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You probably know the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t drown it.”

I’m taking that more seriously these days.

The last few months have been full of changes for us (the Wells), the Chappotins and Christ Journey. Some have been great and exciting, others have been sad and painful, but all have had a transformative impact. Many realizations about church and leadership have come into greater focus and we’re realizing how important it is to have this clarity of vision.

Those who’ve talked to me much lately will probably know that I’ve been reading Neil Cole’s books - first Organic Church, now Organic Leadership and this past weekend I picked up Church 3.0. I’ve never found a writer that is as consistently inspiring and frustrating in the span of a single page. I really think some of his views are unfair and naive (particularly when it comes to the history laid down in scripture of the Holy Spirit choosing to work through people to teach other people), but so much of his critique is incisive and challenging.

Yesterday, I read about a conversation he had with a well established evangelical pastor; one who’d been leading his present church for 20 years - an impressive feat in today’s culture. (Organic Leadership, 76-77.)

The pastor was arguing for more rigorous scholarly expectations and review in the ordination process (Cole seems opposed to pretty much any scholarly expectation whatsoever). The pastor said that each candidate for ordination should be scrutinized by a panel of ordained pastors and seminary professors and said that average church-goers without theological training would lack the astuteness to determine readiness.

I see where this guy is coming from, I’ve been witness to too many congregational leadership selection processes. People are seen as fit for leadership because of their popularity, often having earned their fame in the local community for business or political feats. Many are assumed to be good leaders because they have been successful as businessMEN, doctors or lawyers. Often there is little attention paid to the leader’s gifting and calling to teach others the way of Christ - or even teach Bible class. Sometimes people are called to leadership with very little knowledge of Scripture but with great understanding of “how things work” in the business world. Then we mourn that our churches function more like a cold-hearted business - driven by the bottom-line - than like the Body of the Risen Christ. What did we think was going to happen?

That doesn’t mean that our leadership needs to be all seminary trained folks chosen by seminary trained folks. That kind of clergy elitism is just as contrary to the Body of Christ image. I have indeed known both men and women with no formal theological education who show a deep love, knowledge and application of the scriptures - my father-in-law is one such leader. I trust his judgement of scripture and how to live it out more than pretty much any professor’s.

So, I was conflicted in how to respond to this pastor. Then Neil Cole asked a quick volley of questions that stopped me in my tracks.

“So, you’ve been teaching the same people every week for 20 years (over a thousand sermons), and they do not know enough of the Bible to discern sound doctrine? What’s wrong with your teaching?...If 20 years is not enough, how many more years of your teaching do you think it will take before they would be able to tell the difference between good teaching and bad?”

What’s wrong indeed! I doubt that there’s anything wrong with this guy’s preaching in the sense that we normally mean - I don’t know who it is, but the overall tone of the chapter suggested that this is a well-known and well-respected guy.

But it made me think of people I’ve known - some of whom sit in the same bible class and listen to the preacher faithfully week after week for decades on end. They sit in those classes every year and yet don’t feel they are ready to teach others even the basics of faith. If a friend asks them about Jesus, they’ll be happy to set up a coffee conversation between that friend and their minister...and woe to the preacher that isn’t able to drop everything and talk to their friend.

Even someone who’s been a Christian for only a few years - like the apostles were when the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost...

I still believe there is a need for theological education. There is a 2000 year gap between us and the most recent of Biblical books - God may not have changed (which isn’t as universally true as we might think, but that’s another post) but the cultures of humanity certainly have. There is a need for some to put in the extra effort to learn about and help their community navigate those differences.

There is also value in having guides along the journey who have dedicated themselves to learning pray so that they can empower and support others to pray- some of these guides will be trained in seminary, others will be trained in the midst of a praying community (think of the various teachers that Timothy had - The Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by the elders - 1 Tim 4:14; Timothy’s own mother and grandmother...don’t think for a second that they weren’t important teachers - 2 Tim 1:5; and of course, Paul - 2 Tim 1:13).

We’ve just finished a reading Acts where we encountered Paul on his missionary journeys. Sometimes he stayed in a place for a few days, sometimes longer (I love the divine protection that allowed him to stay in a hostile Corinth for a year and a half - Acts 18).

But as we read through the rest of the New Testament we’ll see that after these short stays a church typically grew up in that place - occasionally led by someone that Paul sent to the them or left with them (like Timothy), sometimes led by another who came after Paul (like Apollos) but often they led together as the community who received the good news. None of these people had known about Jesus for very long - and none had even a single copy of the New Testament...there weren’t any yet. And yet we read amazing stories of faith and growth.

I recently heard that the average church-goer in America has more training and exposure to scripture than many bishops in parts of Africa. So, how much longer do you need to listen to teaching before you are ready to lead and teach others?

The truth is, I’ve spent more time than makes sense trying to drown the horse. Here’s water, what hinders you? When you get ready to drink I think you’ll find the water cool and satisfying. In the meantime, there are other horses that haven’t found the trough yet, I’m gonna go try to find them.

You can too.

If you’ve had a drink of this water, you’re ready for the trip. Stop looking at the water. Get a drink and let's go.

An Overview of Acts

1:1-6:7 – A description of the primitive church in Jerusalem, its early preaching, its common life, its spread, and its initial opposition. Notice how Jewish everything is, including the sermons, the opposition, and the fact that the early believers continue associations with the temple and the synagogues. The panel concludes with a narrative indicating that a division had begun between Greek speaking and Aramaic-speaking Jews.

6:8-9:31 – A description of the first geographical expansion, carried out by the Hellenists” (Greek-speaking Jewish Christians), to Greek-speaking Jews in the Diaspora or “nearly-Jews” (Samaritans and a proselyte). Luke also includes the conversion of Paul, who was 1) a Hellenist, 2) a Jewish opponent of the gospel, and 3) the one who was to lead the specifically Gentile expansion. Stephen’s martyrdom is the key to this initial expansion.

9:32-12:24 – A description of the 1st expansion to the Gentiles. Key moment is the conversion of Cornelius, whose story is told twice. (remember the OT narrative use of repetition to highlight something of importance). The significance of Cornelius is that his conversion was a direct act from God, who carried it out through Peter, the acknowledged leader of the Jewish-Christian mission (had God used the Hellenists – like Paul – the event would have been even more suspect in Jerusalem). Also included is the story of the church in Antioch, where Gentile conversion is now carried out by the Hellenists in a purposeful way.

12:25-16:5 – a description of the first geographical expansion into the Gentile world, with Paul in the leadership. Jews now regularly reject the gospel because it includes Gentiles. The church meets in council and does not reject its Gentile brothers and sisters, nor does it lay Jewish religious requirements on them. The latter serves as the key to full expansion into the Gentile world.

16:6-19:20 – Description of the further, ever westward, expansion into the Gentile world, now into Europe. Repeatedly the Jews reject and the Gentiles welcome the gospel.

19:21-28:30 – Description of the events that move Paul and the gospel on to Rome, with a great deal of interest in Paul’s trials, in which three times he is declared innocent of any wrongdoing.

Luke’s Purpose

Key to understanding Acts seems to be in Luke’s interest in the movement of the gospel from its Jerusalem-based, Judaism oriented beginnings to a worldwide, Gentile-predominated phenomenon. On the basis of structure and content alone, any statement of purpose that does not include the Gentile mission and the Holy Spirit’s role in that mission will surely have missed the point.

This interest in “movement” is further substantiated by what Luke does NOT tell us.

First, he has no interest in the “lives,” that is, the biographies, of the apostles. James (the son of Zebedee) is the only one whose end we know (12:2). Once the movement to the Gentiles gets underway, Peter drops from sight except in chapter 15, where he certifies the Gentile mission. Apart from John, the other apostles are not even mentioned, and Luke’s interest in Paul is almost completely in terms of Gentile mission.

Second, he has little or no interest in church organization or polity. The Seven in chapter 6 are not called deacons, and in any case they soon leave Jerusalem. Luke never tells us why or how it happened that the church in Jerusalem passed from the leadership of Peter and the apostles to James the brother of Jesus (12:17; 15:13; 21:18); nor does he ever explain how any local church was organized in terms of polity or leadership, except to say that elders were appointed (14:23).

Third, there is no word about other geographical expansion except in the one direct line from Jerusalem to Rome. There is no mention of Crete (Titus 1:5), Illyricum (Rom 5:19 – modern Croatia and Yugoslavia), or Pontus, Cappadocia (1 Peter 1:1), not to mention the church’s expansion eastward toward Mesopotamia or southward toward to Egypt.

All of this together says that church history per se was simply not Luke’s reason for writing.

Luke’s interest also does not seem to be in standardizing things, bringing everything into uniformity. When he records individual conversions there are usually two elements included: gift of the Spirit and water baptism. But these can be in reverse order, with or without the laying on of hands, with or without mention of tongues, and scarcely ever with a specific mention of repentance – even after 2:38. Such diversity could likely mean that no specific example is being set forth as THE model Christian experience.

Does that mean that Luke is not trying to tell us something by these various specific narratives?
Not necessarily. The real question is, What was he trying to tell his first readers?

With all this said, it does seem that much of Acts is intended by Luke to serve as a model. But the model is not so much in the specifics as in the overall picture. By the very way God has moved him to structure and narrate this history it seems probably that we are to view this triumphant, joyful, forward-moving expansion of the gospel into the Gentile world, empowered by the Holy Spirit and resulting in changed lives and local communities, as God’s intent for the
continuing Church.

Over the past few weeks Christ Journey and some of our fellow travelers have been participating in a 40 Day commitment to prayer and reading scripture. This past week we read the book of Luke...before that we read Isaiah, Micah, Haggai, Hosea, Mark and part of Matthew. It has been pretty intense - several of us have already been deeply affected by this experience.

I (Bret) put this post together based on some comments I made in our worship gathering yesterday (January 31). Hopefully you will find it beneficial...

Jesus and his disciples are gathered in the upper room for the Passover. This is a religious celebration that they've participated in every year for their entire lives. Everything about this event had meaning. Even as children they had a role to play in the ritual. There were questions that they would ask their father - they'd ask about the bitter herbs, the unleavened bread, even the way in which they sat around the table. The answers given were the same each year and they'd likely have been able to give it word for word. The herbs reminded them of the bitter enslavement they experienced in Egypt, the unleavened bread recalled the haste of their departure. It wasn't just stories about their ancestors in Egypt - THEY were slaves in Egypt and this was the hour of their deliverance.
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The “4 Questions” of the Passover Meal (Seder)
Asked by the youngest person (usually youngest son) at the table:

1) "Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?"
ANSWER We eat only matzah because our ancestors could not wait for their breads to rise when they were fleeing slavery in Egypt, and so they took the breads out of their ovens while they were still flat, which was matzah.

2) "Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?"
ANSWER We eat only Maror, a bitter herb, to remind us of the bitterness of slavery that our ancestors endured while in Egypt.

3) "Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?"
ANSWER We dip twice - (1) green vegetables in salt water, and (2) Maror in Charoses, a sweet mixture of nuts and wine. The first dip, green vegetables in salt water, symbolizes the replacing of tears with gratefulness, and the second dip, Maror in Charoses, symbolizes sweetening the burden of bitterness and suffering to lessen its pain.

4) (original) "On all other nights we eat meat which has been roasted, stewed, or boiled, but on this night we eat only roasted meat."
ANSWER I don’t have the exact wording of this answer - it hasn’t been used since the destruction of the 2nd Temple in AD 70. Sacrifices offered to God would have been roasted - thus the Passover lamb was to be roasted to remind the people of the sacrifice made on their behalf.

4) (contemporary - changed after the destruction of the temple and thus the sacrificial system in AD 70) "Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?"
ANSWER We recline at the Seder table because in ancient times, a person who reclined at a meal symbolized a free person, free from slavery, and so we recline in our chairs at the Passover Seder table to remind ourselves of the glory of freedom.

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It is this meal that Jesus reinterprets and reframes for the disciples - Jesus was to be the Passover lamb and this night really and truly was their night of exodus to be experienced anew each time they ate the meal together. Jesus was the bread, Jesus was the cup and whenever they ate and drank they were again to live this night of deliverance. The time was upon them, the events that Jesus had alluded to for 3 years were about to take place...everything was coming to a head.

When the disciples were sent out before they were sent to the children of Israel and they were to expect to receive hospitality. The Israelites they went to were to provide resources and protection, food and shelter, warmth and companionship. But now things were about to change. They'd been sent out before and lacked nothing. But now they were being sent to the wolves...so to speak. They would be carrying this gospel beyond the house of Israel - to the whole world. This is an especially important theme for Luke, one that we'll see stressed again and again throughout Acts.

And it is within this context of the new phase of live for both Jesus and his disciples that they are reminded of their experience being sent out with nothing and yet lacked nothing. Now as they are sent out - or scattered - they were to go prepared for whatever would come their way - they were to take purse (money) and bag and even a sword - meaning that they could expect to encounter troubles (interestingly, I believe it is only Luke that includes this story). They should be wise and they should not expect to receive the same welcome that they did before. In fact, they should expect that just as Jesus would soon be arrested and murdered, they too would receive harsh treatment.

It is certainly true that the Jewish people had themselves not been entirely hospitable - they were after all about to kill Jesus. But remember, that was driven by the religious leaders. The people: the poor and the lame as well as many who were wealthy, were incredibly interested in what Jesus had to say - even if they eventually decided his words were too hard to put into practice.

As usual the disciples miss the point - they ask if two swords is enough, apparently still waiting for Jesus to give them the signal to begin fighting and usher in an earthly kingdom. Jesus' terse response seems to carry a sigh. The point isn't that they are to go get swords (which were still a common item for travelers - not just warriors), the point was that just as the Israelites in Egypt and the participants in the Passover, they needed to realize that the hour of action, the hour of deliverance was upon them and they were to be ready for it.

Following the night of sorrow and prayer in the garden, when Jesus is arrested, he is still obviously against violence in the name of this overthrow of the empire. The seed of a new empire has been planted and hope for a Lord other than Caesar will spread. It spreads life to life and house to house until whole neighborhoods, communities and cultures are infected. But it doesn’t begin with violence or force. It begins with a person. It began with God walking in the garden God created, walking with Israel across the dry ground where the Red Sea was supposed to be; with Jesus walking the dusty roads of Galilee and Jerusalem. It spreads to our own life and then to the lives of the very real people with whom we find ourselves experiencing community. Only then do others begin to take notice.

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear...

Happy Monday!

Weʼve entered a new phase of our reading together. This week we begin the second half of our schedule and from here on the readings will come from the New Testament. Personally, Iʼm really glad to have read so much from the prophets recently. Sure, it was a little “doom and gloom” in places, but at least for me, it seemed that everyday the prophets were speaking directly into my own life.

Those last sections of Isaiah though...those chapters contain some of my absolute favorite pieces of writing anywhere. To begin the week last week with the words, “Comfort, comfort my people...” - I suspect that I wasnʼt the only one who needed to hear those words. As I reminded our friends gathered together yesterday morning, the role of the prophets is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. The Israelites in captivity (chps 40-55) and returning to a destroyed Jerusalem (chps 56-66) were no longer comfortable.

It struck me, as it often does, that it is very difficult to treat issues of social justice, freedom for the oppressed, care for the poor and concern for the forgotten as a “special interest” ministry. When we actually read the Scriptures those issues seem to play a very prominent role in descriptions of what it means to follow God faithfully.

And then our reading this morning begins not only with two substantial quotes from Isaiah (chp 40 quoted in Luke 3 and chp 61 quoted in Luke 4), but also ties the nature of Jesusʼ ministry so directly to this call for justice for the poor and oppressed.

I pray that you will find your story in the Story of Jesus this week. Next week weʼll read 2nd Luke (also known as Acts) and then finish Matthew, read Ephesians and John and our 40 days of reading will be fulfilled.

If youʼve gotten behind in your reading I encourage you to do two things. First, donʼt become overloaded with guilt or stress about not keeping with the schedule. The main goal is to spend significant time each day reading from Godʼs Word, not to accomplish a certain amount of reading.

Second, donʼt let yourself off the hook just because thereʼs no guilt being laid on you. This is a chance to challenge yourself, to be immersed in Godʼs word - this is not something that anyone else can do for you.

I am anticipating miracles this week. I donʼt know where God will bring transformation, but I believe that its coming. Do you?

Hey Everyone,

I hope that last week's reading was a blessing. Rachel and I had some amazing experiences that can only be described as answers to our prayers out of Luke 10:2. It seems that the Lord of the Harvest is, in fact, concerned with harvest. Who knew?

Here is a short bit of information regarding the background of this week's readings. We'll start with Hosea, move to Micah and finish with Mark. Hosea and Micah are interesting in that together they function as a contemporary voice to Isaiah 1-39. Hosea was prophesying during the events which occurred in the first part of last week's reading (as Assyria is preparing to destroy the northern country of Israel) and Micah picks up around the time of that the Assyrian's attempt to take over Judah as well (which they nearly do, taking pretty much everything but Jerusalem.)

We had some great conversation this morning regarding the Isaiah readings and I'm already looking forward to what the community will have to say about this next round. Blessings to you this week!

Grace and Peace,
Bret

Our reading last week concluded with King Hezekiah’s refusal to lose faith in the face of a looming invasion by the powerful Assyrian King Senacherib - some 20 years after the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel (often referred to in the text by its capitol, Samaria) by the Assryians. This period of faithfulness in Judah came on the heels of King Ahaz’s failure to trust God and would be followed by even greater sin and faithlessness by Hezekiah’s son, Mannaseh. Isaiah seems to hold out hope that Judah will escape destruction and exile(which they will...for now).

This week we will read from the prophets Hosea, who was a contemporary of Isaiah during the early part of his career and Micah, who prophesied during Sennacherib’s invasion around 701.

We know that Hosea was a North Israelite who prophesied during the uncertain times of the anti-Assyrian coalition we read about last week; during the days of Uzziah, Jotham (and possibly even Ahaz and Hezekiah) of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel. Of course we also know that he had an unfortunate marriage which God commanded him to enter as a metaphor for the relationship between the Lord and his chosen people.

The historical background for Micah’s prophecy is set around 701 and Sennacherib’s invasion.

Micah is far less optimistic about Judah’s survival than Isaiah. They do survive this invasion, but will eventually be destroyed by the Babylonians and be carried into exile as he predicts. Micah is also much more scathing about Judah’s oppression of the poor, in language reminiscent of Amos. Judah would be punished for breaking the covenant. Judah must go into exile, unlike Isaiah’s message, and there seems to be no way out. Chapters 3–4 suggest that Micah believed that Judah would someday be restored, but only after punishment and exile.

As we think about the setting in Israel and Judah in the 8th century BCE, the struggle to find faith often seems insurmountable. The prophets had their work cut out for them. Their messages,which sought to stoke the imagination of the people, called for repentance and were seldom well received. Keep this in mind as you then read the gospel according to Mark. You will likely notice how Mark seems to be racing toward the cross - the word “immediately” is often used to describe Jesus’ movements.

Throughout our season of reading we will continue to move back and forth between the prophets and gospels. Hopefully, as we progress we’ll notice that our understanding of one deepens our appreciation of the other.

Rachel made a good comment to me this morning while reading the Isaiah passage. She was confused as to why God seemed so mad at King Ahaz. She said, "The background information you gave us makes sense, but I haven't gotten to the point in Isaiah where that happened yet. Why is God angry already?"

What I apparently failed to tell you guys is part of the reason for giving the historical background is that most of that information cannot be found in Isaiah itself, you have to read through Kings, Chronicles and even some of the minor prophets.

So don't be confused, you won't find all the information about Ahaz's treaty with Assyria in this reading - its a backdrop.

Hope that helps.

Grace and Peace,
Bret