GlocalNet

One week from today, you might notice some changes around the ‘ole Glocalnet website.  Ok, you’ll notice some big changes!  We have been working diligently for the past few months on designing a new website.  Not to worry!  Bob’s blog will still be right here for you to enjoy and learn from.  Beginning Wednesday, June 11, we will be turning off the comments feature in order to begin moving to the new site, but we will continue to post blogs, so keep visiting.

The new site will have some new features on it which we hope you will enjoy.  If you are a current user of the Glocalnet forum, you need to know it will be going away.  Not to worry, we will still have some communication tools coming in the near future that we hope you will enjoy even more!

So, if you wake up one morning and Glocalnet seems different, that’s because it is!

There is a sense that God is up to something here.  I think everyone has some sense of expectation.  We’re almost all here and we had our first session tonight.  It went really good.  Oscar helped set the tone.  I thought I’d share this with you--it was really hilarious--one of those things you would have had to been there but maybe you can get it:

Murui translation of 1 Corinthians 12

If the American church would say, because I am not of Africa I do not belong to the body, it would cease to be the body if the whole body were European where would the sense of joy be (hysterical laughter) and if the whole body were African where would the sense of order be.  But, in fact, God has arranged the parts of the body so that everyone of them just are as they should be.  If they were one part where would the body be - as it is there are many parts - but there is only one body.  The Canadian church cannot say to the Asian church I have no need of you.  That the Asian church cannot say to the Europen church I don’t need you.  On the contrary, the parts that seem to be weaker like the Japanese church are indespensible to the body.  African parts less honorable should be treated with special honor.  And the Latin American parts that seem unpresentable should be treated with modesty.  The presentable parts like the big American church need no special treatment - except for TEXAS - but God has combined the members of the body and there is greater honor to the parts that lacked it so that there should be no division in the body.  But the parts should have equal concern for each other if one part suffers every part suffers.  If one part is honored every part is valued.  Now you are the body of christ and each one of you is a part of it.

Last night I arrived and we got a good night’s sleep. Thanks to Omar, melatonin really works!  Andy, from Onnuri, Bishara, Oscar, David, Omar, and me are here so far.  The rest arrive throughout the day today.  I’m very excited about it.  It’s very pleasant here and the weather is very cool.  Omar and the gang went to the store to get us some stuff.  I’m trying to write--haven’t done that much, yet.  Pray for us. We begin tonight discussing what global movements look like.

David, Omar, and I ran like wild men to our gate. Who needs upgrading we each have a row of our own. Amazing what a little turmoil does for tourism. The Kenyans on the plane are super friendly. Nikki - enjoy your work.

I had an awesome day yesterday--got to hang out with Steve Steele, one of the sharpest guys on the face of the earth and talk church planting movements. He’s been in the middle of it for many years whether being on the field or funding or training those on the field. There are so many things converging right now. I really believe, more than ever before, we will soon see global church planting movements . I say 7 years, Steve says 2. I hope Steve is right.

Later in the day, I got to hang out with Daryl Heald who started Generous Giving. Wow, does this guy have his pulse on ministry and donors. One thing he said that really stuck with me was how most pastors, for the most part, said the whole of the conversation on giving centered around one box - tithing! He’s right. GO TO A GENEROUS GIVING CONFERENCE if one is near you. I think they have one coming up in D.C. soon--it would be worth it. Another thing he said (there were many things he said that were good) was there is more money than ever before. Yet, because of the lack of clarity of the mission/vision or ministry leaders just wanting money, most of it was never tapped. Some guy gets a check and thinks, wow, that was generous. In reality, that person perhaps could have given ten times that amount, but was unsure about how the money would be used or results, or the donor wanted to do more than just give money.

So, later today I board a plane to head to Nairobi, Kenya to link up with about 15 other people. All are pastors from around the world who have started their churches and start churches out of their churches and start churches out of their country. The trip was challenging because of all going on previously in Kenya, but we’re all a go, so here we go! We want to explore what it would look like for practitioner pastors to link together and engage and plant churches globally together--we’ll see.

I’ll try to blog as I can. Sometimes access and security become issues. There is not a meeting I’ve been to in the past ten years that I’m more excited about than this one.

I don’t see “missions” and my “family” as two separate entities.  We have lived it together as a family.  Together we have loved and served the poor, together we have engaged the society, together we have worked around the world - it is part of the ethos of our family.  In a couple of days I head to Kenya to meet with pastors.  My wife heads to Romania to teach health and sanitation in public schools.  My daughter heads to Waco to work at Mission Waco for the summer.  My son and daughter-in-law are taking vacations!  But, they do lots of stuff.  My greatest memories of being a dad come from trips or projects that we did together as a family.  I can remember seeing my children and Nikki broken hearted over things we would see.  Even in my own life, one of my greatest memories of my mother was feeding a hobo who knocked on our door for food.  She didn’t bring him in, not knowing anything about him.  But she set up a table on our porch, fixed a nice table cloth, set it as if an important guest were present, and fed him a hot meal. 

Each person in the family has to find their passion, and they have to be affirmed and encouraged.  We do projects together - but also separate.  I know Alan Hirsch’s wife has a whole ministry to homosexuals.  While Alan brilliantly writes on church systems and processes, Deb is living it out.  I think that’s very healthy - each person has a passion from God. 

It doesn’t just happen by talking about it - but by living it out in front of the family doing it together.  There is no doubt about it - it’s very difficult to lead a church and even more difficult for the wife of a church planter and/or pastor.  The criticism, the unexpected interruptions in life, the lack of funds - all of it.  If you’re not called you won’t make it.  Both of you have to be called. 

So guys - give her space, help with the kids so she can get a break, she needs to be the hero outside the church, encourage her interests and call.  Do things together, but separate.  Publicly affirm her from the pulpit (even if she gets mad) it’s not just about her but …

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God has everything you need to do exactly what he’s called you to do.  I’ve learned that so many times.  The greatest things that God does are never about money but always require money.  He provides it.  God’s finances begin to roll when we begin to move in obedience with what he is saying.  In the early days of ministry, God is teaching obedience - which he can gauge by how we say yes and no - and what we say yes or no to.  He’s looking for obedience and faithfulness in the small and unseen things.  In our prime ministry days it’s about scale - and how we use all God has given us over the past to bring it to bear in a focused situation.  No matter how much God is using you now - the older you get - the more he wants to use you.  This is the story of the Bible, the story of history, and all of our story.  As Robert Clinton has written, the majority of people who blow it - do so in their later years.  I’m convinced they begin to rest on what God has done and view their life much as the world does - you achieved something and then enjoy the benefit from it till you die.  That’s not kingdom economics - kingdom economics says - God blessed me, and has called me to multiply.  Multiply is more and even sometimes different from what we see in the beginning.  When a planter starts a church - often their greatest dream is tied to their community, their church, their “stuff” but God sees the world.  A church for 5,000 - 20,000 - a million - how bout 6.3 BILLION!  That is a different kind of church requiring a different level of faith, focus, and funds - but that’s the only church Jesus said he’s coming back for.  Plough hard and deep, but keep looking up beyond the single furrow you’re ploughing.  Some want to trust God for a few million for a big building - God’s wants to entrust a few of you with billions for billions!

I know it’s Saturday - but I leave next week for Kenya and am not sure I’ll have access to a computer or internet given where I’ll be.  I’m trying to finish these highlights before I go.  I will be meeting with about 15 pastors from around the world - I’ll be the only white dude from America - the rest are from every major part of the world.  We have in common the fact that we have all started our churches, albiet different kinds of churches - house, buildings, theatres, etc.  We have also planted churches out of our churches and have a heart and are involved in engaging the world.  We’re going to visit to discover what it would look like for us to partner as equals.  We are not coming together in the name of a denomination or missions agency - just pastors.  I’ve never been in a meeting like this and am excited.

One of the key highlights that a lot of people miss is that when we train our planters we don’t teach models.  This is HUGE - in America we think the key to starting churches is finding the right model and promoting it - that’s Americana not Biblicia!  Furthermore, some are arrogant and cocky enough to think that for a movement to happen it will be just their tribe and their form - WRONG!  When a great move of God takes place it will be because every tongue, tribe, nation, method, expression, and format of the church unites.  The center is Jesus not the form.  It’s - as pop theology is going - Christology - missiology - and then ecclesiology.  Christology is missiology - or as I would Kingdomology!  This is why I’m so passionate about not focusing on forms of the church.  Focus on engagement and let the form emerge and be secondary and you’ll have a healthy church.

House, traditional, contemporary, emergent, what a BRAINLESS and WESTERN conversation.  The rest of the church around the world is laughing at us.  We need a pioneer spirit - not a reformation spirit.  We don’t need to reform the church, we need to plant the Gospel of the kingdom and the church will emerge.  This is why I’m proud of Mitch, Aaron, Doug, Andy, and Tim - all 4 radically different expressions of the church but radically focused perspectives on …

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“I feel called to start a church in . . . ?” In reality, you should feel called to BASE a church in . . . for the world. I was just in California with a lot of pastors from large, influential churches. Each night we’d talk about different things in the ministry. Multi-sites was the #1 thing they talked about. Yes. They--not me--not my bag. In a different use of the term, the church is multi-site globally. There wasn’t a whole lot of discussion on that.

For the majority of pastors in the U.S., missions is an add on--particularly global missions. It’s one of the many things the church does and, frankly, one of the last things in which many new churches get involved.

The Great Commission is more than just for your city, town, or suburb. Furthermore, it was given to every single Christian, not just missionaries, agencies, or denominations. Therefore, that means every single church is a missions base to the ends of the world--or it’s not in the fight at all.

Churches that are not global are about to miss out on one of the greatest movements of the world. It has already begun in the East and the South. There has never been a global church planting movement. I’m convinced it’s going to happen. For the most part, church planting movements have been tied to tribes and nations, but there are many flat places in the world where everyone connects: airports, global cities, city centers, cyberspace, societal domains; wherever this happens, there will be churches that will surf all nations!

The driving motivation for starting churches in America is to reach the lost and stem the tide of churches closing. This is not enough.  I’m increasingly coming to the conclusion these churches will not “save” us, they could even hasten our death and backfire on us. People don’t want to be viewed as numbers and notches on our belts. It’s too small a picture of God, too small a view of what God wants to do in the world, too small an understanding of reconciliation void of transformation. Evangelism is the fruit of discipleship. The church is a gathering of disciples living a transformed life, taking it to broken people and communities and seeing the reconciliation of all things. When that happens, evangelism has moved from being …

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If churches, denominations and networks would get this one principle, we would see a rapid advancement of the Kingdom.  Not only with church planting, but with the revitalization of old churches.

Traditional system of planting churches:

Institution - Gospel - Preacher - Church - Society - Institution - Planting

Acts 11 Model of planting churches:

Gospel - Disciple - Society - Church

The church is a natural by-product of ministry in your community, not the starting point.

What are some examples of how this can be done?

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