Remember the Titans

I received a very sad email today from Bob Girard's son-in-law, informing me that Bob died recently. It was the kind of unexpected surprise that immediately brings a tear to the eye. Robert C. Girard, 1932-2007

Robert C. Girard was the author of many inspiring and thought-provoking books, the most notable for me being Brethren, Hang Loose (Or What's Happening To My Church?), which I found by "accident" in the basement of a house I was boarding at after a summer of tree-planting in Northern Ontario.

The book was a great source of encouragement to Wendy and I, and we have bought countless second-hand copies and given them away to many friends over the years. A highlight for me will always be the light-hearted-but-serious phone conversation I had with Bob a few years back, when I was writing my original article on Detoxing From Church.

An except from Bob's obituary in the Arizona Republic:

"He was a graduate of Miltonvale Wesleyan College in Miltonvale, KS, and was an internationally recognized speaker and best selling author of seven published books, including "Brethren Hang Loose" (1972), the Bible Commentary Sunday school curriculum for Scripture Press/David C Cook Publishers, and his most recent A Smart Guide To The Bible- The Book Of Acts, released on June 19th, the morning he died...

"While at Our Heritage, "Pastor Bob" impacted thousands of lives through his devotion to Jesus Christ and His Word, his creative and innovative approach to ministry, and his fierce commitment to the body of Christ, his fellow believers."

Your race was well-run, Bob. Thanks for sharing your journey with so many of us. We have a lot to be grateful for.

We remember the Titans, and you were surely one.

Long Weekend Reading

It's a National Holiday both sides of the 49th this weekend -- Independence Day for our neighbours to the south, and Canada day right here at home -- which, being translated, means stay off the highways and enjoy your peace and quiet at home.

Currently reading:

1. A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia, written by the same guy who wrote Schindler's List. Hardly objective, but informative and engaging.
   
   
2. Alone With God: A Manual of Biblical Meditation by Campbell McAlpine, because someone dropped a copy on my desk with the words, "Are you related to this guy?" (My response: "Campbell who?") So far, I'm impressed with his passion and his directness.
   
   
3. The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch; I may end my emerging-book fast soon, and this will be the tome I start with.
   
   
4. The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis; I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I've never read this one before. A classic in its own right.
   
   
5. Breakthrough by Derek Morphew; I'm just finishing this one, and if there is a manual for the theology of the Kingdom of God (after the Bible), THIS IS IT. Wow.

Enjoy your weekend!

You Might Be Colonial

I'm feeling inspired by Jeff Foxworthy.Jeff Foxworthy may have missed an important one in not creating a series on "You Might Be Colonial". Read the following true story and just allow your mind to freely float to the reaction most comfortable for you, and let's see.

While chatting with a friend from the South Pacific Islands recently, I got to hear several stories about the churches in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Seems that "giving to missions" is such a big deal, that the various churches almost compete with each other over how much they raise annually for foreign missions. Missions offerings in some churches top $30,000 in a single offering. Another church clocked in at over $40,000.

"It's because sending missionaries is seen as an honourable thing," my friend told me, "and to be seen as not supporting missions would bring shame on a church."

Now, in a digital HT (hat tip) to Jeff Foxworthy:

• If the thought crossed your mind, "My, how quaint that those non-Western churches still think missions is important in the 21st century"...
  
  You might be colonial.
  
  
• If you thought this was fine for people "over there", but that it certainly doesn't apply to the civilized West...
  
  You might be colonial.
  
  
• If you found yourself somewhat amused, bemused, or uncomfortable with the idea of South Sea Islander missionaries coming TO North America...
  
  You might be colonial.
  
  
• If you thought, "Oh, that's so admirable; it kinda reminds me of those poor Third World Christians who seem so happy despite their poverty"...
  
  You might be colonial.
  
  
• If your reaction was an incredulous, "Wow, are they ever behind the times; have they even heard of postmodernism?"...
  
  You might be colonial.
  
  
• If you were honestly and genuinely impressed by the generosity of the South Seas Islanders, but it never occurred to you to humble yourself and possibly learn from their example...
  
  You might be colonial.

CLB Obituary

The signs have been pointing this way for a while, but it was still a wee bit unsettling to read the obituary of a church that Wendy & I had pastored in. We were part of the church-planting team for the first five years, and it was a wild and woolly ride, believe you me.

I've omitted a few details, like the names of the other pastors and the current name of the church, although I'm not entirely sure why. It just felt like something I should do:

"(Eastgate) Vineyard Christian Fellowship, worshipping in and serving from several different locations since 1992, held its last service April 29 (2007). _________ , the church’s administrator, announced the closing on behalf of the congregation of 50, in a letter widely distributed in May. Several pastor couples have served the church, including... Rob and Wendy McAlpine.

...The letter did not specify reasons for the closure – suggesting, rather, that 'we trust that as [God] has produced good seed in each of us... that He will plant these seeds in new places and bring growth and life through its members.'"

I remember:

• when the church was a small group meeting in the basement of an art gallery
  
• the hey-day of GodRock when over 100+ youth and young adults were rocking out in a rented rec centre
  
• the church growing rapidly in the early days
  
• sorting through the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Toronto Blessing
  
• pastors' retreats (as couples) where we laughed, hung out, drank beer, and dreamed about the future
  
• feeling like we'd finally found our "home" in ministry

It was also this church that eventually launched us, in 1997, into our season of Detoxing From Church.

But I also remember that, unlike many churches who go through tough times, the leadership did some things right, including reaching out to reconcile broken relationships with several former pastors, six years after it had become Wendy's and my CLB.

Several people I know have commented that it's for the best that the steadily-shrinking and struggling fellowship shut down, and they're probably right in saying so. But it's still a very strange feeling in my gut, when I think about a church that Wendy & I were once pastors in, and had helped get off the ground in its early years, which simply doesn't exist anymore. Maybe that's for the better, but it still feels weird.

Calling & Identity

The blogging fast is over.

Well, to be honest, I can’t hide behind a “blog fast” excuse – I’ve just been really busy and have let this poor blog languish a bit longer than is normal. What follows is fruit in keeping with repentence:

Our current YWAM CDTS is just about over, with summer outreach to Australia & Western Samoa in less than two weeks. Wendy & I have also been asked to lead the Fall DTS in September, and last but not least, our two teenagers have contracted mononucleosis, which makes things instantly interesting as final exams approach in a few days.

---

In the Dark Ages commonly referred to as the 20th century, I used to use the following as a way of helping people choose to follow their dreams or passions:

”If money were no object, and success was guaranteed, what would you do?”

The objective was that whatever the respondents identified as “what they would do”, if money was no object and success was guaranteed, would be “obviously” what their true dream and passion was. With the implication that they should therefore throw themselves into this passion/vision because it was clearly what was truly “on their heart to do”.

I’m no longer 100% convinced that this was such a good idea. Partially, perhaps, but not 100%.

Part of the problem, I think, is that too many people – myself included – confuse a sense of “calling” with “that from which I receive a paycheque”. For example, if you view your “calling” as being a full-time, financially-compensated clergy-unit, and then the church down-sizes you, suddenly an identity crisis of biblical proportions hits you like a proverbial camel train.

For myself, I have always felt that my primary “calling” is to be an encourager. Remember those “Spiritual Gifts Analysis” worksheets? They were helpful in highlighting areas that you were already serving in, but not a good resource for identifying a heart passion, or as Len Sweet once observed, in hearing what’s on God’s heart for us.

When I first did a Spiritual Gifts Inventory, I was a fairly new Christian and still pretty cynical about life in general, not to mention my own fairly negative view of myself. But even with my less-than-optimistic approach to answering the questions, my final score (low though it was) offered the result of “Encouragement/Exhortation”.

And in the years since, I think it’s been pretty accurate to say that one of the things that is the most satisfying for me is to encourage and build up others; conversely, I often hear from others that I have a gift for encouragement. During my first year at Providence College, I had never even heard of “prophetic ministry” or “the gift of prophecy”. Having come from a theologically evangelical background (Associated Gospel Churches of Canada), our Spiritual Gifts inventories either didn’t include charismatic gifts, or had simply ignored them (since the tests were based on past performance).

But as a night watchman once a week at Providence (student work duty), I had lots of free time between my rounds; there was nothing on TV that late at night, and doing homework at two in the morning – except in the final week of classes – wasn’t an option that appealed to me much.

So, I started writing encouragement notes to people, and sticking them into their mailboxes. Quite quickly, I discovered myself standing in front of the list of names and box numbers, searching for names that “stuck out” and then writing whatever came to mind for that person; sometimes it was a word of encouragement or appreciation, and often it was Scripture. Without ever thinking of myself as being “prophetic”, I was quietly learning, in my own manner, to hear the voice of God and to be an encourager.

It was also very interesting to note how many times people would come up to me, sometimes with tears in their eyes, to say thanks and “how did you know…”?

If I make “being a paid pastor” my “calling”, then I could lose my sense of calling and identity depending on whether or not I had a vocational financially-compensated placement in a pastoral role. And my calling and identity would be in the hands of whatever people held the power of hiring and firing.

However, if my calling and identity is that of an encourager, I can do that with or without a position, title, recognition, notoriety, or paycheque. And my calling and identity would be in the hands of Someone far greater.

Kingdom Door Slamming

I'm not finished reading it yet, so this isn't a review (yet), but I'm in the middle of reading Derek Morphew's Breakthrough, and so far, I'm really enjoying it. It's all part of my "Kingdom of God" ponderings, wanderings, and ruminations.

There's been some interesting posts around Greater Blogdom regarding the future of missionary movements, with not a few people suggesting that (A) giving money to missions is a waste of valuable resources that could be better used elsewhere, and (B) that missions in general needs to be re-thought if not outright rejected as too oldskewl for the 21st century.

You're wondering how I'm going to tie missionary movements and the Kingdom of God together. Well, I will, but in a later post. Right now, I wanted to just mention some interesting parallels from the 1st century that impact both missions and the Kingdom.

When Jesus first showed up announcing the Kingdom, He was always clashing with two groups of people who didn't get Him, didn't want to get Him, and eventually just wanted to get rid of Him: the Pharisees and the Sadduccees.

The Pharisees were ritualistic and legalistic in their approach to God. They had built an elaborate system of rules and regulations to scrutinize their own holiness (and therefore acceptability to God) and the holiness of the commoners they looked down on in self-righteous arrogance.

They made so many rules that people just gave up trying, and assumed that the Pharisees were the only truly righteous ones (and the Pharisees liked them to think that way, too).

The Sadduccees were the politically-opportunistic compromisers of their day. They were at the opposite side from the Pharisees: rather than making more rules to make it more difficult to approach God, they just negated all the supernatural elements of the Jewish faith, choosing to believe there are no angels, demons, and denying a resurrection from the dead. They tended, like the Pharisees, to be shrewd arguers and debaters about the fine points of the Law, but had rejected any overtly supernatural aspects of their faith -- they were the "progressive ones".

So, where do I see similarities today? Well, the Pharisees of today build elaborate systems of rules and "principles" that are somehow "required" by God before He will deign to involve Himself in the affairs of humanity. It can been seen in the "Kingdom Now" charismatics who have an intricate list of things that must be done before revival will come (akin to the Spiritual Mapping crew). This tends to keep the Kingdom at bay, as the requirements are so exacting that it's impossible for any city to meet them perfectly. And the Kingdom Door slams shut.

This affects 21st century discussions on missions as well: anglo-caucasian angst over past colonialism, and consumer-influenced ideas of "Return On Investment" (where to spend our missions dollars) combine to produce a mental paralysis over the complexities of the issues which must be sorted out before even considering "foreign" (ie. not in your country of birth) missions. Some people just throw up their arms (metaphorically), and give up. And that sound you hear in the distance is a Kingdom Door slamming.

The Sadduccees of today are equally effective in thwarting people; they simply remove the dynamic of the Holy Spirit from the work of the Kingdom or of missions, and boldly go where only man can go: in their own strength, depending on their own human ingenuity and cleverness. And the Kingdom of God without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is just a social program with a bit of religiosity tacked on for good effect. So in effect, removing the dynamic presence of the Spirit is essentially slamming the Kingdom Door.

21st century missions gets affected in that people start looking at the $$bottom line$$ when making decisions about financial support, and this usually translates into missionaries getting the shaft. Increasingly, people don't think in terms of "hearing the voice of God", or being "called" into full-time missions. It's just another career choice, and if you don't have a tent-making skill to earn your own keep, you're just out of step with the times.

Was that another door I just heard?

The discussion of the future of missions in the 21st century is by no means easily settled, and I'm just barely scratching the surface with this over-long post. But there are two centuries-old approaches -- that of the Pharisees and Sadduccees -- that we dare not allow to influence our thinking and praxis.

These are thoughts still in progress, so please let me known your thoughts!