Discovering the realms of Witness Part 1

Refocusing a Congreation

Recently I was elected to the post of a new church. In the years that I have been serving congregations, Imust admit that all of the congregations were onese needing a refocus on the definitation of who there are today in the world. In ministry talk, this is church redevelopment. I have worked among these groups of faithful people wanting to help bring new directions and light to a path, but they did ot bring me to the congregation for this particular role, that is except when I was asked to be the Interim Pastor of a congregation. In this call, I have been specificly asked to accomplish redevlopment among the group. I am looking forward to the work we can accomplish in God's desire.

Instructions to the Disciples

In the book of Acts, Jesus instructs the remaining disciples to remain in Jerusalem till the coming of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit would empower the disciples to be witnesses of the work of Jesus.

" But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

As I have studied this passage over the years and studing Missional Theology, the realms that Jesus tells His disciples to witness towards is words for us to follow in our work. 

The End of a Matrix

In the time of Christendom (a period in history when the church was the primary authority in society), the church believed that the only focus of witnessing of Jesus' Gospel was to the ends of the earth. Most leaders in he church have come to the realization that the times have changed and the church is not central in society. In this change of times, the position of religion has changed. Most realize that many people have not heard the message of Jesus nor seen a a reliable witness. The focus of the church need ot be redirected towards the first of these focus, Jerusalem. 

The next post will look at what the rediscovery of Jerusalem means to the local congregation.

Radical Discipleship

I am reading another book. Big shock on that reality. I seem unable to really wrestle and finish one before another book takes its place. Oh well, the radical mind of one crazy pastor. This time I am reading a book by Allen and Debra Hirsch call Untamed: Reactiving a Missional Form of Dicipleship. I will admit that I did not chose the book by the cover this time. I chose it because of the author and previous experiences I have had with his writing and speaking. This book has asked me to re-examin some of my own notions of following Jesus. In the desire to follow Him more closely, I was asked ot re-read the gospels. Not just for information and knowledge, but for an encounter with the living Word of God, Jesus Christ. Allen and Debra call people to a life that is challenged by the radical person of Jesus Christ who lived a radical lifestyle of accepting and offering grace to people. But in His acceptance, He called them to a life not in sin, but to a new way of living. As we want to follow Christ, the authors want us to examine again the gospels.

So, I wanted to re-examine and grow a stronger relationship with Jesus and in turn with God. I started with the Gospel according to Luke. This gospel always has been the harder one for me. I like the works of Matthew (no bias on that one) and Mark. They seem much simpler. I like John because of the great stories and messages we hear from Jesus. Luke just seems to be harder to grasp. Jesus is tougher in this gospel. Maybe that is why I was drawn back to this account of Jesus. Yet I was struck from a great point in the first chapter. I was given to radically different approaches to God's call in our lives.

The first is Zechariah. He was a priest at the turn of the centuries and was the one appointed to serve in the Temple. While in the temple, he was greated by the Angel of the Lord (Gabriel as we learn very quickly). He is told by this messenger of God that Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth will soon have a child. Zecharia's response is smiler to what many older people with no children would be, how, why? All of these and more are the questions in his mind. Given this response, the angel declares that due to Zechariah's lack of faith, he will not be able to speak till the child is born.

The second response is from Mary. She is greeted by the same angel and is given an even stranger proposition. She will have a baby boy. She again asks how. But here question is a real question. She is young unwed. This was a desperate request of God on a person of her age. The answer was given that he child would be from God. Her response was acceptance and willingness.

These two response are very similar to people today. We either accept God's call and go or we start the list of questions and reasons why we cannot. I believe these two are to teach us something profound about the work of God. If we say no like Zechariah, we will be shut up. There will be no words or actions to come from our work. We will become like a silent stone. But if we accept and follow, the great Word of God will come forward. We will be like Mary and be able to exclaim our joy in what God is doing and about to accomplish. We will more importantly share the word of God, Jesus Christ, to the world. I think I would like to be like Mary right now and accept the desire of God. Who are you going to follow?