God knows our needs

Genesis 1-3 is one of my favorite parts of Scripture. The whole creation debate tires me, but the revelation of God and human nature that we see in these pages is worth the price of buying a Bible if you don't have one. In 2:18 God says, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.' What struck me was that Adam didn't go complaining to God for what he needed. In fact, it doesn't even say that Adam knew something - or someone - was missing. God had to point that out by bringing to his attention that every bull had a cow, every rooster had a hen (verses 19-20). Then God provided what Adam needed, but he waited until he fell asleep. I've heard stories of men who wake up to discover a strange woman in bed with them having no idea how they got there, but this one is a classic!

Here's the point: God knows what we need even if we don't. Second, He will always give us exactly what we need. Third, He will do it even with no effort on our part. I love the idea of God providing for us while we sleep!

While at Keystone I've been conciously asking God to give me new insight into His word and new revelation for my life and ministry. He's faithfully answered, and I'll keep sharing a few of the things I've 'heard' here.

It's a beautiful morning.

Walking to church ... again

Over lunch or while walking to the Keystone gym I've been having some conversations with the other leaders here about my 'Church with no parking lots' post (see below). Just a couple of clarifications ...

First, I'm not advocating that we all walk to church. It was a hypothetical situation. (I know you knew that, but I'm clarifying it for others! ;-) )

Second, I'm not advocating house churches. I don't think 'house synagogues' were too common.

Our lives are much larger than our geographic neighborhoods, and our social networks more likely consist of people we work with, meet at social functions or chat with on the internet than with the people who live across the street. The point of the comment was to try to imagine what church would be like if we couldn't cater to a consumer or 'bigger is better' mentality. What things would we focus on if our local mission represented a geographic area within walking distance of our house? How would this change the things we do or the way we think about church? How would our values about church be different if we couldn't drive to the church that had the best programs or the most professional Sunday morning worship?

Hope this helps ...

Imagine a church that doesn't need a parking lot

Ancient rabbis limited the amount of walking a Jew could do on the Sabbath by defining a 'Sabbath Day's Journey.' Walking more than this constituted work and a violation of the Jewish law. It is generally believed that this distance was less than a mile. To this day, many Orthodox Jews live within walking distance of their synagogue.

Imagine for a moment that we Gentiles still obeyed this law. Imagine if we all had to walk to church instead of drive. Imagine if the only way we could participate in corporate worship, Bible study, prayer and service was to gather with other Christians in our neighborhood. What would the impact be?

• Less denominationalism.
• Smaller churches but a lot more of them.
• Discipleship and fellowship would probably be a lot more important than property, programs and staff.
• We'd have to get along and solve problems. Finding another church would probably mean moving houses!
• Less recources needed to maintain the organization, more resources available for ministry.
• More easily reproducible.
• More people involved in leadership.
  
  Would this be healthier? Would it be more biblical? Would it be more effective in fulfilling the Great Commission? What are the downsides? You tell me.
  
  90% of the people who attend the Nicosia International Church walk to worship on Sunday morning. We are a neighborhood church in the purest sense of the word. Yet we also come from 28 different nationalities and at least a dozen denominations. If we had cars we'd be tempted to disintegrate into ethnic or denominational churches that we could drive to. That way we could be with people who act and eat like us, who worship with the same style of music and share the same cultural or political values.
  
  At the Keystone Project a small group of Christian leaders from around the world is learning to make discipleship the foundation of our churches and ministries. We are learning to plant churches by making disciples rather than planting churches to make disciples. What the emerging churches that come out of this movement will look like is still unclear. But it is the future. Rather than thinking about new ways of doing church, maybe its time to get back to the ancient way of following Jesus. Make discipleship the priority.
  
  Though 100 or so people identify with NIC, we don't own a building or have a bank account. About half of the money we collect (and we are a poor church of students and refugees) we give away. It's not a perfect church, but it's different. One of the things all of us in the West are learning is that the conventional way of doing church works less and less. In the last decade, over 500 billion dollars were spent by US churches on domestic ministry, and yet the percentage of people attending church has declined. Pumping more money into it is not the answer. Maybe walking to church is.

One Week Down

The first of four weeks at the Keystone Project have been completed. There's lots of info to process, but it is good. Through the course of each lecture I'm taking three sets of notes - notes that amplify the material, questions for those I'm coaching, and observations for my ministry back in Nicosia.

The emphasis of the first week has been on focusing on Jesus' command to make disciples. While there are other important elements to church and ministry, this is the supreme command and needs to be the lens through which we view our lives and activities. The goal in the teaching and coaching sessions have been to help people evaluate whether or not their current activities are resulting in transformed people committed to following Jesus.

While a lot of it may seem basic, it is amazing how easy it is for us to get off focus in our ministries. In tandum with the Project, I've been re-reading Dallas Willard's 'The Divine Conspiracy' and working through a study guide. In the chapter 'The Gospel of Sin Management' he talks about the tendency to reduce our faith to the questions 'How do we get to heaven?' or 'How do we transform society?' The better question, he suggests, is 'What do we need to be or do to become disciples of Jesus?' I would add to that 'What do I need to do to help others become disciples of Jesus?' Those are the questions I'm asking myself, implementing in my ministry in Nicosia and helping the Keystone participants work through.

Pray for those I'm coaching: Nader, Matt, Chris and Wendy.

More pictures ...

Just a few more pictures from the Keystone training. Keep praying!

Made it to Mt. Rushmore

After 24 hours of travel, Wendy, Nader and I finally arrived in Keystone, SD from Cyprus. The next month will be a fruitful time of listening to God for direction in ministry in Cyprus. We represent three different nationalities and three different churches, but we live and minister in one city (Nicosia) and we have one passion: to see people live their lives in God. In all, there are participants from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and America.

It hasn't been very long, but I miss my boys and my ministry! Here is a picture with Chris and Marcus taken at a recent cookout.