The Ecclesia Network

a missional church network

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One Bi-Vocational Pastor’s Story… and how it could help YOU.

Note: We LOVE to highlight some of the wonderful things that come out of our Network from both pastors and the people in Ecclesia communities. Do you have something you’d like to share with the rest of the Network? Let us know!

Like many of you, I’m a bi-vocational pastor. I have a love/hate relationship with being bi-vocational but we continue to sense that God has called us at New Denver Church to live out our bi-vocational callings. To that point, I’ve been serving at New Denver Church since 2010 in a variety of roles and am the operations and community pastor. I had a great part-time gig at the Denver Art Museum until they laid off staff, me included, due to a three-year renovation. That left me questioning the whole concept of bi-vocationalism in a booming housing market like Denver. How could God call us to live in an expensive city (Kairos Hollywood eye roll here) and be bi-vocational?

I could sit around all day pondering bi-vocationalism but that wasn’t gonna put groceries on the table, so I started a small woodworking business out of my garage workshop that sold several products in the first week. And then, no joke, didn’t sell another single thing for months. So I shut it down. Went back to the drawing board.

In late 2018 I started sensing a need in our local network of churches for an honest, affordable, and hardworking company that would provide business and administrative services for churches and nonprofits. I kept seeing leaders trying to do it all – things they don’t enjoy – and let’s be honest most people don’t enjoy administration!

I started Hopewell and have developed a small team where our mission is to empower church and nonprofit leaders to thrive by providing exceptional business and administrative services. That’s it. It’s nothing fancy. It’s nothing new.

Hopewell is here to serve leaders who are getting eaten up by the administrative side of ministry.

We feel called to do the behind-the-scenes administrative and operations work that you dread. We wake up excited about it. We love systems, spreadsheets, HTML, and emails. We love empowering leaders to thrive.

I still haven’t resolved the bi-vocational tension (personally or organizationally) but the “gig economy” forced me to get creative. And I’m grateful because I think I’ve found a really healthy combination of doing something I love while helping others. (go Google Ikigai sometime)

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Kurtley Knight

Hosts Bob Hyatt and Dustin Bagby are joined by the Rev. Dr Kurtley Knight!

Kurtley planted Epiphany Church in Dallas, TX!

We talk about him leaving the Seventh Day Adventist movement,

Church Planting

Shutting down a church plant

Issues around race and diversity in leadership

And…

Our secret Pastor crushes!

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Jim Pace

Special Guest Jim Pace

Bob Hyatt & Dustin Bagby co-host.

We talk about
Ministry
Experiences with Dallas Willard
Bourbon
The culture of the Ecclesia Network
and…
The infamous “The Contest” episode of Seinfeld

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5 Questions to Ask After You Write Your Sermon (But Before You Preach It)

Preaching is not the end-all, be-all of pastoring or church planting, but it’s certainly a huge part. It’s a part of the formation for mission of our communities, the personal formation of followers of Jesus, and often, a big part of someone’s journey toward Jesus.
We don’t recommend that you spend your whole work week preparing for a sermon, but… In light of its importance in the life and rhythms of your community, here are 5 questions to ask as you think about what you’ve written, and what God has laid on your heart to communicate to your community this week.

Where in this message do I clearly point to Jesus?

If the aim of the whole Bible is to point to the work and person of Jesus, then shouldn’t we do the same every time we preach? Whether we’re in the Old Testament or Wisdom literature, or the Pastoral Epistles, there’s a always a bridge to Jesus, and we should look for it. As I preach Old Testament characters, I’m often asking “Where does this character’s victories or failures point to Jesus?” “What did they get wrong that Jesus got right?” or “How, rather than being a role model for me, is this character showing me something I could NEVER do, but that Jesus DID on my behalf?” A great example is that of David- too many of us preach his victory over Goliath as some kind or moralistic hero tail- “Believe God and He will help you defeat the giants in YOUR life!” That’s not the point of the story! We’re not the hero David- we’re the cowering Israelites who need an unlikely Savior to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. (If you are looking for more on how to preach this way,  we recommend Tim Keller’s excellent Preaching.)
Always pointing to Jesus is the point of preaching- without it, at best we’re just giving people tips on how to be slightly better people, and at worst churning out Pharisees who think the point of the Christian life is to do more, or do better. Point them to Jesus instead, and encourage them to rest in HIS finished work, and then, out of gratitude, live their lives more and more like Him.

Where in this message do I speak to non-Christians?

A surprising number of sermons omit this. Even if your sermon is on some point of Christian living, if you truly are a missional community, you should expect some element of the neighborhood to be present in your gatherings, and you should preach as though they are. Even if you and your community aren’t doing the best at inviting others in to the life of your community (including worship gatherings), preaching with a view to saying something of value and invitation to non-Christians, in a careful and sensitive way, is a great way of teaching your church community how to talk about various topics to their friends and neighbors. It also shows them that your community is a safe space to invite their friends into. It doesn’t have to be an INVITATION (in the classic, come-down-to-the-altar sense)- just a simple “If you are here today, and you are not yet a follower of Jesus, or are still exploring and questioning, here’s what I want you to think about…” or “Here’s where this text touches your life if you’re not sure about Jesus.”

Where in this message do I speak to Christians?

It’s possible to get so focused on those among us who might not yet be followers of Jesus, that we forget to regularly encourage those who are following Him, or who are struggling. That’s why after I speak to the non-Christians, I always want to say something like “If you are here and you are a follower of Jesus…”. Often, I’m saying the same thing to non-Christians and to Christians, just with slightly different emphases for those on either side of the decision to be a Christ-follower. But making it explicit is always helpful, especially as sometimes people tend to tune out when they hear you addressing a group (like non-Christians) that they are not a part of. There’s a piece of the Good News in that text and in your sermon for everyone- tell them what it is and invite them to grab hold of it! If we really believe that the Gospel is not just the start of our Christian lives, but the way we live it, grow and are ultimately formed into the character of Jesus, then even mature believers and long-time Christians need to hear the Good News preached in a way that helps that to grab hold even firmly to what Jesus has done for them, and what it means now, right now today, in their lives.

Where in this message do I speak to the heart?

Sermon prep for you probably looks a lot like reading books and commentaries to help you understand and explain the text. The problem is that too often, this leads us to not just an intellectual understanding of whatever subject or passage we are preaching, but an intellectual presentation of that subject or text. And there’s probably a lot of people who are listening to you that love that- they love gaining a new insight about a text that has troubled them, or finally having something explained to them in a new way.
But that’s not the point of preaching. Gaining insight about a text, or understanding of the biblical context around a passage is good, but it doesn’t move the human heart any closer to the Kingdom of God.
In asking this question of my sermons, I’m really trying to get at “Where does the Good News of the Gospel intersect with what people are going through in their lives right now?” I want to help people connect emotionally with the issue I will speak to in the coming minutes. I want to know where what I’m preaching speaks to the deep needs of the people that are listening- where it touches our shared human experience. I can explain a text all day long, but until I access their hearts, and show them where the Gospel touches their loneliness or their grief, their joy or their pain, their desire for more or their fear of the future, I haven’t really done what I need to do.
We want to partner with the Holy Spirit in seeing hearts moved toward God, and lives transformed more and more into the image of Christ. We’ll never really get there if we’re not constantly reminding ourselves to speak not just to the heads and intellect of our listeners, but to their hearts as well.
And finally, the last question I ask of my sermon is…

Where in this message do I give people something to do right now- rather than later?

Too often, the take away from our sermons is something to do, decide or die to later. And the real question is, how many of our listeners remember that past lunch, much less into the coming weeks and months. That’s why I always strive to give my listeners something to do right now– this morning, before we end this sermon. I want them to commit, to make a plan to do something, to decide to forgive someone- whatever it is. I want to give time for reflection, space to do business with God and challenge them to do it- to not wait until later, because later it will be forgotten. What is God saying to us today, and how will we answer Him?
These questions may seem like something of a checklist- I certainly don’t mean to complicate your sermon prep process. They have been useful to me as I have strived to preach the Gospel to whoever was listening, week in and week out, and to see that Gospel message become sticky in the lives of the people I pastor. Hopefully, they won’t necessitate a complete re-write for you this week, but subtle tweaks of a sentence here or there, and maybe a conclusion that points more to Jesus than it did before.
Unless, of course, your sermon this week is “Slaying the Giants in Your Life.” If it is, go ahead and start over.

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Spiritual Parenting

by Aaron Graham, Lead Pastor at The District Church (Washington, D.C.)

Originally Posted on November 16, 2017.

This last Sunday we had the privilege of hearing from Pastor Don Coleman from East End Fellowship and Pastor Stuart Royall from 180 Degrees Church. We had a conversation about discipleship and what it means
to be a spiritual mother or father to a younger son or daughter in the faith.

Our Scripture was 2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”

We were highlighting our value of being a multiplying church that develops leaders and churches in DC and beyond and how this all starts through the process of multiplying disciples.

During my freshman year at the University of Richmond almost twenty years ago I met both Stuart and Don. Don was discipling Stuart as they ministered in a under-resourced community in the East End of Richmond and then Stuart started meeting with me to disciple me weekly.

The Apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 4:15 that you may have many teachers, but you do not have many fathers. Having a spiritual mother or father in your life is a rare gift and something to be cherished.

Spiritual mothering and fathering is a great goal to reach toward in discipleship, yet the reality is that most discipleship relationships occur on the counseling and mentoring level. But we must start somewhere and the reality is that spiritual fathering relationships always start off on the teacher or mentor level. But the key is that they progress toward a deeper level of trust and maturity.

Here is a helpful framework that I’ve used when it comes to thinking about discipleship in a 1:1 context. There is:

  1. Counseling – this is when you meet with someone to work through a specific challenge you are facing in your life.
  2. Mentoring – this is when you meet with someone to learn how you can grow in a specific area of your life.
  3. Spiritual Parenting – this is when a relationship moves beyond just mentoring to a life-long relationship because of trust and spiritual authority the person has been given.

One of the ways you know if you have a spiritual mother or father in your life is when that person delights in your success as a son or daughter more than their own. Spiritual fathers are willing to lay down their life for their sons.

We have many teachers in life that help us learn. We have many counselors who give us advice. We have many mentors who helps us grow to reach our goals in life. But there are few spiritual mothers and fathers.

My prayer for our churches is that God would raise up men and women of God right here to help mother and father the next generation of disciples.

The huge prayer response from Sunday gave me the sense that there is a real hunger for this.

To God by the glory!

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An Honest Look at Being White

Cyd Holsclaw, Ecclesia Board Member and Life on the Vine Member (Chicago, Illinois), shares her reflection 

Let me start by saying how unqualified I feel to write anything at all about cultural identity and race… and yet, I’m also about as white as white comes. I was born and raised in western Michigan, attended schools where all of my classmates were white, went to college in Minnesota where whites of northern European heritage were the dominant culture on campus, got a masters in environmental education where I was surrounded by crunchy white folks, moved to Santa Cruz California where those crunchy folks were just the ‘normal’ folks, married a white guy, and now I live in the suburbs of Chicago in a solidly middle / upper class community where most of the minorities are doing their best to assimilate to the dominant white culture. Although I have never consciously bought into any racist ideologies, I confess I spent most of my life believing that colorblindness was the right approach, the Christ-like approach.

A few years ago, through listening to some powerful voices, I learned that colorblindness is, in reality, a blind spot. Since then, I’ve been trying to be honest about my lack of awareness of cultural identities – both my own and those of my brothers and sisters of color. I’ve been trying to educate myself about the histories I was never taught, listening to sermons / podcasts from people of color, watching documentaries, and reading fiction by non-white authors. But the feeling that I’m not doing enough has often frustrated me. I’ve been overwhelmed by the nagging question of “what am I supposed to do?” Maybe some of you can resonate with that question, with that tension.

So when I saw Daniel Hill’s book, White Awake, and the subtitle read, “An honest look at what it means to be white,” I knew I had to read this book. What I found was a graciously urgent call from a white brother to all his white sisters and brothers to “let go of preconceived notions of expertise or understanding that you feel you might be bringing to this… pray like the blind man: ‘Lord, help me to see.’” Throughout the book, Hill is honest and authentic about his own misshapen theology, his misguided motivations, his failed attempts, and his weariness. By his admissions of weakness, he invites all white people to journey with him through the stages of waking up to cultural identity. He urges us to ask the question “can I see?” before we ask what to do. We can only actively participate in the kingdom calling to considering all of humanity as image bearers when we learn to see and dismantle the ways our culture perpetuates broken ways of naming humanity.

If you are a white person, know any white people, pastor any white people, or live with any white people, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Language shapes our understanding of our experience, and Hill gives concrete language for white people to understand what’s happening when they are first coming to terms with privilege. He begins with the first ‘encounter’ with race and white supremacy, concisely unpacking American history in such a way that anyone who has not yet encountered white privilege will be faced with some new realities. He lends grace for the ‘denial’ that usually follows this encounter and urges us to face the trauma we feel in discovering our complicity. Helpful metaphors / parables help us explore the resulting ‘disorientation’ and lead us into unpacking our ‘shame’ reactions that push us into ‘self-righteousness’. Along the way, he lays out spiritual practices to move us out of each stage and into the next: confronting narratives, facing trauma, deepening theology, lamenting, repenting. He provides some markers of what it might look like to be more culturally ‘awake’ and offers suggestions for possible ways to move from contemplation to ‘active participation’ in change.

As a board, we have had conversations about building cultural awareness within our network. We want to be honest about the ways in which the evil behind systems of racism have influenced our structures, our communication, and our inclusion (or lack thereof) of our sisters and brothers of color. I’m asking my white family, will you join us in taking an honest look at what it means to be white? This book is a great first step, and I would love to talk more with anyone who reads it at our national gathering in the spring.

And to my brothers and sisters of color, thank you so much for your perseverance. We don’t even know all the ways we have unintentionally made you feel unwelcome. You have been patient with us, showed us grace in our blindness, spoken into our lives, shared your stories with us, and longed with us for a community where all will be seen, heard, understood, and celebrated. Thank you. Let’s continue, together, to imagine a network that more fully anticipates the Revelation vision of a great multitude of culturally diverse people worshiping Christ together.