The Sweet Spot

I want to give credit where credit is due. This is a post by a blogger that I read sometimes. I cut and pasted this from his blog (I wanted to include the graphic), and you can go read some more of his blog by clicking here. (I think I found him because of our friend, Jake T. )

I wanted to share it on our blog because I think he does a good job explaining what we're going for. Both the Elders and the search team keep talking about this "missional" approach to church and I think it's vitally important that we all have at least some idea what that means. This little blog does a great job of summing up what I think we're hoping to achieve and what that "missional" model looks like.

Also, the Elders have been discussing this very book, The Tangible Kingdom, as a possible study guide for when Guilds start up again.

-d

The Sweet Spot (AKA, The Tangible Kingdom)

Submitted by Brent on June 11, 2010 - 11:53am

Community Groups are the heart of who we are and what we do at Church of the Cross. We gather on Sunday mornings to worship, to be refreshed, reminded, edified, built up and then we scatter throughout the week to live in community on mission. We have said it before, but, even though on paper we only “do” two things: Sunday morning Gathered Worship and Community Groups, we actually ask much more of you than some churches who might fill your schedule with something every day of the week. We ask our family members to re0rient their entire lives around the Gospel; to begin living everyday life with gospel intentionality and Community Groups are the primary context for this to happen.

The Community Groups are made up of three spheres, “Communion,” “Community” and “Mission.” We first say this diagram in Hugh Halter and Matt Smay’s book The Tangible Kingdom, and it made a lot of sense to us. Halter and Smay define “communion” as our connection with God; worship, both personal and corporate. Community is life together and mission is being focused outward, on others. Our Community Groups aim to be the intersection of all three, the “sweet spot.” It is when all three of these spheres intersect, that Halter and Smay say the kingdom becomes “tangible” for people.

Many Christians groups seem to do well in two of the three, but, neglect any third sphere and you have something entirely different. For example, neglect “communion” leaving “mission and “community, and you have a social-service project. You might be doing “good,” but it is not Gopsel-good. Leave out “mission” for “communion” and “community” and you might have a good worship service. Forget “community” from “mission” and “community” and you might have a short-term missions trip, but you don’t hit the sweet spot, it’s not everyday life with Gospel intentionality.

Community Groups are meant to be a context in which we can aim for the intersection of each sphere, where communion, community and mission so inform our lives that the kingdom becomes tangible. This means that they are not just small-group bible studies. They are that, but they are more. They are not just social gatherings. They are that, but they are more. They are not just service projects. They are that, but they are more. Community Groups at Church of the Cross are small families of learning, serving missionaries where we learn to live everyday life with Gospel intentionality.

We don’t always succeed at this, but then again, life together is often messy. We’ve become convinced that when we look at community life in Scripture, there is more there than many of us have experienced. We want the kingdom to be tangible. We want you to learn to live in the sweet spot.

10 Reasons to Under Program your church

http://gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-reasons-to-under-program-your-church.html

Answered Prayer

from http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/view/devotions

I believe in Holy Ghost timing. In God’s own time, all our prayers will be answered—one way or another—but the trouble is, we are afraid to submit our prayers to Holy Ghost scrutiny. Some of our prayers need to be purged because often our faith is misspent on requests that are not mature. We do not know how to pray, “Thy will be done.” We don’t want his will as much as those things permitted by his will.

Abraham exercised his faith to keep reminding himself he was a stranger on this earth. His blessing pact produced only a tent to dwell in, because he put all his faith in that city whose builder and maker is God.

Were some of these faith warriors not living in faith? Did God refuse to answer some of their prayers? After all, not all of them were delivered and not all lived to see answers to their payers. Not all were spared pain, suffering and even death. Some were tortured; others were torn asunder, wandering about destitute, afflicted, and tormented (Hebrews 11:36-38).

Some who had a reputation for having great faith “received not the promise” (Hebrews 11:39). Those who did “obtain promises” used their faith to work righteousness, to gain strength in times of weakness, and to put the enemy to flight.

Don’t worry about whether God is saying “Yes” or “No” to your request. Don’t be downcast when the answer is not in sight and, please, quit concentrating on faith formulas and methods. Just commit every prayer to Jesus and go about your business with confidence. He will not be one moment early or late in answering, and if the answer you seek is not forthcoming, say to your heart, “He is all I need. If I need more, he will not withhold it. He will answer in his time and in his way. And if he does not fulfill my request, he must have a perfect reason for not doing so. No matter what happens, I will always have faith in his faithfulness.”

God forgive us if we are more concerned about getting prayers answered than in learning total submission to Christ himself. We do not learn obedience by the things we obtain but by the things we suffer. Are you willing to learn by suffering a little longer with what appears to be an unanswered prayer? Will you rest in his love while patiently waiting for the promise?

Burdened and Chastened

from http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/view/devotions

Today, I was impressed to speak to those who are emotionally and intellectually bending beneath a burden too heavy to bear.

The promises of God do not seem to be working for you or your family. You have tried to please God, you pray — you truly love Him — but you are right now at the end of your strength and endurance.

Your trials increase as you hold on to your faith. It seems to you God is silent toward you.

BELOVED, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Multitudes of godly people are suffering in like manner and Satan whispers — God’s word is not true! We know that is the devourer speaking. Don’t fear the powers of hell.

Go to Job 19 - read the whole chapter. Job said “I cry, but I am not heard…God has fenced me in…He has put darkness in my path…He has destroyed me on every side…He counts me as one of His enemies…” (19:7-11).

In the midst of this satanic attack - Job cries out-“For I know my redeemer lives, and he shall stand upon the earth…and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God…with my own eyes shall I behold Him…” (19:25-27)

God said “Ephraim is given to idols, leave him alone” (Hosea 4:17). No trials, no tests for that tribe. But you are not given to idols. You are still the apple of His eye. God sees something in you worth working on.

God chastens those He loves. It is not pleasant, and it hurts - but it is the Father saving us for His own glory to be revealed in years ahead.

He has never loved you more than now. Take heart - God is still speaking to you.

God Has Not Forgotten You

from http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/view/devotions


God has not forgotten you! He knows exactly where you are, what you are going through right now, and he is monitoring every step along your path. But we are just like the children of Israel who doubted God’s daily care for them, even though prophets were sent to deliver wonderful promises from heaven. We forget in our hour of need that God has us in the palm of his hand. Instead, like the children of Israel, we are afraid we are going to blow it all and be destroyed by the enemy.

Can it be that we continue in our hurting—continue living in defeat and failure—simply because we really do not believe God answers our prayers anymore?

Are we as guilty as the children of Israel in thinking God has forsaken us and given us over to our own devices to figure things out for ourselves? Do we really believe our Lord meant it when he said God will act just in time, in answer to our prayer of faith? Jesus implies that most of us, even though called and chosen, will not be trusting in him when he returns. Some of God’s people have already lost their confidence in him. They do not believe, in the deepest of their souls, that their prayers make any difference. They act as if they are all on their own.

Be honest now! Has your faith been weak lately? Have you almost given up on certain things you have prayed so much about? Have you grown weary with waiting? Maybe you have thrown up your hands in resignation as if to say, “I just can’t seem to break through. I don’t know what is wrong and why my prayer is not answered. Evidently God has said no to me.”

God has not forsaken me—nor you! A thousand times no! He is right now wanting us to believe he is working all things out for our good (Romans 8:28). So stop trying to figure it out; stop worrying; stop doubting your Lord! The answer is coming. God has not shut his ear and you will reap in due season if you faint not! “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9 NKJV).

Quotes For You

Just got done reading the book "Wild Goose Chase" by Mark Batterson, so here are some quotes from the text for you contemplation, consideration and meditation.


"You know why most of us never accomplish what we want? Because we don't know what we want. We want to be successful. Yet we've never taken the time to define what success would look like occupationally, relationally, spiritually. According to one biblical proverb, 'Where there is no vision, the people perish' (prov 29:18)"


"Too often we try to stop sinning by not sinning. That is what psychologists call a double blind. It's sort of like saying, 'Be spontaneous.' You can't be spontaneous now that I've told you to be! The way to stop sinning is not by focusing on not sinning. The way to stop sinning is by getting a God-sized vision that consumes all your time and energy."


"The difference between where you are and where God wants you to be may be the painful decision you refuse to make." --Craig Groeschel

Light

"The church of Jesus Christ lacks spiritual authority in society because it lacks spirituality. Why are our government leaders and the media so condescending to Christians? Why has the church lost all meaning and purpose in the world’s eyes? Why have young people written off Christianity as totally irrelevant to their lives?

"It’s because, for the most part, the church is no longer a light. Christ isn’t ruling in our society because he doesn’t reign in our lives. As I look around today, I see few in God’s house who are truly in union with Christ. There is so little fellowship with heaven. And few ministers refuse worldly methods to trust God for their direction. We have lost our light because we have lost Christ’s life. For God’s authority to have any impact, it must be lived out in yielded, obedient vessels."

--from http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/view/devotions

Watching Paint Dry

"We cannot overemphasize bringing men and women to new birth in Christ. Evangelism is essential, critically essential. But is it not obvious that growth in Christ is equally essential? Yet the American church has not treated it with an equivalent urgency. The American church runs on the euphoria and adrenaline of new birth—getting people into the church, into the kingdom, into causes, into crusades, into programs. We turn matters of growing up over to Sunday School teachers, specialists in Christian education, committees to revise curricula, retreat centers, and deeper life conferences, farming it out to parachurch groups for remedial assistance. I don’t find pastors and professors, for the most part, very interested in matters of formation in holiness. They have higher profile things to tend to.

Americans in general have little tolerance for a centering way of life that is submissive to the conditions in which growth takes place: quiet, obscure, patient, not subject to human control and management. The American church is uneasy in these conditions. Typically, in the name of “relevance,” it adapts itself to the prevailing American culture and is soon indistinguishable from that culture: talkative, noisy, busy, controlling, image-conscious.

…Not long ago a pastor who has made an art form of pole vaulting from church to church told me that I was wasting my time on this, there was no challenge to it, it was about as exciting as standing around watching paint dry.

I suggested to him that most of our ancestors in both Israel and the Church have spent most of their time watching the paint dry, that the persevering, patient, unhurried work of growing up in Christ has occupied the center of the church’s life for centuries, and that this American marginalization is, well, American. He dismissed me. He needed, he said, a challenge. I took it from his tone and manner that a challenge was by definition something that could be met and accomplished in forty days.

...For far too long now, with full backing from our culture, we have let the vagaries of our emotional needs call the shots. For too long we have let ecclesiastical market analysis set the church’s agenda. For too long we have stood by unprotesting as self-appointed experts on the Christian life have replaced the 'full stature of Christ' with desiccated stick figures."


-Eugene Peterson, "Practice Resurrection"

A.W. Tozer

"Whatever else it embraces, true Christian experience must always include a genuine encounter with God. Without this, religion is but a shadow, a reflection of reality, a cheap copy of an original once enjoyed by someone else of whom we have heard. It cannot but be a major tragedy in the life of any man to live in a church from childhood to old age and know nothing more real than some synthetic god compounded of theology and logic, but having no eyes to see, no ears to hear, and no heart to love."

--A.W. Tozer

A quote that always meant a lot to me.


jeff

Pursuing a life of faith

This is an interesting quote that a friend of mine sent me the other day.

"A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way. As long as we think that the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquility, we are not likely to risk the arduous uncertainties of the life of faith. A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, before she, acquires an appetite for the world of grace."


"There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness...in Western culture in the latter part of the 20th century the aspect of world the makes the work of leading Christians in the way of faith most difficult is..."today's passion for the immediate and the casual"...The persons...among whom I counsel, visit, pray, preach, and teach, want short cuts. They want me to help them fill out the form that will get them instant credit (in eternity). They are impatient for results. They have adopted the lifestyle of a tourist and only want the high points. But a pastor is not a tour guide. I have no interest in telling apocryphal religious stories at and around dubiously identified sacred sites. The Christian life cannot mature under such conditions and in such ways..."The essential thing 'in heaven and earth' is...that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results...something which has made life worth living". It is this "long obedience..." which the mood of the world does so much to discourage."

-Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience

The only thing I would add would be that you may not have to be "thoroughly disgusted" with the world (although it helps) but you must be convinced that a life submitted to our holy God is better than the life the world can give you. For many of us, we must start the submission of our lives to God before we can truly see the world for what it is. Some of us are a little slower and need the help of the Holy Spirit to see these truths.

-Shane

Warning!

List of Warnings I would like to post at New Springs

I just found this article. You need to click the link to read it. I don't have much to add except this is what I dream of for New Springs.

It would be good for all of this to read and think about this. Is this what New Springs should be like? Do I, as an individual, want to be a part of a church body like this?

These are questions we all need to consider and discuss.

Halloween - A Great Holiday for Christians

You like my provocative blog post title? I understand the reservations Christian people have with Halloween, the glorification of the macabre and dark and violent. I get it. Growing up, we mostly got to participate in Halloween, except for a couple of years when we just happened to be in "Church Mode" as a family. Those years, we boycotted trick or treating and played miniature golf instead. I kid you not. Miniature golf. And you know what, it was fine. In fact, I enjoyed the family time.

But I think insulating ourselves from the world's culture and isolating ourselves from the community at large is not a good idea for Christian people, not the example Jesus set, and has made the Christian church increasingly irrelevant and disconnected from the rest of humanity. We can and should participate in Halloween, and we can do so without glorifying the devil or sacrificing a goat.

Trunk or Treat at New Springs is not designed to protect us from the rest of the community. The attitude behind it is not, "Hey, we don't want to be trick or treating with all those PAGANS! Let's go trick or treat in our own church parking lot where they can't GET US!" No! Rather, the idea of Trunk or Treat, or, at least, the hope, is that people in the community outside the church feel invited to come and have fun on Halloween with us. Participating with the culture. If Jesus can drink from a Samaritan well (a big no-no for devout Jews in those days) you can put on a creepy mask and share your candy with Christians and non-Christians alike.

It is imperative that Christian people begin to care about non-Christians. It is imperative that we stop viewing "outsiders" as people to be protected from, but rather, people that God loves and that we are to love.

SO, having said that, don't just come to Trunk or Treat. Invite people. And, hey, after Trunk or Treat, depending on your neighborhood, it wouldn't be bad to go ahead and do a little Trick or Treating in your own neighborhood as well.


--Pastor Jeff

CHOSEN TO BEAR FRUIT

I liked it so much, I'll post it here, too.


CHOSEN TO BEAR FRUIT

from http://davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/

“You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit” (John 15:16).

Many sincere Christians think bearing fruit means simply to bring souls to Christ. But to bear fruit means something much larger even than soulwinning.

The fruit Jesus is talking about is Christ-likeness. Simply put, bearing fruit means reflecting the likeness of Jesus. And the phrase “much fruit” means “the ever-increasing likeness of Christ.”

Growing more and more into Jesus’ likeness is our core purpose in life. It has to be central to all our activities, our lifestyle, our relationships. Indeed, all our gifts and callings—our work, ministry and witness—must flow out of this core purpose.

If I am not Christlike at heart—if I’m not becoming noticeably more like him—I have missed God’s purpose in my life.

You see, God’s purpose for me can’t be fulfilled by what I do for Christ. It can’t be measured by anything I achieve even if I heal the sick or cast out demons. No, God’s purpose is fulfilled in me only by what I am becoming in him. Christlikeness isn’t about what I do for the Lord, but about how I’m being transformed into his likeness.

Go into a Christian bookstore and read the titles on the shelves. Most are self-help books on how to overcome loneliness, how to survive depression, how to find fulfillment. Why is this? It’s because we have it all wrong. We aren’t called to be successes, to be free of all trouble, to be special, to “make it.” No, we are missing the one calling, the one focus, that’s meant to be central to our lives, to become fruitful in the likeness of Christ.

Jesus was totally given to the Father and that was everything to him. He stated, “I don’t do or say anything except what my Father tells me.”

So, do you want to bear the “much fruit” that springs forth from becoming more like Christ? We fulfill our life’s purpose only as we begin to love others as Christ has loved us. And we grow more Christ-like as our love for others increases.

“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love” (John 15:9). His command is clear and simple: “Go and love others. Give to others the unconditional love I have shown you.” We grow more Christlike as our love for others increases. Simply put, bearing fruit comes down to how we treat people.

Because we love

I am reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I would like to share a quote from that book.

"...you have to stop loving and pursuing Christ in order to sin. When you are pursuing love, running toward Christ, you do not have the opportunity to wonder, Am I doing this right? or Did I serve enough this week? When you are running toward Christ you are freed up to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry, or fear." -Francis Chan - Crazy Love

How many of us have thought to ourselves, am I doing enough, is God pleased with me? Ultimately, God is not impressed by the amount of time we spend studying the Bible. He is not impressed by our church attendance record. He is not impressed with how many bags of rice we give to CUP. He is not impressed with the time we spend serving. He is not impressed with how many people we bring to church. He is not impressed by how much money we give.

He will only be pleased with us when we do these things because we love Him and because we love people. If we truly love Him and people, all the other things will fall into place.

-Shane