Conversations and Caring while Serving their Neighbors
If you’ve been reading my blog for the last few months, then you know that I’m very excited about a venture undertaking by Chris (from “The Amplified Life”) and the church that he’s part of. What venture? A venture that they called “5th Sunday.” Four times per year, on fifth Sundays, they plan to forgo their normal church gathering and instead go out into their neighborhoods and community in order to serve people together.
Chris writes about their first “5th Sunday” day of service in his post “5th Sunday — Conversations, Caring, and Committing.”
Please take the time to read Chris’ post and encourage him and their church as they seek to move outside the four walls and into the lives of the people around them!
Please take anything from the refrigerator
James at “Deliver Detroit” wrote a very good post called “Are other people allowed in your refrigerator?”
I had never thought about it before, but the refrigerator is a special and private place withing a home. There is something special about being offered the use of the refrigerator.
When people stay at our home, we often say something like, “You’re welcome to anything that’s in the refrigerator.” (The joke’s on them, because the fridge is often empty.)
James says this about the refrigerator in his home when he was growing up:
Having many friends from the neighborhood over frequently, the house was common ground to most who passed through. But, the fridge was not to be opened by those who did not reside in the house. Our home operated on a budget and a single income, sometimes even on state or federal assistance, making the contents of our fridge very valuable indeed. The refrigerator door was not to be opened by those who were not residents of the home, and those who did would be quickly reminded not to enter the forbidden fridge zone.
He ends his post with this:
For me, true Christian Fellowship can be seen in the privilege of access to your brothers and sisters refrigerators. Even more so, fellowship is established mutually. A refrigerator full of leftovers is not a blight on your reputation when you truly desire to have others see you as you are. Commonality exists in the content of our relationships, and is truly fostered in Christ-like conformity when we allow our guards to go down and the doors of our refrigerators to swing open. Even though it is easier to just have someone serve you from their refrigerator themselves, we miss out on much of the value had in earning the trust and love in genuine relationship with others. When all things are in common, the relationship becomes more important than the possession, and that last piece of cheesecake truly belongs to any who desires it. My fridge is your fridge.
What do you think? Is the refrigerator “sacred space” in most homes? Do you share the contents of your refrigerator?
Raising missional homeschooled children
My friend Wes at “a mission-driven life” has written an excellent article called “Missional Homeschooling.”
This post is a much needed correction to much that I’ve seen in homeschooling, primarily the desire to separate children from the world. Yes, we are to teach our children about God, both by our words and by our example. However, we cannot do this if we keep our children separated from the world.
Why? Because God loves the world, and he is sending us into the world. However, if we separate our children from the world, we are teaching them something that is contrary to God’s plan.
Here’s just one of the excellent paragraphs from Wes’ article:
Missional, as I define it, means the church being the church in its given cultural context. It means engaging the culture with the life-giving gospel holistically in the very neighborhoods where its members reside. Homeschools, as embodiments of the gospel and their local church to their neighbors, are providentially placed for taking their neighborhoods by storm. You may have various reasons for choosing to homeschool, but having made that choice, allow God to use you in reaching your neighbors. You will do this by example, in loving truth and learning, but most importantly in physically demonstrating your love for others, through both actions and the verbal proclamation of the gospel.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
People prefer knowing biblical passages that reinforce their pre-existing beliefs
The title of this post is a quote from a Bible professor in a CNN article called “Actually, that’s not in the Bible.”
In the article, the author quotes several “passages” that are quoted as Scripture, but that are not actually found in the Bible.
Some of the passages are obviously not Scripture, though they may sound biblish:
“God helps those who help themselves.”
“God works in mysterious ways.”
“Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
Others are contractions or modifications of actual passages of Scripture:
“Spare the rod, spoil the child.”
“Pride goes before a fall.”
“This, too, shall pass.”
Others are based on popular or traditional stories related to Scripture:
“Three wise men (or kings) visited baby Jesus.”
“Satan in the guise of a serpent tempts Eve to pick the forbidden apple from the Tree of Life.”
They left out my personal favorite, which someone once quoted to me (and the entire church) as their “life verse”:
“The family that prays together stays together.”
The interesting thing about this article, besides the false quotations and misunderstandings, is the reasons that the author and those interviewed give for people accepting non-Scripture as Scripture. Here is one example:
Few catch on [that the passages are not in Scripture] because they don’t want to – people prefer knowing biblical passages that reinforce their pre-existing beliefs, a Bible professor says. “Most people who profess a deep love of the Bible have never actually read the book.”
However, there is one “reason” that I disagree with:
“It is a great Protestant tradition for anyone – milkmaid, cobbler, or innkeeper – to be able to pick up the Bible and read for herself. No need for a highly trained scholar or cleric to walk a lay person through the text,” says Craig Hazen, director of the Christian Apologetics program at Biola University in Southern California.
But often the milkmaid, the cobbler – and the NFL coach – start creating biblical passages without the guidance of biblical experts, he says.
The lack of “guidance of biblical experts” is not the problem. Several people in Scripture were able to interpret Scripture without the benefit of biblical experts (at least, the way “biblical expert” is defined today).
Instead, I think a big problem actually arises from those biblical experts, especially those who teach week in and week out. Their teaching (and sermon titles, and quotes, and points) are often seen as just as important (if not more important) than the Scripture they are attempting to interpret.
Those biblical experts would help the church more by teaching the church (as a whole) to turn to Scripture (not to the experts), and then to read and study it for themselves.
How leaders work WITH the church
In response to another blog post, Dave Black commented on leadership among the church. (See Friday, June 3, 2011 at 1:58 p.m.)
When speaking about leaders, he referred to a passage that is often overlooked. I mean, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 is not as sexy (from a leader’s perspective) as some of the other preferred passages. However, I think this passage is very important if we want to understand how leaders work WITH the church.
Yes, I said WITH the church, not for the church.
First, this is what Dave said:
Some, of course, will ask, “How could a man possibly work fulltime and pastor a church effectively? One or the other will have to suffer!” This is a perfectly reasonable objection. It is obvious to every non-professional minister that the average layperson spends most of his or her time weekly providing for their families. Since they spend an enormous amount of time working for a living, their “church time” can only be a fraction of their ministry. Of course, the solution to this problem is obvious. Simply put, Jesus Christ never entrusted leadership in a local church to a single individual. Leadership in the New Testament was shared. Not surprisingly, therefore, when Paul refers to church leaders (e.g., 1 Thess. 5:12-13) the reference is to a plurality of leadership. In order to be an equipping environment, then, the local church must be structured for shared leadership — what Michael Green wonderfully refers to as a “fellowship of leadership.”
Now, this is the passage he referred to:
We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you [lead you] in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 ESV – except the part I translated)
Now, you may wonder what this has to do with leaders working WITH the church. You have to read just before and just after that passage to see that part:
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV)
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV)
You see, the work of leaders (“those who lead you”) is simply part of the work of all the “brothers and sisters” to encourage one another, build one another up, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with all. All believers are instructed (commanded actually) to do this work. Leaders are doing this also, of course.
But, what if the leaders are doing this work while the church is not doing it also? Big problems… big, big problems.
The Early Baptists and the Church
Guy at “The M Blog” as written a fascinating post called “Baptist Identity.”
In his post, Guy quotes from the First London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1646. Specifically, he quotes several passages from the confession that deal with the church. Also, Guy highlights sections of those quotes that most baptistic churches today would find interesting, odd, and unfamiliar.
For example, here is part of the first quote:
XXXVI.
BEING thus joined, every church hath power given them from Christ, for their wellbeing, to choose among themselves meet persons for elders and deacons, being qualified according to the word, as those which Christ hath appointed in His testament, for the feeding, governing, serving, and building up of His Church; and that none have any power to impose either these or any other.
Guy includes seven such quotations (along with his short comment). The quotations deal with church leaders, church meetings, baptism, and even every member ministry.
What are your thoughts about these passages from the London Baptist Confession?
What is “normal” among the church today?
In this post, I’m using the term “normal” with the following definition: “Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.”
So, thinking about that definition, look at the church in your area. What is “normal” among the church?
Dave Black recently wrote an essay examining some of the “norms” that he found among the church in the New Testament. The essay is called “What Does a New Testament Church Look Like?”
Here are a few of his “convictions”:
I am convinced that the house church rather than the sanctuary church was the New Testament norm.
I am convinced of the normacy of tentmaking leadership.
I am convinced that the church exists in part to equip all of its members for ministry.
I am convinced that the leadership of the church should be shared for the health of the congregation.
There are many more, so please read his post.
But, my concern is that even if someone might agree with one or two of these “norms,” it is clear that the church today rarely resembles the church as described in the NT. That’s a problem.
A criterion, a treasure, an assumption, and a broken heart
Again, the starred items in my Google reader are piling up, evidence of the great blogging that has been going on lately. There’s no way that I can write a separate post for each of these, so I’m going to include several in this post.
(Well, I guess I could write a separate post for each one, but I’m not going to.)
Ross at “thejesusvirus” writes “One Criterion”
In this post, Ross says that Christians should be making disciples. But, many of the church’s traditional traditions and practices actually hinder making disciples. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Joel from “The Double Edged Sword” writes “Treasures Worth Finding, Part 1”
He tells the story of meeting David, a homeless man. David shares his story with Travis. Would you consider this a treasure?
Eric from “A Pilgrim’s Progress” writes “A Key Assumption”
What is that assumption? The assumption is that Scriptures should form our understanding of the church, including what we do when we gather together. What do you think? Is this a valid assumption?
Arthur from “The Voice of One Crying Out In Suburbia” writes “A broken heart trumps a church bulletin”
Arthur writes about meeting with the church recently. At this gathering, a lady was in need of prayer and support. The church stopped everything to tend to this sister. Would you be disappointed with a gathering like this?
Jeremy’s thoughts on “leaving the pastorate”
“Leaving the pastorate” is a huge concern at the seminary. The are speeches and sermons and emails and meetings each year designed to help students remain “in the pastorate” for the long haul.
Jeremy at “Till He Comes” presents a different view in his post “Leaving the Pastorate.”
First, Jeremy recalls his experience in his first “pastorate,” and the events that led to him losing his job. He makes a strange (“strange” to the traditional church at least) statement concerning his desire to find another pastorate:
Looking back, I regret that decision. I wish I had stayed. I wish I had pastored without pay.
I would have learned so much working in the community, among the people I wanted to love and serve. I would have lost my fear of losing the big tither in church. I would have gained freedom to teach the Scriptures clearly. I would have gained the liberty to lead the people into the community. I don’t know what would have happened, but looking back now, it is what I wish I had done.
From this point, Jeremy explains what happened next, and how he came to a point where he did finally “leave the pastorate”… and he considers this a good thing. Apparently, this post is the first in a series, so I’m looking forward to reading more of Jeremy’s thoughts about this.
What do you think?
Some of you don’t like zombies… and that’s okay
So, if you’ve been keeping track of my blog, facebook profile, or twitter feed over the last few weeks, then you’ve probably seen posts or updates about zombies.
My friend Dan and I started Zombie Theology on Friday the 13th (May 13, 2011), and we have been publishing stories, novel excerpts, and blog posts since then. What is “Zombie Theology”? Well, we describe it as the intersection of the zombie apocalypse with Christian theology. How can those two things intersect? You’ll have to read more to find out.
Now, I know that alot of Christians don’t like the different horror genres, including zombies. In fact, some do not understand how Christians can be involved in that subculture… and that’s okay.
However, some of my readers have been intrigued by the different zombie stories and articles that I’ve linked to. If you’re interested in how we are attempting to interact with the zombie subculture, I would invite you to read one of Dan’s latest posts called “The infection is spreading” (which explains how surprised we have been at how we have been accepted into this subculture) and one of my latest posts called “What does Jesus have to do with zombies?” (which provides a more theological connection).
Plus, Dan does a great job of explaining part of our purpose in his post “Welcome to zombietheology.com.”
I will probably not post much about zombies here on this blog anymore. (You may still see the occasional link on my facebook profile or my twitter feed.)
If you are interested in keeping up with what we’re doing at Zombie Theology, please “like” our facebook page, follow us on twitter (@zombietheology), or subscribe to the RSS feed on our website. (It would be awesome to have other Christians interacting on our site. There are a few already.)
By the way, if you’re really, really interested, we welcome guest submissions on the Zombie Theology website. Just get in touch with us through any of the networks above, or through zombietheology[at]gmail[dot]com.