On Feb 21st we want to do something to mark the birth of our son Sam.

Ok – so its his first birthday (18th) and maybe a little after the event, but we wanted to wait until we were living here before we did a ‘baby dedication’ or similar.

His birthday seems like a good time. We’re hoping to have something on the front lawn with family, church friends and neighbours – a barbecue type of gig with time in there for us to ‘thank God for Sam’.

I don’t know the best term for baby dedications in a mission context (any ideas) so in the absence of better suggestions we’ll call it just that – ‘thank God for Sam!’

I’m hoping it will be a time when we can say thank you for a great little bloke, where we can commit ourselves to the job of parenting as Christians and where our family, friends and neighbours can stand with us in the task of raising our children.

What would you call this type of thing?…pink panther strikes again the divx online

Last night we had a great team meeting.

Alan Hirsch is over for a few days to speak at our first Forge intensive and is staying at our place. I asked him to share his thoughts on what he calls ‘communitas’, (not sure if its his term or not) essentially the idea of a community being those who share a common mission.

We discussed whether a community can continue to exist and develop without some sense of mission beyond itself (would seem not) and we spoke of what our common mission is.

It was a valuable and inspiring discussion.

We also had a time for sharing stories – ‘what’s God up to?’ kind of stories. It was really encouraging. If you’re on our prayer team then you’d know what I’m talking about.

I raised the issue of ‘corporate worship’ and our need to develop what this looks like – not just for us – but in this community – among these people. We can sing to our hearts content, but is that the expression of worship that will best connect with local people? Probably not – so we will need to have a good look at how we worship together.

I’m not saying we need to spend lots of time trying to develop funky worship stuff – but I am saying that we need to think like missionaries and ask ‘what will worship look like here my girl 2 download ?’ There is a lot of very creative and imaginative stuff going on around the world in the alt. worship scene, but my vibe is that our locals are not very ‘alty’, nor are they very conservative…

So what are they?… That is the question! We have some people who will run with this and explore it as missionaries and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

I sense it will be very earthy and aussie in its vibe…

Part three of the simple things we can do to help us be effective missionaries in our own land…

‘Mixing it up’ is the same as being in the world, as distinct from creating our own little subcultures and then seeking to draw people in to them.

We simply can’t be involved in mission with people who are not Christians if we don’t hang around with them and if we don’t know their world. That’s just too darn obvious isn’t it. But how many Christians do you know who have virtually no meaningful relationships with people other than their Christian friends?

And you can actually be ‘in the world, but not mix with the world’. By that I mean you can work with people and never mix life with them.

They say it takes 3-5 years for a new Christian to lose contact with their old friends and be socialised into the church.

And some of us spend the rest of our lives trying to crawl back out.

This is not my idea” :

John 17:15-18 Jesus said “My prayer is not

angus thongs and perfect snogging movie

that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. {16} They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. {17} Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. {18} As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”

John finishes his gospel by saying “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Jesus says ‘go’ – lets not expect people to come to our ‘holy’ ground (that isn’t actually holy ground anyway). Jesus says ‘go’ and be with them in their places and spaces and I will be with you.

Jesus never told anyone to ‘go to church’… Neither did Paul.

The great commission says ‘go into all the world’. If it was the great invitation then maybe we could sit back and complain that people just don’t come to church like they used to – but Jesus never expected anyone to do that.

When Eugene Petersen translated John 1:14 he wrote “The word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood”.

I love that verse – it’s the image that undergirds our own journey – the idea of the incarnation – the word becoming flesh.

When Jesus entered our world he came in person – he made contact with us. He didn’t drop a swagload of tracts with sinners prayers at the end. He was with people. He ‘did life’ with people.

This idea of being in the world means not creating our own little subculture where we can hide and try and drag people in to – which is so often what we’ve done.

This is a huge cringe!

I’m all for holiness but I’m not convinced that taking ourselves out of the loop of ordinary everyday life is any way to express that.

In creating Christian versions of ordinary activities have we saved ourselves the ‘agony’ of ever having to engage with the rest of the world? Is it any we wonder we feel isolated – and we wonder why people perceive us as exclusive – are we going to see Christian real estate developments, whole suburbs of Christians?” Would we live there?!…

When Jesus spoke of us as salt and light I doubt that he ever expected the salt to try and huddle together in the salt cellar. I doubt that he ever expected the light to do its thing in a lit room. Salt is only valuable when it is dispensed and sprinkled around. Light is only valuable when it illuminating darkness.

One contemporary writer – a guy by the name of Mark Driscoll has said

“Why do we insist that we’re the “pure people” offering a “pure culture”? Why do we insist on protecting, insulating, and inoculating ourselves against a pagan world? Why do we think we can do so in the first place? Let the world be the world and let’s just be part of it – let’s stop moaning about it and get into it.”

Fair call I reckon.

We often see Christians and non-Christians as two separate entities that should not mix except for purposes of evangelism. Its an us and them mentality. But I don’t believe that’s a biblical way of thinking. I believe Jesus intention is for the two to be so inextricably mixed that at times people will wonder who’s who.

Don’t believe me?

I say that because the ultimate insult they used to hurl at Jesus was that he was a drunkard and a glutton – a friend of tax collectors and sinners. In effect they were saying ‘ we don’t know if he’s one of them or one of us’. And if we are the yeast in the dough then I have a feeling that’s how it is supposed to be.

If our job is to be the yeast in the dough then when you consider that image its not hard to see that the yeast has a powerful impact and is different from the other ingredients, but it has its impact because it is so closely involved.

Being in the world is going to people in their places and spaces on their terms and feeling what they feel, experiencing what they experience. Its what Jesus did. ‘The word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood.’

I just can’t imagine a Jesus who would have created a Christian subculture.

The message from Jesus is simple – get amongst it – mix it up and enjoy life with people who don’t know him!

For more mundane observations on what makes an effective missionary come back tomorrow…

Steve is a mate from Vic and has started a new blog. (There is a link on the left.)

He has some great things to say and this post

• candyman dvdrip

is a particularly good one.

Here’s the first of 6 simple parts (not exhaustive!) if we are to be effective in mission in the 21st C.

Loving Jesus…

Sounds too simple hey?… But I actually believe this is often at the core of our mission problems. Some of us do mission or evangelism because we know we’re supposed to. Its our ‘duty – our responsibility’ as Christians.

And yet I am convinced that if each of us have a genuine passionate relationship with God then we won’t need to try.

It will flow out of us. We don’t need more evangelism classes – we just need more passionate infectious followers of Jesus living amongst people who don’t know him yet. We don’t become contagious Christians by doing a course… (although that may help us with practical ways of interacting if we are farful of speaking about faith)

You’ve seen the way new Christians can’t contain their joy – that’s what I’m on about. And I realise that sometimes mellows a little with time – but if there isn’t a deep authentic connection with God firing out hearts then I would say don’t bother.

If we aren’t encountering Jesus in our lives in both structured and unstructured ways then I’d suggest we are faking it when it comes to evangelism. We might convince people of a different world view, but we won’t introduce them to Jesus.

Peter said this

2 Pet 1:16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

When Paul was speaking to the Corinthians he said

2 Cor 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

If you are motivated by anything other than your own love for Christ and the reality of your experience of him then its time to stop and ask what you are really doing.

Some of us just need to recapture our first love – a heart for God that can’t help but live out the love and the grace he has shown us. And that will be exciting for us and incredibly attractive to people we mix with.

Some of us just need to get this.

So – let me ask you – how’s your own love for Jesus – how’s your own desire for him?

Does that question disturb you? If it does then why?

(I told you its not rocket science! )

For more mundane observations on what makes an effective missionary come back tomorrowdownload firestarter 2 rekindled

Here we go… I’m going to flesh out my thoughts on this in about 7 posts over the next week or so.

Let’s start with the question “Why call it ‘post-christian’?”

The other common term which seems to have lost some of its bite lately is ‘post-modern’, a term that is broader than post-christian and more about whole worldviews – but that’s another story… I prefer post-christian because it is specific and easy to grasp.

Quick quiz: What was the largest crowd ever at the Melbourne Cricket Ground?

Answer: Around 130 000 for the 1959 Billy Graham crusade…

In 1959 Billy packed them in all round Oz and many of those present were not Christians. However they were people for whom Christianity was ‘hard-wired’ into the psyche. We were a ‘Christian country’, the kids went to Sunday school, Christian values dominated and it was also very early days for immigration so we hadn’t been ‘multi-culturalised’. There was one religious flavour and within that there were two choices – heaven or hell.

So when Billy offered ‘heaven’ to people it was an easy choice. Few were aware of any other religious options (I am generalising here) so it was better to be on the right side of God than the wrong.

In his book The Shark Net, Aussie author Robert Drewe has a whole chapter simply entitled ‘Billy Graham’ where he describes the Perth event. He concludes with the somewhat tongue in cheek phrase ‘people were having conversions all around me’.

That was 1959… wind the clock forward to 1994…

It was the Billy Graham crusade by satellite link up. I was part of a church that wanted to be involved although personally I wasn’t interested. We booked the local high school gym – and packed it out – with Christians… There were a few ‘de-churched’ people present, but raw ‘couldn’t give a rats’ Aussie pagans were hard to find.

I imagine if Billy Graham came to the MCG today he’d pull a Pura Shield Cricket crowd, but even then the dominant make up of that 4000 strong crowd would be believers out for a nostalgia trip.

We are no longer the only show in town and people are checking out the competition! Did you know that in the last census 70 000 Australians registered their religion as ‘Jedi night’ or some variation thereof?!

You can now choose from a vast religious smorgasbord some of which has much greater appeal and less demand than the discipleship Jesus would be seeking.

The party’s over for Christendom!! Evangelistic rallys and door-knocking are things of the past and we need to be creatively thinking about ways to engage the world as we find it today.

We need to re-visit exactly what the gospel is and then learn how to share our story in the marketplace in ways that are both genuine and appealing.

(Before someone crucifies me I should add that I would regard Billy Graham as one of the great Christian leaders of the mid to late 20th century)

This is the title of one of my presentations at Forge this week. When you are faced with a whole new paradigm of mission and church to try and come to grips with it can be very exhilarating, but also quite disturbing and unnerving.

I know it freaks some people out – and can even sound like heresy. That is not a church!

The other day (for about the 4th or 5th time) I asked Danelle ‘are you sure you get what we are on about as backyard missionaries?’ You see her sum total of seminars attended and books read amounts to ‘0’! I think she is with us, but does she really get it?…

Her response…

“Its not really that difficult is it Andrew?! Its not rocket science!’

She gets it – because it is so so download wild the dvdrip

summer of sam online

simple. Which of course makes me wonder what it is about me that meant I needed to go to seminars, read books and spend countless hours discussing with people what she gets so easily?

You don’t need to answer that!

Essentially I want to speak with the group about the simplicity of mission and the very straightforward but often neglected ways in which we can connect with those around us.

I might share my 6 thoughts on here at some point to help other morons like me…

Nah just Bruce Stuart!

Bruce is Tallskinny’s brother in law and was in Prague for a while working with him. Now Tallskinny is in London and Bruce and fam have come back to Oz.

Looking forward to hearing the story…

We’re catching up in an hour’s time for coffee and chat.