Last week the five year old daughter of Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman was tragically killed in an accident at their home in Franklin Tennessee. Mary Ann was the youngest of the their six children and their third adopted child from China. As many of you know, the Chapman's have been passionate about adoption and have created an organization that helps defray the tremendous expense of overseas adoption. In many ways this hits our church family close to home, as many of our own families have adopted from China and in other parts of the world and have partnered with the Chapman organization.
This is the kind of tragedy that rips at the heart. Anyone who has heard Steven Curtis Chapman talk about his family and especially his passion for adoption knows how devastating this must be for them. We are praying for the Chapman family during this time of terrible loss and heartbreak.
There are inevitable questions. How could this happen to a family that has given so much? Where is God in this kind of tragedy? Why do bad things happen to such good people?
Of course, there are no words anyone could say that provide complete perspective at a time like this. One never gets over the loss of a child. Some answers we just won't get this side of eternity.
But I do think it is important remind ourselves of a few very important Biblical truths:
1. Just because you are a believer, it does not mean you will not suffer. The Bible teaches that the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. The promise of salvation and redemption is not a promise of a pain free life. To the contrary, very often people who serve God with great fervor and passion suffer with what seems like disproportionate intensity. Abraham suffered, Isaac suffered, Jacob suffered, Joseph suffered, Naomi lost everything, Ruth was displaced, Sarah was barren, Hagar was cast out and rejected. The apostles (save John) were all martyred, Paul the apostle begged God to take his "thorn" away, but God taught him that through his weakness he is made strong. You would be hard pressed to find a single champion in the Bible who did not suffer. Additionally, no one suffered like Christ. (Hebrews 11:39-40)
2. Because of the suffering of Christ, we know that God identifies with us in our tragedy. Only in Christianity do you have a God who says "I've been there". (Philippians 2:5-8). In fact, the Bible teaches us that although tragedy in our life breaks the heart of God (remember Jesus weeping for Mary and Martha), God can use the tragedy in our life in way we can't imagine. (Romans 8:28)
3. This life is not all there is. The Bible teaches this life is like a vapor of smoke- it is here and it is gone (James 4:14). It is only through the perspective of eternity and the reality of the risen Lord that we are able to make sense of evil and suffering in this life.
Think of it this way- because of the resurrection of Christ, we are able to say,
"bring it on death, bring it on suffering, the lower you lay me, the higher He'll raise me!"
We have much to learn from His suffering. Because He will have His wounds in a perfect Heaven, it must mean that God will use whatever suffering we have in this life to intensify our joy in the next. Whatever loss we feel in this life, will only multiply the sense of joy and gain in the life to come. (Romans 8:18-21)
My favorite quote from C.S. Lewis:
"I believe our first words in heaven will be,
'Ah haw!'
'Now I understand.'"
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
how missional works
There are some within the missiological community who argue that there is a distinction between "missions" and "evangelism". The thinking here is that when one uses the term "missions" it most certainly is within the context of a call into the unreached parts of the earth. The point is that those places around the earth that already have a functioning church reproducing itself are in affect not part of the mission. If you are in a country that has a reproducing church movement and you are committed to spreading the gospel then you are not doing missions, you are doing evangelism- the thinking goes.
So call it evangelism, but please don't confuse the point and call it missions or "missional".
While I understand the point and deeply appreciate the necessity of focusing especially on those parts of the earth that have yet to be reached, I am not as reluctant to call what we do in North American culture as we engage an increasingly "post-Christian" environment with the meaning and message of the gospel a "missional" approach.
My rationale:
1. I do not see a distinction between the call of every believer/disciple to engage the world they work, play, live in and the call of a missionary to cross over into a different culture for the purpose of engaging that unreached people group with the gospel. I think the overuse of the term "call" is regretful. I see that we are all called. I see that the great commission was given to all of His disciples. I see that if we come to believe that there are a select few who are called out for the purpose of missions we are in danger of excusing ourselves from the very thing our Lord has called all of us to do.
2. North America is now the third largest mission field on the planet. As Ed Stetzer puts it in "The Missional Code": North America is a missions context, not because people are less Christian than they once were (although that is true), but because God “sent” us to North America. It is a mission field because God sent us here as missionaries. However, we are missing a clear reality if we do not recognize that this a harder mission field than it once was. Historically, the Christian church was the first choice of spiritually minded North Americans – today, it often does not make the top ten list. Years ago, when people looked for spiritual answers they looked to the church. Now, many look to anybody and anything but us. The fact that historically the U.S. has been heavily influenced by Christianity does not change the current reality we face. Increasingly the people we encounter each day are antagonistic to the gospel, but no less a people group who are loved by God and therefore a focus of our mission. A lost person in Bethany Oklahoma is no less lost than an unredeemed person in Showbach Jordan.
3. To say that we seek to be missional includes both our global and local emphasis. Click here for a terrific analysis of the difference between a church with an evangelistic emphasis and a missoinal church. Our understanding of a missional strategy in unreached parts of the world informs and invigorates our missional approach in a post-Christian North American culture.
4. When we say that we seek to become a church in which every member considers himself or herself a missionary we are simply saying that the natural outcome of a life in Christ is a pull into a life of purpose and mission. "As the Father has sent me so send I you.." (John 20:21) , has direct and undeniable meaning to every believer. The incarnation of Christ was the ultimate example of contextualizing. He is our prototype in this sense. He came into our context for the purpose of the gospel. So if we are sent out as he was sent out, we also have a strategic mission. Our meaning and purpose as believers is to make the Word flesh in our own context. The more our life is given away the more we gain life.
As this approach becomes more and more clear to me- I see that some of the most significant missional activity going on in our church is outside the property lines of our campus on 30th and Council. I see a businessman who recently raised over 100,000 dollars for our orphanage in Motipur; I see a physician in our church who is feeding 300 kids in Rawanda a week; I see a couple in our church who are giving their lives for physically and sexually abused girls who have no place to turn; I see a young couple who lead a world wide medical missions ministry; I see a Connection Class that has adopted Cambodia; I see a retired business executive who has pioneered a way for missionaries to find a platform to reach some of the most unreached people groups in the Middle East by setting up an interactive internet program; I see a group of coaches who are taking a competitive team of young baseball players to not just play baseball this summer but to go overseas for the purpose of missions; I see a retired school teacher who has begun a ministry to people living on the streets.
Everywhere I look I see that increasingly our membership understands that God has placed each of us strategically in a mission field for the purpose of the gospel. I see that we are grasping the biblical truth that the church is to be populated with people who see themselves as on mission. We are a church of missionaries, not a church of consumers.
That is how missional works.
So call it evangelism, but please don't confuse the point and call it missions or "missional".
While I understand the point and deeply appreciate the necessity of focusing especially on those parts of the earth that have yet to be reached, I am not as reluctant to call what we do in North American culture as we engage an increasingly "post-Christian" environment with the meaning and message of the gospel a "missional" approach.
My rationale:
1. I do not see a distinction between the call of every believer/disciple to engage the world they work, play, live in and the call of a missionary to cross over into a different culture for the purpose of engaging that unreached people group with the gospel. I think the overuse of the term "call" is regretful. I see that we are all called. I see that the great commission was given to all of His disciples. I see that if we come to believe that there are a select few who are called out for the purpose of missions we are in danger of excusing ourselves from the very thing our Lord has called all of us to do.
2. North America is now the third largest mission field on the planet. As Ed Stetzer puts it in "The Missional Code": North America is a missions context, not because people are less Christian than they once were (although that is true), but because God “sent” us to North America. It is a mission field because God sent us here as missionaries. However, we are missing a clear reality if we do not recognize that this a harder mission field than it once was. Historically, the Christian church was the first choice of spiritually minded North Americans – today, it often does not make the top ten list. Years ago, when people looked for spiritual answers they looked to the church. Now, many look to anybody and anything but us. The fact that historically the U.S. has been heavily influenced by Christianity does not change the current reality we face. Increasingly the people we encounter each day are antagonistic to the gospel, but no less a people group who are loved by God and therefore a focus of our mission. A lost person in Bethany Oklahoma is no less lost than an unredeemed person in Showbach Jordan.
3. To say that we seek to be missional includes both our global and local emphasis. Click here for a terrific analysis of the difference between a church with an evangelistic emphasis and a missoinal church. Our understanding of a missional strategy in unreached parts of the world informs and invigorates our missional approach in a post-Christian North American culture.
4. When we say that we seek to become a church in which every member considers himself or herself a missionary we are simply saying that the natural outcome of a life in Christ is a pull into a life of purpose and mission. "As the Father has sent me so send I you.." (John 20:21) , has direct and undeniable meaning to every believer. The incarnation of Christ was the ultimate example of contextualizing. He is our prototype in this sense. He came into our context for the purpose of the gospel. So if we are sent out as he was sent out, we also have a strategic mission. Our meaning and purpose as believers is to make the Word flesh in our own context. The more our life is given away the more we gain life.
As this approach becomes more and more clear to me- I see that some of the most significant missional activity going on in our church is outside the property lines of our campus on 30th and Council. I see a businessman who recently raised over 100,000 dollars for our orphanage in Motipur; I see a physician in our church who is feeding 300 kids in Rawanda a week; I see a couple in our church who are giving their lives for physically and sexually abused girls who have no place to turn; I see a young couple who lead a world wide medical missions ministry; I see a Connection Class that has adopted Cambodia; I see a retired business executive who has pioneered a way for missionaries to find a platform to reach some of the most unreached people groups in the Middle East by setting up an interactive internet program; I see a group of coaches who are taking a competitive team of young baseball players to not just play baseball this summer but to go overseas for the purpose of missions; I see a retired school teacher who has begun a ministry to people living on the streets.
Everywhere I look I see that increasingly our membership understands that God has placed each of us strategically in a mission field for the purpose of the gospel. I see that we are grasping the biblical truth that the church is to be populated with people who see themselves as on mission. We are a church of missionaries, not a church of consumers.
That is how missional works.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
bob roberts
I enjoyed lunch today with Bob Roberts, pastor of Northwood Church in North Richland Hills Texas, and author of the books "Transformation" and "Glocalization". Bob's church has planted over 100 churches around the world and actively plants dozens of churches a year. His ministry and global vision is a refreshing and invigorating model for the future of missional churches. He was in Oklahoma City to help cast a vision for "Vision 360", which is a growing movement of like-minded pastors and businessmen around the country who are joining together for the purpose of planting churches worldwide. Bob is a fellow Southern Baptist who sees beyond the "Baptist Bubble" into global Kingdom work and understands the importance of not just planting churches, but planting Kingdom minded churches. There are few people in the world who know more about church planting than Bob Roberts. Bob and I agreed that we need to get together more often. I will look forward to our continued friendship. Here are a few things that stood out for me in our conversation:
1. There is no such thing as a "church planting movement". There is a Jesus movement that results in church planting.
2. If your church plants just 3 churches a year, it is one of the top church planting churches in the U.S.
3. The Chinese church has much to teach the American church about church planting and the spread of the gospel. There is no church growth movement in America. It is happening in China.
4. It is essential that a church become a "Kingdom" church- that is to say a church that plants churches in other cultures.
5. It is more important for a church to operate out of a model where all cultures and ethnic groups build something together around the same vision and values than it is to have a "multi-cultural" church. We should not be defined by our differences.
6. To try to "redefine" the church is a waste of time. The identity of the ethos of the church is secondary to the gospel. Regardless of what "kind" of church it is, the crucial issue is how disciples are made and what kind of vision you have for the Kingdom. Just stick to the basics of disciple-making and Kingdom growth and don't obsess over style.
7. One of the keys to reaching the Muslim world for Christ will be Palestinian Christians. When you actually go to the Middle East and you meet Arab believers and Muslims, you can see that Christianity will one day spring out of that land as it did 2000 years ago- but in a much different way.
8. When individual churches target particular people groups around the world, there is much more buy in and long term effect.
9. The message of the gospel has such power, it will overcome whatever stumbling blogs God's people tend to put in front of it.
10. Salvation belongs to the Lord. It does not come about by our manipulation or tactics. It comes about by His grace as a result of our faithfulness and obedience.
To all of this I can only say, "Amen!"
1. There is no such thing as a "church planting movement". There is a Jesus movement that results in church planting.
2. If your church plants just 3 churches a year, it is one of the top church planting churches in the U.S.
3. The Chinese church has much to teach the American church about church planting and the spread of the gospel. There is no church growth movement in America. It is happening in China.
4. It is essential that a church become a "Kingdom" church- that is to say a church that plants churches in other cultures.
5. It is more important for a church to operate out of a model where all cultures and ethnic groups build something together around the same vision and values than it is to have a "multi-cultural" church. We should not be defined by our differences.
6. To try to "redefine" the church is a waste of time. The identity of the ethos of the church is secondary to the gospel. Regardless of what "kind" of church it is, the crucial issue is how disciples are made and what kind of vision you have for the Kingdom. Just stick to the basics of disciple-making and Kingdom growth and don't obsess over style.
7. One of the keys to reaching the Muslim world for Christ will be Palestinian Christians. When you actually go to the Middle East and you meet Arab believers and Muslims, you can see that Christianity will one day spring out of that land as it did 2000 years ago- but in a much different way.
8. When individual churches target particular people groups around the world, there is much more buy in and long term effect.
9. The message of the gospel has such power, it will overcome whatever stumbling blogs God's people tend to put in front of it.
10. Salvation belongs to the Lord. It does not come about by our manipulation or tactics. It comes about by His grace as a result of our faithfulness and obedience.
To all of this I can only say, "Amen!"
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