lifeasmission

Here Comes the Missional Learning Commons

October 28, 2010 // 55841 Comment »http%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F10%2Fhere-comes-the-missional-learnig-commons%2FHere+Comes+the+Missional+Learning+Commons2010-10-28+22%3A36%3A48JR+Rozkohttp%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D5584

The Missional Learning Commons gets underway tomorrow evening.  There are a ton of people on the guest list that I am unfamiliar with so I am looking forward to making some new connections and hearing stories of what God is doing in peoples various contexts.

If you haven’t registered yet or are on the fence about it, let me offer one final encouragement.  This is always a fun gathering filled with memorable discussions, great insights, and tons of encouragement.  We’ll be discussing relationships related to discipleship, family, and leadership within a missional vision of the Kingdom of God.

This event has never been about big-name speakers or anything like that, but the people who have agreed to come and kick-start our discussions have excellent perspective and experience to speak from.

Check out all the details here and feel free to leave a comment w/ any questions.  Hope to see you this weekend!

Posted in chicago, missional learning commons

Missional Learning Commons – Conversations on Missional Leadership

October 20, 2010 // 54981 Comment »http%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F10%2Fmissional-learning-commons-conversations-on-missional-leadership%2FMissional+Learning+Commons+-+Conversations+on+Missional+Leadership2010-10-20+20%3A04%3A04JR+Rozkohttp%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D5498

We tend to think of leadership as an activity and not a relationship.  But in terms of creating a culture of discipleship, equipping each other for ministry, and mobilizing people and groups for mission, the relational aspect of leadership is of enormous significance.

Having already engaged in conversations around the themes of missional discipleship and missional family, the Missional Learning Commons will round off with a discussions about missional leadership.  Speakers, topics, and bios are below.  More information and registration here.

David Fitch: The Hazards of Being Paid to Pastor: Overcoming the Bad Dynamics of Money

Summary:

When a pastor gets paid a set of negative dynamics are set into motion. Power relationships develop within a community. There are expectations from people who “give.” Ministry can turn inward and into politics. All of this works against moving a community into mission. I offer a couple observations and simple moves to subvert these dynamics.

Bio:

David Fitch is a co-pastor at Life on the Vine in northwest Chicagoland and a church planter/coach. He is also Lindner professor of evangelical theology at Northern Seminary’s programs in missional church studies teaching on matters having to do with gospel and culture. He is an author with his next book – The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission coming out in January 2011. Dave is married to Rae Ann and dad to their son Max.

Fitch, Take 2: Leadership is Submission: The Counter-Cultural Way of the Cross in Leadership

Summary:

Leadership that leads into the new territories of mission will always produce conflict. This is the inevitable prospect of a community pushing into Mission. The Missional leader is not one who manages this conflict from top down. Instead, through the posture of humility, service and trust in the Spirit, out of Scripture and mutual discernment in prayer, he or she leads the community through inviting it to seek what God is doing, hear and respond. In this way of non-coercion and submission, the “revolutionary” community is birthed, brought together in Christ “on the way” of Mission.

Amy Rozko: Global Perspectives on Missional Leadership:  Reflections and Observations from Cape Town 2010 (The 3rd Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization)

Summary:

Local churches bear the responsibility not only of equipping leaders for ministry in an increasingly globalized world at home, but also of mobilizing them for participation in God’s Kingdom work across the globe.  Doing so necessitates that we have a meaningful sense of what God is saying and how God is working in other parts of the world.  In this session, Amy will offer reflections on the state of the church around the world from a recent gathering of 4000 global church leaders and invite us to discuss the implications for churches in terms of leadership development.

Bio:

Amy is excited to have just participated as a delegate to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa.  She and her husband of just over a year, JR, live in Elgin, IL where she also works for International Teams US as the Director of Mobilization.  They are an active part of Life on the Vine in the Chicagoland suburbs.

Posted in chicago, conference, leadership, missional, missional learning commons

Midwest Missional Learning Commons

September 21, 2010 // 54014 Comments »http%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F09%2Fmidwest-missional-learning-commons%2FMidwest+Missional+Learning+Commons2010-09-21+18%3A29%3A35JR+Rozkohttp%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D5401

My first experience with the missional community in the midwest was through a somewhat random collection of pastors and leaders that met at Life on the Vine over 2 days in January of 2008.  That was what has become known as the Missional Learning Commons…

A collaborative day for missional churches to exchange ideas, support, and encouragement on how to incarnate the gospel in their contexts.

We gathered for the 3rd time in January of this year and loved the time so much that we just had to bump the next gathering up to this fall – Friday, Oct. 29 – Saturday, Oct. 30!

(click image for PDF)

I’ve said before, there is a lot of power in regional gatherings.  So, if you are a pastor or leader who lives in driving distance of Chicago and is at all interested in the learning/participating in the missional conversation in real life, rubber-meets-the-road, kinds of ways, you should definitely join us.

This event has always been free in the past, but in an effort to make sure that we have all kinds of voices at the table, we are charging $10 to help cover the cost of childcare during the event.

Lots more info and banners/posters courtesy of one Mr. Benjamin Sternke can be had over at missionalcommons.org.

Northern Seminary has offered to host the event for us and Ecclesia is helping to sponsor it.  Spread the word!

Posted in chicago, conference, culture, discipleship, leadership, LOV, midwest, missional learning commons, networking

Discipleship in a Missional Context

September 3, 2010 // 53774 Comments »http%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F09%2Fdiscipleship-in-a-missional-context%2FDiscipleship+in+a+Missional+Context2010-09-03+22%3A42%3A25JR+Rozkohttp%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D5377

I’m excited to be gathering tonight and tomorrow with some pastors and leaders from around the Chicagoland area and a bit beyond to talk about discipleship in a missional context.  We’re gathering in Hyde Park where some friends from Life on the Vine are in the process of moving into and exploring how the Kingdom might take shape.

I think this is a topic that a great number of us have at the front of our minds, but aren’t always able to speak to as directly as we’d like so I am looking forward to the conversation and stuff the Spirit surfaces.

So, since everyone has been so gracious in offering input on my doctoral considerations,

I’m wondering what you might want to say or ask related to this issue of discipleship in a missional context – ie. how do we think of and go about discipling people to participate in God’s mission in the world.

I’ll chance in periodically and add your comments and questions to our discussion.

We’ll also be trying to pound out some of the details for the next Missional Learning Commons.  Stay tuned for more details on that.

Posted in chicago, church, conference, culture, discipleship, LOV, missional, missional learning commons, post-christendom

Resurrection Health Care

August 16, 2010 // 53452 Comments »http%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F08%2Fresurrection-health-care%2FResurrection+Health+Care2010-08-16+20%3A06%3A14JR+Rozkohttp%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D5345

Tell me this isn’t who you want taking care of you if you get sick!

Who even needs insurance??!

Posted in chicago, funny, random

JR’s Career Path

August 2, 2010 // 53037 Comments »http%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F08%2Fjrs-career-path%2FJR%27s+Career+Path2010-08-02+20%3A20%3A05JR+Rozkohttp%3A%2F%2Flifeasmission.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D5303

**I owe everyone an update on our support raising effort for the Lausanne Congress in South Africa that’s coming up in October and I promise to do that soon, but I wanted to throw out some exciting news regarding my career path first.

Tomorrow, I will begin in a new role as Associate Director of Advancement for Northern Seminary.  In this PT position, I will be cultivating relationships with alumni and other supporters of the school and its mission.  On top of this, I have been hired as a communications consultant to do Internet Presence Management for the school and its programs.  Among other things, I’ll be creating and maintaining social networks for the school and its programs.

For those of you who have been tracking with us personally, I want to try and articulate how Amy and I see this evolution of things.

When Amy and I got engaged (Feb. ’09), we knew that it was going to mean one of us leaving a job that we loved.  I was a pastor to young adults in Memphis and she was a mobilizer for International Teams here in Elgin.  Through much prayer and support, I resigned my position and moved up here to Chicago (May. ’09).

Though I’ve applied to no less than 36 jobs in the last year (3/month!), the bulk of my time has been given to largely unsolicited opportunities that have come my way and, I believe, have paved the way to this new position and consulting work.

Over the last year I was asked to teach a class for Fuller Theological Seminary, TA a class for Talbot School of Theology, build web sites and create communication pieces for International Teams, do quality control work for christianaudio.com, lead an alumni project for Northern Seminary, write articles for Jovia Web Studio, and assist on Information Architecture projects with Uzify.

The structure of our first year of marriage has been non-traditional I suppose.  Amy has worked full-time while I looked for work and gave my time and attention to these contractual jobs that just kept coming my way.  It’s very true that she’s been incredibly supportive and my biggest cheerleader.  She was often upset on my behalf when I was passed over for a position.  But I don’t want to paint a picture that the last year has been a struggle.  Quite the contrary, we’ve quite enjoyed the structure of our life for the last year and the flexibility it’s brought.

For us, my saying yes to these new opportunities isn’t so much the end of a year long search for a job as much as it is another step in our ongoing attempt to be open and faithful to God’s work in our lives.  I am receiving these job opportunities not as relief after a year of drought, but as a new kind of gift in an ongoing succession of the same.

Having this sort of posture toward God and God’s work has been incredibly formative for us and it instills in us an even greater sense of excitement and anticipation for the future.  To all those who have been praying for us, your labors have brought us not to a finish line, but simply to yet another stage in a life-long race of openness, faithfulness, and discernment.  We thank you for that.

Posted in Amy, chicago, decisions, marriage, Northern Seminary, prayer