What Are You Doing Today?

What are you doing today?

Some of us are going to work.

Some of us are managing the household.

Some of us are going to school.

Some of us are taking a day off to relax or go on a trip or catch up.

Some of us are going to the hospital or undergoing a treatment.

Some of us are retired but volunteering or engaging our daily routines.

Some of us are unemployed or underemployed and wondering what we are doing.

What are you doing today?

Whatever you are doing today; in the midst of the usual or unusual; whether it is clear or uncertain; in, with and under what is already happening around you...

seek the Kingdom of God.

Watch for the activity of God.

Look for what Jesus is already up to.

Seek to see what is already happening around the edges... the hints, the glimpses, the nudges.

Be attentive because He is out there... on the loose... showing us stuff that we can perceive and recognize...

if we watch.

Be assured of this: He is on His mission even while we are distracted.  He is fulfilling His purpose even when we aren't paying attention.  He is messing with people even though we misinterpret and think they are just irritating. He is staying on time and true to His word.  This is what He is doing today.

And He invites us to join Him. 

"The Kingdom is near... believe the good news.  Seek and you will find.  You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.  Seek first the Kingdom and all these things will be given to you as well. Come follow Me."

Whatever you are doing today, in the middle of the routine or the rush, watch for what is already happening.

Seek the Kingdom of God in the midst of it.  And join Him.

What are you doing today?

We Still Have Much to Learn...

Leaders of the American missional movement, we still have much to learn...

If we are to understand the mission of Jesus we need to understand Jesus.

And if we are to understand Jesus we need to understand what He meant by "the Kingdom of God" or "the Kingdom of Heaven," for that is what He came to proclaim and display.

And the very first thing Jesus teaches about the Kingdom of Heaven is this: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."  Matthew 5:3.

Before we can really understand the mission of Jesus we need to understand the message of Jesus.

In this short seven minute video (click on the link below), without referencing Matthew 5:3, Jean Vanier gives us insight to its message and therefore our mission as followers of Jesus.

http://vimeo.com/28306506

Note: the video is entitled, "Become Weaker."  Jean Vanier is a Canadian Catholic philosopher and founder of L'Arche, an international organization which creates communities where people with developmental disabilities and those who assist them share life together.

Sunday-Centric Christianity?

Have we become Sunday-centric Christians?

In other words, would we know how to follow Jesus if our Sunday morning worship service was taken away?

Have we somehow reduced Christianity down to going to a worship service on Sunday, or - if we are pastors or church leaders - down to preparing and performing the worship service on Sunday?

Before you decide, take a few minutes to watch the story of Ed Dobson, who had to step down from being the senior pastor of a mega-church because of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.  The segment is about nine minutes long but worth every minute. (There is a brief commercial before the segment begins.)

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2012/02/11/eds-story-my-garden.cnn

A Glutton and Drunkard

Jesus was known as a glutton and a drunkard.

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners,"'" Matthew 11:19.

How did Jesus get that reputation?

I' m not so sure it was because Jesus actually over ate or over drank.  However, I do know He often hung out with people who did.

John 2, Matthew 9:10, Luke 15:1, Luke 19, and John 4 are some examples.

Jesus got the reputation of being a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of sinners, because He spent His time with them.

What is your reputation?

Who are you spending your time with?

Truth is, most of us would get tagged as "a friend of church people."  That's not a bad thing.  But has Jesus stopped hanging out with sinner just because we have?

Increasingly, I am meeting people who are rediscovering hanging out in the "right" places to meet and be friends with "sinners."

I have a young pastor friend in the great white north who hangs out at the Mocha Monkey coffee shop or the bar next door depending on the time of day.  Does he like coffee and beer that much?  He certainly is a fan, yes, but the bigger reason is because those are the places he meets people who need the good news of the Kingdom.  He’s learning to more intentionally follow Jesus and Jesus hangs out with sinners.

I have a friend in my missional community who is seriously considering becoming a tattoo artist because he loves the art and because it puts him into position to be with people and hear their stories.  He has noticed that tattoo artists are like bartenders.  People feel free to talk with them about their problems.  As the artist is applying the tattoo there is nothing but time to talk and listen.  And the Kingdom of God comes...

Last weekend our family went to San Antonio to celebrate our youngest's 13th birthday.  We had lunch on the River Walk and while we ate, a caricature artist walked up and offered to draw our picture.  While he drew the caricature, we... talked.  He told us his story.  He is a Christian and as he spends several minutes with people drawing their picture, he says, it's amazing how many people feel free to talk with him about their lives and their problems.  He has been able to minister to many people just because he is with them while he is drawing.  And the Kingdom of God comes...

A friend who lives in the Northwest just told me another remarkable story.  She regularly works out in a gym.  About two years ago she was having a conversation with a friend in the gym about faith.  A man nearby, who knew her because she was regularly at the gym, overheard the conversation and said, "Do you really believe all that faith stuff?"  My friend looked at him and said she honestly did and could not imagine her life without her faith.  She ended the conversation pointing out that when times got tough for her, she could "Dump it all on the Lord."  The man did not share her faith and time passed.  In fact, two years passed.  My friend noticed that the man had stopped coming to the gym for several weeks.  When they finally saw him again, he told them that he had developed a life threatening disease.  Then he looked at my friend and said, "I remembered you telling me two years ago about how you 'dumped it all on the Lord.'  That's what I decided I needed to do and I am so thankful I did.'"  And the Kingdom of God comes...

Another friend told me her story just yesterday.  She works at an electronics store and is a phone tech.  She's the person you go to when your phone is on the fritz.  While she is working on the phone there is often time to... talk and listen.  She told me that as people are waiting for their phones to be fixed, they often open up to her about what's going on in their lives.  One woman apologized for being so distracted but she needed her phone fixed because she was awaiting news about her test results.  The doctors suspected she had breast cancer.  Another man came in needing his phone fixed because a niece in a far off city had committed suicide the night before and everyone was trying to call this man for solace and direction.  What do you say in situations like that?  My friend has learned to say, "If you're the praying sort, please know that I will be praying for you and your family."  And the Kingdom of God comes...

Not all of these situations involve eating and drinking, but they all illustrate one important fact: When you are available to people, it is amazing how often they will open up to you.

Why do people tell bartenders their problems?  They are there.

Why do people tell phone techs their problems?  They are there.

Why do people tell caricature artists their problems? They are there.

So, where are you?

And to whom are you available?

Missional Living: The Result of Actually Doing Something

When we put the five practices into play - seeking the Kingdom, hearing from God in His Word, talking with people outside the family of faith, doing good for people, and prayer - we change the status quo of the created realm.  In other words, stuff changes in the places we are.

Right now, at this moment, the Kingdom of God has already come, the mission of God is already in process, and we are the body of Christ in the places we live, work and go to school.  As we put these practices into play, we are the tangible expression of the Kingdom and mission of God in the places we are and for the people we are with.  His Spirit gets loose in the realm of humanity through our presence, words, actions and prayers.  And things do not remain the same.

Knowing this truth does not change the world.  Acting on this truth changes the world.

For several months now, my wife and I have been gathering with groups of Jesus followers.  You could call them missional communities and that would be accurate.  We don't really have a label for what we do, we just gather regularly to support each other in seeking, recognizing and responding to what Jesus is doing in our lives and in the lives of people we are with each day.  We gather regularly in order to have a place to tell our Kingdom stories.  We have found that if we stay focused on putting the five practices into play in our lives, God-things begin to happen.  We have stories to tell.

We have also found that if we gather regularly to tell those stories of what is happening as a result of putting these practices into play, we remain highly motivated to go back into our lives to do it some more.

Telling our Kingdom stories reinforces our Kingdom values which reinforces our Kingdom practices which insures having more Kingdom stories to tell.

Last Wednesday evening, as usual,  we heard some more Kingdom stories of what has happened as a result of our friends putting these practices into play in the places they live, work and go to school.  I have summarized a few of them to give you an insight to how it goes.

One person is a teacher at a high school in a rough part of the city.  She has been seeking the Kingdom there, recognizing Jesus already at work and responding to Him.  She has been praying and having conversations and asking questions and waiting on the Lord's prompting and timing over the course of the last several months.  Each time we gather as a group, she tells the stories of what she and the high school Jesus followers are seeing and doing as they join Jesus in His mission there.  Simple, amazing stuff going on.  That place is not the same.

A young couple has recently moved into a difficult part of the city... on purpose.  They believe God gave it to them to do.  They are joining Him on His mission.  They drive by dealers every day that are doing their ungodly business on the corners next to the place where they live.  After several weeks of putting the five practices into play, however, things are no longer the same. The Kingdom is in play in that place.  The dealers are still dealing.  But this couple has been establishing friendships with them, learning their names, having conversations with them, telling them why they are living in the area, doing good for them as they have opportunity.  There is one particular man - a scary-big mountain of a man - who seems to be their person of peace (i.e., someone that the Holy Spirit has been preparing to receive what this couple is offering, the things of the Kingdom).  Who knows where it will all lead?  The story is still being told.  But there is a story to be told because they put the practices into play and had a place to unpack their Kingdom story.

One more story (there were several more, though, Wednesday night): Another couple, just learning to seek and follow Jesus themselves, has been putting the five practices into play in the places they live and work. Things are changing. Each time we gather, they tell their stories of what they've done in response to what God seems to be showing them. It's not always easy or fun. But there is always a story.  They have a neighbor whose life is a mess but who is open to letting God bring redemption to his mess.  They have had conversations with him, they have had him over for a beer and then a meal.  And after several weeks, this couple came to our group Wednesday night to tell us this man wants to be baptized and to have his children baptized too.  His life is still not in complete order (whose is?) but He wants what Jesus is offering.

And all that because this couple DID something to put the Kingdom and mission of God into play in the life of their neighbor. And they felt inspired and supported in doing this because of the other Kingdom stories they were regularly hearing.  It helped them learn how to seek, recognize and respond to Jesus in their life.

Do you want to have Kingdom stories to tell?  Missional living is not about what you know.  It is about what you do with what you know.  Why not start today?

Missional Living: Simple Practices

When I am a disciple of Jesus doing what a disciple does, I am then, by definition, living missionally. (See the previous blog post from September 15.)

Jesus is our missional God. When I have taken up His teachings and lifestyle and am recognizing and responding to Him in my daily life, that's missional living with our missional God.

So how do we get there?

I have found that if we take up certain practices, we put ourselves into position both to be discipled by Jesus and to live missionally, that is, to recognize and respond to what He is already doing in the lives of people around us.

Having said that, however, I have learned the hard way that if a process is complicated it will not last. If it is overly acedemic, it becomes something only for the learned. If it requires months (years) of classes before we can start to participate in the mission of Jesus, people drop out. If it requires being at the church building on a certain day at a certain time, we intentionally but automatically exclude many people who cannot get to our location, at our time.

These realities forced me to refine a process that is simple and sustainable, that is not dependent on textbooks or extended teaching by experts, that is located where people already are living and within the rhythms of life that are already in play. And, perhaps most importantly, a process that puts regular folks like us into position to see Jesus at work right away and begin to respond to Him. (We don't have to sit on the bench week after week. We can get into the game!)

And it all begins with keeping it SIMPLE. Remember the acronym K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple... Sweetcakes).

In Dwelling 1:14 we focus on five simple practices that put us into positoin to recognize Jesus at work and respond to Him.

1. Seeking first the Kingdom of God (watching for Jesus at work in us and around us)
2. Receiving teaching from Jesus (listening to Him in His Word)
3. Engaging in conversation with people who are outside our family of faith (connecting with people unconnected with Jesus)
4. Coming alongside people to bless them (fun and service)
5. Ministering in prayer (bringing the Kingdom to people open to receiving it)

These practices are not exhaustive, but if I am watching for opportunities to put these five simple activities into practice every day, I am in a much better position to recognize Jesus at work and begin to respond to Him than if I do not.

It is also important to note that I may not have opportunity to put all five of these things into practice every day. However, it is my mindset to put myself into position to be able to recognize and respond to Jesus whenever His timing is fulfilled. In other words, these practices postion me to be ready when He does press near!

Finally, in practicing these activities, don't see them as a new legalism. We don't put these things into practice to prove we are good boys or good girls. We put them into practice so that we are positioned to see Jesus at work and to join Him. When we engage these practices, we are engaging Jesus and the Kingdom of God becomes tangible to people around us. So, this is not about keeping rules or being a good boy. This is about getting off the bench and getting into the game!

So those are the five practices. In Dwelling 1:14 we then help people who live near each other to regularly come together to support each other in this new lifestyle. They come together not for Bible Study (that is important, but that's a different setting). Not for fellowship or care (that happens because we are together, but is not the primary focus of the gathering). They come together to support each other in putting these five activities into practice.

How does that happen? By giving each other the opportunity to tell our Kingdom stories. More on that next time.

For today, what is your discipleship process and is it producing disciples according to Jesus? Is it simple? Does it position people to get in the game right away? Is the emphasis on being a good boy or being in position to recognize and respond to Jesus?

Missional Living: Two Blind Spots?

Last time I shared with you my working definition of a "disciple" and what a disciple actually does. Here they are:

• A "disciple" is someone who has taken up the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus.
• What does a disciple of Jesus do? A disciple recognizes and responds to what Jesus is asking of them.

When I am a disciple of Jesus doing what a disciple does, I am then, by definition, living missionally. Jesus is our missional God. When I have taken up His teachings and lifestyle and am recognizing and responding to Him in my daily life, that's missional living with our missional God.

Last time we also made the important distinction between generally keeping the morality of love and specifically recognizing and responding to the prompting of Jesus. We said that morality (keeping the law of love) unconnected to relationship with Jesus and the leadership of Jesus is not really discipleship. The Pharisees could do this as could those who were "God-fearing" in the book of Acts. But these people were not yet disciples.

And in our day, many people are living out love without living in relationship with Jesus or responding to what He is specifically asking of us... even earnest Christians often substitute general morality for specifically watching for Jesus and responding to Him.

In the days ahead we will continue talking about that distinction and how it affects the discipling process we choose to utilize. Will we disciple people to be leaders unto themselves living lovingly or followers of Jesus loving specifically? Stay tuned.

Today, I want to be sure we address a couple of blind spots that many American Christians have in their understanding of being a disciple of Jesus.

Two friends of mine (one from Wisconsin and one from Colorado) brought them up after reading the last blog.

My Wisconsin friend asked, "On defining 'disciple' and what a disciple does, how does 'receiving God’s love and grace' fit in? The reason I ask is that usually when I am struggling to live as a disciple, it coincides with my struggle to receive God’s love, grace and forgiveness. So for me it’s hard to focus on what disciples do without also focusing on both the basis and motives for being a disciple."

This is a great point and shows why our discipling process needs to be more complete, less complicated and intentional. This friend struggles to reconnect doing what a disciple does and God's grace. And yet, the first thing a disciple is invited to do by Jesus is not to take some moral action but to receive His grace and the good news of His Kingdom having come. The definition of taking up the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus is centered and sourced in the good news of the Father's presence, grace and leadership. That's what Jesus taught and that's how Jesus lived... in deep and personal relationship with His Father. This is not separate from what we do as disciples, but the center of it.

So, the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus are not reflected primarily in His morality (conformity to the moral law as we often presume in American Christianity) but in His living in the love and grace of the Father (from which a new life and lifestyle flow). So, for example, Jesus' sermon on the mount is not a new and tougher morality, but a teaching of what happens to our inner life and outer actions when we live
in the love and grace of the Father all the time.

My Colorado friend pointed out a second blind spot in American Christianity, "Great post! I would add one thing to your working definition of a disciple: A disciple is someone who has taken up the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus, and is sharing it with others (emphasis mine). I have found that a disciple is someone that is being discipled (i.e. the apostles where discipled by Jesus) and also is in the process of trying to disciple someone else."

This is a another great point and again shows why our discipling process needs to be more complete, less complicated and intentional. This friend recognizes that in American Christianity, we have a blind spot to the priority Jesus placed in His teaching and lifestyle on the discipling of more disciples.

One of the predominant practices of Jesus was being "discipled" by the Father and then turning and discipling the 12, who He then sent out to disciple others! This practice multiplies disciple-making in a way that we have not seen in the US in a long, long time. Therefore, our discipleship is simply incomplete if it does not show those we are discipling how to disciple others.

The bottom line is that when we say, "A disciple is someone who has taken up the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus," that is, in fact, saying that the person has a priority on discipling other people even as he is being discipled. That's what disciples do. However, we've had a persistent blind spot to it.

All this brings us to an important question for next time, what is your discipleship process and is it producing disciples according to Jesus?

Missional Living: Definitions

Here's a simple question. How do you define the word "disciple?"

Whether I am with a group of pastors or having a conversation with an individual, I have found that people struggle with that very fundamental question. I know I did. Such a definition is important for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most important reason is that without a clear definition of "disciple" how will we know if what we are doing to "disciple" our people is resulting in what we would define as a "disciple?"

I talk with leaders all the time who can neither quickly nor clearly tell me how they define "disciple." This should not be a trick question. If the Church is charged with "making disciples" and the leaders of the Church can neither quickly nor clearly define what a "disciple" is, is it any wonder we are having trouble "making disciples" in America?

I personally own this because had you walked up to me 15 years ago and asked, "How do you define the word 'disciple?'" the first thing you would have heard from me would have been stammering. I had not really thought it through. Weren't we making those by "coming to church?" However, once we ask the question, we can start to wrestle with coming to clarity.

So, how do we define the word "disciple?"

Here's my working definition: A disciple is someone who has taken up the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus.

If that is accurate and clear, then the next step is to define what a "disciple" actually does.

If I have taken up the teachings and lifestyle of my Master, what does that look like? How do we summarize that? How do we live?

One response might be, "Love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus gave that response in Mark 12 when He was asked what the most important commandment was. When the man asking the question agreed with Jesus' answer, Jesus said, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." So for us, such an answer would certainly not be wrong. However, our question is different. We are not asking to define the most important commandment but to define what a disciple of Jesus does. "What does a disciple of Jesus do?" is a more specific question.

In general, I can know that a disciple of Jesus is to love God and love his neighbor. If that is happening, I can know, like the man in Mark 12, that I am not far from the Kingdom. But in any given moment, when the Kingdom of God is pressing in, what are we specifically to be doing as a disciple of Jesus?

Here's the answer: whatever Jesus is asking of us. Whatever Jesus is asking of us will certainly be within the circle of loving God and loving people, but it will also be more specific, more personal than that.

You see, I know I can easily fall into what is nothing more than a moral obedience to loving God and loving people. I can "generally" do this without it being personally connected to a response to what the living, present Jesus is asking specifically of me. I am not far from the Kingdom whenever I am loving God and loving people, but when I am specifically responding to the Master coming near and asking something of me, that is when I am doing what a disciple does.

To put it clearly, morality (keeping the law of love) unconnected to relationship with Jesus and the leadership of Jesus is not discipleship. The Pharisees could do this as could those who were "God-fearing" in the book of Acts. But these people are not yet disciples.

So, here is a definition of what a disciple of Jesus does: A discple recognizes and responds to what Jesus is asking of them.

We will talk more about this, but let's start with you getting your own clarity on these two definitions: what is a disciple and what does he or she do?

Missional Living: Beginning with the End in Mind

If we want to accept Jesus' invitation to join Him in His mission (that is, to live missionally), it is important to begin with the end in mind. By that I mean, before we start to wonder HOW we will live missionally, it is a important to settle WHY we will live missionally.

Why are we doing this? What's the mission? What's the end result Jesus is working toward?

As we watch what Jesus does and listen to what He says, He seems to have two overarching goals or missions:

1. to be with people redemptively
2. to invite people to follow Him as disciples

As we watch Jesus, He is with people a lot. He continually is engaging crowds to bring them healing, good news, hope and value. That is what I mean when I say He is with people redemptively. Jesus brings the redemptive, restorative, resurrecting grace of God to anyone who would receive it. Ultimately, this goal (mission) is the reason Jesus willingly went to the cross. At the cross, Jesus takes away our sins and permanently redeems our lives from sin, death and the evil one.

However, there is another mission in play with Jesus. In fact, we could say that this mission helps the first mission (to be with people redemptively) get accomplished on a local and global level. It is the mission of inviting people to follow Him as disciples. We know this mission best as it is expressed by Jesus in Matthew 28, "Go and make disciples of all nations."

We usually think of Matthew 28 as THE mission. But really it is a sort of mission within a mission. "Go and make disciples of all nations," is the mission that helps accomplish THE mission. "Go and make disciples." Why? "So that more and more people can join us in bringing the Father's redemption to anyone who will receive it."

So there is really only one overarching mission: redemption to all who would receive it. But the mission that is the means to accomplishing the overarching mission is making more disciples, that is, those who can take the good news and redemptive lifestyle of Jesus to other people who would receive it, too.

So, if I begin to live missionally with the end in mind, I am thinking about these two interconnected missions: How can I be with people redemptively AND how can I lead those same people to become a way by which that redemption is brought to others, too?

Living missionally (that is, living the mission of Jesus) includes both: being with people so that they receive Jesus' redemption and being with people so that they take Jesus' redemption to others who would receive it, too. That is Jesus' mission.

This has some huge implications for how we go about our work in congregations, as well. Before we concern ourselves with HOW we disciple people, we would be wise to get clear on WHY we are discipling people.

We begin with the end in mind. Why are we discipling people?

How would you answer that?

(Next time we will offer some definitions that may bring clarity to this work.)