If you are starting a church plant, call it...

That's what we did.  Try to find the picture of me on the website. ... more

Is it really worth it? I have been asking this question for a while now, mostly subconsciosly until the past few days.. I cannot really ask it for my own sake, because I have had a pretty easy life thus far - I have not sacrificed too much. But I have seen others suffer...and I'm not sure I can tell them "It is worth it."

I do not have an answer for the above question, but yesterday it was pointed out to me that I am asking the wrong question anyway. Here is the right question: Is He worthy?

When a word buzzes like a bee polinating flowers outside my apartment, it begins to fragment into personalized meanings. Fundamentalist, Evangelical, Missional, and Emergent are all terms that have been eroded in an onslaught of personalization, heresay, ambiguity, rhetoric, propaganda, and poor journalism (and blogging).

In times of fragmentation and poor definition, a good English student knows what to do: go to the Oxford English Dictionary:

missional, adj.

Relating to or connected with a religious mission; missionary.

1907 W. G. HOLMES Age Justinian & Theodora II. 687 Several prelates, whose missional activities brought over whole districts and even nationalities to their creed. 1976 J. R. NELSON in P. J. McCord Pope for all Christians? 165 In fairness to John Wesley, it can be presumed that in his self-awareness as a virtually monarchical leader of the movement he was guided by this missional principle. 2000 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (Electronic ed.) 18 Mar., We are trying to help NAE to be more intentional in its missional focus.

Now over a hundred years old, missional has branched out from being about missionaries in the traditional sense to being about every person in the church community. A missional church has a wholistic "religious mission." And what is the religious mission of Christians other than the Great Commission:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

So missional is a the participation of the church community in the discipleship, baptism, and teaching of all nations in the way of Jesus. How missional is put into practice is the stumbling block for many in the "missional" conversation.

The future of missional depends upon the renewing of vocation within Christian communities. For a church to become missional it must level the playing field for the individuals-in-community through humility and respect for the vocation of others. Pastors need not be higher valued than plumbers. As each member finds their role within a community at large, their vocational role must be defined as a "religious mission." With the recovery of vocation within the missional church, every member of a congregation may pray as St. Francis of Assisi:

Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness of our minds. Give us a right faith, a firm hope and a perfect charity, so that we may always and in all things act according to Your Holy Will. Amen.

Missional then is the renewing of our lives so that we do "all things" with a "religious mission" according to the will of our most High, Glorious God. Only then will missional make sense because it will be not a system or concept but a way of life that is the way of Jesus. ... more

It has been almost three years since I traveled across the state of Alaska with four other energetic college students and recent grads.  The destination was not as far from home for me as it was for everyone else since I was born and raised in interior Alaska, but the experience has had a great effect on every step I have taken since the last day of debrief in August 2005.  It was the kind of summer one has to recover from.  By now I have gone through the stages of depression, withdrawal, doubt, times of seriously questioning my sanctification....  But even today, talking to my friends from SEND of Alaska's Summer Missionary Program (SMP) sometimes reminds me of what I imagine an AA meeting to be like.  ... more

Christians are called not only to meet the spiritual need of the world, but also the physical needs faced by individuals. The Bible is filled with commands to care for widows, orphans, the poor, and the sick. However, in an age when TV, radio, and the internet bring the world's needs right to our door, it can be overwhelming to decide what need to meet, much less how to meet it. The problem is compounded by the constant debate in both public and private forums as to who is responsible to meet these needs. Should individuals, charities, faith-based groups, or the government play the primary role in feeding, clothing, and healing the needy? The vast amount of need and the debate that comes with it provides an easy excuse for Christians to not get involved. In light of that, this is the first in a series of posts on real everyday needs and practical ways they can be met. ... more

(Part of the Post-modern Apologetics series) 

An interblog discussion between Through a Glass Darkly and Everyday Liturgy has begun, with David Opderbeck's first post entitled Post-modern Apologetics: a Person, not a Proposition.

Since we are co-blogging this, I am next up to continue the conversation, which I will do in a forthcoming post tentitively called Post-modern Apologetics: Returning to the Source(s).

This year for Christmas I'm trying to get past the traditional consumerism of our culture by doing something a bit unconventional. Instead of doing the traditional splurge on buying gifts, there will be a new spin on it: we're going to purchase gifts to give to one another in the form of unique donations and fair trade items to benefit the poor, hungry and recently freed slaves in the world. So instead of giving someone your old stuffed goat, you can actually ''give'' a loved one or friend a real goat that will feed and economically sustain an impoverished family in the third world!

I recently read End of the Spear by Steve Saint, in which he shares the story of how the Waodani people of Ecuador came to be God-followers, as well as his own story, which is intimately bound up with the Waodani. In this true story, Steve takes his family to the jungles of Ecuador to live among the people who speared his father to death when he was just a boy...most of you probably know the story. What struck me was that Steve Saint constantly battles the ''cause'' mentality he knows all outsiders and even he himself is prone to.

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The second Sunday of November is designated as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This year it happens to fall on the same day as Veterans Day here in America. As we take time today to remember those who have fought to preserve our freedoms, let us also take time to remember those who do not enjoy those same freedoms. May we not forget that many Christians throughout the world are not able to freely meet, worship, and discuss their faith. According to the video linked to below, a Christian is martyred every three minutes.