Tim Jeffries :: Friends blog

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Jan put me on to this. Couldn’t miss the opportunity.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheForgottenWays/~3/417620870/

“Every concept formed by the intellect in an attempt to comprehend and circumscribe the divine nature can succeed only in fashioning an idol, not in making God known.” - Gregory of Nyssa, “Life of Moses” -

Our ideas about God are only meant to direct our attention toward God, who is always greater than our ideas.

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I have to be honest and say that I have learned much of what I know about the basics of incarnational mission/ministry from those in the urban mission tribe. To reach the poor necessitates a deep identification with them, or else it risks being seen as overexploitation or welfare. A relatively new book to underscore this is by Scott Bessenecker, The New Friars. Its a good book that looks at how Protestant missional orders are beginning to form in order to reach the poor. Here is a quote from the book…

To undertake an incarnational approach to ministry is to be sent as Jesus was sent–to empty yourself of all that alienates you from a people and to become to a significant degree as they are. (62)

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“No man is satisfied in a swimming bath; he knocks his knees and elbows against its sides; he wants the sea. So with man’s soul, he hungers and thirsts for the ocean, for God; God infinite and Other, different to man, yet working in man…” - Baron F. Von Hugel

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“The reward of the search is to go on searching. The soul’s desire is fulfilled by the very fact of its remaining unsatisfied; for really to see God is never to have had one’s fill of desiring Him” - Gregory of Nyassa

We really are explorers. Its part of what it means to be human. To taste God is to be driven to an eternal quest to know him more. It always amazes me when people think they have arrived at the knowledge of God. When people come to that point, all they believe is an idol.

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Yay! Shapevine is coming along nicely.  We have a big announcement to make within a few weeks.  We are going to be partnering with a major league publishing/magazine as their missional-oriented website.  But here is the latest version anyhow.  Check out the podule/e-learning system.

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[[HT for this article to OnMovements]]>>

The research into network science has led to some new ways of thinking about social behavior. This research into networks offers multiple insights into movement building—the connecting, transforming, multiplying, generating, and cultural changing aspects of all movements. I’ve posted some applications from this research at different places. In a new book, “Connect!, the author compiled the following summary of how social networks work. I found its insights helpful.

1. Homophily: People like to hang out with others who are similar to themselves. This homophily is a source of connection because it allows you to find people with whom to work and socialize. But it can be also a source of stagnation if it means you don’t expose your thinking and your work to different opinions and perspectives and information.

2. Clustering: Homophily leads to clusters of people who know each other. Within a cluster, information and ideas are shared and in many case opinions become aligned to a certain way of thinking. Also, if you know one person in a cluster, you are very likely to know or to be able to be introduced to someone else in that cluster. Again, like homophily, the principle of clustering is good in providing shared frameworks of thoughts, ideas, and methods but bad when it keeps you from seeing other ways of thinking that might bring more success and progress.

3. Multi-dimensional Identities: Fortunately, this principle of multi-dimensional identities implies that people can be part of many clusters at once. Networks flourish as members willingly connect to other clusters by tapping into the other dimensions of their identity (hobbies, professions, religious practice, political beliefs, professional work, etc.).

4. Small worlds: Big worlds are made small by multi-dimensional people joining with clusters along their many dimensions. As people join into different clusters based on their multi-dimensional identity, they increase connections within the network and make the world smaller and more collaborative. Diffusion of innovation and the practice of collaboration happens as we create short paths between different people in a small-world network.

5. Innovation Thru Cross-Pollination: When ideas or patterns are translated across clusters, cross-pollination occurs. This leads to creativity and innovation. Networks work best when clusters interact regularly and align thinking and ideas with each other while at the same time allowing new ideas and patterns to be transferred from one cluster to another.

6. Stagnation: Networks can become stagnated when they are too highly connected–particularly at the cluster level. Even “hubs” with high numbers of connections can stagnate because with so many connections, each connection means very little to the hub. Thus, new ideas are never given a chance. Hubs must consciously seek connections to clusters from other communities that aren’t over-connected and closed.

7. Dilution: On the other hand, networks can suffer a dearth of connectivity, leaving too few relationships for ideas and information and support to move. Networks must seek clusters with enough connectivity to introduce fresh ideas.

8. Weak ties: Networks take advantage of weak ties between people–the casual acquaintanceships and friend of friend relationships. Strong ties imply membership in the same clusters; weak ties lead to more connections across clusters. Networks must activate these weak ties to find new opportunities, stretch thinking, and exchange support.

What are some lessons for us within this or that mission agency, church-planting effort, denomination, church?

• We should beware of stagnation inherent in homophily and clustering–living within our own universe only.


• We should connect with other clusters based on our broad multi-dimensional kingdom identity (i.e. Campus Crusade and Compassion Int’l or World Vision).


• We should encourage non-traditional partnerships and connections (i.e. Evangelical with Roman Catholic; leadership focused organizations with organizations reaching the poor).


• We should look for innovative ideas in domains other than where we are trying to innovate. We need cross-pollination.


• We should look for friends of friends and casual acquaintances to help us solve our problems. We must get out of our own universe.

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On the last blog post I was asked in a to qualify why I thought that fundamentalism was basically a false understanding of God and the Christian faith. I thought it would be worth a broader discussion. This was my reply..

Mike, I believe fundamentalism does NOT reflect the ethos or the pathos of the biblical idea of faith. It cannot hold paradoxical truth in tension, has a profound tendency towards violence, demonstrates an un-Christlike lack of grace/mercy, is deeply moralistic, and is normally quite nationalistic. The Bible on the other hand, deals well with paradoxical tensions and nuances that the fundie can neither see, nor tolerate, largely because of its childish, black and white, view of reality. And also because it is highly selective in its appropriation of aspects of the Scripture–curiously similar to its mortal opponent, theological liberalism!! Both sides ’see’ what they want to see, and each has enough truth to make it palatable, but both are in fact heresies. Having said that, I believe that liberalism is the more insidious of the two, because it is far more subtle.

Besides, in fundamentalism it seems that there is not a lot of fun and a whole lot of mental. In other words, it is toxic faith and creates profound unhappiness.

Am I wrong here? What are your thoughts?

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“False prophets are not godless. [Rather] They adore the god ‘success’. They themselves are in constant need of success and achieve it by promising it to the people. But they do honestly want success for the people. The craving for success governs their hearts and determines what rises from them. That is what Jeremiah called the ‘deceit of their own hearts’. They do not deceive; they are deceived, and can breathe only in the air of deceit” - Martin Buber

The meaning of false prophecy lies in the umbrella of deceit that includes both the teller and the told. Both false prophet and audience believe the lie they patently want to believe in…and they are both given over to it. They are in M.Scott Peck’s phrase ‘people of the lie’.

Think about prosperity doctrine, theological liberalism, or fundamentalism, cultism, etc. with this in mind.

Your thoughts?

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“Whatever the failings of Moses, they are as nothing to the failures among his multitudes of followers. A people will concede greater responsibility to its leaders only so that it may enjoy less responsibility itself. If Moses converses with God, it saves them the exertion of doing so themselves” — Roy Oliver

This leadership ought never to do…to replace the relation people must directly have with God. When we do this, we abandon the calling that Jesus has for us.

Your comments?