Marc's Messages

Important: read this carefully!

In case you are subscribed to Marc's Messages with RSSfwd (http://www.rssfwd.com), which means you receive my updates by e-mail, then please note that you have to resubscribe to my new blog if you want to stay in the loop. Go to http://marcsmessages.typepad.com and submit your e-mail address in the right margin. This is the ONLY way to stay updated on new posts as I won't be publishing anymore on my old blog!

Please also update your links. The best url to link to is the main one: http://marcsmessages.typepad.com (not with /mm/ at the end).

A new season, a new blog

Today is the last day I'm posting on this blog. Tomorrow I will launch a new weblog (version 3.0), where I will post less frequently - let's say three times a week instead of daily - but certainly with interesting perspectives on the new season we're in. If Typepad cooperates well, the url remains the same. If not, I will tell you.

OK, I moved over. If you still see this blog instead of my new one, make sure you use the url http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/ instead of http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/. If necessary adapt your links.

And the winner is...

Who are the three blog friends that will join me for a cool dinner tonight in the historic city of Utrecht? Will there be anyone at all? First the correct answers to the three questions:

1. How many posts did I publish on Marcs Messages in the period of five years?
Answer: 531 on my old Blogspot + 1137 at Typepad (including today's posts) brings the total number on 1668.
Winner: Neck-to-neck between Heidi and Karolien, but Heidi wins with a difference of just 6 posts.

2. How many pageviews did that generate?
Answer: as I can only access the Typepad statistics of the past three years, I had to 'approach' this one myself, and my realistic estimation is 280,000 pageviews.
Winner: Gabi was way too optimistic, but still wins with a difference of 220,000 pageviews.

3. And how many times did I mention the word 'reformation'?
Answer: 6 times on my Blogspot + 195 times on Typepad, brings the total on 201.
Winner: Heidi (or is this one for Stuart?)

As likely none of you can make it to Utrecht tonight, I will invite Karolien to join me on your behalf. As a compensation I will pay a meal for you next time we meet somewhere in the world, ok?

Wrap-up of the past 3 weeks

Yes friends, I'm back in the blogosphere. Of course lots of blog-worthy things happened over the past three weeks, but I disciplined myself not to touch my keyboard (at least not for regular blogging), which was a helpful exercise to prove to my wife that I'm still normal. On the other hand my conscience as a historian says I can't leave extended 'white spots' in the chronicles, causing later generations to guess what happened, and reconstruct a picture in retrospect, which might be completely wrong. Something like praising Constantine for the birth of the house church movement. So here we go, a helicopter overview of the past three weeks:

- this month it has been 10 years since I started Joel News, which was a good reason to throw a party and unmodestly interview myself, as well as being interviewed by several media.
- on the family side we finished our cleaning-up house project, David broke a little bone in his wrist and can't use his right hand for a few weeks, and Karolien and I booked our flights to Trondheim;
- interacted with several organic church planting trainers on the development of a European training concept that can easily be implemented in different nations;
- met up with people of the GIDS network in Utrecht, paid a visit to Ellel Ministries' new base in Baak, and taught for experimenting young people in Delft on 'church as a movement';
- spent two days consulting with 15 organic church planters from Europe in Basel, Switzerland;
- developed a new collaborative e-zine in Dutch about the 'shift that happens' (more about this later);
- had ongoing interactions with Connect friends in several parts of Europe to get some overview of what God is saying to us corporately.

Blog fast till 8 February

After nearly five years of blogging (I know, this really sounds as if I'm getting old, and in blogosphere terms I probably am) it's time for a break, a so-called blog fast. I will not post on this blog for the next three weeks. Yes, that's a bloody long time. Likely it will take me more discipline to refrain from blogging, then it took me to blog daily. But it's good to take some distance from a place that has become so familiar. Let's see how I fare and what new inspiration will come for the next stretch of my life online. In case you were wondering - I might even join the 12 step program of Bloggers Anonymous. ;-)



My next post will be on February 8 2007, and this is a special day, because I will treat three blog friends on a cool dinner in the historic city of Utrecht that very evening. That is to say, if you can make it to Utrecht and give the best answer to at least one of these three questions:

1. How many posts did I publish on Marcs Messages in the period of five years?
2. How many pageviews did that generate?
3. And how many times did I mention the word 'reformation'?

Whoever comes closest to one of these three figures wins, so no need to get it exactly right. Please don't mail me (after all I have a fast :-), but put your answer in a comment to this post, so everyone can check on you. And watch this space on February 8. If you want to receive a notice by e-mail, then sign up for the daily update in the sidebar on your right hand. See ya later.

Angry about church 0.5

My German friend Andreas says he's angry about 'church 0.5' and can't stand 'nice' church services anymore. I can sympathize with that. When you've experienced God at work in all sorts of contexts and live beyond the reality of the average-sized church box, there's no way you can ever be satisfied with church as we know it (church 1.0), let alone a shallow or slightly improved version of it (church 0.5 or 1.5). You yearn for church 2.0 and pursue this reality whatever it takes. Andreas also quotes an observation that Alan Hirsch shared with us last week after his visit to Norway:

"I'm worried about the lack of fire in the young people I met. The lack of youthful rebellion is worrying! All revolutions are fired up by young people. If the young are 'nice' something is wrong."

When I shared this with Niina, who visited us last week, she said: "Oh that's typical for Scandinavia. It's the Jante Law. Come to Finland for an even 'nicer' version." But hey, if our Nordic friends shake off this state of slumber, watch out - the apostolic 'going where no man has gone before' comes out. Reinhold calls this the 'Viking spirit'. I don't especially like that term, as these guys ransacked Holland several times. Easy talk for Reinhold, the Vikings never made it to Switzerland on their looting trips. ;-)

Is SCP still a valid approach?

In our interaction with Alan (insert), Reinhold raised the question whether Saturation Church Planting (SCP), the classical DAWN method (mobilize all the churches in a give area to 'saturate' their area with new churches, in order to have a church in walking distance of every inhabitant) still is a valid approach. Certainly SCP in the sense of cloning existing (overall non-missional churches) is not the way forward. Besides, the terms 'church' and also 'church planting' are quite loaded, and not very helpful in a post-Christian context. Oivind said that in Norway they adopted the term 'multiplying communities' instead of 'church planting'.

Alan said he would focus on raising up missionaries who use church planting as a major (but not the only) tool. He stressed that 'church renewal' should not be a focus in itself, but is always the result of real mission and innovation taking place on the fringes. Church structures and traditions keep the imagination of mission captive, so one of the main areas to train missionaries in is to imagine the Kingdom in areas where it's not yet visible.

Dangerous stories

Today, while Alan Hirsch was teaching at the Salt Academy on his latest book 'The Forgotten Ways', we had a valuable conversation in the DAWN team on training organic/missional church planters in Europe, a project I'm working on, and the question "what exactly is good news in our culture?". Around dinnertime I met up with Torben Søndergaard, a young evangelist and organic church planter who also heals people on the street (and trains young Christians to do the same). Danish national television found this remarkable, so they followed Torben and his family for several weeks to make a real-life "healing with Jesus" soap. Cool. In the evening Alan joined us for a sigar and he explained the set-up of the Forge training, and the incarnational strategy of a large 'cafe community' in Melbourne.

Missional church in Denmark

I'm two days in Copenhagen with the DAWN team. In Cafe Retro I met Thomas Willer, who started a house church network for young people in the city, and Rie Frilund Skårhøj (always funny, these Viking names), who sort of runs the cafe. It was good to get a picture of how young people in Denmark pursue organic and missional church.

A nomadic journey

Just heard that we have to move office again. Feel a bit like a nomad. Perhaps I should buy a bigger car, like a Ford Transit, and rebuild it into a mobile office. What d'ya think? Of course the ideal solution would be that we find affordable office space in the centre of the Netherlands that is flexible, but available more long term... or would that settle me too much? Anyway moving office bores me, as every move costs me at least one-and-a-half week and full month without internet access.

Top-5 postings of 2006

It's becoming a tradition: the five postings on this weblog that provoked most comments in 2006. This time they're quite diverse. Earlier episodes: 2005, 2004.

1. My unpublished April 1 report
My fake Joel News report on the spreading of a 'judgement virus' in the Netherlands stirred a lot of response, especially from Dutch readers, and proved once again that in John Calvin's own country pagans tend to have a better sense of humor than Christians.

2. Member registration system
The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) developed a new, national member registration system that cost 5.2 million euro. Interesting investment for a church that looses 100,000 members every year. Is counting members useful at all?

3. Cleaning up house
To prepare ourselves mentally and physically to move, we decided to get rid of 50% of all the stuff in the house (including furniture). Apparently this shocked some, and inspired others. An no, our kids don't need pyscho-therapy because we robbed them of their toys.

4. YES! finally go it!
Well, fair enough, it was truly historic. After four times the average number of lessons, four different instructors, and four attempts to pass the final exam I finally got my drivers license.

5. How are the Brits doing? and Baptisms at Soul Survivor
A shared fifth place for two posts. After visiting a missions conference in the UK DAWN colleague Andreas Wolf exclaimed: "So much good things, but it's still all 'doing church'. Doing more church. Doing church better. Doing more bettter. Doing better more. It's all 'church 1', or probably already 'church version 1.7', but I keep desiring to see 'church version 2.0'!" This stirred a spicy response from the Brits. In the meantime Soul Survivor baptized new Jesus followers at their festival, which started a conversation on what is the right time and context to baptize people.

Talking synergy

I've been interacting with various friends in the Netherlands about a possible new 'hub' for innovation and reformation. It also came up today when we met with a number of Shift'ers at the local Chinese restaurant. If there is a growing momentum for change, how can we create synergy and steward it well?

The missional DNA

Had lunch with Steve Hill, who just returned from Central Asia. Assessing the organic church landscape in Europe and the need to train 'simple church' planters, we came to the conclusion that those 'simple church' networks that seem to thrive all have a missional DNA, and this is mainly imparted when the person who carries the vision is an apostle or an evangelist. So when aiming to train 'simple church' planters, it's likely most effective to select those that are clearly apostolic or evangelistic in their calling or ministry, and already see the fruit of that in their lives. These people create the missional 'flow' that others (prophets, teachers, pastors) can hook up with.

Irritating Flickr clicking

Do you hear 'clicks' when visiting this website, then drop me a quick e-mail to let me know. Somehow it started when I changed the pictures in my Flickr badge in the left menu bar. If it irritates you, you could turn the volume of your speakers down. To get rid of it all together, see this solution in the Flickr help section.

Joel News RSS feeds (2)

I already mentioned that Joel News now has RSS feeds for the international and Dutch editions. You can pick these feeds up in your RSS reader, but also use them to automatically include the headlines and/or an introduction to the main news report in your own website or weblog. It's a cool feature, and there are two ways to apply it:

1. In Typepad go to 'Edit Design', then 'Change Content Selections', then (on the right) 'Feeds'. Click on 'Add a new feed'. Give in the feed's rss/xml address. Then in 'Change Ordering' you can position the headlines in the right place of your weblog. For an example of how it might look like see the left bar of this weblog (refresh page if the headlines don't show up). Other blog providers might have similar features in the admin menu.

2. To include the headlines and/or news introductions in other websites, you first have to generate the java script or html code to include in your website's source code on the place where you want the headlines to show up. There are several websites where you can generate this code. A simple one is Feed2JS and a more advanced one (to have it fit your site's design) is FeedSweep. See the Joel News frontpage for an example of how it might look like.

A beachhead to Europe

Had an interesting phone conversation with David Orton, a prophet from Melbourne. We met up last September in Canberra, and he plans to come to the Netherlands in March 07 to connect with people in our Shift network. David sees a connection in God's plans for reformation between the Netherlands, Switzerland and Australia.

In the afternoon Matt Helland, an American missionary/organic church planter to Amsterdam, paid me a visit. When I asked him how long he will stay in the Netherlands, he replied: "I will stay here for fifty years." I was taken aback a bit, but he was serious. He believes the Netherlands is a beachhead for a new move of God in Europe, and wants to be in for the long run. Cool.

The 1% rule of blogging

You've probably heard about the 80/20 rule: 20% of church-goers does the work of 80%. It's a variation of the Pareto Principle. But how is that on the internet? I've been interacting with Niina and some other friends about forming online communities, and as communities in which most people don't participate tend to be quite boring, it's relevant to know.

Ellel Ministries goes East

Peter Freeke of Ellel Ministries paid me a visit. Ellel is a UK based ministry for (training in)discipelship, healing and deliverance, and Peter set up the Dutch branch earlier this year. It was interesting to hear that they're quite holistic in their approach, and thanks to the connection with Alistair Petrie (Transformations) even have courses on bringing restoration to the land and launching out in the marketplace. Peter told me he just signed the contract to buy castle De Baak near Zutphen from the Focolare movement. So Ellel is coming up to speed quite fast.

Messing up websites

I've been messing around a bit with various websites. Last night my weblog was suddenly cut in half and appeared in quite interesting colours. Happily I was able to repair the problem, some glitch in Typepad. Today I finally set up a simple no-thrills website for Joel Ministries (was still in development). I also repaired a Frontpage error in the Joel News main site which made Mozilla see tables where they weren't planned. I also reworked (or rather referred) Gebedsbeweging.nl and Transformations.nl, domains I hosted at the time I was more involved in the Dutch prayer and transformations scene, but that now refer to the Joel News resource site in development. In the meantime Rob is trying to arrest a trojan that is intervening with some processes on my notebook.

Joel News wallpapers

Realising I have so many good and more or less unused pictures, I decided to make a few wallpapers for Joel News. If you like them, you can download them for free on my Flickr page. Once there, click on the picture you like, go to 'all sizes' and select the original, then click your right mouse botton and select 'use as wallpaper/background'. That's it, can't make it much easier.

Joel News RSS feeds

For those interested in the RSS feeds for Joel News, check out the Dutch and international edition at Squarespace. These websites are still in an experimental phase, but the feeds work, offering the weekly headlines and an introduction to the first report. To receive the full reports in your mailbox you have to sign up for a small annual amount.

Being headhunted

Last Friday Matthijs jokingly said that the pioneers among the Gen X'ers are in a good position, because most established Evangelical leaders will be retiring in the next few years, and senior management jobs are opening up. But would directing the Evangelical Alliance or a theological seminary really be so cool? To what extent are old wineskins really changeable, especially with a board of established seniors, watching over your shoulder whether you don't mess up their accomplishments?

Was kind a shocked to discover today that I'm being headhunted myself, and not even for a Dutch organisation, but an American one. They sent me a 10-page job description, asking me to "prayerfully consider throwing my hat in the ring as a candidate for the position of president." There you go. Any more offers?

Missional church planters

Matthijs and Lindsey hosted a third network night in The Hague for missional church planters. Lots of good stories and connections. Nice to reconnect with Sjaak Visser, and to meet bloggers Nico-Dirk and Jan face to face, as well as the guys from the Millinx (where Jesus was spotted last). Dave Hund compared the constantinian church and missional movements with two boxes of salt. The former was used for conserving food, the latter for fertilizing soil. Sometimes the constantinian box was also used as fertilizer, but because the salt was so massive, it quenched and destroyed the soil. Read his weblog for the full story. Talked till late at night with Matthijs and Martijn on simplifying the shift for dummies. Ended up in my bed at 1.45 am.

Young media pioneers

Kees van Velzen hosted our second gathering of young media pioneers in his apartment in Bosch en Duin. This time we showcased our work, and I must say I was impressed with the quality of these projects. Kees is working on an online diagnostic toolkit and consulting environment for psychologists, Sjoerd makes fancy promotional movies for broadcasting company SBS6, Martijn writes for Touch Communications' glossy flash website, and Mark designs corporate house styles and brochures.

 

Shifting into 2007

Yesterday our local SHIFT-team met at Douwe & Jiska's place in De Bilt to evaluate the pilot training we did this Autumn. Overall on the content, operational and relational level it went well, but more foundationally we decided not to have a second training in this format. The match between what we envisioned and the diversity of the group was not optimal. In 2007 we will start with a series of local dreaming/envisionig nights, that could develop into a hub for innovators and pioneers in the city (Utrecht and surrounding towns). Based on getting to know people, we can help in forming teams and a simple coaching structure. So the vision continues, but the vehicle changes.

Shiftsoulnetinthehouses.nl

Looks like the various teams and networks I'm part of in the Netherlands are overlapping more and more. The team of the Dutch house church network gradually and partially flowed over in the SHIFT group, of which there are in fact two (one national and one local). Three organic SHIFT guys have been asked by Soul Survivor to speak at their upcoming young leaders conference in february on 'organic church and leadership'. Martijn Moens, who is also part of SHIFT and Soul Survivor just redesigned Indehuizen.nl, while Lucas Vos started a local initiative in Arnhem called Shifttank. Some call this synergy, others confusion. At least it's efficient - there are short relational lines between the various emerging networks - and it shows the growing momentum for 'all things organic'.

Four paradigms in Excel

Lucas Vos, our Excel wizard, came up with a schedule (in Dutch) in which he explains four worldviews, and how this corresponds with four different church paradigms. People who are wired ecologically are most able to creatively apply elements of the other paradigms, dependent on the context. This all sounds very abstract, but it's also very insightful. Enjoy!

Download paradigmas_oude_kerk___nieuwe_kerk.xls

Enneagram and reformation

We had an interesting Shift meeting last week, and I just realized I forgot to blog about it. Bram Flippo gave a presentation on 'The Enneagram and the New Reformation', stating that 70% of humanity is a type SIX (loyalist), and in his experience this percentage is even higher in the church. He explained the interaction of the SIX with some of the other Enneagram types, and this sheds new light on leadership, group dynamics and change processes in the church. In Bram's view reformational leaders have to be very aware of these deeper dynamics if they want to take people through a foundational paradigm shift. I'm attaching his handout in Dutch.

Download enneagram_kerk.pdf

Going to Trondheim

Some years ago I had a prophetic dream about Trondheim, a city in Norway. I still owe you the full story, but will keep that to a later date. In Connect 'Going to Trondheim' has become a code word for unexpected divine assignments. It's interesting that yesterday I happened to share the evening meal with Terje Dahle of Kristent Nettverk and Ministries Without Borders (their apostolic team). He moved from Bergen to Trondheim a year ago to pioneer a new 'organic' initiative. When he heard my story, he extended an invitation for Karolien and me to come over. Cool. To get in the mood, check out this inspiring movie about Trondheim.

More pictures from Denmark

Andrew and I gave a seminar this afternoon on church planting among the emerging generation. And did I mention the great buffet we had over lunch, with all kinds of fish and even caviar? That's what the Scandinavians specialize in. Here are some pictures of today's meeting - from left to right: Anders Michael Hansen of SALT Academy in Copenhagen, who works on a shared learning project of the 10-20 the best church plants in Europe, with Oivind, the DAWN coordinator for Scandinavia; a group picture of the new DAWN team (extended with Paulo Pascoal for the Latin countries and Martin for the British Isles); Andrew and me talking to Peter Madsen (Svend's dad, who works with messianic churches in Israel, and Svend is the house church coordinator for Denmark); and a picture of the plenary meeting.

The challenges of Europe

Martin Robinson (on the picture right with Andrew Jones) is now teaching on the challenges we face in Europe. Let me share my notes with you, for what it's worth. He mentions four:

1. Demographic: a declining population.
2. A militant, intolerant secularism, that refuses to acknowledge the contribution of Christianity, while overstating the validity of her own 'secular story'. Christianity is only recognized as a kind of chaplain to society: a place of honour, but not a powerful movement.

3. New spiritual realities, of which Islam is the most visible. But at the same time: for every person in Europe that converts to Islam, ten turn to Buddhism. For secularists Buddhism is much more attractive: it's a spirituality without much compromise to the secular perspective, but without ethics as well.
4. Christians have to learn to live as creative minorities, because the time of Christendom is over and will not return. Monastic disciplines like dialogue and accountability help to model a Jesus-centered spirituality and discipleship. The hermeneutic of images: telling the Story in a way that's convincing to visually-oriented people. Practical action is needed, especially in restoring family life.

A church planter from Denmark comments: over the past few years 150 new churches have been planted in Denmark, but all of these are immigrant churches, who are not really reaching/discipling Danish culture. Vision among Christians is weak on the local and national level, because there's not much imagination to envision the impact of the Gospel in our culture, it's still easier to lend on tradition, even when this will eventually die out.

Reinhold also presents five challenges of Europe from a strategic missions and church planting perspective:

1. Overcoming Christendom-thinking and becoming a missional-incarnational movement.
2. Seeing multiplicative church planting movements (several generations).
3. Finding ways as Evangelicals to join with Catholic and Orthodox Christians.
4. The need to see apostolic leaders emerge who see beyond the church and see whole regions.
5. Igniting Jesus-centered community-forming movements in the cultural context of Islam.

Martin raises a question: what are the deep values that have to be re-established in society, to see a true re-christianisation of our continent? In the Celtic times it was that the warriors needed to work instead of loot. The monks fed themselves, and in so doing gave testimony to the dignity of work. We have to mobilise the capacity of the church to create social capital, and build into society (instead of 'playing church').

He mentions five key components for Emerging Mission:
- training/recruitment/imagination;
- team: the five-fold debate, apostolic genius;
- cells as the initial goals;
- people of peace: to deeply influence society you need indigenous leaders;
- multiplication DNA.

And five fluid groups that need Fluid Mission:
- youth;
- immigrants;
- the marginalized;
- professional/business groups;
- temporary communities.

And finally three components of training:
- character;
- specific skills;
- missiology for western europe.

Connecting in Copenhagen

Excellent Mexican food and a beer yesterday with the European DAWN team, and two brothers from Latvia - Peter, the bishop of the Baptist Union (on the picture left with Oivind from Norway), and Vadim, president of the Evangelical Alliance. In the evening social time with two Swedish brothers, talking about Så som i Himmelen and Winter depression. Don't know why I fell asleep at some point, but I guess I have a reputation to keep up here. ;-)

The nordic connection

Last weekend 70 Connect and 24-7prayer folks from the nordic nations (Scandinavia and the Balticum) got together in Stockholm. Petra skyped enthousiastically that a new friendship-based ministry network is forming there. Tomorrow I will travel to Copenhagen with the European DAWN team for a consultation with saturation church planters from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Latvia. New streams of life are coming from the north.

How big is your faith?

Saint Nicholas is back in town and the boys put every shoe they could find in front of the door, expecting a big harvest. I hope they won't be too disappointed tomorrow. Several weeks ago, when I faked I had Saint Nicholas on the phone, calling from Spain, Peter said: "I know you're playing a joke on me, dad. Saint Nicholas doesn't really exisit, only Jesus does." Guess that settles the issue then. May Jesus fill all the shoes tonight.

Third SHIFT training

We just finished the third (and last) episode of our SHIFT training for young pioneers, this time facilitated by Dirk-Jan and Koen. Last night I gave a teaching on 'seven steps in the shaping of disciple-making movements', today Koen talked about 'making your dreams reality', and Evert Jan painted a 'Christian worldview of hope'. I guess the three key elements of this training were IFP - Inspiration, Food and Pool. Enjoy some of the pictures (click to enlarge).

Experiencing flooooooow

I experienced a spontaneous creative flow this morning, generating a lot of ideas. Sometimes you need that to get stuff going. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi "flow is a mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity." His book is a great read.

An upgrade for Joel News

For several years I've been on the outlook for a CMS that could combine the graphic quality and non-techie user-friendliness of Typepad with the functionality features of open-source software like Typo3, Mambo or Joomla. It looks like Squarespace is coming very close to what I'm looking for. I just set up an experimental website for the international and Dutch versions of Joel News, with rss feeds for the weekly headlines.

We're currently also transferring Joel News to a new database and mail platform. This will not only save us maintenance time, but also help us to send out html and pdf formatted editions.

Rick on trends and orgasms

This week in Joel News the spicy parts of a 31 page transcript of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, where leading journalists engaged with Rick Warren, pastor of the largest church in North America and author of 'The Purpose Driven Life'. It's a really interesting read, in which Warren addresses five trends in the global evangelical movement, explains six myths of the modern mega-church, and openly shares how he handles money and influence.

A quote I didn't include in Joel News, but that made me laugh, came from David Brooks, columnist of the New York Times. He said: "The group of women in America that have most orgasms are evangelical women, according to the University of Chicago." While quickly adding: "Of course, at the University of Chicago an orgasm is a theoretical construct."

Jaeson's new sword

C. Peter Wagner must have a full-time job writing endorsements for new books that are being published. Jaeson Ma of Campus Church Networks (on the picture playing with a dangerous sword he got for his birthday) decided to give him a break and asked me (among others) to write a little recommendation for inclusion in his book 'The Blueprint. Igniting a passion to plant missional communities on campus'. I haven't read the whole book yet, but what I read already touched me to the core. So here's my little line to make you buy the book:

"This book needs no endorsement. It already carries the fingerprints of God all-over! It will fuel the hearts and minds of a generation called to take hold of Christ and his unshakable Kingdom. May universities all over the world be burning with the fire of ongoing prayer, and become vital hubs for a reformation of church and a transformation of society."

Give me real, don't give me fake

Donny organised a little get-together on MSN with the Australian Connect/Generation Fire team to discuss developments. Cassandra copied one of my quotes to her weblog, where I also discovered some more pictures of our recent Connect Australia gathering, especially the worship times. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

The dynamic of movements

Had lunch with the office and organisation team of Soul Survivor. They asked me to interact with them on the dynamics of movements, the tension between life and structure, and how to build wisely in the coming years. We talked about this article, this book, and the graphs below. The first is Roger's cycle of innovation (see explanation here), the second the BCG matrix on product life cycles and market development (explanation here).

Second SHIFT training

I enjoyed the second episode of our SHIFT training in Westbroek, this time facilitated by Douwe (Church21) and focused on the heart, what it means that Jesus calls us to follow Him.

Evert-Jan came up with some challenging insights on the Ten Commandments. He said Hebrew language doesn't know imperative, so the Big Ten is not about rules or laws, but actually Ten Promises. If we remember (keep focusing on) the God who delivered us, then we will not kill, steal, engage in idolatry, etc. Knowing God brings forth the desire to do good. It's amazing how much Roman judicial thinking influenced our perception of the Gospel, which can easily turn into legalism.

When explaining the message of Jesus, we often start with the concept of sin and that we need Jesus to legally get rid of that problem. But why not start with God's overall plan of restoration, and that Jesus is the Anointed One who can restore and bring to fulfillment. Makes you wonder what conversion is really about. Is it about getting rid of your sins and going to Heaven (the traditional Evangelical perception) or about living a restored life as truely loved sons and daughters of God and bringing restoration to others (see also this Methodist article). It's interesting that in the story of the prodigal son the father's attitude is not judicial (focused on the sin that might be in-between him and his son), but immediately confirms his identity as a son.

In memory of Jim Montgomery

I just received news that Jim Montgomery, the founder of the DAWN movement, passed away. What started in the 1970s in the Philippines, kickstarted a whole new approach to missions: saturation church planting, a holistic strategy combining prayer, research, training and intentional planting of new churches, thus saturating whole areas with the presence of Jesus. Andrew Jones and Wolfgang Fernandez blogged about him, and for those interested: Jim's books can be downloaded for free on the DAWN website. I never met Jim personally, but I remember him as someone who always encouraged. One of his last e-mails said: "Blessings on your so-very-helpful ministry! Your news is much appreciated." Thx Jim, for all the inspiration you provided to so many people.

New office in operation

We don't have a proper internet connection yet, but our new office is now in operation. We moved from the historic centre of Jutphaas to the economic area of Nieuwegein. We have plenty of space here, because most of the building is empty (we rent anti-kraak). How nice to have a private parking place, a supersonic door monitor, a lounge room, a kitchen and three toilets...

Teach2gether in Aalsmeer

Tonight I taught on prophetic prayer for a group of organically wired people in Aalsmeer. Their initiative was called Teach2gether, which means the 'speaker' only gets 20 minutes, then there's a break-out in small groups and everyone comes up with relevant questions. These questions are processed plenary, followed by a time of practice. I liked it, it's quite relaxing to have only 20 minutes, and Gijs who was with me even took part of that.

Reformation of finances

It's not sure whether our planned Connect consultation on 'financing reformation', scheduled for 10-12 November in Prague, will take place. The business guys pulled out, leaving us with just the non-profit types, while the original idea was to have a shared think-tank. You might be interested to check out our initial conversation on this topic. Today Phil Anderson mailed around his contribution, that I really like, and therefore quote integrally:

Some brief thoughts which I would have put into the discussion if I could have been there in Prague:

1) Ronald Sider's challenge that "if just the church, in just America, just tithed, global poverty could be eliminated in a decade and there would still be ample resources for global mission". In other words, God has already given all the money we need for justice and mission to the church (primarily in the affluent West), but we have spent it on new cars and new kitchens... This may mean that financing reformation is primarily a repentance issue rather than an innovation or structural issue.

2) The role of intentional, missional communities, where every member is a minister and the work of mission, mercy, prayer, home-making, hospitality, and financing is divided up among the whole. This means seeing people who go out to earn money and people who stay at home most days as equally valuable, equally called, and equally eligible for leadership recognition as those involved in traditional expressions of so-called ministry. An example is the early Moravian community in North America (Bethlehem PA etc).

3) The importance of tentmaking ministry. No other model of ministry is as simple, flexible, and repeatable, and no other model is as incarnational in being both engaged and mutually dependant on the world it seeks to serve and save. This has a big effect on how we model ministry (no more "full time supported work is the ultimate goal") and how we train leaders (we currently give them a set of skills which may be relevant for some aspects of ministry, but leave them incapable of earning a living in the marketplace or truly identifying with those who do). This causes a dysfunctional and un-Christlike power relationship between leaders and led ("I have positional authority or status over you - but I fear your power to cut off my money supply so I exercise control over you").

4) If God really calls and gifts people to be "stewards", we should leave the financial resources of the kingdom in their hands. Normally we tell the wealthy that their role is to give to ministries (and maybe to do the accounts for us). A few years down the line, there are rarely any tangible assets left to show. If those gifted with wealth and ability kept control of the assets (buildings, revenue streams, reserve funds, etc) but gave free use of them to projects and individuals for a period of time, then they could be easily redeployed across geographical and ministry boundaries as the needs changed. Also a lot of the bureaucracy and politically correct constraints that ministry charities suffer from could be eliminated!

5) Structural issues embedded deep in our economic systems. Monetary systems based on interest (ie all modern capitalist economies) have the effect of taking from the poor and concentrating wealth in the hands of the rich (this is what the english bible calls usury). The turning of more and more types of resources (buildings, land, natural resources) into own-able property has the same effect. These economic systems vastly favour top-down hierarchies rather than bottom-up reformation structures. To allow reformation structures to thrive may require (or cause) economic & political reformation too.

6) Although as God's people we do not even manage to collectively give 10%, the challenge of Jesus is far more radical even than a tithe. When I look at sayings like "love your neighbour as much as yourself" and "if you have two, give one away", I find it hard to imagine that Christ is suggesting anything less than 50% as the amount of finance that Christians should release to purposes other than self. In parts of the world not affected by genuine poverty, this is a realistic possibility for many more people than we have ever dared to admit. OK it would mean a radical move to a simpler lifestyle (and radical revelation on how to wisely use the finances released) - but it would be incredibly powerful and counter-cultural.

Joel is moving office

Sometime ago Rob said: "I think we'll be out of this office by the end of the year." It's dangerous to have prophetic colleagues who say things like this. And my prayer to God to help me move out of my comfort-zone didn't appease things either. So - surprise - last month we were asked to leave 'De Bazuin', where we held office for more than five years, before the end of the year. First I didn't like it, because we have a cool office, then I thought: "OK, so this must be God, and likely He'll have something better." I looked at Marktplaats (kinda eBay) for temporal office space, and found a more spacy place close-by for half of the price. It's anti-kraak, but hey, we can't afford commercial rates and long-term renting contracts, so it's good for the time being. Today I got confirmation that we can move there, and so I made arrangements for mid-November. For pure nostalgia a few pictures of our 'old' office.

Could you listen with us?

Last Monday we mailed some of our friends: "We are halfway a week of prayer and fasting to seek God's direction for the coming time, and would like to ask you to listen with us, and in case you receive any (prophetic or practical) impressions or insights for our situation, share them - preferably this week. We sense we are on a threshold, a door into a new phase and dimension of ministry, that might include a geographic move as well, in- or outside the Netherlands. We have a rough indication of where things are heading, but it's important that we hear specifically from God where to move next, whom to link up with, our specific assigment, etc."

It's an interesting experiment, this kind of corporate listening. Is God saying the same things to our friends as we sense He's saying to us? Or is He perhaps giving a little snippet to everyone, and put together this might paint an interesting picture? If you want, you can still join the experiment and mail us what you sense God is saying to you about us. Don't worry whether it makes sense or not, we can handle that. We're not in a hurry, and will come back to it later.

Diving in the water

Gijs, one of the younger guys I'm coaching, asked me last month if I would be willing to baptize him. I told him jokingly that I would wait till mid-Winter when it's freezing, just to test his commitment. But today he told me he just couldn't wait that long. Last Sunday he dived in the local swimming pool during a baptismal service, to get it done. Cool. Go Gijs, go!

First SHIFT training

We just finished the first episode of our SHIFT training in the Egberts farmhouse in Westbroek, outside Utrecht. It's cool to journey with a group of 12 (wannabee) pioneers. Evert-Jan facilitated the talks, and the focus was 'renewal of thinking', shifting our paradigms from church-as-we-know-it to following Jesus wherever He leads and let church happen on the way.