Over the past couple of months, we have been praying and discussing as a staff what our theme for 2015 should be. This past year (2014) we devoted our preaching and discussions around "Building the Church" using Ephesians to walk through the tough issues of becoming a Christian community on mission together (i.e. being the church in the world). We have long felt that we are on the precipice of revival. We believe we are laying the groundwork for personal and social change in the lives and community of the Kona Coast. With that mind, we believe that story telling will play a prominent role in the life of our church. So, this year our theme will simply be "Reviving Stories," and we will walk through the first story of Jesus written in the Bible, The Gospel of Mark. I'll give a brief summary of what this means for our role as missionaries, but if you're interested in reading Pastor Ryan's perspective, you can find it here.
1). We live in a predominately Oral Culture. Especially in Hawaii, the majority of people interact and grow up in traditional oral structures; that is, a person's primary engagement with the world is oral rather than literate. Culturally speaking, oral communities place high value in relationships, learn more through experience/mentorships, process through stories rather than theory/critical thinking, and process together rather than in isolation. Just think about this: 58% of the US Population never reads a book after high school while 70% of people in North America prefer non-literate forms of communication. The majority of people in our congregations learn through stories, proverbs, songs, and lived experience. And yet, I bet much of our discipleship takes place in the realm of personal introspection and deepening head knowledge. For example, many small groups form around a particular book study, working against the very context of learning assumed by the group's participants.
2). The majority of scripture takes the form of a story. In fact, one could say that the Bible itself is a story with a beginning, middle, and end, plot twists, character development, and even has various authors directed/inspired by the Storyteller for its narrative arc. Each author tends to have particular way of telling how God's story meets their experience, but it remains God's story nonetheless. The Gospel writers seemed to think that the best way to witness to the Kingdom of God and challenge Christians to faithful discipleship was simply to tell the story of Jesus. Stories, orally told, were the key to learning, experiencing, and sharing God for early Christians. For those living in an oral culture, we believe this still to be the case. We want to revive this form of discipleship by reviving stories, working through how God's story intersects and ultimately transforms our own story. We need to learn how to place our story within the Story of God as found in Jesus. If we don't do this, people will continue to find meaning through the various other stories our cultures tell.
3). Our Teaching/Preaching at KCN will take the form of interactive story-telling. Starting in February, we will host a class that will focus on uniting Biblical story-telling with personal narrative; learning to share how our story falls into the scope of God’s story of redemption and communion. Each class will focus on one story from the Book of Mark oriented around a theme of evangelism. Through group dialogue and discovery, our stories of God’s work will be shared with each other, putting into practice the act of “Declaring the Gospel of God.” But even more than that, this will be a starting place for the 7 people within our congregation discerning a call to ministry.
Over the next year, we will learn together the story that God has for these potential ministers but also the Story that God longs to see told throughout the Kona Coast. I, for one, can't wait to see how this narrative unfolds.
P.S. SEVEN People within our congregation discerning a call to ministry! Praise God with us. God is being faithful in calling local leadership to lead locally. May we continue to be faithful to the calling of training local leaders for God's work on the island.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Place Matters
Since moving to Kona, I have been working part-time at a coffee shop in town. My love for coffee has developed over the years as I have patiently and passionately moved closer and closer to coffee nerd-ism. My pallet has become more refined, detecting nuances between stone fruit or berry fruit flavors, noting coffee that has been over-extracted (leaving a slight bitterness), over roasted (covering the nuances of coffee flavor), or just plain bad quality coffee. I have preferences in brew methods, leaning more toward the clean and crisp feel that my Chemex and Kalita Wave give rather than the muddled and heavy feel of a french press coffee.
The myriad of factors that go into the taste of a cup of coffee is extraordinary. Everything from water temperature to grind size, from brew method to roast date, from water purity to extraction time all change the way coffee will taste. And these are only the factors that I, as a barista, can control. The other end of the spectrum contributes to taste as well: quality of soil, rainfall, sunshine, shade, pruning techniques, coffee varietals, processing methods, storage, and geography. In the last 20 years, many have begun recognizing the unique differentiation of coffee based on all of these factors, much like wine connoisseurs talk about regions, grape varieties, and aging.
Many coffee roasters are moving toward direct relationships with coffee farmers. I have tasted two different coffees of the same variety from the same farmer. The only difference was that one coffee grew on one side of the mountain and the other coffee grew on the other side of the mountain. And the coffees were different. The context in which the coffee grows matters in its outcome, in how it tastes.
Kona coffee is world famous. It holds a type of romantic edge rivaled only by a few other coffees worldwide (Blue Jamaican and Geisha to name two). The majority of Kona coffee is now from a "Guatemala Typica" variety imported in the 19th century. And yet, it's distinct and unique.
If you take the same varietal of coffee, say typica, and move it to a different location, it's going to taste different. The place matters.
At Kona Coast Nazarene, we believe that place matters. In fact, if you were to spend time on our website you would recognize that its even set up differently than most church websites. We do not start with when our worship services gather, what ministries/programs we offer, or a list of calendar events coming up. We begin with geography. We begin with a place and recognize the importance of how that place will require and produce a unique and distinct expression of the Gospel.
We do not start with the 'goods and services' the church offers to those who wish to consume them. Turning the church into a franchise that markets 'new life' or 'good news' has worked in the past to bring people to us. But we have found over time that this strategy has the adverse effect of creating passive observers and not disciples. Furthermore, assuming that what the community hopes for is another worship service that is distinct from the 'other' church down the road only in contextual preaching, ignores- or at least limits- the church's capacity to listen and engage our neighbors' hurts, hopes, and cultural histories. We have also seen that over time, the people have just stopped coming. Perhaps its time for us to stop assuming people will come and for us to start going to them.
If you take a church of the same denomination, say Nazarene, and move it to a different location, its expression is going to be different. The place matters.
We posit that we shouldn't know the vision for one of our Mission Zones (we have eight distinct communities stretching across the West Coast of the Bis Island) until we've shared meals with those who eat there, labor with those who work there, know the names and stories of those who live there, and joked around with those who laugh there.
Joy and I in the past year have been doing this work of learning the stories of the community and its neighbors. And now, in year two, our vision and our goals are becoming more clear. We're excited to share with you what those are in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, continue to pray with us that God directs our work, provides the means of support for our ministry, and continues to grace us with new and deepening friendships.
The myriad of factors that go into the taste of a cup of coffee is extraordinary. Everything from water temperature to grind size, from brew method to roast date, from water purity to extraction time all change the way coffee will taste. And these are only the factors that I, as a barista, can control. The other end of the spectrum contributes to taste as well: quality of soil, rainfall, sunshine, shade, pruning techniques, coffee varietals, processing methods, storage, and geography. In the last 20 years, many have begun recognizing the unique differentiation of coffee based on all of these factors, much like wine connoisseurs talk about regions, grape varieties, and aging.
Many coffee roasters are moving toward direct relationships with coffee farmers. I have tasted two different coffees of the same variety from the same farmer. The only difference was that one coffee grew on one side of the mountain and the other coffee grew on the other side of the mountain. And the coffees were different. The context in which the coffee grows matters in its outcome, in how it tastes.
Kona coffee is world famous. It holds a type of romantic edge rivaled only by a few other coffees worldwide (Blue Jamaican and Geisha to name two). The majority of Kona coffee is now from a "Guatemala Typica" variety imported in the 19th century. And yet, it's distinct and unique.
If you take the same varietal of coffee, say typica, and move it to a different location, it's going to taste different. The place matters.
At Kona Coast Nazarene, we believe that place matters. In fact, if you were to spend time on our website you would recognize that its even set up differently than most church websites. We do not start with when our worship services gather, what ministries/programs we offer, or a list of calendar events coming up. We begin with geography. We begin with a place and recognize the importance of how that place will require and produce a unique and distinct expression of the Gospel.
We do not start with the 'goods and services' the church offers to those who wish to consume them. Turning the church into a franchise that markets 'new life' or 'good news' has worked in the past to bring people to us. But we have found over time that this strategy has the adverse effect of creating passive observers and not disciples. Furthermore, assuming that what the community hopes for is another worship service that is distinct from the 'other' church down the road only in contextual preaching, ignores- or at least limits- the church's capacity to listen and engage our neighbors' hurts, hopes, and cultural histories. We have also seen that over time, the people have just stopped coming. Perhaps its time for us to stop assuming people will come and for us to start going to them.
If you take a church of the same denomination, say Nazarene, and move it to a different location, its expression is going to be different. The place matters.
We posit that we shouldn't know the vision for one of our Mission Zones (we have eight distinct communities stretching across the West Coast of the Bis Island) until we've shared meals with those who eat there, labor with those who work there, know the names and stories of those who live there, and joked around with those who laugh there.
Joy and I in the past year have been doing this work of learning the stories of the community and its neighbors. And now, in year two, our vision and our goals are becoming more clear. We're excited to share with you what those are in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, continue to pray with us that God directs our work, provides the means of support for our ministry, and continues to grace us with new and deepening friendships.
Monday, October 6, 2014
On Becoming a Disciple
Disciples are not born, they're taught.
And children are not adults, they too are taught. I'm currently reading a book about parenting and finished the chapter on giving too many choices. The basic premise revolves around parenting appropriately to developing abilities, understanding, age, and moral judgment. In this chapter, the authors deal with the ever-present temptation to give too much freedom to a child who is not ready to handle it. I'm sure those of us who are parents remember, or experienced today, struggling with a child who wants certain things, done a certain way, and in their own time- whether or not their parents have given another instruction. Sometimes as parents, it's simply easier, less conflict-ridden, to give into the daily whims and desires of our children. Does it really matter that Justice wants cow's milk instead of almond milk even though I've already poured almond milk? If we think of the way children develop over time, it really becomes less about the immediate choice and more about training our child to listen, growing into a more mature use of freedom, and teaching against the grain of a culture addicted to personal freedoms and choice. More than likely, a child lashing out, throwing a tantrum, and repeatedly saying 'no,' has learned these bad habits over time and their perspective must change.
If you've spent any time getting to know Joy and I or read about our work on this blog, then you know we are quite passionate about discipleship. And this doesn't sound unique or different or more radical than any other church. Most churches will express a desire to make disciples, because it's in scripture. But when I look around the Christian landscape and do a subjective survey of the state of Christian discipleship, I think most Christians bend toward 2-year old tantrums, addicted to personal freedom and choice, and treat the church like parents who merely make suggestions for Christian living. There exists no new alternative, no changed perspective, no un-learning of bad habits and re-learning of new ones. We think people will become disciples randomly by rubbing shoulders with enough 'good' people. It seems to me that a disciple of Jesus has come about more by accident (or perhaps by the Spirit's continual pursuit) than by building a culture of discipleship in which believers commit to one another in grace, love, and mutual submission (what the church ought to be).
But we've all experienced and witnessed low levels of commitment and high levels of church shopping. How can you re-train someone (a process that takes time) if they're not around long enough, or only commit to showing up once a week, to break free from the old way of doing things?
I'm also currently reading through Starting Missional Churches in which the authors combine many of the benefits from the church planting movement with the keen insights from the missional movement of the last decade. They note the detriment to churches of the rise of the self-proclaimed individual through enlightenment thinking and consumeristic practices. They write, "Too often Protestant splitting [when individuals or groups leave a church] is tied (unconsciously) to believing that a church is a set of commodities to be consumed. When churches focus on their own preferences and their assumptions about other shoppers, we fall into deadly traps of our consumer culture and nobody wins- neither the church nor the neighborhood." Or put another way, the child gets what he/she wants, but its detrimental to their own development. In Ephesians, Paul talks of some being like infants, tossed back and forth by every whim of teaching. Rather, we are to grow up into the kind of love fitting for those who follow Jesus.
Notice that for the church, it isn't necessarily about itself; it exists for the sake of the health of the community for which it is a part. If the members of the church cannot practice a core principal of "Unity" (just read Ephesians), then the neighborhood surely notices and will not benefit from the church's presence- and mission is destroyed. Like a child whose perspective needs to be altered through preventative measures, so also Christians must move away from consuming spirituality and move toward committing to one another through the daily grind of life.
If we as Christians are fixed upon our own desires, go to church to 'be fed,' or walk away at the hint of conflict, then we will not grow into the full maturity of Christ. If I'm unable to place my life underneath the story of Christ's death (a story of giving up power), I will continue to fall to other stories of greed or violence or selfishness or hatred and I will destroy community. To be a disciple is to give up all the stories of the world for the one enacted in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. That story creates reconciliation, produces love, and teaches grace (the exact elements I wish my children to embody). And when the church looks like that, it won't take long for our neighbors to take notice and want be a part of it.
And children are not adults, they too are taught. I'm currently reading a book about parenting and finished the chapter on giving too many choices. The basic premise revolves around parenting appropriately to developing abilities, understanding, age, and moral judgment. In this chapter, the authors deal with the ever-present temptation to give too much freedom to a child who is not ready to handle it. I'm sure those of us who are parents remember, or experienced today, struggling with a child who wants certain things, done a certain way, and in their own time- whether or not their parents have given another instruction. Sometimes as parents, it's simply easier, less conflict-ridden, to give into the daily whims and desires of our children. Does it really matter that Justice wants cow's milk instead of almond milk even though I've already poured almond milk? If we think of the way children develop over time, it really becomes less about the immediate choice and more about training our child to listen, growing into a more mature use of freedom, and teaching against the grain of a culture addicted to personal freedoms and choice. More than likely, a child lashing out, throwing a tantrum, and repeatedly saying 'no,' has learned these bad habits over time and their perspective must change.
If you've spent any time getting to know Joy and I or read about our work on this blog, then you know we are quite passionate about discipleship. And this doesn't sound unique or different or more radical than any other church. Most churches will express a desire to make disciples, because it's in scripture. But when I look around the Christian landscape and do a subjective survey of the state of Christian discipleship, I think most Christians bend toward 2-year old tantrums, addicted to personal freedom and choice, and treat the church like parents who merely make suggestions for Christian living. There exists no new alternative, no changed perspective, no un-learning of bad habits and re-learning of new ones. We think people will become disciples randomly by rubbing shoulders with enough 'good' people. It seems to me that a disciple of Jesus has come about more by accident (or perhaps by the Spirit's continual pursuit) than by building a culture of discipleship in which believers commit to one another in grace, love, and mutual submission (what the church ought to be).
But we've all experienced and witnessed low levels of commitment and high levels of church shopping. How can you re-train someone (a process that takes time) if they're not around long enough, or only commit to showing up once a week, to break free from the old way of doing things?
I'm also currently reading through Starting Missional Churches in which the authors combine many of the benefits from the church planting movement with the keen insights from the missional movement of the last decade. They note the detriment to churches of the rise of the self-proclaimed individual through enlightenment thinking and consumeristic practices. They write, "Too often Protestant splitting [when individuals or groups leave a church] is tied (unconsciously) to believing that a church is a set of commodities to be consumed. When churches focus on their own preferences and their assumptions about other shoppers, we fall into deadly traps of our consumer culture and nobody wins- neither the church nor the neighborhood." Or put another way, the child gets what he/she wants, but its detrimental to their own development. In Ephesians, Paul talks of some being like infants, tossed back and forth by every whim of teaching. Rather, we are to grow up into the kind of love fitting for those who follow Jesus.
Notice that for the church, it isn't necessarily about itself; it exists for the sake of the health of the community for which it is a part. If the members of the church cannot practice a core principal of "Unity" (just read Ephesians), then the neighborhood surely notices and will not benefit from the church's presence- and mission is destroyed. Like a child whose perspective needs to be altered through preventative measures, so also Christians must move away from consuming spirituality and move toward committing to one another through the daily grind of life.
If we as Christians are fixed upon our own desires, go to church to 'be fed,' or walk away at the hint of conflict, then we will not grow into the full maturity of Christ. If I'm unable to place my life underneath the story of Christ's death (a story of giving up power), I will continue to fall to other stories of greed or violence or selfishness or hatred and I will destroy community. To be a disciple is to give up all the stories of the world for the one enacted in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. That story creates reconciliation, produces love, and teaches grace (the exact elements I wish my children to embody). And when the church looks like that, it won't take long for our neighbors to take notice and want be a part of it.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
TIPS: Kids & Church
The last blog explored our church moving toward a worship service inclusive of the whole family- children and adults together. You can read about it here.
So, if your kids are with you for all, or part, of a church worship service here are some practical tips on preparing for such an adventure!
Pop Praise: This happens at my church every week. Practice at home! Seems like a great way to kick off the day at breakfast time. "I praise God for..." Does your church have a prayer that's said every week, like The Lord's Prayer? Or a time of greeting at the beginning of the service? Practice those hand-shakes! We all know a strong hand-shake, with eye contact, will help our youth in ALL of life.
Tithes and Offerings: Do your kids get an allowance? Have a job? Maybe are too young for an allowance, but still know that money is used to buy things? Maybe your children have heard the phrase "We don't have money for that." I know I've said it. Here lies an opportunity (at home, in the car, in Walmart the next time your kid says, "Can I get that?") to teach thanksgiving, that God has given us enough. Besides, it all belongs to God anyway. And if there's a way for your child to physically participate in church by placing money, or an envelope, or a check into the the offering plate... even better!
Teach rituals, procedures, church language, sacred objects, etc. On your drive (or walk) to church remind your kids the order of the service. Just a hunch, but after a few weeks, I'd bet your children know the order of service better than most adults! Here are a few places to start: alters, podium, offering plate, sermon, worship, prayer, tithe, communion. These can be funny words if you're unfamiliar.
Read the scripture ahead of time. Prepare your minds and hearts together. Many pastors preach in series or themes. I'm willing to bet if you approached your pastor and said something like, "My family has started preparing for church ahead of time, can you share your sermon topics/scripture references for the next few weeks?" most pastors would emphatically shout HALLELUJAH! YES!
Prayer: Usually, prayer is a quiet time during the service when one voice is heard. This can be difficult for children. Instead of becoming frustrated or embarrassed, take the time to explain to your child what is happening. Just whisper. Perhaps try a strategy for participation where you teach your child to repeat words or phrases from the prayer (in a whisper).
DON'T FRET if your child has difficulty focusing for the duration of the sermon. Let's be honest, so do I! Sitting, focusing, listening are all learned behaviors. Don't expect excellence on the first Sunday. Instead, focus on setting a good example, remind kids (and yourself) the reason you're at church in the first place, and pick ONE truth to plant in their brains as you head home.
And maybe the biggest tip of all - role play at home. Practice "church." AND HAVE FUN! Speaking from a pastor's perspective, we WANT kids to have fun, be genuinely welcomed, and experience the love of Christ when they are at church. If we constantly "shush" our kids and act like we don't have space for them (their bodies as well as their joyful exuberance about life), they will begin to think, and feel, and eventually know the church as an unwelcoming place. I'm pretty sure that's not how Jesus feels about kids.
I hesitate to write this final part, but I want to make sure this post doesn't come across as "she said let the kids climb over chairs during the sermon," or something else equally as distracting. Is there room for discipline and obedience during a church service? Absolutely. I would be mortified if my child used the alter for a jumping block during church. So we teach the sacredness of an alter, and we also teach (for our 2 year old) that during church we sit in a chair (pew) or on Mama's lap. During the service - outside of music - is not a time for running or walking or climbing. Have a child that struggles to stay in one place? Try squeezing a ball in your hands, or between your knees.
If you're thinking, But my child DID crawl under the chairs! Oh well. Try again next week. Ever had a bad dinner where your kid ate nothing? Or a horrible bed time? Or a fit in the grocery store? You cannot give up eating, or sleeping, or shopping. Don't give up on church either! These are formative moments and years. Let's all open ourselves to seeing and learning through the lens of a child.
So, if your kids are with you for all, or part, of a church worship service here are some practical tips on preparing for such an adventure!
Pop Praise: This happens at my church every week. Practice at home! Seems like a great way to kick off the day at breakfast time. "I praise God for..." Does your church have a prayer that's said every week, like The Lord's Prayer? Or a time of greeting at the beginning of the service? Practice those hand-shakes! We all know a strong hand-shake, with eye contact, will help our youth in ALL of life.
Tithes and Offerings: Do your kids get an allowance? Have a job? Maybe are too young for an allowance, but still know that money is used to buy things? Maybe your children have heard the phrase "We don't have money for that." I know I've said it. Here lies an opportunity (at home, in the car, in Walmart the next time your kid says, "Can I get that?") to teach thanksgiving, that God has given us enough. Besides, it all belongs to God anyway. And if there's a way for your child to physically participate in church by placing money, or an envelope, or a check into the the offering plate... even better!
Teach rituals, procedures, church language, sacred objects, etc. On your drive (or walk) to church remind your kids the order of the service. Just a hunch, but after a few weeks, I'd bet your children know the order of service better than most adults! Here are a few places to start: alters, podium, offering plate, sermon, worship, prayer, tithe, communion. These can be funny words if you're unfamiliar.
Read the scripture ahead of time. Prepare your minds and hearts together. Many pastors preach in series or themes. I'm willing to bet if you approached your pastor and said something like, "My family has started preparing for church ahead of time, can you share your sermon topics/scripture references for the next few weeks?" most pastors would emphatically shout HALLELUJAH! YES!
Prayer: Usually, prayer is a quiet time during the service when one voice is heard. This can be difficult for children. Instead of becoming frustrated or embarrassed, take the time to explain to your child what is happening. Just whisper. Perhaps try a strategy for participation where you teach your child to repeat words or phrases from the prayer (in a whisper).
DON'T FRET if your child has difficulty focusing for the duration of the sermon. Let's be honest, so do I! Sitting, focusing, listening are all learned behaviors. Don't expect excellence on the first Sunday. Instead, focus on setting a good example, remind kids (and yourself) the reason you're at church in the first place, and pick ONE truth to plant in their brains as you head home.
And maybe the biggest tip of all - role play at home. Practice "church." AND HAVE FUN! Speaking from a pastor's perspective, we WANT kids to have fun, be genuinely welcomed, and experience the love of Christ when they are at church. If we constantly "shush" our kids and act like we don't have space for them (their bodies as well as their joyful exuberance about life), they will begin to think, and feel, and eventually know the church as an unwelcoming place. I'm pretty sure that's not how Jesus feels about kids.
I hesitate to write this final part, but I want to make sure this post doesn't come across as "she said let the kids climb over chairs during the sermon," or something else equally as distracting. Is there room for discipline and obedience during a church service? Absolutely. I would be mortified if my child used the alter for a jumping block during church. So we teach the sacredness of an alter, and we also teach (for our 2 year old) that during church we sit in a chair (pew) or on Mama's lap. During the service - outside of music - is not a time for running or walking or climbing. Have a child that struggles to stay in one place? Try squeezing a ball in your hands, or between your knees.
If you're thinking, But my child DID crawl under the chairs! Oh well. Try again next week. Ever had a bad dinner where your kid ate nothing? Or a horrible bed time? Or a fit in the grocery store? You cannot give up eating, or sleeping, or shopping. Don't give up on church either! These are formative moments and years. Let's all open ourselves to seeing and learning through the lens of a child.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
"Mama, YOU pray."
We have a moment in our service called "Pop Praise." Our worship leader starts us off with, "I praise God for..." We typically have a handful of people share one or two sentences of a recent praise to God. I totally love this part of church for a whole host of reasons. And I see this time as a natural opportunity to have children participate. While we don't intentionally target adults, we have never had a child share. To no avail, I have tried a couple different organic ways to encourage kid participation with our elementary children. Several Sunday's ago, during "Pop Praise" I found myself waiting with eager anticipation for just one child to share. As I silently watched one adult and then another speak, my two year old tugged on my skirt and whispered, "You pray, Mama."
"What, honey?"
"Mama, YOU pray."
In the midst of my planning, and pleading, and good intentions, I forgot to lead. I LOVE that my daughter watches and casually says, "Uncle Lonnie is praying. Auntie Anna is praying." I LOVE that she is growing up in an environment where she hears and sees testimony of God's grace from a community. But when the day is done, who has the greatest impact on her life? I do. And Eric does. For Justice (and Micah) to grow up believing in the transforming work of God, she needs to observe her parents.
This is just one example of why our church has made a leap into family worship (and away from age-based ministry). It's likely that this will be a season. As our congregation changes, so will we. Maybe we will go back to having elementary children leave during the sermon time. Or maybe there will be seasons in the year where children are invited to participate fully, and then a sermon series that's not totally appropriate for 6 year old ears. I don't know. But right now we have halted most* age-based ministries and whole families are worshipping together. Naturally, I love it. But something tells me it's not so natural for everyone. So I thought I would share a few reflections and observations from my perspective.
Communion: We took communion one of our first Sundays of family worship and I thought, "Ooh, bet this is new for some families." And then I remembered that our children are invited into the service EVERY time we take communion. What a glorious opportunity for families to remember Christ's body, broken for you, together. I have had some great discussions with other pastors over the years on the appropriateness of children participating in Communion. The most common concern I hear is, "They don't understand...." While this is likely true, let me offer a confession. As an educated adult, I don't understand. I cannot count the times in my life where God has revealed something to me that I thought I understood, but most certainly did not. The Divine is often times shrouded in mystery. I lean towards using the opportunity, the regular recurring event of communion, to lead children (and adults) into a more full understanding of the Eucharist.
Drawing During Church: If you have a child who can doodle peacefully, great! I've witnessed this a few times, and been amazed every time. It usually starts with drawing a picture, or making circles. Eventually it becomes words. About a month ago, one young girl left church with a page of beautiful scrolls and the words, "GOD IS GOOD" in the middle of her page. That phrase might seem simple, but it's a foundational truth all of us could be reminded of once in a while.
Worship through song: In our church, kids can be found singing, dancing, clapping, bouncing, quietly observing, or even shaking a musical instrument. This is one of the more natural and easy parts of worship for kids to participate in. Is the sound a little off? Maybe. But guess what? God doesn't think so.
In my next post, I'll list a few tips you can use at home to prepare your family for church.
*We still provide nursery care for infants/toddlers up to 4 years of age.
"What, honey?"
"Mama, YOU pray."
In the midst of my planning, and pleading, and good intentions, I forgot to lead. I LOVE that my daughter watches and casually says, "Uncle Lonnie is praying. Auntie Anna is praying." I LOVE that she is growing up in an environment where she hears and sees testimony of God's grace from a community. But when the day is done, who has the greatest impact on her life? I do. And Eric does. For Justice (and Micah) to grow up believing in the transforming work of God, she needs to observe her parents.
This is just one example of why our church has made a leap into family worship (and away from age-based ministry). It's likely that this will be a season. As our congregation changes, so will we. Maybe we will go back to having elementary children leave during the sermon time. Or maybe there will be seasons in the year where children are invited to participate fully, and then a sermon series that's not totally appropriate for 6 year old ears. I don't know. But right now we have halted most* age-based ministries and whole families are worshipping together. Naturally, I love it. But something tells me it's not so natural for everyone. So I thought I would share a few reflections and observations from my perspective.
Communion: We took communion one of our first Sundays of family worship and I thought, "Ooh, bet this is new for some families." And then I remembered that our children are invited into the service EVERY time we take communion. What a glorious opportunity for families to remember Christ's body, broken for you, together. I have had some great discussions with other pastors over the years on the appropriateness of children participating in Communion. The most common concern I hear is, "They don't understand...." While this is likely true, let me offer a confession. As an educated adult, I don't understand. I cannot count the times in my life where God has revealed something to me that I thought I understood, but most certainly did not. The Divine is often times shrouded in mystery. I lean towards using the opportunity, the regular recurring event of communion, to lead children (and adults) into a more full understanding of the Eucharist.
Drawing During Church: If you have a child who can doodle peacefully, great! I've witnessed this a few times, and been amazed every time. It usually starts with drawing a picture, or making circles. Eventually it becomes words. About a month ago, one young girl left church with a page of beautiful scrolls and the words, "GOD IS GOOD" in the middle of her page. That phrase might seem simple, but it's a foundational truth all of us could be reminded of once in a while.
Worship through song: In our church, kids can be found singing, dancing, clapping, bouncing, quietly observing, or even shaking a musical instrument. This is one of the more natural and easy parts of worship for kids to participate in. Is the sound a little off? Maybe. But guess what? God doesn't think so.
In my next post, I'll list a few tips you can use at home to prepare your family for church.
*We still provide nursery care for infants/toddlers up to 4 years of age.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Micah Update
This tiny little string bean is nearing 7 months. He's gotten his first TWO teeth in the past week! He is mostly happy, has a sweet giggle, and lives with his mouth open. He is sitting on his own (no more pillow propping). He likes to watch people and is content with one toy at a time. In the past 3 weeks he has eaten banana, avocado, poi, sweet potato, pear, baby oatmeal, brown rice flour porridge, mango and water! His little life, and taste buds, are expanding daily. He loves his sister, watches daddy intently, and snuggles with mama. This little man is super content and, as far as we can tell, loves life! We love his smile, his baby noises, his exploration, and his unbridled enthusiasm to see PEOPLE!
Justice Update
She's a joy most days and a challenge most days. This girl likes to read, thrives on structure, and LOVES people. She knows no stranger, asks for her friends, and wakes up everyday begging the universe for "church day." She's creative, inquisitive, and incredibly observant. She keeps us consistent. Parenting is hard, tiring, sometimes frustrating work. We try to keep the big picture in mind. We love her fiercely. For both of us, our favorite time of day is when she wakes up.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Turning to the Invisible Communities
"You want to understand power, start finding places where disunity abounds in the world and that's where God wants you to create reconciliation." Pastor Ryan Fasani, July 13, 2014
I want to give a quick look into some of the work I (Eric) have been doing this past year. As Missionary-Pastors, we are committed to reaching the lost with the Good News and discipling those interested in the transforming work of God. But we must first ask, especially as ones who are new to this place, how to identify the lost in the context of their "lostness"; which is to say we must learn the components and layers of culture and communities that are broken and lost. So this first year, I've been spending a lot of time doing research/relational/experienced based learning.
1). Meeting with Angie
I set up meetings throughout the week/month to talk and listen with anyone in the community willing to share and teach me about Kona. Most have never sat with a pastor who is interested in the social/relational/personal health of those outside their own congregation. But all have been kind and mention the lack of support from the christian faith community. Ironically, the Micronesian and Hispanic community carry high percentages of Christians to begin with and organize around church activity. The church gives minority groups a sense of worth and belonging and an instant connection in a time of uncertain transition. This is one of the reasons the church must take its minority communities seriously; because there is a general 'browning' of Christianity in the West.
I heard about Angie from another friend (Jasmine) at the West Hawaii Community Health Center. I've met with Jasmine several times on various groups working toward outreach and education within the Marshallese community. Usually this is how it works: I meet with a person who hears my interests and points me to another person within that community (one gatekeeper leads me to another). Jasmine introduced me to Angie, a woman who put together a Hispanic community health assessment over the past year. We met this past week to talk story.
She is a 5th generation Puerto Rican on the Big Island. Her family had immigrated to Honoka'a back when the sugar plantations were still operable. But she didn't learn Spanish until much later in school. As she put it, "The language barrier made us stick out too much, so we dropped Spanish but kept the food and music." She is the go-to person in the Hispanic community for any social need, health need, or immigration need. She spends her off time filling out INS paperwork for those trying to navigate the muddled immigration system. The closest Consulate is actually in California; there are no immigration lawyers on the island, and the travel to Oahu for any serious medical conditions works against undocumented people.
If you were to look around Kona, you would recognize signs mostly in English, some in Hawaiian. But at the health clinic they are in English, Spanish, and Hawaiian. Angie says 75% of the 2500 Hispanics on the West Coast work on either the coffee farms, macnut farms, or papaya farms. The clinic sees many Hispanic patients during the off picking season with skin rashes, respiratory issues, and eye problems from the pesticides used on the farm. They don't come when the symptoms first arise because they work (and live) on the farm. When asked about any worker's advocacy group, she simply chuckled and shook her head. The Hispanic community is dispersed from Waimea all the way down past South Kona. There is no advocacy group, ethnic organization, union, or social support. They remain present, but socially invisible.
A recent study highlighting the challenges and prospects for Mexicans in Hawaii shows the relative feeling of being unjustly targeted. Angie spoke of frequent deportations, the police acting as a type psuedo-ICE agent, giving bogus traffic tickets in order to check identification and paperwork. Ironically, in Hawaii as a whole the face of undocumented immigrants isn't Hispanic, but Filipino who comprise about 40% of the undocumented peoples. Only 10% of residing Mexicans (or 4,000 of 38,700) are undocumented. But when looking at those deported between 2007-2008, 50% were Mexican. This gives the community a particular feeling of being targeted, the perception of inferiority, and a general sense of exclusion. ("Newcomers to the Aloha State: Challenges and Prospects for Mexicans in Hawai'i," Batalova, Das Gupta, & Haglund, Migration Policy Institute, 2013).
2a). Theological Reflection
I believe that if a community is to be healthy, it must account for the full health of all its participants; rich and poor, brown and white, citizen and non-citizen, soil and vegetation, etc. Furthermore, I believe that God longs for justice and righteousness, a restoration of right relationships between people and communities so that the abundant life of the Kingdom of God can be experienced. Throughout scripture, God continues to call a particular people (Israel and the Church) to be the type of community that remembers the poor, marginalized, and oppressed who are often described as widows, orphans, and foreigners. On a personal note, I have long felt a call to give myself to the work of peace and reconciliation between divided communities, a call that fit in my work alongside the homeless community in Nashville and is now finding its legs here in Kona.
Since arriving, I've spent a fair amount of my time getting to know the invisible people and places, the spaces that aren't covered in West Hawaii Today, finding the gatekeepers to communities that struggle affording rent, food, or housing and who aren't paid a decent wage or afforded the same access to health care and social services. In short, I've been intentionally seeking and learning about the communities that don't benefit from full inclusion in society at large. It comes as no surprise, but these communities are recent immigrant groups to the Big Island (Filipino, Micronesian, Hispanic) and have historically struggled with cultural assimilation, social belonging, and economic growth.
2b). A Word on Immigration and Scripture
With the recent influx of child migration at the Southern border of the US, a situation the UN suggests should be treated like a refugee population, I realize the heated nature of immigrant discussions country-wide. I've read news reports and articles on both sides of the aisle that talk of immigration from socioeconomic perspectives, political perspectives, cultural views, and flat-out racist views. We have a tendency to forget the complicated history of immigration within the United States, our own histories of our own migrant families who are not native to this place, the economic and political factors that force migration, and the milieu of cultural identities represented in the moniker 'Hispanic.' But beyond all of this, as Christians, we can't allow political, cultural, ethnic, economic, or national security factors determine how we interact with and respond to the influx of immigrants (documented or undocumented) into our communities. Our allegiance is to Christ Jesus as Lord, who has brought near those who are far away and has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility between 'us' and 'them' (Ephesians 2). The Image of God marked on each person ought to be the resounding tone uttered from our words and posture. We are to become a church without borders.
3). Moving Forward
As a missionary, I recognize the important role the church plays in the social makeup of a place. For many immigrants, the church is the first place to find a common bond, to belong with others, find meaningful relationships, and through those relationships figure out where specific needs can be met. As far as evangelism, church planting is recognized as one of the most effective ways of reaching unchurched people groups. But when I listen to the needs of these groups, the lack of organization, the stereotypes and animosity flung at and between groups, and the immediacy of food and shelter, I want to plug the gap. I want to throw my individual ability and work ethic to find solutions to these problems- to become an advocate in solidarity with these marginalized peoples.
But I've done that alone and found myself isolated, drowning, and exhausted. Furthermore, 'plugging the gaps' didn't change the culture or system that created the problems. When I think about the particular stories of the various immigrant communities, I know that any reconciliation must be communal reconciliation. My question moving forward relates to how a community gathered around the Crucified and Risen Lord can begin the work of transformational development in this place. In other words, how can we take 'us' and 'them' and become one people with one Lord, one faith, one baptism without covering over particular cultural identities?
I firmly believe that the church can be the kind of faithful community that builds spiritual, social, and economic health in a way that transforms our neighborhoods. In Kona, it just might be a turning toward our newest members to see the change that God desires in this place.
I want to give a quick look into some of the work I (Eric) have been doing this past year. As Missionary-Pastors, we are committed to reaching the lost with the Good News and discipling those interested in the transforming work of God. But we must first ask, especially as ones who are new to this place, how to identify the lost in the context of their "lostness"; which is to say we must learn the components and layers of culture and communities that are broken and lost. So this first year, I've been spending a lot of time doing research/relational/experienced based learning.
1). Meeting with Angie
I set up meetings throughout the week/month to talk and listen with anyone in the community willing to share and teach me about Kona. Most have never sat with a pastor who is interested in the social/relational/personal health of those outside their own congregation. But all have been kind and mention the lack of support from the christian faith community. Ironically, the Micronesian and Hispanic community carry high percentages of Christians to begin with and organize around church activity. The church gives minority groups a sense of worth and belonging and an instant connection in a time of uncertain transition. This is one of the reasons the church must take its minority communities seriously; because there is a general 'browning' of Christianity in the West.
I heard about Angie from another friend (Jasmine) at the West Hawaii Community Health Center. I've met with Jasmine several times on various groups working toward outreach and education within the Marshallese community. Usually this is how it works: I meet with a person who hears my interests and points me to another person within that community (one gatekeeper leads me to another). Jasmine introduced me to Angie, a woman who put together a Hispanic community health assessment over the past year. We met this past week to talk story.
She is a 5th generation Puerto Rican on the Big Island. Her family had immigrated to Honoka'a back when the sugar plantations were still operable. But she didn't learn Spanish until much later in school. As she put it, "The language barrier made us stick out too much, so we dropped Spanish but kept the food and music." She is the go-to person in the Hispanic community for any social need, health need, or immigration need. She spends her off time filling out INS paperwork for those trying to navigate the muddled immigration system. The closest Consulate is actually in California; there are no immigration lawyers on the island, and the travel to Oahu for any serious medical conditions works against undocumented people.
If you were to look around Kona, you would recognize signs mostly in English, some in Hawaiian. But at the health clinic they are in English, Spanish, and Hawaiian. Angie says 75% of the 2500 Hispanics on the West Coast work on either the coffee farms, macnut farms, or papaya farms. The clinic sees many Hispanic patients during the off picking season with skin rashes, respiratory issues, and eye problems from the pesticides used on the farm. They don't come when the symptoms first arise because they work (and live) on the farm. When asked about any worker's advocacy group, she simply chuckled and shook her head. The Hispanic community is dispersed from Waimea all the way down past South Kona. There is no advocacy group, ethnic organization, union, or social support. They remain present, but socially invisible.
A recent study highlighting the challenges and prospects for Mexicans in Hawaii shows the relative feeling of being unjustly targeted. Angie spoke of frequent deportations, the police acting as a type psuedo-ICE agent, giving bogus traffic tickets in order to check identification and paperwork. Ironically, in Hawaii as a whole the face of undocumented immigrants isn't Hispanic, but Filipino who comprise about 40% of the undocumented peoples. Only 10% of residing Mexicans (or 4,000 of 38,700) are undocumented. But when looking at those deported between 2007-2008, 50% were Mexican. This gives the community a particular feeling of being targeted, the perception of inferiority, and a general sense of exclusion. ("Newcomers to the Aloha State: Challenges and Prospects for Mexicans in Hawai'i," Batalova, Das Gupta, & Haglund, Migration Policy Institute, 2013).
2a). Theological Reflection
I believe that if a community is to be healthy, it must account for the full health of all its participants; rich and poor, brown and white, citizen and non-citizen, soil and vegetation, etc. Furthermore, I believe that God longs for justice and righteousness, a restoration of right relationships between people and communities so that the abundant life of the Kingdom of God can be experienced. Throughout scripture, God continues to call a particular people (Israel and the Church) to be the type of community that remembers the poor, marginalized, and oppressed who are often described as widows, orphans, and foreigners. On a personal note, I have long felt a call to give myself to the work of peace and reconciliation between divided communities, a call that fit in my work alongside the homeless community in Nashville and is now finding its legs here in Kona.
Since arriving, I've spent a fair amount of my time getting to know the invisible people and places, the spaces that aren't covered in West Hawaii Today, finding the gatekeepers to communities that struggle affording rent, food, or housing and who aren't paid a decent wage or afforded the same access to health care and social services. In short, I've been intentionally seeking and learning about the communities that don't benefit from full inclusion in society at large. It comes as no surprise, but these communities are recent immigrant groups to the Big Island (Filipino, Micronesian, Hispanic) and have historically struggled with cultural assimilation, social belonging, and economic growth.
2b). A Word on Immigration and Scripture
With the recent influx of child migration at the Southern border of the US, a situation the UN suggests should be treated like a refugee population, I realize the heated nature of immigrant discussions country-wide. I've read news reports and articles on both sides of the aisle that talk of immigration from socioeconomic perspectives, political perspectives, cultural views, and flat-out racist views. We have a tendency to forget the complicated history of immigration within the United States, our own histories of our own migrant families who are not native to this place, the economic and political factors that force migration, and the milieu of cultural identities represented in the moniker 'Hispanic.' But beyond all of this, as Christians, we can't allow political, cultural, ethnic, economic, or national security factors determine how we interact with and respond to the influx of immigrants (documented or undocumented) into our communities. Our allegiance is to Christ Jesus as Lord, who has brought near those who are far away and has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility between 'us' and 'them' (Ephesians 2). The Image of God marked on each person ought to be the resounding tone uttered from our words and posture. We are to become a church without borders.
3). Moving Forward
As a missionary, I recognize the important role the church plays in the social makeup of a place. For many immigrants, the church is the first place to find a common bond, to belong with others, find meaningful relationships, and through those relationships figure out where specific needs can be met. As far as evangelism, church planting is recognized as one of the most effective ways of reaching unchurched people groups. But when I listen to the needs of these groups, the lack of organization, the stereotypes and animosity flung at and between groups, and the immediacy of food and shelter, I want to plug the gap. I want to throw my individual ability and work ethic to find solutions to these problems- to become an advocate in solidarity with these marginalized peoples.
But I've done that alone and found myself isolated, drowning, and exhausted. Furthermore, 'plugging the gaps' didn't change the culture or system that created the problems. When I think about the particular stories of the various immigrant communities, I know that any reconciliation must be communal reconciliation. My question moving forward relates to how a community gathered around the Crucified and Risen Lord can begin the work of transformational development in this place. In other words, how can we take 'us' and 'them' and become one people with one Lord, one faith, one baptism without covering over particular cultural identities?
I firmly believe that the church can be the kind of faithful community that builds spiritual, social, and economic health in a way that transforms our neighborhoods. In Kona, it just might be a turning toward our newest members to see the change that God desires in this place.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Kids and Worship
My first 7 years out of college, I was involved in Children's ministry. Five of those years were spent on a church staff in a pastoral role. Generally speaking this meant children's programming, family events, and pastoral care (hospital visits, home visits, calls/letters, etc.)
Today, we are part of a small Nazarene church of about 100. We don't have a children's pastor, or a family pastor, or a director, or any other position that ultimately means "disciple our children." But our church is heading towards dynamic discipleship of whole families.
A lot could be said about this church in regards to how we spend our money, the staff (positions) we choose to employ, the philosophy behind less/no programming and the push toward intergenerational worship. But let me just say one thing. Our pastor cares deeply about discipleship of all people, and that certainly includes our children.
One aspect we are becoming more aware of is inviting our children to participate in corporate worship. For you logistic-types out there - we do have a nursery (6m-4years) and we have Keiki Focus (5y-11y). The nursery is open for the duration of the worship service and keiki focus takes place during the sermon portion of our worship service. Kids are invited forward, prayed over, and exit the building for the 25 minutes of sermon time. During this time, they participate in a teaching of the exact same scripture as the rest of the body. When the preaching pastor finishes the sermon, the children are welcomed back.
As a staff, we take seriously the role kids (should) have as part of the body of Christ. Over the past few months I have had the privilege of beginning to invite kids to participate in more explicit ways. I am once again retraining my eyes and my heart. Instead of asking, Where can our kids go? or What should our youth be doing during this time? or Do we have anyone else that can teach our kids? or How can we make our children's programming better? I have found myself thinking our kids add indescribable value to our worshiping body. How can we involve them more?
I think we're off to a good (read: slow and steady) start. We have a child start every service with the blowing of the pu, kids reading scripture, kids dancing out of their seats in praise, youth sharing personal testimonies about camp, family-led prayer... We have an even longer list of additional ways our kids will be incorporated in the coming weeks and months. To be honest, I'm totally excited about having more kids involved, watching parents/aunties/uncles be proud of their kids, and marveling at how worship can be a little more right when it's intergenerational.
Are children welcomed in your worshipping body? What are some ways you include children and whole families? What are the positive results and challenges you have experienced?
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
2014 Funding Update
Many of you who follow this blog know us personally, pray for us, and support us in various ways. We are grateful for the relationships we have with friends and family, in our home of Kona and across the country. You also know that our family lives partially off the raised support generously given by you. We feel it appropriate to not only share our ministry with you, the stories of what God is beginning to do (the point of this blog), but also share our ongoing need. We don't do this too often, but at certain times during the year, it is appropriate to share our financial status going forward. Below are three areas from which Joy and I are receiving funds followed by our current need:
The Church: Kona Coast Nazarene provides a housing stipend of $1000. When we moved to Kona last Sept., we did so intending to live in the one bedroom ohana adjacent to the church offices for no more than 3 months. We anticipated finding a place by December to get ready for Micah's arrival. As we continued to look for rentals in Kona, we quickly realized that $1000 wouldn't cover the full cost of living. We found that a two-bedroom rental (whether a downstairs unit in a house or a condo) would cost between $1300-1500 per month. If we wanted to turn on lights, we would need another $300. Then, when October arrived, housing dried up with the influx of 'snowbirds' (those who visit for several months during winter). The church has allowed us to rent the ohana until we can find a more suitable place.
Community Employment: Eric found work as a barista at a new coffee shop/restaurant downtown. He's also began doing some of the sample roasting for the company, but it is a low-wage hourly job that brings in about $700 a month, a couple hundred less than we had anticipated. Joy, after several months of trying to get into the education system, is still trying to transfer her TN teaching license. Things move a little slower here. We are currently discussing the possibility of Joy working two days a week teaching to help boost this area of income.
Fundraising: Joy and I have always kept a very low/tight budget. Once we were on the ground in Hawaii, the truth of how high the cost of living is hit us pretty hard. The $15,000 we raised for our first year was, quite honestly, woefully low and completely necessary. We are incredibly grateful for everyone that supported us during this first year. But without your support, the first three months of transitional housing, and the initial resettlement stipend from the church, we would not have made it. Groceries and rent are twice as high. Our only car has broken down twice, and we can't afford to pay on our student loans- using several low-income government assistance programs to ease student loan burdens. In order to cover these costs, our fundraising goal has increased for our second year.
Additional Ministry Costs: As with any missionary, the work we do has to be a creative way to spread the Good News effectively with minimal costs. The N. Kona Mission Zone budget does not come from the KCN (church) operating budget. As such, we anticipate using an additional $7500 to aid in the following ministries: receiving a Missionary-Farmer and start-up costs, implementing missional communities, and planting two ethnic church plants within the next year.
Total need for 2014-2015 year currently sits at $41,100.
As you can tell, the need is a little more than double what we had projected for our first year. We feel this amount better addresses our current state and ministry need. We ask that you prayerfully consider participating through a one-time or monthly donation. Simply follow the tab on this blog called "Support the Mission" and follow the steps on www.easytithe.com/kcn. Or, simply click on the previous link. (Please choose the "North/Central Kona Mission" on the drop down menu). If you are currently unable to give, please add us to your prayer list; send us words of encouragement; ask if your church might host us for our 2015 furlough; and simply continue to read our story on this blog. Thank you.
The Church: Kona Coast Nazarene provides a housing stipend of $1000. When we moved to Kona last Sept., we did so intending to live in the one bedroom ohana adjacent to the church offices for no more than 3 months. We anticipated finding a place by December to get ready for Micah's arrival. As we continued to look for rentals in Kona, we quickly realized that $1000 wouldn't cover the full cost of living. We found that a two-bedroom rental (whether a downstairs unit in a house or a condo) would cost between $1300-1500 per month. If we wanted to turn on lights, we would need another $300. Then, when October arrived, housing dried up with the influx of 'snowbirds' (those who visit for several months during winter). The church has allowed us to rent the ohana until we can find a more suitable place.
Community Employment: Eric found work as a barista at a new coffee shop/restaurant downtown. He's also began doing some of the sample roasting for the company, but it is a low-wage hourly job that brings in about $700 a month, a couple hundred less than we had anticipated. Joy, after several months of trying to get into the education system, is still trying to transfer her TN teaching license. Things move a little slower here. We are currently discussing the possibility of Joy working two days a week teaching to help boost this area of income.
Fundraising: Joy and I have always kept a very low/tight budget. Once we were on the ground in Hawaii, the truth of how high the cost of living is hit us pretty hard. The $15,000 we raised for our first year was, quite honestly, woefully low and completely necessary. We are incredibly grateful for everyone that supported us during this first year. But without your support, the first three months of transitional housing, and the initial resettlement stipend from the church, we would not have made it. Groceries and rent are twice as high. Our only car has broken down twice, and we can't afford to pay on our student loans- using several low-income government assistance programs to ease student loan burdens. In order to cover these costs, our fundraising goal has increased for our second year.
Additional Ministry Costs: As with any missionary, the work we do has to be a creative way to spread the Good News effectively with minimal costs. The N. Kona Mission Zone budget does not come from the KCN (church) operating budget. As such, we anticipate using an additional $7500 to aid in the following ministries: receiving a Missionary-Farmer and start-up costs, implementing missional communities, and planting two ethnic church plants within the next year.
Total need for 2014-2015 year currently sits at $41,100.
As you can tell, the need is a little more than double what we had projected for our first year. We feel this amount better addresses our current state and ministry need. We ask that you prayerfully consider participating through a one-time or monthly donation. Simply follow the tab on this blog called "Support the Mission" and follow the steps on www.easytithe.com/kcn. Or, simply click on the previous link. (Please choose the "North/Central Kona Mission" on the drop down menu). If you are currently unable to give, please add us to your prayer list; send us words of encouragement; ask if your church might host us for our 2015 furlough; and simply continue to read our story on this blog. Thank you.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
The Postcard
We received our first postcard in the mail yesterday!
In our most recent newsletter, we included this postcard for people to mail back to us. We were overjoyed to find this beauty in our mailbox yesterday. The first one! The simple act of writing a short note and dropping the card in the mail means so much more to us.
Here's a special shout-out to Glenn and Marcia Veldheer - THANK YOU!
In our most recent newsletter, we included this postcard for people to mail back to us. We were overjoyed to find this beauty in our mailbox yesterday. The first one! The simple act of writing a short note and dropping the card in the mail means so much more to us.
Here's a special shout-out to Glenn and Marcia Veldheer - THANK YOU!
Friday, June 20, 2014
Four years ago, Everything Changed
Last month, I picked up Michael Pollan's small, very practical, guide to eating called "Food Rules." It condenses much of the information he's learned as a journalist documenting our current food system into a pocket sized eating guide. He basically boils down how we should eat into seven words, which comprise the three sections of the book: "Eat Food; Mostly Plants; Not Too Much."
It sounds so simple. But when we move in and out of a grocery store, and begin to pay attention to what we ingest that merely poses as food, it actually becomes a little more complicated; hence the need for 'Food Rules," and the middle two words- "mostly plants." However you look at it, Americans especially are dying because of our eating practices, with many food related diseases hitting poor people of color the hardest. When 75% of healthcare costs can be traced to what we consume as food, we know we have a problem.
A few years ago, Joy and I didn't think too much of what we ate. We would eat cheaply, shopping at the local grocery that carried the lowest prices. We felt the pinch of eating on our wallets, not our stomachs. We got into a pretty good routine of recycling through the same 14 meals, usually high in meat, starch, sodium, and sugar and low in greens and vegetables. When I was in grad school, I did one of my field placements at an inner-city food pantry. I witnessed the way that poor quality food given for free exacerbated already existing issues in poor communities. The Director at the time conceived of a network of community gardens that aided as both a teaching tool and food distribution model that introduced a variety of healthy foods grown locally in low access neighborhoods.
I remember sitting down with him at the beginning of my internship. One of his first questions was, "What do you eat?" I simply said meat and potatoes, and I don't eat vegetables. He quickly retorted, "We can change that. You just haven't had vegetables prepared well enough to enjoy." The next week, he took some day-old Panera Bread, broiled with olive oil and salt, and walked to the garden and picked fresh tomatoes and swiss chard. Once the greens were cooked down, we had an open face sandwich that was so simple and so delicious that I went home and made it for my wife (except I added a fried egg).
Over the next year, Joy and I began to pay closer attention to our food choices. We realized a few things. First, we knew nothing about where our food was grown, processed, or killed. Second, there was no color variety on our plate. Third, we had no idea how to actually cook. Fourth, Joy was pregnant with our first child (Justice) and knew that the nutrients she consumed were going to our baby. But, the whole process of re-learning to eat seemed so daunting. And so, we decided to purchase a share in a local farm. We'd pay upfront for 20 weeks worth of veggies and produce that we'd pick up once a week at the market. We'd talk with our farmers, ask for recipes and cooking tips, and explore throughout the week different ways the food could be prepared. Some meals were fantastic and others were not so great. We planned our meals around the foods we received at the market, making sure we'd have a variety of veggies we had to try.
I wasn't trying to lose weight. I have always been a relatively small, skinny person. But over those 20 weeks I lost 20 lbs. I dropped three inches off my waist, and I was feeling better, more alert and less sluggish. I didn't take a pill; I didn't jump on the newest guaranteed diet. But when it came to the most important human act for living in a body, everything changed. From what foods we bought to the time we spent preparing meals, from the way we budgeted for groceries to the appreciation for the gift of food, from the way we felt/looked to the dreams we began to collectively have about growing our own food, everything changed.
We realized that eating well is a lifestyle, not a fad or a diet that comes and goes. How and what we eat is passed down to us from our families, our traditions, and our culture. The decision of what we eat is formed by habits of eating. When I explain my move from "meat and potatoes" to "Eat Food, mostly vegetables," I can only conceive of that move as a transformational cultural shift in my approach of the most mundane thing humans do. It was retraining my eating habits, and it couldn't have been done without being a part of a community where eating well was practiced daily.
Eating healthy is a lifestyle, not a once-a-week salad at lunch.
How many of our churches speak of complete transformation and redemption while maintaining a culture that eats salad once a week? The proclamation of the Gospel is that God, in Jesus Christ, has fundamentally changed the way we see and work in this world. Because of the Cross and Resurrection, everything has changed. And yet, I get the sense that churches seem more interested in providing an experience of faith once a week than creating a culture of faith that re-orders how we live entirely. Our missional friends at 3DM write it like this:
A discipling culture is about encouraging and cultivating the development of a missional lifestyle (faith at the center of everything we do) rather than missional events (faith at the center of the events we organize).I believe this is an important distinction. We must be able to move beyond inviting our friends to church (even though this is important; an entry point to a new way of living) and become the community that opens our very lives to our neighbors in compassion. The first approach assumes that God's place rests only within the confines of church activity. Faith is cordoned off for a particular moment during the week, but it doesn't really require much more than showing up. But showing up doesn't retrain our prior habits of living.
The latter approach recognizes the work of the Spirit moving in us and the world to redeem all brokenness and sin. This approach re-orders our life to make room for the Spirit to change us. It is what we call the process of discipleship, learning to be more and more like Jesus. It is habit training, culture forming work. And this approach might very well change the way we relate with our neighbors, spend our money, play with our kids, eat our food, engage in acts of hospitality, befriend the poor, and reconcile cultural differences.
In short, the missional lifestyle changes everything.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Family
Living far away from our families is hard. For both of us, we have been away from home since we went to college, so being physically distant from our parents in nothing new. But there are certainly parts of this move that are different and feel brand new.
We've lived in Hawaii all of 9 months now and have already missed several family events, namely the funerals of both of Eric's dear and precious grandmothers. We're missing some major life events of our closest friends, and we know there are more special occasions coming in the next few months.
Moving to Hawaii we knew this would be the case. We knew in our minds we would miss some important times, but our hearts are feeling it afresh. Perhaps the addition of a baby and the cuteness of toddlerhood is accentuating the emotions we've been feeling. My heartstrings are pulled more by daily life happenings than by the big events. Yes, we are deeply sorry when we are absent from major family gatherings. We see pictures of family gathered from far and wide and wish we could teleport ourselves in, catch up with our cousins, hug our aunts and uncles. We do want that. But on an almost incomparable level is an aching for our children to know our parents. Both Eric and I have had grandparents in our lives with whom we have meaningful, formative relationships. We want that for our children.
I know that we have chosen to be here and we consciously made the decision to move our ohana away from our larger extended family. Despite the heartache and tears, we know this is the right decision and we have peace that we are walking with God. We certainly do not regret our move. However, I sense that our silence on this issue communicates our feelings incorrectly. By not showing our emotions, or talking about the pain and sadness, we have communicated that we're unaffected. And this is not true. We desire for our parents to see our children grow and develop, and we pray for the beginnings of deep meaningful relationships to be formed. We miss grabbing coffee "just because" with some of the people we care most about. And while I wish we could share a lunch with my mom today, or build a sand castle with papa, we cannot. It's likely I'll shed tears over this for years to come.
So we talk on the phone, and we FaceTime regularly. Like anything else in our lives that is important, we find time and make sacrifices for this. We're currently 6 hours behind the time zone of our parents, so it's not always convenient. But it can work, and we make it. Sometimes we call for a 5 minute show-and-tell. Sometimes we talk longer while my toddler runs in and out of the room. Sometimes we sing songs, and sometimes we end up sharing a meal via the internet because that's the time when both parties are home. And we try to take lots of pictures.
While furlough (Summer of 2015) extends beyond visiting family, it is one aspect we are especially looking forward to. By then, Justice will be almost four and Micah will be walking and learning to talk. It's hard for us to think our kids will be that big the next time papa sees them. We've wanted our blog to be a place of honesty, so we thought it appropriate to share a little behind the curtain. But it's also a matter of prayer.
We believe we are growing a supportive broader ohana here in Kona, and we pray that continues. We know we will move closer and closer to our neighbors as relationships deepen, as 9 months turns to 2 years, and as 2 years turns to five. We know that our children will cleave to this place, to Kona as their first home, and will adopt much of its culture and language as their own. As missionaries, we invite this into our lives. Our children will identify more with Kona than with Michigan or Virginia. And that's okay, but we also know the love of those that radiate from Michigan and Virginia, and we don't want them to miss that either. So please continue to pray for us as we navigate past loss and toward new possibility, as we try to hold together family relationships and navigate new ones.
We've lived in Hawaii all of 9 months now and have already missed several family events, namely the funerals of both of Eric's dear and precious grandmothers. We're missing some major life events of our closest friends, and we know there are more special occasions coming in the next few months.
Moving to Hawaii we knew this would be the case. We knew in our minds we would miss some important times, but our hearts are feeling it afresh. Perhaps the addition of a baby and the cuteness of toddlerhood is accentuating the emotions we've been feeling. My heartstrings are pulled more by daily life happenings than by the big events. Yes, we are deeply sorry when we are absent from major family gatherings. We see pictures of family gathered from far and wide and wish we could teleport ourselves in, catch up with our cousins, hug our aunts and uncles. We do want that. But on an almost incomparable level is an aching for our children to know our parents. Both Eric and I have had grandparents in our lives with whom we have meaningful, formative relationships. We want that for our children.
So we talk on the phone, and we FaceTime regularly. Like anything else in our lives that is important, we find time and make sacrifices for this. We're currently 6 hours behind the time zone of our parents, so it's not always convenient. But it can work, and we make it. Sometimes we call for a 5 minute show-and-tell. Sometimes we talk longer while my toddler runs in and out of the room. Sometimes we sing songs, and sometimes we end up sharing a meal via the internet because that's the time when both parties are home. And we try to take lots of pictures.
While furlough (Summer of 2015) extends beyond visiting family, it is one aspect we are especially looking forward to. By then, Justice will be almost four and Micah will be walking and learning to talk. It's hard for us to think our kids will be that big the next time papa sees them. We've wanted our blog to be a place of honesty, so we thought it appropriate to share a little behind the curtain. But it's also a matter of prayer.
We believe we are growing a supportive broader ohana here in Kona, and we pray that continues. We know we will move closer and closer to our neighbors as relationships deepen, as 9 months turns to 2 years, and as 2 years turns to five. We know that our children will cleave to this place, to Kona as their first home, and will adopt much of its culture and language as their own. As missionaries, we invite this into our lives. Our children will identify more with Kona than with Michigan or Virginia. And that's okay, but we also know the love of those that radiate from Michigan and Virginia, and we don't want them to miss that either. So please continue to pray for us as we navigate past loss and toward new possibility, as we try to hold together family relationships and navigate new ones.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
A Letter to the 2 Year Old
I attended a meeting of moms this week. Before we got started, a few of us were chatting about our kids. I said something like, "She's two, so some days are normal and some days are...." I just couldn't find the word. One of the other moms piped up right away, "Oh, I understand. Irrational, ridiculous, nonsensical . Don't worry, she will become human again around 3 1/2."
I've been thinking about what that means, so I decided to write a letter to my daughter, and it was a pretty fun exercise! You know my track record, if I don't write it down I will forget. And as I finished the letter I realized just how ridiculous she is, in an endearing way of course. I guess life with a 2 year old has become normal.
Here's a piece of that letter (and a pretty accurate picture of my life):
Dear Justice,
You are growing in your imagination and creativity! I was at a moms group this week where kids your age were described as irrational and nonsensical. The other moms reassured me that you will return to humanness around age 3 1/2. While this sounds about right, this current stage of complete ridiculousness is so funny! So I thought I would share some of what you're doing.
You treat your stuffed animals and dolls like they are real. They use the bathroom, often wear diapers, sleep and wake, and you nurse them. They have blankets, they cry, and you rock and comfort them. Right now you are singing "Amazing Grace" to Sheepy as you put her down for a nap in your bed. Your favorites are Fleece Bear, Sheepy, Silly, and Baby Jack.
You love your apron, wear shirts as "pony tails" and "long hair." You like hats and sunglasses. You jump over any line you see, you use crawling, walking, skipping and running almost equally. Oh, and flying. You fly like a butterfly every night after a bath or shower. You have started reading books to me (and all of your animal friends).
You almost always dress crazily, you love to hula, and you can make any sentence into a song. Oh, and you talked on the phone to Papa this week.
You like to be silly, like pretending that Daddy works at the "Juice Shop" instead of the "Coffee Shop;" or asking Daddy to take the monster out of our car when he goes to work. And you are completely serious when you let the lions in our house, but make the tigers stay outside. Most of the time, you don't like tigers. Your pancakes are 18 different objects and animals with each bite you take and you frequently request "cow's milk" as your beverage of choice.
You are crazy-enthusiastic about life. You believe us. You challenge us. You share with us. You want desperately to play with your brother! He's in for a wild ride!
I've been thinking about what that means, so I decided to write a letter to my daughter, and it was a pretty fun exercise! You know my track record, if I don't write it down I will forget. And as I finished the letter I realized just how ridiculous she is, in an endearing way of course. I guess life with a 2 year old has become normal.
Here's a piece of that letter (and a pretty accurate picture of my life):
Dear Justice,
You are growing in your imagination and creativity! I was at a moms group this week where kids your age were described as irrational and nonsensical. The other moms reassured me that you will return to humanness around age 3 1/2. While this sounds about right, this current stage of complete ridiculousness is so funny! So I thought I would share some of what you're doing.
You treat your stuffed animals and dolls like they are real. They use the bathroom, often wear diapers, sleep and wake, and you nurse them. They have blankets, they cry, and you rock and comfort them. Right now you are singing "Amazing Grace" to Sheepy as you put her down for a nap in your bed. Your favorites are Fleece Bear, Sheepy, Silly, and Baby Jack.
You love your apron, wear shirts as "pony tails" and "long hair." You like hats and sunglasses. You jump over any line you see, you use crawling, walking, skipping and running almost equally. Oh, and flying. You fly like a butterfly every night after a bath or shower. You have started reading books to me (and all of your animal friends).
You almost always dress crazily, you love to hula, and you can make any sentence into a song. Oh, and you talked on the phone to Papa this week.
You like to be silly, like pretending that Daddy works at the "Juice Shop" instead of the "Coffee Shop;" or asking Daddy to take the monster out of our car when he goes to work. And you are completely serious when you let the lions in our house, but make the tigers stay outside. Most of the time, you don't like tigers. Your pancakes are 18 different objects and animals with each bite you take and you frequently request "cow's milk" as your beverage of choice.
You are crazy-enthusiastic about life. You believe us. You challenge us. You share with us. You want desperately to play with your brother! He's in for a wild ride!
Monday, June 9, 2014
Anniversary
Three years ago we were pregnant with our first child. It was the HEAT of summer in the south. I was participating (as a student) in a writing institute for teachers and Eric was attending a missional community conference in another state. And we forgot our anniversary. It's a little funny.
Here's to many more absent-minded years. I imagine the memory failure only gets worse.
Here's to many more absent-minded years. I imagine the memory failure only gets worse.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Furlough II: Date, Length, Location
This is part of a series on FURLOUGH. To unpack the details of Furlough, for us specifically, this will be a series of 3 posts (though not immediately within the 30 day challenge). We plan to address the following:
Length of Time
Projected Date
Furlough vs. Vacation
Funding Furlough
Purpose of Furlough
Location of Furlough
In our last post on furlough, we talked about the PURPOSE, and there are many. In today's post I'll cover Length of Time, Projected Dates and Location.
Planning and executing a successful furlough currently occupies a large chunk of mental space. And we expect it to get worse before it gets better! In order to maximize our time on the mainland, we are becoming scheduling maniacs. It may seem like we're getting ahead of ourselves, but we're not. We are learning the importance of planning and early communication.
PROJECTED DATE: July, 2015
We do not have plane tickets, so the exact dates are flexible. But we're working with a team of missionaries here on the Big Island who are also planning similar trips, so our dates are semi-firm. We plan to be on the mainland ALL of July, 2015.
LENGTH OF TIME: Uhh... 1 month
This is a little redundant, I get it. Let me answer a few questions I know are out there.
What? You get a month off? No, friends. This is not a month off. Furlough is a very necessary and literally life giving part of our ministry. Our day-to-day activities depend on the prayer, generosity and sacrificial giving of others. It is necessary for us to connect with, report to, and be held accountable by our supporters. We look forward to connecting in person with hundreds of people we haven't seen in 2 years, we anticipate challenging conversations, and we pray for renewal.
What happens to your ministry in Hawaii while you're gone for a month? Good question, thank you for asking. First, we're on a team. We are part of a local church (Kona Coast Naz) and have fellow missionaries and staff here with us. Second, thanks to the internet, a decent amount of communication can be done from the mainland. It's certainly not the same as being here in person and working with local leaders, but it can suffice for a short time.
LOCATION: Everywhere, USA
As we said, we're planning these things right now. If your church wants to host us (or small group, or Sunday school class, or YOU want to host us in your home), let us know! We know our schedule will be packed and it's likely we won't get to everyone on our list. Right now, we know we'll visit Tennessee, Michigan, Virginia and California.
Coming up next... Funding Furlough.
Length of Time
Projected Date
Furlough vs. Vacation
Funding Furlough
Purpose of Furlough
Location of Furlough
In our last post on furlough, we talked about the PURPOSE, and there are many. In today's post I'll cover Length of Time, Projected Dates and Location.
Planning and executing a successful furlough currently occupies a large chunk of mental space. And we expect it to get worse before it gets better! In order to maximize our time on the mainland, we are becoming scheduling maniacs. It may seem like we're getting ahead of ourselves, but we're not. We are learning the importance of planning and early communication.
PROJECTED DATE: July, 2015
We do not have plane tickets, so the exact dates are flexible. But we're working with a team of missionaries here on the Big Island who are also planning similar trips, so our dates are semi-firm. We plan to be on the mainland ALL of July, 2015.
LENGTH OF TIME: Uhh... 1 month
This is a little redundant, I get it. Let me answer a few questions I know are out there.
What? You get a month off? No, friends. This is not a month off. Furlough is a very necessary and literally life giving part of our ministry. Our day-to-day activities depend on the prayer, generosity and sacrificial giving of others. It is necessary for us to connect with, report to, and be held accountable by our supporters. We look forward to connecting in person with hundreds of people we haven't seen in 2 years, we anticipate challenging conversations, and we pray for renewal.
What happens to your ministry in Hawaii while you're gone for a month? Good question, thank you for asking. First, we're on a team. We are part of a local church (Kona Coast Naz) and have fellow missionaries and staff here with us. Second, thanks to the internet, a decent amount of communication can be done from the mainland. It's certainly not the same as being here in person and working with local leaders, but it can suffice for a short time.
LOCATION: Everywhere, USA
As we said, we're planning these things right now. If your church wants to host us (or small group, or Sunday school class, or YOU want to host us in your home), let us know! We know our schedule will be packed and it's likely we won't get to everyone on our list. Right now, we know we'll visit Tennessee, Michigan, Virginia and California.
Coming up next... Funding Furlough.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Building a Lanai: or The Practical Imports of Being Mentored
(Pictures below)
I (Eric) did not grow up building things. Somehow, playing with lincoln logs in my bedroom didn't translate to being a handy-man around the house. It takes quite a bit of effort for me to think through leaky faucets, rotten molding, broken gutters, basic car mechanics, or easy carpentry. I played in the woods, rode my bike, went hiking/camping, and played sports as a child. But the practical elements of being able to see a physical problem and fixing it has eluded me. Manual labor was reduced to mulching the yard and mowing the grass rather than growing my own food or building an addition to our ohana. But the older I get, the more I feel like those latter things are important to life. I have this Wendell Berry essay ringing in my head:
Well, Joy and I felt as if a second kid might require a little more space. So we thought up a creative idea: Let's enclose our lanai! Only, I had no idea how to do it. And instead of having someone just do it for me, I decided it was time to learn. So, I asked an older retired man in our church with some building and carpentry experience if he could help teach me. Ron came over, surveyed the area with me, gave me some tips on how to frame it, drove me to Lowe's to help pick out the proper supplies, and let me borrow his tools. Now that's a mentor! He came over the next week and we worked together to begin setting the frame. Ron showed me what was needed, helped me along the way, watched me as I worked, and critiqued what I did. His knowledge and guidance paved the way for new learning. Not only that, Joy and I gained some new friends, enjoying good conversation over dinner with Ron and his wife, Marilyn.
As I think about my desire to learn new skills, it's humbling that I have to rely on others to teach me. I'm almost 30 years old, but I also know that this is the stuff of life. Can you imagine what healthy fruitful relationships could look like if we allowed others into our lives and teach us the skills they have mastered? What if a teenager learned about plumbing, or farming, or roasting coffee, or mechanics, or spearfishing from someone who has mastered that skill? What if that person was intricately involved in the church and while mentoring that person in legitimate job readiness skills also formed a deep spiritual relationship with that person? Can you imagine the kind of discipleship that could form? I think this is a beautiful picture of working toward a healthy community where we are rich in our neighborly love.
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I (Eric) did not grow up building things. Somehow, playing with lincoln logs in my bedroom didn't translate to being a handy-man around the house. It takes quite a bit of effort for me to think through leaky faucets, rotten molding, broken gutters, basic car mechanics, or easy carpentry. I played in the woods, rode my bike, went hiking/camping, and played sports as a child. But the practical elements of being able to see a physical problem and fixing it has eluded me. Manual labor was reduced to mulching the yard and mowing the grass rather than growing my own food or building an addition to our ohana. But the older I get, the more I feel like those latter things are important to life. I have this Wendell Berry essay ringing in my head:
In a healthy community, people will be richer in their neighbors, in neighborhood, in the health and pleasure of neighborhood, than in their bank accounts...Do not buy anything you don't need. Do as much as you can yourself. If you cannot do something for yourself, see if you have a neighbor who can do it for you. (from: "Conservation is Good Work").
Well, Joy and I felt as if a second kid might require a little more space. So we thought up a creative idea: Let's enclose our lanai! Only, I had no idea how to do it. And instead of having someone just do it for me, I decided it was time to learn. So, I asked an older retired man in our church with some building and carpentry experience if he could help teach me. Ron came over, surveyed the area with me, gave me some tips on how to frame it, drove me to Lowe's to help pick out the proper supplies, and let me borrow his tools. Now that's a mentor! He came over the next week and we worked together to begin setting the frame. Ron showed me what was needed, helped me along the way, watched me as I worked, and critiqued what I did. His knowledge and guidance paved the way for new learning. Not only that, Joy and I gained some new friends, enjoying good conversation over dinner with Ron and his wife, Marilyn.
As I think about my desire to learn new skills, it's humbling that I have to rely on others to teach me. I'm almost 30 years old, but I also know that this is the stuff of life. Can you imagine what healthy fruitful relationships could look like if we allowed others into our lives and teach us the skills they have mastered? What if a teenager learned about plumbing, or farming, or roasting coffee, or mechanics, or spearfishing from someone who has mastered that skill? What if that person was intricately involved in the church and while mentoring that person in legitimate job readiness skills also formed a deep spiritual relationship with that person? Can you imagine the kind of discipleship that could form? I think this is a beautiful picture of working toward a healthy community where we are rich in our neighborly love.
Joy was the master painter.
Pastor Ryan even got in on the action, taking two days to help complete the project. He even took the time to teach his two boys much of the work we were doing.
We've made this space into a sitting/play room. Joy and I will drink tea together, and Joy's been sewing a little more with the extra room, and we've moved Justice's keiki table outside to make room for Micah's bed inside.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
To Come Alongside
I've just begun running again since having my second child. Needless to say, I'm out of shape. I have zero endurance and my muscles... well, what muscles? So I was at the park recently attempting to run and trying to force myself to go the extra 10 steps before walking (I have no picture of this. You can thank me later.) There was a woman walking in front of me and out of courtesy I thought, I shouldn't start walking RIGHT behind her with my heavy breathing and dramatic "I'm Dying!" look, so I'll run 10 steps past her and THEN I'll walk. Clever, I know.
As I ran toward her, she looked at me and said, "Good Job." I audibly laughed with breath I didn't even know I had. And then she continued, "You're doing great. Keep it up." My mind shifted and I thought, Oh no! I can't die here. This perfect stranger just said good job, I HAVE to continue!
So I did. I didn't just run a few more steps to make it out of the talking zone, I ran 400 yards further. I made it further than I had planned to run, and I made it without falling on my face.
This morning, as I reflect on the motivation I received from a perfect stranger, I wonder if I am encouraging anyone in this journey of life. Who needs a pat on the shoulder and motivation to make it a few more steps? Who do I know (or maybe don't know) that feels they just need a break and want to sit down and rest for a minute? Are my eyes open to those around me?
If I really let myself think about it, there's another step. When I heard, "You're doing great! Keep it up." I did, indeed, run further than I had planned. But what would have allowed me to go even further- to push through the pain and exhaustion and find satisfaction on the other side?
What if the woman would have said, "Good job, you're doing great, and I'm gonna run this part with you?" Surely, I would have kept running. Because along the way I'm certain there would have been 100 more encouraging words, and she would have been huffing and puffing right next to me, and somewhere down the road we would have stopped together and said WOW! WE did it!
If I'm honest with myself, I'm okay at thinking about people, sending an encouraging note, and even following up. But I'm not so good at saying, "Come on. I'm doing this WITH you." Because it's inconvenient. And it interrupts my schedule. And it's messy. And almost always hard.
But I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Jesus wants me to do. When we talk about incarnational ministry, that's what we mean. Who are we doing life WITH? Jesus came to earth fully human and lived with the people, as one of us. God, open my heart and my home as I learn how to love my neighbors.
As I ran toward her, she looked at me and said, "Good Job." I audibly laughed with breath I didn't even know I had. And then she continued, "You're doing great. Keep it up." My mind shifted and I thought, Oh no! I can't die here. This perfect stranger just said good job, I HAVE to continue!
So I did. I didn't just run a few more steps to make it out of the talking zone, I ran 400 yards further. I made it further than I had planned to run, and I made it without falling on my face.
This morning, as I reflect on the motivation I received from a perfect stranger, I wonder if I am encouraging anyone in this journey of life. Who needs a pat on the shoulder and motivation to make it a few more steps? Who do I know (or maybe don't know) that feels they just need a break and want to sit down and rest for a minute? Are my eyes open to those around me?
If I really let myself think about it, there's another step. When I heard, "You're doing great! Keep it up." I did, indeed, run further than I had planned. But what would have allowed me to go even further- to push through the pain and exhaustion and find satisfaction on the other side?
What if the woman would have said, "Good job, you're doing great, and I'm gonna run this part with you?" Surely, I would have kept running. Because along the way I'm certain there would have been 100 more encouraging words, and she would have been huffing and puffing right next to me, and somewhere down the road we would have stopped together and said WOW! WE did it!
If I'm honest with myself, I'm okay at thinking about people, sending an encouraging note, and even following up. But I'm not so good at saying, "Come on. I'm doing this WITH you." Because it's inconvenient. And it interrupts my schedule. And it's messy. And almost always hard.
But I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Jesus wants me to do. When we talk about incarnational ministry, that's what we mean. Who are we doing life WITH? Jesus came to earth fully human and lived with the people, as one of us. God, open my heart and my home as I learn how to love my neighbors.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
The Discipleship Clutch
I can't believe it's already May. Micah is almost 4 months old; Justice is dancing and singing all over the house and yard. We've completed the screened in lanai (pictures coming!) to help expand our space for our family of four, bought a ticket for my sisters wedding in Oct. (Richmond and Nashville here I come), and we've been busy focusing our ministry here in Kona. About a month ago, I noted three ministry spheres that have emerged while getting to know the community: Discipleship, Leadership Training, and Community Development.
I want to focus on Discipleship briefly in what follows. Frankly, discipleship is the backbone of the
church. The call of the Christian is one
of faithful obedience to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we intentionally make disciples, the
church will thrive and the Kingdom of God will break-in. We believe that discipleship paves the road of revival. Jesus spent 3 years heavily investing his life in 12 people. For KCN, this gives us an indication of both the importance of and commitment to a small group of people over a longer duration of time. But we also note that discipleship is circular. We are not only disciples of Jesus, but, like Paul the Apostle, are called to have others follow us in the way of discipleship. Kona Coast Nazarene has created
a unique curriculum, mindful of this context, for calling and making disciples. It's called a Discipleship Clutch. Joy and I
are currently participants and intend to lead our first Clutch in the middle of
the summer. In fact, every participant of a Clutch is encouraged/trained to lead one of their own. We do this because discipleship must be duplicated.
A Discipleship Clutch is different than most discipleship material. It isn't a book study, prayer meeting, or support group; though there is a printed guide, plenty of prayerful discernment, and certainly a group that supports one another. A Discipleship Clutch, over a 52 week span, teaches the basics of discernment: learning to hear and obey the voice of God in community. Joy and I are currently going through a Clutch together, and can attest to the value of submitting to the process of intentionally hearing and obeying. And, we're really excited about who God has planned for the Discipleship Clutch we intend to lead.
Joy and I have been praying through and over the relationships we're building in both our church community and outside her walls. Would you please pray with us for our potential disciples, that God would make them known to us, begin preparing their hearts even now, and that they would be receptive to our presence in their life? If you're willing to do this, please let us know. It will encourage us deeply to know this kind of support exists. Thank you.
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