Gemeente Gesels – Blog

My whacked out ideas about Church? As first published on http://paul-barnard.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-whacked-out-ideas-about-church.html

2010-09-02T11:40:00.002+02:00

Where did I get my wacked out ideas about Church? About how ministry is suppose to work, about what is important? This week I was amazed at the idea of church I grew up with. No more than, that I was taught in my years in the Church and in seminary.

What happened? I had the privilege to spend this weak with 9 individuals from different parts of the world. Two of us from South Africa(Devon is from Soweto), one from Egypt, one from Ethiopia, one from Nigeria, one from Tanzania. Two from the USA, one from Thailand and one form Germany. What a challenging group? Each one of us from a different denomination and cultural background. But most of all what a amazing spiritual experience! We came together at Mabalingwe, a Game Reserve in the Limpopo to talk and think about the relevancy of church and what is happening in the world. What a glorious experience!
To the horror of the guys from Africa, Germany and Thailand we started talking about everything happening at our churches. One cannot help but to boast a little bit about everything happening at our church even if this boasting is neatly cloaked in holiness. To our disdain they reacted in horror and not in the awe we expected. Instead of praising us they have asked the following questions which I would like to cover the next few weeks.
1. How many of your congregation is really active? – My whacked out idea of congregation!

1.1 What is your understanding of active members?
1.2 Where is the focus of your congregation?
1.3 How do we help our people to be “not relevant?”

1.4 What can we do to make a difference?

2. How do we demonstrate our faith in the community? – My whacked out idea of ministry!

2.1 What do we call ministry?
2.2 How do we as leaders demonstrate this ministry?
2.3 How do we help our people to be “not relevant?”
2.4 What can we do to make a difference?

3. How do we worship? – My whacked out idea of worship!

3.1 What is our aim in worship?
3.2 How much of worship takes place at church?
3.3 How do we help our people to be “not relevant?”
3.4 What can we do to make a difference?

I will try to convey something of the conversations during the following weeks. Feel free to comment and partake in the discussions.

Romeine Reeks

2010-08-27T23:42:00.001+02:00

Vir die wat belangstel hier is die skakels na die preke van die Romeine reeks. Jammer dat ek dit nou eers opsit ek weet daar is van julle wat lankal daarvoor vra. Julle is welkom om in gesprek met my te tree oor die preke. Jy kan die preke aflaai by http://paul-barnard.blogspot.com/2010/08/romeine-reeks.html

Die tema van die reeks is “Laat God jou verander. Wil jy?”

Rom 1:1-17 Dr. Paul J Barnard

‘n Kragtige verandering

Rom 3:21-31 Ds. Hannes Theron

Waarom verander?

Rom 5:1-11 Dr. Paul J Barnard en Ds. Hannes Theron

Vrug van verandering

Rom 6:1-14 Dr. Danie O’Kennedy

Dood vir die sonde, maar lewend vir God

Rom 7:1-25 Dr. Paul J Barnard

Mense met sonde

Rom 8:1-17

‘n Ander lewe deur die Gees

Rom 8:31-39

Niks kan my skei van Christus

Rom 10:5-17

Verander vir ander

Rom 12:1-8

Laat God julle verander

Rom 12:9-21

God se liefde verander ons

Rom 14:1-23

Maak die sirkel groter

Rom 15:1-13

Die evangelie is vir alle mense

The morning I met Jesus at the Petrol station. As first published at http://paul-barnard.blogspot.com/2010/08/morning-i-met-jesus-at-petrol-station.html

2010-08-20T13:24:00.001+02:00

Today I had to go to a seminar in Belville, on my way there I realised that I need gas urgently. I was on reserve and my motorcycle can only go 20km on the 1litre reserve gas. I took the off ramp to Kuilsrivier hoping to find a Petrol station. I was relieved as I pulled into the station and I was in a bit of a hurry, not wanting to be late for the seminar. The attendant helping me was a man with the name “Happy”. Trying to make small talk I commented on his name, saying Happy are you happy? He looked me straight in the eyes and I was shocked as I saw the sorrow staring back. He softly said “Nee meneer” No sir. I could not help but ask what is wrong. Tears started to whelm up in his eyes and he said even more softly “hulle het my kind doodgemaak laas maand” they killed my son last month. We were staring at one another and as the tears rolled down his face I could feel the warmth as my own tears started to roll down my cheeks. At that moment I was so aware of God’s love for this guy that I got off my motorcycle and gave him a real bear hug. The sobs seems to force themselves out of his body as he was trying to hold back. I took him by the arm and we walked to the station office. We found the owner and as I started to explain what has happened and the fact that I am a Pastor, he interrupted with relief telling me that he is a Christian and how worried he is about Happy. He asked me to talk to Happy, and said we could use his office.

Thus we ended up in the office, me and Happy with the owner serving us Coffee and biscuits. Happy told me about the pain of his loss. How his whole life was brought to a sudden stop. He also told me about his mother and her devotion to God. How she was always praying for him and his brothers. He was the only one who never gave his heart to the Lord, his older Brother who died in Taxi crash knew the Lord. His brother just younger that himself who died at the age of 24 in hospital of a sickness knew the Lord. Their youngest brother who died at the age of 12 of a sickness knew the Lord. His brother two years older than himself, his only living brother knows Christ. He told me that his son did not know Christ and then he started to sob uncontrollably. I was dumbstrucked by his story, a story of pain and suffering which is not unlike the story of many Africans. We sat there for an hour and a half as he spoke. My amazement was growing as I realised that he is building up his story to a point where he wants to give his heart to the Lord. I said nothing,(and this is very difficult for a pastor) he just kept on speaking and speaking. It was as if the pain was draining through his mouth and the best I could do was to keep my mouth shut.

Then suddenly he said “Pastoor ek moet regmaak met God” Pastor I must sort out my life with God. At that moment the Owner of the station stuck his head around the door to ask if we needed anything. I said yes he must join us for a moment. I told him that Happy wants to give his heart to the Lord, Johan the owner was very excited until I told him, that he must help Happy give his heart to the Lord. Johan said, he didn’t know how. I told him and Happy to kneel with me and then told him to lead Happy in the sinners prayer. I explained to them the sinners prayer and then Johan prayed the sinners prayer with Happy. All three of us were overwhelmed and ending up embracing one another. I also explained to Johan that he needed to take Happy under his wing and start a process of discipleship with him.

I now have a appointment with Johan and Happy once a month for a hour and a half to help them on the way ahead in their ministry at the Petrol Station. Johan insisted that I do not pay for my tank of petrol and said that each month when I visit I must make sure the tank is empty. If I help fill their tanks he would fill my bike’s tank.

As I drove off I realised that I met Jesus at the Petrol station He was waiting for me, Happy and Johan. How many times have I missed Him before because I was in just to great a hurry to to talk to people around me.

What do you worship? God or your personality? – as published on http://paul-barnard.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-do-you-worship-god-or-your.html

2010-08-18T20:09:00.003+02:00

I generally do not like to generalise but sometimes you can’t help but see some patterns. Our personalities have a major effect on how we experience the world, one another an even God.
Some personalities, lean toward a rules based, black and white theology that allows them to easily decide who is right and wrong and who to fight, who is with them or against them. If you disagree with them, you are their enemy. No you are THEE enemy. But are you their enemy because you are wrong about theology, or because they have subscribed to a theology that helps them feel comfortable within the way they view the world? In other words, is this God’s fight, or their own? If they weren’t Christians, wouldn’t they just manifest their personalities in some other fight, some other black-and-white way of viewing the world? For these people rules define who they are. Control is very, VERY important. In a church service, things(Liturgy) must be done in the correct way and the Sermon must give clear and definite answers.

You get other personalities who spend their life DOING! If it comes to God they need to do in order to experience God. Sitting still and meditating about God is just not possible for them. God exists for them in the realm of works. It is very difficult for these personalities to accept other Christians who are not out there busy with projects. True Christianity is visible in what you do. Often this group lives their lives in neat boxes. Neatly distinguishing between doing their Christianity, their work, their family, their fun etc. If they weren’t Christians, they would be busy doing other projects that they deemed worthwhile or fun. In a church service, things(Liturgy) must focus on being interactive, the sermon must give directions towards the necessary actions.
Then there are the personalities who blossom when they can be alone, thinking on God, about God and isolating themselves. People who experience God in the Silence, prayer, meditation and worship. For these personalities it is very difficult to go out and really experience God in doing and the noise of the world. If they weren’t Christians, they would probably took up a hobby like bird watching, stamp collecting or pottery. In a church service, things(Liturgy) must be simple. The Liturgy and the sermon must be meditatively.
Still others experience God in relationships. Talking, laughing, crying and worshipping together is where God becomes more than a religion. It is very important for them to be part of a group and a community of care. They act out their faith in groups. If they weren’t Christians, you would find them at parties, in groups with mutual interests. In a church service, things(Liturgy) must encourage conversation and interaction. The sermon must rely on the telling of stories and time for witnessing is very important.
Are these the only personalities and do the different personalities belong to only one category? No definitely not! Is there one personality that is more correct than the others? I would like to answer “Yes mine”, but that would be a lie. The answer is NO. Only where all the personalities come together, and interact, irritate and integrate with one another can we see the bigger picture about God. God created us in His image, this “us” does not exclude anyone, not even the weird. It is necessary to learn form the “others” to grow to a fuller appreciation of God.

My Prison Miracle as published on http://paul-barnard.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-prison-miracle.html

2010-08-12T18:47:00.000+02:00

While I was still studying theology I worked at the Prison Service in Pretoria during the nights to pay for my studies. I had the wonderful opportunity to work permanent nightshift from 1992-1994. The nightshift started at 22:00 and ended at 06:00 which meant that we had very little contact with the inmates. Me and one of my friends decided that we wanted to share the gospel with those around us. The problem was that the inmates was not interested in talking to the guards and especially not about religion. Then one night we realised that if we were busy talking to one another in hushed voices while standing in the hallways outside the cells, the inmates would press up against the bars to try and listen in on our conversations. We then came up with the idea to move from the one cell to the next standing outside and sharing Romans 5 with one another. We would make turns to tell the other in a hushed excited voice: “I have read the most amazing piece of scripture” Then we would take out a Bible and read Romans 5 in a hushed voice. We could see how inmates where pressing against the bars straining to hear. After finishing we would move to the next cell and start again.

Sunday the 1st of August 2010 I had the privilege to preach the Meditation Service at our church. The text was Romans 5. Romans 5 is such a powerfull scripture and if you have the opportunity to read a peace of scripture to someone in need of redemption, then this is it. In the beginning of the sermon I told this story to accentuate this fact. At the end of the sermon as I was handing out the Communion I realised that the man taking the bread from me was standing there with tears streaming from his eyes. He went back to his seat and when the service was finished he has left before I could talk to him. That evening before I had to preach at the evening service I received a phone call from Henri, the man from the communion. He told me about a miracle.

Today I had the privilege to spend time with Henri and we talked through 4 cups of Coffee. This is the story as he related it to me:

I grew up in a house where my Dad was absent. He was always busy with a scheme to make money, and to make money fast. He was in and out of the jail up to a point where my mother could not go on anymore. They got divorced when I was twenty five. Our whole family backed my mom, no we encouraged her, we were all fed up with my dad. In 1990 he was sentenced to ten years in Pretoria Central. We did not go to visit even though we were close enough because we came to the point where we could not trust him anymore en did not believe he was capable of love or change. In 1996 he was released for being a model inmate. We could not believe it! He came to us and immediately we realised something has changed. We did not trust him but there was definitely something different. He told us that while he was in his cell one night in May 1992 two wardens was standing outside his window and as he scuffled closer to hear what they were saying, one of them started reading Romans 5. He listened and while listening he experienced a intense need for this grace, this loving God. For the next few days he read Romans 5 over and over again until he came to a point where he asked a Christian inmate to help him give his live to Jesus. Then the miracle happened, he made peace with God, with himself and then he started to focus on the needs of those around him. He always said “I was set free by being jailed”
It took a while for us to really accept that he has changed, but with time came the reassurance that this was real. Slowly but surely he won us over one by one. He became a beacon of faith and hope for our family. He lived the rest of his life focusing on those around him, serving Christ. Henri said that he gave his life to Christ because of his dad. Early this year his dad died of cancer. At his funeral Romans 5 was read and Christ was glorified.

By now I was sitting in the Coffee shop with people staring at me in horror. A big ugly man like me crying of joy. I am sure some thought I have lost my mind, but I was past to point of caring what others was thinking. What a miracle! The Word of God changing lives, and than I recalled Hebrews 4

¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

What a amazing miracle that Henri ended up in my service 18 years later when I was telling the half of the story I know. I truly believe that this miracle was for me. God does not need me to come up with wonderful sermons, He want me to share His Word, He will do the rest. I also realised that it is my task to proclaim the gospel any way I can. It is in our nature to always look at the outcomes at our results. In moments like these I realise it is not about my results but about God’s results. He wants me to live Christ, proclaim Christ and to realise that Christ is doing the rest. He is the God of miracles. When Henri left he took my hand in both of his and said with tears in his eyes: “Dankie, my pa het gelewe, hy moes gevang word sodat God hom kon vrymaak. Dankie.” “Thank you, my Father lived he was set free by being jailed, thank you”

Tonight I am saying thank you Lord for this miracle and that you have blessed met with the other side of the story.

Huweliksvoorbereidings kampe

2010-08-06T12:55:00.001+02:00

Huweliksvoorbereiding

Die besluit om te trou is waarskynlik een van die grootste besluite wat ‘n mens neem, aangesien dit twee mense lewenslank aan mekaar verbind. Dit kan een van die wonderlikste ervarings wees of dit kan ’n nagmerrie wees.

Geen huwelik is gewaarborg nie! Ons almal leef met vrae en benoudhede. Daarom is dit belangrik om voor die tyd te gesels oor die belangrike dinge. Deesdae lees ons dat ongeveer 58% van huwelike eindig met egskeiding. Ten minste 15% van die ander is ongelukkig. Iemand het eendag gesê dat as dit so moeilik is om gelukkig getroud te wees dan kry sy die jammer wat ongelukkig getroud is! Dit is genoeg om enige persoon twee keer te laat dink. Goeie kommunikasie en verstaan van mekaar se verwagtings saam met 'n intieme verhouding met God gee egter hoop. Die Huwelik is God se droom en maak die lewe net soveel meer besonder. Tydens die Huweliksvoorbereidings kamp wil ons saam werk om kwesbaarhede (rooi ligte) te identifiseer en bevredigend deur werk tot albei partye vrede daaroor het.

Daar is ‘n maksimum van 5 paartjies per naweek en die gesprekke vind plaas op ‘n gemaklike manier. Dit is nie net geleenthede waar julle toegespreek word nie, maar waar julle aktief deelneem aan die gesprek.

Ons gaan stilstaan by die volgende

· Die belangrikheid van “commitment”

· Hoe om julle verskille te identifiseer en te waardeer.

· Die kuns van kommunikasie

· Konflik hantering

Die belangrikheid daarvan om tyd saam te spandeer en om julle vriendskap te versorg.

· Om seker te maak die ander voel geliefd

· ‘n Goeie seksuele verhouding

· Om te gesels oor julle drome

1. Kommunikasie. Dit is belangrik dat paartjies die belangrikheid van kommunikasie sal verstaan, maar ook hoe dit deur persoonlikheid, familie geskiedenis en omstandighede beïnvloed word.

2. Commitment. Commitment gaan oor die hart van ‘n huwelik waar paartjies kies om hulle lewens so in te rig dat die ander persoon altyd eerste kom. Dit beteken ook dat daar gekyk word na wat het julle van mekaar nodig.

3. Konflik hantering. Konflik kan ‘n huwelik vernietig of dit kan ‘n huwelik sterk maak. Daar word gekyk hoe woede hanteer word, verskille gevier word, kyk na die soek van oplossings. Daar word ook gekyk na wat vergifnis werklik is.

4. Hou die Liefde lewendig. Hier gaan gekyk word wat nodig is binne julle huwelik sodat julle nader na mekaar kan groei.

5. Gedeelde waardes en lewens doel. Alhoewel die verskille gevier moet word, moet die paartjie doelgerig iewers heen op pad wees. Julle gaan genoeg tyd kry om oor die toekoms te praat tov. Kinders, diere, finansies en geloof.

6. Mediese. Danette hanteer ook die mediese geskiedenis van die paartjies en gee ook meer inligting oor voorbehoedmiddels.

Myers-Briggs Persoonlikheids toets. Voor die naweek gaan jy geleentheid he om die gratis Myers-Briggs persoonlikheid stoets te doen wat ons dan gedurende die naweek gaan hanteer.

Waar: Avondrood

Die foto is van die voorstoep van die huis geneem.

Wanneer: 10-12 September, 1-3 Oktober en 22-24 Oktober

Kostes: R400 pp vir die naweek, ingesluit verblyf, kos en materiaal.

Bespreek gou BEPERKTE aantal plekke beskikbaar

Die Huweliksvoorbereidings kursus is ontwikkel deur Dr’s Paul en Danette Barnard. Hulle het die kursus die afgelope paar jaar in die Kaap aangebied waar dit van krag tot krag gaan.

Paul is voltydse Familiepredikant by Helderberg gemeente en het ook sy Doktorale studies in pastoraat voltooi by Princeton. Danette is ’n Mediese dokter en boonop nog ma van drie woelige seuns.

Vir meer inligting skakel Paul Barnard by 0823749520 of stuur e-pos aan paul@nghelder.co.za

Bikers Egpare Kerk Naweek 24-26 September

2010-08-03T19:33:00.001+02:00

Hi almal, hierdie die nuutste info en planne vir die naweek waaroor ons gesels het vir die NG Helderberg Bikers Church uitstappie die naweek van 24 tot 26 September. Die skool sluit daardie Donderdag en die Vrydag is ‘n openbare vakansiedag.
Ek sal nog finale kostes vasmaak, maar dit lyk asof ons sal wegkom met verblyf vir ongeveer R450 per person, insluitende minstens een aandete (skaapbraai en wynproe in Rawsonville reeds vasgemaak en ingesluit). Ek onderhandel nog oor Swellendam se aandete (ek kyk na tradisioneel Portugees) en ontbyt. Ontbyt in Rawsonville sal selfsorg wees… maw koffie en beskuit.
Plekke sal beperk wees tot maksimum 14 mense. Ek sal besprekings neem met deposito van R250 per persoon omdat plekke beperk is en ek 50% moet vooruit betaal. Indien iemand kanselleer nadat deposito reeds betaal is, sal daardie persoon iemand in sy/haar plek moet kry voordat die deposito terugbesorg sal word.

Bevestig asb per e-mail na my met elke bespreking sodat ek kan sekermaak dat daar nog plek beskikbaar is.
Ek het reeds bevestiging van:
· Paul en Danette Barnard;
· Nico en Leonie Taljaard;
· Daar is dus nog net 10 plekke beskikbaar… moenie te lank wag nie. Bespreek vandag nog.
Day 1: Somerset West to Swellendam – 261 km
Het onderhandel tans met Swellengrebel Hotel in Swellendam vir verblyf, aandete en ontbyt. Kyk gerus op die webblad by http://www.swellengrebelhotel.co.za/

Die roete neem ons vanaf die kerk, oor Gordonsbaai, Kleinmond, Hermanus, Stanford, Napier en Bredasdorp na Swellendam. Ons sal in Hermanus by die ou hawe stop vir brunch/middagete, brandstof, bene rek ens.

Day 2: Swellendam to Rawsonville – 319km
Ek het vasgemaak met Danie se swaer in Rawsonville vir die berghuis op die wynplaas Avondrood. Ons het daar verblyf en ook ‘n skaapbraai en wynproe ingesluit in die prys. Kyk gerus na die webblad by http://www.avondrood.co.za/

Ons sal seker nie te vroeg ry nie. Ek voorsien dat ons ontbyt eet, oor Barrydale na Montagu ry en daar stop vir petrol, koffie of tee ens. Volgende ry ons agter die berge na (amper by) Touwsrivier en daarvan agter Matroosberg om na Ceres. Van daar verder na die oornagpunt by Rawsonville.

Dag 3: Rawsonville to Somerset West – 117 km
Die bikers wat nie saamgaan nie vertrek vanaf die kerk gewone tyd en kry ons by die “kerk”. Ons hou kerk by Hoërskool Gimnasium se sportgronde… op die hoofpaviljoen van die rugbyveld of dalk selfs by die taal monument… ek sal nog met die skool bevestig of ons die paviljoen kan gebruik.

Die roete neem ons oor Du Toitskloof pas, deur Paarl na Hoërskool Gimnasium se sportgronde. Ons sal seker ongeveer 9-uur die oggend daar moet wees vir die diens saam met die ander bikers.
Ons ry verder en eet brunch by Simonsig Wine Estate. Vir die wat verder wil ry is daar altyd die pad oor Franschoek, Franschoekpas, Grabouw en Sir Lawry’spas, maar ek dink die passasiers sal dalk by die huis wil kom om nog bietjie skoon te maak en rus.

Groete
Nico Taljaard
ntaljaard@ackermans.co.za
0829056230
0219001049

Kerke met tralies en besige Dominisse! – aanbeveel deur Solly

2010-07-26T00:51:00.001+02:00

Nick Stander...Die boemelaarEk hou nie van "Private Number" oproepe nie, en dit moes seker so geklink het toe ek antwoord. Die stem aan die ander Kant praat dus nie storietjies nie, maar kom dadelik tot die punt:
"Kan ek u asseblief kom sien?" "Seker ja, waaroor gaan dit?" "Ek sal maar verduidelik as ek u sien." "Wie praat nou?" "My naam is Nick Stander. Ek het u nommer gekry deur die stukkie wat u in Pretoria News geskryf het." "Nougoed, uhm, hierdie week is rof. Vrydag dalk? Sommer by Greenfields... Castle Walk?" Hy huiwer nie, en ons spreek die tyd af. Toe ek sy naam op my selfoon kalender intik, wonder ek of hy dalk versekering verkoop. As dit so is, gaan dit 'n baie kort gesprek wees. Dalk hou hy nie van dit wat ek geskryf het nie. Dan ook maar soos dit is...

Vrydag vra Rethea my oudergewoonte uit wie ek sien die dag. "Een of ander 'Nick Stander'. Weet nie wie dit is nie. Bel maar die polisie as ek nie van my laat hoor nie..." grap ek sarkasties. My gedagtes is by alles wat nog moet gebeur voor die jaar eindig, terwyl ek na die koffieplek ry. Ek klim haastig uit, en stap na die trappe. 'n Stem agter my laat my stop. "Dries Lombaard?" Ek draai om en is verbaas om die persoon voor my te sien. Netjies, maar eenvoudig aangetrek, met 'n plastieksak in sy hand. "Nick?" Ons groet mekaar, en ek stel voor dat ons koffie gaan kry binne. Ons gaan sit, en ek maak een of ander verwysing na die weer. Hy beaam dit. Ons bestel koffie - hy stem met 'n knik van die kop in om dieselfde as ek te kry nadat ek bestel het. "Eintlik wil ek net raad vra." begin hy dadelik. Hy vertel my van 'n sake konsep waar mens sjokolade en vorms koop by 'n fabriek in Johannesburg, en dan jou eie sjokolade vormpies maak wat jy verkoop. Daar is tans vorms vir sokkerballe, met die komende wereldbeker in gedagte. Hy wil dit graag doen. Maar daar is iets waarvan hy onseker is... en dis waarom hy my opgesoek het. Hy wil weet hoe hy kan weet of so iets sy 'roeping' is, en of dit bloot 'n begeerte is na sy eie doelwite... soos materialisme.
Ek sit aandagtig en luister (iets in hierdie man "intrigue" my), maar
ek voel asof ek nie die kloutjie by die oor kan bring nie.... "Nick, kan ek jou net 'n paar vrae vra. Ek is deurmekaar. Waarom, en hoe het jy by my uitgekom om spesifiek dit te vra? Ek meen, ek is mos nie 'n
besigheidsman nie. Vertel my net bietjie meer van jouself?"
Nick lyk vir 'n oomblik ongemaklik, maar kyk my dan reguit in die oë,
en antwoord: "Meneer, ek het die stukkie gelees wat u in Pretoria News geskryf het, die stukkie oor "Abilities and Responsibilities". ( Ek onthou die stukkie. Ek skryf een maal 'n week 'n kort stukkie wat dan as deel van 'n vriend se onderneming se advertensie geplaas word.)
Hy praat verder. "In daardie stukkie skryf u dat elke mens sekere
"abilities" het, maar dat dit ook beteken jy het "responsibilities". En
ander mense het daaardie selfde verantwoordelikheid om ander se vermoëns te erken." Ek knik instemmend terwyl ek terugdink aan die stukkie. Nick sluk aan sy koffie, en praat verder. "Ek het baie nagedink daaroor, en het begin wonder hoe ek sou weet wat dan my roeping werklik is, en hoe ek dit sou kon onderskei van die selfsugtige begeerte om byvoorbeeld net geld te maak."
"Het jy ander hieroor gevra... ek bedoel, jy het seker met ander mense ook gesels?" wou ek weet. "Ek het probeer, meneer, maar..." hy huiwer, kyk my in die oë. Dit voel vir my asof hy probeer peil of hy maar mag sê wat hy dink. Ek knik om hom gerus te stel. Hy gaan voort: "... meneer, die ding is, ken meneer kerke?" Sy vraag gooi my effe. "Ek dink so, Nick. Waarom?" "Meneer, kerke... of liewer, die meeste kerke, het tralies om. En ken meneer pastore en dominees?" Ek antwoord nie... wag dat hy self antwoord. "Pastore en dominees is baie besig, meneer. Hul het nie tyd vir gesels nie, veral nie as jy nie 'n lidmaat is daar by hulle plek nie." "Nou Nick, wat van jou pastoor of dominee Dan?" vra ek. "Nee meneer." Hy sluk weer sy koffie. "Meneer, kan ek maar eerlik wees?" "Asseblief Nick."
"Meneer, eintlik het ek 'n probleem gehad vir lank. Vir 18 jaar lank.
Ek was 'n alkoholis. En vir die laaste 8 jaar was ek op straat."
Skielik maak die prentjie van die man by die trappe, met die enkele
sak in sy hand, vir my sin... "Maar so maand of wat gelede het 'n ding met my gebeur. Op straat bedel ons mos maar. En ek het gebedel vir ietsie by iemand, daar by die Uniegeboue. Die man vra toe vir my of hy vir my kan bid. Christene doen dit, ons ken hulle al. Hulle wil vir jou bid eers, voor hul jou iets gee. So ons laat dit toe. Hulle bid ook almal min of meer dieselfde. Hul bid dat die Here jou siel sal red, en hulle bid dat ons van die drank verlos sal word.
Daar is al honderde kere vir my siel gebid. Ek het honderde kere sogenaamde 'oorgawes' gemaak. Bid net agter hul aan. Nooit verstaan wat dit beteken nie, maar ek sorg net dat ek hartseer en ernstig lyk, en dan gaan hul baie opgewonde daar weg. Afgetick in hul boeke. Daar is ook al honderde kere gebid dat die drank my sal los, en ek die drank sal los. Sodra hul egter weg is, haal ons die bottels uit en drink verder..." Die kelnerin onderbreek ons vir nog koffie. Sy los ook spyskaarte op die tafel. "Wil jy iets eet, Nick?" vra ek. "Nee wat meneer, dis reg. Net koffie." Ek besef dat ek iets moet vra. "Nick, wanneer laas het jy geeet?" Hy kyk af. "So drie dae gelede, meneer." Ek is stil. My siel staan stil. My gedagtes ook.
"Kom ons eet iets", sê ek. Nick blaai versigtig deur die spyskaart.
"Ek gaan steak en chips eet. Vir jou ook?" Hy knik dadelik sy kop. "Ja baie dankie." Ons bestel, en ek vra hom om verder te vertel. "Die man bid toe vir my, maar hy bid nie soos die ander nie. Hy bid
verkeerd." "Verkeerd?" vra ek. "Ja, hy bid nie vir my siel nie. Ook nie vir my dronk lyf nie. Ek was half dronk, maar ek kon hoor hy bid anders. Hy bid dat die Here my moet genees van my depressie. Toe hy dit sê, toe kyk ek hom skeef. En toe hy klaar is, toe sê ek vir hom: "U het verkeerd gebid. Ek's nie depresief nie." Maar hy het net geglimlag en dit daar gelaat. Toe is hy daar weg. En ek het verder gaan drink." "Die volgende oggend het ek wakker geword, en nie dadelik lus gevoel vir drink nie. Maar dit gebeur soms. Eers later die oggend het ek agtergekom dat ek steeds nie lus het vir enige drank nie. Dit was vreemd. Maar ek het geweet dit sal verander as ek bewerig gaan begin raak, die middag se kant. Maar die middag, en die aand, het gekom, en die bewerigheid het nie gekom nie. Die ander het my vreemd aangekyk dat ek nie gedrink het nie. Ek het nie
geweet wat aangaan nie. Vir die eerste keer in 18 jaar het ek gaan slaap sonder dat ek die dag enige alkohol gedrink het..." "Die volgende oggend was die lus steeds weg. En vir die eerste keer in
jare was ek werklik nugter, en kon ek nugter dink. En ek het gedink, en gedink, en gedink. Oor myself, my verlede, my toekoms, oor God."
Die kos kom, en ek kan sien Nick is effe oorweldig deur die groot
T-Been in sy bord. Terwyl ons eet vertel, Nick verder: "Ek het besef dat die gebed die vorige dag werklik my genees het van alkoholisme. Ek wou nuut begin. Ek wou God dien. Ek het besef dat daar 'n
paar dinge is wat drasties sal moet verander in my lewe. Eerstens moes ek ophou bedel. En as mens nie bedel nie, lei jy honger." Hy eet heerlik tussendeur die gesels aan die steak, en ek besef net weer hoe maklik dit vir my was om dit te bestel, en hoe lanklaas ek werklik honger was. Ek het begin werk soek. Vaste werk. Werk met 'n toekoms. Maar dit bestaan skaars. Tussendeur was jy 'n kar, of sny jy iemand se gras. Maar werk is daar nie. Veral nie as mens Kleurling is nie... want ons is min hier in Pretoria, en die swartes vertrou jou nie, en die witmense ook nie. Dis toe dat ek na die Staatsbiblioteek toe is, om die koerante te begin deursoek vir werksgeleenthede... enige geleenthede. Daar het ek aan die
sjokolade-besigheid idee gekom. En daar het ek die stukkie gelees wat u geskryf het." "Nick, jy het begin om te verwys dat dit moeilik was om by kerke uit te kom?" vra ek. "Ja, meneer, ek kom nou juis by daardie deel van die verhaal. Nadat ek aan die sjokolade idee in die koerant gekom het, het ek dit begin navors. Ek het selfs Johannesburg toe geryloop en self met die vrou daar gaan gesels.
Sy het my als gewys en verduidelik. Maar ek het nie net koerant gelees in die Biblioteek nie. Ek het die Bybel gelees ook. En ek het baie vrae gehad. Baie. Soos die een oor my roeping... wat God met my sou wou maak, noudat Hy my genees het. Hoe hy my kon gebruik. Hoe ek 'n verskil kon maak aan ander, en my lewe op koers kon kry." Die kelnerin kom haal ons borde. Nick is nie klaar nie. Hy eet stadig. Ek kry 'n SMS. Dis Rethea. "Leef jy nog?" vra sy. Ek antwoord eenvoudig met 'n J simbool. "Die kerke het tralies om, meneer. Dis veral baie moeilik as mens regtig net wil raad vra. Hul gee kos, klere soms. Baie probeer help, maar so as 'outreach'. Hul wil nie gesels nie. Hul het nie tyd nie. Vir raad lyk dit my, moet jy afsprake maak, en lidmate kry nogals voorkeur. "So kom ek by een kerk daar in die stad, en ek lui die interkom by die hek. 'n Vrou antwoord. 'Kan ek asseblief met 'n pastoor of 'n counsellor praat?' vra ek haar. "'Soek jy kos?' vra sy my. "'Nee, ek vra vir 'n pastoor of 'n counsellor. Ek soek raad.' "'Soek jy berading?' "'Nee, mevrou, net raad.' "'Man, hier is niemand wat jou kan help daarmee nie!'
"Voordat ek dink wat ek sê, vra ek haar toe: 'Maar kan ek dan met
Jesus Christus praat, 'seblief?' "Vies antwoord sy: 'Man, moenie laf wees nie! Hy's nie hier nie.....' "Meneer, toe ek daar wegstap, toe besef ek, sy is reg. Hy is nie daar nie." Nick is klaar geëet. Ek is regtig aangeraak deur sy verhaal sover. Hy neem 'n slukkie van sy koeldrank. "Nick, hoekom het jy juis besluit om my te kontak, net na aanleiding van daardie kort beriggie?" Hy glimlag, en bly 'n rukkie stil.
"Saans, daar op straat, is daar 'n roetine. Ons kom bymekaar en deel
wat ons het om te eet, en wat ons drink. Hier by sewe uur raak dit stil, en draai iemand die radio harder. Dan luister ons almal nuus. En net na die nuus, luister ons na ons dominee. Stephan Joubert, van die 'ekerk', se hul altyd. Ons geniet die man se gesels oor God, want dis asof hy met ons praat. Baie keer bespreek ons dit na die tyd, so deur die gedrinkery deur, totdat die drank begin praat. Ons wonder ook oor die 'ekerk'. Toe sê iemand een aand dis nie 'n regtige kerk nie, dis 'n internet kerk." Ek is verstom, want nooit het ek gedink mense op straat luister intensioneel na die aand oordenking nie. Wys jou net my vooropgestelde idees...
"Nou, ek weet nie van hoe 'n internet kerk kan werk nie, maar toe ek
die stukkie lees, toe sien ek u naam daar staan, en en sien daar staan 'ekerk' by. En ek besef, dis ons dominee se internet kerk. En dit tref my! As dit 'n kerk sonder geboue is, is dit net dalk 'n kerk sonder tralies. En miskien het daardie ouens tyd vir luister. Dalk kan iemand daar vir my raad gee..."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Nick Stander is sederdien ons gesin se gas in ons huis. Intussen het
hy klere, 'n selfoon en 'n skootrekenaar gekry by verskeie mense aan wie ek sy storie vertel het. En ons by Ekerk het besluit om met hom 'n pad te stap om sy talente te help ontdek, en hom op te lei in iets waarmee hy werklik tot die lewe van produktiwiteit kan terugkeer. Ons sal sien waarheen dit lei... maar ons glo aan verhoudinge as die vertrekpunt vir enige hulp. Aan vriendskap. Nie aan "hit & run" uitreike nie. Die stories wat Nick saans aan tafel vertel, is ongelooflik. Anderdag sê ek vir Rethea dat die kinders meer by hom geleer het al, as wat enige Sondagskool klas ooit sou kon. En ek. Ek leer daagliks by die man. Ons het sommer vinnig werklik vriende geword. 'n Paar dae nadat hy by ons kom bly het, sê hy eendag vir my: "Dries, wat my lewe verander is nie die dinge wat
julle vir my doen of vir my gee nie. Ek waardeer dit ongelooflik baie. Maar wat my elke keer soos 'n tsoenami tref, is dat julle my van die eerste oomblik af in liefde ontvang het, en hoe jul my sonder rede vertrou het. Baie mens het my al probeer help, en ek was gewoonlik te dronk om iets met daardie hulp te maak. Maar niemand het my nog ooit vertrou nie. Julle neem my, 'n vreemdeling, van die straat af in jul huis. Dit maak nie sin nie." Toe verduidelik ek vir hom dit wat Stephan Joubert altyd na verwys as "veilige heiliges". En dat dit meestal 'n term is waaroor ons almal instemmend glimlag as hy dit noem. Maar dat dit nie werklik ons lewens prakties raak nie. Dit klink net mooi en oulik... en reg. Want ek het besef, ek en my gesin is ook 'n kerk agter tralies. En ek is ook te besig vir mense met stories en verhale. En dat hy my weer die geleentheid gegee het om die
evangelie te herontdek as die gevaarlike boodskap wat dit is. En dat die Here hom gebruik om ons gesin se lewe te verander...

What is happening in your story?

2010-07-20T01:00:00.001+02:00

I have been reading “Million miles in a Thousand years” by Donald Miller and it got me thinking? In his book he tells the story how one of his earlier books was made into a movie. The book was about his life. When they started the movie script he was confronted with the question: “How many memorable stories did he have?” The type of story that people would sit and watch. If they have to make a movie about my or your life would it be a slow moving movie or would their be scenes where people would actually want to sit and watch. One of the perquisites is that it must be something worthwhile, funny, adventures or painful. A really good story has something of everything.

I have realised that really good stories seldom just happen, you have to dream, you have to go out there and make them happen. If you settle for an ordinary life you will be rewarded with a boring life. If you go for daring you would be ALIFE. What is the things holding us back? Spending to much time doing nothing, having no goals, only taking on things that we know are in our reach. If I look back at my life it is filled with wonderful adventures. I did my special forces training, did my doctoral, lived and worked on the streets for 2 and a half years. Got married and went through a painful divorce. Got married again and have a wonderful family. I am blessed in the ministry that I really enjoy. Got my provincial colours in rugby and pool. Did a epic tour through Africa with my three sons in the beginning of the year. Drove 3600km on bikes through South Africa. There are many things I did – what am I doing?

I dream about going to see the polar bears in the wild, about going into Africa with my camera and my family. Teaching pastors in Angola. But to live this extraordinary life I have to make some changes to what people see as normal. I have to get of my bud! Loose some weight, get fit and prioritise! This week I am going to sit with my family and dream about worthwhile stories. What is your dreams and what are you going to do about it.

For inspiration read the book by Donald Miller but choose your story otherwise you will end up wasting a good story.

2010-07-08T10:30:00.002+02:00

Laat God jou verander . . . wil jy?

Onthou jy nog die animasie kleikaraktertjie, Morph, wat so uit die potloodhouer geklim het? Ek het my altyd verwonder aan die kleimannetjie wat deur “sy skepper”, Tony Hart, deur verskillende vorme aan ons bekendgestel is. Ek kon myself verwonder aan aan wat Tony Hart met die bolletjie klei kon regkry.

So staan ek ook in verwondering oor God – Hoe Hy mense verander. Dit bly vir my een van die grooste wonders om te sien hoe God mense nuut maak. God lap niks. God maak nie heel nie. God maak nuut! Die opstellers van die Dordtse Leerreëls, een van ons belydenisskrifte, se verwondering oor God se werk in mense hoor jy duidelik in hul formuleringe: “Hy dring . . . in tot die binneste dele van die mens met die kragtige werking van die wederbarende Gees; Hy open die hart wat gesluit is; Hy vermurwe wat hard is; Hy maak dat die wil wat dood was, lewe; wat boos was, goed word; wat nie wou nie, nou inderdaad wil; wat weerspannig was, gehoorsaam word”. Paulus verwoord dit so mooi in 2 Kor 5:17 - Elkeen wat aan Christus behoort, is ’n splinternuwe mens; ’n nuwe skepping in die kleine.

Op Sondag, 18 Julie, begin ons met ‘n nuwe reeks tydens al die eredienste: Laat God jou verander . . . wil jy? Ons gaan met die reeks die Bybelboek, Romeine, as ons basisteks gebruik. Die brief aan die mense in Rome laat ‘n mens in verwondering staan oor God wat mense verander, soveel so, dat mense op grond van Sy groot ontferming, hulself kom gee as lewende en heilige offers vir die Here Rom 12:1. God se hand wat na my uitgesteek word, doen iets aan my – ek wil diensbaar raak vir God. Anders gestel: Die genade van God is wel onverdiend, maar dit is nie gratis nie: Die oproep van Christus: Volg MY, eis gehoorsaamheid! Om maar net vergiffenis van sonde sondermeer te verkondig, is om God se gade goedkoop te maak. Nee God se genade maak ons nuut: Dit laat ons anders leef: dit beïnvloed ons denke; dit laat ons diensbaar wees in God se koninkryk met die gawes wa Hy aan elkeen van ons gegee het; dit laat ons met ander oë na mekaar en ander mense kyk; dit laat my word wat God sê dat ek is!

Die teks en temas vir dié tyd is:
18 Jul - ‘n Kragtige verandering - Rom 1:1-17
25 Jul - Waarom verander? - Rom 3:21-31
1 Aug - Vrug van verandering - Rom 5:1-11

8 Aug - Dood vir die sonde, maar lewend vir God - Rom 6:1-14
15 Aug - Mense met sonde - Rom 7:1-25
22 Aug - ‘n Ander lewe deur die Gees - Rom 8:1-7
29 Aug - Niks kan my skei van die liefde van Christus - Rom 8:31-39
5 Sept - Verander vir ander - Rom 10:5-17

12 Sept - Laat God julle verander - Rom 12:1-8)
19 Sept - God se liefde verander ons menswees - Rom 12:9-21
26 Sept - Maak die sirkel groter - Rom 14:1-23
3 Okt - Die evangelie is vir alle mense - Rom 15:1-13

Terwyl ons met die reeks oor verandering besig is, gaan die kerkgebou ook deur ‘n veranderingsproses sodat ons kinders beter bedien kan word; ons voor en na eredienste lekker kan saamkuier; en ‘n meer geskikte plek vir ons meditaiewe eredienste, klein begrafnisse en huweliksbevestigings kan hê.

Laat God ons verander . . . wil jy? Ek wil graag deur God verander word!

Jesus Manifesto: Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola

2010-07-04T17:08:00.001+02:00

First published on http://paul-barnard.blogspot.com/2010/06/jesus-manifesto-leonard-sweet-frank.html

This is one of the best books I have read in my life. Not because of all the new insights but because of the central truth. This is much more than a book but an outpouring of love for Jesus.
The truth is, I agree with perhaps 90% of the book–especially the central thrust–that Jesus Christ is a living and active presence here and now–and that we, by extension, are called to manifest Jesus' presence into the world. This idea might seem like a "no duh" to many Christians. However, as the authors point out, "the reality and experience of an indwelling Lord has been almost lost to the Christian faith."
Jesus Manifesto serves as a helpful reminder that Jesus isn't some long-dead sage who showed us a new way to live. Nor is he a theologically abstract principle or idea. One needn't look too long to see that most of Christianity assumes a sort of deadness to Christianity–that it is a religion of principles laid out by someone who is no longer present. This has certainly been my own experience of Christianity, for the most part.
Rather, Jesus dwells in us and, therefore, the important question isn't "What would Jesus do?" but "What is Christ doing through me…through us? And how is He doing it?"

There are huge implications to such a shift in our thinking. If being the embodiment to Christ to the world is much more than simply living out good principles, then all bets are off. Our faith becomes a terrifyingly beautiful journey with Christ in the world.
Since Christ's abiding presence in his Church is central to our life together, Frank and Len set out to challenge those things that set themselves as the engine for our faith…like conservative morality, church growth, miracles, movement-building, social justice, evangelism, leadership principles, prosperity, spiritual warfare, systematic theology, etc.

Christians have made the gospel about so many things—things other than Christ. Religious concepts, ideas, doctrines, strategies, methods, techniques, programs, and formulas have all eclipsed the beauty, the glory, and the reality of the Lord Jesus Himself. On the whole, the Christian family today is starved for a real experience of the living Christ. We know a lot about our Lord, but we don't know Him very well. We know a lot about trying to be like Jesus, but very little about living by His indwelling life. "Jesus Manifesto" presents a fresh unveiling of Jesus as not only Savior and Lord, but as so much more. It is a prophetic call to restore the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ in a world—and a church—that has lost sight of Him. Read this book and see your Lord like you've never seen Him before.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
LEONARD SWEET occupies the Chair of Evangelism at Drew University in NJ and weekly contributes to sermons.com and a podcast, "Napkin Scribbles." He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Fox University and has authored numerous articles, sermons, and forty books.
Len's Website: www.LeonardSweet.com
Len's Twitter: http://twitter.com/lensweet
FRANK VIOLA is a best-selling author, international conference speaker, and church planter. His books include Reimagining Church,The Untold Story of the New Testament Church,Pagan Christianity (with George Barna), Finding Organic Church, and the best-selling From Eternity to Here.
Frank's Website: www.FrankViola.com
Frank's Blog: www.frankviola.wordpress.com

Church without an Edge!

2010-07-04T17:04:00.001+02:00

By Paul Barnard as first published on http://paul-barnard.blogspot.com/2010/06/church-without-edge.html

Last night I couldn’t sleep. I sat up past the early morning hours I usually hit the sack. In my time with God I was extremely aware of the fact that we have become a ‘safe’ church. Safe not in a good sense, but in the sense that we are working on our structures every possible moment. We want to make sure we have everything under control!
Al we talk about is structures, busy defining ourselves en redefining. The question is not what would Jesus do, rather the question is: What is Jesus doing? How much time would Jesus spend building Church structures, making sure everything is documented, clinical correct.

When I look around me I see Jesus reaching out with love to those who do not deserve it. The program driven church of the West evaluate success by the number of people involved in their programs or the overall experience of people in the congregation. We have highly successful churches according to ourselves, but alas there are so few people coming in from the outside making a decision to follow Christ. We look to leaders who are modelling Christ to us. A Christ sitting in meetings and programs, teaching the same people different fads over years and yet each time, proclaiming how wonderful it is.
For us to be Church with a Edge we need to be outside in the world and to model a Christ living grace and mercy. If we want to train people in the congregations to follow Christ we have to be living examples in the community we live in. This is not a program but a living example of a life of love. This can only be done if we are willing to bow our knees before the living God and realise that it is not our Church, but the body of the living God. We made the Church a wonderful organisation, neat, tidy and a place where we are always in control. With all our rules and dogma we are making it difficult for those on the inside and the truth is that those on the outside doesn’t even stand a chance. We could never be in control of the body of Christ, Christ alone is in control.
If we look at the early church we see a dynamic community, who prayed together, read the word of God together, ate together and then made a difference where they went. We want to make Church(congregation) much more than it need to be. We are so busy keeping people so occupied with al the ‘Church’ work, meetings and programs that the real Church does not have time to make a difference there where Jesus is at work in the world.
Church with an Edge is a Church who realise that they are nothing if they are not with Christ Jesus the Lord.
What would happen if all the leaders we have in the church commit themselves to be in the world every day making a small difference where there is a opportunity while proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ? We would see people coming to the Lord, needs being med and people in congregation inspired to go out and do the same. Who would miss all the meetings and programs when the world comes to Christ? We must lead people to Christ and give them a loving community where they are loved rather than a lot of programs, courses and dogma.
To be Church with an Edge I believe that we must realise that the power base we claim for ourselves are false. That the importance of our plans and programs are a illusion and that we must start to by a basic community of Christ again.
Lots of Love, few rules and Adoring Christ.

The more you judge the less you love.

2010-07-04T17:01:00.001+02:00

By Paul Barnard as first published on http://paul-barnard.blogspot.com/2010/06/more-you-judge-less-you-love.html

In the church today we talk far to much about what is right and what is wrong and not nearly enough about love, grace and mercy. We must be careful of what we say about others, especially is we take the moral high ground. Christianity does not allow moral high ground it urges us to confess our sins! Don’t live the lie. When we hide our sins we tend to point to other people’s weak points and declare Sinners.
In Galatians 6 we read:

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. ²Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ³If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, ⁵for each one should carry his own load. ⁶Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. ⁷Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

We are only there to help restore the fallen brother and then gently! The major part of the teaching urges us to look at our own lives. To test our own actions WITHOUT comparing it to others. Is does not depend on how others treat me. My actions are born out of my relationship with Jesus Christ and is not a mere reaction.
When I live a life where I am pointing fingers to others even if they were pointing fingers to me first then I am missing the point. I can not judge other people I can only look at my own life. To live a life where you judge others while you are taking the moral high ground is to mock Christ Jesus according to this scripture. When we live the lie we try to smear the character of those who point to our sins. We try to get people on our side by telling stories behind their backs.
We need confess our sins, we need to confess our weakness and we need to embrace the other sinners. We need to bring grace to those who judge us and mercy to those who confess their sins. But most of all we need to rejoice in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

What it means to have a mother.

2010-03-10T10:19:00.000+02:00

Someone responded to this cartoon “And his Mother would probably do it” But actually the right answer is much more likely to be: “And his Mother would do it happily and she would look forward to each trip”.

In a sense Mothers are NUTS. They are willing to give all they have to see their children happy. They are willing to sacrifice themselves, go the extra mile, maybe twenty if necessary?

I wonder if it would not have been easier if God introduced Himself as the Heavenly Mother. Would it not be much easier to understand the grace and love of God if it was associated with a Mother? I know that when we talk about the gender of God that God made Man and Woman in His images. That our understanding of God is sometimes flawed because we see God predominantly as male, God is so much more!

The second thing that struck me in this cartoon was how Calvin assumed the role of his mother was to make life easier for him. Do all his dirty work and be contended with this. Where in your life would you find somebody NUTS enough to be willing to make these sacrifices for self righteous and unthankful people? I can only think of Mothers and God.

Thank God for Mothers.

How Facebook Killed the Church

2010-03-08T13:33:00.001+02:00

Thanks to Guillaume Smit en Leonard Sweet for bringing this article to my attension.

Guillaume wrote the following on his blog(THEOLOGY, MISSION & MINISTRY: HOW FACEBOOK KILLED THE CHURCH):

I found this article thanks to a tweet from Leonard Sweet with the link. It is written by Richard Beck, Associate Professor and experimental psychologist at Abilene Christian University.He blogs at Experimental Theology. You can read the original post HERE.

There has been a great deal of hand wringing in the Christian community about the onset of Web 2.0 relationality (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, blogs, MMOGs). The concern you often hear is that "virtual" relationships are no replacement for "authentic" relationships.
No doubt this is true. But I've done some research in this area and here's my general conclusion: Facebook friends tend to be our actual friends.
No doubt, the vast majority of the people in a friend list on Facebook are strangers, acquaintances, or old school friends you haven't seen in years. But no user of Facebook is confused enough to think that she is "in relationship" with any of these people. These are just the penumbra around the core of our Facebook interactions, connecting with people we actually know and are friends with.

In short, Facebook isn't replacing real world relationality. Rather, Facebook tends to reflect our social world. For example, in a soon to be published study some ACU colleagues and I used Facebook to predict student retention at our school (i.e., which freshmen return for their sophomore year). We found that on-campus Facebook activity was significantly correlated with measures of "real world" relationality. Further, on-campus Facebook activity also predicted who would come back for their sophomore year. For example, if you had a lot of Facebook Wall Posts you felt more socially connected and were more likely to come back to ACU for a second year. Which makes sense. Who would be posting on your Wall day to day? Sure, old friends might give you a shout out from time to time on your Wall. But for the most part Wall posts come from people who you'll actually see today. Or at least this week, month or year. The point is, you know these people. Talking with them via Facebook is authentic relationality. It's staying in touch, coordinating plans, offering up encouragement, saying a prayer, working out misunderstandings, and sharing a moment.

Over at my friend Mike's blog there was a recent discussionabout why Millennials (also known as Generation Y) are leaving the church. His question was, why are they leaving? Most of the answers took aim at the church. Churches are too shallow, hypocritical, judgmental, or political. Many surveys have shown these attitudes to be widespread among Millennials. Consider the Barna research summarized in the book unChristian. Young Christians and non-Christians tend to feel that the church is "unChristian." Too antihomosexual. Too hypocritical. Too political. Too judgmental. That's how young people see "the church." And it's hard to blame them.
But my argument at Mike's blog was that the church has always been this way. Is the church of 2010 much different from the church of the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s? I don't think so. So, yes, the church is screwed up. Always has been. The church has been a depressing constant over the generations. So the change isn't with the church. The change is with the Millennials. If so, in what way and how has this change related to the church?
The most obvious change is in mobile and Web 2.0 connectivity. Generation X didn't have cell phones. Nor did they have Facebook or text messaging. And you can't tell me that Millennials see the church any differently than Generation X saw it. Look to the right at cell phone subscriptions plotted by decade. Most have Generation X as birth dates between 1961 to 1981. Which has Gen X as college students in the years 1979 to 1999. As you can see, most Gen X'ers didn't have cellphones. And based on the sociological evidence Gen X was much more cynical and anti-establishment when compared to the Millennials. So you can't tell me Gen X'ers didn't see the church as judgmental, hypocritical, or sold-out. They did.
So what happened? Why didn't Gen X leave the church while the Millennials are leaving in droves?
The difference between Generations X and Y isn't in their views of the church. It's about those cellphones. It's about relationships and connectivity. Most Gen X'ers didn't have cell phones, text messaging or Facebook. These things were creeping in during their college years but the explosive onset of mobile devices and social computing had yet to truly take off.
So why has mobile social computing affected church attendance? Well, if church has always been kind of lame and irritating why did people go in the first place? Easy, social relationships. Church has always been about social affiliation. You met your friends, discussed your week, talked football, shared information about good schools, talked local politics, got the scoop, and made social plans ("Let's get together for dinner this week!"). Even if you hated church you could feel lonely without it. Particularly with the loss of "third places" in America.
But Millennials are in a different social situation. They don't need physical locations for social affiliation. They can make dinner plans via text, cell phone call or Facebook. In short, the thing that kept young people going to church, despite their irritations, has been effectively replaced. You don't need to go to church to stay connected or in touch. You have an iPhone.
Sure, Millennials will report that the "reason" they are leaving the church is due to its perceived hypocrisy or shallowness. My argument is that while this might be the proximate cause the more distal cause is social computing. Already connected Millennials have the luxury to kick the church to the curb. This is the position of strength that other generations did not have. We fussed about the church but, at the end of the day, you went to stay connected. For us, church was Facebook!
The pushback here will be that all this Millennial social computing, all this Facebooking, isn't real, authentic relationship. I'd disagree with that assessment. It goes to the point I made earlier: Most of our Facebook interactions are with people we know, love, and are in daily contact with. Facebook isn't replacing "real" relationships with "virtual" relationships. It's simply connecting us to our real friends. And if you can do this without getting up early on Sunday morning why go to church? Particularly if the church is hypocritical and shallow? Why mess with it?
Why are Millennials leaving the church? It's simple. Mobile social computing has replaced the main draw of the traditional church: Social connection and affiliation.
Basically, Facebook killed the church. May it Rest in Peace.

Wie wil jy wees?

2010-03-07T01:20:00.001+02:00

Ek het die voorreg om met baie gesinne te werk. By te wees as ouers met en oor hulle kinders praat. Om dan self met hierdie jongmense te gesels en te hoor hoe hulle oor hulle self dink. Een van die dinge wat my bly opval is mense se drome vir hulle kinders en hoe kinders eners begin droom.

Ons wil almal die beste vir ons kinders hê. Ons droom dat hulle eendag gelukkig sal wees, ‘n goeie werk sal hê, gelukkig getroud sal wees(met iemand van die ANDER geslag). Dat hulle SUKSESVOL sal wees.

As ons saam met ons kinders huiswerk doen is dit wat ons vir hulle herbevestig. “Jy moet jou huiswerk doen anders gaan jy nie eendag Universiteit toe kan gaan nie en gaan jy nie ‘n goeie werk kan kry nie.”

Ons bevestig dit as hulle aan sport deelneem. “KILLER INSTINCT! Geen genade!” Ons bevestig dit na hulle prestasies ontvang het. “Ek kan dit nie glo nie, dit is onregverdig. Jy moes die eerste plek gekry het! Toemaar volgende keer!” So kan ons aangaan met voorbeelde.

Wat ons eintlik kommunikeer is: Dit is belangrik watter prestasies en verwagtinge jy kry en aan voldoen in die lewe. Wie moet jy word? Die persoon wat al hierdie goed doen en dit dan GOED doen! Daarom sit ons met soveel mense wat leeg is, alhoewel hulle gereken word in die top 10% van die Wêreld bevolking. Dit waarna hulle streef is leeg.

Wat wil ek hê moet my seuns word?

Manne wat genade uitleef
Manne wat respek het vir hulle self, ander en die natuur
Manne wat ander mense en hulle behoeftes raaksien
Manne wat eerlik is
Manne wat nederig is
Manne wat lewe met vreugde en passie
Manne wat hulle gawes geniet
Manne wat vir GOD lief is!

Hierdie lys gaan nie oor iets wat hulle moet word eendag nie. Dit gaan nie oor prestasies wat hulle eendag moet bereik nie. Dit gaan oor wie hulle IS en gaan WEES. Te lank in my lewe het ek onder die wan indruk geleef dat dinge wat ek doen en bereik maak dat ek belangriker is en meer aanvaarbaar is vir God. Tog kom ek agter dit gaan vir God oor wie ek IS. God wat met my wil tyd spandeer. God wat dink dat ek spesiaal is. Jes 43:4 “Omdat jy vir My kostelik is, omdat Ek jou hoog ag en liefhet...”

Hoe verander ek dan die manier hoe ek met my kinders omgaan. Die taal wat ek gebruik as ek met hulle praat. Hoe gereeld bevestig ek dit aan hulle dat ek hulle onvoorwaardelik liefhet. Hoe gereeld doen ek simpel dinge saam met hulle net omdat.

Ek gaan vir die volgende maand probeer om al die energie wat ek gewoonlik gebruik om seker te maak dat hulle uitdraai soos die samelewing verwag te herkanaliseer. Ek gaan probeer om te fokus op die belangrike dinge, om hulle lief te hê, om die waardes wat vir God belangrik is te demonstreer. Ek gaan ook probeer om dit nie te oen in die vorm van morele lessies wat maar net weer gemik is daarop om hulle iewers iets te laat bereik nie. Ek gaan probeer om hulle al hoe meer te leer om ook te leef in die hier en nou voor God. Om nou reeds genoeg te wees. Nee daar gaan ek alweer. Om nou reeds te besef dat hulle goed genoeg IS.

Ek gaan met hulle praat oor dit wat God ons maak. Dit is egter moeilik want dit is nie soos ek grootgeword het nie. My grootste droom was nie om elke dag te leef met: liefde, vreugde, vrede, geduld, vriendelikheid, goedhartigheid, getrouheid, ²³nederigheid en selfbeheersing.^{^[1]} Ek hoop as ek dit genoeg vir my kinders vertel dat dit my droom vir hulle is, en iets hiervan probeer leef dat dit ook die droom van hulle lewens sal word.

^{^[1]}Die Bybel : Nuwe Vertaling. 1998, c1983 (Ga 5:22). Cape Town, South Africa: Bybelgenootskap van Suid-Afrika.

Om Missionaal Kerk te wees - Eenvoudig

2010-03-04T00:09:00.001+02:00

Hierdie is ‘n baie eenvoudige manier om te verduidelik wat dit beteken om Misionaal kerk te wees.
Eight patterns of missional faithfulness, I cannot remember where I got this, maybe you know, I would love to know.
Pattern 1, Missional Vocation. The congregation is discovering together the missional vocation of the community. It is beginning to redefine “success” and “vitality” in terms of faithfulness to God’s calling and sending. It is seeking to discern God’s specific missional vocation (“charisms” – gifts) for the entire community and for all of its members.
Pattern 2, Biblical Formation and Discipleship. The missional church is a community in which all members are involved in learning what it means to be disciples of Jesus. The bible is normative in this church’s life. Biblical formation and discipling are essential for the congregation.
Pattern 3, Taking Risks as a Contrast Community. The missional church is learning to take risks for the sake of the gospel. It understands itself as different from the world because of its participation in the life, death and resurrection of its Lord. It is raising questions, often threatening ones, about the church’s cultural captivity, and it is grappling with the ethical and structural implications of its missional vocation. It is learning to deal with internal and external resistance.
Pattern 4, Practices That Demonstrate God’s Intent for the World. The pattern of the church’s life as community is a demonstration of what God intends for the life of the whole world. The practices of the church embody mutual care, reconciliation, loving accountability, and hospitality. A missional church is indicated by how Christians behave toward one another.
Pattern 5, Worship as Public Witness. Worship is the central act by which the community celebrates with joy and thanksgiving both God’s presence and God’s promised future. Flowing out of its worship, the community has a vital public witness.
Pattern 6, Dependence on the Holy Spirit. The missional community confesses its dependence upon the Holy Spirit, shown in particular in its practices of corporate prayer.
Pattern 7, Pointing Toward the Reign of God. The missional church understands its calling as witness to the gospel of the in-breaking reign of God, and strives to be an instrument, agent, and sign of that reign. As it makes its witness through its identity, activity, and communication, it is keenly aware of the provisional character of all that it is and does. It points towards the reign of God that God will certainly bring about, but knows that its own response is incomplete, and that its own conversion is a continuing necessity.
Pattern 8, Missional Authority. The Holy Spirit gives the missional church a community a community of persons who, in a variety of ways and with a diversity of functional roles and titles, together practice the missional authority that cultivates within the community the discernment of missional vocation and is intentional about the practices that embed that vocation in the community’s life. Source: “Treasure in Clay Jars – Patterns in Missional Faithfulness” from the Gospel and Our Culture Network (Eerdmans, 2004):

What would Jesus Do if Invited to a Gay Wedding? – John Shore

2010-03-04T00:02:00.001+02:00

Omdat ons so besig is met Sonde is dit die ding waarop ons altyd eerste fokus. Dit is die manier hoe ons grootgemaak is. Daarom is ons eerste gedagte dat ons die Sonde moet aanspreek. As ons in die eerste plek so besig was met God se liefde, sou ons eerste gedagte sekerlik gewees het om God se liefde te verkondig. Hierdie artikel het my persoonlik weer laat dink

I've recently been invited to a couple of gay weddings. So -- what with being Christian and all -- I asked myself the famous question, "What would Jesus do?" (Which I don't too often ask myself, actually, since Jesus could, for instance, raise people from the dead and turn water into wine, whereas I can barely drag myself out of bed in the morning and/or turn water into coffee. Safe to say lots of His options are none of mine.)

Wondering what Jesus would do naturally enough led me to the New Testament. And therein I found these quotes:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices -- mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law -- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." (Matthew 23:23-24); and

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matthew 23:13); and,

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." (Matthew 23:15); and, last but hardly least:

"Love your neighbor as yourself," [said Jesus]. "There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:31)

When I next went looking for anywhere in the Bible where Jesus says anything -- and I mean anything -- about homosexuality, I learned that Jesus spent about as much time talking about gays and/or lesbians as I spend talking about button collecting and/or sea horses: none. Of course, it's entirely possible that Jesus did say crucial things about homosexuality, but that when he did (curse the luck!) no one around him just then happened to have handy an ostrich feather, sappy stick, or whatever it was they used for pens back then. Which would make sense, actually. If you've spent any time at all reading the New Testament, you know that Jesus' disciples weren't exactly Johnnies-on-the-spot. They were just normal, everyday guys.

Kind of the whole point! Jesus most surely did love him some everyday people.

Throughout the New Testament, the only kind of people with whom Jesus consistently took frightful exception were the very "teachers of the law and Pharisees" we see him dressing down in the passages above. One thing that often gets lost in our considerations of Jesus is the degree to which he is exactly the wrong person to piss off. And you don't have to spend a lot of time in the New Testament before you understand that the only kind of people who seem to ever truly anger him are those who put religious dogma above what he most stood for, which was God's compassionate will.

Around Jesus you can whine, lie, shift your loyalties, be late, be greedy, be too ambitious, be stupid, be a coward, be a hypochondriac, constantly complain, fall asleep at every wrong moment -- you can do nothing right, and it won't in the slightest way seem to offend him. But you put dogma ahead of empathy? You transmogrify God's law into a justification for denying God's grace?

Then ... yikes, man. Then you've got yourself a problem no one wants.

I'm not exactly sure how we came to so often consider Jesus-formerly-known-as-The-Carpenter as a kind of a soft, dreamy, namby-pamby sort. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) But it's hard to believe it was from the accounts of Jesus we have in the Gospels. That's just not the guy on those pages.

Jesus is scary when he's riled. And the only people who rile him are those who, in His name,set themselves up as sanctimonious judgers of others.

I think I better go to the weddings of my gay friends. I'm almost scared not to. In some of his parables Jesus wasn't exactly fortune-cookie clear, but he didn't even almost waffle about his "Love your neighbor as yourself." He very explicitly declared that the "first and greatest commandment."

If there's any wiggle room there, I just don't see it.

So I'll attend my gay friends' weddings, and I'll do so in the exact same spirit I'd expect them to
attend a similar function of mine. And if it happens that in the course of either of their weddings or receptions I find myself wondering if I'm doing the right thing, I'll be sure to remember the first miracle of Jesus' recorded in the Bible. It's when he turned water into wine. At a wedding.

MMC 2010

2010-02-06T13:25:00.001+02:00

Hallo julle,

Ons is opgewonde om te se dat ons vanaand ons eerste beplannings vergadering gehad het vir MMC2010 (http://www.mmc2010.com/) Op hierdie stadium is daar ten minste twee opsies met ’n moontlike derde.

Manne met bikes: Ons vetrek Woensdag 14 April die oggend vroeg by die kerk met die motorfietse en die eerste dag gaan ons ongeveer 680km ry na Graaff-Reinet. Daar gaan ons heel moontlik oorslaap in ’n nasionale park se kampterrein. Ons is nog oop vir oortuiging om die eerste aand in ander fassiliteite oor te slaap. Maar ons gaan lekker kuier. Don 15 April vetrek ons vroeg oggend na Goldengate Nasionale park ongeveer 600 km. Hier gaan ons lekker kuier en sluit die ouens van die klein bussies by ons aan. Vrydag 15 April gaan ons vroeg oggend vetrek na die MMC terrein. Dit beteken dat ons op die laatste ongeveer 12:00 daar gaan aankom wat sal maak dat ons die groot verkeer gaan mis en rustig kan kuier tot die program begin. Ons gaan die naweek genoeg tyd saam kuier, saam beleef en lekker saam ontspan terwyl ons nader groei aan God. Sondag as die program eindig ry ons weer die korter afstand na Golden Gate waar ons almal oorslaap. Dan gaan ons saam kuier en kans kry om te dink oor alles wat die naweek gebeur het. Maandag oggend vetrek die bikers na die volgende oorslaap plek ongeveer 600km van daar. Ons slaap maandag aand oor en Dinsdag oggend ry ons die laaste ent terug huis toe. Bikers het dus nodig om Woensdag, Don, Vrydag, Maandag en Dinsdag verlof te neem.
Vir die manne sonder bikes is daar die opsie van die klein bussie/bussies. Die bussie/s vetrek Don 14 April in die aand vanaf die kerk en ry reguit deur tot by Golden Gate waar hulle met die bikers saam kom. Vrydag 15 April gaan ons vroeg oggend vetrek na die MMC terrein. Dit beteken dat ons op die laatste ongeveer 12:00 daar gaan aankom wat sal maak dat ons die groot verkeer gaan mis en rustig kan kuier tot die program begin. Ons gaan die naweek genoeg tyd saam kuier, saam beleef en lekker saam ontspan terwyl ons nader groei aan God. Sondag as die program eindig ry ons weer die korter afstand na Golden Gate waar ons almal oorslaap. Dan gaan ons saam kuier en kans kry om te dink oor alles wat die naweek gebeur het. Maandag oggend vetrek die Bussie/s en ry tot by die huis. Klein Bussie ouens moet dus Don, Vrydag en Maandag verlof neem.
Die volgende opsie is om saam met groter bus te ry. Vetrek Don Aand en ry regdeur tot Vrydag aand. Sluit aan by die res. Sondag na die tyd reg hulle regdeur tot by huis. Dit gaan BAIE uitputtend wees.

Kostes vir die kampterrein is R150 per persoon vir die naweek. Ons sal binnekort die pryse vir bussies uitwerk en oorslaap. Kos is op die kampterrein beskikbaar. Bikers sal eie petrol voorsien en is verantwoordelik vir oorslaap kostes.

Ons sal julle op hoogte hou van sake soos die pryse en die inligting duideliker word.

Indien jy belangstel/oorweeg om saam te gaan stuur e-pos vir my sodat ons jou naam op die moontlike lys kan sit. Gerrie van Niekerk gaan vir ons verantwoordelikheid neem vir die bus/sie/sies. Terwyl Leonard Oosthuisen en Neel Britz verantwoordelikheid gaan neem vir die Bike groep.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101001932725649419777.00047eb9fc3f5b7d4bee5&ll=-31.732839,26.202393&spn=10.494068,28.652344&z=6

Tying the Clouds Together Rob Bell's metaphors and references make his listeners stretch, but his wisdom for preachers is down to earth. A Leadership interview with Rob Bell | posted 2/01/2010

2010-02-06T13:03:00.001+02:00

He once planted a church by teaching through Leviticus. He can use a rabbit carved from a bar of soap to illustrate the nature of suffering. Google his name and the term "Sex God" will appear among the top entries.

Rob Bell is the most interesting preacher in the world.

Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but his reputation as an innovative communicator came largely through his video teaching series, NOOMA. Since launching Mars Hill in 1999, Bell's ministry has expanded into books, DVDs, and live tours, but he is still committed to shepherding his community at Mars Hill through preaching.

Leadership managing editor Skye Jethani sat down with Bell to discuss his approach to communicating, the state of preaching in the church, and the risks the pulpit presents to a pastor's soul.

Your sermons are known for pulling from unexpected sources—everything from art history to quantum physics. Why?

When Jacob woke up after his vision of angels ascending and descending on the ladder, he declared, "Surely God was in this place and I did not know it." And Jesus says, "My Father is always at work even to this very day." Jesus lives with an awareness, an assumption that God is here and he's at work. Dallas Willard calls this "the God-bathed world." This has deeply shaped me.

My assumption is that God can be found in all of the interesting things buzzing around us all the time. So we can take something from here and something from there and bring them together. A friend of mine calls it "tying the clouds together."

What's an example?

In high-end quantum physics they believe matter isn't stable. The atoms in a chair are connected in a pattern of relationships. And the Bible begins with a triune God—a relationship of loving, giving, creative energy. Ah ha, there's something there.

Drops Like Stars began when I realized that basic art theory has all of these connections with suffering. And so it generally starts with some odd moment of connection. And then from there it's just the hard work of hunting things down, digging things up, becoming aware of all that's going on around us all the time. I have journals filled with fragments, and over time they grow.

How is that different from how you were originally trained to preach?

A lot of pastors were trained to read the verse and then read the commentaries. But after a while the two are just talking to each other. One's focus can actually become smaller and smaller until everything is funneled into the particular text. The movement then becomes in rather than out. So it's Tuesday afternoon and a pastor is sitting in the office reading James 2 and four or five commentaries hoping to find that little nugget. When all the while there's a huge world of insight and implication and ideas out there.

Rather than shrinking our vision, the text should become a pair of eyes with which we are able to see even more. There's a great big world out there with quantum physics, and architecture, and economic theory, and the thread count of clothing, and the fact that refrigerators in Europe are smaller—all of these seemingly random events and occurrences and happenings are all connected and help us see how this really is God's world.

That covers content, but what about the sermon structure?

There's a whole world of screenwriting wisdom that we can tap into as preachers. There are storytelling insights about arc, tension, narrative, perspective, point of view—these things aren't taught in most seminaries, but they're essential to understanding how stories work, which means they're incredibly helpful in understanding the Bible.

Imagine a pastor on Thursday staring at this obscure passage in the life of David trying to figure out where the sermon is. One playwright says, "When in doubt, just have a different character give the line." And suddenly it clicks—do the sermon from the perspective of Uriah. Boom! Just one little adjustment and all of a sudden the whole thing works. My experience has been that the modern preaching, teaching, training system doesn't tap people into all this. The imagination involved in the art of the sermon can end up being stifled.

There's a lot of emphasis today on practical preaching, helping people address their felt-needs, and giving direct application. Is that foremost in your mind when you prepare a message?

When I prepare to teach a text there are a few questions I always ask. First, "What's the thing behind the thing?" and "What's the truth behind the truth?" So if we're talking about tithing, we're really talking about generosity and participation. And if we're talking about generosity and participation, then we're really talking about whether you view the world as a scarcity or as a world governed by a Trinitarian God. Is the universe at its core a sliced-up pie where you grab your slice and then protect and defend it? Or do you believe that at the core there is an endlessly self-giving, loving community of God we are invited to step into?

So you can talk about tithing—giving your 10 percent. Or you can wrestle with a scarcity versus a Trinitarian view of the universe with tithing perhaps being an implication at the end of the message.

So you're trying to help people see a larger view of reality, through the lens of the gospel, rather than just giving them practical application.

Yes, exactly. I call it the truth behind the truth; the mystery behind the mystery; reality behind the reality. If you say we're going to do a series on marriage for the next five weeks, there's a chance that people who's aren't married, who are single, or who are divorced are going to think, Well, I guess I don't have to show up for five weeks.

Another way to approach the subject is to see marriage as one of the applications of the truth behind the truth. The truth behind the truth would lead you to preach one week on being honest, the next on apologizing, and the next on serving others. Those truths apply to everyone. And then each week you might include a point on how it applies to marriage.

Does our inability to find the truth behind the truth explain why we ignore large sections of the Bible in our preaching? We just don't see much practical how-to in Obadiah?

It's interesting you bring this up because when our church started, I spent the first year and a half preaching through Leviticus verse by verse. But now it's a part of our church's DNA to assume that every text has something for us—even ones that make no sense the first time you read them.

"I always assume that there is way more going on in the text than we see on the first reading."—Rob Bell

It may be my own warped sense of humor, but it was always the odd places in the Bible that I found most compelling. It's God's inspired Word, and it's all useful. But to really believe that—that's when things get interesting. I'd rather trust God, jump into those texts, and discover what God has for us.

I really like the idea of throwing yourself at its mercy. I'm just assuming there will be things here. Last year we did Philippians verse by verse. It took the whole year. I always begin with the assumption that there is way more going on in the text than we see on the first reading.

With more familiar texts, like Philippians, you have a different challenge. How do you bring forward new insights without deteriorating into novelty?

We use phrases like "historic orthodox Christian faith" a lot, and we ask how Christians before us have understood the text. What did the church fathers say about this? For example, we did Lamentations for Lent. For thousands of years Christians have taken the season leading up to Resurrection Sunday for reflection.

We frame many things like that. Here are ways people have thought about this, understood this, expressed this over the years.

So you're not just trying to be different or innovative, you're trying to be rooted?

Right. We're interested in the way of Jesus and being true to the way of Jesus. If what we dig up is rattling or provocative or surprising, great, but setting out to be shocking or controversial, that's not a goal God honors.

What else have you found unhelpful when preaching?

Focusing too much on something in the text that is an issue of hairsplitting debate among theologians. You are assuming that people care as much about the debate as you do. Somebody may be sitting there thinking, "Dude, I'm a plumber. I didn't know that was a debate, and I didn't know that it needed to be resolved. I'm just trying to figure out life with God and you spent sixteen minutes letting me know that you understood the origins of this particular Greek word." Some things just aren't helpful.

Why do we get sucked into those unhelpful debates?

In some sense we are justifying our existence. We want to appear smart and authoritative. We want to display what we know and prove that we deserve to be up here on the stage rather than humbly receiving the role as a gift.

I have definitely been guilty of trying to show people how much I know about a verse, and that's different than allowing them to see how the truth of it has impacted my life and can transform theirs. When we put language on our experience with a text, then it becomes life-giving preaching.

So for legitimacy as leaders we rely on our intelligence rather than our intimacy with Christ.

"Church is actually about caring for one another, speaking the truth with one another in love."—Rob Bell

Right. It's about walking with God. As a pastor it is easy

to fall into a pattern of life that is isolating, and in a weird way "Church, Inc." becomes your sphere of life. Before you know it, as pastor you're out of touch with what other people are really struggling with.

How has your role at Mars Hill changed?

A few years ago I felt like I was on a treadmill and the dial just kept getting turned up faster and faster. Three services, elder meetings, staff meetings, weddings, traveling, writing. And then some very wise elders realized it wasn't healthy. They said, "Okay, here's the deal. You're a part of Mars Hill, and you'll always be a part of it. But we are going to arrange things so that it doesn't kill you and it doesn't kill us."

It's been a long, long process, but over the past year it's been working really well. There aren't any models for this kind of thing, so it took a lot of discussion, sweat, blood, and prayer. But it's working. I preach a little less than half the Sundays at our church, and then I write and tour and make films and the leaders of our church invite me in to issues and meetings only when it's proper and makes sense.

How has sitting in the seats and watching others teach regularly impacted you as a preacher? Has your perspective shifted?

I've realized how much of my energy and headspace in the past was used trying to get people to do things. I would get all worked up: Why can't we care more about the earth, the poor, the needy, literacy, people who are suicidal? But sitting and listening to other teachers has been such a gift. They've shown me new things. And I've realized how easy it is to make people feel guilty, to tell them they should do something. But through these other teachers, I wasn't being told what I was supposed to be doing. I was being invited to consider what might be true and then act out of that. It's been so freeing. A real gift.

Your NOOMA video series has been popular. What do you think about the increasing number of preachers and churches using video technology to expand their reach?

It's powerful but there's also a dark side. Video is not church. You put images and music on a screen, and people will listen. But it's also dangerous. You're playing with fire. I think video technology deserves to be scrutinized heavily.

Go a little deeper. What makes video dangerous?

I don't think we know yet what the long-term impact will be on disciple-making. In 10 years we may discover what particular kind of Christ follower is formed by video preaching. I see warning lights on my dashboard. It's unclear what video may do to the ways we conceive of life together.

In the New Testament, there are 43 "one another" passages, and during a Sunday morning service you might be able to practice three or four of them. And as the service gets large, you can probably do fewer. A massive group setting is also dangerous. You can come, sit, listen, and go home and think, I've been to church, even if you haven't practiced any "one anothers." And with video that only gets more intense. I'm not sure that's the direction we want to be heading.

We want to be calling people to deep bonds of solidarity with one another. We may gather in a massive group, but from the stage I often say, "This is just a church service. Church is actually about caring for one another, and serving one another, and speaking truth to one another in love. Don't get the two confused."

The evidence suggests that video can have a fast and broad impact. So what's the alternative?

There is something more powerful than simply beaming yourself into other locations, and that is raising up disciples. Over time that will go farther and faster, but right now it will be more work and slower. With technology today it's easy to spend all of your energies reproducing your own voice, but there is a longer view that says, what if instead of beaming video to those ten locations, we train ten people who can go there and lead? That's a very basic question that should be in the mix somewhere.

Is developing other leaders part of your calling now?

That's the reason we recently did "The Poets, Prophets, and Preachers" seminar, and it's why I've got seminary students I meet with regularly. Meeting with them also changes my thinking because they ask great questions. There's a reason Jesus sends his disciples out in pairs—everyone learns.

What do you teach these students about the spiritual side of preaching?

First, the public nature of preaching exposes you to a wide spectrum of feedback—from the really good compliments to really venomous criticism. Both can be dangerous because they lead to either pride or pain. We need to work at becoming the kind of person who is so deeply grounded in who we are, the work we are called to do, and the words we are called to speak, that the ambient hype that surrounds the preaching event doesn't get the best of us.

It's important to create a circle of trusting, loving people around you who will tell you the truth no matter what. They can help you think rightly about the criticism and keep you balanced. Preaching isn't just about the sermon, it's about becoming the kind of person who can actually handle the role. It's like a Ferrari. If you don't know how to drive the thing, you're going to crash into a tree.

Based on your metaphor, I imagine you've hit some bumps on the road.

Oh, for sure. Preaching will inevitably reveal all sorts of stuff residing in your soul. The stage is like a magnet, and any little shards of insecurity, pride, fear, or greed in you will eventually be pulled to the surface. So you have to go down a journey toward becoming a particular kind of person or it will consume you.

What does that journey involve?

If you're going to preach long term and do it with more hope, more joy, more passion, and more wisdom, then you've got to be willing to dig down into your own soul and psyche and history. How do you seek approval? What messages did your parents send you? What voices do you hear on your shoulders?

The other part is sustainability. That's an important word for me. Some pastors think about how to survive the next five years. The better question to ask is, how are we going to thrive? How do we construct a rhythm and pace of life that ensures five years from now we'll have more passion, more energy, and we will be filled with new and fresh ideas about life in God's world?

Go into any church office and ask the leaders, "Is this sustainable? Are you more passionate, more expectant, more rested and ready to go than you were a year ago, or is this thing gradually killing you?"

Just this week I asked a seminary student, "What day of the week do you not answer email? When do you take a Sabbath to remind yourself that you're not a machine, you're a human?" And he said, "I don't know if I can do that right now." I was like, "Well, if you can't do it now in seminary, what happens when you have real responsibility?"

How do you balance the church's expectations and what's actually sustainable?

There is a thick church culture that consumes pastors and spits them out. But the pastors also allow themselves to be consumed. So it goes both ways. Both sides need to reevaluate things. The first people a pastor must have this discussion with is his or her family. If you're married, start with a spouse. Then have this discussion with the church's leadership. Start with the people you report to, and assume that these people have "hired" you to give your very best. Explore together how your life can be set up in such a way that you can give your very best in these tasks.

One of my problems was that I didn't understand how to properly bring the leaders of our church into this exploration process. But as we learned how to do it, everything changed.

I don't know any elder in the church who wants the pastor to be burned out. No one wants crappy sermons. No one wants you dragging yourself to meetings with no ideas. So, that's where to start. Tell the leaders, "You have brought me here to serve you well. Let's figure out how I can give to my family first and then give my best to the church.

Tying the Clouds Together | LeadershipJournal.net

2010-02-06T12:32:00.000+02:00

Tying the Clouds Together | LeadershipJournal.net

Geestelike Leierskap

2010-01-16T14:56:00.001+02:00

Geestelike leierskap beteken vir Helderberg Gemeente om as dienende leiers aanspreeklikheid vir sekere
verantwoordelikhede te neem met die woorde van ons Here Jesus Christus in Matt 20:25-28 as riglyn: “Julle
weet dat dit by die nasies so is dat die regeerders oor hulle baasspeel, en dat die groot manne die mag oor hulle
misbruik. 26Maar by julle moet dit nie so wees nie. Elkeen wat in julle kring groot wil word, moet julle dienaars wees; 27en elkeen wat onder julle die eerste wil wees, moet julle slaaf wees. 28So is dit ook met die Seun van die mens: Hy het nie gekom om gedien te word nie maar om te dien en sy lewe te gee as losprys vir baie mense.”
Met geestelike leierskap verstaan ons ook dat die alle geestelike leiers ook die rol van ’n geestelike begeleier
(spiritual director) het. Belangrike uitgangspunte van geestelike begeiding is:
• God is aktief werksaam in die wêreld. Hy is altyd besig om iets te doen. Wat Hy aan die doen is, is die
deurslaggewende ding wat aan die gebeur is.
• Die eerste grondhouding van geestelike begeleiers is heilige respek. Ons is op heilige grond en moet dit
nie vir ’n oomblik vergeet nie; die gemeente waaroor ons praat is die terrein van God se werksaamheid.
Daarom moet ons ook oop wees vir die onverwagte en onbeplande.
• Die tweede grondhouding van ’n geestelike begeleier is gehoorsaamheid. Ons moet altyd bereid wees
om ons eie planne op te skort indien God elders lei. Dit geld nog meer vir ons as kerkraad, omdat ons
tegelykertyd geestelike begeleier en deel van die gemeente is.
• Geestelike begeleiers probeer mense lei om groter belangstelling te ontwikkel in God as in hulself.
• Ons is nie uitgelewer aan raaiwerk om raak te sien wat God aan die doen is nie. Daar is wysheid wat
oor die eeue heen versamel is wat ons hiermee help. Die Bybel is vir ons hierin van onskatbare waarde.
• Die allerdaagse, die ‘onbelangrike’ en die klein dingetjies verdien net soveel aandag as die
uitsonderlike, die ‘belangrike’ en die opspraakwekkende.
• Elke mens/gemeente is uniek. ’n Mens kan nie klaargemaakte antwoorde van elders klakkeloos op
ander mense/gemeentes afdwing nie. Wat vir een persoon/gemeente ’n goeie ding is, mag dalk net vir
’n ander persoon/gemeente die slegste denkbare ding wees.
• ’n Geloofsbegeleier is ’n byspeler in die drama, hoewel sy/hy ’n belangrike rol speel. Die
persoon/gemeente self en God is die hoofspelers. Die persoon/gemeente is nie die geestelike begeleier
se ‘projek’ en prestasie nie, maar God se eiendom, waarmee Hy ’n intens persoonlike pad loop.
• Een van die groot take van geestelike begeleiers is om dinge name te gee. Geloofsbegeleiers kyk dieper
as die oppervlakte van dinge wat gebeur het en sit hulle vinger op die diepste motief waarmee iets
gedoen word, die werklike bron van die emosies wat opgewel het, die diepste aard van die daad wat
gedoen is. Deur dinge hulle regte name te gee, stroop geestelike begeleiers mense/gemeentes van die
rookskerms, rasionalisasies, selfmisleiding, verskonings en ander meganismes waarmee hulle dit
moontlik maak om in ’n ander rigting te volhard as die waarop God hulle wil neem.
• Geestelike begeleiers help mense/gemeentes om hulle stories op verrassende maniere anders te vertel.
Hulle help mense om God se bepalende plek in hulle stories raak te sien en hulle stories as evangeliestories
te verstaan.

Ouers moet met kinders praat oor seks

2009-12-08T00:20:00.001+02:00

The sex talk is never easy. It's not comfortable for anyone involved — parents are afraid of it, children are mortified by it — which is probably why the talk so often comes after the fact. In the latest study on parent-child talks about sex and sexuality, researchers found that more than 40% of adolescents had had intercourse before talking to their parents about safe sex, birth control or sexually transmitted diseases.

That trend is troublesome, say experts, since teens who talk to their parents about sex are more likely to delay their first sexual encounter and to practice safe sex when they do become sexually active. And, ironically, despite their apparent dread, kids really want to learn about sex from their parents, according to study after study on the topic.(See pictures of teenagers in America.)

"The results didn't surprise me," says Dr. Mark Schuster, one of the authors of the new study, published in Pediatrics, and chief of general pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston. "But there's something about having actual data that serves as a wake-up call to parents who are not talking to their kids about very important issues until later than we think would be best."

The study involved 141 families enrolled in the Talking Parents, Healthy Teens program, organized by the University of California Los Angeles/Rand Center for Adolescent Health Promotion and overseen by Schuster. Parents and their children, aged 13 to 17, responded to questions about 24 issues regarding sex and sexuality, including how women become pregnant, body changes that occur during puberty, how to use condoms and birth control, as well as issues around homosexuality.(See the top 10 teen idols.)

Researchers asked both parents and their children, separately, when they had first discussed each topic, and compared that information to teens' self-reports about their engagement in three specific categories of sexual behavior — hand-holding or kissing; genital touching or oral sex; and intercourse. Families were surveyed four times, once at the beginning of the study, then again at three, six and 12 months.

By the end of the study, more than half of the parents reported that they had not discussed 14 of the 24 sex-related topics by the time their adolescents had begun genital touching or oral sex with partners. Forty-two percent of girls reported that they had not discussed the effectiveness of birth control and 40% admitted they had not talked with their parents about how to refuse sex before engaging in genital touching. Nearly 70% of boys said they had not discussed how to use a condom or other birth-control methods with their parents before having intercourse. Yet only half of the boys' parents, by contrast, said they had not discussed condom use or birth control with their sons.(See pictures of the evolution of the college dorm.)

That difference highlights a primary problem in the parent-child dialogue about sex. "A lot of parents think they had a conversation, and the kids don't remember it at all," says Dr. Karen Soren, director of adolescent medicine at New York Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. "Parents sometimes say things more vaguely because they are uncomfortable and they think they've addressed something, but the kids don't hear the topic at all."

It's incredibly difficult to broach the topic of sex, admits Soren, who has three children of her own. "Your kids look at you like you're crazy, and you feel like you want to run," she says. "But it's important because we know good parent-child interaction gives kids better resiliency later on in life."

As the latest study shows, parental talks about sex and sexuality need to occur much earlier than they do, but that doesn't necessarily mean that parents have only one shot at getting it right. To make things easier, and to take some of the pressure off the situation, say experts, parents should think about sex talks as an ongoing dialogue, rather than one uncomfortable discussion that they must cross off their list. And they should keep in mind that they've probably internalized the same discomfort and avoidance that their own parents displayed in talking about sex — but sex talks needn't be so fraught. Experts also say that parents should discuss certain issues with their children at age-appropriate times, and that the discussion should evolve as children mature. "A 12-year-old will look at sex very differently than a 15- or an 18-year-old," says Soren. "For kids between 10 and 13, the idea of sex grosses them out. So you're probably not going to tell a 13-year-old necessarily all about different methods of birth control."

Instead, the conversations should focus on what the child is capable of absorbing, and what the child asks about. Parents should also take advantage of every excuse to broach the difficult subject — a mention of sex or sexuality on a TV show, a pregnancy in the family, sex-education classes in school or a visit to the doctor around the time of puberty. "If you just get over the hurdle of starting, then once the conversation gets going, you often find it's easier than expected," says Schuster. "So use any excuse you want, but just get over the initial hurdle and start talking to your kids, because it's really important."

Keur die NG Kerk saamwoon goed?

2009-12-07T08:56:00.001+02:00

Vir twee agtereenvolgende Sondae berig die Rapport dat die NG Kerk dit oorweeg om saamwoon van paartjies goed te praat.

Hieroor wil ek net die volgende opmerkings maak:

Die NG Kerk het nog by geen amptelike vergadering van die kerk só ’n besluit geneem nie.
Die NG Kerk se standpunt is baie duidelik dat slegs ’n verbintenis tussen een man en een vrou as ’n huwelik beskou kan word.
Wat wel waar is, is dat daar ’n gesprek binne die kerk gevoer word oor wanneer hierdie verbintenis nou eintlik ’n huwelik is. Is die huwelik eers amptelik as dit binne die ordereëlings/wetgewing van die staat plaasgevind het of is ’n verbintenis wat ‘n paartjie binne ’n bepaalde geloofsgemeenskap gemaak het, ook ’n huwelik? Die kerk kry nogal baie sulke versoeke van veral weduwees wat weer wil trou, maar indien hulle weer trou volgens die wetlike vereistes van die staat, verloor hulle bepaalde voordele van hulle pensioenskema agv diskriminerende ordereëlings van pensioenskemas. So is daar nog baie ander voorbeelde ook.
Die verslag is nog bloot ’n ondersoek wat met aanbevelings na die volgende algemene sinode van die NG Kerk moet kom. So ’n ondersoek is noodsaaklik en uiters nodig. Soos dit met alle verslae binne die kerk werk, sal sinodes, moderature, ringe en kerkrade geleentheid kry om daarop te reageer. Dit is ’n deursigtige proses.
Bid en dink asb geloofsonderskeidend saam met ons binne die riglyne van God se Woord en die leiding van die Heilige Gees.

Wat het ons geleer het die afgelope paar jaar

2009-11-26T10:51:00.001+02:00

Ons as kerk het die afgelope paar jaar die volgende dinge agtergekom wat besig is om te gebeur.

1. Ons verstaan van kerk het geskyf van wie is die kerk na wie is God. Dit gaan nie oor ons as kerk nie, maar oor wat God besig om te doen.

2. Van idees oor God na die pad wat ons saam met God loop.

3. Ons besef dat ons as kerk beweeg het van ‘n plek van mag na ‘n plek van broosheid.

4. Ons het wegbeweeg na ‘n soeke van God in die buitegewonde na ‘n God wat ‘n werklikheid is in die alledaagse.

5. Ons het wegbeweeg van ‘n plek van waar ons alles weet na ‘n plek waar ons bely dat ons God volg, bereid om alles te verander wat ons dink is seker is.

Ons besef dat ons as gelowiges nie net individualisties kan funksioneer nie, maar dat ons deel is van die liggaam van Christus. Die liggaam dan nie net noodwendig die NG Kerk nie, maar die hele kerk van God oor kerkgrense heen.

Kerkwees?

2009-11-07T23:24:00.003+02:00

Louis het die volgende boodskap, video en artikel vir ons aangestuur. Ek dink dit is baie relevant en sal graag julle opinie hieroor wil hoor.

Onderstaande het my laat begin dink oor waaroor gaan kerk werklik. Luister gerus na die liedjie van Blackie Swart, kerkstraat. Hier is 'n groot uitdaging vir ons en ek glo dat dit julle as leeraars verseker ver buite julle 'comfort zones' gaan vat. Maar wat gaan ons doen en waar gaan ons begin en hoe gaan ons dit doen? Hierdie is 'n aanklag teen ons as kerk wat nie gaan verdwyn nie en ons behoort spoedig daaraan aandag te gee.

Ek bid vir julle as geestelike leiers en vra dat Vader julle sal seën en julle grondgebied sal uitbrei en julle sal weerhou van die aanslae van die bose.

Seënwense

Louis Smit

Raak Geluister op Youtube

YouTube - Blackie Swart - Kerkstraat (kliek op foto om te luister)

Raak Gelees in Beeld

Bron: Beeld - ‘Wat sou Jesus gedoen het?’ - 2009-09-29 23:09

Die onderstaande artikel van Ds. Strydom, direkteur van ECHO Jeugontwikkeling, 'n organisasie wat uitreik na jongmense in nood in die Mootgebied, is in Beeld gepubliseer. Hy is ook deeltyds betrokke by die NG gemeente Villieria.

Wêreldwyd is kerke groot eiendomsbesitters. Dis ook in Suid-Afrika die geval. Ds. Jaco Strydom meen kerke moet hul goed verkoop en aan die armes gee.
Biskop Paul Verryn van die Metodistekerk het nou die dag by ’n konferensie oor teologie in Johannesburg gesê dat die kerk in Suid-Afrika waarskynlik net soveel eiendom soos die staat besit en bygevoeg: “And we all know what Jesus would have done with that!”
Die laaste tyd het ek aan ’n hele paar kerk-ooms gevra waarom dit nodig is dat gemeentes sulke groot bedrae geld in beleggings moet hê. Hul antwoord was dat dit sekuriteit is vir die moontlike maer jare wat voorlê; ’n belegging in die toekoms van die kerk.
Dit is dalk nie ’n slegte sakebeginsel nie, maar dit is baie swak teologie.
’n Belegging in die voortbestaan van die kerk moet onderskei word van ’n belegging in die voortbestaan van kerkstrukture en kerkgeboue.
As ons Paulus met ’n tydmasjien kon in-beam en aan hom sê dat daardie gebou met die toring ’n kerk is, sou hy ons eenvoudig nie glo nie.
Kerk sonder geboue
Die vroeë kerk het goed gewerk sonder baie van die strukture, geboue en geldelike sekuriteit waaraan ons vandag so vasklou. Hul grootste bates was juis hul mobiliteit en waagmoed.
Ons groot probleem vandag is dat ons te swaar reis en te veilig probeer speel. Te veel bagasie maak ’n mens lomp en stadig. Materiële sekuriteit kan ’n mens dalk baie veilig laat voel, maar dit span dikwels ook jou grense.
In Europa is daar vandag heelwat voorbeelde van “kerke” sonder mense (nie omdat die geld opgeraak het nie...).
Die geboue en strukture is al wat nog staan. As die mense weg is, moet die kerk mos eintlik ook ophou bestaan? Want die kerk ís mense.
Daar is niks fout met ’n kerk wat ryk is nie, maar wel met een wat ryk bly. Wanneer die kerk met geld, eiendomme en ander gawes geseën word en selfsugtig daarmee werk, is daar fout.
Baie gemeentes het miljoene
Jy lees dalk nou hier en verstaan glad nie waarom ek so tekere gaan nie. Min mense weet dit, maar baie gemeentes het behalwe vir ’n klomp
eiendomme letterlik miljoene rande in die een of ander belegging (ek het onlangs weer gehoor van drie gemeentes met beleggings van tussen R2 miljoen en R6 miljoen elk).
Ek is seker dat baie finansiële voorsitters se bloed kook omdat dit hier uitgelap word – min dinge is heiliger in die kerk as geld.
Gaan vra ’n bietjie aan jou dominee hoe groot is jul gemeente se finansiële beleggings en hou sy reaksie dop (natuurlik is daar ook vandag baie gemeentes wat geldelik swaar trek - wat dit nog erger maak dat sekere gemeentes met miljoene rande in ekstra geld sit en hulself net verder verryk).
Voorstelle vir ryk gemeentes
Hier is ’n paar praktiese voorstelle vir ryk gemeentes:

Verkoop jou goed en gee die geld aan die armes. Dalk kan gemeentes en sinodes lidmate wys hoe!
As dit te veel gevra is, belê dan eerder jou gemeente se geld in eiendomme. Rig dit in as laekoste-behuisingsprojekte (of gratis behuisingsprojekte?) eerder as om dit in die bank of geldmark te sit waar dit niks te doen het met die kerk se kernsaak nie. Let wel, die idee is nie om geld te maak uit mense in nood nie.
Neem ’n besluit om meer as 50% van die gemeente se inkomste buite die gemeente te bestee.
Kry die armste mense in die gemeente om in die finansiële kommissie te dien.
Vat die eiendomskommissie op ’n uitreik. Laat hulle byvoorbeeld een aand saam met die straatkinders buite of in ’n skuiling vir haweloses slaap.
Gee aan elke gemeentelid ’n afskrif van al die gemeente se finansiële state (en beleggings!) - en skryf boaan: “Ek was honger en julle het my iets gegee om te eet, dors en julle het my iets gegee om te drink, ’n vreemdeling en julle het my gehuisves.”
Moedig gemeentelede aan om hul geld sommer regstreeks aan die armes te gee – en nie via die kerkstrukture nie.

Bring hoop
Die bring van hoop is die kerk se kernsaak.
’n Mens kan baie diep teologies daaroor raak, maar die vraag is nie soseer hoe ons daaroor praat nie, maar eerder wat ons doen met wat ons het.
Die verhaal word vertel van ’n man wat ’n masjien ontwerp het wat teen ’n ongelooflike spoed ghries kon vervaardig.
“Waar is al die ghries?” vra ’n joernalis by die bekendstelling van die nuwe masjien. Die ingenieur antwoord rooi in die gesig dat die masjien, weens al die wrywing en hoë temperatuur waarteen hy moet werk, al die ghries wat hy kan vervaardig self weer nodig het om net aan die gang te bly.
Dit is ook die storie van baie kerke vandag. Die kerk se geboue, administrasie, strukture en vergaderings gebruik dikwels so geweldig baie energie, geld en mannekrag dat daar maar min oorbly vir die uiteindelike doel waarvoor dit alles aanvanklik veronderstel was om te gaan - en dan word dit wat wel oorbly in die bank gebêre?!
Daar word die laaste tyd baie gepraat oor die morele verval in ons land, gewoonlik met verwysing na ’n toename in seksuele losbandigheid,
alkoholmisbruik en bedrog.
Sondes van kerkmense
Vir my is een van die grootste morele krisisse van ons tyd nie soseer die sondes van die tradisionele “sondaars” nie, maar die sondes van kerkmense. As jy gemaklik kerk hou met ’n paar miljoen rand veilig in die bank (en ’n boodskap van liefde verkondig!) terwyl daar grootskaalse werkloosheid en armoede oral om jou is, is dit ’n saak van reuse-immoraliteit.
Vandag word ons vir die eerste keer werklik gekonfronteer met die besef dat te veel rykdom ’n groter bedreiging inhou vir onder meer die ekologie as te veel armoede.
’n Klomp groen wetenskaplikes het somme gemaak en besef dat dit nie in die eerste plek die verskriklike armoede en ekonomiese verval is wat die welsyn van die wêreld bedreig nie, maar eerder die moontlikheid van grootskaalse ekonomiese vooruitgang. Ontwikkeling in veral lande soos Indië en China dreig om op ’n ekologiese ramp af te stuur.
Miskien is dit ook tyd om ’n bietjie eerlik in die spieël te kyk na die effek van rykdom op die kerk.
Dalk is een van die grootste uitdagings van die kerk vandag nie net om uit te reik na die armes nie, maar om arm te wees saam met die armes. Miskien is die koste te groot?
’n Kerk wat veiligheid vir haar voortbestaan in finansiële beleggings vind, is ’n ongelowige kerk.
’n Kerk wat miljoene rande belê en elke dag verby mense in nood ry, is ’n liefdelose kerk.
“Wie aardse besittings het en sy broer sien gebrek ly, maar geen gevoel vir hom het nie - hoe kan die liefde van God in hom wees?” (1 Johannes 3:17).
’n Beter belegging in die voortbestaan van die kerk is ’n belegging van hoop in die lewens van mense in nood.
(Ds. Strydom is direkteur van ECHO Jeugontwikkeling, 'n organisasie wat uitreik na jongmense in nood in die Mootgebied. Hy is ook deeltyds betrokke by die NG gemeente Villieria.)
Bron: Beeld - ‘Wat sou Jesus gedoen het?’ - 2009-09-29 23:09

Dankie Louis dat jy hierdie artikel op ons tafel sit.

Hebreërs: Ons nuwe reeks

2009-11-02T13:20:00.002+02:00

Ons begin Sondag 8 November met ons nuwe reeks uit Hebreërs. Lees solank die boek Hebreërs drie of vier keer deur. Die boodskap vir ons as kerk is vandag net so relevant. Om jou lus te maak hier is 'n uitreksel van Thomas Long

Thomas Long:

The Preacher is not preaching into a vacuum; he is addressing a real and urgent pastoral problem, one that seems astonishingly contemporary. His congregation is exhausted. They are tired – tired of serving the world, tired of worship, tired of Christian education, tired of being peculiar and whispered about in society, tired of the spiritual struggle, tired of trying to keep their prayer life going, tired even of Jesus. Their hands droop and their knees are weak (12:12), attendance is down at church (10:25), and they are losing confidence. The threat to this congregation is not that they are charging off in the wrong direction; they do not have enough energy to charge off anywhere. The threat here is that, worn down and worn out, they will drop their end of the rope and drift away. Tired of walking the walk, many of them are considering taking a walk, leaving the community and falling away from the faith.

We recognize the problem, of course, but the Preacher’s response may astound us. What is most striking about Hebrews is that the Preacher, faced with the pastoral problem of spiritual weariness, is bold enough, maybe brash enough, to think that christology and preaching are the answers. The Preacher does not appeal to group dynamics, conflict management techniques, reorganization of the mission structures, or snappy worship services. Rather, he preaches – preaches to the congregation in complex theological terms about the nature and meaning of Jesus Christ.

Suurstof maskers vir ouers

2009-10-29T23:36:00.001+02:00

Het jy al ooit in die vliegtuig gesit en luister na die lugwaardin wat vir jou al die reels deergee voor opstyg? Dit is alles sulke voor die hand liggende dinge wat hulle vir jou sê, jy sien hoe knik koppe inskiklik en dan ewe skielik is dit asof die helfte van die koppe stywe nekke gekry het. Wat het sy nou kwyt geraak?

Kliek hier om die video te sien

In haar pragtige “matter of fact” stem het sy gesê: “In die geval van ’n noodgeval sal die suurstof masker vanself uitval. Met ’n skerp plug trek die masker na jou gesig en plaas dit oor jou neus en mond. Vir volwassenes maak eers seker dat jou masker veilig op is voordat jy probeer om jou kind of ander kinders te help”

Met ’n glimlag op my gesig en ’n stywe nek dink ek. “IS JY MAL!?” In ’n noodgeval gaan ek eerste sorg dat my kind suurstof het. En jy moet versigtig wees as jy naby my kind sit want ek sit sommer jou masker ook vir hom op!

Al die ander persone wat die stywe nek sindroom ontwikkel het is ook ouers. Vir ’n ouer kom dit redelik natuurlik dat jy jouself sal prysgee net solank een van jou kindertjies nie iets oorkom nie. Dit is juis hierdie natuurlike instink wat maak dat ons kinders gevaar loop om soms seer kry. In die geval van ’n vliegtuig noodgeval as die ouer nie dadelik hulle eie suurstofmasker opsit nie, kan hulle bewussyn verloor terwyl hulle probeer om hulle kinders te help. Dan kan die kind en ouer doodgaan. Indien die ouer eers hulle eie masker opsit sal hulle beheer kan neem van die situasie en hulle kinders kan help.

Dit gebeur baie keer dan dat ons so besig is om seker te maak dat ons kinders alles het wat hulle nodig het dat ons nie meer na onsself kyk nie. Ouers en veral enkel ouers wat opoffer en opoffer en opoffer totdat hulle geestelike en emosionele suurstof klaar is. Dat hulle naderhand ingee en nie meer hulp kan wees vir hulle kinders nie.

Talle male as ons betrokke raak by gesinne of dit nou enkel-ouer gesinne is of gesinne met twee ouers waar dit regtig sleg en moeilik gaan met die kinders, kom ons agter dit gaan net so sleg en moeilik met die ouers. Almal goeie mense, maar stukkende mense! Baie keer kan ons nie regtig met die kind ’n sinvolle pad begin stap voordat ons die ouer\ouers se situasie aanspreek nie. Ons moet die ouer\ouers eers help om hulle suurstofmasker op te sit voordat ons by die kind kan uitkom.

Heel dikwels gebeur dit op die heel eenvoudigste vlak eerste. Ouer\ouers wat eenvoudig emosioneel, geestelik en fisies uitgeput is. Veral enkel-ouers kry hier baie swaar omdat hulle ALLES moet doen en daar nie ek-tyd is nie kom hulle partymaal net op ’n plek waar hulle leeg is. Om nou in terapie met hulle weg te val terwyl die emosionele kapassiteit nie daar is nie, is nie net onproduktief nie, maar eenvoudig wreed.

Daarom is die belangrikste ding wat jy in so 'n situasie kan doen om te bid. Om liefde te gee en soms die groot geestelike ding te doen om te baby-sit op gereelde basis sodat hierdie ouers\s net kan volmaak.

Ons gaan ook by die Helderhoekie een keer 'n week 'n enkel-ouer asemskep hou. 'n Geleentheid waar enkel ouers saam kan ontspan, kuier en sommer net fliek terwyl hulle kinders kans kry om lekker te speel en te ontspan. Daar gaan ook 'n lekker saambraai en saam eet geleentheid wees.

Indien jy graag betrokke wil raak by hierdie tipe bediening skakel gerus vir Paul Barnard

Hoe kan ons ouers help wat sukkel, wat oorlaai is. Het jy enige voorstelle?

Bike-brekvis Nommer 2

2009-10-28T02:00:00.002+02:00

Dankie vir die wat saam was op ons eerste bike-brekvis en al die kommentaar wat ek van julle terug ontvang het. Dit het vir my net so ongelooflik baie beteken. Vir die wat dit gemis het ek is jammer vir julle, maar daar is ‘n groot aanvraag vir die volgende bike-brekvis. Een van CMAsa (Christian Motorcycle assos) se leiers gaan heel moontlik ook saam met ons die geleentheid meemaak. Ons kyk om hierdie keer bietjie meer binneland toe te ry. Nader aan die tyd sal ons die bestemming bekend maak. Indien jy enige voorstelle het is jy welkom om my te laat weet. Laat weet ook indien jy weer saamgaan dit sal ons help om seker te maak dat ons genoeg plek bespreek. Jy is ook welkom om al jou vriende te nooi.

Ons gaan soos die vorige keer weer kyk om om te stop en die diens te hou en dan van daar die laaste skof te ry en iewers te eet.

Hierdie keer wil ons die schooters en kleiner fietse kans gee om dit eerste gedeelte tot en met die diens mee te maak. Hulle gaan dus reeds 7:30 by die kerk vetrek en ons dan kry by die venue waar die diens gaan wees. Ons gaan soos die vorige keer 08:00 by die kerk vetrek. Ek sien nogal uit na die rit want dit is die dag wat ek die groot VEERTIG word, 22 November.

Hoop om julle daar te sien

Groete

Paul

2009-10-26T12:41:00.002+02:00

Hier is Sondag se dienste. Gee asb vir ons terugvoer.

Klassieke diens Danie Moller: http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/59-klassiek/161-dissipelskap

Informele diens Danie Moller: http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/60-informeel/162-dissipelskap

Aanddiens Paul Barnard: http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/53-aanddienste/143-dissipelskap

2009-10-19T16:51:00.004+02:00

Sondag het ons die 13 diens in die reeks oor Dissipelskap beleef. Hier is die link na die dienste. Gee asb vir ons kommentaar. Wat uit hierdie gedeeltes het jou getref. In watter mate beleef julle maskers in ons gemeenskap\gemeente by jouself? Wat kan ons doen om ons maskers af te haal?

Informele diens: http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/60-informeel/162-dissipelskap

Aanddiens: http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/53-aanddienste/143-dissipelskap

Erediens gesprek 21 Oktober

2009-10-18T00:28:00.003+02:00

Ons praat die laaste tyd baie oor die eredienste. Daar is ook baie kommentaar uit verskillende oorde. Ons weet egter dat daar altyd geleentheid vir groei is, en as dit nodig is om dinge heeltemal te verander. Dit is egter vir ons belangrik om op hierdie pad van geloofsonderskeiding saam met soveel gelowiges as moontlik te praat, bid en dink oor die pad van ons eredienste voorentoe. Indien jy 'n behoefte het om iets te deel met ons oor jou gedagtes van die eredienste is die eerste prys vir ons dat jy die geleentheid sal bywoon Woensdag 21 Oktober. Die tweede prys sal wees dat jy deel sal neem aan die gesprek op die blog gedurende die tyd 19:00- Die derde prys sal wees as jy solank jou gedagtes hier met ons deel dan kan ons dit saam vat na die bespreking.

Bid asb saam met ons vir hierdie saak.

Leiers as Reisgenote

2009-10-18T00:27:00.002+02:00

Leiers as reisgenote

GESKRYF DEUR FREDERICK MARAIS | 17 OKTOBER 2009
POSTED IN BLOG - PADLANGS MET GEMEENTES

Die beste is seker dat ek hierdie bydrae met ‘n presoonlike verhaal begin. Ek was 16 jaar oud en het teen daardie tyd al vir ‘n geruime tyd ervaar dat ek geroep word vir die bediening. Daar was egter te veel twyfels en onsekerhede wat in my rondgeloop het om positief op die reoping te reageer. In daardie tyd het ons Leraar- ds Fanie Liebenberg- een Sondag oor ‘n teks gepreek en min of meer die volgende gesê: Gemeente ek preek vanoggend oor hierdie teks, maar ek is onseker of ek die teks verstaan, eintlik weet eke k verstaan die teks nie heeltemal nie, maar gaan tog probeer om te vertel wat die teks met my gedoen het.

Hoekom is daar nou weer so ‘n opkoms van ‘n behoefte aan predikante wat soos “ware dominees van ouds” dinge gaan regmaak? (kodetaal vir die kerk vol preek en almal getrou besoek sodat hulle weer meelewende lidmate sal word) In een gemeente het hulle baie moeite gedoen om ‘n profiel vir ‘n Leraar op te stel en toe hulle die beroep moes uitbring- die eerste beste Leraar gekies wat darem lyk asof hy ons gaan bedien soos ‘n dominee van ouds- heel teenstrydig met die profiel wat opgestel is. Jaco Hamman skryf is sy uitstekende boek: When the Steeples Cry leading congregations through loss and change, dat gemeentes wat in tye van groot verandering leef en daarom dikwels verliese ervaar, genieg is om te soek na ‘n “dominant other” met wie hulle in ‘n onderhandeling gaan om om die situasie op ‘n wonderbaarlike manier vir hulle te kom beredder.
Die dominante leier word dan getaak om die gemeente te red van hulle onsekerhede, ongemak en diep ervarings van verliese. Nodeloos om te sê, die dominante leier kan nie namens die gemeente die noodsaaklike rouproses deurloop nie en is daarom uiteindelik gedoem om te misluk. Indien hulle die rol van dominante leier aanvaar- en vir baie van ons is dit ‘n byna onmoontlike veroeking om te weerstaan- weerhou hulle reddingsaksie die gemeente eintlik daarvan om as gemeenskap deur die onseker, pynlike maar helende proses van verliesverwerking te gaan. Ja weerhou hulle die gemeente van 'n dieper en wonderlike pad wat hulle met die Here sou kon loop, as om net mar weer 'n "suksesvolle"gemeente te wees.

Hoeveel keer het ek dit nie al in my werk met gemeentes ervaar dat so ‘n nuwe dominee of leier aanvanklik baie nuwe energie losmaak, die gemeente hoop gee, om dan op ‘n onverklaarbare manier vas te loop in ‘n muur van negatiewe emosie en dikwels irrasionele gedrag. Dan kruisig ‘n gemeente dikwels ‘n Leraar wanneer hyof sy die dinge kom doen waarvoor hulle hom of har beroep het.

Die rede is natuurlik dat die dominante leier nie namens die gemeente deur die pyn van die rouproses kan gaan nie, maar die gemeente moet begelei om self deur die pyn van verlies en rou te werk en so genees te wqrd.
Daarom sê Jaco Hamman terreg moet ons eerder significant others wees. Reisgenote wat saam met die gemeente deur die verliese werk die woestyn van onsekerheid betree om in die woestyn saam ‘n nuwe verstaan van God, onsself, die kerk en die koninkryk te ontvang. Nie probleemoplossers, of orators wat met one-liners die waarheid in mense se kele afdruk terwyl hulle eintlik in diep emosies van rou gedompel is nie. Maar reisgenote wat saam met die gemeente na binne kan reis in die donker kamers van ons onsekerheid, Wat met deernis maar besilstheid nie toelaat dat die reis vervlak in een of ander bedienings pynstiller wat ons weer hoop moet gee nie, maar wat in afhankliheid van die Gees bly glo dat die gemeenskap van die gelowiges deur die Woord en Gees gelei kan word tot ‘n nuwe seflverstaan. Jaco gee ‘n interessante lysie van wat so ‘n reisgenoot leier doen:
‘n Reisgenoot leier in teenstelling met ‘n dominerende leier
Respekteer die emosies van die geloofsgemeenskap- eerder as om te fokus op wat hulle behoort te dink
Beskik oom nuuskierige kreatiwiteit- eerder as om ‘n ekspert kommunikator te wees
Leer van en met ander- eerder as om hulle te leer
Stap langs mense- eerder as voor hulle
Ontdek die gawe van heilige stilte- eerder as om die stilte vul met ‘n eindelose gekwetter van woorde
Getuig in respek van die stryd van ander- eerder as om net oor hulle eie ervarings te praat
Respekteer onsekerheid en wanorde- eerder as om oplossings te soek

As ek reg onthou het die gemeente nie veel van Fanie se preek gedink nie- hoe kan ‘n dominee dan onseker wees? Maar 35 jaar later is hier iemand wat vanaand skryf en nie die preek onthou nie, maar die leier wat ‘n reisgenoot was op die regte oomblik op die regte tyd en so my lewe onherroeplik verander het. Wat my laat dink dat dominerende leierskap meestal vir ons as leiers in die kerk ‘n versoeking is en nie ‘n roeping nie. Immers dit is hoe ek toenemend die man van Nasaret verstaan.

Op daardie oomblik het ek geweet- dit kan ek doen, so kan ek predikant wees, en het ek bewend maar oortuig my ouers ingelig van my besluit. Ek het vir lank hiervan vergeet totdat ek ontlangs met ‘n reeks gemeentes te doen gehad het wat op soek is na leraars wat alles weet en dinge weer kan regmaak. Ek het in my gesprekke met die leraars agterkom dat hulle ook maar eintlik net eerlik die evangelie wil bring en leef soos wat hulle te ken en beleef, maar nie toegelaat word om so saam met die gemeente op reis te wees nie- of so ervaar hulle dit altans.

Eredienste 2009-10-11 Dissipels bid met volharding

2009-10-11T23:23:00.002+02:00

Ek het net weer opnuut besef hoe bevoorreg ek is om deel uit te kan maak van 'n gemeente waar mense vir mekaar lief is. Hier is die link na die verskillende dienste van Sondag. Gee asb vir ons terugvoer.

Informele diens http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/60-informeel/162-dissipelskap

Klassieke diens http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/59-klassiek/161-dissipelskap

Aanddiens http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/53-aanddienste/143-dissipelskap

Ek wil ook van hierdie geleentheid gebruik maak om vir jou te bid.

"Here dankie dat ons die voorreg het om U te mag leer ken. Help ons dat ons iets sal begryp van U liefde vir ons. Hulp ons dat U passie en liefde ons bewus sal maak van mense wat stukkend en verlore is. Heilige Gees kom skep in ons die intense begeerte om U te ken"

Musiek

2009-10-09T01:25:00.001+02:00

“If Bach continues to play that way, the organ will be ruined in 2 years or most of the congregation will be deaf” Employers of J.S. Bach

Some complaining members of the Arnstadt Council, Bach's employers, as quoted in Ian Croften and Donald Fraser, A Dictionary of Musical Quotations (New York: Schirmer Books, 1985), 11.

Ons gemeente is gelukkig dat ons 'n toegewyde span het wat ons begelei. Wat is jou behoeftes as dit kom by lofprysing en aanbidding? Watter liedere help jou om in God se teenwoordigheid te kom en wat verhinder jou. Hoe kan ons as gemeente groei in ons aanbidding?

Eredienste nou beskikbaar op die webwerf

2009-10-06T23:55:00.003+02:00

Ons het ons eerste poging Sondag aand gehad om die dienste beskikbaar te stel op ons webwerf. Luister gerus daarna en deel jou idees daarvan. Kyk gerus ook na die familiebediening webwerf. http://www.hgf.co.za/preke/53-aanddienste/143-dissipelskap

Passie en God

2009-10-06T18:27:00.001+02:00

Passie: ’n Jongmens bestaan uit Passie!

Passion – the state of loving something enough to suffer for it – is what puts the crucified Christ at the centre of our work with young people, and therefore is what makes our work ministry and not something else.

Een ding wat in die middel staan van die kerk sowel as die jongmense is passie. Die begeerte om iets so lief te hê dat jy bereid is om jou lewe daarvoor af te lê,maar ook dat iemand anders my so lief het. Die taak vir die kerk is om ’n manier te kry om die passie van Jesus Christus en die passie van die jongmense bymekaar uit te bring.

Passion is not about suffering, but about love worthy of suffering. The objection of Christian faith is not to suffer as Christ suffers, but to love as Christ loves…Christian faith lives from the suffering of a great passion, and is itself the passion for life which is prepared for suffering.

Jongmense verstaan passie en die lewe as ’n alles of niks beginsel! Passie het egter altyd sekere vereistes:

1. Passie het altyd ’n liggaam

2. Passie is absoluut noodsaaklik as dit kom by ons identiteit as kerk en mense.

3. Passie dui op ons menslike behoefte aan die bonatuurlike

4. ’n Kurrikulum vir passie in die jeugbediening kan gevind word in die Christen gemeenskap.

Passie het altyd ’n liggaam.

Passion is messy. It does not lend itself to spiritualising our relationship with God or with anybody else, for that matter. Passion is embodied love, and embodied love always responds viscerally, behaviourally, interpersonally.

Mense wat ’n passie vir ’n saak het herken gewoonlik dat daar ’n persoon is wat hierdie saak vir hulle personifiseer, hy/sy word dan ook dikwels die fokus van die saak . Letterlik word hulle die liggaam waarin die passie gedemonstreer word.

Die kerk is dan ook die liggaam wat God gebruik om Sy passie vir die wêreld ’n realiteit te maak. As ons met die jongmense werk moet ons nie vra “wat” nie maar “wie”. Dit gaan nie soseer wat ons met hulle doen nie, maar veel eerder wie Jesus Christus is. Of hulle Jesus Christus in jou lewe kan sien! Dit kan slegs plaasvind as ons wegdoen met program georiënteerde bedienings en beweeg na verhouding georiënteerde bedienings. Jeugbediening wat gekenmerk word deur passie kan beter beskryf word as geïnkarneerde bediening eerder as 'n verhouding bediening vir twee redes.

Almal kan in verhoudinge staan, maar slegs God kan geïnkarneer word. Die meeste van ons het iemand in ons lewens gehad wat “vleis en bene” aan God se liefde vir ons gesit het. Daarom kan ons mense onthou wat ’n indruk op ons lewens gemaak het, ons kan nie noodwendig onthou wat hulle gesê het nie. Dit is omdat God nie deur programme werk nie, maar deur mense. Een van die belangrikste dinge in adolessensie is ’n vriendskap met ’n volwassene wat iets in die jongmense se lewens sien wat hulle nie noodwendig sien nie. Die teenwoordigheid van ’n volwassene waarna ’n jongmens kan opkyk in sy tiener jare is die enkele mees belangrike faktor wat bepaal of hy ’n geloof van sy eie ontwikkel.

Die tweede rede waarom ons eerder nie praat van ’n verhouding bediening nie is dat die doel daarvan nie is om verhoudinge daar te stel nie. Dit is belangrik dat daar verhoudinge is, maar dit is nie hoekom die jeugbediening verhouding georiënteerd is nie. Die bediening is ’n verhouding georiënteerd as gevolg van die jongmense nie, maar as gevolg van wie God is. God is ’n verhouding, Vader, Seun en Heilige Gees. Dit beteken nie dat die leier die inkarnasie van God is nie, hy plaas slegs vleis en bene aan die belewenis van God. Ons is soos Johannes die doper, ons berei slegs die pad voor, maar ons besef duidelik dat Jesus Christus die Here is en nie ons nie.

Die gevolge van passie wat uitgeleef word deur ’n persoon of kerk is dat geloof ’n antwoord is op hierdie passie. Wanneer geloof passie vol is dan doen ons dinge wat ons nie gewoonlik sou doen nie. Passie voel soos lewe en dood vir ’n jongmens. Daarom is dit belangrik dat jongmense Jesus Christus se passie in die kerk beleef.

Passie is absoluut noodsaaklik as dit kom by ons identiteit as kerk en mense.

Elke jongmens het iemand nodig om lief te hê, dit is slegs in hierdie verhoudinge waar hulle identiteit kan bou. ’n Verhouding is ’n plek waar ek terugvoer kry oor wie ek is! Daarom is maats van die eie ouderdom so belangrik, deur hulle kan ek sien wie is ek. Agter elke verhouding staan passie. Die is nie net om te hoort nie, maar die behoefte aan liefde waarvoor ek alles sal gee.

Jongmense kan nie sonder spieëls klaar kom nie, want hulle het gedurig nodig om te sien wie hulle is. Nog belangriker is om te sien wie hulle maats dink hulle is en wie grootmense dink hulle is. Hulle aanvaar hierdie beeld ook baie maklik en maak dit nog meer deel van hulle lewens. As die kerk nie ’n rol speel in die jongmense se lewe nie gaan hulle, hulle identiteit vorm sonder om in ag te neem wie hulle in die oë van God is. Slegs in God se oë is dit moontlik om te sien wie ons werklik is.

In die ontwikkeling van die jongmense is daar veral twee dinge wat noodsaaklik is vir die vorming van hulle identiteit:

Betroubaarheid: Erik Erikson het gesê betroubaarheid is om absoluut eerlik te wees teenoor iets of iemand, die krag om te sterf vir iets. Om van jongmens tot volwassene oor te gaan volgens Erikson is dit noodsaaklik om iemand te ervaar wat eerlik is ten opsigte van die self. Voordat ’n jongmense

· betroubaar kan wees moes iemand eers daar vir hom/haar gewees het. Jy kan dit nie vir iemand leer nie, hulle moet dit aanvaar.

· Dit op sigself is nie genoeg vir jongmense nie, hulle het iets nodig wat bestaan waaraan hulle getrou kan wees. Betroubaarheid gaan dus hand aan hand met ideologie, want dit rig ons tot iets buite onsself. Dit vind hulle in gemeenskappe in wie se lewens daar betekenis is. Die feit dat betroubaarheid nie kan bestaan as iemand dit nie eers teenoor ons geopenbaar het nie word opgevang daarin dat Jesus Christus aan die kruis vir ons gesterf het dat Hy ons so lief het. Die gemeenskap van gelowiges bied die plek waar die ideologie uitgeleef word. Die jongmense is veronderstel om iets van hierdie passie in die geloofs gemeenskap te sien. I

Is ons kerk werklik ’n geloofsgemeenskap waar die jongmense dit kan ervaar?

PASSIE DUI OP ONS MENSLIKE BEHOEFTE AAN DIE BONATUURLIKE

Verandering noodsaak die bonatuurlike.

Unlike drives and instincts, passion points us toward a three-dimensional relationally that represents the core of human identity. We are not only defined in relationship to ourselves and to other people, but we are especially defined by our relationship with a god. Identity cannot exist except in relationship to the transcendent – which means that adolescents in search of identity are really in search of a god, an ideology worthy of their fidelity. We come to terms with our place in the lifecycle and our role in culture and cosmos by coming to grips with the gods in our lives.

So maklik kan ’n jongmens verby die ware God gaan omdat ons nie ons rol vertolk soos God dit van ons vra nie. Passie dryf ons na ’n verhouding wat meer is as bloot maar net ’n menslike verhouding. Jongmense probeer gode soos hulle skoene probeer, hulle laat die skoene agter wat te klein is. Instinktief volg hulle passie. Die vraag is dus nie “glo jy in God nie”, maar “in watter God glo jy?”. Wat is die maatstaf waarmee jongmense meet as dit by ’n god kom? “Did it move me?” Jongmense wil hierdie beweging ervaar, hulle wil iewers heen op pad wees en hoe vinniger hoe beter.

But equally important is being moved existentially: the ecstasy of celebration, the mysteries of orgasm, the deep awe of worship.

Jongmense word emosioneel beweeg deur musiek konserte maar nie deur die kerk nie, daarom is die musiek wêreld vir die jongmense baie belangriker as die kerk se wêreld. Hoeveel keer lees ons in die Bybel dat Jesus Christus passie gehad het vir die mense dat dit Hom emosioneel geraak het. Hoekom is dit afwesig in die kerk?

’n Kurrikulum vir passie in die jeugbediening kan gevind word in die Christen gemeenskap.

Passie in die liggaam van Christus asook in die liggame van jongmense is gegrond in liefde. Passie beïnvloed wat die liggaam doen uit liefde vir ander/Ander. Dit wat die kerk doen as liggaam van God, dui nie net op ons passie nie, maar liefde vir God. Hierdie dinge wat ons doen vorm ’n kurrikulum vir passie, dit is juis hier waar die jongmense die passie van God moet ervaar.

As ons deel word van ’n geloofs gemeenskap en saamdoen ervaar ons iets van hierdie passie en bring dit sin aan ons lewe. Daarom is dit belangrik dat jongmense meedoen, getuig, bid saam sing ens. Dan gebeur dit dat ons jongmense verhoed om aan van hierdie dinge mee te doen as gevolg van doktrine. Of ander het hierdie dinge wat ons doen soos sakramente waar ons juis die passie van God moet beleef, slegs ’n vorm geword wat nie meer regtig inhoud het nie.

’n Ander groot probleem is dat die jeugbediening nie werklik deel uitmaak van die kerk in geheel nie en dan nooit werklik hierdie passie as deel van die kerk ervaar nie.

By ghettoizing youth into age-segregated clubs, youth have been perceived as tangential to the mission of the church rather than as participants in it.

Jongmense kan slegs die vraag “Wie dink julle is EK” antwoord as hulle deel uitmaak van die geloofs gemeenskap, dit help nie dat hulle so betrokke is by ’n jeugbediening dat hulle nooit blootgestel word aan die geloofs gemeenskap nie. ’n Navorsing in Australië het gewys dat jongmense wat by die eredienste maar nie by die sondagskool betrokke is nie in meer gevalle deel van die kerk sal bly as die wat by die sondagskool was, maar nie by die kerk nie.

The church has the potential – and indeed, the mandate – to be a “community of passion” which invites youth into practices, which point to a passionate God. If Christianity is to be a passionate faith, then we have no choice but to take seriously the passions of adolescence which come to us raw and which point us to the one Passion by which human identity is transformed.

Youth ministry enhances the personal growth of individual teenagers, encourages healthy relationships within the church community, and facilitates their growth in faith.

“Bike-Brekvis”

2009-10-01T17:04:00.002+02:00

Aan al die gelukkige Christene(Die met motorfietse), op Sondag 18 Oktober gaan ons 'n breakfastrun vanaf ons kerk hou. Ons gaan so 'n bietjie deur die mooi kaap ry. Ons vertrek 08:00 vanaf die parkeer area langs die kerk en gaan die pragtige pad langs die see af ry: Rooi Els, Pringlebaai, Bettiesbaai, Kleinmond tot in Hermanus. Ons gaan op pad na Hermanus by die Harold Porter Nationale Botaniese tuin stop vir ons erediens (dieselfde tema as wat by ons ander eredienste die oggend hanteer word). Ons gaan sommer gemaklik op die grasperke in die tuin sit en so saam ons diens hou in die natuur. Dan is op pad na Hermanus. By Hermanus gaan daar ook geleentheid wees vir saam kuier, eet en walvisse terg. Ons is reeds opgewonde oor die reaksie en die hoeveelheid navrae. As jy jou gesin wil deelmaak is hulle welkom om agter ons aan te ry met motors of ons te kry by die Botaniese tuine en dan weer in Hermanus. Vir die sonder motorfietse Hardley Davidson en ander huur motorfietse uit vir een dag. Kostes is jou eie petrolgeld, en sorg vir jou eie kos. As jy wil saamgaan kontak asb Paul Barnard by 0823749520 of e-pos hom by paul@nghelder.co.za.

Ons wil ‘n motorfietsbedienig groep vir ons gemeente op die been bring wat so 'n geleentheid ten minste een maal per kwartaal sal reël. Dit is ook die ideale manier om vriende saam te nooi wat jy nie noodwendig die vrymoedigheid het om saam na 'n gewone erediens te nooi nie.

Leierskap

2009-10-01T15:29:00.002+02:00

Die afgelope tyd dink ek nogal baie oor leierskap. Daar is baie boeke en menings maar baie van hierdie teorie het die kerk meer seer gemaak as gehelp. Op ‘n stadium was dit ‘n groot ding dat die kerk soos ‘n besigheid bestuur moet word, dat predikate eintlik die CEO’s geword het van hulle gemeentes. Dit is egter begrippe wat vreemd was en is vir die Bybel. Ons sien dat wêreld wyd mense soek na kerkwees waar hulle tuishoort.

Een van hierdie bewegings staan bekend as die “Organic Church” Hierdie groep het heeltemal uit die kerk beweeg en vorm spontane groepe waar hulle kerk is vir mekaar. Ek dink daar is baie waarde in die dinge wat hulle sê, maar ook baie gevaar. Baie van hulle het juis seergekry in die kerk waar “excellence” en “brilliance” nagejaag is. Wat alles, goed – beter – beste moes gewees het. Mense wat moeg was en gesoek het na ‘n plek waar hulle hoort, vertroos, bemoedig en in die teenwoordigheid van God kon kom. In plaas daarvan moes hulle presteer om te hoort, moes hulle maskers opsit en vertel hoe goed dit gaan, moes hulle DOEN.

Die een leier skryf vir my dat hy nooit weer kans sien om deel uit te maak van georganiseerde kerk nie. Dat hy ‘n behoefte het aan aanbidding eerder as denominasie. Dat hy nie weer kans sien om “Spiritual Heroes” te volg nie. Dat hy Christus in eenvoud wil volg.

Baie van wat hy sê kan ek meer identifiseer. Dit bring my terug by leierskap. Ek dink dat jy die gevaar loop om binne en buite die georganiseerde kerk agter verkeerde leiers te kan aanloop. Mense loop vir ‘n rukkie agter fantastiese leiers aan, maar word moeg. Mense het ‘n behoefte aan mense wat omgee. Mense wat eg is – mense wat bereid is om op gelyke vlak te soek na antwoorde, om saam te aanbid. My uitgangspunt is: people will follow brilliant leaders, but they are drawn to broken people who simply live Christ. You can choose to have followers or real people close to you. Lord help me to live my brokenness.

Hebr. 10

¹⁹Broers, ons het dus nou deur die bloed van Jesus vrye toegang tot die heiligdom, ²⁰en dit op ’n weg wat nuut is en na die lewe lei. Hierdie weg het Hy vir ons gebaan deur die voorhangsel heen, dit is deur sy liggaam. ²¹En terwyl ons Hom ook as groot priester oor die huis van God het, ²²laat ons tot God nader met ’n opregte hart en met volle geloofsekerheid. Ons harte is immers gereinig van ’n skuldige gewete, en ons liggame is gewas met skoon water. ²³Laat ons styf vashou aan die hoop wat ons bely, want God is getrou: Hy doen wat Hy beloof het. ²⁴Laat ons ook na mekaar omsien deur mekaar aan te spoor tot liefde en goeie dade. ²⁵Ons moenie van die samekomste van die gemeente af wegbly soos party se gewoonte is nie, maar mekaar eerder aanmoedig om daarheen te gaan, en dit des te meer namate julle die oordeelsdag sien nader kom.^{^[1]}

Hoe sien jy leierskap in die kerk? Hoe sien jy leierskap in ons kerk?

Fokus vir 2010

2009-09-24T21:13:00.002+02:00

Nadat ons met geloofsonderskeiding nagedink het oor dit waarop ons moet fokus in 2010 het ons as kerkraad en bestuurspan tot die oortuiging gekom dat daar twee dinge is waarop ons wil fokus:

1. Ons leef met ‘n passie vir God - Ons doen dit deur erns te maak met dissipelskap en dissipelmaking. Om met ’n passie vir God te leef, beteken ook vir ons die bevordering van geestelike dissiplines; die verbreding van ons kennis in Wie en wat ons glo; en die vestiging van ‘n aanbiddingskultuur

2. Ons leef met ’n hart vir mense - Ons doen dit deur moeite te maak met ons tieners om saam met hulle die gemeente as hawe (’n tuiste) te beleef. Om met ’n hart vir mense te leef beteken ook vir ons die bevordering van gesonde, liefdevolle verhoudinge binne families, die gemeente, by die werkplek en gemeenskap; om doelbewus oor grense te beweeg (emosioneel, kultureel, ekonomies, kerk, generasie, geografies, geloof, ras, asook grense van vooroordeling en agterdog); die vestiging van ’n versorgingskultuur binne die gemeente; om die evangelie met vrymoedigheid met mense wat die Here oor ons pad stuur, te deel.

Gesels 'n bietjie saam met ons oor die fokusse vir 2010.

Creation Care - Sonskyn en Ek.

2009-09-23T16:49:00.002+02:00

Dit is heerlik om weer rondom ons te kyk en SONSKYN te sien. Om die koue Kaapse water te trotseer. Saterdag het ons soveel walvisse gesien dat ons naderhand ophou tel het. Ons het ook ‘n baba albino walvissie gesien. Ons het kaalvoet rondgeloop totdat ons ou sagte voetjies so seer geword het dat ons moes skoene aantrek, maar wag die somer kom en teen die einde van die Somer trap ons weer die dorings dat hulle breek.

God moet ons eenvoudig baie lief hê om vir ons te seën met hierdie pragtige natuur. Een van die dinge wat ons gesin werklik geniet is om voëls te kyk. Dit bring ons nie net in die natuur nie, maar ook nader aan God en aan mekaar. Dit is ons verantwoordelikheid om ons kinders nie net bloot te stel aan die natuur nie, maar ook om vir hulle te leer wat is hulle verantwoordelikheid teenoor die natuur.

Hoe doen julle dit as gesin:

Ek het onlangs die volgende artikel van Brian Mclaren raakgelees.

+++++

What could be more joyful than rediscovering our God-given role as caretakers, stewards, and lovers of creation? What could be more sad and tragic than missing that dimension of life - linking the human parts of God's creation with the rest? How much would we miss by neglecting or ignoring the vast majority of God's creation that came into being before we did - and that was pronounced "good" by God completely apart from its utility to us?

Here are seven first steps that I recommend to all of us who want to re-enter our primal (and deeply fulfilling) role as caretakers of God's beautiful world.

1. Develop a theology of creation. Sadly, many of us have a gospel of evacuation and abandonment, leaving behind creation to be destroyed so our souls can be beamed up to heaven as soon as possible. We need instead a theology of incarnation and engagement ... where we join the Creator in loving and caring for creation. Thankfully, this theology that includes rather than evacuates creation is deeply rooted in the Scriptures, and is being rediscovered and freshly articulated by many of us today.

(more after the jump)

2. Worship the God of creation. God is first revealed to us as creator, and in the end, God is the gracious source of new creation. From creation to new creation, God the Creator is worthy to be praised. How sad if we worship God within a construction of human doctrines and within man-made walls and ceilings ... and never worship God within a forest of trees or under a canopy of stars or with a choir of singing birds, crickets, and tree frogs!

3. Learn the threats to creation. They are many, and they are complex, and they are interwoven and mutually reinforcing. And we are complicit in nearly all of them.

4. Adjust your lifestyle to creation. In the Genesis story, part of Adam and Eve "wanting to be like gods" must surely involve wanting to transcend our God-given role as creatures in an environment. We are as connected to habitats of soil, water, air, grass, and trees as are gazelles and lions, dragonflies and mockingbirds. We have been living in a fantasy world for centuries, forgetting that we are woven in a fabric of creation ... and we need to re-enter and adjust our lifestyles to that beautiful fabric. Doing so will be a lifelong task. It will involve personal action (changing light bulbs, recycling, composting, driving less and driving wiser, applying new technologies, etc.), but also social and political action. (More on that in #7)

5. Choose a part of creation in which to specialize. God loves birds ... you can join God. God loves flowers and deserts and wetlands and sea turtles ... you can join God. God knows the potential of wind and hydrogen and solar energy to help us live more wisely - you can join God. We can't all know everything, but we can all specialize in certain areas and share our learnings and concerns with one another.

6. Start with your environmental address. A zip code is just so mail can find you. Your real address is a watershed ... a place on the planet where you consume, pollute, garden, tend, and care. We all have to care for the whole planet, but we each must care especially for our own ecological neighborhood. Here's a place to start learning ...

7. Advocate for creation everywhere. Birds don't get to vote. Neither do streams or salamanders. Corporations are given legal status and protection, but forests aren't (maybe they should be?). If birds and soil and trees and wind are going to be given a voice in life-and-death decisions made by humans, people like you and me are going to have to add-our-voice (advocate) on their behalf. That voice will speak in voting, but also in church, and in the office and classroom, and around the dinner table. We can't just speak with a kind of guilt-inducing duty ... we must also speak with love. Because we love people and other creatures who live in desertifying areas, we must speak up and deal with global climate change. Because we love people and creatures who live in areas devastated by mountaintop removal, we must speak up for protecting the mountains. Because we love the spring peepers and spotted salamanders, we must speak up when another shopping mall is going to bury another vernal pool.

There's so much more to be said and done, but this is a start. And these things are not simply a duty, but a true joy. The threats and urgency of the moment can be truly overwhelming, but the Spirit of creation that hovered over the surface of the waters in Genesis 1 is still alive, stirring hearts to rediscover a truly human way of living in God's beautiful green world.

2009-09-16T17:38:00.003+02:00

Ietsie vir ons vrouens
Kliek op prentjie vir aanbieding

Breakfastrun - Erediens - Helderberg Gemeente

2009-09-14T12:44:00.003+02:00

“Bike-Brekvis”

Gasvryheid

2009-09-10T16:46:00.002+02:00

A LETTER TO A CHURCH

I sat alone at the back of the church,
Desperately trying to control my hurt.
Praying that someone would care,
Would sit next to me so I could share.
Then YOU came - my sister and brother.
I sat at one end - you moved to the other.

I saw YOU come, I hoped you'd see.
But you walked straight by
Not a word to me.
Then YOU approached me with a smile,
"Hello, how are you" I heard you say,
But you walked straight by
Before my reply.

Then YOU came and tarried awhile,
But you looked uncomfortable talking with me,
You could not handle my misery.
I started to tell YOU - a cry for help.
You listened for awhile,
But time was short "I'll pray" you said,
And talked to someone else instead.

I stood alone while YOU drank your tea.
Feeling as miserable as could be.
Everyone busy, milling about,
"I'm hurting inside" I wanted to shout,
But I put on a grin - a smile in the making,
Even though my heart was aching.
Then YOU came - you really did care
YOU gave me a hug and a kiss.
YOU said that I was in your prayers.
YOU said I was greatly missed.
I need your love, I need YOU to phone,
I need YOU to pray with me in my home.
Today it is me, and how many others.
It could have been YOU, my sisters and brothers.

1 CORINTHIANS 12v22-27

Written by: Georgina Smith
Copyright © 1999 by Georgia Smith

A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st Century Church

2009-09-08T22:44:00.003+02:00

Daar is die laaste tyd baie vrae oor Jesus en die kerk. Ons glo in 'n Drie-enige God: God die Vader, God die Seun en God die Heilige Gees. Alhoewel ons nie meer klem wil le op een van die drie nie is dit belangrik om pertinent te sê dat ons glo in Jesus Christus ons saligmaker. Hier is 'n Manifesto oor Jesus wat my gevoelens weerspiel. Hoe voel jy hieroor. Hierdie Manifesto is geskryf deur Leonard Sweet en Frank Viola

Christians have made the gospel about so many things … things other than Christ.

Jesus Christ is the gravitational pull that brings everything together and gives them significance, reality, and meaning. Without him, all things lose their value. Without him, all things are but detached pieces floating around in space.

It is possible to emphasize a spiritual truth, value, virtue, or gift, yet miss Christ . . . who is the embodiment and incarnation of all spiritual truth, values, virtues, and gifts.

Seek a truth, a value, a virtue, or a spiritual gift, and you have obtained something dead.

Seek Christ, embrace Christ, know Christ, and you have touched him who is Life. And in him resides all Truth, Values, Virtues and Gifts in living color. Beauty has its meaning in the beauty of Christ, in whom is found all that makes us lovely and loveable.

What is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. Christianity is not an ideology. Christianity is not a philosophy. Christianity is the “good news” that Beauty, Truth and Goodness are found in a person. Biblical community is founded and found on the connection to that person. Conversion is more than a change in direction; it’s a change in connection. Jesus’ use of the ancient Hebrew word shubh, or its Aramaic equivalent, to call for “repentance” implies not viewing God from a distance, but entering into a relationship where God is command central of the human connection.

In that regard, we feel a massive disconnection in the church today. Thus this manifesto.

We believe that the major disease of the church today is JDD: Jesus Deficit Disorder. The person of Jesus is increasingly politically incorrect, and is being replaced by the language of “justice,” “the kingdom of God,” “values,” and “leadership principles.”

In this hour, the testimony that we feel God has called us to bear centers on the primacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Specifically . . .

1. The center and circumference of the Christian life is none other than the person of Christ. All other things, including things related to him and about him, are eclipsed by the sight of his peerless worth. Knowing Christ is Eternal Life. And knowing him profoundly, deeply, and in reality, as well as experiencing his unsearchable riches, is the chief pursuit of our lives, as it was for the first Christians. God is not so much about fixing things that have gone wrong in our lives as finding us in our brokenness and giving us Christ.

2. Jesus Christ cannot be separated from his teachings. Aristotle says to his disciples, “Follow my teachings.” Socrates says to his disciples, “Follow my teachings.” Buddha says to his disciples, “Follow my meditations.” Confucius says to his disciples, “Follow my sayings.” Muhammad says to his disciples, “Follow my noble pillars.” Jesus says to his disciples, “Follow me.” In all other religions, a follower can follow the teachings of its founder without having a relationship with that founder. Not so with Jesus Christ. The teachings of Jesus cannot be separated from Jesus himself. Jesus Christ is still alive and he embodies his teachings. It is a profound mistake, therefore, to treat Christ as simply the founder of a set of moral, ethical, or social teaching. The Lord Jesus and his teaching are one. The Medium and the Message are One. Christ is the incarnation of the Kingdom of God and the Sermon on the Mount.

3. God’s grand mission and eternal purpose in the earth and in heaven centers in Christ . . . both the individual Christ (the Head) and the corporate Christ (the Body). This universe is moving towards one final goal – the fullness of Christ where He shall fill all things with himself. To be truly missional, then, means constructing one’s life and ministry on Christ. He is both the heart and bloodstream of God’s plan. To miss this is to miss the plot; indeed, it is to miss everything.

4. Being a follower of Jesus does not involve imitation so much as it does implantation and impartation. Incarnation–the notion that God connects to us in baby form and human touch—is the most shocking doctrine of the Christian religion. The incarnation is both once-and-for-all and ongoing, as the One “who was and is to come” now is and lives his resurrection life in and through us. Incarnation doesn’t just apply to Jesus; it applies to every one of us. Of course, not in the same sacramental way. But close. We have been given God’s “Spirit” which makes Christ “real” in our lives. We have been made, as Peter puts it, “partakers of the divine nature.” How, then, in the face of so great a truth can we ask for toys and trinkets? How can we lust after lesser gifts and itch for religious and spiritual thingys? We’ve been touched from on high by the fires of the Almighty and given divine life. A life that has passed through death – the very resurrection life of the Son of God himself. How can we not be fired up?

To put it in a question: What was the engine, or the accelerator, of the Lord’s amazing life? What was the taproot or the headwaters of his outward behavior? It was this: Jesus lived by an indwelling Father. After his resurrection, the passage has now moved. What God the Father was to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is to you and to me. He’s our indwelling Presence, and we share in the life of Jesus’ own relationship with the Father. There is a vast ocean of difference between trying to compel Christians to imitate Jesus and learning how to impart an implanted Christ. The former only ends up in failure and frustration. The latter is the gateway to life and joy in our daying and our dying. We stand with Paul: “Christ lives in me.” Our life is Christ. In him do we live, breathe, and have our being. “What would Jesus do?” is not Christianity. Christianity asks: “What is Christ doing through me … through us? And how is Jesus doing it?” Following Jesus means “trust and obey” (respond), and living by his indwelling life through the power of the Spirit.

5. The “Jesus of history” cannot be disconnected from the “Christ of faith.” The Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee is the same person who indwells the church today. There is no disconnect between the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel and the incredible, all-inclusive, cosmic Christ of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The Christ who lived in the first century has a pre-existence before time. He also has a post-existence after time. He is Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, A and Z, all at the same time. He stands in the future and at the end of time at the same moment that He indwells every child of God. Failure to embrace these paradoxical truths has created monumental problems and has diminished the greatness of Christ in the eyes of God’s people.

6. It’s possible to confuse “the cause” of Christ with the person of Christ. When the early church said “Jesus is Lord,” they did not mean “Jesus is my core value.” Jesus isn’t a cause; he is a real and living person who can be known, loved, experienced, enthroned and embodied. Focusing on his cause or mission doesn’t equate focusing on or following him. It’s all too possible to serve “the god” of serving Jesus as opposed to serving him out of an enraptured heart that’s been captivated by his irresistible beauty and unfathomable love. Jesus led us to think of God differently, as relationship, as the God of all relationship.

7. Jesus Christ was not a social activist nor a moral philosopher. To pitch him that way is to drain his glory and dilute his excellence. Justice apart from Christ is a dead thing. The only battering ram that can storm the gates of hell is not the cry of Justice, but the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of Justice, Peace, Holiness, Righteousness. He is the sum of all spiritual things, the “strange attractor” of the cosmos. When Jesus becomes an abstraction, faith loses its reproductive power. Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.

8. It is possible to confuse an academic knowledge or theology about Jesus with a personal knowledge of the living Christ himself. These two stand as far apart as do the hundred thousand million galaxies. The fullness of Christ can never be accessed through the frontal lobe alone. Christian faith claims to be rational, but also to reach out to touch ultimate mysteries. The cure for a big head is a big heart.

Jesus does not leave his disciples with CliffsNotes for a systematic theology. He leaves his disciples with breath and body.

Jesus does not leave his disciples with a coherent and clear belief system by which to love God and others. Jesus gives his disciples wounds to touch and hands to heal.

Jesus does not leave his disciples with intellectual belief or a “Christian worldview.” He leaves his disciples with a relational faith.

Christians don’t follow a book. Christians follow a person, and this library of divinely inspired books we call “The Holy Bible” best help us follow that person. The Written Word is a map that leads us to The Living Word. Or as Jesus himself put it, “All Scripture testifies of me.” The Bible is not the destination; it’s a compass that points to Christ, heaven’s North Star.

The Bible does not offer a plan or a blueprint for living. The “good news” was not a new set of laws, or a new set of ethical injunctions, or a new and better PLAN. The “good news” was the story of a person’s life, as reflected in The Apostle’s Creed. The Mystery of Faith proclaims this narrative: “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” The meaning of Christianity does not come from allegiance to complex theological doctrines, but a passionate love for a way of living in the world that revolves around following Jesus, who taught that love is what makes life a success . . . not wealth or health or anything else: but love. And God is love.

9. Only Jesus can transfix and then transfigure the void at the heart of the church. Jesus Christ cannot be separated from his church. While Jesus is distinct from his Bride, he is not separate from her. She is in fact his very own Body in the earth. God has chosen to vest all of power, authority, and life in the living Christ. And God in Christ is only known fully in and through his church. (As Paul said, “The manifold wisdom of God – which is Christ – is known through the ekklesia.”)

The Christian life, therefore, is not an individual pursuit. It’s a corporate journey. Knowing Christ and making him known is not an individual prospect. Those who insist on flying life solo will be brought to earth, with a crash. Thus Christ and his church are intimately joined and connected. What God has joined together, let no person put asunder. We were made for life with God; our only happiness is found in life with God. And God’s own pleasure and delight is found therein as well.

10. In a world which sings, “Oh, who is this Jesus?” and a church which sings, “Oh, let’s all be like Jesus,” who will sing with lungs of leather, “Oh, how we love Jesus!”

If Jesus could rise from the dead, we can at least rise from our bed, get off our couches and pews, and respond to the Lord’s resurrection life within us, joining Jesus in what he’s up to in the world. We call on others to join us—not in removing ourselves from planet Earth, but to plant our feet more firmly on the Earth while our spirits soar in the heavens of God’s pleasure and purpose. We are not of this world, but we live in this world for the Lord’s rights and interests. We, collectively, as the ekklesia of God, are Christ in and to this world.

May God have a people on this earth who are a people of Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. A people of the cross. A people who are consumed with God’s eternal passion, which is to make his Son preeminent, supreme, and the head over all things visible and invisible. A people who have discovered the touch of the Almighty in the face of his glorious Son. A people who wish to know only Christ and him crucified, and to let everything else fall by the wayside. A people who are laying hold of his depths, discovering his riches, touching his life, and receiving his love, and making HIM in all of his unfathomable glory known to others.

The two of us may disagree about many things—be they ecclesiology, eschatology, soteriology, not to mention economics, globalism and politics.

But in our two most recent books—"From Eternity to Here" and "So Beautiful"—we have sounded forth a united trumpet. These books are the Manifests to this Manifesto. They each present the vision that has captured our hearts and that we wish to impart to the Body of Christ— “This ONE THING I know” (Jn.9:25) that is the ONE THING that unites us all:

Jesus the Christ.

Christians don’t follow Christianity; Christians follow Christ.

Christians don’t preach themselves; Christians proclaim Christ.

Christians don’t point people to core values; Christians point people to the cross.

Christians don’t preach about Christ: Christians preach Christ.

Over 300 years ago a German pastor wrote a hymn that built around the Name above all names:

Ask ye what great thing I know, that delights and stirs me so?
What the high reward I win? Whose the name I glory in?
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

This is that great thing I know; this delights and stirs me so:
faith in him who died to save, His who triumphed o’er the grave:
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

—

Jesus Christ – the crucified, resurrected, enthroned, triumphant, living Lord.

He is our Pursuit, our Passion, and our Life.

Amen.

Paul wonder oor 1 Johannes 1:5

2009-09-08T08:54:00.002+02:00

1 Johannes 1:5 begin met die volgende woorde

⁵Dít is nou die boodskap wat ons by Hom gehoor het en aan julle verkondig: ...

Hoe sal jy hierdie sinnetjie voltooi? As jy nou vir iemand moet vertel wat jy BY God gehoor het, wat al dit wees?

Sal dit wees met iets wat jy iewers gelees het, of iewers gehoor het. Sal dit dalk wees uiit die belydenis skrifte? Is God vir jou so 'n werklikheid dat jy dit eerlik sou kon voltooi?

Hier is soos Johannes dit voltooi: God is lig, en daar is geen duisternis in Hom nie.

God is lig, ...magtig, skerp, maar meestal onsigbaar. Jy sien God as Hy van iemand of iets af reflekteer. Selfs wanneer lig reflekteer is daar so 'n groot spektrum van die lig wat eenvoudig net nie vir 'n mens so ook sigbaar is nie. Partymaal is dit so helder dat dit ons verblind.

Vandag is daar dalk iemand wat hierdie vraag beantwoord deur te sê dat die enigte keer toe hulle vir God gesien en gehoor het, was toe Hy van jou lewe af gereflekteer het. Hoeveel mense sit in die donker rondom jou.

Nuwe onderwerp

2009-09-07T17:03:00.001+02:00

As jy oor enige ander onderwerp wil gesels of kommentaar wil lewer, doen dit gerus hier.

Families "survical unit" opsoek na verhoudings

2009-09-03T17:32:00.002+02:00

“When a couple has an argument nowadays, they may think it’s about money or power or sex or how to raise the kids or whatever. What they’re really saying to each other, though without realizing it, is this: “You are not enough people!” A husband, a wife and some kids is not a family. It’s a terribly vulnerable survival unit.” A man without a country, p.48 Kurt Vonnegut

Hy gaan verder en sê dat ons vandag ons uitgebreide families verloor, ons ouers en groot ouers in versorgins oorde plaas. Die res van ons families so min sien dat ons mekaar nie regtig meer ken nie. In hierdie konteks sê hy het ons arm geword. Bietje verder maak hy die volgende stelling: “It used to be that when a man and a woman got married, the bride got a lot more people to talk about everything. The groom got a lot more pals to tell dumb jokes to.”

Daar is 'n groeiende behoefte na verhoudings. Egte verhoudings waar ek veilig is en waar ek kan asemhaal. Maar ons is so besig dat ons nie tyd het vir dit waarna ons soek nie. Om Gelowige te wees vandag is die NOODSAAKLIK dat ons tyd maak om te kuier by ons groter familie (ook ons kerkfamilie) sodat ons, ons "sanity" kan behou. As jy enkelouer is, is dit nog soveel meer belangrik!

Ons is arm aan verhoudings, regte mens verhoudings. As ons in die kerk ernstig is oor evangelisasie sal ons moet besef dat ons preke, dade van barmhartigheid en uitreik bevesit of vernietig word deur ons sigbare verhoudings. Johannes 13:34-35

³⁴Ek gee julle ’n nuwe gebod: julle moet mekaar liefhê. Soos Ek julle liefhet, moet julle mekaar ook liefhê. ³⁵As julle mekaar liefhet, sal almal weet dat julle dissipels van My is.”

God se geduld

2009-09-02T22:23:00.002+02:00

Hoekom is dit dat mense wat 'n nuwe "commitment" maak teenoor God, so dikwels baie ongeduldig is met mense wat, volgens hulle, vasgeval is in die ou paaie? Jy het besef op watter dwaalspoor jy was, en nou is jy so opgewonde oor die nuwe lewende verhouding met God. Dit is baie goed, maar nou raak jy openlik krities en ongeduldig met ander wat (nog) nie die ontdekking gemaak het nie. Was God nie juis met jou geduldig oor jare tot op die punt wat die lig vir jou opgegaan het nie?
Ek dink Lukas 13:1-9 sien hierdie inherente spanning goed raak. Aan die een kant die dringende oproep tot bekering, aan die ander kant die wonderlike geduld van God. Die vyeboom wat nie vrug dra nie, word nie uitgekap nie, maar kry nog 'n kans om met goeie kompos en behandeling vrug te dra. Kompos of mis ontbind eers en dan kan dit iets beteken vir die boom. Dalk moet ek in my ongeduld ook eers afgebreek word om iets te kan beteken vir die boom wat nie vrug dra nie?

Amazing gebed van Brian McLaren

2009-09-02T11:26:00.001+02:00

A prayer ...

I've been especially focusing my thoughts on the beatitudes in recent days. After the jump is a prayer that they inspired.

God, our Creator, thank you for the gift of Jesus. He walked among us embodying your creative and life-giving Word in his body, his life, his words, his deeds, his sufferings, his death, and his resurrection. When we see him loving the outcast, forgiving the sinner, confronting the hypocrite, and teaching the crowds a new way of life, we see your heart, your compassion, your mercy, your character. To know Jesus is to love him, and to love him is to know him, and to know and love him is to know and love you.

So help me, Lord, to be among your disciples who come to you to be taught.

Help me, Lord, to be among the poor in spirit, to see and know that your kingdom is my homeland even now ...

Help me, Lord, to be among those who mourn, to join you in your sadness for all that's wrong and broken in this world, and in joining you, to find true comfort.

Help me, Lord, to be among the meek, those who find strength in weakness and power in vulnerability, to never fear lack or want, because when I have your love, I have all the world.

Help me, Lord, to desire justice, rightness, goodness, fairness, cleanness, clearness, and integrity more than I hunger for food or thirst for water ... and so let me find the truest fulfillment and satisfaction.

Help me, Lord, to be among the merciful. Help me to be a true friend to those who are hated, misunderstood, rejected, excluded, disregarded ... just as you, God of Mercy, are. When others fail - when they fail me - help me show the same mercy you show to those who fail you ... including me.

Help me, Lord, to be among the pure in heart. May your pure light shine in my heart and dispel every shadow, every layer and fold that conceals or pretends. Since it is only the heart that sees you, remove from my heart everything that keeps me from seeing you.

Help me, Lord, to be among the makers of peace. Many build walls. Many sow fear and distrust. Many spread rumors. Many inflame conflict and profit from it. Help me to be even among them an agent and messenger of your peace and reconciliation, and so bear your family likeness, God of peace.

Help me, Lord, not to fear being among the persecuted, but rather, to rejoice in having the honor of standing for your restorative justice and rightness, so I will see that your kingdom is my homeland, even now.

Help me, Lord, to be among those who suffer wrong well and with grace. Help me not to resent it, not to fear it, not to seek to escape it. Instead, help me to find joy in it ... when others insult me, make my life more difficult, or falsely malign me because of you. Help me to see through the momentary, light trouble to the lasting and weighty reward, even now, for your kingdom comes by suffering rather than by making others suffer.

So help me, Lord, to be among your disciples who come to you to be taught. I am a limping, broken sinner and beginner, far from these realities, but this is where I want to go. In your mercy, lead me in this path. Amen.
(a meditation on Matthew 5:1-12)

My Perspektief oor God wat ons TOETS - Paul Barnard

2009-09-02T09:39:00.002+02:00

Ek wonder baie keer wat bedoel God as daar in die Bybel staan dat Hy ons toets. Ek is besig om 'n studie te maak van die verskillende Dissipels en dit wat ons van hulle kan leer in die Bybel. Ek is hierdie week by Fillipus en daar is dit toe weer! Die bietjie wat ons van Fillipus weet lyk dit of hy die logiese ou was - die detail persoon wat in elke situasie gekyk het wat gedoen moet word en hoe dit gedoen moet word. Daardie onmisbare persoon in elke span.

In Johannes 6 gebeur dit dat daar 'n massa mense vir Jesus volg. Dan staan daar: ⁵Toe Jesus rondkyk en sien dat ’n groot klomp mense na Hom toe aankom, sê Hy vir Filippus: “Waar kan ons brood gaan koop sodat die mense kan eet?”

⁶Dit het Hy net gesê om hom op die proef te stel, want Hy het self goed geweet wat Hy gaan doen.

⁷Filippus antwoord Hom toe: “Twee honderd mense se dagloon is nie eers genoeg om elkeen van hulle ’n stukkie brood te laat kry nie.”

In hierdie gedeelte lees ons Jesus stel hoem op die proef WANT HY HET SELF GOED GEWEET WAT HY GAAN DOEN. Wat is die nut om iemand op die proef te stel as jy weet wat gaan hy doen. Ek dink Jesus het geglimlag in sy hart toe Hy Fillipus op die proef gestel het. Hy het gesien hoe hierdie dissipel besorg oor die mense is en dat hy reeds bekommerd is oor almal wat moet eet. Daarom is Fillipus ook reeds reg met 'n antwoord. Hy het reeds uitgewerk hoeveel hy sou nodig het en dat dit onmoontlik is.

Wat is dus volgens my die doel van die proef/toets?

Jesus het hom op die proef gestel, nie omdat Jesus nodig gehad het om uit te vind wat in sy binneste aangaan nie. Hy het hom op die proef gestel(getoets) sodat Fillipus sou uitvind wat in sy eie binneste aangaan.

God stel ons nie op die proef om te kyk of ons slaag of misluk nie, maar om ons bewus te maak van ons eie onsekerheid, ongeloof, twyfel en leemtes.

DAN WAT.

Dan gee hy in elke geval die uitkoms! Dan omvou hy ons met liefde. Dit is nie 'n evaluerings proses nie, dit is God wat in Sy liefde ons help om onsself te leer ken en as ons sien wie ons is, kan ons in Sy arms in hardloop. Hy hardloop reeds na ons toe.

Ek hou egter nie altyd daarvan as God my op die proef stel nie want die ou wat ek vind stel my baie teleur, net om te besef dat God my liefhet.

Mat 5:3 ³“Geseënd is dié wat weet hoe afhanklik hulle van God is,

want aan hulle behoort

die koninkryk van die hemel.

Die Bybelse weg

2009-09-01T18:16:00.001+02:00

“For the biblical way is not so much to present us with a moral code and tell us ‘Live up to this;’ Nor is it to set out a system of doctrine and say, ‘Think like this and you will live well.’ The biblical way is to tell a story and invite us in, ‘Live into this. This is what it looks like to be human; this is what is involved in entering and maturing as human beings.’ We do violence to the biblical text when we ‘use’ it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide color and spice to our otherwise bland lives. That results in a kind of ‘boutique spirituality’ – God as decoration, God as enhancement… In the reading, we submit our lives to what we read, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but to see our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves”

-Eugene Peterson (Introduction to I Samuel in the Message)

Het ek vandag God gesien

2009-09-01T18:11:00.000+02:00

Alan Hirsch asked three simple, but fantastic guiding questions for those striving to possess a seven-day-a-week missional mindset. What if we asked these three questions every day?

Where did I see God at work in the world today?
How did I join with God today?
How did I resist God today?
Imagine if we reflected on these questions every day? Or just once a week?
Spiritual formation, the process of growth to become more Jesus-ish, happens when we resist God less and join God more.

This daily discipline of self-reflection have a potent capability of cultivating a spirit of anticipation, where we expect God to show up and join with him in advancing his kingdom - his rule and reign - by practicing his ways in our everyday lives.

Ontspanning Pool, Tafeltennis en Darts

2009-08-31T23:56:00.002+02:00

Ons is so besig met ernstige dinge dat ons party maal vergeet om te ontspan. Mekaar te leer ken en te ontspan. Daarom het ons begin met 'n interne kompetisie. POOL! Om deel te word kos R20. Dit sluit jou eie naam plaatjie in en die kans om die nommer 1 speler in die Kerk te wees. Die reels is as volg:

Jy kan enige van die 5 spelers bo jou daag en indien jy eerste 5 wedstryde wen kan jy plek met hulle ruil. (Jy kan verniet in die Helderhoekie kom speel)
Ons speel die nuwe reels
Jy moet dit geniet.

As jy kiners het is jy welkom om hulle saam te bring daar is baie om te doen.

Die ranglys is tans:

Paul "the Bible reader" Barnard
Tom du Plessis
Rynold Liebenberg
Renier van Schalkwyk

Kontak Paul Barnard (0823749520) vir verdere inligting. Onthou om in pool teen 'n Ds te verloor is amper so sleg as om teen 'n Non in Darts te verloor.

Why People leave the Church

2009-08-27T10:33:00.002+02:00

My vriend GUILLAUME SMIT HET HIERDIE ARTIKEL OP SY BLOG GESIT. eK DINK DIT IS SO WAAR. iS DIT BY ONS OOK SO.

David Hayward (The Naked Pastor) jotted down these observations after speaking to church leavers during his recent vacation. It's consistent with the findings of Alan Jamieson, in his book A Churchless Faith. Both David's remarks and Alan's book are worth thinking about.

On my vacation I met with many people who have left the church. They are people I know and love. So from the start I want to say that these are generalizations. I do realize others might have more positive things to say. But what I hear from the people I talk with is pretty consistent. This is not my opinion. I’m not making judgments. This is just what I hear:

When they’ve been gone from church for a while and return they are all shocked by the strange lingo that people talk. It is a coded and getto-ized language that no one else understands but insiders.
When they go back more than once, suddenly there is a huge feeling of expectation that weighs down on them. They know that if they commit at all, they are going to have to meet certain expectations.
Although few admit it, shame is an important and powerful tool used to keep sins, weaknesses, struggles and differences concealed.
One quickly learns that although indulgences ended officially many years ago, money is still an effective means to earn rank, privilege and allowances within a community.
One discovers almost immediately what the belief system to be embraced is. Critical and inquisitive thinking is generally not welcomed.
Although it is rarely ever explicit, competition and the disdain for other religions and even other churches percolates through the attitudes, language and actions of the community.
Orientation, condition and status (examples: divorced, single mom, living together, gay, addict, etc.) are the equivalent of brands that are accepted or not.
If you come and go, in the end no one really seems to notice or care.
You are expected to grow only if it enables conformity.
Even though, if you keep going, you feel you are being knitted into the community, there is a strange feeling that there is something conditional about your acceptance and membership.
http://bit.ly/gSxXB

2009-08-24T16:03:00.002+02:00

Sondag 23 Augustus het ons geleentheid gehad om te hoor dat God nie daar is vir ons verbruik nie, maar dat ons daar is om Hom te dien. Wat was jou ervaring van die diens.

Beplanning 2010

2009-08-19T13:22:00.005+02:00

Dit is weer dié tyd van die jaar - ons kyk evaluerend terug en begin beplan vir 2010. Ons fokus tans (2009) op: Die begeleiding van die gemeente/lidmate

Om met 'n passie vir God te leef
Tot groter heling en versoening in verhoudings
Tot gasvryheid/openheid
Om te luister
Om hul roeping te ontdek of beter te vestaan en by dienslewering betrokke te raak.

Om te beplan vir 2010 wonder ek oor die volgende:

Help ons mekaar om 7-dag Christene te wees met dié fokusse?
Wat reken jy is tans die grootste uitdagings waarvoor die Here Helderberg Gemeente plaas?
Waarop dink jy moet Helderberg Gemeente fokus in 2010?

Dankie dat jy saam met my hieroor nadink, wonder en bid sodat ons as gemeente op dié dinge sal fokus wat ons sal help om te wees waartoe God ons roep/stuur.

Nuwe onderwerp

2009-08-19T11:58:00.000+02:00

Reageer hier as jy enige nuwe onderwerp op die tafel wil plaas

Jeugbediening

2009-08-18T18:14:00.002+02:00

Kan ons bietjie gesels oor die jeugbediening in ons gemeente? Word daar enigiets beplan as 'n evangelisasie kamp of uitreik na ons eie kinders wat nie betrokke is by die dienste wat juis vir hulle aangebied word nie. Dit is skokkend om te sien dat daar slegs 10 of 20 kinders in die tienerdienste sit. Ons eie kinders wil nie meer hierdie dienste bywoon nie. Nico Taljaard
16/8/09 18:09

Helderberg Leesverslag

2009-08-10T15:49:00.003+02:00

Dit is baie interessant om te sien hoe lidmate Helderberg beleef. Gaan kyk gerus by die Helderberg Leesverslag hoe 20 lidmate 'n paar vrae oor die gemeente beantwoord. http://www.nghelder.co.za/LeesVerslag.htm Een ding is seker, ons is 'n verskeidenheid van mense, met 'n verskeidenheid van menings en behoeftes. Die verslag laat my met 'n positiewe gevoel. Ek is opgewonde oor die pad wat die Here met ons as gemeente loop. Hoe voel jy?

Gesels saam oor Sondag se eredienste

2009-08-06T20:29:00.002+02:00

Eerskomende Sondag word die Woordbediening by al ons eredienste deur vroue hanteer. Ek dink dit is nogal iets om na uit te sien.

Franse ete

2009-08-06T20:22:00.002+02:00

Kyk net sulke Boere-Franse Pieterses. En dit alles in ons eie Maalruimte.

Franse aand groot sukses

2009-08-06T09:54:00.001+02:00

Die Franse aand, wat gisteraand deur Rose Petals aangebied is, was ‘n reuse sukses. Die aand is aangebied om fondse in te samel vir die Dienssentrum. Die dames van Rose Petals het deur dekor, musiek en kos die gaste weggevoer na ‘n romantiese eetplek in Parys. André Buys, was nie die “mossie van Parys” nie, maar die “haan van Helderberg” en het saam met sy vrou Elmarie, ons vermaak met ‘n keur van Franse liedere.

Die hoogtepunt was egter die gaste wat Frans probeer lyk het, en baie lekker saam kon kuier.

Na die sukses van die Italiaanse aand, en nou ook die Franse aand, lyk dit of hier ‘n nuwe tradisie aan die groei is. Dalk moet André solank begin skaaf aan ‘n paar Griekse, of Duitse, of Russiese liedere.

Algemene gesels

2009-07-29T10:52:00.001+02:00

As jy lus voel om oor enige ander onderwerp iets op die tafel te sit, pos dit hier. As daar genoeg reaksie is, maak ons dit ’n aparte gesprek.

Gesels gerus saam.

Spreekbeurte

2009-07-28T21:51:00.000+02:00

Die tegniese kwaliteit van Annelise Wiid se video spreukbeurt Sondag-oggend was uitstekend. Knap gedaan Burgert en Annelise.

A Spirituality of the Road

2009-07-28T19:55:00.000+02:00

Ek lees onlangs weer hierdie stuk van David Bosch uit sy boek: A Spirituality of the Road. Op sy besondere manier herinner hy ons aan wat dit beteken om die dissipelpad te loop. Nie onttrekking uit hierdie wêreld nie, maar juis gestuur na die wêreld toe.

“Spirituality or devotional life seems to mean withdrawal from the world, charging my battery, and then going out into the world. The image is of an automobile which runs on batteries only. The batteries are charged for so many hours during the night and then the automobile runs so many miles during the day until the batteries become too weak to pull the car. For more mileage one would have to charge the batteries for a longer period of time. Transferred to the spiritual sphere, this means: so many minutes of spiritual exercise will give me so much mileage for the day that follows.

And if I find that I am run down before evening, this simply means that I have to spend more time in the morning charging my spiritual battery. In this view, then, my "true" Christian life consists of those so-called spiritual moments, away from the hustle and bustle of ordinary life. To be sure, all that hubbub is actually anti-spiritual, because it taps my stored-up spiritual resources, it drains my spiritual power away, it is a threat to my spirituality. I would, therefore, much rather live on angels' food only and have as little as possible to do with the things of this world…

Lesslie Newbigin has called this view the "Pilgrim's Progress Model": the emphasis is on a decisive break with the world and a flight from the "wicked city." In this model the world is primarily seen as a threat, as a source of contagion from which the Christian must keep himself free. To be saved means, in essence, to be saved from this world; spirituality means otherworldliness. The basic problem with this view of spirituality is that it is docetic. It is based on the idea that matter is essentially evil. We could also call it monophysite because the Christ of this spirituality has only one nature, the divine…

Fundamental to any definition of spirituality is that it can never be something that can be isolated from the rest of our existence, as the battery-operated car metaphor suggests. "Flesh" and" spirit" in the Bible do not refer to two segments of our lives, the one outward and worldly, the other inward and otherworldly, as though we are spiritual when we pray and worldly when we work. No, flesh and spirit refer to two modes of existence, two life orientations. Being spiritual means being in Christ, whether we pray or walk or work. Spirituality is not contemplation over against action. It is not a flight from the world over against involvement in the world. The "Pilgrim's Progress Model" therefore does not adequately describe what spirituality means because its point of departure is non-involvement, escape from the world. It has to be supplemented by what Newbigin has called the "Jonah Model": not fleeing from the city but being sent by God into the heart of the city and its turmoil…More precisely, it is not a case of one model supplementing the other, for the two are absolutely indivisible. The involvement in this world should lead to a deepening of our relationship with, and dependence on God, and the deepening of this relationship should lead to increasing involvement in the world.” (David J. Bosch, A Spirituality of the Road (IMER 2004), p. 3-11)

Jesus se dissipelskapskool

2009-07-27T21:25:00.000+02:00

Ons het Sondag in Helderberg begin met ’n opwinde nuwe reeks. Vir 14 weke gaan ons in al ons eredienste Lukas 9-19 deurwerk en saam deel wees van Jesus se dissipelskapskool. Dit is 'n besondere skool, want eintlik is dit 'n skool op pad.

Kom reis saam
Ek wil jou nooi om jou tassie te pak en saam met ons te vertrek vir ’n reis saam met Jesus deur Samaria na Jerusalem. Jy het nie veel in jou tassie nodig nie. Behalwe ’n goeie stuk opgewondenheid en ’n Bybel in die hand het jy nog twee dinge nodig: ’n Oop gesindheid om te hoor wat die Here vir jou sê, en die bereidheid om daaroor te praat. Met mekaar, buite die kerk, in die motor, op hierdie blog. Want dan gaan ons almal die meeste uit hierdie pad kry.

In Lukas 9:51-19:27 kry ons die verhaal van Jesus se laaste reis na Jerusalem met sy dissipels. Lukas beeld vir ons die reis uit as ’n laaste voorbereiding van die dissipels om die kerk op aarde te wees. Ons gaan hierdie pad stap om vir dieselfde taak toegerus te word.

Dit val op dat Jesus se dringendheid Hom nie haastiger of besiger maak nie. Inteendeel. Dit is asof Hy rustiger en meer intens in gesprekke betrokke raak by die kleiner groep volgelinge om Hom. Die reis van Galilea na Jerusalem sou onder normale omstandighede slegs 3-5 dae te voet neem. Hulle neem egter ooglopend baie langer om die afstand af te lê.

Daar is groter fokus, maar Hy pas nie druk op hulle toe om vir oulaas iets in hulle koppe te kry nie. Hy gee meer persoonlike aandag aan hulle. Die verhale en gesprekke berei hulle voor om as sy navolgers voor te gaan in die kerk. Hy doen dit in vyandelike gebied (Samaria), wat op ’n manier simbolies is vir die plek waar mense tot vandag dissipels moet wees.

'n Verbintenis (commitment)
Aan die begin van die reis is daar 'n paar insidente van mense wat Hom wil volg, maar nog nie mooi die koste bereken het nie.
Jesus maak dit duidelik dat die pad van dissipelskap eise stel en ons maklik verskonings soek om nie nou dadelik die pad te loop nie. Dit klink baie radikaal, maar Hy wil dit duidelik maak dat die pad van dissipel wees 'n baie sterk "commitment" vra.

Die Latyns Amerikaanse teoloog, Jon Sobrino, het ’n interessante vraag gevra: “Is jy besig om Jesus te volg of net te glo in Christus?” Weet ons nog wat dit kos om Jesus in hierdie lewe te volg?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer skryf aangrypend in sy Cost of Discipleship “We have gathered like eagles around the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison that has killed the life of following Jesus.”

2009-06-13T11:24:00.001+02:00

Daar is ‘n probleem met al die gepraat oor geestelike groei in die kerk: Ons roep mekaar op om te groei, maar ons weet nie mooi wat ’n mens moet doen sodat dit gebeur nie. Ons weet die Heilige Gees help ons om te groei, maar wat verwag Hy van ons? En wanneer ons dinge doen wat, na ons wete, mense help om geestelik te groei, weet ons nie mooi hoe om dit te doen op gesonde maniere nie. Daarom doen ons op die oomblik in die gemeente ’n kort reeks oor geestelike groei en dissiplines. Dit loop egter die gevaar om net nog woorde oor geestelike groei te wees wat op niks uitloop nie. Daarom plaas ons ’n lêer met inligting oor geestelike dissiplines op die webblad, met praktiese inligting van hoe dit werk en ’n aantal dissiplines, wat ons mettertyd gaan aanvul. Ons maak ook ’n blog oop om ons ervarings te bespreek, sodat ons by mekaar kan leer op die pad wat die Here op hierdie manier met ons begin loop. Aanvaar die uitdaging om jouself deur die dissiplines oop te maak vir die werk van die Heilige Gees en neem gerus deel aan die blog.
Breda Ludik