Archive for the ‘Community’ Category

Posted on March 4, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Burden for a Body

One of the things God is teaching us in our Gospel Community Group is that we really need to deeply embody the Pauline metaphor of ‘the body’ in our thinking and practice. This concept that, because of the gospel, we are intimately inter-connected with one another.

One of the areas where this becomes most acutely obvious is in the area of burdens. If in our group we have people with personal burdens we’re no longer free to just ignore them and expect people to sort themselves out. Rather, in many ways, those burdens become our burdens and together we walk through them. That’s the implication of ‘the body’ metaphor right? Of course it is. Burn your arm on the iron (as I did a few days ago) and the whole body gets a sense of discomfort – you can’t detach the pain in your arm from the rest of the body. When parts of the body hurt the whole body hurts, when parts of the body are burdened the whole body is burdened.

Now excuse the pun but the very thought of this can seem daunting, tiring and burdensome as you think about your own Christian community and the thought of sharing burdens. It can be an exhausting thought. The strange thing however (and this is why I say God is teaching us) is that in our group we seem to be experiencing the opposite. As burdens are coming to the fore and we’re attempting to come around the people carrying them, we ourselves seem to be growing and being spiritually refreshed. We’ve still got a long way to go but even in the small tentative steps we’ve taken it feels as if God is meeting us and giving us the ability to step up to the plate. I must confess that it’s radically exciting to see God working this way.

Last night we meditated on, and discussed, John 14:15-31 where Jesus tells his disciples that if they love him them will obey what he commands. That passage can be burdensome on first reading. But you keep reading and find that God will send the Counsellor, the Spirit of Truth and as you keep reading it begins to dawn on you that God is essentially saying he will meet us and give us that ability to step to the plate so that in many ways we will obey Christ and love Christ. I guess that’s what it looks like to operate in a grace-driven faith.

Posted on February 24, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Communal Love in Proximity

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

After reading these words my usual first reaction is to beat up on myself for not loving God’s community more each day and in more earthy practical ways. And in one sense that’s not a wrong reaction – where there’s sin there needs to be a level of ‘beating up’ – Paul says he beats his body and makes it a slave to God.

What I often miss though is that this commandment presupposes what I like to call proximity. It presupposes that Christian communities will be loving each other in front of the world – in proximity to everyone else. That means our loving is supposed to be out on the street for everyone to see and not only inside the church building where the chosen few can see. I don’t think I beat myself up enough about proximity. I don’t think I’m deliberate enough about living out love publicly. Not in a kind of  ‘come and see me’ way, but in a ‘I’ve got to live a public life anyway so let me do it in love’ way. That means Christians hanging out together and loving each other publicly – public communal love (by that I don’t mean the kind of hippie free love, Woodstock vibe).

It’s like learning how to live normally all over again like everyone else – except you’re doing it in community and that community is infused by love.

Posted on December 24, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Top 8 for 2008: Everything

Who was I kidding? There’s no way I’m going to find the time to write a series of ‘top 8 for 2008′ posts between now and the end of the year so instead I’ll simply cram them all into one post. So here you have it, my top 8 for 2008 of everything!

Top 8 things I did or experienced in 2008:

1. Got married! (October)
2. Got engaged! (March)
3. Started planning and implementing a church plant (All year – but especially last three months)
4. Heard Piper, Driscoll, Chandler and Mahaney at the Resurgence Conference at Mars Hill in Seattle, spent time at the Journey Church in St Louis and met a whole lot of great peeps from Acts 29, and others, in the States (February)
5. Was taught Deuteronomy by Gary Millar – the best Old Testament teacher I’ve been taught by to date (September)
6. Road up Sani Pass – my first real 4×4 experience behind the wheel (October)
7. Decided to stay in Cape Town long term – gotta love this city (March)
8. Had my thinking about the gospel deepened and enriched ten times over by Tim Keller through numerous mp3s, articles and the odd blog comment (throughout the year)

Top 8 Blogs I followed in 2008 (See my 2007 list here):

1. Church Planting Novice – Jonathan Dodson. A newcomer to the list, this blog has been perfect for where I’m at in my thinking at the moment. So much wisdom and insight from a guy on the ground.
2. Between Two Worlds – Justin Taylor. Last year’s number 1 drops down one place – but still a great blog.
3. Tim Chester. Up from last year’s number 7 spot. Tim’s writing never stops enlightening, challenging and encouraging all at the same time.
4. John Scheepers. Give it up for the Saffa bloggers! John is a friend of mine who writes a great blog and brings a welcome voice to the South African Christian blogsphere.
5. Drew Goodmanson. Down from #2 – sorry Drew. Drew doesn’t post very often, but when he does its almost always worthwhile.
6. Justin Moffat. Another newcomer to the list. Justin writes an informative and challenging blog with an Anglican slant – I’ve enjoyed it a lot this year.
7. Michael Jensen. Michael drops down from last years 3rd but still turns out great post after great post. Plus he sent me a copy of his new book which I’ll be reviewing here shortly.
8. Jason Allen. Jason was one of the first people I became ‘blog friends’ with when I started blogging. I’ve always enjoyed his blog and the sanity he brings to some current trends that rage through the church blogging world.

Top 8 Books for 2008 (books I read this year – most of them are older than 2008 – please note that the books are a little one-sided topically because most of my reading this year revolved around my dissertation):

1. Total Church – Steve Timmis and Tim Chester. Ok so I first read it in 2007 but I’ve read it several times this year because of my dissertation and I still think its the most important book I’ve ever read on ecclesiology.
2. The Reason for God – Tim Keller. The first apologetics book that I feel comfortable giving to my friends.
3. Planting Missional Churches – Ed Stetzer. Great book with practical insight. Really helpful for where I’m at.
4. The Forgotten Ways – Alan Hirsch. Really good yet at times frustrating. I’m on the same page as Hirsch with a number of things – I guess I’m just a bit more conservative on one or two others.
5. Breaking the Missional Code – Ed Stetzer and David Putman. Another great help on all things missional.
6. On the Incarnation – Athanasius. I delved into a bit of church history this year and thoroughly enjoyed this one.
7. The King of God’s Kingdom – David Seccombe. Dr Seccombe (Doc) was my New Testament lecturer this year and so I got a chance to have a crack at his book. It’s a great overview of Christ in the gospels.
8. Jesus and the Victory of God – NT Wright. Vintage Wright – I don’t agree with him at every point but this is an important book.

Top 8 places I visited in 2008

1. Seattle, Washington, USA
2. St Louis, Missouri, USA
3. Castleburn, Drakensburg, KZN
4. Sani Pass, Lesotho
5. Lost City, Sun City, North West Province
6. Franschoek, Western Cape
7. Betty’s Bay, Western Cape
8. Durban, KZN (my old stomping ground)

That’s my year in a nutshell. It’s been the year with the biggest changes in my life to date. Not only did I get married but we decided to stay in Cape Town and plant churches here rather than in Durban. Things have come a long way in the last 12 months – here’s to an equally exciting 2009.

Merry Christmas all – have a great one!

Posted on September 30, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Created for Community

I’ve posted the sermon I preached on Sunday morning at The Message Church in Mowbray, Cape Town, entitled ‘Created for Community’. If you want to know what I think about the concept of community and its relation to the Christian church then have a listen. Please note that my ideas are not really all that original – I’ve borrowed a ton from people who have influenced me like Tim Chester and Steve Timmis as well as, I think, simply saying what seems obvious to me in the Scriptures. Some feedback would be great…

Posted on August 28, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Bish, Chester & Leeman on Church, Individualism & Song of Songs

Dave Bish has a great little post, with the help of Tim Chester and Jonathan Leeman, on how our anti-authoritarianism, and not necessarily individualism, has caused us to misread Song of Songs and undervalue the role of the church in the gospel.

Posted on August 8, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Paul Tripp on Community

In preparing to do a talk on the subject of ‘community’ in two weeks time I came across this great article by Paul Tripp entitled, ‘Created for Community‘. It’s well worth a read.

BTW – Paul Tripp is in South Africa at the moment and will be preaching at St Stephen’s this coming Sunday evening.

Posted on August 5, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

That thing Called ‘Church’: A Mid-Year Update

In January I posted about my desire to interact with the issue of ‘church’ over the course of this year. ‘Matt the Knight’, a friend of mine, suggested that I give a mid-year update as to where I am in my thinking about some of the questions I set out to explore. So here’s some of the answers to the questions so far:

According to the New Testament what do you have to have, as absolute minimum, for a church to exist?

I’m thinking you need people who have been regenerated by the gospel, living under the consistent proclamation and teaching of the word of God, worshipping in a community by serving, caring, speaking, teaching and loving both each other and those outside. I found a recent study I did on Luther’s view of church quite helpful in part and I’m still blown away by Timmis & Chester’s ‘Total Church’.

What is the relationship between the church and the Kingdom of God?

This one is difficult. I’m still not sure if I have it nailed down (or if I’ll ever nail it down). In light of this a did a study and wrote a paper on the concept of the kingdom of God as found in Luke’s gospel. You can read it here.

What is the relationship between the church and social concern (as opposed to the relationship between Christians and social concern)?

Still not clear on this one either. I know all the various arguments out there and I’ve read quite a bit but I’m not sure I’ve read anything that directly answers this question in a way that looks at individual Christian responsibility and the corporate church’s responsibility.

What is the relationship between the church (local) and culture?

Daniel 1. I have a brilliant talk by Vaughan Roberts on Daniel 1 that answers this question beautifully. Unfortunately I don’t have the rights to post it. I haven’t checked if its available elsewhere so have a look around and I’ll tell you if I find it on-line. Basically his thesis is: Don’t run away from culture but don’t compromise either – and be humble and generous as you figure out this tension.

Is the Knox-Robinson view of church too narrow?

I’m struggling to figure out if its the actual theology that’s too narrow here or the way people practice it in church life. Do I believe that the earthly gathering of believers is the embodiment of an already existing heavenly gathering? Yes. I just think there’s more to ‘church’ than ‘the gathering’.

What does over-realised eschatology look like in the church?

A church that neglects gospel proclamation because its too busy trying to make the new creation happen now.

What does under-realised eschatology look like in the church?

A church that only ever does evangelism and forgets that God’s agenda is the renewal of all things.

How do the above two questions relate to the plausibility of the homogeneous unit principle?

This is tricky. Most people who write on this issue, that I’ve read, write from predominantly mono-cultural society whereas things in South Africa are a lot messier. I’m still working on this one.

What do those same two questions have to say about the depth of gospel community a church should be attempting?

It should be deeeeeeeeeeep. The one thing I’m becoming more and more convinced about in my studies is the need for authentic community that extends beyond the structures.

Are multi-site churches theologically viable?

I don’t see why not. But I also think they can be a breeding ground for a number of different sins: like pride for example. There is also the chance that they can turn the church into not much more than a market commodity – not good. But then again the whole arena of multi-site is quite diverse.

Posted on May 6, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Myth of the Mega and the Missional Community

I commonly hear pastors of churches that range in size between 80-300 being quite critical of mega churches because of the lack of intimacy and community. Some pastors are concerned that they’ll lose that personal touch with the congregation if they get any bigger than 300. My concern is that by and large these pastors have already lost that personal touch with their congregations – sure they might be able to greet everyone of them at the door by name, but that’s as far as it goes. I fail to see how one can maintain a strong sense of Christian community in a congregation of just 80 people never mind 300.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that authentic community is impossible without being under girded by smaller communities. And so recently I’ve become increasingly interested in the concept of ‘missional communities’. I’ve heard some describe them as ‘more than a home group, less than a house church’. For definition purposes Michael Foster has links to a number of sessions on ‘missional communities’ done by Soma Communities in Tacoma, US. Soma Communities are one of the few churches out there pioneering ‘missional communities’ from a conservative theological background (see also: Kaleo Church in San Diego, US, and The Crowded House in Sheffield, UK). I’m beginning to think that whether you opt to go mega-church, stay in the 80-300 group or go even smaller your community would do well to be made up of a network of ‘missional communities’.

Community is the key context for gospel learning, gospel growth and gospel expansion. The New Testament is clear that right from day one small group meetings were the bread and butter of the Christian experience, there were bigger meetings and I’m always open to allowing for plenty of pragmatism with regards to size and style of meetings but I really think we need the core missional communities to cement the Christian community. We’ve tended to see holistic small groups as something of an add on to the bread and butter Sunday meetings which in reality rather turns the New Testament picture on its head. God is calling out a people for himself, not a programme. Our church experience should reflect that.

Posted on April 30, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

My Little Experiment – Part II

“It’s pointless shining the brass on a sinking ship”

That’s a sentiment that many evangelical Christians have applied to social justice, mercy ministry, racial reconciliation, transformation, upliftment, work and calling, environmental issues and a whole lot of other issues relating to this current world and its inhabitants. The ship is going down so don’t bother. The alternative? Well, just do evangelism, that’s all that really matters – in other words – get people into the life boats. Now based upon the many answers to the first post I must take issue with a philosophy of evangelism only. Surely Christians do not continue their existence in this world simply to evangelize the lost. I think we can see this if we draw an analogy from the previous post.

Many of you gave answers, some of which I might not necessarilly go with, but I’m not here to sort out your doctrine of personal godliness, rather I want to make an analogy. Consider the following answers that were posted:

“We are already righteous before the Lord if we are Christians because of the cross and if that is our status we should be living like God’s holy people, striving to live out our status.”

“God has brought you out of darkness into light: therefore live as children of the day.”

“We are to pursue godliness despite attaining it in this world because (1) it serves as a proof of the initial work God has begun in us; (2) God is in the business of redeeming us now, and while we await our final redemption/salvation, it has been inaugurated in a unique way on the cross and through the resurrection (and by the Spirit)”

“I am just trying to live out the reality of who I am, “in Christ”.”

“I am a child of God, therefore it is my desire to live as a true child, not so I can get a big reward, but purely because it is who I am through the work of Christ.”

“Because the grace of God teaches (instructs or trains) me (with the intent of forming proper habits of behaviour).’(Titus 2:11-12 with additional comments from Louw & Nida). Sometimes I put in very little effort at all, I’m simply being propelled by the good news concerning Jesus.”

There’s a common thread running through those comments. It is the idea of living in the light of future expectation – and its a certain expectation. Be holy because you are holy and you will be made holy. We’re very good at applying this to personal godliness and so, like me, you can probably count off hundreds of sermons that you’ve heard about personal praying, reading your bible and displaying the fruit of the Spirit. Be patient, be joyful, be kind etc. etc. The only time spirituality seems to become other person centered is when the sermon is on evangelism. I’m often left wondering if there isn’t anything more to the picture. Does being gospel-centered equate doing evangelism and personal godliness? Or is it more than that?

What if we were to explore our future expectation and discover that God has more in store than simply making us completely righteous in his sight and whisking us off to heaven? What if God’s plan rather was to institute an entire new creation that exists in complete submission to his lordship? What if this new creation was made certain by the cross? What if Colossians 1:20 really means what it says and that God is in the business of more than just redeeming individual souls? What if we’re leaving out large parts of the gospel?

Residence in the new creation is secured for those who trust in Christ (how that will eventually work out I have no idea), surely that must change how we deal with social justice, mercy ministry, racial reconcilliation, transformation, upliftment, work, enviromental issues and a whole lot of other issues relating to this current world and its inhabitants now. My guess is that as we do this there will be plenty, if not more, opportunities for evangelism and the public proclamation of the gospel which is the only thing by which men are saved as far I’m concerned. But we must do it if we are to live in light of our secured future expectation. We shine the brass in the current creation because we are secured residents of the coming new creation – and so shine we must.

What do you think? Is this a fair analogy?

Posted on February 7, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Gone and Back Again…

Load shedding is seriously encroaching on my blogging habits! Not only is the power out for a number of hours when I’d love to sit down with a cup of coffee and read and write posts but it also resets my wireless router every time and I don’t always have access to it to reset the configuration.

Anyway – I’ve also been away for a few days and so I wasn’t always here to enjoy the load shedding (what a shame). But since I’ve missed quite a few days of blogging I thought I’d start by pointing to a few interesting posts that I pulled from the glut in my feed reader.

Michael Foster talks about his church going the missional community route.

Abraham Piper points to all his posts regarding the recent Pastor’s Conference in Minneapolis. Check out the links to talks by D.A. Carson.

Tim Chester posts a paper written by Christopher de la Hoyde entitled “Atonement: Engaging with an emerging theology“. Looks interesting.

But the post of the week goes to Gordon Cheng who points out how the Sydney Anglican Bishops, who recently declined to attend Lambeth, might better spend their time.