Dave DeVries :: Friends blog

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheForgottenWays/~3/385637948/

Mohandas Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in modern social and political activism, considered these traits to be the most spiritually perilous to humanity…

• Wealth without Work


• Pleasure without Conscience


• Science without Humanity


• Knowledge without Character


• Politics without Principle


• Commerce without Morality


• Worship without Sacrifice

Appropriate given the current political and social environment, don’t you think?

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/09/friday-is-for-fr

Politics

The Bible says we should be slow to speak. Good idea. Something I said on Twitter while watching the RNC was picked up by Brian Ayers - and he is encouraging me to run for office in 2012 with Sarah Palin. It's probably a good match in some ways, though I am afraid she would beat me in a hunting contest.

But we do share a sense of style. It looks like we shop at the same store for our glasses (Lenscrafters, I am guessing). But I'm not sure where Brian get's the idea that I am smaller than Palin. And why am I hiding behind her?

Missionaries

When some people think of international and cross cultural missionaries they conjure up unrealistic images super-saints. Here's a video that shows a more honest picture of those who have gone into West Africa; who they were before life on the mission field, and who they are now.

To learn more visit www.gowestafrica.org/cardboard

BTW: If you know an SBC-affiliated 20 something guy or gal, the West Africa mission has a fully-funded (insured and salaried) 2 year mission experience with their name on it! (They have a real need for guys especially because in some of the cultures in Africa guys can go places women are not allowed.)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheForgottenWays/~3/385220335/

This post is taken from the blog of one of my really good (and very bright)  friends, Mark Sayers. It adds further weight to all this discussion about networks and movements…

….Have been reading a bit about the future of organized crime. Fascinatingly crime is changing as our culture changes. The older traditional crime structures such as the Mafia and the Japanese Yakuza are struggling. Traditional organized crime structures thrive in migrant neighbourhoods with high social cohesion. However as social connection breaks down, and a more liquid way of living takes hold, and gentrification transforms inner city neighbourhoods; traditional organized crime structures are finding it hard to recruit younger members and flourish in the 21st century.

However a new kind of organized crime is developing in the West one that does not obey the traditional modes and rules. This new form of organized crime has its roots in the developing world, be it Central America, Nigeria or former Soviet Bloc countries. Whereas the old organized crime structures worked on systems of honour, commitment, hierarchy, central control and a strict set of rules, the new structures tend to be more cellular, chaotic and anarchic.

A classic example of this new kind of organized crime structured is the central American gang MS -13 which some law enforcement experts have labelled the Al Qeada of Central America. The gangs growth has been phenomenal, and the gang now has tens of thousands of members, and has now spread out of central America into South America, North America and Europe.

Is it just me or does all of this sound familiar?

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/09/sent-a-study-for

In the next few weeks, I will be releasing a Bible study with LifeWay's Threads initiative. It is called Sent: Living the Missional Nature of the Church.

I'm hoping that the study will be a helpful tool to put in the hands of church leaders who want to ground their people firmly in an understanding of the mission of the church and what it means for the body of Christ to live together as the sent people of God. The study has 6 sessions, so I'm going to be writing over the course of the next few weeks some summaries of the main points of the sessions to whet your appetite. Today we deal with the title and the idea behind the study.

Jesus said over and over again in the Book of John that He was sent from the Father. Then in John 20:21, He said: "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." We take from that the idea that the very nature of the church is this "sent-ed-ness." It's part of our DNA. The problem is that many churches have the "arrived" mentality rather than seeing themselves as sent out from Christ on mission. It's time for us to reclaim the core of our identity, that we are a people sent by and for God. It's more than a choice or a program; it's about a fundamental understanding of our Savior and ourselves that leads us forward as his people. That's why it's called "Living the Missional Nature of the Church."

Love for you to check out the study; you can download a free sample and get more info here. For people establishing a church's DNA, or trying to reconfigure a group of people to think rightly, you might consider taking your entire church through the study. I think it will provide a good understanding of what the church is supposed to be in the world.

More soon...

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheForgottenWays/~3/385220341/

Having described all these characteristics of networks, it is not hard to see this is exactly how the Early Church and the Chinese Church operated. Look at the diagram again. The hubs would have been places like Antioch, Jerusalem, or Rome or people like Paul. The nodes could be house churches and clumps of people involved in various dimensions of life. Nodes could become hubs depending on their relative importance in the network. Antioch and Jerusalem were certainly hubs in this view. When the New Testament writers articulated the foundational doctrine of ecclesia, this is what is meant, not buildings and institution, but a fluid body of Christ dynamic involved in all there spheres of life. It is within this structure that Apostolic Genius seems to manifest most fully. And due to the missional situation of our era, the time has come to rediscover the church as a dynamic network beyond the institution and in every arena of life and creation.

Stadia is a network based, organic, church multiplication movement in the US. Its mission is to find, train, deploy, and network church multiplication leaders. In turn these leaders build regional networks of planters, multiplying churches, and support personnel who together build a church multiplication movement that is sustainable and reproducible. Their goal is to establish 5,500 new churches across the US.

Another remarkable organic movement that follows these approaches has been evolving in California and around the world called Church Multiplication Associates. This network is led by Neil Cole, a pioneer in developing organic church planting and someone who has clearly articulated a movement based on movement dynamics, multi-channel networking, and organic reproducibility although the language is somewhat different. This has been translated into a leadership training system called Greenhouse, which coaches leaders from various contexts in organic methodology. The movement has grown exponentially as new expressions of incarnational church break out in car parks, cafes, houses, clubs, etc. The Korean movement associated with Paul Yongi Cho is built on similar principles-Cho always maintained that the real church existed in the cells and the rest was frills. These are just some examples of many such movements being generated around the world.

An Australian expression of this is in a new Pentecostal movement called The Junction led by Kim and Maria Hammond. This network has incarnated deeply into their local area. They meet in the neighborhood school where they have become part of the actual functioning of the school, in the local pubs and cafes and are involved in many of the projects their contextual community is involved in, including walk-against-want, mentoring disadvantaged kids in their area, and feeding the poor. There is no center and no circumference…it just exists in nodes, hubs, and enriching relationships and is built squarely on the fabric of friendships. Third Place Communities in Tasmania operates on the same principles and looks remarkably like the network diagram above. All these new missions demonstrate a recovery of a latent potency which bodes well for the future of the church in the West. We do well to give thanks.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/09/lostfound-in-tra

Next week, I will be doing a half day seminar at Brentwood Baptist Church. This is a church that wants to think and act in missional ways, but is also seeking to do so in its own cultural setting.

Brentwood is a big church (thousands on a Sunday), in an affluent area, and has a long history. That makes for some challenges and some opportunities. They have to recast language carefully and slowly.

So, in order to make a sharper focus they sought to cast their language in a way that was helpful for their context. They sent their "lexicon" to me to prep for my time with their church. I found it interesting and I thought I should share it with you.

I am one who believes that new language can be helpful, hence I started using the "missional" word back in the 1990s. However, it is essential to note that people have been being missional long before Francis Dubose started using it in the way we use it today. So, the language matters less than the emphasis. And, I find that Brentwood is doing some important thinking about how to use language in a way that communicates truth in meaningful ways.

Also, they DEFINE terms, something that I think you will need to do if you choose to call your church missional. For example, "missional" means different things to different people (see my Meanings of Missional series) so it is important that you clarify what you mean if you use the term.

The actual files are linked below, but here are a few highlights of Brentwood's new vocabulary related to evangelism and outreach.

connectors: people who are already connected to Christ.

You are a Connector if you have a personal, life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ - if you are grounded in worship, growing in discipleship and going in service.

And this raises the first question: Are you sure you are connected to Christ? Are you still firmly grounded/growing? Have you checked your own connection?

You cannot be a Connector if you're not connected to Christ.

unconnected: people who do not have this personal, life-transforming relationship to Christ.

Old vocabulary: "nonbeliever" or "unchurched"

Our goal is not to "church" them. And while our ultimate goal is that they become believers, our immediate goal is to get them engaged with Christ in some way - as seeker, questioner, hearer.

Keep in mind: Some people may be church attendees or church members, but are

not connected to Christ.

Some people may be disenfranchised from organized religion, so they are not connected to Christ.

Some people may know nothing about Christ, or what they know is inaccurate, so they are not connected to Christ.

story: There are three parts to story:

my story: my personal experience with Christ.

their story: their personal experience/lack of experience w/Christ.

God's big story of redemption.

Old vocabulary: "testimony."

This is what I have seen and heard. This is what I know about Jesus. This is what I want you to know. This is where I am. Our stories are not complete. At certain times, our stories are not neat or resolved...

We want to have Christ-followers:

who have first-hand experience of Jesus and can talk about it authentically

who know how to ask good questions of others who are not connected to Christ

who know how to listen to the other person's story

who know how to tell God's big story in a simple way.

To tell God's story, we will be using the four principles and diagrams from James Choung's book, "True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In."

Here are links to their relevant documents: Connecting (PDF), and Connecting Vocabulary (Word doc).

This is an important subject to me. Their terms deal with evangelism and outreach, though we also hear discussions around the term missional. Some say the word has become to diluted or is often misunderstood.

But, language matters. Its use changes over time. And, words that once pointed to new ideas eventually lose their usefulness because of the baggage they carry.

So, I would love to get your thoughts:

1. What do you think of their lexicon?

2. Do you use the term "missional"? Why or why not?

3. Do you use an alternative term(s)? If so, why? And, if so, what terms do you use?

4. Have you opted for less traditional language when attempting to communicate biblical truth with the world? If so, why? Please give examples.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/08/we-interupt-this

If you know anyone in the storm path or serving evacuees, feel free to link them below so we can follow them and pray together.

Here are the twitterers I know so far:

NOLA News Twitter feed

Dino Rizzo, Healing Place Church, Baton Rouge.

Rebuilding Lakeshore, a ministry of Lakeshore Baptist in Mississippi.

IMNewOrleans Church Planter Rob Wilton in New Orleans.

Thom Reagan, pastor in Fairhope, Alabama.

Jamie Dunbar, pastor from Mandeville, LA.

Twitter will give you a better read, so if you don't already subscribe, this would be a good time. (I will also be listing folks who twitter on my twitter feed.) Or, you can read it using your brower by clicking the links above.

Blogs:

Trinity Church Hurricane, Trinity Church Hurricane blog, Covington, LA

Who do you know with a blog or twitter in the area?

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheForgottenWays/~3/380095958/

Manuel Castells is one of the key thinkers on networks. In his view networks are made up not only of nodes but also of hubs. The hubs are places where the lines of communication connect. A node may be just about anything: a media outlet, a website, an organization, or an individual. Over time some nodes in the network may emerge as being more important than others depending on geographical, political, historical, or personal circumstances. For example: a company that offers a particular service or product will be connected to various other outlets and customers because it is useful to them. It serves their purposes to be linked. With a growing importance in the network, certain sites may become major nodes or hubs where other nodes connect and intersect. This can be diagrammatically represented as follows:

What is particularly instructive for Christian movements and organization is how networks hold together. The effective performance of a network over time and distance will depend to a large degree on the cultivation of shared beliefs, principles, interests, and goals- perhaps articulated in an overarching ideology. This combination of beliefs and principles together form the cultural glue, or reference point, which holds the nodes together and to which the members subscribe in a deep way. “Such a set of principles, shaped through mutual consultation and consensus-building, can enable members to be “all of one mind” even though they are dispersed and devoted to different tasks.” Dee Hock, the brilliant philosopher-businessman who founded Visa Corporation, makes this point well when he notes that…

Purpose and principle, clearly understood and articulated, and commonly shared, are the genetic code of any healthy organization. To the degree that you hold purpose and principles in common among you, you can dispense with command and control. People will know how to behave in accordance with them, and they’ll do it in thousands of unimaginable, creative ways. The organization will become a vital, living set of beliefs.

Remember the reference to ‘fit and split” in the chapter on Apostolic Environment? Well it is these overarching beliefs that provide a central ideological and operational coherence (fit) that allows for wide tactical decentralization (split) This culture or ideology “…also sets the boundaries and provides guidelines for decisions and actions so that the members do not have to resort to a hierarchy because ‘they know what they have to do.’” This is analogous to what the best military practice refers to as ‘commander’s intent’ and ‘rules of engagement’: these set the guidelines for the scope of individual decision making. Through these, the solider knows what do and what the limitations are, how they do it is up to them.

It is worth reflecting here on what Hock says are keys to developing networked organization. He says….

• The organization must be adaptable and responsive to changing conditions, while preserving overall cohesion and unity of purpose.


• The trick is to find the delicate balance that allows the system to avoid turf fights and back-stabbing on the one hand, and authoritarian micromanagement on the other.


• The organization must cultivate equity, autonomy, and individual opportunity.


• The organization’s governing structure must distribute power and function to the lowest level possible.


• The governing structure must not be a chain of command, but rather a framework for dialogue, deliberation, and coordination among equals.

But all this organic networking requires significant, or ‘dense’ (Arquilla and Ronfeldt), communications to hold it all together. Arquilla and Ronfeldt note: “The network design may depend on having an infrastructure for the concentrated communication of information. But this does not mean that all nodes must be in constant communication. But when communication is needed, the network’s members must be able to disseminate information as promptly and broadly as desired within the network as well as to outside audiences.”

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/08/something-neue.h

As the Compelled by Love Blog Tour continues Phillip Nation and I had a chance to be interviewed by Ashley Wolpert at Neue Resources concerning the ideas we present in the book. Neue Resources is a ministry aimed at equipping ministry leaders of the 21st century church. Neue is the from the team behind RELEVANT magazine. "What RELEVANT is for consumers, Neue is for the leaders, innovators and frontliners that are shaping the future of the church." What follows appears in Neue's newsletter (and is printed with their permission).

Missional Living
By Ashley Wolpert

In a culture that feeds off a vast array of social justice causes, it seems that the term missional living is being bandied about increasingly in our churches. But what does this really look like? Recently Dr. Ed Stetzer, co-author of Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living, spoke with Neue about what exactly "missional living" means, how church leaders can encourage their community live missionally and what some major barriers are. Philip Nation, Stetzer's co-author, follows with a list of practical tips to help communities engage in missional living.

How would you define "missional living"?

Missional living is essentially living with our primary perspective as that of an ambassador for the Kingdom of God. It means making our lives not about us, but about Jesus and His Kingdom.

In an alliterated sense, missional living is an incarnational (being the presence of Christ in community), indigenous (of the people and culture) and intentional (planning our lives around God's agenda) focus on the power of the Gospel to bring the reign of God into people's lives.

When did you first arrive at this idea of "missional living?"

I think I first read missional ideas in The Missional Church (1998), edited (primarily) by Darrell Guder. I believe the subtitle of the first chapter is a great summation for the entire work: "From Sending to Being Sent." After that, I was most impacted by Francis Dubose's God Who Sends, which I read during my Ph.D. in Missiology.

Through their writings, and those of many others, the late 21st-century Church was again reflecting a local missiology for churches that moved from "pay for others to go" to "pay the price for me to go."

Working through these ideas for nearly a decade as a church leader and missiologist, I arrived at the conclusion that the vast majority of missional literature and conferences were solely for the benefit of church leaders. So, I asked Philip to co-write with me to address that. Compelled by Love is a remedy for the average believer who is looking for a theological and practical bridge to move their lives in a missional direction.

What would you say is the greatest example of "missional living" in the Bible?

Without hesitation--it is Jesus Christ. He is sent by the Father. He is the incarnation of God. He sets aside His privileges (and rights) to live in our neighborhood. He communicates the Gospel in a way that is understandable to us. And, He is supremely sacrificial in the manner of His life and death.

Choosing one such example from mortal humanity is tough. However, for today, I'll choose Moses. Without his knowledge, God was preparing him to participate in God's work of deliverance. After he had failed miserably because of his sin, God still chose to use him--an imperfect vessel for God's great work. In his old age, Moses served as God's emissary to declare the glory of the one true God, awaken hope in the people of God and shake a society.

How can church leaders encourage their community to live missionally?

Missional living must be motivated with the truth and from the heart. Without the truth of Scripture and the Gospel, there is no reason to live any particular way. Since God has revealed the truth of His character and will, we should teach it to the Body of Christ as what we should do. Church leaders leading people boldly to understand God and His Kingdom should influence our manner of living.

We are blessed that God also desires for the truth to affect us. So through such heart motivations as love, hope, urgency and compassion, believers can be shown how missional living must be a compelled portion of life. Obviously, that was the point of Compelled by Love, as we used 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 as the central theme of the book. Because they are learning the greatness of God and His truth, believers must exhibit a deep desire to share such with the world.

What keeps people from missional living? Would you say there are any unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings?

Believers do not live missionally for two primary reasons:

a) because they believe someone else is doing it; or worse,

b) they are selfish.

Too many Christians assume or deceive themselves into believing that someone else has explained the Gospel to our neighbors, co-workers and friends. Beyond that, believers choose their traditions over the mission. Entire congregations have decided that "the way we do things" is superior to the mission to go, be and tell the Gospel in understandable ways to the culture surrounding them.

The unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings are also twofold. First, many are trying to await the renewal of the Church. Their hope is to show up one Sunday and it will suddenly be different--more missional, more externally focused, more compassionate. The problem: It won't, unless they are willing to lead the way by serving in the church to which they are committed.

The second barrier is that the culture they face is farther from the Gospel than any other in American history. The young adults and families today have grown up without a mooring to biblical truth, and young Christians now have to begin at the beginning. They were raised to present five-point Gospel outlines, and it is not working very often. Instead, they must describe God in Genesis 1 and then Colossians 1. They will need to share about the freedom God offers first from Ecclesiastes and then Galatians. What I am trying to say is that twenty- and thirtysomethings must recognize the distance their culture is away from the cross and be prepared to work in soil that is dry and parched.

Philip's ideas for missional living are also in the magazine:

1. Understand the Gospel. The mission of God is consumed with the person and work of Christ. As you understand Christ, you can accurately participate in God's work of redemption. So read the Gospels--a lot.

2. Take an eternal view of people. The friends, neighbors and co-workers around you have an eternity in front of them. We need to see them as God does and care for them accordingly.

3. Be friendly. A Christian should be the most trustworthy confidant another person has in the world. Believers should be the kind of people everyone else wants to be around.

4. Watch for a chance to serve. People use up all of their energy on family, work and menial chores. Look for ways you can care for your neighbors--even if it is just cooking a simple dinner for them.

5. Be truthful. Missional believers contend for the faith while speaking in a way understandable to the hearer. No matter what, be ready to talk about the truths in Scripture.

6. Love like Jesus. He lived a robust life of caring for the lost. In elevating sacrificial love far beyond any previous thinking, He gave an example for us.

7. Be on guard. As you work alongside the King to extend His Kingdom, our spiritual enemy will immediately attack. Guard your heart in holiness.

8. Live missionally at home. Family is the first place for the mission of God in your life. When people see the impact it has on your home, they will be more willing to trust its veracity for their own lives.

9. Show patience. People are farther away from understanding the Gospel than in previous generations. Do not hesitate to invite them to submit to Christ, but know that they have plenty of questions that might need answering first.

10. Do it for one reason--the glory of God. The only reason to be missional is to make Christ more widely known. God is worthy of being honored by all of creation, and it should be the main reason why we participate in His mission.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/08/webinar-today-on

Come join me for a Webinar today:

11a.m. Pacific,

12n Mountain,

1p.m. Central, and

2p.m. Eastern.

Here is the 'register' link for the seminar.



Or, if want to just jump in at the time, click here.



Also, the schedule of all the NOC webinars is here. There are several and you will want to come back for more conversation.

This is part of the lead up to the National Outreach Convention.

They have a great line up of speakers. It should be a great conference.

The webinar is free. See you then.