How's Your Community Group: Part 1

How's your Christian community going?

Do you like it? Not in a 'boy likes girl' sort of way, but do you get excited that your community is fulfilling the Great Commission and joyfully! Or are you just spending another night with a 'hang-out' crowd, or another Bible study, or another 'save-the-world' service group with no real discussion on Truth?

If you're anything like me you spend more than enough time evaluating whether or not your Life Group, Cell-group or Missional Community is healthy or not. While every church may have a different matrix for discerning health I want to take some time to discuss the early church koinonia (fellowship gatherings) that was forming and multiplying following the explosion of growth in Acts 2.

Disclaimer: I realize that some very brilliant theologians (much more so than I) push against the idea that the community we find in Acts 2:42-47 should ever be considered normal, especially not in our Western culture. Others lean in the opposite direction and say that if the early Church were able to more readily fulfill the Great Commission in Matthew 28 through tight-knit family/friend communities, then we ought to adapt and adopt.

I agree.

That said, I want to use this passage in Acts as a dynamic discussion guide to gauging healthy community. It's not nearly definitive and it doesn't have to be normative...but it says something about community in a time where the Spirit was rapidly moving (not to mention it was deemed noteworthy to be included in our Canon), so let's lean into it a bit.

Before we get started I've stolen and compiled different sources worth of information and put together a 'health' diagram to foster our conversation. You'll notice that there are several stages a community group grows through, each one being necessary and all a piece of the divine puzzle that is co-Mission.

I'm going to start with the assumption that if the Son of God rose from the dead to send us on a mission, then that mission must be central to our community - and so every other 'stage' of communal growth only drives us to our mission which never actually ends. In fact, if your group is on mission then you will grow through these stages time and again.

In the next post we'll start Teaching and clarify the text, ask some questions and press on our own experience in our community groups.

Read Acts 1-5 - crazy times. The Master Plan of Evangelism is a great compass in this discussion as well.

Rubble & Renewal

The evil one hates growth. Maturing in Christ goes against everything he stands for, everything he rebelled against in the first place.

I was reading in Nehemiah and noticed an ongoing analogy. The men who opposed the rebuilding of the wall used language that, quite frankly, resembles the noise and ethos of Satan at work today. In particular they verbally mock and attack two key aspects of the rebuilding of the wall (in chapter 4):

1. Renewal: 'Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble - burned as they are?' :2
2. Maturity: 'But when [the opposition] heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead and the gaps were being closed, they were angry.' :7

Renewal is foundational to the Christian journey isn't it. The God who makes all things new (Revelation 21:5) is at work in and around us always. The whole idea behind the Christianese phrase 'born again' (which by the way we find in the interaction between Jesus & Nicodemus) is simply this, that through Christ's perfect work in divine reconciliation between God and man we are made new.

The baggage we carry, the brokenness in our hearts and souls, the misunderstanding of self-esteem and the depression that ravages, physical challenges and excruciating pains, the false ideas of self-gratification and fulfillment that never quite come to pass...this 'rubble' that makes up our lives, these pieces that have been burned and appear to be useless - they aren't. These aspects of our lives are the very elements God uses to reconcile us to Him and rebuild life on a new foundation. Satan hates to see his work undone.

Maturity. You know that fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5? Or the growth chart in 2 Peter 1? Or the qualities of the Overseer in the Pastoral Epistles? Or what about the profound profession of the thief on the cross next to Jesus on Skull hill (Luke 23:39-43)? Or in Acts 2 and 4 where the Church begins to care for one another in dramatic and powerful ways? Maturity in action.

Satan hates the maturing and fruitful believer. Think of Job and the Apostle Paul. These men were connected to God in different but deep ways and both were spiritually attacked in incredible ways.

The account in Nehemiah of the rebuilding of the walls and the detail of the opposition is a clear reminder that Satan is real and at work and even using the same techniques today as he did then. Satan isn't the focus though. If you'll notice above the focus is immediately taken from the evil one and placed on the awesome work of Jesus through the Gospel - the eternal, sinless, incarnate, crucified, resurrected, ascended and eternal Son of God.

He rebuilds our personal rubble for breakfast and closes the gaps in our broken lives for dinner. This is the grace of God at work in us and Satan cannot overcome Him.

Are you discouraged by opposition? Read Psalm 139. Read John 16.
Are you burned out, a pile of personal rubble? Come to Christ for starters, He alone rebuilds.
Are you being worked over right now? Are you growing in Christ painfully? Read Philippians.

Spend some time praying. Connect with God and Thank Him for His work eternally past, present and eternally future on your behalf.

Word of Beard

'You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love.' Galatians 5:13

Grace is an interesting thing. By the grace of the Creator of the universe we are able to know Him and be known by Him. By His grace we are capable of knowing True Love (Christ) and true forgiveness.

By His grace we are freed from whatever sin it is that has an exasperating grasp on our ankles, whatever it is that weighs on our hearts and minds when we're alone...we are free.

'It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.' 5:1

When divine grace abounds in us, calling us to experience freedom from both the (meta)physical chains of slavery to sin as well as the man-made walls of legalism that close us off from the world...when His grace abounds in freedom we must remember that we're now freed to experience every aspect of authentic, undying, eternally divine love, not freed so as to sin in new ways (which in our flesh is always a possibility).

Freedom from sin and freedom from legalism, through the power of the grace of Christ, send us off as men and women on mission with a divine call on our lives to love the Lord and as an overflow of this God-love we then love others...and while this new-found freedom may very well be abused (which is slavery once again) in our freedom we discover the divine desire to love others through the Great Commission (and as a result discover our own worth in His sight as well).

Freedom is what it sounds like. Freedom from chains and walls and confusion and pain. It's freedom to experience Truth and Love as citizens of a Kingdom of Life.

Read Galatians 5, Ephesians 2, Philippians, Colossians 2:6-3:17, John 12-21...In fact, if you've missed the heart of the message of grace you ought to read through the Gospels and make note of Christs mission of mercy on your behalf.

Peace and Martinis

Shortly after the great dispersion of Christians from Jerusalem due to persecution, Luke summarizes the happenings with this statement:

'Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace...' Acts 9:31

Peace - eirene (gk) - an untroubled well being - an internal settling regardless of external circumstances.

I wonder what Luke is attempting to say here about this peaceful experience? I've always read into this a reprieve from persecution. That since Saul the Great Persecutor had met the resurrected Jesus in the same chapter the Church around the Middle East was then free to move and breath and live without fear.

I'm not so sure about that.

In Philippians Paul (the now Great Missionary) challenged that church to be 'anxious about nothing.' That rejoicing in God regardless of their circumstances would foster a 'peace of God, which transcends all understanding' and this peace would protect their hearts and minds in Christs truth (Philippians 4:4-7).

Peter also noted the need for being 'clear-minded and selfcontrolled' and this in order to connect with Jesus in prayer and in essence experience the peace Paul describes (1 Peter 4:7).

All through Acts we see believers experiencing a supernatural filling of peace in the midst of struggle, suffering, persecution and lack of understanding of the intricacies of the Way.

This peace is not due to a lack of persecution, at least I don't believe that's what Luke is stating here. In fact, I believe he's noting that across greater Israel the normal experience in that season was a peace fostered by the divine nature of Christ as promised through the Counselor, the Holy Spirit.

This isn't the sort of kick-up-your-feet with a cigar and a martini on the Mediterranean-seaside sort of peace...

This is the supernatural filling of the Spirit. An internal divine settling regardless of the external chaos.

This is a stand-firm in the Gospel through prayer and edification...and then a martini.

The passage continues with several more points that display the work of the Spirit throughout the early Church. We'll see that Spirit-led edification and exhortation lead to multiplication.

Read Acts 1-9 and in particular 9:31 for the greater context.

Word of Beard

'This is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.' 1 John 3:16

Giving is an interesting concept. I'm not sure I understood it until I was made aware of Christs sacrificial giving.

I would give in order to receive. I would give out of guilt though sometimes out of compassion. I would give because it seemed 'fair' in a particular context or simply to balance out a give/take relationship. Even those times where I gave out of love sacrificially, I cannot recall doing it for any greater purpose, any greater good. To be honest, I'm not sure I really wrestled with 'giving', especially it's deeper eternal purpose.

However, once in Christ, though not understanding giving entirely and not right away as a new believer, it did make sense that giving was 'right' and that it brought joy and those warm-fuzzy feelings, especially when it cost me much.

The Apostle John explains this a bit, 'This is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid down his life for us' (1 John 3:16a) - this is the supreme example or model of love. this is a divine eternal love, a moral love, an ethical love, a sacrificial love, a practical love and a perfect human love. In other words, Giving flows first from our knowing and experiencing a perfect love in Christ.

He goes on, 'And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers,' (3:16b). John notes that Jesus is the model and that we are to be living examples of his perfect love. He goes on to stress that this is demonstrated specifically in the giving of our personal possessions (material belongings, food, money, housing etc), and in the general sense of how we live, 'action and in truth,' (3:18).

This is a holistic call to model Christ-likeness through the giving of ourselves, and this is a call to every believer at that. In fact John goes on to say that, 'This then is how we know that we belong to the truth,' (3:19)...if we give ourselves away. He follows this statement with some specifics about giving material goods and as well as good deeds, things and the Gospel.

There is something about giving that displays not only to the world but to our own hearts and minds that we truly know Jesus and what He has both redeemed us from and called us to.

Though as a new believer years ago I may not have been able to explain it, it seemed right to give. It seemed right simply because it was a divine character trait being fostered in my own life - I was becoming Christ-like. Whereas when I didn't know Christ I was simply acting Christ-like without knowing it and He yet honored this by providing those divine 'feelings' of joy and the like.

Giving is easy to do. That said, knowing the source of giving and our motivations is a deeper issue. Spend some time praying and discerning your own giving lifestyle. Are you modelling Christ-likeness?

Read 1 John 3:16-24 and Romans 12:1-8. Adapted from an original post at Medina East Campus' [RE]GIFT

Word of Beard

The new year is an interesting life-marker isn't it. It's this invisible line drawn in time that very strangely affects our worldview. It's an excuse for a do-over, or a second, third or fourth start at something.

It's very freeing to think that come January 1st we can actually start afresh. But it's also confining too isn't it? At the same time that we hope for a new start to our diet, we're limiting ourselves to that timeline, as if starting today would be futile.

I was reading about discipleship again and this time in relation to the new church campus plant I'm involved in. I was thinking about our Vision and Values and how they ought to connect us with Jesus on a molecular level. I was thinking about this in relation to a new year on the horizon and how I want to live and lead with clarity, at least as much as the Spirit allows in this crazy season.

In order to map out the coming year I've been convicted to view my life's Vision and Values in direct relation to the Gospel holistically. For instance, let me share my definition of each (Breen and Cockram sent me in this direction):

Vision: Gods kingdom at work in this culture through the Gospel.
Values: Gods grace at work in this body through the Gospel.

This Vision forces me to view all of ministry (personally and corporately) as the expansion of Gods kingdom here in Medina. And this expansion, penetrating the heart of this community and culture, coming solely through a practical understanding and outworking of the Gospel (to the unbeliever in Romans 1:16, and maturing believer in Colossians 1:6).

This definition of Values stirs within me a greater desire to enter into a Gospel lifestyle that applies divine grace to every relationship, situation and context in real time both within this local body and within the greater community.

Can you imagine what life would hold in the new year if I/we resolved to unite our individual and communal Vision to actual Gospel centrality on any and every front?! Our worldviews would be rocked and we might usher in the kingdom in this town with miracle and wonder.

What if our Values shifted dramatically as well. That in the new year we'd resolve not only to eat healthy or live at peace with the universe but to give grossly abundant amounts of grace to others as the Gospel demonstrates for us and demands of us. That our value system would be defined by a Gospel of grace and not unconvincing and discouraging law.

That our Vision for our lives and the Values we function within would be Gospel centered is quite simply the only way a new year resolution will come to fruition. I want to challenge us all to keep this in mind as we begin to ponder what the new year might hold.

Enjoy the journey in 2013 - in fact, why not begin now...

Read 'Building a Discipling Culture' by Breen and Cockram

The Naughty, Naughtier and Righteous

It's that time of year again where we reflect on relationships. We stroll through our mental Rolodex of family, friends, co-workers, neighbors - and we rearrange our Naughty or Nice list.

We lose sleep over who gets the awkward family holiday sweater Christmas card.

We justify the emotions we feel toward that brother or sister who ruins everything and base our holiday cheer on their existence. We meditate on how impressive a gift our spouse deserves either based on their awesomeness or our own screw-ups over the past year. Whatever the case - the more awesome they have been OR the greater the jerk you have been will equate to a larger gift in their favor.

Some of us wrestle with the needs of the rest of the world in this season - in particular the amount we'll spend on 'stuff' when others suffer, struggle and mourn. And again we attempt to discern the appropriate place of their needs vs our own, or their needs vs our children's desires...

Our holiday-relationship-meditative-discernings are often painful and wracked with tension, frustration and even guilt. Why is it so hard to enjoy this season of celebrating the First fruits of Salvation, that is, the Incarnation of Jesus?

'He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth...Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.'

We spend so much time wondering which list people will land on. We struggle, argue and lose sleep over these relationships when right before us we have an ancient Word describing the rule by which the Lord was going, did and does discern and judge the world.

Through Isaiah the Lord proclaimed this. While this passage isn't prescriptive of our own actions it does present a model of righteous thinking, of set-apart discernment, of just and pure action.

First we see that the Lord will not simply judge the world (people) by what he sees. He knows your heart and the overflow of it in your daily life. This is a key element in our decision making abilities. Dig deeper, look harder, forgive.

Next we see that he doesn't judge based solely on what he hears as we're imperfect people incapable of expressing ourselves appropriately - again He looks to the source of our being, that Spirit within us groaning for Truth and Justice and Holiness. Are you listening past the hurt and frustration?

Instead, with Righteousness He will judge the needy. With Justice He will decide fairly on behalf of the poor of the earth. Christ will discern with mercy and grace the nature of His relationship with all people and their standing before Him.

He will judge the world with the very same 'divine nature' He offers us, one that we are called to partake in.

We discern who gets a Christmas card, a text, an e-card, a gift, a smile, a hug, a visit, a phone call, a family video-update, a hand-written letter...modelled after and based upon Christs interaction with us and not our twisted-and-emotionally-flesh-driven response to their past actions, words, thoughts. No matter how long-standing the bitterness may be. No matter how true the hurt is. No matter how tempting the Naughty list is. No matter.

No matter how poor. No matter how angry. No matter how hurtful. No matter how broken and bruised and bitter. No matter how distant and cold and closed off...He made himself nothing to bring you and I into Everything...'and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers' as well (1 John 3:16).

Review your list. Revise it.
Reconcile it with Christs reconciling of you.
Redeem your actions, thoughts and words according to His standard.
Repent where you find yourself unable to forgive. Believe that He can bring about wholeness.

The Naughty list may not disappear but it can be handed over to the Lord for sifting and judging. Stroll through your Rolodex and seek an unburdened Merry Christmas.

Read Matthew 5:1-12 for a description of what criteria God judges us on. Read 2 Peter 1 to realize the call to a divine life - one based on Jesus' commands and commission.