Mission in Action

I took Declan for a walk in the John Forrest National Park this morning - his first trip into the park, despite the fact we live 2 minutes drive from the entrance.  Hot, dry weather doesn’t make an Australian national park much fun for a toddler, but now in winter with the rains making the streams flow, and Declan in exploration mode, it was time.

Well of course I made the mistake of stopping at the first big puddle and throwing a stone into it, and before you know it Declan would not budge.  Every stone, piece of gravel (and occasional handful of dirt) had to be thrown into that patch of water.  Mountain bikers zipped past;  families out for a bracing walk in a winter breeze; just-teen kids trying to impress each other - all swagger and laugh.  And all the time Declan was tossing stones into a puddle.  It was the same with the next puddle - when we managed to move on twenty metres or so. And the next. And the next.  We only got a few hundred metres along the trail before the weather turned and it was back to the car, Declan covered in dirt, water, and the contented look of a job well done.

I’d had other ideas.  I’d wanted to walk with him to see the breath-taking view down the valley where  boulders litter the sides of the hills like huge brown eggs nestled in now-green straw.   And the old Victorian railway tunnel - bored through the solid rock and lined with 400,000 bricks . The tunnel is 500 metres long and pitch black as you walk through it, save for the sharp point of light at the other end that diffuses the closer you get to it. A metaphor for our lives perhaps?

But for Declan it was pebbles and puddles - his concentrated “uh-oh” at every splash echoing the first casual one I threw out along with the stone.   And as we went through the motions (for me, not him) I was reminded again of  that beautiful image GK Chesterton has of God causing the sun to rise every morning for millenia.  Why does it do so? Because God is so much younger than we - and with a childlike wonder he utters a delighted “Do it again!”

This thought has been on my mind all week as our group explores what it means to be a Spirit-filled community.  What does it mean to walk in step with the Spirit in the way Galatians talks about?  Are we looking for the spectacular? Grand vistas and impressive creations?  There’s nothing wrong with wanting the “wow” factor, and certainly nothing wrong with asking for it.  However what about a God who takes pleasure in tossing stones into puddles?  What about the mundane “do it again” stuff?  Praying for a friend who is troubled and who has a strong impression of God’s peace at the end of it.  The ladies from The Local going out for dinner with two friends who do not know Jesus.  The ensuing conversation those two women have with Jill on the drive home about the sense of community and kindness they feel from the group.  Personally, I relish hearing these stories: They assure me.  God’s Spirit is one day going to fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, but even now he is filling the nooks and crannies, the dips and hollows, the dried out creek beds, all in anticipation of that glorious day.

written by Steve

written by Steve

Err, yes, Marshall Mathers III is back with another outrageously brilliant, violent, self-focused album. Only buy it if you can stomach it.  But guess who else is back?

That’s right: God.

In the imaginatively entitled God is Back unbelievers John Mickelthwait and Adrian Wooldridge explore why God is back on the agenda.  But make no mistake, this is no Dawkins-esque wild-eyed anti-theist rant, but a well-researched coolly written tome. Last week’s The Weekend Australian newspaper carried an extract  and it was enlightening to say the least.   Part of Dawkins’ argument is that while individual believers may do good, collectively religion is very very naughty and responsible for everything, except possibly the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Mickelthwait and Wooldridge show the opposite to be the case. Nations prosper in all of the important indicators; socially, economically and educationally, when there is a strong religious structure to the society. Interesting it is in the New World’s liberating commitment to the separation of powers rather than the Old World’s church-state marriage that “God” is value adding to the culture, so theocracies measure poorly against the criteria (mental note, email this to Iranian mullahs - Ed)

Have a read of the main article here.

There was another extract that, depending on your viewpoint, is a slightly cringeworthy or exceptionally encouraging account of the Chinese house  church movement.  No prizes for guessing why Celine Dion might be mentioned in the article (hint: It has something to do with the Chinese worship music - Ed)

written by Steve

Most of The Crowded House networks are examining how they might hold a “gathering” from time to time - a joint meeting of a series of households.  The aim of these is to strengthen the bonds within each network and give a visible front to the network for people for whom that might be helpful.  There might even be people who are on the edge of the household groups who might attend this.

I was chatting with Tim Chester about this last night, as it is certainly something any  Perth network would be wise to look at - especially in the suburban sprawl that is this fair city.

Tim said something important:  He mentioned how the Edge network (which he heads up) has had gatherings which, if they are compared to a larger service in another church might look pretty lame.  It’s not uber professional and the singing is just that - singing, rather than a well performed worship session a la the current default mode of most larger evangelical churches. However he noted that if non-Christians did attend a gathering there would be no effort to try and impress them with the quality of the music or any of the other components.

“We are not trying to say to them ‘ See we can do things just as well as anybody else can,’” said Tim.

What Tim does want though - and this is crucial -  is the quality of relationship in the gathering to be a shopfront window into the  quality of the relationship in the individual household congregation.  The aim is not to pool the collective talent of four or five households in order to increase the quality - as is the aim of the “cell and celebration” ethos behind a number of devolved larger congregations - but rather to demonstrate that that same quality evident in the gathering is available at the same level, and with as much verve and energy, in the local household context.

written by Steve

At the moment things seem to be happening quite quickly.  I am leaving my current job in two weeks time and am starting at Parkerville church two days a week a few days after that.  Parkerville is keen to be well connected with The Local so it is a good move.

What also seems to be happening is that people are coming out of the woodwork who are looking to do similar church plants - some in our area and some further flung.  There is really the possibility of a network coming together quite soon - although, as with all of these things, it never seems to come together at all until right at the last minute.

On Wednesday night we went through Value 3 of TCH which states:

We want a reproducible model of church without any trappings that might impede freedom and flexibility. We are committed to homes as a context for all or most of church life with home shaping the ethos of church. When congregations use other buildings, those buildings will not be viewed as the main focus of mission.

For a group such as ours the one value I know they all love is this one, which is why it was so important to go over it with a fine tooth comb.

“Household congregations? Of course!  That’s why we are here isn’t it?”

Yes it is, but the language of the Value doesn’t simply allow you to stop at household.  As I observed we could all be committed to letting home shape the ethos of church for vastly different reasons.  For example one person might love the cosiness of household groups, but have no missional inclination at all, while another may just find it convenient.

As I went through the value I highlighted certain things.  Here’s a slice of that:

i. A reproducible model: This immediately raises the spectre of a time in the future when this group will split and become two groups.

Q: Why might reproducibility be seen as an important factor?

Q: What would reproducibility do to us as a group?

Q: What do you think the value means by “trappings” that impede freedom and flexibility?

ii. Home shaping the ethos of church: There is a link between the language of a household and the language of a church. Why?

Q: What are our expectations of our own families?

Q: How different, if at all, should our expectations be of the family of God?

Q: Where does our status as “family” have its origins.

Examine John 1:10-13. Note the “families” mentioned:

1. Human family

2. Ethnic Israel family

3. Spiritual family

iii. the main focus of mission: There is an assumption (based on Values#1&2) that mission is central to our identity.

Q: What might be the differences between mission done from a building compared with mission done from “home”?

Q: How might a Christian “household” have to operate in order for it to be missional?

All basic stuff really, and this is, as I said, just a slice, however without pushing to the “why” of home being the central plank of church then preconceptions will never surface.  Getting buy-in at an early stage is crucial to this working.

written by Steve

Are these two related? I think we should be told.

written by Steve

Due to unforeseen circumstances the first episode the long awaited fly-on-the-wall drama “THE CHURCH OFFICE” has been postponed until next Monday.

written by Steve

The transcript of the fly-on-the-wall documentary Christian Television wouldn’t show! (they hadn’t heard of it - Ed)

The Church Office is five stars!! - Bill Hybels

My next book “The Purpose Driven Church Office” was inspired by this show - Rick Warren

I based two sermon series on The Church Office!  - Joel Osteen

What a load of @#$%@* - Mark Driscoll

Most people never get to see behind the walls of a church. And most Christians never get to see behind the walls of the walls of a church - the engine room known to insiders as The Church Office.

Follow us as we follow rookie Associate Pastor Randy Short as he  follows Executive Pastor (and former PGA feeder tour semi-professional) Brad M Stadler III  follow Jesus.  ”Come follow me” just took on a whole new meaning.

The Church Office - Monday nights at missioninaction.org.au.  Cancel everything (except small group).

written by Steve

The next six months will be interesting.  I have resigned my job after eighteen months - I was only working two days per week there this past six months - to help out at the church I used to work at and who partner with The Local, Parkerville Baptist Church.  At shortish notice the Senior Pastor has taken six months leave, so I will be employed there two days a week to be involved in the preaching  for six months.  This also gives The Local and Parkerville a good opportunity to cement their support for one another.  I see it as a good opportunity to help Parkerville look at mission from our perspective and vice versa.

We’re also looking at networking with a couple of other groups at the moment too, all involved in, or keen to be involved in missional church planting.  I have identified a couple of couples with promise also and am coaching a few blokes each month as they look to do church planting.

On top of that two church planting friends, Rory Shiner and Nigel Gordon, are in the process of establishing a church planters network to resource people doing all sorts of missional plants.  It is called 121 degrees (not the temperature it gets to in Perth in summer - Ed) because that is how far Perth is latitudinally from Jerusalem.  It’s about fidelity to the historical/biblical gospel and faithful contextualisation here in our fair city.  Good name huh? Wish I’d come up with it, but it was one of those other two brainiacs.

The Local is going along well, getting on with life together, looking for missional opportunities and ploughing our way through TCH values.  We’re kinda glad that they are aspirational, because we are very much “L-plating” it at the moment.

Jill’s psych practice is really doing well - the two days work has been a really positive experience for her and she is finding that there is no shortage of work.  The area we live in has a severe shortage of allied health professionals, so she could probably work five days and it still wouldn’t make a dent.  We are enjoying working out how to do life and The Local together.  The good thing about my job change is how it literally does make our lives local - an oddity in a suburban sprawl like Perth.

If you want to apply for my old job you can always do that (they’re making it five days a week from now).  Great boss, good conditions, worthy project.  What more could you ask? Oh, you’ve got ’til Monday.

written by Steve

Brian Wilson from TCH in Tassie

I’ve mentioned it before, but I constantly get people saying to me “It’s all well and good setting up a network of household congregations in an urban setting in the UK, but here in the Aussie ‘burbs we don’t live in such proximity to other people.” 

Well they don’t quite put it as eruditely as that, but you get the point.  The rationale behind this viewpoint is that if you live closer to other people -  and in the UK we could hear our student neighbours burbing, drinking, and playing death metal at all hours of the night  (I vacuumed the carpets around 6:00 in revenge) - you will befriend them more readily.  Anyone who has lived in a city knows that this is not the case.  You only have to visit a high density city from a less densely populated area to realise this.  There you are “oopsing” and “sorrying” your way up the High Street, sashaying around thousands of people coming the other way, avoiding stepping on toes, and all they are doing is ignoring you.  They slide past you with all of the practised ease of ants on a trail.  They have learned the art of living and moving in close proximity to many other people without actually having to engage with them.  Over time, if you stay in the city long enough, you learn the art yourself and before long you no longer see the people, just the path you are going to take to pick your way through them. 

This is all by way of saying that if you think suburban household congregations are problematic then you are going to have real trouble with The Crowded House network in Tasmania, Connexions.  It is headed up by Brian Wilson, a good Aussie bloke who I met in Sheffield, and who spent last Sunday with us at  The Local having arrived in WA to conduct some training for the Reformed Churches of Australia.  Brian began a network of household congregations prior to getting connected to TCH, and he runs an effective biblical and missional training program.  The really interesting thing about his group however, is that his setting is semi-rural.  Tassie, for those not in the know, is the least populated state of Australia. Here at The Local we are on the fringe of suburbia and semi-rural, but they are deep in semi-rural heartland.  Two acre allotments is the go.  But they run household congregations the same way urban and suburban TCH groups do; living life as extended family networks and bringing your non-Christian friends into your networks of Christian relationships. 

The Connexions websiteis worth checking out.  For a start it is a really nicely designed site, but more importantly it has some interesting stuff, not least of all their photograph collection, which clearly shows the earthiness and “normalness” of Christians living life together. It’s not the proximate nature of the people doing church that matters as much as their desire to share their lives together.  Who was it that said the definition of hell was proximity without intimacy?

written by Steve