The Conversation was so encouraging today! We had 46 PoC hearts gathered into the prayer room (even on Mother's Day!), talking about where God is leading us. It was impossible to record every single thought and comment, but here's a tiny taste of what was discussed this afternoon...
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Discussion questions upon arriving...
1) Can you name the 6 Holy Currencies from memory without looking? What is a holy currency?
2) How often do you set aside time to listen to "Dad" (God)? What does this look like in your life?
3) Listening is doing something. How has listening to Dad "saved the day" in your life?
4) In your opinion, why don't we use our unlimited access to God more often?
5) What would happen if we scheduled more regular time to listen to God?
6) What U-turns and distractions most often frustrate your listening to God? The community?
"There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. - John 16:12-13 (NLT)
7) In your opinion, and according to the above verse, what "something more" do you believe Dad has to say to us?
"There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. - John 16:12-13 (NLT)
7) In your opinion, and according to the above verse, what "something more" do you believe Dad has to say to us?
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Report on last week's homework assignment:
(Do something to bless or simply converse with one neighbor on your street or someone you don't know well this week.)
Report on last week's homework assignment:
(Do something to bless or simply converse with one neighbor on your street or someone you don't know well this week.)
- I talked with neighbors instead of being in task mode.
- God brought neighborhood child and grandmother to my workplace. We had a good talk about safety in our neighborhood.
- Got to meet 2 of my neighbors. We're new in town and hadn't met them. We know each other's names and faces now.
- Someone I work with called me about issues, and said he was going to be gone from work to take care of health issues with his parents. I've just done this with my own, so I was able to share my experiences and tell him things to look for because symptoms were similar. I told him I'd be praying for him.
- My son had gone across the street to play at the neighbors. Instead of calling just to ask them to send him home for supper, I called and asked how the family was doing, asked about recent travel, showed them I'm interested in their lives.
- At work, I noticed a customer's car had a Christian radio station playing. We chatted and I invited her to PoC.
- Got together for good conversation with new church friends.
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What does it mean to be INCARNATIONAL?
There is a fleshly tug-of-war between "just being" and "just doing"...
Q: What kind of posture do you think our community sees most from Christians?
A: Stuck up, pushing religion on others, snooty, overbearing, pushy
A: Judgmental
A: Hypocritical
A: Inclusive
A: Intolerant
A: Not a way of life
A: Sunday morning life
A: Nice people
A: Politically conservative
A: Social club
A: Isolating
A: Cliquish
A: Territorial
A: Open, warm, kind
Q: Jesus was called a friend of sinners. What does that tell us about his posture in the community?
A: He walked and ate with the homeless, healed people, spent time with people that others didn't want to spend time with or be near.
A: He was the opposite of all those things we listed above.
A: He invested in relationship.
A: He cared.
A: Pharisees saw him as the troublemaker.
A: Sometimes our trying to live the way Jesus wants us to makes people feel convicted and they think we are judging them.
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Q: What do you think Jesus was like for his first 30 years of his life before his ministry?
A: Observant, influenced by culture
A: Traveled quietly
A: Hard worker
A: Fun, kids wanted to be around him
A: Compassionate
A: Magnetic people were drawn to him--happy, with convictions
A: Lived under submission to his parents
A: Cultivating the habit of listening to his father
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Some ideas about what it means to be INCARNATIONAL...
"Like harsh words spoken without tact, or a fire burning outside a fireplace, missionality by itself can hurt the cause of Christ more than it helps. This is why missional has an inseparable twin. The word is incarnational. It means "to take on flesh." If missional means "sent," incarnation is about how you go and what people see as you go. It encompasses your posture, your tone, your motives, and your heart. Incarnation is critical because it will eventually determine whether or not people will want to know you or your God." - The Tangible Kingdom Primer
- As a body of believers we are now God in flesh on the earth.
- Proximity--If we are going to flesh out the love and redemption of Jesus in the world, we need to be close to people who are not yet close to God. We need to live and be among them in places where we can touch them and they can observe us, and we can love them without ulterior motives. We love them as Jesus does.
- Presence--Jesus identified with and advocated for those he was called to. As we love and care for those around us, love will propel us to action. God is calling us to actively love and serve ALL people.
Am I in close proximity to those to whom Jesus has called me?
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Ministry as you go
Peter and John healed the man ON THE WAY to church! (Not AT church!) They made time for accomplishing what God had for them to do. It doesn't happen at church! It happens in the rest of life, while we are on the way to other things.
Look up these stories of Jesus miracles:
Q: What is significant about the context in each of these Biblical events?
A: NONE of them happened AT CHURCH!
A: Jesus was ON HIS WAY to somewhere else.
A: Jesus wasn't the focus of the event.
A: Jesus wasn't planning on doing this significant thing; He made the time to minister to others, even when it wasn't convenient or on his list of things to do.
- What are some of the events that happened or people you met along the way this past week?
- What was it about these people and events that drew you in?
- Based on this, where is God most likely to show up along the way in your daily life?
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Belonging influences believing...
Church in America is focused on Sunday morning. Our standard of living as American Christians matches that of everyone else in America.
What we are talking about in The Conversation is more like the church in Acts 2. What is it going to take to reach the people as the hands and feet of Jesus? How can keep less to give more? It's tremendously and wonderfully unsettling! Living more like the New Testament church is counter cultural, but we must actually BE the church. Why should that be counter cultural?!
Many people will push back from the idea of living like Jesus, because it is difficult to change from the cultural norm.
I've visited a lot of churches lately, and this kind of discussion is going on I our community. It's coming down from heaven! The body of Christ is here to make a difference for people in need, across, among, and between churches.
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Q: Recognizing that this thinking is something God is stirring up in the body of believers, what thinking needs to change in our culture?
A: That our life is ours
A: We have more to give; we are not tapped out.
A: Tithing our time
A: Living respecting our bodies as God's temple
A: That we are too busy to stop and help our neighbor
A: We need to recognize that everyone is important.
A: That I am the main character in the story
A: Spending time with each other, like in the book of Acts. They were ALWAYS together, eating, walking, talking.
A: We need to stop thinking that this is a foreign and weird idea that we can't change.
A: "We've always done it this way."
A: Churches do need to work together, not just be their own entity.
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It's funny that a lot of Christians spend so much time wondering what God's will for our lives is when the New Testament spells it out so clearly. He gave us one commission and two commands.
If each of us learns to listen to the missional impulses God gives us, and follow those on our own individually, we then can identify our shared missional impulses, the needs of the community as a whole.
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Self-assign your homework for this week based on today's conversation:
- To be more observant
- To talk with John about how I can be involved in prison ministry
- To listen to my coworkers interests and get involved in their lives
- To be consistent and liable
- God will bring me something as I'm going somewhere, I will be observant and obey.
- To be obedient and fearless, not nervous and shy.
- To develop friendships at the gym.
- To not just have intentions!
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Apologize for poor posture:
Think of times when you've had "bad posture" (represented Jesus and the church poorly or wrongly) with someone. If you have the ability to communicate with any of these people, consider sending a card, an email, or even better, making an appointment to have coffee with them simply to apologize for not representing God's unconditional acceptance and love for them.
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Often we can have false guilt as a church, but God has a way of honoring good intentions. Do the best that you can and be refreshed.
The church needs to be the place where we can be, and be refreshed. Let's reach across the table and spend time together and get to know each other, church.
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