Category Archives: learning

Becoming Missional?

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This is cross posted from a website connected to my school program that I am in. We would love for you to be a part of the dialogue, for you to read up concerning what’s happening, and to journey with us in this. I wrote the following blog on that website:

The week before I left my wife, children, and the pacific northwest to fly to Rochester Hills, Michigan for our first one week intensive course as a part of Rochester College’s first Missional Leadership cohort I began to get nervous. What kind of people will I be in community with during this learning experience? What kind of learning will we be engaged in? What have I gotten myself into?! And what a generous blessing it was to be welcomed into our first classroom experience by Pat Keifert. As I attempted to explain to people connected to our faith community here in Vancouver, WA I said “You know the people that teach the people that usually teach us? He’s that guy! He supposed to teach my teachers…but he’s teaching me!” Once we walked out of the classroom experience and arrived home in our usual ministry context our heads were still spinning with information, questions, and the task of trying to understand this new framework that we left the classroom with. As I wrestle with all of this I would like to share with you briefly two ideas that have stuck with me and that are currently trying to find their place in my life and ministry.

The Mission Field
We must ask the question: do we believe that our western culture is a mission field? And if, as it should be, we answer with a resounding YES! then I believe we must follow up with some deeply disturbing and hope-filled questions and practices. I say disturbing because if you look up the definition you read ideas like “to interfere with”, “to break up the tranquility”, “to inconvenience”, and “to interrupt.” The reality my friends is that if we intend to be relevant to the world around us (not in some sort of trendy tattoos and gravely voiced worship leader type of way, but in the way that combines the messiness of the world with the transformation of the Spirit) our churches need to be interrupted, inconvenienced, and interfered with! I need MY regular routine interrupted, interfered with, and inconvenienced! We I must start thinking like a missionary. Some of you can share better than I how missionaries operate and what the implications of this is. But I would suggest that we need to start with a posture of listening to the world around us.

The Mission and the Church
I would like to share with you some of my notes. These notes have been directly cut and pasted from the file marked “Missional Church Notes”, these important and detailed notes were written during class, and they have not been altered in any way:
“The church doesn’t have a mission, the mission has a church. The church doesn’t have a mission, the mission has a church. The church doesn’t have a mission, the mission has a church. The church doesn’t have a mission, the mission has a church. The church doesn’t have a mission, the mission has a church.”
Rather than saying more about what I believe the foundation and implications of this is, I would love to hear from you. If, indeed, the church does not have a mission, the mission has a church; how does this change our values and behaviors?
peace.

Ryan Woods
Connections Minister
Renovatus Church
My Blog: downtown.renovatus.com

Are you Practicing Ramadan?

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So my brother-in-law Ben is practicing Ramadan for the next few weeks in Bellingham where he works as a pastor of the Sterling Drive Church of Christ. Intrigued? Enraged? Impressed?
Read the article that ran in the Bellingham Herald newspaper, read peoples responses, and also take time to read Brian Mclaren’s blog about why he is doing it. Are you comfortable with this?

Article about Ben: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/1045056.html
Brian Mclaren’s blog: http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/ramadan-2009-part-1-whats-going.html

Let me tell you my quick thoughts about the whole thing. Ben’s not a Muslim. He’s not even trying to agitate things or “stir the pot”. I think he is doing what he can to learn to listen to the world around him, to learn to listen to the people around him that Jesus loves and died for. Ramadan is a season of prayer and fasting, both of which are traditional Christian practices. It’s not as if he’s joining in with sacrifices or or pilgrimage or some sort of practice that all Christians should not already be doing. I’m impressed by what he’s doing and I’m looking forward to hearing his observations about it. It’s not a stunt in anyway, rather it’s a willingness to go to places that Christians have often avoided, to listen to people that Christians have often been unwilling to listen to, and an openness to feast with people that have been rejected in normal Christian circles. Take some time to read through the gospels and tell me that Jesus did not feast with the “worst of sinners”, that he wasn’t willing to go to places that were considered off limits to “good God fearing folks” (do some research about Caesarea Philippi), and that Jesus didn’t listen to those who were considered rejects by the religious elite.

peace.

Are you God?

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I won’t deceive you and say that this blog has not been grown through my current book addiction in some ways, but if we were honest how many of our thoughts are completely original anyways!

The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith are unique in that they believe in one God. Monotheism. Pretty exciting stuff right? Well in our western world (though times are changing) anything but monotheism was considered foreign, strange, and maybe even foolish. It was all those “other” places in the world that had many different gods, we are Christians and follow one God, THE God.

But here’s the reality, while we may have said that we follow one God our actions speak otherwise. You see when there are many gods you end up with a god of the river and a god of wine and a god of food and a god of sex and a god of the underworld, etc. Much time, then, is spent pleasing all the gods of the pantheon or at the very least trying not to piss them off. Whereas when there is just one God, wine and food and sex and…all belong under the same roof. They don’t all submit to different lords but rather are all submissive to the one Lord of the universe. Right? Are you drooling with excitement yet? ‘Cause here’s the part that I think is exciting…

I think many people who call themselves Christians actually do not believe in one God. Here’s the thing, if there is just one God and he is God over everything then when we call ourselves followers of this one God we must believe that we are called to submit all of our life to him. While I do believe that there is much room for our sinfulness and all that crap that comes along with being human, a dissociation has grown between much of what we call ourselves and what we consider our spiritual selves. It’s for this reason that Christians justify racial hatred, grotesque materialism, apathy toward social injustices, and greed. It has become two different worlds. It’s this odd dissociation that makes it possible for someone to proudly say “Yes I am a Christian and yes I hate colored people” (though they often find more offensive terms to use). In other words it has become normal and acceptable to believe in a god that has nothing to say about how you operate outside of church walls. This is not monotheism. “God” actually becomes some sort of pluralistic view in which there is the God of the Bible and then there is the god of my own preference.

What would it look like if we began to submit ourselves more consistently, more holistically to a God that is truly supreme, lord over everything, and creator of all? I wonder if this would change our preference concerning individuality over community, spending over giving, sex over relationship, drunkeness over honesty (often I think that peoples reasons for getting drunk is that it allows them a sort of freedom that their sober self won’t allow), busyness over simplicity, preference over sacrifice…

Sweat Shops, Frugality, and my Conscience

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It is a constant battle within myself between conscience and frugality. Well first off, let me say that I am a firm believer that it is much cheaper than one often things to eat healthy and to live a healthy life (not that I live the most healthy life!) My family of four are able to eat primarily organic and local food, we eat very little canned food, frozen food, and processed food, and we eat gluten free (try paying $6 for a loaf of bread). Oh, and my son has to eat lactose free now! And yet, we’re able to do all of this on a budget that would look midgetized next to many. I can go into detail about how we do this if you’d like me to, but in reality it all comes down to my amazing and sacrificial wife. The point is that it really is possible to do make many healthy choices and still be relatively cheap at the same time.*

Nevertheless there are times when its just plain ol’ spendy to shop with my conscience first and my frugal nature second. I didn’t buy any new clothes last year. Period. We didn’t buy anything new last year (except for food, medicine, underwear, and a pair of shoes). It was a cool experiment, it was valuable. But I’m tired of buying used stuff. I want to buy some new crap! But I want to buy it cheap. The problem is that many of the cheap places to purchase things are places that hurt my conscience (or should hurt my conscience). Want to ruin your life? Try going to this website and doing some research about which companies are in active human rights violations in order to get you something cheap: http://www.greenamericatoday.org/

It’s easy to dismiss, and I often do, but do you really want to put on your sweater that you bought for $15.99 at Walmart (just as an example) knowing that some eight year old child worked in a factory 18 hours straight in conditions that are dehumanizing and illegal? Can you wear that sweater without your conscience crying out? The sad thing is that often I’ll choose to not do the research so that I won’t have that annoying conscience whispering in my ear! So there I lie, at war within myself to pursue truth and justice, or to live cheaply in ignorance and bliss.

I truly believe that being a follower of Christ dictates that I am in a constant pursuit of truth, beauty, and justice…following Jesus often requires much!

*     Though, I must say that it amazes me that often people say they can’t afford to eat healthy, because it seems to me that it should be one of the most important thing that you spend your money on. What you put into your body affects your health, your personality, politics, your community, your emotions, etc. If you’re going to spend money on anything, good quality healthy food would be a good place to start.

Orlando

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Well, I’m off to beautiful sunny Orlando, Florida in about two hours! The last time I was in Orlando it was to go to Disneyworld. I was an acne covered, scrawny, and somewhat handsome fifteen year old.

This time around, however, there will be no six foot mice greeting me. Instead I’m on my way to the Exponential Conference to hear some of the greatest speakers in church planting from around the globe (speaking of globes, I really wanted to buy one at Goodwill the other day). I’m looking for any and every way that I can grow myself into a better leader and a more healthy church planter.

Pray for the trip, but most of all please pray for Jess as she’s going to be home with both kids, babysitting another, dog sitting, speaking at church, hosting our home community, going to math class 5 days a week, and saving the world all while I’m gone! Jess and I work as partners, as a team in nearly everything we do, so it’s hard to go to such an exciting event without her. It just doesn’t seem right.

I’ll try to update often while I’m there. Peace out friends.