Change Without Conflict

this is just a chunk from an e mail i sent to my mate mark, mark has really been helping me get a handle on discipleship post construct:

you are now officially one third of my present life narrative. really got a lot of perspective to reflect on and bounce about with others from our little too and fro's.
One guy in seattle 'casey', he said that it was an odd time for him (us) in that we are not used to moving or making choices without some form of life stress or conflict which we feel God is in. Seems to be space at present to make choices and decisions without those things.
My reflection on that is that its odd indeed and unsettling, cause we can relate to god more in the life shift through conflict, and that means that we can carry residual guilt at the choices we make at present without stress or conflict. We can feel like SELFishness is creeping in, that we are too much in the driving seat with god as passenger as their is insufficient pain. If that were the case, it says something really bad about god which isnt true.
Guilt def: Punishing self in the absence of punishment or consequences from another. - Kind of Anti Grace.
Quite a few feeling lack of intimacy with god - which by and large relates to feeling... often we come from a experiential faith base which can trick us into thinking god is not near when we are lacking feeling or experience. Leanne Paine says thats a crock........... god is always fully here through his spirit in us, no more no less. Its been difficult detoxing that bit of church culture without feeling we left God somewhere, or due to lack of familiar ritual and practices, we are no longer close.

goes so deep this stuff, layer after layer eh matey.
gaz

DISRUPTION

Gods Will Is A Tightrope? Gods Will Is a Field To Explore? No Boxes! That dude God killed for stopping the arc where God 'was' from falling and breaking...... ever wondered if he'd meant it to fall and for God to get out of the box.....???? ever wondered what he will do when we want to keep him in the box again thinking its the best thing to do still???


DANG - Its been a while, been head down arse up for a good while, lots to do, little to say.
Had a great guy pass through town to hang out and... a little like an episode of Sesame Street - The Days Words Were: Disruption - Acted Upon - Sub Cognitive

Man, if you can spend a day with someone and come away with one word you can hang your hat on, thats a good day, but three............ well theres some meat to chew on for the next month!!
1st:
Disruption
Jesus was a Disruptor, he broke into things, peoples timeframes, peoples paradigms, peoples sacred cows, peoples finances, peoples leadership ideas, peoples journeys as God people and a whole bunch of disruption with the lost and broken.
Sadly, as westerners who like to build straight church walls with squared off stones (which you cant do with living stones), we and our great ideas about shaping people towards percieved outcomes................ can GREATLY LIMIT JESUS ABILITY TO DISRUPT, bring disruption into the patterns of life and thinking that will inform and ultimately shape us into his likeness - into fullness.
THATS DISRUPTION - the next bit is about giving God opportunity for disruption.

ACTED UPON:
Some of our missiological thinking, our gung ho in Christ 'go change the world' (though we often dont act on it) thinking, means that we are the ACTORS upon others, our environments, our plans and life patterns.
My friend spoke of new disciplines which made me twitch and think, ' oh right - here we go, heres the oldskool rot sneaking in'. What he meant by disciplines was actually disrupting our own patterns to greatly increase the opportunity to be ACTED UPON, by God, through others, the found and lost alike, through creation, our environment etc.
Our ordered patterned lives and inherited church thinking often means order, it rarely puts us in a place of dis 'order' so it greatly limits the opportunity for the unplanned and the unexpected.
Park further from work. Heck, use public transport to be around others longer. You could even walk, walk a different route. This could help us walk more closely with Jesus the disruptor, allow ourselves to not be the ACTORS but to be ACTED UPON...... and i would imagine greatly increase our 'encounters and stories' which are shaping and informing us of who God is, who we are and our place in humanity.

SUB COGNITIVE
Western traits again.....................
We are often shaped in a very Cognitive way................. people feel the best thing they can do is create contexts and methods where they can speak to our minds to determine our actions. In counselling speak this is called cognitive behavioural therapy............ 'lets sit you down, change the way you think, and you will act and live differently'etc. This is for the larger part how we learn in christendom..
SUB CONGNITIVE sits very well with DISRUPTION and ACTED UPON thinking, in that it gives much more over to GOD who actually builds HIS church..... 'thats us, you and me if youve forgotten (not a structure or place)' .... to shape and inform us inline with his will and purposes..
Question: Do we believe that God will do this?

Sub cognitive means much less HEAD instruction to accomplish percieved and desired outcomes in straight lines. Sub Congnitive means that God intervenes into our thinking and informs our living through encounters with others and our environments.
Not sure if im unpacking it there.................. but basically the question is: Can God get you to where you need to be just as effectively without the directive, controlled, measured, westernised processes that have been adopted as primary tools in religion?

I will leave you with that.
SubCognitive revelation of God and self which shapes us and achieved through new disciplines which break learned limiting patterns and lifestyle rituals ....better enabling Jesus to engage with us as Disruptor and for us to become more like him and enriched by being ACTED UPON.

Ding Dong
g

Our fight is against flesh and blood?

This has bugged me for many years as a rather passive way to deal with difficult people in difficult situations. Its theologically correct, our fight is not against the person who is in front of us or the head of a group or the boss at work, but the forced which have robbed and corrupted those people over many years or even in the immediate - this week maybe.
HOWEVER............................. I am often confronted with Flesh and Blood, particularly Christians far from flowing from the fruit of the spirit. I am confident in saying..... in those moments, i am indeed fighting against flesh and blood. Also, how i deal with that person in that moment could determine the outcome of their own fight against apparent unseen forces in spiritual places.
WHY do i say this? Because people who should know better, at times give themselves to those forces instead of Christ will for them or the situation. When i face a person who is IN Christ but not partnering with His WILL and His WAY...... then my wrestle is WITH them and at times very much a wrestle FOR them, for them to bring their will inline with christs will for their life.
When we say 'our fight is not with them', it can often mean we avoid conflict / confrontation and a possibly important opportunity for both of us to grow in Christ.

When i deal with religious institutional spirits in hidden dark places, i tend to meet them in wonderful Christian people, which is often the first point of dealing with it. Why? Because, for all the good intent in the world, if you covenant with legalism and empire, your giving permission....YOUR giving permission for that to function and express itself through you. Owning that is the beginning of overturning it. Most strongholds need a submission of mind and will to function.

Do you get what i mean? Difficult to explain, but i think its a real issue. If folks covenant with strongholds, my first fight is with them, so i give back to them the rubbish theyve just tried to lay on me, and then for them that they might be free of it. As much as i might pray for what binds them in the private place, nothing is going to work quite so well as someone bringing their own will inline with Gods will for them?
In the parable of the sower....the whole summary of potential stumbles seems to hang on: 'that they did not understand'. Its our thoughts that need to be held captive under heaven (which dictate our values, our sense of self, our practices) and sometimes wrestling with a person for their mind to be under heaven can release them from the spiritual, even give them choices.

Just a passing warble.
g

Carbon Footprint

Hi, im at a get together with some folks who are standing in new ways (sounds like a human art instalation doesnt it) and we are looking at power. The phrase carbon footprint may be a familiar one, its how we measure the negative impact we are making with emissions and other stuff on our towns cities and nations.
It was used to day to reference power, and how are we going to use perhaps unavoidable power in function to leave a light an imprint as possible on people. For example, in our contact with people in being used of God for their benefit, how do we give them what they need without taking a position that benefits us, keeps them stuck in a permissive or un empowered place etc.
Really good stuff in chats - Wondered what you thought?
We have so far looked at how it is our desire to use any places of influence God has given us in a redemptive manner, which needs to recognise the current landscape and that we do not have a blank canvas to start from. Whats is out there is people in positions of powere that lord it over, there are people who are used to submitting unhelpfullyinto power, there are people who do now know they have power and choice etc. In recognising this it was felt that it just isnt helpful to say, OK so we used to lead top down, go get a vision from God with our 'team' whoa re already bought in them come to you and sell it to you convincingly....................... to suddenly saying, Hi - we are the same you and i, our vision is as diverse as your vision, how can i help you come to the fulness of who you are and not the fulness of who i am??????

It was fetl that to even begin to utilise influecne God has given us, that we need to deal with peoples projecting onto us and pre disposition to see us a re inforcing the old. We are in transition folks, if we werent, this group im with wouldnt even be having the conversation.

One comment was how Counsellor/Client relationships have a positive thing in place called Contractual Relationship, in this we say what the relationship is about and what it isnt, deal with any possible wrong expectations for us to continue safely and begin to build trust for the benefit OF THE OTHER quickly. Now obviously, thats too rigid and woudl be wierd in the course of life encounters. BUT in reality it is the nature of how many are communicating in the necessary period of transition. People are FACILITATING meeting and vision, they are coming alongside peoples visions and not gathering aroudn theirs, they are saying things like : what would you like to do with this time, how can i best serve you, how can WE best function together, Im not saying this with any presumption that i am right etc etc etc............. people are saying 'what they are not, and put a framework of woprds and phrases in places to de centralise themselves and equalise any contributions they might make. In reality, you cannot give people power which was their and the only thing you can do is get out of their way........... but if we have stood in the way of people findign their feet and finding healthy interdependance - we may need to help folks in the adjustment having given ourselves to somethign else for so long.
your thoughts?????? - sorry - using a public pc so not time to check spelling and cohesiveness - read in between the lines.
gaz

snippit re last blog

A friend (always spell heck as its not nice to call someone a fiend) sent me a summary of a regional prayer gathering shortly after i wrote the last blog bit - i felt it tied in nicely to what i was trying to convey.

"The first session focussed on repentance within the church. The question was asked ‘how can the Church intercede if it itself needs forgiveness?"

We're All Prisoners Here 'We Built These Walls With Blood And Fear'

We're All Prisoners Here - We built these walls with blood and fear.
Or so goes a line from a song my mates band have just produced. i dont know the context but i can 'wonder'. Im more into the bit that goes 'we need some liberty tonight'.

I work with some great guys in congregation contexts of church. I heard someone use a 'generalistation' for churches who have woken up to impacting communites beyond their separate sub cultures they have built /inherited. He said, 'yeah, like those emergent - without walls churches'.
So... it would seem that one church i work with is now emergent? Based on the fact that as their caretaker i spent 2 hours errecting a glossy banner outside saying CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS......... as soon as i finished, the postman came by and said ' lovely banner - when do the bulldozers move in?'.............. ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.(ive seen one such sign in previous years with a 'b' inserted in place of a W - could have been prophetic).
Anyway - ta mr posty - I guess it points just a little to how such a phrase and banner is for the church, and not for the lost who frankly, it means little to and is probably confusing, but HEY, if His banner over us is Love is now well established and we can have something else there to shape and form our intent.....go for it i say. But i would be very wary personally of putting anything up in public that is simply a statement of INTENT, as there is a huge ravine in between INTENT and REALITY.
In those up front pastor of a congregation days, on several occassions i could be heard to say....... What Jesus Intended - JESUS DID.

In fact, ive been with three congregations in the last week who have said with real positivity - 'We Are WOrking Out How TO Move Towards The Community'. I find that encouraging but i also find it so SO UTTERLY TERRIBLE IT RATTLES MY BACK TEETH. I have found that we can float this new idea around of 'moving towards community' and generally, in my personal view... NOT SPEND TIME IN SACK CLOTH AND ASHES IN REPENTANCE FOR HOW FOR MANY HUNDREDS OF YEARS OUR PLATONIC AND CONSTANTIAN DUALISM HAS ROBBED THOSE WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IN OUR LOCALITIES>>>>> ROBBED THEM OF THE KINGDOM COME!! ROBBED MANY GENERATIONS OF FATHERS MOTHERS SONS AND DAUGHTERS. (and we may even rob a couple more while we work out if our stuctures can be utterly re shaped to serve Gods will in mission ..... or not)

It sounds to me like something interesting is happening, but with no more weight to it than that, but surely someone needs a slap?? Dont they?.....or at least they/we need to soak in grace fully aware of how OFF THE MARK we have functioned and how sinful our congregational selfishness has been. ITs gotta be a context to be aware of what we deserve, but what His grace will yet again see us through. Im just reminded of Nehemiah gathering all inhabitants of the new city in the square and before moving into launvh mode - signing up in recognition of where they had failed - doesnt this moment need marking? Recognition and Repentance?
"We are really working hard on ideas for outreach" i was told yesterday....to which i had to reply, 'thats just great - as long as you know YOU CAN ONLY REACH OUT TO SOMEWHERE YOU HAVE REMOVED YOURSELF FROM!!
Surely these new ideas must come with a weight of conviction from the holdy spirit - but what i sense is a nudge, maybe even a 'well weve really been around the houses inside the church with this strategy and that model - so lets try something outside - could be a good thing in the mix'. Where is the weight - Where is the Travail and the Mourning in response the the cry of the land yearning for the sons and daughters of our god to be revealed!!!!!

Church Without Walls..............we should be ashamed to have that as a publicity campaign - really ashamed (if you catch the non literal spirit of what im saying, that is - i really dont care about a sign - but i care about its implications or opportunites it could provoke). I really do pray for a bulldozing conviction from the holy spirit that will overcome strongholds/walls of practice, culture which has become spiritualised and anything which re inforces dualism (more spiritual here than out there - God is more here than out there etc)........... In Fact - i really dont care if the postman is dissapointed and the physical walls remain, cause those could come down and the walls in our minds and practices still hide us from the world on its knees.

Gosh...... bit of a meaty chunk.....must have felt provoked.

Im gonna keep saying it "CAST OFF ALL THAT HINDERS AND CONSTRAINS" both you personally for you and for the works of the advancing kingdom through you. Remember playing kiss chase in the school playground ? (hopefully it was a mixed sex school)- id like to say i was good looking enough to have joined in - but cant, Or another game called lergy....... now i got to play that for some reason - someone had 'IT' and we ran and in touching someone else, they then had IT whatever IT was, didnt seem a very nice thing to have. BUT - in a redeemed form of that..... Here Goes.... touch....... YOUR IT. (Gods only agents of the kingdom will of the Father)

gaz out

Big Beefy Boy

My wife is great, she is so much more interesting than me and just to prove it, fo rthe last 2 years she has taken part in something called the Dorset Doddle, which isnt a doddle (slow walk) at all, as its 32 miles in one go. When she arrives back with her near 60 year old father - both look as though they have lost at least a year of their lives, they look hollow with that "never again" + "why oh why" look about them.
This week my wife said 'lets go for a walk' together, somewhere secret, it will be a surprise. Ok, i said humouring her........she sits to put her thin and thick pairs of super socks on and now very 'used' walking boots.................. i dont have walking boots, so i opt for super comfey trainers, the kind that would pass for a pair of slippers to go with your tv, pipe tobacco and newspaper.
Ok...... so it become apparant that we are goping to walk along the coast, up very high hills and rocky paths with steep inclines and falls. We walk for an hour and a half before i ask where we are heading................................ which, according to how i recieved the information sounded very much like a circuit......we keep walking and end up back at the car. 2 hours in a realise that we have to go back the way we came.......... i look back across the cliffs, along the coast and my spirit of wife pleasing promptly takes a nose dive. I talk her into not taking us all the way, so we head back and by the grace of god meet a man who says we can indeed walk in a circle.
So, we are on the last stretch of track with trees in the distance and car park awaiting when i turn to her and say, 'see those trees over there - if youd of said we were gonna go just that far i would have told you to get stuffed and get the car'. I am not a walker (can you hear the winging teen trying to get out).

Anyways.............. i had a meet with a senior leader in town this week, one i respect and so i ask him to convince me that 10 years on, we wont still be trying to transition the culture of the church, and will indeed have begun to focus wholeheartedly upon the church changing the culture of our town. As only a much older leader can, he points out how the church really didnt have a whole lot to shout about in the fifties, and it has, indeed since then been through a constant barrage of Gods awakening and reforming. He listed many awesome things that have occurred in terms of change which i have to conceed, are pretty awesome for a new boy who wants it all now and wont take no or later for an answer. Anyways, we both arrived at a place of not really being able to answer that question - that God wont still be having to fix the body, and that perhaps - until He comes again, this is going to be a constant.

SO that leaves me with another question, " IF that IS likely to be a constant, then its pretty conclusive that we must - in the mix - get beyond ourselves, get past our own need for change and dispite defecits - BECOME AGENTS OF CHANGE ELSWHERE, if not as a primary aim, it at the very least needs to be a shared aim.
In light of that question i am feeling that soon and very soon we must do that, shift our focus of energy and generational effort. Otherwise we say to the children - "mummy and daddy are having counselling at the moment (yes - again), so if you wouldnt mind putting your lives on hold until we have done - thatd be lovely.
I am reminded at times of thinking such as this, that the disciples and apostles lived and died, living and engaing the lost as though Christs return was imminent, in their lifetime even. So whats going on 2000 years on from that? Do we still engage the lost like He is coming back very soon, tomorrow maybe? I dont think this is often in our frame of reference, neither of our time, our energy, our leadership etc.
Ill repeat myself: God wants you well for you, God needs you well for THEM, but how well is well when God uses a broken army to get his will done?

I really dont want to spend a lifetime adjusting the church and not extending the kingdom. Not to be confused with 'adding to the church construct' which in my view isnt wholly extending the kingdom - but making people safe (addition - not multiplication).
Back to walking:
Its not that i dont like walking or that i wont walk - but i want to get somewhere far more than i want to walk as a past time or leisure pursuit 0r even for a 'personal' challenge. I want to see church change, i WILL give time to that, but not as an end in itself, not for something to do or to fulfill a narrow mandate that i hope will lead to the other stuff happening - it has to be For something - for someone, perhaps everyone.

Bla d bla
Gaz

Cross Generational Anointing

Hi - theres quite a long response to comments on the below 'losing my religion' article, about transitionary culture and cross generation anointing. all badly spelt.