imagining how the church can reorient around mission

In fairness to Rob Bell, here he is with a statement of his creed.  It's quick and you might want to listen.  I am sure this will infuriate some and allay others.  Regardless, from one Rob to another – Grace.

No, seriously…I am sick and tired.  I have been both of those since I returned from Europe a couple of weeks ago and I'm sick of it.  I am going through Emergen-C like an addict.  It seems like I have become a human petri dish for every lonely germ floating around looking for a home.  

The good thing is I am losing my voice and have started sounding lke Barry "I can't get enough" White!!!  There is always a silver lining…Baby.  :)

Such is the power of the eyes of faith.  The eyes of the body can only see what falls under the sense of sight, but with the eyes of faith it is just the reverse.  They see nothing that is visible, but they see what is invisible just as if it lay before their eyes.

The Need for Faith, John Chrysostom

"Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. … Every now and then I ask myself, 'What is it that I want said?' I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to love somebody."

– Martin Luther King Jr., from his sermon "The Drum Major Instinct"

“If God’s tomorrow means the end of exploitation, injustice, inequality, war, racism, nationalism, suffering, death and ignorance of God, Christians must be ‘signs’ of God’s conquest of all these ‘burdens and evils’ through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ"

David Bosch, Transforming Mission

These guys make a little sense.  Maybe someone will listen.  Do you think they are onto something?

In lieu of Rob Bell's new book "Love Wins" I want to say a few things about what I believe:

First: read more

I posted yesterday a call to those who lead in the Body of Christ to seek the “low place.”   The magnificent portion of Schaeffer's book, No Little People, was our starting point.  He mentions in the book two reasons for moving to humility.  The first one is here. Today I want to share the second.

The second reason why we should not seek the larger place is that if we deliberately and egotistically lay hold on leadership, wanting the drums to beat and the trumpets to blow, then we are not qualified for Christian leadership. Why? Because we have forgotten that we are brothers and sisters in Christ with other Christians. I've said on occasion that there is only one good kind of fighter for Jesus Christ–the man who does not like to fight. The belligerent man is never the one to be belligerent for Jesus. And it is exactly the same with leadership. The Christian leader should be a quiet man of God who is extruded by God's grace into some place of leadership. read more

The great Francis Schaeffer (he rocked the chin beard before it got popular) wrote in his book entitled, No Little People (I am aware that this is a very long quote, but in lieu of the present “Superstardom” of modern Christianity, it seems warranted),

Jesus commands Christians to seek consciously the lowest room. All of us–pastors, teachers, professional religious workers and nonprofessional included–are tempted to say, I will take the larger place because it will give me more influence for Jesus Christ. Both individual Christians and Christian organizations fall prey to the temptation of rationalizing this way as we build bigger and bigger empires. But according to the Scripture this is backwards: we should consciously take the lowest place unless the Lord himself extrudes us into a greater one. read more

My theology was shaken this week. Spending time in Thailand and India, I was able to walk through red light districts and peer into the eyes of women who had been shoved into the sex trade as young as 10 years old. Many American Christians love to preach a Christian gospel that promises happiness and health. How does our faith speak to such things?

via www.qideas.org read more