Monthly Archives: July 2012

July 25, 2012 · 10:27 am

Missional Communities Should Have the Most Fun

My wife loves to tell the soccer ball story. We both remember being around Christian communities growing up and in college that were really intense. They were intense because of a view that Christianity was about being serious because there was a mission at hand and if we “wasted time” having fun, we would miss the mission of God.

One of the men we knew in these communities would pray for countless hours, read his bible as often as he could and sought to evangelize as much as possible. These are things that are honorable and can truly demonstrate God, but he also refused to have fun, there was too much to do and he was serious about making sure he avoided wasting time. This prevented him from engaging with people as friends, extending his life to them along with his doctrine.

On one of his prayer walks there was a soccer ball and he haphazardly kicked it and in kicking it he remembered how much fun and joy he had while playing soccer with friends. It was a liberating moment for him because he realized that joy in soccer was not incompatible with joy in God. He could participate in activities that weren’t designated as Christian and still enjoy God and extend his joy of God to others.

I watched many of these people grow weary from this duty based and serious-all-the-time focus on living the Christian life. By no means am I saying that Christians shouldn’t take God and His mission seriously, but a joyless, duty-based Christianity is not the picture of Jesus or the Christian faith the scriptures present.

In fact, it could be argued that missional communities should have the most fun. They should be communities that enjoy life to its fullest because they can enjoy life as it was intended to be enjoyed.

A Fun Community Displays Jesus Best

Jesus described salvation as the place of greatest joy. He used parables to describe how people would be willing to sell everything to experience the joy of knowing God. Jesus Himself feasted and attended parties while he was on earth, even blessing a wedding with his first miracle of turning water into wine.

A community full of Christ followers will truly display Christ when they have fun and enjoy one another. This is the freedom of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus saving us into a community that places value on each other not based on personality types, myers-briggs tests, wealth or lack thereof, or even life stage. Our value is based on the dignity and love bestowed on us from God that is proclaimed through the perfect life, forgiving death, and life-giving resurrection of Jesus.

A missional community should throw the best parties and be the ones that every party wants to invite. This is the freedom of the gospel, that it shapes Christ followers to be a blessing in every situation, as opposed to a killjoy. This is how Jesus is described and seen through the gospel accounts that follow his life. He breathes life into every community because He isn’t concerned with himself, but concerned with loving others.

A missional community shaped by the gospel should be the most hospitable because they have received hospitality from Jesus, being invited to His table of salvation and they hope to experience his great hospitality in heaven. Christ followers did not receive a pre-requisite list from Jesus in order to be accepted and we have no need to make a list of our own in welcoming people into our homes and to our celebrations. We don’t often think this way, but the grace of Christ in the gospel confronts our false ideas and invites us into a new way of life.

Why can’t Mission be Fun?

When we think of fun events in our lives, the nostalgia alone can bring us joy because the moments themselves were so joyful. If the measure of fun is joy, then mission itself can be fun. The word mission often brings to mind a duty and activity that requires focus, but to view the mission of God like this would be to highjack God’s desires.

Jesus healed, fed thousands, ate with many, and taught challenging and beautiful truths. All of these were the mission of God and you never get the sense that he was a joyless individual going through the motions.

A missional community can enjoy the recreations of this life and have fun in them, but they also find great joy on the everyday mission of God.

Making Your Missional Community Fun

A missional community that displays the joy of knowing God through enjoying creation, one another, and God’s mission happens over time. It’s part of the life cycle of a missional community and then becomes a regular rhythm of the community.

This is the result of finding joy in God first, seeing gospel enjoyment become rooted in the community frees them from depending on joy in one another. A missional community can cultivate a joyful community by directing most of the attention finding joy in God.

Beyond that, as much as we’d like a missional community to be fun organically, there must be an intention to display the joy of God through planned and unplanned meals, recreation, and random get togethers. A leader of a missional community can create this environment by initiating this culture through inviting people into their life and pursuing others in the community.

Over time there will be people in the community that stand out as a core committed to building the relationships of the community through social events. The leader of the missional community can empower these people while also directing the community towards extending the gospel outside of one another in order prevent become inward focused.

A kingdom demonstrated through joy

Jesus often described His people as a new kingdom not marked by borders, but by lifestyle. When God’s people form a missional community that displays Jesus through enjoying God’s creation and recreation while also participating in God’s mission, we display the kingdom of the most joyful King. This is also the greatest invitation into our joyful salvation, to experience the community set free by Jesus to enjoy life as God intended.

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July 17, 2012 · 9:10 am

Like a Gothic Cathedral

As we have lived in New York the last few years, we have met some of the most interesting people and have been blessed to be invited into the lives of some of the families at Eli’s school. One of the families at Eli’s school owns a few restaurants in the city and has found themselves in a habit of renovating spaces either for home, leisure or restaurants.

Last spring break, we were discussing renovation, the challenges, setbacks, and even how it can become an addiction to bring something from a tough place to a beautiful venue. I made the comment that kids often seem like the never ending renovation project, always looking to bring out more and more of their excellence.

He laughed and then while describing his daughter said, “She’s like a gothic cathedral if I were to compare her to a renovation project.”

What a beautiful vision for your child. I was inspired and encouraged to think through the analogy and continue to think it’s a beautiful approach in viewing your children.

Many renovation projects are fully gutting the place and starting from scratch, but you would never do that with a gothic cathedral. You would carefully seek to restore the fine details while trying not to destroy or harm the fine details that make the cathedral so glorious. It would be a long, and at times painful, process to reveal the beauty that has been established within and bring it out to display as it was intended.

It seems the same with kids. A long, at times painful, process of seeking their joy and helping them be established in who they were made to be. This beautiful vision has led me to think through how I view my own kids and shows me how my view of them shapes my approach to them.

What’s my vision for my kids?

Approaching my children with a vision towards them being similar to a gothic cathedral in need of renovation would dramatically change my approach than if I viewed them as a broken down house in need of being completely rebuilt. It’s a long process to raise kids and patience is essential to not crush the potential beauty that needs to shine through the messier parts of parenting.

This forces me to recognize the great need for careful instruction and refining discipline that (I hope) would be received as trustworthy wisdom to increase their joy and confidence in life.

Now, this type of vision could also crush them if I demand it to be a reality instead of a hope. I could crush my sons and daughter under the weight of expectations when setbacks in their life happen. In renovations, setbacks happen all the time, there’s not a single construction or renovation project that hasn’t had mistakes or delays. My children will make mistakes, but they don’t need to be defined by them in my eyes or their own.

I also don’t want to thrust my dreams for their lives onto them as expectations. This where the renovation project becomes a blur since the finished project isn’t set in stone and there is no blueprint. How do you renovate a gothic cathedral when you don’t know what it is supposed to look like? This is one of the most challenging parts of parenting, seeing great potential in your kids and knowing it could turn out a thousand different ways.

Focusing on Character over Results

This has led me to try and center in on my children’s character instead of what they will be one day. I don’t know what job or life Eli will pursue one day, but I know his character now can be refined and enhanced to make him a man of great character one day.

Similar to a renovation that seeks to fortify the foundations and structure of a building, this involves looking to the roots and motivations for his actions. I’ve asked a lot more questions that make statements as Eli has grown up to learn about how he views the world. I can’t assume he sees everything like I do and I continue to be fascinated by how his mind processed the world around him. These conversations are my favorite part of parenting and they typically happen away from the formal family times.

This conversation with our family friends happened months ago, but it continues to stick with me as I consider my role as a father seeking to disciple his children in Christ and raise them to thrive in current culture. I find myself at a loss for the next stage of renovation, but have found myself seeking God so much more.

I desire for my kids to love and deeply know God as the source of joy and to spend their lives honoring Jesus through loving and thriving in their home life, work life, and church life. I desire my boys to become great men and my daughter to be a glorious woman like her mom. I’m an idealist, but I know the reality that this aim in parenting will take more time, patience, and intention than I give anything else. The journey excites me while increasing my anxiety, but thankfully I hope in the one God able to do more than I can even imagine for my children.

My only hope is God

As a Christian, I find my wisdom from God’s word. The Proverbs have been a place where I have camped out in regards to seeking wisdom in parenting, not to mention the way the scriptures bring a peace that I can’t really describe. Through the Proverbs, wisdom is given to children, parents, and people in how to deal anger, relationships, money, planning for the future and so much more.

As I think about all that I’d like to see my sons and daughter become as well as the many broken ways of living that I would like them to avoid, I simply find myself in prayer. Simply surveying my own life over the last decade has revealed how much God has provided that I could not have expected and many times through prayer. How much more can I expect the Maker of all things to be able to accomplish more in the lives of my children that I can even dream for them.

I love the vision of seeing my children as an epic gothic cathedral and I get the privilege of renovating it, revealing it’s beauty and character to enable it to thrive as it was intended. My God help Amber and I to love our kids in this way.

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July 10, 2012 · 12:18 pm

The Class of ’08

What every incoming freshman at Texas A&M doesn’t realize is that they, along with their entire freshman class, have been prayed for during the entire year before they come to College Station.

In 2003-2004, I was the director of Impact, a retreat for incoming freshman aimed at connecting them to Christian community and God’s mission at Texas A&M. Every Monday night that year, from September 2003 to August 2004 when we had the retreat, hundreds of counselors took a little over an hour to pray for these future freshman. They would be known as the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ’08 (their graduating year).

We prayed for what they were experiencing their senior year in high school and we prayed for them to be used by God in extending the gracious message of Jesus Christ to the world. This time taught me more about prayer that I can remember, and it prepared us to care for and love these freshmen before we ever met them.

An entire year spent preparing logistically and spiritually for two 4-day retreats. In August that year, 550 freshmen participated in Impact. I was the director that year so I had very little actual interaction with these freshman and in the span of a week, everything I had been praying for (or so I thought) was finished.

I was left wondering about the true value of my prayers and effort, knowing cognitively that God answers prayers how and when He wishes, but wanting desperately to see the immediate tangible results of my planning and especially my prayer. I assume that I wanted proof that prayer works.

Fast Forward 8 Years

A little over a month ago, a good friend of mine was married here in New York. All of his family and friends descended upon the city and I was able to interact with many of them. Many of them attended Texas A&M, loved God, and continue to invest in God’s church and God’s mission.

There was one point where we were discussing A&M and what class everyone was when I discovered that many of these were members of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ’08. As they recounted their days at A&M in ministering to one another and their friends on campus, along with the days since spent wanting to see God do great things in their lives and through their lives, I was struck by the goodness of God.

Here I was, 8 years after Impact, seeing people that I had spent an entire year praying for. Did what they were sharing about their Christian lives prove that God had specifically heard my prayers? I don’t know, but in that moment I was so encouraged about prayer and the goodness of God. In the month since, it has led me to be reminded of 4 simple truths about prayer that I want share.

1)   Prayer can be too focused on the Immediate

When we think of prayer, too often we are concerned with the immediate needs and wanting immediate responses. Our view is so finite that we lack trust in the infinite God.

As I reflect on that year of prayer for the class of ’08, I remember praying and hearing prayers that transcended the immediate and focused on shaping the future lives of people. It encourages me as a leader in the church, but also as a Christian in general.

Even when I don’t see the immediate result, as if prayer gets placed in a microwave, it doesn’t mean it will not have a long-lasting affect.

2)   Persevering in Prayer is Hard but Worth It

I wish I could say that I continued every Monday night praying for the class of ’08, but I moved on. I’m challenged as I consider who I am persevering in prayer for on a regular basis, seeking great things for people I love that I might not see the results of those prayers.

Jesus speaks of the persistent widow in Luke chapter 18 who consistently asked for her desire from a judge who did not like her, but granted her request simply because of her persistence. It’s a parable to encourage Christ followers to not lose heart because we can ask persistently of a God who loves us and wants to see our prayers answered.

The only way we will persevere in prayer for long-lasting affects is by believing right things about God.

3)   Prayer is to the One who is Powerful

Why do we pray? We pray because we acknowledge that we can’t accomplish the things we long to see. It is recognizing that there is a God who is powerful and good that we can ask to accomplish things we will never accomplish in our finite power.

The counter to this is that we don’t pray because we believe more in the power of our efforts. That somehow, in some way, we can accomplish more than an all-powerful God.

We can be confident in our prayers not because we ask for the right things or say it really eloquently, but because the One we pray to is the most powerful God who created the entire universe.

4)   Prayer Changes the one Praying

Lastly, I want to share that prayer changes the one who prays. God is powerful and answers the cries of His people, but our prayers do not change His character, but it impacts our character. How does it work that way? I don’t know, but I recognize in the scriptures and in my life, that prayer moves me to a love for others that I would not normally have.

Spending an entire year praying for people I’ve never met made me excited to meet those freshmen. It made me excited to run into members of the class of ’08 so many years later and even today, I find myself more concerned and seeking to care for those I pray for most often.

It may simply be that I am considering these people more, or that I am becoming the answers to my own prayer, but whatever it may be, prayer changes me when I pray. It’s a result of interacting with the One who is far greater and more majestic than I.

Instead of finding myself anxious to see change, I have been encouraged to bring my requests to God asking Him to do more than I can imagine myself. I continue to be thankful for the class of ’08, they have unintentionally taught me more about prayer than I will ever know.

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July 5, 2012 · 11:57 am

Summertime for Missional Communities

We are in the midst of the summer here in NYC, as evidenced by the inescapable heat. Summer starts a little later in NYC than other areas of the country due to a school end date in late June. Similarly, our city has a summer rhythm of life that slows down just a little and enjoys the season immensely.

Churches in the summertime typically mirror this summer rhythm of slowing down, enjoying summer fun, and being less programmed as many people in the church take vacations. While missional communities are not a church program, each church must consider how they encourage and lead their communities or small groups to approach the summer.

How should missional communities function in the summer?

Finding Rest through More Fun & Less Formal Activity

I’ve known many churches who take a break from small groups during the summer, but that communicates that community and mission are seasonal activities and goes against the grain of scriptures description of Christian community. The break has good intentions to provide rest, but it does not help the community develop ongoing healthy rhythms of rest that can be woven into their community during the summer season.

Summer provides time to be less formal in our interaction and participate in the relaxed activities that function naturally as community creators and opportunities for extending the gospel of Jesus Christ. Encouraging communities to view this summer with the intent of finding rest while not sacrificing gospel activity will help them become a community on mission in the everyday.

Approaching the summer with the hope of extending the gospel can also be a way to experience rest. Throughout the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, the Sabbath (day of rest) often plays a predominant role in Jesus’ healing and teaching activities. On the day of rest, Jesus found rest through extending the peace of His love and establishing rest for others.

We encourage our community group leaders to invite others to plan fun activities and social events from their communities so they can take a break from being the initiators of their community. This becomes an invitation to shared leadership amongst the community, inviting all to be contributors to the health of the community.

Summer is a time for more fun and this can teach us that missional communities were intended to also be fun communities.

Finding Mission in Natural Ways

I mentioned this above, that the summer provides some natural activities that can be infused with the mission of extending the grace and love of Christ. Our communities need to approach their summer fun with an eye toward including neighbors, family, and co-workers, instead of just fellow Christians, to learn that mission can happen on the beach, at the pool, and around the grill just as much as on a short-term mission trip.

Here in New York, I watch missionary teams come from all over the country with similarly colored t-shirts and a catchy bible verse on the back to hang out tracks, host camps, and do other “missionary” activity. While these could be good ways to make people aware of Jesus, they are not natural. It’s not natural to spend hundreds of dollars, look awkward, and do abnormal things in a city that is not your home.

When the gospel of Jesus Christ shapes the way we approach life, it can be normal to talk about your regular life (now shaped by your faith) over a meal, at the pool, and while hosting a backyard BBQ. Missional communities can enter into the rhythm of their city during the summer, participate in the neighborhood’s activities and find themselves cultivating friendships where life and the worldview that shapes it can be discussed.

The hope for missional communities in the church is for the community of Christ followers to be living this way throughout the year and the summer provides an easy learning ground to teach us outside of a classroom.

Finding Vision for a Fall Re-Launch

The summer season also provides a time to celebrate what God has done in the community over the past year. I find these is so much to celebrate in all the community groups at our church over this past year and unfortunately it usually takes times of slowing down to reflect and recognize all that has happened. The summer is a season of celebration that can provide great excitement for future motivation.

As each Community Group pursues the gospel shaping their summer fun, they are inadvertently preparing their community for a fall re-launch. Cultivating a community that enjoys one another and has a view towards welcoming others into it.

The summer is meant for us to be refreshed by having fun, but it can teach us to make this type of fun activity a community rhythm even when the formal schedules of school, busy season at work, and a busier church calendar begin to vie for our time in the fall. Of course, you could also use it to take a break from doing anything and you may find rest, but you might also cultivate a lifestyle where rest means escaping and disengaging. I’m not suggesting that you never simply stop, there needs to be time where things merely lie dormant. At the same time, rest was intended to be implemented into a weekly rhythm and not just a yearly break.

Missional communities need to enjoy their summer and find rest, but rest does not always have to be absent from the family of God or the mission of God (not that they should be separated).

Enjoy your summer, it’s the only way to find rest.

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