Thin~Spaces

The Fringe

I've sat on the fringe of society while people
----clamber for wealth and security,
----strive for position and influence,
----do whatever it takes to get ahead,
----are heartless and lack love.

I've lived on the fringe of society invisible
----crying out in my hunger,
----smelling the stench of my own body,
----dying in the cold without shelter,
----awaiting a hand of kindness and love.

I've seen my church on the fringe of society
----comfortable in its ivory tower,
----striving for influence and position,
----dreaming of its glory days,
----accepting the American dream as gospel.

I stand on the fringe. Do you see me?

Matthew 25:31-45

Flew, Flue, or Flu

Sorry I have not posted for a few days. I've been down with the flu bug and have been resting as I preached today. I was only given a few days lead time to prepare. I came down with a sore throat the day after agreeing to preach. During the last three days I spent my time praying and crafting a sermon between massive sinus headaches, emergency trips to the loo, bed rest, and all the nice things the flu brings.

You can always tell when there is a major flu epidemic in our area as most pharmacies are out of Sudafed and other over the counter flu remedies. The Northwest has been hit pretty hard this flu season. Several people I know got over it in three days while others really got sick. Two of my friends have pneumonia so I was taking no chances.

Anyhow, I'm feeling better (I think i'm a 3 day person) but my sleep cycle is way off from my normal routine. I'm going to try to get some sleep now.

Holocaust Memorial Day

The UK Holocaust Memorial Day was first held in January 2001, and has been on 27 January every year since. My wife's father is Jewish so i have a special love in my heart for this day. Had her grandparents lived in the "old country" she may not be here today. 

In the States, the Hall of Witness, US National Holocaust Museum, is having a moment of silence at 12:00PM to remember the - 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

Please join me in this moment of remembrance!

Letting God Grow Us

While surfing blogdom today, i ran accrost a repost of Neil Cole's (Church Multiplication Associates) response to the question "If you could start all over what would you do differently?" over at  simplechurch.co.uk. 

i resonated with the comments made as i am currently on that journey myself. i feel that this is such good material that i am re-posting Neil’s answers on my blog so i can easily find it again. The reminders he offers are simple, insightful and rather counter-cultural for many Christian church planting movements today.

"1. BEGIN IN THE HARVEST AND START SMALL
Don’t start with a team of already saved Christians. We think that having a bigger and better team will accelerate the work, and it doesn’t. In fact, it has the opposite effect. It is better to have a team of two, and the right two makes the work even better: and apostle and prophet together will lay the foundation of a movement. The churches birthed out of transformed lives are healthier, reproductive and growing faster. It is about this– a life changed, not about the model. Never forget that!

2. ALLOW GOD TO BUILD AROUND OTHERS
Don’t start in your own home…find a person of peace and start in their home! Read Matt. 10/Luke 10…and do it!

3. EMPOWER OTHERS FROM THE START
Don’t lead too much…let the new believers do the work of the ministry without your imposed control. Let the excitement of a new life carry the movement rather than your intelligence and persuasiveness.

4. LET SCRIPTURE LEAD NOT YOUR ASSUMPTIONS
Question all your ministry assumptions in light of Scripture with courage and faith. There is nothing sacred but God’s Word and Spirit in us…let them lead rather than your own experience, teachings, and tradition.

5. RETHINK LEADERSHIP
The Christian life is a process. There is not a ceiling of maturity that people need to break through to lead. Set them loose immediately and walk with them through the process for a while. Leadership recruitment is a dead end. We are all recruiting from the same pond and it is getting shallower and shallower. Leadership farming is what is needed. Any leadership development system that doesn’t start with the lost is starting in the wrong place. Start at the beginning and begin with the end in mind. Mentor life on life and walk with them through their growth in being, doing and knowing.
The end is not an accumulated knowledge but a life of obedience that will be willing to die for Jesus. The process isn’t over until there is a flat-line on the screen next to their bed.

6. IMMEDIATE OBEDIENCE IN BAPTISM
Baptize quickly and publicly and let the one doing the evangelizing do the baptizing. The Bible doesn’t command us to be baptized, but to be baptizers. It is absolutely foolish the way we hold the Great Commission over our people and then exclude them from obeying it at the same time! We need to let the new convert imprint upon the Lord for protection, provision, training and leading, rather than upon men.

7. SETTLE “YOUR” OWNERSHIP ISSUES
Stop being concerned about whether “Your” church plant will succeed or not. It isn’t “yours” in the first place. Your reputation is not the one on the line…Jesus’ is. He will do a good job if we let him. If we have our own identity and reputation at stake in the work we will tend to take command. Big mistake. Let Jesus get the glory and put his reputation on the line…He can take care of Himself without your help!"

Random Thoughts

It's been a long day already! i'm currently editing a business plan for a friend of mine who has a unique outlook on Christian community. He pastors a church in a rural area of Washington and is trying to bring economic vitality to his extended community through the business. Social responsibly is an area that the evangelical church needs to pay greater attention to. Anyhow, i'm down with job creation and economic revitalization as part of the mission of the Church.

i enjoyed the coffee shop Jacob suggested. It is two blocks from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. i have forgotten just how much i love the college environment. The energy, vibe and openness to experiment are so refreshing to a progressive thinker like myself. Now if this coffee shop had live Jazz i'd be totally in my element. i've found a new place to hang out and that is cool.

As i've mentioned before, i really enjoy meeting new people and sharing stories of our journeys with Christ. There is little support for the indie-allies meetup in my area. When i went to one in Bellingham, a college town, we had a great group but in Tacoma there are hardly any people interested. i would love to be part of an emerging cohort in the Tacoma Washington area.

Coffee With a Fellow Blogger

Tonight I met with Jacob at the Northern Pacific Coffee Company. We met online after he read my article over at the Next Wave and found my blog. He lives about ½ hours  drive away so we decided to hang out and chat over a coffee.

I sat at the coffee shop for about 20 minutes lost in an article I was reading before I realized that someone was sitting at a nearby table obviously waiting for someone. I said "hi" briefly as I walked past him on my way to the barista to order something. I figured I'd ask if he was waiting for Darren when I returned to my seat.

He must have had the same idea as he came up the barista a few minutes later. I learned a valuable lesson tonight. When setting up a real world meet up, I should designate a table in the corner or something like that. Jacob was looking for a guy with a goatee and I had recently shaved mine off as I'm looking for work.

We had a good laugh over the mix-up and then proceeded to get to know one another. I think that being able to hang out with new people is one of the best parts of blogging.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with Jacob again as his time in the area is rather short these days.  You can catch up with him over at over at leading with QUESTIONS.

Community, Conversion, & Culture

"It is only within the religious community, the ecclesia, that the conversion can be effectively maintained as Plausible. This is not to deny that conversion may antedate affiliation with the community - Saul of Tarsus sought out the Christian community after his "Damascus experience."  But this is not the point. To have a conversion experience is nothing much. The real thing is to be able to keep on taking it seriously: to retain a sense of its plausibility. This is where the religious community comes in. it provides the indispensable plausibility structure for the new reality."
Peter Berger, The Social Construction of Reality. Pg 158

A Plausibility structure is the belief system that legitimates or upholds the worldview of a community or social order.  While Berger notes that it is possible to have conversion without community. Maintaining a new worldview requires a community to reinforce the new worldview and create an alternate social reality. New-wine-in-new-wineskins if you will.

If our communities embrace an "out-dated" plausibility structure, they we will not adapt to the social change in our society. The old expression of faith will fall short and be seen as implausible. In our current cultural context the church faces this exact problem. Its explanations of the faith are beginning to lack plausibility with the emerging social mindset. As a result, we have many vagabonds who have "left the church" to find God in our new social context.

In the postmodern social context, the 'emerging church' is one of the communities that are currently working out the plausibility structure for living in our time of social transition and upheaval. This is not a short-term effort as social systems change rather slowly and often encounter much resistance.

Our shift is not the first in the history of the Church. We have emerged into many cultural realities throughout history. It is a messy, painful endeavor. Yet one that brings much joy as the Christian faith become plausible once again and we forget the effort and pain if its birth in a new cultural reality.

This is why I maintain that the Church has been emerging for over 2,000 years.

Who Are We?

It is a natural desire to try and understand who we are and who we are becoming. Many Christ followers are distancing themselves from the traditional expression of Christianity that seems to be lacking substance and authenticity. The common term used to identify this group of Christ-Followers is "The Emerging Church". But what does that mean? Who are we and what are we becoming?

I've found many cool and interesting definitions of what the Emerging Church is, and what it is not. Among the best I have found comes from Andrew Jones in his article "what is Emergent?"

"The emerging church around the world shares a number of common characteristics, including in most cases, an emergent vocabulary, synoptic outlook, creative expression, organic resourcing, fluid strategy, decentralized leadership, holistic expression, fluency in new media, postmodern sensibility, structural simplicity, countercultural origins, an upfront missional focus, modular church expression rather than singular, a deep ecclesiology, attendance at particular yearly festivals, a greater ecumenical commitment and social concern, and so on."

Are You A Conspiracy Theorist?

I think this presentation is quite good and the tunes rock! Even if you are not a conspiracy theorist this 5 minute video on the Pentagon strike on 9-11 makes you think. Watch it  Here.

From  FREEDOM PRESS.

"When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere."
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Link: Quote of the Day.