Marc's Messages

Belong, Behave, Believe

Debra Hirsch preached tonight on incarnational ministry and shared a hilarious story about a homosexual drug-addicted warlock who ended up doing their church's newsletter. Yes, it takes some risks to prioritize belonging over behaving and believing. It helps to realize that the process of discipleship starts before people recognize Christ as their source of life. Two years ago there was an interesting conversation on Andrew's weblog on belonging, behaving and believing. Debra's teaching raised the question what it takes to bring Jesus into the gay community and other groups that are marginalized by the church.

Christian Associates International

We spent a day at the staff conference of Christian Associates at De Bron. It was interesting to hear how this church planting network operates, meet team members from different European cities, and play a good soccer match. It was also a timely opportunity to catch up with Alan and Debra Hirsch from Australia (who talked me in on the spiritual landscape Down Under, as I'm planning to go there in September), Rogier Bos (who posted some reflections on church as a dangerous place), Stefan and Andrea Lingott and Byron and Lisa Borden (who are leaving the Lisboa Matrix for a new assignment in Tanzania, see Barbara's blog post).

Several people working with CAI suggested that this network might fit with us, because it's innovative, mission-minded, focused on Europe, and encouraging entrepreneurship. I recognize this as a great trait of CAI, which makes them stand out from most other denominations and church networks. However, I also see three areas in which we don't match, because I want to model a different way forward:

1. CAI has a strong American flavour (looking at the attendance at De Bron, at least 70 percent of their staff are Americans), while I believe God called us to help raise up indigenous ministry in Europe. It's hard to do that when the team context is primarily American.

2. While CAI is very much an open network, most church plants are Crossroads-style, which in my view is a trendy improvement of church-as-we-know it, and not reformational. There are also church plants in CAI that are more of an organic nature, but one of the leaders confirmed my impression that these in a way have to 'prove' their existence. I believe that in pioneering ministry it's crucial that your home base fully understands and provides back-up for what you do.

3. Perhaps the main reason not to join an existing network, and especially a network that has been around for a number of years and developed it's own traditions and ministry practices, is that God called us to lay new foundations, and not build on other people's foundations. This may sound a bit independent, but I believe it's a matter of calling. When you're called to pioneer a new paradigm (new wine in new wineskins), it's better to start from scratch then to renew something that's already there.

What do you think? Open for reflections.

Preparing for Germany

Tomorrow we will hit the road again as a family, this time for Germany. Stefan Lingott invited us to peek in on a conference of Christian Associates International at De Bron, to get to know this network better, and see how we could bless what God is doing in Germany.



Then 3-6 August we will be camping at Freakstock, the annual Jesus Freaks festival in Gotha, where we will also participate in a global roundtable for ministry in the emerging culture, especially the various youth subcultures. So the current talk in the family is whether we will take a tattoo, a piercing or completely recolour our hair. Probably Peter is the only one who is underground-proof. From 6-9 August we will revisit Herrnhut for a fluid core team meeting of the Connect Europe network. Around 10 August or a bit later we might head back to the Netherlands.

Crying for Lebanon

Had a skype conversation with Niina, who just posted some stories on her blog about how Jesus-followers in Lebanon are responding to the crisis in their nation. She comments: "It makes me think that faith is something so powerful, it activates us. Faith is something we in the West, not to speak of CNN, know so little about." And: "Part of me wishes that I had stayed and would be able to help in some ways, just to proclaim that my life as someone from the West is of no greater value."

Bobbington-Bath-Yeovil-Dover

Over the past two days we visited Connect friends Tim and Kevin and their families in the Midlands, while staying over on Tim's 'ranch' in Bobbington. The next day we had lunch at Alexander's place in Bath, meeting with his family, and - surprise - Tamsin who happened to be in the area. We had dinner with Heidi and Stuart in Yeovil, before making our way to Dover the next day. We arrived home at one o' clock, all quite tired.

The Yorkshire Dales

Our time in Silverdale is over. Today we drove south through the Yorkshire Dales national park. More pictures here.

A day in London

Spent a day in London for a small improvised European roundtable on ministry in the emerging culture, at the invitation of the MacLellan Foundation. Nice to share a cab with Andrew, Sasa and Jesus Freaks Mirko and Josha. Good to see Jonny, Shannon and Si. Tamsin told me about her vision to connect media and arts people and to have prophetic 'dreamtimes' with them, to birth new strategies in this area. It's very similar to what we're pursuing in Connect. Also had a good catch-up with Ian, the European director of 24-7prayer, who shared some of his insights in the organisational development of 24-7, in which he discerns two areas of responsibility: 'blessing' (multiplying ideas) and 'building' (multiplying models). Steve and Lee shared some useful insights in the area of funding, and recognizing God's 'tipping points' in opening up areas and people groups.

Eskdale and Wastwater

Today we drove to Eskdale and Wastwater in the western Lake District. Again, beautiful scenery, although a bit clouded. More pictures here (bottom).

Peter goes Indie

Our boys love to ring at doorbells, especially when it's just for the sake of fun. This morning I took a picture of Peter, ringing the doorbell once again on our way out, and uploaded it to my Flickr page. Within an hour I got an e-mail from Sarah in New York, who writes for a rock magazine and runs an Indie label called Stolen Transmisson, asking permission to use the picture for a new soon-to-be-released CD. So our little red man is becoming famous, at least in the underground music scene. With at least one family member engaged in this area, I might dare to show up at Freakstock.

Countryside flowers

It's not really a male hobby, but I love to capture flowers. Today during a walk through the gardens and hills of Silverdale, I came across a lot of them. More pictures here.

A sort-of rescue operation

Today we went up north, taking a mountain pass from Windermere to Ullswater, in the Lake District. Halfway we went up for a walk to a mountain top to enjoy the wind and the beautiful panorama. While Karolien and the boys went back the same route we came, I descended from another slope to meet them at a certain point. When I reached the point where the path went down, suddenly a helicopter came out of the valley with a roaring noise and wind, hovering right above me and dropping a group of National Trust guys with helmets. I thought someone was wounded somewhere, and thought it would be cool (though not likely) if they could give me a ride down. But not yet...



The helicopter had a bag with which it carried big rocks from one place to the other. Halfway over my head the bag tore apart and the rocks landed twenty meters higher from me, kickstarting a rock avalanche. Great. So I had to jump away to escape the rocks whirling down. The guys realized this was not really cool, and offered to fly me down. So I had my ride, but not after they nearly smashed me, while playing the A-team. Down in the valley we took a dive in one of the lakes. How refreshing with nearly 30 degrees. More pictures here (second part), as well as a few new sunsets for the romantic folks.

Grange-over-Sands

On the other side of Morecambe Bay, in Cumbria, is Grange-over-Sands. Several miles west of that sea resort we walked on a peninsula with a great view to all sides. The boys enjoyed playing in the water. More pictures here.

 

The Arnside coastal path

Today we walked the coastal path around Arnside. A very nice walk, partly rock-climbing, overlooking the sands, that even Peter with his little legs completed. Well done, boy. More pictures here.

Views from the Arnside Knot

The Dutch would call a hill of a few hundred meters a mountain, the Brits call it a knot. The Arnside Knot offers a cool view over the region.

Romantic sunset

I thought sunsets couldn't get much better than in Istanbul, but the evening light over the Morecambe Bay is also special, and romantic too. More pictures here.

Walking peaks in Longsleddale

While Karolien and the boys enjoyed a quiet day, I headed for a hike over a mountain range alongside the Longsleddale valley in the Lake District. I love walking peaks because of the panoramas to all sides. More pictures here.

The Lake District

Today we made an outing to the Windermere area of the Lake District (Cumbria), and returned over the Wrynose pass. What a beautiful scenery, and what a great test for a beginning driver. More pictures here.

Sandy Silverdale

Morecambe Bay is comparable to the Dutch Wadden area. At low tide whole parts of the bay dry up, and a vast area of sandbanks emerges, which is fascinating and stunningly beautiful. The banks can be quite dangerous though, because of quicksand and the relatively fast high tide. Today we made two walks along the rocky coast of Silverdale. The countryside along the coast is very pastoral, with stone walls separating the meadows, creating a small paradise for sheep. More pictures here.

Mitchell residence

The next two weeks we stay in Silverdale, a small village in the Morecambe Bay area, on the north-west coast of England. It's what the National Trust calls an AONB, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and we hope to explore that in the coming days. Roger and Sue Mitchell were so kind to lend us their large house with garden. We met them in 1994 when they co-pastored Ichthus Christian Fellowship, and later in the context of Target Europe, a major prayer initiative for our continent. Roger currently works on a promotion research on 'church and empire', to support the call for a new reformation.

Through Northumberland

It's fun to be on the road, especially in the British countryside, where every curb hides another fascinating panorama. We drove through the Northumberland national park, nearly hit Hadrian's wall, and dived over the Pennine range into Lancashire. More pictures here.

Isle of tides

We paid a visit to Lindisfarne (Holy Island), the main former Celtic missions base in Northumberland, founded by Aidan from Iona. Just made it in time, as with high tide the peninsula turns into an island. One of the mysteries of the Celtic apostles is that they founded their monastic bases in the most remote places, while at the same being extremely succesful in missions.

Arrival in Newcastle

When we left IJmuiden it was grey, and the passage was quite rough (enough for Karolien to get seasick), but this morning Newcastle welcomes us with a clear blue sky.

Oh Zidane!

Lucky me - I watched the final on high-quality widescreen, albeit with Danish commentary. Probably the final was the best match of the whole tournament. I think the French played excellent and should have won instead of the Italians. What a pity that indicent with Zidane, and what a dramatic moment to see him pass the cup in tears. The morale: if you want to reach something in life, stay disciplined until the end! Big question is of course: what caused his emotional response? The British tabloids are speculating in all directions. According to lip readers Materazzi offended Zidane's mother or sister, and called him a terrorist.

Crossing the North Sea

Tonight we'll take the IJmuiden-Newcastle ferry to spend some family time in the UK. We'll be hanging out in Silverdale, Lancashire. For the boys it's their first ferry trip, it takes 16 hours. Let's hope they show the World Cup finals on board.

Shift training in Utrecht

Today I finished the invitation for our upcoming Shift training for young visionaries and pioneers in Utrecht. If you're interested to attend, you can download the invitation here. The dates are 13-14 October, 3-4 November and 17-18 November 2006. We have place for only 20 people, and it will be high-quality, relational and interactive.

God's purposes with nations

Caught up with Pieter and Helene Bos of Serving the Nations. Pieter just returned from Fiji (see his report in Dutch here) where he met with transformations leaders from various nations, gave input on how nations can covenant with Jesus, and heard some cool stories of how the environment literally is being healed after people break with idolatry and turn to Christ. You might be interested in his innovative book 'The Nations Called', that is now also available in German, French and Dutch. Helene is a researcher who discerns the spiritual dynamics of international political and societal developments, and this links in to two hot issues I also discussed with some Connect friends: international social justice and the power of Mammon. Anyway, too much to talk about, I ended up in bed late.

The heretical imperative

Bram Flippo told me that the Northumbria Community (see my earlier posting here) is committed to what sociologist Peter Berger calls 'the heretical imperative'. They breed a community culture in which people are expected to speak out when necessary, and ask awkward questions that upset the status quo, thus making relationships the priority, and not reputation. I love this, in fact I think it's a sign of healthy church life when things can be questioned anytime. I also found an interesting conversation about this on Jason Clark's weblog.

So the Germans are out

The Italians did it again - two goals in the last two minutes of the prolongation. Compliments, they deserved the victory, though my sympathy (after the Orangemen had to leave) goes to Germany. It reminded me of Monty Python's comedy scetch 'The Philosophers' Football Match', that even made it into Wiki. It's hilarious, check out part one and two in the Google video section. Here it is the Greek who go for the victory, like two years ago in Portugal.

The secret DNA of the church

Drove to 'De Betteld' in Zelhem for Momentum, the first combined student conference of Soul Survivor and The Navigators. I gave a seminar on 'the secret DNA of the church', the genetical code of the Body of Christ, and how this differs from the various forms of church. The logical consequence is that when you discern the Body of Christ as Jesus intended it, and that forms can be applied creatively in the context in which you operate, you can be church anywhere. This opens up the inherent potential of the church to be fruitful and multiply.

Afterwards I caught up with Koen Schmitz and some of his friends. He is part of our SHIFT team in Utrecht, and we're preparing a pilot training for young pioneers. On the way home I had an interesting talk with Frank Mulder of Time To Turn on Christian anarchy and living a prophetic lifestyle that breaks with Mammon. He plans to move to Overvecht with some friends to be the church there. This is encouraging, as after 12 years in Overvecht we sense it's time for us to move on, so there are people who can take the baton so to speak.

Ministry to esoterics

Reports from Joel News are regularly being republished in papers and magazines. Pray!, an American magazine for intercessors, sent me some additional questions about ministry on esoteric fairs. If you're interested, you can download my response below.

Download Ministry-to-esoterics.doc

A mohawk in the family

"An event of familial importance took place today," writes Andrew Jones on his blog. "Today my little boy got his first mohawk... oohhhhh ahhhhh... I'm soooo proud of him." Most Christian parents would get nervous over these things, but for Andrew and Debbie it's perfectly ok if their kids dress up in all kinds of imaginable ways, they're even setting the example. "I have a concern with Christian parents who insist that their sons maintain the hair-cut of a 1950's 6 year old boy throughout their teens and beyond," Andrew says. It's not the first time that Sam (15) changed his haircut. When he was 7 he shaved his head in a tonsure and walked barefeet for six months because he got so inspired by Francis of Assisi. And when he was 8 he grew long hair like the Jewish Nazarites. There you go. Expressing your spiritual journey in fashion.

Overcoming Bono Fatigue

Andrew Billings set up a website for U2 fans suffering from Bono Fatigue as a result of over-consumption of U2 music, Bono interviews and Africa-related relief ideas. This is so funny - heal and enjoy!