Embracing Christmas Again

No matter how much of a Grinch you are, most of us do not think Christmas is inherently evil. Ha! That is funny to write. That said, many of us might not like Christmas, slightly dread Christmas, or want Christmas to be over with already. Christmas has been hijacked. Black Friday, malls, online shopping, and family with the best of intentions have all hijacked Christmas. Instead of a time and season for us to reflect on the miracle of Jesus, we instead find ourselves running around like chickens with our heads cut off in a season controlled by busyness, consumerism, gluttony, spending, and a frantic circus of parading your family around from one event to the next where kids are trained not to be satisfied with one present or one candy cane but to quickly move on to the next present and the next candy cane and the next present and next present and next present as we train them to be greedy, selfish, and dissatisfied. Christmas has become a circus.

Let’s embrace Christmas again!

Let’s create traditions and goals to slow down and savor the wonder that is the Son of God coming in the flesh. Time for us to embrace the humility and simplicity of a God who was born in a small-town, in a barn, and in a feeding trough for livestock. A Savior and King who was homeless, carless, smartphone-less, and Amazon-less. What if his coming and his living held both principles and keys to not just surviving Christmas but thriving in Christmas? What if instead of Christmas leaving us with a materialism and people-pleasing hangover it left us refreshed and was used as a springboard for our faith in Jesus Christ?

That is why I am writing this. Below are a list of seven values and some practical ideas that my family is striving for. Feel free to borrow these ideas or create your own to help you best live out your values for this Christmas!

1. Keep the focus on Jesus.

We all have fun Christmas traditions. My family loves to watch Elf and Home Alone and walk through those crazy Christmas circle neighborhoods where ninety-nine out of 100 houses (there always seems to be that one dark house that is either Jehovah Witnesses or missed the memo that they live on candy cane lane) are insanely decked out with Christmas lights and inflatables.

These are all fun and valuable traditions but if they are only traditions we will wake up in January and realize we didn’t talk about, think about, pray to or enjoy Jesus for a whole month! The culture has replaced Jesus and we can easily do the same if we do not intentionally keep the focus on Jesus. We have to make it our goal to keep our focus on Jesus and on the wonder of the incarnation. We want to remember Jesus, reflect on Jesus, and celebrate Jesus while spending time with Jesus this and every Christmas season.

I want to share a few simple practices that can help us keep the focus on Jesus. The first is to celebrate Advent and have a daily reminder, short story, or key Bible verse that you read as a family that points us back to Jesus. Another is to make sure the Christmas story is read and celebrated on Christmas and/or Christmas Eve. Finally, listen to and sing Christmas songs during the Christmas season that are about Jesus and talk as a family about what these songs are really about and even compare them to Christmas songs that aren’t about Jesus and what message those proclaim as well.

2. Slowing down.

We must say “no” to some of our old traditions and some of the gift-giving and receiving to accomplish this huge value. Two practices can help us slow down to enjoy Jesus and family. First, take the week of Christmas off of work, hobbies, errands, and some of the normal routine to slow down and focus more on enjoying Jesus and people. Second, Christmas cards every other year to have more time to focus on Jesus.

3. Time with immediate family.

Christmas is a great time to spend with relatives, friends, and that one crazy uncle, but if we are not careful, we can miss out on having even a moment with our immediate family. Plan ahead and have time set aside for just our household to enjoy Jesus and one another.

4. Time with Church family.

For many, our relatives might not love Jesus, and there is something unique about enjoying this season with others who have trusted Jesus. Prioritize spending time with your church family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Spend time in your church communities to celebrate evidences of God’s grace together and pray thanksgiving for all the gifts Jesus has given us.

5. Time for mission.

Christmas reminds us that Jesus left his home to invite us into a relationship with him. The Christmas story is a story of mission and the best way to honor this story is to live the story by inviting others into this story! Pray through who you can invite over for a meal on or around Christmas. Invite neighbors and friends to Christmas gatherings and events that share the good news of Jesus.

6. Time for charity.

Giving and receiving presents is nice, but often we need nothing more than giving to others who are in need. Giving and receiving gifts are not evil, but there is an opportunity to remember those who need the basics—food, water and clothes. Christmas is a time to worship our charitable God who gave us everything we need by choosing one or more charities to give to or serve alongside as a family. We can use this season to give to real needs and raise awareness within our household, church, and even extended family of great opportunities to give to!

7. Taming the Grandparents.

Grandparents are a gift and some of us are blessed to have generous and loving grandparents who love to bless (aka spoil the living daylight) our kids with presents and candy. Sometimes, they can be so excited about Christmas that they go overboard in the presents and candy category and give more than any kids could possibly know what to do with and can accidentally enforce that Christmas is only about getting.

It can be helpful to thank grandparents for their generosity but also encourage them to give each kid one small gift or a group gift or best an experience gift (e.g., movie tickets, children museum passes, etc.) rather than a million toys. If you are going to pull this “taming” off you will have to set this encouragement earlier in the year and regularly remind as it could be a bit of an uphill battle.

There you have it. Seven values to help us embrace Christmas again! Now many of these values make sense not just for Christmas but for all of life. And that is the point. Taking Christmas back means once again using it as a season to remind us of what is most important and leaving us refreshed and encouraged rather than it being a cyclone of consumerism leaving us with a busyness hangover. Let’s enjoy Jesus and his people this Christmas. Let’s slow down and say “no” to materialism and “yes” to a minimalist Jesus who came and lived humbly and simply and let’s look forward to his return!

—

Jake Chambers is the husband to his beautiful bride Lindsey, and a daddy to Ezra, Roseanna, and Jaya. Jake is passionate about seeing the gospel both transform lives and create communities that love Jesus, the city, and the lost. He currently serves Red Door Church in San Diego through leading, preaching, equipping, and pastoring.

Discipling the Discipled

“Tis but a scratch.”

“A scratch? Your arm’s off!”

“No it isn’t.”

“Well, what’s that then?”

In this famous scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur fights the knight who will not let him pass. It’s a humorous example of denial and a lack of self-awareness. The knight was unwilling to admit his arm was missing!

The scene spirals from there as the knight loses the rest of his limbs and yet is still disinclined to acknowledge his ailments. I’m suggesting that this knight thinks about his former limbs much like many in the church think about discipleship. They are in denial and reluctant to acknowledge their need for it.

This reluctant crowd is not primarily made up of new believers, but rather mature ones. There is a temptation to become set in our Christian ways, even when some of those ways could use further growth in grace. One of the areas mature believers can do this is discipleship.

If asked about discipleship, some believers might answer, “I was discipled. I’m good.” The issue comes in that pesky past tense. It is not as if we can’t talk about discipleship as having happened, but as Christians, we must not only talk about it being in the past. If we see discipleship as something that has ended at some point in our Christian lives, then we are in trouble.

All new believers must be taught about the faith and helped in their discovery of reading the Bible. Simon the Magician needed some extended teaching on the Holy Spirit after having believed the gospel and being baptized (Acts 8:9-24).

Even someone like Apollos, who was teaching others, needed some extra help in better understanding the things of the gospel (Acts 18:26). New believers require assistance in understanding the things of God, just like kids need help in understanding and navigating the world as they grow.

However, at some point, kids usually don’t need explanations about what a bird is and why it flies or how to use a spoon. They have enough information to be able to push forward on their own. However, it would be to their detriment if they stopped seeking wise counsel and advice. Just because they know how to use a spoon doesn’t mean they will know how to balance a checkbook, buy a car, or get a job.

If people need ongoing help discovering basic life knowledge, why would it be any different for our Christian lives? A Christian cannot only talk about discipleship as a past event. It should be a continuous growth throughout all our lives.

But what if the people we are given the opportunity of discipling are not convinced that they need what we are calling them to? What if our “flock” lacks the temporary self-awareness to be able to see their need for discipleship?

What if that person that God has put on our heart to help grow up in the Lord is not interested in the concentrated time of study, prayer, and fellowship? I think there are few things that we can do to help turn this ship.

1. We Live It

Are we involved in regular discipleship relationships? This is the place to start if we desire to point others to this life-giving practice. We can be as convicted about the importance of discipleship as the next person, but if we are not ourselves living per our convictions, we cannot expect to have any success in calling others to have convictions we do not even live out.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes a case for regular confession between Christians in Life Together, but he warns that those who hear the confessions of others, must also be in the regular practice of confessing as well

“It is not a good thing for one person to be the confessor for all the others. All too easily this individual will become overburdened, one for whom confession becomes an empty routine, giving rise to the unholy misuse of confession for the exercise of spiritual tyranny over souls. Those who do not practice confession themselves should be careful not to hear the confession of other Christians, lest they succumb to this most frightening danger for confession,” (Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p 116).

This same danger is inherent for those that do not themselves take part in regular discipleship but expect it of others around them or those that they lead. Bonhoeffer’s application of this warning as it relates to confession is just as relevant to the practice of discipleship.

Others will likely see a person who calls others to discipleship but does not practice it as upholding an empty routine. Therefore, we begin to make an impact with discipleship by being discipled.

2. We Model It

We need to show them what discipleship looks like. This doesn’t happen quickly. One of the most helpful ways to start this is to essentially disciple them without them knowing we are discipling them. Invite them into a group of people with whom we already meet for discipleship.

Another option is to ask them to coffee and talk about the Bible, prayer, and growth in Christ. We can spend time with them and intentionally ask them about their lives and pour into them. Their past experiences with discipleship have likely told them that when discipleship happens, there is an official start date, bugle sounds, and flags wave. They are most likely used to programmatic discipleship, which is where we can show them that it is not a program.

3. We Reinforce It

In our covert coffee meetings, we start to talk about biblical examples of discipleship. We can talk about informational discipleship scenarios like Simon the Magician and Apollos. We can talk about overarching examples of discipleship like Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-35).

We can point to Paul and his relationship with Timothy (Acts 16:1-3; 1 Tim.; 2 Tim.). We can share examples how this process has been lived out in our own lives. By reinforcing this changeover in thinking about discipleship, we want to show that its biblical and we want to make them want it.

A more programmatic type of discipleship focuses on a short period meant to acclimate people to Scripture. It achieves this, rightfully so, through calling people to the need for understanding the basics of the faith.

However, if that is the only way we understand discipleship, we miss the blessings that this lifelong pattern produces. People that have only gone through this type of discipleship may be prone to thinking that discipleship is something they have to do instead of something they get to do.

I would call the “have to” discipleship, law discipleship, and the “get to” discipleship, gospel discipleship. A law commands something, the gospel fulfills and provides the desire to follow the law. Jesus does call us to follow him and to do so with our whole lives (Lk. 9:62).

If we work on promoting gospel discipleship, we point people to the power the gospel has in causing us to want to follow Christ with our lives. This way we don’t weigh them down with commands to discipleship, but point them to the blessings of discipleship.

4. We Multiply It

Once just one other person seems to get it, then we can encourage them to do just what we did. We can help them locate someone in their sphere of influence with whom they can spend intentional time. We can help them biblically reinforce discipleship as a lifelong pattern.

The lifestyle of discipleship continues for them because we are continuing to pour into them as they pour into others. This process of discipleship transformation in the life of a person, a group of people, or a congregation begins with someone taking the first step turning the ship.

Our efforts in changing the view of discipleship in those around us are well worth our time. Most likely, our first attempts at trying to right the outlook on discipleship in our environment may revolve around teaching.

If we serve as a pastor, small group leader, Sunday school teacher, deacon, elder, friend, or coworker, we may be tempted to think that this will all be changed by simply teaching about what discipleship should be.

However, I would argue that unless it is modeled before it is taught in an informational sense, it will be rejected. It is true that the Bible comes to us with propositional truth that we are called to heed, but those truths are meant to shape our living.

This is a blind spot we can have without proper discipleship happening in our lives. If people can see the biblical vision of discipleship as a lifelong process rather than a programmatic system, it can also help with their regular consumption of the Bible.

If we can see God’s Word as already relevant to the small details of our lives and not just a list of truths we espouse, our communion with Christ will be all the more blessed. That, in fact, is the real payoff of the biblical model of lifelong discipleship. Our time with people, growing together in our knowledge of the Word and growing together in prayer, will only further develop our relationship with Christ.

—

Nick Abraham (DMin student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) lives in Navarre, OH with his wife and daughter. He serves as an Associate Pastor at Alpine Bible Church in Sugarcreek, OH. He is a contributor to Make, Mature, Multiply: Becoming Fully-Formed Disciples of Jesus and blogs at Like Living Stones.

Trusting Jesus to Grow the Church

In 2004, the Lilly Endowment one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations invested money into an initiative to answer this question: “What does it take to sustain pastors in such a way that they will flourish in ministry over the long haul?” This initiative (“Sustaining Pastoral Excellence”) was birthed out of statistical data showing a rise in pastors burning out and leaving ministry more rapidly than ever before and a belief that the local church was too important for this to continue.

Covenant Theological Seminary, which was given grant money to help address this question, started the Center for Ministry Leadership, to explore how pastors survive and thrive in ministry. Over a five-year span the center held summits where they brought in seasoned pastors and spouses to draw upon their experience, talk about various struggles, successes, concerns, and brainstorm ideas.

One of the primary conclusions the Center came to was:

“Every disciple – and every pastor – must have a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ and nurture that relationship in a regular and consistent manner. The dangers of not doing so are many, yet, for various reasons busy pastors often ignore or circumvent the process.”

This conclusion shouldn’t surprise us: think about Paul’s parting instructions to the Ephesian elders:

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” – Acts 20:28

The order is clear. Paul tells them to first pay careful attention to themselves then care for the flock. Yet, as the center concluded, most pastors get this out of whack at one time or another or worse get it out of whack continually. This is especially true in the nascent stages of church planting, when it feels like every aspect of the success of the plant depends on the work you put in. But as many pastors can attest to the results for establishing a practice of reverse priorities will lead to devastating results.

Listen to some of the comments from pastors who participated in the program:

“The sad fact is, for most of us in ministry, work for Christ comes before our relationship with Christ.”

“Our hearts are often thirsty for a word from God, but who has time?”

“I feel like Frodo. In the Fellowship of the Ring, he’s talking to Gandalf and says, ‘I feel like butter spread over too much bread.’ I just feel like I’m tired and running on fumes.”

“My relationships and ministry are presently taking place from a place of drought. No wonder I am tired, on edge, angry and restless.”

“I feel like a guy who is driving over the speed limit on a narrow mountain road without barriers. It’s only by the grace of God that I haven’t driven off”

Think about Acts 20:28 again and take a moment to list out some of the reasons why you don’t pay careful attention to yourself before taking care of the flock?

There are many reasons: We don’t know how, we’re lazy, we’re too busy, we have unrepentant sin, it’s hard to invest time, and so on. I remember that all of these “excuses” were at play early on in my own church planting experience. Although I knew I needed to rely on the Lord, I tended to only do this in areas related to my achievement rather than my affections or allegiance. In fact, as I’ve coached pastors over the years, I’ve found that this is one of the most common reasons we head down this path. Because we have an incessant driven-ness to succeed combined with a belief that it all depends on us, we often fail to pay attention to self.

Ambition and achievement isn’t always a bad thing. In John 15, we read that Jesus mentions “bearing fruit” seven times in a span of seventeen verses. It is good to accomplish much, to be fruitful and effective. This is clear from the passage. But it’s also clear fruit bearing must flow from abiding in Christ.

Peter Scazzero writes in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (p. 32):

“Work for God that is not nourished by a deep interior life with God will eventually be contaminated by other things such as ego, power, needing approval of and from others, and buying into the wrong ideas of success and the mistaken belief that we can’t fail.”

If we forget or ignore our identity in Christ and pursue achievement out of our own effort and ability, our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls will be unable to support the weight of this and we will crash.

Archibald Hart who is a psychologist writes, “Most ministers don’t burn out because they forget they are ministers. They burn out because they forget they are people.”

If we’re going to be faithful and fruitful disciples of Jesus who are able to effectively care for the church God is calling us to lead then we are going to need to live out of a relationship with Jesus that is nurtured on a consistent and ongoing basis. This practice needs to start at the beginning of your church planting journey or else you will develop destructive habits that will be difficult to overcome.

Consider the Apostle Paul’s words in Colossians 2:6-7, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Think about how you entered God’s Kingdom. It wasn’t through self-dependence, reliance, or righteousness. Rather entrance into the kingdom came through humility, admitting our inability to save ourselves from sin’s punishment and enslavement, through trust in Jesus alone as the Savior who can forgive and reconcile us to the Father and through submission to him as Lord, living under his rule, care, and will.

Although we entered God’s kingdom by relying on Jesus, we often move on from there and live as if we need him + something else or we just live as if we no longer need him at all and place our trust in other things altogether. But Paul is reminding us that this is a foolish way to live this life. Instead our lives should be characterized by ongoing humility, trust, and submission. This is the way we are to walk.

Paul’s adds to his instruction with four additional statements in verse 7.

First he says we are “rooted in him.” For a tree to flourish the roots need to be firmly planted in soil that can produce healthy and growth. Paul is saying that is exactly what has occurred with us. We’ve been rooted and planted in Christ.

I like how Sam Storms describes this in The Hope of Glory: “God has graciously seeded my soul into the soil of Christ’s unchanging and unconquerable grace.”

Second, he reminds us “we are being built up in him.” Have you ever walked by a property that has an unfinished building with a foundation but no structure? It’s obvious from all the weeds and trash that overruns the property that the owner was unable to finish the project.

This doesn’t happen to those rooted in Christ. At times, we might look a little trashy and overrun with weeds but God is not finished with us and is building us up brick by brick; grace upon grace. He is finishing the work he started.

The third statement he makes is that “we are established in the faith.” As God once opened up our eyes to the truth of the gospel so that we’d see it and receive it by faith, he is continuing to show it and confirm it to us. There are days we are on shaky ground; our faith is wavering, we have doubts, anxiety, and questions about our leadership or the viability of the church. Yet God is working in and on us to strengthen us in the faith.

Notice how Paul says God goes about doing this: “just as you were taught”. The way he roots us in Christ through the gospel is the same way he builds us up in Christ and establishes us more firmly in the faith.

In a sermon on this passage, Ligon Duncan stated:

“All growth and progress in the Christian life must be consistent w/its beginning. If we began the Christian life by professing Christ as Lord, our living of the Christian life must be consistent with that profession. If Christ is the object of our faith, if He is the one who saves us, then surely it is Christ who must be the sphere of our spiritual growth and development.”

As we walk, we need to continually immerse ourselves in the depths of the gospel, remembering our identity and the security, hope, and riches that accompany being united to Christ. We need to walk with others who remind us of the message we probably just preached. We need to daily address doubts, fears, dreams, accomplishments, efforts, and idolatries by running to Jesus and living a life of ongoing humble, trust, and submission.

Finally, and this is by no means an afterthought for Paul, he writes that we should be “abounding in thanksgiving.” All of this is and continues to be his work of grace in our lives. He has given us every reason to overflow with affection and worship and the interesting thing is that as we “abound in thanksgiving” recalling his gracious way with us, this practice increases our affection and allegiance to him.

If you are embarking on the church planting journey put this walk into practice immediately. Failing to pay attention to yourself before you care for the flock might be sustainable for a moment, but it will eventually lead to a disengaged pastor who is at risk of derailing their life and ministry. And if you are a pastor who has failed in this area, it’s not too late to correct the course. Just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord start walking in him.

—

Jason Roberts is the founding Pastor of Crosscurrent Church, an Acts 29 church in Virginia Beach, VA.  Fourteen years ago while working for Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, FL, God began to lay the church planting calling on his heart and after some time of investigation and holy arm twisting, he packed up the family, moved back to “the Beach” and planted in the fall of 2002. For the past eight years, he has also given considerable time to coaching and training church planters and pastors. This past fall he transitioned into the corporate world where he now works as an Executive Coach for CACI, International, coaching senior and mid-level managers at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. He still lives in Virginia Beach, with his wife of 23 years, Aimee and his five children.

Faithful Today and Prayerful for Tomorrow

I have always been inquisitive, so much so that my mom couldn’t go an hour without me asking where she was going, what we were having for dinner, or when dad would be home. It’s not just curiosity, but it’s also an innate desire to prepare. I can spend hours thinking about what to make for dinner, outfits for the week, or a single conversation needing to be had. Right now, you are likely thinking, “She’s crazy. I should stop here,” or there might be a small chance that this resonates. This sincere determination to know what’s ahead and prepare accordingly. I can’t think of anyone who enjoys being caught off guard. We want control and composure, and ultimately to be prepared for whatever is coming. I think this must be why the scriptures repeat over and over again how we must focus on today, how Jesus has gone before us, and the significance of God’s sovereignty. This is the spoken and inspired Word, but we still forget it’s truth.

And in the entire thread of Scripture, we read how God sent Jesus to go before us to completely fulfill the gospel and prepare the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. God’s faithfulness has never failed. It has been tested, it has been doubted, and it has proven unshakeable. Still, the question remains, why is it so difficult to trust God with tomorrow?

In Exodus, God led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He provided manna for the day, and only that day. He declared faithfulness and commanded dependence. The people knew only how to follow God for the single day ahead of them. They hadn’t a choice to ponder his provision for the next day, week, year. They weren’t planning for anything; they were just walking forward.

How would our lives change if we were faithful today and prayerful for tomorrow? We get more caught up praying for today and promising faithfulness tomorrow.

At the end of the day, it’s fear. We are so afraid of the possibilities, the rejection, the weight of responsibility that we end up missing things. We miss grand opportunities, meaningful connections, and simple yet glorious moments. God’s displayed glory is held back when we neglect to ask for it.

We don’t pray.

When I look at Scripture, I see a lot of stories that demonstrate God’s sovereign will through his people’s dependence. Moses wouldn’t have led the Israelites if he hadn’t been commanded by the Lord to do so. The way set before the Israelites is a direct representation of the God who sent them on that way. They walked in obedience because they listened to God’s direction.

If we did pray for today and just walk forward, I have a feeling that we’d be walking more restfully, joyfully, and fruitfully. Our minds would not be anxiously preparing each moment, interaction, and opportunity. Instead, we could restfully trust in God to be who he says he is and we’d get to watch him provide us with victories one day at a time.

Our hearts would not feel the burden of responsibility to accomplish more than we’re asked. Rather, we would be open to listening for a still small voice that leads to God’s work. Our spirits would not fall into self-sufficiency, which quenches the Spirit and results in nothing. Instead, we would abide in him who produces fruit and faith that leads to heart worship.

These distinctions of fear and faith lead us out of death and into abundant life. The spiritual discipline of prayer takes care of tomorrow, and next week, and next year. If we can pray, we can rest. And if we can rest, we can trust God with tomorrow.

This is so much more than letting go of control; it is believing that Jesus did become a man who died for our sins and defeated the grave. Because if the gospel is true, and Jesus did this, then how can we doubt tomorrow? If the Kingdom of Heaven has been prepared for our arrival, is not tomorrow readied too?

Bruce Wilkinson says, “Simply put, God favors those who ask. He holds back nothing from those who want and earnestly long for what He wants.” This is my challenge to you. Pray earnestly for tomorrow, and walk boldly today. After living like this, evaluate the desires, opportunities, and trust that God provides. My guess is that favor will follow your faithful prayers.

—

Chelsea Vaughn (@chelsea725) has served a ministry she helped start in the DFW Metroplex since she graduated from college. She received her undergraduate degree at Dallas Baptist University in Communication Theory. She does freelance writing, editing, and speaking for various organizations and non-profits. She hopes to spend her life using her gift for communication to reach culture and communities with the love of Jesus.

The Morning After the Election

As a white, educated, and west-coast city dweller I've been isolated from some of the pain and fears of many others. I want to spend more time listening. This election hasn't created a division; it has exposed it. It didn't create fear, resentment, distrust, or disrespectful debate. It showed us the mirror and pierced our echo chambers. I pray we move forward by breaking them down. I pray we can listen to each other without dismissing others as deplorable, vile, or subhuman. Our political debate this year was just like our Facebook walls not by coincidence. Our country is lost, lonely, powerless, fearful, hateful, prejudice, and spiteful (not just Trump and his voters).

It's not the moral decay that has me feeling we have an unChristian nation; it's our fears and the anger that expose it. A society that knows the love of a suffering God to make himself close to us doesn't live in anger. A society that knows the power of resurrection doesn't live or vote in fear.

In the coming days, we will hear cheap talk of unity and peace—cheap because it will not require the pain and burden of the love nor the power of the gospel. By unity, we will describe an ability to accept results. By peace, we will mean an ability to wait a few years before we have a public conversation and vote. We will retreat to our silos to plot revenge or conquest. The unity the gospel describes is not cheap, but costly. The peace of the gospel isn’t weak, but powerful.

Unity Comes From Love

The love of Jesus forms any true bond of unity. The central message and love of God to humanity, the gospel, is driven by unity. God must and shall live with his people. The story of Scripture is one of a faithfully loving God is the self-sacrificing pursuit of the healing, well-being, and life of his creation.

Humanity only finds life unified to the Triune God. The essential markers of the gospel, Jesus’ incarnation, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, sing to our souls the lengths, heights, and depths to which God will go to be with us—his love.

This is how, Paul, can so confidently write that this perfect love of the Father, Son, and Spirit drives out all fear. A human heart which receives the breathtaking love of God does not know fear. There is nothing to fear as an adopted child of God. The heart that has this love poured over it is no longer enslaved to our anger.

Unity with one another comes from receiving and extending this same love to one another. This extravagant unity comes with significant cost. We extend God’s love to others by obligating ourselves to them without prerequisites, without hesitation, and without limits to self-sacrifice.

Unity isn’t reached as a vehicle for improvement or as a goal to achieve as a society but as an outflow of the nature of God and his work with humanity. In this invaluable unity, Christ is the object of affection. Love displaces fear and anger replacing it with unity to God and the possibility of unity with others.

Love of neighbor in our society would create unity we’ve never known. Urban areas would love and sacrifice for rural areas. White men would weep with black men and fight for their good. The immigrant would be welcomed with hospitality. Women would stand up for justice. The elderly would encourage the young. The young would respect the old. Enemies would love and receive love. All because of God’s great love and presence with us.

Peace Comes From Courage

We need courage not to fight battles, but to have faith in the victory won in the resurrection. To have the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. While the resurrection of Jesus ensures eternal bliss, it also raises our lives from the dead today. We take courage not in having nothing to lose, but from having received everything—abundant life.

Resurrection means nothing steals, distorts, or deteriorates your life. Christ is alive. You are alive. This crucial courage creates the availability for costly peace. It’s within the confidences of a raised and eternal life that we can walk the harrowing road to the other, the enemy, the neighbor to seek peace.

Peace that does not come from this courage will always rely on a negotiation of emotions to create a sense of calm without discussing differences, like an awkward Thanksgiving meal. Peace that comes from resurrection courage will look differences directly. It will have the will to listen. It will have the boldness to confess pain, struggle, sin, anger, and resentment. True peace comes through brave humility. Above all, the peace won in through the gospel of Jesus brings us to the common path and journey of walking with God in the same space.

Unity and peace are walking with God together. True peace exists in shared worship, shared prayer, and the shared trembling before the sovereign and good God. How will we share our discipleship journeys beyond our class, education, geography, race, or employment? By noticing the powerful body of Christ, he has saved and made new. We fight for common life, common discipleship, and common liturgy.

Desperate Need for Diverse Discipleship Life

Today, for many we are invited to lament our way toward an understanding of the power and beauty of the gospel. For others, we are invited to break our idols in repentance. Still, to others, this is a day that demands we share the gospel life, gospel community, and gospel mission with people who are not like us. We can’t go back to our corners as the Church. We must press beyond dialogue and include each other in the essence of our lives.

—

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 Other Blessing of Family Worship

My daughter and two sons are six, four, and two years old respectively. That means that I am now down to just about 628 more Saturdays with Gracie, 716 with Silas, and 836 with Elijah before they’re all out of high school and enjoying the next chapter the Lord has for them. If God does indeed give my wife and I eighteen summers with Gracie before she graduates, that means we've already enjoyed a third of these summers with just twelve to go.

What a reminder of the value of every day with my family and the importance of spending those days well!

We only get a certain amount of time with our children and I believe that many desire more time with their family members, while longing for this time to be meaningful and consistent.

It seems people enjoy family time and want more of it. So how do we find this time and what should we do with it?

I believe the answer to both of these questions is found in the spiritual discipline of family worship.

FAMILY WORSHIP = FAMILY TIME 

Family worship is a call we see woven throughout Scripture, filled with blessings for the entire home. In my book, Gospel Family, I explore these blessings as a source of encouragement for the family considering times of family prayer, family devotions, and family discipleship.

But today, in light of the constant battle for our time and the time of our family, let us focus on just one of the many blessings that Family Worship brings—family time together.

A family that prays together, sings praises together, and enjoys reading the Bible together will inevitably find themselves blessed with more time together.

When we read the famous words of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, we not only catch a glimpse of family worship, but we also see that family time is assumed in any home that consistently enjoys family worship.

This passage describes a family that engages in family discipleship while sitting in the house together, while walking together, in the evenings before going to sleep, and in the mornings when first waking up.

We need to bring family worship through the front doors of our homes. We need to welcome this natural rhythm of family time and overcome the challenges we face while living in a culture that finds family meals uncommon and family conversations, free of smartphone distractions, just as rare.

Family worship cultivates a pattern of family time, inviting everyone in the home to push aside all distractions, take a break from all media, and just be still in the presence of God and one another for a few minutes every day. It simultaneously strengthens our relationship with the Lord and our relationships with our spouse and children.

MEANINGFUL FAMILY TIME

It’s not enough to just carve out time together, for some of the most stressed-out families are stressfully sprinting through life together, all-the-while, missing out on any profound connection or significant conversation. Just because we’re in the same room, at the same restaurant, stuck in the same traffic, or running the same errands, it doesn’t guarantee that we’re on the same page or growing together as a family at all.

Family worship doesn’t just produce family time. Family worship produces meaningful family time.

When a family engages the Word of God together, shares prayer requests together, or enjoys worship music together, there is a deeper connection as hearts are opened and real life, real concerns, real fears, real hopes, and real needs all begin to trump the ever-busy calendar.

Chores, meals, dishes, TV shows, video games, appointments, meetings, dance rehearsals, baseball practices, and even church events can easily hijack any given week, leaving us little meaningful, private, undistracted, family time.  But when we enjoy the presence of God together as a family while sitting around the house, while walking together, and before going to sleep, we protect the most important thing on every week’s calendar: family worship.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

This meaningful family time, our consistent time of family worship, doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming. Even if your family has never practiced family worship before, you can begin now by implementing these three things:

PRAY TOGETHER

Just spend a few minutes each day, sharing prayer needs and then praying together. One person can pray or every family member can have a turn praying. It’s often helpful to choose a prayer spot in the house so that the family gets used to the routine.

READ THE BIBLE TOGETHER

Choose a family Bible that works best for your family, whether it’s a translation that everyone can understand or, perhaps, a children’s story Bible that is age appropriate. Keep this Bible near the dinner table and read one story every time you sit down for dinner together. Ask a few questions about the verse or story and begin to cultivate an atmosphere in the home where spiritual discussions are normal. This will overflow into the natural rhythm of your days as you’re playing at the park, driving in the car, or getting ready for bed, for in those times, your spouse and children will feel more and more comfortable discussing spiritual and biblical questions.

WORSHIP TOGETHER WITH MUSIC

If someone in your family plays an instrument, encourage them to learn some praise songs your family loves. Or, you can simply sing together after your prayer time or at night before going to bed. Another way to bring worship music into the home is by simply creating a worship playlist on your phone or tablet that can be playing in the house and car throughout the day.

It’s amazing how these simple practices can transform the flow of family life in the home.

—

Jonathan Williams is the founder of Gospel Family Ministries (www.gospelfamily.org). He is also the author of Gospel Family. Jonathan enjoys this ministry alongside his wife, Jessica, and their three children, Gracie, Silas & Elijah. With a heart for families and the church, Jonathan also serves as the pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.

Originally posted at Gospel Family. Used with permission.

Prayer is the Most You Can Do

One of the things that have always captivated me about the life of Jesus is his constant communion with the Father. In one instance, Luke writes: “When Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples came and said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples’” (11: 1). Jesus chose a certain place to pray, but it was not the marketplace. He had a habitual communion with the Father. If Jesus (who knew no sin) needed to pray “in a certain place,” away from the distractions around him, how much more do fragile and weak people in modern societies, with all of its distractions, need to pray?

Prayer wasn’t a religious to-do checklist for Jesus.  For him prayer was like breathing. This was not an isolated event.  Elsewhere Matthew 14: 13 tells us: “[Jesus] withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” And Mark 1:35 says, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Or Matthew 14: 23, “And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.  When evening came, he was there alone.”

Again Luke 6:12 says that, “He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”  Prayer is communion with the Father.  Jesus lived a prayer-saturated life during his ministry on earth.  So when the disciples saw him having communion with the Father in this way, they approached him.

Lord, teach us to pray

Looking up to the Lord as a much better (or more qualified) teacher than John the Baptist, they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  The disciples had seen John teaching his own disciples to pray, and they had seen Jesus praying to his Father earnestly.

Therefore, when they saw the communion that Jesus had with the Father through prayer they wanted that more than anything else.  Ironically, they did not ask, “Lord, teach us to preach, teach us to lead, teach us to disciple and do ministry” although they did all of these things later.

Their ministry would flow out of their relationship with the Father in prayer.  And so the first thing Jesus taught was this: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name” (Lk. 11: 2).  We call God “Our Father” by His Spirit because of Jesus who went to the cross.  And so Jesus taught his disciples big God-sized global prayers. He taught them to pray for the hallowing of God’s name. And he taught them Kingdom-centered prayer (“Your Kingdom come”).

But why aren’t many of us confident in prayer? In Matthew 7: 9-11, Jesus awakens the disciples and us with a simple logic, when he said,

“Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Idols prevent us from praying

Sadly, many of us do not feel the need to pray until disaster strikes in our countries or homes; or unless  cancer, physical debilitation, or great destruction shatters our pride to our great need of God.  More often than not, it’s our idols that prevent us from praying earnestly, because idols distract us from the more important things— like prayer.

The greatest barriers to living prayerful lives are not always bad things, but good things.

Bad things tend to make us pray, but not good things because bad things are not our most darling idols– good things are.  And these good things are blessings from God that we look to in order to give us comfort, security, safety, convenience and ease.  We can pull off all our organizations with managerial skills because we are a pragmatic people.  But prayer is spiritual so we find it to be the hardest thing to do.

Prayer, as simple as it sounds, is not simple for the vast majority of Christians when it comes to actually doing it, because everyone struggles to pray.  Sometimes, we don’t know how unspiritual we are until we start to pray.  I sometimes struggle to have prolonged periods of tarrying in prayer unless there’s a desperate need.

By God’s grace, I try to make it a habit to pray silently while in the train, workplace and leisure.  And though early morning prayers are often a struggle, the time I enjoy it most is at dawn.  Nothing is as revolutionary in the Christian life than to become a person of prayer.  But unless we put in prayer times as part of our daily schedule in our calendar, it will become harder for us to pray.

A common widespread misconception

In times of trouble, I’ve often heard people say: “The least we can do is pray.” I have probably said it too. But as a pastor once said: prayer is not the least we can do, but the most we can do.  What does prayer do?  Prayer tears down our self-reliance, and increases our reliance and confidence on God.  As Martin Luther (the reformer) said:

“None can believe how powerful prayer is, and what it is able to effect, but those who have learned it by experience.  It is a great matter when in extreme need to take hold on prayer.”

And he went on to say,

“I know, whenever I have prayed earnestly, that I have been amply heard, and have obtained more than I prayed for.  God indeed sometimes delayed, but at last He came.”

Grace frees us from legalistic praying

Again, we pray not to become a righteous person, but because we are already declared righteous by God in Christ (2 Cor. 5: 21). We pray not because we have to, but because we want to. Resisting legalistic praying comes from an overflow of our confidence in Christ.  God’s grace frees us from legalistic praying. Grace frees us to come boldly before the Father and confess our sins to one another (Jas. 5: 16).  God’s grace frees us to pray for the hallowing of God’s name, as opposed to Pharisaical public praying that seeks to be seen by men (Matt. 6: 5).  We pray fervently not to become accepted by God, but because we are already accepted by him in Christ.  We pray not to feel better about ourselves and look down on others who don’t pray, but we pray so that we can lift up others who are in need, with love and humility.

Furthermore, we pray because we’re desperately in need of God’s intervention.  In Luke 9: 40  a father who had a boy with an unclean spirit approached Jesus with a great sense of helplessness.  He said, “I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” The disciples were not able to do anything with this particular case and neither could us.  Later on in Mark 9: 28-29 the disciples asked Jesus in private why they couldn’t cast it out, and he replied: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” 

The point is this: we are helpless and powerless over the kind of work that God is calling us to do.  We’re constantly in the middle of warfare (Eph.6).   So even in our disciple making, no matter how many hours we spend with people, we cannot aid the work of the Spirit in a person’s life without prayer.  This is why: in all that we do, praying is the most we can do.

The purpose of earnest prayer

I Peter 4: 11 says, “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything (i.e., in all our speaking, disciple-making and serving) God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.  To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

The purpose of prayer is that we may repent from self-reliance and be prevented from saying, “We did it with our strength; we were clever and bright.” Or, “We had the credentials and the educational qualifications.”  Or that, “We were smart and gifted” or that, “We had the money and power backing us up.” Or that, “We had cleverly devised ideas borrowed from the corporate world.”  Or that, "We had the latest strategies on how to grow church.”

We might never confess it out loud, but our attitudes and actions can betray us and reveal where our ultimate confidence really lies.  The ultimate purpose of prayer is that we may serve, speak, sing, teach and lead with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God alone may be glorified.

As Jonathan Edwards said, “There is no way that Christians, in a private capacity, can do so much to promote the work of God and advance the kingdom of Christ as by prayer.” God’s purpose for us is that we get the joy of seeing him at work in the world through all of our work and prayers, and that He alone gets the glory.

God’s means of recruiting and moving workers for active service

Jesus said in Matt. 9: 37, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  Japanese, for instance, are the 2nd largest unreached people group.  And Jesus' solution for recruiting workers is verse 38, which says, “Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  Jesus is sovereign! He is the Lord of the harvest.  There is a massive need for workers and our responsibility is to pray earnestly to God to send out laborers.

There is still a need for more workers, and so great is the harvest of souls around us that no single church, no single denomination, no single organization or a small network of Christian workers can accomplish the task.  There is a need for unity for a citywide, nation-wide Gospel-centered movement in Tokyo, Japan and the world.

Prayer is a God-ordained means for birthing that kind of unity and movement.

Moreover, we must also feel desperate in our prayers because there are desperate needs all around us. Desperate situation requires desperate measures and prayer is God’s means for us to feel desperate before him.  But when we pray we also rejoice with confidence knowing that Jesus is Lord of the harvest.  He’s the Great Farmer!  It is his harvest field.  The unreached peoples belong to him, and he is patient.  As we look around us, and the state of our times, prayer is essential more than ever.  With a great burden, Jonathan Edwards wrote in his day:

“The state of the times extremely requires a fullness of the divine Spirit in ministers, and we ought to give ourselves no rest till we have obtained it. And in order to [do] this, I should think ministers, above all persons, ought to be much in secret prayer and fasting, and also much in praying and fasting one with another. It seems to me it would be becoming the circumstances of the present day, if ministers in a neighborhood would often meet together and spend days in fasting and fervent prayer among themselves, earnestly seeking for those extraordinary supplies of divine grace from heaven, that we need at this day.” – Jonathan Edwards

All of us may not go to cross-cultural missions, though I hope many or most of us would. All of us may not be preachers, but all of us can pray “for extraordinary supplies of divine grace.”  We have been given the privilege to pray.  We’re told in James 5: 16, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”  As a people who have been declared righteous in Christ our prayers have “great power as it is working.”  How comforting it is to know that some of the most effective prayers were prayers prayed by men with nature like ours, and God answered with incomparable power.

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not train, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit” (vv 17, 18).

The goal of my prayer is that God be glorified in sending many into his harvest field among the unreached people groups.  Would you join us in praying for the mission fields to bear much Gospel fruit?

—

Joey Zorina is a church planter in an artistic neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan.  He writes articles, essays and devotionals for Living Life, and blogs occasionally @outsidecampers and @regeneration).  He asks that you please pray for them and the Japanese.  You can connect with him at https://twitter.com/JoeyZorina

The Gospel Between the Lines: an Interview with Rommel Ruiz, Illustrator of Golly’s Folly

Editor: We are excited to share an interview with Rommel Ruiz, illustrator of Golly’s Folly. Described as:

“Everything is meaningless”, King Solomon writes in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Inspired by this message, Golly’s Folly is a thrilling, adventurous story, dispelling the notion that things can satisfy.

The vibrant illustrations will carry your child along on Golly’s rollercoaster attempt to fulfill his desires with stuff. Share this much needed story about what truly matters, perfect for reading aloud.

Sean Nolan, Staff Writer GCD: Tell us about yourself?

Rommel Ruiz: I was born in the Dominican Republic and met my wife, Anny, there. She moved to the U.S. to study physical theater about ten years ago. I followed a couple of years after and also studied physical theater, and we married in 2008. We have two daughters: Bel and Lyz and our church home is Reality L.A.

GCD: What path led you to become an illustrator?

RR: As many of us growing up, I drew since as early as I can remember. I daydreamed at school while doodling in the corners of my notebooks. I credit growing up in the Church with my interest in the arts. Going to school for theater, I was inspired by my Christian worldview to use my gifts and talents to express it. At one point [my wife and I] even auditioned for Cirque du Soleil.

I compare my early years in the U.S. to the “three paths” in Lord of the Rings. I was pursuing my passion at the time, theater; while working as a freelance graphic designer; and trying to figure out marriage. I only considered illustration as a backup plan if theater didn’t work out. Even though I went to school for graphic design (years previous to coming to the U.S.) I didn’t have a direction for it. Then when my first daughter was born in 2013, I knew my life would change. I started focusing on illustration and working in my home studio.

I also should mention that I was working as a visual arts teacher at a middle school during most of these events. That was the most stretching endeavor of my life so far. At some point, my brother, Eleazar, approached me about helping him create a character to be a mascot for his studio. This eventually turned into Golly and the book.

GCD: With your background in theater, and as a creative, what do you think of the “Christian” film industry that has arisen in recent years?

RR: Oh man. I often wonder what kind of message those movies send to those who don’t identify as Christians. So many of them seem unrealistic and oversimplified. I have a hard time relating to them—and I am a Christian! They’ll try and depict someone praying and having all their problems solved. That has not been my experience. The Christian life is not that black and white.

On the other hand, there are movies that don’t portray a religious theme but ask questions that are far more universal and compelling to those who embrace the gospel. Take Contact starring Jodie Foster, for example. I think a film like that asks more universal questions about belief and faith that people can relate to than a lot of the things in the “Christian” market.

Another movie along these lines is The Book of Eli. It makes no effort to be overtly Christian but gives us much to think and talk about. Even the recent “Noah” movie, had a lot of good content for discussion, regardless of the criticism it has received from the Christian community.

Francis Schaeffer once said “Christian art is the expression of the whole life of the whole person as a Christian. What a Christian portrays in his art is the totality of life. Art is not to be solely a vehicle for some sort of self-conscious evangelism.”

There’s not such a thing as “Christian” or “worldly art,” there is just “art.” What we express in sound, word, movement and hands it's our worldview, what we believe and live for is the real catalyst for art. Often, the Church is guilty of being really unimaginative.

Like we’re afraid of people with questions, who don’t think like us. But God is big enough to handle questions and thoughts other than our own. The more I read God’s Word, the more questions are raised. I’m not afraid of the unknown, in fact, and I believe God owns the unknown.

GCD: Along those lines, when it comes to the creative process, how do you see your faith influencing it?

RR: My desire has always been to affect culture. Even when I practiced theatre, I wanted to make art that appealed to people outside of the Church—humanity as a whole. Yet, I’ve been changed by the gospel, so that would always be my foundation. I wanted the quality of my work to be so good that the world couldn’t ignore it.

The world has seen a lot of Christian art that was a poor reflection of the God it claimed to represent. As image bearers of God, anything we create should be awesome. Not because we are awesome, but because God is. That’s part of what drives Patrol Books. We want to do good stuff. It’s pushed us out of our comfort zones, but God calls us to use our gifts and talents for his glory and to affect the culture at large.

I take comfort in following in the footsteps of men like Tolkien and Lewis; they weave faith in between the lines

When I dive into the process of creating something, I take comfort in following in the footsteps of men like Tolkien and Lewis; they weave faith in between the lines. Life is not straightforward, I’ve told God: use me as you want. In this season of my life, I cannot fully devote myself to do exactly what I want because of natural constraints from life, but I told him to use me to the full—I want to do that for him.

But I don’t see the whole picture. It’s his story—not mine—it’s not black and white. I want to make art that brings that struggle. That is real. I want to communicate a beautiful truth…but it’s a truth that has many layers. It’s not an A-B-C super organized truth, real life is messy. I am a Christian first, and then I make art.

GCD: When you have clients paying you to make artwork for them, do you find it difficult to incorporate your faith into the project?

RR: Interesting question. No, I always try to bring my best and work with integrity. Which in itself is an outflowing of my faith and obedience to Christ (Col. 3:23).

But, when I take paying clients, they’re paying me to make visuals that will communicate their brand and message—with excellence and honesty. I don’t see a conflict in making it for paying clients as a living.

GCD: Have you found other Christians in the art community you look up to?

RR: Wow, too many to mention.

I’m currently being mentored by Matthew Bates, animator and character designer who has worked for Disney Animation and many other studios. Another amazing artist working at Disney is Armand Serrano and painter, writer, and thinker Makoto Fujimura.

I get a great degree of inspiration by guys like them, not just because of their incredible skills but because of their humility, character, and testimony in and out of their industries.

Also, I love the work of Don Clark, of Invisible Creature, Luke Flowers, and Josh Lewis, among many others.

GCD: What other influences have affected your art?

RR: Ufff, this one is hard as inspiration comes literally everywhere. But here we go:

From the top: Epic fantasy from Tolkien, like The Lord of the Rings and Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Even though it’s used for horror, there are interesting elements of transformation in there. Anything by Dr. Seuss. And I love the book, Where the Wild Things Are.

I’m influenced a lot by mid-century design. I also like Charley Harper, Martin and Alice Provensen, Ronald Searle, Eyvind Earle, Mary Blair, Maurice Noble, Jim Flora, and a lot of 1940s/50s animators. A lot of illustrators are being influenced by this time frame of illustrators. I’d like to explore other styles as well in the future.

GCD: Well it shows in the final product. The artwork in Golly’s Folly is impressive and beautiful. How long did it take you to finish it?

RR: It took three years because I had a full-time job and a family. It shouldn’t take more than a year normally, but I wanted to do my best and not compromise quality due to other commitments.

GCD: What sort of influence does being a father have on your work?

RR: The other day I took my family to Disneyland, and it was breathtaking to see my daughters just marvel at this world. Bel (my oldest daughter) was elated when Ariel (a parade actress) waved and smiled directly at her. I said to myself: I want my daughter to melt at the beauty of the gospel. So I want to create work that points her towards the beauty and awesomeness of our Creator.

When it comes to children’s books, it’s sort of a new world to me, I’m just soaking it in. I didn’t geek out on children’s books prior to now. Having kids is what has thrown me into the world of children’s literature. I know of a few children’s books that are distinctly Christian and also amazing.

But I wasn’t overly impressed with the art. It’s hard to find ten children’s books that are all incredible. Not that I’m saying our book is amazing, but that’s what we’re striving for. We want to merge really good art with really good theology, that’s our aim.

Because the gospel is beautiful, there should be no divide between truth and beauty. That’s where the vision for this first book came from.

GCD: A few fun questions: If you got stuck in an elevator with one famous/influential person (living or dead), who would it be? Why?

RR: Dietrich Bonhoeffer. While it’d be cool to sit with CS Lewis or Tolkien, something about Bonhoeffer during such a dark time in history and his radical response of faith is awe-inspiring. His understanding of being a light in the dark is so interesting to me.

GCD: The kids want to know: who would win in a fight—the Minions or Olaf and Elsa?

RR: [Laughing] As a father of two girls, Olaf and Elsa for sure.

GCD: What projects are you currently working on that you’re excited about? What should we expect from you in the future?

RR: Right now, I’m working on several projects; one is a graphic novel. I’m also in talks with a couple of children books.

GCD: Since our interest here at GCD is laser-focused on making, maturing, and multiplying disciples, when you create artwork, how do you think it can influence your viewers positively or negatively? Do you think it’s possible to nudge people closer to God via visual mediums?

RR: It would be a little arrogant for me as an artist to say that I could accomplish that. You need that spoken word, to best encounter God (Rom. 10:17). You need all senses engaged to properly experience God. If you remember the brazen serpent in the wilderness for Israel, they weren’t saved by it; it was just a symbol to represent the God who did save them (Num. 21; Jn. 3:14). It’s a checkpoint.

To be sure, God can use a movie, theater, dancing, a photograph, a painting. Anything that engages your senses can connect you to the one who created you. It’s a form of communication, but people place way too much expectation on art for being able to speak to someone.

There was a time when I thought art could transform someone in a way that was unrealistic. And to be sure, sometimes that can happen, art can bring us to look beyond what can be seen, but I think that is the exception and not the rule. While art is powerful, it isn’t a means in itself. When used correctly, it brings people beyond itself and points us to something greater.

One reason I’d love to influence and disciple creative types is to help them see that their identity is more than just the art they create. I’ve been stuck in the performance trap and getting depressed when my production of art didn’t fulfill me. And I’d love to point other artists beyond what they create to the Creator that made them and the Savior that died to redeem them.

GCD: Rommel, thank you so much for your time and for the sweat and blood you put into this book. I look forward to reading it to my kids some day!

Note: Golly’s Folly is available Tuesday, October 18th worldwide. It is the debut release by Patrol Books.

—

Rommel Ruiz was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and strives to create good works with joy, imagination, and curiosity. He is driven by telling a memorable story and crafting powerful messages for clients and audiences.

With over thirteen years of experience working as an in-house and freelance designer/illustrator for a variety of industries, Rommel brings diverse talents and artistic perspectives to every project.

He is a happy husband to Anny (also a designer) and a thankful father to two joyful girls.

Why Missional Coaching

Coaching is essential for a sustained missional community movement. If you are committed to decentralized discipleship, you must make ongoing investments in leaders. We call this coaching.

Training has Limits

Classroom equipping and observation can only take you so far. Eventually, leaders have to start taking steps to lead away from the training ground. As they do this, they need accountability, encouragement, and equipping around real scenarios when they are in positions of responsibility and servant leadership.

I will never forget when our community sent Kory and Emily Oman out to start a new community in their neighborhood. The Omans were incredibly equipped through extensive experience and education. They had been to seminary, conferences, and read stacks of books on missional living. Furthermore, they experienced life on mission overseas and within our community for over year. They were prepared to lead. However, our conversations took on a whole new dynamic when they began to lead. We weren’t talking theory anymore. There were no hypotheticals. They had real people with real stories and real challenges to discuss when they came to coaching sessions. Kory and Emily didn’t have to think about praying and following the Spirit; they actually had to do it. It was in this environment that they began to listen and obey like never before and they learned to pray all over again.

They began throwing the books out the window. Their lives became messy as disciples came into their midst with issues. Their community ended up looking nothing like the ideal or any other missional community Bread&Wine ever had before. Their core consisted of families scattered across the suburbs. Their neighborhood and community wasn’t walkable. Their neighbors didn’t value BBQs, art camps, or any other previous strategies our community tried. Kory had to work nights four days a week. Yet, they took steps forward. They opened themselves up to the possibility of failure. They tried different things and prayed prayers like: “Help us be the church here . . . we want to be the church.” In the end, through prayer, patience, and listening to the Spirit, they established a thriving family of servant missionaries that cared for homeless teenage moms, foster babies, and they helped each other speak the gospel to their kids. They became a diverse community, declaring the gospel, and demonstrating it on the outskirts of the city. Their lives became immersed in the needs, pains, and blessings of community. They got started with books but moved forward through prayer, faithfulness, and processing with coaches. Coaching bridges the gap between books and real life.

EVERY MISSIONAL COMMUNITY AND LEADER IS DIFFERENT

Communities are not carbon copies. Every community is different because every neighborhood is unique, every group of people is unique, and every mission is unique. Each city has different idols, culture, and barriers to the gospel. The relational dynamics within each small community is special. Each missional community’s shared mission brings unique obstacles and opportunities for the gospel. In other words, disciple-making is not a reproducible formula or recipe. Forming and developing a discipleship environment like a missional community is very different from making a cake. Primers, books, and curriculum are all helpful in getting you started and laying a solid foundation, but you can’t just follow instructions. You simply can’t write a step-by-step guide and hand it to people.

Why? This is real life, with real people. The challenges, opportunities, and growth curve for every group of people is different. Furthermore, each leader is uniquely gifted and called. Missional coaches come alongside leaders to be a sounding board, source of gospel truth, partner, and real-time advocate for your missional community. That means a coaching relationship enables the leader to stay focused and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit forward through its dynamic hurdles and calling. Coaches help leaders discover and take the next step in faithfulness. Coaches ask leaders: What does God want us to do now? Coaching is a relationship where unique next steps are discovered and followed.

LEADERS NEED TO BE REMINDED OF THE GOSPEL

Kory and Emily experienced barrier after barrier like all missional community leaders. Our job as coaches was to remind them of the gospel. Coachers are a voice calling leaders to remember who they are, what they are called to, and how discipleship is an act of endurance. As a coach, I spend a large portion of my conversations with leaders reminding them of Jesus, who they are in Christ, and what it means to be a leader of disciples. In the chaos and mess of community, mission, work, and family it is easy to forget where you are and what you are doing. It is also easy to forget what is in your control and what is not.  This is why some coaches feel their primary role is to remind leaders of their own calling and its limitations. Coaches ask the questions: Who does God say you are? Why are you doing this? What is true about God in your current situation?

LEADERS NEED TO KNOW THEY AREN’T ALONE

Leadership is lonely. While everyone shares the calling to be discipled and to make disciples, the leaders of communities carry a unique burden of shepherding, encouraging, and facilitating growth in the gospel. This often leads leaders to feel isolated. It is easy for them to forget they belong to a whole, and they are loved. It is even easier to believe they are the only ones that care.

Coaches meet with leaders, in part, to let them know they are not alone. Within the coaching relationship leaders are supported, cared for, and experience friendship. In a coaching relationship, leaders learn that someone else cares about these disciples, and prays for them. Without coaching, leaders experience burnout as they carry increasing burdens on their own.

COACHING IS ESSENTIAL BECAUSE OBEDIENCE IS EXPECTED

Make no mistake, we are all called to live in obedience to who we are and what God has called us to. The gospel propels us into a new identity where our work doesn’t save us or make us acceptable. In the gospel, we are free to obey our one true Savior-King. The message of Jesus reshapes our entire life: our inner life, our schedules, our hobbies, and our vocations. The gospel changes everything and calls us into his grace in every situation; from the mundane to the spectacular. The gospel saves us into a life of joy that results  in obedience. This is clear throughout Scripture:

Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. – Matthew 28:20

Being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts. – James 1:22-25

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10

Coaching helps leaders understand the things God has called them to do obediently and take steps toward faithfulness. Coaching is the crucial discipleship element of a missional movement that asks: What does obedience look like? What is required to obey? How can I help you? How will you obey?

–

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.

Excerpted from the final installment in our Together book series Multiply Together: A Guide to Sending and Coaching Missional Communities 

God’s Kingdom Come

In ahe heightened success of enlightenment thinking, individualism has ruled the day. This has expressed itself in renewed expressions of individualistic ethics, politics, and religion. Hedonism rules the day of ethics. Libertarian politics is the increasing majority opinion of young voters. Self-centered deism has become the political drug of western culture. This has become true of not only liberal Christianity but also its more conservative branches. In a biblical scope, generations are important. In fact, family is crucial since God establishes his redemptive relationship via families. The God of the Scriptures is the most precious family traditions:

“I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” – Genesis 17:7-8

We can thus draw mildly from human experience. Family heirlooms are a treasure. In my family, the gift of music is important. Nothing works into our veins like a good melody or rhythm. My children have learned this naturally. They dance in circles at the oddest hours. From the oldest to the youngest, music and movement boils in their blood. It is a family tradition. In a much greater and spiritually-grounded sense, the covenant kingdom of Jesus Christ is a long-standing family tradition.

In fact, all of God’s covenants are family traditions. For instance, the kingdom of David, via Judah, can be traced all the way to the concluding life of Jacob in Egypt (Gen. 49:8-11). It finds itself reiterated by even the pagan prophet Balak (Num. 24:17-19). In this instance, long before God’s promise to David (2 Sam. 7), God had prepared an everlasting kingdom as part of the covenant fulfillment to Abraham and Jacob.

Back to my personal example, this would not be unlike one of my grandchildren becoming a significant country musician because God has promised it to my grandfather. In my example, the promise of God himself is missing, but the genes and heritage have been in the works since my grandfather. In the covenants, God attaches his promises to offspring—even the new covenant,

“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.” – Isaiah 59:21

So when Jesus Christ appears on the scene, he is the fulfillment of two millenniums and promises (Matt. 1; Rom. 1:3). He fulfills the promises to Abraham and David in a tied knot that is the New Covenant. Our God is fundamentally a cross-generational covenantal God. He chooses to work within families via his covenants. He binds himself to promises. He alone ensures those promises are fulfilled. He is not the abstract deistic god. He forever remains active in history. He manifests his kingdom in miraculous ways.

As C.S. Lewis alluded to, our God is no tame lion, but he is always good and faithful. His kingdom is a covenantal kingdom promised and decreed by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Yet, it is also fulfilled in the birth and crucifixion of Christ. It is a tumultuous, not tame, history, yet the end is good. This is the covenant history, redemptive-historical, perspective of the Reformed tradition that the Lord’s Prayer alludes to in each of its petitions.

It should not surprise us that this covenant kingdom and promise were deeply ingrained in the conscience of Israel. It was these promises that were sung by Israel in their worship (Ps. 2:7-12). The whole identity of their culture and people were focused on these promises. When their covenant redemption was fulfilled in Christ’s baptism (Matt 3:17) and transfiguration (Matt 17:5), history was shaken. But their history does not stop that.

That this very covenant kingdom is passed on throughout the church is also a miracle – this is the primary emphasis of the book of Acts. Not only does the kingdom pass to the Gentiles, but it still remains passed to their children. The promised kingdom, as the prophet Isaiah foretold, is passed to our children’s children. They all become the covenant community under King Jesus. This is both refreshing and challenging. Our children do not become Christ’s possession at a time of confession; they belong to the Covenant Savior from the beginning.

In Proverbs, Solomon says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children” (Prov. 13:22). Would it not be foolish and shortsighted to exclude their spiritual, covenantal inheritance? Our Heavenly Father’s inheritance is very good. And the covenantal history of the Scriptures challenges us at every step to leave a great spiritual inheritance for our children.

This petition “Thy kingdom come” of the Lord’s Prayer reminds us that our God has established his covenant kingdom from the foundation of the earth. Not merely over geography, but also over all of time and space. It stretches across nations. It also stretches across time within households. Our God will not be denied despite our unfaithfulness (Rom. 3:4; 9:6). God’s promises and election founded in Jesus Christ will be true. The gospel is not found in a nefarious god—who demands good works—but a covenantal Father who bestows out of his abundant blessings. This kingdom has come, and we pray it come in greater glory. A gospel that points to Christ’s kingdom glorifies God by acknowledging his promises to generation after generation. We pray for this kingdom to bring glory to God the Father. The fulfilled will of God is crucial to this kingdom.

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Joshua Torrey is a New Mexico boy in an Austin, TX world. He is husband to Alaina and father to Kenzie & Judah and spends his free time studying for the edification of his household. These studies include the intricacies of hockey, football, curling, beer, and theology. You can follow him @benNuwn and read his theological musings and running commentary of the Scriptures at The Torrey Gazette.

4 Ways to Love Your Wife

1. UNDERSTAND YOUR WIFE

When Peter encourages husbands, he begins with a call to simply understand them, writing, “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way” (1 Pt. 3:7). The word for understanding is often translated as knowledge in the New Testament, so we’re left with this call to simply know our wives; to know her needs, to know her heart, and to continue to pursue her.

Far too often, there seems to be a tendency for husbands to get on the other side of “I do” and put the relationship on cruise control. The dates stop. The long conversations and sweet text messages stop. The flowers stop, and wives are left wanting. I’ve seen this play out to the point of wives seeking emotional support from another man, hoping that an emotional affair, an ongoing relationship through social media, might fill the emotional void. But men who love their wives will keep pursuing her and strive to understand her heart.

2. HONOR YOUR WIFE

Peter continues his Spirit-inspired wisdom with these words: “Husbands, show honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life” (1 Pt. 3:7). We are to honor our wives, recognizing that a believing wife is an heir of the grace of life. Here, Peter is picking up on what he wrote earlier when he said that followers of Christ are born again, “To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Pt. 1:4).

When we remember our wives are heirs of an imperishable inheritance, daughters of the King, that should affect how we treat them. All of the sudden, we are acutely aware of the inappropriateness of disrespecting, dishonoring, or ignoring this incredible woman of God who has the Lord of Lords preparing a place for her while we’re sharing life with her. The fact that our believing wives find their identity in Christ and have the Spirit of the Lord within them should move us to honor them in our words, actions, and attitudes, even when they’re not around.

3. PROTECT YOUR WIFE

As Peter is reminding husbands of the inheritance that awaits our wives, he, in the same breath, reminds us that our wives are the “weaker vessel.” Now at first glance, this almost seems like an insult. We usually associate weakness with inability or inferiority. However, this is a beautiful description of wives that should move husbands into action. The Bible is very clear that God made all people, men and women, and that he created them equal, in his image. And, the Bible is very clear that God beautifully blessed husbands and wives with unique roles and ministries within marriage and within the home. We read about these different roles in passages like 1 Peter 3, Ephesians 5, and Colossians 3.

When Peter refers to our wives as the “weaker vessel,” I don’t think Peter is saying that wives are weaker mentally, spiritually, or emotionally, or inferior in any way, but biologically men are typically stronger and that it should be common sense for husbands to, therefore, protect our wives in a way that recognizes their needs.

Now, full disclosure, I am writing as a man who is unable to beat his wife in one-on-one basketball and who finished a half-marathon a week ago only because my wife basically carried me on her back.

Even still, Peter is calling for men to take care of their wives and to avoid taking advantage of their role as the spiritual leader of the home. As Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them” (Col. 3:19).

When I think about how this is practically fleshed out within Gospel Family, I remember a story I read years ago:

In July 2012, there was a theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, during a showing of the Batman movie The Dark Knight. The Huffington Post reported the story of three couples that were in the theater that night: 26-year-old Jon Blunk who was watching the movie with his girlfriend Jansen Young; 27-year-old Matt McQuinn who was with his girlfriend Samantha Yowler; and 24-year-old Alex Teves, who was watching the movie with his girlfriend Amanda Lindgren.

As the gunman entered the movie theater and began firing his weapon, all three couples dove to the floor and hid underneath the chairs. And in each case, one shielded the other. One used their body to cover their date and protect them.

Even if you have never heard this story and even if I never told you who shielded whom, I believe you immediately picture the men protecting the women. Intuitively, we picture Jon shielding Jansen, Matt covering Samantha, and Alex protecting Amanda. And, if I told you it was the other way around if I told you that the women pushed the men underneath the seats and used their bodies to defend the men, something within you would think that wasn’t the way it should be.

The story of all three couples found the men instinctively saving their girlfriends, using their bodies to keep them from the bullets. All three men were shot and killed, and all three women survived.

This story is tragic and heroic and resonates somewhere deep within us, for we all intuitively know that in that situation, none of us expect the girlfriends to shield their boyfriends. We all, deep down, no matter where you land on feminism or gender roles, we all imagine those men protecting those women before we ever even hear the end of the story. I think it’s this deep place within us that Peter is speaking to here when he calls husbands to protect their wives as the weaker vessel.

4. PRAY WITH YOUR WIFE

Peter tells husbands to understand, honor, and protect their wives, “So that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Pt. 3:7). Somehow, there is a connection between the health of our marriages and the health of our prayers.

While we know that our prayers affect how we live, we see the opposite is true as well. Peter writes about prayer three times in 1 Peter, and every time, he highlights the biblical truth that how we live affects our prayers (see 1 Pt. 3:12; 4:7). Wayne Grudem reflects on this passage writing,

So concerned is God that Christian husbands live in an understanding and loving way with their wives, that he interrupts his relationship with them when they are not doing so.

Specifically, Peter is talking, not just about the husband’s private, personal prayer time, but about corporate prayer between a husband and a wife.

Donald Whitney champions this view as he discusses this passage. He says,

Have you realized that the prayers here are those prayed together by husbands and wives? The text speaks of mutual prayer. Peter assumes that Christian couples pray together. He expected Christian husbands to conduct family worship.

Likewise, Charles Spurgeon writes,

This text would be most appropriately used to stimulate Christians to diligence in family prayer. . . . I esteem it so highly that no language of mine can adequately express my sense of its value.

Men have been called to lead their families. But we’re not to be just any sort of leaders. We are to live as shepherd-leaders who spiritually lead their wives by cultivating family worship, family prayer, and family devotions within the home.

What an opportunity, whether you’ve ever led out in family prayer or not, to begin today praying with your wife, seeking to understand her heart, enjoying her Spirit-led prayers as a fellow heir of the grace of life, and protecting her as you lead her to the one who can replace her depression with joy, her anxiety with peace, her needs with abundance, her complaining about contentment, her exhaustion with rest, and her insecurities with boldness!

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Jonathan Williams is the founder of Gospel Family Ministries. He is also the author of Gospel Family. Jonathan enjoys this ministry alongside his wife, Jessica, and their three children, Gracie, Silas, and Elijah. With a heart for families and the church, Jonathan also serves as the pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.

Download a free chapter on “Shepherds in the Home” from my book Gospel Family.

7 Reasons Why Faithful Church Attendance Matters

Going to church every week, week after week matters. If we know Jesus, we should desire to be with his bride. For all those who believe, have a church home, but don't attend consistently, I’m writing for you. If you're one of those spotty non-attenders, I’m writing to you in love but also in truth. Come home! Regular church attendance is not just good for the ministry; it's good for your soul, and for mine.¹ So why is regular church attendance so important? Here're seven reasons:

1. Faithful attenders prioritize God and his Word first in their lives.

A call for regular church attendance begins in what are likely the first written words of the Bible, the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall have no other gods before me.”² How we spend our time is the truest measure of God’s place in our lives. If we are quick to fill the time set aside for worshipping God with visiting family, going to the beach, attending concerts, or just relaxing, we are unintentionally saying those things matter more than God (Matt. 12:48-50, Lk. 14:26).

Just like we set aside time to listen to our loved ones, we need to set aside time to listen to God. Throughout church history God has used one constant to communicate to his people, the public reading and preaching of the Bible. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul tells us,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If we want to prioritize God and what he wants to say to us, we need to prioritize church in addition to our own quiet times with him.

2. Faithful attenders demonstrate their love for Jesus and His bride.

“I love Jesus but not the church” is like saying to a new groom, “I love you but not your bride.” The Bible describes the local church as the bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2 Eph. 5:24-27, Rev. 19:7-9, 21:1-2). It is impossible to maintain a thriving relationship with Christ while at the same time avoiding fellowship with a gospel-believing local church. When we commit to loving the church, we commit to loving Christ.

Parents should be especially driven to attend church regularly. The children of parents who do not attend church consistently are more likely to walk away from Christianity when they are old enough to decide for themselves. Why? Their parents demonstrated week after week that Christ is an add-on, an addition, and if life is too busy, it is okay to ignore him. Parents, please model for your children that Jesus is not only the Savior of your soul but the King of your life.

3. Faithful attenders receive the gospel anew every single week.

There is nothing more important than the gospel, than hearing anew that Jesus is a righteous substitute for sinful, broken, people—for you and me (Rom. 3:21-26, 2 Cor. 5:21). In Romans 10:17, Paul says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Even though we need to hear and believe the gospel every day, it is easy to go a whole week without giving this life-changing message a passing thought. One of the church’s roles is to boldly and lovingly tell us how bad we are and how great Jesus loves us week after week. When we love the church, we love the gospel.

One of the temptations in encouraging each other to go to church weekly is to do so from guilt, to say God won’t be pleased with you unless you go to church every week. That’s legalism, and it is death. So what does the gospel say? It says that in Jesus we already have a perfect record, and now we’re called to live it out week by week. God created us for good works (Eph. 2:10), one of which is worshipping with his body. Apart from Christ, I am nothing. In him, I am everything.

4. Faithful attenders help evangelize the lost and build-up new believers.

In the early church, the Holy Spirit used regular and passionate participation in the church in Jerusalem, a local church, to bring new people to faith in Jesus.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. – Acts 2:42-47 (emphasis added)

It is a miracle when the unchurched and non-Christians begin attending church. There are already a lot of new words, lingo, and patterns to learn. By not attending faithfully, we confuse the newly churched about what it means to follow Jesus. Not only is this a challenging time for a non-Christian attender, but there is also a spiritual battle taking place (Eph. 6:12). When we attend together, we fight the battle together.

5. Faithful attenders cultivate a heart-attitude of gratefulness.

Church attendance is good for the soul. If you’re someone who struggles with sadness or depression, find a church that has God-given joy and commit. It is easier to catch the joy when you are around others who truly have it.

Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Ephesians 5:19-20

One of the benefits of coming to church regularly is the opportunity to give (1 Cor. 16:2). Giving to God has the side-effect of producing a heart-attitude of gratefulness.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. – 2 Corinthians 9:7

Worshipping regularly with fellow believers and giving to the local church can up-lift the soul and refresh us for our everyday life.

6. Faithful attenders encourage fellow disciples in their long walk.

The benefits of attending faithfully are enormous. In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Paul says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Regular church participation gives us the opportunity to use our spiritual gifts to build up the local church and bring God fame (Rom. 12:6-8, 1 Cor. 12:4-11, 12:28). The book of Hebrews says over and over how important it is for Christians to encourage each other and not fall away.

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. – Hebrews 3:12-14

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25

The potential consequences of neglecting church are serious—cultivating a hard heart, not sharing in Christ, turning away, and subjecting Christ to public disgrace (Heb 6:4-6).

Christ warned the Church in Laodicea they were lukewarm. In Revelation 3:16, the Apostle John says, “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” If you are a lukewarm attender, chances are you are a lukewarm believer. God desires that His followers repent from a lukewarm relationship with him and truly seek him. The Holy Spirit wants to set us on fire for God and His glory. Strong attendance helps us heat up our ministry temperature.

7. Faithful attenders bring joy to their leader’s hearts.

Elders, pastors, deacons, and other church leaders face many unsung battles. One of them is shepherding the flock; guiding people spiritually. One way the sheep can make it just a little easier on their shepherds is to come into the sheep pen regularly. Hebrews 13:17 says,

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

You give your leaders great joy when you tell them church matters, and you are willing to submit to their authority (1 Pt. 5:1-11). Scripture tells us that Christ is the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Pet. 5:4). When we submit to the under-shepherds God has put in place, we submit to the Chief Shepherd, Jesus. When the sheep show up, the shepherds rejoice, and I believe the Chief Shepherd does too.

Faithful church attendance matters!

If you're someone who doesn't attend regularly, I hope you'll be challenged to commit truly. It's time to step up! If you go faithfully but have a family member or church friend who comes and goes with the wind, feel free to share, but do so with love and kindness.

If you're a church leader, consider writing regular church attendance into your covenant or requirements for membership, then encourage your members to keep covenant.

Ultimately, this is not done for the sake of an institution or organization, but for the sake of our souls. We want to know and love Jesus, and he gave us his bride, the church, out of his deep love for us. Let's go to church!

1. Check out Matt Schmucker ’s “Those Toxic Non-Attenders” and Garrett Kell’s “7 Reasons Why Faithfully Showing Up Matters”—these two articles inspired this article which was originally written for my church.

2. All Scripture references are from the NIV

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Jonathan Romig (M.Div., Gordon-Conwell, 2013) is the Pastor of Cornerstone Congregational Church, a new church plant in Westford MA. He is also the author of the e-book, How To Give A Christian Wedding Toast.

Is Your Community Proximately Safe or Ultimately Safe?

While in college, I sat down with my dear Grandmother H. during one of my stays with my grandfather and her; we convened in their living room, which had a distinct Japanese esthetic from the items they collected over their years as missionaries there. Normally, we would have sat in her kitchen, playing Monopoly or Skip-bo, or I would have stood against the kitchen counter, watching her bake and cook while I pealed some of her small but satisfying cookies away from the Tupperware where I knew I would almost always find them. For class, I had been assigned to interview a woman whom I considered a mentor. There in the living room that day sat one. She is the kind of tried and true, faithful, sacrificial, and hospitable person you just hope you have a bit of (or more than a bit of) in you as a granddaughter. During our soudan—Japanese for conference—that day, she shared a quote with me that held with her through the years. It was from Corrie ten Boom, “The center of his will is our only safety.” My grandma thought those words were good; I thought of their life, taking an ocean liner over to a new country as a young family, raising children without other family anywhere nearby, seeking others’ benefit and teaching her children to do the same, and in terms of possessions, voluntarily not having much. So, yes, this phrase resonated with her, that the center of God’s will is the safest place to be.

She tucked those words of safety into my soul, something good that would not be pealed away. The initial sweetness that I received from her—like games or times together in her kitchen to teach me about how to make her pie crust from scratch—was accompanied by a different kind of sweetness too. The safety I gained at that pivotal time in my life and still gain through my grandparents is through their wise clarity about truth and through their uplifting affirmations about my own faith. Faith—what a wonderful thing to affirm in another person. I’ll always cherish their joy in my faith. They know that my only real safety is with God, and so, used the proximate safety of our times together to lead me, in various ways, to my true safety with him.

When reading the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, how fitting to think of them in terms of safety too—at least in part, considering the remainder of Revelation after these letters contains prophecies about a tribulation time in which believers will be anything but, in an earthly sense, safe. During that time, the church will want to stay as close to Christ’s will as possible, as close to his heart as possible. So must we too.

These letters gauge how I’ve understood the epistles and Gospels—like a check-in toward the conclusion of the Bible to help me know if I have done the work of interpretation correctly. If we understand what Christ has taught and since nothing is new under the sun, these letters address and report what our collective concerns are to be as well.

Christ’s remarks in these letters also give us an example of how to think of the presence or absence of truth in each other. Typically, he has affirmations and admonitions for each church. The act of teaching each other, directly or indirectly, to remember the truth in our thinking, loving, and doing—we are wise to view this not as being judgmental, but as being discerning and caring; we ought to promote each other’s true safety. Yet, if admonishing one another in the truth ever keeps us from freely and openly affirming one another as well—as Christ does both—well, I know that signals trouble in my own heart to repent of.

Now, through drawing our attention to the themes of Christ’s remarks in the seven letters, we are taught to how to have a safe community, bringing each other to the center of his will in our interactions.

Safe Community is Affirming

Christ is attentive to giving affirmations in these letters; where he sees deeds of righteousness and holiness, he is quick to speak it (Rev 2:2, 13, 19, 3:4, 3:8). Where he sees a cause for compassion, he is quick to speak words of care, and remind of his kind of riches (Rev 2:9, 3:18). Safe community follows his example and looks for every opportunity, every expression of genuine faith in Christ—even a glimmer—that seeks the Word and ways of God. This is an active pursuit, to search out in each other what is honoring to God—affirming each other’s faith, love, purity, service, and deeds. As we do, we encourage each other that to live according to his ways is to overcome and be rewarded (Rev 2:11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21).

Safe Community is Discerning

Safe community is also discerning about sin. Christ is concerned that we not tolerate evil deeds done by those in our communities (Rev 2:2, 6, 20). He also desires that we test those we follow to see if they are teaching us the truth; he is glad for the purity that comes when we can identify those who are not teaching his truth (Rev 2:2). He desires that we give each other opportunity, even generous opportunity, for repentance (Rev 2:5, 16, 21-22, 3:3, 19). And through this all, he desires that we be clear about the standard of sin versus goodness (Rev 3:17-18), and that we never lead each other or permit influencers to lead each other into sin or unfaithfulness (Rev 2:14). He desires that our deeds of righteousness and holiness continue to grow (Rev 2:19). He desires that we remember our motivation, our zeal for Christ, in everything we do (Rev 2:4; 3:15, 19).

Safe Community is Stretching

Throughout these letters to the seven churches, there is a theme of perseverance and endurance (Rev 2:10, 17, 25, 3:10). Safe community stretches toward our goal of Christ because we know that Christ’s sanctifying work in us is never done on this earth. There is always more to learn of him and more ways we can turn to his goodness. Scripture often acknowledges that we will suffer and be handed evil. So, safe community assumes the priority of encouraging each other to not grow weary in keeping his Word (Rev 3:8, 10), to be faithful—even to death if God should ever ask martyrdom of any one of us—to suffer without fear (Rev 2:10), and to suffer without denying him or his Name (Rev 2:13, 3:8). Safe community stretches us toward these ends, prodding complacency and encouraging active obedience to Christ in every somber or every mundane situation we are presently called to endure.

Safe Community is Scriptural

We find how to do each of these points in God’s Word—to know what is sin and what is good, to understand affirmations and rewards of faith, and to endure with zeal for him. Even when pursuing these, we are still left needing more than each other. We are called to each other, to the same faith, and to use our gifts in each other’s service. But we cannot perfectly understand each other even when we share in common the most important part of our lives. Even when we share in the priorities of Christ, we are not able to change each other’s hearts or give each other complete understanding. Further, each one of us answers to Christ. Note that he sees some in the church at Thyatira who are practicing evil and some who are not. He addresses both groups with a different message (Rev 3:24). So, in safe Christian community, we direct each other toward God’s revealed will in His Word because He understands our hearts and He is our final authority. So, safe Christian community directs each other to our God who understands us in his Word as our authority.

The resonant security I have found with my family and with my grandparents comes through having these same purposes—the same Lord. We desire to go back to his Word again and again. This is what they have done for me; and by being further ahead, they have afforded me much. In reflection, feeling understood by my grandparents is not what makes being with them one of my favorite places, though I am much understood; it hasn’t been the cookies or Monopoly games, though they have been much appreciated and are cherished. At the base, what makes being with my grandparents one of my favorite places to be has been our commonality and their unique role in my life to encourage me toward Christ, such that I am helped to find my safety in his will. This kind of safety in Christian community, whether in a soudan or in a coffee shop, transcends generations, cultures, and more.

It seems that we can be afraid of entering into this kind of community because of fear—that we will be quick to judge each other. We should make every effort to avoid judgment by increasing our affirmation of others’ faith and knowing we cannot see the church through a single lens, especially if Christ does not. But if God’s will is our safety, being judged by each other while pursuing his will shouldn’t be our worst fear. After all, if being judged results in helping us discover a way to be more faithful to Christ—then praise God that we have drawn nearer to our goal. Being judged is far from the worst that a fellow Christian can do to me, but I am grieved if we cannot share in Christ’s priorities together for fear of it.

Instead, we ought to be most concerned about Christian communities that we not set proximate safeties (i.e., not being judged) as ultimate safeties when, instead, proximate safeties can aid and accompany our growth toward the ultimate safety of God’s will. Setting proximate safeties up as ultimate safeties in Christian community means that our inevitable failures in judging each other or making each other uncomfortable, for example, will severely deter us from seeking the revealed will of God that Christ has given us in his letters to the seven churches. Christians, the only real safety is the kind that will matter in the end. Grow with me and bear with some proximate “danger” of undo judgment for the purpose of moving toward thriving in ultimate safety.

Christian, your faith is my joy. I have great gratitude to God for the faithfulness, love, and service in you. Persevere in discernment and clarity about sin; do not grow weary of doing what is good. Endure and you will overcome; suffer hardship well, for our King will come on the clouds very soon. And never forget his Word. See your greatest safety in the center of his will so that you can remain steadfast and be readied for his coming.

—

Lianna Davis (@liannadavis) is wed to Tyler and mom to two girls, one who lives in heaven and one who lives on earth. She serves with Hope Mommies, a non-profit organization sharing the hope of Christ with bereaved mothers, and is co-founder at Of Larks, a blog for theologically-minded women writers and readers.

Getting Off the Cul-de-sac

I recently found myself in a conversation with a woman who is a staff member at a Christian summer camp. From what she told me, they do a lot of great things at this summer camp. But our conversation turned tense when she invited (pleaded might be a better word) me to enroll my toddler in their swim lesson program. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for her adamance that it was exactly what my family needed. I told her that we have a membership at the Y for just that reason. But, she insisted, he would reap much more benefits from her employer’s version—the distinctly Christian version—of swim lessons. And here in lies the rub.

The Christian Cul-de-sac

“I have a dream,” started one of the most famous speeches in Western history. The speaker, who needs not be named, then went on to describe a vision of, as his savior called it, “earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

And by that, I mean, a world where our differences in culture and custom were acknowledged and celebrated while all men and women were simultaneously equal and free. Here we are fifty-three years later (to the day, as of this writing) and this dream has yet to be realized.

If I were to contrast Martin Luther King’s dream with the unspoken dream of my new friend from the summer camp they’d be as different as day and night.

There is an idealized town in parts of the Christian West where one turns off the main road to a little street with a cul-de-sac at the end. This is not a thru-street, so traffic is minimal, and there are speed bumps to keep the children safe from SUVs and minivans turning into driveways.

The fifty neighbors living on the street all look alike, make the same amount of money, have two point five kids, and can be identified by the little fish on their bumper. It’s a neighborhood watch community too.

Everyone knows everyone, so if they don’t recognize you, the only logical conclusion is to assume you’re up to no good. You will be reported and deported to another neighborhood because “your kind is not welcome here.”

This cul-de-sac is where mission goes to die.

In this neighborhood, we take whiteout to the “[as you] go” of Matthew 28:19. We don’t go anywhere, we’ve got everything we need in the cul-de-sac. We go to Chick-Fil-A (and secretly wish they were open on Sundays for our benefit) for our meals where the instrumental hymns serve as a discreet reminder of our faith.

We go to a barber shop (also inconveniently closed on Sundays) who’s owner goes to the Wednesday morning men’s prayer breakfast. Our children are members of a soccer team comprised entirely of people who attend our church.

The moms “fellowship” together during the games and use the guise of “prayer” to gossip about a woman who may have lost her salvation by deciding to enlist her kid in a public school.

And, of course, our toddler’s swim classes are distinctly Christian (because the doggy paddle was likely invented by one of the Apostles and how dare we allow the “pagans” to take credit for it).

Forgive my sarcasm. I write and cringe knowing I’m guilty of variations of these ideas as well.

The sentiment isn’t entirely wrong. There is a time and place when we will spend all our time solely with those who worship Jesus. That time is still future. And that place is a new heaven and new earth. Until we arrive at that time and place, we have a mission to give our lives to.

The Off Ramp

The ramp off of the cul-de-sac can be disorienting. After all, when you continue to loop around the same circle of houses over and over again it becomes second-nature, it becomes safe. You drive it in auto-pilot, you don’t even think when you drive a little over the shoulder to avoid a familiar pothole.

But the disorientation can also be life-giving. Do you recall being a little kid and your parents expanding your boundaries? Everything was so new and exciting. Before I was allowed to cross the street and go to the park, I had memorized every square inch of my yard.

But I had done so almost as a captive, unable to leave the confines of the fence. It was like coming awake for the first time to walk over to the park by myself. To feel the wind in my hair as I swang on the monkey bars. I also saw older kids there. And they would smoke cigarettes and curse.

Those last two lines can cause a lot of us to check out. As a father, I don’t want my kid to be influenced by older kids who smoke and curse. But when I think back on my own childhood, I didn’t learn curse words from older kids at the playground; I’d heard my parents slip and use them. And when I first smoked cigarettes, I stole them from grandpa—not an older kid.

This is the inherent problem with the Christian cul-de-sac. It denies and is often blind to its sins while putting the sins (or often just differences) of those outside of it under the microscope of judgment. But if we can get on the off ramp and leave our zone of comfort long enough, we will find that those outside of the cul-de-sac are not all that different from us.

We are all afflicted by sin and suffering and, no matter how white we paint our picket fences, they won’t keep out the sins that dwell within. We need to escape the cul-de-sac not just to bring the gospel to others but also to further press it into our own hearts. We desperately need to interact with others so we can remove cataracts from our own eyes and realize that we are more like others than we initially thought (after all, we all bear the image of God).

We need to be awakened to our own need for the gospel by entering into relationships that may at times be awkward because they expose our own biases and bigotries. These relationships require dependence on God—the one thing those white picket fences do not welcome because they are a testament to the lie that “we’re doing just fine”—because they are uncharted waters.

Yes, the off-ramp can be disorienting, but it is essential that we go in order to be obedient to Jesus’ commissioning. But it’s also beautiful. Who knew that on just the other side of the highway there was a pool three times the size of the one we have in the cul-de-sac? Not only is it bigger but it has diving boards and a water slide. And a whole lot of people that don’t know my Savior or me.

Why would I want to miss out on this experience? Out of fear that my toddler might be exposed to a curse word? Or maybe—worse yet—out of fear that a non-Christian might get close enough to me to see my own imperfections and need for a Savior? God forbid that this keep me confined to the cul-de-sac and forsaking our mission.

Over time, I’m convinced, if we spend enough time outside of the cul-de-sac, even the bigger pools, diving boards, and slides will lose their glitter as they are outshined by the beauty of souls longing for a Savior. If we make disciples where Jesus was previously unknown, we also mature in our own discipleship, for it requires courage and strength foreign to human nature. The courage and strength to reach out to those who might not know our Savior, but the honesty to admit there was a time when we didn’t know him either.

Yes, we’ll enjoy the fringe benefits at that pool—but they are only that, fringe benefits—but they will take a backseat to the better benefit of accompanying God in the only story that really matters: proclaiming his glory and making disciples who will worship him in spirit and truth. I could share more on this, but I’ve got a toddler who’s late for swim lessons.

—

Sean Nolan (B.S. and M.A., Summit University) is the Family Life Pastor at Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, Maryland. Prior to that, he served at a church plant in Troy, New York for seven years and taught Hermeneutics to ninth and tenth graders. He is married to Hannah and is father to Knox and Hazel. He blogs at Family Life Pastor.

Reclaiming Faith Formation

When I first came to faith in Jesus, I floundered. I was 18, I had just started college, I came out of a family that largely didn't discuss issues of faith, and the only exposure to a community of faith was a confirmation class in a Lutheran church my family attended once a year. More or less I was told: “Now that you believe, here is a list of things that ‘good Christians’ does.” Based on where I was, I didn't like the church very much, and I was largely disinterested in the idea of God. I wasn't a very disciplined person; I barely graduated high school. Then in coming to faith, I was thrust into a very disciplined practice, one that not only was interested in the idea of God but everything hinges on his existence and presence in the world. Can you see why I might have floundered?

As I stumbled through those early years of faith, I finally managed to discover some level of discipline and even the ability to discern the voice of the Spirit of God. I eventually would go on to California Baptist University (CBU) upon acknowledging a call to vocational ministry to study theology. There I learned how to study the Bible well; I had world-class professors who not only helped me to understand right thinking about the Kingdom (good orthodoxy) but also helped me understand how to be engaged in right action in the Kingdom (good orthopraxy).

While attending CBU, I ran into many other students who shared my experience. Some of them came to faith at an early age, some later. Many of us had a shared experience, we came to faith and were given a list of things that “good Christians” do with little instruction beyond that.

There had to be another way to learn the teachings and practices of Jesus though right?

In the early years of faith, I rejected anything that smelled of my previous experience. In those years of confirmation (before coming to faith), a bad taste was left in my mouth. The experience was stale and largely narrow. It was one of the things that pushed me away from God, rather than drawing me closer. However, during my studies at CBU, I became intrigued by church history, particularly in the areas of how the church approached faith formation. Oddly enough an experience that served to push me far from God began to draw me closer.

As I peeled back the layers of church history, I discovered that the ancient Church had a process of faith formation that was very rich and comprehensive. It dealt not only with how a person would have good orthodoxy but also good orthopraxy.

The process is called catechesis.

The catechetical process has been used in a variety of ways. Some traditions use it solely to teach the ways of Christ to new converts leading to baptism. Others use it as a process to bring people from unbelief into belief. In either way of using catechesis, there is a structure that the church used to help a new or potential convert know what it means to be a part of the church. In the ancient church, it was not sufficient enough to leave a person to figure out what it means to be a Christian on their own.

Catechesis in the ancient church consisted of four stages and three rites. Robert Webber put together a helpful table in his book Ancient Future Evangelism.

Regarding this process Webber writes: “The journey of disciple making and Christian formation is clearly ordered around the cycle of believing, behaving, and belonging and is accomplished in the context of the worshiping community.” Notice that in the process Webber outlines we see that discipleship begins before conversion and is carried out through the life of a person.

I am convinced that the catechesis used by the ancient church was largely based on what they knew about how Jesus called and instructed his disciples. While it may not be clear as to when the disciples were baptized, we clearly see Jesus calling the disciples to come and see (Lk. 5:1-11), as they believe he teaches them the ways of the kingdom (Matt. 5-7), he prepares him for the work ahead (Lk. 14:25-34), and he sends them into mission (Matt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15; Lk. 24:46-47; Jn. 20:21; Acts 1:8).

Jesus regularly invited the disciples to believe, behave, and belong. In the midst of these things, Jesus would then refine the disciples in a variety of ways that sought to see them fully mature in their faith and action.

Why not use a structure like this in faith formation today?

The church today should return to such a process. Catechism is not only helpful in the work of seeing a disciple mature (as is it’s primary use in most church traditions today) but also to introduce people to the Kingdom. In the catechetical process, you are offering people a place to belong on their road to belief. It is an opportunity for the pre-convert to not only learn how to think about God but also how to live in the community of faith.

To often I am concerned that many churches see a person come to belief, yet leave them there with some version of the sentiment “Peace be with you, go and do likewise.” Imagine if we brought a person from pre-conversion to maturity in Christ and along the way allowed them to practice believing, behaving, and belonging. It would not have to follow such a structure of the ancient church; it simply might encompass the four primary parts of the process: evangelize, disciple, spiritually mature, and membership (assimilation).

The process is a marathon, not a sprint.

We must be careful though not to let the process become a program. The very nature of a process is to recognize that one is transformed in the heart, mind, and will. This doesn't happen in a cookie cutter fashion. What is most beneficial is to have a frame with which to work in but allow the content to be fluid as the person is being transformed by the gospel. As you work through the gospel with a person, you must be fluid enough to address issues as they arise rather than expect them to fit into programmatic frameworks.

By embracing such a structure toward faith formation, we can focus both on the church being a mile wide and deep. Seeing the multitudes come to faith in Jesus, while also see them grown in their maturity. In some ways, it is like pushing a bolder down a hill. You first have to spend time getting it into position; it can be a long and slow process. However, once it catches momentum very little can stop it. Let the church reclaim a process of faith formation that not only sees people come to faith but see them mature to active participants in the kingdom through the church.

—

Paul Hoffman (BAT California Baptist University, M.A. Southwestern Seminary) is the planting pastor of KALEO Communities in Portland, OR. www.kaleopdx.com @paulchoffman 

The Compassion of Community

An incoming freshman texted me at 11pm, which is approximately thirty minutes past my bedtime, and said she needed help. I immediately met her. She just got hit with the news that her mom was diagnosed with cancer for the second time. Her eyes filled with emotional tears, her breathing labored as she tried to speak through the sobs, and her shoulders slumped and shook with despair. I hardly knew this girl, but her grief drew out my compassion. Just as I felt my own eyes well up, my best friend and roommate walked into the room laughing. She had received a funny text and looked up to share the joke when she saw our current state. Immediately, she rushed to us and offered warmth and sympathy. She didn’t even ask this girl’s name but jumped in the mess to provide comfort.

When the young girl left and my roommate asked more about her, we both recognized the beauty in the pain. We didn’t have to know one another to share her mourning. It was a domino effect that happened both quickly and very naturally. If discipleship should look anything like the ministry of Jesus, then what we had just experienced was a very real representation. It reminded me that witness, compassion, and community are essential to a lifestyle of discipleship.

John 11:34-36

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

This excerpt is from the story of the relationship between Jesus, Lazarus, Mary and Martha. The series of compassion is unavoidable. However, earlier in this chapter Jesus is first told the news about Lazarus, and he responds confidently and unafraid of the consequences. Jesus is God, and his authority is duly noted in his initial words.

“This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

He doesn’t seem overly concerned for the emotional health of his friends, but simply declares that this tragedy will lead to his ultimate glory. Some may even say that he seemed to lack sensitivity towards the situation. However, just a few lines down, we see Jesus weeping over the friendship lost. How could a few lines cultivate such a change in response?

Clearly, he walked into an atmosphere that was emotionally intense. The text says that the anguish he witnessed in Mary and Martha moved his spirit and he was greatly troubled. His compassion was so deep that it caused uncontrollable sadness, and he wept. He cried so much that the people who had been ridiculing him a few verses before, turned and said “See how he loved him!” He didn’t hide his pain, and he didn’t declare his omniscience. He shared in mourning, he sowed tears, and he discipled those around him by doing so. He also validated their grief even though he knew Lazarus would be resurrected. The significance of identifying and sharing in pain was more than a teaching moment.

Discipleship in Community

This sliver of Jesus ministry helps illustrate something we don’t often give much opportunity—discipleship in community. Intentional discipleship is often secluded from community and has instead been left for meaningful talks in coffee shops or church on Sunday morning. This limitation is a disservice to all of us but also our community. Jesus went to Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. He entered into their lives and loved deeply as he ministered to them. Lazarus and Jesus were known as close friends, but Mary and Martha were there too. Jesus didn’t choose to isolate his relationship with Lazarus but brought his ministry into the community. Even deeper, the surrounding community received the benefit of their discipleship when they grieved the loss of Lazarus. Jesus knew that the community would reap great wisdom, even if it wasn’t exclusively sown into them.

Ironically, I can think of another story where community overlapped discipleship in my life. It was before an evening event, and the girl I disciple was expressing heartbreak over a boy. Her words, her insecurity, and her confusion were all so familiar. I wrestled similarly when I was in high school and couldn’t find freedom from the incessant self-doubt.

In the moment, I didn’t have any wisdom to offer, so I just sat and listened. My boyfriend called me and asked if I was ready to go and, on a time crunch, I said yes but asked for him to come in to get me. When he arrived he apologized for intruding and turned to leave, but I asked for him to come and sit. I encouraged her to share her heart with him, and I watched the conversation unfold. As she divulged self-doubt, insecurity, and rejection, I watched him fight for her in protection. I heard him express compassion and regard for her heart ache. It was the first time she ever had her value and self worth validated by a man. He didn’t gain by entering into her story, but she’ll forever remember the Truth he spoke. His vantage point was what she needed. He did what I couldn’t do because I invited him in. The grace of God is so often found in community. The body of Christ works together, fulfilling different roles and strengths at different times in the one true story.

Evidences of Community

John 11 shares numerous evidences of love shared in community. For example, Jesus left his plans to comfort his friends, Mary and Martha led Jesus in compassion, Jesus wept over Lazarus, the community around them witnessed, and Lazarus was resurrected. The story is an unexpected account of a raw ministry. They mourned together because they loved together.

Real life ministry is not taking every moment to teach, it’s not using every silence to impart wisdom, and it’s certainly not isolating from the pain. The ministry that Jesus gives is his presence—that’s the strongest witness of discipleship in community. The ability to step back and just be with people.

My challenge for you is to do this yourself. Invite people into the unknown and risky places of your heart, and don’t be afraid to step into someone else's. Don’t fear the complex boundaries of community just let your presence witness.

—

Chelsea Vaughn (@chelsea725) has served a ministry she helped start in the DFW Metroplex since she graduated from college. She received her undergraduate degree at Dallas Baptist University in Communication Theory. She does freelance writing, editing, and speaking for various organizations and non-profits. She hopes to spend her life using her gift for communication to reach culture and communities with the love of Jesus.

Tamar and God’s Grace

I’ve sat around dinner tables when friends have sarcastically competed for the “most broken family.” To prove it, they half-mockingly, half-lightheartedly told childhood stories. Many stories were enough to make you sick to your stomach and bring tears to your eyes even though they were told with a laugh. The reality of pain and scars from family is a self-evident reality. Family can be the Trojan horse, expected to be a gift but bringing wounds instead. There aren’t quick salves for the pain and brokenness that comes from families.

But as I read through the Bible, I’m thankful that God communicates about painful families. His Scriptures don’t communicate about perfect TV sitcom families (which we’ve learned over the years are just contrived anyway).

And if anyone could compete in that story-telling dinner, Tamar could. Genesis 38, Tamar’s story, is a mess. No one wants to preach or teach it. What do we do with this story? Where do you find the grace? Where’s the hope? Oh, but it’s there because God is there.

The Scene of This Family

Judah has just seen his brother sold into slavery. It was his idea, actually, and he has watched his father mourn the loss. The deception must be eating him. Immediately after, Judah leaves his brothers, finds a friend, and decides to live like someone who does not know the Lord God. His corruption is a stark contrast to how the brother he cast off will respond to temptation in Egypt in Genesis 39.

The storyline of Genesis so far has given us hope that God would one day bring a child who would reverse the curse from sin (Gen. 3:15). This child would bless all the families of the earth (Gen. 12:3). The line would bring kings (Gen. 35:11). The promise has been traced from Eve to Abraham and now to Jacob and one of his sons. The emphasis on Judah in this chapter gives us a hint—he’s the son. He’s the one who will bring the descendant who gives hope to the world (which is later confirmed in Gen. 49:10). So we lean forward and pay attention to Judah.

Tamar’s Desperation

So even in Judah’s evil choices thus far, we watch for his children. He marries, but the Lord puts his first son to death because of his wickedness. Judah rightly tells his second son to marry the widow, Tamar. But for his great selfishness (not wanting another heir), the Lord punishes the second son. He also died.

According to the rules of family responsibility, Judah should give his third son to Tamar and provide for her, or he should release her to marry someone else. Judah does neither. He tells her to return home, so he abrogates responsibility to care for her. He won’t release her to marry another. She’s stuck, still bound to Judah’s family but without a husband. She waits. She waits to be provided for and to marry the last son.

But times passes, and she is not given to her promised husband, Judah’s sole living child. During this period in history, a husband cared for you by protecting you. Because of Judah’s decision, Tamar is not only denied the hope of children but also protection, for who knows how long her father will live. She is in a desperate situation. She can have no husband other than Judah’s son, or by Canaanite law, she could be given in marriage to Judah himself.

This family has already seen the consequences of wickedness in deaths, and now a man’s choice to ignore his responsibilities has left a widow desperate. To add to the misery, there is no child, no descendant of this family yet, and though they may not know it, the entire world is relying on this child to come. These are the broken family stories that could be told at Tamar’s dinner table.

Tamar’s Deception

Tamar is stuck, desperate. She turns to deception and dresses in a veil to meet Judah. He offers to pay her for sex and impregnates her. Perhaps this result is exactly what she planned. After all, by the laws of the land, if she cannot have the third son, he is next in line as her husband. But we don’t know what her plan was. Much of the stories of Bible are descriptive. They aren’t endorsed by God, but they tell you the mess as it happened. The moral of the story here is not to deceive family to have a baby, but it is to show that God still saves.

We get a taste of his salvation when we realize that there is a child coming! We can almost feel the audience gasp when they recognize a baby’s imminent arrival so that the line will continue. But the danger doesn’t end there. Now Judah who put Tamar in this hopeless position in the first place threatens her life in the most brutal way—death by fire while alive (v. 24). We hold our breath again.

But she is saved. The truth comes out and at the climax of the story, Tamar is not burned. Rather she is finally given a safe place, a formal place in Judah’s family, and twins are born. A breach has been made, pushing and shoving and pain and wounds, but look! There is not just one child, but two!

God Welcomes the Rejected

Tamar lost her husband, was rejected by the second son, Onan, then rejected by Judah himself. She had no hope, and the family who was designed to care for her brought only pain. But God saw her and was working to welcome her.

We may not see God’s hand explicitly mentioned in the text after the death of Onan, but he is there. Just like in the life of Ruth, even in the pain of death and desperation, God can work to bring salvation. God does exactly this with Tamar. He brought her to a permanent place in Judah’s family with provision and protection (Gen. 38:26) then, he gave her the crucial children.

Because many years later, Ruth would marry the great, great, great, great grandson of that first twin. And Ruth’s child would be the great-grandfather of David. The line would continue. The line would lead us all the way to Matthew 1:3 where we see Tamar’s name with both her children, ancestors of the Hope of the world—Jesus Christ. God brought a child into Tamar’s life to bring her a family. He also brought that child to bring her salvation—Her Savior would come ultimately from the baby she held. The rejected woman was welcomed not just into Judah’s family but into the family of God.

What do we do with Tamar’s story? The Israelites would have read this text from Moses and seen a broken family, the disobedience of Judah, and the deception of Tamar, and they would have learned that God works to bring salvation even in the midst of brokenness, disobedience, and deception.

Pain from families is real and scarring, but the R-rated story of Tamar shows that it does not keep God from working and bringing salvation. Jesus’ genealogical tree portrays the kind of people he came to love, heal, and welcome into his family. You may be able to tell some shocking stories at my dinner table. These kinds of stories break my heart. Even still, God is here to work for salvation for you, and, because of the Son from Tamar’s broken home, he welcomes you and me into his family.

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Taylor Turkington has worked for a church in the Portland area for the last six years, teaching, discipling, and training. She loves being involved in the equipping and encouraging of people for the work God has given them. Before her church life, Taylor worked as a missionary in Eastern Europe and graduated from Western Seminary with an M.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies. Currently, Taylor is a student at Western in the D.Min. program. She loves teaching the Bible and speaks at seminars, retreats, and conferences. Taylor is a co-founder and co-director of the Verity Fellowship.

Adapted from “Where's the Hope for Tamar?" Used with permission.

The Emmaus Model of Ministry

What can we learn from that “walk to Emmaus” about ministering to the people God has placed in our path? In Luke 24, Jesus gives us a ministry model worth imitating. Four ministries served two hopeless travelers on one road in a single day, yet they show us the history-shaping life and ministry of Jesus on a small scale. He walked with us, talked with us, taught us, and brought us to himself through the taking, breaking, and giving of his body for us. These are the ministries of incarnation, inquiry, interpretation, and ignition.

The Ministry of INCARNATION | Draw Near

The ministry of incarnation happens when we become love in the flesh with up close compassion and personal pursuit of the heart. When he found the downtrodden disciples on the road to Emmaus "Jesus himself drew near and went with them" (Lk. 24:15). He showed up in the flesh, entered their world, and physically walked alongside these two disciples.

I love Eugene Peterson's description of Christ’s incarnation in this paraphrase of John 1:14, "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood." He moved into their life, into that particular page of their story at that messy moment. In the ministry of incarnation, we draw near to the people in our path by taking the time to enter into their world and story right now, right where they are. But like Jesus, we go there with a prayerful purpose.

The Ministry of INQUIRY | Draw Out

What did Jesus do after he showed up? He drew out their hearts’ hopes, fears, and desires by paying attention to and poking around in their story with curious questions. This is the ministry of inquiry.

First, he paid attention to their story. He made an effort to listen to them. He walked with them for a while before he said anything. He was aware of and interested in their conversation and their concerns. He was listening for their hopes, fears, and desires as “they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened” (verse 14).

Next, he began to poke around in their story a little bit. He started asking questions. He not only listened but also wanted to learn more (as if he needed to!). Jesus’ compassion made him curious, and so he asked, "What is this conversation that you are having?" “And they stood still, looking sad,” Luke noted. We must stop there with Jesus and see the sadness in their eyes and hear the hurt in their voices.

We, too, can offer the people in our path the ministry of inquiry, drawing out their hearts by using curious questions to explore their smaller story as we prepare to tell them the Larger Story of Jesus.

The Ministry of INTERPRETATION | Draw Connections and Draw Them Up

After Jesus drew near these disciples and began to draw them out, he then began to draw connections between their small story and His Large Story, and thus he drew them up into that Larger Story. This is the ministry of interpretation.

They had grown up hearing all the stories of the coming Messiah all of their lives, but still, they were like those to whom Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures looking for eternal life, but you missed Me. You're supposed to come to Me!" (Jn. 5:39-40). These guys had the Scriptures, but they didn't have Jesus. They knew the Bible, but they hadn't connected all the dots so that Jesus appeared on every page, making sense of the whole Story.

So, he took the time to draw the connections for them by beginning with Moses in Genesis, then walking them through the Scriptures, interpreting them, translating them, explaining them, so that they could see him and see that the Scriptures were all about him (Lk. 24:27).

We must take the time to take our friends to the Story of Jesus, drawing connections between one Bible passage and the others, showing them how Jesus is the center of it all, and drawing them up into the Larger Story God is telling, so that they might interpret their stories in light of his. It’s only when we talk with them on their journeys and “open to them the Scriptures” that the Spirit draws them to Jesus and sets their hearts ablaze with faith, hope, and love in him (Lk. 24:32).

The Ministry of IGNITION | Draw Them to Jesus

Jesus’ fourth ministry to these disciples was the ministry of ignition. By drawing those connections, Jesus drew them up into the Larger Story. He was ultimately drawing them to Himself. That's where he wanted this journey to take them. Pay attention to what happens to these disciples. When Jesus enables them to rightly place their faith and hope in him as he is offered in the pages of Scripture, the Spirit of God ignites them and sets their hearts ablaze with love for him and others.

It may have happened like this:

When he opened the Scriptures to them on the road, he lit the fuse, and their hearts began to burn. 10, 9, 8, 7, . . .

Then at the right time, when he was ready, 6, 5, 4, . . .

Dinner with the disciples in Emmaus, 3, 2, 1, . . .

“When He was at table with them, He took the bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them” . . . IGNITION! He opened the eyes of their hearts so that they recognized Him as the Jesus who had served them bread in those same actions just days before.

He drew them to himself and BLAST OFF! He's gone, and so are they. Immediately they run back to Jerusalem. It's already nightfall, and they’re back on the road, but now a whole day’s journey must have felt like a 100-yard dash. They go straight back to that Christ-and-people-loving community and that Christ-and-people-loving mission to which Jesus had called them on Thursday night. In the ministry of ignition, Jesus drew these disciples to himself and set them ablaze with passion for God and compassion for people by enlightening their eyes and inflaming their hearts to see and to serve him for who he really is. He was not the redeemer they wanted, but now they know he is the Redeemer they needed.

It is worth noting that the ministry of ignition is the one ministry that we can’t quite do the way Jesus did. “No one can come to me,” Jesus said, “unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). Only God can draw people to Jesus so that they see his glory and catch fire (2 Cor. 4:4-6). None of us have the power to ignite faith, hope, and love in the life of any person; only the Spirit can do that (John 6:63; Romans 8:2). Our participation in Jesus’ ministry of ignition is to pray that God would light the fire, that he would draw them to Jesus (Ephesians 1:16-18).

We pray that he would open the eyes of the hearts of the people in our paths to pay attention to his Word, just as he did for Lydia in Acts 16:14. Jesus invites us into the ministry of ignition by asking us to pray for the Spirit to come in blazing power to set hearts on fire with faith, hope, and love in Jesus as He is offered in the gospel story we’re telling the people in our paths (Luke 24:49-53; Acts 1:14 – 2:47).

The Emmaus Model of Ministry: incarnation, inquiry, interpretation and ignition. He did them for us, and he gave them for us to do. The book of the Acts of the Apostles, which is actually Luke: Volume Two, documents the continuation of these ministries in the lives of the disciples. Luke began Acts saying, “Remember in my first book I told you all that Jesus began to do and teach. Now I'm going to tell you what he continues to do and teach by the power of his Spirit through His people." May God grant us grace to continue the Emmaus ministry of Jesus with Jesus in the power of his Spirit.

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Jimmy Davis is an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America currently serving the good folks at Metrocrest Presbyterian Church in Carrollton, TX. He occasionally shares some thoughts and resources at The Cruciform Life Blog, Twitter @cruciformlife, and Facebook. He is the author of Cruciform: Living the Cross-Shaped Life.

The Beauty of the Lord

A couple of years ago, I was preparing for a mission trip to the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina, and it came time to head up for the trip orientation. With it being my first time, I did not want to go alone, so I convinced a good friend of mine to head up to the reservation with me.s Well, we decided it would be fun to take a little detour and go through Clemson, catch some lunch with a couple of our students, then we could shoot to Cherokee using the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The time to go came, we jump in the car, the conversation is going on, and we make it to Clemson. We go to lunch, jump back in the car, and head to the mountains. It wasn't long until we hit the Parkway, and almost immediately conversation stops, and we begin to look upon the beauty of the mountains.

You know what I'm talking about. The trees, the streams running down, every once and a while an animal, and it even seems like the winding roads have a beauty about them up in the mountains.

It was truly gazing upon the beauty of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We can all think of something in our mind that we thought was beautiful, so we just sat there and gazed. However, have we ever been like David, in Psalm 27, where we just sit and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord? Let's look at what David says,

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. – Psalm 27:4

David says he has one thing that he asks one thing, the only thing he wants to do is to sit and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord in the house of the Lord. So, we have to ask the question. How is the Lord beautiful? How does his house, the one that David desires to dwell in, show us the beauty of the Lord?

1. We See the Beauty of the Lord as He Dwells With His People

First, he sees the beauty of the Lord in his dwelling. See the Lord dwelt in the temple, in his house. This temple, during the time of David, was not very elaborate. In fact, it was just a tent.

We see this tent elsewhere in the Bible, specifically; one occurrence is the Exodus narrative. We all probably know the story pretty well, but if you do not let me give you the run-down.

You can split Exodus into three major sections: chapters 1-18, 19-24, and 25-40. Three four-letter words can summarize these sections: bush, hill, and tent. In vs. 1-18, the Lord is the God of the bush, where he promises to deliver his people. In vs. 19-24, the Lord is the God of the hill, where he speaks from the smoking mountain and tells his people how to live. Finally, in vs. 25-40, the Lord is the God of the tent where he dwells with his people.

God says in Exodus 25, "And they shall make for me a sanctuary and I shall dwell in their midst." The climax of the entire Exodus narrative is that the Lord dwells with his people. He cannot get close enough to them; he has to be among them! It is easy to stop and say that the crossing of the Red Sea is the climax, or maybe even the rock spewing water, but the real climax, the most important thing to the Lord, is God being in the midst of his people.

In Exodus 25, the Lord comes down and makes himself known to his people. God desires to be close to them. He must be among them. This is flushed out even more for us in the New Testament. In John 1, the apostle says, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God . . . and the word became flesh and dwelt among us."

To draw more emphasis, he goes on, "And the word became flesh and pitched his tent among us." This becomes even more personal for the believer as Jesus speaks in John 23, "And if anyone loves me, we will come to him, and we will make our home with him." We see the beauty of the Lord in his dwelling with his people.

And our God, he is just not the God of the flaming bush or the smoking mountain. He is the God of the tent who wants nothing more than to dwell in the midst of his people. He can't get close enough. He must be with them.

And this means something to us because we know he is near. Because he dwells with his people, we can know for certain that no matter the situation, he is with us. Even when it seems like he is absent, he is there, and he is not silent. As believers, our God makes his home with us, and that is beautiful.

2. We See the Beauty of the Lord as He Reveals Himself to His People

We have to place ourselves in the shoes of David for a minute, and we have to look around the temple of God, the house of God. We have to remember what is present in that tent.

In the house of God, we find two tablets, and on those two tablets, we see God's commanding word, his covenant will for his people. God has revealed his will to his people. He has shown us, and told us; his covenant law tells us how to live. See there is something beautiful about God, YHVH, revealing his will to his people.

When we look at the Exodus narrative, we see the ten commandments, where God establishes them for his people. He says, "I have delivered you, I have made you my people, and now this is how I want you to live." We know it! There is no confusion. God reveals himself and his call to obedience.

That does not happen in other religions, but we have a God who beautifully reveals himself and his will to us. Even if sometimes we do not like it. There is something to be said about knowing exactly where you stand. There is something beautiful about knowing the truth and knowing exactly what we are supposed to do and be.

This is the beauty of God's revelation. He is our God, a God who speaks to us. And he does so clearly. Many times we fail, and many times we do not like it, but it is all for our good. It is all to mold us and make us more like Christ, and it is beautiful.

3. We See the Beauty of the Lord as He Nourishes His People

Looking into the temple, we see a table and on the table, we see the show-bread. This bread is not there for God to eat, but it is there to show us something about God. It is there to remind his people that the Lord sustains his people.

In Exodus 17, we see God providing and sustaining his people as he drops manna from Heaven. David dwells on this, and he remembers the beauty of the Lord is unlike anything that he has ever seen before. God in his nourishment, his sustaining his people, is unlike anything that any unbeliever around him, and around us, has ever witnessed.

Moreover, I think this is what is on David's mind as he writes, "And you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." (Ps. 23:5)

This is not God grabbing a Big Mac in the drive-thru at McDonald's. This is God preparing a table, a feast, before us. Therefore, we can sit and eat. We can enjoy the meal, and we can do this even in the presence of our enemies. We learn something from this, if the Lord can sustain us there, is there anywhere that he can't nourish and sustain you?

Believer, you do not have to hold up or carry the Lord; he holds you up and carries you. The Lord is beautiful in his nourishment.

4. We See the Beauty of the Lord as He Provides Atonement for His People

In the temple, there was a bronze altar as soon as you walk in, and this was the altar that the priest would spread the blood of the sacrifices—which was the Old Testament sacrifice system, but this was not a system set up for God's people to bribe their way to forgiveness. No, the sacrifices we see in the Old Testament are an act of faith, using the gifts of God's provision.

Looking at Leviticus helps. God says, about sacrifices, "I have given it to you, to place on the altar to make an atonement for souls." Here God is proclaiming that this is a gift for you, a gift of grace, to have fellowship with the Lord.

What is beautiful about this? Well, it shows us that God is the one that deals with our guilt. God is the one that deals with my sins. My life is paid for with the life of a substitute.

This brings Jesus quickly to our minds. He is our substitute. We are forgiven, proclaimed not guilty in the sight of God because our life has been paid with another. God is the only Judge who took his judgment upon himself.

When something is so familiar to our mind, we quickly pass it over, but we must be like David. We must dwell on the atoning work of Christ because God has dealt with our sins. We have an advocate, a substitute, taking our place so that we can have fellowship with our beautiful Lord.

This is a part of the beauty of the Lord, in his atonement. He takes us filthy sinners and makes us clean.

I love the old hymn, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” as it beautifully sings about the forgiveness of sins,

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away. Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away; And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

The mountains and the winding roads of the Blue Ridge Parkway are breathtaking. It is impossible to make that drive and not gaze upon the beauty of creation. But the Lord is more beautiful than we could ever imagine, and we should be like David, longing to gaze upon him for all eternity.

May God open our eyes even more to his beauty, as he dwells with us, reveals himself to us, nourishes and sustains us, and deals with our sin and guilt.

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Matthew D. Adams is the Director of Youth and Family Ministries at First Presbyterian Church, PCA in Dillon, SC. He is currently a Master’s of Divinity student at Erskine Theological Seminary in Columbia, SC. He lives in a small town by the name of Hamer, SC and is married to Beth. Follow him on twitter @Matt_Adams90.

Article used with permission. Originally appeared at Servants of Grace, "The Beauty of the Lord"

Short-Term Trips, Long-Term Discipleship

I’ve earned a few mission trip merit badges. I weeded a sidewalk in Pittsburgh’s Northside, built a house in Ensenada, cleaned up hurricane debris in New Orleans, and took a picture with an orphan in Piedras Negras, Mexico (all before I finished high school). I might not be wearing a sash, but I am sporting a pair of dirty corduroy Toms—the universal, millennial symbol for “Ask me about my latest mission trip.” Like many other twenty-somethings in the church, I am a fully initiated member of the mission trip generation—including earning some merit badges, but also ripping them off after reading When Helping Hurts as a college student (which is not the intention of the book). I left the party of short-term mission trips and felt the hangover of embarrassment, disillusionment, and lament after joining the growing herd of mission trip naysayers.

Now, twelve years since my first mission trip, I am preparing to send a group from the church where I pastor in Pittsburgh to our partners in the Dominican Republic. As a sender instead of a goer, I have been able to reflect on the ups and downs of my own mission trip lifecycle—including seasons of blind optimism and unbridled pessimism. In the tension, one question kept coming back to mind: Why would I send people into the nations whom I would never send to my neighbors?

As I thought about this question, it sparked a more positive question: How can we train people for short-term mission trips among the nations whom we could also trust with long-term missional engagement among our neighbors? The short answer: discipleship.

In addition to forming long-term partnerships, it is mission critical to frame short-term trips within long-term discipleship. Listen to how Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert describe this:

In the midst of compiling resources, exploring the complexity of poverty alleviation, and casting a different vision for what a short-term trip can be, do not lose sight of the bigger picture: this is actually a process of discipleship.

What might it look like to reframe short-term mission trips as the final project of a six-month discipleship intensive—with two more months of follow-up after the trip? With the help of some excellent resources and the inspiration of some effective churches, we’ve landed on the following four goals for the training process at our church: gospel clarity, spiritual integrity, cultural agility, and team unity.

Gospel Clarity

What makes the good news so good? The first time someone asked me that question it changed my life. In The Unbelievable Gospel, Jonathan Dodson asks it this way, “What does the death and resurrection of a first-century Messiah have to do with twenty-first-century people?”

If we do not know how to answer that question, maybe we should invest our money in the Peace Corps instead of a plane ticket.

As part of the discipleship process, goers need to develop such familiarity with the gospel that they can nuance or contextualize it for any person or situation without changing its core—a skill Jeff Vanderstelt calls gospel fluency. Like Paul, we need firsthand knowledge of the gospel “in which [we] stand, and in which [we] are being saved” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:1-4).

This process might involve exploring some rich gospel texts together, speaking the gospel into each other’s lives, practicing evangelism with our teammates, and sharing our own gospel stories (or “testimonies”) of how the good news interrupted life as normal. If we are uncomfortable sharing the gospel with people who speak the same language, we will not suddenly be comfortable sharing the gospel in a foreign language or through a translator.

Spiritual Integrity

Spiritual integrity is a life where the gap between what you say you believe and how you actually live is progressively getting smaller. It’s not something you decide to have on the first morning of your mission trip—sweaty, exhausted, and mosquito-bitten on the top bunk in a new time zone. It’s the fruit of intentional spiritual training long before the trip itself (see Dallas Willard’s The Spirit of the Disciplines). Paul describes it to Timothy like this:

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is some of value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and the life to come. – 1 Timothy 4:7-8

Jesus himself prepared for his own extended season of intense ministry with solitude, Scripture, and fasting (cf. Mt. 4:1-11) and ended particularly trying days with a morning of solitude and prayer (Mk. 1:35). As a team, this might involve preparing for the trip with a weekend retreat, memorizing a few Scriptures, confessing sins, or fasting for 48-hours together.

Cultural Agility

A professor once told me, “Often we think people are rejecting the gospel when they are actually just rejecting our clothes.” Without gospel clarity and cultural awareness, we can accidentally package our cultural values (changeable things) with the gospel itself (an unchangeable thing)—just like the missionaries in Galatia (cf. Gal. 2). In doing so, we end up dragging our home culture through everything we do in our host culture. Paul had a different method, though:

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them . . . I have become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings.

Like Paul, anyone going on a short-term trip (even if it’s just to another domestic city) needs to develop cultural agility. Culture is sticky, and navigating the twin extremes of colonialism and pluralism is hard. As part of the discipleship process, this might involve unpacking some of the hidden cultural values we carry and discussing some strategies for entering into another culture as a servant (see Duane Elmer’s Cross-Cultural Servanthood).

Team Unity

Short-term mission trips are extended group projects that involve people from different backgrounds, personalities, and cultures. Most people hate group projects (myself included) and do not realize they are signing up for one when they apply to be on a team. Many of them have never had more than surface-level conversations with each other before joining a trip.

Without intentionality, the result is conflict and frustration.

Walking “with all humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2-3) doesn’t happen overnight. It takes eating meals together, fundraising together, sharing stories with each other, practicing spiritual gifts, and even confessing sins to one another. In short, team unity takes practice.

A Final Thought

In a stroke of irony, I am writing this article in an upscale coffee shop only a few blocks from the location of my first “inner-city” mission trip as an eighth-grader. If you told me that I needed to be trained in these things back then, I probably would have decided to stay home instead. I just wanted to “help” (as well as get away from my parents, share headphones with the girl I liked and see the mysterious city of Pittsburgh).

If you choose to reframe short-term missions trips as one piece of long-term discipleship, you might hit some resistance. Taking a week out of your life to go serve is already asking a lot from people, but adding six months of training on the front end can feel like too much. In the end, though, it’s worth it. These things matter whether you’re a thousand miles away or on your front porch.

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Austin Gohn serves as the young adult minister at Bellevue Christian Church in Pittsburgh, PA and is currently pursuing his M.Div. at Trinity School for Ministry. He’s been married to Julie for four years. You can follow him on Twitter @austingohn.