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:

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.