Derbyshire, over at the CharisMissional blog, shared an interesting post a few weeks back. He takes time to list posts about mission for all 26 letters of the alphabet – A to Z.
So check it out here.
Missional From A to Z
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The Church Did Not Begin at Pentecost
Yesterday marked the church’s celebration-remembrance of Pentecost. And today in Belgium, we have a day off. Such a very spiritual land……or maybe not quite yet.
Anyways, there are a few different angles one could approach in remembering the importance of Pentecost. The angle of the pouring out of God’s Spirit on all flesh – male/female, young/old, Jew/Gentile. There is the aspect of empowering for mission that the rule and grace of Christ be made known to all peoples. Then there’s the common notion that the church began on that great day of Pentecost.
But that’s not right, is it? Continue reading
Prodigal Thought Podcast Begins
Here we are starting up Prodigal Thought Podcast. This is something that I’ve been desiring to do for a few years now. So, connect and listen each week.
We start with episode 1… (enter in the Star Wars theme song).
To start, I share some ideas about what the podcast will consist, also looking at a topic I’m considering for my dissertation in the future. Click on the icon below to listen or you can download it. Continue reading
Mere Churchianity – A Review
Many connected to the blogosphere will know of the Internet Monk, Michael Spencer. His first and, to date, only published book is Mere Churchianity: Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality. The unfortunate thing is that, right before Mere Churchianity was released in June 2010, Spencer passed away due to cancer. He never was able to hold a copy in his own hand.
Yet his legacy continues through his book and through the Internet Monk blogging community. Still, as I mentioned recently here on my blog, I am teaming with Michael Bell, from the Internet Monk community, to produce a second book from Michael Spencer. It involves a collection of about 1000 pages of Spencer’s work on the Gospel of Mark (his life-long project), editing this down and producing a kind of layman’s commentary on Mark.
Thus, I felt it important to engage with Spencer’s first book, Mere Churchianity. Continue reading
Forming Hearts & Minds, Love & Desire
In a post last week, I shared some thoughts about desire, which we prompted by my reading of the introduction to Jamie Smith’s book, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation. Smith was basically advocating that education is not simply about ‘passing on information’, but about forming people holistically – in body, spirit and mind.
And I would add that the word education might put us off a little bit. Too many connect it to something like university studies. This is why a word like formation might serve us better.
However, trying to simply pass on information will never be enough. There is more. But why do we approach education (or formation) like this. Maybe it’s due to the fact that we easily see ourselves as thinking things, or mainly thinking things. Of course, the Christian believes we are more than the mind (or the brain). However, our formation of people – through the sermon, Sunday School, Christian education, etc – is normally done through the dispensing of information. Let me tell you what this Scripture says and how to apply it to life.
This is why Smith introduces words like desire and liturgy in regards to forming actual human beings designed for God and the kingdom rule of God. Continue reading
