Emerging Pastor

This weekend past my wife and I (along with a whole lot of others from my church) attended my denominations state conference. This is the second year I've been and the second year I have walked away refreshed and energized with new ideas for ministry.

The conference typically grabs a ring in from the U.S. to deliver a series of messages and this year it was Dr Peter Steinke, a fairly unimpressive man to look at but one who has a real heart to see churches moving past conflict and into new life.

I want to share a few of the thoughts and ideas he shared with us because they really can impact your ministry.

Peter set the scene for the church and it's ministry as being something like the state of the Jewish nation in exile to Babylon. As the influence of the church declines (I guess I mean politically and socially) we are increasingly finding ourselves as strangers in a strange land. We are living in a land of believers not belongers and the challenge for us today is to communicate our story, the Christian meta-narrative, to this world that holds us in exile.

Barak Obama recently caught flack for saying that some people in the U.S. were bitter and as a result, cling to guns and religion. As ineloquent as his words are, he is fundamentally right. When people do not embrace change they turn to the tried and true. If the church fails to embrace the enormous change of the world around us we will sink into fundamentalism so fast your head will spin.

That's enough for one post, I'll keep going tomorrow.

I guess what we can take out of this is this is not the world of our parents, it has fundamentally changed and if we do not change along with it we will become fundamentalist in our thinking. And that's no way to remove ourselves from exile.

In my travels around the interwebs I found this cool blog post with a list of biblical Greek terms. Like the author I thought there are some potentially great ministry names in there. I had to give Greek a miss this year although I am busting to learn it properly, there is just too much else going on to add "learn a new language" to the list.

My favorites from the site are probably:

• Ta Tou Theou -  the things of God
• En Kairo Therismou - in time of harvest
• Mathetas Autou - his disciples

Take a look for yourself... http://sphodra.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/whats-in-a-name/

The milestone has been reached and if I didn't have 5000 other things to do, I would sink quickly into a pit of exaustion.

I am of course refering to the church wide bible study, this is the biggest project I have ever undertaken by myself and it has certainly gone off well. At last count I'm at around 80% attendance which conventional wisdom seems to suggest is about the best you can aim for with small groups.

Our preaching pastor Lionel kicked it off with a bang, he absolutely nailed the sermon which gave people an introduction to thinking different about the beatitudes. Best of all it challenged me, one of the people so involved with all of the study material. We are polishing up the podcast at the moment so I'll keep you posted when it's available.

I was disapointed in myself with one thing though, I forgot to bring the video camera. I was planning to produce a DVD series and package it up for newcommers so they can get a feel for who we are and what we believe but it looks like audio only is the way to go.

It seems that Luther had quite a bee in his bonnet (if he wore a bonnet) about Christians living a Christ-centered life. The first three of his theses all focused on repentance and how it should effect our lives both inside and out.

The Catholic church (at the time as well as now) placed a heavy focus something called penance, it is a theological error stemming from a mistranslation of repentance which kind of stuck, as well as an incorrect belief that the Grace of God is not sufficient to bring us back into relationship with God. At its core, penance means that we have to do something apart from being repentant to get right with God.

Luther calls us to move past this faulty thinking and embrace the heart of Jesus' mission, message and life. We embrace it by cutting through the rubbish and living lives that are repentant. That means being in constant examination of our actions and motives and when we don't act in a way God would like, saying sorry to Him and show a change in attitude that really reflects that we are sorry.

Luthers (translated) words were:

   1. When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

   2. The word cannot be properly understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, i.e. confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.

   3. Yet its meaning is not restricted to repentance in one's heart; for such repentance is null unless it produces outward signs in various mortifications of the flesh.

These we may effectively paraphrase into:

   1. One's whole life should reflect repentance and a heart for the kingdom of God.

   2. The life of the kingdom cannot be administered by clergy, it's up to the individual.

   3. This inner change of heart must have an outward expression also.

The evidence of repentance, indeed the evidence of a Christian life is one that inside and out is loving God by their thoughts and actions. Being constantly on our guard examining our motives and actions isn't really as onerous as it sounds, when you practise a life of repentance you start to become more in-tune with how God want's you to live and it starts to become your default response in situations. In other words, the more you think like Jesus, you become more like Jesus.

Up till now I've been very careful not to speak to much about the emerging / emergent church. It is a deliberate act because while the site has the word emerging in the title it is not about either of these movements, it is about my ministry journey.

I have read quite a lot about the emerging church and love books by Brian McLaren and Mark Driscol. I certainly don't agree with everything they say but there is an important dialogue going on about what is church and it's a dialogue I want to be involved in.

Part of the emerging church movement is to take the post modern deconstructionist approach to doctrine and exegete it in light of how it’s historical context.

Quite apart from my theological studies I was challenged to read through Luther’s 95 theses and I was surprised to discover that this ye olde reformer was really a deconstructionist himself. The reforming and emerging concepts are close enough to call the same. It is the idea of growing closer to God through understanding and living in a right relationship with Him.

Being a devoted Protestant I've never actually read through all of Luthers 95 theses' and I'm betting that you haven't either, so I’m going to post a few every week until we get through them and allow you to offer commentary along with me.

I may paraphrase some of the theses' into more modern terminology but you can read something fairly authentic over at spurgen. Unless you can read German, your not going to get the original.

Some exciting news!!!

My grandmother, who has been coming to our church for a little over a year now has, after doing a Christianity Explained course, given her life to Jesus!!!

I am going to be baptising her next month! If then, she is born-again, that means I will be older than her :P

One week to go and my brain is fried. I'm having trouble getting the words together even for a short post like this so forgive me if it resembles a laundary list and not something a little more well written and reflective.

Sally and I were selling the new study books on Sunday morning (doesn't even cover cost) and they were really well recieved. The one thing I did overlook was a large print edition but I just ran a couple of those off myself. More than half the books were taken, it would have been more but a lot of people were away for mothers day.

I've had another setback with the training. I was planning to do it this Sunday after church but I was reminded that I've promised to take my parents into the city to see Phantom of the Opera. Do'h! The week after I'll be away so I've done what I should have done weeks ago, asked someone else to do it. *GASP*

This Sunday saw a whole lot of last minute sign-ups which is encouraging, most of the groups are pretty full although I had to close two of them, just didn't have the numbers. It actually worked out pretty well because one of the group leaders is very ill at the moment and will be better suited to participating than leading.

Combine all this with two days of Mothers day (too much family!) and it makes one very busy weekend.

The last thing I have to do is get a video camera together and organize the youth study. Full steam ahead!

Although I haven't blogged about it in detail I've been putting a lot of time into contemplating the life cycle of small groups in out church.

One blog I have read suggests three phases of group life being
 1) Starting / Open to all
 2) Covenented / Closed to new people
 3) Concluded

While each church has different needs and goals with their small group life and it wont fit with everyone, but I particularly like this view of small group life because it plans for the conclusion of the group. And in my mind, the conclusion of a group brings oportunities for growth.

Most of the existing groups at my church have been running for many many years. They are full (I call a group full at 12 people) and stagnant. There is no room for anyone else, no thought of splitting and no thought about concluding. They are happy in their rutt. That sounds harsh, after all they are faithfully studying the Word of God and growing from the experience but they are missing something because of their familiarity with each other. They have lost the boldness to grow.

Most strategies for small group growth in a church is to help groups get to a certain size and then split them in twain. I'm not a fan of that strategy at all! To my mind it is an unnecessarily violent act and only serves to damage both halves.

To combat the contradiction in these two areas I've been experimenting with a sort of middle of the road strategy that I call "Small Group Plants". I'm sure it's not unique or original although I have not heard anyone else articlate it, not in any books or confrences.

The idea behind small group plants is for the leader (who has been mentoring group leadership with others in the group) to support and commission two to three people in their group (I think three is the most ideal number) to go out and find at least one other person that is not in a small group and start one on their own.

The old group leader is allowed to come to the new group for a limited time period but after that they are on their own (although supported by the small group pastor, me :)

In this way, both groups move back to the starting / open to all phase and begin again recruiting members. The old group because their is now three spots freed up and the new group, well, because it's new.

Thoughts?

I've been studying one subject for nearly a whole year now. It's called the ministers personal growth and it's about understanding the psychological issues facing pastors as well as their congregations. The culmination of the subject is a thesis length report on your own personal growth as a pastor, the challenges your facing and developing strategies to combat issues like burn out, fatigue and moral failure.

It has been perhaps the best subject I have every studied and I'd commend it to anyone in ministry.

I've been reading and re-reading as well as tweeking the last parts of my thesis to make it as full possible and as I re-read it I'm reminded of the lessons I have learned and have taken on board which have made a huge difference in my life and ministry.

While I'm not going to publish it online, over the next few weeks I'm going to share some of the insights I've learned along the way starting with Triangulation. Bet you can't wait :)

To my great surprise I recieved a phone call from my friendly local Fedex Kinkos yesterday asking me to pick up my box of studies. I wasn't expecting them until Friday so it was a pleasent surprise get them early. I took a photo of the box but I used the wrong phone and I can't get the images  off it so your just going to have to imagine the depressing browness of the box and it lovely bible study center.

I'm thinking about turning it into a pinata and smashing the box open with a big stick on Sunday morning during church but I dont know how well that will go :)

Besides getting the studies underway, the biggest issue I still face is getting all of the group leaders together for our intital meeting. I've had three false starts so far because of Mothers Day and other ministry and college obligations. I'm going to try one last time on the Sunday the studies start and hope for the best.

As I was walking to the train station this morning one of my favorite songs started playing on the iPod. Now that's not too uncommon since I'm the one that fills it with music but this song is one that helps to connect me with God. It's full of Revelation style imagery that makes me think of Jesus in different ways. I've copied the lyrics below but I'll share some stand out bits with you.

This reminds me of the redeeming power of Jesus' blood.

   Ill know you by the thunderclap
   Pouring like a rain of blood to my emotions

I like the idea of Jesus crashing into my world to change it for the better, sinking my sinful world and sending it to the bottom of the sea to be crushed and forgotton.

   When you come like an iceberg float in darkness
   Smashing my hull send me to the bottom of the sea

When I let Jesus into my life those nearly 10 years ago he came in such power he overwealmed me. Directly and indirectly he showed me his love and surrounded me with people who continue to love on me.

   And that is why
   I stumble to my knees
   And why underneath the heavens
   With the stars burning and exploding
   I know I could never let you down

Here's the whole shooting match, When you come by Crowded House.

When you come across the sea
Me like a beacon guiding you to safety
The sooner the better now
And when you come the hils
Will breathe like a baby
Pulled up heaving from the bottom of the ocean
The sooner the better now
When you come to cover me with your kisses
Fresh like a daisy chained up in a lions den
Ill know you by the thunderclap
Pouring like a rain of blood to my emotions

And that is why
I stumble to my knees
And why underneath the heavens
With the stars burning and exploding
I know I could never let you down

When you come like an iceberg float in darkness
Smashing my hull send me to the bottom of the sea
I should know you better now
When you come your majesty to entrap me
Prince of light receding
The sooner the better now
And when you come to cover me
With your kisses hard like armour
The sooner the better now
Ill know you by the thunderclap
Pouring like a rain of blood to my emotions

And that is why
I stumble to my knees
And why underneath the heavens
With the stars burning and exploding
I know I could never let you down

She came out of the water
Into my horizon
Like a cumulo nimbus
Coming in from a distance
Burning and exploding
Burning and exploding
Like a slow volcano
When you come
Cover the ground with ashes
When you come

Source

On Friday I recieved a proof copy of the new bible study from the printers, I must say it looks great! The only thing I would change is adding a table of contents. I know, I know, how could you and every other person miss a TOC?!?! well I did so I have to live with it.

Sunday morning I got up to spruke the study and also tell people the cost. As a church we could probably absorb the production costs without much hassle but I believe that people take a greater ownership of something when they shell out for it. So I've pinned the price at $5 a study which is the printed book plus a small exercise book to keep study notes as well as sermon notes. I didn't really see the point of paying for lots of blank pages in the study book to write down answers when the exercise book is cheaper and a lot more flexible!

After the service I was praying with a young couple about some big things they are going through, what a privellege that is to pray for someone, and after I was done someone was there with $10 to buy two studies! That was so encouraging, it's one of the first signs I've seen of people not directly involved with the production of the study wanting to be a part of it.

On a slightly different note, I've had to move the training day back a week (to the day before we start) because some people are being totally unreasonable about the timing. Apparently Mothers Day isn't a good time to get a big group of people together, who knew? :)