Be judged or be ignored.

Things cannot (and will not) stay the way they are.

World Venture (my missions organization) has to stick its neck out. Business as usual is not an option if mission is still a goal. If radical change is not sought, mission will cease.

Radical is not only an option, it is the only option.

Church planting in Québec is difficult. Thousands of neighborhoods across the Province without a “matys evangelion” (Gospel witness). Only a radical movement can change this.

So I’m calling out World Venture.

And I’m calling out myself.

…

What could this look like?

It looks like something we have never seen. That’s the hard part. We have to invent it ourselves. We can’t rely on existing models.

We are the early church. We are the printing press, the reformation, and the haystack prayer meeting. We are the next unimaginable.

Is the next step safe? No way.

We don’t know how this is going to end up. There is no guarantee of success. It may fall to pieces.

But wouldn’t you rather die part of a movement that matters?

Wouldn’t you rather be part of a spectacular failure rather than a slow insignificant death always asking what could have been?

This is dangerous.

I’m excited.

Let’s go.

A few quotes

From the journal of Don’s aging father: “Lord, save me from the sins of old men”

Concerning his father: “There was a candor to him. It wasn’t fake. What you saw was what you got.”

“The worst kind of christian home to grow up in, is the one where there are large spiritual pretensions but low spiritual performance”

“The best kind of christian home to grow up in is the one where there are low spiritual pretensions but quite high spiritual performance… because the best stuff is caught, not taught.”

“He took care of my mother who had Alzheimer’s for 9 years until her death.”

“They come here and see how tough it is, and take it as a sign that this can’t be where God wants them; because being where God wants them means, in their minds, being where there is lots of fruit.”

“I stay because I believe God has many people in this place.”

The book “Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor” is a free download here

I had just finished reading Foxe’s book of martyrs, and this scene brought to life the cost of true heroism.

Evil wages war. Injustice does not give up or retreat. Can the grip of injustice loosen without pain? I think not.

One hero recounts his painful love of the Afghanistani people:

Some years back, when I lived in Australia, and having fun was easy, I used to go surf-kayaking. In little squirt boats, we would surf the waves, rolling and flipping, like wannabe dolphins.

On one occasion, I got dumped, badly. I didn’t roll up immediately, and so I got a lungful of water, and got disoriented. When I finally did roll up, the next wave hit me, and by then, I was close into shore, and this wave pushed me deep into the sand. My head hit the sea bed, hard. A bit harder, I could have broken my neck. My mate Mike, who was watching, had no idea where I was. When I finally emerged, I was a wreck. I had to go to the doctor to get my ears syringed, to get the sand out. She didn’t believe me, when I told her what had happened.

That’s sort of how I feel now. The ride got really hard, this last year. I find myself wondering,  has it been worth it? If I re-do the arithmetic, what will the answer be?

But, then, as I said, we are all ideologues in this business. We started this work, because we believed, long before the rest of the world was interested, that Afghanistan could be something more than a byword for misery and hopelessness. And that we could, or should, be part of that healing.

Mazar, Afghanistan

But why should that belief lead us to conclude that we would pass unscathed?

For those who refuse to leave evil and injustice alone, you are heroes. You are living for a more vivid, stronger reality than this present pain.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” -Paul

C.S. Lewis about the triumph of joy:

It must be one way or the other. Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it: or else for ever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves.

God, please liberate me to live with costly abandon for the day joy prevails.

South Sudan.

Darfur.

Oil.

China.

LRA.

In an incredibly complex situation, my desire is to understand what I can so that my prayer and involvement are intelligent and right-headed (not simply emotional… as many things Americans do are).

One of the best up-to-date synopsis I’ve read is over at the Wanderlust blog (a guy who is a friend of a friend that has done some amazing work in and about Africa):

A brief history:

I’ve looked at the Sudans context previously, but for those just joining us, here’s the one paragraph summary of the salient points of the Sudans’ modern history. Sudan gained independence as a single nation following British colonial rule which previously saw it divided, with direct administration of the south as an East African colony, and a proxy rule by the Egyptians in the north, resulting in a country with a deep north-south divide on cultural, religious and ethnic grounds. Khartoum’s governance was challenged by a civil uprising in 1956 that lead to two rounds of near-continual civil war, largely driven by the impact of resource centralization, Islamicization, arabicization and the marginalization of impoverished outlying states. This was further exacerbated by the seizure, via coup, of the National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum, led by now- (and still-) President Bashir, who entrenched these policies further. The signing of the internationally-brokered Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 brought an end to open warfare and led, in 2011, to a referendum which saw the south vote overwhelmingly for independence and becoming, a few months later, the world’s newest state. The time since has been characterized by increasing tension between Khartoum and the southern government in Juba, particularly over the official border demarcation between north and south and, by the same token, control over the country’s rich oil reserves that straddle that border.

The Wanderlust blog also gives great succinct (and witty) descriptions of the main characters:

• Sudan, Republic of- The northern half of what used to be the nation of Sudan and historically refered to as ‘north’ or ‘northern’ Sudan, governed from Khartoum. Population: 30 million. GDP: USD 89 billion (USD 2,700 per capita). Percentage of exports associated with oil prior to secession of South Sudan: 70-90%.
• South Sudan, Republic of- The southern half of what used to be the nation of Sudan, independant since July 2011 and with its capital in Juba. Population: ~10 million. GDP: USD 13 billion (USD 1,500 per capita). Percentage of Sudan’s pre-secession oil fields now in its control: 80% (estimated). Percentage of budget accounted for by oil exports: 98%.
• Omar-al-Bashir
• National Congress Party (NCP)
• Salva Kiir
• Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM)
• Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA)
• Sudan People’s Liberation Army- North (SPLA-N)
• Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)
• Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)
• Sudan Revolutionary Forces (SRF)
• Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)
• United Nations (UN)
• China

There are a lot of moving pieces in the machinery of the Sudans, and things are still unfolding. Even as Kiir returns from Beijing with a promise of full pockets, Sudan has continued bombardments of southern territory, and southern-allied militia have moved against SAF positions in Upper Nile, prompting Khartoum to declare a state of emergency. Behind the scenes, diplomats are scrabbling to keep the communication game alive, reporting with optimism that both sides claim to want peace, even while their respective pieces move against eachother along the chequered border. The withdrawl form Heglig appears to have bought a little more time for a brokered solution to be sought, but done little to change the trend towards escalation.

Numbers 15:39: And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes…

A few weeks ago a woman in our church shared how she had followed her heart for several years, and how it completely ruined her. She shared how she finally rejected the advice to “follow her heart” and began to follow Jesus instead.

The Bible calls following my heart “idolatry.”

But wait, you say, I don’t bow down to stone statues like the ancient cultures did. How can you say I have a natural tendency toward idolatry?

What is and idol? Justin Buzzard’s recent blog post spells it out:

 An idol is anything more important to you than God. Therefore, you can turn even very good things into idols. You can turn a good thing like family, success, acceptance, money, your plans, etc. into a godthing–into something you worship and place at the center of your life.

 This is what sin is. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything (even a good thing) more than God.

Tim Keller’s explanation helped me understand this:

And why is that a bad thing?

If I don’t track down and kill that idol, it will ruthlessly bleed me to death. Again, Justin Buzzard:

Americans think freedom is found in casting off all restraint and being masters of our own lives. What we are blind to is the reality that everybody has a master. We all worship something and whatever we worship is our master. Idols make bad masters. They enslave. Until you identify the idols in your life you will feel enslaved, tired, and unhappy and you won’t know why. You will feel this way until you discover the only master who can set  you free: Jesus. Jesus is the one master who will love you even when you fail him. Your idols don’t do that. 

Justin then lists 4 common idols and how to identify them: 

CONTROL. You know you have a control idol if your greatest nightmare is uncertainty.

APPROVAL. You know you have an approval idol if your greatest nightmare is rejection.

COMFORT. You know you have a comfort idol if your greatest nightmare is stress/demands.

POWER. You know you have a power idol if your greatest nightmare is humiliation.

How do I destroy the idols in my life?

Tim Keller addresses this question, beginning at the 52:00 mark:

1. When the idols are opposed, it’s dangerous: idols are violent. Idols are empty, things of my own making. But at the same time, they wield enormous power in my life! Principalities and powers use idols in my life to control and  kill me.
2. Jesus went to war against the principalities and powers, and they brutally murdered him.
3. I have to see and know what Jesus has done for me. This understanding will liberate me from the grip of idols in my life, and direct me toward the one who died to give me freedom: Jesus.

On March 22, 2012: 200,000+ students from across Québec protest in Montréal.

Difficult to fathom?

That is exactly what is happening here. Hundreds of thousands of students from Universities and Cégeps all across the Province of Québec have been on strike for 12+ weeks.

Why go on strike?

Québec’s latest Provincial budget included a 75% increase in tuition costs for University-level education. That sure sounds like a lot. But let’s look at the numbers:

March 22, 2012: 200,000+ Cégep and University students protest in Montréal

• Currently, students pay an average of $2,519 for one year of full-time University tuition in Québec.
• This cost will rise to $4144 a year over the next 5 years ( a rise of $325 per year).
• Compare this to the province of Ontario, where tuition is currently $6,640 a year.
• Compare this to the U.S., where tuition of public Universities was around $15,000 a year in 2010.

So while Québec students are protesting a 75% increase in tuition, Ontario University students already pay 3 times that of their French brothers and sisters across the Provincial border.

A timeline of events:

• March 18, 2011: Official Québec budget published, announces rise in University tuition.
• November 10, 2011: 30,000 students protest in Montréal
• February 13, 2012: Students vote to strike at the University of Laval
• February 16, 2012: The students of the Cégep of Vieux-Montréal are the first Cégep  to vote to strike
• February 20, 2012: Cégeps and Universities (totalling about 30,000 students) have voted to strike
• February 27, 2012: About 65,000 students have voted to strike
• March 5, 2012: About 125,000 students have voted to strike
  

  Montréal police horses during the March 22 protest

• March 22, 2012: Over 300,000 students (from about 400,000 total) have voted to strike
• March 22, 2012: 200,000 students protest in Montréal
• April 20, 2012: Jean Charest (Prime Minister of Québec), mocks students as they protest outside
• April 24, 2012: A protest of several thousand, this time marked by violence and vandalism.

A Funny Urban Legend (don’t know if it’s true):

As several thousand students blocked traffic on the Jacques Cartier bridge, motorists yelled “Get out of the way! I’m the one paying for your education!”

Students responded: “Get back in your car! I’m the one that will pay for your retirement!”

This week is crucial:

Apparently (and my understanding is based on a few conversations here and there), this is the last possible week students can return and still recover the current session. If, however, students vote to continue the strike, this session will be cancelled. All classes will be forwarded to this Fall. And a massive bottle-neck will occur when graduated high-school students enter their first year of Cégep this September.

There is also talk of a massive general protest May 9 to target not only the rise in tuition, but to bring down the entire Liberal Party government. We’ll see.

My Take:

Québeckers seem fairly divided on this issue. Many are passionately for the strike. Many others refuse to talk about it saying it’s “a waste of saliva”.

For me as an interested bystander, it has been fascinating to see the French-socialist underpinnings of Québecker culture rise to the fore in a young generation that one day will lead this Province.

Bottom line? I’m not here to politic. I’m praying that the Gospel permeates every aspect of Québecker society, regardless of political viewpoint.

Flying Cockroach

First, a story from my friend Doug:

New to Kenya, she wasn’t yet acclimated to the hole-in-the-ground bathroom covered simply with bamboo and palm leaves. As she approached, her worst nightmare sat next to the hole, almost as a dare: a huge flying cockroach. Amongst screams of panic she rushed back to the house not far away, grabbed a can of “doom spray”, and made her way back to the outdoor enclosure, determined to “do justice” to that cockroach.

Entering the enclosure she saw that her nightmare had not moved. The cockroach just sat there, not realizing the death power she now wielded. She opened the can, aimed it, and began to shoot.  That cockroach died a quick death. And for good measure, she sprayed all around, making sure no other cockroach ever ventured to repeat the same mistake as their dead colleague. All the while clouds of spray plummeted to the depths of the black hole.

Suddenly, like the sound of a speeding train, thousands upon thousands of flying cockroaches flew up out of the hole, covering the entire enclosure, the path from the house, and eventually the entire house as well. It was like a whirling, steaming, Old Testament plague.

She had indeed “done justice” to that one cockroach. But did not realize that what awaited her in the dark recesses was far worse, and potentially far more emotionally damaging than the one case of injustice she had originally planned to triumph over.

Paul faced the same problem in Acts 16. He and Silas freed a slave girl. Was the town happy to see them “do justice”? In verse 22

“the crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods”

Doing justice cannot be about simply rescuing people. It has to be about being willing to step into a situation, knowing that “doing justice” will awaking thousands of sleeping cockroaches.

Jesus did justice. What did it get him? He did not become a hero. He was ripped to shreds.

Titus and Stephanie Folden

This will hurt.

This will be difficult.

But the sacrifice is worth it.

Please pray for my good friends Titus and Stephanie Folden who have sacrificed much to bring hope to orphans and abused children in Ecuador. They have given their lives not simply to rescue, but knowing that the rescue costs much, infinitely more than they would have imagined.

Now let us count the cost, and more forward knowing the personal price will be steep. But knowing the payoff, when we are before the One who gave all for us, will be infinitely greater than the cost.

… I often feel like several elephants are tied to me, and pulling in multiple directions. So while God is doing amazing things all around (170 people attended last Sunday, many are non-­‐ Christians), I’m also constantly letting people down. They come for support, help, or direction, and I simply have to trust that God is bigger thanIam.

The fact is, I’ve probably let you down at some point. I’m sorry about that, I really, truly am. And thank you for the grace, forgiveness, and support you have shown, knowing that we are giving everything we can to sharing the Grace, Forgiveness, and Love of Christ here in Québec.

So what do we do? We’ve narrowed our focus to investment in three priorities:

1) A continued healthy marriage and family.
2) The local church in St-­‐Jérôme
3) Supporting churches and individuals.

I’ve trimmed down my involvement in other church plants around Québec on multiple fronts for the rest of 2012. However, if the church in St-­‐Jérôme becomes healthy, creating a foundation for multiplication, it’s a huge win for us and the entire Province.

At the end of the day, there is one Person we are responsable to, and His sacrifice makes it impossible to let Him down.

Thanks for praying for us!

• “Preparation for the launch”
• “Preparing the core group”
• “Sharing the vision”
• “Making disciples”
• “Building small groups”
• “Encouraging Worship Services”
• “Community involvement”

In these particular photos, using a toy train as an example, a young believer in our church named Carl walks through his multi-year voyage before becoming a Christian about a year ago. The purpose was to discuss “making disciples”. How do we help and support people wherever they may be on their journey before or after salvation? (Carl did a fantastic job teaching and sharing his story).

I preached on Luke 10:25-42, a passage where Jesus completely deconstructs religious thinking.

A visiting quebecker christian band (the David Gasse Band) led us in a time of worship (the bassist yesterday morning is a member at our church).

We ate soup, and learned about poverty around the world and in St-Jérôme.

Here are some photos:

For more photos, click here:

http://www.eglise-ecclesia.ca/photo.php?pageID=36

Remember in school when the entire class would lose recess privileges because of a couple of irresponsible kids; then the entire class looked irresponsible? That is how I feel about marriage statistics.

Mainly, an irresponsible minority are bloating divorce statistics to make it look like marriage in general is in crisis. This is simply not the case.  Though many responsible people do get divorced, they do not constitute the majority of divorces. Tim Keller spells this out in his new book The Meaning of Marriage:

“While it is true that some 45 percent of marriages end in divorce, by far the greatest percentage of divorces happen to those who marry before the age of eighteen, who have dropped out of high school, and who have had a baby together before marrying. So if you are a reasonably well-educated person with a decent income, come from an intact family and are religious, and marry after twenty-five without having a baby first, your chances of divorce are low indeed.” -p. 23

Not only that, but the majority of marriages are happy ones:

“All surveys tell us that the number of married people who say they are “very happy” in their marriages is high-about 61-62 percent-and there has been little decrease in this figure during the last decade.” -p. 26

“But,” you say, “my marriage is going very badly right now. I’m miserable. I feel like we’re in a free-fall toward divorce.” Tim Keller has something encouraging to say to you as well:

“Most striking of all, longitudinal studies demonstrate that two-thirds of those unhappy marriages out there will become happy within five years if people stay married and do not get divorced.” -p. 26

What can I take away from this?

1. Practical strategies that increase the chances of having a “very happy” marriage really do exist (though no guarantees).
2. There is much reason for hope even in currently “unhappy” marriages.

God bless you and your (current or future) marriage on this Valentines Day!

We are all afraid of something, without exception:

• I’m afraid of failing.
• I’m afraid for my children.
• I’m afraid facing cancer.
• I’m afraid of being abused.
• I’m afraid of hurting others.
• I’m afraid of losing my job.
• I’m afraid of being influenced.
• I’m afraid of dying.
• I’m afraid my life doesn’t count.
• I’m afraid of conflict.
• I’m afraid of not having enough money to go around.
• I’m afraid of being single for the rest of my life.
• I’m afraid of being married for the rest of my life.
• I’m afraid I don’t have what it takes.
• I’m afraid of speaking in front of people.
• I’m afraid of being in crowds.
• I’m afraid of being alone.
• I’m afraid of the future.

In a broken world, we cannot love fully without fear of and for those we love. Conversely, fear is one of the primary obstacles to giving and receiving love fully. Either way, we’re stuck with fear in this life. But does that mean we should be passive and let these fears dominate our lives? One of the most-repeated commands throughout the Bible is “fear not”. Obviously, fear is not what God desires for us.

So what do we do? Do we simply repeat “fear not” a dozen times and hope our fear disappears? Before attacking fear, let’s try to understand it.

Six realities about fear (from Ed Welch):

1. The Bible speaks often of fear: Everyone has fears. Fear is normal in a broken world.
2. Fear is expressed differently in men and women: Women generally relate their fears to real-world situations more easily than men. Men generally express their fear through anger, depression, and addictions, not always realizing fear can be one of the root causes of these symptoms.
3. Fear is primarily a spiritual phenomenon, and secondarily a psychological one. Therefore, the solution is not simply to condition my thoughts or actions, but to trust.
4. Only the God of the Bible can calm my fears. He is in control.
5. Prayer is the medium by which we make known our fears to God and receive His peace.
6. We need the church, our brothers and sisters, to pray with us, and continually reveal the truth of the person of God.

After some reflection on the substance of fear, how can I attack the fear in my life? How can I help someone walk through their fear, honestly helping them and not denigrating their fear?

Five ways to attack our fears (or walk with someone as they attack theirs) (from David Powlison and Jacob Mathieu):

1. Listen: What, exactly, are you afraid of? (my children’s future, my health, my reputation, lack of money, lack of comfort)
2. Reflect: What is under your control and what is out of your control?
3. Read: According to the Bible, who is God and what has He done? (Example: Isaiah 40, Psalm 71, Romans 8).
4. Pray: Pray together, express our fears to God and ask for His peace (Phil. 4:6-7)
5. Act: What can you do today that is under your control? (Matt. 6:34)

In 2012, let’s not be passive about our fears, but attack them.

Perhaps this was the cruelest sentence of all.  Yes they all died.  For some of them it was a quick beheading.  Others were tortured mercilessly until cries of “Father forgive them” were reduced to spasmic gasping.  But they found relief.  Every last one of them. . .

How he longed for that same relief!  But it was not to be.  One after another.  His friends.  His brothers.  The only ones in the world who could truly understand.  The brotherhood of the twelve.  Well, eleven.  They were so normal.  So ill-equipped.  So naïve.

“Follow me”

Those two words will echo into eternity.

All of this madness.  The world, overwhelmed, shuddering.  Thousands dying.  Some say millions.  More suffering than one should see in 100 lifetimes.  . .  It all began because of Him.

“I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

I could see it.  A lifetime of agony, overpowered by hope.  He continued.  He continued.  He continued.  Tasting the morbid death that hunted them.  An empire on its head.  Evil  seething.  . .  never quenching that defeat.  The one, final. . .

Perhaps the first wound was the deepest.  Absolutely, he believed with all of his heart before.  He had already stood up to the chief priests and Pharisees many times.  He himself had been hunted with many trying to murder him.  It was nothing new.  And yes, there was Stephen. . .  but this was different.  The stakes stretched infinitely higher now.

That day.  That day he paused. . .  walked out of the synagogue, and kept walking, drenching his clothes with tears, until he fell over, shaking from exhaustion.

That day.

His brother was murdered.

Now, 45 torturous years later, the wrinkled brow and scarred hands began to write.  No one must forget why.  No, they must know why.  They must know why he never turned back, why it was worth it.  Why there is still hope.

“In the beginning was the Word. . .”

Mandrake roots

The parsnip-shaped root is often branched. This root gives off at the surface of the ground a rosette of ovate-oblong to ovate, wrinkled, crisp, sinuate-dentate to entire leaves, 5 to 40 centimetres (2.0 to 16 in) long, somewhat resembling those of the tobacco-plant. A number of one-flowered nodding peduncles spring from the neck bearing whitish-green or purple flowers, nearly 5 centimetres (2.0 in) broad, which produce globular, orange to red berries, resembling small tomatoes. All parts of the mandrake plant are poisonous.

Do you know what a Mandrake plant does? Again from Wikipedia:

Parasympathetic depressant, hallucinogen, and hypnotic. Most hypnotics produce low alphoid and spindle alpha brain-wave activity, similar to that found in REM sleep, or the dreaming state. This rhythm does not allow deep sleep to occur although it does lower brain patterns into a dreamy visionary mode, known in magic as an astral plane experience. Mandrake root causes delirium and hallucinations. In high doses, it can even send the user into a coma.

What does this have to do with anything?

Today, while reading through the full-on childbearing competition between Rachel and Leah in Genesis 30. I came across this text:

¹⁴ In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁵ But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” ¹⁶ When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. ¹⁷ And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.

Here’s what struck me: God listened to Leah. She was in the middle of a less-than ideal situation: married to a dude that never took a premarital class or read a book on how to love his wife. She’s taking various drugs trying to medicate through the situation, getting pregnant to try to get his attention; introducing other women to him in an insane servant/wife-swapping situation (Bilhah and Zilpa’s situations are even worse), she prays… and God listens.

And God is working through these drug-using polygamists to build for Himself a people for His glory.

There is hope.

No matter how bad the situation. No matter how horrendous the sin. No matter how messed-up my life is… God not only listens, but He can even build something beautiful, for His glory, that will last for generations.

This doesn’t mean drug-use or polygamy are all right. But it does mean that when I cry out to God He is capable of breaking through the worst situations imaginable and making something beautiful.

Thank you God for examples like Genesis 30.

Winter Portrait: Van in Ditch

It’s been snowing for two days nonstop. And yeah, there is more on the way. I love it. This is livin’

And here’s the artistic version:

For those with a more artistic bent

This month we’re celebrating 4 years as a new church. Over that time we’ve changed buildings once… because we haven’t found another one. We are currently renting an elementary school gym (see photo).

So here’s our dilemma (and food for prayer):

We've since added more chairs.

The gym is packed nearly every Sunday. We’re also meeting in homes every week. There are hardly any more spaces to sit.

So what do we do? Each chose offers specific challenges:

Do we plant a daughter church?

• We would love to! This is part of our original 5-year plan… so, concrete plans should begin to take place this year to do that (we don’t yet have a qualified church planter to send out). But in the meantime… what do we do?

Do we go to multiple services?

• We already have people setting up and tearing down from 7:30am to 12:30pm. We may have to do this, but we don’t want to burn anyone out.

Do we rent a larger space?

• We can’t yet find a large enough place to rent for less than $6000/month.
• Currently we’re paying $2000/month for a few hours Sunday morning.

Do we buy?

Old Theater in St Jerome: for sale for $765,000 (they already refused a $500,000 offer, however, we aren't sure if it is worth more than that yet)

• We can’t find a large enough place, in the general vicinity of downtown  for under $750,000… not including renovations.
• Most places are for sale for well over a million.
• Though it may be possible to raise the $$, do we want to invest that kind of effort to find $$ right now? Or do we want to continue investing in people?

Do we build?

• We have enough resources to build something that may not give us much time to grow. Again, do we want to invest our limited resources in something that may possibly be too small in a couple of years?

We aren’t saying “no” to any of these options. I’m simply asking you to pray for us as we pray and look.

Thanks for praying.

Filed under: Church Planting, Prayer, St Jérôme Tagged: Building, building a building, Church Building, church planter, Church Planting, daughter church, elementary school gym, multiple services, Prayer, St Jérôme, Sunday Morning ]]> http://robertkarch.com/2012/01/11/the-building-dilemma/feed/ 7 movementquebec The elementary school gymnasium Old Theater in St Jerome http://robertkarch.com/2012/01/09/looking-ahead-to-2012-make-the-most-of-your-time-because-the-days-are-evil/ http://robertkarch.com/2012/01/09/looking-ahead-to-2012-make-the-most-of-your-time-because-the-days-are-evil/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:31:02 +0000 Rob Karch http://robertkarch.com/?p=4689 ]]> -Ephesians 5:16

NOTE: I’m not saying things will go badly, or that there will be a global meltdown, etc., I’m simply saying not to sweat it, there are more important things to worry about.

Jacob knocked it out of the park yesterday (in his sermon at our church, you can watch it here) with these three observations (I’m taking a lot of liberty in melding his sermon with my reaction to it):

1) Paul doesn’t exhort us to make the most of our time because the future looks so bright, but because the present and near future look so bleak.

I’m not complaining. (My life is phenomenal in every sense. I’m married to an amazing woman..we just celebrated 10 years! I bless God for my two children. Friends and family are spotted all around the globe. Our local church is healthy and growing, regardless of the myriad of challenges.) I’m just saying that Paul’s is an anti-prosperity message. Are you worried about what lies ahead? Are you worried about the ramifications of a collapsing Euro? An indebted USA? Global unrest? Sickness? A loss of a job?

Paul tells us that these are actually the sources of unique opportunities.

These are all reasons to make the most of my time, investing in what will never fade. When bad times came, Paul didn’t encourage the church to hunker down. He encouraged the opposite. Times are bad? Get out and engage into our mission with gritted teeth, armed with hope that surpasses death. Are we on the verge of global collapse? Stand up and be counted, don’t hide in a ditch.

2) Paul’s exhortation is not to more action, but to intentional action.

Making the most of my time doesn’t mean sleeping less. It means opening my eyes to the unique opportunities around me during bleak times. What really counts? What doesn’t? Maybe I need to spend less time at work and more time with my family. Maybe I need to spend less time in a softball league and more time loving on those hurting in my community. Maybe now is the time to sell it all and move to another community, or country.

Losing a job may be the biggest blessing of my life, causing me to reevaluate what life is for. Cancer may be what shatters the chains that attached my heart to what matters least. An exploded marriage may be what forces me to my knees for the first time in years.

As a pastor and missionary, this is exactly what I’ve seen. I can give multiple names for each one of these examples. When times are evil, my frenetic life screeches to a halt as I wrap tearful arms around the few things that count. Thanks you Jesus for the evil times.

3) The evil times will pass, the investments we make in what really counts will last forever.

The stakes in 2012 are eternal. What this means is that I can stop sweating the small stuff… (like the strength of the Euro/Dollar/Yuan, a global economic meltdown, or a stupid Mayan calendar), and begin investing in what matters: the people all around me: my wife, my children, my neighbors, my fellow image-bearers in Cairo, Guayaquil, Paris, and Phnom Penh: their physical needs, and their current and future relationship to their Savior.

Let’s sweat the big stuff in 2012: loving on our fellow image-bearers: weeping over their physical and spiritual situations. Jesus did not conquer death for the benefit of a stable global situation in the present era. He conquered death to save people, now and forever.

Close your eyes. Do you see their faces? Do you see your Savior?

Evil times will pass. These investments will last forever.

Thank you Jacob for yanking us back to reality yesterday.

• Jesus was likely born in the Spring or Fall not December
• There is no indication the star was there on Christmas Eve
• The Wise Men weren’t at the manger scene and Jesus was likely up to 2 years old when they visited Him

Dan speaks out against letting misconceptions slide… (and I agree with him):

“If we are having a play or art piece about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and in the artwork or actors in the play we have Peter, James and Thomas standing there with Jesus – we would be thinking “What are they doing there? They weren’t in that scene and there when Jesus was in the wilderness?’. Or if we had an art piece or play portraying the Last Supper and in the art piece or play we also put in Pontious Pilate being at the Last Supper with them. We would be like “What is Pontious Pilate doing there? He doesn’t come into the story until a little later after Jesus was arrested?”.  It feels like as we put the Wise Men and the star in our Christmas portrayals is basically the same.”

I’d encourage you to read the whole thing

Secondly, the the team over at I-Monk debunk the myth of the Candy Cane:

“Besides, the “true story of the candy cane” is not true. Not one bit. (Snopes is your friend in these kinds of things.) Here it is, as passed on in emails by well-meaning Christians this time of year.

A candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would remind people of the true meaning of Christmas; so he made the candy cane to incorporate several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church, and the firmness of the promises of God.

The candymaker then shaped his cane into the form of a “J” to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to the earth as Savior. It could also represent the staff of the “Good Shepherd” with which He reaches down to to reclaim the fallen lambs who, like sheep, have gone astray.

Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candymaker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

Ok, first of all, think about this for a minute…” Keep on reading here

Lastly, I uncovered a short, informative video from Focus on the Family a while back:

1. Jesus was born in the shadow of one of Herod’s greatest fortresses, though today we only remember Herod for one thing: the evil king who tried to kill the baby Jesus, massacring many innocent children in the process.
2. A stable and a manger are not what we thought they were (see the video)

• A phenomenal brunch cooked up by a team of men from our church
• We sang Christmas carols
• A skit: “What if Jesus was born today in Québec?”
• 4 giant paintings representing original Christmas scenes, painted throughout the celebration.
• A kids triangle where they could color their own Christmas themes.
• Songs and skits by our Sunday school classes.
• Sermon: “The original meaning of Christmas: Jesus came to live, die, be resurrected, so that we can become God’s children”

Praise God for working through a new and very imperfect church like us.

Here are a few photos:

The light from a baby Jesus swallowing up the evil of Herod the Great

Multiple Magi arriving from the East

The Herodian (one of Herod the Great's fortresses) overlooking Bethlehem

Shepherd children looking after the sheep

71,000 Christians praying in Egypt... the largest prayer gathering in 1000 years!

You’ve heard all about the Arab spring. Revolution I. Now, Revolution II is ramping up… this time a spiritual revolution. Here’s what eyewitness Andrew Jones has to say:

We left Egypt a week ago, right before Revolution II broke out.

Something is happening there.

In some ways I wish I was still there but at the same time, I feel we were present for the beginnings of a spiritual revolution that is just as important as the political changes, and instrinsically linked to it.

You don’t read that in the newspapers.

That’s not to knock the newspapers. In fact, one newspaper has consistently delivered the the most accurate coverage of the Arab world protests including Egypt. Articles from the English news source, The Guardian, are forwarded to me almost daily friends in Cairo. These articles have come in the past few days from friends in Egypt.

Nov 22: Egypt’s military rulers continuing Mubarak-era Abuses

Nov 23: Revolution II

Nov 23. Egypt has halted the drive to derail the Arab revolution

But more than just reporting from the scene, The Guardian has provided aninteractive twitter map of the Arab Protests to plot the tweets from the on-location reporters.

And if you want some history of this movement then check out The Guardian’s interactive Path of Protest Timeline.

Thats impressive! HUGE KUDOS to The Guardian. Reminds me of CNN’s role in the Gulf War.

However, the newspapers in general have neglected some essential pieces of the larger puzzle. One piece in particular is the movement of prayer, the 11.11.11 prayer gathering of 71,000 people in Cairo on Nov 11,2011 which was Egypt’s largest Christian gathering in over a thousand years [how did they miss that?], the movement of unity among the churches themselves and between Christians and Muslims, 

Go to his blog to read more…

These two images* confirm the fruit of their radical sacrifices for Jesus… and point us toward the coming fruit of current ambassadors for Jesus Christ scattered across the globe:

Each blue dot represents 50,000 Evangelicals

Each blue dot represents 50,000 Evangelicals

And here are the two photos layered one on top of the other… take a minute and breathe in the radical changes in S. America, Africa, China, and S. Korea:

QUESTION: Is every blue dot 100% accurate?

ANSWER: I’m sure many of the blue dots, as individuals, are the subject of much debate. No one, however, can question the overall explosion… especially the movement of the center of evangelicalism from Europe and N. America to S. America, sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia.

QUESTION: Do all of these dots have a true comprehension of the “evangile” (gospel), or are there other aberrant movements and theologies mixed in?

ANSWER: Many different radically pentecostal and prosperity-oriented theologies are most likely somewhat mixed into these results. However, again, one cannot deny the overall movement taking place. For more info, check out the Mission, Vision, and Ethos of Operation World. 

*These maps are a slight re-working of the material found in the 2010 edition of the Operation World DVD. In my humble opinion, every Christian should own a copy.

Martine, je t’aimais, je t’aime, et je t’aimerais.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Martine a bit younger...

To my good and loving Heavenly Father. Thank you…

(1)… that I was created in Your image, created to reflect Your Trinitarian glory.

(2)… that I was chosen by You to be Your son.

(3)… that I was called by your Holy Spirit, through the means of those you placed in my life, out of my spiritual deadness, and You gave me life.

(4)… that I was justified through the death of Jesus, your unique Son, on the cross, and His victorious resurrection over sin, death and Satan.

(5)… that I will one day be glorified, given a new body with which I will carry out an eternal and all-fulfilling experience in the new heavens and on the new earth, in community, in Your presence.

(6)… that I’m still here, on mission to reflect Your glory, goodness, and love, in community, to those around me.

(7)… that this community on earth begins with the blessing of marriage as Martine and I reflect God’s glory together.

(8)… that this community continues in the privilege of fatherhood, the blessing of Caleb and Constance, following Your example, my heavenly Father.

(9)… that I have the privilege of living out this mission in daily community with brothers like Jacob, Paulo, Louis, Terry, Réal, Danny, Pierre, Philippe, Pierre, Jean, Benjamin, Jonathan, Bernard, Michel, Olivier, Jeremiah, Raymond, Zac, Étienne, Angus, Carl, Alex, Pat, Benoît, Robert, Hermann, JS,  and the list goes on…

(10)… that this community is intrinsically tied to my local “ekklesia” as we live out our mission, the gospel and community, with all of its ups and downs, blessings and difficulties, laughter and tears, together.

For these gifts I deserve no merit. They are gifts from you and you alone my good and loving heavenly Father.

Thank you.

Amen.

The theme of my talk was “The Pursuit of Jesus as my ultimate dream”. Dreams grounded solely in this world will let us down… whether I succeed or fail…

Here are some photos and a video of the event (somehow I didn’t make it into this round of photos. At least you can see what the event was like):

After a full summer, including 2 weeks at World Venture Headquarters and vacation time as a family, we’re back in the swing of things here in St Jérôme. We’re looking forward to speaking at the Momentum Conference in two weeks in Gatineau, Missions-Fest Montréal in November, continued involvement in church-planting Province-Wide, as well as preaching through the Gospel according to John this year.

Building update: no clear response yet from the owners… they are taking their time (God has it all under control)
Support update: we’re still several hundred dollars behind each month, but God is providing… month to month.

Thanks for praying!

WorldVenture began sending men and women to reach out for Christ to the Sendai area 60 years before a 9.0 earthquake and a giant tsunami brought the name Sendai to world news on March 11.

World Venture has trustworthy, talented people on the ground right now who can take your gift and turn it directly into aid and support for tsunami victims. Now, at this great time of need, this established network of pastors, churches and missionaries that God has raised over these years is more positioned to help on the ground with earthquake and tsunami victims than many agencies in the world.

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?

Send financial support. We have the infrastructure and the people in place, but we need resources to empower them to make a difference.

Spread the word. Connect others to us on Facebook and Twitter. Or download and use this pdf to inform your friends, church and community: WorldVenture-Japan-Crisis-Flyer

Go on a short-term team. When it’s time to rebuild, come and help.

Connect your church to a crippled Japanese church. Contact one of our Regional Mission Directors to start your journey of joining your community with theirs.

WE’RE PLANNING DEEP IMPACT

Phase 1 : Relief
At first we are responding like everyone with basic necessities for victims of the disaster. Our network of pastors and missionaries already have deep roots and connections in the communities hit by the tsunami and earthquake, which allows us to find and meet needs more efficiently.

Phase 2 : Rebuilding
After basic needs are met, we will begin moving into the communities to rebuild. During this time we will be facilitating short term teams and church to church partnerships on from the U.S. church. In Japan, we will be working with local pastors to begin putting things back together in the name of Christ.

Phase 3 : Restoration
In the long term (and this may rank as the most import stage of the relief plan), we will begin rebuilding individuals within the community. We’ll work with churches to extend grief counseling and pastoral care as the wounds and sorrows of lost family and friends cause the Sendai people to seek after hope … a hope we know is found in Jesus Christ.

Certainly, the fact that Christ has a lot to say about loving ones enemies explains fairly adequately the (lack of) a response.  We can say with confidence that any call by a “Christian” for a violent response would be roundly, publicly, and nearly unanimously condemned by other Christians. (Much as the Christian community publicly and vehemently condemned oh what’s his name (the pseudo preacher dude) down in Florida a while ago.

Inversely, much of the Islamic rhetoric we see and hear and read so much about marches to a drumbeat of violence against those who do not hold to these extreme “ideals” (though every Muslim I personally know does not personally hold to these doctrines of violence and is not afraid to speak against it, so it would be very wrong to put all who claim to be Muslim into one basket).

But there is a much deeper reason for the contradictory responses to what appear to be similar actions (Bible burning and Qur’an burning), a reason that cuts to the very fabric of Islam and the heart of Christianity, and why Islam is fundamentally incompatible with the reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

I’ve seen this reason hinted at in various places. The best explanation I’ve found is over at the Desiring God blog where John Piper quotes Andrew Walls:

Christian faith must go on being translated, must continuously enter into vernacular culture and interact with it, or it withers and fades.

Islamic absolutes are fixed in a particular language, and in the conditions of a particular period of human history. The divine Word is the Qur’an, fixed in heaven forever in Arabic, the language of original revelation.

For Christians, however, the divine Word is translatable, infinitely translatable. The very words of Christ himself were transmitted in translated form in the earliest documents we have, a fact surely inseparable from the conviction that in Christ, God’s own self was translated into human form.

Much misunderstanding between Christians and Muslims has arisen from the assumption that the Qur’an is for Muslims what the Bible is for Christians.

It would be truer to say that the Qur’an is for Muslims what Christ is for Christians.
(The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History, 29)

Then John Piper goes on to explain in greater detail:

Did you catch that last line?

The parallel between Christianity and Islam is not that Christ parallels Mohammed and the Qur’an parallels the Bible. The parallel is that the Qur’an parallels Christ. The giving of the Qur’an is in Islam what the incarnation of Christ is to Christianity.

If this is so, then Qur’an-burning is parallel to Christ-crucifying.

But ponder the implications of this. On the one hand you might say this goes a long way to explaining Muslim rage. Yes. But more importantly it goes even farther to show the deep differences between the two religions.

In the process of being crucified, Jesus rebuked the use of the sword (Matthew 26:52) healed his enemy’s amputated ear (Luke 22:51), prayed for the forgiveness of his murderers (Luke 23:34), and sent his followers out to love their enemies and do good to those who hate them (Luke 6:27).

So the Qur’an has been burned and the Christ has been crucified…

Even in the crucifixion of Christ, Jesus condemned the use of force by his disciples… making it evidently clear that He is more than capable of protecting himself.

And that is who we worship, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He who was crucified once and for all. This message liberates us to live like lambs  going to to the slaughter. Loving our enemies, especially when we are wronged in the process.

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[j]

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39

Thanks for praying for me.

Mark Driscoll writes:

Patrick was born around 390 A.D. When he was roughly 16 years of age he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland on a ship where he was sold into slavery. He spent the next six years alone in the wilderness as a shepherd for his masters’ cattle and sheep. Click here to keep reading…

I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment that Patrick was one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived. To read more about his life, The Celtic Way of Evangelism is a great place to start:

Andrew's Japanese friend Mika

As we hear more and more about the earthquake(s), watch video of the Tsunami, and pray against a nuclear catastrophe similar to Chernobyl, it’s easy to forget the people who are the Japanese. Here are a few links that may help to give a name and a face to these people created in God’s image:

#1: Japanese house churches and the earthquake:

From Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi):

One of my Japanese friends is Mika who asked for prayer on this blog when the earthquake happened. I have an update from her.

#2: Video interview as missionaries gather supplies to bring back to Japan

John and Eriko Houlette’s homepage can be found here

#3: Prayer video:

This video was (obviously) made prior to the earthquake. But it gives some direction as to how to pray for this nation so often misunderstood by the west:

#4: Prayer info for the Japanese as a people (from operation World prior to the current crisis):

Answer to prayer: Uncertainty about the future has prompted spiritual searching…

Challenge for prayer: Japan is a nation facing many crises… moral, political, economic, sociological…

#5: Japanese Churches near the Epicenter

(from Missions on the Frontline):

Please pray for the Conservative Baptist Association of Japan (CBAJ) church families in…

1. Kurihara City.  There are  two CBAJ churches there and this is nearest to the epicenter.

2. Kessenuma City.  This is the city that is in flames.  There are two CBAJ churches there.

3. Natori City.  This is where the tsunami inundated farm land.  There is a church there as well.

4. There are 30+ churches within a 60 mile radius of the epicenter.

Ken Taylor, WorldVenture Japan Field Leader, reports that local church and mission groups in Japan are organizing for coordinated responses to the overwhelming needs. In the days to come, we anticipate releasing specific details in which individuals and churches can participate in those efforts.

Update: Click here To give to the relief effort coordinated by missionaries and churches

A few spontaneous reactions of mine:

• their cultural identity appears to be intact, simply transformed by the gospel
• elders in action, I love that everything begins with the older men and women transformed by the gospel.
• the clear vision to pass the bibles from generation to generation for centuries to come

What is your reaction?

Tim makes a few comments about Jesus’ identity and his 2,000+ year-long impact that are worth listening to:

To be typical, you’d most likely be reading this:

是典型的，你最有可能被阅读本

This year (November 2011) God decided I needed to attend Montréal’s version: Mission Globales (en français). Several thousand are expected to attend, with over 70 missions agencies represented. It’s a bilingual event, and I’ve been asked to speak in French… a message specifically directed to teenagers.

Please pray for me… as I ask God for a clear, exegetical message of a radical sacrificial love for His glory, and for the joy of the French-speaking world.

Just got Triumph of the City by  Edward Glaeser (an Economist at Harvard). Can’t wait to read it.

Diana Silver has some good things to say in the New York Times about this book.

Here’s a blurb:

America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the 3 percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they’re dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly… Or are they?

As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live. New Yorkers, for instance, live longer than other Americans; heart disease and cancer rates are lower in Gotham than in the nation as a whole. More than half of America’s income is earned in twenty-two metropolitan areas. And city dwellers use, on average, 40 percent less energy than suburbanites.

Glaeser travels through history and around the globe to reveal the hidden workings of cities and how they bring out the best in humankind. Even the worst cities-Kinshasa, Kolkata, Lagos- confer surprising benefits on the people who flock to them, including better health and more jobs than the rural areas that surround them. Glaeser visits Bangalore and Silicon Valley, whose strangely similar histories prove how essential education is to urban success and how new technology actually encourages people to gather together physically. He discovers why Detroit is dying while other old industrial cities-Chicago, Boston, New York-thrive. He investigates why a new house costs 350 percent more in Los Angeles than in Houston, even though building costs are only 25 percent higher in L.A. He pinpoints the single factor that most influences urban growth-January temperatures-and explains how certain chilly cities manage to defy that link. He explains how West Coast environmentalists have harmed the environment, and how struggling cities from Youngstown to New Orleans can “shrink to greatness.” And he exposes the dangerous anti-urban political bias that is harming both cities and the entire country.

Using intrepid reportage, keen analysis, and eloquent argument, Glaeser makes an impassioned case for the city’s import and splendor. He reminds us forcefully why we should nurture our cities or suffer consequences that will hurt us all, no matter where we live.

Looking forward to our urban church planting event in downtown Montréal (more on that later)…

Yesterday Bob Smietana reported in The Tennessean about the plight of Said Musa, a former aid worker in Afghanistan who has been put in prison for converting from Islam to Christianity. A Twitter campaign over the last few months has grown to more 10,000 tweets, with leaders from John Piper to Rick Warren advocating for the release of Musa. Click here to see the tweets.

I spoke with Bob as he was writing this piece and I told him, “We have to get to the place where the world speaks out and says it’s unacceptable to kill a man for changing his religion.” Simply put, conversion is not a crime.

According to the article, it appears that American officials have intervened, and that Musa has been moved to a new jail and is not under immediate threat of execution. But his safety is still not guaranteed. And, the fact that his story made the front page of The Tennessean yesterday helps– it reminds the U.S. backed Afghan government that people are watching.

This situation should open our eyes to the reality of persecution around the world. Although Said Musa’s story has gained traction through social media, there are countless others who stand in the same position. As we watch a climate of growing unrest on the other side of the world, we will do well to remember that there are brothers and sister ready to die for their faith. In turn, we should not be silent. Conversion is not a crime.

You can read the article here and learn more background to the story in this articleby Paul Marshall in National Review.

Ed & Diane Marcelle

Monday, my friend Ed drove up from Albany to talk to a bunch of dudes passionate about church planting in Québec. His talks were incredible. The first touched gospel and culture. The second explained the motivation and theology behind  the Acts 29 network.

As us guys discussed, Martine and Diane hung out elsewhere. At the end of the day, everyone was encouraged.

One quote from the first talk:

Our Gospel must encourage the church to live differently and to reach out to the community around us.  We must faithfully preach and teach the Scriptures and then as people go out into the community. Living out our faith in tangible ways will undergird our voice to speak into the community and speak of issues of faith.

Thanks for investing in Québec Ed!

HT: Justin Taylor

I thank God for the opportunity to benefit from the collective wisdom and experience and look forward to what’s ahead!

1. the Constitution,
2. Le règlement numéro 1 (a legal document with the province of Québec),
3. the annual budget.

What does this mean?

1. We are a legal, functioning church in the eyes of the Province.
2. We are financially autonomous for the first time! This means that all expenses, including Jacob’s salary are 100% paid for by the church with no outside financial help to do it… (though our salary is not included in this).

Here are some photos of the occasion so you can praise God together with us!

Here are the thirteen bound volumes of manuscripts found buried in an earthenware jar at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. Their discovery has produced endless controversy over what books should have become part of the New Testament.

“…when the many manuscripts and movements usually categorized as Gnosticism are examined closely, various clusters of characteristics can be identified, but the only element common to all is that each is remarkably heretical, which is how they were quite properly judged by their contemporaries–not just “one heresy but a swarming ant-heap of heresies,” as the distinguished Simone Pétrement explained.

Purely as a matter of faith, one is free to prefer Gnostic interpretations and to avow that they give us access to secret knowledge concerning a more authentic Christianity, as several popular authors recently have done. But one is not free to claim that the early church fathers rejected these writings for nefarious reasons. The conflicts between many of these manuscripts and the New Testament are so monumental that no thinking person could embrace both.

Consider that some Gnostic ‘scriptures’ equate the Jewish God with Satan! Should those who defended conventional Christian teachings stand condemned of bigotry for not siding with such views? In addition, many of the Gnostic scriptures are obvious forgeries, easily recognized as such by the early church fathers, just as they ought to be today, in that whoever wrote them tried to deceive readers into believing they were the work of famous figures of first-generation Christianity-Peter, James, Mary Magdalene, Pilate, or Thomas, for example–or someone claiming extraordinary status, such as being the twin brother of Christ.

Whether the Gnostic teachers were ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, that they were heretics vis-à-vis conventional Christianity cannot be disputed.”

-pp. 141-142 “Cities of God,” by Rodney Stark

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding. -Proverbs 3:13

A few books I’m currently working my way through (or recently finished):

I’m personally struggling with these questions as we continue with church planting in Québec. Here is how Ed Stetzer puts it:

So, they (church planters) sincerely set out with a new formula that will fill the local middle school gymnasium or movie theater with lost people. They have a vision of lost people streaming en masse through the doors on launch Sunday shouting, “I found it!” No wonder that planter will spend the majority of the week getting the production ready. The band, slides, movie clips, coffee and donuts, are all a part of an environment that helps people feel at home. But at the end of the day, the demanding grind of an attractive church can potentially take away from the pursuit of those far from God. Simply put, when you have an attractive plant it can end up solely with an attractional strategy. The end result will be that you “sell” a new and better church (product) to consumers of religious goods and services.

It is possible (and even common) to spend too much energy focused on only one aspect of the church plant: the Sunday morning crowds. There are many solutions, including opening up new lanes to all kinds of church planting, something Warren Bird and I discuss in Viral Churches.

One solution is to personally invest significant time in relationships with lost people and new believers. The sermons may need to be simpler with less “special effects.” The band may need less programmatic direction and more relational investment with you. At the end of the day, the core team and lead planter must personally invest heavily in the harvest. Not only is that great for the moment (for those lost people, etc.) but it creates the culture for the future of every person who connects with your church. The long term future of the new church is in the harvest, not a Disneyfied Sunday morning experience.

I think there are some inherent tensions in Ed’s books and writings (maybe I’ll share them at a later date), but I think he is onto one of the main issues. And effectively responding to this challenge will liberate the québecker church like never before.

As a church, we must, must, must have an answer to this question. If not, lives, marriages, families, and churches will (continue to) crumble.

If you live close… come on out!  If you live far… thanks for praying!

TRANSLATION:

Sunday, February 6, 5pm – 7pm

655 rue Fillion, St-Jérôme

100 Bowls created by artists from here

Bowl – $20, Soup – Free

All of the proceeds go the “L’Ami(e) du quartier” (Friend of the Neighborhood)

From time to time I’ll share a few thoughts from our living room about what God is doing here in Québec, in my life, or in the church.

Thanks for praying!

“Ah,” the neighbor says. “I hear you are religious! Great! Religion is a good thing. Where is your temple or holy place?”

“We don’t have a temple,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our temple.”

“No temple? But where do your priests work and do their ritual?”

“We don’t have priests to mediate the presence of God,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our priest.”

“No priests? But where do you offer your sacrifices to acquire the favor of your God?”

“We don’t need a sacrifice,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our sacrifice.”

“What kind of religion is this?” sputters the pagan neighbor.

And the answer is, it’s no kind of religion at all.”
—Tim Keller, King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus, p. 48.

via: Justin Taylor