Good stuff from Leighton on what the house church movement is really all about. He puts the case well: It’s not really about houses. It’s about meeting in a relational context that enables, equips and empowers individuals to exercise gifts of the Spirit for the encouragement and edification of those present. The concert and motivational speaking (Can you tell I come from an evangelical background? Regardless, this can be extended to include the ritual and ceremony familiar to other Christian tribes.) that occurs on Sunday mornings may well have a role to play, but to call that church is in my opinion inaccurate.
What The House Church Movement Is Really All About
31 October, 2006 at 3:47 pm (General)
Tags: General, House Church
(Red)emption
30 October, 2006 at 11:01 pm (General)
Tags: (red)emption, General
My friend Gabe has said on more than one occasion that our works can’t save ourselves, but they can save others. Mike is asking folks to participate in the (Red)emption Campaign. Go on… do it. It’s only $10… CANADIAN!!!
And the answer is, Yes. I did it about ten minutes ago.
Why Church Attendance Is Essential
18 October, 2006 at 10:22 pm (General)
Tags: church, General, Humor
Kerri and I were both laughing out loud on this one.
The Church You Know: Attendance
Warning: You may want to leave the seat next to me empty this Sunday.
ht - Will Samson
Basics of “Simplified Church”
17 October, 2006 at 10:06 pm (General)
Tags: church, General, mission
Good stuff from House Church Blog. Noting the following for the future:
The basics of “simplified church” are:
- Shared community life. This simple dynamic is far more powerful than we realize. It is the basis for transformation as well as for support for the “quests” that each of us are called to be a part of.
- Participatory community life. This is also a simple concept with powerful results. As each one learns to take responsibility and develop his or her gifts for the good of the community (1 Cor 14:26), there is a maturing process for the whole body of Christ that is so vitally needed. We become “self-feeders” rather than living dependently on others to bring us the milk of the word. We are thus equipped to become mature disciples and to multiply ourselves in others.
- Missional living. We discover the joy and adventure of partnering with God out in the world where life happens and where God’s life is meant to be shared. This is a unique journey for each and every person and we are not expecting one person’s adventure to look like anothers. But… we learn to get out of our Christian-go-to-meetin’ comfort zones and allow God to develop our missional-adventure-partnership-with-God lives.
Poem: Mary Oliver: The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist
11 October, 2006 at 9:01 pm (General)
Tags: church, General, mary-oliver, poetry
From The Writer’s Almanac a few weeks back.
The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist
Something has happened
to the bread
and the wine.
They have been blessed.
What now?
The body leans forward
to receive the gift
from the priest’s hand,
then the chalice.
They are something else now
from what they were
before this began.
I want
to see Jesus
maybe in the clouds
or on the shore,
just walking,
beautiful man
and clearly
someone else
besides.
On the hard days
I ask myself
if I ever will.
Also there are times
my body whispers to me
that I have.
Bloggers Face-to-Face
7 October, 2006 at 8:15 pm (General)
Tags: bloggers, General, meme
It’s late Saturday morning, and Darren’s got an interesting question up: Which Bloggers Would You Love to Meet? In addition to excluding his b5 co-founders, Darren limits his list to five, knowing there are way more than five he’d like to meet. So, following suit, I’ll limit myself to five… NOT!
1. Darren Rowse (and the entire group of b5 founders) - Darren’s Living Room blog was one of the first I read, and it was through him I learned of b5media. If nothing else I’d like to buy them each dinner and say, “Thanks for paying me to write.”
2. Hsien Lei and Jonic Linley (and the rest of the b5 bloggers) - Hsien and Jonic have fast become friends across many miles, which is one of the uber-cool things about blogging in general and b5 in particular. With any luck, I’ll get to meet a few of the local - i.e. midwestern - b5-ers later this year.
3. Andrew Jones, Sivin Kit, Steve Collins and Steve Taylor (et. al.) - Again, these guys are just representative of the many bloggers who have influences my faith over the last 3+ years. I had the joy of meeting several back at the WALP-EC conference in 2005. This lot, however, live abroad; so a face-to-face is more logistically challenging. Someday… someday….
What Can Samantha Do?
4 October, 2006 at 9:54 pm (General)
Tags: General, poetry, samantha, school
Samantha, Samantha, what can you do?
I can swim a race. Can you?
Samantha, Samantha, what can you do?
I can pick a flower. Can you?
Samantha, Samantha, what can you do?
I can read a book. Can you?
Samantha, Samantha, what can you do?
I can write a story. Can you?
Samantha, Samantha, what can you do?
I can tickle my Daddy. Can you?
(This was part of Samantha’s Language Arts lesson earlier this week. She was re-writing an existing poem that she read earlier in the lesson. I walked in the door for lunch as they were finishing up, which probably had an impact on the end. Now, I’m posting it before Kerri does.)
