I think it’s very similar with Christianity; we have privatised comfort and socialised sacrifice.

Recently, through a quote, I realised anew that God’s plan is not a saved individual changing the world, even though it includes individuals saved and being used of God. Rather, God transforms people, into “a people”, for the testimony of a new type of society under God, living differently and together in the same world.

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus speaks to his disciples in plurality, which includes individuality.
The apostles wrote to churches, to the Ecclesia, to communities on the Christian journey together.
All of God’s love-attributes are revealed in one-anotherness and mutuality. Mercy, faithfulness, kindness, gratitude and service are all displayed in community. It’s impossible to live humbly without another person, or show gratitude without anyone else present.

George Bernard Shaw said independence is middle-class blasphemy. He was right. Go for a stroll through the average Christian book store and witness the sacrilege of suburban isolation.
Wine is found in the cluster, which means, many individual grapes, together. (Isa 65v8)

The gospel makes sense in community, of community, through community.
Discipling becomes painful and unartistic if it’s more programmed than communal.
Grant Askham often reminds me that we prepare kids for life in homes, we teach them to swim by getting with them into a swimming pool, not with a manual and whiteboard.

Very simply, I think I’ve been far too individualistic in my gospel, my discipling, my understanding of sermons and my reading of the bible.

That’s all I wanted to say.

Theologically, I am happy. She is showing the Lordship of Jesus over all of her life, and it’s really important. Everyday, she submits to God as mother, as wife, as an Askham family member, or as the wife of a pastor, but tonight, she also gets to show the Lordship of Jesus over her giftedness. She doesn’t live a life where God gets a pocket. She is in God’s pocket, and I love that about her. God over his church is God over his arts is God over socio-economic realities and God over all. Tonight is worship. Tonight is glory.
Emotionally, I am happy. She gets to sing. Many of you haven’t seen her like this. You see, my wife is adaptable. According to “strength finder”, it is her first strength, making my marriage a very happy one. In her adaptability, she doesn’t like to be a prima donna. She’s been on many stages with the worst monitor mixes, and songs in the wrong keys, always taking a back seat while smiling. But tonight, she’ll be singing songs in the right keys with hot musicians. Other people adapted to her for this one.
Happily, I’m happy. The blessing of the Lord makes rich. He adds no sorrow to it. This all came about without her asking, trying or pushing for it. Matthys approached her, because he lives his own life on mission. She gets to play with musicians she respects greatly.

Thank you Lord. Thank you Matthys. Thank you to those who built the theatre for Pretoria. Thank you to those friends who bought tickets. Thank you for people who run construction companies and build new worlds. Thank you for baristas. Thank you for people who don’t think it insignificant to look after the kids of married couples every now and then.

Like I said. I’m happy.

I wrote this song a year ago. It is truer now than a year ago.
Don’t have much to say…

Where did the thrill go?
Thrill comes with danger, with taking risks, and with daring journeys where much could be lost or gained. Thrill comes with responsibility and caring deeply about something to the point of self-sacrifice. Thrill comes when you can say ‘no’ to desirable things and lucrative options, because a great simplicity reduced your options to single-minded focus. There is a thrill in doing right, even if you are misunderstood.
This is true of sports, business, outdoor adventures and falling in love. It is also true of the Christian life.

Where does this safe, domesticated life come from?
Let’s be honest now… Self preservation, hidden agendas, sophistication, half-hearted calculations, neglecting our first love, anxiety, busyness or laziness, just to name a few. One thing I do know, is that Saul was knocked off his donkey, led to Damascus, and prayed for the infilling of the Holy Spirit by Ananias. He lived with divine urgency all of his remaining days. Could it be that many Christians today are living a form of Christianity while denying the very power of it, just because they don’t know the power of the Holy Spirit? It must be.

So, what am I saying here?
We all lose the wildness of true Christianity sometimes, and God always seems to help us get it back, but I’m not writing this to admit seasons of winter and summer, so we can all feel good about losing our fervour every now and then. I am writing this to say to myself (and to you) that I don’t want to accept a theology of indifference, or a doctrine that maintains my suburban priorities, or a creed that pampers fear as the new faith. It is one thing to fall in a hole every now and then, but another thing to live there.

I conclude. May we embrace the idea that God is “good, but not safe”. May we remember how bloody the births of our children were, how ferociously the lion eats away at the beautiful gazelle, how turbulent the oceans are, and how Jesus died.

We’ve lost truckloads of thrill because we invented a domesticated God.

I’m sure God is always doing these things everywhere, but still, I feel that God is acutely active among us, doing the following couple of things…

ACCLAMATION. The glory of God comes at the expense of horizontal glory. (John 5:44) We want to be of those who CAN believe, because we desire only the glory that is from above.

God is saving us from the importance of polls, opinions and too much dignity.

SIMPLIFICATION.
Gospel. Gospel. Gospel. We are here to understand, proclaim and live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel has become our preoccupation. We want to know it’s “sound” (Tozer), and want to never move beyond the gospel. By implication, this means that we also know what we are not called to. We cannot do every good thing, but choose to concentrate on what God has called us to, more specifically.

God is saving us from taking too many open doors, getting too widely involved and overcomplicating the message.

MULTIPLICATION of ministries and ministers, also talking about new church plants. Watch this space.

God is saving us from complacency, that leads to criticism and carelessness.

DISTILLATION of our devotion. We feel more songs welling up, deeper reality in our responses to God and honesty with our true state.

God is saving us from a functional partnership with Him.

RESTORATION of cost/value ratio. Giving ourselves wholeheartedly to the kingdom of God, increases the value of the kingdom in our lives. We are urging one another unto greater service, generosity and self-abandonment.

God is saving us from our idols.

REFORMATION. We are committed to expounding scripture, and for our lives to be conformed to God’s revealed will, by joining with God’s greater story.

God is saving us from seasonal ideas.

REVELATION. Intense desire to walk unhindered with the Holy Spirit, forgiven and forgiving, with clear consciences ever-learning walk with a greater sensitivity to the person of Holy Spirit.

God is saving us from “therapeutic deism”. (Borrowing from Horton)

TREPIDATION. An increase in the fear of the Lord. The friendship* of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. – Psa 25.

God is saving us from overfamiliarity and presumption.

ACTIVATION. Faith as followthrough on intimacy, or “hearing and obeying God”. We believe faith simply means to hear and obey God. Primarily, God speaks through His Son, Jesus. (Heb 1:3) The bible speaks to us. The obedience of faith, neither works nor law, but faith, is what activates us as useful believers to a lost world.

God is saving us from missing the point.

CULTIVATION. We believe in an “all-of-life” approach. The idea of “culture making” (Andy Crouch); taking care of society, being invloved politically, municipally, artistically, societally, culturally and celebrating every job, every calling and every life. Every person is a minister with every hour of his life. We do not want to be a meeting-oriented church, but edify people for all the facets of life, all days of the week, all spheres of society.

God is saving us from Sunday-based Christianity.

Since all upstream ideas have downstream consequences, we should hold tight to some of these tripled themes.

The Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit.
The tripartite of true discipling; worship, fellowship, and mission.
The triathlon of the Christian’s journey; Egypt, Wilderness and Promised Land.

When it comes to the Three-in-One God, we dare not neglect one of His persons. Neglect Jesus, and you have no Christianity at all, because He is the only way into the Trinity! Neglect the Father, and you will struggle with authority, sovereignty, and the meta-narrative. Neglect the Spirit, and you will struggle with religion, unwillingness and inability.
Each of the persons of God carries a truth that first offends before it sets us free. The Father offends by being sovereign. The Son offends with His cross and is called “the rock of offense”. The Spirit offends with his ways, or what RT Kendall calls, the yuk factor.

When it comes to the tripartite of discipling, we should also strive to nail 3/3. Neglect worship as a disciple, and all the rest lose meaning. The vertical relationship with Jesus is surely most important to the life of a “little christ”.
Neglect fellowship and you violate John 13v35, “By this shall all men know you are my disciples, by your love for one another…” as a matter of fact, John continues this conviction in 1 john 4v20, “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
Neglect mission, even after worshipping God perfectly and fellowshipping with the church, and you miss the purpose of your life. The great commission, to disciple others unto Jesus, and to teach them to obey what Jesus commanded, still stands as the mother yardstick of how well we lived by faith, for Jesus.
Some claim to worship Jesus, but fail in loving brothers. Others claim to live on mission, but fail to fear God more than men. May it be that we are disciples in loving God, loving our fellow saints, and in loving our fellow sinners.

The last triune theme we need to honour, is that there isn’t just two states (saved and unsaved), but three, in the triathlon to heaven. We were all bound to slavery in Egypt, until our true Moses, our true Joshua, the fulfilment of law and prophets came to save us out of our Egypt. However, we were not saved into the promised land, but into the wilderness, which explains this life, all of our tests, hindrances, difficulties, trials and opportunities. Our salvation was conditional only upon God being “I am”. Our promised inheritance is conditional upon walking by the Spirit, overcoming and persistent faith in the same God. That is why Abraham is our twice-used example for faith; he was justified upon a moment of faith, but had to persevere for his inheritance. Why is this triune theme so important? Because it explains to us that we cannot lose our salvation, but that there remains a reason to strive for a life by faith, pleasing to God. We are pleasing to God in Jesus, and from this reality, we get to live in a way that pleases Him consistently. God rewards persistent faith. If we reduce our understanding to “saved versus unsaved”, and assume to go from Egypt straight into the promised land, we have to twist scripture either towards hyper grace or hyper faith, and both of these are equally dangerous. Sure, there is a lot of promised land even in this life, but we cannot have a modern Christianity that denies all wilderness.

So, from a church full of 4×4′s, here is a 3×3 with which you can blaze your trail with God.
Lots of love.
My bed is really calling…

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

“fix you” by Coldplay

Yes it can get worse, and you know it…

There comes a moment where no person can help you. Their most sincere encouragements leave you publicly cordial and privately cold.
It could be a situation beyond repair, or an irreversible mistake that devours your courage like a swarm of locusts. It could be a season that pushes you aside, or a consequence that is simply unbearable. You look on and realise the devastation, but have no idea how to stop it. Your energy is gone, the consequences are overwhelming and life feels lifeless.

But then you go where few ever go; real prayer. You speak frankly. You cry out in desperation. You go beyond self-righteousness and plead for mercy. You repent.

Peace comes, and you wait. God speaks a word of life to you. It could be a single word, a scripture, a promise or a spiritual impartation. In one moment, nothing else matters as peace floods your soul. Where no man could encourage you before, no man can discourage you now. You have a word from the Creator, from your Father, and it calms your storms. You have received mercy, in spite of you.

There are at least four reasons for any tough situation;
God’s sovereignty,
my own sin,
“life” and preparation, and lastly
opposition from satan.
We are here, in these bodies, to respond to all four of these dilemmas as believers.
We respond to sovereignty with humble submission and great joy.
We respond to our own sin by repenting and administering the blood of Jesus.
We respond to life by faith and overcoming.
We respond to Satan by submitting to God and resisting the devil, to see him flee.

But here is why this familiar scene is even possible; the scene where we mess up, break down and approach God for mercy, only to find him ready to bless, love and empower! Here is why – because of Jesus.

Jesus never messed up. Jesus never sinned himself into desperation. He knew weakness without ever knowing sin. Jesus had no mess of his own, only yours and mine.
When he was praying in Gethsemany like a man pleading for his life, he feared the most awful moment of his eternal existence, when the father would turn his face away as he took our sins upon himself. Jesus was forsaken on a cross, crying out to a silent heaven, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”

This moment of silence has turned out to be the reason we get to hear God speak. Oh, one word from the Lord calms a raging sea. One word from God sets direction for a decade. One word from God and everything is all right. One word.

Blameless Jesus experienced the father’s withdrawal, so you, desperate you, won’t have to, ever…

Preamble

Firstly, I am not an expert on the topic. I am just very serious about avoiding institutionalism (unimaginative serfdom to a once-well-meant system). I am writing this to learn, to remember and to do my best in preventing a robotic future, mechanised to perfection, but leaving no space for the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, we must continually remind ourselves that all ideas have consequences, which implies that a little idea today can become a big monster over time.
Thirdly, I also feel obliged to confess that I am on the side of organic life. I am not a lover of structure and method. It is good to know one’s own bent, and this is mine. The reason for my confession is for the purpose of change, not defence. I have to change for the sake of others, the mission and God. The balance between organism and organisation is critical. The human body has a skeleton frame, and a fruitful vine has structure, pruning and farming to thank. I have rejected any notion of system to the point of harming apostles in their gift of administration, harming our flock by mystifying things that should be clearer, and by harming my personal life, because the result of being totally organic is that you’re left with a disorganised reality. I have repented, and we are moving on. I know my bent. Do you know yours? Some of you are better at organisation than organism, so it would be good to make effort with “organism-dynamics”.

Getting to the point

As I learned from Bavinck that the church is both organism and organisation we are structuring more than before. Therefore, at 3ci, I want us to keep the following guiding principles for new proposals, strategies or plans. (This document is a work in progress)

1. Make sure more ministry is happening than management.

We must beware of increasing admin loads. It only takes 1 minute to come up with a strategic solution for any identified problem. Can the proposed solution work if another 2000 people are added into the mix? Will the newly suggested protocol require policing/monitoring, and who would monitor it? Does the “solution” work for other personality types than your own? Will the solution need careful explanation to prevent abuses further down the line, or is it easy to understand? Does it really provide a solution? Are you sure the problem is a problem? If it requires time, where would you cut time to create the needed time? Is it slowing down or speeding up the idea of viral disciple-making? Does your plan/strategy enable more ministry by more people to more people, or does it demand more supportive administration done by more people?
We remind ourselves to live devoted to Jesus, desiring to stir up devotion to Jesus.

2. Decentralise, don’t centralise.

The idea with disciple-making is that we pass on and hand out, empower and equip, outward and onward, to such an extent that disciples will keep on making disciples until Jesus returns. This means we have to let go of downstream quality control and institutional defence. We have to “get” Jesus and pass on Jesus. We have to “get” the gospel and pass on the gospel. We have to commit to the people we have immediate influence with. If we do it well with our disciples, they will do it well with theirs.
If we centralise, we develop problems. First problem is the “created need of environment policing”. If we become concerned with our programs and structures, we will most likely try to control downstream quality. This leads to the second problem of centralization; “changing outward discipling to inward recruiting”, as if we are training people only for our organisation. This is where we reverse our discipling direction and lose momentum, because we will be tempted to get feedback on too many things. We must make sure that our people are not required to come running to us for too many things.
If we decentralise, we develop solutions. We allow mistakes, which allows discoveries. Allow them to try and fail. Allow them to be grown-ups. Their experiences will promote questions, and then, mostly then, will they want to hear what we have to say. We need to lead people with questions that make them curious, and with questions that hold them responsible for answers, like, “What do you think God wants you to do in the next month or two, year or two, decade or two? What do you think of as most important? What is standing in your way? Why have you not employed your passions? Are you waiting for a magical moment in the future before you make decisive changes to your lifestyle? What if nothing changes in your circumstances until you die; are you fulfilled and full of gratitude, engaged in mission and satisfied in your lifework? Are you waiting for job offers before you could fulfil your calling? If you had to criticise your own plan, what would you say? Are you training others alongside?’
One way to cause momentum is to make people realise how much is up to them, because churchiness and structures often make people feel they are far from ready, far from being used of God. If we make them feel like their futures are up to us, we are reducing their holy stress they should feel for their own calling.
We remind ourselves to edify people more than we ever build systems.

3. Keep it simple.
Discipleship is supposed to be viral. 2 Tim 2:2. It is God’s way of exponential growth. For discipleship to be viral, we must keep it simple. Complexity slows down discipling. This means we must exercise simplicity.
We remind ourselves that less is more.

4. Work with the willing.
I recently heard George Patterson say, “Stop trying to shove camels through needles!” One of the reasons ministry grows more powerfully among the poor, is because they are receptive and desperate for change. We will be wise to work with those who are receptive and eager for change. Rather take a man with little capacity and lots of willingness, than a big-capacity man that is too satisfied. I’m reminded of Maggie Thatcher’s motto for productivity, “Keep yourself hungry and cold. You’re more alert if you’ve not had too much to eat and you’re not too warm. The blood goes to your brain, and not to your tummy.” That will preach. We must stay desperate enough to be bothered. We should also learn to identify people that hunger after God, willing to change.
We remind ourselves of the divine sequence of “knowing, being and doing”.

5. Prioritise prayer.
Anyone can type a 10-point strategy, but in this time I want to ask you to pray more than before. We can become institutional overnight. We are all able men with lots of work experience between us. Let us not be like Jerusalem in Isa 22, who did everything they could to protect Jerusalem, except looking to the Lord! God despises it when we place our hope in anything but Himself. Prayer is proof of God-reliance. Prayer is the environment of trusting God. May we be found on prayer walks, and on our knees, presenting our plans to God, and asking for divine guidance, because God might pour revival over the true work of prayer.
We remind ourselves that God does the lasting work.

Anyway, thank you for allowing me to state the obvious.
Feel free to add your thoughts.
Lots of love after a grateful week.
h

The gospel speaks to the past, present and future. It offers the truest meanings of faith, hope and love. It reveals best the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit as the only God. The gospel satisfies justice and mercy, law and prophets, God and man. This theme is inexhaustible and most worthy of intellect and passion, meditation and proclamation.

I’d like to state some obvious, yet exhilarating, ways we are a community around the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel ministers to our past. (Faith)
1.We have a risen Lord who conquered death. The fear of death is the root of all other fears. So this means that we can live above and beyond the usual fears of humanity, whether lack, anxiety, ambition or striving for acceptance with all of our efforts. The proclamation of a living Lord is the most astonishing, most vivifying truth in all the universe.
2.We have the forgiveness of all our sins. Sin is the greatest dilemma of the human soul, because it brings separation between us and God, who is our source of life. Sin goes by many other names and struggles, but ultimately, sin is the reason for suffering, pain, loneliness and despair. The gospel ministers to our past by (a) being a historic event upon a cross that (b) satisfied the righteous wrath of God against our sin and (c) provided the full payment for all our sins.
3.Through the gospel, we have an eternal assurance of salvation; once saved, always saved. This sure basis of divine acceptance gives us the deepest joy, the greatest boldness to persevere, and forms the only true foundation for doing good works without trying to earn God’s favour.

The gospel ministers through our present. (Love)
1.We are saved into community. God puts the lonely into families; that is what He is like. Godly attributes only makes sense in community. How impossible would it be to see mercy, love or kindness if you lived alone on an island?
2.As a community, we live out the gospel to others. We live among others as a people under God. We look distinctively “other”. We are a people among peoples, a city within a city, and our love for one another is the greatest witness of our discipleship. We involve ourselves for social justice of the marginalized, and live as light travelers, passing through to our city, whose architect and builder is God.
3.We make culture. The gospel rescued us from obeying our sinful nature that only knows self-preservation, destruction and survival. We now live as heavenly citizens, cultural beings who love aesthetic beauty, order and creativity, because we were made in the image of our Creator. Reformation-revivals are accompanied by songs, arts, justice, hygiene, education and socio-economic renewal.

The gospel ministers unto our future. (Hope)
1. We live for eternity before an all-seeing God. This helps us to live beyond morality, and beyond the seen (not perfectly, but at least as an aim). This means that we are motivated beyond worldly offers and earthly wealth. Eternity is our hope.
2.We live for a precious inheritance from God. Beyond salvation, God promises reward for persistent faith in Him. We now realise most of life is a mere wilderness compared to our promised land. This helps us to understand our tests and difficulties, because we get to glorify God this side of death with our faith responses. Once we die, faith will be no more. Once we die, evangelism and generosity ends. Once we die, we see God. Knowing that there is real inheritance from God’s hand in this life and in the next, we “strive to enter the rest of God”. But some of our reward is even in this life! This means even though we are totally free and forgiven, it still matters how we live. That is why Hebrews contains warnings that does not threaten our security of salvation at all.
3.We hope for the New Jerusalem. We don’t see it as a non-physical, cloud and harp scenario of stasis up there somewhere, but a physical reality new bodies, in a renewed earth, dwelling with God and saints, working and governing, creating and worshiping God without sinful nature or sin-effect for all eternity.

The gospel provides the basis of all worship, fellowship and mission. We worship the risen Christ. We fellowship with brothers who were saved for purpose just like us. We go out on mission like Jesus to declare life to a world that is dead in sin.

Tuesday morning. 5am. After saving up for two and a half years as a team of elders, we arrived in Jerusalem last night. What an amazing thing to travel with so many friends. It makes it very special. It was raining here when we arrived. As we came driving into Jerusalem, Amnon, our tour guide, asked me to read from Psalm 122. I couldn’t help thinking about Gal 4:26, how we are from the Jerusalem that is above, children of the free woman.

Leonard and Lorie were waiting for us at the hotel, since they came from Canada, so to catch up over a meal loaded with houmous was the perfect end to a Monday spent traveling.
I was too curious to just go to bed, so I went for a quick walk in the rain to take in the new sights and sounds. Here is a picture from my walk in the rain.

RT arrives today as well! You can imagine my excitement.

Heinz