Listen, Love, Pray and Healing

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Pastor Jesse

One of the most effective practices we’ve embraced at Love First Coast is praying for others in a way that brings restoration and healing.  It’s pretty simple, really.  We listen to folks who are hurting.  We love them where they are.  No judgement.  No advice giving (if we can help it).  No pressure.  And when we do, we get the privilege of seeing God at work. We get to see God lift hearts, restore hope, build faith, renew relationships, and yes, restore physical strength.

Here’s a link to the tool.  Read it and give it a try.

 

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Why We Take Short Term Mission Trips

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Pastor Jesse
My friend Carleene recently sent me some articles by the Gospel Coalition that raised some concerns about short term missions.  There’s been a fair amount of research and a great deal of reflection on the pluses and minuses of such ventures.  Is it good stewardship?  Do the trips bring great benefit?  Do they advance the cause of Christ?  Do they really promote cross cultural friendships?  Do they do more harm than good?
I appreciate their concerns.  A steady stream of relatively well-to-do Americans flying in to disperse American style Christianity casually pouring out wealth, creativity, and energy, can send the wrong message about who we are and who God is.  They can harm local economies, even undermine local churches.  Read the articles.  (Links are below.) If you are planning on taking a mission trip, read the books Toxic Charity and When Helping Hurts.  You’ll be a better mission trip taker if you do.  But I suggest reading them a little skeptically.  My sense: they are heavy on analysis and light on  being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  God is using the flawed mission adventures taken by Americans to awaken us to what it means to be a global Christian.  And, I might point out, Short Term Missions are biblical.  Read the first parts of Luke 9 and Luke 10.  Jesus sent the disciples out on short term missions.
No question: I am deeply grateful for the short term mission experiences I’ve been able to take and lead.  In the past, we’ve worked with Vida Joven  (Young Life) in Nicaragua.  The way we worked with them allowed us to avoid some of the problems identified in the books and articles.   For that matter, we were introduced to Toxic Charity and When Helping Hurts by the American and ex-pat missionaries we worked with in Nicaragua.
We required three things in our Short Term Mission trips.
1) They had to be relational.  Our trips have been about building and maintaining relationships in the spirit of partnership.  We built friendships, and, for that matter, we put ourselves under the authority of the local ministry leaders in terms of what we would do, when, and how.  We did not go to be served, but to serve.
2) There had to be a sense of exchange.   Sure, we offered resources and labor.  A couple of the trips were medical missions.  But… we were there to learn from those who followed Jesus in Nicaragua.  They had a lot to teach us about hospitality, about evangelism, about the power of Jesus to change and transform lives, neighborhoods, and cities.  They showed us what it looked like to serve and follow Christ courageously in their context.  We came back with more courage to live out our faith, better skilled and motivated to pray and live our faith, and refreshed by our witness of the beauty of Christian community.
3) The trips stated goal was to encounter Jesus Christ in a different place.  We were there to see what God was doing in another place.  God met us there!  We returned encouraged.
I would say that Short Term Missions have been instrumental in helping us learn, by example, to be more intentional in our witness and ministries.  Involvement in missions trips really set the stage for how we’re doing life at LoveFirst Coast.  Resources of time, talent, and money are being released more generously here because we went there. Because of the love and blessings we received on Short Term Missions, love and blessings are flowing more easily, more naturally here.
Of course that doesn’t excuse us from learning how to do better!   So take a little time.  Read the articles or even the books.  But remember the words of Jesus, “As the Father is sending me, so I am sending you!”  (John 20:21)
You are sent!  Go!
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When The Spirit Leads the Retreat!

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Pastor Jesse

When the Spirit leads a retreat, the experiences you have are exactly what you need.

One thing I can say about missional living is that it can leave you kind of tired. Because it is so oriented about living in an intentional way, about being engaged and involved, it can inadvertently lead to a works oriented life-style.  Let me explain.

We teach about our covenant relationship with God, in the tool we call the Covenant Triangle.  Building on Ephesians 2:8-10, we teach that when we come to know God as Father through the grace.  Faith in Jesus Christ helps us to understand that we have a new identity as God’s children.  We are adopted into God’s royal family.  What flows from our identity is the sort of obedience that brings glory to God.  Obedient living flows from a firm sense of identity.

When we talk about missional living, a lot of times we emphasize the obedient living.   We talk about serving others, about blessing neighbors and co-workers, about engaging with people and taking part in mission and ministry.  We talk about it so much that it is easy to forget identity piece.  It’s easy to get so busy with “God’s work” that we get so focused on doing what God wants us to do that we forget to be who God has made us to be.

God is more interested in who we are than in what we can do.  And God orchestrated this retreat to remind us.

It’s kind of cool how God put it together.  We rented the ECO Lodge in Fargo, Georgia, and I encouraged people to invite others.  It would be free apart from everyone pitching in on the food.  I was kind of hoping for an event like this that would connect us with some other folks – and really, how hard could it be?  It was a couple of days on a long weekend at a beautiful place an hour and a half away with awesome people (if I do say so myself.)

I had some ideas for a theme, but then Kent and Kris shared something that had impressed them in a Bible Study about knowing our story with God.  I’ve learned to pay attention to what God says to our leaders in times of prayer and study.  Our story with God became our theme. It wasn’t what I’d planned.  It was far better.

And a bunch of people were interested in coming.  On top of that, we have this tool we use, call the Person of Peace – based on Jesus teaching in Luke 10 about looking for and recognizing persons of peace.  And when you apply it, well, people are more likely to connect.  And so, we were concerned we might not have enough room at the ECO Lodge – until the retreat got close.  Then we started to hear the “no’s”.

Okay, I’ve been in ministry a long time.   People saying “no” is part of it.  We build relationships.  We invest in people. We invite.  And many people say “no”.  But others come, connect, and join in.  It’s part of the work.  You work and trust God.

But everyone said no.  Everyone.  There were a list of people who were “unlikely to attend.” They all said no.  There were those who were likely to attend.  And they said, “No.  Can’t make it.”  Finally, there were the “slam-dunk-sure-fire-of-course-they’ll-come people who said…. “No, not this year.”  Those who were coming were our core people and their families.   Everyone at the retreat was hosting the retreat.

And I believe that’s how God wanted it.  For that matter, I believe God arranged it that way.  Because we needed to rest, to reflect, and to remember who we are – and who God is.

God is the one who has brought us into his family.  He’s been with us in the past.  He is able to do abundantly more than we ask or imagine.   And he reminded us of this.

We took some time to remember who we were using the Covenant Triangle tool.  My friend Nicholl pointed out that we often jump past the identity piece to the obedience piece.  I think she’s right.  It’s heretical to think that God needs us to do his work for him.  But sometimes the business of our lives says we do.  And God slows us down.

As part of that exercise, I sent everyone out on a prayer walk with a set of scriptures aimed at reminding us of God’s presence.  To remember that he is with us, he has claimed us, and he will not “leave us of forsake us.”  (Deuteronomy 31:8)

My friend, Kent, led us to reflect on our spiritual journeys using a resource called The Spiritual Graph.  (We found it at the Perimeter Presbyterian Church website).   We took some time and graphed our spiritual highs and lows over the course of our lives.  The time of sharing that followed was powerful as story after story attested to God’s faithfulness, God’s love, God’s intervention, Gods grace, and God’s redemption.  (I am deeply grateful my kids got to hear the stories.)

Finally, using the learning circle, we took some time in our last gathering to think on what God was saying to us using the Learning Circle.  The turning points in the spiritual graph usually point to times when God is near.  We call those times, “kairos moments.”   What was God saying in those moments.  Finally, I pointed out that the whole weekend was a “kairos moment”, a season of time when God was near at hand.  What was God saying to us?  What was he saying to our church?

We didn’t have time for sharing.  Not to worry.  We’ll be together again soon.  But for me, I was reminded over and over again that the God who is able to do more than I can ask or imagine is with me and will not leave me or forsake me.  Its as if God is saying to me, “Relax Jesse.  I got this.”

I can rest in that.

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Kingdom Authority. Kingdom Power.

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Pastor Jesse

 

In short, God is a King.  We are his adopted children, the royal citizens of God’s Kingdom.  Like a good Father and a wise king, God does not spoil us.  He gives us vital and important work to do in his kingdom and the authority and ability to do it.  When we exercise that authority, God’s kingdom advances in power.  And what joy!  We get to participate!

True, it doesn’t always feel like joy.  Sometimes it feels like hard work.  Sometimes it’s heart-breaking.  Sometimes it’s tedious.

But it’s connected to a bigger purpose.  And there’s that moment when you recognize that God is working in you and through you in power to accomplish His purposes.

And it’s exhilarating.  And it’s humbling.  And faith is built.  And hope is enlivened.  And love is renewed.  And we praise God!

The Lord is good and worthy of praise.  This day, may you know the joy of kingdom life!

Learn more about the Kingdom Triangle tool here.

 

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Micropost: “I like friends.”

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Holly Wiegreffe

“By the seventh day God completed His work which he had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” (Genesis 2:2)

 

When I hear this passaged preached, it is usually focused on the rest and goes something like this: God doesn’t get tired so why would He need to rest? He doesn’t. He’s just modeling for us our need for it and as someone who burns the candle at both ends, you’ll get no argument from me with that. I’m grateful for the reminder I need rest and that rest is to be intentional.

 

But volunteering as a Friendship Partner with World Relief resettling refugees, has caused me to reflect on this passage with a different emphasis. (Funny how scripture does that for us, saying different things at different times.) Maybe God is also modeling… work.

 

When I signed up for the Friendship partner program, I thought. “Wow – This is the perfect ministry for me! I like friends. I know how to be a good friend. This is going to be a snap!”

 

Except well… it’s a lot more like work. While there is an element of friendship there, “Advocate Partner” would be a better descriptive term for this ministry.

 

Now for those of you who have been involved in ministry for along time, you already know ministry is work… So, it’s OK if you’re having a little chuckle at my expense because I’m laughing at my own silly self. What was I thinking?

 

As Pastor Jesse reminds us, ministry is joining God in a place where He is already at work.

 

“Wow – This is the perfect ministry for me! I like friends. I know how to be a good friend. This is going to be… a lot of work, life affirming work and a privilege to join God in what He’s already doing here.

 

For more information on becoming a Friendship Partner with World Relief in Jacksonville: http://worldreliefjacksonville.org. For information in other local offices: https://www.worldrelief.org/connect.

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