Source: Cole-Slaw by Neil Cole

I believe more people have lost their lives over the issue of baptism than any other spiritual practice. In many parts of the world where being a Christian is illegal it is not uncommon for someone to accept Jesus and go to church with very little repercussions but if they choose to be baptized they reap all manner of persecution. Even in history some of the great heroes of our faith (Luther, Calvin, Zwingly and others) would have people drowned (or executed in some other way) because they wanted to be baptized as adults. Even my own denomination (Grace Brethren, who have anabaptist roots) has had several splits over the issue of how baptism is to be done properly and to whom it is acceptable.

Even in Los Angeles today there is heat involved with being baptized. I have had Muslim converts get excited about following Jesus and obey everything but baptism because they fear being completely ostracized from their family. I have seen fear in the eyes of people who have surrendered to Christ from a Roman Catholic background when it is suggested that they be baptized as adults in obedience to their new faith because they fear their parents will disown them. Recently, I even had a young man in my church receive some mild abuse from his parents who are part of an independent Christian church because he wanted to be baptized. His parent’s pastor stepped in to the mix and said that the people doing such (our organic church) are “novices” and “heretical” and that the young man should only be baptized by those who have the spiritual covering of their church. What does that even mean? Where is that in the Bible?

Baptism is so important to some people that they have adopted the term to identify themselves and thus separate themselves by it…they are Baptists. Of course, now we have so many varieties of Baptists that we need other words to clarify which brand we mean.

Why would such a simple act be so volatile? Why are secular and religious people, denominations, institutions, pastors and historical figures so threatened by such a short action that is over in a matter of seconds?

Even as I write this many of us may be tempted to say, “Forget about it. This is just a symbolic act that is done one time, it isn’t worth all this hatred, division and spilled blood.” While that sounds calm and rational, it may very well be exactly what Satan wants. You see, I think there is a reason why the true enemy, the Devil, has done so much to keep baptism from being what Jesus always intended.

I am going to explore the significance of baptism and communion in my blog for a few days. I trust that these blog entries will receive more flack than previous entries, simply because it is a very sensitive topic. Why? Because baptism and communion are to be at the heart of each disciple loving Jesus—following Him in obedience, telling others about him and making more disciples. If Satan can disrupt all that from the very start, in the beginning of a disciples new life, he will be able to disrupt a great deal down the road. I hope to show what I mean by this as I write more.

I fully understand that many of my friends have differing opinions about this, so I will allow for great liberty. I have friends, that are unable to agree with me and remain in their current church roles or associations, so please feel free to disagree with me. All I ask is that you think with me about this subject.

I will endeavor to take my lead from the New Testament Scriptures. I want to be bold where they are bold, and silent where they are silent. I do not want to add artificial religious baggage to them, where it does not exist.

I may be labeled a heretic for some of what I believe on these subjects, but as I grow older I have come to appreciate the company that bears such a label. In fact, glancing down the long road of history, I would rather be on that side of the aisle than the other side which is busy labeling said heretics, for it is in this company that you will find some of the greatest men and women of faith. You would even find Jesus there.

Source: Cole-Slaw by Neil Cole

It did not take long in church history before a special class of Christians developed that was professional. The idea that there should be a class of professional Christians has plagued Christianity for almost two thousand years, but is just not biblical.

The idea that special people are set apart and called to serve the Lord “full-time” is a cracked lens that distorts our view of everything and we have developed language that supports our view. Those who serve as professional pastors are “called.” everyone else is just working.

The distinction is not biblical. As I read and reread the New Testament without this lens, I find that all are called to follow. It is not the destination of the following that indicates the calling; the calling is the following. So if God calls you to serve as a pastor, your calling is fulfilled among a flock. If you are called to be a contractor, your calling is fulfilled at the contractor’s work site. Whatever your calling, you are to serve your Master well.

The problems with seeing some people as called into special roles are profound. Those who serve the church professionally are seen as more holy than those who do not. Expectations are placed on them that are not placed on other Christians. And as I said earlier, this lowers the bar for those who are not pursuing a ministry vocation, with the result that average Christians do not bear the responsibility of following God fully. They are simply the drones who work hard to finance the real workers who carry the weight of the kingdom. The lives of those who serve professionally are held to higher account. We have a whole list of traits that we must check off before someone is allowed to serve in such a high position.

I do not see this in the New Testament. Jesus calls all of us to surrender our whole life to follow him. This is not a call into a career but into a kingdom. All citizens of Christ’s kingdom are called to serve fully. No Christian is held to a higher level of accountability for his or her character than another. Jesus bled so that all of us could be holy and set apart, not just a few.

Now it is true that leaders are held to a stricter accountability, but that is true whether they are paid to lead or not. And regardless of accountability, each of us is called to a holy life. None is called to a more holy life than another.

Source: JesusManifesto.com

Tell us a bit about yourselves … How did you end up where you are, serving God and bearing fruit for Him?

George: I began by managing political campaigns for people running for Congress and other elective offices. I enjoyed the speech writing and survey research most, so I returned to grad school to get more degrees in research, then began working for a large marketing research firm. One of our clients was a Christian media management company, which eventually hired me to run their research and marketing operations. After several years, my wife and I felt called to begin a company that provided strategic information for ministry leaders. Consequently, we returned to California to start The Barna Research Group in an effort to provide current, accurate and reliable information in bite-sized pieces, at affordable costs, to ministries so that they could make better strategic decisions. Along the way I’ve had the privilege of writing books that allow us to disseminate the information to a wider audience, along with all the articles and other free information we post on our website (www.barna.org). I’ve also been able to serve various roles in churches, from teaching pastor at a megachurch to founding elder in a church plant, and currently, as the leader and teacher in a house church.

Frank: After I retired from Major League pitching, I quickly became bored. So I started writing controversial Christian books J. Just kidding. Ever since I’ve been a Christian, I’ve questioned the things we do and sought to evaluate them by the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. This has led me on an interesting journey, one that has landed me on a path that many have called “the deeper Christian life” which includes a fresh understanding and experience of the church.

As for serving God, I had many opportunities to publically serve the Lord in my 20s, but I came to conclusion that I wasn’t ready. I first needed to know Christ deeply, and I needed to understand His church experientially. Therefore, I spent my 20s learning those two things: Jesus Christ and the experience of the body of Christ.

Most of my peers were doing something different. They were taking leadership positions in parachurch organizations, some became pastors, some missionaries, etc. When we all hit the age of 30, something telling happened. Most of them burned out and a number of them aren’t even following the Lord today. When I was 31 years old, the organic church of which I was a part laid hands on me and sent me out to begin the work of planting organic churches. And I’ve been engaged in it ever since.

Guys, I guess it is fair to say that Pagan Christianity is causing a bit of a stir. Maybe even more so now that George Barna’s name has been added to the second edition of this book. How, and why, did you two work together for the second edition of Pagan Christianity?

Frank: When George discovered the book and expressed interest in publishing it, I was thrilled because this meant that the message would get out to a much wider audience. George, being a seminal researcher, also added a good bit to it and made it a stronger and more compelling book. I’m very pleased that the book continues to change lives. So many have written to us saying the same thing, “I always knew that there was more to Jesus Christ and His church than what I have experienced. Thank God I’m not out of my mind!”

George: When I was writing the book, Revolution, I searched high and low for a book that described how the conventional church became what it is today. I couldn’t find such a book. After Revolution was published, one reader sent me a note asking if I had read a book called Pagan Christianity. I’d never heard of it but got a copy and realized it contained much of the information I had searched for in vain. We contacted Frank and discussed the possibility of producing a revised version, which is what Tyndale has published. Frank did an amazing quantity and quality of research that forms the foundation of the book, and I was able to add a few insights to the revised edition.

It looks like a meticulously well-researched book on which you spend an enormous amount of time. How long did it take to write the book?

Frank: Ever since I’ve been a Christian I’ve studied church history. My feeling is that if we don’t know the past, we are doomed to repeat its mistakes. As Hegel once said, “The only thing that history has taught us is that men learn nothing from it.” I would like to see that trend broken. Nonetheless, the initial research for this particular book took around four or five years. When George and I collaborated, it took around a year for us to put the new version together.

After reading the book, I am sure that many people will want to experience Church like Jesus wants us to be the Church. Leaving the institution and establishing a gathering of disciples at someone’s house is not an easy process. Do you have any advice for these followers of Jesus?

Frank: Yes, I’ve written a very practical article that answers this very question. It’s called “Finding Organic Church” and it can be freely downloaded at www.ptmin.org/findingchurch.pdf

George: My own experience has been that as you talk to people about matters of faith, their hopes, dreams and experiences become evident. It was fairly easy for us to initiate our house church simply by listening to other people who were frustrated with their experience in a conventional church. We asked several families if they would be interested in exploring an alternative way of being the Church rather than just going to a church event every week, started by spending a few months studying the Bible’s teaching about what it means to be part of the Church, and then organized our community around the things we had learned. Through the studies conducted by The Barna Group on house churches across the nation, we’ve found that one of the most challenging aspects is having a good leader to keep things focused and organized. We have been fortunate in that regard.

To George: What books are you working on now and how will they help move Christians forward from the things you’ve written in Revolution and Pagan Christianity?

George: In May I will have a book release entitled The Seven Faith Tribes that delves into the seven dominant faith groups in America, and challenges us to rethink how we are attempting to be good citizens at the same time that we try to integrate our fundamental faith principles into our lifestyle and have a positive influence on the world for Christ. The old strategies don’t work in this new world, but there are strategies that will produce spiritual fruit. In June I have a book, co-authored with Tony and Felicity Dale, entitled The Rabbit and The Elephant, describing how to get involved in a healthy simple church. In September I’ll have a book entitled Master Leader, which draws insights into leadership from more than two dozen of the best leaders in the country. The leaders I’ve interviewed for that book come from ministry, government, business, military, education, sports and entertainment. It has been mind-boggling getting inside the heads of these incredible leaders.

To Frank: We see from other materials that you recommend an apostle or worker visiting the house church after an Aquila, Priscilla type of role has been fulfilled by some starters. What if we are in Africa, and we can’t get a worker or apostle to visit, indefinitely? What should we do then?

Frank: I’ve never seen a situation where those who sought apostolic help didn’t get it. One of my coworkers has been to Africa, for example. Another brother and I are planning to go there next year in fact J. I read the NT once and somewhere in there it says, “you receive not because you ask not.” The truth is that lots of groups don’t receive apostolic help because they have never invited an extra-local worker to visit them.

If, however, a group asks for extra-local help and every person they invite says “I can’t come at this time,” I believe the Lord will sustain them until they get sufficient help. That’s been my experience anyway.

In your opinion, is it at all possible to move closer to an organic house gathering with a few Christian friends while staying involved with the institution?

Frank: Yes, it is. However, according to my experience, once God’s people touch and experience true, authentic organic church life, they have little time for institutional church programs and services. (Many people, quite frankly, lose interest in such things after they experience body life for a while. Instead, they are wrecked to know and express Christ in the setting of Christian community.) Properly understood and experienced, organic church is a shared-life together. It’s not a once or twice a week “event,” and there are only so many hours in a week. I trust that makes sense.

George: Our research shows that currently, most of the people involved in various types of organic churches have kept one foot in the conventional church world. As Frank indicates, it’s a difficult balancing act to pull off successfully because it’s not simply about attending events and programs, but about a commitment to a community. More often than not, the balancing act lasts only as long as necessary to ensure the individual that he/she has found a healthy faith community, at which time they make the transition from their old place to a new community.

To George: What trends do you see happening among those who remain a part of the institutional church, among pastors, and among Christians who are gathering in alternative forms of churches?

George: Among the trends of interest are:

• the changing of the guard in Christian leadership, away from the spokespeople of the past 25 years to a new group of leaders, in addition to the transition in local church leadership to an increasing percentage of pastors who are under 40 and a growing number of female senior pastors in conventional churches;
• the increasing percentage of people are sampling alternative forms of church meeting;
• the aggressive marketing of atheists;
• the shifting moral and ideological positions of the born again community, largely driven by the under-40 crowd and emboldened by the Obama victory;
• the rapid growth of church franchising, through the multi-campus model adopted by many megachurches;
• the rise in ecumenism, again driven by young adults, in which increasing numbers of people believe that all of the major faiths essentially believe the same thing;
• the challenge of raising up strong leaders to lead organic churches. There is more interest in participating in a house church than there are leaders who are capable of facilitating the meetings of the growing numbers of people who are inclined to test those waters;and the increasing media addiction, especially among children and adolescents, that is altering the nature of relationships, life goals and scheduling.

To Frank: I have read Reimagining Church about halfway through. I think after reading Pagan Christianity, people are in dire need of some very practical advice on how to move forward.

Frank: To my mind, there’s another step that must be taken if we will see lasting change. We Westerners want formulas, quick solutions, and five steps before we even understand the problem and the solution. We think in terms of add water and stir, even when we don’t grasp the bigger picture. It’s for this reason that many movements crash and burn within five years.

Pagan Christianity was only one part of the argument – a very introductory part. It deconstructed what we do in our churches today, exposing their roots and challenging their spiritual value. Reimagining Church begins the second part of the argument, which answers the question: “Okay, if the modern institutional church doesn’t map to God’s original intention, then what does a church look like that does? If the institutional church was never God’s perfect idea, then what should stand in its place?”

Reimagining Church is a positive answer to that question. It roots the practice of the church in both the NT and the Trinity. It also gives practical examples of what it looks like in our day and time. It paints a picture of the main characteristics of organic church life that will always be present if the church is truly organic, despite time, culture, or location.

Let me give you an analogy of what I’m talking about. Consider a puzzle. You can’t easily put a puzzle together without looking at the picture on the box. Pagan Christianity pointed out that the picture on the box was wrong. So that’s why the pieces weren’t fitting together. Reimagining Church presents a new picture for the box, one that I believe is painted by the New Testament narrative. The book isn’t trying to reconstruct a first century church for the 21^st century. Instead, it describes the main features of “the organic expression of the church” that will always emerge regardless of space or time. That’s because it’s rooted in the eternal Trinity and the timeless teachings of Jesus.

Now, here’s the problem. Many Christians want to start putting the puzzle together before they’ve even seen the picture on the box. The result is that the pieces still won’t fit together. So the temptation is to try and force them to fit into what we have previously known in organized Christianity.

Example: Sometimes I get emails from people who have read Pagan Christianity, but not the follow-up book. They hit the ground running only to hit a brick wall. They tell me, “We’ve started an organic church and we’re having this problem and that problem, etc.” However, when they describe their “church” to me, it’s not organic at all. It’s just another version of performance-based, duty-driven, institutional, clergy-led Christianity. When these same people read Reimagining Church, they respond by saying, “Oh, now I get it. I just read the deconstruction without first understanding the construction.”

That’s where we should begin. We begin with what Paul called “the heavenly vision.” Without a vision, the people disintegrate (Proverbs says). So let’s first get an understanding of what organic church life is before we put our fallen hands to the plow of trying to create such a thing ourselves. Let’s first remove the old garments of Babylon and behold the city of Jerusalem before we begin rebuilding her walls. If not, we will unwittingly repeat what we know in institutional Christianity. I’ve seen it too many times to count.

Right now, I’m working on a very practical book that gets into the “putting the pieces together” part. It’s a discussion on how churches were planted in the NT, and how those principles can and should be reclaimed today.

Again, we Westerners want all of this reduced to five steps. A flower doesn’t grow into full bloom in a day. It takes planting, watering, time and patience. This is one reason why there is so much superficiality and shallowness in much of Christianity today. I was speaking at a conference recently and many 20 and 30 year olds attended. One of my coworkers and I met with them for lunch, and we had a great conversation. Some of them said that the thing that drew them to organic church life was the depth, the purity, the Christ-centeredness, and the authenticity. The churches, parachurch organizations, and mission organizations they all knew were shallow, superficial, and in many respects, unreal. Those are their words.

On the heels of all that, some of my friends have created a website for those who are asking practical questions: www.HouseChurchResource.org. It’s only been up for about a year, but the site is connecting thousands of Christians throughout the world in this new move of God and helping to plant new churches that gather under the headship of Jesus Christ all throughout the world. As I explained in a recent article entitled The 8 Characteristics of the Current Move of God, we are in the beginning stages of this work. And it’s very exciting.

Once a person has read your books, and moved away from the institution, planted a house church, and gotten to know each other well, how do we become missional? How do we really impact our community in a way that Jesus would have done?

George: It’s a matter of volitional obedience. You do not become missional by getting into a program or by developing events that have an external orientation. The foundation is to have a heart dedicated to God and His principles, which include an outward, service-oriented perspective. One of the reasons America has so few missional churches is because they contain so few people who are truly sold out to the purposes and principles of Christ. In that regard, every community of faith, regardless of its nature or structure, faces the same challenges: facilitating the transformation of people’s minds and hearts. To become more missional requires accountability for one’s commitment; leadership that focuses us on the core scriptural principles through modeling, through vision, and through applauding people’s investment in missional endeavors; teaching that underscores the fundamental values of our faith; and a community dedicated to being the Church that Christ died for, in all of its biblical aspects. These needs are the same, no matter what type of faith community we discuss, conventional or organic.

Frank: Mission begins with understanding God’s eternal purpose. There is no mission outside of that. The Missio Dei is nothing other than God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:11).

God’s purpose goes beyond saving souls and helping the poor and oppressed. It’s much higher than that, and it goes beyond the meeting of human needs (though it includes it). It has to do with satisfying something in the burning heart of God Himself. I dedicate an entire chapter on the eternal purpose in Reimagining, and my next book will discuss it in great detail.

The churches that I’m in relationship with are truly missional in that:

1. They understand that God’s mission is His eternal purpose, which is God-centered rather than man-centered. Bringing lost people to Jesus Christ has a higher goal than simply preparing them for heaven or motivating them to get other people saved.
2. They understand that God’s mission is fulfilled not by human efforts, trying to do good works, getting people motivated by religious duty and obligation, but by living by the indwelling life of Jesus Christ. How did Jesus fulfill God’s mission in His earthly days? Christ learned how to live by an indwelling Father. That’s how He did it. He would often say, “Without my Father, I can do nothing … it’s not me, but the Father doing it.” And then He turned around and said to us, “Without me you can do nothing.” In the same way, a “missional” church that will bear fruit that has eternal value is learning how to live by an indwelling Christ. Unfortunately, many Christians have never been taught how to live by Christ, and so they are trying to serve God in their own strength.
3. They understand that mission is not focused on the individual or individual discipleship, but on the life of Christ being shared and expressed by a local community that is learning how to live and meet under Christ’s headship. So the real question comes down to: What is mission according to the New Testament, and what is the vehicle for its fulfillment?

The answer: A) God’s eternal purpose and B) learning to live by an indwelling Christ in the context of Christian community that gathers by, through, and to Jesus Christ alone. These two themes were neglected in the first missional movement of the 1970s. And that’s one main reason why it died and gave way to the seeker-sensitive movement. Yet the root and goal of both was the same: The central focus was the meeting of human needs instead of God’s ageless purpose and ultimate passion.

Today we are in a second wave of the missional movement, which has some of its own unique nuances to match our postmodern world. My hope and plea is this: let’s not repeat the mistakes of the first missional movement, but identify and correct them.

If we will make mistakes, let’s make new ones.

Frank’s website is www.ptmin.org
George’s website is www.barna.org

Source: Elisa Berry blogs at MatthewAndElisa.com

Recently a dear friend asked a question similar to this:  “Why have you abandoned the institutional church?  Isn’t she the bride of Christ?  She may be messed up but that doesn’t mean we should forsake her.” First of all, thank you, Friend (you know who you are!), for asking such a question and caring enough to express your heart about this.

First let’s define the Bride of Christ.  The Bride of Christ is Jesus’ beloved church, his perfect counterpart, created by him and for him. The Bride is the reason why Jesus came to earth, to rescue her from sin and remove everything that would hinder love.  The Uncreated God was in love with his creation.  The corporate bride is compared in Scripture to a body composed of many parts, each having different functions.  They are all unique and their common bond is that they all report to the head, which is Christ.  So, in order to form a part of Jesus’ bride, the church, you must be a follower of Jesus.

Is the institutional church the bride of Christ? My answer is both “yes” and “no”.  To be sure, this glorious beautiful woman that reflects her fiancée, Jesus, can sometimes be found within the walls of institutionalized religion.  But is she the rigid structure that supports most of well-known Christianity in the West?  No.  She is a living organism composed of relationships and that are connected by love for Jesus.  She branches out like a climbing plant, her tendrils rising over rocks and walls.  Similar to her divine counterpart, Jesus, she cannot be fit into a box. Since she reflects him, she has many dimensions.   She thrives when she is free to explore and go where there is sun and water to nourish the cells within her.  She exists wherever there are followers of Jesus.  She is not a meeting on Sunday morning (although at times you may find here there).  When the Father created a bride for his son, he made her so that she would be summed up in him.  Jesus is all the Bride needs – she doesn’t need a structure to be healthy.

I don’t believe the Bride of Christ is “messed up”.  Jesus doesn’t see her that way.  He is totally in love with his Beloved.  Jesus already conquered everything that hindered love.  He already paid to remove the sin and the filth that once entangled us.  The Father has hidden us in Jesus – that is our position.  Would Jesus want to join himself with a wretched filthy adulterous?  No!  He must have an equal counterpart.  We are already complete in him, we are not messed up.  We lack nothing in Jesus.

By the grace of God I will never forsake the Bride of Jesus.  I am a part of her.  I love her.  I think she is beautiful.  I also love the bride that can be found in the “walls”.  However, because of the season that God has led me to, I can no longer be a part of the “institutional structure”. I still want relationships with my brothers and sisters who remain in the institutional church.  I love them and miss them.  I understand that not everyone is called to the same lifestyle as I am.  It’s not up to me to tell people what season they should be in – that’s Jesus’ job.

I do not have regrets or doubts about having heard God’s voice correctly when I left the institution.  However, the fact that my departure from the “structure” has been hurtful to some is very painful to me. I hate the strain it has put on certain relationships and I wish I could change that.   I’m trying to reach out in the ways that I know how and praying that relationships can be mended.

Source: Written by Milt Rodriguez

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. And which is smaller than all the seeds; but when it has grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds of heaven come and roost in its branches.” Matt. 13: 31, 32

There have been many church growth movements, models, ministries, and mentors over the last fifty years or so. They all have their differences and yet most are remarkably similar.

In my opinion, most of these “systems” have been setup from within the institutional mindset and geared toward helping pastors fill their pews.

I guess you could say that I was technically an institutional pastor for two years. During that time, the pastors of the group I was in would get together monthly for a prayer breakfast. There were only two topics of discussion at that meeting. How many people do you have in your church; and how much money are you bringing in? There was one pastor who had been very “successful” and had a large church. Some of the other guys thought that if they preached his sermons (word for word!) they would have the same kind of success!

This is typical of the kind of thinking that permeates leadership in institutional churches. Church growth “specialists” have come up with all kinds of whacky ideas to help multiply congregations in the western world. Many of these are the manipulative, forced, and contained methods of Madison Avenue style marketing. They may get people in the pews, but what is going on here, spiritually?

What is the Goal?

The majority of evangelical Christians today believe the purpose and goal of the Church is to evangelize the world. This is why God saved us and this is the reason we are here. In other words, we are here to multiply, so we had better get to it.

Now I understand that when God created man He told him to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28). But what did God say before that? First, he created man in His image and used plural pronouns (Gen. 1:26). He said, “let Us make man in Our image.” This shows us two things: He wanted an expression of Himself (image), and He wanted that expression to be corporate. This is why He spoke in the plural pronouns.

God is a community of three persons. Father, Son, and Spirit make up the one God. He wanted a community that would express or display His own corporate life.

Then He said He wanted this corporate image of Himself to have dominion or rule over the earth. So we see a God here who wants an expression of His communal nature that rules for Him on the earth. And He wants that community (or race) to be fruitful and multiply. As you can see, multiplication is only one third of the equation here and it is the last part. This is very significant as we will see.

This all happens in Genesis chapter one before the fall. This is God’s original intention and purpose before and beyond the fall. Of course, God knew the fall was going to happen and so He had an “emergency plan.” This is the plan of redemption in Christ. But that did not change His original intention. He still wanted something for Himself above and beyond human need. He still wanted that visible expression of His divine life and love. But here is the problem:

We have made human need the focus of everything and have forgotten that God wants something for Himself!

We got stuck in the “emergency plan” and have abandoned the original plan. God still wants His house, His body, His bride, His family, and His one new man that can express His divine attributes in a shared-life community. And this is His goal!

Don’t get me wrong. He loves us and cares about our needs. He sent His Son to redeem us, heal us, deliver us, etc. But that was all still a part of the “emergency plan.” The purpose of this “e-plan” was to get us back on track with His eternal purpose. Please see the following: Eph. 1:7-14; Eph. 3:3-12; Eph. 4:11-16; Col. 1:24-28; Col. 3:9-11.

His purpose has everything to do with His Son. Ephesians chapter one makes this very clear. He wants to sum up all things in His Son (Eph. 1:9, 10). He wants His body to express the fullness of His Son (Eph. 1:22, 23). And He wants His Son to fill all things (Eph. 4:10).

Premature Growth

I believe when we have an over emphasis on evangelism and mission we end up with very shallow results. We may have lots of numbers, but they may be all zeros! God is looking for quality much more so than quantity. The Father is looking for the measure of Christ (Eph. 4:13). This is true fruit.

In my view, we should not be focusing on the fruit (a.k.a. numerical growth). We should be focusing on the life. If there is the life of Christ flowing in a group, then the fruit will organically be produced at the right time. There are seasons in the life of the Church and one of those seasons is the harvest time. The key is for each believer to learn how to “tap into” the life supply within them so this divine life can flow into the Body (Col. 1:27). Then, just like a tree, everything will develop in due time.

Timing is a huge part of the equation. A tree does not produce fruit right out of the gate. A seedling is not mature enough to produce fruit. In the same way, a five year old girl cannot give birth. She is not yet mature enough. It is not yet her “season”.

We see this in the early church as well. The apostles spent three years living with Jesus before they performed any significant amount of ministry or evangelism. Except for the apostles, there is no record of anyone else preaching or evangelizing in Jerusalem for at least four or five years. Some scholars believe that it may have been up to eight years before the persecution of Saul of Tarsus and the resulting dispersion.

So let’s be really conservative and say that it was five years between the day of Pentecost and the persecution. What were the believers doing all this time? I believe that they were learning Christ. That is, they were learning how to live by the life of an indwelling Lord. This was their equipping. This was their foundation. So then, when the persecution hit, they went throughout Judea preaching the word and new churches were raised up (Acts 8:4). This was possible because they had spent those years before learning Christ!

To Everything there is a Season

My co-workers and I see this same truth in the field as we work with different groups in organic church planting. Most of the folks come out of institutional churches and a new group is not ready to multiply right away. Of course, it is always encouraged to reach out to others and new people coming to Christ are always a wonderful thing. But by and large, in the beginning, that group needs a solid foundation of Christ as their everything. They need ever deepening revelation of Christ and His Church. They need practical help with learning how to live by His life. And they need time to “detoxify” from the systems and mindsets of religion.

If the life is flowing, then the group will grow when it is ready. We have seen this happen many times. But this growth will be “in season” and will be deep and strong. And the fullness of Christ will be expressed through His Body. (Eph. 1:22-23)

Source: Written by Bob Hyatt

It’s more than likely that you’ve heard a message, read a book, or done some thinking about “busyness” in the last year or two. Slightly less likely, but still entirely possible, is that you’ve heard a message, read a book, or done some thinking on “gluttony” during the same time.

It’s highly unlikely that the two were connected. But maybe they should have been.

Why do we say yes to so much? Is it because we are guilt-ridden, co-dependent angst monkeys who lack the willpower to say no? No. We say no to a million things a day. Usually to things that are good for us, but still…when we want to, we know how to say no just fine, thank you.

Is it because we have a drive towards self justification that works itself out in our work and an ever-increasing load of commitments through which we seek to earn the favor of others and God? In part, yes…

But maybe it also has something to do with our appetites.

You know, our appetites for recognition and “importance.” To be liked, appreciated, admired. Even our appetite to “get things done.” And honestly, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But like all things in this broken world, left unchecked by the Spirit and un-submitted to God, our appetite to be liked and our desire to achieve will run out of control.

I’ve been thinking about busyness as though it is a problem to be managed—increase my productivity and I could, of course, accept and keep more commitments, more on my plate… more to feed my ego.

Maybe the problem with busyness isn’t it. Maybe it’s me. Me and my ego and pride.

Conceived of this way, busyness isn’t an issue of time management and productivity, it’s an issue of desire. When is enough, enough? When am I doing enough good things through which that God-given desire to feel productive and useful in this world can be fulfilled? When do I cross the line between finding satisfaction in the good day’s work I put in and trying to find my identity through an ever-increasing load of ego-enhancing commitments?

I spend a lot of time thinking about how people can be more productive in ministry. And don’t get me wrong, I want to continue to work on productivity/time management and all the rest. But until I work through the inner issues of why I try to do so much, all the productivity hacks in the word really just add up to enabling.

In other words, most days I don’t need any more help being productive or managing the stress of work. I think I need help in managing my appetite for applause and the stress of opportunity.

I fear my busyness is simply a sign of my gluttony.

Source: Church Plant Case Study – Simple Church by Ben Talberg

Macro

Trish and Mark Turner were referred to me one weekday evening over a cup of coffee at a nearby Dunn Brothers coffee shop. I had gone there to meet Katie and Tom Driver, two members/organizers of a local church planting movement called Simple Church. Over the course of an hour and a half they imparted to me an immense deal of information about the movement they were helping to grow. They showed me the macro level of what this movement was and how it worked. Later, through the experiences of Trish and Mark, I learned at the micro level the experiences, tribulations, and spiritual growth that are part of a Simple Church ‘church plant’.

To simulate my introduction to Simple Church, I’ll first describe what Tom and Katie explained during our meeting. Simple Church is an expression modeled after the original New Testament church model. It is a composition of typically less than twenty people. In a simple church there is no hierarchy, there are no pastors, there isn’t even a tithe offering. The collection of ordinary people composes the church body. As was explained to me, the mission statement of the church movement is:

• Simple – Everyone can do it
• Organic – God grows it
• Missional – Constant outward focus to make disciples

Katie contrasted a simple church to a traditional church saying a traditional church’s leadership is typically composed of and led by trained members, whereas the simple church leadership is composed of and led by all members. As stated in 1 Corinthians 14:26, “My brothers and sisters, when you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.” (New Living Translation). Each member of a simple church is an important part of the church body. Each member is at times a leader and each member is at the same time a student.

Tom and Katie have been helping direct and grow relationships amongst people in this movement for over ten years. They describe to me that what they truly do isn’t plant churches, they help foster relationships and help place people where their growth naturally will give birth to another church. Planting a person in the movement eventually equates to planting a church; and as defined in their mission statement, it’s an organic movement, one plant can turn into many plants. I learned that Katie and Tom are not only planting the seeds of new churches, but the seeds of an entire church movement.

This basic understanding prepared me for my conversation with Trish and Mark, two fairly recent members of the simple church model whom Tom and Katie befriended and have helped counsel and steer. Their story helps to model what someone goes through in their journey from the traditional church to the simple church. Their story is a good example of what a planting looks like in the Simple Church movement.

Micro

Trish and Mark Turner’s experiences are rooted more actively in Christianity than most people. Mark grew up the son of missionaries in Vietnam. Hia parents were church planters their entire lives. Trish was raised in the Baptist church and attended Crown College. After Trish and Mark were married they began working in a church where Mark had preexisting ties to the pastor. They both acted as associate ministers; Mark would give a sermon about once a month and Trish acted as worship leader every few weeks. They were very important parts of the church; however, they told me that close to a year and a half ago they felt something was missing. “Church wasn’t growing, we wanted to find people, and not just transitioning Christians. We wanted to bring new believers to Christ. At our church this wasn’t happening” (Mark).

They had stumbled upon a book by Frank Viola titled Pagan Christianity. This book, followed by many more on the same subject, spoke of the biblical basis of church and how church was meant to be more personal than what many traditional churches were modeling. Through many months of prayer they discerned God’s call to begin a transition from the traditional church to a church that more closely resembled the original churches found in Acts.

As Trish and Mark explained to me their transition process, I not only heard through their words, but could sense in their voices the pain and difficulty they went through in saying goodbye. The traditional church they were members of felt betrayed and attacked when they explained to them the call they had received. Mark and Trish were not only important teachers at their old church, but they had many friends and relationships there as well. They continued to pray and found that God encouraged them over and over again to move on. They confidently answered His call and resolutely decided to follow God’s path. They told me the moment they embarked upon God’s new path they felt an immense amount of relief.

It was shortly before their departure that they met Katie and Tom. When they had first heard God’s call they had no intentions of becoming a part of the Simple Church movement. Katie had found Trish online and extended an invitation for both Trish and Mark to meet Tom and her. The relationship they formed was one of friendship and encouragement. Among other things, it helped them plug-in with others who were interested in a simple church and it helped them learn how to avoid some of the pitfalls of transitioning.

As Mark and Trish explained, when starting [out in organic life] it is very easy to apply the hierarchical model of leadership found in the churches they had known their entire lives. Tom and Katie confided the same problem to me in their trials with bringing people together to form churches. After people belong to and worship in a traditional setting over the course of many years they comfortably default to those old paradigms. The process of altering this mindset is termed ‘detoxification’. One of the rolls that Tom and Katie take on is helping to teach people how to ‘detoxify’ their hierarchical mindset. Mark and Trish learned how to do that over time.

They’ve learned that to worship God in a simple church there is no modern order of service. A simple church is based entirely on equally ranked personal relationships. They modeled this as they grew their church through relationships with neighbors, friends, people they had networked with, and strangers they heard God calling them to communicate with. Their church is founded entirely on these relationships with people, and the very important requirement to simply love others as God wants them to love others.

Towards the end of my conversation Mark and Trish told me that they don’t believe the name ‘simple church’ is an accurate description. They like to say [it] may seem simple. However, it’s participation requires an honest and active relationship with God to love and sacrifice for one other. Additionally, the church’s growth is branching and evolving in an extremely complicated, but a perfectly natural, fluid way. A way that they are enthusiastically now a growing plant of themselves.

Conclusion

What I concluded after talking with both Trish & Mark and Katie & Tom was that the church planting movement was starting on two fronts. Katie and Tom were planting a movement. Trish and Mark were planting worshiping, multiplying, discipling bodies of Christ. The simple church movement can be seen as a constant flow of dynamic, sometimes instantaneous churches at the micro level. Each of these growing bodies are solidifying a foundation for the macro level that is the movement. As Katie, Tom, Trish, and Mark each described it, the movement is like a stream. It is a fluid motion composed of everyday people creating biblically centered churches through a 24/7 personal relationship with God and our brothers and sisters He asks us to love.

Source: LK10.com, article by John White

Years of sitting in traditional church has not prepared us to do church in the manner described in the New Testament.

We have been taught to come. To sit. To watch and listen to what others have prepared. Someone described it as “sit, soak and sour.”

This is Spectator Church. And it is no way to train believers to be priests!

By contrast, the churches described in the Bible engaged in Participatory Church. This kind of church requires preparation on the part of all of it’s members. This is new. We haven’t been taught how to do this.

Therefore, some retraining is in order. One of the best passages to help us do this is Heb. 10:24-25. As you consider the instruction in v. 24, note that it is given in the context of the church “meeting together” in v. 25.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another– and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(NIV)

Here are a few notes to help understand the passage:

1. “Let us…” Note what this doesn’t say. It doesn’t say “Let the pastor consider…” or “Let the house church leader consider…” The key word is “us.” Every member of the church. The priesthood of all believers. The mark of a mature church is that every member understands and fulfills their role in “preparing for church”. No spectators in New Testament church!
2. “Let us consider…”: from katanoeo. noeo = to think + kata = an intensifier. To think deeply about, consider, contemplate, observe. Jesus uses the same word when he says, “Consider the ravens…consider the lilies.” (Lk. 12:24-27) This is work that we must do ahead of time. This is where listening prayer comes in. We consider God’s prevenience. What is He initiating in the lives of the other people in my spiritual family?
3. NIV says “Let us consider how …”. The Greek really says “Let us consider one another…” We are to be observing and thinking deeply about the others in our simple church in order to be able to effectively “stir them up to love and good works”. (Hard to do this if we only see them once a week.) Each one is unique. What works for one may not work for another. I must “think deeply” about each one. (Difficult to do this in a church of 100 or 1000.) How is God already at work in their lives? How am I to join Him in what He is doing?
4. “Let us consider one another to spur (them) on.” “Spur on” comes from a root word that means “to make sharp” as with a sword. (Prov. 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”) It means “to stir up, incite, provoke, motivate”. (Note: What motivates one will not motivate another. Every parent and every coach know this.) This is the focus and goal of the New Testament church meeting – every member involved in lovingly and effectively motivating the others. Teaching the Word, singing, prophesying, etc. are not the goal of our meeting together, they are the means to the goal. (This helps us understand 1 Cor. 14:26 – “Let everything be done for the strengthening (edification) of the church.”)
5. “Let us consider one another to spur (them) on to love and good deeds.” How do we know if our meeting has accomplished what God wanted? We know if people leave being motivated and spurred on to love (God and others) and to express that love in good works throughout the week. (Note: This is not a guilt motivation resulting from “should’s and ought’s”. Rather, it is a heart motivation that comes from a genuine desire that God stirs up on the inside. We can’t make this happen. We can only see what God is doing and join Him in that.)

Church prepares us for the rest of the week (24/7). And the rest of the week (24/7) is where we (all of us!) prepare for church.

Source: LK10.com, article by John WhiteWhile I don’t want to see house church reduced to a “program”, I do believe that there are certain values that are present in healthy churches. These values are often conveyed best in pictures and stories. Here’s one of those stories…

Here’s an email from a church planter in Uganda who is becoming a part of the “revolution”:

Hi john,

I am indeed greatful for your consideration to me as part of this great ministry of dawn. Concerning church planting missions in uganda and the areas i do opperate my missions we are begining without delay. we want to raise a healthy and a church of quality not quantity! Please John i have a quastion,when starting a house church do you need to build a struture or fellowships are done in believers houses? Is there a differance between a cell group fellowships and the house church fellowships? How large should a house fellowship be? God bless you indeed and my the lord of hervest bring many labourers to His field.

These are great questions and I suspect that there are many others who are just starting on this journey who have similar questions. While I don’t want to see house church reduced to a “program”, I do believe that there are certain values that are present in healthy churches. These values are often conveyed best in pictures and stories.

I want to share with you the picture of a house church in Portland, Oregon led by Rich and Kimberly Hagler (See below).  Here are some of the important values that I see portrayed in what they call “the Isaiah 61 House Church”…

1. A clear goal. See the comments on Isaiah 61. The goal is not the meeting. The meeting is a means to the end of life transformation. That is, “being shaped” to look more like Jesus.
2. A clear process. “Hearing and following the leading of the Spirit”. This is the alternative to implementing programs and it results in intimacy with the Lord and each other.
3. Not just a meeting. They do meet together (almost all day!) but the church is not limited to the meeting. Or, perhaps we could say that the “meeting” goes on all week.
4. Unbelievers reached. Not from an “evangelism program” but as a natural result of being “drawn to the Father’s glory”.
5. Church planting. The Hagler’s church was planted by the Mayhew’s church. Now, the Hagler’s church is planting other churches “in Portland and beyond”. At least three generations of churches are represented in this story in a little over one year. This kind of church planting comes from “sensing the Father’s call” and feels natural and spontaneous.
6. Part of a network. The Hagler’s church is part of a larger community or network of house churches called the Columbia-Williamette Simple Church Co-op. For those of you concerned that house churches may become isolated and ingrown, see the attachment for the excellent newsletter of this Co-op which is produced by Dan Mayhew. These three simple church networks partner in all kinds of equipping and missional activities. One of the wonderful things about the house church movement is the glorious diversity and creativity that is emerging. The Hagler House Church is not the way to do it but simply the way that the Lord has led them. Learn from them but don’t copy them.

Allow the Holy Spirit to create something wonderfully unique in your home.

John White
Lk10 Community Facilitator

Experiencing Isaiah 61

Our Isaiah 61 House Church began on Sunday, September 4, 2005 with 13 adventuresome folks, previously meeting at Dan & Jody Mayhew’s home, joining with Rich & Kimberly Hagler who were sensing the Father’s call to start a new house church.

Building on “hearing and following the leading of the Spirit” DNA that the Mayhew’s modeled, Isaiah 61 is a gathering of believers who desire to intentionally and experientially submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus as He disciples us and to walk together with all others who share that desire. As His Body, we believe our corporate, committed discipleship journey includes living out Jesus’ own Gospel ministry, which He announced in quoting Isaiah 61:1 There He declared,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19).

The church gathers at Rich & Kimberly’s home every Sunday morning starting at 11 AM, to live out these Kingdom values over the course of the day (and by extension, throughout the rest of the week). Based on 1 Corinthians 14:26, the Body-life begins with an extended time of Spirit-led, spontaneous praise, worship, Scripture reading, prophetic words, and prayer to the Father, which then transitions into sharing and ministering to one another over what the Lord has been saying and doing in our lives as He disciples us. The gathering continues with a meal around the table and informal fellowship lasting into the late afternoon (and sometimes the evening).

Since we first started meeting together, we have been humbled and blessed by the growing sense of the Father’s intimate presence, out of which the Spirit has been actively ministering in many areas of our lives and relationships. That ministry has been both good and challenging as the Father has been shaping and sanctifying each of us to look more like His Son.

As a result of these intimate interchanges, the group has been growing in love for one another and bonding as a community, often meeting together informally in smaller groups for prayer, fun, and fellowship throughout the week. The church includes both singles and married couples in all walks and stages of life, spanning the ages of the mid-20′s to the early-70′s.

Finally, the Father has been pleased to give us 2 huge additional blessings. First, the Lord has been adding a number of newcomers to our Body, both unbelievers who are being drawn to the Father’s glory and are now in various stages of the process of being saved, as well as believers who have been previously either disconnected from or dissatisfied with their church experience and “are looking for more.”

Second, our church is experiencing the joy of becoming “parents”, seeing a number of our excited members and friends who have been blessed in Is 61, now planting their own HC’s in Portland and beyond. It’s been a wonderful and wild ride following “the Wild Goose” so far (which is how the Celtic Christians referred to the Holy Spirit), and we are looking forward to so much more!

Source: InternetMonk.com

UPDATE: My essay “Our Problem With Grace” deals with some of the issues critical commenters are raising. I recall that Lloyd-Jones said that you can generally be sure that you’ve preached the Gospel when you’re accused of going too far in the direction of grace.

As always, dedicated to Fr. Robert Capon, a light for me upon the gracious face of God.

Religion #1

God is mean, angry and easily provoked. From day 1, we’ve all been a disappointment, and God is-justly-planning to punish us forever. At the last minute, thanks to Jesus stepping in to calm him down, he decides to be gracious.

But don’t do anything to mess that up. Peace is fragile around here.

Religion #2

God is gracious, loving, kind, generous and open-hearted. He rejoices in us as his creations, and is grieved that our sins have made us his enemies and caused so much brokenness and pain. In Jesus, he shows us what kind of God he is and restores the joy that should belong to the children of such a Father. True to his promises, he will bless all people in Jesus, and restore the world by his resurrection victory.

You can’t do anything to mess this up. God’s got his heart set on a universe wide celebration.

The New Testament puts it this way:

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. … 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The Gospel is the good news of a gracious God. It tells us again the story of the God who loves us, the God we have grieved and abandoned and the God who has taken our judgment and suffered it himself.

We have far too many people selling religion #1. Like the Pharisees, they are the authorized representatives of the grumpy, ticked off, hacked off, very, very angry God who MIGHT….maybe, MIGHT let you off the hook….MAYBE…..IF-and it’s a very big IF-you manage to believe enough, obey enough, get the theology questions right enough, find your way to the right church, follow the right script and get the details right, down to the last “amen.”

We have too many people who have heard that there is good news about God, and then discovered that the good news was covered in 25 pages of fine print explaining why God is actually quite miserable and its your fault. If you fulfill the conditions of the contract-See “Faith is obedience, perfect surrender and a good witness,” pages 203-298-then you have a reasonable hope of avoiding God’s end-of-the-word temper tantrum.

We have far too few Christians who are overwhelmed at the news that God has fired the bookkeepers, sent home the bean counters, dismissed the religion cops and bought party hats for the grumpy old people. The big announcement is this: In Jesus, we discover that God is just sloppy with his amazing grace and completely beyond common sense when it comes to his love. Just to enhance his reputation as the God who know how to throw a party, he’s inviting all of us back home, no tickets necessary, no dress code, for a party that will last, literally, forever. With open bar, and all on him. (Oh calm down Baptists. You can go to another room.)

In the story of the man who gave cash to his servants and said, “Invest it,” the loser had this speech to justify his failure to risk a cent: “I know what you’re like. You’re a power-hungry bully with no respect for people. You’re mean and I wasn’t going to have you blaming me that you lost a dollar. Here’s your cash.”

This wasn’t the right answer. The master had been generous. Gracious. But this fellow-trained in all the right seminaries and thoroughly read up in all the right books-blew it.

In the story of the prodigal son, neither son really knows what a soft-hearted, gracious, forgiving man they have for a dad. The younger boy treats dad like he’s already dead and doesn’t matter while he’s alive. The older son has dad signed on to a system where he logs in the required amount of being a good son and he gets a pay off.

Delightful kids. I wonder where Jesus came up with those characters? Hmmm?

Then the younger son tries his version of “get a deal with dad.” Thankfully, the Father decides to ignore the religion of these two boneheads, and throws the Gospel party, courtesy of the calf that made up the meal.

The Father will have his party. Even for the undeserving kid who doesn’t quite get it. Even for the Pharisee-wannabe who is horrified that dad’s not cooperating with the system.

God will be gracious. God will be good. God will be overflowing in love. God will be good to the world. God will bless the nations. God will put his lamb and his Spirit and his loving face at the center of a universe made over in the image of the greatest wedding bash/banquet you could ever imagine.

God will not be pointing at you and saying, “He wins!” or “They were right! Sorry!” Start dealing with the shock now folks. It’s not going to happen.

Your ticket to this event will most certainly NOT have a denominational name on it. Nor will your seat at the table be determined by your church or your theological team. The grace and goodness of God is going to erase all the lines, boxes, definitions, fences, dictionaries, sermons, announcements and pronouncements ever made. Your Biblical interpretations won’t amount to a hill of beans. God himself, and his good grace, will be the star of the show.

I don’t care how many times you tell us what God has to do, God is going to exactly what he wants to make Jesus the center of history. And all signals in the advance copies of the programs are that there is going to be one shock and surprise after another.

You may even have to sit by a Lutheran. I know….but what are you going to do about it?

What’s that you’re saying? Your dad was a Christian and he was mean and angry? So God is too, because he’s “our Father?”

No.

What’s that? Your preacher says that God is about to drop things on your car and punish you with his wrath when you make bad choices because we all have to live in the constant fear of the Lord? So God has to be like that, because your preacher is waving a Bible around when he says that?

No.

What’s that? A Christian at your small group says that God punishes us for everything we do wrong, and that God will discipline us with pain and suffering until we start living righteous lives that show we’re serious about Jesus. And God must be that way, because your friend has been a Christian a lot longer than you?

No.

It’s a sad fact that what God has revealed about himself in Jesus doesn’t exactly have a huge audience. But say that God is angry, mean and about to show us just how much with a few displays of wrath and suffering? You’ll fill a stadium.

You see, the grace of God just doesn’t fit in our box. How can God really-I mean c’mon!-how can God be gracious to (fill in the blank with Hollywood celebrities, famous politicians, loudmouth pundits, your jerky boss, that teacher who failed you unfairly, your ex-whatever, people with guns and bombs, and so on)?

God’s gracious face makes our religion fall apart. It takes away all our soapboxes. It shuts our mouths, because none of us deserve it and all of us can have it. God’s love and grace are so far beyond our ideas of what they ought to be that none of our ideas about God can survive the good news that comes in Jesus. Jesus is a salvation, grace, goodness, God revolution.

Titus 2 puts it so well: “11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people…” That’s what has appeared in Jesus. He did not come to condemn, but to save. In him, there is no condemnation. In Jesus, the Father shows his gracious face to all of us, for everything.

In Mark 3: 1-6, Jesus is in church and the religious leaders want to bust him for healing on the Sabbath. They had decided that God was the kind of mean and trivial dictator that cared more about the order of service than a human being’s suffering. So Jesus heals this man, but Mark describes something utterly unique and stunning: “5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”

The image of Jesus healing in righteous anger at the religious bean counters-who were about to start the process of killing him-is for one simple reason: They sat in synagogue representing God as more interested in a stupid rule than in proclaiming and enjoying his gracious face of compassion for a hurting person.

So Jesus heals that man, but he’s pretty ticked off. If he was the God these guys believed in, he’d have turned them all into Alpacas. Which would have been pretty cool….but you get the point.

Let’s stop it. Let’s stop hiding the face of a gracious God. Let’s show it, sing it, worship in its light, live as if we know that gracious, glorious God as the one the Bible proclaims and who comes to us in Jesus.

Let’s enjoy the face of a gracious God. Now and forever.