Category Archives: Church

Intentional Discipleship and Sound Doctrine

July 11, 2013 By in Discipleship, Elder, Fellowship, Leadership, Teacher 6 Comments

Among the fellowships relating together here in Virginia, we’re seeing a deep hunger for mature discipleship, in-depth training and sound doctrine.many_pieces

That hunger was reinforced earlier this year, when Miguel Labrador visited several of those fellowships. Miguel, with his wife Claudia, has been a catalyst for the rapid spread of the gospel in Ecuador – where they’ve helped birth many generations of new believers and fellowships over a relatively short time.

Like us, they have a “go and sow” approach – where we go and sow the gospel in existing communities, thus allowing local fellowships, believers and leadership to emerge indigenously within those communities.

This stands in stark contrast to the more common “come and gather” approach, which urges people to organize around a single church with its central building, programs and pastor.

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Integrity

July 9, 2013 By in Prophetic, Repentance 1 Comment

It’s great to write books and blogs promoting the role of women in the church, finding “ekklesia”, and all sorts of other local church issues.

masksBut the rubber meets the road when it comes to those with a history of using the church to sexually prey upon and exploit others.

It is hypocrisy to then defend and promote them, to discount the properly issued warnings of their own local church (see 1 Tim. 5:19-21), to ignore the evidence you personally have seen, and to stand quiet as they continue a campaign of cover up through threats and intimidation against anyone who dares bear witness against them.

When it really matters, do you put your values – and the things you write – over personal friendships and your network of mutual promotion?

It’s time to walk in integrity once again…

God wants leaders who’s public persona, words and values match their private lives.

~ Jim

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Finding Freedom in a Prison Cell

July 5, 2013 By in Faith, Jail, Redemption 1 Comment

Finding Freedom in a Prison Cell, by Marty Friedman

This is a wonderful story of redemption. Marty Friedman came to the Lord in jail, and for two years was part of a fellowship we helped start in the housing unit where he lived. He became a leader in that fellowship, where he profoundly impacted many, many lives. Now that he’s out, I am privileged to call him my friend.

BTW, I’m not sure about that reference to me as his “Sunday pastor”.

Marty, we gotta talk about that… 🙂

True Church

June 26, 2013 By in Community, Faith, Fellowship, Great Commission 12 Comments

Do we minister “to” the poor, despised, destitute and abandoned…

Or do we open our lives to each other, in mutual ministry one to another?

circleDo we have programs “for” the poor, despised, destitute and abandoned…

Or do we open our tables to each other, in mutual fellowship one with another?

Do we “go” to the poor, despised, destitute and abandoned…

Or do we hang with each other, in mutual friendship one for another?

Do we “fix” the poor, despised, destitute and abandoned…

Or do we need each other, in mutual humility one with another?

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Resurrection Power and Water Baptism

June 17, 2013 By in Faith, Great Commission, Jail, Water Baptism 12 Comments
water_baptism

The Resurrection Power of New Life

This weekend, I met with one of several fellowships in our county that’s primarily comprised of men who surrendered to Jesus while in jail.

They are now out, and meeting weekly in different gatherings as they encourage, support and move forward together in the Lord.

Because they came to the Lord in jail, many of these men did not have an opportunity to be water baptized quickly after conversion. Some ended up serving the Lord – and the State of Virginia! – in jail for several years after becoming believers, and were only recently released.

As a result, they now want – and need – to be water baptized.

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Glasses

June 10, 2013 By in Church, Fellowship, Gifts 8 Comments

In this journey of faith and fellowship, I keep coming across books and blogs by authors who decry this or that perspective in the Body of Christ, while then arguing that we must see things through the glasses of their own unique perspective – often under very enticing rhetoric.

diversity-clipartIn essence, their books and blogs express unrealistic aspirations – as they promote some theoretical concept of church and community that looks, thinks and acts just like them.

If truth be told, we’re all guilty – to some extent – of trying to do the same thing.

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Breaking Out

June 1, 2013 By in Creation, Culture, Fellowship, Great Commission, Kingdom of God 9 Comments

What is the church and it’s purpose, what is God’s grand design, and what is our calling in Christ?

Talking about those questions often is muddled by all the either/or, false dichotomies touted by various voices in the Body of Christ who want:

  • the Living Word without the authority of His written Word
  • grace without transformation
  • relationship without discipleship
  • fellowship without accountability
  • favor without sacrifice

It often seems that these either/or false dichotomies are rooted in the prevailing existential, post-modern perspective of this age – which heavily influences many Christians and seems to stunt us from growing up and reaching out.

This produces a very self-content, “I’m OK, you’re OK” mentality that seldom breaks out of its insular cocoons.

With them, Jesus seems little more than a friend with benefits.

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Elitist Racism

May 30, 2013 By in Existentialism, Frank Viola, Organic Church, Sex Abuse 25 Comments

Elitism and racism in the Body of Christ are very ugly things. Lately, they’ve reared their ugly heads in some very nasty ways that hit close to home.

Over the last several months, we’ve been promoting Crossroad Junction through some very limited, non-targeted ads by Facebook on Facebook.

stop_racismDuring the same period, we also have received a high percentage of new followers from the Philippines and other overseas places. Whether it’s due to those ads or not, we don’t know.

Regardless, this heightened overseas interest is not due to any directed or targeted effort on our part, and Marianne and I are thrilled to connect with other believers from across the globe.

Now, however, our increasing readership is provoking a very elitist and racist series of attacks – directed against us, our fellowships, and our new Filipino followers.

Some of our Filipino brothers and sisters have seen those attacks, and have been deeply offended.

In the face of those attacks, I want welcome to you to our blog – and offer my apologies for the ugly efforts by some of my countrymen to discredit you by questioning your motives and capacity to follow the somewhat intellectual and substantive articles found here.

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Discombobulating Fellowship

May 25, 2013 By in Community, Fellowship, Institutional Church, Organic Church 6 Comments

Lately, I’ve been hearing more and more from folks who are frustrated because they are wanting, but not finding, participatory fellowship rooted in ongoing community.

Discombobulated

Discombobulated

In our area, we’ve been seen such fellowships emerge over the last several years. Many of my blogs arise from what God is doing among us.

Those fellowships typically involve anywhere from eight to as many as twenty-five people intentionally meeting at least weekly to encourage and minister to one another.

More importantly, folks in those fellowships are relating together and supporting each other throughout the week.

Such fellowships don’t look anything like traditional “church” or even appear on traditional organizational radar screens – often because they are informal (even though intentional) and functioning within communities on the fringes of society.

Rather than come together for directed meetings or spectator “services”, we are learning to allow Christ in us to be expressed among us and through us – both in our gatherings and in existing communities.

Lately, though, things have become somewhat comical as we watch others try to figure us out.

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Spectator Church

May 23, 2013 By in Fellowship, Institutional Church, Organic Church 2 Comments

church-service

“Years of sitting in traditional church has not prepared us to do church in the manner described in the New Testament. We have been taught to come, to sit, to watch, and to listen to what others have prepared. This is Spectator Church.

By contrast, the church described in the Bible invites us to engage in a kind of Participatory Church, where everybody talks, laughs, eats, worships, in an atmosphere where all learn, all minister, and all grow.

These groups are not cell groups, or even just Home Groups. They are real churches, complete and autonomous.”

~ Graham Cooke and Gary Goodell, Permission Granted to Do Church Differently in the 21st Century

The Prophets?

May 20, 2013 By in Courage, Faith, Prophetic 7 Comments

German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Where the world seeks gain, Christians will renounce it; where it exploits, they will let go; where it oppresses, they will stoop down and lift up the oppressed. Where the world denies justice, Christians will practice compassion; where it hides behind lies, they will speak out for those who cannot speak, and testify for the truth.

Do we really want virtue, justice and truth – especially when they challenge the status quo of our settled lives, churches and ministries?

Do we really value virtue, justice and truth – even if they challenge any self-affirming relationships with Jesus and each other?

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1:5-6)

May God send prophets among us yet again.

~ Jim

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Roots

May 17, 2013 By in Discipleship, Fellowship, Missions, Organic Church 5 Comments

The last several years have been a wonderful journey of seeing folks come to the Lord and fellowships emerge in highly improbable places. In my own life, the roots for this go back to my dad and mom, Bob and Mary Jane Wright.

tree_rootsIn the 1970s and 80’s, the Lord used them as pioneers in what we’d now call simple “organic” church – before that term became popular (even though today, unfortunately, it can mean nearly anything).

Forty years ago, they helped birth a regional network of open, participatory fellowships in Maryland, where people could find and express the vibrant life of Christ in dynamic gatherings as everyone ministered one to another – rather than having directed, scripted meetings.

Often, we gathered in living rooms, shared meals as we shared Christ with each other, and sat in circles to encourage and minister one to another. We didn’t worry about being led by a “worship band” or some “professional clergy”, as anyone could start a song, pray, share a teaching, give a testimony, ask a question, or otherwise participate as part of the whole Body of Christ – just like we are told to do in the New Testament.

Rather than being directed pew sitters in a scripted “service”, we learned to let the vibrant life of Christ flow through us – each and every one.

We didn’t “go to church” to encounter Christ, but were the church as we expressed Christ one to another and to a waiting world. And by so doing, many became strong in the Lord and made a difference in each others’ lives and in the lives of our surrounding communities.

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Jon Zens and Frank Viola – A Public Response

May 15, 2013 By in Authority, Church, Frank Viola, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse, Warnings! 1 Comment

May 15, 2013 (updated)

Re:     Author and “Apostolic Worker” Frank Viola

Dear Mr. Zens:

I am providing this preliminary response, both personally and on behalf of our fellowships, to your letter of May 10th and to your many related statements on Facebook. I thus write for myself and as an elder within those fellowships.

Your letter was co-signed by Bart Breen and sent on behalf of Christian author and “apostolic worker” Frank Viola and his mutual promotion network of other so-called “apostolic workers” who – like you – enjoy his repeated public endorsements, including Milt Rodriquez and Felicity Dale.

The context of this response are the facts and public warnings issued against Frank Viola for abuse and sexual exploitation by his former church.

To this day, those warnings have not been factually refuted and thus warrant an open response by Mr. Viola. Any such response should be at least as public as his own public claims of being a leader in, and to, the Body of Christ.

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I Confess: I Killed Ekklesia

May 7, 2013 By in Church Planting, Gifts, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Ministry, Organic Church 13 Comments

Yup. It’s true. I killed ekklesia (the Greek word often translated in the New Testament to mean a local “church”). Now, many years later, it’s time to finally come clean and confess.

my_confession

Although we all love the “glory stories,” we also need to tell of our failures – because it’s our failures which often teach the most.

So here’s my sorry story of having killed a fellowship.

Maybe, by owning up to my failures, it will help others trying to form a simple church – or whatever else you want to call an open, participatory gathering of believers ministering one to another in smaller, relational fellowships.

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Home Grown Organic Churches

May 3, 2013 By in Church Planting, Community, Great Commission, Missions, Organic Church 14 Comments

David Lim, an international leader in “organic” missions, wrote an important and probing article called Towards Closure.

cookie-cutter

Conforming to Someone’s Grand Vision

Basically, he discusses (from a more academic but still very pragmatic standpoint) the difference between an “imperial” and an “incarnational” approach to church planting, the Great Commission and bringing Christ into new communities and contexts.

Like me, Dr. Lim is an advocate of organic (or simple) churches because he sees them as not only faithful to New Testament examples and principles, but as best able to fully express Christ in all His gloriously diverse ways in different communities and cultures.

According to him, when such churches emerge within the context of local communities, Jesus then becomes more fully “incarnational” (i.e., embodied and alive) in and through those communities.

He also makes another very important point: By allowing the Lord to adapt to each culture and setting, without imposing some intense, cookie-cutter concept of Him – and how His Church must look and operate – we avoid the trap of “imperialism”.

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Intentional Ministry

May 2, 2013 By in Counseling, Discipleship, Fellowship, Mentor, Ministry 2 Comments

Last night was the second week in a semester-long class Marianne and I are teaching, through Nathan’s Voice and our fellowships, on pastoral counseling. We had a full house (literally!).

counseling-picture

The Art of Pastoral Counseling

We previously taught this two years ago, and many are now ministering grace and healing in our county to those trapped in the bondage of addictions, past abuse, and controlling emotional wounds.

About half of the class comes from our fellowships, and the rest from other churches in the area.

But this morning, I’m tired…

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Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine

April 19, 2013 By in Church, Doctrine 4 Comments

Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine. By Greg Allison

This is a GREAT book. I’ve often used it as a reference when researching some of the crazy claims you see on the Internet – like the doctrine of the plenary authority of scripture originated with the Constantine church or the Protestant reformers. Wrong! It goes back to the earliest writings of the church, including pre-Constantine.

I highly recommend this book for those interested in understanding that the essentials of the faith have been consistently affirmed throughout the entire history of the church. We need sound scholarship to refute popular but unsubstantiated claims to the contrary, which are frequently touted on the Internet.

For the next several days, it is on sale for only $5.99 (it’s normally many times that price, and worth it!).

Gregg Allison is Professor of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a recognized expert on historical theology.

Voices from Jail

April 16, 2013 By in Grace, Jail, Life, Redemption, Struggles 4 Comments

A rap/poem by a brother in fellowship in the local jail, who is learning to become the man God created him to be.

A Brother in Jail

A Brother in Jail

Perfect Wisdom

When I reached out
You took me in
When there wasn’t a soul in sight
And all I saw was you
You took me in
Dusted me off
Cleaned me up
Asked me if I’d yet had enough?
Knew about my past
Had been there through the struggles
Said you’d carry my burdens
If I’d give you my troubles

I grabbed to my shirt
Expressed a cold smirk
Yeah I’d heard that before
Seems never to work

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Pastoral Counseling

April 12, 2013 By in Confession, Counseling, Forgiveness, Healing, Repentance 2 Comments

Several ministries are offering a free class in Pastoral Counseling on Wednesday evenings in Prince William County, Virginia, beginning April 17, 2013, from 7:00 to 9:30 pm.

The class is open to all members of the Body of Christ from local churches (not just “pastors”!), and likely will run about twelve weeks.

To give some idea of the type of counseling we will be teaching others to do, I’ve reprinted below a blog about one session I had with a deeply troubled man last year.

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