• Archive of "stewardship" Category

    Launching Missional Communities (Book Review)

    December 6, 2010 // 13 Comments »

    Like many others, I received a free copy of Launching Missional Communities: A Field Guide by Mike Breen & Alex Absalom to read and review here on my blog.

    I should probably say upfront that I have a ton of 3DM (the training network behind this book) friends.  I love them, their hearts, and their ministries, so as I come to this book, I’m already biased in favor of it.

    The easiest thing to say about this book is that it’s practical.  While it’s easy, even fun, to read, it almost can be treated more like a resource manual than a book.  It doesn’t need to be read straight through and it’s easy to reference bits and pieces depending on your interests.

    Before diving into all the good stuff I want to say, let me go ahead and get my one major criticism out of the way.  There is a small chapter entitled, “Attractional vs. Missional” in which the authors attempt to argue that we need both.  My opinion, however, is that the argument fails on both theological and analogical fronts.  They use the pre-Reformation phenomenon of Roman model churches (if you build it they will come) and Celtic model churches (more outward focused) to suggest that we need attractional and missional kinds of churches playing off of one another.  The analogical problem here is that what is generally meant today by attractional and missional does not at all correspond to the realities and circumstances in which these models of churches existed.  As for the theological problem, I can probably best articulate that by sharing the last sentences of the chapter and my notes in the margin.

    The quote…

    We just need to understand what Attractional does well and do it.

    We need to understand what Missional does well and do it.

    My notes…

    Impossible – attractional and missional churches are such because they have divergent understandings of basic Christian doctrines.  What we need is a theologically robust understanding the relationship between the the Missio Dei, the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and the Church.  This will lead us not to the ‘best’ of these two models, but to a cohesive vision of a missional ecclesiology.  This is the great error of ‘AND’ thinking; you never get to core issues because you spend all your time trying to artificially hold incompatible things together.

    The saddest part of this is that the underlying genius of the book actually does this work.  It undercuts the errant theology and philosophy driving attractional churches.  I just wish they had been more direct in stating it.

    UPDATE: Be sure to check this post Mike Breen offered in response.

    OK, on to the far more substantive praise.

    The authors fully communicate their heart for the life and ministry of local churches in their various forms.  They offer not just a proposal, but a methodical plan for churches of any size (though it seems pretty obvious that they have in mind mainly new, smaller communities and then more established larger communities in mind) and kind to begin to incorporate missional communities into the life of their larger church community.

    Discipleship, leadership and mission are the driving themes of both the book and the entire philosophy of missional communities.  To get the point of the book, you have to understand that from the author’s perspective, the task of the church is discipleship – period – the end.  And they are right.  You also have to embrace the idea that the replication of leaders is imperative to the larger task of discipleship.  If you don’t equip and empower leaders, you can kiss your changes of exponential discipleship bye-bye.  Again, I’m totally with them here.  Finally, mission is the context in which leaders are equipped and disciples are formed.  Amen!  If you can embrace and own these three things, then you’ll love this book and what it offers.

    A few final things.  I deeply appreciate that they didn’t skip over the tough (practical) issues like kids, schedules, and finances.  they address these things as only those who’ve lived through the ins and outs of the details could.  They also interspersed quotes and stories from those who have gone through their 3DM training and others who have implemented missional communities (or some derivation thereof) into their larger church context.

    Seriously, it was a great book – something that we are finding valuable at Life on the Vine even.  The guys behind 3DM are doing a good work and the people who contributed stories to the book are the ultimate testimony of that.  I highly recommend you pick up a copy or two to read through with a group that’s interested in the whole idea of missional communities – you won’t find a better practical guide for sure.

    Posted in books, church, discipleship, God, kingdom, leadership, LOV, missional, review, stewardship, theology

    Give the Gift of Hope

    December 4, 2010 // No Comments »

    I am a huge fan of redeeming the overly-commercialized holiday seasons for the purposes of the Kingdom.  One the best ways to go about doing that, in my opinion, is giving people gifts that exhibit something of eternal worth and significance.  All the better if that gift also equates to something life-giving to someone else.  I’ve written before about Advent Conspiracy and continue to love what they’re about.  But I’ve recently heard of another option along similar lines that I wanted to share as well.

    A while back I had the chance to conduct an interview with Scott Sabin, the author of Tending to Eden and the Executive Director of Plant with Purpose – a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to helping the rural poor through environmental restoration, economic empowerment, and spiritual renewal.

    Plant with Purpose has put together a Holiday Village Market.  Through the market you can buy or contribute toward..

    Animals

    Trees

    Eco Items

    A Family Garden

    Business Skills and Micro-credit Loan Management Training

    Spiritual Renewal

    I think it would be simply brilliant to buy one (or way more!) of these gifts on behalf of a friend or family member and give them some token of it as a way of stimulating conversation or even direct involvement with regard to the basic and urgent needs around the world.  Please leave a comment here if you plan to make use of this Holiday Village Market this Christmas.

    Posted in environment, justice, kingdom, stewardship

    Tending to Eden: An Interview with Author, Scott Sabin

    March 3, 2010 // 2 Comments »

    About a month ago I offered a book review of Tending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God’s People by Scott Sabin.  Scott is the Executive director of Plant with Purpose.

    Plant With Purpose is an international environmental organization that transforms lives in rural areas where poverty is caused by deforestation. For over 25 years, Plant With Purpose has provided lasting solutions to heal the relationship between people and their environment by planting trees, revitalizing farms, and offering loans to create economic opportunity.

    Yesterday, I had the chance to actually interview Scott and ask him a few questions about the book.  Besides providing an overview of Plant with Purpose and the book, Tending to Eden, we spend some talking about the devastation in Haiti, one of the places where they serve, the vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation, and the relationship between creation care and the gospel.  The whole interview (~ 22 mins.) is worth the selection of the book that Scott reads toward the end.

    Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

    Download.

    If you’re reading this in a feed reader and don’t see the audio player, click through to see it.

    If you buy the book through the Amazon link on this page, a portion of the proceeds will directly benefit the rural poor.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

    Posted in books, creation, environment, interview, justice, stewardship

    Book Review – Tending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God’s People

    February 6, 2010 // 3 Comments »

    I was fortunate enough to receive a pre-release copy of Tending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God’s People by Scott C. Sabin from Judson Press.

    Sabin is the Executive Director of Plant with Purpose, a Christian relief and development agency.

    Christians have a responsibility to love and care for our environment as part of God’s creation and Sabin gets that for sure, but that’s not the genius of the book.  The real beauty of this book comes in the author’s ability to explain to readers, with remarkable insight and simplicity, the inherent connection between caring for the environment and caring for the poor and oppressed. He does so by providing a relational framework for understanding the issues throughout the book.  Through first-hand stories and lessons learned from years of experience, Sabin unmasks the naivete and ignorance of the brand of evangelicals for whom creation care is auxiliary to (their version of) the gospel.  He suggests – at times more implicitly than explicitly, that all the challenges we face, as well as the solutions to those problems, are relational in nature

    Throughout the book, the author tackles issues such as deforestation, sustainable agriculture, sanitation, grassroots enterprise, and climate change.  In each case, his aim is to point out how our engagement with these issues has everything to do with out concern for those who are most globally at-risk.

    For Sabin,

    …without God, all the development and environmental restoration in the world will not bring transformation.

    At the same time, he is able to articulate that transformation is not something other than God-infused labors of development and environmental restoration.

    As someone who believes that one of the hallmarks of the missional church is listening to voices from the margins, I was struck by this comment from the author.

    The idea that stewardship and conservation are part of a liberal agenda seems ludicrous in much of the developing world.  I remember the shock on the face of our Dominican director when I tried to explain the suspicion with which many U.S. churches regarded the environmental aspects of our work.  It was a horrifying thought to him that American Christians would be less than enthusiastic about caring for the earth.  Many of our brothers and sisters in the developing world are way ahead of us in their understanding of stewardship, and there is much that we can learn from them.

    For anyone wishing they could find a book that offers a global view of some of the most pressing environmental challenges without getting lost and confused in technical jargon, this book is an excellent resource. The book even features a discussion guide at the end for each chapter making it an excellent choice for groups interested in studying and talking about these issues together.  Through raising our awareness and offering practical suggestions, Sabin offers readers a hope for the future that is rooted not in our ability to affect change, but in God’s invitation to join him in his mission of the reconciliation of all things.

    Posted in books, environment, missional, stewardship

    The Power & Promise of Regional Gatherings for the Equipping of Missional Churches

    October 20, 2009 // 11 Comments »

    A bit of background to this post…

    I used to want to be the next Rick Warren or Bill Hybels.  What student pastor in the late 90′s didn’t?  As I look back, my misaligned, youthful arrogance was fueled in large part by the national conferences I was attending.  Predicated on the modern notion that bigger is always better, these conferences communicated and celebrated the paradoxical and lamentable reality of “Christian celebrity.”

    These conferences sprang up from and in turn sought to facilitate the modern megachurch phenomenon.  And, in my opinion, did/do more harm than good.  In the Christian world, when it comes to conferences, the national variety tends to capitalize on the “cool factor,” something that seems grossly out of place to me now for those who follow a crucified Savior.

    At national conferences there are typically big name speakers, higher attendance and more bells and whistles.  (Maybe even a dude jumping into a foot of water from 35 feet up?)  National conferences, at least the better ones, can have value for inspiring people I suppose, but I would venture to say that regional gatherings possess far more power and value in terms of their ability to help shape and equip the church and her leaders.  Here’s just a few reasons why I say that.

    • Relationships are more easily cultivated and sustained
    • With greater ease and interest, topics of conversation move from the theoretical to the practical
    • Traveling costs are much lower
    • Conference costs are much lower (if not free like Verge LA which my friend JR Woodward (@dreamawakener) is helping to put together
    • Conversations regarding context and culture gain more immediate traction
    • The loss of the “cool factor” translates into a higher caliber of fellow attenders
    • Virtually everyone gets to participate in meaningful ways
    • There is greater access to gifted people who would probably never get invited to present at a national gathering because they are w/o book deals and cult followings
    • There is no hype to distract from the more important issues being addressed
    • Young and impressionable leaders aren’t made to feel inadequate or handed delusions of grandeur

    For these reasons and still others, I am hopeful that we will see more and more groups who exist to strengthen the missional church and her leaders investing in regional gatherings.  And where and when national gatherings continue, my hope is that they will focus on supporting regional networks, leaving the hype behind.

    Posted in church, conference, leadership, missional, modernity, networking, preaching/teaching, stewardship, sustainability, western culture

    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

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