These are just a few notes from the final week of The Conversation. As always, not everything could be recorded, but the conversation will continue at the same time and place once a month as The Ongoing Conversation, starting Sunday, July 13. It's never too late to join The Conversation!
Q: While telling
someone this week about your awesome church, they ask, “Why in the world did
you have a finger-blasters war in the middle of your service?” How would you
respond?
A: Fun is relevant
A: Our Father loves to see us play!
A: Fun is relevant
A: Our Father loves to see us play!
Think of a title that describes the season of life you’re in
right now and write it down on the strip of paper you have been given. Also
write your answers to these two questions: Does that title mostly represent a
drama, a comedy, or an action adventure to you at this point? How so?
Q: What are some
of the unique opportunities God has given you in this season of your life?
A: I like that in this season (grad student at ISU, working at Country Companies) I’m not in a Christian bubble and have lots of non-christian friends.
I’m having the chance to use what I’ve learned through a bad season of my life to help other people.
A: I like that in this season (grad student at ISU, working at Country Companies) I’m not in a Christian bubble and have lots of non-christian friends.
I’m having the chance to use what I’ve learned through a bad season of my life to help other people.
What are some limitations of this season?
A: I can’t do what I used to be able to do.
A: I have family and responsibility, I can’t just “hop on a Harley and come back in 3 months.”
A: Areas of brokenness that are being worked on that require us to lean closer to God for His provision.
A: I can’t do what I used to be able to do.
A: I have family and responsibility, I can’t just “hop on a Harley and come back in 3 months.”
A: Areas of brokenness that are being worked on that require us to lean closer to God for His provision.
Is Your Heart Ready?
By now we’re beginning to understand the high calling and
responsibility of being a missional Christian and influencing people around you incarnationally. But you
may also have become aware of the many barriers to living this way. We deal
with work, health, family, finances, global concerns, pressure, problems, and
just pain fatigue, not to mention consumerism, materialism, and individualism.
We hope that if you remember anything about this
conversation, you’ll focus on the fact that incarnational community can
happen anywhere. If you perceive it as a program you need to add to
your already complicated life, you’ll never make it.
But, if you understand this as something more fundamental,
that is, something central to who you are—part of your identity in Christ—then you
may be surprised at what God can do in your life. What we’re talking about is
really personal transformation. It is the process of developing habits of life
and concepts of what it means to be on mission. We have a special name for this
process: The Intuitive Life.
Intuition
is the ability to sense or know without conscious reasoning. Learning to live
intuitively is really about learning to live life in faith, led and guided by
the Holy Spirit. Life rarely happens in steps, programs, or logical sequences.
In fact, most of the time, it just happens. Developing an intuitive,
incarnational lifestyle is a process and depends on our willingness to listen
and respond to God’s direction. For it to emerge we must learn to trust God and
lean on faith, being certain that His Holy Spirit is faithfully working in and
through us.
Q: What are the
key light bulb moments that have lit up in your heart and head during the past
6 weeks of this study?
A: There doesn’t have to be a major change in my lifestyle from what I’m already doing. I don’t’ have time to add another thing to add to my responsibilities, I just need to reflect and change my focus that I do everything as a missionary.
A: I was having a rough day, dealing with problems from work even though it was my day off. God sent me a reminder that those problems were the missional impulse He sent me for that day!
I had to teach a class last minute and trusted God to speak through me. I told my story, and 68 listeners heard it. They are now freer to talk about things in school that they weren’t before. A student witnessed to another and invited him to church; he went.
A: A co-worker talks to me while I try to get stuff done. The Lord is helping me draw my attention back to others and focus on her and be more intentional.
A: I often feel my kids take my attention from my work; the Lord is helping me shift my attention to my kids and be more present with them.
A: I cook a lot of food, and the Lord has been bringing people from my neighborhood to eat with us.
A: God is teaching me to live in THIS moment. He’s causing me to pause multiple times daily to think about what is good right now—in this moment. I’m able to spend more time in prayer when the Holy Spirit reminds me to think that way.
A: There doesn’t have to be a major change in my lifestyle from what I’m already doing. I don’t’ have time to add another thing to add to my responsibilities, I just need to reflect and change my focus that I do everything as a missionary.
A: I was having a rough day, dealing with problems from work even though it was my day off. God sent me a reminder that those problems were the missional impulse He sent me for that day!
I had to teach a class last minute and trusted God to speak through me. I told my story, and 68 listeners heard it. They are now freer to talk about things in school that they weren’t before. A student witnessed to another and invited him to church; he went.
A: A co-worker talks to me while I try to get stuff done. The Lord is helping me draw my attention back to others and focus on her and be more intentional.
A: I often feel my kids take my attention from my work; the Lord is helping me shift my attention to my kids and be more present with them.
A: I cook a lot of food, and the Lord has been bringing people from my neighborhood to eat with us.
A: God is teaching me to live in THIS moment. He’s causing me to pause multiple times daily to think about what is good right now—in this moment. I’m able to spend more time in prayer when the Holy Spirit reminds me to think that way.
The Ongoing Conversation – We will continue to meet monthly
for The Ongoing Conversation. – next time: July 13
Missional Communities – These are the people you
naturally connect with, people in your church family, people you invite for
lunch, etc. When you’re wanting to reach
out, consider people who live near you or who
you are beginning to form relationships with.
You are free to do whatever missional impulse God lays on
your heart with the people in your missional community. More organic, less organized. I don’t imagine when the disciples had an
idea, they were told they needed to talk to so and so within the church. The church doesn’t need to micromanage
this. Go and do with the people you’re already
hanging with. They may not go to church
here. They may not even be a Christian
yet. But they may be missionally minded
and want to help. Put it together. Do it.
Little by little, the more a person gets to know the child,
the more the person gets to know the Father.
Q: How does The
Conversation hit you?
A: I’m excited. I just feel like this is something that needs to happen. Before PoC I was very anti-church because I was tired of traditional church. Now I’m excited to take the church outside of the church and make a difference in the community.
A: It’s important not to have tons of church activities so we can be more active in living out our faith in the community. When you hear from people that we are to go out and be the church in the community it’s more organic.
A: It’s a little more challenging personally, because I have to decide for myself what I’m supposed to be doing, rather than waiting to be told by someone else. It’s exciting and terrifying.
A: If we can really learn to live this way, it can really take off!
A: I’m excited. I just feel like this is something that needs to happen. Before PoC I was very anti-church because I was tired of traditional church. Now I’m excited to take the church outside of the church and make a difference in the community.
A: It’s important not to have tons of church activities so we can be more active in living out our faith in the community. When you hear from people that we are to go out and be the church in the community it’s more organic.
A: It’s a little more challenging personally, because I have to decide for myself what I’m supposed to be doing, rather than waiting to be told by someone else. It’s exciting and terrifying.
A: If we can really learn to live this way, it can really take off!
Q: What have you
heard over the past 6 weeks that excites you?
A: Just recently in my life, I’ve become friends with people who aren’t sure where they are with God. One in particular has felt forced to go to church. The biggest thing I’ve heard tonight is about SHOWING people God, not just telling.
A: I think our community is ready.
A: There is a freedom in this, that you don’t have to be governed by a structure. We have the freedom to act if we get the impulse.
A: I think what excites me the most is the thought of being intentional about my family.
A: It feels like God is getting the community ready for us to come. This has been the big breath before we plunge into the water.
A: Just recently in my life, I’ve become friends with people who aren’t sure where they are with God. One in particular has felt forced to go to church. The biggest thing I’ve heard tonight is about SHOWING people God, not just telling.
A: I think our community is ready.
A: There is a freedom in this, that you don’t have to be governed by a structure. We have the freedom to act if we get the impulse.
A: I think what excites me the most is the thought of being intentional about my family.
A: It feels like God is getting the community ready for us to come. This has been the big breath before we plunge into the water.
Q: Is there
anything you expected to hear that you didn’t?
A: I’ve been so church conditioned all my life that the church drives things, so I came into this thinking it would be church-driven. The paradigm of, no, it’s people-driven is welcome.
A: I’ve been so church conditioned all my life that the church drives things, so I came into this thinking it would be church-driven. The paradigm of, no, it’s people-driven is welcome.
We gather together to learn, and then we scatter to serve.
We need time with God daily, we need his presence so that we
can encourage each other on Sundays.
John 20:19-22
“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
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