Relevant Topic I Thought!

I thought David's thoughts had some relevance to the below post, if you struggle to see the connection, just enjoy the read :)
Scott

“The Reformation principle of ‘the priesthood of all believers’ … teaches us that ‘the plow boy and the milk maid’ can do priestly work.
But even more profoundly it teaches us that the plow boy in his plowing and the milk maid in her milking are in fact doing priestly work.”
~ Richard Foster, Streams of Living Water, p.266.

Our Priestly Calling

The debate over women in ministry, the practice of only clergy baptizing converts, and the inordinate reverence attributed to the ordained, generally ignores the priesthood of all believers. Gender struggles, class distinctions, and specialist ministries create strange complications for this simple kingdom truth.

More than that, misunderstanding our vocation—our calling—robs us of the rich life Christ intended. Whoever submits to the Lordship of Christ and commits themself by faith to Him has a priestly calling.

The folk who officiate at our worship services and read Scripture at weddings and funerals play a valuable role among us. But if we insist that they alone are “ministers” or “priests” we deny our privilege and neglect our responsibility.

The implications reach far beyond this short reflection, but I suggest at least the following few points to consider.

First, the priesthood of all believers—biblically speaking—has no hierarchy among the believers and no distinctions between young and old, male and female, race, class, or heritage.

Second, the world is our sanctuary for ministry—not a building on Third and Main Streets that we open on Sunday mornings.

Third, it’s not that we sometimes do priestly things (pray, preach, or pastor) but everything we do becomes sacred. Whether we’re balancing budgets for large corporations or babysitting the neighbor’s kids, cooking meals or manufacturing ball-bearings—whatever we do in word or deed is now done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Colossians 3:17)

Fourth, every one of us, at all times, in all places, with all people, function as priests. This is the dream of God. “And I shall make them a kingdom of priests.” (Exodus 19:6; Revelation 1:6; 5:10) That means we constantly highlight the Presence of Christ among us, our hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) Just as the ancient Jewish priests gathered around the Holy of Holies and helped the people connect with God, so do we, whether we’re driving trucks, tutoring school children, or selling insurance.

We are priests in our work and as we work. If we can grasp the glorious significance of this truth, it will dramatically change our view of ourselves and those around us. The Lord has not called us to occasional sacred tasks. Instead, He desires to sanctify every task in our lives, from writing to wood-working, from plumbing to praying.

The artificial barriers between paid and unpaid kingdom-servants hinders our appropriation of this truth. Every follower of Christ brings the holy place to the world. May we do so more this week and grow in this grace.

In HOPE –
David

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You can find back issues of "In HOPE" (2005-2008) at http://www.hiu.edu/inhope/.

David Timms serves in the Graduate Ministry Department at Hope International University in Fullerton, California. "In HOPE", however, is not an official publication of the University and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Administrators or Board. "In HOPE" has been a regular e-publication since January, 2001.

Incarnation is not ...

Incarnational - it's a bit of a buzz word in the missional church. It's also a really powerful biblical concept (see John 1:14 for an example). And It's something that can create a bit of tension among Christians - it seems some read "incarnational" as being about compromise and conformity. Others (myself included) see it as something different, something intrinsic to God's mission.

I'm interested in hearing your views of "incarnational", especially as they apply to your different settings. Here's a definition of incarnational I found on Matt Stone's blog - Journey's In Between;

"...incarnation is not about reinventing and compromising faith to fit into contemporary culture [or] selling out, but is getting down and dirty: making the move to be amongst and one of whilst yet retaining purity and modelling holiness in the midst." Ian Emery

To Iive or/and proclaim it

"[...they] do not believe in evangelistic strategies, other than the pursuit to be like Jesus in his interactions with others. They do not target people or have an agenda but rather seek to love all those whom God brings to them. They do not hope for a belief change for their conversation partners as much as a life change. Because of their high level of engagement with other cultures, the sacred/secular split is overcome as they practice the kingdom in their midst, in community."

Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger cited in Scot McKnights, A community called atonement (Abingdon Press, 2007).

I wonder who "they" are? I wonder if "they" look like your/my church?
I wonder if "just living it out" is just an excuse for not proclaiming their faith, or if in fact their faith is so 'present' in their lives that it is open and lived as a natural part of their lives"
Challenging hey? How different is your lifestyle? Enough to make people think, wonder, ask questions, consider their own lives? Do you spend more time trying to 'make people evangelize their friends', or more time encouraging and discipling people in their passionate, subversive kingdom living?

Unleashing the APEs!

This weekend sees the second learning day of 2008 where we focus on 'Unleashing the APEs'. Simply put this involves encouraging the apostolic, evangelistic and prophetic members of the church to function as we need them to. In a world that has relied on the pastor/teacher we are increasingly seeing that we must re-engage these other parts of the body.

Geoff Westlake will be presenting at both days and we'd love to have you there.

May Sat 3rd – City 9.30am-12.30pm - The Outback Centre 315 Bagot Rd Subiaco
May Sun 4th – Country 1.30am-5.00pm - Busselton Church of Christ

Cost for those not enrolled for "Re-imagine" is $20.00

Ships and Turning Circles

Thanks Hamo for getting this blog happening!

I wanted to briefly share something I have gleaned over the last 3 or 4 years on this journey toward missional. Living in Binningup it had to have something to link it to the ocean!

Over the last few years I have noticed a bit of a phenomenon in the local church scene. A number of long established churches have struggled in various ways to keep their heads above water as their congregations have moved away to a large, professional, "purpose driven" kind of church on the other side of town - our own congregation has suffered and struggled with this as well.

As we were just starting out on our own missional journey at about the same time all this was happeningn it got me thinking about what it was we were trying to do to get more involved with our local community and in grappling with the role of the local church in the community, compared with what the big, attractional church in the nearby city was doing to successfully grow and reach its community.

The conclusion I came to was that we were actually in a much better position to have a real effect on our town and to see our focus change from attractional (which simply wasn't working for us anymore for a whole range of reasons) to missional, than the big church perhaps ever would be. I also came to realise that while the big church was incredibly successful at growing large, it actually wasn't at all successful in being active in the community outside its walls.

So I concluded, what was true of ships was also true of churches: A big ship takes a long time to turn around, yet a small ship or boat can turn relatively quickly when it has to, especially if it believes it has a good reason for turning in the first place!

In smaller congregations there are less people to keep happy, there are usually more people already involved in, or with an interest in the organisational side of things, and there is usually a greater sense of community (that's real community - people involved in each others lives on more than just Sundays and in real and meaningful ways) and loyalty among those members who have stuck it out.

So even though a number of those who have gone before say it is virtually impossible for any institutionalised incarnation of the church to turn, if it is going to be possible at all, it's the small ship that has the greatest chance of success.

I would love to hear about and discuss your experiences so far on the journey towards missional.

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• How have things like institutionalised thinking contributed or ditracted from your experience?

• What are your experiences - good and bad - in getting more involved with the community around you?

• Are you a big "ship" trying to turn or a small "boat" like us? What are your experiences?
  
  
• Are you trying to "turn" at all or rather just incorporate a missional praxis into your established setting?
  

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I am really looking forward to hearing what you have to say and to getting to know more about you all and your experiences.

Unless a kernel of wheat...

Darryl Dash is a Canadian who has been exploring for some time now what it means for an established church to embrace missional thinking and practice.

His blog 'Dying Church', is less negative than it sounds and has some great insights into how we can die to one imagination of church and begin to explore another one.

For some excellent food for thought in an established context Dying Church is well worth a read. Here's a great post to get you started.

Salt & Light

What does it look like to be salt and light in our own context?...

Here's another short clip from Tim Keller of Redeemer church in New York addressing that question.

What do you think?