Archive for March, 2013

1 Minute Lesson on Leading a Bible Study

Posted: March 15, 2013 in Bible Study, Church Planting, House Church, Missions, Small group
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Friends have asked me several times what I do when I lead a Bible study. If they are American, I usually cringe when I hear the question. (I don’t do much of anything . . .). If they aren’t, I tell them. In most of the world, there isn’t such great access to Bible study curriculum, inductive training manuals, commentaries, Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias, so we have to let the Bible speak. In all honesty, having used lots of curricula over the years, I love the simple 6 questions that we use now.

Two things I have noticed with these questions: 1. People discuss more. I’m not the expert, and they realize they can answer most of these questions just as well as anyone can. 2. Two of the questions engage an emotional response. I know it sounds stereotypical, but the women in our groups respond more to these questions than they ever did in a prepared curriculum.

These questions have been around forever – supposedly they come from a missionary in Asia – I wish I could find the source. (Edit – John DeVries, founder of Mission21 India, came up with these questions prior to 1989) Also, they exist in different orders and wordings, and lately have become popular again with “Discovery Bible Study”. I first got them verbally, from a buddy, which seems so appropriate. He didn’t have them written out. I wrote them on a napkin a couple of times, but they are easy to remember:

Read a passage from the Bible out loud. We usually read a chapter, and usually everyone reads a few verses.

1. What don’t you understand from the passage? This is really the only question where the “expert” gets to shine.

2. What do you like from this passage?

3. What don’t you like, or what do you disagree with?

4. What do you see about God in this passage?

5. What do you want to remember this week from this passage?

6. What do you need to apply in your life from this passage?

6 questions bookmark

Here are the questions in a bookmark, with a link to a ministry that will send you more.

As you can see, my order is a little different. Other than keeping the first 3 questions before the last 3, I don’t think it really matters. And we don’t always do all 6.

I have the questions in Polish, but if you’re Polish and you’ve read this far, you can probably translate them better than I can!

Of course, this is similar to the other old standby:

What? (What does the passage say or mean?)

So what? (What does it mean in my life?)

Now what? (What do I need to do?)

The point is, you absolutely don’t need a Bible study curriculum to start reading with your friends. You don’t need a seminary degree, or years of Christian experience.

What you need to do is: Read. Discuss. Do. Every portion is equally important, and we all know that it’s the last one, DO, that usually gets neglected.

So. What are you waiting for?

Changing the Scorecard: A Brief Review of Missional Renaissance

Posted: March 14, 2013 in Book Review, Church Growth, Church Planting, Leadership, missional, Missions
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McNeal, Reggie. Missional Renaissance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2009. 224 pp.

Contrary to what you might assume from the title, Missional Renaissance is not a ground-breaking book about missional church theory. McNeal did that already in his 2003 book The Present Future. 

This book focuses on three shifts that need to take place, both in theory and in practice, for a church to become “missional.” I took McNeal’s “Missional Leadership” class at Columbia International University, and Missional Renaissance served as the core curriculum, so we had a chance to dialogue about these shifts, and the accompanying scorecards. In a future blog post or two, I’ll share some reflections from that class.

The three shifts are:

From an internal to an external focus.

From developing programs to developing people

From church-based leadership to kingdom-based leadership.

My three top thoughts from this book:

  1. The missional church is the people of God partnering with God in His redemptive mission in the world. (24) This is a good definition – simple and easy to remember. This isn’t a paradigm shift for our ministry in Poland, but, it does show the overall shift in thinking for the church. We can use this definition to assess all we do.
  2. This is very broad – but the whole idea of changing the scorecard. What gets rewarded, gets done. Making a shift in what counts and is counted (in brief, p. 68 – but all through the book) Each chapter about one of the shifts in thinking is followed by a “scorecard” chapter, showing how we can practically apply the shift in thinking.

For me, this was the biggest value of this book. The missional theory wasn’t ground-breaking. It was fairly simple – and I don’t think the author meant it to be otherwise. The practical elements of the scorecard, however, were exactly what most of us need. We accept theory, but then hit upon the barrier of: “how do I do that?” The scorecard had a number of ways to apply missional theory, and even more important, to assess what we are doing. I think the scorecard ideas even translate well into our strategic planning in missions, and it would be great if the board and senior leadership of our mission agency read this book. We count baptisms, church plants, leaders trained, etc. – not bad, but I think we could be counting other things that equally reflect the heart of God. I also loaned this book to my U.S. pastor – who is leading a missional church, but is always looking for ways to move forward.

3. Putting prayer at the beginning of nearly every scorecard – but best of all, listing concrete ways to count prayer. That doesn’t sound radical – but it is. Finally, we have a means of counting – and rewarding – prayer.

We all give lip service to prayer. Most of us in leadership pray – quite a bit, even. But we struggle to understand how to make prayer a major part of our corporate life. I really appreciated the practical ways implement prayer, and the ways to assess if prayer is a significant part of the community of faith. I will be using a number of these to encourage prayer, but also keep track of the place of prayer in our community life.

You can get a copy of Missional Renaissance here.

The Organic Church FAQ. A Brief Review of Church 3.0

Posted: March 13, 2013 in Book Review, Church Growth, Church Planting, House Church, Leadership, Missions
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Cole, Neil. Church 3.0. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2010. 274 pp.

Church 3.0 is a follow-up to Cole’s earlier book, Organic Church, and is structured to answer questions that might be asked about organic churches. The terms organic, simple and house church are sometimes used interchangeably – as you might see in my review of Felicity Dale’s book, An Army of Ordinary People. In short, organic are meant to be “relational, simple, intimate and viral” (from the flyleaf of Church 3.0) and are usually separate from buildings and hierarchy.

There were a couple of things that I didn’t care for. I don’t care anymore for books that use the Bible to say “this is the only biblical way.” I think I didn’t mind that much the first 10 books I read that said that about their methods. With each new book, that makes the same claim, though, I get more and more frustrated. Of course, Cole – and every other author who writes like this – is convinced that his method has biblical support. Fine, I get that. And the Bible is our primary authority. However, I often wonder if this type of argumentation would make it very far in an academic setting with higher expectations. Of course, feel free to remind me of my words when I write my first book explaining why my method is the only biblically supported method!

The title, and assumption that organic church is the next “upgrade” on church, equal to church 1.0 (pre-Constantinian) and 2.0 (Church since Constantine) – well, seems just a little bit presumptious. However, since I don’t have near the experience that Cole does, it would be presumptious of me to criticize his presumption 🙂 This presumption looks very similar to Hirsch’s history of “missional mode” from Forgotten Ways, which I critiqued here.

Although I really liked the perspective on groups of 2 or 3, I thought he overdid it with the proof-texts in support of the idea. It might have been enough to focus on the “sendings” – Jesus sending the disciples in groups of 2 (Luke 10:1b) and the Antioch church sending Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2b-3) Both examples are on page 140 – where we also find Cole’s statement, based on Matthew 18:20, that “Jesus promises to join the meeting when two or three come together, no matter where or when it might be.” This strikes me as a great-sounding statement based on a verse ripped kicking and screaming from the context.

Here are my 3 favorite insights from the book:

  1. The base unit of life: two to three people. Community. Accountability. Confidentiality. Flexibility. Communication. Direction. Leadership. All are stronger with 2 or 3. (139-142)
  2. Integration is better than segregation for children and adults (211-221)
  3. A manipulative leader cannot take advantage of Life Transformation Group participants because they are not a biblically illiterate following (239)

Yeah, I know I criticized the way he took verses out of context to support the groups of 2 or 3. However, the base unit was still an eye-opening concept for me. Although the other sizes that Cole uses – leadership team (4-7), family unit (12-15), etc. are in place in our Lublin structure, we have faltered in discipleship, especially in application of Scripture and in accountability. I think implementing the 2-3 idea will be a great help. This size is probably most cross-cultural, as well, whereas I think the other sizes would need to be adjusted in other cultures.

We haven’t integrated children in our groups. These groups have ranged from a simple Bible study to house church, but we still haven’t included children. Sometimes it happens unintentionally, but if we are able, we usually send them to do something else. However, in WI, in our LifeGroup, we involved 3 young children, and all of us were better for it. We ought to be able to do the same in Poland.

I loved the emphasis on discipleship throughout the book. The idea of people reading large portions of Scripture in the 2-3 groups, and being accountable for application really should help produce literate, biblically-informed, obedient disciples. Those kinds of people are much less susceptible to heresy than those multitudes who gather around a charismatic manipulator – demagogue. Life Transformation Groups mitigate against demagogy, and do seem to be an excellent bulwark against heresy. I think Cole might be overstating it when he says a manipulative leader cannot take advantage of people in a Life Transformation Group, but I can see where it would be much more difficult than in large, more biblically ignorant group.

You can buy Church 3.0 at Amazon.

10 Companies that should Sponsor the Conclave

Posted: March 12, 2013 in Catholic Church, Pope
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Interrupting all the serious blog posts recently with a little fun. I’d love to hear your suggestions 🙂

1. Coca-cola – by far the most obvious. Everyone is in red, for Pete’s sake (St. Pete, of course) Although, the old joke says the Pope already turned down Coca-Cola when they asked him to change “bread” in the Lord’s Prayer to “Coca-Cola.” (or was it the wine in the Eucharist??)

2. Vermont Castings – U.S. makers of fine wood stoves. Kind of partial to them, since I used to help install them.

3. St. Louis and Arizona Cardinals – sorry, just couldn’t resist. You could add Stanford, too.

4. Gammarelli tailors – dressing the pope for over 200 years.

5. Poland and Germany tourism departments. Well, why not. The home countries of the last 2 Popes are great places to visit. Also,  Ghana, Italy, and a couple of other countries associated with front-runners.

6. Gerda keys and locks – because conclave basically means “lock-in,” after all.

7. Makers of anti-bugging devices.

8. Port-a-potty manufacturer who provides the portable toilets in the Sistine Chapel.

9. European bookmakers betting on the new Pope. (No link – I’d rather not encourage you to bet)

10. Berlitz and the Rosetta Stone – especially the Latin modules.

 

 

Decoding the “missional” DNA: A Review of Forgotten Ways

Posted: March 12, 2013 in Book Review, Church Growth, Church Planting, House Church, Leadership, Missions
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Hirsch, Alan. The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press. 2006. 304 pp.

The Forgotten Ways is one of those books that simply destroys old paradigms and introduces completely new concepts. Hirsch attempts to describe the “apostolic genius” of the early church, and challenge the contemporary Western Church to recapture that “missional DNA.”

There’s a great little chart on page 64 that summarizes the church in the three modes he describes: the apostolic and post-apostolic, the christendom mode, and the emerging missional mode . However, the chart highlights my disagreements with the book. If I had two criticisms, they would be related to Hirsch’s history-telling.

1. I don’t think the picture Hirsch paints of the apostolic church was really quite so rosy in reality. Yes, the church grew very fast, and was characterized by a focus on mission. But there were some serous theological battles, that led to large portions of the Church separating from one another. In addition, although the “christendom” mode did see a consolidation and stagnation, there was still a strong focus on expansion, and significant Christian “missional” activity.

2. The “missional” mode, according to Hirsch, has been over the past 10 years. (Counting back from 2006). This unbelievably Western-centric viewpoint is actually uncharacteristic of Hirsch – it would be interesting to see if he changed this chart in the second edition. Hirsch himself refers to other “missional” movements, outside the West, that precede the recent wave of books with “missional” in their title or subtitle.  Seriously – I think he really may be dating the missional mode from the 1998 publication of Missional Church

Of course, we missionaries have frequently been guilty of exporting institutional church – but not always. And around the world, Hirsch’s missional DNA has been present in many places, throughout Christian history.

In spite of that criticism, I actually thought Hirsch did a better job of not gushing over American methods than most authors in this “missional” movement. He is Australian – which certainly helps – but he also focused on the theory behind practice, making this book easier to apply cross-culturally.

The missional DNA looks like this:

  1. Jesus Is Lord: A simple, but irreplaceable confession.
  2. Disciple Making: becoming like Jesus is at the core of the church.
  3. Missional-Incarnational Impulse: the gospel is lived out across cultures and people groups.
  4. Apostolic Environment: a certain type of leadership is necessary.
  5. Organic Systems: structures for growth.
  6. Communitas, not Community: We are sent, not gathered into a safe haven.

Brief digression – I loved the Paulo Coelho quote on p. 217, introducing the chapter on communitas: “The ship is safest when it is in port. But that’s not what ships were made for.”

I picked out 3 ideas that I thought were basic:

  1. Non-dualistic spirituality (p. 96). Hirsch’s diagram, contrasting dualistic and non-dualistic spirituality, i.e. integrating sacred and secular, really helped me to see and understand how I was doing that in my life, but also how to better communicate to others an integrated spirituality that includes God, church and world.
  2. The quality of the church’s leadership is directly proportional to the quality of discipleship (p. 119) Discipleship is primary, leadership is always secondary. This is a key concept – maybe even THE key concept. (It’s one of those “duh” ideas – of course leadership is dependent on discipleship – that has been simply ignored most of the time)
  3. Greek concept of knowledge contrasted with Hebrew concept of knowledge. (p. 124) The Greek concept is that right thinking leads to right action. Hebrew – right action leads to right thinking. Hirsch uses this in his chapter on disciple making, but the paradigm definitely applies for leadership training as well – but we very, very seldom apply this concept

A change toward missional thinking is really not just about following a new fad in church development. The spiritual concept Hirsch shares illustrates that it is about bringing all things, every sphere of our lives, under the lordship of Christ. We preach that, but we don’t always mean it, especially if it means significantly changing the church.

The last point resonates with a key factor in church planting movements around the world – obedience-based discipleship. In other words, doing what the Word says MUST go hand-in-hand with knowing what the Word says.

If you want to know a little more about the terms and history of the “missional” church movement – there’s a pretty good summary in J.R. Woodward’s blog here. If you’ve read and tried to apply Newbigin and Bosch – as most cross-cultural missionaries will have – Hirsch’s book will seem very basic in many areas.

However, if you love reading books that challenge your thinking about the church, or if you see that the church, as it is usually conceived, comes up short in reaching a culture that grows more “foreign” with every year – this is a great read.

You can buy Forgotten Ways at Amazon.

Being Jesus Hands and Feet – continued

Posted: March 11, 2013 in Healing, Missions, Serving others
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Near the end of 2011, I wrote about our African friend who had escaped from an unbelievably intolerable existence. That story is here. In short, our friend, Susie (not her real name, of course), had married a Polish mercenary in Liberia. This man, with a history as a wife beater, brought Susie back to Poland, where she lived   in his unfinished home, frequently with no heat or electricity, and with a growing pile of garbage in the garage, since he never paid any bills. He continued to beat her and do other awful things to her, but a number of factors made it difficult for her to leave.

However, as you can read in the linked story, she was able to leave, and find refuge in our church building. We organized legal assistance for her, a Nigerian friend helped her get her immigration status squared away (her husband had lied to the authorities in her name), and other friends have helped her figure out how to make it on her own. Although life is still difficult for her and her daughter, she feels free, finally, and no longer must live in fear.

Which is not to say she isn’t still afraid, sometimes. As with most victims of domestic violence, the simple thought of her husband can bring feelings of dread, and panic. However, we can see growth here, too. Thank God for his healing power.

When I first wrote about Susie, her husband had been in jail for 3 months, but then had been released. In Poland, a person can be sent to jail for up to 3 months, while an investigation is conducted, simply on the request of a prosecuting attorney. Now, my American sensibilities think this is unfair – but it didn’t stop us from being very grateful for it! However, after the 3 months were up, he showed up right away at our church building and began harassing Susie again.

He would follow her as she walked their daughter to school, cursing and insulting her. He regularly tried to take the daughter out of school, and once succeeded. Thankfully, he brought her back after a couple of days, but he tried everything he could do assert some sort of power over Susie. Once, he pushed her down in the street. When we went to the police to make a report, the officer in charge told me that such things are  allowed in Poland. Evidently, you can hit someone once, without being charged. (No, I didn’t ask the officer to step outside – pretty sure that rule doesn’t apply to hitting a police officer . . .)

One time, he came to the church, saw Susie outside, ran up and starting hitting and choking her. Thankfully, our building caretaker saw what was happening and called the police. The police made the daughter (who was 7), tell what her dad had done to her mom, but didn’t arrest the man. These kinds of things continued for about a year, until the prosecuting attorney did some follow-up investigation, talked to us again, as well as the director of the school, and had him put back in prison.

Along the way, we have seen God intervene over and over. Both times that he was imprisoned, it came as a surprise – but a welcome one. We have seen how a number of Poles have sacrificed to help her – even risking retaliation from her husband. God has worked through all of these people. And I get a kick out of telling them so, since a few of the most helpful don’t really want all that much to do with God! But God is using them, too!

At the same time, though, we have seen some of the uglier parts of the Polish system. Some of the police have treated Susie with disdain, partly because she is black, and a woman, but mostly because she can’t speak Polish. During the first criminal hearing, a translator for Susie was not supplied, and she ended up agreeing to something that would have hurt her case. However, when another friend of ours informed a journalist, and organized some observers from the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights – somehow all the records from that first hearing had been deleted from the computer. . . This was good for Susie, but certainly raised some questions in our minds!

Today, Kaye and I were supposed to be witnesses in the next criminal hearing. Our testimony is pretty significant, since we were the primary witnesses to the beating that preceded the police intervention that finally began the criminal process – after a number of other beatings that the police responded to, but never initiated an investigation. And of course, we have been witnesses to the husband’s continued harassment, stalking, and violence.

But – Susie’s husband is in a mental institution, under observation. So, the case has been delayed, again. However, no one from the court told us. No – the court secretary phoned a Polish witness, and asked her to tell us, and Susie. Oh, well.

Please keep praying for Susie, and for us – especially Kaye, and for all the people helping Susie – her lawyer, friends from church, a kind lady from Family Services, a nurse who has helped immensely, and of course for Susie’s daughter.

From the Ashes: Exploring the Lublin synagogue

Posted: March 8, 2013 in Lublin, Poland, Synagogue, Travel
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In my town, Lublin, Poland, nearly all the places of worship are in the Christian tradition. Although there are 350,000 people in Lublin, non-Poles and non-Christians are a tiny minority. There is one Islamic Center, and four “dharmic” religion centers, but no mosque or Eastern temple. The only choice left is a Jewish synagogue. In 1939, Lublin had 42,000 Jews, more than 100 Jewish synagogues, a Jewish hospital and orphanage, and one of the most important Yeshivas. Lublin was a cultural and political capital for Eastern European Jews. However, the Nazi occupation saw most Lublin Jews exterminated, and all but one synagogue destroyed. That one synagogue ceased to function in the 1980’s, because less than 10 Jewish males could be found in the area. It remained possible to visit it as a tourist, but services were very rare.

Lublinyeshiva

Lublin Yeshiva

However, in 2005, the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva was re-opened, and a synagogue was built inside, finished in 2007. (More about the synagogue here: Virtual Shtetl)I visited this synagogue, but I think it is impossible to simply visit this prayer room without being mindful of the Jewish history of Lublin, and the incredible suffering involved. The Yeshiva and synagogue are in a building built in the early 20th century that was “appropriated” by the Medical College of Lublin after World War II, and was not returned to the Jews until the beginning of this century.

Next to the synagogue are 3 rooms that show the history of the yeshiva and Jews in Lublin, with plans for a Museum of Hasidism. Although there are no pictures or other mementos of Jewish suffering in the main room of the synagogue itself, those rooms are only a few steps away.

Majdanek Concentration Camp

Majdanek Concentration Camp

In addition, just two blocks away is the “New” Jewish cemetery, where thousands of tombstones and graves were bulldozed, crushed into gravel, and used to pave the entry road to the Nazi death camp of Majdanek. So, a Jew could march across the tombstones, and perhaps bones, of his ancestors as he made his way to the gas chamber.

A short video tour of the synagogue can be found here: Virtual Shtetl video. This was my second visit to the synagogue, and this time I realized how similar the room was to a small Christian chapel. My first visit, I was struck by the differences, but this time the similarities seemed more striking. Of course, this is a new synagogue, so everything is freshly painted, the oak floors look brand new, and the bookshelves on the side of the room are still nearly empty.

There are 7 wooden benches on each side, facing the front. Each bench has a small book shelf and reading shelf in front of it. There are also fabric-covered wood strips near the floor, in front of each bench, where a kneeler would be in some Christian churches. These strips are evidently foot rests, however. There are four Corinthian style pillars on each side, painted green, supporting a balcony. The synagogue has a side entrance, and there were no special requirements to enter, at least for a tourist like myself.

Near the front, there were 2 center-facing benches on each side. I wondered who would sit here, but I noticed one picture from a special service in the synagogue that showed these benches turned to face the congregation, with what looked like VIPs in these front benches. There were also reading benches, with no seats against the front wall. These had indentations on the top front, the right size to hold writing utensils. There was another reading bench in the exact center of the room, facing the front, again with no seat.

Bema

Bema

There was a raised platform (called a Bema)  in the front center of the room , with another reading bench, no pen well. There was also a seating bench on this platform, far enough back from the reading bench that one would have to stand and approach it in order to read. The raised platform was surrounded by a cast iron railing to set it off from the rest of the room.

The front of the room is dominated by a tall raised platform with steps going up to a large locked wooden cabinet (the Ark). The cabinet is oak, decorated with the same Corinthian pillars, topped by 2 round pieces – that looked like overturned goblets. The top center of the cabinet has a wood and gold emblem of the 10 commandments, with a red and gold crown on top. There are lions or lambs facing the crowns on the tablets.

The walls have simple, normal Polish wall sconces with halogen bulbs, but one small menorah is on a shelf high on the front wall. A sign below the menorah said that it is a gift to the Jewish community in Lublin, in memory of 40,000 Lublin Jews killed in WW2. There is also a red electric bulb, made to look like an eternally burning flame on the front wall. There were also 2 Hebrew pages framed on each side of the large cabinet on the front wall. One thing seemed a little out of place – a small advertisement for a Polish flooring company attached to the base of the platform in the front of the room.

There was also a cast-iron container for donations – about one-fourth full, with almost all American dollar bills. (Only one Polish banknote) There was a reading or teaching room in the back, on the side. I found a number of books there, all in Hebrew and English (no Polish books). These books included some synagogue service manuals, and I looked through one of them. There were lots of responsive readings, similar to psalms, but with no Scripture references and I didn’t recognize any particular psalm. There was another room on the side, near the front, with pictures of rebuilding and reopening the yeshiva. There was also a sink in this room. I was not able to go up to the balcony

Women's Balcony

Women’s Balcony

(the section for women), but I could see some pages of text hanging on racks. There is also a large chandelier in the center of the room, with halogen bulbs, and floodlights around the top of the walls, pointed toward the high ceiling.

I was interested by the similarities with Christian churches – especially Catholic – and by the fact that there was almost no sign of being in Poland.

(All images from Wikipedia – I didn’t take any pictures)

Ordinary = Extra-ordinary. A Review of Work of Heart

Posted: March 7, 2013 in Book Review, Church Planting, Healing, Leadership, Serving others
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McNeal, Reggie. A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2000. 224 pp.

Sometimes when and where you read a book means almost as much as what is in the book. Although the what in Work of Heart is pretty significant, the time and place in life when I read it made the book so much more valuable.

I was in the middle of my lowest point ever in ministry. Thinking strongly about packing up and “going home” back to America. But we had committed to being part of a Luis Palau evangelism outreach with several other churches in town, and as a part of that, we rented a couple of rooms in the center for a prayer vigil leading up to the campaign. We always had someone there, on duty, while people came and prayed. I needed something to read during my shift – so I picked up this book that my supervisor had given me a few months earlier. Am I glad I did!!

Reading this book, during a time like that – a low point, but also a spiritual retreat time – made the message much more meaningful, and allowed me to work through the questions the author includes for personal growth.

Here are my three best thoughts in the book:

1. The call we are discussing as a heart-shaping subplot in the leader’s story is the specialized and specific setting aside by God to some special lifelong task in His kingdom. . . The call is not invented, it is revealed. . . The point is this: it is tough enough to serve as a Christian leader with a call. Without it, the choice constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. (98-99)

I had struggled with understanding my call to Poland. I thought I was to come as a church-planter, but church-planting was so tough, and I, at least then, gave up after the first failure. Meanwhile, some elements of planting a church had no appeal for me. I think I had tried to invent a call – but based it more on a need, than on the way God had gifted me. This book was extremely helpful, beyond even the chapter on call, in helping me come to grips with this. It led to a crisis, where I almost left Poland, but we needed to go through that to come to an assurance of God’s leading.

2. Commonplace: Discovering that the ordinary is extra-ordinary. Habits: look for God, keep learning, say yes to God, stay grateful. (175-186)

Seeing God in the commonplace was probably what helped us survive the crisis we faced. When my ministry partner had an affair, when our church plant fizzled, when the dollar dropped by 50% – all at the same time – some of these reminders here helped us survive, and eventually see God’s leading.

3. The reflection questions from the conclusion. I worked through all of these, reflecting on most of them with my wife, and they really helped me see myself, my world, my heart and my call. (188-192)

            As I mentioned, working through these reflection questions was so helpful. I had never done anything like that, and I’m so glad I did. I’m very grateful to my supervisor for giving me this book, and I would have to say it was one of the most positive influences in my life – ever. I’ve shared ideas and questions from this book with Polish leaders that I mentor, as well.

Personal follow-up note: I had a class with Dr. McNeal at Columbia. During a break, I told him that this book had saved me in ministry. His response? Not just “thanks” or “praise God.” He said (without really knowing me) “you are worth it.” I got a lot out of the class, but to be honest, it’s those four words that I will remember the longest.

You can buy a revised version of Work of Heart here: Work of Heart at Amazon

 

A Brief Review of AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

Posted: March 6, 2013 in Book Review, Church Growth, Church Planting, Missions
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Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, And: The Gathered and Scattered Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2010. 208 pp.

AND is an attempt to reconcile the attractional model of church with the missional model. The attractional models focuses on bringing people into the church, then discipling them. The missional model focuses on sending disciples into the world, where they can be incarnational, and make other disciples. Halter and Smay reconcile the two approaches with the idea that BOTH are necessary.

The three most insightful thoughts, in my opinion:

1. The missionary flow – engaging culture, forming community, structuring congregation. Even working backwards – starting from established structures, all three steps are necessary. (54)

I appreciated the inclusion of both directions – starting from scratch, as well as starting from structure. I also appreciated the terminology – that this is a missionary flow. The U.S. church could learn much by listening to missionaries who have a lot of experience engaging culture. We are forced, from the very beginning, to closely examine the cultures that we have voluntarily joined. The North American church of today is living in a culture that is nearly as foreign as is the eastern European culture that I live in. I can help my American friends by dropping hints about how to study and learn the culture they live in.

2. Engaging the culture – becoming good friends with people – takes 2 years. Everywhere. (57)

This was an eye-opening comment. We do expect it to happen much faster, and then wonder why it doesn’t. In our own ministry, we wondered why it took that long to get to know our neighbors, why it took so long to get invited to someone’s house. Even after the barrier of Polish was overcome, friendships didn’t develop quickly. So, the idea that a church can be planted, from scratch, in less than 2 years is a pretty crazy one. But, we continue to expect just that. In fact, when it doesn’t happen, we get more tempted to take shortcuts, such as inviting people from other churches to come join us (sheep-stealing), or we get very discouraged, and think that something is very wrong with us that no one wants to be our friend. It just takes time!

3. Modalic and sodalic are both necessary arms of the church – but in order to bring balance our intention must begin to lean toward the sodalic. (133)

Halter and Smay simplify their terms with this short explanation: “Modalic structures tend to focus on caring for those who are already inside the structure. Sodalities push toward those on the outside.” (129)

I think that I am more involved in the sodalic than the modalic, even though I am a pastor. However, I need to take an intense, honest look at ministry. It could be that, because of my learned church culture, I am mistaken, and spend more time than I realize caring for those in the structure, or even just caring for the structure! (God forbid!)

If you are in the U.S., and interested in the discussion about missional church, this is a book you should read. If you aren’t in the U.S., and are interested in the American discussion about missional church, this would be a good book to read. If you aren’t in the U.S., and aren’t particularly interested in this uniquely American dichotomy – I wouldn’t bother reading this book.

I believe the church in most of the world figured out a long time ago that both attractional and missional are vital.

However, if you are interested, you can buy the book here: AND at Amazon

Don’t Die Before You’re Dead: A Brief Review of Get a Life

Posted: March 5, 2013 in Book Review, Guilt, Healing, Identity, Serving others
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McNeal, Reggie. Get a Life!: It Is All About You. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group. 2007. 179 pp.

Dr. McNeal is one of my favorite authors, so I’ll be reviewing a few of his books in my blog. To be honest, I am definitely not objectively critical toward his books, and my reviews will undoubtedly reflect that. In each review I’ll share a few insights from each book, and what impact it had on my life.

The books centers around five key questions that we need to return to frequently throughout our life:

1. Why am I here?
2. What is really important to me?
3. What is my scorecard?
4. What am I good at?
5. What do I need to learn?

For me, the three best, most insightful ideas in the book were:

  1. Passion distinguishes people from the pack. People with passion stand out from other people who are involved in the same work or activity without it. For the latter it’s just a job or something they have assigned to them. For the people operating from passion, it is an expression of who they are and what makes them tick. (page 12)
  2. Talent matters. Developing a strengths philosophy begins with a clear and honest assessment of your talent. This is the flip side, the antidote, to the philosophy of self-imposed mediocrity through trying to achieve “balance” in your strengths.(page 102)
  3. The single best strategy to avoid dying before you are dead is to practice lifelong learning. If you want to get a life, the learning needs to be intentional, guided by what you want to accomplish. . . Specifically, this learning quest will help you make your next move, knowing how to get to where you want to go in life. (pages 131-132)

As I read this book, I realized how much passion was missing from my life. I had already struggled with burnout and boredom, and tried to deal with it improperly, instead of dealing with the root issues. I was not living from my strengths.

I especially was not maximizing my talents. In an effort to be humble and servant-hearted, I had downplayed some natural leadership gifts. I felt guilty about preaching, and enjoying it, because American missionaries are supposed to have the nationals do that. Of course, multiplying leaders must be my task, and humble servanthood is the heartbeat – but I was expressing both of those values in unnecessary ways.

This book was one of the primary prompters for me to go back to seminary (Columbia International University) Just beginning, at age 41, with family and ministry pressures, was a significant victory. Now, God and my professors willing, I’ll finish this spring, and I’m already looking forward to a Ph.D.

I had two copies of this book, but I gave both away already. However, Get a Life! is available here: Get a Life! at Amazon

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