Almost a year ago...

Wow, it has been a while, hasn't it?

Almost nine months ago I wrote my last blog, but I thought it was time to add another today. Today I was welcomed in my new corps. It feels a bit like a rollercoaster. Can I live up to all the expectations? Do I need to? I guess the answer lies in the bible verses I used this morning. 2 Timothy 1: 6-10:

⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

⁸So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, ⁹who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

This stuff has really helped me today! I really realized that fear does not come from God, so I do not need to be afraid with Him on my side!

God gives us a loving strength to use wisely, but not because we deserve it, but because of His grace, freely given to us to except!

Have a great week you all!

Pak maar m'n hand

I made a video for last Sunday. It's a dutch song, but you might get the idea. bless!

Chocolat!

I finally got round to watching the movie 'Chocolat' last week. What a great story about ressurrection in a community held hostage by tradition and fear.

Let's all be chocolateshop churches!

Church or movement

Lately there is a lot of discussion going on in the Salvation Army about the idea that the Salvation Army is a church. People say that this is not the case, because we are a movement. I would say that we are both or need to be both. Phil Needham puts it in his book 'Community in Mission' as follows:

"An inflexible and immobile Church is no Church at all; it is a religious relic." (Needham, 1987:55)

When we stop moving forward we stop being church.

Journeying Out - 03: Social Capital - the Big Idea

It took me a while but here is a short excerpt of the third chapter of Ann Morisy's book. This chapter is about Social Capital. Social Capital is simply the fact that people help others. The example given is about a lady with a buggy at the stairs of an underground station. There is always some bystander who sees her and helps her up the stairs.

There are a few comments to be made with regards to this subject:
First of all there are some distinctions to be made: Sometimes 'social capital' (helping others) can be limited to the 'own' network. Within the network it is all fine, but in this way 'social capital' works exclusively for the insiders, excluding everyone else. This type is called Bonding social capital.

When social capital bridges the gap between networks. it is called Bridging social capital.
A quote:

Bridging social capital leads to a broadening of people's identities because it requires journeying out to engage with the stranger. (2004:50)

According to Morisy this kind of social capital is diminishing and she also believes that there could be a task for the church in this matter.

A third version goes even further: Brave social capital. People that are involved with others on this level put themselves at a certain risk level. People that work with violent and sick people, perhaps in a dangerous area face a higher risk then others.

This last level is the most dangerous, but also the level where I would like to venture in more. But how do you do that, living in suburban holland and working in a relatively rich area?

Bibliography
MORISY, A. (2004) Journeying Out, Harrisburg, Morehouse.

Salvation

The Salvation Army is called Salvation Army, because it is in the business of saving people. But what is 'Salvation'? Is it simply helping people to a better standard of life? Is it the saving of people from their sins and eternal damnation? Bosch puts it like this in his book "Transforming Mission" (1991)

Those who know that God will one day wipe away all tears will not accept with resignation the tears of those who suffer and are opressed now. Anyone who knows that one day there will be no more disease can and must actively anticipate the conquest of disease in individuals ans society now. And anyone who believes that the enemy of God and humans will be vanquished will already opose him now in his machinations in family and society. For all of this has to do with salvation.

Strong and moving words that reflect the mission of the Salvation Army clearly. I believe that the act of salvation involves all of our lives. Leaving any aspect out of it is tempering with the Missio Dei: God's Mission.

Journeying Out - 02: Community Ministry

I am not sure how you relate to my former blog about this book. When I read it back it doesn't look all to coherent to me. I apologise! Hopefully this excerpt will be easier to read!

In the second chapter of this book Morisy focusses on the necessity of honest thinking and reflection. Going into the ‘Adaptive Zone’ head over heels could risk betraying the primary task of the Church: that of helping people to discover the scope of relationship with God through Jesus. (Morisy, 2004:23)

It is interesting and also stimulating to read her ideas about changing the focus of mission from ‘needs meeting’ to the way Jesus did mission in a coaching kind of way.

The radical, missionary activity of the Church cannot, like liberal, secular, social policy, aim at the transformation of the poor. In the new adaptive zone we have entered, the aim must be the transformation of the secure, the well-meaning and the well-endowed of this world. The processes that Jesus teaches and demonstrates invest potential in the most unlikely, not in the well resourced. Focussing on ‘needs meeting’ is at odds with the coaching and urging that we receive from Jesus to take seriously the reality of Gospel reversals. The ways of Jesus are not the ways of the world, but they are not a fairy story either. Gospel reversal are to be taken seriously. The challenge is to have the imagination, trust, expectation and capacity to facilitate situations where the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom can prosper. (Morisy, 2004:28)

Another really important aspect of this chapter is the idea of ‘grace cascades’. If you help others in this way it reflects on a lot of people. The grace that fuels and comes from helping others reflect on the people that are involved with helping, but also the ones that are helped. By changing lives, the lives changed can change others.

I believe on the other hand that the opposite of grace has its own cascade, that might be even more influential sometimes. We can battle this ‘curse’ crusade effectively by focussing in our mission on Jesus. He was in the business of turning people and ideas upside down and by that developing a relationship with them. He did not focus on the things that were wrong, but he replaced them by stories of grace. An example that I want to follow wholeheartedly.


Bibliography
MORISY, A. (2004) Journeying Out, Harrisburg, Morehouse.