Simple – Missional Church
My attention was drawn to this 2 minute explaination of how missional church differs from Church as most of us know it:
Having watched the video, reflect on the following questions:
- How does this explaination affect your understanding of the Church’s mission?
- Where is YOUR mission?
- If you are the presence of Jesus in your world, how will other people know about Jesus?
Filed under: Church, Evangelism, Missional, Missional Living, Simplicity, Videos, mission | 1 Comment
Tags: Evangelism, Missional Church, Missional Living, Simplicity, transforming communities, video
Simple and hard
I was reminded recently that following Jesus is not always an easy thing to do. As you read through the gospels and take in the things Jesus said you see that they are very simple requests:
Love your neighbour
love your enemy
follow me
Go… bless those who persecute you
preach the good news
These are not hard to understand, but they can be hard to live out – How do you follow someone you can’t even see? How can you love when you are emotionally ship-wrecked? How can you love when you feel like hating? How do you bless when you don’t feel blessed?
Following Jesus sounds simple, but can be very hard. we’re asked even by Christ to ‘count the cost’ and to ‘take up our cross’. There are amazing times when it’s all sunshine and smiles and times when we feel like we’re trudging for miles in the slough of despondancy. It takes faith to take this jouney of following Jesus. Faith hopes for what it does not see and helps us carry what we cannot bear. Faith unites us with Christ who says ‘come to me all of you who are tired and heavy-laden’.
Does following Jesus seem hard? simply put, have faith and keep on. It’s simple, it’s hard and it takes faith. He never said it would be easy, but we’ll get there with his help. We might be following him, but in a mystical way…
…he’s also walking with us.
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Tags: Follow Jesus, Simplicity
Adventure
Following Jesus is an adventure!! Oh yes, and adventures are fabulous…
…to watch!
But participating in an adventure is a whole different ball-game. you see, to be in an adventure is to experience the exhileration of the highs and to know implicitly to lows as well.
Too many of us Christians have preached and been told that following Jesus is the adventure of a lifetime that will transform our lives so that everythign will be positive and blessed. This message sounds great – it’s good news – but it’s not the message Jesus taught (see who is blessed in the beatitudes Matt 5). One only has to look at the gospels to see that Jesus taught a hard gospel.
“Take up your cross and follow me”
“In this life you will face hardships”
“Count the cost”
These are just a few examples of Jesus’ claim that following him would not be easy. Read Paul’s account of his life. for the sake of the Gospel he was beaten, shipwrecked, attacked by bandits, forsaken by other believers, imprisoned, martyred! The bible does not teach that a life of faith in Jesus Christ will be easy, but it does say that it is possible. Following jesus takes guts, perseverance and character – a character that he builds within us on the way.
Are you experiencing the rugged side of following Jesus? Fix your eyes on him. Are you tired and burdened? Throw your burdens on him. He’s with you now. He see your struggles and he’s cheering you on. Run the race with perseverance and see the prise of knowing him more now and being with him in eternity. So, fix your eyes on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of your faith. He’s with you – leading, guiding and working to see you finish following well.
Blessings in Christ to you all.
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Tags: adventure, Follow Jesus, persevere
Videos – A New Thing
Having just added a ‘Videos’ page I thought I’d draw your attention to it – might challenge, inspire, teach or just entertain. hopefully each of the videos on this page will challenge each of us to live Missional Lives that verbally, practically and wonderfully speak of God’s love for all humnity and creation.
Enjoy, and don’t forget to leave comments for others to know what to look at first.
Every blessing
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Missional Opportunities
SNOW!! We either love it or we hate it. The UK has had truckloads of it this week and this peaceful beautiful blanket of white has brought chaos (how can such beauty bring such chaos?!).
I tried getting to work on Tuesday and ended up turning back. Walking up the main road near my home I had to help push a few cars up the hill. There was a good sense of community spirit as many were doing likewise. generally there was a jovial spirit on the street and most people were pulling together to clear the road.
As the week has progressed we’ve heard on the news about people sleeping in their cars, old folks not getting meals on wheels and homes without gas or electric.
Although the snow has become a problem for many it is also an opportunity for us to connect with our neighbours and to help where we can. Could it be that in the present weather conditions there is an opportunity for God’s Good Samaritans (that’s you and me!!) to connect with people around us? Who knows what good news and friendships might spring up from this Snowy Missional Opportunity? Will we follow in Jesus’ footsteps and meet the needs of those around us?
As we love our neighbours and serve those near us may God open our hearts to the warmth of his love and the hope of the Gospel.
Missional Living means following Jesus in loving God and loving others through living the mission of God with our lives
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Tags: Evangelism, mission, Missional Living, Missional Opportunity
3 seconds – risky faith
Filed under: Follow Jesus, Missional, Missional Living, Videos, faith | 3 Comments
Tags: faith, video
Dream With…
…expectant faith!!
Jesus had this expectation that the Kingdom of God would break through in answered prayers, healings, repentance, disciples being made, etc…
What if we had that same expectation? What if we had the audacity to believe God’s word for what it says? If it is a true revelation of God’s character and work then there we ought to EXPECT that God WILL WORK as the bible says.
Will we resolve to take God at his word and truly expect in faith that he will work out His mission in the world through followers of Jesus like us?
Filed under: The Bible | 1 Comment
Tags: dream, faith
A Missional Dream
We all have our dreams. We get alone, we close our eyes, and we begin to dream. There’s a lot of interest in the meaning of dreams and I find myself unconcerned with this aspect of dreaming. Then there’s pipe-dreams – the type we all have that will never come to pass because they are unrealistic and out of this world. And there are dreams that seem out of reach but are within the realm of God’s will and word. I have a dream I believe is in the this category.
When I dream I imagine a Church that is lives like Jesus; creates community like Jesus; loves like Jesus. This Church is ‘led out into the wilderness’ like Jesus and stands on God’s word like Jesus; this Church is willing to suffer for Jesus.
It is a Church that ‘seeks and saves the lost’ like Jesus; has compassion like Jesus; heals like Jesus; listens like Jesus; meets the marginalised like Jesus; cares like Jesus. It is a Church that cares to the core.
Dreamers are often told to ‘get real and live in the real world’. If Jesus was walking around today telling people that the ‘kingdom of God is at hand’ would we tell him to get real and live in the real world. Perhaps we need to be living prophetically by living the dreams we have. I’d love to know at the end of my life that I’d played a bit part in fulfilling the dreams of God for my generation.
I am convinced that God is saying to us:
“Church, get real and start living out your faith in the real world”.
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the Bible
I’ve just updated “The Bible” page so have a peek – it’s practical and, I hope, helpful. It’s at:
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Tags: The Bible
Open to The Book
I tried to read through the Bible last year – needless to say, I didn’t get through it, but I did hear God speaking to me numerous times through the pages I did read. I love the bible! It’s a great book and I love to open it. I began to think about how often I open the Bible. I do this frequently – many of us do. As I thought about opening the bible my mind began to wonder if opening the book was just the initial step to hearing from God through it’s pages.
It struck me that we do need to open the book, but also that we need to be open to the bible.
As we enter 2010 will we be open to hearing from God through the pages of the bible?
Will we open the Book and be open to The Book each day?
I’m not asking us to be legalistic and force ourselves to read everyday till we are gorged on words that come to mean little to us except guilt and failure at our own lack of self-discipline in reading it. Rather, I’m asking that we consider our heart-attitude to the bible. How can we do this?
- Observe: Do I invest time in reading the bible?
- Reflect: Do I expect God to speak to me through the Bible
- Discuss: Who can I share my reading with?
- Plan: How and when will I read my bible?
- Account: Once you’ve made a plan how will you be accountable in progress you are making?
- Act: Have fun and expect God to speak to you through the bible
May Christ set us free from the feeling that we need to read every day, and set within us a deeper need of hearing from God so that we live more like Christ every day.
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Tags: disciple, The Bible
