GlocalNet

Several churches and several mosques will be meeting from 5pm to 7pm at Northwood Church in Keller Sept. 18th from 5 to 7pm.  For the past year several of us have been in dialogue and doing service projects together in the DFW area.  We will bring our people together and hear stories of what we are doing and what we have learned.  We will sing some patriotic songs - have the pledge of allegiance, and laugh a lot!  We will then have some snacks in order to allow time to visit.  If you want to sign up for community service projects together or simply get to know a family of another faith, there will be opportunities to do this.

September 11th impacted all of us.  There are many different things that have come from it - good and bad.  We want to focus on how we can strengthen our nation and city and build bridges that lead to understanding.  We are all TEXANS!!!  Yes Americans - but Texans as well. 

We can’t change everything and we should never compromise what we believe in our faith - but we should do all we can to reach out to others and build bridges. 

Regardless of your view of other religions, cultures, and the world - as followers of Jesus we have a command to be at peace with all men so much as is in us.  Without relationships with people, we will never be able to show and share the love of Jesus.  Many Christians gladly pay others to go and share their faith around the world - no one can pay us to do right at home what Jesus has called us to do. 
I am unapologetically evangelical.  Imam Zia is unapologetically Muslim.  We agree on some things but also strongly disagree theologically on other things.  But here is what we both know - we have a responsibility as the leaders of a faith community to do all that we can to build bridges to get along.  We also live in the same city, drive the same roads, have the same government, go to the same hospitals, live in the same economy, go to the same schools, eat the same food - well not quite!,  God help us, if we can’t try to get along.  As a Christian I face judgment for that.  As a Muslim, he …

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LIke everyone else 9-11 impacted me in some pretty dramatic ways - but not in ways like you would expect. 

Lesson #1 - There is always a false idol waiting to set up it’s throne of fear in our life when we destroy a fear idol.  I traded one god for another to fear.  Our church had been working in Vietnam - and I remember when we began to work in Vietnam I feared the communist.  My father is a pastor and had buried soldiers who fought there as well so it took some time for me to get comfortable with it.  I remember thinking on 9-11 “I’m so glad I work with Vietnamese communist instead of Middle-Eastern Muslims!”  I feared them.

Lesson #2 - I feared them because I didn’t know them and I judged all Muslims and all Middle-Easterners the same.  I had no clue there were “evangelical” Arabs.  I thought all Muslims were the same.  I vaguely knew there were Shia & Sunni - but I didn’t understand how many differences there were in those two groups- and those outside those groups.  As I came to know many Afghans and others in the Middle-East I found out their culture was as unique as other global cultures and there were good and bad people in that culture just like other global cultures mine included. 

Lesson #3 - sometimes our theology reinforces prejudice and when we look at prejudice we have to examine the accuracy of our theology.  I was raised on a steady diet of God’s love of the Jews - and it’s true.  I didn’t hear enough about God’s love of the Arabs and promises he made to them.  I discovered speculative theology - actually gets in the way of direct commands of Jesus and can even trump the Great Commission and other commands Jesus has given us when we let prejudice drive us. 

Lesson #4 - I had to know my theology, but explain it in far simpler ways than the books I read.  The Trinity and the dual nature of Christ came alive and real to me.  As crazy as it sounds Muslims helped me develop my theology in ways I probably never would have.  It was like someone learning another language - they get better at their own native tongue as they learn because they have to understand the rules of …

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In the Garden, God blessed man and gave him all he needed and told him that he would have dominion over it all.  That’s good.  Then man fell - that’s bad.  God established Israel, in the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament as we Christians say - to show what a nation looked like when she followed God.  Israel was also a picture of what a nation faced when she rejected God.  All the domains/sectors/spheres of a society were blessed when it happened.  Classic urbanologists or sociologists would say there are as few as 3 domains/sectors/spheres: economics, government, and civil society.  World Vision would say there are 27.  I would say 8 - because my goal is for people to be salt and light in every sphere/domain/sector of society and to see healthy cities grow and I use a human resource map that most people would use in finding a job.  The 8 which I identify are: education, economics, civil society, health, governance, agriculture, communication, and science & technology. 

In the New Testament - or Christian Scriptures - the theocracy of a single nation is done away with and the kingdom of God is established in the hearts of people.  This is what David and Jeremiah wrote about, that the law would be written in our hearts - not on tables of stone and law.  Neither would it be limited to a single nation - but every nation could be blessed as people followed Jesus and lived the truth he taught.  The entire life and model of Jesus was one for all nations living truth.  His government document or manifesto was/is the Sermon on the Mount.  It was through purity of character and seeking God, that men would see who Jesus was.  So God would now be exhibited, not primarily by a single nation - but by people of every tongue, tribe, and nation(s) having a similar character.  These people would as taught by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 - and the book of Colossians as well as other places in the New Testament - would be concerned about reconciling people and “all things” to God. 

So, this is what we learned and how we have worked in Vietnam and other places in the world, as everyday followers of Jesus, serving humanity using their jobs, reconciling people and structures to God for a blessing.  We have taught our members, …

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Seventh, for the church to engage the world effectively, it will have to learn and practice the concept of multi-faith.  I don’t like inter-faith.  It’s mush, nebulous, and gives the idea that all ideas are equal.  That simply isn’t true.  At the same time, to live in isolation from other faiths and never connect or acknowledge the fact that we all have a responsibility living in the public square on this single globe is dangerous.  Paul is our best model of connecting with people of other religions, and no religion, for that matter.  From the Jewish synagogues to the Aeropagus and Mars Hill - he does a phenomenal job of teaching by example how to relate to others of different faiths.  Even the way he related to the soldiers while on the ocean trip to Rome is incredibly enlightening.  Like learning another language makes you learn your own that much better - so does confrontation with other faiths and religions.  It isn’t a bad thing. 

Eighth, living beyond your tribe while challenging your tribe.  I never realized how tribal we Christians really are until I began to work globally and then returning home and listening to what we said and how we said it without realizing how others hear it and it plays out globally.  If you listen to our conversations - we even speak to the “lost” with our tribal language and often to our tribe.  Tribalism often leads to ethnocentrism, superiority, and an unhealthy religious “nationalism” that can come across as abrasive, arrogant, loud, and harsh.  The truth never has to be mean, harsh, arrogant, or bullying - just revealed. 

Ninth, to engage globally will start with the hand - and servanthood - not the mouth and lots of rhetoric.  There are common things we can all agree on living in the same global space with the same infrastructures and as a result of that we have shared interest.  That’s where we start, as well as dealing with justice for all.  The hand builds the relationship, which allows for trust - which then opens up people to have honest conversations. 

Tenth - next week - I’ll write a lot on this - I hope - but the key to the church engaging globally in the 21st century is Apostolic or “Global” churches connecting . . . . .

Fourth, to engage globally we have to be city-centric.  The mission field has moved from the church to the city.  The grid most of us operate on is the church.  We send religious workers to do religious work to connect with religious leaders.  The idea is if we get enough conversions then we will change the city.  That simply hasn’t proven true historically anywhere in the world so far.  The Gospel of Salvation focuses only on getting people saved.  The Gospel of the Kingdom focuses on the “reconciliation of ALL THINGS.”  The kingdom restores what Satan stole and continues to destroy.  If we go to serve the city - we are welcomed anywhere in the world.  If we serve the city, people in the most extreme places begin to trust and want to know who we are, what we believe, and why we came.  The missiology books are on urban studies and international relations and global affairs - why?  They help us understand the world and the city.  When we focus on the city - we bring value to all of humanity, not just our tribe.  I like Bonheoffer’s idea that the church herself exists not for herself but those outside herself. 

Fifth, to engage globally we have to mobilize the whole body of Christ.  The primary reason we do religious work with religious people around the world is because those of us who focus on “religious affairs” are driving the work.  Most pastors and churches don’t need the people in the church - just preachers and missionaries.  That isn’t true if the grid is the city.  Everyone owns the Great Commission.  Everyone has a role.  Everyone can reconcile something where there are someone’s in need of reconciliation!!!  Until the Great Commission breaks out of the “religious vocation” we will never see the Great Commission fulfilled.  It tried really hard towards the end of the 20th century - it will happen in the 21st century.  Starting in 1792 “missions” was the story of religious biography.  In 2092 it will be the story of “vocational” biography of all domains of society - not just religious. 

Sixth, to engage globally we have to be exceptional at social media and technology.  Platforms will be the key - they are the key.  But the challenge will not be building the platform, but how to use it and how it communicates.  Many people …

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What does it mean for the church to globally engage today?  Most people - particularly in the West - are doing the same thing, just more of it and with more energy - but I’m not sure it’s getting us anywhere.  If anything - much of what we in the West do in the world today, in the name of Jesus, is not just separating us from the world we are trying to reach - but is also separating us from the global body of Christ.  What will it look like to engage?  Here are some things I teach our young planters and some principles of ministry I follow globally:

First, all that we do will be defined by the East and the South - Phillip Jenkins and countless others have written on this.  We know it - but we don’t act like it.  If anything we show up, learn from them, package it with our names on it and redistribute it globally.  Often, we miss the nuance that all cultures have and then it doesn’t have the impact we expect.  It is no longer enough to package and market - we must learn, apply, understand, adjust, and be humble in all that we do.

Second, it is polycentric.  Especially being a Texan, I grew up thinking I’d start a church and do what no one else had done - win the whole world to Jesus!  God is already at work all over the world.  I need to connect with what he is doing - and not show up with my Western proven models, books, ideas - but to show up as an equal, a student.  I’m in a group of global pastors - and one thing I’ve learned is that I have to give and receive.  If all I do is give - that’s a mark of arrogance and cultural superiority - but if I receive I not only value other cultures - but I also believe that God has taught them things for me that I must learn.  Connecting the whole body of Christ globally is the only thing that will spread the gospel.  Western driven initiatives that invite the world to join and adjust to make space are coming to an end.  Eastern driven initiatives that value the whole body of Christ are and will continue to emerge - but the West will be a part only …

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YES, you heard it right – first – I doubt it’s her last.  She blew me away.  Yes, she’s my daughter, but I’ve listened to guys who’ve been trained at seminary not do near the job she did.  I was excited and stunned it being her first sermon.  I remember mine – it wasn’t all that good.  It was fast – 12 minutes – choppy, etc.  I was ready to encourage her like I do so many other young pastors when they preach their first – or they’re just starting.  You find all the good things you can brag on them about to build them up and then give them just 2 or 3 things to work on.  She can improve – but man she did good!  Click the link . . . Jill’s Sermon, Who Is Your Neighbor? . .  and you can hear her.

She preached on the Good Samaritan.  She talked about how we have an identity – and our identity determines which side of the road we walk on – the side where people hurt and need Jesus and the side where we don’t have to get our hands dirty with them.  She then talked about the identity of others – and how we should respect them and value them.  She used a great opening illustration – she talked about walking in someone elses’s shoes and had Brandon Smeltzer and Daniel Langford have a foot race in some of her high hills – it was funny.  She also had kids come up and talk about neighbors they had discovered this summer in working with refugees, apartment complexes, mission trips to Vietnam, etc. 

I remember when God first spoke to her heart and she sensed God calling her to ministry.  She told us when she was maybe 7 “God wants me to be a preacher.”  I don’t know all her future holds – but I believe God has his hand on her and is and will use her.  Jill is in charge of Glocal Impact for youth and has done an awesome job with it.  It’s grown significantly and she loves it.  From working with Somalis and Nepalese new to the area, to taking youth to Vietnam, to working at apartment complexes where the less privileged live – I believe her sermon was powerful …

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When I look at what is going on inside my country, that I love deeply, my heart grieves.  We’ve become so polarized and politicized that we can’t even make right decisions about basic things like the economy.  I wonder if most people realize that for the debt on the money already borrowed, with no more spending at all, the debt ceiling had to be raised?  There is no compromise, no respect of “the other”, or no concern about how polarization hurts everyone else.  Relationally we are in a mess. 

Spiritually we are in a mess as well.  Can we blatantly ignore the truth of God’s word and expect him to bless our nation?  There has been this separation of church and state where the job of the state is governance and the job of the church, among many other things, is to challenge the moral fiber of people.  When the kingdom gets in a person’s heart, through values, not legislation, people, cities, and even nations begin to radically transform.  American history is filled with this – it’s seen in the historic character of the American people.  How far can we go and expect God to continue to turn his face. I want to communicate the Gospel in relevant ways that people can understand, but I don’t want to make consumer Christians that have a “shop and go” mentality with God.

Globally things are in an upheaval.  The only “good” thing about the period we are in, in the midst of our “unhealthiness” as a nation, is that there are no “global conquerors” with moral fiber or a passionate movement of the masses that can undermine our world.  Yes, there are tyrants in nations, dictators, as well as disconnected and isolated states that are in turmoil, but no world “changers”.  China may have a lot of money and people, but there are other things lacking for the time being that will not allow her preeminence in the world.  Peter Drucker said, “In the future those who will be able to handle the fast pace of an ever evolving world will be the ones who have a changeless inner core.” 

It’s been said every nation that crumbled, started from within first.  We are crumbling - but we have a solid foundation to return to if only we will. 

1.  Repentance.  It comes through brokenness.  Personal repentance comes through …

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If Texans were to fulfill the Great Commission - what would it look like?  Now keep in mind the Great Commission is polycentric - so no one group will do it, it will be a matter of connecting what God is already doing around the world.  But if Texans were to be the ones to speed it up or it was done by Texas ingenuity - how would that look?

1.  Visionary - There is no other country in all the Western Hemisphere or the West like Texas.  Texas is a big place with big dreams.  THIS IS NO JOKE FOR MY GLOBAL FRIENDS - Texans really think differently than the rest of the country.  Tell a Texan you have a job you want him to finish - and she/he will think of a way to do it.  The first response to a near impossible situation to a Texan is not despair, frustration, or the impossibility of the situation but more “Now, if we were gonna do that - what would it look like?”  Our churches are bigger - look at little Joey Osteen - our men are more manly - our women are more beautiful and our children are more normal than anywhere else in the U.S.  We also have more air conditioners than anywhere else.  Texans believe anything is possible.  When Jesus told his disciples on one occasion “With God all things are possible” he was thinking about the Texans he created.  Doesn’t matter how hard, if it’s ever been done before, who’s against it, if people laugh at you are not - Texans are the biological descendants of Noah.  If all my Muslim & Jewish friends will simply read Genesis 6 it says so.  It talks about gopherwood - any serious Hebrew scholar knows that that was Hebrew for mesquite trees.  Mesquite trees are the national tree of Texas. 

2.  Passionate - A Texan runs the gamut of emotions.  They laugh the hardest, cry the quickest, love the deepest, no matter what it is, they do it with all their heart.  That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 6:23 “All those who love God most and care the deepest are deep in the heart of Texas.”  That’s where we got our hymn deep in the heart of Texas.  Texas is all heart.  No, we don’t have a Tommy Jefferson or Jimmy Madison - Sammy Houston …

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A couple of months ago I was in Mongolia speaking to Christian leaders.  It was an incredible time.  All were first generation Christians and pastors, very few were over the age of 40, most were in their 20’s and 30’s.  In 1992 there were no believers there - today there are probably around 150,000.  They are a fascinating people to me.  They are not the quiet, reserved, formal East Asians that I am used to being with, though they look like East Asians.  They are more Russian in their personality - loud, laughing, very happy, and aggressive.  It makes sense, Mongolia is just below Siberia.  You can read my blog of June 21 to recap what the Mongolians see as unique about themselves and in their ability to fulfill the Great Commission.  Since that time, I’ve read 3 or 4 books on Genghis Khan - the best, hands down, is Jack Weatherford’s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Western World.  If you can read just one, read it.  But in studying him, I asked the question - If Genghis Khan would fulfill the Great Commission how would he do it based on how he lead?  Here are my answers based on a man that did in 25 years what took Rome 400 years to do - and he did it with a smaller army and had a much larger empire.

1.  He wouldn’t do it by force.  That may shock you - but there wasn’t a single battle that he did that wasn’t in response to someone coming to first take his life.  At the age of 60 he was ready to retire and sent a delegation to a part of Russia to build a relationship with the leader there.  The leader killed his envoy - next stop Europe!  Yes, he was bloody.  Yes, once in battle, good luck - he was brutal.  This was the story of his whole life.

2.  He would start where the easy pickings were - and then move in.  He would never take the heart of a city - but start with villages surrounding the city and work his way in.  It allowed for both PR and psychological warfare.

3.  Everyone got a horse - or was equipped.  His force was much smaller than any force in the world at that time, but the fact is all 100,000 were on horses - that …

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