Godgrown

Updates from May, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Mark 9:02 am on May 3, 2011 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Exponential Conference ( 2 )   

  #Exponential – David Garrison 

  Last week was the #Exponential 2011 Conference, where 3,500 church planters from around the world gathered in Orlando, Florida to worship God, enjoy fellowship and networking with each other, and to talk shop.  It was a profoundly encouraging and mind-stretching time, and you might find a few of my next blog posts covering some of the ground we discovered down there.

  Today I want to focus briefly on David Garrison author of Church Planting Movements.  Garrison has spent years as a missionary in India, and now works to study and collect real-time data on CPMs (church planting movements) around the world.  CPMs as he defines them are a rapidly multiplying, unstoppable virus of churches being planted across a region and across social groups. Typically they become  a movement when 1000s of churches are being planted over just a few short years.

  Now to the good stuff:

  He spoke of 30 different movements he was aware of in the Middle East, where over 100,000+ Muslims had come to Christ in recent years (many of whom had seen an unknown man named Jesus appear to them in a dream).  In one part of India alone, over 130,000 churches have been planted in India in the last 10 years.  Similar movements are happening in the underground church in China, and across Africa.

  When asked about a church planting movement in America, he said that most Americans are “not trying” to see a church planting movement happen here.

  Though it saddens me, I agree with him.  For the most part, we still want to build bigger barns for ourselves – we prefer church “addition” rather than church multiplication.  For most of the Christian world (America only represents about 4% of the Christians on the planet) – it is about seeing God’s glory MULTIPLIED through countless churches.

  Synthesizing decades of study of these movements – he describes 5 common elements in CPMs:

  1. Effective entry strategy – connecting with folks far from Jesus in a contextually relevant way
  2. Effective Gospel communication – simple (not simplistic) exchange of what the Gospel means for this culture
  3. Effective Discipleship – Americans he said have inherited much from seminaries, but we must learn to become not only hearers but doers of God’s Word.
  4. Effective church formation – the essence of a church is Christ himself, everything that forms must be from him
  5. Long Term Leadership Development – when training leaders, think of those they will train, and those they too will train…think of your leader you are training like a lens into the future.  What kind of leaders will grow in this movement?

  But that’s not what gets Garrison excited – he keeps his eyes on what truly matters – a CPM is not an end in itself- it is all about bringing God glory; and every healthy church planted is another chance to display “God on earth as he really is.”  We want to see God’s glory multiplied (as the waters cover the sea, Hab 2:14) – its not about the numbers, or making some list of CPM prescriptions (he spoke of CPMs in articulately descriptive terms alone), it is not even about “missional,” it is about the glory of God.

  Next post I’ll go a little deeper into Garrison’s thoughts – and how we can begin to engage in a church planting movement of God here in America.

  
   

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  Mark 10:41 am on February 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  A Brief Briefing on Christian History 

  Most Protestants approach church history and spiritual formation as though nothing of significance occurred between the closing of the New Testament canon in the first century and the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century!

  As we are considering what a rich spirituality looks like in the twenty-first century, let’s make this the moment when the Church reintroduces itself into the powerful, expansive history filled with resources and insights to propel us forward.

  If we want to know how to connect with God in a deep way, if we want to avoid the common pitfalls that Christian communities make on their way to spiritual maturity, (there are at least 12 I’ve counted, but that’s for another day) and if we are interested in changing our lives and the lives of the people in our faith communities – we’ve got to make this a crucial part of our faith journey.

  3 Parts – the Ancient, Medieval and Modern Spiritualities

  Think of these three eras as shaped like an hourglass.  The ancient church (Pentecost to 600CE) was characterized by rapid exampsion to the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.  The medieval church (c.600-1500) was marked by withdrawal as internal divisions and the rise of Islam greatly diminished the Christian influence in Asia and Africa.  The modern church (c.1500-present) saw a new expansion beyond the boundaries of Europe, and in the past few decades the churches of the third world have shown the greatest vitality, expansion and missionary fervor.

  The ancient church – after it became the official religion of the Roman Empire, was rapidly transformed from a network of periodically persecuted believers into a geo-political bishop-states.  While some bishops used their power to fight off doctrinal heresies – (Montanism, Gnosticism, and Neo-Platonism) – others left the Christian empire to pursue desert spirituality, creating monastic orders.

  Christianity became a largely European phenomenon throughout the Middle Ages.  The Western and Eastern branches of the Church (Edessa, and Constantinople) formerly separated during this period.  The Eastern church became increasingly apophatic (mystical in their theology, and their spiritual disciplines – like listening prayer and stillness).  Monasticism flourished in the West, with Benedictine, Carthusian and Cistercian orders continued to develop contemplative and ascetic approaches to spirituality.

  Modern Spirituality begins with the impact of the four branches of the Protestant Reformation (Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, and Anglican Spirituality).  Each of these understood their relationship to the state in a different light, as well as HOW the church in the West needed to transform.  In the Catholic Church, fantastic spiritual thinkers emerged in Spain and France during this time.  As Christianity found new territory in the far West Americas, new post-Reformation Protestant movements (Puritans, Quakers, Pietists, Evangelicals, revivalism, Methodists, holiness groups, and Pentecostals).  Most recently in our time, we’re seeing the Catholic Church fundamentally reformed in Vatican II, as well as other movements (ecumenical, charismatic, twelve-step spirituality, psychological approaches, and creation-centered spirituality).  Finally – the seeds of Eastern Orthodoxy and Christian developments in Latin America, Africa and Asia are finally making a real impact on the Church of the West after years of isolation.

  This is about as brief as one could span through the movements of 2000 years of Christian Spirituality.  If you’re truly interested in learning more, I recommend a few books to get you started!

  
   
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  Mark 10:41 am on February 8, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 60 Minutes, Cornell West, Greek Orthodox Church, Istanbul, Patriarch Bartholomew, Turkey   

  “WHEN…not IF you are Persecuted…” 

  60 Minutes did a piece recently interviewing Patriarch Bartholomew, the official leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, a body of about 300 Million people – the approximate population of the United States.

  You’d think that with that kind of following they’d be in good company, but no – they are in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople).  This city in Turkey has been the dividing line between East and West – Muslim and Christian.  Istanbul stands at 99% Muslim, with only about 4,000 Greek Orthodox dotting the city landscape.  While 60 Minutes was taping the interview, Bartholomew was informed another attempt had been made on his life.

  How do you love your neighbor in such a circumstance?

  In fact, this is one instance when we can literally ask, “What Would Jesus Do?” because there is a record of this exact situation.  Surrounded by people furious at his very existence, Jesus used the opportunity not to lay down and die, but to be crucified on a hill for all the world to see.  This wasn’t self-righteousness, it was displaying what love looks like in public.

  Some might say that Christianity always has the most trouble truly communicating it’s raison d’être in an environment where it is generally accepted or revered as the cultural norm.  Christianity was born into a political and social circumstance where exile, humiliation and persecution where expected by all followers of Jesus.  That’s why in Matthew 5:11 when Jesus said “When (not IF) you are persecuted you are blessed by God.”  He supposes that each person who chooses to live the alternative lifestyle of Jesus Christ will by their very nature be targets of mockery and destruction by others.  And what do you do when (not ‘if’) it happens?  Two things: remember that prophets who came before you were also persecuted, and then turn the other cheek.

  But what about in America?

  Even in an age when statistically few people are actively engaging a Christian faith, most see America as a “Christian Nation” if only in name.  Even still, you can bet that Christians living out the Christ life will have it confirmed to them when they find themselves being persecuted.  Live different, and there will always be dissenters trying to rope you back into the mainstream.  Our political system might keep you from getting executed (by the Government anyway,) but keep showing your love – and you will be attacked.  It will take you to jail, make you misunderstood and maligned by friends, and harassed by cynics, hypocrites and nay-sayers. You will be given threats at every level to stop shaking up the status-quo.  You will be underfunded and overexposed.

  And if you’re reading this today and can’t think of a time when you were brought down to your knees for your beliefs – maybe its because that’s all they were — beliefs.  Put some of your radical beliefs into action.  Loving your enemies, being a peace-maker, mourning with those who mourn…it will quickly make you see just how surrounded you are by people who don’t understand you – but nevertheless keep at it – they are desperately in need of Love.

  

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    Katrina 12:42 pm on February 8, 2010 Permalink

    Mark – nice post.