Quote from "Total Church" from Tim Chester & Steve Timmis. p.41
“By becoming a Christian I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters. It is not that I belong to God and then make a decision to join a local church. My being in Christ means my being in Christ with others who are in Christ. This is my identity. This is our identity. To fail to live out our corporate identity in Christ is analogous to adultery: we can be Christians and do it, but it is not what we as Christians should do. The loyalties of the new community supersede even the loyalties of biology… If the church is the body of Christ, then we should not live as disembodied Christians.”
Where did we ever get this idea that we can become Christians and not change. We are new creatures, the old is gone, see it has all become new. So much help in the Bible about Character pitfalls, how to treat each other, how to be a good neighbor, a good servant. We, as Christians are born into a new family and that family has other priorities and standards to the old. Let us ask God to complete the good work he has begun in us. Let us submit to his authority, take on his desires, be broken by what breaks him, love his family and our neighbor as ourselves.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Be a 7 day Christian
Quote from "Total Church" from Tim Chester & Steve Timmis.
"We need non-full-time leaders who can model whole-life, gospel-centred, missional living. It means thinking of our workplaces, homes and neighborhoods as the location of mission, we need to plan and pray for gospel relationships. This means creating church cultures in which we see normal, celebrating day-to-day gospel living in the secular world and discussions of how we can use our daily routines for the gospel.”
What more can one say? Let’s be intentionally missional and live the gospel message everywhere we are. “You are the only Bible, the only Jesus many people will see” is an old quote, but has something! Who else is challenging, or is in a position to challenge colleagues at the work place to question their morals and seek God? Meet up with other Christians in your firm / in your neighbourhood and pray for opportunities to befriend unchurched people. Let us play our part in enlarging the Kingdom of God, by life style and by word.
"We need non-full-time leaders who can model whole-life, gospel-centred, missional living. It means thinking of our workplaces, homes and neighborhoods as the location of mission, we need to plan and pray for gospel relationships. This means creating church cultures in which we see normal, celebrating day-to-day gospel living in the secular world and discussions of how we can use our daily routines for the gospel.”
What more can one say? Let’s be intentionally missional and live the gospel message everywhere we are. “You are the only Bible, the only Jesus many people will see” is an old quote, but has something! Who else is challenging, or is in a position to challenge colleagues at the work place to question their morals and seek God? Meet up with other Christians in your firm / in your neighbourhood and pray for opportunities to befriend unchurched people. Let us play our part in enlarging the Kingdom of God, by life style and by word.
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Social Justice
Quote from "Total Church" from Tim Chester & Steve Timmis. P. 59
“We need to be communities of love. And we need to be seen to be communities of love. People need to encounter the church as a community of relationships rather than a meeting you attend or a place you enter.”
In response to Isaiah 58, Isaiah 61, Mathew 25 and Hebrews 13, Joachim and I will be helping set up a platform where members of our church (primarily) can get more involved in social issues in Aschaffenburg, Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. We feel that there are 4 main areas where we as a community of believers can do this.
- Sharing what we have ("Teilen" = Sharing))
- Caring for widows and orphans ("Herz" = (Heart))
- Anti-Trafficking is loosening the "Chains That Bind" = ("Ketten" (Chains))
· Strangers - being their friend ("Auslaender" = (Foreigners))
- Celebration is a fifth group whereby we want to throw parties or Church in eg the Cinema to celebrate what God is doing.
We had our first meeting last night and 36 fired up (mainly) young people were there. Amazing.
“We need to be communities of love. And we need to be seen to be communities of love. People need to encounter the church as a community of relationships rather than a meeting you attend or a place you enter.”
In response to Isaiah 58, Isaiah 61, Mathew 25 and Hebrews 13, Joachim and I will be helping set up a platform where members of our church (primarily) can get more involved in social issues in Aschaffenburg, Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. We feel that there are 4 main areas where we as a community of believers can do this.
- Sharing what we have ("Teilen" = Sharing))
- Caring for widows and orphans ("Herz" = (Heart))
- Anti-Trafficking is loosening the "Chains That Bind" = ("Ketten" (Chains))
· Strangers - being their friend ("Auslaender" = (Foreigners))
- Celebration is a fifth group whereby we want to throw parties or Church in eg the Cinema to celebrate what God is doing.
We had our first meeting last night and 36 fired up (mainly) young people were there. Amazing.
Thursday, 10 September 2009
We are the Church
Quote from "Total Church" from Tim Chester & Steve Timmis.
p.37 "The challenge for us is to make the gospel the centre of our lives not just on Sunday mornings but on Monday mornings. This means ending distinctions between “full timers”, “part timers” and people with secular employment in our teams and leadership structures."
We are the church. Not just the leaders are led by the Holy Spirit, but all believers are. Every part of the body plays its part in keeping the body healthy and on track. I love it when this unity of purpose becomes apparent as on last Sunday. I was going around the women and inviting them to our next women’s event. As I invited Jenny, a new lady, she asked what the theme was and I said “Thank God I’m a Woman”.
"Oh look" she said.
- What was written over the front of her T-Shirt?
“Thank God I’m a Woman”!
How cool is that.
p.37 "The challenge for us is to make the gospel the centre of our lives not just on Sunday mornings but on Monday mornings. This means ending distinctions between “full timers”, “part timers” and people with secular employment in our teams and leadership structures."
We are the church. Not just the leaders are led by the Holy Spirit, but all believers are. Every part of the body plays its part in keeping the body healthy and on track. I love it when this unity of purpose becomes apparent as on last Sunday. I was going around the women and inviting them to our next women’s event. As I invited Jenny, a new lady, she asked what the theme was and I said “Thank God I’m a Woman”.
"Oh look" she said.
- What was written over the front of her T-Shirt?
“Thank God I’m a Woman”!
How cool is that.
Becoming Intentionally Missional
Quote from "Total Church" from Tim Chester & Steve Timmis.
p.33 "We find it easier to be radical in our thinking when we transplant ourselves outside our current situation. But we are as much missionaries here and now as we would be if we were part of a cross cultural team in another part of the world. Mission is central to us whoever we are."
When I became a Christian 25 years ago, I remember saying – why should I go into full time missionary work? As a Physiotherapist there is no better way to meet new people. I am in a 1 to 1 relationship with my patients for 20 to 40 minutes and am serving them. Talk flows naturally to “deeper” things and if my eyes are focused on Jesus, my patients will often ask me about my faith. However, though this is still my conviction, I need to much more INTENTIONAL in this – not in my words, but in my heart.
p.33 "We find it easier to be radical in our thinking when we transplant ourselves outside our current situation. But we are as much missionaries here and now as we would be if we were part of a cross cultural team in another part of the world. Mission is central to us whoever we are."
When I became a Christian 25 years ago, I remember saying – why should I go into full time missionary work? As a Physiotherapist there is no better way to meet new people. I am in a 1 to 1 relationship with my patients for 20 to 40 minutes and am serving them. Talk flows naturally to “deeper” things and if my eyes are focused on Jesus, my patients will often ask me about my faith. However, though this is still my conviction, I need to much more INTENTIONAL in this – not in my words, but in my heart.
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