Emergent Brethren

Ryan Braught sent the following as a Christmas card to those following his church plant. I was so impressed by it that I want to share it with the world:

In 9 BC the following inscription was written on a stone in the area of Priene …

The providence, which has ordered the whole of our life, showing concern and zeal, has ordained the most perfect consummation for human life by giving to it Augustus, by filling him with virtue for doing the work of a benefactor among men, and by sending him, as it were, a savior for us and those who come after us, to make war to cease, to create order everywhere. The birthday of the GOD AUGUSUTS – was the beginning of the good news of glad tidings that have come to men through him.

Just a few years later, a group of shepherds received this message on one particular illuminating night …

Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly, there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “glory to God in the highest and on earth peace with men of good will”.

It’s impossible for me to read these two statements, and walk away without a clear sense that from it’s beginning, the announcement of the good news of the coming of God in Christ, subverted the perceived gods of the world. Caesar was in charge – it was his world – and though the wrong seemed oft so strong – he was the ruler yet. And in Caesar they had hope. Yet, the good news of Jesus proclaimed tidings of joy for all people in a way that Caesar’s never could. Today, we still proclaim Christ’s tiding in this Advent Season … the world thinks of Caesar very little.

But Caesar is not gone.

As I think about Advent I wonder “what is the challenge of Christ’s news today?” There are still plenty of things (and also perhaps people) that promise salvation. We place our hopes at their feet. Some of them speak to us through the walkways of the local Shopping Center … others call out to us from a podium in front of a White House. The work that we do (especially the work of ministry) has a sneaky way of disguising its Caesar-like identity. I know it has captured me more than once.

But, Jesus is still here too – and still challenging and subverting Caesar.

Our Advent faith is an Easter faith. It is grounded in the reality of a moment where the powers of sin, death, and evil all ganged up together and still met their match. Jesus stands over and above all Caesar’s … it is to Him we look … it is in Him we place our hope and trust..

All Hail King Jesus!!!

(Thanks to Chris Backert and the Ecclesia Network for the bulk of the above text)

(Thanks to Chris Backert and the Ecclesia Network for the bulk of the above text)

Over the last few months at Veritas we have been sharing the diagram that is above during our worship gathering time. We had started just with sharing stories of how we had been a blessing in the world, how we had lived out the kingdom in word and deed in the past week, and where God was leading us to live missionary lives. Then I realized we needed more than just the stories of being missional, and then I added how we were growing in our Christian journey. We shared stories of what God was teaching us through our times of individual and corporate prayer, worship, bible study, life in the world, and experiencing God in places where we didn’t expect him to be.

Not too long after starting these discussions during our worship gathering I saw this triangle in material put out by 3DM called Lifeshapes. The idea is that “we are created to be three-dimensional beings; when one dimension is missing or suppressed, the other two do not work as they should. If we do not have all three elements of the Triangle- the Up, the In, and the Out- we are out of balance and we will wobble through life.” (Taken from “Building a Discipling Culture” by Mike Breen and Steve Cockram) I realized that we were sharing stories and instances of living OUT, and UP lives, but were neglecting the IN part. So we began taking 10-15 minutes each worship gathering to hear and tell stories of our UP, IN, and OUT lives.

As I have been looking at the triangle, I have also realized that it fits our 3 Core Values very well..Safe, Spiritual Search (IN), Missional Kingdom Life (OUT), and Authentic Worship Expression (UP). I also began to wonder what it would look like if not only individuals lived out the OUT, UP, IN in their lives, but what it would look like for a community to live this out together in a corporate fashion. So for the past month to a month and a half we have been living out as a community this rhythm taken from the triangle.

So our monthly rhythm looks like this (most of the time)

1st Sunday of the month is our OUT Sunday. We take our time that Sunday to serve the community of Lancaster in some way as well as missionally engage with people. Last week we were asked by Occupy Lancaster to lead a Bible Study.

2nd and 4th Sunday of the month is our UP Sunday. We take time those two Sundays to engage in musical worship, prayer, discussion, Scriptural reflection, and dialogue. (not that we don’t “worship” during the other two Sundays of the month…since everything is worship.)

3rd Sunday of the month is our IN Sunday. We take this Sunday to focus on our community and developing the relationships within the Community. This might take the form of a Brunch, a discussion related to what is happening within the life of our community, a time to talk about the direction/future of Veritas, or some other community gathering. (Not that we don’t build community when we serve together and worship together)

Since this is really new to us, I am waiting to see how we grow, develop, and live out the mission God has called us to by using this missional rhythm of OUT, UP, and IN. I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, ideas, suggestions, and questions about our Monthly Rhythm.

I was at a pastor’s retreat earlier this week. During one of the group conversations, I remembered a quote from when I used to work with and learn from emergent churches and pastors. One of them once told me, “Failing is not failure, unless you fail to learn from the experience.” I also remembered how some churches encourage their leaders to take risks. They believe that in taking risks for Christ, you are more likely to experience his power at work.

Remember the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 (Mt. 14:15-21)? The disciples wanted Jesus to send the people home, so they could find food. Instead, Jesus tells them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” If I had been one of the disciples, I probably would have disagreed and started encouraging people to leave to find food. There were no supermarkets or Micky D’s nearby. Instead, the disciples took a risk, finding 5 loaves and two fish. They brought the food to Jesus, he blessed it, and everyone get a bellyful of food. They took a risk to obey Jesus, not seeing how it could be done, and a miracle took place.

I also remember conversations with emergent pastors where they ask their prospective ministry leaders during an interview, “Tell me about a recent failure. What did you learn from the experience? What are you doing differently since your experience?” These churches desire to be risk-taking and learning organizations in order to be faithful to their calling to ministry.

I wish I was more obedient in risk-taking, like the disciples were. I wish I was not fearful of failing, but fearful of playing it safe, of only doing what my mind can figure-out. I hope I can remember more often that “Failing is not failure, unless you fail to learn from it.”

Church planting isn’t for the fainthearted. I’ve been through quite a bit since September seeing New Antioch through its unexpected commencement last year in late September and through the challenges endured; and unexpectedly once again, immediately after Christmas.

Ups and downs, moments of excitement and periods of unwanted long-suffering have made this time quite abundant in lessons about the Kingdom and vibrant in how to “do” Church – as God wills it to be. Maiby and I have seen His faithfulness and provision beyond measure, to say the very least.

Now I confess the following:

At several junctures, I felt as if I had failed God, my wife and the congregation.

At various points along the way, I felt as exhausted as a pilgrim walking a medieval road and quite exhausted of “having it so hard”.

Through the days leading to the final decision to “replant” New Antioch, I felt it was best if I went shopping around for a church in need of a pastor and see if I could get hired and that would be enough to grant me financial security and “enjoyment” in ministry. I developed a “reasonable” rationale for why church planting wasn’t for me – at least in the way that it had “fallen” into my lap through the Church of the Brethren.

Through it all, though, God continued to open significant doors for me. PhD programmes, academic fellowships, journal articles to write and preaching engagements, too. So many opportunities and “big breaks”, and here I was feeling “left aside”, “marginalized” and perhaps… “overlooked”.

This is where my “experience as a church planter” ran diametrically opposite my life as a seminary professor. I have had the “dicha” – Spanish for “the blessing”, if you will, to encounter – on a first hand basis, the challenge of living out “theory” in the “real world”. I have grown more accustomed to the dissonance of living out the ministry licking my wounds and feeling “out of season” quite often. Perhaps I felt I deserved a better break than the one given… then one days I saw into the eyes of my wife and heard the words, “No matter what, you have everything… You have God, me and our kids”…

Then I saw into the eyes of my disciple-making students and heard my own words preach and teach everything contrary to what I was feeling…

God is amazing… although I felt tired, marginalized and ineffective, God took my brokenness and utilized it as a source of reflection, thought provocation and prayer. His redemption and restoration has humbled me and caused me to feel shame. How dare I consider myself ill used when my Lord and my God has purposed me to teach, guide and cause others to grow, mature and be nourished at a seminary, a bible study and an unorthodox Brethren “experiment”?

I am blessed and truly highly favored. Sadly, I only now get it. The blessing is what is yet to come…

Grace and Peace

I recently read Eat, Pray, Love. First, let me say if you have seen the movie, know that it doesn’t come close to describing the intensity with which Elizabeth Gilbert goes after God, peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness in her spirit. I have often marveled that one of the great evidences of the reality of God’s presence in the world is the revelation of truth he makes available to the Christian and the non-Christian alike.

I do not think Gilbert would label herself a Christian (other than perhaps that she comes from a “Christian” nation). She practices yoga and eastern meditation.

In our ministry, my husband and I have done a lot of transformative renewal work with individuals based on the truth that our battles are first and foremost in the mind. It’s not enough to just know the truth; we have to also align our thoughts with those truths: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (NIV 2 Cor 10:6).

One of the turning points in Gilbert’s spiritual life is when a co-participant at an Ashram in India tells her, “You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control” (Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love).

Even though Gilbert does not write from a Christian perspective, she well captures what it means to wrestle with the spiritual self. As we live in an emergent era, we would all do well to gain some insight into spiritual self battles from perspectives other than our own heritage.

~Lisa G. Yoder