I remember when... (Really is this gonna become a blog of an old cranky man?)

It was probably near to 30 years ago when I was asked to give a presentation to a Bible college class. The class was about church and where its strengths and weaknesses lay.

I remember the class was fresh and eager and excited to engage with me on the topic.

We were church planting at the time and that allowed us to do church a bit differently than many of the churches of that day. So many of the churches then were more like corporations than they were anything else.  There were systems and processes and ways to get the business of churches done. It was in the 1980s and 90s so some of the church growth techniques were starting to gain traction.

In the church we were in the process of planting we discovered almost by accident, the power of community in church life. People were friends, and not just friendly. That meant they would check up on one another and care for each other through the week in whatever needs they might face. The new people were incorporated into the community and given a place at the table, so that they too had a sense of belonging. We were growing, slowly and surely, we were being established.

There really weren't worship wars in that community because the people would take turns leading the music. We didn't have a youth group and so our kids hung out with adults and participated with them as well. It gave them a sense of belonging too.

We didn't have a building that was ours and we rented space we met in, So our money and our investments were in people. In our local people, and our community in which we lived. 

I remember that my presentation to this class was along the lines of church could be this and this and this, and what I was doing was describing our little church in the city. As I talked their eyes got bigger and bigger and they became more animated in their excitement about wanting to belong to a church like this. they asked me did I know where a church like this existed and I said yes I do. It was to be found in the church that we had the opportunity to be a part of. 

I remember their enthusiasm as they left the room talking in excited tones about the future of church.

Now we were anything but a perfect church. Oh no. There were many struggles along the way. And of course when you're building a community one of the struggles that would arise is bumping into one another. When one had a vision for one direction and one had a vision for another direction, there could be tension. What we had was a commitment to each other in listening and to working out those places in our life together.

The emphasis with that class was primarily that the church could be a community, more than a corporate entity. I know most people would agree with that sense, but it was always in the outworking of that value that community could lose out over the need for structure and organization. 

So here we are 30 years later looking back more than we are looking forward. And I would have to strongly say that in the churches that I have been a part of that have been fruitful ministries, there has been a strong sense of community built. 

The young people I have come in contact with these days are still looking for churches that are about community. As have people who have stuck it out in churches where they don't have any friends.

Churches have chosen different directions and different values that will help them to grow for a time, but I am surprised that some of them are still in existence. Maybe that speaks to peoples stubbornness, or perhaps that speaks to God's incredible patience with us.

But I feel like that is a message I want to get out in every conversation with a young pastor that I have. The Holy Spirit, God, is a relational God who is all about community and that we can experience true living and true life in a godly community. And that's what people are after. many people anyway.

If you want to be a pastor, think about it. Pray about this. And then act on it. 

And if you long to belong to a church like this, they don't just happen, they have to be prayerfully built together.

I believe God still has a lot of surprises in store for his church. We'll see, and we'll pray.

Should we be praying for sick people to be made well?

You know the church's history of praying for healing for people has been a bit of a come and go thing over the past 2000 years. There are seasons where we practice it well and then there are seasons of quiet. We see seasons of incredible miracles and then we see nothing for a hundred or so years. While that may be a part of our past story, there is biblical reason to believe that it can be a helpful part of our ministries today, if we will have the courage to try.

I think some of us are generally afraid of the whole topic, so we end up saying that those sorts of things were for the early days of the church and are not for today.
I also think that we see the things we have simple faith to see.

During the past two weeks we tackled the difficult topic of Healing in the church and we explored some reasons why we may not see the answers we are looking for. It's certainly not the definitive piece on healing, but it's a good place to start looking at these things and perhaps to be challenged about our own thinking on it.

Part One: Praying for healing, an Overview

Part Two: What Happens When We're Not Healed?

The least of these

Through my history in ministry, feeding people food has always been an important thing and I've had opportunity to serve at and start different kinds of food ministries.

So yesterday a number of us from Malmo, including a bunch of youth, headed off to Edmonton to make and serve supper at the Mustard Seed.

It's a great time and if you ever have a chance, you should give it a try too.

Of course hairnets were the order of the day.



It runs in the family...



And all the kids were serving. They seemed to have more fun than it looks like here.



We served three hundred meals Saturday.

On this Fourth Sunday in Advent

The Christmas Story (2010 version) - as told by the children of St Paul's Church.



based on a true story.

:)

VBS Country Fair TODAY

Looks like a good day for our VBS Country Fair out here in the field today, so if you are in grades k to 6 come on out at 12:30 for a day of bible lessons, crafts, carnival games, bouncy slide, cotton candy, and your parents and friends and neighbours can come too around 5 pm for the BBQ supper.

It's going to be a great day.

http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/photo/zbI2Q0j8w7TbIG81ctFamQ?feat=directlink

Want to help plant a church in Estonia?

Take a look at this.

3D church planting in Tartu, Estonia from 3D KOGUDUS on Vimeo.

Their website is here.

Here are their considerably powerful stories of coming to faith.

Interesting that if you open that link in the Chrome Browser, an option will pop up at the top telling you that the page is written in Estonian and would you like it translated into english. The translation is a little rough, but I was able to hear their heartbeat in it.

Something to consider?

Kids Day 2010

Each June we as a church head out to camp for the day and celebrate worship outdoors. It's a great Sunday and there is good worship and food and some crazy games.

As you can see, today was a pretty beautiful day out there.

Thanks to all those who made it possible, and for the Sun for cooperating. Here is the evidence of the beautiful day.








Here is the link to all the photos from the day.

Oh and the watersliding was a blast too.

See for yourself:

A more photographic bunch you've never seen

Yesterday I took the camera to church to take a few snaps of the people as they gathered to worship.



These were taken before we started and people were still coming. But as soon as they all saw me taking pictures, they put on their "Say Cheese" faces and smiled a ton. Good models that way.

The reason I took the shots?

Well yesterday morning was the last morning we would be using those 60 year old pews.

We have a few ministry opportunities that simply require more space than we have presently, so we explored the possibility of getting chairs and removing the pews, so that we could use that space with greater flexibility. The idea was very well received and a decision was made to order some chairs. That process was handled quite well considering it's a 110 year old church with a long history and you don't just toss out 60 year old pews.

So tomorrow the new chairs are due to arrive and by this coming Sunday we should be sitting on more flexibility than we have been on too date.

2009 Open House

well, internet permitting we'll try to run some video from the house today.
Please feel free to leave a comment if you checked in.

Or if there are problems with the feed, you can txt my mobile at 780-360-2002 or email me.





Merry Christmas.

Open House 2009

One of the things we like to do each year is to throw open the doors of whatever house we are living in and welcome in the masses. Lauralea has been planing and baking and decorating and tomorrow is the day.

From 3 till 9pm on Friday December 18th you are invited to come down and hang out and drink some cider and eat some baking and visit a bit and go home with the warm glow of a carb & sugar rush making your cheeks a rosy red.

If the internet is behaving, and it hasn't been as of late, we will try to have a live video feed to the internet from our kitchen, so even if you live 3000 miles away, you can get your own cookie, pull up a chair, and it will be just like you were sitting there with us. Well, sort of.

And this year we are taking our own advice and simplifying things. Not gonna worry about things left undone. At least we'll be here welcoming you, and there are only four types of baking available to your taste buds.

See you tomorrow then.

… oh right, how to get here.

Try out this map. We live on the southeast corner of this junction.
We'll be the only house on that corner, beside a church and cemetery.



View Larger Map

are you out there Jesus?

I spent time this morning trying to catch up on mail and office stuff. Kind of clearing through the piles of stuff on the desk before Christmas time, besides I was trying to delay working on my expense report which is long past due. (Bless my treasurers very patient and endearing heart who reads this space…)

Anyway, as I was working through the slog of mail that comes to visit us each christmas time I quickly realized that its the end of the year, and the end of opportunities for people to give in 2009. Needy Christmas appeals, one after another, went through my hands. I did honour them by opening each one and reading their needs and hopes for people to give before the year end.

The stories ran together, one after another. "Giving was modest this year and there was still $400,000 needed towards their $700,000 goal," or "We've to-date received $30,000 of the needed $45,000." There was even an Adopt-a-Pastor scheme where you could give monthly to keep a pastor in Asia, eating and ministering the Gospel.

Good Grief Charlie Brown.

So many opportunities for seminars and conferences, classes and learning opportunities to be invited into your church to help improve things. So many worthy Bible Schools and Retreat Centers, mission organizations and food banks to give your money to. It's amazingly overwhelming. Who deserves the money? Who is doing what God asked of them? And why is everybody asking me for money? If the organization is called into being by God and led by God, should it not be sustained by God?

I know, I know, semantics, I hear ya. But maybe it's not just semantics? Maybe we are called of God to raise up some work and God leads and grows it and when times get tough, instead of looking to see if we are still called of God for this work, and instead of relying on Him for provision, we shift our position to lean on God's people. "Just communicating the need" we say. And it's partially true. But it's also a partial shifting of our dependancy from God to people.

I'm not the guy to say I long for the good old days, but when did the ministry get so professionalized? When did we stop banging on the windows of heaven to provide for what we felt God clearly call us to, and start hiring fundraising agencies and relying on people to provide for God's work, rather than relying on God himself?


Let's face it, some "Christian" organizations should be done. Some churches should close. Some are so broken down with systemic issues and poor past decisions that they should consider closing to be a blessing to the broader community. Some God-started and God initiated works have been coasting for years on what God did at the beginning and they are no longer even aware that God may have left the building a long time ago.

Hey, I know there are internal pressures in these organizations to keep things going. To keep the salaries paid up well so the prominent staff will remain. To give participants a "quality experience" with inviting facilities and activities. I know these things, I'm on a board or two, and there are pressures, subtle and not so subtle.


If you really believe that you are called into a certain ministry, by God himself, then first off do what you can with your financial choices. Lead by example. Then lean into God like you've never leaned before and bang on the windows of heaven so that your creator and sustainer can do what he promised to do.

...as opposed to sending me nice shiny requests for money I mean.

Tonight we went to a party

Which is what the church should be about, giving the best parties.

It was our church Christmas banquet and these people know how to throw a get together. Besides the locals there were people from the community and even from Edmonton.

Thank you to those of you who worked hard to make it happen.

Here are more pictures from the evening.

Photo resource for church worship

So lets say you are part of a small church and you have managed to get the church beyond the realm of songs on an overhead projector. Let's take a moment to celebrate; Well Done You!!!

But now that you have a projector and a screen and songs to sing, you would also like to add a dimension of worship for the visual, creative types that was always missing with the overhead projector. Images.

Beautiful, stimulating images.

After you've used all the appropriate digital snapshots from your family vacation to Niagara Falls, you are hungry for better images.

Doug Robertson, a pastor with a love for the local church and a wonderfully gifted photographer, has created a resource for local churches. A collection of good quality images that can be used for digital projectors for worship. And they are free for churches and ministries. Yes, I said FREE.

If you pastor a church or go to a church where the video projector guy needs a fresh infusing of quality imagery, here is your jackpot.

Check out Doug's project at:

http://dougrobertson.smugmug.com/

Well done Doug and thank you for breathing affordable life into our church worship services.

Back in the field

And back in the office today. Well, for most of the day. We have some appointments in town later in the day.

My health continues to struggle towards life and with all the paranoia out there, I'm glad I'm getting better.

Had a great couple of days in Calgary, working with some young adults who are living together in a house and creating community together. This is a cool thing that we as a Covenant church are trying to do here in Canada. Creating houses of community where you can move to and work or go to school, but the value and purpose is to live in community and grow together. This is our first attempt at it and it's exciting.

This house has a more introverted collection of individuals, but they are quality people, just learning to live life together. They are creating a Spiritual Order for the house as they go along, and they interact as those growing in their faith in God.

I get to be their spiritual director and so I'll go down and meet with them three or four times this year.

It's also good because it gets me into a city of a million people and after having to sit in unmoving traffic for an hour yesterday I'm happy to be back in The Field.

:)

The Great Malmo Easter Egg Hunt 2009

Lauralea may have just started something that may have to be continued next year, that is if there isn't two feet of snow on the ground. Today after church she hosted an Easter Egg hunt in our back yard for the kids from church.

We found egg shaped packages of play-doh that she dispersed on the back lawn, and there you go, non-candy easter eggs for young kids.



Yeah, the kids had fun, but so did the parents, and she did too.



So she might have started something here.


By late in the day she was already planning next years hunt.

I wonder if that's the first Easter Egg hunt in the 110 year old history of the church here?

Anyway, it was fun.

Nice one L.

Looking for a Bible School for discipleship?

Jesus People USA are doing a very interesting thing with discipleship. Inviting people to come live with them in the Community.

The Evangelical Covenant Church website has a piece on this.

The Project 12 discipleship program offered by Jesus People USA Covenant Church gives participants the unique opportunity to deepen their spiritual lives by living communally.

“I think the strength of real discipleship is not just needing new information, but transformation that comes through relationships,” says Glenn Kaiser, one of the church’s pastors who helped create the program.

The 10-month Project 12 program includes in-depth biblical studies, history, theology, prayer and meditation, lectio divina, inner-city work with homeless families, and a two-week mission trip. The program has used books by N.T. Wright, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jean Vanier, and A.W. Tozer.

Only a couple of the courses are lecture-based. Most of them are in a question-and-answer format. “It’s talking and reasoning together,” Kaiser says.

Ultimately, it is the community based education that makes the program unique, Kaiser says. Students live among the other members of Jesus People (JPUSA), all of who live communally in the inner city of Chicago.

“It is like if you went to a Bible school and you were able to live with all your instructors.” Although classes are led by leaders from Jesus People, members of North Park Theological Seminary’s faculty also have taught.

Even the evaluation of students’ progress is rooted in community. No grades are given. Rather, leaders discuss with students how well they are doing.

The program was launched in 2006 after years of consideration. Kaiser would research discipleship programs as he traveled with one of his bands throughout the United States and Europe.

People from around the world have applied to be in the program. Applications are being accepted through September 1. Classes start September 20. Students can join the program at the beginning of any of the trimesters into which the program is divided. The $3,000 tuition includes room, board, and books.

Kaiser says anyone seeking to grow spiritually can benefit from the program. Some students return to their home church, others use it to prepare for the mission field, and others have elected to stay and live at the community.

I love the idea, and I know some of the pastors there. If they can make it work, it will be very cool.

Easy access to your church worship lyrics for slides

We took all the songs we sing and placed their words on a blog, so that now we have a list of our used tunes and the variety of people who create our worship slides for Sunday can go there and access the words in the ways we normally sing them.

http://worshipgcc.blogspot.com/

Create your own and you can leave it with public or private access.

Art in the Worship Space

Get your artists and creative types to bring well framed photos and paintings and creative pieces to place on the walls of the sanctuary as acts of creation and worship.

It recognizes that perhaps God speaks more than just English, in fact, he may speak the language of the spirit more than we realize.

Getting our creative types involved in worship in this way values their contribution, and broadens our perspective.

Give it a try. It's worked well for us.



(Sorry for the quality image.)

...

"Art Art, help me Art"

Sorry, thats an old family joke up there in the title, but I couldn't resist...

Well, it's late and I'm ready to go home.

As part of the conference slash shriners convention that we are running here this weekend, I came up with a brainwave to celebrate the diverse creativity we have running through this bunch of people. So I solicited their self made pieces of art to hang on the walls for the weekend.

We got nearly 25 wonderful pieces. Oil and silk and watercolours and photo's and each one is touched with the hand of the Creator. Creativity is overlooked by churches today as a possible way to worship and express one's gifts and devotion to God.

The walls look amazing.

But I didn't think what it would be like hanging 25 pieces of art without putting a hole through the paint.

Sheesh.

Thanks to a friends help, we are done, and I am done for.

Off to home and to bed, perchance to sleep.