• Archive for October, 2009

    Make the World Better – One Link at a Time

    October 14, 2009 // 1 Comment »

    Every now and then I do a little shoutout for Better World Books.

    bwb.orgI love books, and I get excited whenever someone recommends a book they think I’d be interested in.  But I have to be honest, every time I see a book referenced with a link to Amazon, Google, or some other corporate giant that isn’t doing anything unique and creative for the good of others, I get a little sad.  So here’s my pitch for you to make Better World Books your Go-To place for shopping, referencing, selling, and checking out books.

    They’re into recycling.

    They buy books back from you.

    They work for global literacy.

    They are committed to social awareness and sustainability.

    They never charge you shipping!

    —————————————-

    You can subscribe to their blog.

    Follow them on twitter.

    Connect on Facebook.

    Check out their stuff on YouTube.

    Grab a gift certificate for someone.

    And if you get really inspired, you can get me something off my wishlist ;)

    Posted in books, stewardship, sustainability

    Can Megachurches be Missional?

    October 13, 2009 // 8 Comments »

    That is the questions that Ed Stetzer and Dave Fitch are addressing in this video interview (26:44).

    The video is worth your time, but there’s in inherent flaw in the question.  Asking if megachurches* can be missional is sort of like asking if a diesel truck can run on unleaded gas.  Or if someone with type A blood can receive a donation from someone with type B blood. On the surface, it might seem like a legitimate question, after all, diesel and unleaded are both automobile fuel and unless you have the right tools, A blood looks just like B blood, but that’s just the problem – the superficial appearance is where it stops.

    Megachuches and missional churches, while superficially similar in some regards, are so intrinsically different that the question loses all meaning.

    The model of the megachurch relies upon Christendom as a cultural context while missional churches (as I said my last post) see Christendom as a debilitating cultural condition and therefore seek to subvert it.

    The very medium of megachurch so distorts the message of the gospel, that it’s left virtually powerless to shape a people for fully and authentically participating in the mission of God in the world – the hallmark of missional ecclesiology.  Note: I am not saying that God cannot or does not impact and change peoples lives in the context of megachurches.

    Another version of this question is probably more worthwhile.  Can megachurches become missional? Maybe, but we need more people who are willing to be honest about the full scope of what a shift like this will mean.  There is just too much money and and too much popularity to be gained from going around and telling megachurches that they too can hop on the missional bandwagon without monumental shifts in identity and practice.  Like telling those who are wealthy, happy, healthy, and powerful that they are in fact poor, confused, sick, and weak, most people who lead “successful” megachurches simply don’t have ears to hear or eyes to see.

    So, my experience tells me not to bank on it.  But my wife tells me that if I believe in the power of the gospel to restore the world, I might not want to be so quick to discount its power to transform churches!  Good thing she’s around ;)

    *my comments on megachurches are limited to a Western context.  I simply don’t know enough about megachurches in non-western contexts to speak intelligently about differing cultural factors.  However, I’d be quick to ask, “Who taught them to do church like that anyway?!”

    Posted in christendom, church, community, gospel, missional, young adults

    Bi-Vocational Ministry & the Missional Church

    October 11, 2009 // 1 Comment »

    I’ve appreciated the conversation that has taken place on my previous post on bi-vocational ministry.

    I’ve got a few ideas for follow up posts on the subject – thinking about how and where this practice intersects with theological education, community/spiritual formation, support raising, stewardship & sustainability, etc.  However, I think it might be most helpful to clarify how I understand the relationship between bi-vocational ministry and missional ecclesiology.

    As I have said numerous times before, being missional is no mere add-on to current church practice.  Nor is it a shift any particular church community might make without rethinking those things which are most fundamental.  A truly missional ecclesiology arises out of a particular way of doing theology and the understandings of things like the gospel and salvation that emerge as a result.

    While I can see why people from various ecclesial backgrounds might resonate with bi-vocational ministry as a model for church leadership, I think it makes most sense within a truly missional framework.  Here’s a few reasons why.

    Missional churches gain their identity from the Missio Dei.  Their understandings of the gospel and salvation are defined by the very notion of participation in the life and mission of God in the world.  Appropriately, they would happily embrace a model of church leadership which creates a participatory context.

    Since missional churches see Christendom as a cultural condition which distorts rather than enhances Christian discipleship and witness, it is no wonder that they would shy away from models of church leadership predicated on its very existence. As Christendom continues to crumble, the viability of multiple full-time church staff will continue to crumble with it.

    Because missional churches seek to shape a people who are passionate about God’s redemption of the whole world, it would be second nature for them to embrace a kind of ministry in which the leaders of the community model the practice of vibrant Christian witness in the marketplace.

    For me anyway, it’s the theological connection and not the pragmatic rationale of bi-vocational church leadership that is most motivating.

    Posted in bi-vocational, church, community, leadership, missional, spiritual formation, stewardship, sustainability, theology

    Bi-Vocational Ministry

    October 6, 2009 // 36 Comments »

    Life on the Vine practices what we (I feel a bit more justified in the “we” since Amy and I officially became members last Sunday!) call bi-vocational ministry and a number of us met last Friday to discuss it.

    Some may take issue with the phrase bi-vocational, arguing that followers of Jesus, who may have multiple occupations, actually have a singular vocation – living as a Christian witness or something like that and I’d say that’s understandable.  However, if it passes to understand vocation as “a compensated way in which our singlular calling gets lived out” I think it’s just as easy to defend an argument for bi-vocational Christians.

    That’s all actually kind of beside the point.  Here were our main talking points and my summary from our time together last Friday (via an article written by DF)…

    1) Bi-vocational ministry breeds congregational participation in the life of a church.

    When those who lead a church community are bi-vocational, they are more easily seen as those entrusted to guide and direct, as opposed to “get everything done.”  This returns ministry to its rightful place, the corporate body.

    2) Bi-vocational ministry guards against excessive organization and programming.

    Without full-time people to create and maintain all sorts of programming options, the life of a congregation is able to be more relational and organic, drawing on the heart and commitment of the community.

    3) Bi-vocational ministry fosters a church culture that is outward focused.

    Bi-vocational ministry affords those who lead local church communities the opportunity to invest more of their time and energy in the marketplace.  This, in turn, serves as a model for the rest of the congregation of living out a faithful witness in all areas of life.

    This didn’t come up, perhaps because it’s so obvious, but when those who serve church congregations as leaders can supplement their income with alternative sources of revenue, more money is freed up for the community to meet the needs of others.

    I tend to agree with these statements, but as a friend brought up in the course of discussion, embracing an ecclesiology which practices bi-vocationalism probably makes for all-around healthier churches and healthier pastors.  The reason is that the inverse of these marks is typically true.  Having full-time paid pastors stymies congregational participation in the life of church communities (why do it when you have people that you pay to do it?), encourages excessive organization and programming (afterall, if you’re paid full-time, you have to come up with stuff to do), and fosters an inward focused church culture (because apparently being a ‘professional’ minister is what those who are really serious about their faith do!).

    Can you practice an ecclesiology predicated on one or multiple full-time paid staff that accomplishes the same ends as this bi-vocational vision?  I am quite sure that many people will read this and try to make the case that multiple full-time paid staff just have that much more time to give to doing just that.  The problem is that the medium doesn’t match the message.  I think this is what we are after at Life on the Vine – embodying a style of congregational leadership that itself communicates (if not necessitates) our commitment to fostering a church in which the responsibility for equipping people for ministry to one another and the world falls to the body and not paid professionals.

    Lots of discussion to be had on this topic, so I am interested and anxious for feedback, pushback, and further thoughts and questions.

    Posted in bi-vocational, church, community, discipleship, leadership, LOV, money, theology

    The Ride for Refugees

    // No Comments »

    post ride shotAmy and I had a great time this past Saturday participating in the inaugural (for the US anyway) Ride for Refugees.  We were joined by about 200 other riders in Geneva, IL who, together with the rest of the riders in the US, helped to raise over $100,000.  Here’s us on our way.

    We wanted to say a HUGE thanks to those of you who sponsored us, to Stephanie and the Olson’s who let us borrow their bikes, and to the Tebbe’s for their bike rack and helmet!

    We raised $700 of our goal of $1000!  Not bad for just beginning to get sponsors 5 days before the race.

    If you were still interested in contributing to the assistance of refugees by sponsoring our team, you can do so here until the end of the month.  Maybe we’ll meet that goal yet!!

    It was a cool morning and the expected rain managed to hold off until close to the end of the race for those who were doing 60 miles.

    I got caught up helping with traffic and parking duty and missed the 30-mile wave of riders, but rode with Amy for the 15-mile wave.  When we got back, we switched bikes, and I went and did the 15-mile circuit again.

    My cousin Gwen and her husband Rob joined our team at the last minute.  They showed up later in the morning and each did the 15-mile ride as well.

    Here’s a few pictures from the ride.

    Posted in Amy, refugees

    Job Search 2.0

    October 1, 2009 // 5 Comments »

    If it wasn’t obvious by my open letter to HR, I have been looking for work.

    When Amy and I got engaged, we went round and round about whether to be in Memphis where I was pastoring or in Chicago where she was just getting settled into a pretty major career position.  Through lots of prayer, discernmnet, and discussion, Chicago won out.

    I moved up here at the beginning of May and since then, beside keeping myself busy with wedding planning and then getting us settled into a new apartment, I have been teaching an online class, The Emerging Church in the 21st Century, for Fuller Theological Seminary.

    With the wedding behind us, the apartment pretty much in order, and the class coming to an end, I am getting more focused on looking for work.

    Both because we are so at home in our church community, Life on the Vine, and because we are trying to make decisions that offer us the flexibility to be part of birthing a new missional comminity, I’m not looking for church staff positions.  Instead, I have mainly been looking for staff positions at colleges and universities as well as with non-profit organizations whose work in the Chicagoland area I could get excited about.  I have also given some consideration to working my way into the world of web development through project coordination and information architecture.  I am definitely open to continuing to be involved with online education.

    While I am conducting the job search 1.0-style (job boards, websites, and other manner of non-relational means), I’d rather go the route of Job Search 2.0, via relational connections, leveraging the power of social connectivity.

    So, at the risk of this being misinterpreted as some sort of act of desperation (IT’S NOT), but because I tend to be a relational networker, I thought I would open my search up to a broader audience to solicit your ideas and feedback.  Anyone, especially those of you who know me well, have any bright ideas about jobs, resources, or people I should try and connect with?  If it helps, here’s a basic resume and CV.

    Posted in chicago, community, social networking

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