• 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!

Listening to God

Posted on December 13, 2010 by wtdavid

Thanks to John W. for this week’s post on A Praying Life:

I have appreciated Paul Miller’s “A Praying Life”.  Some of the old classics honestly left me cold or overwhelmed.  This is a wonderful book steeped in the experience of a man who learned to walk prayerfully with God as (with his wife Jill) as he raised his autistic daughter. This is one of the most refreshing books on prayer I have read, which shows that at the heart of prayer is a unique attitude of sincere trust in God without skepticism and with a conscious connection with God in a “distracting world”.

It is not expressly a how-to book, or a doctrinal lesson on prayer.  It is a biography of a praying life!  And yet, the doctrine is there, and the how to of prayer is there too; but not in dogma; rather by example.

I found chapter 10 is one of the gems of this book. A certain kind of “listening to God” has recently become a bit of a fad in some circles. Of course, we must listen to God; but Paul Miller shows us two fundamental extremes or errors to avoid:

On the one hand, listening to God becomes a legalistic exercise in obedience to the letter, without allowing the Spirit of God to direct or change the heart.

On the other hand, listening to God becomes a subjective experience and feeling which too easily runs amok (unguarded by Scripture), and baptizes our selfish desires with religious language.

Paul Miller strikes the balance.

Filed under: Prayer, Reflection | 4 Comments »

Gathering Together in 2011

Posted on December 10, 2010 by wtdavid

In less than 30 days, we will enter into 2011 during which we as a World Team community will host five Area conferences.  These conferences are meant to be a forum for ongoing prayer and discussion as to how God desires that we as a community work out our global vision of “innovative teams multiplying disciples and communities of believers, bringing the Gospel within reach of lost people everywhere we go.”

Each conference will be structured around three core elements:

  • Concerted time given to prayer
  • Significant interaction and discussion about how our church planting vision will be implemented in one’s Area
  • Opportunities to deepen community with others in one’s Area.

 The logo above of “Mission¹¹: Vision Forward” is a way to try and capture what we pray, by God’s graceful activity, will happen during our time together.  You may have already seen it in some of the correspondence sent out by Area coordinators of this conference.

When you hear the statement: Mission¹¹: Vision Forward, what comes to your mind and heart? 

Why not ask someone else from where you serve the same question and post both their and your responses to the TATJ blog.

Filed under: Community, Prayer | Leave a comment »

Savoring the beauty of God

Posted on December 9, 2010 by wtdavid

While reading this week, I came across this quote from Jonathan Edwards: “The first effect of the power of God in the heart in regeneration, is to give the heart a divine taste or sense; to cause it to have a relish of the loveliness and sweetness of the supreme excellency of the divine nature.”

It really seemed to capture the thought that God desires both our mind and our heart; that He desires the engagement of our mind in thinking about Him, which leads to a greater heart passion for Him, and in turn would drive us to want to know Him more by thinking more deeply about Him. 

One writer put it this way: “A person must not only see the effects of God’s work in the world but also savor the beauty of God’s nature in the gospel, and in all that he has made, and in all that he does.”

Let us not grow “weary” in our pursuit of Him.

Filed under: Thinking, Worship | Leave a comment »

Helplessness

Posted on December 6, 2010 by wtdavid

Helplessness is not a word that many of us like the sound of. It implies that we can, in all truthfulness, do nothing and need to rely totally on another.

Yet Paul Miller, in chapter 6 of A Praying Life says that, “The gospel, God’s free gift of grace in Jesus, only works when we realize we don’t have it all together. The same is true for prayer.” Really, you might say. Paul Miller goes on, “In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks at the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy meandering prayers.” (55)

I’m not sure I really like that thought. I would prefer that my prayers be well built around strong theology ushering me up into God’s presence, if you will. “Sloppy meandering prayers” sound too feeble, vulnerable, and well helpless.

It seems that is just the paradox of prayer in relation to our journey with God. Paul Miller puts it this way: “Jesus isn’t asking us to do anything he isn’t already doing. He is inviting us into his life of helpless dependence on his heavenly Father. To become more like Jesus is to feel increasingly unable to do life, increasingly wary of your heart. Paradoxically, you get holier while you are feeling less holy. The very thing you are trying to escape – your inability – opens the door to prayer and then grace.”

I actually thought of putting at the end of this post, some kind of prayer “growth-o-meter”. You know something where you could point to where you currently are in your journey of prayer and then where you would like to be. However, I realized that even “charting” one’s life of prayer would simply be a reflection of the fact that we still think we can do life and prayer on our own.

Filed under: Humility, Prayer | 5 Comments »

Are You a Lifer?

Posted on December 3, 2010 by wtdavid

Words are a tricky thing.  Different meanings can be attributed to the same word depending on the context, culture and generation.  For example, the French equivalent for the word “opportunity” is “l’opportunité”.  That is practically the same spelling.  However, the meaning of the word in each language is very different.  In American English, it means a chance or an occasion [to do something].  Whereas, in French, it means a one off opportunity that may not soon be repeated.  So, you can probably understand why French believers snickered one day when the American leading worship said: “I am grateful for this ‘opportunité’ to lead worship this morning.

We need to better understand our context and audience, and then adapt our language in order to communicate clearly.  That is a little of how I feel in our mobilization discussions.  Those of us from the earlier generations (that is, pre 80s) talk about short-term and long-term workers.  Those terms can have either a negative or a very different meaning for those from later generations (that is, post 80s).  Probably not the best word choice to be using in our discussions.

There is no question about the need for ‘longer term’ work.  There are many things that simply will not happen in cross cultural ministry if sufficient time is not given to that effort.  But how do we express a key principle in other words?

That’s why I’m starting to call myself now a ‘lifer’ (see Global Mission Handbook, 166).   A ‘lifer’ is a person who has simply chosen to give his/her life, to make his/her career to minister in cross cultural contexts.  Those who come out for short or midterm opportunities are a certainly a vital part of the larger ministry.  But, “it’s the [lifer] who, over time, builds relationships with the people, understands their culture and sensitively contextualizes the gospel within that vibrant reality.” (166)

We’re looking for ‘lifers’.

Filed under: Crossing cultures, Mission, Mobilization | Leave a comment »

“Delegating” Questions

Posted on December 1, 2010 by wtdavid

I have been thinking a lot about a recent post by Anthony Bell in his “Leadership Quickbrief” where he shares this thought about delegating and empowerment:

To get to empowerment, think of delegation as primarily a development tool. 

If your primary motivation in delegating is to develop the people you are leading, you will end up leading not only a highly motivated team, but also a meaningfully empowered team.

Some Questions to Ask Yourself

  • What am I doing now that someone else could do instead of me?
  • What would it take for that person to come to an adequate level of proficiency?
  • What am I doing now that, if delegated, would provide an opportunity for growth and development?
  • What fears are driving my reluctance to delegate?
  • What tasks can I delegate that would actually advance the purpose and vision of the organization? How would it do so? 

These questions certainly deserve well thought out answers.  However, these questions should also cause us to consider how to reorganize our ministries so as to develop others by first delegating to others.

Filed under: Delegation, Mentoring | 7 Comments »

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