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Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation

Last year was about replanting and restoring health to our church, as “Following Jesus”. This year is about laying a firm foundation for a) spiritual growth, b) healthy community, and c) service to our world. This letter is not only my preaching notes, but sets the tone for the year as we begin laying the foundation, being guided by our chosen theme…

“Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation”

It might sound weird! Being the what… ?? The word/idea of “Beloved” is significant and powerful in the Bible. It’s all about “be-loved” or “being loved”, which is difficult for most people. We have to learn how to be loved, how to receive love, and thus to love. They say, “Love makes the world go round!” Pretty close! God IS love… so, love is the center of the universe, making all things work – that is IF we receive his love and learn to love as he loves – then that’s heaven on earth! But if we don’t, we make hell on earth!

Being the (God’s) Beloved is about discovering our true selves. It’s about our identity as human becomings. The deepest source and definition of our identity is God’s love for us – not the myriads of other means of identity imposed on us, or that we choose. And it’s not the “feel-good-flowery-luuvvv” from Hollywood! It’s God’s love from eternity, enfleshed in its costly demonstration in Jesus of Nazareth. He lived and died for YOU, for ME, for our sin, our rejection of God’s love, so that we may turn and receive God’s love. In fact, Jesus was who he was, and did what he did, because he came to know how deeply God loved him as his Father – confirmed at his baptism in water when Father spoke from the heavens, “You are my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased”

That voice, that Spirit of Love, opened the heavens for Father’s love to flood and fill each one of us, so that we may learn to live in his love as Jesus did. All of life flows from that. It’s the source of healing and spiritual growth, community formation and social transformation – our focus for this year as we follow Jesus together. Why not take this journey very seriously and commit to Being (becoming) the Beloved? In effect, we will be unpacking our calling as a church, our Mission Statement: Following Jesus and making followers of him, learning to live a life of love just as Jesus loved us.

To begin this journey we are calling our church to a full week of FASTING and prayer, from 20-26 January. Here are some guidelines to help us. Continue reading Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation

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Prayer & Planning for the New Year – Part Two

Recap from last week:  Why prepare for 2014?

Because God is the God of second chances and new beginnings: “Don’t hold onto the former things… I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, don’t you perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19). Thus we must PRAY to “attune” to God, to work with him in dependence on his power in what he’s doing in our lives. But we must also PLAN – it’s your responsibility, or else others/life will set your agenda and make you overly busy! Live life, live 2014, intentionally from conviction. To do that we need a deeper planning framework

A Seven Step LIFE Planning Framework Continue reading Prayer & Planning for the New Year – Part Two

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How to Prepare for the New Year – Part One

Why prepare and plan for 2014?

An instinctive reason is that we all need new starts. From time to time we need to bury the past and start again to go further. God is the God of creation, of seasons and rhythms, of night and day. Jeremiah says, “Your mercies (compassions) are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22). So my regular prayer – often in the mornings when I come before God – is “O God of second chances and new beginnings, here I am again!” And God promises us, “Do not hold onto the former things… I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19). Look for the new things he’s doing.

We need to prepare for 2014 because we need vision and direction: “where there is no vision (purpose from God), the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). Viktor Frankel (in Man’s Search of Meaning, his observations from the Holocaust) said to live for a purpose beyond yourself is to have real reason to live. In terms of vision, if you aim at nothing you will surely hit it! If you aim at some things you will grow, you will be directed, you will be stretched and achieve some things. It’s important for self-image and living well with yourself. And “new year’s resolutions”, “turning a new leaf”, etc, is mostly a self-defeating exercise. Most people revert back to their old habits within a few weeks. We need an approach that is long-lasting and more long-term, that is deeper in terms of vision and convictions and sustainability. Continue reading How to Prepare for the New Year – Part One

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Halloween – The Truth Behind

From Global Prayer (I should have posted this earlier!!)

Halloween is celebrated on 31 October every year in many nations, even by believers who are completely unaware of the origins or of the spiritual implications. This is the night when most paganists honor the spirits of the dead, offer human sacrifices and make pacts and covenants with the demonic forces.

It originated among the ancient Celts of Europe and was called the festival of “Samhain” or “All Hallowtide” (the feast of the dead). It started on the evening of 31 October, signaling the end of harvest and the beginning of winter and also the beginning of the New Year for the Celts. Continue reading Halloween – The Truth Behind

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Ignatian and Eastern Orthodox Spirituality

A while ago I asked for prayer regarding my wife and I starting the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises under the weekly guidance of the Jesuits in Johannesburg (“Ignatian Retreat in Daily Life”, an hour a day of prayer-meditation over a ten month period). It drew quite a bit of feedback. A few years ago a friend of mine in Norway gave me an eastern orthodox prayer rope (he makes them). He recently asked if I could share a picture of it, as he wanted to put it on his Facebook page. This too has drawn comments. I’ve been asked, “why are you doing this Catholic and Orthodox spirituality stuff?” Here’s a brief perspective. Continue reading Ignatian and Eastern Orthodox Spirituality

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Exploring Membership with Following Jesus Session 6

SESSION 6:  COMMITTING TO MEMBERSHIP WITH FOLLOWING JESUS

Listen to the audio of the Sermon for Session 6

We have looked at:

  1. Jesus and his first community – to follow Jesus was to join his local group;
  2. The Early Church – initiation into Christian faith (in baptism) meant belonging in the local church;
  3. Three Sociological models of ‘doing church’ and their underlying values – we do ‘centered set’ church;
  4. Our Ministry Framework – our mission, vision, values, priorities and practices (the circled triangle); and its structured implementation via HELP (Holistic Equipping Life Process) and the People’s Flow chart. Continue reading Exploring Membership with Following Jesus Session 6
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Exploring Membership with Following Jesus Session 5

SESSION 5:  MINISTRY FRAMEWORK – HOW WE DO CHURCH AND MEMBERSHIP (continued)

Listen to the audio of the Sermon for Session 5

FROM Session 4: Priorities and practices are what we actually do… what we do first, of most importance, before we do other things. They answer the question of What? we do, and How? we do them… i.e. our basic disciplines and skills that we learn to do and practice on a regular basis – in order to live out our core values, in pursuit of our vision, to fulfill our mission under God. Continue reading Exploring Membership with Following Jesus Session 5

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Exploring Membership with Following Jesus Session 4

SESSION 4:  MINISTRY FRAMEWORK – HOW WE DO CHURCH AND MEMBERSHIP 

The Sociological Framework contrasted three models of ‘doing church’ and membership – we embrace the centered set with its values. We now examine the Ministry Framework through which we do church – key information for a responsible commitment to Following Jesus. We lay out our mission and vision; values, priorities and practices; leadership, structure and programs; and the specific expectations of belonging and membership (the content of the remaining 3 sessions).  Much of this key information, including our Vineyard history, is on our website http://followingjesus.org.za  

Continue reading Exploring Membership with Following Jesus Session 4

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A Call for a Week of Fasting & Prayer

We’re calling our church to a week of fasting and prayer in preparation for the launch of Following Jesus on Sunday 20 January @ 09h00 at the Vineyard Community Center.  We begin today Sunday 13th Jan and will end Saturday night 19th Jan.  Keep this page in your Bible to motivate and guide you this week in your personal prayer, in the two’s and three’s who pray together, and in our corporate praying (see below – try to make it!)

Why pray? 

To bathe the beginning of our journey as Following Jesus in prayer, in God’s presence. Without him we can do nothing. As Moses prayed, “If your presence is not with us, among us, leading us, then we will not go anywhere! What else distinguishes us from all other people except your Presence?” (Ex 33:15-16). This church is HIS church, we follow HIM – as revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, in his life and teachings, death and resurrection. Prayer is following God in Jesus – we pray in Jesus’ name. Prayer is invoking God’s Presence. Prayer is total dependence on God. Prayer is partnering God, waiting for his initiative in all things. Prayer is working with God in what HE is doing in our church and in the world around us. God calls us to become “A House of Prayer for ALL nations” (Is 56:7). This is where reconciliation and discipleship begins. We pray because it’s our only and ultimate means of entering and participating in the Trinity, in their conversing and working, by the indwelling interceding Holy Spirit (Rom 8:26-27 cf. Heb 7:25).   

Why fast?

By abstaining from (certain kinds of) foods, and even (certain kinds of) liquids, we “amplify” our groaning to God. Every time we feel hungry and weak, we’re reminded to cry out to God and pray for the issues listed below. By denying ourselves food we discipline our bodily appetites and turn them to God; e.g. take the time you’d use to prepare the meal and eat it, and give it to God in focused prayer. Fasting humbles us to live not by bread alone but by every word that comes from God (Deut 8:1-5). More so, fasting empowers prayer by confronting and defeating evil opposition (Lk 4:1-14). So decide before God what foods or meals or treats (even TV!) you can fast this week. Continue reading A Call for a Week of Fasting & Prayer

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End of the Year Update

It’s the last day of 2012 and we are all still here. The world has not ended. Despite all its publicity and hype, the Mayan prophecy was a hoax, a false doomsday deception. We have the privilege of yet another year of living and sharing in God’s truth, telling the world that Messiah Jesus is God’s answer to the human crisis: the One who came to save the planet, who daily changes and transforms people – in anticipation of his soon coming Kingdom on earth.  We participate in its coming to the extent we daily follow Jesus, and live and pray and act as he did, “as it is in heaven”.

Continue reading End of the Year Update