The Wayback Machine: January
Some things just get better with age. “The Wayback Machine” posts occur at the end of every month and reference the best posts of that month in years past. My hope is to provide a good jumping on point for readers who have never been to Pursuing Glory.
2010
Why You Come To Pursuing Glory
This post was my 199th post. It was my attempt to sum up the reasons why people come and participate in this crazy blog and also articulate a little bit what the path forward looked like. If you’re wondering why you’re here or you have an interest in revival, apostolic ministry, the global house church movement, interecession, or our personal lives, you should check out this post to find out why you’re in the right spot.
2007
I wrote this blog because I was in a season of trying to plant a house church and was finding out very quickly not everyone was going to be as excited about it as I was. You also will get a good look at me wrestling with whether I wanted to bear the stigma of what was (and still is) part of belonging to a house church. The good news is the Lord is faithful and we’re still here.
Our House Church Came Together
This post came out of the very first gathering of our house church. We’ve grown a little numerically, we’ve grown a lot in community and in each other’s lives. This post ought to give you some great insight in where we started. It’s hard to believe it’s been four years.
Food For Thought: Simple Church Sampling
Every week here at Pursuing Glory I try to bring together the best posts I’ve found that will equip the end-times church to operate in her God-ordained destiny. These are the best blogs, articles, books and other resources related to our purpose here at this site. Feel free to visit, comment, and make use of the resources found at each site.
This week’s posts mostly focus on house churches (organic/simple churches). They represent a wide assortment of people who have different perspectives, but all of them have been practicing simple, reproducible, Christ-centered meetings for years. They’ve been my food for thought as I’ve been preparing to write a “Basic Introduction” post on house churches. I hope you enjoy!
Simple Church and Global Missions
The prevailing thought is that simple, organic churches tend not to be very engaged in missions, especially globally. I’ve found this incredibly inaccurate in our own experience, though I think it greatly depends on who makes up each church. (Posted at The Assembling of the Church)
Frank at Reimagining Church shares an excerpt from his book, From Eternity to Here, where he looks at the reality of Christ’s Lordship in the Church as a foundation for understanding how the Church is built. This is must reading for every church planter.
Maurice Smith at Parousia Network Cyber Cafe shares his perspective of where God is leading those in the organic house church movement. This is long post, but there are some keen insights about what the future may look like.
Guy Muse at The M Blog shares a true story about a church planter from Ecuador, that while true, is also a parable for those of us in the organic house church movement.
Photo Credit: Design Probes – Food for Thought by centralasian.
On Sonship (Part II)
Last week, I began a conversation on sonship that you can read here.
Before we go too far, I want to make sure I frame this conversation in the right perspective. Most of what I hear taught on sonship in the body of Christ focuses on us understanding our position as an object of affection. And I whole-heartedly agree that good dads love their kids. We must understand God as our loving Father.
But there is a whole other side of sonship that I think has been lost to our generation. Sonship also has a set of priviledges and a whole different set of responsibilities. So, yes, you are a beloved son of God the Father. And that means you get all of the love and affection you can handle (and probably more than you can handle, because, hey, it’s God’ we’re talking about). But you are also going to enter into a realm of priviledge and responsibility that very few understand, because our society is not very good at raising up sons.
This realm of thinking must be explored because we are at a very dangerous place as a society and a church. Young men and women who have never been well-fathered are beginning to assume leadership roles in business and society. Believers who have been told they are only the object of the father’s affection are quickly becoming spiritual parents, but know little of the responsibility that comes with the title. A whole generation of fatherless and poorly fathered individuals are being tasked with becoming fathers and we must shift our thinking before we begin leading with an orphan mindset.
Photo Credit: Sun, Son, and Dad by lovelypetal
Cluster Map
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