Partnerships and Possibilities!

For the past couple of years I've been banging a drum that says, 'Get out of the pew and into your community!' 

Here's a couple of churches that get it:

My front stoop, my new mission field...

After living in the city for 14 years, moving back to the suburbs was a culture shock in more ways than one.  The one difference that I have noticed the most is the sheer isolation that can happen in the suburbs.  In the city you live more closely with your neighbours, you tend to walk more, shop in the same little shops and hang out in the same green spaces in your community.  In the suburbs, most have single dwelling houses framed with perfect lawns and fences to maintain boundaries/property lines.  People drive more, work outside of where they live and value privacy more.  It has been hard to meet our neighbours, let alone friends in this place.

That is going to change this summer hopefully, because I'm going to bring a little city into the 'burbs.  This summer instead of creating an oasis of escape in my backyard, I'm going to occupy my front stoop.

Yep, the front stoop is going to be my mission field.  I will drink my coffee there, read and watch my kids play.  I will tear up my front lawn and turn it into a vegetable garden where countless hours will be spent being present and available to everyone and anyone who may happen to meander by.  My hope is that folks that live in the neighbourhood will come out of their houses and visit, eat some of the veggies and get to know us.

Front stoop missions....I think it's gonna be big!

Hospitality at Home

Relevant Magazine recently posted at article around the idea of rooting down called 'The Transient Generation'.  The following is a quote from that article, but click here for the whole read:

Edith Schaeffer, who founded the hospitality-driven L’Abri ministry with her husband, held the firm belief, “We are an environment, each one of us.” You don’t need fine china or Good Housekeeping decorating skills to practice hospitality, because you create the environment where you are. It can be as simple as inviting a friend to coffee, hosting a soup night or a picnic on your living room floor or even asking good questions and listening. And as we practice hospitality, it transcends the physical space of our homes into a lifestyle attitude which welcomes, invites and generously hosts others in an environment that can help people to thrive in the way God wants them to thrive. 

Imagine calling our churches to live this not only at home, but in the church building as well!

Book Review: The wisdom of Stability

There are several books which have or are shaping my theology around Short Term Missions, and I will post them here eventually.  This is the most recent book I've added into the mix.  Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is the son-in-law of Carey Professor, Jonathan Wilson and contemporary to Shane Claiborne.  He is active in the monastic movement and has written several books around prayer, community living etc.  Read more about him here.

In this book Jonathan challenges the spirit of restlessness and lack of commitment we are seeing in our world.  In a time and place where global travel is affordable, where we can 'church shop' till we find the right one, and in a time where we change jobs, neighbourhoods and countries with regularity...Jonathan calls us to root down.  Engage our community.  And commit long term.

Written with the flavor of both hard won experience and echoes of the Benedictine way, the book offers a different way of living.  I would recommend this book as a new lens to look through when contemplating your place and space of life.

Hospitality and the church

Nowadays when people think of hospitality they think of Martha Stewart and a perfect house with perfect food. Or the hospitality industry which includes hotels, spas or vacations. Or church committees responsible for potluck lunches or the coffee hour.  Somewhere along the way we've lost the true meaning of hospitality.
Henri Nouwen states:

Hospitality . . . means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.  It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.  It is not to lead our neighbour into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment.

 This quote is so rich in meaning that you need to break it down into manageable pieces.  If we were to take this quote and attempt to live this out in our churches, how would we do it?  What does it mean to make room for the other?  I believe when we can change our language from evangelism to hospitality and welcome, we begin on the right track.  When we let go of our agendas and programs, we begin to be free to live into a space when people are welcome as they are.  And if we are really honest with ourselves, we as a church become free to be who we are too.

I received an email from a friend from Winnipeg who sent me this link to a CBC podcast.  Take time to listen how people are striving to make room for others.  Click here to listen.  Then think how you can begin to recapture a life of hospitality.  (More posts on hospitality to follow)

A great definition of community

In 4 days I am speaking at a pastors' conference on 'Building Community by serving each other'.  I haven't got it all together yet, but I am totally using this Wendell Berry quote:
“A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other's lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves.” 

A little video to get you thinking...

Just so you know, I don't actually believe that Jesus is just in North America and needs to go to the rest of the world. I believe He is already there, waiting for us to join Him.