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Over the weeks to come, Ed Stetzer will be introducing the people who will be serving as framers for the Missional Manifesto that will be discussed as a part of missionSHIFT (the conference that I mentioned on the blog yesterday that I have had the privilege to work with him on) which takes place July 12-15 in Ridgecrest, NC.

Here is Ed’s first introduction:

First up is Eric Mason… better known as “Mase” to his friends.

He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his wife Yvette and two sons Immanuel and Nehemiah. He is also an adjunct professor at Biblical Theological Seminary. Dr. Mason received his Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM 2000) and a Doctorate degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (DMin, May 2007).

Eric is the lead pastor and co-founder of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the church website, the mission of Epiphany Fellowship is simple: “We want to develop disciples.”

It goes on to explain:

We want to develop disciples that are able to minister in the culture and help new disciples to grow in God’s word in every area of their lives and shining the truth of the person of Jesus Christ to the glory of the Triune God. We cannot stress enough the realization that this Church will not be a “Hip Hop Church,” but a CHURCH.

Albeit we will be sensitive to the unique needs of those heavily influenced by that culture. The target group will be those from ages 18-44 who are unsaved or without a community of disciples of which to bond in a Theo-centric community.

We would like to see The Name of Jesus Christ Magnified by the credibility of the Church being reestablished in the world through Robust & Relevant Worship, Rich & Relevant Word, and Real & Relevant Witnesses (Eph. 2:20-21). We want to have inward depth, and be outwardly missional.

Here’s a little more about Eric. You can find a series of messages Eric did about the missional church in April of 2007 and February of 2009.

Back in 2008, he spoke at “Missional Christianity… Church Beyond Boundaries: A conference addressing theological and practical challenges for the future of the missional church” at Biblical Seminary on the subject of “Missional Church Planting in an Urban Setting.”

I first heard Eric speak at the Dwell Urban Church Planting Conference in New York City on the subject of “Dwelling Incarnationally.” You can hear the audio here. And, Eric is speaking this week at the Desiring God conference in Minneapolis.

Eric Mason is passionate about the mission of God in world, and specifically in the urban context. He is godly and humble. I am proud to serve with him as we move in conversation toward a better articulating what it means to be a missional church– and then encouraging one another to live mission-shaped lives.


[HT: Alan Hirsch via Twitter]


This was too good not to repost for you missional conspirators out there. From Nate Navarro of Austin City Life:

You are cool because you are “missional”. It’s true. Face it.

Forget the “mega”churches, the “seeker-sensitive” people, and those darn “prosperity” guys. They are all wrong.

First of all, they are not at all “organic” and cannot hang with our beards, pipes, and brews. They obviously didn’t read “Total Church” or “Tangible Kingdom”, know nothing of church plants or gospel rhythms, and they most certainly are not “in the city for the city”. Nope. We are.

In celebration of our collective coolness I propose we play a game called “Put your hand in the air, and if any of the statements below are true of you, put it down”.

Let’s do this !

1 You have used the word “missional” and you have no idea what it means, none whatsoever. Hand down.

2 You have a “heart for the nations” but have never left your homestate for anything other than a trip to Disneyland. Hand down.

3 You are really into that scripture that says “love your neighbor as yourself” (you bought the “precious moments” plaque, own the refrigerator magnet, and got the fake tattoo at the last Newsboys concert) but you have never had your neighbor over for dinner. Hand down.

4 You love “community” and believe the church is a “family” but if anybody in your small group talks too much or God forbid some unruly kid (with horrible parents) kicks your precious little angel in the shins YOU’RE OUT, no more “community” for you. Hand down.

5 You feel called to “serve the homeless” but akwardly ignore panhandlers on your way to Urban Outfittters. Hand down.

6 You believe in “acountability” but only confess sins that make you look good. While that miserable loser of a Christian sitting across the table from you is crying in his coffee over his addiction to pornography, you’re confessing that you aren’t memorizing enough scripture and that 30 minutes a day of prayer just isn’t cutting it anymore. Hand down.

7 You feel “called to adopt” but you avoid the Childrens Director at all costs because there is no way you are missing out on worship this week to watch those little brats in the Kids Ministry. Hand down.

There is a good chance that nobody reading this still has their hands in the air (mine are down…way down) and there lies the problem. Most of us are strong on ideas and weak on follow through, and it would be good to get honest about that as soon as possible so we can figure out where to go from here. I will suggest a couple ideas, and would like to hear yours.

1 We all need THE GOSPEL and it would be in the best interest of our churches, our families, and our souls if we committed to understanding and applying it. Nothing is more important.

2 COMMUNITY is not an option.

3 MISSION is what we do (not what we talk about).


One of my favorite authors, Marva Dawn, on sabbath. By way of The Work of the People:


If you are a pastor, this is a must see.

Darrin Patrick, lead pastor of The Journey (my home church and where I intern) interviews my friend Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research and Lifeway’s Missiologist in Residence, on what he sees as the pressing issues within evangelicalism today.

I believe this is Ed at his best, bringing prophetic insight to a wide variety of topics that should be of interest to those who love the church and the Gospel. Enjoy:



Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Ephesians 4:14-16 (NIV)

Those infamous words: truth in love. Isn’t it just like God to put together two things so diametrically opposed to one another and tell us this is how we should talk to one another. Man…

Here’s the problem. We don’t do a very good job with this. At all. Particularly in the area of confronting someone in love to bring moral clarity to a situation for them. My observation is that, in many ways, confrontation within the Christian subculture is actually countercultural within it. And it shouldn’t be. In other words, the very place where confrontation should be done and done well is within the Christian community and we are failing miserably.

Here’s my take. We have developed a Christian culture where it is not o.k. to be not o.k. We have locked into this individualistic idea that our sin only affects us, therefore minimizing sin as a whole. We have lowered the bar on our responsibility as friends, pastors, faith communities by saying that tough love is not support because “who are we to cast the first stones?”

Confronting someone by speaking truth in love is Kingdom work. When we call people to wholeness and commit to walking alongside them – no matter how tough those steps are to walk through – we are joining the King in his mission to restore and redeem all of creation. What a privilege.

When we stick our heads in the sand at the very moment when that person needs our voice in their life, we are actively rebelling against our King and saying to that person that as an image bearer of Christ, they are not worthy of our involvement in their life. What a shame.

The irony in this all this is that healthy confrontation in the context of the Christian community could be an amazing witness to the surrounding culture if done Biblically, but we can’t even figure out how to do this within our own Christian community. It has no potential for counterculture in the greater society when it’s countercultural within its own culture. Did you get that?

How do we expect the watching world to give a flip about our talk of personal and communal holiness when we don’t have the guts to confront each other in Christian community and spur one another to good works?

That’s just it. They are watching and they are growing increasingly apathetic. It’s time we give them something worthy of watching.
___________________

For more on this, read David Powlinson’s excellent book, Speaking the Truth in Love: Counsel in Community


total-church-study-guide

I’m very excited about a new resource from Veritas Community Church, an Acts 29 church in Columbus, Ohio. They have created a free study guide to accompany the Re:Lit book Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis.

You can download the free 32-page PDF study guide here.

Chester and Timmis, the authors of Total Church, founded The Crowded House church-planting initiative in the UK and direct the Porterbrook Network. Steve Timmis is also Director of Acts 29 for Western Europe.

Total Church may very well be one of the most influential and informing books I’ve read that has influenced my ministry philosophy since The Emerging Church and Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball and Transforming Mission by David Bosch.

There is no shortage of great tools to help form Gospel and Missional DNA into the life of a church plant core team, a just-launched church plant, a small group ministry, a church revitalization, or a church that is transitioning from a traditional to missional model. The Total Church study guide is yet another exceptional resource to that end.

I would also encourage you to check out these great handbooks/guides:

>The Tangible Kingdom Primer from Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
>The Forgotten Ways Handbook from Alan Hirsch
>The Gospel-Centered Life: A Nine Lesson Study from A29 pastor Bob Thune
>Fight Clubs from A29 pastor Jonathan Dodson


eucharist

In prepping for the class I teach each fall here at MBU called Worship History and Leadership, I’m reminded of why I love where we begin: a theology of worship. And what is at the core of that worship theology? I believe it is this:

“Worship is a dramatic enactment of the relationship that we have with God, a relationship that stems from historical events. Enactment may be done by means of recitation (creeds, hymns, and preaching) and drama (ritual) (that) have their basis in the Old Testament and New Testament, particularly in the Passover and Eucharist. In worship, we enact or act out the Gospel.”

-Robert Webber

For more on this, read Chapters 6-8 of Webber’s Worship Old and New. Also, an excellent theology of worship can be found from D.A. Carson in Chapter 1 of the book he edited, Worship By the Book, entitled “Worship Under the Word.” Portions of Carson’s chapter are available here at Google books.


extract’d

dietcokementos

We have a tendency to celebrate church leaders who have managed to draw a large crowd to their church. But this is hardly an accomplishment in a culture where a few bottles of Diet Coke and a pack of Mentos mints can draw a crowd. The fact that a few thousand people might show up on Sunday to hear you talk seems less impressive when you consider that we live in a society in which millions of people will tune in to watch Sanjaya sing on American Idol.

Aggregating an audience isn’t successful ministry. Fostering women, men, and children toward deep, internal, and unyielding communion with Christ that transforms their lives and produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—that is ministry worth celebrating.

-Skye Jethani, from his “The Divine Commodity” blog book tour interview with Bob Hyatt


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