Ekklesia and Diverse Gifts, Part 3: What A Meeting Looks Like

December 21, 2010 By in Fellowship, Gifts, Ministry, Organic Church 5 Comments

So when we get together to be the church based on New Testament imperatives, what should our meetings look like?

To answer that, I’m going to present a composite example of a house church gathering (which was common in the New Testament), using our own local network of simple participatory churches from our own home county spanning the last twenty years.

I’m also approaching it from a common theme in the New Testament, which is using our differing spiritual gifts to edify and build up one another.

As a preliminary matter, this example assumes that there is a commitment by all to actively participate, and that everyone in fact has a vibrant walk with the Lord so that they have something to contribute.

Those are BIG, but indispensable, assumptions (but that’s a topic for another day!).

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Ekklesia and Diverse Gifts, Part 2: The Imperative of Participation

December 20, 2010 By in Church, Fruit, Gifts 2 Comments

When we meet together, 1 Corinthians 12-14, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 say that we are to each contribute something. In fact, Paul repeatedly uses the imperative – a command – in telling us this.

Time and again Scripture exhorts us to avoid passivity. As such, God intends for our meetings to be incubators where we identify, develop and learn to use our gifts for our mutual growth and edification.

That’s because God’s gifts are not given for purely personal or individualistic purposes. Rather, when we meet we should be ministering to each other, each according to our unique gifts.  Using our gifts within the church, in turn, allows us to become a gift – to each other, the world and, most importantly, to Jesus.

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Ekklesia and Diverse Gifts, Part 1: The Motivational Gifts

December 19, 2010 By in Church, Community, Fellowship, Gifts, Ministry 8 Comments

True church - ekklesia - in the New Testament is ministry one to another, as an expression Christ in us, among us and through us as we use our diverse gifts to encourage and build up each other. Ekklesia and Diverse Gifts, Part 1: The Motivational Gifts

It’s one thing to embrace Paul’s metaphor of being the Body of Christ, where everyone is a different part as we participate and minister one to another according to our unique spiritual gifts.

It’s quite another thing to figure out how to do that in practical terms, especially when we meet together and abstract principles hit cold, hard reality.

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The Church in the New Testament: Its Form, Function and Purpose

October 31, 2010 By in Church, Community, Elder, Faith, Fellowship, Gifts, Great Commission, House Church, Institutional Church, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Ministry, Organic Church, Pastor 2 Comments

Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride! In this PowerPoint presentation, all that you think of as “church” is about to be challenged so God can woo us back to being, once more, the multi-faceted, wonderful, exciting Body of Christ.

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My Prayer

September 26, 2010 By in Abusive Pastor, Church, Fakes, Leadership, Prayer, Repentance 1 Comment

How long, Lord, will you continue to tolerate those leaders among us who bring shame on your name and prey on your people?

How long, Lord, will you tolerate those who enable such predators, thus allowing even more harm to your precious children?

For your name’s sake, bring righteousness and judgment.

Purify your Church, Lord, of those building their kingdoms and manipulating your people to advance self interests, rather than Your Kingdom.

Joy and Gratitude

July 10, 2010 By in Faith, Love, Mercy

Marianne

Today I marry a woman whom I love more deeply than I ever thought possible.

The possibility of spending my life with someone who can love and receive love seemed impossible. But the Lord shows mercy to those who trust Him, by turning evil to good and creating beauty from ashes.

To love someone who in turn is able to truly love and truly be loved is a wonderful gift.

My joy and my gratitude are unbounded.

Helping or Enabling?

June 21, 2010 By in Grace, Love, Mentor, Mercy, Ministry, Sin 14 Comments

It’s hard cut lose a man you’ve been ministering to and let him ultimately bear the full consequences of the mess he’s made of his

life – not to hurt him, but to let him finally hit bottom.

I am friends with and minister to men and women who most people, and many churches, shun (except for arms-length “programs”, if even that). Pick a vice – any vice – and I’ve likely come beside and embraced those in bondage to it: former drug addicts, narc dealers, sex offenders, embezzlers, thieves, gender benders, Satanic ritual abusers and even murderers.

Because I’ve been willing to see past the sin and accept the common humanity we all share – not as one who is perfect but as a someone willing to walk with them as we sort out our individual imperfections together under God’s mercy and grace – some of these folk are now following the Lord.

I love such people, because daily I see how God creates beauty out of their ashes.

I am blessed, because I serve a God who, above all, creates. He takes destruction – what has become void and without form, in the words of Genesis 1 – and brings wonder and life and order. . .

. . . and He delights most of all, I’ve found, in redeeming lives that many think are beyond hope.

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Heaven

June 14, 2010 By in Faith, Flying, Joy Leave a comment

There’s nothing like flying along at 10,000 feet with my fiancé — in and out of white bellowing clouds with quilted green earth below and majestic blue sky above — while listening to Norah Jones in our headsets and enjoying the three dimensional wonder of God’s creation.

That’s where I find heaven on — or should I say above? — earth!

The Gospel vs. Religion

May 24, 2010 By in Faith, Grace, Love, Peace 1 Comment

Tim Keller, an author (The Reason for God, Counterfeit Gods and Prodigal God) whom I have come to deeply respect (and who also happened to attended Westminster Theological Seminary — although I don’t recall that we knew each other), developed this list comparing the Gospel to Religion.

It’s a good focus for prayerful meditation as we each come before the Throne of Grace and let the Lord change our perspective. Only by letting Him change our perspective — the way we think and believe and react — can we be transformed into the men and women He lovingly calls us to be.

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Scientific Faith

May 19, 2010 By in Absolutes, Atheism, Creation, Faith, Science, Worldview 3 Comments

Whether or not you believe in the “Big Bang”, it is worth noting that it requires belief in an initial “singularity” of zero volume with infinite density and infinite energy. The dictates of the Big Bang theory, therefore, mandate faith in nothing which nonetheless contained everything.

Contemplation

Why is belief in something so impossible under current scientific laws acceptable, but belief in a God who is eternal and transcendent not acceptable to the neo-atheists – many of whom seemingly accept the Big Bang uncritically?

Such neo-atheists must rely on faith, having chosen to believe that:

No one plus nothing times blind chance = everything.

That requires more faith, it seems to me, than belief in an eternal God who created the universe.

Given the leap of faith required to accept the Big Bang theory, there is raging debate in the scientific world on whether our universe instead is simply the newest incarnation (or possibly an extension) of an eternal “multi-verse”. Some neo-atheists are now jumping on that bandwagon, as though it allows them to avoid the need for faith.

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Authentic Church

May 3, 2010 By in Church, Faith, Fellowship, Gifts 1 Comment

“So here’s what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight… Take your turn, no one person taking over. Then each speaker gets a chance to say something special from God, and you all learn from each other… This goes for all the churches — no exceptions.” The Message, 1 Cor. 14:28-33.

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Freedom

April 28, 2010 By in America, Bondage, Faith, Liberty, Self Government, State Leave a comment

In return for a little less freedom, civil government ever seeks to solve problems we should be solving on our own through individual responsibility, family support, personal charity or voluntary associations. As we’ve continued to trade liberty for government “solutions” (which never in reality actually solve much, but often make things worse), little by little we’ve become increasingly enslaved.

Every American should watch this cartoon from 1948 and heed its warning about Utopian promises to fix all of our problems. It is more relevant today than ever before.

May we once again find the courage, and the common sense, to stand tall as free men and free women.

For a related bog, take a look at The Growing Idolatry of Civil Government.

Transparent

April 17, 2010 By in Confession, Faith, Forgiveness, Healing, Jail, Prayer, Repentance 1 Comment

My spiritual DNA — the way God put me together — makes me instinctively encourage others to give away what God has given them. Sharing God’s blessings is a key component to spiritual growth, I’ve found.

I often teach and minister in a faith-based dorm at the local jail. Rather than me “leading” this Friday, however, I took a seat among them and let the men bless each other by sharing what God is showing them and doing in their lives.

Some rose to sing songs they wrote to the Lord, some read and commented on short passages of scripture that had become alive to them, while others gave testimony to how God is now healing and making them whole men.

One brother read a poem he wrote about dealing with the issues of his heart and finding healing through confession, repentance and forgiveness. I’ve seen tremendous peace and maturity emerge over the last couple of months as he’s been totally transparent with the Lord — even though it’s sometimes hard and painful to expose those secret and hidden places to Him.

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Reboot

March 15, 2010 By in Church, Community, Culture, Fellowship, Gifts, Institutional Church, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Ministry, New Wine, Pastors, Transcendent 3 Comments

God seems to be laying a foundation for yet another of His periodic, history-changing interventions in the affairs of man. Over the last two thousand years there have been many such paradigm shifts, and it’s naive to think that our current, settled status quo will somehow be exempt from the unsettling but progressive advance of His Kingdom.

Paradigm Shifts

This newest paradigm shift is starting with pioneers who realize that God’s primary goal in history is to change not only individuals but also whole cultures and nations — as per the Great Commission.

Likewise, as with all prior interventions in history, His will is being applied to more and more aspects of His creation here on earth, just as it is in heaven — as per the Lord’s Prayer.

We also are coming to realize that the Kingdom of God — His will being done on earth (including all spheres of human endeavor) as it is in heaven — is bigger than the church. Nonetheless, we are beginning to understand that His Kingdom is not going to advance much further unless the church re-discovers her New Testament roots.

Admittedly, there is comfort in the familiar status quo of “church” as we’ve all come to know it. Some, however, are so hungry for God’s Kingdom — as it continues to progressively advance through history — that they’re willing to hit the reboot button and look afresh at God’ s purposes.

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Whole Health

March 5, 2010 By in Confession, Counseling, Faith, Forgiveness, Healing, Repentance 2 Comments

The more pastoral counseling I do, the more I realize how often people deal with life’s traumas, hurts and disappointments by suppressing either their mind, their heart, or their spirit – and thus some vital aspect of who God created them to be.

For example, instead of being healthy integrated people, they numb out or otherwise retreat exclusively into the realm of their minds – i.e., their analytical logic and reason – to the exclusion of their heart and their spirit.

They are alive, but hardly living – as they deny themselves the catharsis of honest emotions and the wonder of new-found belief.

For others, their heart is the oppressor as they subjugate their mind and spirit to their feelings and sensibilities.

Some even allow their spirit to squelch their minds and hearts by super-spiritualizing everything, and treating reason and emotions as irredeemably corrupt.

I now realize that God created our mind, heart and spirit to be equally vital aspects of the whole, complete individuals He wants us to be.

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True Ministry

February 27, 2010 By in Brokenness, Community, Fellowship, Gifts, Grace, Institutional Church, Ministry, Organic Church 6 Comments

Last night, we had one of our best times of “participatory church” as we seamlessly shared a meal, partook of communion, fellowshipped and ministered one with another — and none of it depended on me!

The last several weeks have been very emotionally and physically exhausting for me. On top of my best friend dying, I’ve been struggling to keep up with my various professional and counseling commitments while concurrently experiencing a particularly bad bout of chronic fatigue from my autoimmune condition.

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Ken Hornby (1945 – 2010)

February 16, 2010 By in Compassion, Faith, Grace, Love 2 Comments

Kenneth Lewis Hornby — a pastor, mentor, mutual confidant, fishing partner, flying buddy and friend who was closer than a brother — died early this morning after an extended battle with cancer.

Ken and his wife, Mary Lou, loved to go flying in my plane

Although he was my best friend, Ken and I had a relationship that transcended mere friendship.

We were so opposite, but so complementary, that it was sometimes scary how God nonetheless knit us together. Ken taught me heart, while I taught him rock. We irrevocably changed each other.

Last summer, I felt the Lord gently tell me that Ken was going to die. When we met a couple of days later for breakfast, Ken on his own initiative – and without me mentioning anything – said God showed him in a recent dream to prepare for an prolonged, painful death.

I knew in my spirit that Ken was right. As we continued to talk that morning about his own inner – and very human – struggles, I quietly resolved to be a pillar of support for him in the coming months.

Although Ken had previously battled cancer, including two major surgeries, his long-term prospects until then had been hopeful.

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Repentance, Forgiveness and the Kingdom of God

February 13, 2010 By in Confession, Counseling, Forgiveness, Healing, Kingdom of God, Ministry, Repentance 2 Comments

Recorded before a group of men in the local jail, this 55 minute audio teaching explains how we find peace and freedom when we allow God, through authentic Biblical confession, repentance and forgiveness, to change what we think, believe and perceive. That, in turn, allows us to know the righteousness, peace and joy that comes from finding and doing His will — which is what the Kingdom of God is all about.

This teaching arises from hundreds of intense pastoral counseling sessions through Fulcrum Ministries. In those sessions, I’ve seen how God uses Biblically authentic confession, repentance and forgiveness to bring quick resolution and lasting freedom from the lies, hurts and deceptions we carry from life’s circumstances — including routine disappointments to extreme situations like sexual abuse, occult ritual practices, childhood abandonment and many other life-crippling situations.

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A Very Public Confession

February 11, 2010 By in Abuse, Confession, Healing, Repentance Leave a comment

Here’s a news brief I came across that really stood out.

In it, the CEO for Continental Airlines admits that his company in the past was racist and refused to hire black pilots. Past racism, in and of itself, is hardly surprising. What is surprising, however, is the candor of Continental’s public confession and the public amends it made to set things right.

It is rare to see anyone anymore who is willing to publicly admit to public sins, mistakes and improprieties — especially among our leaders. In this case, I was very impressed by what Continental and its CEO did, and hope this can be an inspiration for us all.

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Good Christian Satire

February 3, 2010 By in Faith, Humor, Institutional Church 1 Comment

I often get a chuckle from Lark News, and their latest spoof definitely rings all-to-true.

It reminds me of a very large (huge, in fact) evangelical church in town — where the pastor preaches his sermons on a vast stage each Sunday while a smoke machine bellows out measured amounts of awe and mystery in the background. For real!

It’s very good theater, plus the sermons aren’t half bad if you’re into that kind of thing.

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Improbable Church

January 31, 2010 By in Community, Fellowship, Gifts, Joy, Kingdom of God, Organic Church 7 Comments

The church that meets together at my home each Friday evening to share a meal, encounter God and minister one to another is an improbable assembly of believers and even not-yet believers. We cut across races, cultures, nationalities, social status, and so many other lines – producing a rich tapestry of interwoven lives.

It reminds me of Adullam’s cave, where “every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented” went to flee from Saul. While there, God began the process of forging them into leaders who eventually established and became pillars in David’s kingdom. 1 Sam. 22:2.

Likewise, if you saw us you would laugh and wonder, “what can God do with these people?” Yet, isn’t that God’s way: to establish his Kingdom on earth by transforming lives, cultures, nations and history not with the ordained, but with the ordinary?

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