The Big Spark! / Ignite the Event!

Oops! I think I messed up the title to this article. Coming in August (but registrations open now) are the quarterly Ignite the Spark! and the annual Big Event, which is routinely lauded as folks’ favorite presbytery meeting because it is when we are our best, truest, connectional selves as Presbyterians. I contend the truest expression of being Presbyterian is found when we are together seeking the way and the will of the Lord. Ignite the Spark! (August 11) and The Big Event (August 12) are opportunities to express these best selves.

Ignite the Spark! (August 11)

The topic of this quarter’s event is connecting your church’s communication with your community. Gail Strange and Mari Graham from the General Assembly will present a communications workshop that,will give you tips and techniques to better reach your audience. We’ll offer insights and guidelines on creating a communications plan for your congregation, discuss the “do’s and don’ts” of media relations and “pitching” stories to your local media. You’ll learn proven techniques for using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter and leave with tips that will make your communications more effective and help increase your reach.

Please note the new time for this Ignite the Spark! is from 9:00-3:00, with lunch provided, in order to accommodate Gail and Mari’s return travel to Louisville. You can register here: Ignite the Spark

THE BIG EVENT (August 12)There are a variety of topics organized around the “three-legged stool” of spiritual formation, missional formation, and congregational formation. Among the topics offered this year are both perennial favorites and explorations in new vision.

In the area of congregational formation, perennial favorites such as stewardship, church growth, and youth ministry are offered but also workshops on using digital media, building a website, and learning lessons from new worshipping communities for an established congregation.

In the area of missional formation, we once again turn to one of our strongest points of giftedness to hear the call to support our immigrant neighbors through both advocacy and direct care, but also offer a three-part workshop on how to cultivate communities where we can bridge the conversation gap in our ever more polarized churches.

In the area of spiritual formation, we will hear both the call to sabbath and the invite to embrace desert spirituality (and this week I feel the desert quite poignantly!) as well as accept the challenge to deepen our understanding of our confessional heritage. And one final question: What can Starbucks teach us about worship? (See Frank Walmsley’s workshop.)

You can register for the Big Event here:  And register for Ignite the Spark! here

Grace and peace,

Brad Munroe

Trinity = Self in Relationship

Last week I reminded us of the ancient Christian word to describe the Trinity:  perichoresis, which literally means “with dancing” or “dancing around.” I suggested that it is the character and nature of God’s personhood to be a unified Self and in eternal Relationship. I further suggested that, as those created in the image of this Trinitarian Fellowship of One, it is our eternal character and nature to express our humanity in relationship with God, self, others and the creation. Simply put: relationship is the core of our faith in worship and in prayer, in compassion and in mission, in who we are and how we live together in community.

Let me repeat that last thought: the God who eternally dances as Triune Fellowship of One teaches us who we are and how we live together in community, which means we are never fully and truly our Self unless and until we are fully and truly in relationship with others. Conversely, we are never fully and truly in community unless and until we are fully and truly our Self.

            “So, Brad, what does this mean for our lives as followers of Jesus?” Thanks for asking.

There is a need in our churches, communities and nation to learn to speak the truth in love to one another, as Paul exhorted the Ephesians (Ephesians 4:15), as well as seek the interests of others as Paul spoke to the Philippians (Philippians 2:4). For example:

·         When a fellow church member expresses a sour opinion about your pastor (organist, custodian, another member, et. al.) with which you don’t agree, do you go along to get along, or do you say, “I hear you but actually have a different perspective I’d like to share. Would that be okay with you?”

·         When in the midst of a Session meeting and the debate gets “robust” and “enthusiastic” around a particular idea, are you able to say, “I like x, y, and z about your idea but have concerns about a, b, and c. I’d love to hear you say more about these concerns and how you think this idea will address them.”

When addressing politics with a friend or colleague – left to right or right to left – can you speak the truth in love without descending to the level of the “politics of personal destruction” and express your concerns with both passion and compassion, both true to your Self and respectful
 of others?

My young adult son has a saying, “You be you, dad.” (Usually this is said when I have done something that reinforces his image of me as a dork.) I want to expand on my son’s quaint saying to express what it means for us to live as those created in the image of the Triune God who dances eternally: “You be you, I’ll be me, but let’s us be us together.” Might this be an ecclesiology on which we can build healthy practices for congregational ministry?

Grace and peace,

Brad Munroe
Watch it as a Video!

Inviting Evangelism: Singing in a New Key

I stood in my father’s bathroom trying to help him stand after falling while getting out of the shower. The blood thinner meds he had taken for a dozen years was causing the small scrapes on his leg and elbow to bleed profusely, and in falling he had hyper-extended his left knee, his good knee, though both knees were actually titanium replacements. What does this have to do with the Trinity?

The next morning I took a walk along the beach; my father’s condo being mere yards away from the white, “sugar sand” of Florida’s Gulf Coast. As I rooted the soles of my bare feet into Mother Earth, in mountain pose for those of you who do yoga, I listened to the wind, the gulls, and my own heart. “It is good to be here,” I thought to myself. What does this have to do with the Trinity?

Upon my return to Arizona, I spoke with one pastor recently diagnosed with cancer and another whose spouse needs organ transplantation. I prayed with a gathering of pastors and elders whose hearts grieved after making a decision a colleague did not want to hear. And I rejoiced at the airport upon seeing my wife, Laura, and Ange, the refugee whom we have welcomed into our home. What does this have to do with the Trinity?

To many folks, the Trinity is some sort of math problem: does 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 or does 1 + 1 + 1 = 1? I get it; really, I do. The doctrine that God is one in three persons, separate but not distinct, translates rather naturally into the language and conundrum of numbers. But what if we understand God as Trinity not as a math problem but rather as an expression of a beautiful mystery?

For Christians to say that God is Trinity is to confess the eternal nature of God is relational; that at the core of the universe is love. God exists for all time in relationship with Godself – eternally, necessarily, intrinsically, and organically. This is who God is!

The early Christian fathers and mothers coined a new, Greek word in their attempts to describe this ineffable mystery: perichoresis, which is a combination of the Greek words that literally mean “with dancing.” God is the One whose nature is with dancing; the Three whose harmony is a unity and whose rhythm expresses infinite diversity.

And we are created in the image of this Trinitarian God. We are created to live our lives with dancing – to express our humanity in harmony, to find our rhythm in relationship, to allow the nature of God to be reflected in who we are and in how we are together, in such a manner that 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + N = the Church, the one Body of Christ.

It is the Trinity that calls me to care for my father, to ground myself in our shared humanity on this planet, to pray for you as you pray for me, to grieve with those who grieve and to rejoice with those who rejoice. What do these things have to do with the Trinity? My life – our lives – have everything to do with the Trinity, for God is not a math problem. Thanks be….

Grace and peace,

Brad Munroe

Inviting Evangelism: Vital, Missional, Relational, Invitational

Last week’s missive in this Eastertide series on inviting evangelism introduced the work of Bishop Leslie Newbigin, who argued the need to reclaim our missionary zeal for the West and suggested creating a missionary encounter between a congregation and community. While retaining one’s theological tradition – (no watered-down Gospel!) – Newbigin counseled congregations to learn the language of the culture in which they live and move and have their being, learning the inner working and outer expressions of that culture, and able to understand at a depth level the yearnings of their neighbors.

Newbigin’s challenge to our congregations is to live deeper into our missional calling to reclaim a Gospel zeal for the West be moving away from consumeristic models of church and moving toward holistic, service-oriented models of being the Christ community. Adding to last week’s list of symptoms of congregations that invite evangelism, Newbigin suggests:

1)      Grace Centered: invitational and relational churches lead from the place of grace. In a culture of polarization, it is easy to sound judgmental without intending to do so. How does your church convey the unboundaried love of God in Christ both in word and deed, through actions and attitudes?

2)      Transformation (not just information): in a culture that has moved beyond strict rationalism, in a world in which people sip knowledge from an information fire hose, in a world ever-growing in high-tech, low-touch, our ministries must invite growth in the direction of transformation. How does your church help its people live the Gospel day-to-day in ways that lead not just to doing different things but becoming different people?

3)      Worship Centrality (Head, Heart, Will): connected to the above symptom’s focus on transformation, vital missional ministry connects worship to the head, heart and will. Our Reformed style of worship has rightly been accused of being overly “wordy.” How does your church make available, invite into, and provide instruction on how soul-feasting, justice-hungering, love-embodying life with God is encountered?

4)      Empowered and Equipped Laity: vital missional ministry focuses on leadership training. Teach an adult on what the Bible says, and she or he will know the Word; teach one how to read and interpret the Word, and she or he will know the Living Word. Is the balance between equipping ministry and providing ministry in your church weighted steeply toward equipping? If not, what are you waiting for?

5)      Value Intergenerational/Inter-racial: Finally, vital missional ministry leans in the direction of Pentecost. Becoming intergenerational or inter-racial requires of us to have the humility that fosters self-awareness: where do our implicit, assumed, hidden-from-our-consciousness practices block those who are different from us from experiencing hospitality? What intentional steps can we take in our churches to create an environment that others experience as invitational, welcoming, and as connecting with their soul?

Opening the Way to others,

Brad Munroe

Inviting Evangelism:The Gospel of Machiavelli

What does Machiavelli have to do with Jesus? Great question! Thanks for asking.
There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more difficult to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who would profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new.
In the above quote, written in 1516, one of the great (if nefarious) managerial geniuses of the past millennium describes the condition of today’s Church. 
            Today’s Church lives between times, which has always been so in an eschatological sense – God’s kingdom both here now and not yet fully arrived – but is now also true in a cultural sense: from “Christendom” to “post-Modernism,” from needing to be “attractional” to becoming “missional.” And, as Machiavelli astutely notes, transitions are difficult!
            Bishop Leslie Newbigin’s argued the need to reclaim our missionary zeal for the West and suggested creating a missionary encounter between a congregation and community. While retaining one’s theological tradition – (no watered-down Gospel!) – Newbigin counseled congregations to learn the language of the culture in which they live and move and have their being, learning the inner working and outer expressions of that culture, and able to understand at a depth level the yearnings of their neighbors.
            Newbigin’s challenge to our congregations is to live deeper into our missional calling to reclaim a Gospel zeal for the West be moving away from consumeristic models of church and moving toward holistic, service-oriented models of being the Christ community. He listed several symptoms of a healthy, missional congregation:
1)      The Sending of God – missional congregations understand, affirm and embrace (which are three, distinct, ever-deepening levels of Gospel engagement) that the God of heaven sends us into the world. How does your church cultivate a “sent-ness” among your people, or are folks mired in the quicksand of consumeristic religion?
2)      Incarnational Models of Ministry – missional congregations dwell among their neighbors, communicating in ways that connect, that relate, that invite others into a deep engagement with the brokenness of the world. How does your church “dwell with” your neighbors, or are you a kind of religious ghetto?
3)      Heightened Community –  missional congregations are relationally rich, a richness which flows from our participation in the Trinitarian communion – it is who we are! How does your church express relationships that are “really real” and invite others to do life together, or are there aspects of your congregation’s friendships that still swim in shallow waters?
4)      Hospitality Abounding – missional congregations offer radical hospitality and cultivate with intentionality and perseverance a welcome of others. Being a welcoming presence is not the job of the pastor alone but of the entire faith community! How does your church practice hospitality – (what percentage of your members are trained in the art and expectations of offering welcome?) – or do you allow strangers in your midst to remain distance, unnamed and unknown?

What on earth are we doing for heaven’s sake,
Brad Munroe

Inviting Evangelism Reclaiming the Gospel’s Winsomeness

Winsome: attractive or appealing in appearance or character (Oxford Dictionary). If the church is to learn how to invite evangelism, we must reclaim the Gospel’s winsomeness. What is appealing in appearance and character about being a follower of Jesus? Why should my family member, friend, neighbor or colleague care about the Story?

One way to answer this question is to ask ourselves about the lives we lead as people of faith: what does salvation look like? That is, at our best, to what do we aspire? What is the grand vision and great hope for our life together with God in Christ? This seemingly simple question is more difficult to answer than it appears. Do we list a set of actions and attitudes one expects from a Christian? To try this is fraught with the danger of legalism. Do we itemize the doctrines that must be believed in order to be a Jesus follower? This leads easily to the danger of dogmatism or a merely intellectualized form of faith.

Yet if we, the Church, as followers of Jesus are unclear on what we mean when we talk about being a Christian, how can we ever hope to invite another into the life of faith?

Rachel Srubas, pastor of Mountain Shadows in Oro Valley, has answered the question of what salvation looks like in a pilgrim’s life, and has given me permission to share her answer. I find Rachel’s description of the life of the Christian to be winsome and compelling; I aspire to be this kind of person. She writes:

Christlikeness consists of love for God and love for neighbor. Yet Christlikeness has many features, including:

·         profound personal openness to God’s will;

·         willingness to sacrifice personal comfort and convenience for the sake of pursuing God’s will;

·         acceptance of God’s grace and mercy;

·         dependence on God’s guidance and providence;

·         renunciation of self-interest;

·         the practice of self-giving love, forgiveness, and service of others without the expectation of reward;

·         continual immersion in scripture in order to know and follow God more closely;

·         responsiveness to the leading of God even (and especially) when this necessitates faithful risk-taking for a sacred moral good;

·         prioritizing the needs and care of society’s disadvantaged and maligned members;

·         ceaseless prayer and regular worship;

abiding trust in God throughout life and when facing death.

How would you describe the life to which you are inviting another? Your homework is this: write just such a description of the Christian life. Make it winsome and compelling; allow the music of your life to sing grace and the poetry of your life to whisper beauty and truth. Share what you think Christlikeness looks like with one other person – ask them to tell you honestly how you did.

What on earth are we doing for heaven’s sake,

Brad Munroe

Inviting Evangelism: Reclaiming Gospel Belovedness

As I continue this Eastertide series on inviting evangelism, I want to review just a bit. Last week I quoted Dr. Jim Singleton from Gordon-Conwell Seminary – “creating a culture of evangelism in our congregations is hard work!” – and asked you to craft and share a brief statement that tells the Story to one other person, asking them to give you feedback on how you did. I encouraged you to make your telling of the Story a part of your own story: core and compelling, allowing your personal rhythms of faith and life into the conversation. What I did not do is share with you how I tell the Story.

            It’s about time I walk my talk.

For me, sharing the Story flows from the beautiful narratives of Scripture, and it is difficult to know where to begin. Do I tell the Story from the place of justice and jubilee (Luke 4)? Or perhaps I tell the Story from the starting place of God’s joy (Luke 15)? Should I claim the blessedness of my brokenness (Matthew 5) or proclaim the comforts of prayer (Philippians 4)? From the depths of Job’s despair to the heights of Jesus’ cross, the options are endless.

For me, however, my spirit is drawn to Matthew 28 and the Great Commission. In this passage, we are commanded to make disciples – not just converts but disciplined followers of the Lord Jesus – and told to teach each other to observe all that he has taught us to do – not just believe a certain way but live and move and have our being pointed in the direction of God’s life in, with, among and through us. And the key to this commandment is the middle step: baptism.

It strikes many as odd that in the middle of the Great Commission are found these words: “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” What does baptism have to do with making disciples, many wonder? In the same way Communion is the sacrament of community, so is baptism the sacrament of identity. In baptism we discover our identity, our true name: before the beginning of time God knew us, chose us and called us by our true name – Beloved of God – and we are held in the arms of God’s everlasting love until after the end of all things.

The Great Commission, then, can be paraphrased like this: As you go into the world, help people learn that life with Jesus is a life of Belovedness. Teach them that their true name is “Beloved,” and teach them all that it means to live into the fullness of their Belovedness. Teach that life with God in Jesus Christ is not about becoming morally good enough, nor is it about being sufficiently spiritual, but rather it is an invitation to join in the eternal dance of justice and joy with the Triune God. God, through Jesus, has done everything needed for this to happen; we need only say yes to God’s invitation to join in the dance.

Here is your homework: choose three of your favorite Scriptures and craft one to three sentences about how these verses / passages connect your life with God’s life. How might these Scriptures invite a personal story that invites another into the Story? Share what you craft with one other person – ask them to tell you honestly how you did.

What on earth are we doing for heaven’s sake,

Brad Munroe