Gathered and Scattered

I'm sitting here at Prince Street cafe doing some Scripture reading, reflection and journaling.  I started this morning in Mark 6 and began to read the first two sections on the chapter.  I came upon the part of the chapter where Jesus sends out his twelve disciples two by two and gives them instructions about what to do, what not to do, and how to live as a missionary to the towns and villages.  As I read I came upon verse 7 which says, "And he called his twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two, with authority to cast our evil spirits.  The thing that stood out to me in this one verse is two words: together and sent. This two words seem like opposites.  It's almost like Jesus is saying Come Together...Now Get out.  Jesus wanted them to gather together and then scatter.  Maybe my reading of this text has been influenced by the book AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church but I see both parts of the text as important.  To gather with each other, hear Jesus, and figure out the mission that he was sending them on.  To be sent two by two into the towns and villages, preach the good news, heal the sick, and cast out demons.  They needed both.

As I met with a leader within the COB yesterday about our vision and how, in a way, it seems like we are changing our vision but in reality our vision is the same, just how we are going about the execution of the vision is different.  We talked about the importance of both the gathering and scattering.  He had some questions about whether we would meet together for worship, prayer, bible study, etc...  He was also helping me to think about how I share these things with more traditional people who view Church as a time and a place.  I told him that we meet every Sunday for these things, but we are also meeting together to do mission together, and we are also sending each other into the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus bringing blessing into people's lives.

Gathered and Scattered....you need them both.  All too often we put too much effort, time, money and focus on the Gathered part and we forget the Scattered part.  So at this point in our corporate life as Veritas we do gather but our gathering is just simple and doesn't take much time, and effort to put together so that we can put more time, effort, money, resources, and thought into our Scattered lives (Scattered doesn't only mean that we Scatter separately....Jesus sent out his disciples two by two....we are working on developing our Corporate Scattering and how to engage culture as a community).

So by all means Gather but do it as a huddle so that you can then scatter into the world to be Jesus to a needy and hurting world.

The Next Christians

The other week I stumbled across a program called Blogging for Books sponsored by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.  I looked through some of the available books and found a few that I would love to review so I signed up, got accepted and picked my first book, "The Next Christians: The Good News about the End of Christian America" by Gabe Lyons.  Gabe was also co-author of the book "UnChristian."  I really learned alot about our culture and the shifts in it from UnChristian and I wanted to see what answers Lyons might give to help Followers of Jesus look more like Jesus and impact the culture around us.  I wasn't disappointed.

Lyons starts out by spelling out two ways Christians have engaged with the wider culture.  These two ways are called Separatist and Cultural.  Each of these are made up of varying approaches on how to engage the culture.  The Separatist are made up of Insiders, (Those who only stay inside the Christian bubble..you know Christian school, Christian music, Christian TV, Christian Plumber, etc..) Cultural Warriors (everything is a war against God.  They tend to scream take America back for God and are highly political), and Evanglizers (who believe that the ultimate role of Christians is to save people from hell and that the gospel only deals with where you spend eternity).  The Cultural Christians are made up of two approaches, the blenders (they identify with the beliefs of Christianity but try to blend into the mainstream culture) and the Philanthropists (those who emphasize doing good works but aren't rooted in the entire gospel)

Lyons goes on to spell out a third way of engaging culture, which is calls Restorers.  He says about Restorers, "Their mission is to infuse the world with beauty, grace, justice and love.  I call them restorers because they envision the world as it was meant to be and they work toward that vision."  He also says, "They don't separate from the world or blend in; rather they thoughtfully engage.

The first thing that Restorers are learning is relearning the gospel narrative as a narrative not just about an end destination but as a narrative that is deeply concerned with the here and now and what it looks like when God's kingdom, and his rule and reign being to been seen in all areas of life.   Lyons states, "The next Christians claim that the beginning (God's goodness throughout Creation) and the ending (the restoration of all things) of the greater story have been conveniently cut out, leaving modern-day Christians with an incoherent understanding of the Gospel.  He also goes on to say this about the importance of fully living within the true gospel narrative, "God's story is made up of four key parts: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration (and ultimately consumation).  The truncated Gospel that is often recounted is faithful to the fall and redemption pieces of the story, but largely ignores the creation and restoration components.  These missing elements are at the heart of what a new generation of Christians are relearning, and subsequently retelling."

Most of the reminder of the book covers 6 characteristics that set apart the next Christians.  These 6 characteristics are:

1.  They are provoked not offended.......  when means when confronted with the corruption of the world, Christians ought to be provoked to engage, not be offended and withdraw.

2.  They are Creators not critics.....The best way to describe this characteristic is to quote Andy Couch from his book "Culture Making"...Cultures aren't changed by being condemned, critiqued, or copied.  The only way to change culture is to create more of it.  Lyons also says this, which fits nicely with our dream of creating an Arts collective within Veritas, "They (next Christians) create organizations, services, and goods- art, films, music, campaigns, projects, media, churches, and businesses- anything that incarnates Christ and communicates the restoration that's possible.  In this way, creating sits at the heart of restoration."

3.  Called, not employed.....The next Christians are reconsidering their vocations.  That everyone is called, not just full time "Christian workers".   Lyons calls on the next Christians to engage (and be called) to be dispersed throughout all spheres of society and work together toward a common goal.  He says that there are seven channels of cultural influence, and if followers of Jesus would faithfully engage in this spheres, that the kingdom of God would be felt throughout all culture.  The seven spheres are Media, Education, Arts and Entertainment, Business, Government, Social Sector, and Church.

4.  Grounded...not distracted....When Christians engage culture how do they stay connected to Christ in the midst of a world that seeks to pull them from that commitment?  This is the question this chapter deals with by laying out 5 critical spiritual practices to stay grounded and rooted in Christ.  These 5 are:  Immersed in Scripture (instead of entertainment), Observing the Sabbath (instead of being productive), Fasting for Simplicity (instead of consuming), Choosing Embodiment (instead of being divided) and Postured by prayer (instead of power).

5.  In community, not alone.....this chapter deals with the reality that we desperately, especially as we engage culture, need each other.  God designed us to be in community with each other.  Or as Lyons says, "Community provides the critical support base the next Christians need to be on mission for God."

6.  Countercultural not "relevant"....we are countercultural due to our allegiance to the Kingdom of God.  We are called to be countercultural, not to seperate, antagonize, or copy culture, but to be countercultural for the common good.

I truly enjoyed this book.  It inspired me to be about the work of the kingdom.  It challenged me in how I read the Gospel Narrative.  And it gave me ideas of ways to interact with the wider world and make a difference for the Kingdom of God.  I end with this quote that drives what I want to be about in my life, and I desperately want for the communal life of Veritas.  "The churches that recover the Gospel instead of being too focused on finding the "right" worship style, programming winsome services, or measuring church growth statistics become a light in their communities.  If they left town, they'd be sorely missed."

May we live out the power of the ought....the way the world ought to be....

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"

The Wisdom of Stability- A Book Review by Shalom Beachy

Shalom Beachy, a crucial part of our Veritas Core Group had the chance to read and review the book The Wisdom of Stability by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and asked if I could post it on the blog.  So I said sure and here is her reflections as well as some art work that she did based on her reflections. The Wisdom of Stability- A Book Review

Ever since I was a child, I have loved the imagery of Psalm 1; that the righteous is like a tree planted by rivers of water, bringing forth its fruit in season, whatever it does will prosper. For years, though, I saw this tree as a solitary elm, strong and alone.  It stands on a bright flat prairie with a yellow sun and big blue sky, next to a straight wide river disappearing on either side into the horizon, like this:

I saw myself as a tree rooted and grounded and somehow fruitful, but ultimately alone.  It wasn’t until I was well into my 20s, far from my family and home in the Midwest heartland & transplanted into an urban community on the east coast that I really began to understand that God wanted me to be fruitful in the context of community. I fell in love with my neighborhood and began to see the heart God has for it.  I began to identify my hunger for stability and relationship in this place and story.  I wanted to dig my roots deep into God and I was desperate to find branches around me to lean into for support in times of storm, taller trees to look up to and to provide shade.

In The Wisdom of Stability, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove writes about rooting into God in a community, about staying there long enough to love it and hate it and love again. Throughout the book, he weaves in an easy yet effective introduction to the wisdom of the desert Benedictines and their commitment to God through the rhythms of work and worship.  He shares a window into his own journey of life with a specific group of people in a specific place.  I love the personal vignettes he shares at the end of every chapter, little snapshots into the neighborhood in which he lives and loves.

This book feels real.  It’s a gentle yet hard hitting contribution for those of us who are sick of living life alone, who have this idea that following Jesus has something to do with living in community but half of the time are unsure of what exactly that is supposed to look like.  Wilson-Hartgrove says some hard words here.  Essentially, stay when you don’t feel like it anymore.  Stay when the community you love and bleed for seemingly betrays you.  When your relationships stab you in the back, embrace the pain and grief of dying.  Stay.  And in this staying, we will experience a manifestation of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives and relationships that we would very well miss in a society where it is possible for us to so easily move on.

This is a book that helps me to continue to define the thirst I have for belonging and community and rootedness and stability. It makes me thirsty for deeper waters and it challenges me with the reality that commitment at times may seem a very bitter grace.   I don’t think Wilson-Hartgrove is necessarily saying I have to live in this specific neighborhood forever.  But the book is a call to persist through seasons of boredom, apparent bareness, pain and death.  It’s an invitation to give God the chance to do what He does faithfully over a lifetime… restoration and resurrection.

2 Diagrams

Over the last few weeks we have been wrestling and trudging through 2 Diagrams that, to me, have really opened up the way I see Veritas moving forward.  They have given our Group direction, wisdom, and puts to words what we have been thinking and dreaming about.  These two diagrams are a Venn Diagram about our Core Values and the diagram called Missional Flow. Here is our Veritas Venn Diagram with our Core Values

The beauty of this diagram is that it gives us a framework to evaluate everything that we are doing, or talking about doing.  It strives to give us balance.  The best place to be in this diagram is at the convergence between all 3 Values.  If we can balance all 3, then we are in the sweet spot.

I believe this also plays into the next diagram.  The Missional Flow diagram.  This has given us our next steps in planting Veritas.  As I said before, when we launched Veritas we went straight where most church plants start, structuring congregations.  But if we are truly striving to be a missional community and think like missionaries in our area, then we need to start thinking like missionaries and not like church planters (or leaders of a worship gathering).  We are currently talking, praying, and exploring what it means for our community (the 2nd part of the diagram) to engage culture (I'll be sharing over the next few days some possible dreams for engaging culture) and then forming community out of that engagement with the hope of structuring a congregation from that community.  Here is the Missional Flow diagram (that I mentioned in a previous post)

Would love to hear your thoughts on these diagrams and how they are being lived out in your context.

Cracking your church's culture code

Back a few months ago I "attended" an online conference sponsored by the Leadership Network.  One of the speakers was Samuel Chand, the author of the book "Cracking your church's culture code."  I then received an e-mail about the possibility of reading the book and blogging about it, so I sent an e-mail and got picked to read the book and write about it.  So I received the book a few weeks ago and spent some time over the last few weeks reading the book, pondering it's contents and wondering how it might apply to my context right now, as a church plant that is just in it's infancy.

Chand says that the seven keys of understanding the CULTURE and shaping it for the Kingdom are:  Control, Understanding, Leadership, Trust, Unafraid, Responsive, Execution.  I enjoyed reading the book as it is helping me to think about what the culture of our missional community is, and what it might be moving forward and how we can keep the culture healthy, missional, and seeking to move the mission forward.

Some of the quotes that stood out to me in the section that lays out the 7 keys to understanding CULTURE are:

Healthy teams foster the perspective that failure isn't a tragedy and conflict isn't the end of the world.

Courage, support, and innovation go hand in hand in inspiring cultures.

One of  their chief concerns is that teams often talk about decisions but fail to follow through on implementing them (I find this a huge struggle in my own life.  I feel that one of my gifts as a leader is in the area of vision, dreams, and putting the mission out there.  The thing that I lack is knowing how to move step by step from where we are to where I dream us to be.  I frequently say that I see A (where we are) clearly (not perfectly) and I see Z (where we want to go) (not perfectly) but I need someone to help me with B through Y.  So the section about Execution was very helpful.

But I would say the most helpful, the most encouraging, and the most challenging part of the book was the chapter on "Changing Vehicles".  I felt he was speaking right to me, as I continue to dream about what Veritas is called to do, be, and pursue.  One of the helpful parts was the 13 questions laid out on page 139-140.  Some of the quotes in this chapter that spoke to me include:

"How do you know if a vision is from God?  One of the measures is that it has to be something so big that it requires God's wisdom and power to pull it off.  Anything less is just a good idea.  God's vision is to redeem not only individuals bu the entire creation.  He's not just making new men and women; he's going to re-create the entire universe in the New Heaven and New Earth.  That's a big vision!  (a vision that I want to be a part of)

Churches must "re-dream" the dream or discover a new compelling vision for their existence.

Your effectiveness will always depend on your ability to see the future.

Strategic planning needs to be written in pencil because in a dynamic, changing environment, strategic planning needs constant evaluation and adjustment. (Couldn't have said it better myself)

The organization can't fulfill a God-sized vision, even in it's local market, without the alignment of people, plans, and funding around a common purpose.

If the vision is big enough, if the people have a heart for doing it, if God's will be glorified in a specific way, then the money will come. (One of my struggles as a church planter)

God has called us to partner with him to redeem the world.

I would say this book was helpful for me as we are planting Veritas.  I would say this book would be helpful for any church leader no matter where the church is, no matter how young or how old, no matter how big or how small, no matter the setting.  Because I believe it's easy to change "vision" (just write a mission statement, vision statement, etc..) but it's harder to change the culture.  But if the culture changes, then the vision can come to fruition.  So let's be in the business of changing culture (both inside the church and outside as well)

Missional Flow

Over the last several weeks, really since moving Veritas into our home, I have become convinced that we made the right, but tough decision.  Conversation after conversation has confirmed it to me.  If our vision and mission is to be a missional community of authentic worshippers we need to start at a different place than most church plants start.  Or should I say we need to start over from a different place. What do I mean by that?  Well...back in April I read the book "AND: The Gathered and the Scattered Church" by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.  I also had seen Hugh in Harrisburg in March, and also again in April at the Exponential Conference.  They shared something in the book and the two times that I heard them that they call Missional Flow.  The idea of Missional Flow has given me words for how we, as Veritas, want to proceed as we continue moving forward in planting Veritas.

A tradition church and church plant starts with the structuring of Congregation.  Normally when we talk about planting churches what do we mean?  I believe it means we talk about planting a worship service.  And if our worship service is cooler, hipper, sexier, and have better coffee...we might attract a crowd (mostly of people either who are new to the area and looking for a church, or for people tired of their church...basically transfer growth.).  But if we want to connect with people who might not be looking for a church we have to start in a different place.  The place where a missionary would start.

If you and I and say 8 other people moved to, say London, in order to plant a community of faith, what would be the first thing that we would do when we hit the ground (besides getting jobs, places to live, etc..)?  I believe we would need to Engage Culture (or build relationships, friends, etc..).  Once we begin to do that (probably after several months to a year or two) we would need to Form Community. And then finally we would Structure Congregation. These three things are Missional Flow.

As a brand new Church Plant back in September of 2009 we started with Structuring Congregation (and hoping to then Engage Culture and have the culture come to us).  Now it was beneficial in that we did build some relationships with people who we wouldn't have met otherwise and they have continued to be a faithful part of our community ever since.  But I began to realize that we needed to start with Engaging the Culture if we truly wanted to live out our vision of being A Missional Community of Authentic Worshippers.

So how do we Engage Culture?  We are wrestling with this together in our Worship Gathering times at my house.  I have walked our group through Missional Flow (and will again on our Core Group development time on Feb. 6).  We'll be using something called a Ministry Brainstorming Tool found at http://www.gabaptist.org/groups/researchservices/groupfilecabinet.aspx?parentnavigationid=6267&theparentnavigationid=4955    under church surveys.  I'll also be sharing a dream/vision of how our group (of musicians, college students, artists, and others) can engage culture by using the arts and music.  Something that I call The Veritas Arts Collective.

I'll be sharing more in the near future about what the Veritas Arts Collective looks like (in my head anyway).  I'll also share in the near future about ways that we are already engaging culture and other ideas of how we might do that.  For now, I am excited about the ideas and hopes and dreams I have for our community as we walk together through the missional flow.

Making Straight Paths

Yesterday while sitting in a coffeehouse that I go to often in Elizabethtown, I was reading the 1st Chapter of Mark and I came to these words, which are a reference to John the Baptist, "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”—  “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him."  I began to think of my seminary studies in which I learned that when a King was going to be coming to a town they would set to work repairing the road for his arrival.  They would fill in the holes, straighten out the rough sections, and do what we would call roadwork.  They would prepare for the King's coming.

I began to think about our situation in our world in which the church and the term Christian have a horrible reputation.  In the book UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons the top 6 things that people think about when asked about Christians and the church are:  They are Hypocritical, Antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, judgemental, and that Christians are too concerned with converting people.  All of us see that we definitely have some work to do in order to make a straight path.  We have a lot of roadwork to do.  We need to fill in the potholes, straightened out the areas which are crooked, and make the road more conducive to traveling.

How can we make straight paths when the culture believes that Christians are the 6 thing listed above?  Here are some thoughts about how we can make straight paths.  We need to engage the culture through service, love, and on their terms.  We need to listen before we speak.  We need to serve and bless people not because of any agenda other than the agenda of loving, blessing and serving them.  Straightening the paths will take time and the road won't be straight right away but I believe if we begin living out the kingdom first, than it will be straightened.  It will take a great deal amount of time, patience, trust and faith.

I was also talking with some leaders yesterday and we talked about starting with the kingdom and you'll end up with a church, but if you start with a church you might never build the kingdom.  So connecting these two thoughts...if we seek to make straight paths we must first and foremost be about the work of the kingdom and not confuse it with the church.  Can the church do the work of the kingdom..of course. Does it always...no.  So let's work on building the kingdom first, straighten out the roads, and I believe the church will take care of itself.

God With Us

Over the last four weeks (during Advent) our Core Group has been focusing on the stories in Luke revolving around the incarnation of Jesus into the world.  I have to say that this year God spoke to me through these (to me) very familiar stories in a new way.  He breathed life into them and showed me things that I hadn't seen before.  I was continually blown away by the subversive, radical, upside down, Kingdom of God things within the story of Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, and in the birth of Jesus.  As we get closer to Christmas Day and to celebrating God taking on flesh and blood and moving into the neighborhood, I wanted to share a song that our worship leader, Matt Wheeler, wrote that expresses beautifully this amazing thing...the incarnation of God through Jesus into our world.  May you have a very Merry Christmas and may you seek to know where and how you can incarnation Jesus into your world and how you can literally be the hands and feet of Jesus.

God With Us

(Chorus)

Emmanuel, God with us

Heaven and earth ring loud with Your praise

Hosanna, Light lead us

Illuminate the path of Your grace

(Verse 1)

Your Kingdom come, Your holy will be done

As in Heaven, on earth, to the glory of the Son

(Chorus)

(Verse 2)

He who humbled Himself to become one of us

The servant-King, who made us from the dust

(Chorus)

Masquerade by Seventh Day Slumber

Yesterday I was running around doing some errands related to Veritas and while running around I was listening to an album by the Christian rock band Seventh Day Slumber.  A song came on and the lyrics struck me in a way that they hadn't in the past.  The song talks about just giving everything over to God, being real with him and others, and putting him first in your life. Lately I have been really struggling with my emotions, my feelings of worthlessness, anger that pops up quickly, stress, and defining myself by what i do, and not as a child of God.  Veritas has not been worked out (so far) the way that I imagined it.  It is the hardest thing I have done in my entire life and many days (almost every day) I feel like chucking it all.  But God continues to speak to me about his call on my life, not as a pastor, church planter, etc... but just as a child of the King.  While I am all concerned about whether I am a "success" or not, or whether Veritas will ever make it...he is more concerned with my inner life and whether or not I am faithful.  "Success if faithfulness to God" is a line I remember from my seminary days.

Anyway driving down the road, the words struck me to the song and called me back to Jesus and his love for me.  I want to follow Jesus even if I lose it all.  I am thankful that he takes me in his arms and that he makes my feelings of worthlessness disappear.  Here are the lyrics to the song...

I don't know what to think about me anymore, Cause I am still the same as always. Here I am again, that same old broken man. I can't make it on my own. I need You.

Chorus: And I am not afraid of anything anymore. And I am not ashamed, the masquerade has ended. And I will stand for You even if I lose it all. Cause nothing really matters, You are all that matters, Lord.

As messed up as I am, still You bring me in. You take me in Your arms and hold me. The worthlessness I feel, You make it disappear. You are always there, You're endless.

(Chorus)

I don't know what to think about me anymore. Cause I am still the same as always.

(Chorus)

Chasing Francis (#ChasingFrancisSpeakEasy)

The other week I received the novel "Chasing Francis" by Ian Morgan Cron through my friend Mike Morrell (was in charge of the Ooze Viral Bloggers and is now starting another one called Speak Easy).  This is new territory for me as I have never blogged on a work of fiction.  But I thought the book sounded interesting.  So I agreed to read the book and write a response on it.

The book is a modern day journey in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi.  It is a novel about a Pastor Chase Falson who "loses" his faith and sets out on a pilgrimage to find it again.  The novel reminded me a lot of the New Kind of Christian series by Brian McLaren.  The interesting twist is where Chase ends up finding this faith again...in the life, ministry and footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Chase goes to Italy and take a pilgrimage to various places that are connected to the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.  He spends most of his time with Friars from the Franciscan order, one of which is his uncle.  As he reads, writes, visits various places, and talks with the friars, Chase begins to see the life and faith of Saint Francis as having huge traction in our postmodern world.  He then begins to find his faith again, albeit a "different"  or should I say deeper, richer faith then the one he lost.  He then puts together a plan to develop a church that reflects the heart and ministry of Saint Francis in the postmodern world that we live in.

I would say the best part of the novel is when Chase lays out his 5 points in developing a church that contemporizes Saint Francis Rule of 1221.  Those 5 points are:

1.  Transcendence- more of a holistic faith then a head knowledge.  Spiritual practices learned from our brothers and sisters in our times and faith traditions.  Moving away from an apologetic that is only about the head to an embodied apologetic, a lived out faith.

2.  Community- dealing with things like peacemaking, being a blessing in the world, realizing that all of life is sacred, life and ministry that is about the Kingdom of God, and taking care of the poor and needy.

3.  Beauty- dealing with the arts and being a supportive place for artists, musicians, poets, etc.... Using art to create dialogue around spiritual issues.  Care for Creation.

4.  Dignity- seeing everyone as made in the image of God and worthy of love, respect, and care.

5.  Meaning- Seeking meaning in the world and not labeling people and not being labeled.  Being a "come and see Christian" meaning come and see if I am a Christian or not but how I live my life.  Come and see church....come and see if our church is living out the kingdom.

As I read this book I realized a few things.  First that Saint Francis was probably the first "postmodern" saint.  Secondly, that even though Francis was Catholic, I think he would fit very nicely in Anabaptist circles.  And lastly his life and ministry resonated strongly with what Veritas is seeking to be and become.  So the novel is a good read, a fast read, but one that has some deep meaning and relevance to being a follower of Jesus in our emerging, postmodern world that we currently find ourselves in.

Post-Christendom

The other week, as I had mentioned before, I got the opportunity to hear Stuart Murray Williams, author of The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith, speak at Elizabethtown College.  It was enlightening, challenging, and gave me hope that Veritas is moving forward in the way that it should.  Stuart shared 7 Core Convictions of the Anabaptist Network in the UK, of which I wrote about late last week.  I want to take this space to share the other significant part of the seminar that Stuart gave while at Elizabethtown, that of Post-Christendom.Here is what Stuart talked about in regards to Post-Christendom; it's definition and transitions:

"Post-Christendom is the culture that emerges as the Christian faith loses coherence within a society that has been definitively shaped by the Christian story and as the institutions that have been developed to express Christian convictions decline in influence."

Post-Christendom includes the following transitions:

• From the centre to margins: in Christendom the Christian story and the churches were central, but in post-Christendom these are marginal. • From majority to minority: in Christendom Christians comprised the (often overwhelming) majority, but in post-Christendom we are a minority. • From settlers to sojourners: in Christendom Christians felt at home in a culture shaped by their story, but in post-Christendom we are aliens, exiles and pilgrims in a culture where we no longer feel at home. • From privilege to plurality: in Christendom Christians enjoyed many privileges, but in post-Christendom we are one community among many in a plural society. • From control to witness: in Christendom churches could exert control over society, but in post-Christendom we exercise influence only through witnessing to our story and its implications. • From maintenance to mission: in Christendom the emphasis was on maintaining a supposedly Christian status quo, but in post-Christendom it is on mission within a contested environment. • From institution to movement: in Christendom churches operated mainly in institutional mode, but in post-Christendom we must become again a Christian movement.

I believe that while the US isn't on the scale of say Europe in relation to this shift to Post-Christendom (except in areas like the Northwest- Seattle, and Northeast- New England) we are definitely headed that way.  And I believe we can learn alot about how to do mission, church, and worship in the midst of our Post-Christendom society by looking at the 7 Core Convictions that I shared in one of my last posts.  I believe that going forward from here means for us (Veritas) that we need to, in some way, dive deeper into those 7 Core Convictions of the Anabaptist Network, and move fully live out the tradition of our forefathers and foremothers in the Anabaptist Tradition.

Stewardship of the Environment-November 14, 2010

After working for a while trying to upload the audio from last week's message and realizing that it is too big to upload onto this site, I thought I would just put the sermon text and questions on the blog instead......(starting this Sunday and running all throughout our Phase 2, we'll have recaps of what our bible conversation was on in the blog but not any audio). We are at the end of our A Generous Life sermon series and also our time meeting at English Presbyterian Church.  We’ll be gathering from now on at Kim and my house for worship, deeper prayer, bible study, discussion, discernment, and planning for outreach, service, and mission.  Over the last few weeks we have looked at the concept of stewardship.  We have looked at stewardship of finances, of time, of relationship, of talent, and this final week we will be looking at the stewardship of the environment.  Taking care of God’s creation and being a good steward of it.

This issue, taking care of the creation, is one of those hot button issues, that I believe for all too long the Christian church has neglected or actually been on the “wrong” side of.  Faithful followers of Jesus have left this issue to others, who are labeled tree huggers, liberals, radical environmentalist, and you fill in the blank.  But I believe that taking care of creation is a mandate of all people but especially followers of Jesus.  And I believe it came from the very beginning and is fundamental to God’s call on his people. Let’s look at some Scriptural basis for stewarding God’s creation that is all around us and let’s have a discussion on how this text has been misused and abused in the history of the Christian church.  And let’s talk about how we can, as followers of Jesus, begin to seriously live out this idea of stewarding God’s creation as individuals and as a community of faith.

The text that I am speaking of is found in the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible.  The book of Genesis.  Genesis 1:26-28 says, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Our world is messed up and we haven’t lived out this biblical mandate very well, and in fact, as a sign of our own brokenness, have actually taken this text and used it as a basis for using the creation however we see fit.  James Watt, secretary of the interior under President Regan said, “"God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."  I believe this is a misuse of our text that we are looking and a problematic view of God and his mandate to all people, especially followers of Jesus.

So before we go any further regarding the text of Scripture that we are looking at today, let’s talk about this issue of the environment.  Maybe you are sitting there saying “Well the environment is in good shape, we don’t need to do anything.  The hole in the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, climate change and global warming are not true, and don’t we have more important things to spend our time talking about and being involved with?”  Maybe you think, “What does it matter?  Jesus is coming back, rapturing his people, and destroying the earth so let’s use it for whatever we want.”  Well let’s first look at some statistics about the brokenness in our world and see where we are as a people in our stewardship of creation.

Each Minute

• At least 51 acres of tropical forests are destroyed.
• We consume almost 35,000 barrels of oil.
• 50 tons of fertile soil are washed or blown off cropland.
• We add 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Each Hour

• 1,692 acres of productive dry land become desert.
• 1,800 children die of malnutrition and hunger (that makes a total of 15 million each year).
• 120 million dollars are spent for military expenditures (making a total of one trillion each year).
• 55 people are poisoned by the pesticides they use; 5 die.
• 60 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in the United States alone (that makes a total of 500,000 each year with 20,000 leading to death).

Each Day

• Over 230,000 babies are born.
• 25,000 people die of water shortage or contamination.
• 10 tons of nuclear waste are being generated by the 350 existing nuclear plants.
• 250,000 tons of sulfuric acid fall as acid rain in the Northern Hemisphere.
• 60 tons of plastic packaging and 372 tons of fishing net are dumped into the sea by commercial fishermen.
• Almost 5 species of life become extinct.

So we see in these statistics some rather disturbing problems and issues.  But how does Scripture speak to these issues, or does it?  Well let’s go back to Genesis 1.  The first verse we looked at says this, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  The word that I want to focus sometime on in our discussion is the word rule which in other translations of the scripture is translated dominion.  I believe we need a proper understanding of this word to adequately move forward.  I think way too often people take this word to mean domination.  But that isn’t what it means.  The word dominion here is the Hebrew word radah.  It is a word that is used only a dozen times in the Old Testament, and thus is rather special in its meaning. We have taken it to mean 'dominate over' just as a mediaeval ruler or potentate would dominate over his subjects, using them for his own ends, his own pleasure, his own prestige, his own wars, etc. But an examination of 'radah' shows that this is NOT the type of 'dominion' that we are called upon to have over the creation. For example, 'radah' is used in Ezek 34:4, which shows the wrong type of 'radah'. The use of 'radah' there shows that God condemns such an attitude:

"Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled [radah] them harshly and brutally." (2-5).

While we might argue precisely how this applies, I am here referring to it at a higher level, namely that it shows the heart of God, whose image we are made in. And that image is tied up with our 'radah' of the creation.

Our 'radah', of the creation, is not to be with harshness and cruelty and selfishness. Our 'radah' is to be, not for our own sake, but for the sake of the one ruled, that is, for the sake of the creation. We should heal those parts of creation that are sick, bind up those parts that are injured, bring back those parts that are straying, search for those parts that have become lost, as it were.

So we 'radah' creation to represent God to it, to develop and refine and beautify it for its own sake, rather than for ours. (cf. the notion of Love: giving for the other. God is Love.)

Note: This Creation Mandate has never been rescinded. It is still in force for us, even in this gospel period.

God has given us radah over creation, but ultimately the earth is the Lords, just like ultimately everything we have has been given to us by God and he just charges us to steward it well.  Look in Psalm 24:1 and we see this, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;” So the creation is God’s and we are called to be good stewards of it.  We are called not to “rule over it and subdue it” in the way that a tyrant rules over and subdues his people.  If we are, as the other part of our main Scripture says, made in the image of God, then we are called to model the same love, same care, and same devotion to the creation that God has.  We are called to see the creation in the same way that God did and does, as good.  Broken, crying out for redemption, fallen, but still good.  And that we as followers of Jesus are called to do the hard work of working towards the wholeness, redemption, healing, and fullness of not only the people all around us but also the creation itself.

But what does that look like?  What does it mean to do the hard work of bringing wholeness, redemption, healing and fullness to the creation?  And what does it look like to live out the mandate that God has laid out for us from the very beginning of Creation?  That is what we will spend our time focusing on in our time of discussion.\

1.  What thoughts, comments, insights, ideas, disagreements, wisdom, etc... do you have in regards to the Scripture text(s) we looked at and the idea of stewardship of the environment?

2.  How can you and I individually take seriously our role as radah over God's creation?  What ways can you and I better steward God's creation?

3.  How can we as Veritas take more seriously our role as radah over God's creation and what steps can we take to make that a reality within the life and ministry of Veritas?

The Naked Anabaptist

The other week I had the privilege of attending a session, dinner, and public lecture at Elizabethtown College with Stuart Murray Williams, the author of the book "The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith."  During the session and the lecture Williams gave out a paper dealing with Core Convictions of the Anabaptist Network (in the UK....but could be affirmed by all Anabaptist) , on one side and thoughts on Post-Christendom on the other.  I wanted to take the next few blog posts looking at the Core Convictions, Post-Christendom, and my thoughts in reading his book. Here are the 7 Core Convictions of the Anabaptist Network of which I resonate deeply with.

1. Jesus is our example, teacher, friend, redeemer and Lord. He is the source of our life, the central reference point for our faith and lifestyle, for our understanding of church and our engagement with society. We are committed to following Jesus as well as worshipping him.

2. Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation. We are committed to a Jesus-centred approach to the Bible, and to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the Bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship.

3. Western culture is slowly emerging from the Christendom era when church and state jointly presided over a society in which almost all were assumed to be Christian. Whatever its positive contributions on values and institutions, Christendom seriously distorted the gospel, marginalised Jesus, and has left the churches ill-equipped for mission in a post-Christendom culture. As we reflect on this, we are committed to learning from the experience and perspectives of movements such as Anabaptism that rejected standard Christendom assumptions and pursued alternative ways of thinking and behaving.

4. The frequent association of the church with status, wealth and force is inappropriate for followers of Jesus and damages our witness. We are committed to exploring ways of being good news to the poor, powerless and persecuted, aware that such discipleship may attract opposition, resulting in suffering and sometimes ultimately martyrdom.

5. Churches are called to be committed communities of discipleship and mission, places of friendship, mutual accountability and multi-voiced worship. As we eat together, sharing bread and wine, we sustain hope as we seek God’s kingdom together. We are committed to nurturing and developing such churches, in which young and old are valued, leadership is consultative, roles are related to gifts rather than gender and baptism is for believers.

6. Spirituality and economics are inter-connected. In an individualist and consumerist culture and in a world where economic injustice is rife, we are committed to finding ways of living simply, sharing generously, caring for creation, and working for justice.

7. Peace is at the heart of the gospel. As followers of Jesus in a divided and violent world, we are committed to finding non-violent alternatives and to learning how to make peace between individuals, within and among churches, in society, and between nations.

I especially liked number 5 in relation to multi-voiced worship, something we have done since the beginning of Veritas, and something others are resonating with in the emerging, missional discussion.  In fact I just finished a book called "Free for all: Rediscovering the Bible in Community" by Tim Conder and Daniel Rhodes from the Emmaus Way community in NC, in which the whole premise was about this ideas of multi-voiced worship and a communal exegesis and hermeneutic.  I finished that book and thought just how Anabaptist their book really was.

Veritas has been founded from an Anabaptist understanding of the faith and we are trying to live out these same core convictions in our individual and corporate life together.

Give Me Your Eyes

Give Me Your Eyes I"ve been thinking about this song lately.  On Sunday morning Veritas will be going into downtown Lancaster and prayerscaping around the town.  Basically prayerscaping is praying that God would "Give Me Your Eyes" exactly the thing that this song is about.  May these words be more and more in our prayers and our lives and then when we have his eyes we'll be moved with compassion, love, grace and mercy and will seek to be a blessing in our world.

Music and Art Fundraising Night

The above poster is for our Music and Art Fundraising event to be held on Saturday December 11.  It will be a great night of great drinks provided by Prince Street Cafe, great desserts provided by Geneva Bakery, great music provided by the Veritas Worship team, Matt Wheeler and other musicians.  There will be great art that you can bid on via silent auction.  You can pick up a copy of the Veritas: Music and Art from our Community Volume 2.  There will also be testimonies from people involved with Veritas about what God has done in their life through Veritas.  There will also a time of sharing about the mission, vision, and dreams of Veritas with an opportunity to partner with Veritas in prayer, people, and finances.  So consider this your invitation to this event and invite any one that you might have interest in learning about Veritas and supporting church planting.  Just RSVP to me by December 8 so that we know how many people are coming.  Hope to see you there.