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| McDLT Moderator Joined May 14, 2004 1451 posts Location: Toronto |
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Posted Nov 14, 2007; 10:14 am |
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Len - loved what you said about exiting and re-entering. I noticed too that during Jesus' ministry he went off on his own for a while. Perhaps that's something we need to do too. More coming and going (entering and exiting) helping us adapt better to the culture and the times. A time for regrouping, refreshing, and re-engaging. So our "evangelism" becomes a more flexible part of who we are instead of getting stuck in just one way of doing it.
Just some thoughts.
And think that BBQ Church is really cool too!  |
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| lornewel Member Joined May 11, 2004 553 posts Location: Abbotsford |
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Posted Jul 27, 2008; 10:44 am |
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Maybe this post fits this thread - not sure.
Does the Bible ever portray God directing someone NOT to speak the gospel to some? I pose this question because of the earlier parts of this thread which examine whether what Jesus said in Matt 28:19 should be understood as a "go and do" or as a "go and be." In my young days , Mark 16:13KJV "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," was taken as a command that needed no further elaboration. Every one of us is to preach to every creature. Some kids practiced on the barn "creatures" as they did their chores.  Sometimes this command was reinforced with God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2Peter 3:9
I don't think anyone ever drew our attention to scriptures like
Acts 16:6-7 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.
Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. |
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| lornewel Member Joined May 11, 2004 553 posts Location: Abbotsford |
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Posted Jul 27, 2008; 11:21 am |
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Oh, I don't recall anybody mentioning this verse, also from Acts 13
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed(ordained) to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48 It does not go that easily with "every creature" and none should perish. |
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| Len Member Joined Nov 7, 2007 255 posts Location: Kelowna, BC |
| great invitation |
Posted Sep 26, 2008; 3:28 pm |
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“We need to begin to read the Bible differently. Americans have been preoccupied with the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the Great Commission: “Go and make.” I call them go-and-make missionaries. These are the go-and-fix-it people. The go-and-make people are those who act like it’s all in our power, and all we have to do is “finish the task.” They love that passage! But when read from the center of power, that passage simply reinforces the illusion that it’s about us, that we are in charge.
“I would like to suggest a new favorite passage, the Great Invitation. It’s what we find if we read from the beginning of the Gospels rather than the end. Jesus says, “Come, follow me. I will make you fishers of men.” Not “Go and make,” but “I will make you.” It’s all about Jesus. And do you know the last words of Jesus to Peter, in John 21? “Follow me.” The last words of Simon Peter’s encounter are the same as the first words…”
Bishop David Zac Niringiye. Interviewed by Andy Crouch, “Experiencing Life at the Margins.” Christianity Today. July 2006, Vol. 50, No. 7, Page 32 |
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| Len Member Joined Nov 7, 2007 255 posts Location: Kelowna, BC |
| alan roxburgh |
Posted Sep 26, 2008; 4:20 pm |
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In an article "what is missional church" alan starts out with his own story.. helpful I think..
^* * *
As a young boy growing up in Liverpool, England, I was known as the “quiet child.” I
spent hours by a tiny coal-fire reading book after book that chronicled the adventures of
the great explorers and how they opened paths to far off places. I was engulfed in
perilous, promising adventures that shaped my imagination.
Little did I know that I would participate in my own kind of adventure as my family
immigrated to Canada. As a teenager, the Empress of France swept me away from the
world I knew, one that I could control and manage, to the unknown world of suburban
Toronto. On the other side of the ocean, the rules had changed. While I was a quiet boy
inside my home in Liverpool, I was survivor on the streets. My life was shaped by street
gangs, fighting and a deep mistrust for adult systems of power. In Canada, I had to learn
the hard way that fists were not an effective weapon in my new world.
By my late teens, I found a few people in a church who were warm and caring beyond
anything I had ever encountered. For the first time in my life, as strange as it sounds, I
found people who loved me. I wanted what they had, and thus, I became a Christian.
My becoming a Christian had nothing to do with guilt, sin or failure. When you grow up
in an underclass in the inner city, those religious words are just boring and numbingly
banal. On the streets, we were surrounded by guilt, sin and failure. This was not news –
it was just the way life was. But, to be loved, to experience human beings who gave
themselves to you without strings - that was overwhelming, confusing news. And it
conquered me. |
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