How Are The Grovers In New Orleans?

All of us have been a bit overwhelmed these last two days as we watch the devastation in New Orleans. Some of you are friends with Rick and Laura Grover who are church planters in New Orleans and, like many others, are wondering how they are doing and where they are.

All things considered they are doing pretty well. They do not know when they will be able to go back to their home and they don't know how extensive the damage is. However, they have seen several nearby landmarks to their home that were flooded significantly.

Rick and Laura will be going to Lexington, KY where Laura's family lives. They plan on enrolling their kids in school there and going back to NO when possible. Rick is coordinating some relief funds and efforts through a church planting organization that he is associated with called Stadia. I will provide us with some info on how we can contribute to the effort soon. In the next week or so Stadia will be coordinating a nationwide love offering for the relief efforts. 100% of the contributions will go to relief efforts.

What Do You Call This Thing?

Trying to come up with a name for our congregation is like trying to name a new baby. We have had many wonderful suggestions and a lot of great ideas and after a lot of deliberation our name is “The Wheatland Mission.”

Our aim was to come up with a name that is descriptive, meaningful, and sonorous. That last word kind of means “sounds cool” so we will see if our name does or not.

There are three inspirations behind the name. First, living in Wichita, home of the WSU (wheat)Shockers, Wheatland has a natural regional appeal. Second, and more importantly, it is meant to remind us of the words of Jesus in John 12:24: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains a single seed. But, if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Our goal of being missional, more concerned for God’s Kingdom than our own comfort, compels us to follow Jesus’ example of giving our lives both as individuals and as a corporate body. Finally, the word “Mission” reflects our desire to be a missional church along with being a description of a new church work.

A Relational Church

It is no secret that most churchgoers attend one church over another because of friendship. Sure, there are those who choose a church because of it’s worship style, the preaching style or the theological bent but people stay in church because they are experiencing deep and meaningful friendships with other people.

This may be an overstatement of the obvious but Wheatland Mission will be a relational church. Like every other church our friendships and commitments to one another will be essential to the life of our fellowship. However, we will be relational on purpose which will require more of us. For example, as a group we want to be committed to a shared life. (For those of you who ar wondering…No, we aren’t going to move into a commune unless, it in Aspen). But we will commit to one another to walk through life together. This means that we will not only talk about spiritual realities but we will work to see these things happen in our lives. It means that we will strive to see the best in one another and encourage one another to be all that God has designed us to be. It means that we share our lives in mission as well. That is, we will serve together. We will be more than a group of individuals. We will be a body of believers who seek to be a part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. We will pray together; cry together; serve together; worship together; and grow together.

In addition, we must pay attention to maintaining healthy relationships. This means not only be patient with one another but being honest. It means bearing one another’s burdens and, when necessary, gently confronting one another for the sake of our brother or sister and for the sake of the relationship. (See Galatians 6:1-3) It means following Scriptural direction when it comes to conflict and when it comes to our shared life. (See Matthew 18:15-20 & I Corinthians 13)

We long to be a Missional, Organic, Relational and Holistic church. In our efforts to be on mission we must always keep in mind that God cares equally for both the mission and the man (or woman!).

As I write this I am encouraged to tell you all that we have entered into our third week of house church meetings. We have three groups meeting on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday with a third to begin soon. It is a joy to see brothers and sisters in Christ ministering to one another, praying together and participating in God's Kingdom together.

If you want to join a group give me a call at 992-1540.

Missional II

I have been thinking about what it means to be a missional church. This brings to my mind the words that mark the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Right out of the box, Jesus’ is making a claim on our lives, that is, if we are interested in being a part of God’s plan for the world. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Matthew 4:17

Being a missional church means being a catalyst for God’s Kingdom. With that in mind it seems important that we think about two words in this verse. The first one to consider is the first word in the verse: repent. If you have read the Bible much this word has come across your field of vision but if you are like me, you sometimes find it something you would rather pass over. But, it appears that Jesus is saying that if you want to be a part of his Kingdom that we must stop doing some things that we are doing, start doing some things that we aren’t, and live with a new awareness of God’s presence and power in our lives.

What are some marks of repentance? (We talked about some of these in our Sunday night group so any of you can share your thoughts.)

The second word is the last: near. What exactly does Jesus mean by this? Does it mean that the Kingdom is coming and it is just around the bend? Does he mean that it isn’t here yet but that it will soon be arriving? Or, could he mean that it is hear now and ready for the taking?

Some translations use the phrase, “now at hand”, rather than “near.” Which do you prefer? What do you think “near” means and what impact should that have on the life of a church like ours?

A Relational Church

OK, this isn't the total post about being a relational church. However, I want to let all of you know that we have started some of our groups this week. We have groups meeting on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. We will be starting more groups in the next few weeks as well.

As these groups begin we are studying the Kingdom of God. It seems fitting that as this fledgling church begins its life that we pay close attention to the subject that is closest to Jesus' heart.

If you want to get plugged into one of our groups you can e-mail me or give me a call (992-1540).

An Organic Church

In this space I want to discuss the idea of ours being a church that is Missional, Organic, Relational and Holistic. All of these words are dangerously close to becoming jargon so I want to give specific content to them. I want to do this for our benefit so we can speak effectively with one another, share our hearts, and build a dialogue that will move us forward as we continue to seek God's will for our church. Here is this week's word:

organic: 1. occurring or developing gradually and naturally, without being forced or contrived; 2. consisting of elements that exist together in a seemingly natural relationship that makes for organized efficiency

I borrowed these two definitions from the many that are in the dictionary to illustrate what I believe we are aiming for as a new church. Definition 1 highlights the fact that we are involved in a ministry that is natural and an outgrowth of our personal lives. The corporate gathering of believers is to be an amalgam of all of our experiences with God along with the combined experiences of that gathering, that specific church. We don't seek to import something foreign that does not have it's roots in our journey, both corporately and as individuals, with Christ.

Definition 2 speaks to how we function as an organization, or better yet as an organism. Organic language is often more helpful to describe the Church, and more biblical, than the language of business, government and non-profit institutions. Jesus spoke of organic relationships, such as the relationship between Father and Son, and the Apostle Paul spoke of an organic unity, the Body. Each of these were meant to give us a picture of how God's people are to function in the world. Each of these organic images gives the Church a picture of how we are to participate in the further advancement of God's Kingdom.

Included in the last post, A Missional Church, there is another "organic" image that Jesus used as a description of God's Kingdom. Yeast was a common household item of that time and a familiar one to us today. In Matthew 13:33 Jesus highlights the small yet pervasive quality of yeast and how the Kingdom of God is similar. Think of the paradox. Jesus takes the biggest and most important subject known to man and compares it to baking ingredients!

Jesus used other "organic" imagery such as the Shepherd and the Sheep, the Parable of Seeds and Soils, the Mustard Seed and the Great Tree and many others. Jesus love for nature was not the primary factor in his use of these images but the reality that they represented. We will do well to pay close attention to His metaphors.

When you think of an "organic" church what comes to your mind?

This Isn't Working

And I am starting to get mad about it.

A Missional Church

In the early days of Christianity the Church received its name. The Greek word for the church is the word ekklesia. It is the word from which we get such terms as ecclesiastical, and it is the word used for the title to the Old Testament book, Ecclesiastes.

Literally, this term means the called out ones, gathered, or the gathering, and referred to the coming together of the early believers. They were called out of one thing and called into something else. For those 1st Century Christians they recognized the fact that they were not merely gathered but they were gathered for a purpose. They were called together, gathered as the Body of Christ, and sent into mission. The mission of advancing the Kingdom of God.

Called, gathered and sent. These are three words that capture the idea of a missional church. We are called. God has placed a calling on each of our lives to be a part of advancing his Kingdom. We aren’t called to be warehoused on earth until our departure for heaven. We are called from something, a life separated from God, and we are called to something. That something we are called unto is a life of advancing God’s Kingdom through worshipping him and serving others.

A missional congregation recognizes its calling as a part of the overall ekklesia of God. It is a corporate call to participate in the gathered Body of Christ. Gathered together we can worship with more fervor and serve with more force than we can alone. Reflecting God’s image we serve and worship in community.

Finally, be called and gathered we are also sent. We are sent into the world for the sake of Christ. It is not enough for us to simply await our final destination of heaven we are created for the sake of mission. We are meant to be a blessing to anyone we can touch and we are called to be a part of the solution to the problems in the world rather than part of the problem.

We don’t yet know all that our little church will be. But we do see some of what we will be like on the journey there. I look forward to journeying there with all of you.

Jesus gave a fascinating picture of what it will be like when the church is called, gathered and sent.

He told them still another parable:
“The Kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman took and
mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." Matthew 13: 33