en-us http://www.intensedebate.com/users/264040 Comments by jrrozko http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2005/10/05/why-i-love-fuller/#IDComment219882919 Hi Elaine. Yeah, once a day a random post gets recycled to Twitter and Facebook as a way to make sporadic use of older content. Goldingay was definitely one of my favorites at Fuller, he's a treasure. Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:36:00 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2005/10/05/why-i-love-fuller/#IDComment219882919 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2006/04/20/the-world-our-words-create/#IDComment213445397 David, could have been more explicit, but what I am critiquing are the esoteric nature of the ways in which this idea of "personal relationship with Jesus" is most commonly used. The phrase is typically invoked in correspondence with the notion of "having Jesus in my heart." It is this sentiment which is individualistic and theologically inappropriate, not the notion of authentic and embodied relationship. With you there. Thanks for the enegament on a post that is now over 5 years old - holy cow! Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:44:29 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2006/04/20/the-world-our-words-create/#IDComment213445397 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/my-anabaptism/#IDComment213372240 I'm down. Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:16:55 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/my-anabaptism/#IDComment213372240 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/presentations-dialogue-about-the-future-of-theological-education-join-us/#IDComment213020775 I am gonna try and get that sorted out. Will let you know. Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:01:00 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/presentations-dialogue-about-the-future-of-theological-education-join-us/#IDComment213020775 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/05/two-battles-of-emerging-missional-leaders/#IDComment209192776 How do you see something like that coming together? Local church inititatives? Innovated approached to distributed models of theological education from seminaries? Some combination of the two or something else altogether? Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:26:57 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/05/two-battles-of-emerging-missional-leaders/#IDComment209192776 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment204342137 Thanks for taking the time to share all that Todd. Helpful to have a better picture of what, how, and why you guys are doing what you're doing. Sounds great on many counts. Not sure I followed you on using the fruit of the tree as an analogy for the medium being the message - there may be a category confusion there. I remain pretty convinced that very often our mediums and messages are directly antithetical to one another. It just doesn't work, in my opinion, to teach on the incarnational nature of Christian witness via a video feed, or talk about the value of replicating and sending leaders when people gather primarily to hear from the same person week after week. I've heard it said before that what we win people with we win them to. From experiential and theological perspectives I buy that, which is why I remain skeptical of using less-than-missional means to garner an audience with the hope of converting them to something else. At a basic level I remain a guy convinced that we should follow Jesus' example of inviting people, at the very beginning of our interaction with them, into the kind of life that God would have for them. All that being said, it sounds like God is us to some great stuff at the Stone. Blessings on all the stuff you are doing. Hope we get to connect in person at some point. Fri, 7 Oct 2011 12:38:47 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment204342137 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment204338029 Right. I guess this just serves as a reminder that the real focus in the "missional conversation" isn't so much church size (mega vs. smaller), but theology and ecclesiology - things which drive churches no matter their size. It's easy to pick on mega-churches because they're like the fat kid in dodge-ball, but we probably need to work harder in helping people understand what we think is really at stake rather than being accused of just being anti-large church. Fri, 7 Oct 2011 12:24:43 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment204338029 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2005/11/the-scandal-of-election/#IDComment204333727 Tim, thanks for commenting - good to connect on Twitter as well. Wow, this post is 6 years old now. Though I would probably refine this post a bit if I were writing it today, this remains one of the biggest theological revolutions of my life. The idea that salvation isn't something that I posses has freed me up to know and follow God in ways that I never could have imagined and led me down so many other paths of theological insight as well. Newbigin has been so great, love his writing and what it's done to call us back to seeing the fundamentally missiological shape of all theology. Fri, 7 Oct 2011 12:10:20 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2005/11/the-scandal-of-election/#IDComment204333727 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment203892862 Hey Todd, thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. Did you catch this line at the beginning of the post, "I think it needs to be acknowledged that the problem isn’t size in and of itself. Who would possibly be against a huge church of fully devoted follower of Jesus on mission with God?! Not this guy." I really did want to get out in front of exactly the criticism that you mentioned, but maybe I could have done better. By the way, I hear only good things about Austin Stone - Stew is a friend of mine. I'd probably still want to push in a little on how a church remains "mega" without dismantling huge staffs, budgets, and financial structures that are leveraged primarily toward making worship services happen, but, and I mean this with all sincerity, if there is a church out there that might have something to teach others on this, it just may be Austin Stone - you'd of course know better than me. I am just wary of the effects of the mentality that believes it is appropriate to continue using mega-church sorts of paradigms and structures so long as people are on board with trying to move people toward something else. On that count, I am very much a "the medium is the message sort of guy." Care to share some more about some of the ways that Austin Stone is dealing with stuff along those lines? I am genuinely interested! Thu, 6 Oct 2011 14:43:14 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment203892862 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment203885964 Thanks for your comment. I have definitely seen this reality of the constant need for volunteers to staff all the various programs played out. There is this air of servanthood to it, but more than anything, it seems like it just stymies peoples growth as they are more inclined to feel like they have checked the "I serve somewhere" box as opposed to having been invited into a discipleship relationship where they might develop the competency for kingdom leadership. Thu, 6 Oct 2011 14:19:16 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment203885964 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment203656293 Suppose that puts me in good company then ;) I suppose I gave the least amount of attention to #3 because of how thoroughly a broad array of people have come to realize that being sunday-centric just doesn't result in the equipping of true disciples - people who are passionate about and capable of joining in on God's mission in the world. Gathering is important for sure, but Western Christianity has become so cognitive that we've complete lost a vision of being the church in the way Jesus was with his disciples. Thu, 6 Oct 2011 01:15:36 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/10/the-mega-problems-of-mega-churches/#IDComment203656293 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment201790536 Ha. Nice. OK, if you have more info on this sort of stuff - sites, recipes, food lists, etc, email it to me and I'll take a closer look. Thanks. Sat, 1 Oct 2011 15:41:13 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment201790536 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment201063786 Hey Emily. Thanks for the advice - taking all I can get. I'll definitely look into this stuff. I wish I could say, "If she can do it, I can do it," but that's probably way off the mark! I'll give it my best anyway ;) Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:52:55 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment201063786 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment200455208 Thanks for the encouragement dad. Those holidays will be tough, but maybe one year w/o grandma's cookies is worth the price ;) Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:54:44 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment200455208 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment200454671 Thanks Burly. Appreciate the tips. Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:53:11 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment200454671 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment200454267 Nice, thanks. See ya around he gym. Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:51:57 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/the-hawaii-two-0-challenge/#IDComment200454267 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/if-the-missional-movement-fails-so-does-discipleship/#IDComment197562827 Thanks Brad. Yeah, it's important to push past that tendency to view discipleship as an exercise in the accumulation of information rather than a movement in to joining God on his mission in the world. There's a place for cognitive learning of course, but separating it from the context of mission/ministry has distorting effects - the sort that I believe many seminary-trained pastors and leaders have unfortunately had to learn the hard way. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:22:08 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/if-the-missional-movement-fails-so-does-discipleship/#IDComment197562827 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/if-the-missional-movement-fails-so-does-discipleship/#IDComment197422643 Good reminder, thanks Frank. Glad to connect. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:40:09 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/if-the-missional-movement-fails-so-does-discipleship/#IDComment197422643 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/if-the-missional-movement-fails-so-does-discipleship/#IDComment197196884 Yes, competence is an important issue, but beyond that I'm not really sure what you are driving at here in the first part of your comment. I suppose I see faithfulness and obedience not as things to which we need to add a focus on competence and effectiveness, but as the channels through which God can exercise his competence through me. Another way of saying that may be, I'm not faithful and obedient in order to become competent and effective, but rather, I'm competent and effective to the extent that I remain faithful and obedient. That make sense? I may yet be missing what you're driving at on this one. As far as the two sentences about disciple as missionary, I think I see what you are saying, but would want to argue for a vision of what it means to participate in God's mission in the world that is broader than just being sent out as the disciples were in Luke 9 and 10. The disciples were on mission with Jesus right from the get go and though there was a development to the responsibility and authority he passed on to them, this isn't the same as saying discipleship is one things and "being missional" another. I could get behind the language of cultivating a discipling movement, but because I think that discipleship only ever happens as we are called into participating in God's mission in the world in and through local, incarnational expressions of the Body of Christ, we need an ecclesiology that is capable of launching, guiding, and sustaining that movement. So, in this way, what we need isn't so much a discipling movement with a "missional bent," but a missional understanding of God and the Church that leads naturally to discipleship. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:14:50 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/if-the-missional-movement-fails-so-does-discipleship/#IDComment197196884 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/if-the-missional-movement-fails-so-does-discipleship/#IDComment197007786 Hey Paul. Count me among the people who are committed to not letting that happen. I mean, bottom line, the work of God is obviously more important that mounting defenses regarding terms related to it, but as someone who desperately wants to see the missio Dei and a correspondingly missiological shape to theology, ecclesiology, and theological education regain some ground, it's a word that I'm going to continue vying for the rightful use of. Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:54:37 +0000 http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2011/09/if-the-missional-movement-fails-so-does-discipleship/#IDComment197007786