I’m continually in search of local missional ministries in the Portland/Vancouver metro area that involved in effectively serving the community incarnationally; being Jesus right where they are and doing it well with all of their heart and soul.

My friends Mike and Angela Davis are such people.  About two years ago, they felt called to leave the church they were pastoring in North Portland in order to more intentionally serve the poor and homeless.  They possessed no base of support from a denomination or mission organization, but strongly felt God’s call on their lives to serve in His Kingdom in this manner.

They are ministering to homeless in our area admirably and with deep humility and integrity.  They recently structured this new ministry in order secure more funding and prayer support.  You can learn more about them and their story by clicking Knowing Me Ministries. If you are looking for a viable totally faith based ministry to give to this Christmas Season….. and throughout the new year, I would suggest this one – none better.  There is also a link on this blog on the right sidebar.

Francis Schaeffer in How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture quotes Edward Gibbon’s (1737-1794) in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788) said that the following five attributes marked Rome at its end:

first, a mounting love of show and luxury (that is, affluence);

second, a widening gap between the very rich and the very poor (this could be among countries in the family of nations as well as in a single nation);

third, an obsession with sex;

fourth, freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality, and enthusiasms pretending to be creativity;

fifth, an increasing desire to live off the state.

It all sounds so familiar …we are back in Rome.

From How Shall We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, p.227, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1976.

In the light of this we who know the Christ of Christmas have great hope regardless of what the future might hold in store for us.  What a wonderful time of the year to reflect concerning what we possess both now and in the future.  All because God chose to send His Son in human flesh and blood.

This is week two of the Christmas Advent focusing attention on Hope. The following prayer is titled Hold Fast to Hope

Almighty God,

give us such a vision of your purpose

and such an assurance of your love and power,

that we may ever hold fast the hope

which is in Jesus Christ our Lord

who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God now and for ever.

Amen — Bosco Peters (New Zealand/Contemporary)

The first Sunday of Advent begins tomorrow.  I found the following words encouraging in regard to preparing and celebrating this advent season 2009.

Advent…… helps us to understand the fullness of the value and meaning and mystery of  Christmas.  It is not just about commemorating the historical event, which occurred some 2,000 years ago in a little village of Judea.  Instead, we must understand that our whole life should be an “advent.” in vigilant expectation of Christ’s final coming. To prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord, who, as we say in, the Creed, will come one day to judge the living, and the dead, we must learn to recognize his presence in the events of daily life.  Advent is then, a period of intense training that directs us decisively to the One who has already come, who will come and who continuously comes.  — Pope John Paul II (POLAND/1920-2005)

Keep us, O Lord,

while we tarry on this earth,

in serious seeking after you,

and in an affectionate walking with you,

every day of our lives;

that when you come,

we may be found not hiding our talent,

nor serving the flesh,

nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished,

but waiting and longing for our Lord,

our glorious God for ever.

Amen.

– RICHARD BAXTER (ENGLAND/1615-1691)

I seem to be keeping fairly busy lately.  Not blogging as much as normal, although normal is not all that much.  Nevertheless, the last few days I’ve spent a good deal of time getting acquainted with my newest grandchild Isla Mae since her arrival Saturday October 24th. Isn’t she beautiful!  I have ten other grandchildren just as wonderful. Once again I am reminded that: God is great! Life is good! I am blessed!!  Life just doesn’t get any better this side of eternity.

During the recent Catalyst Conference in Atlanta Chuck Swindoll shared “10 Things I Have Learned During 50 Years in Leadership. These can be found at Out of Ur Newsletter.  Because I’ve followed Swindoll’s ministry for years and have deep respect for him, here they are:

1. It’s lonely to lead.  Leadership involves tough decisions. The tougher the decision, the lonelier it is.
2. It’s dangerous to succeed.  I’m most concerned for those who aren’t even 30 and are very gifted and successful. Sometimes God uses someone right out of youth, but usually he uses leaders who have been crushed.
3. It’s hardest at home.  No one ever told me this in Seminary.
4. It’s essential to be real.  If there’s one realm where phoniness is common, it’s among leaders.  Stay real.
5. It’s painful to obey.  The Lord will direct you to do some things that won’t be your choice.  Invariably you will give up what you want to do for the cross.
6. Brokenness and failure are necessary.
7. Attitude is more important than actions.  Your family may not have told you: some of you are hard to be around.  A bad attitude overshadows good actions.
8. Integrity eclipse image. Today we highlight image. But it’s what you’re doing behind the scenes.
9. God’s way is better than my way.
10. Christlikeness begins and ends with humility.

Soong-Chan Rah writes:

The expression of excessive individualism in local church life is rooted in the excessive individualism of Western evangelical theology. Evangelicalism’s idolatry of  the individual has crippled the church’s ability to view sin and salvation outside of the narrow parameters of a personal faith. Evangelical theology becomes exclusively an individual-driven theology instead of a community-driven theology. In an individual driven theology, individual sin takes center stage.Individual sin leads to personal guilt: I, the individual, did something personally wrong and I feel guilty about my actions.  I am responsible for my personal, individual actions and nothing more.  Therefore, I can personally confess my sins and be absolved of my individual sinfulness and my personal feelings of guilt.  Because the individual is only responsible for an individualized and personal guilt, there is no sense of shame for corporate actions that also expressions of human sinfulness.

Our reduction of sin to a personal issue means that we are unwilling to deal with social structural evils, and this reduction prevents us from understanding the full expression of human sinfulness and fallenness. We have reduced the power of redemption to a personal salvation from personal sin. Evangelism programs and methods, such as the Four Spiritual Laws and the Bridge Illustration, focus exclusively on an individualistic worldview and emphasize a personal salvation  experience.

Our approach to evangelism is shaped by an individualized soteriology (our perspective on salvation) based upon a Western framework. Our soteriology arises from our hamartiology (our understanding of the nature of sin). Our understanding of salvation is contingent upon how we understand what we are being saved from, namely sin and its consequences.  When sin is limited to the individual realm and does not extend into the corporate realm, our understanding of salvation is also limited to the individual realm.  Sin, therefore, is found only in the  individual, not in structures and systems.  The possibility of redemption, therefore, is also limited exclusively to the individual.  A relationship with God limited to a private and individual realm ultimately limits our experience of God.  Our understanding of sin limited to an individual level reveals a personal guilt over wrongdoing. However, lacking an understanding of corporate sin, we are unable to feel, perceive or understand the impact of the shame of corporate responsibility.   The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity, pp.39-40.

And we wonder why we struggle with community in the Evangelical context.

Reading Pete Greig’s book, God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer I came across the following in reference to Romans 8:38:

Not angels and not demons. Not cancer wards and not concentration camps. Not loneliness and not fear.  Not bankruptcy, not bereavement, not barrenness. Nothing we endure has the innate power to tear us away from the ultimate reality of the fact that we are loved eternally by Abba, Father.

Prayer

Abba, Father, I know all this stuff about Your love in my head, but my heart gets hard to it and I’m tired.  Please do whatever You’ve got to do (and I mean whatever) to unclinch my fists.  Pry open my eyes so that I can see Your tears and soften my heart so that it moves me deeply.  I don’t understand why You don’t just answer my prayers, but I do choose to trust that You have heard me, that You actually do care and that You’re somewhere out there on my case.  Abba, Father, thank You for all the ways You have blessed me.  I honestly don’t know what I’d do, where I’d be or even who I’d have become without You.  Abba, Father, I am going to try to trust You today.  Amen [page 56].