For those that read the last post, you know that I’m doing a quick inventory of the positive stuff that’s been happening in our world as of late…mainly because I think it would be easy to focus on all the stuff that doesn’t go well. As many of you, we’ve had our share of down moments over the last few months…but God is good and he’s very much at work in us and through us. With that being said, here are a few more reflections…
MEN’S STUFF
For those that know anything about me/CityView, we have intentionally made manhood and men a central issue in our church. Whether it’s our views on male eldership or simply the culture that’s created by our programming and language…we see men as an integral part of our vision to “reach the marginalized in our world”. It’s true that the marginalized in our big world are mainly women and children…but specific to the American church, men are a marginalized group.
Masculine men have been forgotten for far too long and we wish to bring the church back to the men…and reflect the movement that started with 12 young men from Galilee. It’s always exciting to see things coming to fruition when you’ve dreamed about them for so long…and seeing your strategy work. We’re really beginning to see this come true with CityView and our focus toward men.
First, utilizing sports as a missional tool with men has been awesome. Our men’s soccer team is in it’s 4th season (I think) and anywhere from 3-5 men on the team are not Believers. We just started our men’s basketball team and had a good showing last week at our first game. As of now, two of our guys aren’t believers and we’ll probably add one or two more before the season is over. While this is a great missional tool, I don’t believe it’s a magic pill for a church wanting to reach men…in fact, in the hands of the wrong church with the wrong foundation and heart for manhood, it can be destructive (more on that in another post).
Second, we’re getting ready to start our bi-monthly men’s breakfast. I love the guys that have spear-headed this thing. They are good guys that love Jesus and love being men. While some men in other churches would insist on having a devotion or scheduled prayer time for this breakfast, these guys simply say it’s a time to hang and eat with other men. I love it! Once again…not a magic pill…and completely destructive in the hands of the wrong church/leadership.
Third, my Sunday night discipleship group is going awesome and I think a couple more older men are going to be starting similar groups. Right now, I have 4 guys (and a 5th that comes when he can) that show up at my house/office every Sunday night and either go through a published book or a book of the Bible. We are finishing up “Chosen by God” by RC Sproul right now and it’s been amazing to hear the discussion and see the “ah-ha” moments while exploring this difficult subject of election and predestination. After this, we’ll be going into 1 Timothy and really working on our character as men. Awesome stuff.
Finally, we’ll be taking a few guys to a “men leading men” conference next weekend with Steve Farrar (author of the incredible “Point Man”). While I enjoy leading our men, I believe that I cheat them by not exposing them to men/leaders that are ahead of me, both in manhood and leadership. Steve Farrar is such a man…and I look forward to seeing our men encouraged and challenged by Steve.
MISSIONAL LIVING-SOCCER MOMS AND DADS
My oldest daughter just started playing soccer with the YMCA. She’s not the best player in the world, but she loves getting out there and tearing it up with her mostly-boy team. She’s learning some skills and starting to gain some confidence. When we started this soccer thing a few weeks ago, I thought it was going to be all about my daughter and her desire to get involved in sports. Not so.
It’s amazing how the most basic things in life become missional opportunities for the Gospel. I’ve already met two sets of parents that I’ll probably be asking to church on Easter Sunday. It’s amazing how much you get to know an entire new group of parents by simply showing up to your kids games AND practice. For now, I’m just enjoying the process of meeting and getting to know other moms and dads…but I know there’s another purpose in it all…
Once again…this is getting long, so I’ll be posting a third part of this series soon with the final bits of of news/catch-up observations from the last couple of months…
Rick:
I get the same kind of “missional vibe” when I have opportunities to talk to people about the foster care we do. It really has opened up a lot of doors to speak with people about the call we have as a family to share our home with kids who need that. We let people know it’s a God thing and most are open to hearing more!
I’m interested in hearing more about how your Sunday nite group goes as well as the Farrar conference. Keep me posted!
Yeah…I can imagine how much of an opportunity the ministry of foster-care provides. Both fostering children and adoption truly reflect the Gospel’s “adoption as sons” message that sometimes gets lost. I love that you guys are doing that…it’s good stuff.