Mark has some helpful questions in an outline of how he does a day of reflection:
Date:
Modified or Full Plan:
Note: Here I am making note if it?s one hour or one day for silence and solitude.
Place and Conditions:
Note: I am someone for whom space deeply matters. On a nice day I sit outside by a river or at the beach in a beautiful spot. I don?t like coffee shops (too noisy and crowded) or the office (too much distraction). I like to be up high with a view, crave fresh air, love the sun, and cannot relax where it?s loud, busy, ugly, stinky, disorganized, poorly designed, uncomfortable, or too hot or cold, and yes, I am picky. So, I note where I was and that helps me keep a record of nice spots for silence and solitude days. I borrow friends? vacation homes, have spots I like outside of town in the mountains, and so forth.
Part 1 ? Recent Evidences of God?s Grace
?Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.? ? 2 Thess. 2:16?17
Note: To have good words and works, we need hope and comfort by seeing and savoring evidences of God?s grace. I start with this topic to get me into a mode of worship. I can be quite a gloomy and moody person, so this gets me going in the right direction for my time with God. I often take an hour on this topic alone and make a long list, thanking God and praying as I go.
Part 2 ? Deep Questions
?The purpose in a man?s mind is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.? ? Prov. 20:5 (RSV)
Note: These are my questions and you can make your own or change mine. I don?t include Bible reading and study because they are like breathing to me, but you may want to add them. In question four I?m talking about my wife, Grace. I list each of my kids in question five because with a big family it?s too easy to treat the kids as a herd rather than knowing and pastoring each one. I put my work last, figuring that if the rest of my life is in order, work will go well. I rate every question on a scale so that I can be honest about how I?m doing and track progress over time. The prayer points are things I pray about as I?m journaling and things to put on my prayer list that week. The action items go on my calendar. Lastly, I share a lot of this with my wife, kids, friends, and others, and a lot of my blogs and ministry training are simply sharing what comes out of my journaling on days of silence and solitude.
1. How accurate is my view of God lately?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
2. How are my joy in the Holy Spirit and corresponding hope?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
3. What temptations and sins are most ensnaring?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
4. How is my connection with my wife?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
5. How is my connection with each of my children?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
6. How is my health (e.g., weight, diet, exercise)?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
7. How is my sleep (e.g., bed time, quality of sleep, length of sleep)?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
8. How is my energy level?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
9. How is my dominion over my technology (e.g., cell phone, laptop, email, text)?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
10. How is the stewardship of my wealth (e.g., finances, possessions, property, investments)?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
11. How is my social life with friends and extended family?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
12. Who or what is filling my tank lately?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
13. Who or what is draining my tank lately?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
14. Who has sinned against me and how am I responding?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
15. Who do I need to confide in and where should I seek wisdom?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
16. Are there any warning signs that I am burning out?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
17. Am I successfully getting out of the river onto the bank enough through silence, solitude, study, and Sabbath?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
18. What do I need to stop doing, do less of, or hand off to someone else?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
19. How are my self-deception and truth suppression?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
20. How is my writing (e.g., books, blogs, papers)?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
21. How is my preaching (preparation and results, in and out of Mars Hill)?
? Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
? Prayer Points
? Action Items
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Neil Cole on Discipleship
We should lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple. That is, if we can conceive and structure a church that is simple enough that anyone can do it, and is made up of people who follow Jesus at any cost, the result will be a movement that empowers the common Christian to do the uncommon works of God. In contrast it seems that many of our current practices run contrary to this - we make church complex and discipleship too easy.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Richard Niebuhr on Liberal Christianity
Richard Niebuhr?s 1937 description of liberalism is alive and well: ?a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.?
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
SMH on Parenting
A new study in the United Kingdom has found that children whose parents take a "tough love" approach are better prepared to achieve in life.
The research by think tank Demos tracked the lives of 9,000 families over eight years.
The head of the research team, Sonia Sodha, says the tough love style of parenting combines warmth and discipline, and is far more important in a child's success than parents' income or social background.
"Parents are able to set rules, apply them consistently and fairly and that means that children know what the boundaries are to their behaviour," she said.
Ms Sodha says tough love parenting helps children to develop key skills such as emotion control and empathy.
"They are skills that we've termed character capabilities, and what I mean when I say that is skills like self-regulation, so being able to regulate your own emotions in difficult circumstances," she said.
"Skills like empathy, say being able to understand how other people are feeling - which is a really key skill for being able to develop good relationships with others - and skills like applications, so children being able to concentrate on the task, to be able to motivate themselves.
"This set of character capabilities are the skills that are really important in enabling children to make the most of school when they get there."
Wealthy parents
Ms Sodha said the research showed wealthier parents were likely to use the tough love parenting style.
"Parents from poor backgrounds, wealthy backgrounds, average backgrounds, they are just as likely to show warmth and affection to their children," she said.
"Where we notice the difference however was in terms of discipline, so in the ability of parents to set rules and apply them consistently. And what we found was that was a more common trait amongst parents from wealthier backgrounds."
Ms Sodha says several factors contribute to the trend.
"The first I think is the changing nature of society," she said.
"We all know we are becoming increasingly consumerist ... and if you look at the amount of direct advertising that is directed at children, that has gone up a lot in previous years.
"And what this advertising tends to do is target children to get them to pester their parents for particular goods and items, and that makes it very difficult for some parents to say no."
Family structure
Ms Sodha says a second factor is the combination of income and family structures.
"They probably all do impact on parenting style, so we know that if you are a parent who is parenting alone or if you are a poor parent, you are under a lot more stress than a wealthier parent or someone who is parenting as part of a supportive couple, so that also is important I think," she said.
Ms Sodha also says the study does not aim to tell parents exactly what they should do in every situation.
"That won't work and government doesn't know best," she said.
"What we think the implications are is that government should be ensuring that early years services ... need to be geared to helping parents develop the skills they need in order to be able to give their kids the best start in life possible."
The research by think tank Demos tracked the lives of 9,000 families over eight years.
The head of the research team, Sonia Sodha, says the tough love style of parenting combines warmth and discipline, and is far more important in a child's success than parents' income or social background.
"Parents are able to set rules, apply them consistently and fairly and that means that children know what the boundaries are to their behaviour," she said.
Ms Sodha says tough love parenting helps children to develop key skills such as emotion control and empathy.
"They are skills that we've termed character capabilities, and what I mean when I say that is skills like self-regulation, so being able to regulate your own emotions in difficult circumstances," she said.
"Skills like empathy, say being able to understand how other people are feeling - which is a really key skill for being able to develop good relationships with others - and skills like applications, so children being able to concentrate on the task, to be able to motivate themselves.
"This set of character capabilities are the skills that are really important in enabling children to make the most of school when they get there."
Wealthy parents
Ms Sodha said the research showed wealthier parents were likely to use the tough love parenting style.
"Parents from poor backgrounds, wealthy backgrounds, average backgrounds, they are just as likely to show warmth and affection to their children," she said.
"Where we notice the difference however was in terms of discipline, so in the ability of parents to set rules and apply them consistently. And what we found was that was a more common trait amongst parents from wealthier backgrounds."
Ms Sodha says several factors contribute to the trend.
"The first I think is the changing nature of society," she said.
"We all know we are becoming increasingly consumerist ... and if you look at the amount of direct advertising that is directed at children, that has gone up a lot in previous years.
"And what this advertising tends to do is target children to get them to pester their parents for particular goods and items, and that makes it very difficult for some parents to say no."
Family structure
Ms Sodha says a second factor is the combination of income and family structures.
"They probably all do impact on parenting style, so we know that if you are a parent who is parenting alone or if you are a poor parent, you are under a lot more stress than a wealthier parent or someone who is parenting as part of a supportive couple, so that also is important I think," she said.
Ms Sodha also says the study does not aim to tell parents exactly what they should do in every situation.
"That won't work and government doesn't know best," she said.
"What we think the implications are is that government should be ensuring that early years services ... need to be geared to helping parents develop the skills they need in order to be able to give their kids the best start in life possible."
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Martin Lloyd-Jones on Knowledge
It is possible for a believer who . . . sincerely recognizes the Bible as his sole authority, and desires to submit himself wholeheartedly to its evident meaning?it is still possible for such a man to go astray by becoming purely theoretical in his attitude towards this precious knowledge. It can happen to all, but I emphasize again that it is the particular danger of those who have keen minds, and who desire to understand and to grow in knowledge. The devil knowing us as he does, always suits the particular form of temptation to our exact mentality. At this point I am not referring to people who do not read the Scriptures, or indeed little else, and who say, ?I am interested in nothing but my experience?. The devil does not trouble such people in this way, but to those who truly long to grow and develop, he comes and says, ?Of course, you are quite right; what you need, and what everyone else needs, is more and more of this knowledge?. But he presses the thought so far that in the end they get into a condition in which their whole relationship to truth is purely theoretical and academic. And this involves the terrible danger of becoming more concerned about, and more interested in, our intellectual knowledge of Christian truth than in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and if the devil with all his wiles can beguile us into this condition he is more than satisfied. In other words, it is the failure to realize that the ultimate end of all knowledge is to bring us to a knowledge of the Person Himself.
Nichols on Pastors
?A ministry that is all prophetic all the time will wear down a congregation. T will eventually defeat a congregation. A ministry that is all sympathetic all the time will coddle the congregation straight into the deadly pastures of unwarranted self-assurance and the false pastures of self-security. A pastor who would be a theologian knows when and how to be both convicting prophet and comforting good shepherd.?
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Cole on Leadership
I have come to believe that the real role of a leader who has died to self is to equip others so that he is no longer necessary... When you exist to help others do the job, you have finally matured to the level of an equipper. The more valuable you are, the less successful you are as an equipper of others. Ironically, the more dispensable you become, the more valuable you are, because there are not that many leaders today who are willing to be dispensable. We have entered the days of recyclable disciples - transformed from garbage to glory - and disposable pastors.
Cole on Safe Ministry
SAFE:
Self preservation = mission
Avoidance of the world and risk = wisdom
Financial security = responsible faith
Education = maturity
Self preservation = mission
Avoidance of the world and risk = wisdom
Financial security = responsible faith
Education = maturity
Cole on Movements
A multiplication movement must have four characteristics:
Incarnational - pattern must be internal and work out into behaviour.
Viral - simple idea that is contagious.
Transformational - the pattern is so life changing, people can't help but pass it on.
Universal - pattern must work across all racial, economic, political, social, language and cultural barriers.
Incarnational - pattern must be internal and work out into behaviour.
Viral - simple idea that is contagious.
Transformational - the pattern is so life changing, people can't help but pass it on.
Universal - pattern must work across all racial, economic, political, social, language and cultural barriers.
Cole on Leadership Reproduction
Disciples - Leaders - Churches - Movements. If you can't produce one, you won't produce the next.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Cole on Training in Skills
The best way is the show-how method:
Model: I do, you watch.
Assist: We do.
Watch: You do, I watch.
Leave: You do, someone new watches.
Model: I do, you watch.
Assist: We do.
Watch: You do, I watch.
Leave: You do, someone new watches.
Patterson on Obedience-Oriented Training
Seven biblical commands that are useful in training leaders to obey Christ:
1. Repent, believe and receive the Holy Spirit.
2. Be baptised.
3. Love God and neighbour.
4. Celebrate the Lord's Supper.
5. Pray.
6. Give.
7. Disciple others.
1. Repent, believe and receive the Holy Spirit.
2. Be baptised.
3. Love God and neighbour.
4. Celebrate the Lord's Supper.
5. Pray.
6. Give.
7. Disciple others.
Cole on Mentoring
Listen. Ask. First things first. One thing at a time. What next for this learner? Adult learning principles. Invest in what is proven. Set small challenges. Keep a record of assignments and the next appointment.
Cole on Theological Education
We need theological training that is learning based, rather than knowledge based, curriculum driven or teacher centred. Our solution? Monthly gatherings for 8 hours of 5-8 over a year. Prior to meeting, each learner has studied four points of doctrine from two evangelical viewpoints, and be ready to teach their points with an example and an application. The facilitator just asks the questions; the learners teach.
CS Lewis on Church
The church exists for nothing else but to draw men
into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are
not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions,
sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of
time. God became a Man for no other purpose.
? C. S. Lewis
into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are
not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions,
sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of
time. God became a Man for no other purpose.
? C. S. Lewis
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Ed Stetzer on Church Planting
Most importantly, we must bring Christ, not just a church, particularly a way of doing church. Sometimes, I think we get too excited about the fact that we're leading a church. That's great, as long as we remember that we're planting the Gospel that creates a church, not a church that's known for being the best church or the most trendy or the most relevant. We're planting the Gospel and so we bring Christ and not just the church. Being missional has to be tied into the mission of Jesus, which is to seek and save the lost.
Unlike the in the game Red Rover, we win when we get to stay with our new "team" and begin leading it in a new direction. Planters and pastors must first take the time to listen to the Spirit, responding appropriately His call to the particular people He assigns to us. Then, we can best respond to the call to "Come over" and win them for the kingdom of God.
Unlike the in the game Red Rover, we win when we get to stay with our new "team" and begin leading it in a new direction. Planters and pastors must first take the time to listen to the Spirit, responding appropriately His call to the particular people He assigns to us. Then, we can best respond to the call to "Come over" and win them for the kingdom of God.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Cole on Discipleship
There is a DNA to God's organic kingdom:
Divine Truth
Nurturing Relationships
Apostolic Mission
Divine Truth
Nurturing Relationships
Apostolic Mission
Dodson on Church
Church is not an event, a place or a plant. It is a family of brothers and sisters united in the Spirit and the Son. The church is a community, people in relationships under grace. So the church is supposed to be a family, but we act more like acquaintances.
Instead of sharing life and truth, joy and pain, meals and mission, we share one, maybe two events a week. Church has been reduced to a spiritual event that happens for an hour or two on weekends, and if you are spiritual, occurs another couple hours during the week in a small group meeting. We spend just enough time "at church" to be religious, but nowhere near enough time to be family.
The dominant metaphor of the church in the New Testament is the metaphor of family. Every one of Paul's letters opens by addressing the church in familial terms ? sisters, brothers, son, and our Father. The use of "brother" is, by far, the most frequent. This sibling emphasis reflects the familial nature of the church. What would happen if we started acting like family?
Instead of sharing life and truth, joy and pain, meals and mission, we share one, maybe two events a week. Church has been reduced to a spiritual event that happens for an hour or two on weekends, and if you are spiritual, occurs another couple hours during the week in a small group meeting. We spend just enough time "at church" to be religious, but nowhere near enough time to be family.
The dominant metaphor of the church in the New Testament is the metaphor of family. Every one of Paul's letters opens by addressing the church in familial terms ? sisters, brothers, son, and our Father. The use of "brother" is, by far, the most frequent. This sibling emphasis reflects the familial nature of the church. What would happen if we started acting like family?
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