Five Pillars of Christian Living

Twice a year, Kona Coast Nazarene offers a Spiritual Retreat, a chance to get away, focus on listening to God’s voice in our community, and kick-off the beginning of our Discipleship Clutches.  A Discipleship Clutch is what we are calling our smallest gathering that makes up the backbone of our church.  Everything we do points toward growing as disciples of Jesus.  Our theory (and I first heard this from my brother) is that if you try to build the church you might get disciples, but if you make disciples you’ll always build the church.  Our Spiritual Retreat addresses the first five sessions for a full year of discipleship.  Essentially, Pastor Ryan asked a range of committed and fruitful Christians what they had wished someone had told them when they first started the Christian journey.  After seeing five themes throughout each conversation, five sessions were created for the Spiritual Retreat.

I had the pleasure of participating in my first Spiritual Retreat this past weekend, and Joy and I will join our first Discipleship Clutch in two weeks.  I have never formally been “discipled.”  Seminary teaches you a lot about theology, the church, social and political intersections with scripture, and culture, but it doesn’t necessarily make you more like Jesus.  So I am excited about finding myself under Pastor Ryan’s guidance during this time.  Eventually, everyone who participates in a Clutch will lead a clutch.  We take seriously that every disciple of Jesus is called to make disciples.  So much so, in fact, that if we aren’t reproducing little Jesus,’ we might have to reevaluate whether we are being faithful in our journey with Christ.   

So, I’d like to briefly outline the Five Pillars that KCN uses to ground the beginning of formal discipleship.

1). Practicing the Presence of God: Some may know this title from the work of Brother Lawrence, a monk who devoted his life to practicing God’s presence in the mundane activities of everyday life.  He wrote that “there is no sweeter manner of living in the world than continuous communion with God.”  But this is a very foreign concept in the church today.  We are so distracted by technology, work, family, and sports that we honestly don’t know how to dwell in the Presence of the Lord, much less do it while washing dishes or playing with our kids.  Living in communion with God takes practice; it takes intentional habit making work.

2). The totality of the Gospel movement from DEATH to LIFE.  This session actually starts with a type of spiritual inventory.  It dives deep into one’s family past, social experiences, addictions, abuses, relationships, etc.  It allows us to better see where we have been, where we are now, and where God is leading us.  Essentially, it gives us a picture of seeing all the places of our life with others that God longs to heal.  It also allows us to see where in our life God has already been active and working grace in our midst.  The Christian journey is one in which we move from death to life. This session allows us to broaden our understanding of salvation beyond the spiritual soul-saving realm and into the stuff of physical life.

3). Forgiveness.  The church often gives lip service to this one.  We read in scripture the power of forgiveness and recognize that it’s important.  But, few of us actually act as if another’s forgiveness is reliant upon us.  Jesus teaches that if we forgive any one their sins, they are forgiven; and if we do not forgive than our sins are not forgiven.  That’s a tough word especially in a world in which so many are abused, made victims, or hurt.  Forgiveness does not excuse, forget, or overlook the past.  But forgiveness does restore freedom.  Forgiveness makes room for possible reconciliation.  As MLK said, “He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love.”

4). Koinonia.  This is the greek word for fellowship, community, and togetherness.  In a culture that celebrates individualism, isolation and loneliness overwhelm us.  From the moment of creation, we were meant for communion with God and each other.  Fellowship is the antidote to isolation.  Henri Nouwen writes that the “paralyzing sense of separation…constitutes the core of much of human suffering.”  Our communities are a collection of individuals who occasionally gather as individuals.  The Christian journey must foster authentic community.  

5). Testimony: Worship and Witness.  We believe people will come to a relationship with Christ through relationships with other believers.  One of the best ways to share the transformation power of resurrection is simply to share your story of transformation.  By witnessing to the grace of God in your life, by simply sharing your story of where God has worked, we become faithful witnesses.  And at the same time, we express a dependence on God to make it all possible, giving ourselves over to worship and praise.  This takes a particular understanding of your own life as it intersects with God’s story.  Learning to see God’s life in a dark world is the stuff of discipleship.  

I'd like to briefly add that this list does not exhaust the totality of Christian discipleship.  Again, this marks the beginning of our journey here at KCN.

Mission: Kona Coast; Update

Many who have followed our journey here or have kept up with Kona Coast Nazarene through Facebook, newsletters, sermons, or in community participation are familiar with the Mission and Vision of Kona Coast Naz.  We are a church committed to reaching the lost, discipling the found, and modeling the Kingdom.  We work toward and anticipate KCN being a united missional presence along the entire Kona Coast of the Big Island through the sending and placing of Missionary-Pastors in eight unique mission zones.  Joy and I were the first MPs to arrive, followed by the Boyarski family in December.  Another family, the Masons will be joining us in March.  Joy and I are excited about building the KCN team, having others alongside of us in ministry, and families we can call friends.

We felt it appropriate to share a mission update concerning the Boyarski family.  While they arrived in December, this week the Boyarskis have decided to return to their home in Wisconsin.  Over the past couple of weeks, Tiffany had suffered through severe panic attacks, high anxiety, and the physical manifestations of such ailments.  Noting that the health of their family is foundational for incarnational ministry, through prayer and much deliberation, they decided to return home.  If you are interested in more about the Boyarski family, you can read about their decision here.

Joy and I have been dealing with the emotional toll of losing fellow missionaries in the journey and the gap it seemingly leaves in the Mission Zone of Miloli'i and Ocean View while transitioning our family to the birth of our son Micah.  It's been a taxing month.  But, we stand committed to the call God has placed on our life to be with this community.  We believe fully that God is working to restore and heal and reconcile all things that are broken and that in some way we are a part of that work in Kona.  And so we are in need of prayer.  Pray for our family health, for Pastor Ryan and the whole Fasani family, for renewed passion and life to fill our church, for the Masons who join us next month, and for the Boyarskis to find healing and life giving work in God's Kingdom.  Thank you.

Naming Baby Smash

Naming is a sacred duty.  To name another creature is practicing one of the Divine gifts given to humanity.  Like Adam in the Garden of Eden, Joy and I have spent months trying to discern the right name for our child as he relates to our family.  Admittedly, Justice’s name came a bit easier (i.e. before she was born).  But like Justice, our boy’s name holds within it a similar prayer. 

Joy and I tend to gravitate toward the prophets in the Christian Scriptures.  Their call for justice, peace, and the provocation of hope matches our own yearnings in life.  The prophets help give birth to new communities of life that are distinct from the dominant culture; or rather, prophets help transform communities toward new ways of healthy living.  They balance the key elements of criticizing systems that bring death and energizing toward renewal.  In a lot of ways, every pastor needs to possess a little prophetic zeal. 

The past couple weeks the book of Micah has been a renewed focus.  Micah stands out in both critical judgment and energizing activity.  It is a call for justice, a word of warning toward the powerful and wealthy and a word of hope for the lowly, poor, despised, and oppressed of the land.  While I won’t go into too much detail about the particularities of what is said (there is a second draft if anyone is interested), I would encourage you to spend some time in this lesser known prophet, especially Micah chapters 2, and 4 through 6. 

The Prophets remind us of the life we ought to live, the community we should strive to be, and the One who makes it all possible.  We believe that a life marked with Christ’s life for the world starts with our family, within our familial fellowship, and extends into the life our church and the surrounding community.  We pray, as Christ taught us, for heaven to be a part of earth.  And for this prayer to be a reality, the world will need to be reminded of the voice of the prophets. 

So, the first name of our son is Micah.

And if you have been following our life over the last year, you know that Joy and I are currently serving as Missionary-Pastors on the Big Island of Hawaii.  This missionary call on my life in particular started with my relationship with my Grandpa Koolhaas on my mom's side.  He had spent many years as a pastor and missionary, living alongside and with the Navajo tribes in New Mexico.  His commitment, grace, faithfulness, and love for God, his family, and those he served on the reservation are carried in his children, grandchildren, and those he pastored.  His death in 1995 coincided with my own call as a ten year old boy.  This past year, his wife, Elsie Koolhaas, also passed away.  And while they didn't meet Micah, we wanted Micah to carry a little bit of them with him.  

So, Micah's middle name, Abraham, is influenced by his Great Grandpa Abram Koolhaas.  Abraham being the derivative of Abram after God changed his name at the start of the covenant (Gen. 15&17).  We believe that God's faithfulness to Abraham is indicative of God's faithfulness to the world to make all things right.  And we pray that our son, Micah Abraham Paul, will be a part of this renewal.