Marc's Messages 3.0

Prophets and power structures

Today Margreet Bouw of the house of prayer in Utrecht and I taught at Time to Turn's Prophets Training in Nieuwegein. Time To Turn is a youth organisation for social justice, fair trade and ecologic sustainability. It was interesting to see that in this group the areas of social action (horizonal prophetic dimension) and hearing/seeing from God (vertical prophetic dimension) hadn't really touched yet. So I guess it was good that we could challenge them to act out of revelation (hearing/seeing from God) instead of just a good idea, and combine the creativity in which they already excell with sensitivity for God's timing, connections and focused prayer. Especially when confronting power structures (be it religious, social or politcal) it's important to realize that it's demonic (not just human) power that upholds injustice. Anyway, illustrated with movie clips from The Matrix, Monty Python and Luther I gave eight characteristics of a prophetic calling:

Going takes away our fear

Brother Andrew is a Dutch pioneer evangelist (and I'd say also a prophet) who boldly goes to places where most people wouldn't be eager to go. In an interview with Christianity Today he challenges Christians to pray for bin Laden. "That question shocks a lot of us. Of course we haven't prayed for him! That is why he is what he is. We have an evangelical black list of people we don't want to see in heaven and put bin Laden on top. Saddam Hussein is probably second. In my 50 years of ministry, my biggest meetings have been always in the Muslim world. Why are we so timid? Why are we so afraid? They barely let me speak at my own evangelical church in Holland! I'm being sarcastic, but it is the truth. I find it easier to get speaking engagements with the Taliban than with my own evangelical church."

Life outside the church box

The Lord of the Church seems to be leading more and more of His followers out of the church box. As my friend Andreas describes in his post 'A prophet's dilemma', this transition phase from Church As We Know It to Church As God Wants It (Simson terminology) can be challenging. Steve Hill describes the same dillema in his latest newsletter from a more apostolic point of view. He states that our church system has become an idol and is turning more and more young people in East Europe away from Christ. Often we preach a gospel of the church instead of a gospel of the Kingdom that is truly good news to the poor. Pete Greig also gives words to this in 'The Vision', a moving prayer that speaks to the heart of a whole generation. C'mon!

Three revelation milestones

Where is the organic-reformational movement, or in my geeky friend Andreas' words 'church 2.0', heading? On his weblog he draws together three 'revelation milestones': Wolfgang Simson's (to be released) 'Apostolic Architecture', Alan Hirsch's 'The Forgotten Ways' and Simon Mason's 'The Net'. Having interacted with all three guys over a beer, I agree with Andi that these macro, meso and micro approaches make a revolutionary mix of the Kingdom.

Why I aim for a reformation

Over the past few weeks I've been interacting with a number of friends and fellow pioneers in the Netherlands about this question: should we take the structural reality of church as it is for granted and (within or out of that context) aim for maximum renewal and innovative missional experiments, or should we aim for a reformation that will shake the foundations of today's church, and re-defines and re-imagines church based on a deeper revelation of Christ and how He intended his Body to function?

Let me start to point out that I believe we need both, and both are valid aims to pursue. I believe it's unfruitful to polarize these two approaches. Innovators and reformers should stand side-by-side when it comes to pulling the church out of her comatic state of unfruitfulness. However, I decided (already a number of years ago) to bless the various expressions of much needed renewal, but aim for a deeper reformation of church. Yesterday, when sharing a meal with Matthijs and Martijn, I drew a picture to visualize the process we are in (click to enlarge).

Holy cows in the polder

Today I had a conversation with Jefferie Lammers, who publishes a prophetic e-zine in Dutch called 'David's Tabernacle'. Realizing that Jesus is calling his people out of religion to really be his Body (his acting side) on this earth, we agreed that what is crucial in this time of change or transition is prophetic discernment, and the willingness to kill our holy cows.

Being in Trondheim

As I write this, I'm overlooking Heimdal, a suburb of Trondheim. We're staying with Terje and Lise Dahle in their typically Norwegian wooden house. Terje leads the new board of DAWN in Norway and oversees the Norwegian churches of Kristent Nettverk, an apostolic network that originated in Bergen. Trondheim is quite similar to Utrecht: it's the birthplace of Christianity in the nation, has a cathedral right in the centre, and a rather large student population. If you're interested to update your knowledge of Trondheim, then check out this short introduction movie.

It has been a few years since the parachute dream. The good thing is that God has been speaking to more people about Trondheim. In fact, two Connect friends - Gabi and Heidi - had another prophetic story to add to the mix. When in November last year I met Terje at a DAWN Scandinavia meeting in Copenhagen, he said: "If God is speaking about my city, then you should come over and share." Which is the reason why I'm here. The Dahle's are very hospitable, in fact they're spoiling us with wonderful Norwegian food like salmon, caramel cheese and jarred berries.

Going to Trondheim

One aspect of God's Kingdom is unpredictability. Not knowing where you end up when you travel with Jesus. Let me share a crazy story with you...

I was on an evening flight from Bergen to Oslo (two cities in Norway). Because it was Winter time, it was dark outside. Now and then you could see a little light far away on the ground. The flight goes smoothly, until halfway suddenly a flash of revelation hits me, that soon turns into a conviction: I'm not supposed to go to Oslo, but to Trondheim, a city 500 kilometers up north! I immediately realise that God is speaking to me, and that He might have some sort of assignment for me in Trondheim. I make up my mind to check possible add-on flights from Oslo to Trondheim, as soon as I touch down.

A new season of blogging

Welcome to Marc's Messages version 3.0! I'm ready for a new season of blogging. The frequency of this blog will likely be a bit lower than version 2.0, around three times a week. But let's see, when I get in the flow of blogging again, I might accellerate slightly.

What's new? First of all the banner image, adapted from Sigur Ros' clip 'Glosoli', which for me is a prophetic picture of God's Spirit calling and connecting the emerging generation, leading them on a journey out of their safety-zone, into the unknown. The reformational faith dimension of the Kingdom for which we really have to rely on Him. As Winkie Pratney says, "The Kingdom of God is only bordered by unpredictability." God wants us to use our imagination, creativity, faith and pioneering spirit. His Kingdom is not for the faint-hearted!