Wow! This is way too familiar...
"A South African pastor went with me from city to city in his country and then commented: 'You preach a troublesome gospel. We preach a kingdom in heaven hereafter, that upsets nothing now. But you preach a kingdom now on earth and that upsets everything." -- "E. Stanley Jones, The Unshakeable Kingdom and The Unshakeable Person
Well...
Wow! This is way too familiar...
I've been doing a lot of thinking and reading lately about the "powers" of the New Testament. This morning, I was combing back over parts of Walter Wink's Naming the Powers when I came across a section that I had previously highlighted. It jumped off the page at me this morning and stirred up my sense of ultimate victory in the gospel. I thought it was worth sharing with you.
"Such sedition could not go unpunished. With rebels the solution was simple. No one challenged the state's right to execute rebels. They had bought into the power-game on the empire's terms and lost, and the rules of the game required their liquidation. The rebels themselves knew this before they started. But what happens when a state executes those who are praying for it? When Christians knelt in the Colosseum to pray as lions bore down on them, something sullied the audience's thirst for revenge. Even in death these Christians were not only challenging the ultimacy of the emperor and the "spirit" of empire but also demonstrating the emperor's powerlessness to impose his will even by death. The final sanction had been publically robbed of its power. Even as lions lapped the blood of the saints, Caesar was stripped of his arms and led captive in Christ's triumphal procession. His authority was shown to be only penultimate after all. And even those who wished most to deny such a thing were forced, by the very punishment they chose to inflict, to behold its truth. It was a contest of all the brute force of Rome against a small sect that merely prayed. Who could have predicted that the tiny sect would win?" -- Walter Wink, Naming the Powers
It is less than two weeks now until the Total Church Conference. Here is a schedule of sessions and breakouts during the conference. There is only limited space remaining; so if you've been thinking about going, don't delay in registering.
Tuesday, August 12th
Main Session #1: A Community-centered Gospel �?? Steve Timmis
The gospel is about a King who died to rescue a people who would reveal his character by their shared lives. In keeping with who I am �??in Adam�??, I individualize and privatize the gospel so that church is reduced to a necessary but often intrusive addendum. The gospel calls us to live �??in Christ�?? corporately and so show the power of the cross to reconcile and create community.
Main Session #2: A Gospel-centered Community �?? Steve Timmis
The gospel is that which creates, sustains, nurtures and perfects the church. To achieve this, the gospel needs to be at the center of all we are and do as the people of God. The gospel needs to be taken out of our pulpits and meetings and applied into the mundane and routine of our corporate and personal lives.
break out #1
Track 1: Being Neighbors: a Gospel Strategy (Steve Timmis)
When so much emphasis is placed on being missional and incarnational, contextual and radical it�??s easy to forget the simplicity and significance of the truth that gospel makes us into lovers, of both God and others. Instead of trying to send out edgy, hardcore dudes with body piercing and tattoos, we should be satisfied with sending people who will be the neighbors everyone wants to have as a neighbor.
Track 2: Forming a Gospel Community (Jeff Vanderstelt)
Now that many are aware of the need to form gospel communities, how do we move from theology and theory to actual forming and leading them? This session will explore the process and the specifics of moving an individualistic group of people toward a gospel-centered community on mission.
Track 3: One-Anothering: A Communal Gospel (David Fairchild)
Why are so many Christians detached and isolated from one another? How can we experience a radically reshaped community? What kind of social ethic does the Gospel produce? What would it look like if we lived lives together as if the Gospel were true? Join us as we unpack the various �??one another�?? passages in a quest to answer these questions together.
break out #2
Track 1: Evangelising the Urban Poor (Tim Chester)
We have endless resources on reaching postmoderns, most of which in fact address student and professional culture. In comparison there�??s very little on understanding and reaching the urban poor. Drawing on insights from biblical counselling, this session suggests some ways forward for evangelizing and discipling the urban poor. Join the work-in-progress!
Track 2: Story & Rhythm of Soma Community (Caesar Kalinowski)
Track 3: Reading Cultural Texts (Mike Gunn)
This is a missional gaze at pop culture. We will be taking a look at the �??Other�?? gospels in our culture (Media, film, books, etc.), and how to read them in a way that can help propel you to a better understanding of them for the sake of the gospel. We will look at the reason why this is important to our mission, as well as, some help for understanding and engaging pop culture in authentic ways.
Wednesday, August 13th
Main Session #3: Rethinking Attractional Church �?? Tim Chester
Attractional church (�??come to us�??) and missional church (�??go to them�??) are often set up as alternatives, yet throughout the Scriptures God calls his people to a life that attracts the nations. We can bring attractional and missional approaches together by re-conceiving church as a community rather than an event.
Main Session #4: Remodeling Attractional Church �?? Steve Timmis
As we focus more on the quality of our lives together rather than the slick performance of our Sunday meetings we will see how a gospel community is an integral and indispensable piece of the evangelism jigsaw. In fact, people won�??t be able to fully understand the magnitude of what God has done in Christ without it.
break out #3
Track 1: Out of the Frying Pan�?� (David Fairchild & Mark Moore)
Is God calling your church out of Ur? How do you get your church to move from traditional to missional? Both Mark Moore and David Fairchild are practicing church planters that initially planted relatively traditional churches built around the Sunday gathering. As they labored to develop deep community as a gospel display people for their cities, they realized things needed to change. Come and hear their stories and insights as they share what pitfalls to avoid and what challenges to accept as missional leaders. This breakout is intended for anyone looking to turn the corner missionwards!
Track 2: Beyond Total Church �?? Sowing the Seeds of a Movement (Tim Chester)
How can we plant churches that plant churches? What can we learn from church planting movements? How can we build in reproducibility?
Track 3: Communication in a Post-Christian World (Drew Goodmanson & Caesar Kalinowski)
The culture is changing and it requires new thought in communication. This session will help you learn how to effectively minister in a post-Christian context. Come learn the 1) five values of this Post-Christian generation, the 2) ten idols that enslave them and 3) effective ways to communicate the eternal and unchanging gospel message.
break out #4
Track 1: The Everyday Rhythms of a Gospel Display People (Jeff Vanderstelt)
The gospel community is called to be a display of the gospel in everyday ways of life so that others might see what their life would look like in the gospel. In order to do this, the church needs to lead their people to identify everyday practices and then lead them to live out their identity in Christ within them. This session will identify some of those everyday rhythms and and then explore how we can display the gospel through them.
Track 2: True Gospel Community in a Truly Big Metroplex (Mark Moore)
Being a gospel community that does life and mission together is sometimes easier said than done. This is especially the case in large cities that are characterized by sprawl as well as population. This session will concentrate on leading your people to make missionary decisions in their everyday lives in response to the gospel. Specific challenges to this way of life in a metroplex setting will be examined.
Track 3: Reaching the Domains of Society (Drew Goodmanson & Caesar Kalinowski)
How do we bring gospel renewal to our cities in the 7 pillars of society�?� Business, Education, Healthcare, Government, Media, Social Services [including other churches] & Marginalized? We believe the gospel informs all of life and this good news helps shape how we view the world and our involvement in it. How do we equip Christians to engage in redemptive work in science, politics, art, culture, business, economics, education, local concerns, mercy ministries, social justice, environmentalism, law, media, social concerns and spirituality.
Thursday, August 14th
Main Session #5: Making Disciples for Missional Church �?? Tim Chester
�??I�??m free and belong to no man�?? could be the slogan of our age. But Paul continues: �??I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.�?? What kind of people are going to sustain a church planting movement? This session explores how the cross and resurrection should shape our lives.
Main Session #6: Making Disciples in Missional Church �?? Tim Chester
This session looks at how we train and pastor one another in the context of ordinary life and the context of Christian community.
break out #5
Panel Q/A Session
break out #6
Track 1: Wrapping up Total Church (Tim Chester)
This session will be built around the questions of those attending, especially concerning the application and implications for the issues Tim raised during his main sessions.
Track 2: Developing Missional Leaders (Jeff Vanderstelt)
There is plenty of opportunity to hear and learn about being a gospel-centered church on mission. And, after a few days at a conference, the tendency of teachers and preachers is to go home and tell our people to get going. If we are going to lead a gospel-centered church on mission we must do more than that. During this session we will explore some ways to identify, equip and support a group of gospel-centered leaders to share in leading the mission with us.
Track 3: Urban Discipleship (Mike Gunn)
The city holds more than 50% of of the world�??s population, and is growing rapidly toward a world-wide megalopolis, while the church continues to migrate to the suburbs. The city also holds both the keys to the culture, and abyss of brokenness. In America our cities are becoming multi-ethnic/racial posing unique challenges and opportunities for our churches. In this session we will take a look at the role of the church (Make disciples), what it looks like to make disciples, and why we should be doing it in the cities of West and the world!
Technorati Tags: the crowded house, Total Church Conference
Still going? I know it has been a couple of weeks since I've written anything on the 90 day challenge, but things are still progressing along. The pace has finally begun to take its toll on some in our reading group. Most everyone hung tough for the first two weeks, then last week we saw more than a few people throw in the towel. I'm guessing that this week will see a few more bow out.
I think we are in one the toughest stretches right now. Moving through Kings and Chronicles can be draining on you if you're not sure of the "relevance to Jesus" and your faith as a Christian. The prophets will equally cause people to look around the room and wonder why they're reading some of this. For those who make it to the New Testament, the pace will be overshadowed by their excitement for having made it that far and being into material that is both familiar and "relevant." All of this goes to show how far from the mark most are when it comes to biblical theology and the story of redemption.
I don't want to be heard as another guy who waves the biblical theology flag vs. systematic theology flag all the time. However, I do believe that generations of schools and seminaries who have made systematic theology their focus, along with the advent of study bibles (i.e. Scoffield, Ryrie, etc.), have produced pastors and churches that systematically have a hard time with the big picture of the Bible. This is very clear when reading through the Bible in 90 days within the context of Christian community and recognizing how little knowledge they have of the Old Testament.
Maybe if we read our Bibles, cover-to-cover, more often in community, as we are currently doing, than we would not only discover our deficiencies, but correct them as well.
Technorati Tags: bible
On the heels of the first five books of the Bible, the book of Joshua roars to life with its fast paced action and military excitement. Joshua wastes no time embracing his role as Israel's leader and before you know it God is performing miracles and driving the inhabitants out of the Land that he promised to his people.
While the books of Leviticus and Numbers seems to drag on with lots of repetition and scattered bits of excitement, Joshua is quite the opposite. You barely turn the page and it is nearly over. Just as soon as the conquest begins it appears to have almost come to an end. I hope those of you who are reading along with me have made it this far. If you have, you've made it through the books that usually KO people right out of their yearly Bible reading plan. Congratulations! Keep going.
There's something I'd like for you to think about as you leave the Pentateuch behind. I posed this question last night to those in my church who are reading through the Bible together.
"Having read Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, you see that God is very precise. He is concerned with things that you and I would consider 'minor details.' How does it both frighten and encourage you to know that God is this concerned with the minor details?"
I leave that question for you in the hopes that it will cause you to see nothing as to small to bring before the Lord in prayer, and in the hopes that you will see no sin as small and insignificant.
Technorati Tags: bible
I know it has been quiet for a few days. I haven't had a chance to post anything new since we've been busy with our new website getting ready to launch.
We're now into Numbers and quickly heading for the Promised Land and the conquest. The one thing I think I like most about reading at this pace is that things are still fresh in your mind by the time you get to places in which previous sections are relevant. For instance, if you read through the Bible in a one year plan, like many attempt every year, by the time you get to Joshua it is the middle of April. That is over three months from the time you started. Reading at this pace, after a little over three months you are in Leviticus...for the second time because you've already completed the whole Bible. Think about how Leviticus will seem the second time through when your only a couple of weeks removed from reading the book of Hebrews.
If you can discipline yourself to spend 30-45 minutes a day reading your Bible, it is absolutely possible for the average person to read the Bible through, cover-to-cover, four times a year.
I hope those of you who are doing this in other locations are staying on track and enjoying your reading. Please give feedback on how things are going, especially those of you who are starting your own groups. I'd love to hear your stories.
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It has been one year since I posted on Total Church, written by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis. To this day, I still receive requests from people wanting to know if I have any copies of the book. The good news is that you can now pre-order the book from Amazon in the US. The book is scheduled for release on September 30, 2008.
There is not a single book on church that I would more highly recommend. The content of this book is lived out every day in The Crowded House and in the lives of the two men who have authored the book.
Order a copy for yourself.
Order copies for your leaders.
Force the book to sell out and have to be printed again. If that were the case, perhaps the church would become total again.
Technorati Tags: steve timmis, tim chester, Total Church Conference