Emergent Brethren

A while back, I wrote about a bible study process that I was using in a mid-week bible study time… as a way of testing if it could be used as the “message” part of a new worship gathering for young adults.  Well, it is still going strong on Wednesday nights.  Last week, I used it with 18 Sr. and Jr. High youth and that went well and was positively received and affirmed by the youth.  So, today, I decided to use it in both Sunday a.m. worship gatherings.  It was the conclusion of our series on James… 5:13-20.  The process is to read the scripture passage aloud three or four times.   Today I read it once, a volunteer from the congregation read it and then we all read it in unison… I provided a printed version in the program and on the screen.  Then I asked the 5 questions and moderated the comments and concluded with a special musical ensemble singing “Anoint Us, Lord” while folks came forward to experience anointing.  It was a phenominal experience in both gatherings!   I think this process can be used effectively with all ages, all levels of spiritual maturity from longtimers to seekers.

 The five questions are…. 1. What do you like about what we just read?  2. What don’t you like about what we just read? (this one opens the window the widest for the Spirit to enter our midst!)  3.  What don’t you understand?  4.  What did you learn about God from this passage?  and 5. Regardless of where you are on your faith journey, if you applied what you learned about God from this passage to your life this week, what would it look like?

 I highly recommend this process for any setting! It is very spiritually enriching!

I wanted to add to the comments on books.

I recently finished Tribal Church by Carol Howard Merritt. I really enjoyed her explanations for why young adults have different needs in these years than in previous years. She urges inter-generational relationships and caring for one another as family.  One can adopt a young adult as easily as one can adopt an elder. She shared a great vision for small churches as those who train the new pastors, and thus help the quality of pastors for all churches, big and small. She has a radical idea for the Brethren, that all salaries should come from one source. This enables the in-debt new pastor to be at a small church without filing bankruptcy.

I can’t say enough good about Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. He reminded me why I am Anabaptist, pacifist, and what the Kingdom of God is truly about.  I love it when people who are discovering the teachings of the Kingdom of God and are not Anabaptist come to new understandings. They are often better at explaining than we birthright Brethren are. The book is unusual, more like peeking into a journal than reading a book.

I also recommend The Search to Belong by Joseph R. Myers.  (Rethinking Intimacy, community and small groups).This is a book on how people connect and come into community.  It offers insight on the type of connecting spaces people need..from the intimate space, to the wide open community space to just a sharing lightly space.  It really helped me see why some small group ministries fail, and why some worship services fail, as well.  The back page says “What kinds of community do people want?  What does it take for churhes to cultivate environments where all levels of community spontaneously emerge and thrive?  What kind of language should you use and avoid when discussing community in your church?  How can you evaluate community health in your church or organization and in yourself?  I was surprised to learn that what I “knew” wasn’t really accurate or even helpful.

In another post (a comment from my Forgiveness post), Jeff asks how much I read.  I read LOTS for many reasons, but primarily to glean illustrations, stories, quotes that will be helpful in preaching.  But you might ask… what do you do with those stories, etc.

 Years ago, both Dean Miller, then pastor at Christ Church of the Brethren in Carol Stream, IL, and John Maxwell, Leadership guru… taught me a great system that I have used for nearly 20 years.  When I read, I do so with pen in hand … I mark up all my books… underlining stories, quotes, etc and then in the margin I write a topic or theme.  Then I also record the page number in the back of the book.  When I get a stack of books that I have read, I go to a copier and make copies of the pages listed in the back.  Then I file those stories in a folder that is labeled with the theme.  I keep the file drawer alphabetical by theme.  Then when it comes time to preach on forgiveness, I go to the file drawer and pull out the file folder that says “Forgiveness” and I have lots of possible quotes, stories, etc to choose from.  I also mark the date on the story once I use it so that I know when it was last used.   This has been a real life-saver for me.

 Do you have a system you use?  Share it with us.

Am almost finished reading a great book on forgiveness.  I HIGHLY recommend it to you.  It is called “Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transended Tragedy.”  By Donald Kraybill.   It takes a look at the Amish School Shootings at Nickel Mines, PA a few years back and the forgiveness they extended. It also takes an indepth look at Forgiveness.  It sure challenges me to extend forgiveness more often and more quickly.

 It also has lots of good stories of forgiveness that would be great to file for sermons.

I recently was given two advance copies of Mark Batterson’s new book, Wild Goose Chaise: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God.  (It is now out in stores and is a good read!)  I finished reading it on vacation… when I was mostly sleeping, eating, reading, relaxing, and reflecting on my life.  In the book, Mark made a comment that caught my attention (actually, he made lots of them, that caught my attention)… he said, “too many of us live by default rather than by design.”
 

Take a moment or two to read that again and think about it.
 

Which way are you living?  By default – just taking life as it comes – not making plans or using the gifts God has given you.   Or, by design – living out of the gifts God has given you and making an impact in the world.
 

One thing I know… we are each one created (designed by God) with different interests, gifts, abilities and when we use them, we are living into the designs God has for us.  And when we do that, life can be pretty exciting and fulfilling.
 

What would your life look like if you were living it by design?