Tapestry

In the comments for Pondering, Louise dropped a note to mention her husband Kevin's recent sermons on the Kingdom of God, as they are exploring it in their church plant. Tapestry: A Church in Progress can be found in Burlington Ontario, just down the road from Crossroads Communications, home of 100 Huntley Street, and our friend Lorna Dueck's Listen Up TV. DANG, but Wendy & I have a lot of history out there!

Back in the mid-80's, George Mercado put me in leadership over the youth group's music & drama groups (about 30 teenagers), and that's where I first met and became good friends with a student named Kevin.

Kevin (on the right) was the "youth" who helped me first get out of the clergy/laity mindset. We were brothers in Christ and friends.

Through Wendy's and my common history with the youth group under George Mercado, we got to know and minister alongside many people like Kevin and Louise (who would later begin dating and eventually marry). Kevin & I used to meet for breakfast every week for three years, all through his Grade 10-12 years. Kevin thinks he learned a thing or two from me, and I know for sure that I learned a lot from him.

In the years since, Kevin followed in my footsteps in doing an internship at Brant Bible Church (now Compasspoint), but while I headed west to Vancouver Island after my internship, Kevin was able to transition into leadership in the post-George years, which eventually led to Kevin & Louise planting Tapestry.

I've had the privilege of visiting Tapestry a few times, and I'm thrilled by a number of things about the church:

1. That there ARE churches -- even mega-churches like Compasspoint -- that are able to bless and release alternative church plants like Tapestry. I know it wasn't always a smooth transition, but the fact that both churches remain connected and supportive of each other is very encouraging.
   
   
2. It's encouraging to see, after experiencing and hearing from many others about their horror stories of church employment, that there are some churches who get it right. Kevin & Louise had incredible support from among the older generations of leaders at Compasspoint -- some of whom joined them in the church plant -- and I hope they realize how rare that is, and how much God has blessed them in this way.
   
   
3. Kevin, Louise & Co. are melding and moulding things from a variety of church streams into... well, (ahem), a Tapestry. It's a very unique blend of numerous streams that far too many people try to label anti-thetical.
   
   
4. Kevin is one of the best preacher/teachers I've heard in a long time. His grasp of the Bible is huge, and he's a gifted communicator. Kevin was always a talented musician, singer, actor, and communicator during his high school years, and that gift of communication has only been honed and sharpened when it comes to teaching at Tapestry.

On that note, you can check out some of Kevin's teaching at the Tapestry: Teaching. The links Louise recommends -- as do I -- are those in the "Aliens" series, as Kevin (and the church) explores what it means to be the "missional, incarnational, sacrificial, communal, organic, messianic, Kingdom-seeking people of God". GREAT stuff.

The Doctor Is Operating

At long last, they have finally released the funniest show on television ever, BAR NONE on DVD. WKRP In Cincinnati: The Complete First Season is now available, and our whole family has been enjoying it immensely over this past weekend. Seeing Dr. Johnny Fever in action again is just a treat.

And yes, possibly the most famous WKRP episode of all time, Turkeys Away, is included. The whole DVD is great. Some purists are sucking their thumbs because not all of the original top-40 music is included (copyrights are very expensive to obtain), and it is too bad from a nostalgic point of view to not hear tunes by Foreigner, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent as they appeared in the original. But that doesn't detract from the humour and one of the best ensemble casts ever.

Here's a preview of a portion of the famous Turkeys Away episode, including Arthur Carlson's timeless line to conclude the episode:

New Law

This video is equally as brilliantly conceptualized as the song that it accompanies. New Law is simply brilliant -- both song & video. I've never heard of Derek Webb before, but this song, which can be found on Derek's album Mockingbird, definitely has my interest.

New Law Don'’t teach me about politics and government Just tell me who to vote for Don’'t teach me about truth and beauty Just label my music Don'’t teach me how to live like a free man Just give me a new law I don'’t wanna know if the answers aren'’t easy So just bring it down from the mountain to me I want a new law I want a new law Gimme that new law Don'’t teach me about moderation and liberty I prefer a shot of grape juice Don'’t teach me about loving my enemies Don'’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit Just give me a new law What'’s the use in trading a law you can never keep For one you can that cannot get you anything Do not be afraid Do not be afraid Do not be afraid

Living Spirituality

I just finished reading Living Spirituality: Illuminating the Path by Dr. Greg Laughery, who lives and ministers in Switzerland at L'Abri. I'll be honest: I'm not neutral about L'Abri. Wendy gave her life to Jesus Christ as a result of reading a book by L'Abri's founder, Francis Schaeffer, entitled The God Who Is There. And my parents were very involved in the beginning of L'Abri Canada, so I'm definitely a fan of L'Abri.

But on to Dr. Laughery's writing...

Greg (can I call you Greg?) builds this short-but-packed book around two thesis phrases: increased ambiguity and spiritual impoverishment. Right away, you realize that reading a book by any author out of L'Abri is going to be philosophical and challenging, and Greg is no exception. Here's an early quote on increasing ambiguity:

"One of the major, if not-so-obvious ways (Christians) contribute is through our tendency to succumb to false, but powerful absolutizing forces that may approach us or even reside in us. Some, for example, assume that Christian spirituality is absolutely anchored in reason, seeing, feeling, or experience. This type of asolutizing may seem to counter ambiguity, but it actually increases it by attempting to encapsulate spirituality in a one-dimensional manner and to do away with a necessary dialogical tension." (page 8)

Greg's depiction of impoverished spirituality includes a rather accurate, if stinging, assessment of churches that have become "institutionalized":

"This is partially due to the fact that Christians often seem to be primarily interested in themselves: propogating their programs, building their churches, even manipulating some of their own in order to achieve social status and accomplish their goals and aims. People are left behind in the wake of promising words that give the pretense of care and concern, but translate into intolerable levels of neglect and inconsistent waffling." (page 15)

Greg then takes us on an insightful journey, rooting his understanding of a "living spirituality" in the Creation account. From this "Creation map", Greg moves forward into Covenant, and deals with an assortment of theological and ethical implications for missional Christ-followers, as he admonishes us to "choose life, and not death". Here's a few gems:

• On the problem of evil: "Furthermore God, as creational, personal good precedes personal evil, thereby restricting it to a parasitic status."
  
  
• On Christian responsibility to steward Creation: "As God has not left creation or humans to desolation, decay, or ultimate death, neither should we consent to dying forms of spirituality that have no capacity to redeem the created."
  
  
• On Jesus and the Kingdom of God: "In so doing, He defies Satan (referring to Jesus' temptation), begins to invade his territory and stronghold, thus signifying that God's rule is breaking in to defeat death and to bring about redemption... God's Kingdom usually refers to the explosive sphere of God's dynamic reign or rule that has both already arrived and is not yet complete."
  
  
• On the effect of sin: "All that is sinful fails to contribute to life in any living way. Whatever its pretensions, or our assumptions, it offers us zero, brings us no real advantages, and leaves us aimlessly wandering away from the path to life."
  
  
• "Christians are facing two dangers: become as entirely ambiguous, or exhaustively certain as anyone else on matters of knowledge. When it comes to knowledge, we too often tend to embrace the perspective of total ambiguity or complete certainty, in exchange for sufficient knowledge, which is truly spiritual... When Christians take the role of 'know-it-alls' or 'know-nothings', they are contributing to impoverished spirituality."
  
  
• "Memories may haunt or revive you -- but either of these outcomes may contribute to losing the path. If you are always returning to your past and reliving pain or vanity, then you are following your own map, not God's."
  
  
• "Our actions will never be perfect, but nevertheless we are to continue to seek to demonstrate love in the midst of sin... We have, generally speaking, become unskilled and illiterate map readers, and this is bound to carry with it grave consequences for our spirituality and our communities."
  
  And finally (SO many gems I wish I could include here!)...
  
  
• "Reversing spiritual impoverishment is dependent on a growing awareness that, in the midst of the brokenness and sin, God already -- through Christ -- restores that which He made, and He will do so completely at the end of time."

To sum up, I really really enjoyed this book. The chapters are short and to the point, and something that I could picture in my mind's eye as I read were various L'Abri students (whose stories are sprinkled throughout the book) coming up to Greg and saying, "Yeah, but what about...???" And then Greg wrestling through answers for real people, and not just an intellectual exercise.

Aside from the spiritual depth of this writing (which is considerable), one of its most endearing features for me was this sense of authenticity; you can easily spot that much of what Greg writes has been tested and refined in the fires of conversations over a meal, in classic L'Abri fashion, with actual people voicing deep and penetrating questions.

All in all, I found this book to be insightful, thought-provoking, and very encouraging.

Pondering

Been pondering a lot recently. I'm well into my fourth year of blogging, and have seen quite a number of new bloggers with great skills appear, and also have seen (and heard of) some of the "oldskewl" bloggers retire and turn their time and talents to other projects. NOTE OF CLARIFICATION: Do not infer from this that I'm considering hanging up my skates (hockey metaphors are so natural for Canucks and Canucks fans).

As Emerging Grace noted in a recent post:

"Do you remember in Forrest Gump when he started running and had this need to keep running for "three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours", and then suddenly one day, he was done? That's how I see blogging. I started, and for now, I just keep blogging and blogging, but I think that some day, I'll just be done."

We pause now for a brief but poignant moment of shockingly honest and transparent confession: I've never seen Forest Gump.

But I appreciate Grace putting me on her list of recipients of the Thinking Blogger Award!

And I agree with Grace's post on a number of levels, which is why I'm pondering how to invest my future blogging to be the most effective use of my time (which is in high demand during a Crossroads DTS).

While I respect the efforts and the writers who duke it out with various websites specializing in the misrepresentation of all things emerging/missional, I will continue to avoid such arguments here.

It's just too taxing on my general attitude and sanctification. Those who can regularly read and interact with the so-called "discernment" sites are made of sterner stuff than I.

I am an avid reader, but sometimes I think that if I see just one more blog trumpeting the latest "must-read" book on the emerging/missional conversation, I'm going to run screaming into the woods. I just can't keep up. I have neither the time nor the money.

At the same time, I DO plan to keep on reading, and will also continue posting about books that are really stirring my thinking and praxis. But I hope everyone will understand if I'm not limiting my reading list(s) to only books written about emerging/emergent/missional. (Although Alan Hirsch's Forgotten Ways WILL be blogged about as soon as I finish it.)

I have been doing more reading and listening to teaching CD's recently on the Kingdom of God, and I'm more convinced than ever that any missiological and/or ecclesiological (I'd like to morph these two into one entity, but that's another post for another time) must be grounded in an understanding of the Kingdom of God, and what Jesus meant when He went around preaching "the gospel".

"From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 4:17) and "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people." (Matthew 4:23).

Stay tuned...

Hot Culture In A Cold Climate

Everyone has their favourite emerging/missional book recommendations, but let me put in a plug for the kind of books that informed my very earliest ponderings on ministry in a changing society: books on missions. For starters, I'd love to recommend Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot- And Cold-Climate Cultures, by Sarah A. Lanier.

Lanier does an excellent job of presenting the most common (and therefore, most damaging) differences between what she calls "hot cultures" (from hot climates such as Mexico, South America, Fiji, etc.), and "cold cultures" (such as European, North American, etc.).

"the population of the entire world can roughly be divided into two parts. The two groups represented are 'hot-climate' (relationship-based) cultures and 'cold-climate' (task-oriented) cultures."

I'd recommend this book for anyone who was already or about to be involved in cross-cultural work of any kind.

I'd also recommend this book for anyone seriously trying to engage our post-modern, post-Christendom, post-_________ (fill in blank) society.

In a nutshell, most of North American Christian expressions of ecclesia have been shaped by the values of a cold culture: European Platonic & dualistic worldview, attention to precision and definition, and individuality. I'd like to suggest that -- regardless of the reality that we live in a cold climate -- society is shifting (particularly the emerging generations) into a "hot" culture, with a more mystical & holistic worldview (at least, they more readily acknowledge that there is a spiritual realm), attention to relationships and community, more concerned with process than product (although product is not seen as unimportant).

This has huge ramifications for leadership: cold cultures are built around dominant personalities and power, while leadership in a hot culture would put more emphasis on the community and shared vision.

This has implications for regular ecclesia gatherings as well: cold culture is built around meetings with adhered-to schedules and pre-determined outcomes (especially in mega-church models where everything is timed down to the nano-second). Hot culture gatherings would be built around creating a "safe place to take risks" and allowing "vision" to arise from the gathered community.

There are many ways to unpack how this might look in our various forms of communitas. Allow me to go out on a limb here, and suggest that since the book is pretty affordable anyway, GET A COPY and let's dialogue about:

1. Do you think we're seeing a shift to a "hot culture" even though most of us technically live in a cold climate?
   
   
2. Does this kind of understanding of hot/cold culture give us some "wheels" to put under our experimental (steps of faith) understandings of ecclesia and the missio Dei?
   
   
3. Where/how do we start?

I look forward to the conversation!

Couldn't Resist...

Indeed!

Better Late Than Never

Bill Kinnon wrote a brilliant blog post entitled The People Formerly Known As The Congregation recently, which has sparked many corroborating posts from other bloggers, and not a few rebuttals, as well. In other words, an extremely effective post: it got everyone thinking, whether they appreciated it or not. Bill links to many of them in his post -- whether pro or con. Many HT's to you, Bill!

So, robbymac is late to the party on Bill's (and everyone else's) posts, but better late than never, n'est-ce pas?

I was inspired by Bill et al's posts to add another page to my website-within-a-blog, Detoxing From Church. Entitled simply Reconstruction, it preserves Bill & Co's recent posts, as well as highlighting links to sites that I've long endorsed here, Friend of Missional and Missional Apologetics.

I love the sub-text of this past week or so, as bloggers all over the world have contributed their voices to create resources that are truly greater than the sum of the parts.

Looks, tastes, and smells like the sweet savor of community to me!

World-Changer

Eighteen years ago this very day, my world was dramatically and radically changed: my daughter Jo was born, and from the moment I first held her in my arms, I was hopelessly and deeply in love.

As she stumbled upstairs this morning, I gave her a quick hug and said to her, "Jo, eighteen years ago today, my world became a better place."

She hugged me back, looked up at me with her stunning blue eyes, and said, "I really gotta go pee, Dad..."

Classic Jo. I love her.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

We're mid-way through our first week of lectures for the Crossroads Discipleship Training School, and it's been awesome so far (last week's Orientation actually turned out to be a significant ministry time for several new students as well). We're working our way through one of YWAM's most well-known teachings, The Father Heart of God, and it's humbling and encouraging to see the profound effect the teaching has on people from all over the world who have never been exposed to it before.

The school has barely begun, but we've already had some significant times of praying for some of the foreign students (actually, they're ALL from other countries than Canada). It feel like God is really using us. It feels like ministry. Like the Body is supposed to function.

Me like. A lot.

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Speaking of "Belonging before believing..."

UPDATE!! One of our students arrived at our base last September to take the ESL school. She was so intrigued by the YWAM dynamic that she decided to stay on and attend our Crossroads DTS, and became a follower of Jesus last night! Party time at YWAM Okanagan, perhaps out-done only by the party around the Throne (Luke 15:10)!