Campus Toolbox–Practical Ideas Click Below
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Feb
17
We run on God.
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What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’–be their own masters–invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history–money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery–the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
The reason why it can never succeed is this: God made us, invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended—civilizations are built up—excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top, and then it all slides back into misery and ruin. In fact, the machine conks. It seems to start up all right and runs a few yards, and then it breaks down. They are trying to run it on the wrong juice. That is what Satan has done to us humans.
– C.S. Lewis
Feb
17
David Mays does a good job summarizing key books. I thot his summary of Bob Robert’s recent book had direct application to our thinking about good news and good deeds and our strategies to take the gospel to the “glocalized world.”
Glocalization: How Followers of Jesus Engage a Flat World
Bob Roberts, Jr.
Zondervan, 2007, 208 pp., ISBN 978-0-310-26718-8
Bob Roberts Jr., is the founding pastor of NorthWood Church in Dallas. He has been involved in planting 100 congregations in the U.S. Bob also works in several other countries helping with development and global engagement. He is the founder of Glocalnet (www.glocal.net) and author of Transformation.
“A flat world is connected like never before through technology, travel, business, and communication…but what does that mean for the church and individuals? Glocalization explains how the work of the church must shift from the pulpit to the pew, from the church building to the community and world at large. It must glocalize.” (flyleaf) Roberts sees himself as an explorer (rather than a professor), trying to find and use the best ropes and sails for the journey. (19)
Chapter 1. The Whole World Has Gone Glocal!
“Nothing local is purely local and nothing global is purely global.” “Glocal means everything is becoming decentralized, especially in the church. Glocalization puts everyone center stage. Glocal implies a new set of values changing the culture and the world. (21)
Glocal is a great opportunity for the church. Decentralization means every person in every domain of society in the pew connects with domains and people glocally. “It’s not about missions; it’s about globalization. People have become global beings.” “It’s way over there and here at the same time. That is why it’s glocal.” (27)
Chapter 2. It’s All about the Kingdom–Not Missions (From One-Shot Evangelism to Comprehensive Domain Transformation)
“Missions was through the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. The twenty-first century is about glocalization. The old missions metaphor does not communicate because it only ‘worked’ as a religious response to an unconnected world.” “We have to move…to a radically different faith response where one is unabashedly proclaiming the gospel, and serving, and loving.” [There seems to be a current mood that missions has come through a period of not serving and loving. dlm] (34)
“…the kingdom itself is a viral, organic response. It’s societal, as opposed to religious, skeletal, and institutional.” “…we use all the domains of society to operate.” (34)
“The kingdom is about people wanting to make a difference.” (34)
“As followers of Christ, we are to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and engage society so it can see kingdom principles lived out in our individual lives and communities.” (38)
“He [Jesus] doesn’t want to know how many converts, how many new churches, how many institutions, or how much the budget is. He wants to know how we are helping the hurting in society.” (39, commenting on Matthew 25:35-46) [This seems to be a hugely growing perspective in the church today. The pendulum is swinging. Do we risk swinging from neglect on one end to omission on the other? dlm]
“When the church glocalizes, it acts as a connection center between believers and all of society’s domains. It focuses on training the people in the pew how to view their vocation as their ‘Jerusalem’ in terms of ministry. From there, it motivates them toward how they can use that vocation to intersect a domain locally–and globally–throughout the ends of the earth! The church connects to society through the natural infrastructures, equipping and sending people through their jobs to affect a particular domain. (4)
“Realizing that God intended our faith to lay across all of the infrastructures of society is one of the biggest issues today.” “Effective faith is a voice in every domain, and it’s an influencer of all domains.” (42) [In the past] “we have made faith skeletal instead of viral,…an institutional response to society.” “Viral is more organic–it involves individual believers using their jobs in society as Christians on a daily basis.” (42) “It’s a return to how the early church accomplished the spread of the gospel….” (43)
The formula: “Inject the DNA of what it means to be transformed in Christ, connect the body of Christ to the domain of society, infect the whole of society for Christ.” (45)
Feb
11
We Pray the Work
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Mother Theresa explaining the work of her Sisters of Mercy:
“Do not think of us a social workers. We are contemplatives in the midst of life. We pray the work.”
Feb
9
The Legend Beautiful
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Here’s a challenge from Longfellow….I enjoyed listening to Christopher Farries’ reading and following the logic of compassion. Will the vision stay?
“Hads’t thou stayed, I must have fled!”
That is what the Vision said.
In his chamber all alone,
Kneeling on the floor of stone,
Prayed the Monk in deep contrition
For his sins of indecision,
Prayed for greater self-denial
In temptation and in trial;
It was noonday by the dial,
And the Monk was all alone.
Suddenly, as if it lightened,
An unwonted splendor brightened
All within him and without him
In that narrow cell of stone;
And he saw the Blessed Vision
Of our Lord, with light Elysian
Like a vesture wrapped about him,
Like a garment round him thrown.
Not as crucified and slain,
Not in agonies of pain,
Not with bleeding hands and feet,
Did the Monk his Master see;
But as in the village street,
In the house or harvest-field,
Halt and lame and blind he healed,
When he walked in Galilee. Read more
