Without This There Is No Church

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church, church planting, conversion, crucifixion, gospel, jesus, new testament, old testament, paul, salvation, theology

In the last post we highlighted the importance of defining the church properly by exploring the claim that what we believe about the church determines how we coordinate its life together. Today we’re going to dig further into the definition of the church rooted in teachings by the fine folks at Missio: The church is a networked family of gospel communities on mission. 

This definition requires further definition if it’s going to be helpful. What is the gospel? What is community? What is mission? Today we start with the gospel.

Contours of Paul’s Ministry

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church, colossians, conversion, discipleship, gospel, jesus, ministry, paul

I’ll flesh this out further in a future post as part of an upcoming series on Colossians, but I wanted to share a few things from Colossians 1.24-29. In this passage Paul cracks a window and gives us a glimpse of how he understood his own calling and ministry. I see eight contours of Paul’s (co)mission. It is:

• Thoroughly centered on Christ. In keeping with the rest of the letter, nothing derails Paul from his singular focus on Christ. Here he is the word of God in its fulness, the content of God’s now-revealed-mystery and therefore of Paul’s proclamation, the hope of glory, and both the context and definition of maturity.

• Marked by a willingness to suffer for others. Whatever else we can say about Paul’s strange words about filling up what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions, this much is clear: Paul has no problem suffering on behalf of the people he’s serving. He may even believe that his suffering somehow lessens the chance that they’ll experience their own. This extreme selflessness puts me to shame!

• Accomplished by teaching and admonishing. Teaching is clearly articulating the truth about Jesus, and admonishing is the followup task of straightening out fuzzy thinking and setting things in proper order. Both are crucial.

• Oriented by apocalyptic imagination. This section drips with apocalyptic hints and clues, which (among other things) means that in Christ God has revealed the meaning of history and brought his story to its dramatic climactic moment. Speaking of which…

• Grounded in the (hi)story of God. Paul never loses sight of the ways in which Christ is the one in whom God has brought all his past action and promises to fulfillment. Yes this story has entered its universal stage where all of us are invited to become a part, but this must be intentionally remembered for us to know what becoming a part actually means and looks like.

• Aimed toward full maturity. Paul here shows no contentment for mere conversion, and while no one would doubt his “evangelistic passion,” here we see that Paul rises above our silly debates about evangelism vs discipleship. Paul wants everyone to come to maturity, and he won’t rest until he’s done everything he can to that end.

• Attentive to every individual. Paul is communal to the core, but his passion for community does not hinder his commitment to the individual parts that make up the body. No person gets forgotten or let off the hook; all are intended and expected to grow into maturity.

• Fueled by the energy of Christ. Paul works his tail off (that’s a loose translation), not by his own power but by the energy of Christ at work in him.

Does it need to be stated that these markers provide a wonderful grid for thinking about our own ministries? This may not be a definitive guide, but it’s a pretty good start!

Introduction to my new book “Jesus in 3D”

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crucifixion, gospel, Gospels, jesus, Jesus in 3D, new testament, real life church

The following is the introduction from my book Jesus in 3D which came out this past month. (The Amazon search feature only gives half of the intro, so I figured I’d offer it here in full.) Of course I’d love for you to buy it, read it, and let me know what you think. (And if you like it, post a favorable review there on Amazon!)

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My Favorite Books on Christian Pacifism / Nonviolence / Peacemaking

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christendom, discipleship, gospel, jesus, new testament, nonviolence, pacifism, politics, quakers

The following are my favorite books on Christian pacifism. As always, I don’t (and couldn’t) agree with everything in them but I have found them supremely helpful. Labels are a bit overrated, but I do consider myself a Christian pacifist, which means that I believe discipleship to Jesus means renouncing killing and violence and seeking to overcome conflict (even in the form of attack) using peaceful means. Two clarifications are needed: (1) Pacifism is not the same as being passive. That the two words are so similar is an accident of the English language. Pacifism is about “pacifying” situations of conflict without resorting to violence. (2) There is a huge difference between Christian pacifism and what we might call “liberal” pacifism. The latter argues on the basis of effectiveness: We refuse to kill because that will work better to resolve conflicts than killing. Many also claim that liberal pacifism is based on a naive optimism regarding human nature. Whether this or the opposite is true, I can’t say (because I don’t know and I’m sure it depends on the person). But Christian pacifism is rooted in the good news of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the call to follow him as Lord in life or in death in anticipation of the resurrection to come. Obviously most Christians — many of whom are more faithful than me! — don’t hold to this position, but all of us would agree that we cannot ignore Jesus’ commands to love our enemies and “turn the other cheek,” even if those directives need to be interpreted for specific situations. Anyhow, in this post I’m not trying to convince anyone to agree with me, but merely pointing to some resources that will help one think through the many complex related issues and questions.

Purposes of the Church

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church, church planting, discipleship, gospel, jesus

Every time I come back to work after a semi-long break (like the one I just enjoyed celebrating the birth of our daughter Claire!), I always need reminders about what it is I’m / we’re doing with the whole business called “church.” I confess that one of the questions I most often ask myself is, So what the heck are we doing anyway? So I usually revisit some list about aims or purposes of the church. No list is perfect or complete, but I spent about half of 2009 working on this and I figured it was finally time to share…

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1. To celebrate, embody, and proclaim the gospel of God’s saving reign inaugurated in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.
2. To exclusively worship the God who is faithfully revealed in the story of Scripture as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3. To form new creation communities of mutual care and sharing, friendship and hospitality, accountability and reconciliation.
4. To teach and train one another to take up our cross and follow Jesus in the way of cruciform faith, hope, love, joy, and peace.
5. To share the joys and burdens of ministry by exercising our Spiritual gifts under the guidance of consultative leadership.
6. To resist the forces of evil and death by exposing idolatrous lies and refusing conformity to the patterns of this world.
7. To suffer with and seek justice and healing for the physically, socially, economically, politically, and emotionally vulnerable and poor.
8. To reflect God’s image by cultivating creation’s fruitfulness in family, work, rest, play, art, poetry, and care for earth.
9. To honor but not idolize our children and to intentionally raise them to be radically faithful disciples of Jesus.
10. To practice the historic disciplines of prayer, fasting, meditation, study, simplicity, service, confession, submission, & direction.

“Political” Musings on the Fiery Furnace (4 of 4)

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America, american culture, christendom, crucifixion, discipleship, gospel, jesus, martyrdom, new testament, old testament, politics, salvation

“They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.” (Daniel 3.28b)

This is my final post offering reflections on the “political lessons” we learn from the very strange story in Daniel 3. See previous posts here,  here and here. So far I have claimed from this story that (1) Politics is a question of idolatry – that is, competing claims for allegiance; (2) Obedience to God sometimes requires disobedience to the government; (3) This “theo-political” showdown is often fought on the battlefield of symbolic ritual; (4) In the ancient world God’s people faced persecution due to their position as a minority outsider in an imperial world; (5) Loyal servants of idolatrous political powers often die needlessly and tragically; (6) Sometimes governments do acknowledge God’s superior power to save; (7) The “political idolatry problem” does not rule out participation in political affairs. Below are the final two of my nine reflections (the last one is my favorite!).

The Forgotten Message of Jesus

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crucifixion, forgotten message of Jesus, gospel, jesus, new testament, obedience, politics, real life church, son of God

In a couple weeks I’ll begin teaching a six-week class called The Forgotten Message of Jesus. I’m very excited about it and have been trying for months to nail down an outline or plan on how to work through it all. Studying to teach about Jesus is incredibly humbling – there is so much I don’t have time to say and so much more I don’t know. Anyhow, I finally put together my plan for the six weeks, so I figured I’d share it here. If you’re planning to come (or listen online), this’ll give you an idea about what we’re going to talk about. I am sure there is too much here and I’ll have to pare it down, but this is what I’m working with for now.

Why Are They Crying? (Revelation 5)

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atonement, gospel, jesus, new testament, Revelation, salvation

Reflecting on the text

Before we get to the book of Revelation, I want you to take a look at a story from the life of Jesus.

Read John 20.1-18

Why do you think Mary is crying?

There’s probably not one specific right answer, but it’s definitely a question worth pondering. Was she crying simply because she felt a deep love for Jesus? Was she crying because she thought his body had been stolen? Was she crying because she didn’t know what else to do? Yes, uh-huh, I’m sure, and probably a few other things as well. I don’t pretend to grasp the depth of her sadness, but I think there is one more thing that we sometimes miss.

She was counting on Jesus.

She was counting on him to rescue Israel, to establish God’s kingdom, to bring the entire world – kicking and screaming if necessary – to faithful worship of the One True God. After all, she was an Israelite living in the first century, and that’s what they wanted. Theirs was a story in search of an ending, and Jesus came along announcing that this story had finally found its climax in him.

And now he was dead.

Walking through Matthew (chs 1-7)

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gospel, gospel of matthew, jesus, new testament

I’m beginning to prepare for a seminar I’ll be teaching at Real Life on “The Life and Teachings of Jesus,” and I’m starting my study by walking through and summarizing the Gospels bit by bit. I figured this’d be more helpful than merely reading through them, and that any more specific study format (such as a theme study) might cause me to miss the forest for the trees. Don’t know if it’ll be helpful to anyone but me, but what the heck. Here it is (part 1 of 4)…

1.1-17 – Matthew’s genealogy emphasizes Jesus as the son of Abraham and especially the Son of David; in other words, Jesus is the long-awaited King. Matthew tells the story in three parts: Abraham to David, David to (Babylonian) Exile, and Exile to Jesus. Perhaps Jesus is the King who will restore Israel from a condition of exile?

1.18-25 – The Messiah was born to a virgin by the Holy Spirit. Joseph almost sent her away (quietly), but an angel in a dream told him to move forward so he did. Angel told Joseph to name him Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. This fulfilled Isaiah 7.14.

Stream of Consciousness on “the gospel”

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american culture, church, crucifixion, gospel, jesus, salvation, sin

Sorry it’s been so long! I’m in the middle of crazy season so I may not blog a whole, whole lot over the next bit, but I’ll be sure to get a couple things up a week at least. A while back I wrote “the gospel…” in my journal and then just started letting the words flow. Not saying this is the best way to do theology, but it can be fun (and at times helpful!). The only rule is that I promise not to edit or change anything, for better or worse. Here’s what I wrote next:

Jesus is the Messiah, our Savior and Lord, and in dying and being raised from the dead he has saved us from sin. Jesus is God’s Word made flesh, the culmination of God’s efforts in creation and Israel to build and then restore a world of peace, justice, and love. He is our King and we are his people, called out from among the nations as the peculiar people of a peculiar God, sent to declare his praises, preview his kingdom, and invite all people to join his family. We resist all that is hostile to God and out of line with his purposes as revealed in Jesus. We thus reject imperialism, individualism, secularism, rationalism, militarism, pragmatism, and consumerism, along with pride, anger, envy, lust, gluttony, sloth, and greed.

I’m not sure where I’d draw the line between what I’d call “the gospel” and what comes out of that. Actually, I’m not sure if such a line should be drawn at all.