Simple Church
[I wrote this in November when I was in Ecuador preaching. Figured since we started our core-team sunday gathering this past week,
it would fit to post now.]
The last two days I have been blessed to preach in a small church in an area in the South of Quito, Ecuador. Saturday night I taught the youth, and Sunday night I taught the whole church. The time together was sweet, and it reminded me of Acts 2.42-ff. They meet in the pastor’s home with plastic lawn chairs. There is no sound system, no smoke machines, no lights, not much of anything other than 25 Spanish Bibles, which our group was able to provide. It is simply, yet it is lovely. Each day I have worked on my message in the pastor’s bedroom in a small kitchen table style chair. There is no desk, no wifi (I know, because I scanned for a network to jump on), and no resources but my notebook, my Bible, and the Holy Spirit. During my time of preparation, which is being put off to about an hour or two before I teach due to a very busy schedule, there are woman of the church cooking a meal, which we will partake of together after the message.
The Living Room/Gathering Space!
Also each day there have been kids taking a nap on the bed beside me. Actually the baby, a one month old, just woke up. I tried to rock it (actually not sure if it is a boy or a girl, I hate neutral colored clothing on babies) back to sleep, but I think it wants something I cannot give it. Have no fear, mom just came in and all is good. Anyways, the point of the post is that many times those things we think we need, we really don’t. The different products we must buy to stay current with church trends, are simply only that, a trend, not something that is of necessity.
I wonder what would happen if more churches cut their budget of the fat that they think are necessities, and cut it back to simply preaching about Jesus and allowing the saints to do the ministry. How much more time would those who attend have to pour into their neighborhood, their work or their home? How much more money would we have to plant churches, do world missions, give to those in need when our budget can be cut in half? I guess if nothing else maybe this post will challenge me and my church plant, Redemption Hill, to do more with less. Maybe we can go back to being like the early church. Maybe we can actually be a change agent in our comunity and culture with our time, energy, and money, not just simply do things because they seem good and tend to only impress other believers.
A Donkey, Really?
Community and our need for it is a bigger than we think.
The idea of community so permeates the Scriptures that Jesus even sent two disciples to go fetch a donkey. Really?
Luke 19.29-30 – When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.
Was this simply because they could not do so alone? Hardly. These men were fishermen, surely they could get a donkey alone. No, the simple truth taught here is that Jesus knows we are in need of community, even in the mundane of life. Maybe I am looking at this and overthinking it, or maybe I am not. I think there is something there, something simple yet profound.
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Trusting Deeper, not Trying Harder
[Since many of you have already failed your New Years resolution, or are quickly on their way to doing so, I thought I would post a short encouragement of sorts.]
So think about it, and pray about it. Maybe this year, God will rock your world. Maybe He won’t, but that is not up to us. It is only by and through His grace and mercy either way. So trust deeper in Jesus and stop trying so hard.
Bible Reading Group Launched
It looks like there will be a bunch of us who will be reading the Bible together over 2012, and I hope that we can add more over the next couple days. Below you will find the next steps to join in on what we are doing. From this point out most, if not all, of the communications will take place over at the Facebook group.
Facebook Groups – We have created a Facebook group. Click on over there and join the group. Also feel free to share the group with other people so they can join in this community journey of reading the Bible in 2012.
Facilitators – One of the hopes with the Facebook group is that we would have some discussion on the group wall. To help do this I have asked a couple of my friends, Bryan Page and Tim Sewall (become friends with them, I promise they will not bite*) to help lead discussion, along with me. Our hope in plan is to post thoughts, quotes or meditations from the passage for that day. By all means we hope that you will join in on the conversation and post your thoughts from the daily passage.
Accountability – Now if you are like me one of the reasons you are excited about this whole process is that you will have a group of people to encourage you and hold you accountable (ie. the FB group). Now even though this goes far beyond simply attempting to read through the Bible on your own, I would still encourage you to find a couple people who you can see face-to-face and ask them to do this with you. Have them join the group also!
Chronological – The Bible reading plan we will be using is the Chronological Bible reading plan. Here is the description from the creators.
This plan does not read straight through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Rather, these readings are compiled according to recent historical research, taking into account the order in which the recorded events actually occurred. This is a fantastic plan to follow if you wish to add historical context to your reading of the Bible. If the schedule provided is followed, the entire Bible will be read in one calendar year.
You can use a couple different methods for reading through the Bible.
- PDF – Click here to download a .pdf of the reading plan. May I encourage you to print it off so that you can stick it in your own Bible for easier reading.
- YouVerison – You can also click here and sign up for YouVerion, which is free, and read what ever translation you like from there. If you sign up, you can actually sign up to read this very reading plan, and it will have your daily reading. You can also down load this on your iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry or Windows Mobile phone.
- RSS – if you would like to subscribe to the passages for each day, go ahead and subscribe to this RSS feed (if you don’t know what RSS is, then don’t worry about it, or Google it).
Bible Check List – Also here is a helpful, small little check list that I have taped to the inside front of my journal. You can use it to simply ‘check’ off the passages as you read them each day. Download HERE.
[note: this post was unedited and is in the raw, so get over the grammer and delight in Jesus!]
*I simply promise that they will not bite through FaceBook, if you meet them in person, I can not promise they may not nibble you a little!
