How Does Your Community Share Meals?

“Jesus didn’t run projects, establish ministries, create programs, or put on events. He ate meals.” – Tim Chester, A Meal With Jesus

Food is significant. Through food, Adam and Eve rebelled. Through food, God grows dependence in the Israelites in the dessert. And through food, Jesus holds up bread and wine during his last meal with his disciples—proclaiming the bread his body and the wine his blood. Food and drink transform into metaphors and tastes of the gospel.

In our efforts to go and make, we often forget that the very places we already inhabit are places that we have been sent with the good news of Jesus

Bread has an association with life that surpasses biblical imagery, but in Christ, it is the sufficient sacrifice. Wine too has gained traction, outside Christianity, as a sign of blessing, goodness, and often associated with blood. However, in Christ, wine becomes the image of blessing, goodness, justification, and cleansing that comes through Jesus’ suffering on our behalf. Jesus chooses a meal for us to remember the gospel. If the gospel forms a community, sharing this gospel feast ought to be as often as we get together. Jesus called us to remember him and his sacrifice for us through a meal. When we eat together, we commune around this truth.

Our Relationship with Eating

Humans have a unique connection with food. We depend on it to survive. We also turn to it for comfort and safety in overindulgence. Food, for some of us, becomes a medium for expressing our creativity, becoming art. Fundamentally, food reminds us of our need for something outside of ourselves. We have to take, receive, and eat to continue moving through this world. Meals are a daily reminder of our common need for God and his faithfulness to provide both physically and spiritually.

Communal Eating

In community, we regularly eat meals together instead of in isolation. At the table, we share our stories, we listen to one another, and we experience grace. The New Testament describes this act as "breaking bread" and invokes a giving and receiving of relationship in the most simple and unspoken of ways. The weekly communal meal is a spiritual discipline.

Through the meal, we engage one another as a family in Christ, and we engage Christ.

The communal meal begins through arrival or gathering. At this moment, everyone’s individual responsibilities, schedules, and to-do lists collide into an expression of community. The worries, struggles, fears, and happy news of each member comes rushing through the door. Your lives are hurried until this point. Your lives are physically separate until this moment. A weekly meal is more than logistics to work out but a spiritual discipline of being united. You are physically bound together by the table you gather around, the complete meal everyone shares in, and under the prayer recognizing God’s grace as you eat.

Through the meal, we engage one another as a family in Christ, and we engage Christ. The weekly meal is a fantastic space to grow in your love for one another. Let the conversations around the dinner table be focused and meaningful. Embrace this moment with honesty. As a leader, spark the conversation to be about more than the movies people watch and the latest sports scores.

Welcome Others to the Gospel Feast

Come, sinners, to the gospel feast; Let every soul be Jesus' guest. Ye need not one be left behind, For God hath bid all humankind. – Charles Wesley

We regularly sing this hymn at Bread&Wine. It is an anthem for us, and the church we aspire to be. A church that welcomes every soul as Jesus' guest into the most meaningful of tables. Our invitation to those in our city is not merely to dinner parties but into the family of God, into union with Christ. As we welcome the poor and powerless into our community meals and as we share the crucial nature of the elements of communion, we realize we are the sinners coming. We are the ones in need of his body and his blood. A community that secludes itself and its dinner table from the outside world will not only struggle to reach their neighbors but will fail to see their need for the Table.

Make Meals Meaningful

• Ask each other how the week is going and expect long, honest answers.
• Ask everyone a common question that will lead to deeper understanding of each other: What is your favorite summer memory from childhood? Or how do you prepare for the Christmas holidays?
• Ask about how each person is processing the sermon from Sunday, or about the service that was done as a group the week before, circle back to past hardships people have shared.
• Simple things to like what are you thankful for today. What was the hardest part of your day today?
• You could also have a person or couple in the “spotlight” where they can share in more depth their story, current spot in life, and what they are going through with the community having the chance to pray for them.

Reflections

• How does your community share meals?
• How can you eat with glad and generous hearts?
• How can you remember Christ as you eat?
• How can the gospel become clearer as you share a meal with folks?
• How often should you get together to share a meal during the week?
• How does your community remember Jesus in these meals?
• Most people eat twenty-one meals a week, how could anyone in your community share at least one of them with others?

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Brad Watson (@bradawatson) serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities where he develops and teaches leaders how to form communities that love God and serve the city. Brad is the author of Raised?, Called Together: A Guide to Forming Missional Communities, and Sent Together: How the Gospel Sends Leaders to Start Missional Communities. He lives in southeast Portland with his wife and their two daughters. You can read more from Brad at www.bradawatson.com.

The Reluctant Missionary

When my wife Emily and I moved to Mexico, I self-identified as a reluctant missionary; God called us to the mission field, but I didn’t go singing like one of the astronauts in the movie Armageddon. Since then I’ve sweat more than I thought possible. And much of what I was reluctant about, I’ve navigated with forward momentum. Sure, I’ve bumped my head a few times, even caught it on fire, stalled a van full of mission trip guests roughly eight times in one outing and now have the language capacity of a 3-year-old with a speech impediment, but things are good.

The Lord has helped us make sense of a lot in eight months. We’ve learned a lot about each other, our marriage, his mission, and Mexican traffic patterns. Over and against all these, though, he’s taught me the most about my reluctance as a missionary.

I only want Grace to write a dramatic, perfect sentence in my story. I don’t want to relinquish the whole narrative.

At its core, my reluctance wasn’t about language barriers, selling my truck, or an inordinate amount of sweating. It wasn’t about disputed dreams. Sure, those things were there. But at its core, my reluctance fundamentally was about Grace.

Grace is scary.

In The Reason for God, Tim Keller writes about a woman who gets her heart around grace. She realized if she could earn Grace, she can demand of it. If she can crowbar Gods love, then God is in the hot-seat. She’s paid her tax and got skin in the game, so God needs to ante up. But, if God loves us, saves us, by grace—due to nothing on our end—then there’s nothing he can not ask from us.

If you’re like me, that’s comforting at first, but immediately terrifying.

I want Grace, but, if I’m honest, I only want a kind of Grace that steps in to rescue, but then leaves me alone. I only want Grace to write a dramatic, perfect sentence in my story. I don’t want to relinquish the whole narrative.

But Grace doesn’t co-author.

That was my predicament: I wanted a sentence about grace, but God pens entire stories with it. And when your story is penned by Grace, it means your story is not about you. Grace is so scandalous that it enters your story without permission. And, Grace is so scandalous it will send you into others’ stories without permission.

I’ve learned grace not only saves; grace sends. And grace sends wherever grace saves, which, again, makes us uncomfortable.

Grace goes “far as the curse is found.” Grace goes and sends us into every nook-and-cranny of the world that’s been warped, desecrated, and bothered by sin, selfishness, and stupidity.

The Ordinariness of Grace

Grace isn’t shaped or stopped by geography, class, race, intellectual status, plausibility structures, income level, or click-bait. Grace isn’t skeptical, which means it walks up to whoever it walks up to and says, “Follow me.”

And grace doesn’t only send cross-culturally. For most, grace won’t send you farther away than family, friends, neighbors, school, though, it very well might. But it will send you deeper into those people and places. Grace is extravagant, but grace dwells in the everyday.

Grace sends us into the extravagance of the everyday, which is the hardest place. Because it’s in the everyday that we’ve grown accustomed to “this is just the way things are.” But grace isn’t content with “the way things are.” Grace won’t be content until things are “the way they ought to be.” Grace hears through the white-noise of life. Grace hears and sees the vulnerable, the overlooked, the unjust, the crooked, the condemned, and the mistreated who’ve faded into the everydayness of our lives. And grace sends us there.

Things might be a tad more dramatic, at times, for the cross-cultural missionary, but no matter where it’s the same rhythms of relationship, trust, conversations, patience, prayer, and more patience that are part of the “sent” life anywhere.

Because we’re saved by grace, there’s nothing it cannot ask of us.

Grace scares us from the comfortable, predictable stories we want.

Even death looked at Grace and said, “You’re too much for me.”

The Stubbornness of Grace

Grace is stubborn, like a hurricane. You can board up the windows of your heart and stack sandbags around your story, but it’s a losing battle. Grace will out stubborn you, every time.

When Grace comes and we hear the shutters of our stories crack against the walls of our hearts, our knee-jerk reaction is to hide. We scramble to grab whatever vestiges of our personal narratives we can salvage and batten down the hatches. But what sounds devastating and scary and brutal isn’t the sound of destruction. It’s the sound of a new story.

Grace isn’t a bully. It’s as stubborn as a hurricane, but it’s as careful, intimate, and personal as a good storyteller.

At first, it seems like an arrogant actor, shoving your carefully crafted script back in your face. But Grace isn’t an actor in your little narrative; it’s the director. And your script isn’t being shoved back at you.

Rather, you’re being offered a part and invitation into a story not less than yours, but so much bigger.

It’s a story you may know nothing about, but you’ve always wanted. It’s a story more ancient than the cosmo and more new than morning dew.

It’s a story that knows the depths of human suffering and the astronomical heights of joy. It’s a story as everyday as grocery shopping and as outrageous as climbing Everest.

It’s a story that knows the pangs of division, racism, and human brutality, but glories in reconciliation and resurrection. It knows the powerful may appear to have all the cards, but the meek shall inherit the earth. It’s a scary, foolish, subversive story, and is full of surprises.

I’ve seen Grace take a young boy isolated in hardened, confused fear and change him into a team player on the soccer field. I’ve seen grace use bunk-beds to remind a mom her kids have a Father who cares for and sees them.

I’ve seen Grace take a sewing class and make it ground zero of empowerment and dreaming in an impoverished community. I’ve seen Grace take a five-year old’s ashamed, rotten smile and give him the biggest set of chompers you’ll ever see.

I’ve seen Grace give a young girl new life in Christ the same week she welcomed a new baby brother. I’ve seen a young boy with special needs have the best day of his life carting around a stalk of plantains.

I’ve seen Grace transform a young girl from someone who thought she’d never get through high school to someone who was signing up for her first university class.

The Surprise of Grace

But Grace was here long before we were and Grace will be here long after we’re gone. Truth is that Grace surprises people everywhere everyday. And these surprising narrative twists happen in-between the hard and dark plot points.

But that is the point. Grace isn’t writing a clean, tidy, white-washed, quarantined story that’ll drop out of the sky one day. It’s an inside job.

The story of Grace is mysterious and transcendent, but it knows the dust of the earth. Grace knows of a world where life, justice, and beauty flourish all the live long day and Grace put on flesh to bring it here.

Grace came from the extravagance of Heaven into the everydayness of Earth. And Grace knows the depth of a tomb so we can know the heights of the Kingdom. I’ve learned that Grace scares us from the stories we want, and surprises us with stories we could never ask for, nor imagine.

So, wherever Grace sends you today—a college classroom, an office, a newborn’s crib, a bus stop, a funeral, a doctor’s office, a community center, a hard conversation, an urban elementary school, a church building, a grocery store, a nursing home know this: Grace will not send you where it will not surprise you.

And that’s good news.

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Ben and Emily Riggs serve in Cancun, Mexico, on staff with Back2Back Ministries, where they seek to protect and restore vulnerable children and strengthen at-risk families. Prior to that he served as Director of Storytelling for Apex Community Church. Ben blogs at Logline and writes for Back2Back. 

Growing in Our Love for Christ Together

“Save us, O Lord our God,

and gather us from among the nations,

that we may give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praise.”

— Psalm 106:47

Missional communities exist to grow in love for God.Missional communities are groups of people that learn to follow Jesus. These communities consist of  disciples, meaning people are being renewed by the gospel through  abiding in Christ. Missional communities are environments to pursue knowing God and the power of his resurrection with others and for others.

“Love the Lord your God”

“And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” — Mark 12:28-31

This is the golden rule or greatest commandment: to love. This is what we were created for and this is the cornerstone of all Christian and Jewish ethics. As Paul writes, "If I don’t have love, I have nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

Love is the only complete reaction to the gospel and expression of the gospel. It was love that motivated God to save us (Jn. 3:16) and love that motivated God’s rich mercy towards us (Eph. 2:4). It is love that we receive in the gospel and it is love that we give because of the gospel. As God pours his love out to his people, the only natural response is holistic love and devotion for him. This is the worship our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies were created to give. God is the one we were meant to direct that love towards.

God demands our affections because he is the only one sufficient to receive them. We are commanded to shift our entire being from love of self to love of God. The gospel requires we relinquish all other idols and masters and give ourselves to Jesus as the one true God.

Growing in Our Love Through Listening

The beginning of Jesus’ answer is not “Love God” but “Hear! The Lord Your God is One.” This timeless command starts with a proper orientation of who God is and of listening to who he is.

A missional community pursues growth in its love for God first by beholding God with wonder, awe, reverence, and need. A missional community focuses on hearing and remembering who God is. The beginning of loving God is a desperate attempt to wade through doubts to discover God himself.

Reading the Scriptures Together

A community will not grow in love for God if it refuses to open, read, and ingest the Word of God. It cannot be a footnote or a side-bar. A community that has any ambition to be more than a dinner club, must come humbly to the Bible as the necessary source of understanding who God is. We grow in our devotion to God by putting ourselves under what he has already spoken and revealed.

The Scriptures carry divine authority. Unlike anything that can be said or spoken, the Bible carries weight. The Spirit works through Scripture like lightening through steel to electrify our faith. It is fundamental to forging conviction and worship.

Ways to Begin Reading the Bible as a Community

• Read one of the Gospels together, asking questions about what is challenging and appealing about Jesus. Who is he and what is he doing? How are people responding to him? How do we respond to him?
• Read through a letter in the New Testament asking four simple questions: Who is God? What is he saying about himself, his work, and his people? What passage do we need to meditate on, remember, and believe.
• Memorize a Psalm together.
• Have a shared reading plan.
• Get into small groups of two’s or three’s to do more study and in-depth discussion on the Scriptures.
• Follow the Christian Calendar (Advent, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, etc.) using the themes and Scriptures as a guide.
• Follow a simple curriculum. NT Wright’s  “For Everyone” series and John Stott’s guides are excellent.

Praying Together

Paul Miller writes: “Prayer is a moment of incarnation – God with us.” But it doesn’t feel that way. Communal prayer is awkward. We don’t know what to do, and we don’t know what to say. We don’t know how honest to be. Furthermore, our prayers are not about God or his presence with us but about us. We typically pray with ourselves and our current felt needs as the focal point. We do this because we are the focal point! To grow in our love for God our prayers must center on God. Our gaze has to move from ourselves to the one who holds all things together. This is the only way to begin a praying life.  Then, when we bring our concerns to God, we are able to acknowledge his presence in the details of our lives and his power to love us in them.

Take a quick survey of Paul’s prayers and you will find overwhelming evidence that Paul doesn’t pray for sick grandparents, stress free trips to the super-market, acceptance into good colleges, or even good jobs. Paul was praying for increased love, greater understanding of God’s love for us, power, thanksgiving for belief, changed hearts, power to defeat sin, joy, peace, and prophecy—among other things. Paul was praying in light of the gospel and for the gospel to advance in and through the church. These are inspiring prayers and they are unifying prayers because Paul’s gaze was not toward the earth but toward heaven. Paul was praying for heaven to break into our everyday struggles, not for the struggles.

Ways to Begin Praying as a Community

• “Pray the Bible”—Read a passage of scripture together, lead people to pray different phrases in their own words or respond to the passage in prayer.
• Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)—an ancient Benedictine prayer format using the Bible. Calls for the group to reflect and meditate on the passage, respond in prayer, then rest in silence.

Tips for Praying in Community

• Have everyone pray short prayers (the sermon-prayer is no fun).
• Have everyone pray in their own voice (no spiritual whispers, please).
• Allow for silence (It’s okay if no one is talking. God is present).
• When people bring up their struggles and concerns about life, regardless of the degree, ask if you can pray for that as a group and do it together. Offer the details of life to God. Pray for God’s grace, love, and mercy to be known in the trial.

Growing in Our Love for God Through Confession

Confession is the act of “saying the same thing as God” or naming reality. We grow in our love for God by being honest about who we are and how we live. We lower the facade and tell the truth: “We are not a peaceful community,” “I don’t like serving the poor,” or “I don’t believe God is concerned or cares for me.”

This is how we bring our true selves before God. In fact, Jesus was not too welcoming to the self-righteous and the hiding. Jesus says that he came for the sick in need of a doctor. The only pre-requisite for joining Jesus’ entourage was to be honest with who you were: a human tainted by sin. Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus forgave sinners.

Ironically, Christian communities have become hiding places for sinners to pretend they don’t need Christ. But we cannot grow in our love for God (with all our hearts, minds, strength), until we tell the truth about our hearts, minds, and strength. This is the beginning of transformation.

Confession is not just about speaking about how bad we or our circumstances are, but about speaking to God about how good God is in our circumstances. Confession is also about saying the truth about God—who he is and what he has done.

King David was the confession expert. He offered God his true feelings of fear, anger, resentment, disappointment, and doubt to God while simultaneously speaking of God’s great works, kindness, and power. Our language of God as a “Rock” and “Refuge” comes directly from David’s confessions and songs. God was his Rock because David confessed his life was on shaking soil and in need saving and God was the only one who could save him. God was David’s refuge because David confessed he couldn’t find rest anywhere else in the world—despite his trying. The Psalms show us how to worship God in “spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24).

Ways to Practice Confession as a Missional Community

Read a Psalm of confession together (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, and 130) and guide your community through each stanza or verse. For example, in Psalm 6.

• Part 1 (vs. 1-3): What causes restlessness in you? What troubles you?
• Part 2 (vs 4-5): What deliverance/salvation do you need from God?
• Part 3 (vs. 6-7): What grieves you? What makes your soul tired?
• Part 4 (vs.8-10): Repeat these verses out loud.  God has heard, God hears. God hears our request. God accepts our prayers; he longs to hear them. How has God conquered the enemy and put them to shame? How has God defeated sin? How have you experienced his steadfast love?

Growing in Our Love Through Repentance and Faith

When you consider who God is and who you really are, you will be confronted by your sin and God’s forgiveness. As you press into his glorious grace and taste his kindness, you will hear the call of Jesus in Mark 1:14-15. When Jesus preached the gospel he demanded a response—repent and believe:

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

When Jesus said “repent” he was saying to turn away not only from sin, but to turn from the lies that sin deceives us with, and to turn towards something truer and better, to turn to Jesus and his true promises. You cannot separate repentance from faith. To repent is reorient your faith. To have faith in Jesus requires a drastic change of direction.

You trust Jesus’ incarnation, his kingdom, and his purposes. As a disciple, you exchange your agenda for his. You let go of your imaginary kingdom for his tangible reign. N.T. Wright describes repentance and belief this way in The Challenge of Jesus, “[Jesus] was telling his hearers to give up their agendas and to trust him for his way of being Israel, his way of bringing the kingdom, his kingdom-agenda.”

Take the deceptive promise of pride, for example. Pride says: “Find and cherish compliments and then you will be confident.” But the gospel says, “Instead of trusting in compliments for confidence, believe that your sufficiency comes from God in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 3:4-6:

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent.” 

The gospel says: “Your confidence comes, not from your sufficiency, but from God who has made you sufficient in Jesus.” Faith in the person of Jesus, who he is and what he has accomplished for us, is true saving, changing faith.

Ways to Grow in Repentance and Faith Together 

• As a community, have regular times to reflect together. Ask: Where have we we, as a group, put our trust in things that are not Jesus? Where are we experiencing God’s kindness? Do you think we are drawing nearer to God or running away from God?
• Another way to have this communal discussion is to ask questions along the lines of motive for obedience: Are we doing it as a performance (religion)? Are we doing it to follow the rules or model (legalism)? Are we becoming obedience because we see God’ love more clearly (sanctification)?

The Mission Is to Be Reconciled to God

You might associate missional community with local involvement, justice, and neighborhood evangelism. You’re likely attracted to books like this because you want to live out the cause of Christ in a tangible way. However, you are God’s mission. Christ came to save you, and for you to be reconciled to God. This is the substance of living the gospel.

Many leaders and missional communities forget they are supposed to enjoy God, know his love, and grow in loving him. We forget that we are God’s mission and on God’s mission. You and your community were created to live the gospel in unity with God. To taste the grace of God through repentance and faith. To worship God through confession. To know the depth of God’s love by listening to God.

“Mission is an acted out doxology. That is its deepest secret. Its purpose is that God may be glorified.” — Lesslie Newbigin

Never forget that one of the primary goals of your missional community is to increasingly grow towards Christ.

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Brad Watson (@bradawatson) serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities where he develops and teaches leaders how to form communities that love God and serve the city. Brad is the author of Raised?, Called Together: A Guide to Forming Missional Communities, and Sent Together: How the Gospel Sends Leaders to Start Missional Communities. He lives in southeast Portland with his wife and their two daughters. You can read more from Brad at www.bradawatson.com.

Adapted from Sent Together: How the Gospel Sends Leaders to Start Missional Communities

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Pursuing Treasures in Heaven

A year ago, I moved from Austin, TX and took a “cush” job in San Francisco. As a young, single dude with a good job in an unbelievably exciting city in the most beautiful region of the US, the world was suddenly open to me in entirely new ways. I moved with the explicit reason to live on mission in a creative, secular city and with the implicit reason of experiencing all that northern California had to offer. Slowly, I began dropping cash on great food and great fun every weekend. I was spending tons of my free time on things like hiking, surfing (i.e. getting pummeled by waves and trying not to drown), and all kinds of other new excursions. A few months into this, and with the help of a new community at King’s Cross Church, I began to ask myself—what am I actually investing my life in right now? When I added up all my money, time, and energy, the answer was obvious—I had made a subtle shift from investing in the Kingdom of God to investing in treasures on earth. My heart was trending more toward the love of earthly treasure like experiences and less to the treasure of ChristPerhaps you are trending in the same direction. But what does Jesus mean when he tells Christians not to lay up treasures on earth? To lay up treasures on earth means to invest your life in the pursuit of worldly wealth. This is more than just the love of money. Most of the time, we pursue worldly wealth not because we love money, but because we love what money affords. Materialism has different faces and each of us is tempted to invest our lives in worldly wealth in one of three ways. First, many of us invest our lives in worldly wealth because we value stuff. We want the nicest homes in the most ideal neighborhoods, the slickest cars, and the hippest gadgets. We work hard at our businesses and jobs to acquire more and greater “things.” What do you spend most of your money on? How often do you find yourself shopping? How often are you thinking about your next big purchase? The answers to these questions will give you an indication of your treasure. To this, Jesus gives a blunt warning: Moth and rust destroy and thieves break in to steal. Material things will not last and are not worth the investment of our lives.

Others of us invest in worldly wealth because we value image and acceptance. We don’t care about stuff in the most general sense. What we really care about is the right stuff that will help us build the right image. We are buying our way to acceptance into a particular community. Maybe you invest in your image as the successful businessperson, as an artist, or even as a mom that has the perfect Pinterest home. You invest in worldly wealth because you value the acceptance of the business world, or the artist community, or the other homemakers in your neighborhood. Perhaps wealth is the in-road to your ultimate treasure—acceptance.

Finally, many of us are prone to invest in worldly wealth for the experiences it can afford. We want to travel, see shows, and live a life full of rich experiences. I often hear people frame this as the opposite of materialism—but they are wrong. The investment in experiences can be a manifestation of materialism. The experiences we want cost money and it is all too easy to spend dollar after dollar on sporting events, concerts, and vacations. How much time, money, and energy do you spend on the next great experience? How much money do you drop on shows every year? How much time do you spend thinking about your next family vacation? Do you spend more time on fun experiences than you spend serving others? Are your experiences your greatest treasure?

To be clear, when Jesus tells us “not to lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,” he is not attacking worldly wealth in itself. He is not saying to get rid of all your earthly stuff and to never enjoy experiences. He is arguing against an inordinate focus on those things—a preoccupation with temporal worldly wealth over the timeless wealth of the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells us not invest our lives into worldly wealth because all these things will be destroyed or stolen from us—they won’t last! You might say, “Wait a second, your image doesn’t rust and experiences can’t be eaten away by moths, can they?” Material stuff breaks or gets stolen. Image is shallow and acceptance is fleeting. The high of an experience always fades. Jesus is saying that pouring your life into worldly wealth is a bad investment because it will not last into God’s Kingdom.

On the other hand, laying up treasures in heaven does not mean “Be a good Christian so that you can have more rewards and more stuff in heaven.” It means to invest in those things that are of value in the Kingdom of God. Heaven refers to God’s space—where he resides today—that in some mysterious way has interlocked with earth in the coming of Jesus and in his Spirit who fills the church. Heaven is the Kingdom of God that has already been launched and will one day be fulfilled. So, what then are the things that matter in the Kingdom of God? How might you invest in those things that will last into God’s future? First, God wants you to invest in his family—the church. The church matters to God, so she should also matter to you. He loves his family so much that he entered into his creation to suffer and die that we might be restored to him for eternity. If you are a Christian, you are part of that family. As a part of that family, you have a spiritual responsibility for the care and well being of it. God’s family will last into his great and future Kingdom. Are you investing in the family of God in practical ways? Are you actively engaged in caring for folk? Commit to invest your time, energy, and money into the family of God.

Second, God wants you to invest in his mission. God’s mission is to redeem the world and fill it with his presence. A key part of this process is renewing people so that they are united to God and worship Christ. God has sent us out into our everyday lives on his mission to make disciples so that more people would know the love of God and more people could worship him. Are you committed to the work of making disciples? Does your investment of time, energy, and money reflect a commitment to the mission of God? What would need to change in your life this year to prioritize the mission of God?

Finally, and most importantly, we must invest in our relationship with God. Ultimately, this is what we have been rescued to—the joy of knowing the living God and walking with him daily. Are you listening to him through his Word? Are you meeting the Spirit in prayer daily? Are you committed to knowing God and growing in grace? If you are not daily investing in your relationship with God, you are missing out on the greatest treasure of life. God is a perfect Father, who loves you, cares for you, and desires to know you. We have the opportunity to step into that each day.

What do you treasure? What are you investing your life into day-in and day-out? Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The heart, in Jewish teaching, refers to the center of the entire person. It encompassed the will, the desires, and the emotions. Jesus is saying that whatever you treasure, whatever you invest your time, energy, and money into is an indication of where your heart is. Ultimately, what you invest in is where your heart is, and where your heart is, is what you worship. If you worship God, then you’ll invest in his Kingdom. If you worship stuff, your image, or experiences then you will pour your life into those things only to see them fade away or be ripped out of your grasp. Treasure on earth will pass away, but the Kingdom of God will endure forever.

—

Garrett Coles currently serves as a Connections Associate at The Austin Stone Community Church. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where he studied finance and philosophy. After working in finance in San Francisco for a year, he has recently moved back to the great city of Austin! He is passionate about Jesus, missional communities, and Wilco. 

3 Reasons to Love Halloween

I love Halloween. It’s true. Usually, I still dress up. My children love to put on costumes and collect candy from our neighbors. Often times we have people over, or are invited to someone’s house where we just enjoy good times. Halloween puts a smile on my face. It reflects the joy and frivolous generosity of my Heavenly Father—which is one of the many reasons I love it. Consider a few more reasons.

1. My Children Smile, Laugh, and Play

On Halloween my kids can’t stop laughing and giggling. They’ve found the best costume they can and wear it all day long. They go door to door and ask the neighbors for candy. The other children smile, laugh, and play as well. They have more sugar coursing through their veins than should be legally allowed. They simply have a lot of fun.

I love seeing my children happy—as a father their joy is my joy. I love to hear their little laughs and screams of delight as they run back to me as we walk and show me what they got from the next door neighbor. This reminds me of the Father’s joy over his children. He really loves us and delights in giving us infinite joy. He celebrates our joys and delights. He works for our good and his glory in all things. Halloween reminds me of Heavenly Father’s joy in his children’s joy in Christ.

2. My Neighbors Are Known

Think about this—what other day of the year can you walk through your neighborhood, knock on your neighbors door, and not have them shut off the lights and hide? On that day, it’s permissible and even expected that you take your children to your neighbor’s home and ask for candy. It would be very strange in our culture except on Halloween.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. I ask myself: Would he go to the home of the “worst” person on the block? Would he “trick-or-treat” the grumpiest, most miserly person on the street? I think he would. He would find the person with no joy or hope and would knock on their door and bless them.

Halloween reminds me that Christ came to my home. He knocked on my door, not to receive anything, but to give me a blessing. He came and rescued me from my outright rebellion and pride. He came to my house to love me and know me.

I love Halloween and the opportunity to go to my neighbor’s homes merely because it reminds me of the pursuit of Christ for the lost. I get to put my costume on, bundle up the kids, and visit those who I wouldn’t normally hang out with. Halloween reminds me that I am a missionary (and so are you) in our neighborhoods.

3. The Generous Are Known

Guess who my children talked about after Halloween last year? The home that gave out the King-Sized Snicker Bars. He wasn’t skimpy and didn’t just give one little “fun sized” bag of M&M’s. He went all out and bought the good stuff, the best candy. And all the kids talked about the extravagantly generous home at the end of the street. They love that house!

Jesus was the generous one with all he did for us. I want to be like him. He came and gave everything for us and it cost him everything. He gave the best! He gave the most!

On Halloween, I’m challenged to display the love of Christ by my generosity. Just as my family goes around the neighborhood, the neighborhood comes to my home too! I can either display a judgmental, self-righteous, Pharisaical attitude and condemn every kid that comes by my house for dressing like a ghost or vampire or something silly like that. Or, I can display the prodigal love of God (which means “wastefully extravagant”) and give the best candy and have the most fun and be the house that the neighborhood kids are talking about. I can display the generous love of God by the generous way I live towards those who are far from God.

I want to encourage you this year to display the love of God on Halloween. Have fun! Go visit your neighbors. Be wastefully extravagant and generous. Live in such a way that your neighbors might just begin to ask, “What’s the reason for their joy and hope?” You may just win an opportunity to tell them about the love of God! I’m praying for that already.

—

Jeremy Writebol (@jwritebol) has been training leaders in the church for over fourteen years. He is the author of everPresent: How the Gospel Relocates Us in the Present (GCD Books, 2014) and writes at jwritebol.net. He is the pastor of Woodside Bible Church’s Plymouth, MI campus. 

Idolatry: A Fatal Attraction | Part 2

It’s one thing to understand the category of idolatry, but quite another to isolate what deities you worship. It’s the difference between knowing what a steak is and actually tasting a perfectly grilled morsel of meat melting on your tongue. Today we take the first step in diagnosing idolatry. ****

I’m a sucker for the occasional B-movie escapism. Replete with a low budget, painful dialogue, and a severely undefined story arc, it can be the perfect silliness for a Friday evening. Enter Anaconda. As only 1997 could deliver, the film chronicles a documentary crew headed into the jungle to shoot footage on a mysterious Indian tribe. On their way, they pick up a stranded man who then takes the team hostage on his quest to capture the world's largest and deadliest snake: a record-breaking green Anaconda.

The thrust of the storyline in one sentence (spoiler alert!) is: people scanning the crest of the river to determine where this deadly snake might be. That’s it. You can imagine the dialogue: “Is that it?” “Did you see that?” “I think I heard something” “Watch out, I see it coming!”

I’ve been thinking lately about the ways we pursue happiness and my drifted to Anaconda. Though most of us wouldn’t articulate it this way, we stroll through our human existence, scanning the surface of our hearts until we find what we think we are looking for. Our time, our energy, our attention, and even our money is devoted to a quest of self-assurance and self-significance.

The Great Hunt

We want to be loved. We want to belong. We want to make a difference. We want to feel important. And we’ll look endlessly until we have found something we think might satisfy us—much like the documentary crew looking for what lies at the crest of the river. But the fruit of our self-salvation projects lie at the surface of a greater hunt in our lives.

Want happiness? It’s important to identify what is at the surface of our hopes and desires. In order for us to find real satisfaction, we must start here. We must ask, “Is that it?” “Did you see that?” “I think I heard something” “Watch out, I see it coming!” The Bible calls this self-diagnosis idol detection (1 Cor. 10:14). Today, we are discussing step one of this self-diagnosis: unearthing those idols that lie on the surface.

Many times these idols are easily discernible, because they are on the surface but there’s always deeper root idols. You can identify them by listening to your prayers. What do you ask God forgiveness for? Maybe it’s an anger problem. Maybe it’s an issue with lust. Maybe you have bitterness in your heart towards another.

While it is good to ask God to cleanse you of unrighteousness, prayer is the first leg in the race to kill your idols. Anger, lust, and bitterness are exterior sins indicating deeper root sins. These are branch idols. You can see them easily but the root sins are what’s actually feeding them.

Hunting for Your Idols

Here are some questions as you look for your surface idols.

• Do I need to be esteemed by people?
• Do I demand order in my world?
• Do I compare myself favorably to others?
• Am I angry or defeated if things are not accomplished immediately?
• Do I have to be the center of my family life, my job, or my church?
• Do I dictate that people must submit to me?
• Do I think my opinions are all-wise and correct?
• Do I do whatever pleases me?
• Is my appearance—whether religiously or physically—ultimate?
• Do I desire to be accountable to no one?
• Do I have to win at everything?

If you notice, these questions require a sense of self-awareness. Tim Keller says that one way you can identify your surface idols is by looking at your most uncontrollable emotions

Just like a fisherman looking for fish knows to go where the water is rolling, look for your idols at the bottom of your most painful emotions, especially those that never seem to lift and that drive you to do things you know are wrong . . . when you ‘pull your emotions up by the root,’ as it were, you will often find your idols clinging to them.

So what are your surface idols? Look at where the water is rolling on the crest of your heart and you will locate them. It’s an essential first step to reversing the fatal attraction of idolatry in our lives.

Next time, we will look at why we can’t stop at just identifying our surface idols if we want to find true significance and happiness. To find real peace and contentment in life, there is something that lurks beneath the surface that we must address because our surface sins are only symptoms of much deeper sins.

—

Brad Andrews is a husband of one, a father of seven, and an advocate for grace. He serves as pastor for preaching, vision, and missional leadership at Mercyview in Tulsa, OK. He blogs at graceuntamed.com and his articles can also be found on Gospel-Centered Discipleship and Grace For Sinners. He served as a religion columnist for the former Urban Tulsa Weekly and was also one of the ten framers of The Missional Manifesto, alongside Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, Alan Hirsch, Eric Mason, J.D. Greear, Dan Kimball, Linda Berquist, Craig Ott, and Philip Nation.

Idolatry: A Fatal Attraction | Part 1

I was just a young boy when it first happened. Gazing out the window of our sedan, my heart leaped when I saw a cityscape scuff the sky. I was mesmerized. Growing up in small-town southeast Missouri, the tallest building I had ever seen was our town’s three-story red brick high school. Now in my purview was a gray jungle spattering the horizon, with yellow lights placed perfectly like stickers in rows. Bright lights, big city.

The jutting skyscrapers and surrounding city felt like Oz. But unlike the movie where this magical land was just a dream, this was real. And this material city had a certain allure to it. One that I haven’t been able to get away from since. Looking upon the urban panorama as a child, I had no need to click my heels. I was home. It had captivated me. Why?

Underneath the awe, it promised me something that I thought I wanted—fulfillment, significance, worth. Even as a young boy, those yearnings were there. And the city tugged those yearnings.

All of us could make a short list of the things that have caught our fancy. But many of us could take that same list and wax eloquently about how things have failed to deliver what they pledged. That’s the problem with allurement. All that glitters really isn’t gold. Sometimes our magnetisms are just gold-plated rubbish.

The Charm of Idolatry

The Bible calls our misguided pursuits of what charms us idolatry.And we aren’t talking golden calves here either. As a Christian, idolatry is anything that supplants God in my life with a lesser god. It’s an inverted move of the soul. When our hearts engage in idolatry, we have to ask ourselves the question that the Avett Brothers sing: “Are we growing backwards with time?”

Theologian Doug Stuart masterfully explains idolatry’s attraction in Exodus: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (The New American Commentary). He says there are a few things in an idol’s appeal:

Idolatry obliges: Fashion your god out of stone or wood or precious metals and a god would enter the idol. No need to wait on a god to answer your prayers anymore. Summon him and get what you want without delay.

Idolatry gratifies: The motive of idol worship was to get what you needed, when you needed it. It was entirely centered on the person seeking — not the one being sought.

Idolatry numbs: Ancient idolatry took the place of fervent spirituality. It stimulated vain religious hullabaloo. It anesthetized individuals because what kept you good with the gods was not relational but sacrificial. Bring your gods a scapegoat for your sin and you were exonerated.

Idolatry indulges: Find a divinity that meets your needs and bow down to it. Or better, find a few idols that meets your specific desires and worship them. The glut of deities available created a smorgasbord approach to spirituality. And why not? One God over all? Hogwash, they would say. Find whatever works for you.

Idolatry reassures: Worshiping an invisible deity was not comforting. A god you could see — now that was the ticket. Tangible divinities make more sense, don’t they? Surely, the gods would want us to see them instead of placing our faith in the unseen.

Idolatry impresses: With an invisible deity, it was almost impossible to astonish your fellow man with your sacrifices. An unseen God who looks at the heart — above all else — has no usefulness in vain, repetitious activities. But bring a costly sacrifice to a lifeless idol? It was a sight to behold. And the bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the show.

It’s easy to see what the central “thing” is in idolatry. It’s not the wooden or golden deity esteemed. It’s actually us. It’s the individual. Our personage is principal when we chase after blessing. We are the “blesser” and the blessed—we fashion divinity for our own sake.

The Fatal Attraction

So what’s the big deal? The raw truth about replacement gods is that they don’t deliver. The illusion of interim happiness is just that—a mirage. Therein we find the treadmill we all run on.

We run from one promising oasis to another only to find its promise evaporates before our eyes. But we are so desperate to belong, to be loved, to feel significant, to feel secure, the never-ending hunt overtakes us. Before we know it, we are knee-deep in our own despondency scanning the horizon for something new that allures. Something novel that will once-and-for-all deliver the goods.

In its truest sense, idolatry is a fatal attraction. It’s not that it literally kills us in an instant (although, I guess it could in some instances). It is more a slow slink backwards within the soul. It’s the actuality of the question the Avett Brothers sing about: “Are we growing backwards with time?” We are. And it’s more than “growing” backwards—we are “dying” backwards. It’s a dawdling succession of little deaths, decision by decision, day after day.

Pastor and author Greg Dutcher says it this way:

Idolatry . . . is not a showboat. It does its best to work in subtle ways. Like a puma lying low in the gentle grass, taut muscles held in place like a coiled spring, sin waits in the “safest” of places. . . it waits patiently for a chance to creep in unaware.

That is why it’s a fatal attraction. We are typically naive to its creep. And at the right time, it pounces on our insecurity. It ambushes our anxiety. It attacks our uneasiness.

The good news is that there is a new way to be human. We can reverse our worship and find what is behind the delusion of our self-made gods. But first, we need a deep diagnosis. It’s one thing to understand the category of idolatry. It’s another to isolate what deity (or deities) you bow down to.

—

Brad Andrews is a husband of one, a father of seven, and an advocate for grace. He serves as pastor for preaching, vision, and missional leadership at Mercyview in Tulsa, OK. He blogs at graceuntamed.com and his articles can also be found on Gospel-Centered Discipleship and Grace For Sinners. He served as a religion columnist for the former Urban Tulsa Weekly and was also one of the ten framers of The Missional Manifesto, alongside Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, Alan Hirsch, Eric Mason, J.D. Greear, Dan Kimball, Linda Berquist, Craig Ott, and Philip Nation.

Are Children a Barrier or Blessing for Missional Communities?

Missional Communities are a beautiful mess, especially when they have kids! I remember the first Missional Community (MC) that my wife and I led. We had a diverse group consisting of college students, singles, married couples, and lots and lots of kids. I remember one time we took a photo in our backyard. It looked like we were running a pre-k program every Thursday night. Not only were my wife and I trying to plan and prepare for our community's meeting every week, but we also found that we needed to dedicate and intentionally build in planning time for the children. Week in and week out, we'd have 10-14 kiddos at our house. We quickly learned that it was a beautiful mess—one that called us to steward well the responsibility of having children in our groups. In talking with others leading or participating in MCs, one thing has become apparent—trying to meaningfully incorporate children into the life of a community on mission is relatively new territory. I've seen the church build momentum with this in large corporate gatherings, which is a beautiful evidence of grace upon the church. However, the church must shift focus and begin building similar systems and rhythms for the children in our groups. For most missional communities, the extent that children participate is coming with their parents, usually destroying the host's home, enjoying unlimited lasagna and cookies, watching a movie, and then leaving at the end of the night. For children under 3, that's not bad. We want them to enjoy their time. That doesn’t mean they can’t digest basic ideas, songs, and stories about Jesus, but we shouldn’t drowned toddlers under 3 with theology.

My focus, in this article, is missional communities with children 3 and up, especially those with children 6 and up. Why? Because developmentally, children between 3-6 can start learning basic concepts building to more advanced concepts as they approach 6. They're learning to learn and are able to do things like sit for longer periods of time and be attentive to instruction. Kiddos 6 and above have clearly learned the "learning to learn" skills to be successful with just that, learning! One final comment on developmental appropriateness; not all children develop at a typical rate. There are lots of kiddos in each and every community that require special attention and have specific learning styles. That said, keep in mind that we'll have to be flexible as we plan for the group at large, knowing that we'll have to adjust instruction and teaching for certain learners that are wonderfully different.

Intentional Incorporation

What would it look like to intentionally incorporate children? First, we must instruct and teach them at their level each and every week—whether you're taking the concepts that the whole MC is learning and making it developmentally appropriate for children, or whether your lesson planning new concepts altogether. The idea is that we're intentional and we're planning. In addition to planning lessons and units of teaching, we want to engage the kiddos in community by encouraging the sharing of their hearts, the confessing of their sins, and by sharing the good news of the rich grace that more than covers their iniquities. If we do one thing well with our kiddos, let's teach them the concept of grace. Let's teach them how sweet it is and the cost that was paid for their sins. Not only will our children grow in grace, but also they'll learn to lead well in a generation that truly needs it. You want revival beyond us and our generation, focus on the children in your groups.

Luke 18 helps us understand why we should do this well. In Luke 18, Jesus encounters a group of children. Essentially, we know that Jesus calls the children to him yet let's look deeper. I'm going to make an assumption in examining this passage as to Jesus' heart in calling the children to himself. As opposed to saying, "Hold up kids! I'm not sure you know this, but I'm Jesus, you know, the Son of God. I'm busy preaching and teaching. You'll have to come back later." Was that Jesus' heart and attitude towards the kiddos? Did he take himself so seriously that he sent the children on their way? Absolutely not! He calls them to himself. That's an example for us leaders. You might be thinking “I’ve never turned away the kiddos during MC,” yet in your heart, I’m sure you’ve felt like they're getting in the way. You've probably felt like putting them in a room for the sake of peace and quiet. The heart there is what we're aiming for and where I want to focus. As opposed to viewing children as a barrier, let's view them as a blessingYes, it's chaotic. Yes, it can drive us crazy. But, despite that, let's model graciousness in our families and groups towards our children. After all, what must God think of our messy lives? The Father looks down and extends grace, rather than becoming irritated with us.

Deuteronomy 11:18-20 also supports this rationale. Moses gives a clear command for us to teach "these things" to our children. When? Where? While we're sitting at home, walking along the way, and in every part of our life. It's very casual, yet important. This passage gives the sense that teaching our children is to be done on a regular basis, both informally and continually. If we're called to do this so informally in our homes, that's all the more reason to better steward a structured time like MC.

Practical Recommendations

So how should we do this well from a practical standpoint? I want to be pragmatic and practical in this section. How are we going to do this well? Remember, these are recommendations and should be modified to fit the context of your MC and its participants.

• Ask for volunteers. Volunteers can make the MC more life giving for the families participating. I'd encourage the MC to look for an individual within the church that can serve each week. We had a faithful servant in our missional community that loved our kiddos. We loved her and demonstrated our appreciation for her in tangible ways. She loved when we gifted her the ESV Study Bible. It was a little gesture to show our appreciation of her commitment. A good volunteer can make the group more engaging for the parents participating.
• Provide Direction. A good way the church can serve these volunteers is by providing support in the way of lesson planning and strategic vision and direction. This can be done by a paid Children’s Director or by partners in the church that are gifted in working with children. Remember, it takes a village.
• Plan. Plan ahead for the kiddos that are there. Putting them into informal "clusters" will help you keep the expectations appropriate for each respective grouping.
• Kiddos under 3 need to have a good time. Cookies, cake, toys they like, and other special activities (Play-Doh, bubbles, etc.) will keep them engaged and loving the weekly rhythm of MC, which is worth its weight in gold. Parents will tell you—they're thrilled if they can meaningfully participate in MC because their under 3 kiddo enjoys being there. Gold I tell you.
• Kiddos between 3-6 can start to learn Scripture and enjoy the stories found in a good kids Bible. We recommend the The Jesus Storybook Bible. We love that the main Hero in the Story is Jesus and that's what we'd love for kiddos in this cluster to start learning. Jesus is the main character and all of Scripture points to him. It's our job to model a love of Scripture and an excitement for what’s found within the Book.
• Kiddos 6 and up may also like the Action Bible. It's with this group that you can expect more (sharing their hearts, confessing sin, understanding and applying grace, praying for one another, etc.)
• Look for leaders within this cluster. My sons are 6 and 8, and by God's grace, they're good leaders. They have 2 little sisters so they've had lots of opportunities to practice leading as tough and tender boys. I’ve also met lots of little girls that are firm and enjoy “mothering.” These kiddos will be the best helpers in the group; they can support the volunteer in reading to the younger children or playing games with them. This also gives us the opportunity to build them up as they embrace responsibility. Find leaders and equip them just like you would their parents!
• Have a rough schedule planned out but be flexible. The most successful leaders are agile, especially when you’re working with children.
• Work Together. Make sure there's gracious collaboration between the volunteers and family. The volunteer is not going to be perfect nor will they know the children as well as the parents. There's a learning curve involved but collaboration is important.
• Pray with and for all the children regularly—it's vital!

What Works for Your MC

In light of the different directions you could take, I’d encourage you to prayerfully consider what might work for your MC. Ultimately, we want our children in the church to grow up knowing what it looks and feels like to have authentic community. If we can accomplish this, the ripple will be far beyond anything we can ever measure. Lives will be changed and the gospel will move forward. We must take and win this territory. It's untouched and ripe for the picking. Jesus says in Luke 10 that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Let's cultivate what's needed from an early age to raise up laborers for the kingdom of God. They're right there in our groups, you know, the ones reaching for the cookies.

—

Rob Fattal serves as CEO and BCBA in high-touch boutique firms providing educational services to children. He started his career as a credentialed teacher and served in both the public school system and at the university level. He and his wife have 4 kiddos of their own and have led and coached MCs and MC leaders. Ultimately, they love the church and hope to serve it well.

4 Lessons from St. Patrick for Making Disciples the Irish Way

Editor: In our Family History Series we are seeking to understand how Christians of the past have pursued making disciples. We want to connect the church’s current efforts to make, mature and multiply disciples to its historical roots as well as encourage the church to learn from her rich past. So far in our series: 4 Simple Ways Fred Elliot Discipled His Children. —

“In becoming an Irishman, Patrick wedded his world to theirs, his faith to their life.” –Thomas Cahill

 When most of us think of Ireland, we think about green rolling hills and country sides covered in grass. What is not as widely known is that over one thousand years ago on this little island, was the birth of one of the most influential movements in the history of the Christian church. In fact, some scholars argue that the Celtic Christians contributed to preservation of western civilization.[1] Celtic Christianity stands out as one of most vibrant and colorful Christian traditions that the world has ever known.

The Life of Saint Patrick

Before you can fully understand Celtic Christianity, it is important to look at the life and ministry of Saint Patrick. His life is surrounded by mystery, superstition, and myth.  We have all heard of him, but few of us know very much about him. There is a holiday that bears his name and he is known as the man who drove the snakes out of Ireland and used the shamrock to explain the Trinity.

So who was Saint Patrick? Patrick was the founding leader of the Celtic Christian church and was personally responsible for baptizing over 100,000 people, ordaining hundreds of priests, driving paganism from the shores of Ireland, and starting a movement in Ireland that helped preserve Christianity during the Middle Ages.  As we shall see, the life and ministry of Saint Patrick reveal the great influence that he made upon Christianity and the world.

Patricius, better known as Patrick, was born in 389 a. d. in a Christian home in Britain during a time when England was undefended by the Roman Empire.  Irish raiders captured people in Britain and brought them back to Ireland as slaves.  At the age of sixteen, Irish barbarians demolished Patrick’s village and captured him.  They brought him to the east coast of Ireland and sold him into slavery.  During this time, Patrick would spend many hours in prayer talking with God.

Six years later, he received a message from the Lord saying, “Soon you will return to your homeland. . . . Come, and see your ship is waiting for you.”[2]  He escaped from his master, fled 200 miles, and boarded a ship of traders who set sail for France and eventually made his way back into Britain.  It was at this time that he received his call to evangelize Ireland.  He explained his call in the following way:

“I had a vision in my dreams of a man who seemed to come from Ireland. His name was Victoricius, and he carried countless letters, one of which he handed over to me. I read aloud where it began: ‘The voice of the Irish…We appeal to you holy servant boy, to come home and walk among us.’  I was deeply moved in heart and I could read no further, so I awoke.”[3]

This vision had a profound effect on Patrick and he immediately made plans to return to Ireland, the land of his previous captivity.

Tradition has it that Patrick was appointed bishop and apostle to the Irish in 432.  Patrick traveled the Irish country preaching the gospel. Paganism was the dominant religion when Patrick arrived. He faced most of his opposition from the druids who were highly educated and also practiced magic. They constantly tried to kill Patrick.  He writes, “Daily I expect murder, fraud, or captivity, but I fear none of these things because of the promise of heaven.”[4]

Patrick’s own writings tell a great deal about the man, his ministry, and his love for Ireland.  He mentions several times that his education was disrupted when he was taken captive at the age of sixteen. His writings tell that he was very self-conscious about his lack of education. He said, “I am unable to explain my mind to learned people.”  Although he did not receive the same education as other bishops, he did receive his call directly from the Lord.  Perhaps it was his lack of education that made him so successful in pagan Ireland. His great success demonstrates that he was able to relate to common people in a real and relative way. He had a great love for people and the Lord, which was manifested in every area of his life and ministry.

Part of Patrick’s ministry strategy was focused on Ireland’s tribal kings.  Patrick knew that if a king converted, his people would follow.  When kings would become converted they would often give their sons to Patrick to educate and train in the ways of the Lord. Thus, he persuaded many of them to enter into the ministry. Patrick’s mission was responsible for planting nearly 700 churches throughout Ireland.

As bishop of Ireland, he was instrumental in the conversion of thousands, ordaining hundreds of clergy, and establishing many churches and monasteries. Because of his ministry, Christianity spread through Ireland and into other parts of the British Isles.  Patrick’s mission was responsible for planting nearly 700 churches throughout Ireland.

The churches and monasteries that he was responsible for establishing became some of the most influential missionary centers in all of Europe. Missionaries went out from Ireland to spread the gospel throughout the world. It was the Irish monasteries that helped preserve the Christian faith during the dark ages.

Celtic Way of Discipleship

The missionary legacy of Saint Patrick continued long after his death through the Celtic Christian monastic movement. In the sixth and seventh centuries, Celtic Christianity spread throughout the British Isles like wild fire under the gifted leadership of men such as Columba who established monastic communities in Iona and Aidan in Lindsfarne. These monasteries were not places for monastic recluses, rather they became spiritual centers and discipleship training hubs that sent out missionaries throughout Western Europe. On Columba’s influence, early church historian Bede wrote that he, “converted the nation to the faith of Christ by his preaching and example.”

What made the Celtic way of discipleship especially successful was their commitment to making disciples not just converts by infusing evangelism and discipleship. This is an important lesson. Many churches today focus on evangelism at the expense of discipleship by seeking to win converts instead of making disciples.  The goal of evangelism is disciple making.  The Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 is to make disciples who will follow Christ rather than simply win converts.  When Jesus said, “make disciples” the disciples understood it to mean more than simply getting someone to believe in Jesus and they interpreted it to mean that they should make out of others what Jesus made out of them.  There are four lessons that we can learn from the Celtic way of discipleship which we will look at in the following pages.

 1. Doing Ministry as a Team

The Celtic Christians did ministry as a team instead of individually. This means they didn’t go out and try to win the world by themselves, rather they went out as a team because the understood the power of numbers.  Each member of the Celtic missionary team played an important role in the whole of reaching the community. Author John Finney observes that the Celts believed in, “the importance of the team. A group of people can pray and think together.  They inspire and encourage each other.  The single entrepreneur is too easily prey to self doubt and loss of vision.”[5] The Celtic team approach to ministry and discipleship is an important alternative to the modern “lone ranger” mentality approach that is typical in so many Western churches and desperately needs to be recovered.  George Hunter says:

“In contrast to contemporary Christianity’s well know evangelism approaches of “Lone Ranger” one to one evangelism, or confrontational evangelism, or the public preaching crusade, (and in stark contrast to contemporary Christianity’s more dominant approach of not reaching out at all!), Celtic Christians usually evangelized as a team by relating to the people of a settlement; identifying with the people; engaging in friendship, conversation, ministry, and witness with the goal of raising up a church in measurable time.”[6]

2. A Holistic Faith

The Celtic Christians developed a holistic approach to discipleship that prepared people to live out their faith through a sense of depth, compassion, and power in mission. The Celtic believers were immersed in a holistic spirituality that had depth and meaning and enabled them to withstand difficult and hardship in their everyday lives. In other words, their faith wasn’t just theoretical, but practical and relevant to everyday life. Celtic Christians were not just hanging out in classroom, but living their faith in real world.

A major problem with much of North American discipleship is that it is one dimensional. Many Christians see themselves as either evangelical, sacramental, charismatic, etc. However, like a diamond the Christian faith has multiple dimensions. The Celtic Christians understood the complex nature of the faith and sought to bring together a faith encounter that encouraged spiritual growth on many levels. George Hunter says that they had a four-fold structure of experiences that deepened their faith.

1. You experienced voluntary periods of solitary isolation in a remote natural setting, i.e. a grove of trees near a stream where you can be alone with God.
2. You spent time with your “soul friend,” a peer with whom you were vulnerable and accountable; to whom you made confession; from whom you received absolution and penance; who both supported and challenged you.
3. You spent time with a small group.
4. You participated in the common life, meals, work, learning, biblical recitation, prayers and worship of the whole Christian community [7]

3. Missional Community

The Celtic Christians understood that mission takes place within the context of the Christian community. The Celtic Christians entered into the community they were trying to reach with the gospel. They would live, work, and eat among the people they were trying to reach. This is contrary to the way most modern Christians try to reach people. They went to where the people were, we usually expect people to come to us.

They knew that God created man to live in community with others. In the context of Christian community, spiritual seekers were able to explore the faith in real life settings. They were able to see the gospel message lived out before them. In this sense, Christian community is a living sacrament that demonstrates the eternal truths of Word of God.

Upon arrival, a guest would be given a soul friend, a small group, and a place for solitude.  A guest would also learn some Scripture; worship with the community; one or more members of the community would share the ministry of conversation and pray with and for the guest daily.  After some days, weeks, or months the guest would find themselves believing what the Christians in the community believe. They would then invite the seeker to commit their life to Christ and his will for their life, leading the new disciple in continued outreach ministry to other seekers.

4. Biblical Hospitality

The Celtic Christians understood and practiced biblical hospitality. The role of hospitality was central in the Celtic Christian ministry to seekers, visitors, refugees, and other guests who came into their sphere of influence.^_ Hospitality was an important part of the monastic community life and ministry.  They would invite seekers, pilgrims, refugees and others to be guests of the monastic community. They followed the Benedictine Rule that said, “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’”

Many Contemporary Christians and churches have lost touch with the Biblical hospitality. It is imperative that we relearn the gift of hospitality, especially in light of its important place in the Scriptures. The word hospitality literally means “love of strangers” and is found several times in the New Testament (Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8; 1 Peter 4:9). We are all called to offer the love of Christ to our guests and welcome them in such a way that they would be transform from strangers into friends.

Lessons for Today

The Celtic Christian movement offers several extraordinary insights into discipleship for the church of 21st century. We can learn a lot from the man, Saint Patrick. He is an example of how an individual can overcome tremendous obstacles with the Lord’s help. Patrick went back to the very land where he had been a slave to evangelize. It is like the story of Joseph who ended up saving his brothers who had sold him into slavery. What a powerful example of how God can use our past to minister to others. Many times the Lord will give you a burden to help bring salvation and healing to people from your past.

Even though he didn’t have a good education he didn’t let that stop him from letting God use him. We see that he was able to do great things for God despite his lack of worldly education. His calling came from God and that’s all that really mattered. When the Lord is in your life He will make a way for you. Patrick was used mightily by God to deliver the people of Ireland from paganism, slavery, and sin. He helped bring revival to a nation and to a continent. He stands as one of the great men of the Christian faith.

[1] Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization. New York: Doubleday Press, 1995.  See introduction.

[2] Liam de Paor, Saint Patrick's World: The Christian Culture of Ireland's Apostolic Age, Dublin: Four Courts. 1993. 99-100.

[3] Ibid, 100.

[4] Ibid,  97.

[5] Ibid, 53.

[6] George Hunter III, The Celtic Way of Evangelism. 47.  This section draws heavily from Hunter’s classic work.

[7] Ibid, 48.

—

Dr. Winfield Bevins is the Director of Asbury Seminary’s Church Planting Initiative. He frequently speaks at conferences and retreats on a variety of topics.  He has a doctorate from Southeastern Seminary. He has written several books, including Our Common Prayer: A Field Guide to the Book of Common Prayer. As an author, one of his passions is to help contemporary Christians connect to the historic roots of the Christian faith for spiritual formation. He and his wife Kay, have three girls Elizabeth, Anna Belle, and Caroline. Find out more at www.winfieldbevins.com. Twitter: @winfieldbevins

Buying Into Our Own Marginalization

Recently Q Ideas, the conference and TED-like Christian event, posted talks given by Rod Dreher, a conservative journalist for The American Conservative, and Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The two talks are titled, “The Benedict Option” and “The Prophetic Minority.” These two titles represent a wave of Evangelical rhetoric flooding social media timelines and trending topics. Moore and Dreher are proponents of framing the current American Evangelical experience as an “exile.” In an op-ed publishing by The Washington Post, Moore closes his piece by saying, “We see that we are strangers and exiles in American culture. We are on the wrong side of history, just like we started. We should have been all along.”

That same day, Dreher published a piece in Time and on his blog hosted by The American Conservative saying Christians “are going to have to learn how to live as exiles in our own country. Voting Republican is not going to save us, nor will falling back on exhausted, impotent culture war strategies. It is time for the Benedict Option: learning how to resist, in community, in a culture that sees us orthodox Christians as enemies.”

Language that hints at marginalization or exile from a white male is tough to stomach in the 21^st century. I recently heard the novelist Nick Hornby say he stopped writing white male protagonists in his latest book, Funny Girl, because, “I can’t figure out what their problems are anymore.” With a history of privilege, we lack humility and self-awareness when we buy into our own marginalization.We actually have no idea what that even means.

What is an Exile?

But perhaps on a deeper level, there is something sadly untrue about the marginalization rhetoric surfacing amidst the evangelical church. Maybe even deeper lies a misunderstanding of what the “exile” and the “sojourner” meant Biblically. Yes, Scripture (particularly in 1 Peter) identifies Christians as “sojourners” and “not of this world” with “citizenship in heaven.” But are events like the Supreme Court decision and losing culture wars what the Biblical authors had in mind when they used these terms?

My guess would be that if Paul were reading our history, he would not chalk up these moments as our identity as “exiles.” He would probably tell us this is life as a Christian. Jesus, Peter, Paul, and the early church never had anything go their way, nor did they have any hope in the political system to begin with because their beliefs were not predicated and assisted by a political system. It was based on an eternal kingdom that you could not see.

The exile language is Jewish language, belonging to the people of Israel first as a key identity piece that actually reminded them of their sin and disobedience to God (2 Kgs 17:7-23, Jer. 29:4). The word is used, depending on your translation, nearly 100 times in the Old Testament; it is used six times in the New Testament—only four of those times are they referring to Christians, half of which are found in Peter’s first letter.

Where Peter calls the Christians, “exiles” and “sojourners,” it is important to remember he was writing to the church in the Diaspora, or “the Dispersion,” which “originally described Jews or Jewish communities scattered throughout the world (see Isa 49:6; Psa 147:2; 2 Macc 1:27; John 7:35 and note).” This term—again, only used four times in the NT for Christians—is vague but refers to all believers everywhere who await the New Jerusalem as their final home. This is simply a spiritual term used for the broader family of God, which are those who claim Jesus as Lord and fall under the New Covenant. They are, like Israel, exiles in the spiritual sense, not the political.

We Were Always Exiles and Sojourners

Politically and nationally, I do not see evidence of how the culture wars have had an affect on the lives of most Christians everywhere. Yes, we are exiles who await the New Jerusalem, a time where Jesus returns to “make all things new.” Until then, we do, yes, wander the earth as people who are not fully home.

But as Americans we are quite well-off. Furthermore, as a white male pastor, I do not understand how we can apply this heavy word during a time of fantastic freedom and religious liberty. Every day of my life is—despite common suffering and troubles of life as a human being on earth—remarkably good and easy.

For the Christian in America, it seems absurd to claim marginalization politically or culturally. These arenas are still dominated by white men and offer a lot of freedom for Christians to practice worship and preach the gospel. Even though the political and cultural landscape is changing little has changed that will affect our ultimate and eternal mission as we await our new home.

We were wanderers and exiles 10 years ago, and 25 years ago, and 1,500 years ago. That is our spiritual identity and it always has been. As we see the waves of culture and politics go back and forth, we continue to serve the unseen kingdom—serving the poor, widow, and orphan, preaching the gospel, and remaining unstained by the world. That is what we have always done and that is what Christians will always do. Nothing has changed.

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Chris Nye (@chrisnye) is a pastor and a writer living in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Ali. His first book will be published by Moody next year.

The Gospel of Matthew Reading Plan

We’ve launched a series on The Gospel of Matthew for the month of August. Brad Watson, our executive director, encouraged our readers to read a chapter a day in the Gospel of Matthew. To help jumpstart your reading, we want to share our reading plan (below) and this helpful resource from the folks at The Bible Project (@JoinBibleProj):

• Mon, August 3rd—Mathew 1
• Tues, August 4th—Mathew 2
• Wed, August 5th—Matthew 3
• Thurs, August 6th—Matthew 4
• Fri, August 7th—Matthew 5
• Sat, August 8th—Matthew 6
• Sun, August 9th—Matthew 7
• Mon, August 10th—Matthew 8
• Tues, August 11th—Matthew 9
• Wed, August 12th—Matthew 10
• Thurs, August 13th—Matthew 11
• Fri, August 14th—Matthew 12
• Sat, August 15th—Matthew 13
• Sun, August 16th—Matthew 14
• Mon, August 17th—Matthew 15
• Tues, August 18th—Matthew 16
• Wed, August 19th—Matthew 17
• Thurs, August 20th—Matthew 18
• Fri, August 21st—Matthew 19
• Sat, August 22nd—Matthew 20
• Sun, August 23rd—Matthew 21
• Mon, August 24th—Matthew 22
• Tues, August 25th—Matthew 23
• Wed, August 26th—Matthew 24
• Thurs, August 27th—Matthew 25
• Fri, August 28th—Matthew 26
• Sat, August 29th—Matthew 27
• Sun, August 30th—Matthew 28

As Brad encouraged:

Read the Gospel of Matthew. One of the reasons Jesus’ life ends up feeling like a random collection of anecdotes and one liners is we rarely read through it all together. We may have done so in our early days of faith but have since neglected it. We invite you to spend August reading the Gospel of Matthew. Read a chapter a day. As you read, contemplate the passage. Here are some helpful questions:

• What is Jesus saying or doing?
• What does that say about his character?
• How are people reacting to him? How does that expose your reaction to Jesus? How would your friend who doesn’t believe in Jesus respond to this?
• How is Jesus proving to be the true humanity? The true Prophet? The true Priest? The true King?
• What is most challenging about Jesus?

Pray the Gospel of Mathew. Practice Lectio Divina, Read, Reflect, Respond, and Rest.

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Mathew B. Sims is the Editor-in-Chief at Exercise.com and has authored, edited, and contributed to several books including A Household Gospel, We Believe: Creeds, Confessions, & Catechisms for Worship, A Guide for Advent, Make, Mature, Multiply, and A Guide for Holy Week. Mathew, LeAnn (his wife), and his daughters Claire, Maddy, and Adele live in Taylors, SC at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their Airdale Terrier. They attend Downtown Presbyterian Church (PCA). Visit MathewBryanSims.com

Simple Ways to Teach Your Kids to Follow Jesus

One of the questions we get many times at the GCM Collective is, “What about kids? How do you have time to disciple your children during all this mission stuff, and what does it look like?” I have three kids, a 10 year old, a 7 year old, and an 16 month old. I own a business, am an elder in a church, preach, and participate as an executive team member of the GCM Collective. Not to mention I coach leaders around the world and travel for speaking and training events. How do I have time? I learned early on, from my brothers at Soma Communities, that I only have one life, and mission has to be part of my everyday life, not some other life that I need to live. I don’t have time to get into all of that teaching, but it transformed how I see mission and discipleship. (To see an illustration of this look here: We Have Been Given One Life). Needless to say, I’ve decided to serve and leverage my life as much as I can. I’m busy and you are probably busy, too. How can we disciple kids in the midst of such hectic community and mission filled lives?

Holistic Discipleship

What is the goal of children’s discipleship? Are we just trying to teach them stuff? See, the goal is not that our children will merely know the right answers on their Bible College theological entry exam, also known as Sunday School. We certainly want them to know God and understand the gospel in their minds. But, discipleship cannot stop at intellectual assent of biblical truths in their heads alone. It must penetrate their hearts. In the same way, the goal is not for children discipleship to stop at their hearts, but must work out in their lives. Certainly our children’s discipleship is not only about getting them to behave and use proper manners. The Bible speaks to parenting and disciple making more holistically than this:

You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. – Deuteronomy 11:18-20

This passage tells us two fundamental principles in parenting. One, discipleship is for the head, heart, and hand. We are to teach our children to know the gospel, believe the gospel, and obey the gospel. Two, the discipleship process is happening all the time, in everyday life. Every moment of the day is a chance to speak, teach, and demonstrate the gospel. My aim with this article is to offer some easy handles and ideas for parents to obediently live Deuteronomy 11 with their kids.

Head

We want our kids to know theology.  We want them to know who God is, what God has done, and who we are and how we should live. The issue is our kids get bored with the many ways we have tried to do teach this in the past. Memorize this verse, sit here for Sunday school, or listen to mommy and daddy read from the Bible. None of those things are bad, but what if we could do all those things in ways that they’d actually love and look forward to and ask to do?

• What TV show does your kid love to watch? Watch it with them and tell them that at the end we are going to discuss questions in which we see ways the characters are living out their identity, how are their lives looking like Jesus, how are their lives showing who/what they are trusting, etc. For my kids, it’s Phineas and Ferb. We sit down and watch it, then discuss. The night before I wrote this article, we spoke about servanthood, identity, idols, fears, anxiety, the Imago Dei, etc. After we discussed, we prayed as a family for very specific things that we discussed. Guess what the kids are always asking to do? “Daddy, can we do Phineas and Ferb and theology?” They desire to learn because it is something they enjoy.
• Teach them from material they will enjoy and let them teach and dialogue through it. I personally use two resources: The Jesus Story Book Bible and Story of God for Kids. When we go through these resources, I am always asking questions to get their insight. These resources are great because there are pictures and questions and really gets the kids involved, instead of just sitting there and listening. I also allow my 10 year old to lead through this so he can learn what it looks like to lead and create discussion. In this I am able to disciple him in what it looks like to lead by allowing him to do it himself.

Heart

Not only do we want our children to learn theology and mission through teaching, but we want them to believe it and know it in their hearts. We want it to go from information to transformation. Know this: you have to be faithful in this and there will be many times we try this with our kids and it will sail over their head. We will articulate the gospel in eloquent ways and they will have no reaction. We have to be faithful. Find out how to affect their heart by seeking the Spirit and continue to do it, even if you don’t get the reaction you were hoping for.

• Discipline like you believe the gospel. I learned this from John Piper some years ago. He simply asked, “Does your discipline mirror grace and the gospel or legalism?” My kids never know when they are going to be punished for a sin. I try to sit them down after they have sinned and walk through grace and mercy and the effects of sin. We get to the heart of the issue of their sin, instead of saying, “stop it!” There are times when they are not punished for their sin, and we speak a lot about grace. There are also times when their sin causes natural consequences. For example, they might leave a favorite toy outside when they were supposed to bring it inside and it gets ruined. When this happens, we merely point out the consequence and pray together for forgiveness and reconciliation. When you spend time demonstrating in discipline what grace, the gospel and reconciliation looks like, it hits the heart.
• Demonstrate. I got this idea from my buddy Caesar. One of the discipleship issues we had with our older child had to do with his behavior while he was playing outside. We decided that if he was having issues playing outside, he would have to come inside or face punishment. The punishment was to sit on the wall for 20 minutes. Lots of fun. Instead, when the time came for him to receive his punishment, I told him I’d take it for him. We talked about Jesus and the good news and how he has done this for us. This sounded great, but he listened, and then ran back outside like nothing happened. I still do this, because I think at some point, it will sink in. But you have to know: they are kids and they won’t always react in the ways you were hoping.
• When you see your child do something that reminds you of Jesus, tell them and praise them for it. Not to the point where they get all the credit, but as a pointer. When they see how their actions depict God’s character, it really freaks them out. My 7 year old last night asked, “God works through me to show who he is?” It really hit him. Our kids need to hear about God, not only when they are doing things that are disappointing, but also when they are showing the fruit of the Spirit. Recently, my 10 year old came up and told me that his little brother made him lunch for school. He was stoked! I told him, “Caleb, where do you think he learned that?” He replied, “God?” I said, “He learned it from you as you have been serving him. And you learned it from God as Jesus served and serves you. You have been showing your brother Jesus. Isn’t it amazing that he does those things he sees in you as you show him Jesus?”
• Continue to remind them they are loved by God and you, no matter what. We do this in both their sin and their praise. We want them to continually know that God loves regardless of their actions. Their identity and acceptance is not wrapped up in what they do but in who God is and what he does. I do this when they do something that requires discipline and I do this when they show off who God is.

Hands

Not only do our kids need to know about God in their head, and know what he’s done in their heart, but they also need to work this out as disciples and missionaries. We have to know that our children are not missionaries only when they get older. They are missionaries now.

• Involve your kids in the mission. Rarely do we do things that don’t involve our kids. When we do events, most of the time it is with families. The reason is I want my kids to see that it is totally normal to be around those that don’t believe like us and what it looks like to hang out with them. I don’t want them to ever think that our job is to do things so we’ll get something in return. We merely show others what God is like, we plant, we water, but God causes the growth. The best way to do this is to model it for them in life on life.  So, at neighborhood BBQs or neighborhood breakfasts, they have jobs before and after. We talk about why we are doing these, what their thoughts are, and their struggles with it. They get to walk this out and deal with the consequences of following Jesus: when their toys get broken, when they have to clean up after others, etc.  When all this happens, we get to talk about what it means to serve and show off Jesus without expecting anything in return.
• Make your house the “hang-out-house.” Our kids know that they can always have friends over and invite them in for dinner, etc. Because of this, they are actively sharing their lives with those around us. They see what it means to have an open home, to be hospitable, to believe that our possessions are God’s and not ours. They also know that to open our home means there will sometimes be kids they don’t want to play with, but we open our home anyway. We love our enemies, we don’t hate them or shun them. The more you allow your kids to have people over and just hang out and play, the more they will be able to understand mission in the everyday.
• Invite their friends and parents out to your activities. Recently, I took my boys to a movie and dinner, so I asked them who they wanted to bring. I then invited their friends and their family to go out with us.  Again, this is simple. Their friends and families came and hung out. We were already going to do it, why not do it with others? This doesn’t mean we eat dinner and ask the other Dad, “You see the bread on your kid’s plate? That reminds of when Jesus said he was the bread of life.” Be a good human and hang out with others, be friends, show your kids what it looks like to be hospitable in all areas of life.
• Ask your children what charity they’d like to help on their birthday. We have done this with both our older kids. We tell them, “Mom and Dad will buy you a gift, and so will your grandparents, but what if we had your friends bring something for a charity?” We have had food drives, blanket drives, and more for one of our missional communities that helps the homeless in our town. Our kids actually love doing this! They get to help others and participate in serving.

Normal Life with Intentionality

I know these things aren’t earth shattering ideas. They are simple everyday life type of activities. Just think if your parents taught you about God while watching cartoons? Pretty cool parents, pretty fun way to learn theology. That’s the point. We don’t need some program to raise our children for us; we can do this in normal, everyday life. That way our kids will understand what following Jesus looks like and will desire to do it, too. Some days are better than others, some things work better than others. You know your family. A simple way to start is just to look at your schedule with your family and start asking, “How can we be more intentional with these things we are already doing so our children can better understand who God is, what he has done, and who he has made us to be?” And “What can we do to holistically disciple our children—head, heart, and hands?” Again, think about simple everyday life type of activities.

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Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife, and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade. Seth is an investment portfolio manager, serving as President of McBee Advisors, Inc. He is also a MC leader/trainer/coach and executive team member of the GCM Collective. Seth currently lives in Phoenix, AZ with his wife Stacy and their three children: Caleb, Coleman, and Madelynn. He is also the artist and co-author of the wildly popular (and free!) eBook, Be The Church: Discipleship & Mission Made Simple. Twitter: @sdmcbee.

The Gospel Isn’t a Cul-de-Sac

The cul-de-sac was a phenomenal invention for the suburbs. It created a safe and peaceful place for families to raise children. No one passed through. In fact, the only time strangers can appear is after a wrong turn and they find themselves at the dead end. The design made it simple for those who don’t belong to quickly turn around.

It also kept everyone who belonged there in one place. Once you came in, you didn’t have to leave. You could remain the rest of your days with likeminded folks, playing games in your asphalt sanctuary.

The cul-de-sac is the epitome of the suburban life and values. However, the gospel is not a cul-de-sac. It isn’t a safe sanctuary that separates you from the dangers of the world—it throws you into the world. It isn’t your private enclave to secure your values and doctrines. It ushers you into a hospitality for the other—the not like you.  The gospel is doctrinal, changing what we believe. It also is personal, changing who we are. But it is more than that.

The gospel is missional: it changes where & how we live.^[1]

If we just focus on the doctrinal and personal aspect of the gospel, we will neglect its missional aspect. If the doctrinal gospel changes what we believe, and the personal gospel changes who we are, then the missional gospel changes where we live and what we say. It is the hopeful announcement that God is making all things new in Christ Jesus! The gospel ushers us into a new kingdom and new world. We no longer live in a world dominated by death and deconstruction but one of life and re-creation!

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” —Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61

The Gospel Changes Everything

The gospel changes everything. It is not only good news for us, but also for our neighbors, the poor, our city, and the world. It affects the social, cultural, and physical fabric of the universe. In Luke 4, Jesus preached the gospel to the poor, marginalized, and oppressed. It is good news for them because through his death and resurrection he has defeated sin, death, and evil (1 Jn. 2:13; 3:8). The gospel announces the in-breaking reign of Jesus, which is in the process of reversing the order of things. The poor become rich, the captives are freed, and the old become new.

The Gospel Sends Us On Mission

Those who follow Jesus join his mission by making disciples of all ethnic groups by going, teaching, and baptizing (Matt. 28:18-20). We are sent to teach, speak, counsel, discuss, and proclaim the gospel to others so that they might be baptized into God’s new creation and join his mission of making all things new. We are called “ambassadors of reconciliation” and given the privilege of sharing in Jesus’ ministry of reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:17-20). Those who have been changed by the gospel share its life-changing power with others. We should announce and embody the good news by caring for the poor and rebuilding cities (Is. 61:4). In fact, the future for the people of God is an entirely new city in a new creation (Rev. 21). The church should be a movie trailer of this grand, coming attraction, when all things will be made new!

Remember, This is Who You Are

The result of the church—you, us—being sent is that we live as a community of disciples—not only devoted to Jesus and to one another—but devoted to our neighbors and our city, too. When we come to Christ, we are all sent on his mission.

We are new and have a new purpose. Christ reconciled us to himself and we are a new creation. Our old way of finding identity and our broken ways of finding meaning are over. We are reconciled and ushered into a vibrant and living relationship with God. This is the gospel, that Christ has reconciled us to God through his death and resurrection and is making all things new—even us. We are recipients of the gospel, messengers of the gospel, servants of the gospel, and are representatives of the gospel’s work. See, you cannot separate our identity in Christ from our purpose in Christ. That identity and purpose requires some sort of expression of gospel focused community on mission:

• We live on mission because we have received the gospel.
• We live on mission because we are messengers of the gospel. He is making his appeal to the world through us.
• We live on mission because we are ministers of reconciliation—servants of the gospel.
• We live on mission because we are ambassadors—representatives of the gospel.

We Participate in God’s Mission by Making Disciples

In Matthew 28:18-20, we get to overhear Jesus’ parting words to his disciples, who were the beginning of the first missional community:

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’’’ —Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus gives his disciples the life-long purpose of making disciples of Jesus. It isn’t a side job or a hobby, but an all encompassing orientation for life. As a disciple, you are called to make disciples of Jesus. The key here, is “as a disciple of Jesus”. Meaning, you are daily answering Jesus’ call to repentance and faith in Mark 1:15:

“Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

As a disciple you repent and believe. You trust Jesus’ incarnation, his kingdom, his purposes. As a disciple, you exchange your agenda for his. You let go of your imaginary kingdom for his tangible reign. NT Wright describes repentance this way in, The Challenge of Jesus, “[Jesus] was telling his hearers to give up their agendas and to trust him for his way of being Israel, his way of bringing the kingdom, his kingdom-agenda.”

You not only welcome Jesus’ presence, but cling to this promise: desperate for his ways, not yours. This is the transformative journey of the gospel. This is also the way toward mission.Meaning, as you learn to follow Jesus, you invite others to join you by making the gospel clear and tangible. As God transforms you in and through the power of the Spirit, you humbly, but clearly challenge others to repent and believe. You are, as Eugene Peterson writes, “God’s billboard.”

We Participate in God’s Mission by Loving the Poor

God’s mission is also to the oppressed, captive, orphan, and neglected. From the onset of God’s mission through his people beginning with Abraham and moving through Moses, David, and the prophets of the Old Testament, God called them to care for those tossed aside. They were to care for the orphan and the oppressed, the sojourner and the alien traveling through their lands. It was not simply traditional middle eastern hospitality. It was a command of God for his people to care for those in need: to usher into our broken earth, the grace and love that inhabits heaven.

This clearly, doesn’t stop with Jesus. Jesus forgave sins and healed sickness. He welcomed those sent to the margins of society to eat with him. He cared for those burdened, ignored, and abused. Jesus proclaimed the gospel and the kingdom of God coming to us.  Jesus came for the poor and powerless—the oppressed.

Therefore, Jesus’ church is sent on the mission of declaring the gospel and demonstrating the gospel. In other words, as the church spreads and grows by making disciples, it also cares for the poor. A clear mark of a church as early as Pentecost, has been meeting the needs of the marginalized. From the Old Testament through the early Church, God has sent his people on the mission of doing justice and inviting the world to experience the God of grace and mercy.

^[1] Language and concepts can be found in the book I co-authored with Jonathan Dodson, Called Together: A Guide to Forming Missional Communities

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Brad Watson (@bradawatson) serves as a pastor of Bread&Wine Communities where he develops and teaches leaders how to form communities that love God and serve the city. Brad is the author of Raised? and Called Together: A Guide to Forming Missional Communities. He lives in southeast Portland with his wife and their two daughters. You can read more from Brad at www.bradawatson.com

Living in Our Skin

The day after a white supremacist marched into Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston SC to murder people because he disagreed with how God made them. I tweeted:

We must pray for a world in which God's children may live in peace, in the skin He gave them. Pray for it & build it. #CharlestonShooting

— E.M. Welcher (@EvanWelcher) June 18, 2015

Many people care about ending the sin of racism, or at least enough people who know they’re supposed to say they care about ending the sin of racism. What to do about it, now, that is the question. I don’t think many people really know what to do about it. Every day we hear more sordid tales of this rotten harvest. The sin of racism is the questioning of God the Artist’s taste in palette. The sin of racism is the racist’s vandalism of God’s work. The sin of racism is in the flagrant disregard of God’s sovereignty and love.

People should be able to live in the skin God put them in.

We must pray for it and build it.

We get the praying part, in theory; building is another thing. We understand that no mountain can stand against the will of our God. We know God can thaw out the icy heart of the racist, turning him from death to the cross of his beloved Son. We believe prayer is potent and sometimes we even use it.

But building such a world? That’s a medium sized mutt of a different color, altogether.

I’m not so sure many of us know what to do about it. There are those whom say they know what to do. But whether all the ideas and theories put forth over the years are ineffective or not effectively implemented, the pain remains.

Whatever Shall We Do?

I went to the recent ERLC conference on “The Gospel And Racial Reconciliation.” Many good thoughts were shared by women and men who know more about racial reconciliation than I (the sessions are online. I recommend you watch them http://erlc.com/videos/).  A main focus was on integrating churches and hiring staff of different ethnicities to represent in the here and now the final eschatological look and feel of the Bride of Christ. They’re right.

But my church isn’t located in a diverse town, and my church won’t be hiring new staff anytime soon.  The question circles around again in my addled little mind: Whatever shall I do?

I preached a sermon. I’m a preacher. It’s what I do.

The Sunday after the Charleston Church Massacre, I found myself in Romans chapter five (I preach through books of the Bible), and I had already decided to preach on the historicity of Adam before digging into the notion of imputation of original sin because in our a la carte world many Christians seem to think the first man’s very existence is optional to their faith and practice, but St. Paul’s argument in Romans 5 falls apart strikingly fast without Adam.

So it was that I proclaimed the following to a white congregation gathered in a small white church building: “Racism is at odds with our common ancestry.”

A trucker from Texas was visiting that day. He posted on Facebook that the sermon had got him thinking. His family died that day in Charleston, and although he had not considered himself racist. He did make racist jokes. He asked for prayer as he works to change.

Grace Welcomes

On Wednesday evening a white man went to Emanuel AME Church in Charleston South Carolina. He was welcomed to the Bible study being held there, because it was a church, and that’s what churches do. They welcome all people to the grace that is found in Jesus Christ our Lord. He sat with them for a while before opening fire on them. He killed nine of our brothers and sisters in Christ because they were black. He said as much. Their names are:

• Cynthia Hurd, 54
• Susie Jackson, 87
• Ethel Lance, 70
• DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49
• Clementa Pinkney, 41
• Tywanza Sanders, 26
• Daniel Simmons Sr. 74
• Sharonda Singleton, 45
• Myra Thompson, 59

These are your brothers and sisters in Christ. This is your family. These are your kin of the cross. They were gunned down because of the color of their skin. This should affect you personally as a Christian. There is such a thing as righteous anger.

The doctrine of a historical Adam is important because the argument Paul is making in Romans 5 is that if one man’s sin could mar the image of God in every person so too can one God-man’s obedience restore that divine image.

But there is more.

It is very hard to be racist if you truly believe all of our family trees go back to Adam and Eve. Theologically and biblically, there are three reasons for the Christian to not be ambivalent toward the sin of racism:

• Adam: Our common father
• Triune God: Our common Creator (Imago Dei)
• Jesus Christ: Our common Savior (His blood shed for all mankind)

Having honest conversations about these issues is not political. This is a gospel issue. We musn’t abide our black family in Christ having these conversations alone in an echo chamber. Have our brothers and sisters not long saved a seat at the table for us? And have we not long refused to come and learn under their tutelage for fear or white guilt? What if we listened to what they’re saying and honored them by going back to our own spheres of influence and sharing what they’ve taught us?

White racism is a white sin and it begins and ends in white homes. There are so many evil things we would never allow in our homes. If our “good ‘ol boy” buddy tried to bring pornography into our home we would stop it. If our drunk or high, bitter uncle tried to bring drugs to Thanksgiving dinner we would say, “Not in this house.” But all too often when a relative or a buddy makes a racist comment or joke many white people just look uncomfortable, or even laugh nervously.

We must view it as a sin that is incompatible with the Christian faith and practice—not least because for many our children are watching. Racism among us is a plague upon our house and it flourishes in silence and shadow.

Our brothers and sisters were murdered Wednesday June 17th. God have mercy on us if we can’t be bothered to care.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” — Revelation 7:9-12

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Evan Welcher (@EvanWelcher) is Senior Pastor of First Christian Church in Glenwood, Iowa. Evan was married to his Resplendent Bride for 3 years before the Lord took her home. Pastor Evan received his education in Bible & Theology from Emmaus Bible College. The Goal of EvanWelcher.com is to set the captives free by leaving a trail of words leading to the Crucified Carpenter King. Christ Crucified For Sinners is the Gospel.

Worship as the Goal of Mission: Multiplying Images of God

In worship, we represent God’s image more and more clearly, not only to subdue forces of evil but also to multiply these images of God to fill the earth:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living that moves on the earth. (Gen 1:28)

The command to “fill the earth” implies that the earth is not yet filled with images that reflect God’s glory. While the boundaries of the Garden are clearly delineated (Gen 2:10-14), the call to multiply images of God would expand the boundaries of that Garden sanctuary until it filled the whole earth. Our mission is to be used in God’s hand to bring about more worshipers in the image of God who might multiply and fill the earth with even more worshipers.

Outside of the Garden-sanctuary of Eden lay a chaotic inhospitable area. God calls Adam not only to “work and to keep” the Garden of Eden (see Gen 2:15) but also to expand that Garden and “fill the earth” (Gen 1:28). Bible scholar John Walton notes that “people were gradually supposed to extend the Garden as they went about subduing and ruling” in order to “extend the food supply as well as extend sacred space (since that is what the Garden represented).” God wanted to expand that sacred space and dwelling place from the limited confines of the Garden-temple of Eden to fill the entire earth. As Adam multiplied children in his image, then they would expand God’s dwelling place of his presence into the chaos outside of Eden until it filled the earth, and the whole earth reflected God’s order and his glorious presence.

We are created to fill the whole earth with God’s glory. God formed the earth and made it . . . [and] did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited! (Is 45:18, emphasis added; see Ps 115:16)

God’s ultimate goal in creation was to magnify his glory throughout the earth by means of his faithful image bearers. Psalm 8 begins and ends with the goal of glorifying God:

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Ps 8:1, 9)

This majesty of the Lord is his “glory” (Ps 8:1), a glory reflected in humanity who is “crowned . . . with glory and honor” and given “dominion over the works of your hands” (Ps 8:5-6). God’s glory is to be spread “in all the earth” through humanity crowned “with glory and honor” and properly expressing their dominion in creation. We are created to glorify God by filling the earth with image bearers crowned with that glory.

What does it mean to glorify God? The Westminster Catechism reminds us that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” If we are created to glorify God, then we should know what that means. We glorify God by multiplying images of him who are crowned with his glory; we glorify God by multiplying disciples. Jesus himself glorified God in this way. Near the end of his life, he declared,

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. . . . I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. (Jn 17:4, 6)

Jesus glorified God by making disciples who kept God’s word. The mark of these disciples was obedience. Similarly, we glorify God by our mission in making disciples who keep God’s word.

How then do we multiply disciples? Disciples multiply only as the word of God bears fruit in and through our lives. In Acts, the Genesis 1:28 language of “be fruitful and multiply” marks the growth of the church:

And the word of God continued to be fruitful and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. (Acts 6:7; our translation)

But the word of God bore fruit and multiplied. (Acts 12:24; our translation)

So the word of the Lord continued to bear fruit and prevail mightily. (Acts 19:20; our literal translation)

Unlike Genesis 1:28, the word of God, not people, bears fruit and multiplies in Acts. Similarly, in Colossae the gospel “has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit (karpophoreō) and growing (auxanō)” (Col 1:6, our translation; see 1:10). Just as Adam and Eve were to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen 1:28), so now the gospel is “bearing fruit and growing” and filling the earth (Col 1:6, 10). Spiritual progeny are multiplying to fill the earth through the gospel.

However, why does the word of God increase and multiply in Acts and Colossians through spiritual progeny instead of physical progeny, as in Genesis 1:28? In fact, Genesis 1:28 likely does not have in mind only physical children, but children who also were to be spiritual image bearers of God. We must recall that even in Genesis 1:28, the word of God is essential, since Adam and Eve were to subdue the earth through obedience to God’s word (see Gen 2:16-17). Adam and Eve fail to subdue the serpent because they do not remember and obey God’s word properly (Gen 3:1-7). The genealogy of Genesis 5 traces the initial stage of the proper fulfillment of Genesis 1:28, and the “likeness of God” in Adam is passed down to Seth, who is in Adam’s “likeness, after his image” (Gen 5:1, 3). Here, the image of God in Adam is passed down through Seth, who keeps God’s word, unlike the murderer Cain. Images of God multiply as a vanguard movement, beginning to spread out over the earth with the goal of filling it with divine glory bearers. Acts and Colossians focus now on the spiritual children of Christ, the Last Adam (see Col 1:15-18), who are multiplied (e.g., see Acts 6:7, “And the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem,” emphasis added).

Therefore, gospel growth is the key to true church growth. Church leaders can often seek programs and marketing processes to accelerate church growth, and such programs and processes may have a place. However, lasting church growth is essentially gospel growth. If church growth is based on programs that do not root people in the “living word” (see Acts 7:38) of God, then they will “in time of testing fall away” (Lk 8:13). We must get people to come to church, but we must also get the word of God to come to people. The only way to integrate people into the body of Christ is by the word of God growing in them. Our mission is to multiply disciples, image bearers of God who know and use God’s word to subdue the deceptive work of our enemy in the world. If Jesus Christ himself rides out in victory against the evil one with a “sharp sword” of God’s word coming “from his mouth” (Rev 19:15), so we must equip God’s people with this sharp sword of God’s word to come from their mouths, since we are in union with Jesus, and what is true of him in this respect is true of us.

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G. K. Beale (PhD, University of Cambridge) holds the J. Gresham Machen Chair of New Testament and is professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary.

Mitchell Kim (PhD, Wheaton College) is lead pastor of Living Water Alliance Church in the Chicago suburbs. Building on extensive experience in the immigrant church, he has helped found and guide Joshua Generation to equip youth workers to reach their generation for Christ. He also teaches Bible in the graduate school at Wheaton College and participated in the Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa in 2010. Of Korean descent, he was born in southern California, raised in Tokyo and lives in Naperville, IL with his wife Eunsil and their three children.

Taken from God Dwells Among Us by G. K. Beale and Mitchell Kim. Copyright (c) 2014 by G. K. Beale and Mitchell Kim. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426. www.ivpress.com

7 Ridiculously Simple Ways To Make Time for Beauty

Life spiraled increasingly into chaos the moment I set out to write this article. I helped with unplanned classes, struggled with migraines, sifted through significant opportunities for my husband, woke up to a neighbor’s house fire, witnessed the loss of life, caught a case of the flu, and went on a family trip. Needless to say, enjoying God’s beauty wasn’t on the top of my “to-do” list. I found myself thinking, “Who could justify devoting time to beauty when things are this chaotic?” Through the chaos I’ve discovered that Christians of all people can (and must!) devote time to beauty because our God is a beautiful God. We have been claimed by the loveliest Being ever to exist. Nothing in heaven or on earth or beneath the earth compares with the beauty of our God. Thus, it’s our delightful duty to regularly raise our vision above the chaos of this world to behold the beauty of our Lord.

Viewing Christ’s Beauty in the Midst of the Chaos

Here’s the bottom line—there’s never going to be a convenient time for beauty. If you wait for the ever-elusive “perfect moment” to meditate on Christ’s beauty it will never happen. The truth is that you will behold the beauty of Christ when, and only when, you believe it matters enough to do so.

Scripture reveals that those who take time to behold Christ’s beauty do so, not because their schedules allow for it, but because there’s a gnawing sense within them that it matters. They encounter chaos in a fallen world and inherently know it isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. This tension creates a longing to be in the presence of God, viewing his beauty, that they might experience relief from life’s pressures. As they bask in the beauty of the resplendent One, they are re-fueled for life and re-invigorated for mission

Consider David in Psalm 27. The specific evil that occasioned this psalm is up for debate, but it’s universally accepted that King David is in a tumultuous situation. He speaks of evildoers assailing him (27:2), an army encamping against him (27:3), war rising up (27:3), multitudes of enemies surrounding him (27:6), his own parents forsaking him (27:10), and false testimony being brought against him (27:12). David is experiencing intense pressure from every side.

What does a man in the throes of chaos do? He does the one thing he believes matters most to the well being of his soul—he cries out for a fresh vision of God’s beauty. His words in Psalm 27:4 (emphasis added) pierce my cluttered soul,

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

From the overflow of his God-entranced worldview David directs his focus towards beauty. He asks to gaze upon Yahweh’s beauty, knowing that in Yahweh’s glorious presence he would find something greater than the greatness of his circumstances. Out of everything Israel’s mighty king could do to procure peace for his soul, he sought out that which he believe would best refuel him for what lied ahead—gazing upon God’s beauty.

Shouldn’t Christ’s beauty matter more to me than this?

Chaos has an interesting way of exposing our truest beliefs. We may say we value something in life but when pressed hard enough we give ourselves to those things that we most value; those things we believe give us the greatest payoff. Even at our busiest, we manage to find (or make) time for what needs to be done on our “to do” lists: We grocery shop, feed the kids, do the laundry, go on dates, write sermons, meet deadlines at work, update twitter accounts, grab coffee with a congregation member, or fix up the house.

As a matter of fact, even during my recent chaotic season (when I allowed beauty to slip) I somehow “found the time” to finish out the season of a TV show I had been watching. I made time for it because I sought the relief it offered me in the midst of a busy stretch. Unfortunately, it exposed a distorted belief system. I believed thirty mind-numbing minutes of television could give me greater rest and refreshment than time in God’s beautiful presence.

It follows then that our commitment to God’s beauty is not primarily an issue of time; it’s an issue of belief and affection. You and I abandon devotion to God’s beauty because deep down we don’t believe it matters as much as everything else. Something inside of us believes unloading the dishwasher before the kids wake up or replying to emails before bedtime has a greater payoff than taking ten minutes to behold Christ.

What we don’t realize is that taking time to bask in God’s beauty will actually empower us to re-enter the chaos and approach these tasks with fresh vigor. A few moments gazing upon the LORD’s beauty will energize our affections for him and others, thus helping us better love and serve those God has entrusted to our care. It has a circular nature to it. The chaos drives us into the presence of God to rest in his beauty which in turn re-fuels us to enter back into the chaos and live missionally.

Considering the vital role God’s beauty plays in all of life and mission, many of you may be wondering why you don’t value beholding Christ’s beauty more greatly. It’s a legitimate question I’ve wrestled with during this season. Could it be that our affections follow our practices? If we never spend time gazing upon the beauty of God, we will never develop a taste for his beauty.

Many of our lifestyles (running chaotically from task to task) have stifled any appetite for beauty. We need to jumpstart these affections by choosing to practice godly habits that put us in a posture to savor Christ’s beauty. The good news is that affections are like a muscle; they grow and develop as we exercise them. Start regularly practicing small ways to behold Christ’s beauty and you will grow to crave a glorious vision of him more often.

7 Ridiculously Simple Ways to Incorporate Beauty Into Your Daily Routine:

1. Wake up earlier to read and meditate on God’s Word (Ps. 19:7-10) – Enjoy God’s beauty in his Word before the chaos begins. Directing your heart towards Jesus first thing in the morning enables you to control the chaos instead of the chaos controlling you.
2. Rehearse the gospel to yourself throughout the day (Eph. 2:1-10) – Periodically stop and reflect upon the gospel. Allow its beauty to put the smaller matters of life into perspective.
3. Go for a walk and admire God’s handiwork (Ps. 19:1-6) – Set aside fifteen minutes (alone or with your children) to take in the beauty of God’s world.
4. Discuss God’s beauty over a meal (Deut. 6:6-7) – Make it a point to talk to those around you about God. Ask them what they find most lovely about him.
5. Worship through song with your children (Col. 3:16) – Few things are quite as delightful as watching children sing about Jesus. Doing informal worship is an easy but rewarding way to incorporate beauty into the mundane.
6. Switch out one segment of “screen time” for gazing upon God’s beauty (Ps. 27:4) – Make a habit of enjoying God’s beauty before you check your email, twitter, pinterest, facebook, etc. Or, push back your nightly “unwinding” TV time until you’ve savored Christ’s beauty for a few moments.
7. Meditate upon the wonders of Christ as you go to sleep (Ps. 63:5-6) – Take time at night to think about Jesus. Meditate on his perfections, his character, and his redemptive work. Allow Christ to be the last thing on your mind at the end of the day.

This week consider incorporating one of the above suggestions into your daily routine. Don’t wait for the “perfect time” to pursue beauty—it doesn’t exist! Instead, create little pockets of calm in the midst of the chaos by lifting your vision above all the distractions and beholding the beauty of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As you do you will experience a fresh sense of purpose for tasks and energy for mission that all the finished to-do lists in the world can’t offer you.

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Whitney Woollard has served in ministry alongside her husband Neal for over six years. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and just finished her Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. She is passionate about equipping disciples to read and study God’s Word well resulting in maturing affections for Jesus and his gospel message. Neal and Whitney currently live in Portland, OR where they love serving the local church. Follow her on Twitter @whitneywoollard.

How to Guard Against Mission Drift

New pastors and/or church planters have extremely high aspirations for maintaining the purity of their church’s mission. All those churches they used to work for got too messy, complicated, and unfocused. “This church won’t be that way!” they vow to themselves and other leaders. This is easier said than done. For most, after a few years of ministry, the challenges of mission drift come fast and furious.

Jesus is clear that our job as Christians is to make disciples (Matt. 28:19-10). Any church that doesn’t have this aspiration as a focal point of their mission simply disobeys Jesus. But mission drift happens even in organizations with clear goals and objectives. Consider the following points to help guard against this tendency.

Be ruthlessly redundant. I recall a time when I was giving announcements during a church service concerning an upcoming marriage retreat. It was the third week in a row that I made this same announcement. After the service I saw my friend Laura and asked her if she and her husband would be attending the retreat. I know she was present in the service all three weeks I made this same announcement. Yet she said to me, “Marriage retreat? I didn’t know there was a marriage retreat!”

We have to over-communicate everything for anything to be heard. So dare to be ruthlessly redundant. We have to learn to creatively over-saturate people with various modes of communication so they truly know our values and what we are collectively doing in light of those values. The bigger your organization the harder you must work to keep everyone on the same page. It helps to keep your mission statement simple. Because if no one can remember your mission, you won’t have to worry about mission drift, because you won’t have any mission.

Put the right people in the right place. Is everyone on your team fully convinced of the mission? If not, you’re simply waiting for mission drift. I know that most leaders can’t simply remove people from their team without causing huge conflict. Nuanced and difficult situations demand wisdom, patience, and prayer as you handle the complexity of hiring and firing. If you can’t change the team, at least you must be careful about who gets added in the future.

Say no to some very good things. Make the mission of your church the filter by which you determine your yes and no. You will need to say no to some very good things that don’t hit the bullseye of what God is calling your church to do.

Prepare for people to get mad, leave your church, or write you angry e-mails. This is the cost of a focused mission, but make no mistake—the payoff is beautiful. “Don’t spread yourself too thin” is a cliché for a reason. Everyone has a tendency to do it. But if you are in the habit of saying no to some really good things it will most likely free up space for you to accomplish your church’s calling.

Remember that you are not accountable to people who leave your church or write you angry e-mails. You will answer to God alone on the day that he has fixed. That judgment should provide the needed motivation to stay focused on your vision and mission.

Drip mission in every sermon. Larry Osborne writes in his book Sticky Teams about how he used to think that the most important aspect of casting vision was his yearly “vision sermon.” Over time this sermon proved challenging because people didn’t show up and faithful members tended to tune out since they heard the same message, with the same point, the year before. Now he practices a new approach to guard against mission drift:

Rather than blasting it all at once, I drop vision and core values into every sermon I preach.

The result has been far greater congregational alignment. Dripping core values and vision into every sermon makes them unavoidable. Anyone who would have missed my vision series or who would have tuned out because they’d heard it before is now stuck. Each week I plant a seed or two and then move on, long before they have a chance to tune out or put up their guard. And if they missed this week’s sermon, I’ll get them next week.

Beware personal drift. Most organizations reflect the values and personality of their leader(s). How’s that for a scary thought? Is there mission drift in your life? Can anyone around you diagnose this drift? If there is any disconnect between the stated vision and mission of the church and the life of the main leader(s), is it any wonder the church drifts from it?

Leading any organization is hard work. Staying aligned to our core calling to make disciples takes continued focus. This can be exhausting at times. Remember, in the end, Jesus will build his church. When we fear that everything is falling apart, that is the time to fall apart in prayer to the Father. As we faithfully pursue him, he will provide what we need to make sure that his church (not ours) will be focused on the right things.

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Zach Nielsen (@znielsen) is one of the pastors at The Vine Church in Madison, Wisconsin, where he serves in the areas of preaching, leadership development and music. He is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and Covenant Theological Seminary and blogs at Take Your Vitamin Z.

Originally post at TGC. Used with permission of the author.

Reconciled At the Table

The way many churches exclude the Lord’s Supper from their regular worship service deeply concerns me. The Lord’s Supper forces the church to look itself in the mirror. When Jesus welcomes the congregation to the table of fellowship, we are confronted with the reality that he is far more welcoming and hospitable than we are. Christians can often be fickle people. On the one hand, this is understandable. Christians have an objective standard from which to judge right and wrong. This is a good thing because Christians have a moral and ethical compass with which we can navigate the swells of an increasingly relativistic society.

On the other hand, this can be a bad thing. Christians are often prone to use God’s objective standards to shun and exclude people when the God they worship is neither shunning nor excluding.

Look around the congregation.

How many people can you count that you would not invite to your table? There are great sinners in the congregation. There are people you don’t like. But all of these people are welcomed to the Lord’s table at the his invitation.

Jesus once told his disciples that he will draw all men to himself when he is lifted up (Jn. 12:32). What happened to Jesus when he was lifted up? He was broken. What happens to the bread when the minister lifts it up before the congregation? It is broken. The Lord’s Supper is much more than an act of remembrance for individual Christians. The Lord’s Supper is a participatory event where all men find themselves drawn to Christ’s broken body.

When Jesus’ body was broken the walls of separation between Jew and gentile, male and female, slave and free, black and white were broken as well (Gal. 3:28). This happens in the Lord’s Supper. People who would not dine together at their own tables are brought together at the Lord’s Table, they are brought together by the broken body of Jesus Christ. At the Lord’s Table, we participate in and show forth the great reconciliation of mankind.

Moreover, because the table is fenced, it is not up to us whether or not our neighbor will participate or not, it is up to use whether we will participate or not. At our own tables, we decide who we will invite and who we will exclude. At the Lord’s table, we are all invited, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28), but we are also told that we are to examine ourselves (1 Cor. 11:28).

When we are invited to the Lord’s Table each week, we are taught to look at our own hearts in regards to fellowship rather than to our neighbor’s faults. Sinful hearts look outward for excuses not to commune with others, sinful hearts turn in on themselves. In the Garden, Adam’s sin was a sin of consumption and blame shifting. When he was confronted, Adam shifted the blame on Eve, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Gen. 3:12). In the Lord’s Supper, we are invited to eat rather than prohibited. Further, as we participate we are conditioned to remove the plank from our own eye before commenting on the speck in our neighbors (Matt. 7:5).

Look around the congregation.

How many people look just like you? Are they all white (let’s hope not)? Are they all black (let’s hope not)? Are they all republicans or democrats (let’s hope they’re libertarians)? No, there are people from all walks of life, all races, all socioeconomic classes, and all ideologies being drawn to the broken body of Christ.

In a world where selfishness has become a cultural virtue, the Lord’s table is hardly a place to perpetuate selfish interests. At the Lord’s Table, you dine with and commune with people you might never dream of inviting to your own table. But there you are, partaking of the same loaf and drinking from the same cup. In this act much is being proclaimed. Who you eat with says a lot about you and at the Lord’s Table we eat with Jesus, this cannot be overlooked. But while we eat with Jesus we are also eating with other people who are eating with Jesus.

The Lord’s table proclaims not only that we belong to Christ, but also that we belong to one another—all our differences and problems included. God’s people are not static in our relationships. Both vertically with God and horizontally with each other our relationships are dynamic. The Lord’s Supper images the dynamic nature to the life of Christ’s Body. We are growing, albeit with growing pains, further and further into the image of Christ, the head of the Body (Eph. 4: 15-16).

The church is a body of many members. Further, God’s word serves as a two edged sword cutting to the hearts of his people (Heb. 4:12) who have become living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1). Throughout each service God’s word has cut His church into pieces just as the levitical sacrifices are cut into pieces (the sermon). But the service does not end here. The church must learn that we are only broken by God’s Word because the Word of God was broken for us: “This is my body broken for you.” Moreover, as the body of many members (the church) partakes of the broken body of Christ we are made whole again by our participation in the one loaf (1 Cor. 10:17).

Perhaps the reason there is so much strife in the church nowadays is because we are not communing with one another as we ought. Our ultimate allegiances need to be formed not by who we would invite to our tables but by whom Jesus, weekly, invites to his.

Just food for thought.

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Michael and his wife Caroline live in Athens, GA. Michael blogs weekly at Torrey Gazette. You can follow Michael on Twitter @_Michael_Hansen.

Remembering Pentecost For Mission Today

Few things incite heated debate among evangelicals quicker than the mention of Pentecost. A mere reference to Acts 2 invites detailed discussions on the nature of glossolalia that disrupts even the best unity. In a church culture undeniably divided over the details of Pentecost, it’s important to remember the ultimate redemptive-historical significance of Pentecost and the implications it has for the mission of the church.

The Significance of Pentecost For Redemptive History

Pentecost marked the beginning of the end. It was the final event in the saving career of Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of the long-awaited promise of the outpouring of God’s Spirit that initiated the last days (Joel 2:28-32; Ezek. 36:22-32). Jesus lived a perfect Spirit-filled life, died in the place of sinners as a substitutionary sacrifice, was raised from the dead on the third day, and was exalted to the right hand of the Father after forty days. He received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, poured out the Spirit upon all those who were gathered together (Acts 2:1-4).

Salvation history would never be the same.

The outpouring of the Spirit completed the inauguration of a new era in God’s redemptive program—the messianic age or the age of the Spirit—that begun in the first coming of Christ. This epoch stretches from Pentecost until the Lord’s second coming and is characterized by the radical evangelization of the nations. During these last days, all who repent of sin and believe in the Lord Jesus become participants in the blessings of this new age.

When it comes to Pentecost, I’d urge you not to miss the forest for the trees. What you believe about the glossolalia or the work of the Holy Spirit prior to Pentecost is a secondary matter. The defining feature of Acts 2 is the outpouring of God’s Spirit in fulfillment of the new covenant promises. Oh, how God’s people had longed for this day! One flawed generation after another testified to the fact that fallen humans could never keep God’s law; they could never carry out his mission. They needed more than the law; they needed a new heart that desired to keep the law. They needed more than a mission; they needed a new Spirit to empower them for God’s mission.

Acts 2 clearly conveys that that day had arrived; the long-promised outpouring of the Spirit had finally come as a result of Jesus’ work. A new age had dawned and now people from every nation under heaven could experience the indwelling presence of the Spirit and receive a new heart leading to new life. These people—saved by grace and marked by the Spirit—were then tasked with and empowered for the greatest mission ever conceived.

The Implications of Pentecost For Life On Mission

Christian discipleship would be unthinkable, even impossible, were it not for the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Before he ascended Jesus told his disciples,

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” – Acts 1:8

Remember the disciples spent three years doing ministry with Jesus before his crucifixion, forty days listening to him speak about the kingdom of God after his resurrection, ten days devoting themselves to prayer after the ascension and yet—and yet!—it was only after Pentecost that they began to boldly proclaim the Word of God in power and call all people to repentance without wavering. The differences in the disciples’ lives and their ability to carry out Jesus’ mission pre-Pentecost and post-Pentecost are striking. This is because the outpouring of the Spirit transforms the people of God. Look at what happens in Acts 2:

• Believers become an empowered people (2:14-40).
• Believers become a missionary people (Acts 2:41; 47).
• Believers become a unified people (Acts 2:42-47).

As present-day disciples of Jesus we need to realize, we are no different from those first disciples. We too would be powerless to carry out Jesus’ mission apart from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Great Commission would feel like a mission destined to fail from the beginning were it not for the empowering presence of God’s Spirit. Praise God he did send his promised Spirit! Because of Pentecost we are now the empowered, missional, and unified people of God. We are commissioned by Christ to make disciples of all nations and equipped by the Spirit to live out that call.

Today, as you seek to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and make disciples of those whom God has entrusted to your care, don’t live as if Pentecost isn’t a reality. Many of you are excessively burdened by Jesus’ call to make disciples because you are trying to do it in your own strength. You are trying to give life without acknowledging the Life-Giver; you are trying to impart understanding without relying on the Spirit of Truth; you are trying to witness to the world without drawing from the Source of Power. You look all too much like the disbelieving, scattered disciples during Christ’s passion rather than the empowered people of God sent on mission.

Many of you need to repent of your self-reliance and man-centered methods of discipleship. Human programs are a poor substitute for the power of the Spirit of God. Turn from those ways and learn to listen to the leading of the Spirit through God’s Word and prayer. Daily ask Christ to fill you afresh with his Spirit so that you might be empowered to live life on mission. As you remember Pentecost, acknowledge the redemptive-historical significance of it for disciple-making and celebrate the fact that you have been equipped with power from on high to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth.

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Whitney Woollard has served in ministry alongside her husband Neal for over six years. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and just finished her Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary. She is passionate about equipping disciples to read and study God’s Word well resulting in maturing affections for Jesus and his gospel message. Neal and Whitney currently live in Portland, OR where they love serving the local church. Follow her on Twitter @whitneywoollard.

Jesus the Cowboy Hero

An isolated town is in trouble. Maybe it’s a gang of outlaws. Maybe it’s a greedy rancher, or a dictatorial mayor. In any case, bad men are having their way with the townsfolk. More importantly, there’s a beautiful woman in town and they’re after her too. She’s resisting tyranny—of course she is—while working to help the oppressed.

Then a cowboy rides into town. He’s tough. He’s quiet. He’s got a heart of gold. He’s drawn into the conflict. He shoots a bunch of bad people and works his way up to the chief bad guy himself. A showdown ensues—of course it does. The town is saved. The beautiful woman asks the cowboy to stay, but he can’t. He has to ride on, back into the wilderness. There are other good deeds waiting to be done.

I have always loved Westerns. I will watch any movie that features a cowboy with a six- shooter. I was born and raised in West Texas, and that is partially to blame for this affection. As a boy I would watch an episode of The Lone Ranger, then I’d put on my sheriff’s badge, grab my cap guns, and walk out onto the range, ready for adventure.

I’m not alone either. Americans love Westerns. We are fascinated by the myth of the cowboy-hero.

But of all the cowboy heroes, my favorite was Captain James Tiberius Kirk. Wait. What? Don’t act so surprised. Surely you knew that Star Trek was a Western, right? The only difference is that Kirk beamed in with a transporter rather than rode in on a horse.

Let us investigate: Captain Kirk, accompanied by sidekicks, rides down to the lonely planet on his transporter beam. He fights the bad guys, rescues the planet, and leaves the beautiful woman behind. He beams back to his spaceship leaving grateful aliens to stare up at the sky and wonder what life would be like if only Kirk wasn’t such a busy hero.

I had another sci-fi cowboy hero when I was a kid. This one I heard about at church. His name was Jesus. The Ascension of Jesus Christ sounds a lot like the Beaming of Captain Kirk. You remember the story. Forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus meets his followers near Bethany (Luke 24:50-53). He tells them to return to Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Holy Sprit. Then he’s gone, up into the sky. Luke describes it this way “he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven” (Luke 24:50-53, NIV).

Jesus the Cowboy Hero

Some Christians see the Ascension as the last page of a dime-store novel called Jesus the Cowboy Hero: Western Adventure. Earth was in trouble. The land was dominated by sin, the devil, and other ”bad men.” God’s people were trying to hold out and stay strong. Then one day Jesus rode into their midst. He conquered the bad guys. The people of God, the beautiful “Bride of Christ,” are grateful. They want him to stay but he can’t, he has to move on. So they are left staring up into the sky wondering if they will ever see him again.

Of course, most Christians don’t literally think that Jesus is a cowboy-hero. But unfortunately, some of our popular theology is so corrupt that we’ve essentially made him into one. We’ve created a cowboy god, a hero who cared enough to come down and save us from sin, but not enough to stick around. He left us tickets for the 3:10 to heaven, but staying in town to help rebuild after the showdown wasn’t of much interest to him, and off he rode, a beam of light into the sunset.

But that cheap dime-store novel is a lie. The God of the Bible stands in stark contrast to that irrelevant god. Unlike the cowboy who rides off when showdown is over, the Ascended Christ is now more invested in his Creation than ever.

It was an amazing thing for the non-corporeal God, a being who is not made of anything, to create everything. It was an act of incomprehensible humility for God to become a part of his creation by being made man. It was the greatest act of love imaginable for the God- man to die an insurgent’s death, to descend to the dead, and then to rise again to eternal life. It was absolutely inconceivable that this God-man would then take his whole self back into the throne room of his Father. One of the great mysteries of the universe is that Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, now reigns forever in his corporeal body. When Jesus ascended he didn’t slither out of his skin, leaving the human part behind. God became a man and now that man is God. For God so loved his Creation (John 3:16), that he has now made himself a part of his Creation forever.

When Jesus was resurrected he appeared to his disciples in a perfect, eternal body, eating and drinking, but also walking through walls. Scripture says that when he ascended he sat down at the right hand of God (Ephesians 1:20). Because Jesus is still flesh he must be in some sort of physical location. But at the same time, he is God and sits at the right hand of the Father. Where is the “right hand”? Where is God? Everywhere. Christ is both present in a single place and also present everywhere. How? I have no idea. What I do know is that Christ is everywhere available, everywhere loving, everywhere knowable.

But “sitting at the right hand of the Father” is not simply about location; it’s about power. Jesus’ ascension is his enthronement. Paul writes: “(God) raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way is King of his Creation.” (Ephesians 1:20-23 NIV) Christ is the King who fills, with his own self, all that he has made. As Kuyper said. “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”

The Ascension Changes Everything

The Ascension fundamentally changed the relationships between God, humanity, and the created order.Kirk comes and goes in fifty minutes. The planet he saves may be altered by his presence, but the Captain is always the same. Not so with Christ. The great Church Father St. John Chrysostom pointed out that the same Father who once said to flesh and blood “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” now looks at the flesh and blood of his Son and says “sit at my right hand.” Jesus’ story is the opening and closing chapter of the tale of us all. We were dust, now we’re flesh. We will fall to dust but be raised to a greater flesh than we can now imagine.

Chrysostom goes on to say that “we who were unworthy of earthly dominion have been raised to the Kingdom on high, have ascended higher than heaven, have come to occupy the King's throne, and the same nature from which the angels guarded Paradise, stopped not until it ascended to the throne of the Lord.” God has become Man so that humanity can now be welcomed into the divine life. Creation is already redeemed and awaits its coming restoration.

The Ascension is divine proof that the world matters. This world. The world of cowboys and townsfolk, bad men and heroes. If it did not, why would Christ fill it? Why would he reign over it? Why would he love it? Why would the Father accept the Created onto his own throne?

Because the Ascension changed the world it must also change the way we understand the world. The Ascension is like a new and better eyeglass prescription. When we look through it, we see what we have always seen; but we see it more clearly. This is especially true of our relationship to Creation.

Many years ago, I moved from Pittsburgh to San Antonio. I had to live apart from my wife for a couple of months. During this time I lived in an apartment with a month- to- month lease while I looked for a more permanent home. It was an old and dirty unit with broken appliances and dated wallpaper. I had several framed pieces of art with me, but I never hung any of them on the walls. I tried to ignore the walls and the faulty appliances. I never fixed the broken toilet in the second bathroom. Why not? Because it was a transitional place. I didn’t care about it.

Many Christians, lacking an understanding of the Ascension (as well as the Creation, Incarnation, and Second Coming) treat this world like I treated that apartment. While it’s true that we are sojourners (Hebrews 11:16), the Ascension must reframe our thinking. We are called to live here like my wife and I lived at our more permanent place in Texas. We bought furniture. We painted a room. We kept the place good repair. We hung up our pictures.

The Created World Matters

The Ascension shows us that the created world matters because it’s filled with Christ. As Christ’s brothers and sisters, we are called upon to care for creation. The curse is rolling back. Adam’s children may once again care for God’s garden. When some company wants to strip the land with no regard for our grandchildren, it should be the Church that rises up in opposition. When it comes to making decisions about how we consume the earth’s resources, it should be Christians who are most willing to sacrifice our convenience. Christians should be known for the creative ways in which we protect and restore the world we inhabit here and now.

We who bear the image of Christ should be leading the way in caring for our own physical bodies while also showing concern for the health of all people. Medicine, exercise, biology, nutrition, and a whole host of other disciplines are meant to bring glory to Christ. Eating disorders, drunkenness, and sexual immorality are symptoms of a population that has not been formed in the beauty of the Ascended Christ.

The Creation matters, and so does co-creation. By “co-creation” I mean our participation with God in bringing order, truth, and beauty out of chaos. All of Creation is now under the gracious dominion of Christ. When we co-create with him, our work becomes part of his glorious kingdom. Everything from our painting and songwriting to our baking and childrearing finds eternal significance at the Father’s right hand. The Ascension proclaims the validity of our work, our creativity, and the joys of this world.

The Ascension challenges us to rethink our cowboy mythology, our Captain Kirk worldview. Our stories, especially our fiction, should point to the Truth. The Hero of the universe is fully invested in building up his people, in loving his children, and in ruling all aspects of our lives. He hasn’t ridden off into the sunset. He hasn’t beamed back into the heavens. He’s moved in, and he’s done it in the biggest way we can imagine. When we tell our tales, are we representing this kind of heroism? When we consider the narratives of our own lives, what is it that we see as heroic? Is it the full engagement with, and care for, our communities, our families, and even our possessions? It should be.

All of us are storytellers, whether we have a large audience, or a small circle of family and friends, or even if we are simply whispering to ourselves. Some of us still tell our tales by the campfire, dusty from a day out on the range. We’re cowboys, but maybe we can be cowboys who stick around for a while. By the grace of God, maybe we can tell true stories. Maybe we reject isolation and self-sufficiency. Maybe we can know ourselves as fully accepted children of God, people whose work has eternal significance, and whose true value is a gift of pure mercy.

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Thomas McKenzie (@thomasmckenzie) is the founding pastor of Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, Tennessee. He's the author of The Anglican Way: A Guidebook. Thomas writes for several websites, including ThomasMcKenzie.com. He lives in Nashville with his wife and two daughters.