Food For Thought: Evangelism and Community Edition
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.From Institution to Communitas
Over the past several months we’ve seen our house church change from a community of Christ following families into something a little more bent on discipling the nations. The implications have been messy but well worth the change. Interestingly enough, a lot of the thought provoking articles from this week are around those very same topics. And now, on with the links.
Love Others Bob at Logan Leadership writes about what it means to be a movement that loves others. Bob’s insights are short and profound, but they can be summed up with one of the mantras I’m always sharing with believers in my life: “History is defined by those who show up.”
Should We Increase Community at the Expense of Being Missional? Felicity at SimplyChurch has been tackling the very real issue of community development vs. mission that so many house churches find themselves in.
From Institution to Communitas Ross at theJesusVirus takes a stab at the community vs. mission question with this post, drawing on insights from the phenomenal book, The Forgotten Ways. This post shows the progression of a church from an institution to a family to an army and is a needed concept among organic churches everywhere.
Confessions of the World’s Worst Evangelist Steve at Movements.net writes about how the Lord has changed him from the world’s worst evangelist to a worker in the harvest.
Photo Credit: Design Probes – Food for Thought by centralasian.
Kingdom Leadership and the Future of the Church
We’ve been talking a lot in our house church about what the future looks like. What does it mean to be a church made up of more than one house church? What does leadership look like in an environment like this?
So this morning I ran across a post by Len at Next Reformation that captures some of the spirit of what I believe Kingdom leadership looks like in the days ahead. Here’s the quote:
“Brian McGaffigan writes,
The job of facilitator/change agent was described by Ifor Ffowcs-Williams when he asked the question: ‘Would you like a job that offers no formal authority; a high degree of uncertainty; no regular hours; and you will need to earn respect from skeptics; be proactive when the limelight fades; work with energy drainers; lead from behind – no ego tripping. The upside of the job is that you can break patterns; cross boundaries; build bridges across your community; be a hero finder uncovering talent; make things happen through others; influence people in and beyond the cluster; satisfy your hunger for Action; and make a dent in the universe?'”
Obviously there are a lot of character qualifications and Kingdom mandates left out of this description. But if you marry the kind of person Scripture says should lead with these characteristics, I think you get a much clearer picture of what Kingdom leaders look like.
What about you? What would you add to this list? How is this different than leaders you see in the world?
Photo Credit: Desert Leader by Hamed Saber
Ben Israel and the Forming of End Time Community
I found this picture on the web site of Ben Israel, a community founded under the leadership of Art Katz who devoted his life to preparing the Church for the end of the age. Art’s method of preparing believers for the end of the age was different than most. He believed that only believers who were forged in true community would be prepared for what the Lord would bring upon the Earth. He had some other people who agreed with him. To that end, he founded Ben Israel. I think the sign speaks volumes.
(You can catch up on what Art had to say here.)
Cluster Map
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