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When I was a
child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish
things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to
face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also
am known. |
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Homegroup Questionaire
More thoughts, this time from the "personal" section.Q: What has God laid on your heart in regards to a small group?
Small groups are a slice of the wider church. What the wider church is in the grand scale, so a small group should be in miniature; the small group should express the same DNA as it's parent church. What the main church values - worship, bible, evangelism, fellowship, etc - the small groups should reflect. Where the small group differs is that it's a place to be connected with one another, a place to exlpore faith in a community setting.
Everyone is on a faith journey and the small group is a place for fellow travellers. The apostle Paul, when speaking at the Areopagus, noted that there was an alter built "to an unknown god" in Athens at the time. I believe that God is already at work in people, drawing them to himself, and our lives could be thought of as being like the city of Athens in Paul's day. Some of us have yet to come into a relationship with Jesus - but His Spirit is at work in our lives to draw us to Him. In that place group members can provide positive feedback and clarification of the unknown god. Once we have come to know this God for ourselves, and have made a commitment to follow Jesus, there are still the idols of other "gods" in our lives to deal with. None of us are perfect, nor is our life spotless and pristine. We all have issues and a small group is the place to interact with God's Word to highlight them, to receive prayer and allow God's Spirit to free us.
Q: Is there a certain group of people that you want to reach out to, or need that you'd like to fulfill?
I want to see people grow in faith. I would like the group to be open enough that people who would fall on the negative portion of the Engel scale to be welcome to come, to belong, and to process issues of faith. I dont want a group made up of people who're mature believers who want a social club!
On the flip-side, I want to see people taking steps of faith in leadership. So, a mix of mature and new believers seems to be needed. I want the group to be a place where people feel safe about stepping out and trying new things - leading bible study, praying for others, leading worship, organizing an event, sharing a prophetic word, and so on.
Q: What do you want people in your group to experience?
In a word? The Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint) translates the Hebrew word "Yasha" as the Greek "Sozo." In English: salvation, healing, wholeness, deliverence, freedom. I want to see people come into an experience of Salvation in Jesus, and to grow in their salvation in the fullest sense of the word.
Thinking about group
Before our meeting on Wednesday, I need to answer the various questions on the homegroup questionaire. The logistical and organizational ones arent too interesting, so here are sopme from the planning section of the questionaire.Q: What does one most need to receive from the leaders and members of a small group?
Not to sound like Bill Clinton here, but I have to ask the definition of "one" as it will change the answer dramatically. So lets see:
- One = The Pastor
- The pastor needs to keep a finger on the pulse of group life, so edited feedback will be required. Since we know that a healthy church grows and reproduces all on it's own, there should be some method of tracking that growth, so statistics on group attendence would also be welcome. Numbers arent everything but a general feel for numeric growth and improvement of the church body's health can be gained through looking at the statisics.
- One = The Group Leaders
- Group leaders need to be a team, and team requires solid communication and keeping short accounts with one another (not letting the little irritations build up over time). They need training to do the job well, and to allow them to grow in their weaker areas. They need support, as leadership can and will be demanding. Prayer support is vital as they're stepping out into the spotlight and should expect a certain amount of spiritual attack
- One = Group Members
- Members need to feel accepted and welcomed, to be valued and included in the group. Ideally there should be a lack of "us and them" split of members / leaders, in the sense that members of the group are to play an active role in group life. Members of a group need others to practice their active listening skills, to really be heard in an environment that promotes the idea of being transparent and honest. Members as well as leaders need to be challenged to step up in their faith, to see weaker areas and to bring Christ into these facets of life.
Q: What does one need from leaders/group outside of small group?
A homegroup doesnt stop being a cohesive group of people outside of the (weekly) meetings, so there needs to be a connection that goes beyond the meeting time into real life. This means that a group should respect privacy issues outside of group time and not gossip about what they heard about one another. Similarly, struggles aired during group time should be supported outside of the group meeting - Christian homegroups have something to learn from the standard *A group (AA, GA, NA, SCA, etc) here, where members work their way through a phone list when they're tempted by their drug/addiction of choise. Prayer should be available through the week, along with social time.
Q: What are the main things you'd like to have people gain after being in a small group?
There's a proverb that says "give a man a fish and you feed him one day, teach the man to fish and you feed him for life." I want people to gain in the sense of moving up the Engel scale - to move toward and/or deepen a relationship with the God of the Bible. In doing this, I don't want people to be dependent on others spoon-feeding them truth but be going to the bible directly and allowing the Holy Spirit to impact their lives with the truth. Someone has said "with life comes growth," and if there's no growth, I would like to see people gain freedom from the things that are impeding a deepening relationship with Jesus.
Back in 2002 I responded to the Monday Mission question with the following:
What was (is) one of your favorite Children's books?
What's the book with "moon face" and the guy with all the saucepans? (comments please!) I thoroughly enjoyed "The Hobbit". At age 10 I was reading Greek myths, and not long after that, plugging through my big-brother's (grown up) sci-fi collection. "The dark is rising" series by Susan Cooper spings to mind as another favourite - especially if you want a reasonably well researched look at British Paganism! I dont remember many children's books.
 | I dont know if I am living in a time warp. but, someone finally responded to the "comments please" part of that and left me a note sayingThe Saucepanman and Moon face are in the Magic Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton.I suppose I should file this under "strange but true", or "things that make you go hmmm" (anyone remember that song, who sang it and when it was getting airplay? In my mind I can picture being with friends in Nashville, perhaps around summer of 1997, but that could be way off). |
| Blessed Be Your Name by Beth Redman + Matt Redman Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful Where Your streams of abundance flow Blessed be Your name And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place Though I walk through the wilderness Blessed be Your name Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise And when the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say CHORUS: Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your glorious name Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me When the world's "all as it should be" Blessed be Your name And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering Though there's pain in the offering Blessed be Your name You give and take away You give and take away My heart will choose to say Lord, blessed be Your name © 2002 Kingsway's Thankyou Music |
Fascinating what you can find out on the Internet - someone gave me a printed copy of the canons of the Council of Orange (529AD) which got me thinking about the whole Calvinism / Arminian debate. Of the few Baptists I know here in the USA all take the Calvinist road yet I know that Baptists in England dont all see things the same way. On the website for Baptist Union of Great Britain I found an absolute gem:
Persecuted for their beliefs throughout the 17th Century, Baptists at one stage developed into two streams of theological thought: The General Baptists believed that when Christ died on the cross he died for everyone in general; the Particular Baptists, however, believed that Christ died for the elect ie a particular group of people. Later these two streams came together to form the present Baptist Union of Great Britain.So it seems that you can be Baptist without being a Calvinist - that both sides can live together in harmony within the same organization and share the same goals. Believe me, this is great news!
More on the homegroup
Just got an email from the pastor, that went to all the people planning to start a new homegroup in the next month or so, asking us to think through the following questions. They seem pertinent to post here, at least in question form without my (personal) answers, though I might end up posting those if they dont end up pulling too much of my insides out for the morbid fascination of the reading public!
Your Calling
- What has God laid on your heart in regards to a small group?
- Is there a certain group of people that you want to reach out to, or need that you'd like to fulfill?
- What do you want people in your group to experience?
- What does one most need to receive from the leaders and members of a small group?
- What does one need from leaders/group outside of small group?
- What are the main things you'd like to have people gain after being in a small group?
- What is a Pastor's/Shepherd's Heart? (meaning, what characteristics do you see or expect to see in an individual that pastors others? ie: compassion, boldness, etc.)
- Do you think that one pastoring / shepherding can or should have characteristics that are on opposite ends of a spectrum (like bold in speaking truth vs. merciful and softly loving or being a people person vs. difficulty meeting new people?) and if so, how does that work/look?
- What qualities listed in first question do you naturally flow in?
- What qualities do you have to be intentional about building or letting God train you in
- What area of your lifestyle do you know God wants to change so that you can be a better shepherd to His people?
- What day of the week do you want to meet on?
- Where do you plan to host the group?
- Do you want/plan to do musical worship? If so, how is that going to happen?
- Who are the people that will be "in this" with you initially?
More on the homegroup
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We start and end with scripture. It's God's word and His primary method by which He speaks to us today, the measure by which we measure other forms of communication and totally authoritative on matters of faith and practice. We must remember the simple principle that scripture interprets scripture, for example the book of Revelation contains upwards of 200 references to Old Testament passages.
First base is tradition. We have 19 centuries of believers behind us, and we're not the first people to read a given passage of the bible. Obviously we must let the scriptures speak for themselves, but we can look down the years and see what the vast majority of other believers saw in the passage also. The appeal to tradition allows the weight of orthodoxy to bear down on us, for sure, but that cannot be a bad thing when all is said and done.
Second base is experience. Jesus promised that He would send the Holy Spirit, the 3rd member of the trinity, to lead us into all truth. As we walk through life we will experience His presence and hear His voice speaking. We must measure our experiences in the light of tradition and scripture, but we can also let our experiences speak when interpreting what the bible has to say. For example, I picked up a liking for the theory of quantum mechanics as I have gone through the various levels of schooling. According to quantum theory, a photon of light is both a wave and a particle at the same time and the kind of observation you make of the photon of light will determine how we see it. In light of this experience I have learned that it is perfectly possible, and often mandatory, to hold 2 seemingly contradictory truths in mind at once. It was Niels Bohr that said "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." This experience of science affords me the mental tools to be able to hold 2 profound truths in tension - free will and predestination.
Third base is reason. We know that God created the universe we see, imparting order and structure to His creation; the world around us is a pale reflection of the order and perfection of the God that created ex nihilo. God gave us the power to think and reflect, so we should never be afraid to engage our brain when it comes to reading and interpreting scripture. God says in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." So, as we approach scripture we should apply logic and avoid category mistakes (applying a concept outside the domain in which it can meaningfully be applied - like asking what the colour blue tastes like), and offering illogical impossibilities (can God create a rock so heavy He cant lift it?).
Finally we return to scripture. We must ask, what do these other tools tell us that God is saying through a particular passage, and once we understand it in its context, what does that say to us today. Beware that as we hear the word of God, we should also try to put it into action too.
Alison and I were talking about a BHAG that I heard other night: there was a guy on the radio said something about planning to "reach 3.9 by '09". To me that's a BHAG. It certainly is audacious and it's catchy too. A world-wide listening audience of 3.9 billion? Anyhow, Alison turned and asked me "So, what's your BHAG?"
Thats a tough question! I dodged it with a comment that made her laugh pretty hard - "I dont have a BHAG - I shaved it."
We're learning about church history in VLI right now. Fascinating stuff! I find it amazing to see the historicity of the faith, to see just how early that orthodoxy crystalized and how it has endured since that time. It gives me a warm feeling (perhaps that's the Indian food I ate, I dunno) to read Irenaeus of Lyons [who died in about AD 200] refering to an almost fully formed canon of scripture. It throws interesting light on the process of deciding the canon - if Irenaeus (and others) were already using the canon virtually as we have it today, it says to me that the process wasnt an arbitrary decision or the result of politics / military might as some might have us believe. No, the process of creating the canon was merely ratifying something that was already in widespread agreement. The fact that this agreement goes all the way back to the second century is striking.
OK, so I'm sure that it's obvious to all - I've tweaked with the look and feel of the site. Basically, I got fed up with stripes and wanted a nicer texture. Once I saw that I went on a quest to customize a bunch of the rest of the look and feel - date/time banners and the comments/permalink boxes.
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