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Three Ways for the Church to Seek Peace

Sean Cronin — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 10:00:31 +0000

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Three Ways for the Church to Seek Peace

By Josh Laxton

The influence of Christianity upon Western society seemingly has become a past experiment. As the Enlightenment experience failed—failing to eliminate all societal ills and bring about a human utopia—so too has the “Christian Nation” or Christendom failed. As a result, the church has struggled with this shift—and now find herself, in many ways, confused as to her role and posture in a pluralistic, secular, post-Christian, and skeptical environment. In other words, the church in North America has finally realized they are no longer in Kansas but in the land of OZ (or biblically speaking, in Babylon). And now believers and churches across the denominational spectrum are asking the question, “What do we do?”

In many ways, the North American church in the twenty-first century finds many similarities with the people of God in Jeremiah 29. [The dissimilarity that I must point out is that God was in a covenant relationship with the nation of Israel, whereas America is not.] Jerusalem had fallen. No longer did Israel experience cultural and national hegemony. Now in captivity, Israel experienced life as a sojourner, alien, and minority. They were marginalized. Obviously, many saw their newfound position as difficult, demoralizing, and depressing.

In response to their newfound foreign environment, they had a few options with regards to how they would posture themselves towards the larger culture. First, they could have just faded off as a sub-cultural hermit—sitting and longing for the ‘good ole days’ as they faded into irrelevancy. Second, they could have taken a more antagonistic, resentful, and angry approach, one that was mean-spirited, violent, and intolerant. Second, they could have bashed the Babylonians over the head with the Torah. Third, they could have accommodated the Babylonians—thinking “if we can’t beat ‘em’, join ‘em’.” Or, they had a fourth option—God’s option. They could seek the peace of the city.

Embedded within this Spirit breathed option, there are at least three particular ways the people of God were (and are) called to seek the peace of the pagan land.

1) Live here as if you were living there.

We are to live everyday normal lives as if we were living in the homeland. God informs His dazed and confused people to, “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease” (Jer 29:5-6). In other words, God tells them to live here as if they were living there (back at home)—faithfully tilling and cultivating both land and family while they multiplied in the land. Seeking the peace of the foreign land begins by living faithfully as if we are in the homeland. [Keep in mind that for believers today, our “homeland” is the new city where Jesus will have made all things new (Revelation 21).]

2) Live to bless, not curse.

God expresses that His people take up the task of blessing the pagan nation. This is quite remarkable! The people of God were to live as a blessing, praying to the Lord on behalf of the nation as they seek the flourishing of the pagan city. For in the city’s flourishing, God’s people will flourish. While the scope of this article does not permit me the time to dive into the notion of “blessing,” this vision, nevertheless, harkens back to both Genesis 1 where God blesses humanity (Gen 1:28) as well as the prophetic promise God made to Abram, “through you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen 12:3). Blessing a pluralistic and pagan city means believers will work for and towards the common good in a way to bring flourishing and functionality to every sphere of life.

3) Live faithfully, not forcefully.

We are to strive for faithfulness, rather than striving for world change. In this passage, there is nothing about seeking the transformation of the city. God doesn’t ask them to work towards transforming Babylon into a theocentric (Jewish) nation. God doesn’t ask them to transform the Babylonian culture and cultural practices to those that more align with the Torah. While change may very well take place, God’s call to His resident aliens was a missional posture of faithfulness—faithfulness in all areas of their life, as they seek God and the welfare of the pagan city.

In applying this notion to the cultural context of the church today, please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I completely agree that the gospel is transformative; the gospel changes individuals, families, cities, and even nations. To a certain degree God did bring change in Babylon through the faithfulness of people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. My point is that the goal for the people of God is faithfulness to God and to His call, work, and mission in the world.

In neither Testament does God ever assign the task to His people of world change or city transformation—forcing people to believe and behave like the people of God.

The mission of the church is to witness and make disciples. We witness and make disciples by working as ambassadors for the kingdom of God, serving as agents of blessing for the city, and inviting people to follow Jesus as their King who is in the construction process of making all things new. In sum, we simply share and show the gospel of King Jesus!

In closing, may the church today—in finding herself in this foreign land like Dorothy found herself in the land of OZ—seek to live faithful lives reflecting the characteristics, attributes, and signs of God’s kingdom life in our homes, vocations, relationships, and ethics. May churches seek the “welfare” of the foreign city, living as agents of blessing rather than antagonistic, mean-spirited, angry, resentful and defensive agents. And finally, may we take the posture of faithfulness—faithfully calling people to follow Jesus.

Source: Three Ways for the Church to Seek Peace

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CNLP 281: Heather Zempel with an Inside Look at Washington DC and Ministry Trends Among Young Adults and Post-Christian Culture

Sean Cronin — Sat, 10 Aug 2019 09:00:49 +0000

by Carey Nieuwhof: Heather Zempel is a biological engineer who started working as a policy advisor to a US Senator on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. She now works with Mark Batterson doing ministry on Capitol Hill.

In a wide ranging interview, Heather describes the culture in DC during the 90s and early 2000s and compares it to how it is today. She talks about reaching young adults in the city, developing young leaders, and why she’s rethinking her groups and teaching strategy as DC becomes more and more post-Christian.

Welcome to Episode 281 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Guest Links

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Big Change Small Groups | Amazed and Confused | Community Is Messy

Episode Links

Come see Carey and other great speakers at Orange Tour. Use coupon code CAREY at checkout for $10 off your registration.

Registration is now open for the Future Forward Conference. Join Carey in Pittsburg, PA on October 1-2, 2019.

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Mark Batterson

National Community Church – Protege Program

3 Things Young Leaders Need to Hear from Their Boss, But Almost Never Do by Dillon Smith

Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation by Joel Stein

3 Insights from Heather

1. We get stronger when we reach across the aisle and work together with those that we disagree with

One of the biggest things Heather learned while working on Capitol Hill, is that everybody has got an angle when reporting on the American political system. There is a ton of value to be found in knowing what’s really going on and digging deeper into what you’re hearing and learning. Value can be found in hearing out people who disagree with us.

One thing Heather would love to remind all of us is that most of those politicians are good people that genuinely want to make a difference in the world they live in. Most people don’t realize that politicians have spouses and children, too. Regardless of what side of the aisle we are on, we have to be able to give the other side the benefit of the doubt and be able to love them as Christ has called us to.

2. Young leaders are in the room, so stop talking about them and begin working with them

Sometimes we’re afraid that if we let a young leader lead, they’re going to go rogue or go crazy, and then reflect badly on us as a result. Sometimes that’s true, but not always. Heather recommends that older leaders take that risk because somebody took that risk on you. We should never become too big or too important not to take risks on the next generation.

If older leaders begin to take more risks on the young leaders in their organization, that builds trust with those young leaders. Once you build that trust, the young leader will be willing to listen to whatever coaching or feedback you have to give them as their boss. If you never give them opportunities to fail, they will never be able to learn from their own failures.

3. If you want community, aim for service, purpose, and mission – Community will follow

Community is one of those elusive things that when you try to aim for it, you don’t often get it. But if you aim for something different, community comes as part of the package. The old method for building community was meeting with people face to face and then bringing them into a small group. This still works, but Heather and Carey are noticing a trend.

Both Heather and Carey are both beginning to notice that building community around something that is shoulder-to-shoulder (like serving) is actually leading to more powerful and sustaining transformation in the long run. Over the last 5 years, Carey has begun to notice that some of the best pockets of community in the church have formed around where people volunteer rather than what group they attend.

Quotes from Episode 281

The young leaders are in the room now. We need to let them talk about themselves. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

What most people are craving for is not necessarily teach me what to think, but teach me how to think. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

Don’t trade what you want 20 years from now for what you want right now in the moment. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

One thing people don’t know is that DC is largely run by 20-somethings. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

The church does, for the most part, a really good job with those who are down and out, but we often forget that there are people up and out. @cnieuwhofClick To Tweet

What you’ve got to focus on in your 20s is developing the character that you’re going to need to sustain the calling that God’s placed on your life. @heatherzempelClick To Tweet

Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 281

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Help Your Church Grow Without Compromising Biblical Integrity

Ready to start preaching better sermons and reach the unchurched without selling out? Then it’s time to start using the right tips, lessons, and strategies to communicating better.

The Art of Better Preaching Course is a 12 session video training with a comprehensive, interactive workbook that will help you create, write, and deliver better sermons. The course contains the lessons Mark Clark (lead pastor of Village Church, a growing mega-church in post-Christian Vancouver) and I have learned, taught, and used over decades of being professional communicators.

This is the complete course you need to start preaching better sermons, including:

7 preaching myths it’s time to bust forever
The 5 keys to preaching sermons to unchurched people (that will keep them coming back)
How to discover the power in the text (and use it to drive your sermon)
The specific characteristics of sermons that reach people in today’s world
Why you need to ditch your sermon notes (and how to do it far more easily than you think.)
How to keep your heart and mind fresh over the long run

And far more! Plus you get an interactive workbook and some bonus resources that will help you write amazing messages week after week.

In the Art of Better Preaching, Mark and I share everything we’ve learned about communicating in a way that will help your church grow without compromising biblical integrity. We cover detailed training on everything from interacting with the biblical text to delivering a talk without using notes, to writing killer bottom lines that people will remember for years.

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Next Episode: Joel Manby

Joel Manby became the role of CEO at Seaworld shortly after Blackfish was released – a documentary about the relationship between killer whales and their trainers at Seaworld. Joel talks about the crucible of his time there trying to address the concerns of the documentary as attendance and share price dropped, and how he figured out how to address the concerns and position Seaworld for the future. Joel also talks about his early days in leadership, including becoming the youngest CEO in GM history when he was appointed to lead Saab USA at age 35, and so much more. In a remarkably candid and honest interview, Joel talks about the personal cost of leadership and how to transform culture according to the principles of love.

Subscribe for free now and you won’t miss Episode 282.

The post CNLP 281: Heather Zempel with an Inside Look at Washington DC and Ministry Trends Among Young Adults and Post-Christian Culture appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 281: Heather Zempel with an Inside Look at Washington DC and Ministry Trends Among Young Adults and Post-Christian Culture

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11 Strategies to Help You Leverage Christmas To Reach The Unchurched

Patrick Bradley — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 09:00:02 +0000

by Carey Nieuwhof: Any idea what the best outreach opportunity of the year at your church is?

You might think it’s an event you do, or perhaps it’s Easter. But whether Christmas has historically been your best opportunity to reach unchurched people or not, I believe it could be.

You may think it’s far too early to start thinking about Christmas, but think again. Whenever I share these ideas about Christmas each year, people say “Hey, I wish you’d talked about this earlier.” So we are.

So why can Christmas become your very best outreach event of the year?

As our culture becomes more and more post-Christian, we’re seeing far fewer times when the holidays of the church and the holidays of culture sync.

I remember about a decade ago hearing a Toronto DJ refer to Easter as “the first long weekend of summer” (in Canada Good Friday is a holiday and schools still take Easter Monday off…a relic from Colonial days). Good Friday and Easter were completely lost on him. It was simply time off.

Christmas is completely different. It’s the one time each year mainstream culture still pays attention to a Christian holiday.

Our culture still loves Christmas. Sure, you can yell and scream that the motives are commercial.

…

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Source: 11 Strategies to Help You Leverage Christmas To Reach The Unchurched

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Why Andy Stanley is Right About Reaching Post-Christians

Patrick Bradley — Sat, 13 Oct 2018 09:00:44 +0000

by Carey Nieuwhof: If you want to reach post-Christian, post-modern people—in other words, the next generation—how do you do it, effectively?

Although you might not know it if you just perused social media, the majority of churches are plateaued or dying. And even among growing churches, not all growth is coming from people with no church background.

Some—not all, but some—growing churches are just consolidating the Christians who are still around and giving them a new place to gather.

If you really analyzed what percentage of churches are truly attracting post-modern, post-Christian people, you might be a little surprised at how low that number is.

Three typical responses to this problem include taking pot-shots at growing churches, criticizing church leaders and lamenting about how bad current culture is. But none of these responses is in any way productive.

So, instead, what if we focused on the real issue, namely, figuring out what it takes to reach people who don’t know Jesus?

…

The post Why Andy Stanley is Right About Reaching Post-Christians appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: Why Andy Stanley is Right About Reaching Post-Christians

The post Why Andy Stanley is Right About Reaching Post-Christians appeared first on Passion for Planting.

If you had no fear, how would you go make disciples?

Patrick Bradley — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 09:00:31 +0000

by Bobby Harrington: The prospect of making disciples of Jesus fills many people with fear, and if we’re honest, many ministers and pastors feel the anxiety in themselves, too!

I know I’m sometimes tempted to be afraid… whether because of past hurts or struggles to get through or various other challenges.

We know that many of our unchurched friends, neighbors, and family are not going to come to a Sunday service, no matter what we might do to allure them. As we look at our culture that is becoming increasingly post-Christian, it is clear that our inherited methods of being and doing church are simply not going to reach and disciple our nation.

The good news? This is a time of great opportunity for leaders like you!

Having helped large and megachurches transition into a missional, disciple-making culture, Alex Absalom and his family have taken those lessons and planted a new experiment in Long Beach, California—”The Dandelion Project”—which is a multiplying network of home churches that seek to reveal God’s kingdom wherever they live, work, and play. Combining a deep commitment to biblical disciple-making, living on mission, and having a “naturally supernatural” lifestyle, Alex and his family are called both to reach their local context and also to provide simple principles and practical tools for the wider church. The church can learn from them, adapt, and be enriched.

Join us this Thursday, September 20th at 1:00 pm CT for a conversation with Alex, where we will be peppering him with all those difficult questions that many of us have about more missional forms of church, as well as hearing about the fruit they have seen in starting from a naturally supernatural mindset—all in the name of forming disciple-making disciples of Jesus…

The post If you had no fear, how would you go make disciples? appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: If you had no fear, how would you go make disciples?

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