Book Review - Reimagining Church Part 1

Reimagining Church is written by Frank Viola, a prominent voice in the house church movement and author of several other books including bestselling "Pagan Christianity" which he coauthored with George Barna. I was given this book by my Grandfather about a year ago. It is one I have read over a period of time as it has taken a while to fully digest and I finally read the last chapter just recently. Some areas of this book left me thinking that Viola is right on. And in other areas his bias against the traditional church is so dogmatic that it turns my stomach a little.

The purpose of this book is real, and I mean that. There are an estimated one million people leaving the traditional church every year in the United States. You could say the church has lost some of it's mojo. Not to blame the church for all this, we just have life too easy and the church, like many other things, is viewed as a "product" in a consumer mentality culture.
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The main thrust of the book asks this question: Is the New Testament concept of the church of Jesus Christ a spiritual organism or an institutional organization? The answer that most of us would come up with is that the church is an organism, the very bride of Christ. But the argument in this book outlines how the institutional church falls short of this goal. Not that the church is not God's people, but the way of doing church is a system, not incredibly different than what you would find in a corporation. On pages 274-275, Viola outlines the differences in paradigm from being involved in an institutional church and being involved with a home church. I think this breakdown is one of the strengths of the book:

The Institutional Paradigm //The Organic Paradigm

• -is sustained by a clergy system //-knows nothing of a clergy system
• -limits many functions to the ordained //-makes all members functioning priests
• -renders the bulk of congregants passive in the pews //-allows and encourages all Christians to engage in whatever ministry God has called them to.
• -associates church with a building, a denomination..// -affirms they (the people) are the church
• -spends most of its resources on building //-spends most of its resources on the "poor among you"

expenditures and staff salaries

• -operates on the basis that the pastor/priest is the //-operates on the basis that Christ is the functional head

functional head through the Holy Spirit

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I think probably the greatest strengths mentioned above are the empowerment of believers and the freeability of resources that the organic church offers. The biggest problem that I see with Mr. Viola's vision is the possibility of major doctrinal error (heresy) that can accompany such churches. We all possess a fallen nature and the possibility of problems increase when little to no oversight exists. Some people have strong personalities and can take that personality and "lord" it over others. Others, may like to mix a strong drink of left or right politics into their understanding of the Bible. Another problem is the rampant Biblical illiteracy that is plaguing Christians. Of course, maybe we are Biblically illiterate because we rely on the pastor to understand the Bible for us. In that case, which came first? The chicken or the egg?

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Overall this book is a good read. I imagine that every believer would glean some good insight from reading it. More to come soon............................

Dan & Dad Trip 2010 - Day 1 Columbia to Bluffton 68 miles plus detour

From May 4-6th in the year of our Lord 2010, Daniel Hans and I biked the Katy Trail from Columbia to St. Charles, MO. It was a great adventure. The following three posts (with photos) chronicle our trip.

Pic 1 - Heading out! MLK spur trailhead, Stadium Blvd in Columbia, MO. Little did we know that there was construction on a bridge on the trail three miles down and we would have to huff back and take a detour south on Forum Blvd to Nifong and all the way out to Scott Blvd. Add on a few miles to our already long day!

Peddling in the footsteps of some great men.

Biking past the City of Jefferson and the capital of the great state of Missouri.

This is Standing Rock. On the side of the rock there are markers from the water level of the floods of 1903, 1944 and 1993.

We made it to our B&B. Day one was our longest day and I was glad to have it over. Staying at the house hotel (as Dan calls it) were three ladies from Wisconsin biking part of the trail together. We had a wonderful time around the dinner table. I guess you could call this place a Dinner, Bed and Breakfast. Our host Doug had BBQ chicken, corn on the cob and salad waiting for us when we arrived.

Dad & Dan Trip 2010 - Day 2 Bluffton to Defiance 52 miles

One of the many old railroad bridges along the Katy Trail.

My sweet little boy.

What's this? A red caboose that is being renovated into a custard shop! Snacks by the tracks, you gotta love it.

The village of Marthasville was one of the unexpected highlights of the trip. It had a beautiful city park with playground that we relaxed at for almost two hours. And they had a convenience store!! Don't read this Jamie (Momma), but we purchased soda, Zingers and Cheetos and hung out in the shade.

B&B in Defiance, MO. Day 2 was a great day, 52 miles was about the right amount pulling a loaded chariot, and afforded us extra time for breaks. Defiance was a beautiful little town.

Dan & Dad Trip 2010 - Day 3 Defiance to St. Charles 20 miles

The breakfast at our B&B on the last morning of the trip was ridiculous. Egg and cheese souffle, locally made sausages, potato pancakes, pecan sticky buns, cherry walnut bread, strawberries, coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice. We put a hurtin' on it.

We stopped and took this pic with about ten miles left on the trip. We were entering the August Busch Natural Wildlife Area in St. Charles County. I must say, my backside and legs were pretty excited the trip was about over, but the moment was a little bittersweet.

Mission Complete! My friend Mike Z met us, and Daniel and I washed down the trail dust with a house made root beer and wheat beer - Trailhead Brewing Co, Historic Downtown St. Charles, MO.

Several things we learned/experienced on the trip:

-I was happy to spend so much one-on-one time with my middle son. I think he liked it too, as he was able to express himself perhaps more than with the brothers around. It was very valuable.

-We saw some great wild life. The number of bluebirds we saw was amazing. They are beautiful. We came across three snakes, four goats, two slow crossing turtles (which we stopped at), 1 turkey and about 2,000 squirrels. I never realized how useful the bell on my bike was until I started using it to move squirrels off the trail. If you wait until you are right on them, they slow you down by darting to and fro.

-People along the trail were, in general, incredibly friendly.

"Choose this day whom you will serve..........As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"

Joshua, Son of Nun and a servant of the Lord

Living Intentionally

This weekend Jamie and I attended a powerful Parenting Conference with Dr. Randy Carlson. He came in to Lenexa, KS to the beautiful Lenexa First Baptist Church. The whole day was devoted to living intentionally in Christ and parenting in a way that our children will come to know and love God. One of the main themes was choosing "One thing" everyday and be intentional about glorifying Jesus through it.

Among many other things covered were 12 things Dr. Randy came up with called "Loving My Child Into Adulthood." They go like this:

1. I will not do for my child what they can do for themselves. When I do, I weaken them.
2. I will not over-react when my child over-reacts. When I do, we both lose.
3. I will not rescue my child from their mistakes. If I do I have cheated them from learning.
4. I will not treat my teenager like a child - even though they are acting like one. When I do, I create resentment.
5. I will not be dissuaded from doing right despite anger, tears, cursing or threats. When I do, I am an irresponsible parent.
6. I will pick battles carefully because it's more important to be the right parent than to be right.
7. I will give lots of encouragement because it will help my child to build confidence.
8. I will provide training, support and instruction as needed because that is my job.
9. I will pray daily for my child because my child belongs to God.
10. I will use a heart of understanding when my child is hurting, confused, searching and frustrated.
11. I will use a head of caring when my child had questions, needs guidance, and wants answers.
12. I will use a hand of logical and natural consequences when my child needs discipline.

I have added another, to personalize and make ours a Blessed 13. Each night after praying with my child, I will tickle and kiss them. For our home shall be filled with blessing, laughter and smiles.

"Figure out what will please Christ -- then do it." Ephesians 5:10 The Message

Excruciating!

The next time you or I are tempted to say "this headache is excruciating!, or 'whatever' involves excruciating pain" it would be good to know the origin of the word. From the Latin "cruciare" a derivative of "crux," which means "out of the cross, to torment, to crucify."

In the 16th century they used this word, "excruciating," to describe the pain that Jesus went through during his torture and crucifixion. As a follower of Christ, this word now has taken on a whole new meaning. It is a holy word, worthy of being used reverently and in remembrance.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Cor 1:18

Go with God today my friend.