Tag Archives: Renew Church

Hungry for God.

Posted on by

I really like food. Like really, really like it.

In fact, while I can exercise much discipline in some areas of my life (e.g., running), when it comes to good food I’m defenseless. I simply enjoy eating.

That’s why I constantly ask my wife to help me by keeping me on track, providing healthy meals in good portions of only the best foods for me (e.g., not cheese). Because food is often my comfort (such as after a good long run), I can rely upon it more than its Maker.

Here’s an invitation … to join me in … not eating … Continue reading →

 

Advent is upon us: Let There Be Light!

Posted on by

Once upon a time, there was utter and complete darkness and cold. Nothing alive. And God spoke, the first spoken words recorded in history — “Let there be light.”

These four little words, the first words, changed everything, right? The Light shined in the darkness & nothing remained the same.

At just the right time, after centuries of silence, God spoke again: His Word became the Light of the World, the bright Son Jesus who brings light and life to all things.

Jesus is the Light of the World. He isn’t a soft candlelight that hides our blemishes and makes everything look lovely. It isn’t Christmas lights that just give a nice cheer to the season. He is a blinding, blazing, burning light, that reveals. He doesn’t just cast a flattering glow. He reveals all things. Both the beauty and the brokenness.

Advent2013_600x220

Message title: Let There Be Light!
Week 1 of Advent (Sunday, December 8th)
Scripture: John 1:1-5; Isaiah 8:11-22; 9:1-7

 

For Jesus makes their cause His own.

Posted on by

The spread of Christianity in the first century is an unprecedented movement as God’s mission and message spread through ordinary people. One these followers of Jesus became the first martyr in the Christian Church.

Stephen, who appointed to a servant-leadership role had a ‘priestly spirit,’ for he cared for the poor, embodied bold courage, prayed for people, and loved and forgave his enemies until the good end. May God raise up more servant leaders like Stephen, who trust in Jesus as their High Priest, and become like Him.

They were like a Kingdom of Priests sent by Jesus their High Priest. Because He made our cause His own, we make His cause our own.

Revival

Stephen, whose face shined like the face of an angel (Acts 6:15), stood up and preached boldly about the access we now have freely to God. His final words:

7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:51-60)

How can this man forgive his enemies? In becoming the first Christian martyr, Stephen was generous and courageous to the very end. It cost him everything!

Stephen had a ‘priestly spirit,’ taking the problems of others to God.

God intends that every follower of His Son would become like our High Priest, embracing and embodying the grace and truth of Jesus. Only in that way will we have the confidence and the courage to face our enemies … and the grace to forgive them. (Listen to the rest.) Continue reading →

 

Some kind of Revival?

Posted on by

Frequently, I get asked “what kind of church is Renew?” It’s usually in the form of asking what makes Renew unique among “all those churches out there.” There’s hardly a way to respond that does not also compare and contrast, so I try to wrap up the conversation at some point to focus on what we are for, rather than harp on what we’re against. Emphasize the purpose and vision we’re passionately seeking after … who we’re eager to become.

We’ve listed our four points before. Besides, it takes all kinds of churches, because God is all kinds of creative. Plus, it’s not my responsibility to lead “those” churches. We seek unity by focusing on the main things.

One main thing is renewal (thus the name RENEW), and revival.

This time let me focus on Revival, and the common ideas about what revival is, and how revival comes to a church and to a city.

On Sunday we focused on different views of revival and how we’ll know if we’re experiencing it when it comes. Over at the Renew blog you’ll find the audio and some notes on “Come, Set Your Rule: Build Your Kingdom Here.” All month we’ll be talking about revival.

When it comes to revival I’m not a fundamentalist, a liberal, or a charismatic. (Here me out on this.) We’re talking vision here. And in categories in which church and unchurched people can relate.

Revival

While going into more detail on Sunday, and in the coming weeks, when I say I’m not fundamentalist, liberal, or charismatic as far as the church, I mean that: Continue reading →

 

Praying, prepping & preaching for this.

Posted on by

While it may be presumptuous to think God would visit us and bring revival, it would also be foolish to trust in our own methods to “make it happen.” In the old days (a la the time of the Apostles), the Gospel was preached, and the “ordinary” works of the Holy Spirit were at play: convicting people of sin, converting them, creating in them new hearts to love God and love people.

There were certainly “extraordinary” signs and miracles that accompanied this (and in another space we could debate whether those are still at work today)1, yet as the Apostles made clear: the ‘signs’ are just that — markers that point to the destination » Jesus.

Image published via Pressgram

Today begin a new series on Revival, the people of Renew Church asking Jesus to “Build Your Kingdom Here” (sing along below, if you dare).

We begin in Acts 2:

2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God withmighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died andwas buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing thatGod had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
35     until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for allwho are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

  1. Footnote: I am a “continuationist” and not a “cessationist,” as I believe that signs, miracles and the other “sign gifts” (see 1st Corinthians 12-14) are still operating in the church today. Sadly, they too often abused. Yet the Spirit breathes life into His people, and means for His ‘graces’ to work just as they always were intended: for the building up of the body of Christ so we could become mature. Because the Spirit seeks to make real to us what is true of Jesus, He resists us when become greedy, proud or foolish about about spiritual things. While discussions about spiritual gifts are secondary, debates like that always help us see what is primary in our hearts: us or Jesus. If one quarrels about giftedness without graciousness, then there will be little grace on display with one’s gifts. ↩
 

Does God control everything?

Posted on by

We’re prone to think that if God is in control, He must do it in opposition to our choices. What if in His wisdom and providence He takes all of our choices — for good and for bad, for healing and for harm — into account as He unfolds the Story of the world?

» Feel free to listen to my small take on that big question: Does God Control Everything?

More importantly, the Scriptures speak:

“We know that all the events of our lives are orchestrated by God’s sovereign will for our ultimate good, the salvation which belongs to all who love God, to all who have been called in His plan. That plan began in eternity past, carries on into eternity future and guarantees our full salvation.

For all whom God chose long ago, the same ones He also predestined to become perfect images of His son, so that the Son would be first in rank within a huge family. And all whom God predestined, the same ones He also called to faith. And all whom He called to faith, the same ones He also justified. And all whom He justified, the same ones He has also begun to glorify. No one is lost along the way.

What lesson then should we take from all of this? One thing. If God is on our side, who can deprive us of our full salvation? If God did not even spare His own Son but gave Him up at the cross for us all, how could He possible withhold anything else? Won’t He give us everything we need for salvation?

Who could mount an effective attack against the very people whom God has already chosen to be on His side? God is Himself the One who clears us of all our guilt by the merit of Christ. So who could argue against that defense? We have no one less than Christ Jesus, who died, who was also raised and who is now positioned at God’s right hand where He pleads for us.

So what would have to happen to cut us off from the saving love of Christ? Affliction? Anguish? Persecution? Starvation? Exposure? Danger? Execution?

The Scriptures acknowledge that these terrible things do happen to God’s people:

‘For your sake we are put to death all day long, we are treated like sheep ready for slaughter.’

But in all our sufferings we achieve total victory through Christ who loved us, for He will not let our faith die. It keeps springing back, overcoming whatever adversities we encounter.

In fact, I am convinced that nothing can rob us of our salvation—neither the terrors of death nor the enticements of life, neither angels nor demons, neither present-day troubles nor future crises, nor cosmic powers, nor anything in heaven above nor anything in hell below, indeed, nothing in the entire created order will be able to separate us from the saving love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

—Romans 8:28-39 in the wording of a new translation by Ray Ortlund, Jr., found in A Passion for God: Prayers and Meditations on the Book of Romans. Compare with Romans 8:28-39 (ESV).

super8_600

 

Renew Church

Posted on by

Renew Church is a family of missionary servants seeking to introduce our neighborhoods and cities to Jesus our King.
20130912-104635.jpg
We gather weekly on Sundays in the Singer Hill area of Oregon city » 813 7th St • details posted here each week.

PARTNER WITH RENEW

GOD DOES HIS WORK THROUGH PEOPLE:

God doesn’t establish local church communities out of thin air (although He certainly could!), He uses people. He uses us — ordinary people who are caught up in His Story, men and women who join together for the good of a city, saints who are willing to lay aside their comforts and preferences for the furtherance of the gospel.
20130912-104931.jpgWe are looking for such people who care about God’s eternal rescue mission, who want to partner with us to make this vision a reality.

Will you consider joining with RENEW in one or more of the following ways?

// continued on the RENEW website … »

 

Listening to life advice: how should we live?

Posted on by

The currency of our culture is life advice.

Everywhere we look, someone is offering a better way to life. A better you.

This week we’ve asked all the RENEWers to take note of all the life advice they hear. Lean in on conversations, jot down what others share on social media, even listen to your parents! Everywhere and all the time people around us are answering the question, “How should we live?”

20130507-062845.jpg

This vital question comes from the Gospel Grid 1, a way of orienting our hearts and minds around God’s Word and His world.

In four questions the “grid” covers the basics of reality and purpose:

  1. Who is God?
  2. What has He done?
  3. Who are we?
  4. How do we live?

Have you noticed that we tend to reverse the order?

As broken people we take that last question and make it primary: How should we live? Then drawing from our successes or failures at living well, we carve out an identity for ourselves, figuring out who we are. This leads us to view what God has done in the world through the lens of self: what has God done for me?

On the basis of how we live, and who we think we are, leading to how we see God’s activity in our lives, we then arrive at a view of God. Either He’s been good and gracious, or He’s been less than stellar, not meeting our expectations. When we look at our circumstances … God’s got some explaining to do!

Society places self at the top of the pyramid, beginning with me, myself & I in all our questions. We take the place of God. We turn the Gospel Grid upside-down.

I’m convinced this is why so much life advice is shared — this is how I live, and you should too! (Cue the infomercial smile: “It worked for me, and it can work for you!”) In the midst the message of the Gospel seems like another pitch to adopt a new lifestyle, maybe a less awesome one than you’re working on right now. Add a little Jesus to your life; He’ll make it all better.

What life advice have you heard this week?

Was it helpful? How will that solid advice eventually let you down? Lets come back to the first question — forgetting ourselves and our circumstances for a moment — who is God?

  1. Thank you to the fellow students at Soma School Portland 2013 and the leaders of Bread & Wine for helping me re-discover the Gospel Grid, and re-apply it to my heart, life, and church family. ↩
 

25 things someone learned about church planting (& I’m learning too).

Posted on by

For our four-month anniversary of embarking on this adventure of RENEW (planting a church), I gave my wife a book that seemed helpful and hopeful.

The Church Planting WifeI knew Kari wouldn’t balk at the idea of encouragement, and it seemed that The Church Planting Wife really carried a dose of what the subtitle promised: “help and hope for her heart.” (Not just a bunch of stories and lists saying “you should do this.”)

Christine Hoover (the author) and her husband Kyle (the so-called church planter), tell of how God led them to plant a church in 2008. She writes:

“Though we had eight years of ministry experience under our belts at an established church, we didn’t yet know all that we didn’t know. We had much to learn and, more importantly, God had much sifting and pruning to do in our hearts.

God has shown me that, more than anything, he wants my heart. He wants a tender, moldable heart willing to obey more than he wants any obligatory service I can give him. As I write in my new book, The Church Planting Wife: Help and Hope for Her Heart (Moody, 2013), I’ve learned a thing or two in this crazy adventure called church planting—and I trust I’ll learn more as we move forward. Here are 25 things I’ve discovered so far.”

(Jeff’s note: I will resist the urge to add to or improve upon these. I could easily bold and underline every one. And we’re a mere six months or so into this. Simply nodding my head, rejoicing in this list, reflecting on them, and smiling right now. Maybe this post is just for me, the church planting wife’s husband.)

25 Things I’ve Learned from Church Planting

  1. Hospitality is essential.
  2. Church planting teaches two things more than any other: that God is faithful and that we must learn how to depend on that faithful God.
  3. Programs matter a lot to some people, especially families with small children. It takes special families who can grasp the vision of church planting to invest in a church plant on the ground level.
  4. On the other hand, some people love the early stages of church planting but become uncomfortable when the church grows to a size where they can no longer know everyone.
  5. Church planting happens one relationship at a time.
  6. Sometimes church planting feels like you’re pretending to be a church. And then one day (after backbreaking work and lots of prayer) you realize God has built an honest-to-goodness church right before your eyes.
  7. You cannot church plant apart from the support and encouragement of others.
  8. The Word is living and active. When we let God speak through his Word, he changes people. Every church plant must gather earnestly around the Word and the Christ to which it points.
  9. The church plant often takes on the personality and passions of the church planter and his wife. This is why it’s important to cling to Christ with biblical vision.
  10. Most people, especially outsiders, don’t know what it means when you say you’re church planting. And they think you’re a little crazy.
  11. One of the church planter’s greatest resources is other church planters and pastors in the same city. These relationships should be cultivated.
  12. Some of the hardest relationships a church planter may have are with other church planters and pastors in the same city. Sadly.
  13. The calling to church plant must be sure since you’ll need to return to it again and again in the face of discouragement, defeat, and uncertainty.
  14. The gospel is everything: it sustains when discouragement comes (and it always does), it keeps a church planter and his wife in their city (because there will be times when they want to give up and leave), it compels its ministers forward (and sometimes it’s the only motivation left), and it changes lives (which makes it all worth it).
  15. A church planter cannot drive by an established church without appreciating what it took to make it that way. And he will first think about the secretaries, the nursery workers, the janitors, and the seats permanently bolted to the ground.
  16. As much as possible, a church plant should be structured according to how leaders want it to look a year in the future.
  17. It’s unhealthy for the church planter, the church, and especially the church planting wife if she’s doing childcare during church each week.
  18. A failed church plant is not failure. Lack of faith is failure. Service in God’s name with a heart far away from him is failure.
  19. Slow and steady growth is healthy growth. Explosive growth can be fragile growth.
  20. A good worship leader is important and hard to find.
  21. Spiritual warfare is real.
  22. Church plants should never be started by someone disgruntled or unable to sit under authority at his former church. Church plants cannot be rebuttals to another pastor’s methods and ideas. They must be built on a clear call from God.
  23. A church planter and his wife must pray for and develop a love for their city—and not just the city but for its people.
  24. The church planting wife’s main role in helping her husband is, like Aaron holding up Moses’ arms in battle, praying for and encouraging him to press on.
  25. There is unimaginable joy and reward in sacrifice and service.
 

Speeding ahead, finding confidence, being protected.

Posted on by

Last week Kari and I finished writing a letter to send to friends and family, including a little bit of an update on church planting with RENEW. Re-reading it yesterday caused me to pause and thank God, while considering the rapid change in our lives. This is a season of dynamic change, while other seasons are more like plodding or trudging through the mud. (Which season are you in? Are things moving fast, or really slow?)

I sat there and thought: “Who is up for this challenge? How can we not lose heart? We’re clearly not doing everything ‘right.’ No wonder most church plants ‘fail’ (on a human level). How can we gain the wisdom, generosity, courage we need for this journey?”

That’s a moment of searching for confidence.

Then this morning this Scripture leapt of the page:

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord [the Gospel] may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
—2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (ESV)

All those verbs Paul uses jump off the page (or screen): pray … speed ahead … delivered … establish you … guard you …

It’s remarkable how a passage meant to encourage it’s first readers can also encourage us, while not really being about them or us. It’s centered on Jesus, the Hero. We gain our significance from being minor characters in His big Story.

Will you pray that for us, as we pray the same for you?

20121129-061852.jpg If you are curious about RENEW, there are three main ways to support this pioneering church plant, described briefly here. One way is to give financially at the close of this year. We’ve simplified the process, adding online giving to snail mail to the PO Box. You can also sign up to receive not-more-than-monthly updates.

Most of all we ask for your prayers personally, that the Gospel would race ahead of us, and this would clearly be God’s work and not merely ours.

 

Challenges we face working in God’s shop.

Posted on by

“Your work is a very sacred matter. God delights in it, and through it he wants to bestow his blessings on you. This praise of work should be inscribed on all tools, on the forehead and faces that sweat from toiling.”
—Martin Luther

On Sunday, 9/23 the Renew family shared collective thoughts on the challenges and opportunities we face in our work. Then we talked about what it means to be “At Work in God’s Shop” (on Colossians 3:16-17, 3:22-4:1).

Challenges at work:

  • working with family
  • time management (pulled too many directions)
  • adults acting like kids
  • being “honest and nice” at the same time
  • lack of resources
  • being obedient when it’s not your passion
  • showing respect for poor (“inept”) bosses
  • working with volunteers (lack of self-starters)
  • too many bosses
  • feeling like my work is insignificant

GOD IS MOVING….

  • As I find significance in the mundane
  • to help me have integrity
  • to be light hearted &use humor to impact people
  • noticing the God encounters with people
  • Giving words & opportunities to love on people

Continue reading →