busy reading ‘Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture’ by Michael Frost and have little bits of paper and elastoplasts stuck within the pages where i really thort it was profound or spot on (if it was my book it would be folded pages but it’s not – it belongs to the theological library of stellenbosch which has absolutely no relevance so shut up already) and this was one of those pages: From the chapter [...]
last nite at enGAGE (our sunday evening vineyard church congregation weekly gathering) we held an open mic vibe not after ‘church’, not on a different day to ‘church’, not instead of ‘church’, but as church, and it was great it was a celebration of some of the talents and giftings that God has placed in different people in our group and so we sat around tables and munched on chips and sweets and spinach and [...]
i write a weekly thort for the week aimed at challenging Christ followers to actively live out what they believe - longer than my normal blog posts but i think this is important reading, living. Dear friends This week’s thort is specifically aimed at people living in South Africa but feel free to relate it to your specific context – i just feel after this week that God is calling up people who will speak [...]
so last nite we had another incredible time with enGAGE – our church congregation – i preached a talk called ‘The Crit of the Hippo’ – crit being and assessment, a mark, an evaluation... and hippo being a really big creature... so The Big Evaluation essentially... and of course the words ‘crit’ and ‘hippo’ combining nicely to form the word ‘hypocrite’ of which the original meaning was simply actor – so being someone you are [...]
so recently my wife - the beautiful Val (because clearly) – was on a camp where we had been asked to speak (actually first time the invitation came to us as a couple) and someone was chatting to her and said something along the lines of ‘so are you the tagalong?’ – hm, strangely that person still lives today, but ja Val was not super amped and looking back at that camp, if you had [...]
Excerpt from Erwin McManus ‘an unstoppable force’ (available from Loot - http://www.loot.co.za/refer.html?referrer=85894849355 – for R170) [continued] HOW MANY TIMES DOES HE HAVE TO CALL? Why are there so many levels of Christian calling in our contemporary Christian community? Where are they found in the Biblical text? I have a strange suspicion that the nuances of these “callings” have less to do with theology and more to do with the condition of the church. Paul seemed [...]
Excerpt from Erwin McManus ‘an unstoppable force’ (available from Loot - http://www.loot.co.za/refer.html?referrer=85894849355 – for R170) Wow this last chapter of the EM book i’ve been reading resonated so hugely with my spirit i had to share (go and buy the book!): A RADICAL MINIMUM STANDARD On August 20, 1978, I walked to the altar at the first Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida and gave my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord. I remember standing [...]
so this teacher of the law comes up to Jesus and says, “So what is the most important command in the law?” it’s a trick question and yet Jesus floors the gang of them by summing up the whole law as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength. and love your neighbour as yourself.” [paraphrase, Matthew 22.37-38] and since then, christians through the [...]
when looking for a local church to become part of... don't look for a church where you can grow. find a church where you can serve. then you'll grow.
‘...and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ [Acts 2.47b] what comes just before the ‘and’ of that passage that caused such huge growth in the early church? was it their amazing evangelism plans or ABC steps of getting people to follow Jesus? none of the above! it was meeting together, eating together, loving God and loving people together – basically just being church – listening to preaching, seeing miracles [...]