outside is better

Retreating

Over the next few days I am going to be at the Abbey of St. Joseph with other Methodist clergy for a time of spiritual retreat. Everyone does their own thing at these events and I choose to read. Here are a few of the books I am bringing with me.Without planning I realized all three of these are keeping with my unspoken (not anymore...) focus on prayer for 2013.

1. The Complete Works of E. M. Bounds:
You might remember this from my 2013 reading list. I really would like to finish it this week.

2. Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton:
I read this years ago. I find it is a great small book to casually flip through and read a few pages. Lately it has been in my saddlebag of my Harley.

3.The Intercessory Life by Maxie Dunham:
Several classes at my church are going through this book. I am doing it personally and enjoy the conversations I have with others. It is a really good 28 day guide to prayer.

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Mark 1:35

What do you like to do/read when you get away from it all?

Why This Pastor Believes in Bigfoot

I joke about Bigfoot fairly regularly. This week I even signed a “We the People” petition on whitehouse.gov regarding the existence and protection of the great North American primate.

A couple of months back I made a Bigfoot joke and my wife asked me “You really don’t believe in all that...do you?” This after years of me listening to various podcasts and watching television specials!

I totally believe in Bigfoot.

This isn’t a blog post trying to convince people of the various forms of anthropological evidence.

It’s about belief and story. I have a little introduction to myself I use when I teach to new groups of people. Part of it is me mentioning I believe in Bigfoot. But I always follow it up by telling people we should all have something we believe in that is unbelievable.

When we loose the childhood grasp on the unbelievable we loose so many other things.

When it comes to faith, this is pretty important. The second we quit believing in things is the second we start taking ourselves too seriously. In that moment we begin becoming our own God. We take on the idea we can do anything on our own. We don’t need anyone or anything else.

A time will come when we will each be very disappointed.

"No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it." Matthew 19:26 (The Message)

To call ourselves people of faith means believing in what others call nonsense. That a Jewish guy living 2000 years ago called himself the divine (yet human) son of the creator. Not only did he make that claim, but he called us to come alongside him in his efforts. The world he then talked about was one filled of upside down values so audacious they became practically the most unbelievable part of the whole thing. To tie up the whole piece, he died and then came back. Finally, he promised to come back again and really wrap things up.

This makes my whole Bigfoot fascination seem kinda tiny.

The path of trusting in faith leads to a path of believing the unbelievable. It means believing it so much people start asking you “Do you really believe in this...”. It means trusting like a child. Taking the truth in a plain sense. Letting go. Your quest to be in control and in charge is null and void. You stop taking yourself seriously and start taking Jesus seriously.

How is God calling you to let Go and believe?

Beatles or Stones? Asking ourselves the hard questions....

Beatles or Stones?

Earlier this year I asked this question on Facebook and got around 200 comments. I love the question. It tells me so much about a person and their musical taste and preferences.

Good questions tell us so much more than a simple answer.

Earlier this year I wrote a piece on Why I became a Methodist. In the article, I mentioned one of the primary decision points being my belief in the effectiveness and necessity of Wesleyan discipleship.

Part of  historic discipleship and formation (growing closer to Christ) in the Methodist tradition is the act of asking questions. We ask them to ourselves in our own personal devotion. We ask them to others we are in accountability with.  This was important in the Methodist movement and I feel a recovery of the asking of questions will be a key thing to any spiritual development in our world now.

A little history...

Wesley organized his folks (you couldn't really call them a formal church yet) into 3 groups. From largest to smallest; the Societies, The Classes and The Bands. Part of the fundamental design of the two smallest (classes and bands) was a series of questions designed to keep each person in forward motion towards Jesus Christ. The Class met as a mixed group of sexes and ages. When they met, these questions formed the main conversation points. They got SERIOUS!

When the Bands met, the questions got even more in depth. They also centered on this small group (usually no more than 5-6 and same sex) really keeping each other on track. You gave the others the permission to get into your business.

Here are another set of questions Wesley and his original small group, called The Holy Club, asked themselves in their lives and meetings.

Our life now

These questions matter. They help us to be real and honest with each other. One of the best small group experiences I have ever had focused on asking a few of these questions every week. This isn't casual discipleship. It is changing and transformational discipleship. It is the kind of spiritual relationships each Christian needs to have in their life.

Several groups have done a great job trying to incorporate these classic notions of discipleship into current life. Most of them are going really well. What I really appreciate are the attempts to quickly get the emotive qualities of these HUGE lists into a few simple questions. You can answer them openly, in front of people you know and don't know. You can be asked them by people who know you really well. The most important quality is these questions are approachable. It is frightening allowing others into what most modern Christians consider to be pretty private.  Here is a listing of the ones I have found, liked and used.

1. Are you growing closer or further away from God since the last time we met?
2. How do you see God moving in your life right now?
3. How is your life in God?

Lately, I have a new one I have been thinking about, asking myself and asking others. It comes from my own personal conviction and values.

How have you allowed God to change you lately?

This question tells much more than a simple yes or no. In my own examination it causes me to think about my openness to Christ, my expectation of his presence and activity, how my false self is being broken down, etc, etc. It is great and broad.

Self-examination has long been part of Christian tradition. It helps us to make the points in which we have grown closer to God, progressed in our sanctification, won victory over things controlling us or simply mark our maturation in Christ.

So friends, How have you allowed God to change you lately?

 

 

Determining "contemporary" in your worship service...because it isn't magic fairy dust

Fairly often I am approached by people looking at either starting or taking a serious look at the contemporary services at their church. I usually travel in Methodist/Wesleyan circles, so this can tend to be a really unique situation. Many of these churches are responding to growth/decline trends and see other churches in their town growing and contemporary worship is thought to be part of that.

I have bad news.

As much as church planters, conferences or denominational leaders say it...there isn’t any magic dust existing in a contemporary service.

Yes, it can be a major element of growth and new ministry. Without carefully thinking about it you can create a situation which will only serve as a drain of resources and be seen as a fumble by many of the people you are trying to minister too.

Blindly jumping into the great lake of modern worship music won’t instantly bring new people to your church. Ministry shouldn't happen as a reaction to a downward trend. New ministry happens when we listen to God’s call and have to respond in faithfulness.

There are three key groups of people you need to look at when you are building vision for any type of worship service.

Worshiping congregation-
These are the folks in your chairs right now. With them comes denominational tradition, individual church characteristics and values as well as the group which will bring any sort of worship to actualization. Do you normally follow a liturgy or just go with the Spirit? Background matters in your design phase.

Desired Ministry-
Who do you want to reach out too? Just saying “the lost” or some other version isn’t good enough. Look at your existing leadership. Do they have a passion or call for a certain people group. It might be an age. It might be a description of “families who live on x side of town” or a people group spread out across a portion of your city.

Local Context-
What does your community look like? If you want to start a biker service but you don’t have a single motorcycle dealer or shop...you might want to rethink things. What does the community around your church or neighborhood look like? What do they value or spend time and money doing? What needs can only be fulfilled by the redemptive qualities of the kingdom?

Being able to identify these three groups of people will go far helping you understand what type of service you really need to start to minister in your area.

The beauty of knowing these three groups helps in identifying when plans or ideas are actually appropriate. You can realize when something might not be sustainable before it even gets going. The design of your worship will be appropriate to all three groups.

The small area where all three groups intersect is your sweet spot. This is where you will find the greatest depth of transformation, worship and discipleship. Your aim in any service should be to make this center really strong and healthy.

It will look different in different contexts. All worship communities are both individual AND communal expressions of the worship of Jesus Christ. Some are primarily evangelistic (check out The Skull Church for a great modern idea of this). Others might be a deeply embedded new community (Munger Place is a wonderful example). Your idea and understanding of this center will be really varied.

But even outside the sweet spot, you can further out any type of vision for a worshiping community.

When desired ministry and context overlap, you have evangelism. When ministry and worship collide, you are engaged in mission (Matt Redman’s song Mission's Flame is a great example). In the joining of worship and context, discipleship is developed for unique circumstances.

Usually when people ask me “just a quick question about our worship” I tell them this is and should be a much bigger discussion. I hope this provides some clarity around what intentional worship design looks like..because it matters. It isn’t just a hail mary attempt of figuring out what type of music you want. All decisions need to be made with the three major groups in mind. Spell these out with your team. The center of this will be your strong point. The three overlaps will provide the best expression of evangelism, mission and discipleship.

Worship Design matters. It forms how we talk about God. It’s how we want those we are worshipping with to be formed around God. Our worship is the story of God rising out of the redemption which has happened in our lives. Folks will respond in natural ways. Let’s create natural environments utilizing the knowledge we have about our vision using our known congregation, desired ministry and local contexts to form the best idea of how to lead others in a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.

Why Church "Size" Matters

Around a year ago I stumbled on Timothy Keller's article "Leadership & Church Size Dynamics." To say it was eye opening was an understatement. Keller spelled out many things I have thought over my 10 years in local church ministry and presented plenty of new ideas. I probably read this article at least once a week and still find things I can apply to my ministry.

The basic premise is church size presents a leadership and ministry structure appropriate to the actual size of any local church (I would use average worship attendance to arrive at the figure). Good functioning congregations are acting appropriate in both size and structure. Churches needing a push in ministry could probably stand to look at how they might be behaving unlike a church of their size. Keller best lays it out:

There is a “size culture” that profoundly affects how decisions are made, how relationships flow, how effectiveness is evaluated, and what ministers, staff, and lay leaders do.

I would encourage everyone to take the time to read this article. Right Now.

What I want to present to you are the three sizes every local church is at...simultaneously.

1. The size of the worshipping congregation.
Far to often we measure church size with an inflated number and hog tie ourselves for ministry with this figure. If we start and function from our actual worship attendance we will begin to realize a base level of both execution and vision.

2. The size of your church you think you are.
Many churches project a different size than they actually are. A large church is not just a bigger version of a small church. If a church is acting primarily like a different size church (either larger or smaller), it would be easy to find problems that might be impeding ministry.

3. The size of the church you "behave at."
My church, St. Paul's United Methodist, functions at two different sizes. Our amount of Monday-Friday ministry is larger than our Sunday church size. I would say by around 100-150 people more. For any church with a larger ministry base than most would assume from Sunday worship this means making decisions regarding structure.

Other churches might function at a size smaller than their actual number. Keller points out the main characteristic of "house" (0-40) and "small" (41-200) churches are the high value of the  relational dynamic and pastoral care. For people who find these two things to be very important...these smaller congregations might serve their needs best. Small churches also have a different organizational structure.

I would propose a local church would operate at its worship and missional peak when these three numbers are in close proximity. It means being able to best design worship services, provide care ministries and order the life of the church in a way most appropriate (remember, that is my favorite word) to each local congregation.

How has "size" affected your local church?

 

The Jurassic Park Principle in Worship Design

As a geeky kid growing up in the early 90's, nothing hit my radar quite like Jurassic Park. (well...maybe Wayne's World). I remember when the cool guy who helped me earn my Science merit page in Boy Scouts took me to the opening night of the movie. I had already read my paper back copy of the book several times and was excited about seeing the story brought to the big screen. Jurassic Park was a movie that EVERYONE saw.

While the effects might be dated, I think there is an important lesson church leaders can learn from Jurassic Park when planning worship. I would even go so far as to say it is a timeless message. It is a lesson both worship leaders and scientists creating large and destructive living beings from fossilized DNA should understand. I call it the Jurassic Park principle.

JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD.

You never know when things might get out of control.

Maybe your lighting crew can make a holographic depiction of the Death Star and your Youth Pastor can make it into an illustration on the one Sunday they teach at traditional worship...but should you really?

Maybe you really are getting into ancient liturgy and your community has gotten down reciting the Apostles Creed, but jumping straight into the Rite of Constantinople might go over their heads.

You have a great preaching illustration taken from The Dark Knight Rises, but the last movie most of your congregation saw in the theater was Driving Mrs. Daisy, will it truly work?

For younger ministers, there is a huge temptation to delve off into unknown creative waters when leading our congregations in worship. We might have seen something cool at a conference or around the internet and think it will be the thing that catapults our worship into truly skinny jean worship leader status...but we are willing to experiment at the expense of those we worship with. How far does that truly lead our churches into a deeper and more incarnational aspect of faith?

What might seem really cool to us and a few others could be the theological equivilent of unleashing a pack of velociraptors in the sanctuary. Remember the most important word in Worship Design is context. Sometimes innovative things will match our ministries well. Other times we need to step back and realize something might not be best for our church. This is all part of the process of discernment. Our job as leaders, whether music, logistics or preaching is to present Christ to people and facilitate the worship of the Triune God in the most approachable and accessible way for the people we worship with.

Just because we can doesn't mean we should.

Related Posts:
The Most Important Word In Worship Design
When Worship Attacks
Worship Design Warnings

3 Reasons the Church should understand the Zombie Apocalypse

I have a two fold approach in handling eschatology, and one of them is playfully.  A big part of my interest in eschatology (the theology of the end times) surrounds popular culture and the way it views any sort of apocalyptic situation.

What I want to do today is offer 3 reasons the church should understand the entire genre of the zombie apocalypse.

1.  The Zombie Movie as Social Criticism:
This is one of the lesser known themes behind many entries into the zombie corpus. It is the guiding principle of the modern zombie.  George Romero (the director of Night of the Living Dead and the zombie Grandfather) generally started the idea of zombie stories/movies being a form of social critique.

What directors and writers in this genre have done is to take multiple angles in story telling to point out flaws and injustices in our society.  They use the response of the survivors to point towards the depths of human animistic action.  Night of the Living Dead explores both power relations as well as the tumultuous events of the late 1960's. Other zombie films critically present the idea that as humans we have dehumanized ourselves through an aggressive pattern of capitalism.  Finally, last years Zombieland explored narcissism and the need for community from the perspective of a ragtag group of survivors on a quest to visit a theme park in the midst of the zombie apocalypse.

As Christians, zombie movies provide an interesting glimpse into the way that secular culture views itself prophetically. How do we then add input about our understanding of human nature as being created in the image of God and also affected by a fall?

2. Zombies provide a hermeneutic for understanding culture:
A good friend at my church has an interesting way of looking at Christian life currently as residing inside the zombie apocalypse.  This provides a framework of understanding the Christan life as a pilgrim people, living in a foreign world.  My Pastor ran with this theme in a blog post this weekend about Leadership in the Zombie Apocalypse.

I wrote a sermon a few years ago about the Sacraments and Zombies; how the idea of being undead provides a way for us to encourage devotion and formation towards God. If anything, the idea that popular culture is fascinated with Zombies, the situation (due to their nature as social critique) allows us to engage inside of it and at the same level. 

This isn't taking advantage and hijacking something for the kitsch factor (like a Lord of the Rings bible study), but realizing that the zombie apocalypse is a figurative playground in which we can call things out, provide contrast and deal with subliminal issues.

3. Zombies as punishment:
In the now classic  "The Walking Dead" premiere, there was a scene where the main character looked inside an abandoned house and found two corpses that appeared to be an assisted and an unassisted suicide.  On the wall, scrawled in blood, was the phrase "God Save Us'.  In many zombie movies and stories, there is the idea that the disease/virus is the result of divine judgement and the survivors either recognizing or at least mentioning it.  Inside of this judgement, man is allowed to completely consume himself. It is as though God as stepped away, pulled the incarnation out of the world and taken away prevenient grace.

The desires of materialism, lust, power, food, and many other things are what disintegrate society and turn us into consumptive monsters that have reached the ultimate of sins. In our final grasp, we begin to literally feed on each other, and the remaining few metaphorically understand the ills of society and run from being consumed by them.

This gives the Church a dramatic look into how society is satirically looking at what it believes deep down.  I think that the popularity of these films is Western Culture's hidden admission of these sins.  Christian leaders should be realizing what and how popular culture is analyzing open and willing sins, and the genre of Zombie films provide this confession.

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In anticipation of a future project, I am slowly bringing key posts from another site that is pretty much shut down. This post is one of them. This summer and early fall I will be working on a larger project involving Revelation and pop culture end times, these posts are teasers.

Peace/Chaos and the Coming Kingdom

I once worked a job where we began all staff meetings with a Peace/Chaos scale. My good friend JD Walt coined the idea and it was very fruitful. Each of shared on a scale of 1-10 how much peace AND chaos we had in our lives. His theory was something called "the shalom zone" in which each individual perfectly balanced the peace and chaos in his or her life. Since we were all in seminary and working a fast paced job, it all made sense.

For me, I've found I need a certain amount of chaos to really perform well. It keeps me motivated and thinking creatively. The unraveling point comes to a disastrous end when I have been getting energy off the chaos side for too long. I think each of us know the feeling.

Over the summer I have been preaching through Matthew 5-7, more commonly known as "The Sermon on the Mount". It has been a fruitful time of both preparation and worship. I've found an interesting thread to the whole sermon I hope to share at a later date. But for now, lets keep thinking about peace and chaos.

The larger section of my passage this week is Matthew 6:19-34. The passage gives several directions to go, but I have chosen to really let two verses segments drive the sermon.

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 6:27

 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 6:31-33

How do we let anxiety drive our life?

What do our projections of anxiety do to others?

When I reflect on these passages I remember the peace/chaos scale. The abolishment of anxiety is not the focus of these verses, but what we as humans living in relationship with Christ choose to do with anxiety. The call to follow Jesus is an individual one, but the response and ongoing sanctification of the believer brings us into a community linked in worship and mission. In this new community the support systems for a new way of life are found. Anxiety drives us to fuller reliance on God. Life in my friend's "shalom zone" is a current projection of a future eschaological awareness!

To go back to the question regarding projection, what if the way we publically handle our anxiety, through acknowledgement and holiness, becomes the thing helping others to come to Christ? It's not that we have anxiety...but how we handle it.

The words of Paul in Philippians 4:6 close us the best.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

4 Church Leadership Lessons I learned from playing RISK.

I am a geek. I freely admit it. I once tried to conceal it, but over years I have learned to love being quirky.

Strategy games are a component of my inner geek. The biggest being the classic Risk. With my iPad, I can play risk anywhere. Let’s just say I go through phases of playing enough risk I could be considered a digital Douglas MacArthur.

I have found several leadership lessons from Risk I think speak volumes about church leadership. I want to share them with you.

1. Have a plan
Starting a game of Risk without a strategy never ends well.  Players are scattered throughout the map at first, and to truly succeed you need to have an idea of where you are strong, weak and where your greatest possibilities lie. You need to figure this out quick.

Many churches struggle with size. Size matters and affects many different variables. What I have seen the most are churches just big enough to be dangerous. These churches are resourced enough for ministry to be scattered among different groups of people and organizations.  The problem lies in the area of posessing a unique sense of vision and mission appropriate to your context.

This leads us to our next lesson

2. TAKE AUSTRALIA
Within your first few games of Risk you learn how valuable this continent can be. It is easily defended, with only one way in and out. It only has a few territories, so it can easily be taken. Australia gives you access to more energy very quickly and it can be relied upon when things get tense.

The distinct vision of the local church will be your Australia. It can be counted on for energy. It gives you a home base where everything else can revolve around. When times of redirection are needed, having a known sense of mission and vision provide a safe foundation.

3. Don’t abandon movement
A newbie mistake in Risk happens often when making quick gains and abandoning the territories allowing you to move in and out of continents. The wise player will keep a few armies there in case one needs to come back or another player tries to move in. Sometimes this also manifests itself in strategic build up. You might not be planning movement using that territory during the current turn, but you know you will in an upcoming turn.

In the local church, we hopefully will always be growing in mission. It is important though to look at sustainability, especially in volunteer leadership. Always have people on deck to step in for a season if necessary. Likewise, if you are able to start a presence in an area you anticipate future ministry, it would be wise to think about keeping some energy there until it can become a focus point. Two important concepts to always be aware of are intentional and sustainable.

4. Use your cards wisely
In Risk, you are given a card at every turn you conquer a territory. These can be saved and turned in for more armies. You can either be an erratic player with no idea when and how these are coming or you can plan for it and have a strategy ready.

Anyone in Church leadership should be looking ahead. How can we best anticipate where we think future movement and ministry might happen? Have the conversations with people that will help you know who might be able to help with something before it even happens. Make sure to have plans for energy use and use it wisely.

I was surprised to see how much Risk taught me. What of these helps did you find the most surprising?

Words Matter

Words matter. I am in a vocation where words especially matter. Whether it might be in conversation, counseling or corporate communication (preaching/teaching)...words hold weight. As someone who has also been described as a story teller, the use of not just actual words, but the way they are communicated, the pauses and the breaks, the speed or the inflection, tell an even better story.

Grammar often has been my weak point and I realize more and more I can't find a way to write the way I sometimes want to talk. This tends to show itself in an overabundance of ... and , (there we go...this whole sentence is an example). Words matter.

 

As I have reflected this last year on words I have sometimes forgot how much power they have. Words are also a learned communication, especially in terms of listening. As we often don't communicate audibly and use text and email, often the non verbals or tone gets lost. This leads to miss-communication. The speed at which we talk matters.

As a person called "Pastor", words hold a special place. I am ordered by the United Methodist Church to give witness to the Christ who has been described as "The Word" of God. In my communication to others I constantly think about my words either call folks closer or perhaps away from Jesus. Sometimes I do a good job and other times I fail. The choice of words matter.

As a Preacher the delivery of words matters. In my current church I have relied more on a manuscript when preaching than I have in other places. I do this so I can be careful and intentional about the words used to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ. I joke that if I don't have those words I might start talking about Bigfoot. At other times I have chosen to communicate without words in front of me and have let intentionality be surpassed in favor of closeness and intimacy, in which I appear to be sharing extemporaneously, although it rarely ever is. The way I choose to present words to people matters.

Finally, over the last few weeks I have realized how much the written word matters. In writing I am able to flesh out things, to share things and to invite others in a journey. It can happen at a better pace and place. Writing makes communication convientient. But I have learned I must write again. It makes sharing words even easier because it can happen when life has the space for it. Shared words matter.

Words matter. For all of us...not just pastors. I think if we realized this life would be easier. James 3 talks about what the tongue is capable of. How we share words matters. How we give words to others matters. It is at the root level of communication we realize those folks we are telling things are people and our words mean something to them. Words show us humanity because to be intentional with them means we treat others as humans instead of recipients. In this age of facebook, twitter, texting and other virtual conversations the humanity of our words matters greatly.

How have words impacted you lately?