Emergent Brethren

Near the end of his book, Organic Leadership, Neil Cole writes… “We often approach church and ministry with a theology of SAFE.

Self-preservation = our mission
Avoidance of the world and risk = wisdom
Financial security = responsible faith
Education = maturity

Interesting thought!

NOW compare this to Neil’s theology of Death….

“Perhaps it is time we embrace a theology of death.

Dying daily to who we are
Empowering others (not self) as our life
Accepting risk as normative
Theology as not just knowledge but practice
Holding tight to christ and having an open hand with all else that we posess

I have long hated altar calls… since a boy in growing up in church… they seem so manipulative. And frankly, I don’t think they work anymore these days. In fact, let me say that stronger… they DON’T work!

Here’s why I say that so strongly… three weeks ago on Feb 22, I offered an altar call in both of our worship gatherings… NO response. None… Nada… Zip! Then the very next Sunday – March 1, I introduced a response card in each bulletin. I got 7 responses that day from people wanting to commit their lives to Christ, be baptized, and/or join the church. The very next week, I got 3 responses.

Go figure!

I think the day of the altar call in USAmerica is over!

Thoughts?

I am working my way through Organic Leadership by Neil Cole. Neil is the author of several great books… Organic Church and Cultivating a Life for God are two of the ones I have read and appreciated. He is also the founder of Church Multiplication Associates.

Near the end of Organic Ledership, Neil writes about leadership saying, “The greatest leaders are not those who win the most followers. The greatest leaders are the ones who produce other leaders.”

What do you think?

In that same chapter, Neil also says that he finds Jesus articulates three things that are crucial for success…1. Faithfulness, 2. Fruitfulness, and 3. Finishing Well.

What do you think?

Finally Neil draws on the work of J. Robert Clinton and says that these five factors enhance the probability that a leader will finish well.

1. Perspective – “a leader who finshes well has a persepctive that focuses his or her energies on ministry strengths over the course of a lifetime.”

2. Renewal – “a leader who finishes well enjoys repeated times of spiritual renewal.”

3. Discipline – “a leader who finishes well has learned to discipline his or her spiritual formation.”

4. Learning – “a leader who finishes well maintains a learning posture throughout life.”

5. Mentoring – “a leader who finishes well has recognized that such a feat does not come about through going it alone. Leaders who finish well mentor others and are also mentored.”

What do you think?

For the past two days I have shared two out of the three core values/visions/dreams of Veritas and why we are planting a church in September of 2009. We have focused on the core values of Community and Missional and now we are going to take a look at the last core value, that of Authentic Worship.

Our Third Core Value is An Authentic Worship Expression: A community where people create relevant worship experiences. We see Jesus at the multi-sensory Last Supper—the smell of bread, wine, and disciple’s feet, the taste of the meal, the touch of the disciple’s feet, hearing the words of Jesus gathered around the table. We see the “sinful woman” anointing Jesus’ feet with her tears and perfume, responding in devotion and worship. So we picture creating regular opportunities of relevant worship experiences, not as consumers but participating in and creating the worship that is taking place. We envision people connecting worship on Sunday with their worship on Monday through Saturday. For this to happen, we will create multi-sensory worship experiences at a rented facility (Marietta?) that use creative arts (painting, drawing, poetry, sculpting), and media of all kinds (popular music, movies, cultural references, and videos). Worship/Prayer Stations, Creative Art Stations, Offering Stations, and Sacred Space will allow for people to be actively and creatively involved in the worship experience. A worship planning team (artists, musicians, leaders, etc..) will make the worship time as creative and relevant as possible. Every 6-8 weeks, we will gather around a table and partake in food, community and communion and several times each year, a “Love Feast.”

These three things are what drive us, what pushes us forward, and what we are striving to be as a community of Christ Followers.

Veritas aims to be a Missional Community of Authentic Worshippers. That is our dream, vision, and the core of what drives us to plant a church in September of ’09. Yesterday I focused on the core value of Community. Today I will focus on the core value of Missional.

Our Second Core Value is A Missional Kingdom Life: A community where people are blessing others in practical ways. We see Jesus serving and blessing people in real and practical ways, healing people of all kinds of illness. “The Word became flesh and moved into our neighborhood.” Jesus took on human flesh, spent time in homes, marketplaces, and in villages and towns. So we picture people spending lots of time in the neighborhoods and places where people are, hanging out at coffeehouses in order to get to know people. We picture the team having meet-up groups (Board Games, BMX, etc.) to be with those who Jesus misses the most. We envision random acts of kindness, service and social justice, some that will be shared projects with local organizations (some Christian-based, and some not). For this to happen, service, social justice and blessing will be evident throughout. Our Missional Communities (House Churches) will each adopt a regular missional “project” involvement. Every 6-8 weeks our worship gathering will include participation in a “service event.” Random acts of kindness can include giving out water at Elizabethtown College and cleaning up roads and parks. Blessing others may include tutoring, after-school program, financial “seminars”, creation care, and disaster relief trips through the district.

Tomorrow I will post the third core value of Veritas, that of authentic worship.