Meet the Gungors

Something made me think about TCTC and how I had seen that Gungor was going to be playing there. So I went to the TCTCinfo site, which led me to the Gungor site. A few blog posts on this site kept my attention there and led me to read the Who We Are page. On that page I read:

"As Gungor’s idea of God changed, so did his idea of church, so he and his wife moved to Denver and eventually founded a community of believers called Bloom..."

Michael Gungor and his wife started a house church.

I like how it started and I thought their Love Train idea was an interesting way to keep their community connected and involved. Wondering why all of this speaks to me so much.

Blessings II, Changing the Direction of Our Focus To Others, and Why Does God Allow Such Bad Things to Happen...

Quite a laundry list of topics.  I was going to attach this as a comment on the "Blessings Post" below, but decided it warranted it's own separate post.  This is from Angela's response to the e-mail in that previous post.  As usual God's timing is beyond my comprehension.  I was reeling from learning today about a couple (whom I believe to be a Godly couple) losing their unborn baby which was due next month, about a women and son who lost their husband/dad a couple years ago now losing the mother in-law, and then thinking about the reconciliation of a man (again who I believed to be a strong man of God) who did some terrible things and is now trying to put his life back together.  Although the comments below were originally intended to address "blessings" and what we are supposed to do with them, they also helped me today to come to grips on a small level with our hope in God through the evil, difficulty and suffering of this world.  They also helped me see a connection between what we do with the blessings God has given us and this Missional Approach to following God.

(from Angela's e-mail 6/10/10)

Hmmm... today I was finishing up reading Velvet Elvis (which I decided to read again when Ron mentioned reading it a while ago).  I read this section and was reminded of this e-mail.  This is Rob Bell's take on blessings in a section titled "Serving Others":

I am learning that the church is at its best when it gives itself away.  And this is because blessing is always instrumental.  Let me explain.  In Genesis 12, God tells a man named Abram that he's going to bless him, and through him, he is going to bless the whole world.  This is the birth of the Jewish people, whom God wants to use to reach everybody.  This blessing is instrumental in nature. God wants to use Abraham, to flow through him, to have him be the conduit through whom God can bless everybody else (note Genesis 17:5).  Abraham is just a vessel.  God doesn't choose people just so they'll feel good about themselves or secure in their standing with God or whatever else.  God chooses people to be used to bless other people.  Elected, predestined, chosen - whatever words people use for this reality, the point is never the person elected or chosen or predestined.  The point is that person serving others, making their lives better.

The second significant idea in Genesis 12 is that Abraham's calling is universal.  It is for everybody.  All kinds of people all over the place are going to be blessed by God through Abraham.  God has no boundaries.  God blesses everybody.  People who don't believe in God.  People who are opposed to God.  People who do violent, evil things. God's intentions are to bless everybody.  Jesus continues this idea in many of his teachings.  In the book of Luke (22:27) he says, "I am among you as one who serves." He not only refers to himself as a servant, sent to serve others, but he teaches his disciples that the greatest in his kingdom are the ones who serve.  For Jesus, everything is upside down.  The best and greatest and most important are the ones who humble themselves, set their needs and desires aside, and selflessly serve others.

So what is a group of people living this way called?  That's the church.  The church doesn't exist for itself; it exists to serve the world.  It is not ultimately about the church; it's about all the people God wants to bless through the church...

Later in the same chapter, under a section titled "Difficulty, Suffering, and Hope" Rob talks about how following Jesus often makes our lives more difficult.  Selflessley serving others takes everything we have.  It's difficult and it's demanding.  Following Jesus may bring on problems we never imagined.  Our gift to the world around us is hope.

Not blind hope that pretends everything is fine and refuses to acknowledge how things are.  But the kind of hope that comes from staring pain and suffering right in the eyes and refusing to believe that this is all there is...  I am learning that the church has nothing to say to the world until it throws better parties. By this I don't necessarily mean balloons and confetti... I mean backyards and basements and porches.  It is in the flow of real life, in the places we live and move with the people we're on the journey with, that we are reminded it is God's world and we're going to be okay.

Ok, so thiswas long, but it tells me that we are blessings and we can bless others with hope.  Hope that there is something and someone greater than us who loves us and watches over us - not necessarily keeping us from hard stuff, but being our source of strength to get through it and for this we praise Him no matter what. I'm struggling with this lately too.  I don't want to pretend like things are great all the time - they're not!  But, I don't think we are supposed to wallow in self-pity, or guilt, or whatever else.  These are opposite of the fruits of the spirit that God calls us to and keep us from being others-focused.

Interesting Take on "Being Missional" and Relation to Young Evangelicals

(Shifting to the First Person)

I came across this paper quite by accident.  It is from an essay written in 2009 by the dean of Evangelism and Missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  This source was surprising to me and peaked my interest in reading the piece.  It is quite academic and heady, but I have included several excepts from sections of the article below.  I think it provides both some good definition regarding what "being missional" can mean and some good criticism of these concepts.

• "Missional” used simply to describe the church turning outward to respond responsibly to "the fact that the days are gone when one can simply presume the general public has a basic familiarity with core Christian thought giving rise to problems within the church if it continues as if a Christian consensus still prevails". (Newbigin, 2006)
• In the words of Webber (2002, Younger Evangelicals), “The church is not the same as the predominant culture. It is an alternative culture that points to the kingdom of God and the reality of the new heavens and the new earth.” Faith must thus be lived out, not only or primarily argued and reasoned…
• Emergent leaders and young evangelicals tend to jettison “naive realism” in favor of “a more discerning and dialogical approach . . . both to foster confidence in God’s Word and to address legitimate questions and concerns.”
• The translated effects of this alternative approach to theology and to ecclesiology specifically is an aversion to (1) individuality, (2) program orientation, (3) preoccupation with numbers, (4) passivity, and (5) resistance to change. (Engel and Dyrness, 2000)
• Relational outreach is more sensitive and transformational in nature, hence it is elevated in value within a missional model. Yet, what one gives up in the one is sacrificed in the other. To build relationships without first determining that there is definitely True truth to convey that has an eternal impact on the hearer will likely end in a meaningful friendship that is too valuable to jeopardize by introducing absolute truth and presenting the challenge to the newfound friend that “You must be born again!” 
• To jettison a “conversionist” view of theology, that is the need for people to be genuinely saved from a real eternity without Christ, is to lose the ultimately important meaning of missions, mission, or even missional.

I think the paragraphs below, also taken from the same article, pretty well sum up where we currently are in out thinking.  Now where do we go?

New ideas shape actions and eventually they stream into new agendas. Over time they morph into a new status quo. Being “transformational” emerges as the rediscovered focus of missionary activity and fills in the functional meaning of the term “missional.” It is supposed to be more comprehensive than the historic use of the term mission or missions. It is “holistic,” “incarnational,” “environmental,” and “global.”

Generally missional values are being defined by the emerging church leaders' agendas in reaction to at least four core values which are currently defined by the status quo church, and are deemed as holdovers from the modernist, rational era. The first is a reaction to the idea that truth is static and comprehensive. The postmodern fixed value of fluid truth permeates much missional thinking. Secondly, there is a desire to rework the aim of mission work to be likewise fluid, open to “messy” relationships, less concerned with right beliefs and more concerned with right actions. Thirdly, right actions are associated with holistic concerns for social justice and engagement as a prophetic agent of change. Fourth, what it means to be “church” in such a context is to feel more communal and relational, less bureaucratic and institutionalized. Denominational structures are deemed passé and in need of dismantling.  

Blessings

I have been thinking about blessings lately and how we are blessed and probably expected to bless others because we are so blessed.  I was cleaning out my work e-mail today and came across this e-mail I sent last year to our Life Group during the "Outflow" series we were doing at church.  I guess I am still struggling with these questions.

(6/9/10)

"Although I was not sure about it to start with, I am starting to get into the Outflow series.  It definitely got better after the first week.  I am sorry it does not look like we will be able to get together to discuss this due to everyone’s crazy summer schedules.  Anyway, something has been on my mind that I wanted input on.  The topic of blessings seems to keep coming up throughout the different days.  I know it was in last week’s topics and was again touched on last night.

Here is my question that I am wrestling with.  Right now I am feeling pretty blessed with family, job, church and my overall situation in life these days.  Therefore, it is a pretty joyous time in my life.  I can ‘t  help but be happy when I think about how blessed I feel and all that God is doing in my life.  This carries over into Sunday morning worship where I am overjoyed to be able to praise and worship such a loving and giving God.  Yet, when I look around, there are many who do not appear to be so happy.  I know some of these people may not feel (or for all I know may not have) many of the blessings I feel God has provided me.  This then makes me sad.  It seems from the Outflow readings and the Psalms I have been reading lately that God wants to bless us if we just ask and accept those blessings.  He may even be blessing us and we do not realize it.

So I guess my questions are along this line.   Does God bless us more if we ask and accept his blessings?  Does God bless some people more than others?  Is joy/sorrow tied to blessings in a manner such that when we rejoice in the goodness of God (maybe because of the blessings he has provided or we believe he is capable of providing) we get to share in those blessings and when we choose to mope around because we feel we are not blessed we are actually missing the blessings he is providing or he chooses not to provide us blessings (this one may or may not make sense)?"

Moving from "Board to Boat"

This was a timely sermon that I caught on podcast today from North Point Community Church (Atlanta).  It is about being faithful to God during the period (which can be long) during which he is moving you to where he is calling you to move or go (physically and spiritually).

Amazing-stories - Noah - Board to Boat

Creating a Missional Family

James sent me a link to a blog called Live Sent (from the resources page of a book by the same title, I believe). The blog post was entitled Being a Missional Mom. In the post, the author is interviewing the author of a book called The Missional Mom. I liked her answer to the following question for several reasons (highlighted in the text).

In answer to the question "What are 3 suggestions to moms to enable them to create a missional family?":

HELEN: Discuss together with your spouse and your children if they are old enough how, as a family, you could have a more missional presence in three areas: 1) locally; 2) regionally, and 3) globally. As you together consider the needs around your family, and as you prayerfully ask God to reveal how he might want to be using you in those three spheres, you’ll discover a shared sense of calling towards a person or people, or to an area or areas of need. Perhaps you will focus locally, perhaps you will focus on needs in your community, perhaps you will be led to focus on global needs. Each family’s mission will be different and uniquely tailored to their strengths and gifts. The main point is to help your family have an outward orientation and to constantly be asking yourselves, “Lord, how do you want to use us as a family to have an impact on the people and world around us?” A family that is consistently asking that question together will naturally live more missionally.

Another Piece of the Puzzle, Neighborhood Living

After posting the last comments about whether to focus locally or globally, I come across this article.
shifting-the-focus-to-neighborhood-ministry

Worship Through Living

This phrase stuck out to me from the blog post Angela shared with me (how-to-follow-when-youre-called-to-stay) about being willing to go where God calls us, but being called to stay here.  This is a source of much frustration to me as I have asked God over the years to send me where He wants me to serve and it seems like the answer has always been "I want to serve here...where I have put you...that is why I have put you where you are".  I see friends and fellow believers go on to start new church communities, move their families across the state/country/world to follow God's calling, examples of people quitting their jobs and changing their work routines to serve God more fully, and people going to other countries on mission trips, yet when I ask God what now for me, he seems to be coming back saying "you are here for now, you have children to raise, it is not your time now, I have put you among this group of people at this time, be content with what I have given you to do now".

Yet, other things I read (namely Radical) seem to indicate that God demands that I "go to the end's of earth" and it is a "cop out" to say, I am called only to serve here, locally.  So, are we supposed to be globally focused?  Is the great commission a calling for each and every individual or a calling the the body of the Church which each member plays out their role?  Have we compartmentalized missions, like everything else in our life?

I think living "Missionally", which I am still defining in my head, definitely plays into this.  If I live every part of my of my life with the mission of glorifying God and loving others, if I break down the barriers between the compartments of my life, then tmaybe I can live for my local community and the world at the same time.  This then brings me back to having a life characterized by "worship through living".

Beginning at the End of Ourselves

From Radical, by David Platt:

Instead of asserting ourselves, we crucify ourselves. Instead of imagining all the things we can accomplish, we ask God to do what only he can accomplish. Yes, we work, we plan, we organize, and we create, but we do it all while we fast, while we pray, and while we constantly confess our need for the provision of God. Instead of dependence on ourselves, we express radical desperation for the power of his Spirit, and we trust that Jesus stands ready to give us everything we ask for so that he might make much of our Father in the world.

How do the kids fit in?

Along the compartmentalizing line of thought, God is showing me today that I have been "compartmentalizing" our kids. I think this is apparent in several different areas including life group, Sunday church, and faith.

Some places this has shown up:
Tom telling me about the Faith Promise sermon from last weekend talking about family;
Jeff Vanderstelt's blog post on MC's meeting with kids;
Nate Williams' blog post about What Church can be

Things are harder with kids and I often try to make them easier by leaving them out. For some things, like grocery shopping, this might be ok (though you could argue there are social interactions and teaching moments they could miss out on...). Sometimes we leave them out of parts of our lives, like our faith, that they should be exposed to - so they learn not to compartmentalize the way we tend to and they understand what it is to live out one's faith.

Now, if I could just figure out what that looks like...

LIving a "Compartmentalized" Life

Thoughts from an e-mail correspondence (5/20/11): 

One thought that has come out of all this is how "compartmentalized" our lives are.  For instance, I am intentional about dividing my time between "family", "church", "work", "neighborhood/community" etc. and each of these "compartments" are subdivided (under church I must serve, be fed, lead, be led, hang out with youth, hang out with life group, etc.).  Rarely do these compartments overlap, although sometimes they do I guess.  Anyway, what I have been led to think lately is that the boundaries between these compartments should be blurred and I should be intentional not about dividing my time between these areas, but instead be intentional about all these areas being one.  When I am at work I should be building relationships and community just as I should be doing when I am active in my community or church and my family maybe should be a part of those communities I am building when possible (I am really just thinking out loud here).

Really I think the bottom line is God should permeate through everything I do.  There should be no distinction between the different areas where my life takes place, just different people I am interacting with.  I should be living my life the same and with the same purpose in all areas.  I am still working this out.  I don't know yet what all this looks like.  That is kind of frightening, but really exciting.  Right now all we can do is just pull back and pray to see where God takes us in all this.

Whatever God Wants

(Thoughts taken from Katie's blog "the Journey" http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/)
Everything we receive ultimately comes from God (suffering, joy, beauty, ugliness,...).  God IS.  Nothing happens outside of him.  How I view things with my human eyes may not be how God intended them to be viewed.  I may miss what God is providing me or showing my due to my "labeling".  I may miss seeing God!!!
Everything happens as God intended?  If this is true then I must accept everything I encounter as something that God planned, a gift even, and all these gifts point to God's grace that he has given.

"I label moments as blessing or burden. And I forget that all this labeling, it is not my right, not my place, not mine to do. To declare what is a gift in my life and what is a curse is to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, to sit in the garden full of abundance and beauty and choose the forbidden. The knowledge of good and evil, that was never intended for me...Suffering, pain, loss, shame – all these things I have blamed on a broken world, Satan even. But can’t a broken world and even Satan only give what God allows? Suffering, pain loss and shame are only these things because I label them as such. Because I, a sinner, choose to eat from the tree, choose to turn away from nail-scarred hands and ignore the grace and miss the gift. He is beautiful and everything He creates is beautiful and if I choose to label it suffering I am choosing to miss the beauty that is freely offered me."

“Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has planned it?” Amos 3:6

"See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to death and I who give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal.” Deuteronomy 32:39

“Surely, just as I have intended, so it has happened and just as I have planned so it will stand.” Isaiah 14:24

Where it started

A book read awhile back (thanks Ron Bull for lending me this book)

The video that got me thinking (thanks Nathan Williams).
http://nateharriman.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/what-church-can-be/

A story that God led me to.
http://www.bridgewaterchurch.org/tp40/page.asp?ID=144906