one size fits all

This link was sent to me by Kerry Whalen. It mentions a lot of stuff that we are into and they even us a lot of the same terminology. There are a lot of interesting concepts brought up that we already run with. It’s certainly worth a look and Id love to hear your thoughts.

http://www.onesizefitsall.ca/web-shorts

 

‘Have faith in God’ Mark 11:23

1 Corinthians 13:13 describes bare bones Christianity as just Faith, Hope and Love.
Love is essentially relationship and Paul gives a great description of it earlier in the chapter. But us English speakers struggle to differentiate between the other foundational truths of Faith & Hope.
We think faith is being really confident, and hope is being not so confident!
It helps to first understand what to place our faith in. Jesus commended us to ‘have faith in God’ not circumstance.
Faith is always retrospective in that it looks to what Christ has already achieved on our behalf through the Cross. He paid for our past & secured our future. I am holy, healed, prosperous, victorious, the light of the world, favoured of God, not because of my lifestyle or my circumstance but because He is, and He says so, and faith grows out of relationship.
Hope is futuristic & unlike the worlds hope its a highly confident expectation and it has substance. ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for’ Heb 11:1. E.g. I have hope (confident expectation) that my children will grow up in the knowledge, purpose and Blessing of God. The substance of that Hope?
‘I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able’ 2 Tim 1:12.
If my kids take a wrong turn or something should happen to them, my faith is not shipwrecked, it is in God. I rest in Him and He will sort out the outcomes.
Don’t allow your faith to be undermined by placing it in prosperity or healing or any other outcome. Place your faith firmly in God & have a confident expectation that what He has already done in Heaven will become a reality in your world.

 

Do this in remembrance of Me

I’m often asked what the vision is for our church family. I find it kind of hard to answer. I don’t believe the projects & goals we might like to see accomplished should be what unites us. Amazingly Jesus didn’t give us a vision statement to remember Him by. He gave us a covenant affirming meal. And He did it in the context of denial, betrayal and shattered dreams.

What unites us is Christ. His blood has purchased us, His body broken so that His body the Church can be united and whole.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way;

‘The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, the many, are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread.’     1 Cor 10:16-17

When we break bread together we covenant with each other to share our lives. When we share the cup we make blood covenant to be there for each other when it counts, when we are failed and disappointed.

Jesus claimed they would know we are His disciples by our love. Love counts most and is noticed when there is a reason not to love.

lets do this, in remembrance of Him.

 

The Breadth of Gods Love

Probably the greatest missional passage in all of scripture is Acts 2.
Holy Spirit is poured out on the Day of Pentecost. Immediately the disciples are enabled to communicate ‘the wonderful works of God’ to all the nations of the world in their own languages!
If this doesn’t impact you with the breadth of Gods love for all people then check out this next bit.
Peter stands up and addresses the representatives from the nations (not the Christians) and quotes to them from a prophecy from Joel 2.
17 “And it shall be in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And in those days I will pour out My Spirit upon My menservants and my maidservants, and they shall prophesy.

Notice vs. 18, the prophecy adds ‘menservants and maidservants’ as distinct from ‘all Flesh’.
The point being; if servants in vs. 18 refers to those that have committed themselves to serve Jesus, then ‘all flesh’ really does mean all flesh. Not just Christians. They will dream dreams, see visions and even prophecy. This means that  Right now God by His Spirit is working in the hearts and minds of every person on the planet to draw them to Himself. To give all the opportunity to call on the name of Jesus and be saved.

Our part is to recognise in people what Holy Spirit is already doing and saying, point it out to them and simply help them listen. Put another way, we declare to them in their own language/culture/context/experience/journey the wonderful works of God.

So go and be the church to your world

 

The Church that Jesus is looking for

This is a list of things that people from the prevailing Christian culture look for in a church offset by a corresponding list of things that attract people from outside the institution to our churches.

 I am aware that distributing this at times cryptic list virtually without explanation will be open for large amounts of criticism and misunderstanding. This is not about ‘do’s and don’ts’, its more about values. For example: we still have preaching most Sundays in our church gatherings and the gathering is still an event, but the focus is on community rather than a great event.
My hope is that you will ponder these comparisons prayerfully and that you allow why you do what you do to be adjusted, this may or may not lead to a changes in what you do.

 Christians are looking for;                                      The world is looking for;

# Unconditional Love                  (with no obligation to reciprocate)   #A church that agrees with pet doctrine / dogma  # Exclusiveness (People just like me) # A place that creates people just like me                                     (Transformed into our image) # To be an ideal, find the perfect way to live. # Rules for right living # Methods to change     .       .      .      .      .      .      . # A place of Activity # An event                         .       .      .      .      .      .      . # Excellence                  # Programmes                  .      .      .      .      .      .      . # A place to be absolved of spiritual obligation # Culturally significance organisation # A God that will show the world their wrong # A God that will change the world Christian # Display Arrogance # Want to preach  # Want to make you valuable # Want to get you on the journey

# Unconditional love                       (Want to learn how )   # A church that is not dogmatic #Inclusiveness (whosoever cometh) # A place of acceptance   # Be themselves, find themselves # Grace # Power to change # A place of Rest # A community # Encouragement # Lifestyle expression of faith # A spiritual reality # A counter culture # A God that will accept them # To change their world The world # Is looking for humility # Wants to dialogue # Wants to be valued # Wants someone to join them on their journey