Missional Revolution

I've always loved the concept of revolution. It inspires me and maintains within me a drive and a desire to keep on pressing forward to see God move in great ways. I'm not sure that I've ever seen the move of God that I dream of. It's a move of repentance.

Revolution and repentance have this in common: They both change something from one system to another. They seek to change people from walking in one direction to turning around. Revolution changes structures and systems; repentance changes hearts and worldviews from the inside out.

The Church in Britain still needs a revolution of repentance. Until we stop and call out to God for His gracious mercy we will continue in decline. We cannot grow as the Church of God while we are not acting like the people of God. While we are loving our structures and our ways more than God and God's ways we cannot grow to be the mission force of Jesus to the world.

I'm not against structure (even the body needs a skeleton) but I'm struggling to see how structure has become our focus. I see some beautiful signs of God's Kingdom coming all around us, but I long for so much more. Don't you?

The Church has lost it's mission to bring the world to Jesus, and Jesus to the world. There is a revolution around us. the missional Church is rising up to take love to the lost, to take hope to the hurting and to take provision to the poor. It's message is powerfully spiritual and practically supplying.

Let us seek the face of God. Let us hear his powerful voice of truth speak into our hearts until we turn back to Him and are turned towards the world again with the power and practicality of the Gospel message.

Church...praying

Church is pretty counter-cultural in a spiritual sense. Althoung we must engage with our culture, we also need to be aware of the spiritual forces and dynamics that drive those cultures. With this in mins it is imperative that we prayerfully engage. God obviously desires to engage culture through the missional thrust of the Church.

We must seek God. We must discern. We must be wise. We must be active. To do all this we must be praying. The Church must be praying - You must pray. I must pray.

Let us devote ourselves to prayer.

Church is...3 - loving

If the Church is to love God and love others then the core purpose of Church is to love! Yet, many experience that the Church is not unconditionally loving. Many have experiencved conditional love and exceptance in their experience of Church - this is a diminished view of the love God has called us to live and show. I've heard it said that True love waits, but in this context love does not wait - it just gets on with loving, in thought, word, and ultimately, in deeds.

It needs to be said that there are many floowers of Jesus and Churches that show amazing lives and communities of unconditional love. Yet as people look at the Church in the West this is not the most prominent image of Church seen. We need to be transformed from the heart out into the community.

Look at Jesus lifestyle: He loved the crowds by feeding them with words and with food; he loved the leper by approaching them, talking with them and healing them; he loved women through respecting them; he loved kids by giving them his time; he loved his disciples by disciplining, teaching and releasing them; he loved the world by serving, saving and sacrificing himself; he loved God through obeying him; he loved.

As God's Church we have much repenting to do for our lack of love. We have lacked:

Love for the lost - if we really cared about the lost our perspective would not be so individualistic or insular.
Love for God - we live our faith in our way (it's my life!) rather than in Jesus' way (He is THE Way!)
Love for each other - many churches are filled with people who love others when "they play ball" and fit unspoken rules and expectations.Love for God's word - our words have somehow become more vocal than God's inspired, Spirit-breathed word.

We need to repent. we really need to turn back to God and BE the Church that Jesus died to send into the world. We need to get on our knees and pray that god's mercy touches our hearts afresh. We need to let go of all the 'church' baggage that's got us bound up and be freed to follow Jesus as unconditional lovers of God who unconditionally love ALL people, even when they are different, wrong, right, or down-right strange.

Follow Jesus - Love God - Love others - with no conditions

Church is...2

I have wanted to write about 'Church' for a while. Perhaps I've nothing new to offer, but at a time when there's much buzz about what Churchis not, and should not be, I wanted to put down my thoughts on what Church is. So here's the first installment.

Church is a community of believers
I love that community is a facet of current discussions on ecclesiology. we all know that Church is meant to be community, but I believe that this has to be more than 2 or 3 people gathering together in a pub and talking about Jesus (admit it...anybody can do that!). Church is a community OF BELIEVERS - people that love God and have a living faith in the saving power and person of Jesus Christ. Their belief is founded upon him; he's at the centre of it all; they live to please Jesus; they emmulate lives that resemble, copy and mimic the life of Christ.

Church is a community - a people with a common unity: they are lovers of God and lovers of people. They share common purpose: to glorify God through living lives that are lived as worship to Him; to 'make disciples' (not just get converts); to teach Jesus' way of living and being; to live out the great commandment and the great commission.

Belief is based on:

1. the teachings of Christ
2. The work of Christ
3. The authority of the Bible

I had a lecturer that talked about 'faith in faith' - faith in nothing really! Our faith has the basis of God's revelation of himself to us in scripture. Our belief needs to be placed alongside the 'plumbline of scripture'. If our belief is at odds with God's word then we have been deluded and deceived. When we stand on scripture our foundation cannot be removed. god is not a man that he should lie. His word is truth. we may not understand it; we may not even agree with it; we may struggle with aspects of it, but in the end it is still the word of God.

Any 'church' that does not hold fast to the authority of the bible is not the Church of Christ, regardless of what it names itself.

Our world is crying out for Churches that will shine the light of truth in the darkness - God has given the church his written word (your word is a 'light for my path - psalm 119), and he has given the church to the world to show the way to God.

Church 1

Church - what is it? What is it not? Loads of us are asking these questions. Is it missional? Is it simple, organic or institutional?

It strikes me that our 'ecclesiology' (study of the church) focusses on what church is when we gather and I wonder if we have formed an incomplete ecclesiology. I have become unsettled with Church because it generally focusses on Sunday gatherings. Church employees are encouraged to put energy into Sunday activities most of the time. Yes, we have midweek endeavours - youth groups, clubs, cells. It strikes me that if we are to be followers of Jesus then 'The Church' needs to focus on Making Disciples - I believe that this should be through shared experiences of doing life together: meals; laughter, worship, talking, friendships that exceed superficial christian nicities, etc. Jesus spent time with his followers - they saw his struggles and his joys and they learned from how he handled life's complexities.

Maybe our ecclesiology needs to incorperate 'living lives together'?

More later

I will build my Church

Jesus said,

I will build my Church

As I thought about that today I thought that it's amazing how the Church in the UK is in some areas growing, while in other areas groaning. I'm sure the above phrase has thoughts to offer.

The Church that grows is Jesus' Church - not ours. Are we at the helm, or is Jesus?

The Church that grows is in the 'will' of God. Stagnation cannot be the will of God for His Church. Why not?

Because the Church of Jesus is being 'built', not broken down. Growing, not slowing. worshipping, not wilting.

If we're in any doubt as to who should 'own' the Church we are reminded that Jesus said it is 'my' Church.

The Church that grows is not a club, a cosy huddle or a commitee - it is a biblical, relevant, spirit-filled revolutionary body of people that are following Jesus by loving God and loving others.

I wonder if we're spending too much time 'doing' Church instead of 'being' Church. Are we letting Christ build himself into our lives? Are we growing from faith to faith, strength to strength, and glory to glory?

Jesus will build his Church - are we willing to surrender and BE HIS CHURCH?

We had Church

Last night 18 people met after Church. The sanctuary was empty and the lights were off. The vicars had gone home and the building was at peace knowing another Sunday had passed and it could heave a weary sigh of relief till next week.

Lights on in the narthex, laughter spilled out into the darkness of the Church sanctuary. The buzz of conversation filled my ears and I sat thinking "this is Church".

Last night was a great night for me. As a group we were young (teens) and old (the leaders!). We shared fellowship in our laughter; but more than that, we shared our lives. We learned from each other as we listened to scripture read and pondered on it in silence together. We explored the inadequacy of our own faith-sharing and found encouragement that our struggle is corporate - we are not alone. We prayed and we played. We wept (one instance) and we laughed. We ate and we drank. And in all this God was there.

For me, this was a beautiful picture of being the body of Christ. this was being Church. I hope and pray and plan for more times of being Church together. I'm convinced that the kingdom of God moved forward last night. And I'm convinced that God smiled upon us. May he continue to smile.