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December 19, 2012 by design343

From Somewhere To Everywhere And Back Again: An Advent – Pentecost Reflection

by: Chris Backert, Ecclesia Network Director

Many of my friends within Ecclesia would know that, at best, I am a “low-church” liturgist. A few years ago, most of the rigidity of the liturgical calendar was more binding than loosing to me – both as a pastor and as a Christian. While I certainly still lean away from the fixed rigidity of the liturgical calendar in terms of the specific days and texts, I’ve learned a lot from some of my fellow Ecclesia leaders over the past few years, particularly regarding the broader sweep of the liturgical year. I am drawn, like many of them, to the sense that we need to “re-order” our way of ordering our time according toGod’s grand narrative and less of the way we normally look at a year in the modern world. We should ebb with the momentum of God’s drama and not the script propelled before us by most of those who pass us by.

When it comes to the Advent and Christmas season though, the irony within this is that for many people, this season IS the high point of the year (save the possible exception of when school gets out if you are a child, or when it goes back in session if you are a parent). Yet, for those of us who are attempting to enter into God’s grand narrative, in many ways the seasons of Advent and Christmas actually are our lowest points.

It might be strange to think about Christmas as the low point in a year, especially for a Christian. Yet, I’ve come to see that the liturgical year arc’s upward, ultimately climaxing not in Easter, but in Pentecost. This too might be strange to suggest since most tend to regard Easter as our high point, especially when so many within evangelical circles in particular have certainly heard a sermon during Advent about how Jesus was “born to die” or for those with a bit more of our understanding even “born to rise”. But, perhaps it is more aligned with the purposes of Jesus himself and the Father who sent him to say something like he was “born to release the Spirit upon and within the Church”.

Of the many reasons for Jesus coming, one of the most often overlooked is that he came to make way for the Spirit’s perpetual arrival, and he left (death, resurrection, and ascension) to make way for that arrival to be ongoing, permanent and always present, upon the church in particular. A few years ago we had the fantastic opportunity to have Dallas Willard with us at the Ecclesia National Gathering, and one of the many incredibly powerful things that he shared was that the Spirit was given in succession to Jesus so that Jesus might be everywhere that he needed to be. He went on to say this:

Jesus was aware that as long as he was here, as we say, in the flesh, he was an obstruction to the power of the spirit coming into the very lives of people he was training. Limited to flesh he was not able to everywhere he needed to be, as he can now, because the Spirit brings him everywhere he needs to be. His death and resurrection was, among other things, Jesus’ way of getting out of the way of the Spirit.

If this were not his ultimate intention, how else could Jesus articulate something like he did in John 16 so clearly. “But, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you … He will glorify me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of mine and will disclose it to you.”

We are reminded in this season of Advent that the word became flesh and, as Eugene’s version says, “moved into the neighborhood”. He became a person to dwell among us as a person. But he did this so that he as the“Word” might become unfleshed so that it – by the power of the Spirit – could be everywhere and with everyone who is in the flesh – that is why he calls the Church his body.

The view of Advent then is not just historical, as in we remember the past, nor is it merely eschatological, in that we anticipate the future. In addition, and perhaps even ultimately, it is first pneumatic, then ecclesial, and then missional. The word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood, and then he moved out, so that He might move, through the Spirit, back into the neighborhood – not just with us – though he certainly is – but also within his body, the Church.

Perhaps this season moves us beyond reflection and nostalgia toward attentiveness (and ultimately action) to the ways in which the Spirit is bringing the person of Jesus into our specific neighborhoods, and among specific people, through “we” the church. It is a season about the coming of Jesus, but the most faithful way to live within that is by actually sharing in his current presentness. It should also cause us to ponder whether or not we are moving within the arc of Advent—the beginning of the Church year– and it’s forward path from now until June. Is the Spirit’s presence among us increasing? Is our dedication to a Spirit-empowered Church strengthening? Is our love for this community and for its purpose abounding? If we love the season of Advent and the liturgical flow, then we will love these things as well.

One of my favorite images of Advent is one I heard from John Eldredge many years ago. He described this season as “God quietly seeding His revolution behind the scenes of time in the most quiet and unexpected manner in an exceedingly out of the way place.” Now, the revolution continues on, not having yet met its match. Undoubtedly it will not. The quiet revolution is in the neighborhood of your church right now, because Jesus is there, and you are too, even if it is happening in an exceedingly unexpected way.

December 19, 2012 by design343

God is Still Redeeming My Life

This post was written by a member of Life on the Vine, an Ecclesia congregation in suburban Chicago.

On October 30, 2004, I found out that my mom had died earlier that morning. At seven years old that put me into a pit of grief; which I’ve struggled with for the past eight years. I would have many nights where I would cry myself to sleep and days where I would take out my anger on my brother, sister and anybody that I could without getting in trouble for doing so. For several years I tried to work through my pain counseling and some other things, but not much seemed to help. My dad got remarried in 2008 and I felt sad because in my mind, a new mother meant that I had to leave behind the old one, which was a lie that I thankfully later had my eyes opened to.

Over the past few years I have been having long painful conversations with my parents and other family members about my grief. Often I would break down into tears and sobbing. At some point I realized that it was as if I had been paying a penance for my mom’s death that I didn’t need to pay. I felt guilty about being happy and alive while my mom was dead. Unfortunately, realizing this didn’t mean it was over; I still had more work to do.

Fast forward to this past summer, when I was part of the Youthworks mission team that went to Oklahoma. While I was there I was able to share my struggles about my mom’s death with my teammates. Through that I learned to trust non-family members with this heartache. I felt supported in my struggle and that I had the team’s understanding. During the trip my relationship with God had been renewed. I then felt God wrapping me in His love and I knew that somehow I’d make it through.

When October came around this year, I was nervous that it would end up being a pit of despair like every other October had been so far. Through talking with my dad I was lead to be at peace with the fact that God didn’t owe me an answer as to why she died. If God wants me to know why my mom died, He’ll tell me, if not, He won’t. Another thing that helped was that I was able to just think about all the good memories and most importantly about how far I had come from the little boy in the corner worried that everything that could go wrong would. I also realized, and applied, the fact that just because my mom died doesn’t mean that I did. I’ve still got a life to live right in front of me. I now know that I can be sad and grieve her death and not lose hope.

One thing that really helped me was the All Saints Day service that we had a few weeks ago. It helped me to see that I’ll see my mom one day when there’s no death, sorrow or sickness. At first it was hard to think of her from a perspective of hope and joy after years of thinking about her with despair and cynicism. Though I didn’t mention her name when we named those who have gone before us, just bringing her picture and setting it on the altar with the others was another step out of my hole. I still have those times when grief overwhelms me and I just have to take in sadness like an old friend, have it over for a while and send it out after a day or two; but thankfully God carries me through those days just like He did through the eight years that I felt like a dead man walking. I still have to keep working on this but God has carried me this far and I can say that God has and still is redeeming my life in the midst of this tough situation.

November 22, 2012 by design343

Church Stories and Updates – Fall 2012

Cyd Holsclaw, Life on the Vine
We’re pretty excited about ‘resurrecting’ our old practice of sharing stories of wonder every time we gather for worship. Each story of wonder highlights a way that God is working in an individual’s life, family, neighborhood or workplace. As people tell stories, our community hears concrete examples of what the inbreaking kingdom might look like in their own lives. At first, it was difficult to convince people that they had a story to tell… now, we run into the problem of having to tell people that our next available date is in the new year! We post the stories on our website each week: http://lifeonthevine.org/stories-of-wonder/

Amy Graham, The District Church
The District Church baptized 10 people this past September. The stories of change were wide and varied. Some of those baptized have struggled with addiction, sexual orientation, skepticism, atheism, and even prostitution. All of them have now experienced the love, grace and restoration of Christ Jesus in their lives. Here are testimonies from three of those people whose lives have been changed:

“I sought salvation by worshiping everything but the Lord. My doctrine of moral relativism (“seek and never find” was my motto) led me to drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual depravity, new age practices and more. Self-sufficiency failed me and I ended up in a literal hell of depression and isolation. I sought God like only the dying can, willing to abandon my opinions and “beliefs” in exchange for absolute truth. He was the last house on the block I knocked on! Jesus Christ answered and showed me, opened my eyes to the error of my ways and the fallen nature of everything, revealed there is such a thing as the Truth! Jesus pulled me off of the titanic I had been bailing water on and brought me to life. I trust Him completely today because he is the Truth that set me free in a very real way.”

“Before I knew Christ, I trusted in the streets and my addiction. It led to nothing but hardship and hard times. Through getting to know people from church at the dinner fellowships, I decided I wanted a piece of how these people were living. I wanted God, because He is our Creator and I know He wants me to know Him. Trusting God has changed my life because I’m starting to see many blessings from obeying and trusting in God more and more. I don’t need the things I used to do or rely on. And because of trusting in God, I have more friends. I have more friends who are really there for me.”

“I’m from a Jewish background. Today is our New Year. It’s all about repentance. But this year for me it’s all about following Christ. I was fortunate to be raised by a bunch of different people. Two of the people who raised me – one was a feminist and the other was a gay man. So I was taught to be open minded. But I didn’t get the memo about the grace of God until I was 24. God has brought me from a place where I was agnostic. I was a very angry person. But now God has done a work in my heart. He has allowed my heart to un-harden and come to a place of humility. To come to a place to be able receive and give love. I’m thankful for the work He has started in me.”

These testimonies, and so many more, have demonstrated to us that God is absolutely at work and moving in our church community and in our city. We feel honored and privileged to serve in this community and witness what God is doing. It is humbling and powerful to see the ways God is changing lives here in DC.

Winn Collier, All Souls
One interesting thing that has emerged is Beer & Hymns, on the second Monday of each month at Trinity Pub. We do it with St. Mark Lutheran, and it’s an opportunity for those distant from faith to come and taste (literally).

Bryan Long, Agora Community
We are in the infancy stage of planting our church, The Agora Community, in Rochester, NY. With everything so new, there are many things that need to happen. I often attack projects head on, and with my head down. However, my coach, J.R. Briggs, uses a phrase that has stuck with me over the course of this season: “If this is your church, you better hurry up and start. If this is Jesus’ church, you better slow down and listen.” When you plant a church, you begin to realize how little you have to bring to the table. If this thing is to be fruitful, it will be because God is moving.

I had been given a number of a person in the area who might be interested in what we’re doing. I generally don’t like cold calling people as a first point of contact, so while I took the number, I sat on it for awhile. A week later, I was walking a path in the town we are starting the church, and praying for how we could break into the community. I was alone and felt comfortable praying out loud. As I prayed, a jogger snuck up behind me and certainly heard me “talking to myself.” While I felt funny, in that exchange I also felt the Lord telling me that I needed to call this guy I had been putting off. Right there on the path I gave him a call. I left him a message and waited for a call back. A few hours later he responded and told me he owns a percussion shop in town and invited me to come by to talk. As soon as I walked into the store we both recognized each other. He was the jogger on the path. What followed was a conversation about a small group of people who were gathering at his home to explore what a fresh expression of church might look like in their community. This group had formed at the beginning of the summer and had been sensing that they needed direction. Just that morning he had been praying to provide the next step for the group – then he got my call. The result has been a weekly Sunday gathering as we are praying, worshiping, and discussing the potential of joining together. God is moving.

Gary Alloway, Redemption Church of Bristol
Here is a link to a blog post I just wrote about Hurricane Sandy and Redemption: http://garyalloway.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/149/

Melba Miller, Crossroads Church
Like all of the churches in the Ecclesia network, our heart at Crossroads, and our commitment, is to equip our people to live on mission, showing and sharing Jesus’ love in our community and our world. When a church family makes that commitment and sets out to live that out, it’s always a lot of fun to watch how God works to put together partnerships that give a local church the opportunity to be a part of helping build God’s Kingdom is ways that are so much better, and so much bigger, than we could ever come up with on our own! For Crossroads, one of those God-given partnerships is giving us the amazing opportunity to help make Jesus known in the Haryana state (surrounds Delhi) of India, where fewer than 2% of the millions of people who live there know and follow Jesus. If you and your church are praying for a partnership that will give your people the opportunity to be a part of building God’s Kingdom and changing lives, please consider joining us in this partnership!

Our partners in India are Karsan and Melia. Karsan and Melia stepped down from their 22 year ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ in India to answer the call to church planting that God has given them. The ministry is training bi-vocational pastors and their wives and equipping them with both biblical and theological training and practical training in a variety of trades that will help them start a business in the village where they seek to start a church. As the ministry has grown and has been blessed to be part of the establishment of almost 2500 new church plants, Karsan and Melia have also sensed God directing their hearts toward the children who live in the slums around Delhi.

The ministry started out taking children who had never been to school and couldn’t pass the entrance exams to enter the local public schools and put small local schools and teachers in place to work with the kids to help them pass the exams and go to school, and share Jesus ‘ love with the kids and their families. Over the past several years God has given Karsan and Melia an increasing burden for starting a completely new work- a school that would take the place of the poorly staffed and funded public schools where the children they’ve been helping get in won’t get a decent education with opportunities to go to college, or to hear about Jesus. The potential this new school would have to help break the cycle of poverty that children from the slums live with, and to send Christ- followers who are eager to share their faith out into the universities and into trades and businesses through-out the region and the country is simply staggering. Not to mention the impact the school could have on each child’s whole family. Definitely a God-sized opportunity!

Crossroads is so excited that God has given us the privilege of partnering with their ministry to help them with the finances for this new ministry! It’s hard for us who live in America to believe that $20 could go so far in India, but Karsan and Melia tell us that $20 will pay all of the expenses for one child to attend the new school for one month. In addition to the money we budget each quarter and send to India to help this ministry with church planting, our church family is working together this fall and winter to raise money for the new school and we’d love for some other Ecclesia churches partner with us to support this new ministry. We’re also in the early stages of planning a mission trip to India to help our partners with church planting and in the new school, and we’d love for your church members to join our mission team. If you’d like contact information for Karsan and Milia or more info about any of the partnership opportunities mentioned here, we’d love to hook you up! You can email melba@cafecrossroads.com – we look forward to talking with you about how God might want to use your church in India!

November 22, 2012 by design343

Welcome Kairos Antelope Valley into Ecclesia

We are proud to welcome the Stepro family and Kairos Antelope Valley into Ecclesia. They are in the first year of their new congregation and we are excited to see what God is doing.

Here’s their story in Noah’s own words …

I grew up in the Antelope Valley. The Antelope Valley is a weird place and hard to understand if you are not from here. We are number 2 in meth production and number 1 in child abuse in the nation. It is a suburb of LA that popped up in a rather ugly area because of the post-war military-industrial complex of the aerospace industry. So we have a good number of engineers and rocket scientists as well as an agricultural population that has been around for a long time. However, beginning in the 60’s we saw a great growth of commuters, moving up here to get more affordable housing while driving an hour or more to work in LA. This hunger for more in terms of materialism is a good reflection of the values of the AV. Most people here would rather have a new car or jet-ski’s than live and work close to their neighbors or have more time with their children.

Another proclivity about the AV is the growth of gang and urban poverty that we have experienced over the last 20 years. Families from Pacoima and Compton have relocated in mass adding to the social dynamic of a decentralized, scattered place. During the 80s and 90s Palmdale (one of the main cities) was the second fastest growing area in the nation…behind only Las Vegas. This is the placed that shaped me. I grew up in a fairly poor family here. I dropped out of school in the 7th grade and shortly after came to know Christ at a church around the corner from the trailer park I lived in. I had a pretty radical conversion as I encountered a community of friends and leaders that were sharing life together, experiencing the power of the holy spirit and going on mission with each other. I was sold!

Flash forward to adulthood I began to discern “the call” to serve God by entering into “the ministry”. In order to do this I knew returning to school was probably a necessary step. Entering Jr. College with a 7th grade education was challenging to say the least. But at 19 I knew this was a definite step the Lord was directing me to take. I began volunteering heavily at the mega church where I came to faith. Upon completing a bachelor’s degree in history I started working at the church part time as a youth/worship leader and entered Fuller Seminary to earn a MDiv.

I began seminary in 2005 and the next summer I got married to Jamie, a beautiful, wonderful woman I had been dating for 4 years. After getting married I went through a succession of promotions at my home church while attending seminary – full time – college pastor – jr. high pastor. Then after graduating in 2008 from Fuller I became the Student ministries pastor. I was leading a ministry of about 500 students with a staff of 3 employees and an army of volunteers. I was full on in the swing of attractional, programatic church. I was successfully leading a “successful” youth group…that oddly no longer looked like the youth ministry that I had joined as a teenager and had lost the potency of mission and purpose that hooked me in the first place.

Through several years of painful, honest conversations with the sr. leadership I had concluded I would rather work as a barista at the local coffee shop and serve Jesus with community of friends than be in full time ministry…if full time ministry simply meant fueling a machine that wasn’t producing much lasting fruit. God had some interesting plans however…

As I was writing out my letter of resignation I received a call from a small, dying Presbyterian church…they were looking for a youth/associate/turn-around pastor. They hired me and my wife to come to the church with the goal of reaching their changing neighborhood and connecting with younger generations. Well, after an amazing 2 month honeymoon period in which I saw conversions, works of the holy spirit and the bubblings of community in this fledgling church – the senior leadership of the church resigned and the congregation went into a tailspin.

At the same time, God had opened another amazing door for me to come on staff at our local college as an adjunct professor of American history. We left the Presbyterian church as gracefully as possible and gathered a small group of our good friends together. I remember telling them: “I love Jesus, I need community, but if we cannot start a church that is free of the shackles of what I have experienced – I don’t think I am going to go any more.” It may not have been the best way to start a new church…but a church planter once told me…”if you don’t have to start a new church…don’t!”

Kairos Community was birthed out of a lot of prayer, pain and desire to meet God in the context of community. We met as a core team for several months on Friday nights developing a common vision, language and mission. We visited churches of all denominations and creeds together on Sundays and finally began worshipping in a living room at the end of 2011. We quickly out grew the living room and moved to a coffee shop and then a small church building that wasn’t being used on Sundays. It was at this time that I connected with Ecclesia as well. I began meeting with Greg Larson and the equippers down at Kairos-Hollywood.

With a firm commitment to discipleship and mission as the core of what we are doing, we were very slow to invite others in prematurely or to grow beyond our capacity. The past summer we got the opportunity to meet on the third floor of a downtown Urban Outfitters-ish type store…since then we have had a strong commitment and presence in our city…prayer walking, serving the needy, creating community where ever we can and with consistency.

This fall, at our one year mark, we launched our pilot Missional Community. We had waited to launch this expression of our church until our leadership was developed and discipleship was at the core of our identity…our DNA. We have seen wonderful fruit in the last year as God has preformed miraculous healings, changed lives from darkness to light and spread hope where there was none. We have seen single mothers, homosexuals, drug addicts, empty materialists, fundamentalists and entire families come to faith…I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the next year!

Somewhere in between getting married and church planting, Jaimie and I have been blessed with three beautiful girls: Clover (4), Paisley (2) and Ember (4 months). During the last year, Jaimie…in addition to teaching piano and leading worship at Kairos has begun working as a Compassion Entrepreneur for a new non-profit called Trades of Hope…a company aimed at women helping women all over the world start and maintain sustainable business.