Bill Nieporte, Pastor

Incestuous Relationships in the Church
by Paul Donnan

(This and other blogs by Paul can be found at http://well-beings.blogspot.com/)

Sound like a tabloid expose’ on yet another church scandal?  This one is even more rampant than our Catholic brothers’ troubles.  However this insidious problem is flying below the radar and hasn’t even been detected by most involved.  Let me explain.

When Jesus prepared to leave His disciples, He commissioned them to reproduce, to make other disciples (followers) by teaching the way that leads to everlasting life that Jesus came to secure.  The pattern set forth was relational.

Now think of what is commonly practiced in church settings of all varieties in our day.  We have perfected the art of program driven relationships.  Members are minimally expected to gather once or twice a week at corporate events. It’s not uncommon for more high-impact congregations to expect their followers to additionally attend a small group once or twice a week. 

Evangelism has morphed to an event planned for a Saturday outreach into a targeted neighborhood. A“witness” is something you “do” (or feel inferior if you don’t do).  That’s not at all what Jesus had in mind.  He said in Acts 1:8 that we are to “be” witnesses.  Our everyday life brings Jesus in very close proximity to people who desperately need the savior.  In our lifetime, some have fought to keep the Ten Commandments out of our public schools and buildings.  No one is stopping us from bringing Jesus in to those places, they can’t.  Where we go He goes.

Typical believers are busy gathering with other believers to “do” religious things.  That’s program-driven community.  Who’s reaching out to the lost neighbors on our own street?  The church at large is preoccupied with an incestuous relationship with each other while lost outsiders are entering a Christ-less eternity right before our eyes.  Friends “these things ought not to be so.”

Most people I meet are busy; they’re not looking for one more demand to be put on their plate.  Many people I see do know the loneliness of wondering if anybody cares they exist.  The masses that followed Jesus didn’t do so because there was nothing better to do.  He touched them, spoke life into them, it felt hopeful and they followed Him.  Do you think His approach just may have been intentional?

Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America.  Insiders separated from outsiders, believers from unbelievers.  For those who venture inside the church doors, parents go one way, youth another (sometimes split again by gender) and the littlest children yet somewhere else.  I understand the concept to deliver truth that’s age-appropriate, but that doesn’t exempt the church from taking that same truth outside wherever hurting people are.

When I brought our core team to Crystal Lake last summer to survey the city, we went 2×2 on that Sunday morning to as many churches as we could, to get a pulse for the spiritual climate of the area.  We experienced a lot that morning.  Two of our young gals attended a small church meeting in a hotel setting.  After the service there were cookies set out, it was a great opportunity to meet people.  These gals were hoping to make a connection.  What they experienced was not only silence, but as the church goers talked with each other, they rotated their backs to these obvious “new people” so they could enjoy each other’s company.  The “norm”?  I hope not.  The “exception”?  I fear not.  Why?  “Because it’s Sunday, I already went out evangelizing with the church Saturday.”

“Christianity is not a religion it’s a relationship”.  Heard that one?  Oh, you mean with “other people” too?  What a concept, “be witnesses unto me”.  You are bringing Jesus in very close proximity with people every day.  Can they tell?  Are you wetting their appetite for the savior?  Or are you presenting a cloistered community called church, which they hope to avoid?

I double dog dare you to go visit a new church Sunday.  See what it feels like to be an “outsider”.  Maybe it will change the way you see and relate to people you don’t yet know.

The link to this post is:
http://well-beings.blogspot.com/2010/07/incestuous-relationships-in-church.html

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This is an article from Goerge Bullard – Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership

 E-mail: GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org; Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org

This is a collection of Vision Insights from George Bullard who has been involved in strategic planning with congregations, denominations, and parachurch organizations for 35 years. For the foreseeable future a new insight will be posted each Monday through Friday on

George’s Twitter account at www.Twitter.com/BullardJournal  and on his Facebook Profile page at www.Facebook.com/BullardJournal.

Periodically an update of the full collection will be posted to his blog at www.BullardJournal.org.

Vision Insight 001: Vision is a movement of God that is memorable rather than a statement by humankind that is memorized.

Vision Insight 002: Vision is not what leaders cast and followers catch. It is something by which leaders and followers are captivated.

Vision Insight 003: The only vision that will work is God’s vision. Neither the pastor’s vision nor the board’s vision is sufficient.

Vision Insight 004: Visionary Leadership is about who we are, what we believe, where we are heading, and how we are getting there.

Vision Insight 005: Vision plus Intentionality is the core formula for an Enduring Visionary Leadership Community to follow.

Vision Insight 006: Any similarity between the typical committee-developed vision statement and true vision is purely accidental.

Vision Insight 007: Vision is not so much written as it is experienced. Vision must be sensed and experienced rather than read or heard.

Vision Insight 008: When considering how vision comes, it may be helpful to consider how the New Testament came. By experience first, and then written.

Vision Insight 009: Vision is experienced. We reflect on it and share it orally with our full heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then we write it.

Vision Insight 010: We write down the vision we have experienced to have a consistent historic and dynamic sharing of the vision with congregation.

Vision Insight 011: Vision is the super high octane fuel that drives the spiritual strategic journey of a congregation or denomination.

Vision Insight 012: Where there is no vision a congregation is confused and travels in circles without any clear sense of direction.

Vision Insight 013: Vision is about leadership rather than management. Management should be accountable to visionary leadership.

Vision Insight 014: If congregations focus on the pastor’s vision, when the pastor leaves vision often leaves. Vision from God never leaves.

Vision Insight 015: When congregations expect the pastor to provide vision, they often mean a vision that agrees with their vision.

Vision Insight 016: When visionary leadership is not present in a congregation, it creates a vacuum into which management rushes.

Vision Insight 017: For vision to be effective in a congregation it must be owned by at least 21 percent of adults present for weekly worship.

Vision Insight 018: The founding vision in a congregation often empowers the congregation for the first generation of its life.

Vision Insight 019: Following the first generation of the life of a congregation vision must be recast and re-owned every seven to nine years.

Vision Insight 020: A congregation captivated by vision is always asking how decisions and actions will help them fulfill their vision.

Vision Insight 021: Congregations without vision become increasing susceptible to unhealthy conflict and control by a few.

Vision Insight 022: Once present in a congregation, vision is not always present. Even the best vision movements wane with time.

Vision Insight 023: Vision casting is about the future that is unfolding under God’s leadership; not the past that acts as a foundation.

Vision Insight 024: Vision casting is the responsibility of all leaders in a congregation with pastor’s initiating leadership.

Vision Insight 025: When vision is asleep in the back seat of the congregational vehicle, management drives and is happy about it.

Vision Insight 026: Management is only fully happy when it is driving the congregational vehicle. When not driving, it is trying to drive.

Vision Insight 027: Many congregations structure their life around programs rather than relationships, thus putting a drag factor on vision.

Vision Insight 028: When congregations are in the best possible relationship with God and one another they can easily feel vision.

Vision Insight 029: Too much focus on a professional vision statement takes the focus off of a real vision experience.

Vision Insight 030: Vision is so much more than a marketing statement or motto, yet these can be important in communicating vision.

Vision Insight 031: Vision is more about increasing and deepening discipleship than it is about successful and growing programs.

Vision Insight 032: To be truly missional, vision is more than pushing programs and ministries into the context around the church location.

Vision Insight 033: To begin to be truly missional, vision is about pulling the people of the congregation into the context for ministry.

Vision Insight 034: To be totally missional, vision is about leaping into the context for radical ministry, leaving the existing congregation behind.

Vision Insight 035: Programs, processes, and emphases in a congregation must have their own vision that supports the congregation’s vision.

Vision Insight 036: Leaders sold out to their congregation’s vision often think about how they can help fulfill that vision.

Vision Insight 037: Potential leaders who cannot articulate their passion for the congregation’s vision need to remain potential leaders.

Vision Insight 038: Pastors who are not passionate about the vision for their congregation are likely to become known as former.

Vision Insight 039: Pastors who are not passionate about the vision for their congregation are likely to become known as mediocre.

Vision Insight 040: Staff ministers who are not passionate about the vision for their congregation are likely to become known as former.

Vision Insight 041: Pastors and staff who feel entitled to their role with a particular congregation are not likely to empower vision.

Vision Insight 042: When it comes to vision, good enough is never good enough, adequate is never acceptable, and mediocrity is never excellent.

Vision Insight 043: If vision is too clear it may be too close to you, not challenging, prophetic, and focus on your full kingdom potential.

Vision Insight 044: Vision may always be a little fuzzy–particularly in the ways to fulfill it–if it is looking beyond the current horizon.

Vision Insight 045: Vision will always be something that is beyond your current grasp, around the corner, or over the next hill.

Vision Insight 046: Vision is not a passing fantasy or a fleeting passion. It is a long-term view of God’s calling on a congregation.

Vision Insight 047: Even though vision involves the long-view, it must be reconceptualized at least every seven to nine years or it dies.

Vision Insight 048: When does the leadership of a congregation finish casting vision? Never, or it dies. Casting is a forever activity.

Vision Insight 049: Vision and its fulfillment should positively impact every decision a congregation makes or it becomes marginalized.

Vision Insight 050: The sustainability of vision may be dependent on how well it is cast for and owned by new people in the congregation.

Vision Insight 051: Killers of a new vision in a congregation are the people who will not let go of the old vision.

Vision Insight 052: Vision is not about new buildings, but about the lives transformed through the ministries in new buildings.

Vision Insight 053: Vision fulfillment is more about empowerment than control, relationships than programs, and hope than heritage.

Vision Insight 054: Vision is always about the future. Vision is never just about the past. The past is a prelude to the emerging future.

Vision Insight 055: Vision involves forgetting what is behind, and looking forward to what is ahead. [See Philippians 3:13]

Vision Insight 056: Vision is about pressing on towards the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. [See Philippians 3:14]

Vision Insight 057: Vision is about leaving your land of heritage and going forward to a new place God will show you. [See Genesis 12:1]

Vision Insight 058: A visionary journey can be scary as it takes us to new, strange places so far away that we cannot see familiar places.

Vision Insight 059: Where there is no vision for new things God is doing people run away from opportunities and get swallowed by big fish.

Vision Insight 060: Vision does not call for the rejection of heritage. It sees it as a foundation, a prelude, a centering, and moorings.

Vision Insight 061: Moses did not see vision in the burning bush. He experienced it with his whole being and was transformed by it.

Vision Insight 062: Aaron had to accommodate to the lack of vision with am image of God people could see and touch.

Vision Insight 063: God offers transformative vision. Too often our possessions, deference to other people, and pride blind us.

Vision Insight 064: Too often earthly things, preferences, and tangible security blind us to the brilliance of God’s new vision.

Vision Insight 065: In general, the longer people are connected with a congregation, the more difficult it is to see a new vision.

Vision Insight 066: Vision is more about the transformation of the prodigals that the honoring of the elders among us.

Vision Insight 067: Myopia prohibits many long-term members from seeing the long-term benefits of new vision.

Vision Insight 068: The word vision contain neither the letter “m” nor the letter “e”. Vision is not about me. It is about God.

Vision Insight 069: Empowering vision often disrupts the status quo and who is in change. That is why some people try to kill it.

Vision Insight 070: People with vision can read Jesus’ writing in the sand, and realize what they must do. Others say “Huh?”.

Vision Insight 071: People with vision know they must leave the 99 and focus on the one. People without vision see only the faithful.

Vision Insight 072: Vision is about walking by faith in God rather than by what is in plain sight. [See 2 Corinthians 5:7]

Vision Insight 073: Vision acknowledges that the early Church that huddled too long in Jerusalem lost vision.

Vision Insight 074: During a visionary journey God at times changes our plans and heads us to a new Macedonia. [See Acts 16:9-10]

Vision Insight 075: In the Apostle Paul’s life we see that a vision of your destiny guides many choices along the road to Rome.

Important Things to Know

George Bullard is a Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership. He is also General Secretary [executive director] of the North American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. The Columbia Partnership is a non-profit Christian ministry organization focused on transforming the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain Christ-centered ministry. Travel Free Learning is a leadership development emphasis. For more information about products and services check out the web site at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, send an e-mail to Client.Care@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, or call 803.622.0923.

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Luke 10:24-37

Jesus said and did some really horrifying things throughout his ministry.

You probably shutter at the very thought of that sentence, but it is true.  The problem is that many of us have heard the stories and teaching of Jesus so often that they simply don’t carry anymore the impact that they should.   

I wonder what would happen to us if we could hear Jesus’ words as if we’d never heard them before.  What kind of revolutionary impact might they have on our lives if we could hear Jesus again for the first time – without all the filters that familiarity brings. 

Jesus tells us not to worry about what we are going to eat or wear. 

Jesus tells us not to save for a rainy day but to trust God to supply our daily needs.

Jesus tells us that if somebody attacks, don’t fight back, but turn the other cheek.

Jesus says that if somebody robs us we should give them more than what they demand. 

If you want to be great, Jesus says become a servant.

In tough economic times, Jesus says we should give all our money to care for the poor.   

 “Turn the other cheek!”

 “Don’t return violence with violence.” 

 “Love your enemies and bless those who persecute you.”

 “Take up the cross!”

I know what’s going on in your mind right now.  I thought the same thing when I began preparing this message.  “Yes, but…” I thought to myself.  “Yes, Jesus said all those things…but he didn’t really mean it!” 

Next I started offering all the excuses, explanations, and rationalizations that I’ve collected from decades of sermons and Bible studies – the things I’ve learn to take the edge off.  Then I started thinking, “What if the excuses, explanations, and rationalizations are wrong?  What if Jesus really said what he meant and meant what he said?  What if we are not allowed to files away as irrelevant the things that Jesus said that we really don’t like or understand?”

What if we recovered the WOW-factor in Jesus teachings, stories, and actions?

Like with today’s story, for example.  The “parable of the Good Samaritan” is one of the most well-known stories in human literature.  Like you I have heard this story read, preached, and taught in so many sermons and Bible studies that it seemed rather trite to preach it all again.  How can I we get a fresh hearing of this story when we’ve heard it all so many times before?  How can we rediscover the WOW-factor in this story? 

…To hear the rest of this sermon, come to Patterson Avenue Baptist Church this Sunday, July 11th, 2010.  We conduct Bible Studies for all ages at 9:45am, followed by Family Praise worship at 11:00am.  See you then!

The full text and an audio of the sermon will be available online after July 11th

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Found this terrific video online describing what it means to be a “missional church.”  Sound remarkably like what the Bible describes as “the church,” but I fear that we’ve fallen so far away from the biblical model that something like this actually sounds revolutionary.

The Missional Church… simple

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Missional Grace:  Transformed

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

–Romans 12:1-2

Lord Jesus, I can’t; You never said I could.

But You can; and always said You would! – Jane Grey

In Romans 12:1-2, the Apostle Paul addresses something of what it means to be a Christian.   We think it means to be all tied up in religious stuff – rituals, regulations, requirements.  But that’s not it as all.  It’s about FREEDOM.  But interestingly enough, this freedom comes through dependence, not independence. 

So much of what our culture values are things related to independence.  We are all a bit like Frank Sinatra.  Our theme song is “I Did it MY Way!” 

The Christian motto, however, shouldn’t be anything like that sung by Sinatra.  It’s not our way, but God’s.  It’s not our strength, resources, knowledge, or ingenuity, it’s all about God.  As an old confession of the church says, “In God we live and move and have our being.” 

Biblical Christianity is not about independence.  In fact the idea of independence was at the core of the biblical story of the Fall.  “You will be like God,” the Tempter said in the garden (see Genesis 3).  If you are LIKE GOD, you no longer need God.  You think you can live independent of God.

Here’s the problem.  We were never met to live independently from God.  We were created to draw our strength from God.  God is a GIVER and we are RECEIVERS.  When we take God out of the picture (that’s called sin) then something happens inside us.  Spiritually speaking, we die.  That’s what it means to become disconnected from God as the source.  So we end up spending our days trying to find something or someone to either fill the void or cover of the despair.  We try to find something to put on ourselves that will give life some sense of meaning and purpose.  It might be alcohol, drugs, or sexual fantasies.  It might be going to church, acting religious, and doing good deeds.  It may look good to bad to the world, but spiritually speaking, it’s still bankrupt because it remains a completely inadequate substitute for God.

When Jesus enters the picture (by faith) we are reconnected to God.  In Christ we have a life source that is sufficient to meet all our needs.  When Jesus animates our life, we begin to be changed from the insider out, rather than the outside in. 

 In Romans 12:1-2, Paul rejects independence and self-effort as a way of living life.  “Present yourselves to Jesus,” he says.  That’s a much better motto that “I Did It My Way.” 

What is the difference between being conformed and transformed?

How might this difference inform our ministry? 

If independence is not a appropriate world for the Christian, what words or phrases might be more appropriate?

Oswald Chambers once wrote, “The phrase we hear so often, ‘Decide for Christ,’ is an emphasis on something Our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him – a very different thing.”

What does it mean to “yield to Christ”? 

How do we step aside daily and let Christ live His life through you? 

What does this look like?

What might a church look like when it realizes its life comes from Jesus?

How can we stimulate this kind of lifestyle through our ministry?

 Benediction

 An Old Scottish Prayer of Benediction

Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,
Christ be behind me, King of my heart,
Christ be within me, Christ be below me,
Christ be above me, never to part.

Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand,
Christ  all around me, shield in the strife.
Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting,
Christ in my rising, light of my life.

Christ be in all hearts thinking about me.
Christ be in all tongues telling of me.
Christ be the vision in eyes that see me,
in ears that hear me, Christ ever be.

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Missional Grace:  Finding Purpose

 “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”  Acts 20:24

 In his book, Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life, James Coleman writes: 

 With the advent of the space age, man (sic) is confronted with a new perspective of time and space, and the problem of finding meaning in his existence in a universe in which the earth and even the whole solar system may be no larger in relation to the whole than an atom is to the earth.

 At the same time, materialistic values—based on the belief that scientific progress would automatically lead to man’s happiness and fulfillment—have proven sadly disillusioning.  As a result, many people are groping about, bewildered and bitter, unable to find any enduring faith or to develop a satisfying philosophy of life.  Despite their fine automobiles, well-stocked refrigerators, and other material possessions and comforts, the meaning of life seems to be evading them.  In essence, they are suffering from existential anxiety—deep concern about finding values which will enable them to live satisfying, fulfilling, and meaningful lives.

Think about that phrase existential anxiety.  Those two simple words point to the age-old fundamental questions of human existence: 

Who am I? 

Why am I here? 

What is my purpose in living? 

These are not just individual questions – they are congregational questions.

Coleman writes from the perspective of a secular scientist of the mind (a psychologist).  Yet he could have as easily been writing a theological dissertation on the effects of sin on the human psyche.  Disconnected from God, the search for meaning becomes even more pronounced, while the answers to that search always seem just beyond our grasp.  Part of our challenge, as we seek to “undo the disastrous effects of human sin on God’s good creation,” is to share with the world THE SOURCE for finding the meaning and purpose of life. 

 That’s the churches mission. 

Sometimes fulfilling it will require words.  We will preach the gospel.  We will be vocal in our support of those suffering injustice.  We will write letters, send notes, post blogs, teach Bible studies. 

 At other times it will be actions.  We will feed the hungry.  We will house the homeless.  We will educate the unemployed so they can be better equipped to find jobs.  We will visit the homebound and nursing home residents.  We will help mom’s and dad’s become better parents.

Pause for a moment and discuss the cause that has brought your missional group together. 

 What specific need(s) does your group feel a specific sense of Christ-inspired passion to address?

In what way might the use of WORDS playing a part in addressing this needs?  …actions? 

Okay, so you know WHY you are gathering.  You know the need – the disastrous impact of human sin you feel Christ wants to address though you.  Now remember that you engaged in this ministry for no other reason than that the love of Christ compels you.  He is our life and the source of our missional faithfulness.  Our ethic is always “grace-based.”  It proceeds from and is returned to Jesus, author and finisher of our faith.

That’s what Paul was saying in Acts 20:24.  The central task of his ministry—and the overarching mission of the church—is that of “testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Human sin impacts people in many ways.  The church is called to respond to these adverse impacts of sin, as we indicated, though both word and deed.

At its core, sin is expressing one’s independence from God.  In the biblical story of the fall of humanity, the root of the temptation was to “become like God” (see Genesis 3:5).  Of course, that just wasn’t going to happen.  So, when Adam submitted to this temptation, it was his declaration of independence from God.  The problem is that human beings were not created to live independently from God.  We were designed to life from God, out of God’s provision of Himself, to meet our every need. 

That’s how sin produces in us this sense of existential anxiety.  Sin rejects any sort of dependency on God and sets us up as independent agents.  But since the effects of sin are bigger than we are – we end up engaging in a search to find something or someone to grant our lives that sense of meaning that has been lost when we chose to disconnect from God.  Some folks seek meaning for their lives in things like family, religion, or career achievement.  Others may turn to things that are physically unhealthier, like chemical addiction or the fulfillment of certain sexual fantasies.  Still, the root problem remains because the solution is still in the flesh (the term flesh in the New Testament usually refers to what we might call the self-life—life lived independently from God).  The bottom line is that any fix that is not rooted in becoming reconnected to God through grace will only exacerbate the problem.  

God’s solution was to offer us the chance to become reconnected to faith in Jesus Christ.  When a person puts their trust in God’s grace through Christ, they are not just asking for fire insurance.  They are declaring their dependence on God.  When that happens, the life of Christ becomes their life’s source.  The life of Christ animates their spirit and grants them a new identity.  Living, then, becomes a process of discerning God’s will and discovering God’s provisions. 

The New Testament has a great deal to say about what happens to us (how our life is changed) when we are “in Christ.”  Read the selected verses below and discuss as a group what they say about how we are changed as people who find their life’s source in God’s grace.  Discuss also how this might influence our understanding of our missional purpose.

Romans 5:1

 Romans 8:1

 1 Corinthians 2:12-15

 Ephesians 1:3-8

 Colossians 2:10

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Missional Grace:  The Exchanged Life

 Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. – Isaiah 43:31, TNIV

 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” – Galatians 2:20-23

The lighting of a match and the ignition of a fuse will bring to mind of many the popular old television show and (more recently) movie trilogy know as Mission: Impossible.

The show began with IM Agent Jim Phelps playing a tape outlining some serious evil plot to overthrow (or severely hamper) our national security.   Phelp’s and his trained operatives were the only hope to stopping the plot and setting things right.  Of course any counter-plot from the IMF (Impossible Mission Forces) team would be fraught with danger.  So much so that the tape offered the warning that if any members of the team were to be caught or killed, “the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.”

Sometimes, when we think of our missional calling we probably feel like an agent in the Impossible Mission Forces.    

“Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to undo the disastrous effects of human sin on God’s good creation.” 

Think about that statement for a moment.

What are some of the ways human sin is seen having an adverse impact on individual’s lives?

In what ways do you see human sin impact the larger society and cultures in which we live?

How might living out you call (individually and as a group) undo the impacts of human sin?

No doubt, the challenge seems awesome, overwhelming, and (dare we say it) impossible.  Still, that is our calling.  Quick!  Will you accept the mission?   

“This tape will destruct in five seconds!” 

What we are called to do is completely beyond our potential.  We are not smart enough.  We don’t have the resources needed.  Our plans and programs will never be enough. Still, God calls us.  He has chosen the church to be the vehicle to affect this kind of change.  How can this be?

 In the Gospel of Matthew (19:26) we read these words:  “With God everything is possible.”

What’s at play, here, is not our meager resources (our wisdom, knowledge, experience, ingenuity, finances, resources, etc.)  Rather God’s limitless power is the source from which we work.  It’s not what we bring to God that matters, but what God brings to us.  We work out of the overflow of God’s grace (God’s “fullness” as we read in John 1:16-18). 

On his blog, Mark Robert’s writes:

As believers in Jesus Christ, we have been drafted into the unique mission of God. To be sure, we cannot make reconciliation with God occur. That’s God’s job and he has accomplished it marvelously. Yet He has chosen us to be his agents of reconciliation who share in his mission of healing all creation (2 Cor. 5:18-21). Because we experience intimate fellowship with God through Christ, we are also partners with him in his mission in the world. (emphasis mine)

What we are talking about here is what Hudson Taylor called “The Exchanged Life”.[i]   Hudson was convinced that when a person came to Christ, they become a “new creation.”  Their old identity was put to death and they were born again with a new source for living. 

 Read Galatians 2:20-23.  As a group, outline the “exchanged life” process that Paul is writing about.  Discuss how these verses should impact our sense of calling and missional faithfulness as a individual, congregation, and missional group.

 The concept of “the exchanged life” is also express is Isaiah 40:31.  Most English translations refer to those who wait on the Lord being able to “renew” their strength.  The Hebrew word translated “renew” is ????? chalaph (khaw-laf’) which means to change, substitute, alter, change for better, (and) renew to show newness.  All these words imply the idea of an exchange.  So the verse could also be rendered, “Those who wait on the Lord will exchange their strength for Hthe Lord’s strength.”

 When thinking about the (humanly) impossible idea of undoing “… the disastrous effects of human sin on God’s good creation,” in what ways does this idea of “the exchanged life” give you hope and encouragement?

 In what ways can your group continually (intentionally) remind yourselves that your resource for missional faithfulness comes from God?

---

[i] From a chapter titled with that phrase in his biography Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, London: China Inland Mission, 1955, pp. 110–116

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Missional Grace:  Living FROM Not FOR God

 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only [Son], who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.  – John 1:16-18, TNIV

 In his book The Emerging Church, (Zondervan, 2003) Dan Kimball describes the missional church “as a body of people sent on a mission who gather in community for worship, encouragement, and teaching from the Word that supplements what they are feeding themselves throughout the week.”  Kimball’s words offer us of several important concepts we need to keep in mind as we move forward to fulfill God’s mission in the world.

 1)      We are not called to live FOR God.  It’s better than that.  We get to live FROM God.  We live out of the overflow of God’s grace in our lives.

 2)     BEING always precedes DOING.  To live out of the overflow of God’s grace, we must continually be called to intimacy before action. 

 3)     Our CONNECTION with God that strengthens our relationships with one another and our passionate love for God’s world.  It is out of this connection (intimacy) that we discover our unique spiritual gifts for ministry.

 As we begin our next step together as a missional congregation, we need to remember that the mission is God’s, and God will continually provide all that is needed for us to accomplish God’s mission.   That being the case, we must continually remind ourselves of this connection so that the ministry might flow FROM God THROUGH us.

 At the very start of the Fourth Gospel, we are given a reminder of this theological underpinning.  In John 1:16, the author writes that what we have received from God comes out of the fullness of Jesus.  In the Greek, that word fullness is ??????? pleroma {play’-ro-mah} which means:

1. that which is (has been) filled

2. that which fills or with which a thing is filled

3. fullness, abundance

4. a fulfilling, keeping[i]

 When you think of that phrase “out of his fullness we have received,” what do you think that means?

 What does this mean for you own sense of calling?

 What do you think it means for our calling as a church?

 In the following section, you will see two grids[ii] representing our two options for living a missional lifestyle.  We can live FOR God, from our strength.  The Bible refers to this style of living as “the Flesh.”  Or we can life FROM God; out of the “fullness” God has provided us in Jesus. 

 Living FOR God (In “the Flesh”)                       Living FROM God (In Christ)
Performance Living                                              Dependence Living
religious formulas, checklists, actions steps      relation, revelation, response
Self Resourced Missional Living                         God Resourced Missional Living
God mission in my strength                                God’s mission by God
Asking God To Bless Our Efforts                       Asking God to Reveal His Will
We are the source of God’s work                       God is the source of God’s work
We are the root and result                                  God is the root and result 
We accomplish the mission FOR God.               God accomplishes it through us 

Discussion Questions:

 What are the potential dangers of living in “the flesh”?

 What might the outcomes be in our ministry if it is based on our resources?

 How might the outcomes be different if we live out of the “fullness” of Christ?

 In what ways is our congregation prone to live more in “the flesh”?

 In what ways do we live out of the “fullness” of God?

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[i] From “Strong’s Analysis” in BibleWorks 8

[ii] Adapted from information in “The Grace-Life Discipleship Workbook” (produced by The Association of Exchanged Life Ministires).

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