I spent today in a few sessions with Michael Frost, author of 'The Shaping of Things to Come' and 'Exiles' (which I'm close to start reading).
here are some thoughts:
- mission is best done in community
- fishing for people (Jesus' 1st call to his disciples) needs to be understood in a culture where you fished with nets, not hooks, therefore fishermen spent most of there time mending, cleaning, and strengthening nets
- questioned if the church doesn't spend enough time strengthening their web of connections with each other and outside themselves
- in our culture where most people live far away from work, and spend spare time in totally separate '3rd spaces', sharing the gospel with someone outside a context of relationships isn't really natural - like droping a bomb, and not caring about the mess you leave.
- in community, or relationships, conversations have time to develop, lives are able to be witnessed, proven...
- SLOWING DOWN was a hugh emphasis
- fast paced life doesn't allow for authentic relationships or anything significant God wants to do in and through us
- often were so busy, we model the same life everyone else in our culture longs to get away from, but they don't see anything different in us
- Paul's 5 fold ministry model in Ephesians is rarely seen in the church - we have pastor types that are 2/5 of the needed skills or gifts the church needs
- we don't need more gifted pastors, but more people in the team to reflect the other gifts
- church needs all gifts to be both challanged to grow and stay tuned to the scriptures and God's heart beat
- the church is meant to be much more communal and participatory than most of us have made it to be
- eg like: collective learning or reading from a text (I'm going to experiment with this), people sharing how God is using them in the world with people responding (I've dabled with this), etc.
- a central focus on Jesus at the end
- insightfully magnified the robustness of the passover meal and contrasted what most churches do for communion... and how it never happens outside of a gathering, why not extend it to many other meals...
About Michael:
- he came across as a smart but not arrogant, humble and sensitive but not passive
- very authentic, easy to listen to, I sensed he lived what he talked about
- very culturual, yet very Christ-focused and Christ-like
- cool but not over the top or showing at all
- very open to chatting with people afterwords
My brother Jon and I attended together, so we had a good time connecting during the breaks. He also shares some insights worth reading here.
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