Emerging Ministries Archives

Remembering the Poor – More Translators, Please

This week I’m exploring the passage in Galatians 2 about remembering the poor. Here’s the passage from the Contemporary English Version:

“James, Peter, and John realized that God had given me the message about his undeserved kindness. And these men are supposed to be the backbone of the church. They even gave Barnabas and me a friendly handshake. This was to show that we would work with Gentiles and that they would work with Jews. They only asked us to remember the poor, and that was something I had always been eager to do.”

My first post identified the obvious …

Remembering the Poor – And Also the Spiritually Poor

I’m exploring Galatians 2 this week. Here is the passage from the NIV:

“James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.”

As I said in my first post, it is obvious that Paul is saying that when he went out into the world, he was …

Remembering the Poor

There’s a passage in Galatians 2 that has always intrigued me, so this week I’m going to share three posts on the topic. This is from The Message translation of the Apostle Paul’s letter:

“Recognizing that my calling had been given by God, James, Peter, and John — the pillars of the church — shook hands with me and Barnabas, assigning us to a ministry to the non-Jews, while they continued to be responsible for reaching out to the Jews. The only additional thing they asked was that we remember the poor, and I was already eager to do that.” …

Biblical CQ

As far back as Sunday School I’ve been taught to consider the cultural context of a Bible story. It wasn’t explained that way to me, of course, but cultural understanding was critical for understanding the sometimes bizarre stories of Scripture. In college my religious studies courses emphasized this over and over.

Here’s an example of how important it is. Our church just started a series on Ruth. In the first sermon, the pastor had to spend half his time explaining the cultural context for the book. He couldn’t get past even one verse without having to paint the cultural backdrop!…

Lead, Follow, or Go Your Own Way

A previous post promised that I’d explain my leadership style. But first a reality check: this is an ongoing progress. I’m still working through my thoughts on how, exactly, I lead. I’m still learning.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “lead, follow, or get out of the way.” It’s a clever saying, but it is incomplete. The part I especially dislike is that “get out of the way” is not the only other option.

My leadership style is better expressed as “lead, follow, or go your own way.”

Many say that leadership is defined as having followers. There are well …

Love Wins, by Rob Bell

My daughter Rachel was about 2-years old when she asked me the funniest question. D’Aun and I had just boarded a plane for a flight home. It had already been a long day of travel. Rachel sat between us and out of the corner of my eye I could see her staring intently at me. After a minute she finally asked, “Daddy, why does your face have splinters?”

I smiled and said, “Those aren’t splinters, honey. They’re whiskers. I haven’t shaved in a day or so.”

She said “okay” and was satisfied with the answer. D’Aun and I suppressed our …

To Change the World, Part II

My last post was about the book To Change The World, by James Davison Hunter. Here are a few more thoughts ….

How many times have you met a young person who says they want to change the world? It’s actually such a cliche now that most folks don’t say it aloud. But you can still tell they think it and have ambitions for it! These well meaning young leaders often end up in non-profits.

When I meet such young people, I find it challenging to tone down their expectations without dampening their enthusiasm. If I say, “That’s ridiculous…you …

American Grace and Emerging Ministries

It was probably ten years ago when I first conceived of the Emerging Ministries idea. As with most ideas, a lot of different streams of thought became a strong force that kept pushing me. One stream was my desire to do something locally; most of my non-profit leadership had been international to that point. Another stream was a friends dissertation that said the San Francisco Bay Area had never seen a spiritual revival. Still another stream was my interest in “the emerging church”, which was then an innovative new expression of faith.

Emerging Ministries evolved from all of these lines …