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Archives For May 2011

Understanding Grace

May 31, 2011 — Leave a comment

I mentioned in an earlier blog that we are hosting a summer reading with our small group leaders.  We are reading D. A. Carson’s The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story.  We haven’t started the group yet, but I decided to read ahead to try and create a reading schedule and some discussion questions.  About 40 pages into the book, God moved.

I have to admit that I struggle with grace.  I struggle with receiving it and with giving it.  I always feel like I will be judged or evaluated based on my performance.   I feel like I need to earn everything.  But that’s not grace.  Grace is unmerited favor.  Grace is an undeserved blessing.  I know this, I teach this to students, but I struggle with it. 

While reading Carson’s book, the third chapter discusses the covenants of God from the Old Testament.  The discussion turned to a practice of the ancient world that was often a part of a peace treaty between super-powers and smaller states.   It was a deal struck to keep peace and provide protection.  The smaller state would pledge allegiance and pay taxes to the super-power, who would in return provide protection.  Carson describes a process that was used to symbolize this covenant:

Sometimes one of the signs of this covenant agreement and corresponding threat was to take animals, tear them apart, and put them side by side with a kind of bloody alleyway between the two parts, and then the two parties of the covenant would walk between the divided animals so as to signify “May this be done to me if I break this covenant. May I be torn apart. May I be cut in half.”   (Carson, 51)

Genesis 15 describes a very similar process between God and Abraham.  God’s covenant with Abraham included his promise that “all people on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen. 12:3)  This is God promising to do something supernatural and sovereign through Abraham’s line.  We know and understand that this is speaking towards Jesus Christ.  But what is Abraham’s responsibility in this covenant?  After all, a covenant does have two parties.  The role of Abraham was to be a people of God, fully devoted and obedient to Him.  But how in the world could we do this without making mistakes? This is where God taught me a new understanding of grace.

Back to Genesis 15 and the similar event.  God has Abraham take the animals and cut them apart.  He directs Abraham to arrange the halves opposite one another with a bloody alleyway between them.  Sound familiar?  But here is the difference.  Abraham falls into a deep sleep, God speaks to him in that sleep about how his family will fall short of their end of the covenant, and then God moved.  Literally, God moved.

“When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.  On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.”  Genesis 15:17-18

What happens here is Grace.  God passes through the bloody alleyway ALONE.  This means that only He is responsible and accountable for the terms of the covenant.  This means that Abram, and you and me, will mess up and God will still show mercy, love, favor, blessings, etc. toward his people.  I’ve heard about grace, taught grace, and definitely experienced grace.  But this illustration really helped me to visualize God’s grace.  It widened my understanding of His love.  It gave me a deeper understanding of God’s grace.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound!

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear,

The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,

We have already come;

‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

 

The Lord has promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease;

I shall possess, within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun forbear to shine;

But God, who call’d me here below,

Will be forever mine.

–John Newton  Amazing Grace

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Sunday Celebrations

May 29, 2011 — Leave a comment

Today has been a great Sunday.  I’m amazed every Sunday at the dedication of our volunteers.  It’s a holiday weekend, but we have probably 95% or more of our leaders here this morning.  Some that had to miss sent messages to their students to let them know!  How amazing is that!  They love their students and it shows in their commitment to their role.  I’m definitely celebrating them today but there is really something that is even more awesome.

I was handed this envelope this morning with no explanation or words.  A 5th grade girl just handed it to me and said “no one needs to know who it’s from.” Then she walked off.

Sunday Celebrations

 

In it was almost $125 raised by this small group of girls.  We have a partnership with The Seed Company to put the Bible into the language of the Dadiya people of Nigeria.  This money will help these people to read the Gospel in their own language.  It was a huge contribution.

I’d love to know which group gave this offering, but there was no names, no note, nothing!  They obviously had worked hard to raise this much money, but they wanted no credit for it. They didn’t present it during large group or even as a whole small group.  Instead, it was just one group member dropping it off and saying no one needs to know who or how.  They gave out of love and obedience, and they didn’t want recognition. One girl…no words…$125!   

I’m humbled by their gift. And I am encouraged by their love and service.  It’s been a great day for me, our church, and the Dadiya People of Nigeria!

 

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Milestones in the Life of Our Daughter

May 27, 2011 — Leave a comment

My wife, Dana, and I have been having some conversations about how we plan to raise our 9-month-old daughter.  It’s not so much about the “everyday” things (although we have had those conversations as well), but it’s more about the transitions of life that are worth a pause and celebration.  We call these milestones.

We haven’t mapped out her entire life’s worth of milestones.  I mean she is only 9-months-old!  But we have been discussing the first of those milestones: baby dedication. We have absolutely nothing against the way our church or any church does baby dedication. As long as it doesn’t violate Scripture in some way, then I think baby dedication is a great event in whatever format the church decides.  It was just a choice for us that we do something different and unique to our family.  We wanted the event to be a charge to our family, our friends, and ourselves.  We want to be held accountable for the physical and spiritual upbringing of our daughter.  We want those that we feel will have an influence on her spiritually or physical development to be a part of this milestone and future milestones.

We haven’t nailed down all the details yet, but here is the framework so far:

Create a Network
We want to invite family and friends, and recognize their role as an influence on the spiritual development of our daughter.  We want to invite them to take hold of that influence in her life.  We also want this group to hold us accountable to our role as the primary spiritual influence.  The have the right to speak into our daughter’s life, as well the life of Dana and me.

Establish Values for Our Family
We want to structure our family around what is most important and model that for our daughter.  We are placing a high importance on worshiping as a family, praying as a family, and studying Scripture as a family.  Other things that we want our daughter to value are service and giving.  We want to establish certain times of year that we model service for her, even at this young age.  We understand that our service is never limited to those times, but we do want to be intentional about modeling that part of our Christian duty.

Protect our Marriage
I know that the best thing I can do for my daughter and show her that I love her mother.  I want to protect my marriage from the dangers of neglect that often accompany the addition of children.  Again, we understand the need for accountability.  We are committing to spend time, energy, and money on the enrichment of our marriage, and we want others to hold us accountable for that. 

I can’t wait to get together for this milestone.  We’re planning on it being a casual dinner where we will explain our intentions and values for parenting.  Following dinner, we’ll have a time of prayer to thank God for our daughter and to ask for His guidance in he upbringing.  We will also ask others to pray for their role as spiritual influence and an accountability partner.

This event has just been on my heart the last few days, so I wanted to throw the idea out and see if there was any helpful information you could give.  I would love to hear if you have done a similar event at your church or for your own child.  I will definitely post pictures and stories following the event.

 

 

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Helping Preteens Transition to Student Ministry

May 25, 2011 — Leave a comment

We have successfully navigated the graduation season, and now our “6th graders” are officially “7th graders.”  For us, this means that these preteens are introduced into student ministry programming on Sundays.  As quickly as this transition happened (Sunday night for us), it really was not done without some planning and intention.  I have to say that we have not perfected the method, nor have we done everything we actually want to do.  But here some things that we are doing this year to transition 6th graders into student ministry:

 1. Graduation
In the Sunday Celebrations post, I talked about our 6th grade graduation.  This event was held to honor the students’ completion of children’s ministry and to encourage them for the next phase of life.  Marking the rite of passage with a special event helps these students to know that it is time to turn the page.  It prepares them mentally for the coming weeks of a new staff, new environment, and new opportunities. 

2. Assimilation
These “7th graders” entering student ministry will most likely spend the majority of their time with fellow “7th” graders or the grade just above them.  Our student ministry recognizes this and plans a trip for incoming 7th & 8th graders.  These students head out of town and spend the weekend bonding with a dinner theater and amusement park.  The event is a great opportunity for bonding between these students and the student ministry staff.

3. Familiarity
Everything is changing for a preteen.  It’s nice to have something consistent from time to time.  As Preteen Pastor, this is where I really appreciate our student ministry team.  They have invited me to remain in the lives of these students.  I will be attending the fun trip with these students as well as speaking in the student ministry services a few times over the summer.  Our hope is that a familiar face will help to acclimate these students into the new ministry and allow them to worship in this new environment without fear or anxiety. 

4. Cross Contamination
For the past two months, these students have had dose after dose of the student ministry staff in some form.  We have invited them into the 6th grade environment to begin getting face time with the students.  We think it’s important for the students to develop trust in the student ministry leaders prior to their graduation.  This is equally, if not more, important for their parents.  At each parent meeting this past semester, we would speak to the parents about the transition.  We took every opportunity possible to let a student leader speak to the parents about what to expect and how to stay involved.  It was a huge help to have student ministry come into our world and begin speaking to students and parents.

5. Follow the Leader
In this case, we’re actually talking about follow the students.  We encourage our small group leaders to move into student ministry with the students.  It makes our job tougher because we have to refill those positions for the coming year, but we think the influence outweighs anything else.  The leader has earned the trust of the student and the parent, opened lines of communication with both, and learned so much about the spiritual condition of the student.  It just makes sense for them to continue walking through life with their students.  We’re not to 100% in this area, but we are celebrating that we do have several leaders moving up with their group.

 

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