If God is a sending God then to whom are we sent?

This Sunday we are doing things a little different from the normal. We have had a month of sermons focused around the theology that the Trinitarian God is a missionary God. This Sunday we are looking at the Church as a missionary agent sent into the local neighbourhood. We will summarize where we have been over the last Sundays and then we will get the Sunday worshipers into a discussion as to where we feel God is sending us. If God is a sending God then to whom are we sent?

If you have any thoughts about this it would be great to have your comments on this blog and I can weave them into our discussion on Sunday.

This kind of conversation may often end up in generalizations like, “We are sent to the lost” or “We are sent to those in need”. What I think is important is to clearly define whom these people are and what their actual needs are. It would also be important to acknowledge that God is already with the people we are sent to and thus we approach with caution and humility. The other facet to this discussion is the realization that we approach the lost because we were once lost and were found, not because we are any better than them. For those not at Hilton Methodist please keep us in your prayers this coming Sunday.

Bringing heaven to earth - Ross Olivier

We enjoyed the company of Ross Olivier, the President of Seth Mokitimi Seminary in PMB on Sunday evening. He spoke about Mission and the local church and used his experience in the church at Galloway United Methodist in Jackson, Mississippi.
If you want some encouragement in your local setting of vision and down to earth thinking then Ross is your guy. What I took away for myself was to bring Hilton Methodist Church’s vision closer to the members of the church. To be encouraged to continue working to bring this vision into effect in every ministry of our church.
I loved his personal vision and now the vision of the Galloway church – to bring heaven to earth.

A new time - A new approach -A new paradigm

Gordon McDonald’s book: “Who stole my church” is a very helpful book for all of us struggling to make our message agreeable to a new generation of folk. A generation that is skeptical of too many words and eloquent speeches. In the age of information overload people are not looking for more knowledge but they are looking for authentic life-styles that they can follow. They are judging the words with the actions and will follow those who smack of the authentic. McDonald (note the burger) suggests that ‘belonging’ is the critical value and culture to create in the church. Through an open culture of belonging people freely come in and make up their own minds when the time is ready to believe. Gone are the days of neat packages and tight phraseology that bought you a ticket to that heavenly place. Yes, it is all about the relationship.

No Longer Jew or Greek - Boomer or X

Yes, we are all one in Christ. Should that not reflect in our Worship on a Sunday? We have been 'called' out of a secular divided world to eat around the same table, mindful of our relationships one with another. I find it helpful to divide the generations into categories to understand their needs, issues and expectations. The Silent, Boomer, X, Millennial and all of that. However it can be another excuse to keep us separate and divided if it is not seen as a tool to keep us together because we understand each other. Are we really that different? And surely we have much to learn from other generations. A wasteful, spend thrift, globe burning Boomer generation need to learn from the Silent who know how to conserve, look after, and cherish their resources. We need each other.

A wide neighbourhood

Anne Robertson writes a devotion this week that shares her experience with her immediate neighbours. The problems she encounters are ones of noisy, bad behaved, incalcitrant folk who ride noisy off-road bikes past her quite lakefront home and disturb the peace. I don’t know what her neighbourhood looks like on the whole, but I wish my neighbourhood was as homogenous and clear cut. Living in South Africa our neighbourhood includes the starkest of contrasts. Neighbourliness means mingling with many who cannot speak ones language, with those who celebrate when they can get a loaf of bread to eat, with those who live in sprawling mansions fenced shut from the outside world, with those who beg for your last cents, with those dressed in khaki and those in red T-shirts, and those transfixed at boxed sports shrines on weekends. To love ones neighbour in South Africa requires nerves of steel, hearts of gold, and minds that are expansive in there quest to be inclusive.

Shoal of Christ

Thoughts have swum around in isolated fashion each flashing a side of light and brilliance. The vision is the shoal of fast moving collective thoughts, this way and that. Watching them twitch together is miraculous as if they are all connected with one string. The shoal bursts to the left and then to the right, the last and first in symphony. A synergy that defies logical determinism. A run that shines glorious when hearts in worship talk mission. The shoal of Christ in unison.

Alternative party plans

The Christian gathering is unique in that it does not posture with social ranking and competitive elegance. The banquet we are called to is strange in that the host sits at the table which is least adorned. The speeches are given by those who are not dressed to impress and get their grammar muddled. This is the party I like to be invited to. Not where the top tables of banquets are officiated with fine cloth, shiny edge and always get to eat first. The Christian revolution happens when we invite strangers and reprobates to the party. When we acknowledge that life is given to the least as well as the great. The most acclaimed academic may find wisdom in the company of the HIV infested gardener. The rich magnate is drawn by the reflections of the widowed mother of five. The highly moral are stumped by the cries of a young teenagers pregnancy. I wish we would throw more of these kind of parties in the Church.

Small & Strong

I am busy reading Kennon L. Callahan's book titled "Small Strong Congregations." I am finding it a very interesting read. It helps the smaller church loose its guilt of not being able to accomplish all things but to rather focus itself within its strength areas. You will no doubt hear more about it in the next few days. It is a joy to move away from the mega-church mentality that keeps placing the emphasis on bigger is better. No, bigger is bigger not necessarily better. If anybody has read this book, I would love your comments.

Mandela on living tall

Thought I would share this quote from Nelson Mandela:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech

Clergy Schizophrenia

A Methodist minister often feels like a neurotic octopus. The expectations on minister’s are often ludicrous and so varied you might be disappointed if your local minister did not sing opera. The impression that the minister is the ‘full-time’ and professional priest gives lay folk the divine opportunity to delegate all tasks seemingly church related onto his or her shoulders. The burnt out minister comes as a shock to congregants who expected a better example of divine representation. Lets be frank, how can you possibly expect a minister to spend one hour on every minute of his sermon as they should do, spend at least one to two hours of prayer each day, put together an order of service that shows musical precision and technological skills that provides creative prayers, and liturgies on glossy projector screens, be a ‘spiritual psychologist’ who has in-depth knowledge of the human soul and has counseling abilities that cover not just one area of expertise but areas such as, before marriage counseling, after marriage counseling, divorce counseling, crisis counseling, grief counseling, family counseling and then he or she is expected to visit every member on a regular basis on a home visitation programme, then there is the expectation that this minister has oodles of time to read theological tomes and have ample time to study their bibles, the next expectation is to insist that your minister is a ‘church growth’ specialist, they must know the principles of growing church’s and how to mobilize an entire congregation into action, the mission of the church is their responsibility too, the lost souls who need to be saved, the social development projects that need to be started, the justice issues that need to be addressed, and then the minister should be good with the elderly and be able to address the teenagers on their level. This is not to mention, being chair of the board, honorary chair of the Woman’s Auxiliary, a member on each committee, being involved in circuit and/or district matters, ecumenical ties with other local churches, etc, etc. The dream church can only be realized when the minister is doing 3 or five of these and the congregation is doing the rest. The greatest challenge is for the congregation to appreciate the work done by lay folk and see themselves as ministers of the Gospel in their own right.

Two tongues

Sitting in a closed room this week with people who spoke a different language to me was an eye opener for one who always has his language in English and somehow unconsciously demands it. I was watching the “Jesus” film as it is commonly referred to, but translated into Zulu of which the only words I understood were “Sawubona Jesu!” There was not only a language problem. The video was stretched and the voices muffled by a perpetual noise in the background. It was going to be two hours of endurance by the looks of things. The experience was quite other than I assumed it would be. It got me thinking about the Pentecost story and how it translated into this micro situation in Mpophomeni. Here I was flummoxed by the Zulu whilst everybody else was glued to the TV despite the apparent difficulty to hear it. One lady in the corner of the room was in tears by the end. The Gospel message was being translated for her via a TV set and a film in her own language. The whole experience reminded me of the importance of translation. Firstly of the great importance of translating the message we have into the languages of all people so they may understand the scriptures in their own mother tongue. Then there is the need for Christians to cherish this gift of different languages and inspiration to learn the languages of the context so they may truly understand the hearts and needs of the people they are with. There is nothing more edifying than a person who is prepared to call somebody by their real name and not another language name. Mistrust and misunderstanding is so quickly built up when we cannot talk one another’s language. The great thing about the Pentecost gift was that they actually spoke the languages of the world. It was not some ‘heavenly’ language that was later practiced by the Corinthian Church that nobody could understand. Pentecost is all about translation issues. The Church’s role in many ways is a translation bureau that helps our world communicate effectively. Without it, we will always stare at each other from opposite sides of the fence, smiling but never understanding, nodding but never grasping, and with the slightest excuse we can turn away, because we never really understood.

A burnt tongue

There is ‘wordplay’ (R.N.Donovan) on the word ‘tongues’ in the first part of the Pentecost story. I have not really taken notice of it before. They saw what seemed like ‘tongues’ of fire that rested on each of them. Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to ‘speak in other tongues’ as the Spirit enabled them. I like the expression ‘tongues of fire.’ It somehow powers up the image of what the early disciples began to do as they shared the ‘hot’ message of the Gospel. Peter’s tongue started waging straight away in the first Christian sermon that brought in thousands of people. This gift rested on all of them by the way. The Spirit filled each of them. It was not reserved for particular people. They all began to use this ‘tongue of fire’ and they spoke in different languages as the Spirit enabled them. The theme of tongues, languages, and translation are very dominant in Acts chapter 2. There are of course others dimensions and roles of the Spirit, but the focus here is on how movable this message of resurrection was outside of Jerusalem. Note, it was not the message of the Spirit’s filling that is the message of Peter’s sermon; the message is salvation through Christ. The Spirit’s filling comes with this ‘and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ The closest analogy I can find that describes the goings on here is the Unite Nations translation unit. I don’t know all the ins and outs of it, but the nations gather and as one person speaks his/her language the translators in the background convert the message into the languages of all seated there. Pentecost and the concept of a “United Nations” are very closely linked. The greater vision of Revelation speaks of the river flowing through the city of God, where on its banks grows the tree of life, and on which the leaves grow for the ‘healing of nations.” The Mission vision is reborn in that ‘hot’ room in Jerusalem. A vision of old, but a vision of the future, that would translate itself into all the nations of the world, and into all the languages of the world

A measure of faith

Today is Admin day. A new way of looking at spiritual administration is that it is the very tool to take the abstract concepts, spiritual lessons and till them into ones life. Admin is possibly the most important times of ones entire week. It will determine who you will visit and at what time. It will put the necessary items on the agenda that will further the Kingdom. The very engine that greases the activities of your ministry and calling. It will determine the places where your energy will be spent and who you will be walking with. Thereby building integrity between what I feel like doing and what I actually do. Good administration of your life is akin to bringing heaven to earth. Administration could be the greatest measure of your faith? (A lesson for David Barbour!!!!!)