perspective shifts

Two truths laid out by Nussbaum that would radically change the attitude of my church if grasped by its members are the following:
1) The Holy Spirit is our possessor and animator not our possession.
2) The “church” is bodies of believers gathered all over the world not the power centers of the West.

It would profit the congregation of Eastwood to live by the truth that each Christian as an individual is to view the Holy Spirit as the Being who has control, gives purpose and requires submission. It is also important to understand that we are not alone in working towards God’s mission in this world. We are joining this collaborative effort with God’s ambassadors from nations all over his world. This should provide encouragement to press on, but should also stand as a reminder that not all Christians “do church” like we do. There is much to be learned from churches of other contexts.

Our church has a “leadership training” day for Sunday school leaders. I think it comes around only once a year, but even so it is a great chance to talk about ways to incorporate missional thinking into small group dialogue. I could suggest to the leader of this meeting that someone (maybe myself) mention the importance of these two particular ideas and how to implement them. One example would be stressing the importance of terminology by pointing out the potential damage in saying, “When you get saved, you have the Holy Spirit.” There are many ways of going about this. It is a matter of looking into all programs of the church and making an effort to intentionally stress certain ideas that have been identified as necessary to needed perspective shifts.

impacting with psychology

If I continued on in psychology, I could follow many from my field in using this background for Christ. So many people around the world are oppressed, suffering and dealing with loss. Using what I have learned about human emotion and behavior, I could help reach out to the hurting in the world. This could be done on a personal level within a community or on a much wider scale. If governments are shown how to take consideration to these psychological issues, they can more readily come up with aid strategies that are more in line with meeting these particular social needs.

Reasons my church might have for not adopt a nation:

1. They might not want to only concentrate on one area.

2. At the same time, they might feel overwhelmed at the idea of trying to tangibly impact a nation.

3. It would require people to give of themselves in ways they might not have considered.

4. People would have to plan for extended periods of time to work out the best strategies and discuss successes and failures openly.

a missionary dream

Yes, I have dreamed of being a missionary. When I was younger I loved learning about missionaries at GA’s and AWANA. Traveling different places and meeting people that are completely different intrigued me. At church missionaries were always talked highly of, so that probably contributed to my favorable view of their lives. I played with the idea that I could one day do the types of things I had heard about, and it certainly made since that there was a need in the world. I am sure that my understanding of mission work was very basic and limited. I defined mission work somewhere along the lines of living in a village with people of a different race. In my mind it was always a happy picture. Today my views have changed and I realize that so many more lifestyles are included in the ranks of missionaries and there are quite a few more dilemmas to be faced. This dream is taking a different shape, but it is still in me

only together

Being connected to Christians is essential to mission.
1 Corinthians 12 explains how the church needs every person to fill its purpose. Our goal of bringing Glory to God and reaching a lost world cannot be accomplished by acting as individuals. Only when working together and making use of everyone’s skills, can we be used by God to our potential. The love, support, encouragement and accountability that should be found in this group are the way missional goals are achieved.
I love when Robert says: “Connection helps break us of that individualistic, selfish mentality so that we see others around us who need our encouragement and vice versa.” I feel like I have been told over and over again about the idea of America being a very individualistic culture. I have been shown many examples of how this plays out, but here I see for the first time how this relates to my own Christian walk.
I now see that my attitude has been closer to: “What am I going to do for God?” or “What is God’s big plan to use me in the world?”. Roberts says it isn’t just me and Jesus, but it is in community that we should be working toward this goal.

practice reading

I find that when I am away from school my personal Bible reading is more constant and lasts longer. Last summer I spent long nights in Job. I read and reread the same verses and spent time just sitting, praying and writing out thoughts. I still read through books, but not with the same intensity.

I am reading through Nehemiah with a group of about six people. A pastor in California leads discussions chapter by chapter and we post our reflections. We are spread out from California and Arizona to Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. I love reading through and finding out how what I see relates to what they learned from the same passage.

I know everyone says that when you are reading for a religion class it doesn’t count, but I love what we are reading in Mark in my Gospels class. Both Transforming Mission and Transformation have caused me to take a break from reading for class to look up scripture that they mentioned. I think learning and growing is kind of the whole point of class anyway, so maybe it should “count”.

At the beginning of this semester, I was also going through Acts with a friend. I feel like right now (now being these last two months) I have not given near enough time to scripture reading. I feel my prayer life is better now than it has been. Being in constant prayer is not such a foreign concept anymore. I also feel that the community and accountability I have with my roommates is very strong, but I need to be sure not to neglect the study of God’s word.

from their eyes

“How is the gospel making me different right now in my life?” This seems like one of those questions you hear in a sermon that makes you think, “oh. Yes, that is a good point” and lets you stay sitting in your pew glad it is rhetorical.

One of the points Roberts is making is the importance of taking our theology and living it out. We should be ready to explain the difference the gospel makes in our lives, but first the gospel has to make a difference in our lives.

I have been encouraged by many people inside my church (churches), but would anyone outside of those communities know that I am a Christian? Peter Drucker explains the significance of “others” recognizing your identity in Christ by your lifestyle.

conversion / transformation

At the point of conversion, a person makes a decision to make Jesus the LORD of their life. Roberts also says conversion is to change religions. This choice is followed by a change in lifestyle and an individual growing to become more and more like Christ. Roberts says transformation means to become new. The apostle Paul said “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” which seems to me to be describing a conversion. However, I still believe Paul and Roberts are on the same page. Paul is describing a person whose standing with God is changed. A Christian has been saved, is being saved and will be saved. At conversion they were changed, but Roberts urges Christians to continue to change; to transform their lives and align with the will of the Father. I believe Christians should continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives and mold them into who they were meant to be. When we yield to the will of the Father we take part in the transformation process and become Kingdom citizens.