"Not many people like change, so of course there’s going to be resistance. But sooner or later the pain of being a shrinking, ignored community of faith within American culture will be greater than the pain of embracing the change necessary to get out there and engage missionally and generously with the unchurched."
This recent quote by Michael Frost, author of Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture, in an interview with Fred Peatross, is right on!
When a car has been stripped of all of its' bells and whistles, what can it still do? It can still take you places. This is also true with the body of Christ. When we no longer can rely on our attractional models and programming, buildings, and big budgets, we can still journey with others toward Christ. There will be a day when the body of Christ in America will no longer be able to rely on anything else to get people in the door, rather it will be all about Christ. Wow! What will those changes look like? What will that look like for the little bitty Church of Christ in Howard, KS? How about lifechurch in Edmond, OK? What will this look like for Saddleback, Willow Creek, or The Potters House?
6.02.2007
"Shalom is not the destination, but the Journey."
A really late night thought before I head off to bed. I owe credit to the ridiculously long list of bloggers I have been reading over the past couple of hours, because they all seem to be saying the same thing, and I am going to say the same...man do I feel like a sheep (that is not supposed to be a pun based on what I am fixing to say...)
So, Matthew 25 kept creeping up, and the idea of being the hands and feet of God to those around us. To feed the hungry, to give the thirsty a drink, to take in the alien, to clothe those who are in need, to look after those who are sick, to visit those who are in prison...this is bringing the kingdom of God into action. This is bringing peace into the world. Walking through life, doing life, we each have the ability and opportunities to create and enact shalom.
On a somewhat related note, but completely aside, Mel and I have got some completely crazy missional opportunities that we are becoming aware of. Pray for us, not only that God will provide a job, but that we will choose the right place to be.
On an unrelated note, I have been invited to teach a class at Soul Quest this year at York College. God has been doing some really cool creative stuff in my head, and I was stinkin excited when I figured out that what I wanted to teach and the scripture that I was to use were right in line with each other! I have Hebrews 13 to teach from and I am going to center the "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" theme with verses 12-14 which is goin to blow the top off my class! Consider this comparison: the words of Jesus in Matt. 25 where we see Jesus as being represented among the disenfranchised, and Heb. 13:13, where the text says, "Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore." THAT IS RICH! It is a direct command to go and be Christ (bearing his disgrace), to those he represents!
So, Matthew 25 kept creeping up, and the idea of being the hands and feet of God to those around us. To feed the hungry, to give the thirsty a drink, to take in the alien, to clothe those who are in need, to look after those who are sick, to visit those who are in prison...this is bringing the kingdom of God into action. This is bringing peace into the world. Walking through life, doing life, we each have the ability and opportunities to create and enact shalom.
On a somewhat related note, but completely aside, Mel and I have got some completely crazy missional opportunities that we are becoming aware of. Pray for us, not only that God will provide a job, but that we will choose the right place to be.
On an unrelated note, I have been invited to teach a class at Soul Quest this year at York College. God has been doing some really cool creative stuff in my head, and I was stinkin excited when I figured out that what I wanted to teach and the scripture that I was to use were right in line with each other! I have Hebrews 13 to teach from and I am going to center the "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" theme with verses 12-14 which is goin to blow the top off my class! Consider this comparison: the words of Jesus in Matt. 25 where we see Jesus as being represented among the disenfranchised, and Heb. 13:13, where the text says, "Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore." THAT IS RICH! It is a direct command to go and be Christ (bearing his disgrace), to those he represents!
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