After our five sermons for Pentecost up in Rustenburg (about an hour west of Pretoria), Attie and Renate Nel flew with us down to Cape Town where we had been scheduled to speak to the Stellenbosch congregation. The pastor we knew here is Theo Geyser (and I won’t even try to describe how to say his name); Theo and Wilma picked us up at the airport, Attie and Renate went on their merry way to relax, and we were promptly introduced to the Stormers — the rugby team from that area. We tooled around Cape Town — the beach front for a coffee and then the mall and a fine lunch at the harbor.

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Here are some highlights of our time in beautiful (but cloudy and rainy this time of year) Stellenbosch:

First, on Saturday evening while Wilma stayed home to prepare her sermon for another church on Sunday morning, Theo took Kris and me to a downtown restaurant where we had a bottle of glorious Cape wine and watch the whole of the rugby game. We loved it — and it reminded me of our time in England where I learned about “rugger.”

Second, as we were sitting around talking about my sermons for Sunday, Theo suggested I change my talk to a mother’s day topic and so I reworked some stuff on Mary and had a wonderful time on Sunday — a sermon at 10am, then one at 5:30pm and then another to big crowd of college students at 7pm. Another great experience with Christians on the Cape, with serious worship and music, and an opportunity to press upon Protestants to think more seriously about Mary and the vision of her Magnificat. (I should have brought along some Mary books … alas, a good excuse to come back!)

We enjoyed listening to Wilma describe her experience preaching at another church when she got back. We loved getting to know Theo, Wilma and Wilma’s delightful mom, Barbara (who cooked up some authentic Cape dishes, including Bobotie — who knows how to spell it). Barbara was very kind — and she’s one more example of S African hospitality. And … about the church in Stellenbosch… this community of faith has something going on that bodes well for the future.

After the Sunday evening services we enjoyed a wine-tasting party with Theo, Wilma, Attie, Renate and Ian and Karin — Ian is a professional wine person and we were introduced to those for whom wine is not only a business but an art form. Wow, do they know alot, including being able to taste wine and recognizing from what country it comes.

Third, I was scheduled for some talks at the theological seminary at Stellenbosch. To my delight, the room on Monday morning was packed and we had two sessions — one on missional Jesus and one on teaching postmodern students to read the Bible. A very stimulating conversation. Loved it. What a beautiful university Stellenbosch is.

Then we flew back to Johannesburg and drove up to Pretoria and to Rustenburg to be greeted by our splendid hosts — Nic and Magriet Albertz. This morning when we got up, I went outside and watched baboons in the hills for about thirty minutes. Awesome place.

I’ve developed a special affection for the red sand/clay here in the north west area of S Africa.

Healer of diseases. Master of nature. Conqueror of demons and death. Jesus not only preached the Kingdom of God in word, but he demonstrated it in power through his miraculous deeds. The Miracles of Jesus in Deeper Connections reveal God’s heart to make people whole—physically, spiritually and relationally.

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Do you think that Jesus still desires for people to be made whole—physically, spiritually and relationally? What role do miracles play in your understanding of the mission of Jesus?

The Miracles of Jesus explain the first century meaning of six of Jesus’ miracles, along with their significance for us today:

Gary Burge teaches from a transitional home in downtown Chicago that houses 55 homeless men who are struggling with substance abuse or mental illness. This setting helps him to explain that the woman who hemorrhaged for 12 years was a social outcast who needed to be wholly restored by Jesus;

Matt Williams teaches from a vineyard about Jesus turning the water to wine to explain that this miracle fulfilled OT expectations about the coming Messiah who would bring lots of good wine when the Kingdom of God came;

Mike Wilkins teaches from the beach in Orange County, CA to explain that Jesus feeding the 5000 and walking on the water showed that King Jesus was not the warrior king that Jewish people of the first century expected;

Ben Witherington III teaches from Old North Church in Boston, where Paul Revere hung the lanterns when the British invaded, to show that the Canaanite woman who wanted Jesus to exorcise a demon from her daughter was seeking freedom: “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed;”

David Garland teaches next to a withered pine tree in the Rocky Mountains to explain that the cleansing of the temple needs to be understood in the same context as the cursing of the fig tree that was withered;

Mark Strauss teaches from a poor neighborhood in San Diego, with a “rich” neighborhood in the background as a backdrop for understanding the healing of the ten lepers, and the surprising nature of the Samaritan leper returning to thank Jesus.

This post is by RJS - looking at Keller’s book, not as a pastor, an evangelist, or a theologian, but as a lay Christian who has been immersed in secular academia for 27 years as graduate student, postdoctoral scholar, and professor.

Christianity is a Straightjacket — belief in absolute truth is an enemy of freedom—it endangers our civic freedom because it divides rather than unites—it stifles creativity and growth— “Christianity looks like an enemy of social cohesion, cultural adaptability, and even authentic personhood.”(p. 37) So run the complaints of many in our educated skeptical age. Tim Keller, in Ch. 3 of The Reason for Godsuggests that “this objection is based on mistakes about the nature of truth, community, Christianity, and of liberty itself.”

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Keller makes several good points in this chapter – truth (some idea of truth) is unavoidable; community cannot be completely inclusive —and no community is; Christianity is not culturally rigid—already most Christians live in Asia, Africa, or Latin America; and freedom isn’t simple.

Let’s consider but two of these – and related ones at that.

Every community holds its members to standards of belief and behavior —our freedom, our liberal democracy, depends on a shared and required set of beliefs and practices: most importantly the sanctity of personal choice and autonomy, a belief not shared in much of the world. A community should not be judged because it has standards for its members, rather a community should be judged on tests such as:

Which community has beliefs that lead its members to treat persons in other communities with love and respect – to serve them and meet their needs? Which community’s beliefs lead it to demonize and attack those who violate their boundaries rather than treating them with kindness, humility, and winsomeness? We should criticize Christians when they are condemning and ungracious to unbelievers. But we should not criticize churches when they maintain standards for membership in accord with their beliefs. Every community must do the same. (p. 40)

Wow — this is a telling indictment of much of our church isn’t it?

Christianity is not a cultural straightjacket – rather, founded on a set of core beliefs, Christianity is and always has been adaptive of diverse cultures. Cultural diversity is built into the Christian faith from the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles of Paul and on to today. We worship one God, one risen Lord, but retain our cultural differences – every tongue, tribe, people, and nation. Greeks need not become Jews, Africans need not become Americans, Republicans need not become Democrats.

So… This leads me to ponder:

What are the key beliefs and practices – the foundation required for membership in the community?

And

Should a Christian community maintain standards on nonessentials? If so - how?

This last is a tough one - as I am convinced that our stance on nonessentials hurts the church and hurts our witness to the unchurched. It is hard to be an effective light to the world when the light observed from the outside is the glow of a fire that burns individuals within the church.

This post is from Rose Madrid-Swetman, a missional pastor at the Vineyard church in Shoreline, WA.

Scot: If you could begin all over again, what one thing would you have focused on more? Or, put differently, what wisdom would you give to a new pastor if you were asked this question: What should I focus on?

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Rose: I am going to make a couple of assumptions. First, I have a core team that is organized around a common mission. Second, that we agree that our faith community is to be a sign, agent, and witness to the Kingdom of God.

With those two assumptions in my pocket, I would focus on “growing a church big rather than growing a big church.” When I first began as a pastor, I was taught to focus on buildings, budgets, and butts in seats. Those three words were, and in many cases still are, the measure for success. Today we (I don’t lead in a vacuum) focus on the other words: conversations, connections, and collaborations.

Conversations imply cultivating an environment for people to belong before they believe. We view our neighborhoods, workplaces, and the community where our facility is located as our parish.

Because we believe that God is at work everywhere, we look for connections that are already established. We look for the signs of the Kingdom that are already happening and then we join God there. John Wimber (founder of the Vineyard Movement) used to say, “see what the Father is doing and bless it.” We pray quite purposefully for God to guide us into the areas where he is already at work in our neighborhoods. When we moved into our leased facility four years ago, our prayer was to be a blessing to our city. As we prayed, we began to see the many needs around us. As an example, we responded to one of the local non-profit agencies who needed tutors for the after-school program they have in a low-income apartment community. Several of us began tutoring twice a month for two hours. There are over 150 children and youth in this one apartment community. Four years later, we have authentic friendships with the agency that runs several programs for folks who are under resourced in our city, as well as with the youth and families. Authentic relationships bring partners to work in God’s kingdom.

Collaborations are a must! We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. We collaborate with several sectors in our city, such as the school district, the City human services department, social services, churches, and many more.

The result of focusing on conversations, connections, and collaborations in four years has resulted in mission impact in our city that we could not have imagined.

When one moves down the alphabet from buildings, budgets, and butts to conversations, connections, and collaborations, one counts success differently. Here are a couple of examples: We count how many people we have served rather than how many people attend our Sunday morning gathering (yes, we have one). We count how many people we are developing, encouraging, and partnering with to be practitioners, who are leading personal, local, and global expressions of God’s goodness and justice.

Growing a church big is a great adventure.

It’s Friday afternoon (and only very early Friday in USA’s midwestern States), but I want to jot down a few notes about two events where we experienced Africa’s wildness. Here goes …

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Thursday Nic and Magriet took us to a cheetah farm between Rustenburg and Pretoria. A wonderful environmentalist devoted her life to cheetahs so she has a sanctuary for raising cheetahs and educating S Africa and the world about cheetahs. Marvelous animals — you’ll have to look up stuff, but we were mesmerized by their sleekness and power and speed. The sanctuary also has some other animals, like wild dogs — fascinating — and hyeena and some birds in danger of extinction.

This morning we got up very early and went to (the huge, huge) Pilanesburg National Park with Bergsig’s leaders to scout for the “Big Five” — and we saw, in the wild, elephants, hippos, giraffe, zebras and rhinos. And plenty of monkeys and impala and warthogs and birds galore. No, we didn’t see either buffalo or lions, but we did the next best thing. These folks are very good to us: they took us to a lion ranch where we could pet and hold baby lions and then see lions treated with the greatest of respect as they grow up and have babies — we saw two lionnesses carrying cubs in their jaws. Their size amazes us. Attie is linking to some pictures from our day: Attie’s blog .

My mind constantly wandered into thinking what this place must have been like 2-3 centuries ago.

Yes, I’m doing some speaking and preaching too. Wed and Thurs evening we had services for Pentecost and I finished up my series. Here is the link where you can find the talks.

Saturday morning we fly to Cape Town and I’ll be speaking Sunday at Mosaic. We are looking forward to meeting Theo Geyser and to be a part of Mosaic.

I cannot express in words what we feel about the hospitality we have experienced here in Rustenburg with Attie and Renate Nel and Nic and Magriet — our hosts. I told the congregation last night that we have experienced the sermon in an embodied form with these fine folks.

Today I would like to talk about the Prodigal Son study from the The Parables of Jesus in the Deeper Connections series. After an introduction from the Gentile city of Susita, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, the scene switches to Ben Witherington III (Asbury) sitting in a boat in Gloucester Harbor, north of Boston—where the movie The Perfect Storm was filmed. Fishermen left this harbor on their ships, and many never returned. Witherington talks about how the women and children would sit in “widow’s watches” on the tops of their homes, looking out to sea, wishing, longing, hoping for their husband’s return.

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Witherington paints the helpful first century background that enables us to grasp the parable’s deeper meaning. When the prodigal asks his father for his share of the inheritance, he was wishing that his father were dead. When the father runs to the son, he shames himself (first century Jewish men never ran!). Witherington mentions that it is possible that the father ran so that he could meet the son on the outside of the village, before the townspeople could harass him for what he had done to his father.

When we understand these background issues, the Parable comes to life. God (the Father) goes to extraordinary lengths to show forgiveness to those who turn to them—even “sinners” with a very shady past. The Father—with the intensity of the women in Gloucester Harbor waiting for their husbands—looks for those who are lost, longing to restore them….. God is “a father who is prepared indeed, willing to go out to those who will even make a step in the right direction, and turn and be renewed and be restored.”

How can pondering our relationships to parents or children or spouses enliven this parable?

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First of all, I am glad by God’s grace that we can’t “begin all over again!” Once around is enough for me. I’ll never understand why reincarnation appeals to so many!

For context, I’m 61 years old, and Linda and I are in our 30th year in our current parish. I was at my first congregation, a church plant, for nearly three years. And that would be my first suggestion to someone starting out: don’t try to start a new church right out of seminary! In fact, knowing what I know now, I would have looked hard for an assistant/associate position to get several years of seasoning. That first church just about finished me off, and only my wife’s faith in me and a return to seminary for an advanced degree kept me in ministry.

It’s almost impossible to answer the question, “What ONE thing would you have focused on more?” because the pastorate (at least in smaller and medium-sized churches) won’t let you do that (and I don’t have the iron will of a Eugene Peterson to stay focused!). With the exception of an incredible half-time youth director (who’s been with us for 15 years and built an amazing youth ministry), I am the only paid ministry staff member. Because we’ve invested our personnel dollars in youth ministry, we don’t even have a secretary (though a volunteer does put the Sunday bulletin together). So I am the classic “jack-of-all-trades” pastor — and I love it! It has forced me to lean heavily on the ministry skills of my people (and made me wish I were a better mentor/trainer than I am).

But if I could go back (now) and talk to myself as I was first starting out, I would say to myself, “Relax! It’s all going to turn out not just ‘fine’ but way better than fine!” As I confessed to my church members (and to my wife and grown children) a while back, I spent so much of my early ministry years living in fear. Fear that I wouldn’t be a good enough pastor. Fear that I wouldn’t be a good enough parent. Fear that I wouldn’t be able to financially support my family adequately. And all of that energy that I invested in fear (and a fair amount of corresponding inner anger and depression) was so unnecessary. If only I had listened to my own sermons on God’s grace and faithfulness.

Perhaps these are lessons that only age and experience can teach; but for a long time I found it very hard to live in the kind of grace that I was offering to my people. Sad to say, I’m not sure I was truly content with my ministry, my life, or myself until my late 40s.

So what wisdom would I give to a new pastor if were asked the question, “What should I focus on?” Focus on God’s grace and faithfulness — for your people, but especially for yourself!

Bob

I’ll try to post a little about what we did Monday and Tuesday in South Africa. We are staying at an absolutely lovely home west of Rustenburg — a lovely garden that looks up into the hills and mountains. We get up early, spend some time in the sun and fresh air and look into the hills. Great way to begin our day. Our hosts, Nic and Magriet, outstrip the meaning of the word “hospitable” and Pastor Attie and Renate have taken care of us like royalty … I could go on … oh, the flowers are amazing.

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This is Pentecost. Unlike what I’ve experienced in the USA, many churches have a Pentecost week of services in the evening — Sunday through Thursday. I think this custom goes back to Andrew Murray, but anyway … that’s why we were invited. I’m doing a series on Pentecost called ‘Power to…’ and I took my central theme from a line by Jimmy Dunn in his Acts commentary: God’s Spirit gives us the power to transform human ability and to transcend human inability. So each evening I’m preaching on a theme about “power to …”. The talks are online at Attie’s website.

Tuesday morning we left the home about 6:30am to drive from Rustenburg to Pretoria. I taught the Pauline theology class at the University; the teacher is a friend, Stephan Joubert. Then we had a splendid breakfast with some friends we’ve met here — including Tom Smith and Drees (can’t find his surname). Then lunch — get this — at a bird sanctuary with some professors in the Theology school and some pastors. Bird heaven, I’ll tell you — wild Ibis and all kinds of birds both like what we have (kingfishers) but so distinct in coloration. Great conversation … and lots of fun chat.

It is Wednesday am — we’ve breakfasted with Attie and Renate and now we are at the church where I will soon speak to some pastors about postmodernity, Bible reading, and the missional church.

We’d like to post pictures but we’re not using our computer and don’t want to load pictures into someone else’s computer.

This series is by RJS as Scot and Kris enjoy South Africa

Chapter 2 of Tim Keller’s book The Reason for Godbroaches the problem of pain. Given the pain and suffering in the world – either God is not good or God does not exist. This argument has many variations but there is an underlying thread of continuity. Certainly there is a great deal of pain and suffering in our world, not to mention out right evil – from a tsunami that wipes out a quarter of a million people in a day, a disease that takes the life of a child or young parent, or a drunk driver who kills a family in an instant, to intentional and premeditated exploitation, abuse, and murder.

We cry out - If God is great and transcendent – why hasn’t he stopped evil and suffering?

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Or is there a reason for evil?

Keller offers the usual platitude – who are we to think we know God’s ways and perhaps we don’t see the good reasons for what appears as evil in the world. After all God used suffering in the life of Joseph to save the Israelites from famine. … Of course this doesn’t address the issue of why there is famine (an evil) in the first place, or why a salvation that results in captivity and then the killing of first born sons of the Egyptians is in fact a “good” outcome. Come on – the real question here is - if there is a God why do we live in this story that includes, integrally, pain and suffering?

But Keller moves beyond this – to point out that we don’t worship a God aloof from the evil in the world – but a God who came himself incarnate in Jesus to experience and ultimately to conquer pain and suffering in the world. Resurrection, initiated by the resurrection of Jesus, is “not a future that is just a consolation for the life we never had but a restoration of the life you always wanted.” (p. 32) and “Jesus insisted that his return will be with such power that the very material world and universe will be purged of all decay and brokenness.” (p.33)

So…Far from disproving the existence of the Christian God – the existence of pain and suffering, however it came about, is the reason for the story we find ourselves in. The Christian story is the story of evil conquered.

Which leads to my questions:

How would you respond to the proposition that pain and suffering demonstrates that an all-good and all-powerful God does not, cannot, exist? Why did God – does God – allow pain and suffering?

And… What has helped you most in struggling with evil and injustice in this world?

In the introductions to each of the Deeper Connections 18 Bible studies—shot in various locations in Israel—one can see the hills from which Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, see the desert in which he found refuge from the crowds in order to pray, ride on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, walk the crowded marketplaces of Jerusalem, and pray at the Western Wall.

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It is easy for us to forget that Jesus lived in another culture, which was very different from ours. These introductions try to connect Jesus’ 1st century culture to our 21st century culture. The hope is that as we understand Jesus’ culture and background better, we will better understand Jesus’ teachings and live as better disciples.

Here’s a sample introduction: We’ve all read about how Jesus touched and healed the woman who was bleeding for 12 years. What we often forget is that in first century Judaism, a hemorrhaging woman would have been unclean. In the introduction to the study about this woman (taught by Gary Burge in The Miracles of Jesus), we find Jarrett Stevens hustling through a crowded marketplace, trying not to touch—or be touched—by anyone.

As the camera weaves its way through the crowd, we begin to sense the tragic nature of this woman’s condition—perhaps for the first time. We see and experience that it is not just a physical problem, but also a social and religious problem! She would have been an outcast of society: unable to enter a marketplace, a synagogue, or anywhere where other people were.

Do you think that the people in your church understand what the culture of Jesus was like? Do you think that such knowledge helps us understand the Bible better? What do you think we can do to help understand the Bible as a cross-cultural experience?

Cindy Nicholson, Asst. Pastor, Vineyard Christian Church of Evanston; Cindy is also on task forces and committees at the national level of the Vineyard; she responds to our pastor’s wisdom question:

If you could begin all over again, what one thing would you have focused on more?

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I started leading in college 37 years ago and I have never stopped. I love this calling and I am so grateful to God that I am still pastoring all these years later. When I reflect on that time, the one thing that I would have focused on more has nothing to do with the art of pastoral ministry – and everything to do with it! I would have more diligently protected my times set aside to sit quietly before God, scriptures in hand, and to listen, to think long, slow thoughts and to let him inform my mind, soften my heart, and open the doors of my spirit to be filled again with the Holy Spirit .

When I think of the men and women I admire who are still practicing their calling in their elder years, I notice that they are not easily drawn into making quick moves or speaking without thinking. I watch them and I can almost see them doing what Jesus did – asking the Father, “What are you doing?” and then only doing that. The ability to do this on the spot comes out of years of doing it when no one is watching. I’ve had good seasons of cultivating my quiet, reflective times with Jesus, and I’ve had seasons when I’ll do almost anything not to listen to him. If I had it to do over, I would be fierce about keeping that discipline in place.

We arrived in Johannesburg after a 14 hour flight — safe and sound. I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I was awake long enough to see the first sight of Africa — Ghana area — and then slept until we got to Namibia’s coast … so it was fun to see Africa for the first time.

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Our hosts have been extraordinary — fabulous — words like that. Attie and Renate Nel picked us up, drove us through Pretoria on our way west to Rustenburg, and then we found our way to the home of Nic and Magriet on the western side of Rustenburg. All I can say about our place is that it is gorgeous — and we’re told there are baboons in the hills behind our home. Not seen any yet, but it isn’t because we haven’t looked! Birds galore — a birding paradise for me.

Sunday morning I preached at a Dutch Reformed Church (Protea Park), where we experienced our first service in South Africa. And then in the evening again — at Bergsig DRC. Wonderful service with a marvelous worship band, and our Pentecost services through the week are combining several local DRC churches and missional plants. I’m doing a series on the “Power to…” from Acts 1-5 and will look at Peter, John and Mary and then one on Fellowship.

Today our gracious hosts permitted us to entertain Tom Smith and Trevor Hudson for a morning of conversation; both are pastors in Johannesburg. My learning curve on what’s going on in South Africa is very steep, so I’ll avoid entering into the many issues I’m learning about. Magriet and Nic, with their very fine chef Lees, invited both Tom and Trevor to a splendid lunch.

They say there are lions in Africa, but we’ve seen no signs of their presence — reminds me of those folks in Seattle who say there are mountains in the area (maybe not seeing them has something to do with the fog and clouds!)

I’m counting on the Jesus Creeders to keep everyone in line on the blog.

As a former doctoral student of Scot’s, I’ve been asked to write about a new DVD Bible study series that I edited called Deeper Connectionsfor the next five days. There are three DVDs (and participant’s guides) in the series: The Parables of Jesus, The Miracles of Jesus and The Prayers of Jesus. Its aim is to help busy pastors, Sunday school teachers, and small group leaders by providing visually exciting and interesting Bible teaching.

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Have you ever used DVD Bible study curriculum? What have you experienced as you have used DVD Bible studies in your Sunday Schools and small groups?

The Deeper Connections series aims to help our churches become more biblically literate. Sixty percent of Americans can’t name five of the Ten Commandments. Fifty percent of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married! Bible knowledge is also a battle in our churches. Barna research has said that one of the most widely known Bible verses among believers is “God helps those who help themselves”—which is not in the Bible.

Each study begins with an introduction from Israel by Jarrett Stevens (North Point Church, Atlanta), followed by a passage of Scripture taught in various locations (Chicago skyline, California beach, Rocky Mountains, Boston, etc.) by some well-known Bible communicators: Gary Burge (Wheaton), David Garland (Truett), Mark Strauss (Bethel), Michael Wilkins (Talbot), Matt Williams (Biola), and Ben Witherington III (Asbury). The teaching is divided up into 3 sections, so that in a 60 minute group session, there is about 30 minutes of DVD teaching on both the Bible passage and application, including time for 30 minutes of group discussion (group discussion questions are included in the participant’s guide).

In the next four days, we will talk about the introductions from Israel, and then give samples from each of the DVDs.