent retreat, three days every three months, and one week a year just for working on her soul. Also give her a restricted budget for books that are just about our souls.
Meet with the young people on a regular basis, and have open question-and-answer sessions so they can get to know you as a person. Let them know your struggles, your flaws and your passion for them.
Ask the wisest elder in your church to attend the youth meetings and report back each month what he saw.
Plan service projects for both youth and adults.
Continually affirm and encourage your youth worker.
. . . . .
There you have it. A happy youth worker is a long term youth worker. Woo Hoo!
The Message of Jesus and the Local Church
The Good News that Jesus preached 2000 years ago is much different than what we hear in the church today. Today the messages that are spread throughout the body of Christ are ones that appear to be watered down half-truths. Either the Gospel is only about the forgiveness of sin or it is of the great moral teachings of Jesus. It could not be any further from the truth. The Good News that Jesus proclaimed was the availability of the Kingdom of God; something that is seldom heard of in the church today.
Jesus’ earthly ministry was preaching the availability of the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 4.17, Jesus says, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” The Kingdom of God is synonymous with the Kingdom of Heaven, each representing the effective range of God’s power. Although it is within the spiritual realm, it interacts with the physical one, thus allowing it to be visible. The Kingdom of God was manifested when Jesus performed signs and miracles and this ministry was continued through the work of his disciples.
The Kingdom of God can first be witnessed in the Creation. The relationship that God had with Adam and Eve in the Garden is a great example of the availability of the Kingdom. Unfortunately after the fall of man, the Kingdom progressively fell into ethnic and religious captivity, paving the way for the rejection of the true Kingdom message that Jesus preached. A system had been set into place that allowed for the lost sheep of Israel to become blinded from the true desire God had for the Kingdom.
What often goes unnoticed is that the availability of the Kingdom was preached long after Christ’s death. Not only did Jesus make it his goal to preach this, but Paul adopted the same vision which is recorded in Acts 28.31 where it says about Paul, “Boldly and without hindrance he preached the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul’s followers and the other apostles of Jesus did the same, without hindrance boldly proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately somewhere along the way, perhaps even influence from the lost sheep that rejected Christ’s message in the first place, the true meaning that is the availability of the Kingdom of God, was lost. Even in today’s church, the Gospel that Jesus preached appears to go unnoticed.
In today’s church there are commonly two Gospels that are preached: the Gospel of the left and the Gospel of the right. The Gospel of the left puts emphasis on Jesus as a teacher who taught humanity how to love one another. The Gospel of the right emphasizes and teaches of the forgiveness of sins. The problem with these two Gospels is that usually only one of them is preached. Some churches tend to only focus on the moral teachings of Jesus and undermine his divinity, while others merely see Jesus as the blood sacrifice for their sins; nothing more and nothing less.
The main issue that arises out of this situation is what happens when these Gospels are the only ones preached and the Gospel of Jesus is completely ignored. If the church only preached about the Gospel of the left or the Gospel of the right, there would be very little spiritual growth. It would be similar to the church receiving half-truths. The forgiveness of sins and the teachings of Jesus are only a mere fraction of what the Kingdom of God contains.
The church needs to begin preaching the Gospel of Jesus, which is the availability of the Kingdom of God. If this Gospel started being preached in the church, there would a wave of fresh power throughout the body of Christ. First, church leaders would have to begin making disciples, shifting the message to an available ‘with God’ life. More importantly, it would be a responsibility of the church to show God’s people how to live that life.
The easiest way to live out the Gospel of Jesus is through means of grace. Grace is God’s work in our life. In 1 Peter 3.18 it says, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Some consider grace to be merely unmerited forgiveness; however it would be difficult to grow in unmerited forgiveness. It is likely that one would be able to allow God’s work to grow in their life, which can be accomplished through means of grace, or spiritual disciplines. The danger lies in that if not practiced within the boundaries of the Kingdom of God, spiritual disciplines can turn into legalism.
The Good News that Jesus proclaimed was the availability of the Kingdom of God; something that is seldom heard of in the church today, but it does not have to remain that way. The best part about living in the Kingdom of God is the benefits. A life of abiding peace, foundation in truth, hope, unconditional love, strength to overcome, and many others are only a glimpse at what the Kingdom of God possesses. It is changing our minds and realizing that the Kingdom of God is here, which will lead to this shift in today’s church, a shift that is desperately needed if the church is to become one to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.
The Good News that Jesus preached 2000 years ago is much different than what we hear in the church today. Today the messages that are spread throughout the body of Christ are ones that appear to be watered down half-truths. Either the Gospel is only about the forgiveness of sin or it is of the great moral teachings of Jesus. It could not be any further from the truth. The Good News that Jesus proclaimed was the availability of the Kingdom of God; something that is seldom heard of in the church today.
Jesus’ earthly ministry was preaching the availability of the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 4.17, Jesus says, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” The Kingdom of God is synonymous with the Kingdom of Heaven, each representing the effective range of God’s power. Although it is within the spiritual realm, it interacts with the physical one, thus allowing it to be visible. The Kingdom of God was manifested when Jesus performed signs and miracles and this ministry was continued through the work of his disciples.
The Kingdom of God can first be witnessed in the Creation. The relationship that God had with Adam and Eve in the Garden is a great example of the availability of the Kingdom. Unfortunately after the fall of man, the Kingdom progressively fell into ethnic and religious captivity, paving the way for the rejection of the true Kingdom message that Jesus preached. A system had been set into place that allowed for the lost sheep of Israel to become blinded from the true desire God had for the Kingdom.
What often goes unnoticed is that the availability of the Kingdom was preached long after Christ’s death. Not only did Jesus make it his goal to preach this, but Paul adopted the same vision which is recorded in Acts 28.31 where it says about Paul, “Boldly and without hindrance he preached the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul’s followers and the other apostles of Jesus did the same, without hindrance boldly proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately somewhere along the way, perhaps even influence from the lost sheep that rejected Christ’s message in the first place, the true meaning that is the availability of the Kingdom of God, was lost. Even in today’s church, the Gospel that Jesus preached appears to go unnoticed.
In today’s church there are commonly two Gospels that are preached: the Gospel of the left and the Gospel of the right. The Gospel of the left puts emphasis on Jesus as a teacher who taught humanity how to love one another. The Gospel of the right emphasizes and teaches of the forgiveness of sins. The problem with these two Gospels is that usually only one of them is preached. Some churches tend to only focus on the moral teachings of Jesus and undermine his divinity, while others merely see Jesus as the blood sacrifice for their sins; nothing more and nothing less.
The main issue that arises out of this situation is what happens when these Gospels are the only ones preached and the Gospel of Jesus is completely ignored. If the church only preached about the Gospel of the left or the Gospel of the right, there would be very little spiritual growth. It would be similar to the church receiving half-truths. The forgiveness of sins and the teachings of Jesus are only a mere fraction of what the Kingdom of God contains.
The church needs to begin preaching the Gospel of Jesus, which is the availability of the Kingdom of God. If this Gospel started being preached in the church, there would a wave of fresh power throughout the body of Christ. First, church leaders would have to begin making disciples, shifting the message to an available ‘with God’ life. More importantly, it would be a responsibility of the church to show God’s people how to live that life.
The easiest way to live out the Gospel of Jesus is through means of grace. Grace is God’s work in our life. In 1 Peter 3.18 it says, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Some consider grace to be merely unmerited forgiveness; however it would be difficult to grow in unmerited forgiveness. It is likely that one would be able to allow God’s work to grow in their life, which can be accomplished through means of grace, or spiritual disciplines. The danger lies in that if not practiced within the boundaries of the Kingdom of God, spiritual disciplines can turn into legalism.
The Good News that Jesus proclaimed was the availability of the Kingdom of God; something that is seldom heard of in the church today, but it does not have to remain that way. The best part about living in the Kingdom of God is the benefits. A life of abiding peace, foundation in truth, hope, unconditional love, strength to overcome, and many others are only a glimpse at what the Kingdom of God possesses. It is changing our minds and realizing that the Kingdom of God is here, which will lead to this shift in today’s church, a shift that is desperately needed if the church is to become one to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.
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