Building Missional Families

We had a conversation at one point about the yuppie/dinkie focus of some missional resources... Here's something with a family focus...

Building a Missional Marriage

1. The Importance of the Gospel for a Missional Marriage
2. How Marriage Is A Unique Forum For Mission
3. How the Great Commission Affects Your Marriage
4. Has The Great Commission Lost It’s Meaning In Our Families & Culture?
5. How To Make Marriage & Mission One Sphere of Life

Raising Missional Children

1. How To Fit Mission Into Your Schedule
2. How To Disciple Children For Mission
3. How To Make Ministry “Normal” For Your Kids
4. Finding Jesus in the Family Room
5. How To Include Kids in Missional Living
6. How To Raise Kingdom Minded Children
7. How To Disciple Kids In Missional Communities – Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3
8. Children In Your Missional Community
9. Missional Community With Children In Mind

Listen to your neighbourhood: Mike Frost

An exhortation to listen to our communities before jumping in with our pre-fabricated solutions.

Confessions of a warn out soul

So, at the heart of it I’m a nasty, critical, opinionated individual.

From time to time I’m just not interested in being nice or uplifting, and am quite content to be just the opposite.

It is quite easy to put on the careful intelligent hat and presume self importance to acquit oneself of poor behaviour - a practice that I think I am quite a natural at.

It is in this vein that I behaved at the last focus in respect to the video that we watched.

Quite rightly, I had no reason to pull it down or be critical out of some zealous pretence of eclectic vanity.

For this I apologise.

No valid excuse.

No legitimate reason.

Just my tired, warn out desire to spew forth bad vibes for all to share.

’Nuf said.

Chris.

Luke 1 Study notes

Study Notes Luke1

Here are some basic notes from tonight’s focus group:

• Romans 8:14, Wayne Jacobson… Talks about freedom from fear and being able to love others.
• read through passage to the end of the passage.
• 77–78, spiritual awakening, not interpreted as a political liberation, but spiritual
• life changing experience for Zekariah, 30 years before Jesus and John begin ministry, did he keep telling this story?
• Romans4, ancient promise to Abraham - linchpin for it all to work and fit into context
• Parodical Son, more than one way to hide from God, both sons did not show, love for the father
• I am free song and video, central church video http://youtu.be/ielWwGJXmTg, connects to Lk 1:79.

Reading the Bible Missionally

Our own orientation affects how we approach scripture. Here are some alternative questions to help us to read it less egocentrically...

CONTEXT: How does this text read us and our world?

GOSPEL: How does this text evangelize us with good news?

CHANGE: How does this text convert us in personal and corporate life?

MISSION: How does this text send us and equip our witness?

FUTURE: How does this text orient us to the coming reign of God?

Download details about these questions here

Simple visual overview of Luke

Here's simple overview of Luke’s gospel, visually connecting geography with the book’s structure (adapted from Early Narrative Christology: The Lord in the Gospel of Luke by C. Kavin Rowe). PDF version (486 KB)

 http://visualunit.me/2012/02/06/luke-overview

The whole site is worth exploring for all its other  biblical infographics.

The Good - Modesty vs. Extravagance

The Good - Modesty vs. Extravagance 

As I did my yearly whipper-snipping today on a beautiful, totally blue autumn morning, I started to reflect on the tension between two ideals as my clumsy title implies. 

What is the 'good', or rather, the balance point that we as Christians should move towards in life? Depending on the 'brand' of christianity that you lean towards (or that you have come from), either end of this spectrum can be 'good' or 'bad'. 

I found it interesting the degree of pleasure that I had 'improving' the state of my yard: pruning, trimming and weeding as I went, and gradually the activity began to spawn forth visions of 'grander designs' that exceeded the state of our home. Not to suggest that what we have is either too small or not able to meet our needs, or to the other extreme, too big.

Thus my train of thought.

And to where does this line of thinking lead? How would Christ have us live? Should we pursue objects of beauty and 'improve' environment, or should we refrain and live with greater modesty? 

I think that at this point in time I will to some degree withhold comment, as really, this is a life's journey and one that I don't have great clarity on given my current vantage point. I do think that there is a place for aesthetic beauty in this world, to be reflected not just in 'proper works of art', but also in our houses and gardens and attire. Don't get me wrong, I also think that this is a tenuous line and balance point that we need tread (and I know that I am the first to hold others in contempt for their seeming investment in such things). 

What I do think is this, that we need to respond to the Holy Spirit in terms of conviction, and our discipline in that response. 

Do we give when we are compelled from within? 

Do we act as good stewards in living in a way that is honourable? 

Do we work towards the 'good' in the possessions that we have?

And perhaps, most importantly, do we 'do' this out of a knowledge and response of our true value, or so that we 'feel' that we have value…

More to think on this.