I have been working for the past two years to begin a missionary movement to America. This vision is to call, train, relocate, and release missionaries into America’s inner cities starting in North St. Louis Missouri. The idea of being missionaries in your own country may seam strange to some. Many missions organizations involved in overseas missions have already realized the need to raise up indigenous leaders for their work in foreign countries. We do not consider this in America because the church is on every corner.
In the devastated inner cities of our country the church is often ineffective in growing the kingdom and combating evil. Many of the inner city churches are made up of people that do not live in the area where the church is located. Many times the majority of the congregation and pastoral staff are coming into the neighborhood for services and then leaving to their suburban homes. The churches with the greatest impact are residents of the community.
The idea of a missionary movement to the inner cities may have escaped the eyes of many people. What God is doing in our midst is to prepare a place and a means whereby we can facilitate a large movement of missionaries to a specific place. This movement will allow us to work interdependently together as we tackle some very big issues that have plagued these areas for generations.
We are working as missionaries outside of the traditional church structures. We do not “do church” the way many people are used to seeing it done. We do not have public services. We gather the missionaries and their disciples for organic gatherings of worship. We share our resources with one another as each has need. We work co-operatively in non-profit business ventures to supply the needs of the work and to pastor the community where we live. We take on large tasks together and empower each missionary to do what God has made them to do (Ephesians 2:10). We support each other in their work and together we operate as the sacred assembly of Christ in the midst of a fallen world.
As our foundation has been set over these past two years we see an acceleration coming. We have a wood shop and sewing center that makes products from mostly re-purposed materials. We are negotiating for the use of a commercial kitchen in the area that will allow us to make and package food for sale. We have been offered a 3100 square foot café and retail space starting next year. We have 12 missionaries working in the area with 5 already living in the neighborhood. We are ready to begin rehabbing housing to provide for the needs of future missionaries.
We have been given extreme favor with the business and political leaders of the area. The kind of favor that can only come from God’s grace. We are beginning to see a working of unity among the leaders and ministers that live in the area. We are seeing young people accept Christ and make life changes. These are only first fruits and there is much work to do in our area.
If you feel a call to work outside the church structure but remain in America then I want to hear from you. We can help to provide, train, empower, and release you to become a part of what I think will be the largest missionary movement to America in it’s history. Those who are chosen will find work, housing, support, and freedom to minister in one of the most dangerous and depressed areas of our country. You must be dedicated to making disciples that make disciples and working outside the traditional church model.
For more information contact Terry by email at terry@sunministries.org
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
The Sacred Assembly
I have been watching the events unfold for some time now. I once was as they are now. I see them writing on their Blogs or Facebook about their growing frustration or discontentment with the “church.” Many are questioning. They are looking at the traditions of their fathers and they see so much truth and so much error that the contradiction becomes unbearable. The organization called the “church” hardly resembles the character of the God it is supposed to serve. How can this be? How can so many good people occupy their time and energy with such things as these? Where is the care for the widow, the orphan, the poor, or for my friends? What if I don't like the things the system requires of me? What if I know I was made for more? Why do I need their approval in order to serve my God? Where is the unity of the faith that Paul speaks about? Why is there so much division and backbiting? Why do we separate over such small doctrinal matters?
Sadly, for many this faith journey ends in dissatisfaction. The questions go unanswered and bitterness begins to set in. An uncomfortable compromise begins to take shape. Many leave the “church” but with no real direction. It is a trap of the enemy! The trap is that I am now on my own faith journey and it's just between me and God. The lie is that you can find God and walk with Him outside the Church. This is not God's design. It never has been. God's design is for a Sacred Assembly to rule the earth. From the time of Abraham even unto now God has been setting apart His people to be a Sacred Assembly.
Another trap is that doctrine is the problem. If we re-examine the doctrine that divides us, we may find the solution to our dissatisfaction. God is truth and to know Him requires us to know truth. Godly doctrine is the expression of the truth of who God really is. To live apart from solid doctrine is to live in something other than truth. God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth!
Look at the Scripture. The context is clear. We were designed to be an interdependent, doctrinally sound, biblically functioning community of Christ followers. We are to care for each other. We are to share with each other. Our gifts are meant to be inseparable. Together we are the temple of God where His Spirit dwells. When we pursue God alone we deny the truth that God designed us to be together. From the time of Adam God declared it is not good for man to be alone. This Community was meant to live radically different lives from the people around them. This community was meant to be the abode of the Holy Spirit actively manifesting among a lost and dying world. The people of God were meant to live united lives. The problem comes not from the “church” but from the structures that bind the “church.” When the church is lead by the Holy Spirit it is exactly where Christ followers find freedom, contentment, care, and empowerment. The problem for most in your generation is that you have never experienced this kind of community before. You long for it but can't find it. You express your discontentment with those who are older and they do not seam to understand. They do not have the same feelings about “church” that you have. They like it. They can't understand why you don't like it. They may even infer that the problem is with you and not the “church.” They even go as far as to question the legitimacy of any expression of church that does not resemble what they approve. They rationalize the problems in order to defend what they hold dear and so might you if the roles were reversed.
The problem is not really a problem at all. It is a work of God in our generation. God is calling out a remnant from the old work to a new work. He is doing what He has done so many times throughout history. God is reshaping the Church to revive it. He is calling you to something deeper. He wants you to live a radically transformed life so a decaying and corrupt world can see your bright light shine. He wants your light to go to the dark places of your country and make a difference. There is nothing wrong here. There is a stirring of the Holy Spirit among a young generation. God is moving on you and many others like you to come out of the structures that you were raised in and to find newness of life in a Sacred Assembly. In the Sacred Assembly you can be all that God made you to be. You can shed the corruption of your flesh and find new spiritual life. You can live interdependently with other Christ followers much like you see expressed in Acts chapter 2. In the Sacred Assembly you can discover and mature that spiritual gift that God placed in you. You can walk in Freedom from sin and find the Ephesians 2:10 works that God made beforehand for you to walk in. You can be a light in a dark place.
Don't let them hold you back. Alternative faith communities exist in America today. They have broken free from the structure that binds the church and they are living radical interdependent lives in very dark places. Jesus walked outside the “church” structure of His day because God was reforming that system. Jesus did not walk alone. Neither should you.
Sadly, for many this faith journey ends in dissatisfaction. The questions go unanswered and bitterness begins to set in. An uncomfortable compromise begins to take shape. Many leave the “church” but with no real direction. It is a trap of the enemy! The trap is that I am now on my own faith journey and it's just between me and God. The lie is that you can find God and walk with Him outside the Church. This is not God's design. It never has been. God's design is for a Sacred Assembly to rule the earth. From the time of Abraham even unto now God has been setting apart His people to be a Sacred Assembly.
Another trap is that doctrine is the problem. If we re-examine the doctrine that divides us, we may find the solution to our dissatisfaction. God is truth and to know Him requires us to know truth. Godly doctrine is the expression of the truth of who God really is. To live apart from solid doctrine is to live in something other than truth. God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth!
Look at the Scripture. The context is clear. We were designed to be an interdependent, doctrinally sound, biblically functioning community of Christ followers. We are to care for each other. We are to share with each other. Our gifts are meant to be inseparable. Together we are the temple of God where His Spirit dwells. When we pursue God alone we deny the truth that God designed us to be together. From the time of Adam God declared it is not good for man to be alone. This Community was meant to live radically different lives from the people around them. This community was meant to be the abode of the Holy Spirit actively manifesting among a lost and dying world. The people of God were meant to live united lives. The problem comes not from the “church” but from the structures that bind the “church.” When the church is lead by the Holy Spirit it is exactly where Christ followers find freedom, contentment, care, and empowerment. The problem for most in your generation is that you have never experienced this kind of community before. You long for it but can't find it. You express your discontentment with those who are older and they do not seam to understand. They do not have the same feelings about “church” that you have. They like it. They can't understand why you don't like it. They may even infer that the problem is with you and not the “church.” They even go as far as to question the legitimacy of any expression of church that does not resemble what they approve. They rationalize the problems in order to defend what they hold dear and so might you if the roles were reversed.
The problem is not really a problem at all. It is a work of God in our generation. God is calling out a remnant from the old work to a new work. He is doing what He has done so many times throughout history. God is reshaping the Church to revive it. He is calling you to something deeper. He wants you to live a radically transformed life so a decaying and corrupt world can see your bright light shine. He wants your light to go to the dark places of your country and make a difference. There is nothing wrong here. There is a stirring of the Holy Spirit among a young generation. God is moving on you and many others like you to come out of the structures that you were raised in and to find newness of life in a Sacred Assembly. In the Sacred Assembly you can be all that God made you to be. You can shed the corruption of your flesh and find new spiritual life. You can live interdependently with other Christ followers much like you see expressed in Acts chapter 2. In the Sacred Assembly you can discover and mature that spiritual gift that God placed in you. You can walk in Freedom from sin and find the Ephesians 2:10 works that God made beforehand for you to walk in. You can be a light in a dark place.
Don't let them hold you back. Alternative faith communities exist in America today. They have broken free from the structure that binds the church and they are living radical interdependent lives in very dark places. Jesus walked outside the “church” structure of His day because God was reforming that system. Jesus did not walk alone. Neither should you.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
On Spiritual Maturity
"The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”
When examining the process of making disciples we must look at one goal of making disciples. One goal is to bring people from a place of no knowledge of God to a place of maturity in Christ. This place of maturity is one of the desired results of discipleship that is referred to in Scripture.
If one goal of discipleship is to bring people to maturity in Christ then how can we know when we are successful in making disciples instead of just making converts? Let's look at some of the characteristics of the spiritually mature.
In 1Cor. 2 Paul talks of speaking wisdom to the mature. It is a wisdom that is not of this world. This wisdom is not understood by many including the rulers of this age. Position and title does not equate to spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is a work of the Holy Spirit and is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that produces maturity through the Pleroma of Christ. That is the fulness of all that Christ has for us. It is the ever present dwelling of the Spirit of Christ within us that allows us to operate in the spiritual above the physical. The spiritually mature is first and foremost subject to the Spirit.
Hebrews 5 and 6 speaks of moving on to maturity by leaving the elementary instructions and moving on. This moving on denotes that something must be left and something else must be attained in order to indicate spiritual maturity. The thing to leave is the elementary teachings. There is a time for foundational instruction but it is not something for those considered mature to be receiving. A sign of maturity is that they can now discern good and evil because by practice their senses have been trained to do it. Spiritual maturity requires an active and discerning practice of our faith.
Another indication of a mature disciple is the bearing of fruit. Jesus indicates that bearing fruit is how we prove to be His disciples. When we look at the difference between the spiritually mature and the babes in Christ, we can see the following characteristics.
Spiritually mature Christians are filled with the Pleroma of God, they have left the elementary teachings, they have moved on to an active faith being lived out in a process that practices discerning good from evil. They are actively involved in making new disciples. They have become teachers instead of only being learners. The spiritually mature understand a wisdom that is not of this world, they work in their spiritual gifts. The spiritually mature Christian bears fruit for Christ that is brought to spiritual maturity.
Have you become spiritually mature? Does your current faith community produce spiritually mature Christians?
When examining the process of making disciples we must look at one goal of making disciples. One goal is to bring people from a place of no knowledge of God to a place of maturity in Christ. This place of maturity is one of the desired results of discipleship that is referred to in Scripture.
If one goal of discipleship is to bring people to maturity in Christ then how can we know when we are successful in making disciples instead of just making converts? Let's look at some of the characteristics of the spiritually mature.
In 1Cor. 2 Paul talks of speaking wisdom to the mature. It is a wisdom that is not of this world. This wisdom is not understood by many including the rulers of this age. Position and title does not equate to spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is a work of the Holy Spirit and is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that produces maturity through the Pleroma of Christ. That is the fulness of all that Christ has for us. It is the ever present dwelling of the Spirit of Christ within us that allows us to operate in the spiritual above the physical. The spiritually mature is first and foremost subject to the Spirit.
Hebrews 5 and 6 speaks of moving on to maturity by leaving the elementary instructions and moving on. This moving on denotes that something must be left and something else must be attained in order to indicate spiritual maturity. The thing to leave is the elementary teachings. There is a time for foundational instruction but it is not something for those considered mature to be receiving. A sign of maturity is that they can now discern good and evil because by practice their senses have been trained to do it. Spiritual maturity requires an active and discerning practice of our faith.
Another indication of a mature disciple is the bearing of fruit. Jesus indicates that bearing fruit is how we prove to be His disciples. When we look at the difference between the spiritually mature and the babes in Christ, we can see the following characteristics.
Spiritually mature Christians are filled with the Pleroma of God, they have left the elementary teachings, they have moved on to an active faith being lived out in a process that practices discerning good from evil. They are actively involved in making new disciples. They have become teachers instead of only being learners. The spiritually mature understand a wisdom that is not of this world, they work in their spiritual gifts. The spiritually mature Christian bears fruit for Christ that is brought to spiritual maturity.
Have you become spiritually mature? Does your current faith community produce spiritually mature Christians?
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Cart Before the Proverbial Horse
Ministry is a simple thing right? Expanding the kingdom of God is what is accomplished by ministry. That sounds easy. So what do we consider ministry to be then? Is it any activity by which we expand the kingdom of God? Is it serving the people of God in the local church? Is it having spiritual conversations with the already professing friends that like church activities?
Consider this thought first. What are we commanded to make? Converts or disciples? If we were commanded to make converts then ministry could easily be any thing we do that helps bring people to a profession of faith. However, we see in scripture that it is said of many that confess Christ that He never knew them. Profession of faith is not the goal. We see in the Sermon on the Mount that many prophesy, cast out demons, and perform miracles in the name of Jesus but He never knew them.
We can see from the passage about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 that the physical realities of ministry do matter. The only difference between the two that is cited in the passage is first what they did or did not do, and second is that the Lord knew one group and not the other. How can people do so much in the name of Christ and never really know Him?
Consider the cart of physical activity and the horse of spiritual transformation. When we do things in order to facilitate spiritual transformation we quite literally put the cart before the horse. Much of my life I have been involved in church activities. I would do what was in front of me because I was persuaded that this is how we bring people to Christ and then to maturity. There were convincing diagrams resembling baseball diamonds or concentric circles that would clearly show me the path people were expected to take to spiritual maturity. These diagrams would allow me as a leader to assess where people were in their walk and direct them to the next step. This model of ministry is prevalent in America today. It is easy to communicate and for a leader to follow. According to recent statistical analysis of the church in America it is also completely ineffective at producing mature fruit bearing Christians. This bearing of good fruit is what was lacking in the condemned group from the Sermon on the Mount.
As I started Sun Ministries I could see how the church in America was not very active in “Sheep-like” activities. They were constantly involved in “Goat-like” behavior. In the inner city there were more “sheep-like” things happening because there was a greater visible need for those things. I still had a hard time believing that the difference between sheep and goats could only be in what they did or did not do. That would be too easily faked. In Matthew 7 the fakers appeared to think they had it right. In Matthew 25 the goats act like they never saw the need and the sheep appear amazed that what they did counted for so much.
I think the true difference between these groups was that one lived lives transformed by the Holy Spirit and the other did not. The reason I believe this is because the Spirit transformed follower of Christ naturally does the things that are near and dear to God's heart. The untransformed professor of Christ does not even see the things that God sees. They simply go through the motions and follow in what they have been taught to do by other men.
As I engaged in the bigger picture of spiritual warfare for my community I see the activities we do in light of spiritual battle. If we are truly opposing the weapons of Satan that are targeting the people that God created, then there can only be one solution and that must be spiritual. Therefore every physical manifestation of ministry must have at its very beginning a spiritual transformation. The goal of obtaining a spiritual transformation as a result of our physical activity is a trap. The spiritual gets lost in the physical activity. Keeping the goal of spiritual transformation at the front of everything we do requires us to keep the horse in front of the cart. We can never assume that we can reach people as a result of our activities. Our activities are tools to break Satan's strongholds.
All of our physical activities must have a spiritual context. Are we doing things that combat the physical manifestation of Satan's attack on God's people? Are our activities overcoming his weapons of poverty, division, corruption, self-indulgence, drugs, crime, promiscuity, etc...? Are we doing it with Spirit transformed followers of Christ or are we doing it in order to try to make Spirit transformed followers of Christ? The only thing that can regenerate man is the recognition of his fallen state and heartfelt surrender to a loving God. The only thing that can lead to that according to Scripture is the preaching of the Gospel. When Spirit transformed followers of Christ serve their community in love and stand in opposition to Satan’s tools and strongholds, then the Gospel will transform those who decide to obey it. Only then will the physical manifestations of ministry aid in transforming the disciple to maturity. Getting people to follow in worthwhile activities is not an indicator of transformation.
To do activity in order to attract or convert people to Christ is to rob the Gospel of its power and to put the cart of the physical ahead of the horse of the spiritual.
Consider this thought first. What are we commanded to make? Converts or disciples? If we were commanded to make converts then ministry could easily be any thing we do that helps bring people to a profession of faith. However, we see in scripture that it is said of many that confess Christ that He never knew them. Profession of faith is not the goal. We see in the Sermon on the Mount that many prophesy, cast out demons, and perform miracles in the name of Jesus but He never knew them.
We can see from the passage about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 that the physical realities of ministry do matter. The only difference between the two that is cited in the passage is first what they did or did not do, and second is that the Lord knew one group and not the other. How can people do so much in the name of Christ and never really know Him?
Consider the cart of physical activity and the horse of spiritual transformation. When we do things in order to facilitate spiritual transformation we quite literally put the cart before the horse. Much of my life I have been involved in church activities. I would do what was in front of me because I was persuaded that this is how we bring people to Christ and then to maturity. There were convincing diagrams resembling baseball diamonds or concentric circles that would clearly show me the path people were expected to take to spiritual maturity. These diagrams would allow me as a leader to assess where people were in their walk and direct them to the next step. This model of ministry is prevalent in America today. It is easy to communicate and for a leader to follow. According to recent statistical analysis of the church in America it is also completely ineffective at producing mature fruit bearing Christians. This bearing of good fruit is what was lacking in the condemned group from the Sermon on the Mount.
As I started Sun Ministries I could see how the church in America was not very active in “Sheep-like” activities. They were constantly involved in “Goat-like” behavior. In the inner city there were more “sheep-like” things happening because there was a greater visible need for those things. I still had a hard time believing that the difference between sheep and goats could only be in what they did or did not do. That would be too easily faked. In Matthew 7 the fakers appeared to think they had it right. In Matthew 25 the goats act like they never saw the need and the sheep appear amazed that what they did counted for so much.
I think the true difference between these groups was that one lived lives transformed by the Holy Spirit and the other did not. The reason I believe this is because the Spirit transformed follower of Christ naturally does the things that are near and dear to God's heart. The untransformed professor of Christ does not even see the things that God sees. They simply go through the motions and follow in what they have been taught to do by other men.
As I engaged in the bigger picture of spiritual warfare for my community I see the activities we do in light of spiritual battle. If we are truly opposing the weapons of Satan that are targeting the people that God created, then there can only be one solution and that must be spiritual. Therefore every physical manifestation of ministry must have at its very beginning a spiritual transformation. The goal of obtaining a spiritual transformation as a result of our physical activity is a trap. The spiritual gets lost in the physical activity. Keeping the goal of spiritual transformation at the front of everything we do requires us to keep the horse in front of the cart. We can never assume that we can reach people as a result of our activities. Our activities are tools to break Satan's strongholds.
All of our physical activities must have a spiritual context. Are we doing things that combat the physical manifestation of Satan's attack on God's people? Are our activities overcoming his weapons of poverty, division, corruption, self-indulgence, drugs, crime, promiscuity, etc...? Are we doing it with Spirit transformed followers of Christ or are we doing it in order to try to make Spirit transformed followers of Christ? The only thing that can regenerate man is the recognition of his fallen state and heartfelt surrender to a loving God. The only thing that can lead to that according to Scripture is the preaching of the Gospel. When Spirit transformed followers of Christ serve their community in love and stand in opposition to Satan’s tools and strongholds, then the Gospel will transform those who decide to obey it. Only then will the physical manifestations of ministry aid in transforming the disciple to maturity. Getting people to follow in worthwhile activities is not an indicator of transformation.
To do activity in order to attract or convert people to Christ is to rob the Gospel of its power and to put the cart of the physical ahead of the horse of the spiritual.
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