Rick Thompson visit

We are planning on having Rick Thompson visit with us this Sunday. He is one of those traveling folks who go around encouraging house churches. We met him at a conference in MA and asked him to come by for a visit.
You can check out his blog at: http://inthefootstepsoftychicus.blogspot.com/
He has worked with his own hands and has a good reputation among other churches.

Planting churches or making disciples?

An interesting article on the concept of discipleship. I found it to be challenging. I'm still looking for the verse that tells us to plant churches.

Discipling Viral Disciplers

I Used to Think

You Are

Before the sun's rays ever kissed the earth,
You were.

After the stars have lost their light,
You shall be.

No matter the darkness that surrounds us now,
You are.

Before life first sparked in me,
You were.

After the light has left my eyes,
You shall be.

No matter the darkness that surrounds me now,
You are.

Home Church Help

Added a new link.
Home Church Help / New Testament Church Life
I really liked the bullet points on the front page. It sums up my own experience quite nicely.

1. Home church is Biblical.

2. The essence of Christianity is easily accomplished in simple and uncomplicated settings.

3. Group participation with all people functioning should be the primary dynamic of any church meeting (1 Cor. Chapter 14), This is the backbone of the home church setting.

4. Connecting with others and developing meaningful relationships is easily accomplished in a home church atmosphere.

5. "Being the church" and sharing life together in community with others, instead of just attending a meeting, is the desire and purpose of most people who home church.

And now a little free form something.....

The Tug

Sit at my desk,
stare at the screen.
Punch the keys,
write the code,
think in ASCII.
Answer the phone,
lose track of time.

Then the Tug,
the pulling,
the knowing.
It sweeps over my soul,
bathing me in it's warm sweetness.
For a moment,
I'm not here.
Kneel at his throne,
gaze at my Lord.
Pray my heart,
give up my thoughts,
think Kingdom.
Answer the call,
lose myself in Him,
follow the tug.

Religion vs Relationship

Here are some thoughts culled from recent meetings together around the subject of religion and relationships.

• Religion is me trying to build something to reach God. Relationship is God pulling me into fellowship with himself.
• Religion uses hype, PR and strategic marketing to grow in numbers. Relationship uses humility, truth and divine wisdom to grow in love.
  
• Religion is obsessed with what people see on the outside. Relationship is passionate about what goes on in the heart.
• Religion demands obedience. Relationship draws me with love.
• Religion seeks to own and control people. Relationship seeks to love and set people free.
• Religion uses guilt to manipulate others. Relationship extends grace to build-up others.
• Religion loves to track numbers. Relationship values quality over quantity.
• Religion is very concerned about being right. Relationship is very concerned about you.
• Religion lectures. Relationship listens.
• Religion attempts to speak for God. Relationship let's God speak for himself.
• Religion teaches us to pray to God. Relationship teaches us to talk with God.
• Religion is centered on man's work for God. Relationship is centered on God's work in us.
  
• Religion is boring, overbearing, formal and stuffy. Relationship is intense, humbling, casual and messy.
  

Thanks to all the saints I meet with for these thoughts and insights.
What would you put in your list of Religion vs Relationship?

A Tale of Two Settings

The church meets here.

Here I sit down and listen.
I'm a face in the crowd.
I pay my tithe here.
I get a cracker and juice once a month.
My children are taught by trained staff.
There are programs for everything.
The service will last about an hour.
The stained glass is lovely.
The pastor will shake my hand.


The church meets here.

Here I interact with others.
Everyone knows my name.
I give when there is a need.
The food is awesome!
My children learn by watching me.
Program? What's that?
We will be done when we are done.
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
My brother will stir my heart.

Missionary Night

Last Sunday night we had a visit from a brother seeking to leave his employment as a Software architect to become a missionary. He won't be in a grass hut in some distant land, but right here in the USA. He will be supporting bible translators in the field with his IT skills. We didn't get a slide show but we did get to watch a video from Youtube. I would like ask anyone reading this to pause right now and pray for Steve, Glenda, Stephan and Evan, that God would grant them grace and guidance in their endeavor to publish the word of God. You can check out his blog at http://www.moitozo.com /wycliffe/home.

This opened up a whole discussion around the concept of mission; as in what is my mission and how do I carry it out? The conversation only got started before we ran out of night. To be continued....

God on Trial

I watched "God on Trial" the other evening and I was both disturbed and inspired. Disturbed by the idea of putting God on trial and inspired by those who held faith even in the face of suffering. I was struck also by the idea of God being terrible and awesome.

Is God guilty of murder and suffering? If all things have there origin in Him then perhaps he is. There would be no sin and suffering if God had not created man with the will to choose. If God is guilty of causing suffering and death, then how could he possibly be brought to justice?

If only God himself could be brought down here among us humans and be forced to taste of our suffering. Betrayal, loneliness, suffering at the hands of cruel injustice and a painful death would be a fitting punishment for what God has done. After sharing in our suffering, God should set everything right and bring all evildoers to justice.

Unchruch

On this blog I've used the term "Alt-Church" to describe an alternate view and expression of the church. Recently in our discussions together, we have been tossing around the phrase "unchurch". I'm sure in some minds it might suggest some form of lost-ness as in the phrase "bring your unchurched friends". I am actually borrowing the pharse from the home-school movement.

There are homeschoolers who advocate a form of home instruction that is student-led with parents acting more as facilitors than teachers. In this view the world is the classroom and children are free to pursue whatever interests them. This philosophy of education is commonly referred to as "unschooling". Unchurching is a similar philosophy.

In the unchurch model the world is our parish and we are free to follow Christ where ever he may lead. Rather than professional clergy watching over us, we are responsible to watch out for each other. Spiritual growth comes through sharing in the Spirit together, serving one another in love and teaching is both by word and example.

Summer of Love

The Summer of Love at Honey Run Campground on Worthley Pond in Peru Maine was a must do event. The mix of folks attending was pretty eclectic. We had folks who were living in a structured community (Church Community international), an unstructured community (Weiman Community) and those not living together but seeking to foster community (Alt-Church). A lot of time was spent just being together and sharing stories. Here as an overview of the weekend:

Friday - Everyone had arrived and settled in by late Friday afternoon. After supper we went right to work on the important task of roasting marshmallows and talking around the campfire until around 11 pm.

Saturday - During the day people were swimming, hiking, attending the blueberry festival, napping, hanging out at camp. After supper we had an awesome wild Blueberry dessert made from foraged berries and scrounging. We had a blast singing under the group cover. I laughed myself to tears with Mikes reggae rendition of "I've been working on the railroad".

Sunday - Breakfast in the rain - broke camp in the rain - goodbyes in the rain.

We're looking forward to next ye