Open Mike

Gloom & Doom for The Church This Easter? Go Glocal (my article in local news)

[I was invited to write the Easter article for our local N Charlotte newspaper The Lake Norman Citizen. Here ya go - with added pictures]

IT’S EASTER!   And most churches are experiencing low in-person attendance due to lingering concerns and at-home habits from the pandemic.

IT’S EASTER!   And Millennial young adults are leaving the church at historic rates, compared to Xers (“we grunge rock!”) and Boomers (“we classic rock!”).

And yet – I’m thrilled.  Thrilled and amazed at the ongoing impact of Jesus’ resurrection.  And no, those of you who know me at Lake Forest Church, it’s not just because of my naturally excitable personality, although that’s always a thing when I consider Jesus.

Though Christians in Lake Norman may take momentary discouragement from our contemporary and local experience of what seems like a depression of the Christian faith -- the indisputable, factual, historical impact of the resurrection over 2,000 years tells a completely different story.  Let me ‘splain please.

Back to Easter.  On that first resurrection day, among the risen Jesus’ first eyewitness-recorded words to his disciples were these: “Go and tell…” (Matthew 28:10; also John 20:17, Mark 16:7, Matthew 28:19).  And boy, did they ever “Go and tell…”  

To the point that today the church of Jesus Christ is the largest, most multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural institution in the world, and in human history.  2.382 billion souls identify as Christian today, which is 31.11% of y’all breathing on planet earth right now, marking Christianity as the majority religion.  Jesus’ person, Jesus’ message, and Jesus’ work are – measurably – the most compelling spiritual sustenance in human history.  Have you ever thought of it that way? 

An interesting thing about the ‘state of the church’ today is that one of the primary turnoffs American millennials state to me directly about ‘the church’ is its lack of diversity.  When in fact, if we step back and view the church globally and historically, the opposite is true (though yes, we need to fix that here).

 In fact, most of the dynamism in Christian worship and mission in our century is found in the fast-growing churches of the Global South.  “By 2020 fully two-thirds of all Christians were in the Global South, with only one-third in the Global North. By 2050 we anticipate that 77 percent of all Christians will live in the Global South,” according to the Pew Research Center.  And did you know that more Arabic speakers have become followers of Jesus over the past 30 years, than in the past 1,000 years combined?

And let me tell you – I am a witness.  I’ve worshipped in Shanghai with hundreds at a church full of expats from around the world – the Spirit-filled worship team of African and Asian university students radiated the grace and truth of Christ. 

In Cairo I wept in the front row as I experienced the worship of Jesus in original Arabic language songs for the first time, in a congregation of thousands. 

In London, I was joyful during Spirit-filled rock and roll modern worship in an ancient stone cathedral, full of young adults of many ethnicities.

So, if what your heart longs for is to be part of a global spiritual movement that has vibrancy in almost every culture, and that acts for justice and mercy on every continent, I recommend ‘the society of Jesus,’ His church.  Find a local church that’s participating with the global church – a glocal church is the ideal.

There are many valuable insights and practices in the world religions that I have had the privilege to study and experience.  Yet when the message of Jesus has been offered down through the ages, more people have reported life change and spiritual peace through faith in this Jesus, than any other way.  What is His message?  God and I are one (the Incarnation), God is love (the ontology of the divine), God loves you (the disposition of God), God suffered for your suffering and sin (Atonement at the Cross), God conquered death and suffering (Victory at the Empty Tomb), God will and is making all things new (Second Coming).

I hope you’ll ‘go and hear’ about Jesus this Easter at a local church.  I pray also you’ll take up your role in the story and live a life of ‘Go and tell,’ while sending others to do the same globally. In the name and power of the resurrected Jesus.

-credit to Bob Roberts for the term 'glocal' church

Fun Facts About St. Patrick and Guinness Beer on March 17

Here on St. Patrick's Day, a few fun facts in honor of my great historical mentor (and subject of my doctoral thesis titled "The Transformational Missiological Leadership of St. Patrick").

St. Patrick:  YES there was BEER involved in his mission in the 400's, to tell the Celts the good news of God's love through Jesus Christ.  He does not mention beer in the two short works he left to history, "The Confession" and "Letter to Coroticus," which can be read in one sitting here  https://www.confessio.ie/#

BUT beer is mentioned as part of the mission when it is first described in writing by someone else, a number of years later.  Patrick took with him to Ireland many priests, deacons, bakers, etc as part of a large team. Included in the list is a personal beer brewer for Patrick.  It would have been not just for merriment, but also for something clean to drink in swampy areas with no potable water they might encounter.

[picture of the oldest church in Ireland, traceable to the time of St Patrick: Saul Church]

Guinness Beer: Was not in existence in Patrick's day. But it is an outstanding example of Christian Irish business people, inheriting the faith of St. Patrick, living 'on mission for Christ' through good, profitable work and blessing others purposefully, starting in the 1700's.   I learned this from the book "The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer That Changed the World."

I recommend this as a quick, enjoyable, spiritually encouraging read.  From the book jacket:

"It began in Ireland in the mid 1700s. The water in Ireland, indeed throughout Europe, was famously undrinkable, and the gin and whiskey that took its place devastated civil society. It was a disease ridden, starvation-plagued, alcoholic age, and Christians like Arthur Guinness—as well as monks and even evangelical churches—brewed beer that provided a healthier alternative to the poisonous waters and liquors of the times. This is where the Guinness tale began. Now, 250 years and over 150 countries later, Guinness is a global brand, one of the most consumed beverages in the world. The tale that unfolds during those two and a half centuries has power to thrill audiences today: the generational drama, business adventure, industrial and social reforms, deep-felt faith, and the noble beer itself.

For readers who love history, cultural studies, religious debate, and stories of business success. 

What readers will learn with this book...

• The earthy, human, and holy importance of honing a craft over time
• Example of a family seeking to do good in the world as an offering to God
• How unexpected and small things impact the history of humanity
• Inspirational fuel for entrepreneurial dreams"

So tonight, Angie and I will toast St. Patrick with a Guinness. And I will recount again how the study of his spiritual and entrepreneurial leadership has so influenced me and my work.  So, in the words of the common Irish toast - Slainte!  It literally means 'health,' with the feeling of when we say 'cheers!'

 

Church Planting In a Post Christian Context: Intensive Seminary Course & Training June 10-14 @ Lake Forest Church

Who do you know whom this could benefit?

I'm excited to announce a new level of partnership between the Lake Forest Church Planter Training Center & Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary-Charlotte.  We will be offering our "Church Planting & Mission in a Post Christian Context" class this year as a one week summer intensive June 10-14, on site at Lake Forest Church - Huntersville. Free housing will be provided to most students needing it. In addition to seminary students, for a modest fee the course is open to anyone interested in church planting (pre or post seminary folks, potential church planters trying to discern their future, precocious late college students, early-in-the-process church planters).

We do NOT teach a 'one method/model of church plant fits all' approach in any way. And when I say 'we,' Rev. Aron Gibson will be an instructor with me in the course - he led a large young adult ministry in Los Angeles for over a decade, and successfully planted Lake Forest Church-WestLake over the past few years.

Mornings will be spent in the classroom learning biblical/theological/historical rationale and principles of church planting, how to think and contextualize like a missionary, current fruitful models of church planting nationally and internationally, how to exegete your neighborhood, practical process and leadership in a church plant, pre-assessment of aptitude for church planting, and more. 

Afternoons (and some evenings) will be spent in the field.  We'll be out visiting with and learning from active church planters in the region in a variety of missional contexts.  We will witness and glean wisdom from some fresh Holy Spirit experiments of the Body of Christ as they are in early formation.

When I say 'The Church Planter Training Center at Lake Forest Church,' we have planted one church every 2-3 years for a while now, coaching those pastors through the process, we currently have two Church Planting Residents in training (and two former LFC CP Residents are launching churches in other cities in 2019), we are training up and launching out a Spanish speaking congregation in 2019, while choosing the location of our next church plant and church planter by the end of the year.  God has called us as a church to invest ourselves heavily in the multiplication of Christ-centered, on-mission churches for the next generation. It is part of our joy at LFC.

To register or inquire further - GCTS students will pursue normal registration, all others email [email protected] .

English/Spanish Worship: Experimental Service at LFC-Huntersville this Sunday

We're going to experience a unique and special service this Sunday at LFC-Huntersville! You may recall that our Elder Dr. Bill Hammill and I made a trip to Mexico this spring to explore a church planting partnership between our denomination (EPC) and the Mexican Presbyterian Church (vibrant mission-oriented denomination that is millions strong). Three pastors I met with there who are the leaders of the MPC  - Pastors: Hernández, Job and Vazquez - have come to Charlotte to visit Lake Forest on their way to greeting our denominational gathering next week (called 'General Assembly'). 

We've crafted a service that includes some Spanish-language worship elements and I think it is going to be a beautiful blending of God's church. I can't wait!  Those guys will be with us this Sunday.Then they will tour our local ministry partners to our Spanish-speaking neighbors, and do the same with St. Giles EPC's ministry in the South Boulevard corridor of Charlotte on Monday. (photo at the MPC seminary in Mexico City in February)

My goals for this weekend's visit are: to encourage these Mexican Christian leaders that American Christians love them and are one in Christ with them; for LFC to be spurred on to greater mission vitality by the Mexican believers' excellent example; for the friendship between LFC leadership and MPC leadership to be used by God to get our denominational partnership off on 'the right foot;' and for LFC-Huntersville to have a worshipful BLAST experimenting with bi-lingual worship on Sunday! 

1. If you do NOT attend LFC-Huntersville: would you pray, as you read this, for those goals?
2. If you are part of the LFC-Huntersville tribe - BRING IT on Sunday: engage wholeheartedly in the singing, reciting of the Lord's prayer, and translations back and forth between English and Spanish. I especially call you to 'try on' singing portions of the worship songs in Spanish, as a gesture of hospitality to our weekend guests, but also as a form of asking God to build a hospitable attitude in you toward the ever-growing number of new Spanish-speaking neighbors in N. Mecklenburg County. We plan to serve such neighbors by planting a church that sings and teaches the Bible initially in their heart-language.

 I pray for myself this Sunday to view our worship through the lens of God's ultimate vision for His eternal Kingdom - that we are pulling just a bit of that future into the present together this Sunday:

Revelation 7:9, 10 

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

 

I Stand By the Door: An Apologia For My Life

This week is our church's 17th birthday.  Last week I ran across the manila folder that holds my handwritten agendas and content of our six months of Sunday evening 'Core Group' meetings leading up to the launch of Lake Forest Church in October of 1998.  We met in a back room of the bowling alley at Exit 25 in Huntersville.

It reminded me of several things.  In the folder are mimeographed worship song sheets with chords on top, because I led us in singing with my little guitar.  My how far we've come!

I was also reminded that I conducted the entire first meeting of our 42 pioneers with my zipper down. No one knew me well enough to point it out.  This assured that I began in humility as a leader.

My favorite re-discovery in this file is a poem I read to the group at our first or second meeting.  "I Stand By the Door" is a poem I ran across in college that came to describe my understanding of my life calling - not the calling for everyone, but a bit of the uniqueness of my own passions, gifts, and relational leanings in ministry.  I read the poem to the group and we discussed being an entire church for the Lake Norman community that lives out its message. 

This poem represents my ongoing highest aspirations in my ministry today, and for our church. Join me in seeking to live as a door-keeper.

I Stand By the Door

By Sam Shoemaker "An Apologia For My Life"
I stand by the door.
I neither go to far in, nor stay to far out.
The door is the most important door in the world -
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it.
So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door - the door to God.
The most important thing that any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands
And put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man's own touch.

Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter.
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live on the other side of it - live because they have not found it.

Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him.
So I stand by the door.

Go in great saints; go all the way in -
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics.
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in.
Sometimes venture in a little farther,
But my place seems closer to the opening.
So I stand by the door.

There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia
And want to get out. 'Let me out!' they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled.
For the old life, they have seen too much:
One taste of God and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving - preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door
But would like to run away. So for them too,
I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door.
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply and stay in too long
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too.

Where? Outside the door -
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
But - more important for me -
One of them, two of them, ten of them.
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.

"I had rather be a door-keeper..."
So I stand by the door.