Emergent Brethren

I have been blown away by the book Missional Renissance by Reggie McNeal and there is so much in it. So much that is so applicable to our situation as we plant Veritas in September of ’09. Here are some quotes that hit me right in the face (in a good way)

“The program-driven church has produced a brand of Christianity that is despised, not just ignored, by people outside the church. Their antipathy for what we call Christianity exists for all the wrong reasons. Basically, it comes down to our failure to demonstrate the love of Jesus, passing by people not like us on the other side of the road on our way to building greater churches.”

“There is no missional church without missional followers of Jesus.”

“The clearest sign that a conversion from ‘churchianity’ (internally focused and church centric) to missional engagement has occurred shows up in the church budget.”

“Consuming these monies for our own benefit with no community transformation to show for it, is an indictment of those who claim to follow the One who promised that he came to give abundant life to all people.”

“The program-driven systems favors a culture that creates church customers, not followers of Jesus.”

“The Missional Church assumes that service to others is the first step, not some later expression of spirituality.”

“People often grow more in intergenerational environments.”

“The Missional church ventures into the world as partners with God on his redemptive mission.”

Here is also some ideas that I got from the book in regards to concrete ways of being missional through Veritas.

1. Adopt a School
2. Bless Three people this week
3. Prayer Walking
4. Prayer Booth and Prayer Boxes
5. Reduce the number of church events on the calendar so that people are free to be in the community blessing others.
6. Create uses in your current facilities that bless the community in entrepreneurial ways- think coffee shops, art galleries for local artists, concert venues for local musicians, incubator space for young businesses.
7. Get educated on community facility needs that might intersect with your facility capacity.

The other day I received a book called The Missional Renaissance written by Reggie McNeal from my good friend Martin Hutchison (thanks Martin). I am only 3 chapters into it but boy is there some awesome stuff in the book. I think in the introduction and the 1st chapter alone I took 3-4 pages of notes. Here are some quotes that I resonated with.

“The missional development goes to the very heart of what the church is, not just what it does. It redefines the church’s role in the world in the way that breaks sharply with prevailing church notions. These differences are so huge as to make missional and nonmissional expressions of Christianity practically unrecognizable to each other”
(This to me begs a question….can there truly be such a thing as a nonmissional expression of Christianity that is faithful or is nonmissional Christianity an oxymoron? Your take??)

“To think and to live missionally means seeing all life as a way to be engaged with the mission of God in the world.”

“Going missional will require that you make three shifts both in your thinking and in your behavior. From internal to external in terms of ministry focus, from program development to people development in terms of core activity, from church-based to kingdom-based in terms of leadership agenda. They will move your from doing church as primarily a refuge, conservator, and institutional activity in a Post-Christendom culture to being a risky, missional, organic force in the increasingly pre-Christian world in North America.”

“No strategy, tactic, or clever marketing campaign could ever clear away the smokescreen that surrounds Christianity in today’s culture. The perception of outsiders will change only when Christians strive to represent the heart of God in every relationship and situation.”

And one last one for today..I’ll share more later.

“Externally focused ministry leaders take their cues from the environment around them in terms of needs and opportunities. They look for ways to bless and to serve the communities where they are located.”

That should give each of us something to chew on for a while…I am thinking how might I put some of these quotes into action both as an individual and also as a community of Christ-Followers who are working on planting a missional church. Any ideas?

I am reading Reggie McNeal’s book “Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church.” And it is timely in light of the Impact Ministries we want to develop at Community of Joy… where we encourage teams of people to see needs and meet needs as expressions of God’s love and avenues for developing and deepening relationships.

Here are some quotes that support this move…

“In a kingdom oriented worldview, the target of God’s redemptive love is the world, not the church (“For God so loved the WORLD,” Jesus said; not for God so loved the church). This means that God is always at work in the world, not just in the church, prosecuting his redemptive mission. His efforts are not shrink-wrapped down to church activity, nor is he hamstrung in his progress by waiting for the church to join him in what he is doing.”

“A Kingdom oriented approach seeks to leverage the gospel into people’s lives right where they live, work, and play. The church is wherever followers of Jesus are. People don’t go to church, they are the church. They don’t bring people to church, the bring the church to people.” This idea goes right along with our idea that the body of people is the church not the building. The building is our Ministry Center not church!

“When the Church thinks it’s the destination, it also confuses the scorecard. It thinks that if people are hovering around and in the church, the church is winning. The truth is, when that’s the case, the church is really keeping people from where they want to go, form their real destination. That destination is life…. the church is the connector, linking people to the kingdom life that God has for them. Substituting church activity as the preferred life expression is as weird as believing that airports are more interesting than the destination they serve.”

Sometimes I really love the “Way I See It” comments on the sides of Starbuck’s cups. Today, I had the following comment on the side of my cup:

The Way I See It #299

There is a subtle difference between a mission and a promise. A mission is something you strive to accomplish– a promise is something you are compelled to keep. One is individual, the other is shared. When a mission and a promise are one and the same. . . that’s when mountains are moved and races are won. Hala Moddelmog, President and CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

I was struck by how Hala separates mission and promise, declaring that mission is an individual activity. Certainly, someone can be on a personal mission. But in the church, we think of mission as a collective activity, both in terms of the “Great Commission” and your local church mission.

However, I really love the last sentence that when mission and promise are one and the same. . . What does it take for mission and promise to be one and the same for your congregation? Do we sometimes develop mission statements in our local congregations without promises?

What do you think? What’s your experience? What do you see that works?

Jeff

Hey everyone, so sorry that its been so long since I’ve posted. I have some ideas in my mind, but haven’t taken the time to get them written down. I’ve been very busy in my CLT work. I hope to post my other ideas soon!

Anyway, next February 9th-13th, the National Pastor’s Convention will once again be coming to San Diego. I always enjoy meeting various Brethren from around the country to join this rich event. Do you know of anyone who might be coming? If so, could you please send me their name and congregation? In past conferences, there’s been up to 13 Brethren from around the country attend that I know of, and who came.

I like to host a dinner each year for all Brethren who attend. Its a great time to connect and reflect on our learnings. However, the sponsors will not give me information on who’s coming. So, I just have to rely on a sign at the message board, with my phone number on it.

So, if you know of someone, please let me know!

Thanks!!!

Jeff