lifeasmission

Bi-Vocational Ministry

October 6, 2009 // 123524 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/10/bi-vocational-ministry/Bi-Vocational+Ministry2009-10-06+19%3A33%3A27JR+Rozko

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

A Church-based Bailout Heartcheck

October 1, 2008 // 7266 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/10/a-church-based-bailout-heartcheck/A+Church-based+Bailout+Heartcheck2008-10-01+22%3A59%3A06JR+Rozko

I had a pretty elaborate post prepared on the whole economic crisis/bailout proposal that I was ready to publish, (instead, I will just point you to this great segment from This American Life, “The Giant Pool of Money,” which clearly and insightfully spells out just how we got in this mess) when another thought struck me – this great opportunity for the Church to shine.  It was this bit of Jesus’ teaching that came to mind specifically.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

This economic crisis is a great heart-check for the Church.  Where… What… Who is our treasure?  What a fantastic opportunity for the Church to witness to the watching world – to, in the midst of economic fright and despair, to be MORE generous, MORE sacrificial, MORE giving; to not “conform to the pattern of this world,” but to put on display a hope and a joy that is no way threatened, but is rather emboldened in times such as these.

But I wonder… will we shine?  I fear that the extent to which the Church in the West has so wedded its identity with that of the American dream will make this very, very difficult.  Thankfully, we worship a God who desires to work miracles amongst a repentant people.

Posted in Jesus, bible, capitalism, church, money, western culture

Kingdom Stimulation

July 24, 2008 // 5864 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/07/kingdom-stimulation/Kingdom+Stimulation2008-07-24+22%3A12%3A26JR+Rozko

I received my Economic Stimulus Payment the other day and wondered what I would do with it.  As I thought and prayed, I decided to join the ranks of those who called the whole premise of the program into question.

Feel free to accuse me for oversimplifying things if you want, but bottom line, the whole point of the Economic Stimulus Payments that virtually everyone received this year, was singular, “The economy is hurting, so please go buy stuff.”

Sadly, this advice just doesn’t square with those of us who live in a new reality under the Kingship of a God who says, “a man’s life does not consists in the abundance of his possessions” or whose dream for people is to live lives of sacrifice, sharing, generosity, and stewardship.

God’s economics fly in the face of the dominant American addiction to consumerism illustrated perfectly both by the opening line of a recent credit card advertisement, “We are a nation of consumers….and there’s nothing wrong with that.” (ht: Grete), as well as our President’s advice to the country after the 9/11 attacks of, “Go shopping.”

So, 1/2 my check went to Geronime, a woman in Benin, Africa, a fruit vendor through Kiva – a group (you definitely need to check out) that makes micro-loans to “entrepeneurs in the developing world, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty,” and the other 1/2 went to pay down debt.  Guess I will just have to go without that gizmo, gadget, or do-dad that I probably needed sooooo badly.

Posted in God, capitalism, consumerism, decisions, money

Christian Escapism

July 19, 2008 // 5753 Comments »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/07/christian-escapism/Christian+Escapism2008-07-19+22%3A59%3A39JR+Rozko

Disclaimer:  This post is not (really) about cars.

On the heels of that last post, I thought I would throw this out there and say how glad I am that most of the folks in my life seem to be those who are really trying to press into the full implications of what following Jesus means and looks like right here and now.  They are not, for the most part, Christian Escapists – those whose value for Christ primarily has to do with their get-out-of-hell-free card.  They want to live out lives of discipleship for the sake of their neighbors and the world.

Anyway, that being said… I caught this in a parking lot the other day, read it, kept walking, and went back to take a picture once my internal annoyance-o-meter reached its peak.

This bumper sticker perfectly illustrates the degree to which a subtle neo-gnosticism has seeped into how we understand the Christian faith.  The idea of gnosticism is simple: eternity has nothing to do with here and now.  Therefore, for example, I can “have my treasure in heaven,” and live however the heck I want.

I am reminded of my friend Wess’ post, “How Do We Look for the Theology of a Church?“  One of his suggestions was to check out the cars in the parking lot on Sunday morning.  Now, this may not be a perfect gauge (and Wess doesn’t suggest that it is), but in terms of a non-gnosticized version of the Christian faith, it is a valid point.  That point being, if we understand the good news of God’s Kingdom as something we get to participate in and live out for the sake of the world here and now, then guess what, it will envelop every aspect of our lives, including (perhaps especially including) the economic dimension.

The gospel aims to get a grip on not just our hearts, but our whole lives.  Imagine the visible impact of church communities which aimed to live well below their means because of their rejection of consumerism and materialism, or, even better, because they so badly wanted to experience the blessing of sharing and giving – of living lives unencumbered by extravagance and luxury.  That seems like a way of being the church that is more worthy of a crucified and risen Messiah.

Posted in church, consumerism, discipleship, money, pictures, suburban

Riches in Poverty

July 10, 2008 // 5711 Comment »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/07/riches-in-poverty/Riches+in+Poverty2008-07-10+20%3A37%3A58JR+Rozko

If I had to guess, I’d say that I’ll be posting on “the scandalous impracticality of all that Jesus stood for” really soon as I can’t seem to stop thinking about it.

As a prelude to that though, I wanted to point to a message Gib offered to the Living Hope community this past Sunday when I was away, “Riches in Poverty.”  Probably my favorite line, “Every time currency changes hands, I am making a spiritual decision.”  How different our lives would be, how different our very understanding on what it means to be a gospel people if we embraced and lived out this Kingdom truth!

Posted in decisions, kingdom, living hope, money

One Day = $720 Million Dollars

March 29, 2008 // 4971 Comment »http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2008/03/one-day-720-million-dollars/One+Day+%3D+%24720+Million+Dollars2008-03-29+15%3A37%3A05JR+Rozko

Immediately after I finished my taxes this morning and submitted them online, I caught this video over on Josh’s blog and wanted to repost it.  Of course there are all sorts of issues bound up with a video like this and I don’t mean to oversimplify it, but I find it incredibly convicting in terms of how little thought I tend to give to what my money is going to.  ”Out of sight, out of mind,” as they say.  I wish I could simply rest in the fact that I am getting a full refund of my federal taxes from last year, but something tells me that there just might be something more to it than that – ya think?  

Posted in money, politics