Thin Places

In his book Surprised by Hope, N.T.Wright makes a brief mention of the Celtic tradition of ‘thin places.’ These are places where the curtain between heaven and earth seems almost transparent. There is a Celtic saying that heaven and earth are only three feet apart but in thin places that distance is even smaller. Wright sees thin places as being just one aspect of a much wider theology of place that has been under serious threat in the West since the Enlightenment.

Most often ‘thin places’ are associated with wild and rugged landscapes. They are places where one finds themselves unable but to marvel at the wonder of creation and thus the wonder of the Creator. For me I am in a thin place when I lie on the ground at night looking at the stars in the sky, walk along the beach after a storm, stand on the deck as the rain pours down, or when flying and I look down upon the clouds as the sun rises on the horizon. The space between heaven and earth feels thin. God feels so close. A friend today described the Sistine Chapel as a thin place.

In my experience I find that there are also ‘thin moments’ that happen in life. Moments where heaven and earth seem to overlap as the presence or wonder of God permeates the atmosphere. Communion for me is nearly always a thin place or a thin moment. A bride walking down the isle thin moment, it’s a moment that is so right because it is the outworking of God’s will established in Genesis. Over the years various youth camps and youth leaders retreats I have been on, have nearly always been an occasion for a ‘thin moment’ as the presence of God touches hearts and lives.

Thin places / moments are not always where or when we expect them though. U2’s Hallelujah song has undoubtedly led to thin moments in the middle of a rock concert. Andre Rieu performing Amazing Grace in Melbourne in 2008 was to me a thin place, as was most recently, Susan Boyle singing on Britain’s Got Talent. Even Simon Cowell was wowed. The bible says that blessed are the gentle and the lowly, blessed are the meek, that the last shall be first, and that we are not to judge based on outward experiences. This performance was a thin moment to me.

What are thin places in your life? Have you ever experienced a thin moment?

The Mission of the Church and the Methods of the Church

There is much discussion these days about the mission of the church and existing patterns and methods of church.

Of course this discussion has been going on for 2000 years; it seems though that the intensity of this discussion is at a level unseen in recent history.

What is the churches mission and how can it best fulfil that mission? The ‘what’ of the church and the ‘how’ of the church. To me these seem to be the questions at the heart of the emerging church conversation.

For years the ‘what’ question for the church was seen by most to have a satisfactory answer in; ‘save souls from going to hell.’ Preach the message of the cross in order that sinners might repent of their sins and find forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and thus be converted to Christianity. Plundering hell to populate heaven was a slogan or bumper sticker I seem to recall seeing or hearing along the way.

The ‘how’ was then seen to be a no brainer. Preach, teach, evangelise and pray; what is now referred to a ‘ministry’ model of running church. At least this seems to have been method of outworking this in the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches of Australasia. Ministry through the enabling of the Holy Spirit and the outworking of the gifts of the Spirit. Ephesians 4:11-13 has been a core passage of scripture in regards to this, and He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Beginning in the early 80’s and really coming to fruition in the last 10 years or so there as been a shift from a ‘ministry’ model of church to a ‘leadership’ model. Leadership was seen to be an essential ‘how’ in making the ‘what’ a reality. Young leaders within the church, with an appreciation that most churches in the world were under 200, saw this ‘ministry’ model as a limited ‘how’ as they sort to reach lost people and build the church. Looking to some of the larger churches that did exist and outside the church at the business world, the leadership model began to take prominence. This model has sought to promote more effective ministry though the promotion of leadership within the church. Leadership is seen to build the church, by building and releasing ministry that builds people. At times the leadership model has been criticised as being too ‘corporate’ or too ‘structured’; it has been accused of limiting the ‘move of the Spirit.’ However in many places it has been very effective in creating structures that have allowed ministries to grow, expand, and multiply which has lead to a lot of church growth.

With this history of ministry and a focus on leadership many of today’s young leaders have grown up theologically illiterate, or at best with a very basic and simplistic theology. This is causing many of today’s young leaders, particularly those of the Millennial Generation (aka Gen Y), to begin asking afresh the ‘what’ and then necessarily, the ‘how’ question of mission and method within the church. What are they actually trying to do as Christian leaders, leading in this thing called the church? A question that is being discussed with reformation like intensity.

Largely this discussion seems to be being led by those in the emerging church, even though the figure heads, leaders, key voices, (Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Scott McKnight, Dan Kimball, Tony Jones, and many others etc) are an older generation. The thing is; what they are talking about is resonating with a young generation.

The old ‘what’ save souls from going to hell seems so narrow. Say a prayer of repentance, repeated after a preacher up the front, recite the right words, and that’s it? Now you are not going to go to hell? Now you’re a Christian? Young people intuitively know that there has to be more to it than that; the problems and issues in the world are bigger than that. The ‘what’ has to be bigger. Following Jesus today in the 21st Century has to be as revolutionary as it was in the 1st Century. It must be an all encompassing life changing adventure that will turn your life upside down. We intuitively know it must be so, and we want it to be so.

Different voices offer a wide variety of answers to the ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions. Most of the answers and conclusions are not new, in the sense that they have been outworked somewhere along the line in church history. However, most of the answers are new to a new generation. Mark Sayers summarizes a number of different fractions all of which will have their own versions of mission (what) and method (how) thus making them distinct from one another. You can see his summary here and it is defiantly worth a read.

What is a Christian?
What is the mission of the church?
What is the best way to go about fulfilling that mission?

5 Truths That Will Revolutionize Your Life

1. The Bible is truth for life.

The bible is God’s word and God’s story. It is inspired by God, not liable to deceive, and tells the only story we can confidently frame our lives in.

2. God is the Creator of the universe.

Before God spoke and created there was only God. He is the creator of all. Everything was created by God, for God, and in God. Creation was good. God is good.

3. Sin is destroying our world.

When humanity missed the mark, fell short, sinned, when Adam ate that which was forbidden, death entered the world. Sin caused a failure of relationship for humankind with God, with each other, with oneself, and with the world we live in. All sin is a failure of relationship.

4. Jesus Christ brings hope.

As we approach Easter, a celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we celebrate hope. Jesus paid the price for the sin of humanity and offers restoration to God, to each other, to oneself and with the world we live in.

5. We are to live for the Kingdom.

The Kingdom is now but not yet, we are to live that his will may be done on earth as in heaven. As we follow Christ we find purpose, meaning, fulfilment, satisfaction, answers, and truth.

Underwhelming Christianity

For a number of reasons; the reasonably anti-establishment attitude of our postmodern world, the busyness and burnout of our fast past culture, the nature of the mega church (1000 plus people), a fresh appreciation by church leaders in regards to what a Sunday service can and cannot achieve in the life of a believer, and so on, the 21st Century Church, (at least the Australasian Charismatic/Pentecostal churches I am most familiar with), has pulled back a lot on the expectation it has for its church members. Where members were once encouraged and expected to attend two services on a Sunday, attending one is now OK. Where members were often serving in multiple departments or areas of the church, one area of service is a more healthy expectation. All sorts of things have changed. I'm all for most of them. Without losing the fact that the church is central and essential to God's plan for redemption in the world; a de-institutionalisation of some aspects of our spiritual walk is a healthy thing.

What is unhealthy is a distortion of what it means to follow Christ. We cannot afford to reduce Christianity to a prayer asking for forgiveness and then leave it at that. To do this is to promote and underwhelming Christianity. A version, if it can be called that, of Christianity which is most likely not Christianity at all.

To follow Christ, to be a disciple of Christ, means a whole new way of life. It means a whole new worldview and approach to everything we do. New goals, new priorities, new purpose, new standards, new ways of measuring success, new paradigms, new attitudes, new hope; a whole new life.

An underwhelming Christianity will not draw a new generation to the things of God, it will push them away. The Millennial Generation (Gen Y) live in a world where upgrades, expansions, modifications, extra additions, add ons, and so fourth are available in every area of life from their iPods, to their facebook page, to their cars, to their own bodies. Following Christ is not an addition to ones life it is a whole new way of life. And that is the very thing about Christianity that will attract the next generation. This is the thing that I love about my faith, about following Christ, yet after living my whole life as a Christian, I think I am only just beginning to get it.

The next generation has to get it from the start.

I haven't read the book yet, but I think these guys are getting it.

It's Your Choice? $670 or $41,000,000

Living in Tauranga NZ, my electricity is provided by Trust Power, which makes me a part of the Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust (TECT). As a consumer I receive an annual gift back from the trust from the profits the company has earned.

Along with all the other TECT customers I have been asked to vote as to whether I would prefer 80% of company profit given back to customers each year and 20% to charitable causes through grants (the status quo), or would I rather 100% of the profits returned to the customer and have no more money offered to different organisations through grants.

While I, like everyone else, would appreciate a few extra dollars wherever and whenever possible, it is partly because of community grants that we have a wonderful community to live in. It would be extremely short-sighted to request 100% of the profit.

Here is the difference moving to 100% - 0% would make. I, like other individuals, would receive approx $670 more every ten years, while community projects would miss out of
$41,000,000 (yes, forty one million dollars) worth of funding every ten years. Obviously investing into our community is a far better choice.

Keep giving grants to community organisations. In the long term, as individuals we are better off with a few less dollars each year while enjoying the benefits to our city that projects funded through grants offer. I can’t believe we are voting on this? I hope that people are not short sighted and selfish in their voting, yet that tends to be how people vote.

I wonder how Tauranga will vote? What kind of a community are we?

This is an entry level example of the need to be generous rather than consumer, to chose simplicity, to think community rather than individually.