• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

How to not let the Gospel change our hearts

Posted on January 8, 2014 by wtdavid

We often use the phrase: “Preach the Gospel to oneself” as an encouragement to appropriate anew each day the truth of the Gospel for our lives.  However, as I have been mulling over the Gospel the past few months, I have begun to see a number of ways by which inhibit the impact of the Gospel in our lives.  To put it in other words, we may be unconsciously learning day by day how not to let the Gospel change our lives.Complacency

Upon our return from a recent trip to Australia, I exchanged my summer running gear for my winter running gear, and continued my weekly running cycle.  I did only one run before getting sick.  It wasn’t the flu, but I was dragging and decided to hold off on the running.  One week went by, then two, then three without starting up my running again.  By the fourth week, I was now so out of my cycle that the thought of just getting out the door again in the early AM kept me from running.

Complacency had set in, big time.  Maybe I should say that it crept up on me and once it got a hold, it grew like zucchini in the summer garden.

So can it happen in our spiritual journey.  Complacency, through one means or another, can rob us of the joy we have in Christ and make us weary and tired saints.

John Calvin wrote these penetrating words back in the 1500s: “Complacency can exist even without any belief in works.  For many sinners are so drunk with the sweetness of their vices that they think not upon God’s judgment but lie dazed, as it were, in a sort of drowsiness, and do not aspire to the mercy offered to them.  Such sloth is no less to be shaken off than any confidence in ourselves is to be cast away in order that we may without hindrance hasten to Christ, and empty and hungering, may be filled with his good things.”

What shook me out of my physical complacency was my son-in-law inviting me one day in early January to go running with him. We can be shaken out of our spiritual complacency by allowing others to “preach the Gospel” to us and lead us back to the Father.

Filed under: Gospel | 2 Comments »

My gift to you

Posted on January 6, 2014 by wtdavid

CB100380Our family over the past few years has chosen to have each member give a Christmas gift to just one other member in the extended family.  Often we select a theme for those gifts such as music or a donation to a humanitarian aid project.  Lots of time, prayer and energy go into selecting just the ‘right’ gift to offer to that one person.  When we finally exchange our gifts with one another, there is an incredible sense of excitement and joy, in large part because each of us is truly giving something of himself/herself to the other.  All the time, prayer and energy which went into the choice of the gift, finds its fullest expression in the simple joy of giving to another.

At the close of 2013, I wrote: “If there is one heart direction that God desires to characterize us in the coming year, towards which we should strive with all our heart, it should be trust.”

I long for this to be the gift that we give to one another this year!  Obviously, we can’t offer this gift to every member of World Team at one time.  However, we could certainly begin by extending trust to one other fellow worker, colleague or leader.  Imagine the transformation that would occur in our communities if we were to joyfully offer this gift to another, investing the time, prayer and energy into considering how best to share and express that trust with another.

I am always amazed at the creativity that is released when we do such a gift exchange among our family. I am also amazed at how many family members begin thinking about next year’s gift exchange before we have even finished this year.

The gift of trust permeating a community such as ours would release greater creativity, innovation and collaboration.  Then we would truly become a World Team community.

Filed under: Trust | 2 Comments »

What are we going to do next year?

Posted on December 20, 2013 by wtdavid

build trustThis is the time of the year that many of us will reflect on the impact of Gospel in our lives: how Jesus as the “God among us” stirs and transforms our life and work.  It is also the time when many of us will “remember” what God has done over this past year in us and through us.  The goal of that reflection or assessment is to consider what God longs for us to do in the year to come.

I’m not talking about setting New Year’s resolutions, but about establishing one’s heart direction for the coming year.  In other words, thinking how that heart direction might express itself in one’s life and work.  Paraphrasing Galatians 5:6, we could put the question this way: what will faith expressing itself through love look like this year?

As I thought about World Team and what we might do in the coming year, what God longs to do in and through us, a host of words and ideas came to mind.  For example: transformational communities; church multiplication; greater accountability and follow through; delegation; facilitating others in ministry; and deepening relationships between workers.

However, when I asked the question, what will faith expressing itself through love look like, one word, one heart direction rose quickly to the top of the pile.  That word was: trust.

If there is one heart direction that God desires to characterize us in the coming year, towards which we should strive with all our heart, it should be trust.

I recognize that trust can be easily broken, but I often wonder if we prefer to keep people in a low trust or no trust category because it keeps us from the hurt, pain and struggle of engaging that fellow worker again and looking to Christ for the strength and courage to learn to love well and work together more deeply.

Trust may not be easy, but it begins by each of us offering that trust again to one another.

Filed under: Assessment, Reflection, Trust | 2 Comments »

Wise and competent

Posted on December 12, 2013 by wtdavid

Old Testament scholar, Gerhard Von Rad once wrote that wisdom means becoming competent with regard to the realities of life: how things really happen, how things really are, and what to do about it.  Wisdom is not just knowing the principles and rules to live by, or to minister by, but it is knowing how to apply biblical principles and values in changing contexts.wisdom1

It involves becoming ‘competent’, that is becoming skilled and experienced, in both character and work.  That dual balance is a necessity for all of us.

The one without the other leaves us limping through our work or creating havoc in our lives and the lives of others.

Solid character, built on the wisdom of God and worked out in community, is essential.  However, solid character with low work competence limits a person’s capacity to influence and train others.

Solid work skills, formed through input and on the ground training, are vital.  However, solid work skills coupled with poor character leads to dangerous contexts that cause negative impact in others’ lives.

Growing in this kind of biblical wisdom involves community.  Just read through the book of Proverbs and you are struck by how often growth in wisdom occurs in a collective or community context.

We all need a community that not only nurtures us, but actually transforms us when it comes to learning and applying of biblical wisdom to our lives and ministries.

Filed under: Contextualization, Wisdom | Leave a comment »

Com-mu-ni-ty

Posted on December 9, 2013 by wtdavid

Com-mu-ni-ty.  My old college English dictionary defines the word as: “a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests.”  Such a definition doesn’t really do much for me.  It certainly doesn’t stir anything in my heart.community three people

Biblical community is fellowship, partnership in the Gospel.  We are made to be in community because the triune God lives in and expresses itself through community.  However, as with the dictionary definition of community above, we struggle to see its actual importance to our day to day life.  Certainly, we can speak on biblical community and lead Bible studies in the value of community, but our practical experience of community may be somewhat limited or incomplete.

Bruce Milne, in his insightful work, We Belong Together, makes this statement in a section on the power of a loving community: “To love means to be vulnerable; it means accepting responsibility; it means giving ourselves away.”  Three short statements packed with meaning which demonstrate that biblical community calls for time, vulnerability and ‘one another-ing’ each other.

Starting in January 2014, we will begin a ‘global conversation’ about biblical community using a version of a white paper entitled: TC4u.  You’ll be hearing more about this working paper in the weeks ahead.

To start us thinking on the subject, consider this question: what elements are essential to a biblical transformational community?

 

 

 

Filed under: Community, Interdependence | 4 Comments »

It’s all about context

Posted on December 4, 2013 by wtdavid

Sometimes people will say to me: “Didn’t you notice that my sweater was inside out?”  Or: “Didn’t you see the look on Dan’s face when you made that comment about their team’s strategy?” insideoutv2b

It’s all about context.  However, there are times when I am simply not ‘aware’ of what is going on or how I am being received by others. I can certainly be fully ‘aware’ when the context turns around my agenda or my ideas. However, I have a more difficult time listening and grasping the context that others are painting.

I don’t think I am alone in this because independence rather than interdependence runs deep in our hearts.  We may be strong in spiritual intelligence and yet extremely weak in ‘emotional intelligence’.  Put another way, we can be strong in our grasp of biblical principles, but stumble when it comes to knowing the impact that our words, actions and decisions can have on others.

It is not easy to become more self-aware. It’s actually something that can only be done in community.  We are incapable of stepping outside our own skin and assessing how we are coming off to others.  I need others to tell me, to engage me in this conversation so that I can serve others better.  We need others to tell us, to engage us in this conversation so that we can serve one another better.

Do you have such people speaking into your life?  What keeps you from asking?

 

Filed under: Community, Self awareness | 2 Comments »

« Previous Page — Next Page »

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 202 other subscribers

  • Categories

  • Recent Comments

  • Archives

  • Goodreads