Viral Faith

This Christmas season, I have been greatly impacted by the drive and determination of one of the members of the congregation that I serve.  Kaela is not one of the officers of the church, nor does she have a powerful civic post, but she is a determined teenage follower of Jesus. Kaela is leading an effort within our congregation to raise money this Christmas season to drill wells in Haiti.  She is deeply inspiring as she has personally been convicted that God is calling us to make a difference in the devastated nation of Haiti by simply offering clean, reliable water.  Approximately 60,000 people in Haiti have been affected by the scourge of cholera which is directly connected to a tainted water supply. Kaela's presentations have shown her passion and her deep grief for the people of Haiti.  The burden that God has placed in her heart is evident and I find my heart breaking as she shows us that to celebrate Jesus is to minister to him i...

I have been thinking a lot about worship services lately.  What is the purpose of worship service?  What are the goals of worship service?  Is the service to God, and secondarily blesses people, or are the people of the community primary? I believe that the late Robert Webber was correct when he described the role of worship as "the celebration of God's story".  We stop during our week, to reflect on God's story, where He is the central character, His Word is the script, and His people play small but important roles.  There is a temptation to watch the telling of God's story like we watch TV or a sporting event.  However, the reality is that God gives us instruction through scripture that our worship is to be highly participatory and interactive.  In other words, worship does not "happen" to us, but occurs through us.  Ideally, it is the fully trinitarian experience of revelation from God the father, incarnational experience of the presence of...

Mark 1:14-15 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus begins His ministry with a triumphant declaration that the "Kingdom of God" is present and tangible.  His listeners would have had a clear image of what the "Kingdom of God" should look like, unfortunately, that image was dead wrong.  To many people at the time of Jesus, the Kingdom of God was thought to be a political entity inwhich God would use a conquering Messiah to make Israel a global superpower and throw off the shackles of Roman oppression.  They misunderstood the nature of the revolution by limiting the vision to military, economic, and political might, as opposed to a fundamental transformation of humanity. My thought today, is that we can be sincere in our anticipation of what God is doing, but also be ...

I have been noticing that despite a recent vacation, I still feel somewhat fatigued.  It has taken me some time to understand why I wasn't fully rested.  I was sharing with our pastoral team this week, that God desires us his pastors to do three things at the core of our calling: 1. Pray (Connecting with God, listening to God, and interceding for His people) 2. Reading Scripture (Understanding the revealed will of God based upon the Holy scriptures) 3. Spiritual Direction (Being aware of God's presence and desire among the people we minister with) Eugene Peterson, in his excellent book, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity , suggests that all of these activities are a continium  that begins with being attentive to God, so that we can properly understand His will (scripture), so that we can then see that will in the lives of others.  The focus of the pastoral call is simply connecting people with the presence and purposes of God.  Without...

Over the past 2 months, I have looked at the teachings of Jesus, and the teachings of Paul  in regards to the role of women in ministry.  We have seen thus far that Jesus had women disciples, Paul worked with women leaders, and that the most famous scriptures used to ban women from leadership and ministry are often misinterpreted, taken out of context, or mistranslated. (See parts 2-4 of this blog series). Often, Christians will cite the Old testament (Hebrew scriptures) as a justification of prohibition of women in leadership.  This is fair ground, as all scripture is inspired by God (II Tim 3:16).  What is clear, is that there is not a single command in the Mosiac law or the entire Hebrew scriptures that forbids women from being in leadership or teaching.  In fact, to the contrary, God used women in leadership despite the deeply entrenched  cultural view in ancient Palestine that women were inferior or incapable of leading. Judges ...

Over the past several weeks, we have looked at key passages from the Bible that deal with the role of women in leadership.  These selected texts are often quoted to deny women from being in positions of leadership, teaching, and influence.    I have sought to illustrate the textual meaning (what does the text actually say), the contextual background (In what context or situation was the written word addressed), and the culture (the expected roles, responsibilities, and relationships) of the era.  Thus far we have talked about Jesus' specific teachings (Part 2) and one of the seemingly prohibitive scriptures for women leadership in I Timothy 2:11-15 (part 3).  Thus far, we have seen that Jesus places no obstacles from women being full disciples and demonstrates prominent roles for women in ministry.  We say that in I Timothy2, the text speaks against women manipulating men, but does not speak against women teaching in the church. In light of this...

One of the proof texts against women in ministry is found in the book of 1 Timothy.  This letter was written by the Apostle Paul to his friend and young pastor, Timothy.  In the second chapter, it has the following, according to the New International Version (NIV): 1 Timothy 2:11-15 11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. NIV On the surface, this text appears very clear.  Women, in general, seemed to be forbidden to have any teaching responsibility over men and in addition, she should not speak at all.  This is the understanding that has been perpetuated since the Apostolic era (era when people who actually knew th...

I have begun a series of blogs looking at the role of women in ministry.  As I had shared previously, the issue of whether women can hold leadership positions, be ordained, and lead churches continues to divide the body of Christ. In the last blog (from June 22nd), we spoke about how we understand the will of God: The Person of Jesus Christ, the whole of scripture (Hebrew and Greek Scriptures), and the practices of the early church.  We will begin our study by quickly looking at what Jesus said and His practices involving women in ministry.  Since Jesus is the direct revelation of God (Hebrews 1:3), His words and His practices are ouir clearest starting point. Jesus lived in first century Palestine.  Within that worldview, Jewish subculture, in which Jesus lived, afforded very few rights and privileges to women.  Although there were no commands within the Hebrew scriptures relegating the role of women to secondary citizens, this was the cultural practic...

Over the past several weeks, I have been drawn towards a detailed study and reflection regarding women in ministry.  So many of the self-identified evangelical churches and denominations have been staunchly against women having significant leadership and teaching roles of the church.  Evangelical churches by definition look to Christian scriptures as the standard for polity and practice.  I am proposing that we take a few blogs and look at the scriptures that are often used to support the prevention of women in leadership. Up front, I want to tell you that what I am going to share my disturb some of the readers who have not critically examined the scriptures.  The goal is not tear down faith, but to reveal truth so that we can experience the freedom that truth brings. Before I get to a specific text, I want to give you a few parameters that are essential to understand in regard to any issues that is studied within the Word of God. 1. The entirety of script...

Jesus led a movement in which described as the "Kingdom of God".  A movement is characterized by a sense of an injustice that must be righted.   A movement is not limited by buildings and programs, but is fueled by a deep sense that something must change.   An institution, on the other hand, is a set structure characterized by programming, place, or participation.  The church (little "c") is an institution, while the Church is to be a movement. Institutions in themselves are not bad, evil, or even remotely negative.  Institutions are necessary particularly to stabilize a process.  The institution of government is necessary to promote a civil society.  Educational institutions need standardized approaches to education to maintain excellence and preparation.  However, the Church was never meant to be an institution. The drawback of an institution is that its focus is on viability and sustainability.  The focus becomes inward....

The Mystery of the Mat This week, I have been praying about the need for those who profess to follow Jesus Christ, to gather together for mutual encouragement. The writer to Hebrews asks us to "Encourage one another daily, as long as its called today, that none will have our hearts hardened by sin's deceitfulness." (Heb 3:13). It is clear that one of the defining attributes of the early church was their sense of community and cohesiveness. In our era, where width is preferred over depth, community is not recognized as one of the core disciplines of our faith. Authentic community is the place where people can be extend grace (come as you are), be vulnerable (share who you are), experience love (accepted for who you are), and challenge one another. Historically, it has been the discipline that promotes real and sustained life transformation. Today, God reminded me of a story in the life of Jesus that helped me understand the necessity of community as the practi...

A Step of Faith New Hope, the church I have the privilege of leading, is facing a huge decision. We have the opportunity to move from our current location to a larger building and collaborate with a parachurch organization that is reaching hundreds of people per week. As many know, a church community is not monolithic, but made up different people with different gifts and different capacities for change. In looking at such a huge move, I think there are many different things to analyze. Interestingly, different people ask different questions and different things are more important to some than others. This process occurs in churches around the world as they try and discern what God's will is for them. I shared the following scripture with our leadership last month and I hope that helps you if you are trying to make a large decision. Here's the context: The people of Israel are near the promised land of Canaan. This land was promised to them by God. God has already told t...