Creating a Safe Place for Friendship to Happen 1: Unconditional Acceptance

If friendship is going to be part of the ecology of the church, then we'd better learn how to create a safe environment where these friendships can flourish. This is going to be part 1 of a series of posts that reflect on what's needed for us to create an environment of friendship.

I think it all begins with unconditional acceptance. Jesus created a safe place around him because there was rarely a person he did not delight in and accept. The worst of the worst not only felt comfortable with him...but they actually sought him out! I think the only people he kept his distance from were the the people who kept projecting an image of righteousness; an aura that they had it all together. I believe that Jesus knew that a safe environment would not be possible if such people were part of the group.

In the same way, an ecology of friendship is built on an environment of unconditional acceptance. I hope our groups(s) will become places where the newest of people will feel that they are delighted in and accepted as they are. This will be the first step towards trusting each other as friends.

Perhaps, delight is the place to start in accepting one another? To take joy in one another is the essence of delight. Delight is not something you can conjure up or pretend to have. You can tell if someone genuinely delights in you. You can literally see it in their eyes.

And so, delight, then, begins in our own hearts. We need to be asking God to put a genuine love in our hearts for people. This is not an easy task. There are many people that I would like to say, "Grow up!" Or, "Hey, the universe doesn't revolve around you!" Or, "Please get the the corn cob out of your ass...ASAP!" I know. I know. Doesn't sound like I'm delighting in too many people right now. But hey, for the most part, I do keep those comments to myself. But that's the point of this paragraph. I need to ask God for a genuine love for people every @#$%! day!

Gosh, I hope that there's a group somewhere out there that will accept me the way I am right here...right now.

Creating a Safe Place for Friendship to Happen 2: Unwavering Commitment

If friendship is going to be part of the ecology of the church, then we'd better learn how to create a safe environment where these friendships can flourish. This is part 2 of a series of posts that reflect on what's needed for us to create an environment of friendship.

I think a safe environment begins with an unwavering commitment to remain friends no matter what. Leaving is not an option. Abandoning one another is not an option. Suddenly becoming "missing in action" is not an option. Switching groups is not an option...that would be as absurd as leaving your family to join someone else's family!

Acts 2:42 describes the early church as being devoted to several things, one of which is the fellowship. I do not believe that this necessarily refers to their commitment to a congregation. Rather, I believe this meant that the early church had an unwavering commitment to each other; to the group they were a part of which met in homes every day.

This is going to be a huge challenge here in Ottawa. Ottawans are used to transient relationships. With Armed Forces families moving every four years or so, the social climate in Ottawa has become cold and uncaring. People are courteous and polite towards one another but very superficial.

As church here in Ottawa, I think it would be awesome to model relationships that are unconditional and unwavering. It doesn't matter what kind of jerk someone else may have been during a gathering, we should show that we are still devoted to one another. As someone who has been that jerk before, I would appreciate not having to walk on eggshells when I'm in a group as a recovering jerk. :-)

Friendship as Core Value

Many of the core people in SOULNET are those who are relatively new to the Ottawa area. Lately, conversations have centered around a need for developing real friendships with people who can be trusted. Ottawa is a lonely place. It seems that most Ottawans are not really interested in getting to know other people. There is a coldness and superficiality among the people of Ottawa that makes those of us who are used to open friendships feel isolated and alone.

I wonder if this is a cultural issue that needs to be addressed by the gospel. Perhaps a contextualized gospel engages this coldness and superficilaity by creating an ecclesia that is rooted in friendship that is marked by authenticity and grace?

More Pics from the Philippines 2007

Leadership Institute Philippines 2007

Here are some pics from the Leadership Institute I did in the Philippines.

Back from the Philippines

I just got back from the Philippines. It was an amazing experience. There were times of testing but also times when God just blew me away! I'll be posting pics here as soon as I get them from some friends.

Four Secrets of Great Team-Based Leadership by Dave Ferguson (Lead Pastor, Community Christian Church)

There are some things you would never say out loud, even though you know they are true. If you uttered these secrets people would probably misunderstand you. Or maybe you'd decide they aren't really true after all. So you keep your mouth shut, and they remain secrets. Fourteen years ago, five people — a childhood friend, a college roommate, a brother, a friend-of-a-friend and I — made up the team who pioneered the adventure called Community Christian Church (CCC). We started as a team partly because of a shared dream and partly because it sounded like a lot more fun doing it together than doing it on our own. And from the beginning when it was just the five of us until today where there are more than 3,000 of us at three campuses, CCC has always been led by teams.

The leadership team I'm a part of today — Jon Ferguson, Troy McMahon, Eric Bramlett and myself — is the finest team of which I've ever been a part. And during those 14 years there have been some things about these teams that I knew were true (I have a hunch we all knew they were true), but we never said them out loud. We might be misunderstood. We might be wrong. So we kept these as secrets.

However, now I'm more confident. I think these secrets are true, and I'm willing to risk being misunderstood. So I've decided to tell all! Here are four secrets of great team-based leadership:

The Secret About the Cause
"We are committed to the cause first and each other second."

Great leadership teams are always clear about the cause. A lot of other stuff may get fuzzy, but the cause is always very clear.

At CCC there is sometimes a lack of structure and policy, but the one clear thing is the cause. It's embodied in our mission statement: "Helping people find their way back to God by reproducing congregations, campuses, and churches that celebrate, connect, and contribute to the dream of God."

Last week my assistant, Pat, got an e-mail from a pastor requesting a copy of our staff policy manual. Her answer: "Our policy is not to make policy." I love that! Why? Policy is what happens when we can't get people to do what we want them to do because people are not championing a clear cause. Policy occurs when the ethos of a church culture is weak and the cause is not compelling.

Why all this talk about cause? Because I believe our leadership team is committed to die for the cause of "helping people find their way back to God." And when I say "die" I'm not using hyperbole. The four of us who lead CCC today are willing to die for the cause, whether it is one day at a time or all at once.

We are committed to the cause first and each other second. This is scary to say out loud. That's why it's a secret. But the truth is that it's the cause that brings us together and keeps us together. It is when we put other things or other people before the cause that we compromise what God dreamed of in the church and in the Great Commission.

I believe this is at least 50 percent of what it takes to create great team-based leadership, an uncompromising loyalty to a clear cause. There is never a great lead team when the cause is not clear!

In Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith's great book, Wisdom of Teams, they make it very clear: "The primary objective of the team must be performance results (cause), not becoming a team." One of the great mistakes is forgetting that the cause is what creates community or team. Ask yourself, "Why do men always remember athletic teams or army platoons as the place where they experienced the most genuine community?"

Answer: because a clear cause created community. The cause of winning a game created a team. The cause of defeating a common enemy created a team.

Why is it so hard for athletes to retire? Listen to them talk and you'll see it’s not the money they miss as much as the team.

The Acts 2 church was also brought together by a clear cause. It was the cause called the Great Commission that brought about koinonia or community. That first great leadership team of apostles had a clear cause for which they were willing to die.

The Secret about Community
"We don't know when we are working and when we are playing."

I love the way Eric Bramlett describes working at CCC: "Working here feels like recess." I feel the same way. Sure, there are times we fight about who gets to go down the slide first; but it's still a playground, and it feels a lot more like recess than school. In my 14 years as a part of the leadership team at CCC I don't remember one day (literally) that I looked at my watch thinking, When is it going to be 5 o'clock so I can leave work? It sounds trivial, but being a part of the leadership team at CCC is just plain fun! Working and playing feel the same!

When we are looking for new staff, my teammates have been coached to consider the three C's of character, competency, and chemistry. For us, chemistry is always the first priority, because that's what draws someone into our church culture and draws us to them.

We have a chemistry test that a prospective hire must pass. We call it the "parking lot test." The "parking lot test" is comprised of one question we ask ourselves before we put someone on our staff team: "When we drive up, are we glad to see their car in the parking lot?" If we are excited about seeing their car and knowing we will find them inside, they pass — there is chemistry! If we feel our stomach sink knowing they are inside, they fail — no chemistry! All this is to say that there is a great chemistry with each of the people on our leadership team.

What contributes to the chemistry of a great lead team? First, complementary gifts help create the chemistry. Second, chemistry comes when we all buy into a common strategy. And third, none of the four of us can imagine doing anything else. We all have had offers to do other things in other places for more money, but we just can't imagine doing anything else.

The Secret about Chaos
"We may look crazy to you, but there is a method to our madness."

When other churches visit and see the open office concept we use, where almost all of our 35 staff are in the same room with one another, they will often say, "How do you get anything done in the middle of this chaos?" When other teaching pastors find out that we write all our messages as a team of people from not only multiple campuses, but multiple churches using video conferencing, they say, "Oh, my style would never work in that environment." I used to be concerned that outsiders might think we are crazy, chaotic, or even out of control, but now I understand that as one of our secrets.

One of the secrets of a great leadership team is that in their relentless pursuit of the cause they become a community with unique characteristics according to how God made them. This may appear crazy or chaotic to the outsider, but there is a unique method to their madness.

These characteristics are often paradoxical. Here are some of the paradoxes you would see in our lead team:

Highly Collaborative AND Very Competitive

Every person in our lead team is very competitive. We want to win in basketball, and we want to win the argument. But at the same time we know if we are going to win our part of the world for Christ (back to the cause that creates community), this will take collaboration. So we collaborate on everything. I started to make a list of things that we collaborate on, then it hit me that the much shorter list would be those things on which we don't collaborate.

Very Compassionate AND Comfortable with Conflict

Patrick M. Lencioni, in his book, Five Dysfunctions of a Team tells us that healthy teams are comfortable with conflict. We are definitely comfortable with conflict — confronting, challenging, debating, and sometimes yelling (and later apologizing). But, I also know that when I need a group to rally around me, they will be there for me. There is no doubt about it — my team loves me!

Loves Spontaneity AND Wants Accountability

"Lead with a yes" is a saying you hear from our leadership team. We love being flexible and spontaneous enough that we lead with a yes to new ideas. The new idea could be anything from going for shakes during our lead team meeting to starting a new service in a few weeks. We love leading with spontaneity and the "yes." That spontaneity however is balanced by our desire (that might be a stretch — I think we just know we need it) for accountability. We want accountability for how we are doing versus the goals we set for ourselves a year ago. We want and expect accountability for the ministries we oversee. We want accountability for our budget areas.

To the outsider we may look like an overly competitive team that is constantly fighting about our goals. But come back next week, and we may look like this highly collaborative group in love with one another. To the outsider it might look crazy, but it's just how God made us. And it works!

The Secret about Creating Culture
"We REALLY are going to change the world."

It is the lead team more than any other team that will create the culture and the ethos for a church. When you have a lead team that is clear about the cause, willing to die for the cause, and where serving feels like recess, you have created a church culture where people start to believe that we really are going to change the world!

When people get wind of that kind of opportunity, tremendous sacrifices become normal. Tim, a leader in our church, came to us and told us that he would like to take early retirement and work for the church without a salary for one year. After that year was over he wanted us to evaluate him. If we felt he added enough value to our church, then we would hire him. If not, then he would find another job and continue as a leader in the church.

We said, "Sure!" (Talk about a deal you can't refuse!) One year later, Tim proved himself so invaluable that we brought him on staff. Now he oversees hundreds of unpaid servants and all of our ministry teams. I could tell you many stories like this.

Tremendous sacrifice is normal here. Why? Because of a belief (that starts with the lead team) that this might just be the church that actually does change the world! There is a vibe in our church that we are up to something big and something special. This is not something that we talk about in a prideful manner; in fact we are very careful to make sure that God gets all the credit.

It starts with a lead team that is the microcosm of the rest of the church. They are very clear about the cause and willing to die for it. When they serve it feels like recess, and together they believe that they really are going to change the world!

OK, I've said the secrets out loud. What do you think? Do you agree, or am I just plain wrong?

The 4 Ways of Being

One of the things that Starbucks does exceptionally well is to translate their vision and values into measureable behavior. As Starbucks partners, we are trained to demonstrate key behaviors that enable us to provide legendary service to our customers thus fulfilling our corporate mission. These key behaviors are known as "ways of being."

Taking a cue from the coffee company that will someday rule the world, we've developed "The 4 Ways of Being" to fulfill our mission at SOULNET.

SOULNET Mission: To establish SOULNET as a growing movement of disciples of Jesus committed to bringing the Kingdom of God within the domains of society. We will do this by practicing the 4 Ways of Being:

1. Be passionate: We are committed to the passionate pursuit of God.
2. Be Gospel-centered: We are committed to applying the Gospel to all of life.
3. Be connected: We are committed to intentional, authentic connections with one another.
4. Be missional: We are committed to the convergence of life, vocation, and gifts to fulfill God’s mission.

These 4 Ways of Being are the core behavioral commitments that we ask everyone in SOULNET to demonstrate. This becomes the common thread that binds us together.

Summer Series: Introduction to Galatians

When men and women get their hands on religion, one of the first things they often do is turn it into an instrument for controlling others, either putting or keeping them "in their place." The history of such religious manipulation and coercion is long and tedious. It is little wonder that people who have only known religion on such terms experience release or escape from it as freedom. The problem is that the freedom turns out to be short-lived.

Saul of Tarsus was doing his diligent best to add yet another chapter to this dreary history when he was converted by Jesus to something radically and entirely different---a free life in God. Through Jesus, Paul learned that God was not an impersonal force to be used to make people behave in certain prescribed ways, but a personal Savior who set us free to live a free life. God did not coerce us from without, but set us free from within.

It was a glorious experience, and Paul set off telling others, introducing and inviting everyone he met into this free life. In his early travels he founded a series of churches in the Roman province of Galatia. A few years later Paul learned that religious leaders of the old school had come into those churches, called his views and authority into question, and were reintroducing the old ways, herding all these freedom-loving Christians back into the corral of religious rules and regulations.

Paul was, of course, furious. He was furious witht eh old guard for coming in with their strong-arm religious tactics and intimidating the Christians into giving up their free life in Jesus. But he was also furious with the Christians for caving in to the initmidation.

His letter to the Galatian churches helps them, and us, recover the original freedom. It also gives direction in the nature of God's gift of freedom---most necessary guidance, for freedom is a delicate and subtle gift, easily perverted and often squandered.

(Excerpted from THE MESSAGE REMIX: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2003 by Eugene Peterson)

Simply Church

the church at matthew's house
By Jason Evans - May 2002
I was tired of the church, as I knew it. It was an event, a building, a program. I wanted to be the church; I wanted my unchurched friends to be the church, not become churched. I wanted it to be something I lived, rather than something I lived for. I heard of crazy people that met together, ate meals, shared their resources and studied the Scriptures together... in homes and coffee shops of all places! It couldn't be that simple! You were supposed to bring the sofas, the coffee (and the candles if you're real serious) into the sanctuary, but not use them in their common setting! That was ludicrous! It was two years ago that I thought that. Now, I'm one of those crazy people.

My wife and I along with several other couples had a burden, I'm not so sure it was a "vision” but it was definitely a burden. We were certain that the church was simpler than what we had known it to be. We wanted to be a part of something that encouraged spiritual things to evolve in a natural way. We wanted to go where God was rather than build a place for him to reside. We had a desire to invite people into an experience that was informal, yet intentional like the story of Levi throwing a party at his house with Jesus. Not long after that we found ourselves becoming the church to each other. It was a house church I suppose, but we weren't quite sure what to call it.

On a usual Thursday night, we would meet at about 6:30 p.m., eating dinner together, talking about our weeks, sharing high points and low points and getting introduced to a couple of new people that might have just stopped by. At one point, one evening, towards the end of dinner one of the new girls opened up a little. She said that she couldn't believe how welcome she felt. She had always been so "turned off" to religion and had become very skeptical. But she felt more comfortable and loved than she felt normally with her closest friends. This night was already the high point of her week and dinner wasn't even over yet!

And then one night it happened.

After dinner, all of us crammed into the family room to carry the conversations further. At the end of a time of reflection, people decided to wrap things up in prayer. And then it happened... without any explanation, no instruction, nor a request, this new girl said, "I don't know you God, but all I know is that I want more of you. I need you to be part of my life, like these people. Jesus, please, I want to know you..." As people kept praying there was this rush of wonder and amazement as those Christians in the room began to realize that one more had come into the Kingdom. To think, this girl hadn't been given a Gospel message, she wasn't told how to become a Christian... she just knew. This was a totally un-evangelical salvation!
We had committed ourselves to no longer putting on a show and just lift God up in our lives. Through that the Holy Spirit got all the credit, we did nothing, He drew someone to the Savior without us tripping things up along the way. Many more young adults were coming and things began to quickly get tight around the dinner table and in the family room. We soon started another church to relieve some of the size limitations in the first group. We didn't know what to do next; all we knew was that God was up to something.

Not long after that my wife and I began opening up our home to the many young people involved in the local punk/hardcore scene and started a church there. The night began with dinner together and then each shared a few chapters of our personal stories. As we talked the conversation moved into what each expected of a group like this. What blew me away was that each of them was saying the same thing. Learning to love God and other people in an authentic way was what each of them wanted.

By the end of the night, this group of young people were bonded together on a journey to learn what it meant to really love God, love their friends, and provide a safe haven for them to come, hang out, and talk about life. They decided that we would come together every week to do this for each other and anyone else who came through the door.

Less then 6 months after that church was born two young men within that group have been called to shepherd that church. Less then a week after we talked with those two young men, all of us were sitting in our house, sharing life together, and the Spirit laid it on my heart to challenge another young person to begin a house church. Once again, we will help him lay the foundation and empower him to guide a church. A few days later, at a concert, some of us were talking to some old friends that live in the next county to the east and they are catching the vision. We now have the opportunity to help them start a movement of simple churches planted by normal people.

Simple churches come together.

Monthly, we have gatherings where all of these simple churches come together to share and celebrate God's work. I had the opportunity to speak with a housewife that is incredibly excited about the church meeting in her home. To my amazement she told me that the group is getting ready to bust at the seams. Therefore, she felt God must be getting ready to call some of them to go and start some new churches where there will be more room for more people!

I sat with a friend to think about these various situations and we could see up to 10 churches being born out of the hearts of people committed to loving others and Jesus in a simpler, honest manner. I don't think I've ever seen a multiplication process happen like this before.

The question many are asking is, "is it really that simple?" In fact, I think it is. Welders, daycare supervisors, housewives, electricians, waitresses and others are gifted to care and guide small, simple churches in there homes, apartments, coffee shops, tattoo parlors, bars and diners across the country. They won't separate the saints from the seekers. They will blur the lines between what we deem secular and what we raise up as sacred. They are gifted to express their creativity in new, unexpected ways and mediums, but not in the walls of our homes and church buildings but out there, in the real world. They are prone to make us uncomfortable and question our methods, which is exactly what Jesus did. They are gifted to teach us through rabbinical-like conversation, rather than monotone dissertations. They are gifted to help us become selfless Christ-followers, rather than selfish commercial-guzzlers. And most importantly they are gifted to take the church into realms us "clergy-types" never could. Who could ask for more? Can we humble ourselves to set aside the complicated organizations for a simpler organism?

Can we humble ourselves to take our gifts, talents and abilities to serve this movement? I believe that it will allow people to come to Christ, flourish in their giftedness and be a part of revolution across our country that we never expected! So... who's in?

What Can I Do?

"What can I do for the movement?" I was asked this question after a Sunday morning gathering just over a month ago. At the time, I had barely made it through the service because we had just returned from Toronto and I had had only 3 hours of sleep. So I mumbld something like, "When I'm more lucid, I'll get back to you."

What can we do for the movement? I'd like to identify the action steps that we need from the people who are a part of this movement we call SOULNET. And although, we are still in the core gathering stage, it would be good to see people committed to these things now rather than later.

The action steps focus on discipleship. A disciple is someone who is growing in the image of Christ, in the community of fellow disciples, and in the influence of outsiders. I know it may seem a bit cold to use the word "outsiders" to refer to those we want to influence for Christ but it is a thoroughly Biblical word. Paul uses it in Colossians 4:5 when he writes, "Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. (ESV)"

So the actions steps would be to:

1. Grow in the image of Christ by establishing a regular time of personal worship, meditation, prayer and applying the gospel to your life regluarly.
2. Grow in the community of fellow disciples by joining, hosting or facilitating a SOULNET Discipleship Group circle.
3. Grow in the influence of outsiders by practicing prayer evangelism at your work, school or neighborhood.
5. Support the movement with your time, talents, and finances.

Establishing a regular personal worship, meditation, prayer and listening time is one of the primary ways that God will use to shape the disciple into the image of Jesus. The lifeblood of a follower is to talk to and listen to Jesus. Establishing a regular time to worship and fellowship with the Lord creates an environment in which spriritual growth can occur.

Along with fellowshiping with Jesus through worship, meditation, prayer and listening, applying the gospel to one's life is foundational to growing in the image of Jesus. The way of the gospel is the constant surrendering of one's life to Christ by repenting of old sins, surrending our will to Jesus, offering ourselves to him, and following the Spirit in newness of life. Only by applying the gospel of Jesus to our lives will we experience the transformation that leads to the image of Jesus.

Growing in Christ's image is not an individualistic thing. We must also grow in community with other believers. We need others who are folliwng Jesus to provide accountability, belonging, care, and development. These are the ABCD's of fellowship/community. It's in these relationships that we learn how to follow Jesus in ways that a private and isolated faith could never provide. It's in these Christ-centereed circles that we learn to speak the truth in love, to forgive, to serve, to look beyond ourselves, to contribute, to confess our sins, to heal one another, to bear one another's burdens, to accept one another etc.

While the first 2 practices focus inwardly in personal and communal ways, it would not be complete nor Christ-centered without the outward component of reaching out to outsiders. This means identifying specific people in our circle of influence who would benefit from a relationship with Jesus; blessing them; praying for them; and, when appropriate, sharing the gospel with them.

This Sunday - Happy Mother's Day!

We've had to cancel our gathering this Sunday because I am in Seattle taking care of my grandparents. My grandfather has been in the hospital unconscious for a week now. He suffered a heart attack and kidney failure but the doctors still don't really know why he is unconscious. I appreciate prayers for this situation. Thanks!

The Gospel and the Virginia Tech Massacre

Our hearts go out to the victims, families, and faculty of Virginia Tech who had to endure the rampage of disturbed student Cho Seung-hui (photo). It brings back haunting memories of Dawson College in Montreal. This kind of violence seems to be occurring more and more. Obviously, education is not the answer. What is?

I believe that the gospel of Jesus is the only true and effective answer to the violence and mental health issues facing US/Canadian societies today. Suburbia has become disturbia. So far, social engineering through education and a values neutral posture have proven powerless against the evils of the human heart. But a crucified and resurrected Jesus can deal with the human condition. How?

1. The gospel of Jesus heals the human heart of anger and rage through the experience of mercy and forgiveness. It's obvious that there is a deep seated rage simmering beneath the nice, quiet veneer of suburbia. The release of Cho's self-made video demonstrates a heart in need of mercy and a mind in need of healing. Only the experience of Jesus' mercy and forgiveness will enable people to forgive those who have hurt them.

2. The gospel of Jesus sets us in reconciled relationships with one another to provide a community that encourages emotional health and personal integration. Cho Seung-hui displayed the classic signs of an emotionally and socially damaged person. The fact that his own roommates couldn't even truly know him as a person or that he barely spoke a word to anyone even in response to questions is a clear cut example of taking our tendency to isolate ourselves from one another to it's ultimate conclusion. If nothing truly exists except in relationship to others as the new sciences affirm, then Cho Seung-hui was already dead before he even purchased a handgun.

The gospel of Jesus connects and reconciles people who were at one point enemies to become brothers and sisters in a community where Jesus rules hearts. The gospel isn't just about words but about relationships to one another and especially to the marginalized in our society. I wonder how many Cho Seung-hui's there are in our own community here in Ottawa? Is there good news for them?

3. The gospel of Jesus is the only message that has the grace to cleanse the filth off people who have become victims of others' sins. What often defiles our souls is the sins that others commit against us. The damage can happen through verbal or physical abuse, manipulation and control, "mind games," threats, infidelity, betrayal etc. Through Christ, we can experience the power of God to cleanse us and free us from the anger, rage, depression, shame, and confusion that often follows such experiences.

Cho has defiled so many people; his victims and their families. May God's mercy be poured out upon the hundreds of people who have been scarred by such a savage act of terror. And may the followers of Jesus rise up to offer God's love and grace with "skin on it" to them.

Easter 2007

A defining moment is a personal experience that changes who we are and how we perceive life and the world around us. I had a defining moment when I had a close encounter of the God kind at the age of 14 in Seattle, Washington. This experience changed my life forever. After that, no one would ever be able to convince me that God did not exists or that Jesus was not alive today.

Are you enjoying the 4 day holiday this weekend? Have you thanked God for it? Because this 4 day weekend is brought to you by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter what people call it -Spring Festival, long weekend, mandatory holiday or Easter- the reason why you have 4 days off has to do with the events pertaining to this defining moment in history. If there was one event that could be categorized as THE most important to celebrate in the life of church history or all of history for that matter...it is the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But we sure have a lot of people who don’t even believe that Jesus existed let alone was raised from the dead.

Common Perceptions of the Resurrection
1. It was a hoax.
2. It can’t be scientifically verified.
3. It is a doctrine made up by church hierarchy.
4. It is a spiritual belief not a historical fact.

How do you know that Jesus really rose from the dead? How can we be so sure that these things actually happened and this is not some sick cosmic game where when we die, God comes out from behind the “pearly gates” laughing his head off and saying, “You got punk’d?!” Well, these were the same kinds of things the early church apostles had to deal with as well. So let’s engage a passage of Scripture that addresses this very thing in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.

3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Paul's Argument for the Veracity of the Resurreciton
1. The scriptures predicted it. “...according to Scriptures…”
2. Jesus appeared to Peter and the apostles and to over 500 witnesses some of whom are still alive. Paul was saying in essence, “If you don’t believe me, you can talk to any of the over 500 people who were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. You can get a firsthand account that Jesus really did rise from the dead.
3. Jesus appeared to his own biological brother, James. Just try getting your brother to worship you!
4. Jesus appeared to Paul and changed this former religious terrorist’s life.

Ok...let’s say that this was all true; that Jesus was killed and that he did rise from the dead...so what? What difference does it make to us?

1. The resurrection of Jesus offers us hope. 15:12-19

12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

Without the resurrection, we have no future to look forward to. Without the resurrection, Jesus just becomes a self-proclaimed hero and an unfortunate martyr that people are stupid enough to call a good example to follow in our life here and now. But he’s useless when it comes to the ultimate issues of death and eternity...if he isn’t alive today.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the defining moment that frees us from the tyranny of sin. What is sin? Sin is when you let something other than Jesus become the controlling factor in your life. It’s when you let something else or someone else rule over you and define you, give you meaning, give you security. Sin is giving that something or someone the place in your life where only Jesus should be.

2. The resurrection of Jesus offers us an indestructible life. 15:20-23

20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Without the resurrection, we are still spiritually and physically dead. When Paul describes Jesus as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” he is saying that Jesus is the first of his kind but that there are many more who will follow after his kind. So the same kind of life force that Jesus had that could not be snuffed out, is the same kind of life force those of us who belong to him receive from him.

3. The resurrection of Jesus offers us meaning for this life. 15:29-34
 
29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, 
   "Let us eat and drink, 
      for tomorrow we die."[d]
33Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

Without the resurrection, we might as well, “Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Without the resurrection, the only thing that matters is today and what you make of it. If we have no future existence after death and if we won’t be held accountable by God for how we lived our lives then we should just party it up. We might as well live out our every fantasy and do our own personal version of “Girls Gone Wild.” Who cares what kind of person you are if -as those great theologians Linkin’ Park say- "in the end it doesn’t really matter."

But what a crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus does for us is provide us with a way to change our lives. The problems of the world all begin in the same place...the human heart. Terrorism is a symptom of hatred and control. Violent crime is a symptom of hopelessness and rage. Poverty is a symptom of greed and selfishness. Chemical addiction is a symptom of escapism, hopelessness and a need for relief. Personal uncontrolled debt is a symptom of a lust for more and a longing to fill our lives with stuff.

The only way to deal with this stuff is for people to experience a personal crucifixion and resurrection by following Jesus.

Paul said it this way, “I die daily.” So are you part of the problem in this world or are you part of the solution?

Bottom line is that Jesus is Lord. He kicked the devil’s butt on the cross and in the empty tomb. He’s coming back. Question is, “Is he coming back for you?” And that is determined by whether you live for him now or not.

Escape from Consumer Church by Bob Hyatt

Sunday November 14, 2004

“What’s the best way to attract people to your church and keep them once they come?”

Sometimes the problem isn’t with our answers… it’s with our questions.

There’s much good happening in American churches. No model of doing church is either all good or all bad and God is at work in many ways in His body- He’s alive in mega churches and house churches… but I believe that in this place and in this time in church history, God is doing something in terms of making some corrections.

My Story This Far…

My home was a Christian home, and my churches were always Baptist churches. I attended a small Christian College like many of the other Christian Colleges that dot our landscape and then Western Seminary in Portland. My upbringing and education was thoroughly evangelical.

I always wanted to serve God in the ministry and in life… But as I got older, rather than getting easier and easier, it seemed to get harder. Especially when it came to the church communities I was pastoring in. In many ways, what we were doing began to make less and less sense. I saw it connecting with fewer and fewer people who were raised outside of church, and I noticed a huge group of people who left church after high school and never seemed to come back. Maybe some of you who are reading this are in that boat.

After pastoring in Europe and in North Carolina for awhile, I had reached the end of my rope. I was burned out. I was a youth and worship pastor who was honestly beginning to wonder if what we were doing was even worthwhile, much less working. Week after week, we would run our programs, people would shuffle in, nod to each other and shuffle back out. In the midst of that, there were some good relationships and some who genuinely seemed to grow, but amid all the fights over things that really didn’t matter, that seemed the exception not the rule. We talked a lot about community- but I rarely saw it.

Better Doesn’t Always Mean Bigger

It was working in a mega church that opened my eyes to the fact that in many ways, the church in America had pursued a model that created consumers of church primarily and community only incidentally.

The church was big- there were programs happening around the clock, all day, every day. And do not get me wrong- good things happened there. But one day I had a conversation with one of the pastors that helped me understand the problem…He was asking me what I wanted to do in the future and I told him I wanted to be a teaching pastor who studied and taught but also spent a good amount of time sitting with people, listening, counseling…

I’ll never forget this. He looked at me and said “Wow… I used to do a lot of counseling, but I had to stop. In fact, I tell my staff now, ‘If you sit with someone more than three times, it’s too much. We’re paying you to run a ministry, not be with people.’”

And at that moment, I knew I had to get out; out of that system, out of that mentality.

Did We Park In Dopey or Sneezy?

We had become more a provider of religious goods and services and less, much, much less than a covenant community. We had made pastors into managers and programmers and party planners… and in so doing kept them from being shepherds.

The standard model of doing church in America today is primarily attractional rather than incarnational. It says this: “If we get our media right, our preaching right, our seating and our parking right… if we offer great children’s programs and a rocking worship band people will come. If things are excellent, and we offer something for every member of the family -and churches have made an idol out of the nuclear family, but that’s another story… If we do all this, and we market it right also, people will come and we will be successful.“ So what’s the problem with that?

The instant you step on that hamster wheel, you are in trouble. Because your band may rock, but what happens when the church down the street develops one that is better? You’ve got good musicians, but they hire (and churches do this)- they hire studio musicians to come play every week.

I know one church in southern California that hired a Disney engineer to come in and build their children’s ministry space to look like a giant mountain- kind of a cross between space mountain and Bear Country Jamboree- but for toddlers. And that’s great- until the church down the way develops a roller coaster ministry complete with laser show and cotton candy machines.

I know one church that “resigned” a great youth pastor because they wanted him to “take it to the next level” whatever that means. And he said, “No- not the way you want me to. I spend time with kids. I sit and listen to their problems. I read the Bible with them and pray with them. I love them and they are growing. I don’t want to spend my time as a glorified activities director.”

And those of you who are doing youth ministry know instinctively what I am talking about- some of you are serving in small churches, loving the kids God is bringing you… but you are discouraged because your vision is to love kids and teach kids and disciple kids, but the church down the road is doing the X-Boxes on big screens thing and the huge games with the fully outfitted youth band… and you just can’t compete.

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

And there’s the problem. When we allowed American Church to become primarily attractional in nature, it also became competitive in nature. We send out mailers: “Come to our church! We have ‘great worship!’” “Come to our church! We have Starbucks Coffee™ and Krispy Kreme™ Donuts!” And big churches get bigger as small ones die because the big ones “offer” more and people flock there until the church down the road offers them something even better. It’s Wal-Mart versus smaller stores but with special music and kids programs instead of bigger selections and low, low prices. And the lessons that leaders learn from this process is only slightly worse than what the people in the pews learn.

We have a phrase to describe the result. “Church shoppers.”

Come on Down The Aisle for A Great Deal!

There’s a story in the Gospels that has some bearing on all this. In Mark 10 a young man comes to Christ with a simple question. “As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running up to Jesus, knelt down, and asked, ‘Good Teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?’" Notice who his focus is on…Jesus gives him the standard rabbinical answer pointing him back to Moses’ law, and the young man lies and says he’s kept all those commandments… so Jesus says one more thing to him.

"You lack only one thing," he told him. "Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Jesus said to him- do you really want to know what salvation is all about? Do you want to experience it? Then open your eyes to someone besides yourself. And then follow Me.

Then he makes this jaw dropping statement:

“It is hard for people with money to get into God’s Kingdom.” Now Jesus said this, I didn’t… but I want you to think about this verse the next time you drive into your church parking lot, especially if you go to a big church in the suburbs.

The disciples are upset. They have given up everything to follow Him, they say…
And Jesus responds, "I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property--with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life.”

Now if you watch any religious TV at all you know that Jesus is making a promise here. If you put a dollar in the plate (or better yet, send it to a TV preacher’s ministry) God will miraculously give you a hundred dollars back… right? Wrong. No matter how much you try that, it doesn’t really work. So either the TV preachers are wrong or Jesus is wrong. Let’s go ahead and assume that Jesus is right, but the prosperity preachers just have no clue as to what Jesus is talking about. So what does this mean?

Jesus is talking about community here… for our purposes, He’s giving us a beautiful picture of church. He says if you lose your family because you are following me… if you lose your father or your mother or your brother or sister… here’s a whole group of people who will be family for you. Here’s a hundred brothers, a hundred sisters. Lose your house? Here are people who will take you in. Lose your livelihood? Here are people who will sell what they don’t need to provide what you don’t have. This is the genesis of the church we see in the book of Acts. Do you see how He’s saying COMMUNITY is the context in which we find and follow Jesus and in which our needs are met?

We’ve always thought the problem with the young man was that he couldn’t handle Jesus’ answer. Maybe the problem really started with his question.

I, ME, MINE

Somewhere along the way we started thinking this whole thing- Jesus, the Gospel and especially Church was all about ME.

If the Gospel is primarily about getting my rear end into heaven, then Christianity is a religion for death, not for life. But if it’s more… if Christianity is meant to be the in-breaking of God’s rule and reign into this world and into our lives, that changes everything, not only about how we think of Church and it’s primary purpose, but how we conceive of our lives and our time here.

The problem with church today is that we rarely do what Jesus did- ask people to look beyond themselves and their “felt needs” to others and their real needs. If your Christianity calls you out of your individualism and orients you towards others, then it is doing what Jesus seems to have intended it to do…
But if by it’s methodology it actually confirms you in your individualism? Then my suspicion and my fear is that it is less than fully Christian.

US, WE, OURS

So how are we trying to address all this at Evergreen, the church community I lead?

There’s a lot, but let me just mention a couple of things…the first being that we conceive of ourselves not as a provider of religious goods and services, but as a missional, covenant community.

By missional we mean that we are trying to foster an orientation within our community not inward, but outward. Not to ourselves, but to others. We are attempting to be not attractional, but incarnational.

What did Jesus do? He preached good news to the poor. For too long I spiritualized that… now I realize that with over 2000 verses in scripture dealing with the poor,, maybe God wants us to pay attention to them. So we try to be concerned about the poor and oppressed in our society.

He fed people. We need to do the same thing. He healed people. We want to be a community of healing for people- where they can come with their doubts and questions and find not condemnation but space- space to ask, space to find answers and space to heal. Many of the people at evergreen are people who quit going to church because the reaction they experienced when they had doubts and questions was not a positive one.

That’s incarnational- doing the things that Jesus did. We are not about the show. We don’t have a light show or a rocking band. We don’t do big dramas or musical spectaculars. There’s nothing wrong with those things- but we don’t want people to be at Evergreen because of what happens on the stage on Sunday morning. We want them there because they sense that our community is a place where they can find God and walk along side others who are also searching.

We are doing our best to be a church community where people can belong before they believe- a church for the unchurched and the formerly churched. But that’s hard on the lifelong Christians among us- because we don’t get to have things done exactly the way we would like them. We are trying to think more about the people we are reaching than our own wants and needs.

I tell our people: “We are not going to meet your needs. Your needs will get met, but by the people sitting beside you, not standing in front of you. Because we’d like to think that when we say “community” we mean it. I have told our people over and over again- you are the ones who will drive ministry here. We meet in a pub. There’s very little space for “kids ministry.” I keep telling them- I am not going to solve this problem for you. This is your community. If you love these kids, you’ll come up with something for them. I’m your pastor, not your cruise director. My job is to open God’s Word, and tell you what I think God seems to be saying through this book to our community. Your job is to figure out what that looks like and works out like. I tell you God’s Word says we should be concerned about the poor and oppressed. You decide whether that means homeless teens, the mentally ill, AIDS Hospice, etc. We’re trying to develop an organic model of community that develops people, not programs that create dependency on a paid, professional clergy.”

Here’s what I want you to hear in this article. If you consider yourself a follower of Christ- you need to know this. The church is not here for you. You are here for the church - your community; and your community -the church- is here for the world. Jesus did not die to make you into a sanctified consumer. He died to bring you alive to God and to a desperately needy world.

And if you really believe that, it’s going to change everything- both the way that you do church and the way that you live every moment of your life from here on out.



Bob Hyatt is the husband of Amy and the father of Jack. He spends his remaining time as a pastor of the Evergreen Community in Portland, OR.

CIRCLES

"Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons." Mark 3:13-15

When Jesus chose the men whom he would designate as apostles, he was starting the first circle of the movement that would be known as Christianity. As a Jewish Rabbi in the first century, Jesus was doing what any rabbi worth his prayer shawl would do...choose his disciples. The passage above descirbes the 3 key goals that Jesus had for the members of his first circle:

1. That they might be with him.
2. That he might send them out to preach.
3. To have authority to drive out demons.

As I think about the different small groups that have been made available to the church over the years, there seems to be quite a gap between what Jesus' first circle was meant to do and the goals of these different small groups. For the sake of simplicity and expediency, let me identify the different goals of the groups that I have encountered and even promoted in the churches that I have been a part of. The purposes of these groups have been:

◆ Bible study
◆ Fellowship
◆ Healing
◆ Leadership Training (a la Maxwell et al.)

It seems to me that most, if not all, of the groups that I have been a part of or helped start have been groups whose focus have been the benefit of the group's members. As I reflect on those experiences, I notice that knowing Jesus and doing what he wanted seemed to be secondary to benefitting the members somehow. Bible Study groups focused on learning the Bible. Fellowship groups focused on knowing and supporting each other. Healing groups focused on experiencing emotional or physical healing. Leadership Training groups focused on developing leadership skills based on some leadership guru's books or gearted towards making the trainee another cog in the church machinery.

Jesus' first circle had a significantly different focus. Specically, members of his first circle focused on Jesus himself. In Jesus' day, a rabbi's disciples were known as his talmidim. Their main job was to "shadow" the rabbi 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They were to live with him; travel with him; eat with him; sleep in the same places; listen intently to him; and mirror his way of life.

Another feature of Jesus' first circle was that they had a bias for action. They went where Jesus went. They did what Jesus asked them to do. They helped with the distribution of bread and fish when Jesus fed the multitude. Jesus' disciples DID things with him.

And last but not least, Jesus' first circle was tied into Jesus' mission. Everything they did supported and advanced Jesus' cause; his proclamation and demonstration of the Kingdom of God. The first circle was sent out to heal, deliver and preach. In fact, that first circle expanded from 12 to 72 (Luke 10) to do exactly what they had already been doing with Jesus.

The importance of the first circle in any movement cannot be stressed enough. The first circle sets the tone for what follows. It contains the DNA of the rest of the movement. What is true in the first circle will be true in the rest of the movement.

How does this work for SOULNET?

It's drawing near the time to start our first circle. I want to prayerfully select the people who will be the members of the first circle of SOULNET. The more I meditate on the first disciples, I notice that there is really only one key functional requirement...to be teachable enough to be shaped by Jesus. This means a willingness to submit their lives to follow the Rabbi. I am growing more and more convinced that the key requirement for the first circle members of our movement is a willingness to be shaped shaped by the Master and his mission: To live under the Lordship of Jesus in the power of the Spirit.

I envision spending a significant amount of time in worship, prayer, and listening to the Spirit of Jesus with the first circle. But I also see the need to be essentially biased towards action. Our time with Jesus must lead us to action...to doing...to following where Jesus would go and what Jesus would do in our city.

I see the first circle working together to proclaim and demonstrate the Kingdom of God to the marginalized in our city; the homeless, the desperate, the fatherless etc.

Fluid but Concrete

A thread at the seedstories site (www.seedstories.com) and a recent conversation with a dear couple who are serious followers of Christ but unconnected to any one local congregation, has me grappling with the operationalization of a fluid network movement. There are several challenges that we face in being the church as a fluid movement:

1. Detoxing from the default mode of institutionalism that most people in the movement have come from. Most of us have grown up in the church and still see the church as an organization that offers the world a variety of religious programs and experiences.

2. Grasping the concept of the kingdom of God and how it enters into every sphere of life rather than being relegated to the compartment of "my spiritual life."

3. Providing enough concrete structure so people can grasp what it means to be an organic and missional church and yet avoid the pitfalls of institutionalism and attractional ministry.

4. Engaging people who view life from a consumeristic point of view.

5. Equipping, empowering, and deploying a growing number of disciiples into every sphere of society: family, church, education, business, government, media, and arts.

Deep, concrete thinking on these matters is absolutely necessary so we can move out of the theoretical mode to the operational mode of thie church plant.

The Starfish and The Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom

Starfish organizations have the ability to replicate themselves at every level of organization. If you were to cut off one of the five legs of a starfish, it would simply grow a new one or, in some cases, a whole new starfish would develop from the severed arm. This forms the basic paradigm of leaderless organizations.

I believe the church was meant to be like this. With Christ as the Head and orgnaizing principle, the church was meant to be a growing movement seeping into society and affecting positive change within the culture it finds itself.

Brafman and Beckstrom have a chapter in their book called The Five Legs. This really inspired me to realize how we need to build the new SOULNET. In this chapter, they describe the 5 "leg" upon which a decentralized organization stands. You can take away a couple of the legs and the organization can still function. But when all 5 are on, the leaderless network becomes unstoppable. These kinds of organization have the following:

1. CIRCLES - All decentralized organizations have circles to which people belong. Circles are powerful because they provide the sense of identity and the experience of participation. Unlike leader led group, there are no rules for a circle but there are "norms." These are key behaviors that the group has agreed upon as normative for the circle. As it implies, circles are not led by any one person. Rather, circles are "led" by the protocols embedded in the movement's ideology. The churches in the Primal Church worked in this way.

2. A CATALYST - These people get things started. But they quickly back off so that the group can lead itself. The catalyst is key at the very beginning because he/she sets the norms of the orginal circle. Apostle functioned in this way.

3. IDEOLOGY - This is the "why" that drives the group. This "why" drives the "what" and the "how" of the entire movement. When this is crystal clear, there will be no need for leaders. Interestingly, this is the hardest part of what we're doing at this time.

4. PREEXISTING NETWORK - Movements and leaderless organization don't start from nothing. They mazimize existing networks, building momementum, and grow in numbers and influence. Thisn is akin to what Jesus told his disciiples to look for in Luke 10, the Man of Peace. This person is open to the disciples and to the ideology and mission of Christ and opens up their relational network to the group.

5. CHAMPIONS - These are people who are burning with the message and ideology of the group. They are relentless spokepersons for the orgnaization. They live and breathe the movement.

Leading a Movement

I've been teaching, mentoring, developing, deploying, training, and empowering leaders for 16 years. So it is going to be a little odd for me to say that I am in that stage of my personal leadership development where I am desperately searching for a way to create a leaderless organization; a truly organic movement that impacts the heart of society. I am a pastor but I don't think I am gifted to be a pastor. I am a church planter but i don't want to plant a congregation. Confused? Try being me. Now, before you say, "It sucks to be you," I want to tell you up front that I am pumped. I am excited. I see light at the end of this leadership tunnel.

In their book "The Spider and The Starfish: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations," Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom have given me a clearer framework to work with when it comes to seeing and developing the church less as an institution and more as a movement. They cite leaderless organizations like eBay, al-Qaeda, the internet etc. to show how powerful these networks can be. From it's inception the church has always been a movement not an institution. But very few people have written about the church as such. Most people cannot see the church as anything else but a static and oft-times out of touch monolith whose time has come and gone. It's in my heart to recover and restore the church's organic nature.

There is a huge difference between the leadership style of someone leading an institution (CEO) and leading in a fluid network (CATALYST). Brafman and Beckstrom outline and contrast the difference below:



Much of the literature on leadership comes out of the context of a static, old-school organization. But there is a scarcity of material on leadership from within a movement. Somehow, that's got to change.

The Heart of the Kingdom: Following Jesus

Taken from moral laws given in ancient China, Babylon, Anglo Saxon culture, American Indian culture, Judaism, Christianity, ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Hindu culture, the moral code or core of every religion is:

[1] Don’t do harm to another human by what you do or say.
[2] Honor your father and mother.
[3] Be kind toward brothers and sisters, children and the elderly.
[4] Do not have sex with another’s spouse.
[5] Be honest in all your dealings.
[6] Do not lie.
[7] Care for those weaker or less fortunate.
[8] Dying to self is the path to life.

The core of the movement that Jesus started is found in Mark 1:16-20. Unlike the morality and rules-centered religions of the world, the movement Jesus started revolves totally around a relationship to Jesus himself. Let me state the main idea right at the beginning: The heart of the kingdom is to have a heart for the King. What does it mean to have a heart for Jesus, the king?

1. Having a heart for Jesus means imitating him.

Jesus, the Son of God, became flesh in the form of a Jewish rabbi living in Jewish culture. As a rabbi, his role was to embody the torah or “Book of Instruction” found in the first 5 books of the Scriptures. A rabbi’s role was not only to be an example but to pass on his way of life to disciples. In Hebrew, talmid is the word for disciple. The plural form is talmidim.
The decision to follow a rabbi as a talmid meant total commitment... Since a talmid was totally devoted to becoming like the rabbi he would have spent his entire time listening and observing the rabbi to know how to understand the Scripture and how to put it into practice...Most students sought out the rabbis they wished to follow. This happened to Jesus on occasion. If a student wanted to study with a rabbi he would ask if he might “follow” the rabbi. The rabbi would consider the students potential to become like him and whether he would make the commitment necessary. It is likely most students were turned away. Some of course were invited to “follow me”. This indicated the rabbi believed the potential talmid had the ability and commitment to become like him. It would be a remarkable affirmation of the confidence the teacher had in the student. (FollowtheRabbi.com)

Today, at the very heart of participating in the Kingdom of God is the response to Jesus’ invitation to follow Jesus as a talmid or disciple. This doesn’t mean that we follow Jesus’ teachings only. Rather, discipleship requires that we know Jesus’ mind and will, Jesus’ heart, Jesus’ vision for our society.

This means that we need to learn to hear his voice for today. We need to see what he is doing in our world. We need to feel his heart for the people around us. We need to grasp his vision for our society. And we need to do the things he did. This includes following him in his death and resurrection. When Ariel was 2 years old, she had a saying which she repeated often. She would imitate something I did and proclaim, “Like you, Daddy! Like you!”

I am not trying to convince you to become a Christian. I am not trying to get you to join the Christian religion. In fact, I hope that you never call yourself a Christian. The label “Christian” conjures up images that are so UN-Christlike that I don’t ever want to be called a Christian. Rather, I am trying to convince you to follow Jesus Christ. I am trying to convince you to join Jesus’ cause and movement. I am hoping that you will identify yourself as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I am trying to get you to live your life in such a way so as to say to Christ, “Like you, Jesus! Like you!”

This kind of thing isn’t something we will quickly embrace because imitating Jesus means that our lives cease to be our own. It means that we have to change. It means that we have to adjust. The problem is that it’s in our nature to be in control of our own lives. We would rather make God in our image than be shaped into his. This is the essence of religion. Religion puts us in control of God.

Following Jesus also liberates us from consumerism. We’ve been taught all of our lives that everything comes secondary to our needs and wants. We’re told by our market-driven society that we are the center of the Universe. But follwing Jesus requires that we repent; that we change our minds about ourselves. Imitating Jesus means that we relinqusih our needs and wants to submit to his will. Imitating Jesus means that we’ve changed our minds. We’re no longer the center of the Universe. Becoming like Jesus is everything to us.

2. Having a heart for Jesus means your life gets re-interpreted through his mission.

Jesus said to these fishermen whom he calls to be his first disciples, “I will make you fishers of men.” He is re-interpreting their life experiences through his Kingdom mission. They were to give up living for fish so that they could be begin living for God. While most of the people Jesus called did not have to abandon their jobs to follow him, I believe that Jesus calls all of us to reinterpret our vocations in light of his Kingdom mission. Being a part of the movement Jesus started 2000 years ago means that we stop living for our paycheck or our passion and start living for his purpose. We begin to see our workplaces through the eyes of Jesus. We begin to see our workplaces and schools as mission fields. This means that while we’re at work we seek Jesus’ purpose and will. Following Jesus means that we play an active role in bringing a taste of heaven to our classrooms; a taste of heaven on earth.

Every thing becomes secondary to following Jesus.

This also doesn’t come easy. We would rather follow the religious route. In North America this normally means that we compartmentalize our lives. We have our personal lives here. We have our family life here. We have our professional life here. We have our hobbies here. We have our spiritual life here.

This also flies in the face of consumerism because rather than encouraging us to be consumers, following Jesus calls us to be contributors. This is a major concern for me because there are those who have allowed consumerism to be the driving force of the church. You see these churches whose programs and ministries exist to fulfill the consumeristic needs of its members.
There are actually advocates of contemporary church growth principles who say that the church should be more like a shopping mall that provides all sorts of choices for its members. Their message is no longer a kingdom message where people are called to change their minds and embrace Jesus’ mission; to live for Jesus. Instead, the message is that God lives for us; that Jesus’ mission is to meet our needs and wants. And when this happens, the church ceases to be the church and becomes instead a cheap imitation of the world.

No, what we’re really trying to do here is not be a mall but be a movement.

3. Having a heart for Jesus means embracing uncertainty.
When you decide to follow Jesus, there is a level of uncertainty that comes with it. You never know what he will do. You never know what he will say. There is an element of risk in a relationship with Jesus. And that’s where trusting him comes in.
This is why religion is so appealing. Religion gives us a way of controlling uncertainties. Religion makes God predictable. Religion puts us in control and makes God our servant. But in reality, those of us who lead the church are really more like Morpheus in the movie The Matrix where he says to Neo, “I can only show you the door. But you have to be the one to open it.”

Conclusion
The heart of the kingdom is to have a heart for the King. It means imitating him. It means being on mission all the time everywhere. It means trusting him to lead you. And today he is inviting you to come and follow him.

Update on SOULNET Ottawa

We entered our core gathering phase on Feburary 4, 2007. We meet on Sundays at 10:30am and at 5:00pm in our house. I just finished a 2-part teaching on The BIg Story where we covered the entire story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Last Sunday we had 29 adults attending in the morning while there were 18 adults in attendance at the 5:00pm gathering.

It's important to remember that these meetings are not what our typical gatherings would be like. We will meet like this for the next few months so that I can better define what we are trying to do as a movement. We're also laying a strong foundation focusing on Jesus' way of life and his core message: The Kingdom of God.

My next steps here is to call out and start a leadership cohort much like Jesus did with the 12. We'll be starting a new series of teachings on Jesus' life and his core message this weekend. We'll be looking at Mark 1:14-15.

What is a cohort?

The SOULNET movement is a growing network of "cohorts" that seep into the very fabric of society to inspire social and spiritual transformation. Here's more on what cohorts are and what they do:

COHORTS
cohort |ˈkōˌhôrt| |ˌkoʊˈhɔrt| |ˌkəʊhɔːt|
noun
1 [treated as sing. or pl. ] an ancient Roman military unit, comprising six centuries, equal to one tenth of a legion.
2 [treated as sing. or pl. ] a group of people banded together or treated as a group : a cohort of civil servants patiently drafting legislation.
• a group of people with a common statistical characteristic : the 1940–44 birth cohort of women.
3 a supporter or companion.
• an accomplice or conspirator : his three cohorts each had pled guilty.
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French cohorte, or from Latin cohors, cohort- ‘yard, retinue.’ Compare with court .

What is a cohort in the SOULNET movement?
A cohort is a small group of people who meet for the purpose of inspiring and encouraging one another to live under the Lordship of Jesus in the power of the Spirit. They are committed to the practices of worship, discipleship, and mission.

Where do cohorts meet?
Cohorts can meet anywhere, anytime as long as the environment allows for fulfilling the purpose of the cohort.

Who makes up a cohort?
At its barest minum, a cohort consists of at least 3 people: a host, a facilitator, an information manager. These make up the 3 basic functional leadership roles of a cohort. You can assume that these functions can be fulfilled by even 1 or 2 people. But it’s best to have a minimum of 3 people to start a cohort so that the experience can be that much richer.

What do cohorts do?
When a cohort gathers they are committed to doing three things:
1. Worship: Cohorts can use a variety of means through which they can connect with God. The goal is to create an awareness of God’s presence in the group. This can happen through sharing communion and/or singing and praying, thanks-giving, reading personal poems, listening to a worship cd etc.
2. Discipleship: Cohorts inspire and encourage each other to live under the Lordship of Jesus by the power of the Spirit. This is facilitated by a series of core discussion questions(a):

[1] What do you feel God is doing in your life this week?
[2] What particular challenges have you faced or are facing this week? How can we apply the gospel in this?
[3] If any, share what God has been showing you in the Bible this week(b).
[4] How can we pray for you today?

(a) Cohorts can ask each other any one or all of the first 3 questions but should always ask question [4] and pray for one another. The goal is to discover and encourage what God is already doing in the lives of each cohort member and then celebrating that and/or applying the gospel to it.
(b) A Bible reading program can be implemented by the each cohort. A suggested reading schedule can come from the leadership cohort.

3. Mission: Cohorts should organize around a specific mission to demonstrate Jesus’ compassion, justice, and mercy. Examples of this are: volunteering in a local soup kitchen, visiting shut-ins, collecting and distributing clothes for the homeless, collecting toys for sick children etc.

**When a new person joins a cohort, they will be paired up with a learning coach to walk them through this new and exciting experience as a follower of Jesus. The learning coach models what following Jesus means and seeks to guide and encourage new people in the ways of Christ (worship, prayer, meditation, serving, and participation in the cohort).

Cohorts are based around these 5 Organizing Principles or Ways of Being:
1. Be active: Learn by doing and reflecting.
2. Be responsible: Take responsibilty for the mission and self-organize.
3. Be involved: Stay on mission by being involved in the cohort, celebrations, and community.
4. Be gracious: Include new people and expand each group.
5. Be genuine: Connect, discover, and encourage one another.

Movement Leadership

Leading a movement is world's apart from leading a congregation. As a pastor of a congregation, it would be my duty to anticipate people's needs, provide programs and methods to meet those needs, to come up with ministries and delegate people to run those ministries.

But what I am finding is that leading a movement is less command and control and more of ensuring the DNA of the thing and then letting everyone loose. My role is less of turing chaos into order and more of leading our people to the edge of chaos. This means that once the DNA is imprinted on people, my job then is to lead them into places that are in disequilibrium, exposing them to need and then allowing them to rise up and meet that need through the unique expression of the movement's DNA through them.

In this way, ministry and mission emerge from the people rather than handed down from the top leadership.

Movement leadership then becomes concerned with the quality of discipleship and how people are living out the mission of Jesus.

A Movement Whose Time Has Come

Following Jesus Christ must always be set in the context of competeting loyalties for our hearts. In the primal church, one was either loyal to Caesar or loyal to Jesus. Declaring oneself as a follower of Jesus had political ramification as much as social and religious consequences. I believe that this is as true for today as it was for Peter, Paul, and Martha.

Today, there are new Caesars who are vying for our hearts; new gods who seek to enslave us under their domain. Ultimately, these gods have dehumanized their followers and have dulled their senses in a deceptive trap leading to a life devoid of meaning and joy. It's time to identify who the gods of the 21st century are in western culture and declare a resistance movements against them. There are two major gods whose ideologies have captivated those in the West. And it is spreading to the rest of the world.

Religion
Religion is the oldest of these new gods. The ideology behind religion is that human mediators are needed to faciltiate a relationship to God. Religious ideology creates a caste system within its organization -whether it be Roman Catholicism, Protestant denominationalism, Mormonism and other christian cults, and Judaism, Isalm and other world religions. Religion creates a priestly caste that mediates it's adherents' spiritual transactions between their deity. While having a personal relationship with their deity is often spoken about, ultimately, the priestly caste is responsible for the spiritual well-being and nurture of their followers.

Religion also forces spirituality into the mold of morality. Followers are often ruled by a book or a set of codified behavior which is usually strictly enforced. Muslims have the Koran. Mormons have the Book of Mormon. Jews have the Talmud. And Christians treat the Bible as such even though the primal Christian movement that Jesus started had no Bible to begin with. Instead, an ethos of the Spirit of Jesus ruled primal Christians. They were known as followers of the Way not people of the Book. (more on that later)

A religious Christianity has positioned the church as simply a competing morality among the world's other moralities. The focus on rules and traditions has left the church empty and devoid of Life. Modern day Christianity -and other religions for that matter- have a form of godliness but lacks the power of Jesus and his Spirit. As one of several competing moralities, a religious Christianity ends up on the same playing field as all the other religions trying to impress people with their rules and traditions. When you look at the movement Jesus started 2000 years ago, Jesus wasn't even playing the same game as the others!

Several hundred years, an industrial revolution, and several economic evolutions later, religion continues to prevail in most of the world but another god has come to dominate the scene.

Consumerism
Consumerism is the god which puts our needs, wants, desires and dreams at the center of the Universe. Our North American culture has successfully discipled everyone in our society in this ideology. We are a market driven society where people are viewed mostly as consumers and less as contributors. The temples of this god dot the landscape as people daily drive in to these cathedrals of consumerism called "malls."

Consumerism causes people to be obsessed with safet, security, comfort and convenience. Ultimately, adherents to consumerism organized their lives around their god similar to when the tribes of Israel camped around the Tent of Meeting during their wanderings in the wilderness. Disciples of consumerism call these "the suburbs."

But evenutally, consumerism is as empty as religion. These suburbanites live boring, desperate lives. They seek to fill their boredom and depseration with extreme sports, cottages, vacations, hockey and soccer games for their kids...anything that will remind them that they are alive! But their souls cry of for something more. Think of popular TV shows like Friends, Desperate Housewives, UFC, WWE, CSI, Grey's Anatomy which provide vicarious experiences of excitement for these disciples of Consumerism.

It's time for clear-minded, joyful, passionate Jesus-followers to rise up and see these gods for what they are: Killers of the soul, thieves of joy, destroyers of life. It's time for a resistance to be formed. A resistance whose battlecry is "to live under the Lordship of Jesus by the power of the Spirit!"

SOULNET is a movement whose time has come. The Kingdom of God is near. Jesus is coming soon. And he will come on a white horse with fire in his eyes, a sword in his mouth and a tattoo on his leg that says "King of kings and Lord of lords." He will bring the gods of this age to their knees. But until that time, we must resist. We must stand firm against the gods of consumerism and religion.

SOULNET is an attempt to organize this resistance movement. Anyone who loves Jesus with all their hearts, who desire to live a life inspired by the Spirit of Jesus and who is committed to passionate worship, Gospel-centered discipleship and redemptive mission can be a part of this movement.

Disciples of Jesus...unite!