as some of you know, I am into graphic design, photography, marketing and communication. I get particularly frustrated when a church has terrible marketing and communication. I ran across this web page today.... check it out.

doctrine, eh?

By this all people will know you are my disciples, by our doctrine.

opps wait, let's re-think that.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

I have been reading different church's doctrine for the past few days. Where in the bible does it say that we have to hold strong to this perfect doctrine? Don't get me wrong it is important to have a statement of faith but no one has the perfect doctrine. Not one church that I can think of, not one doctrine that I have read. Each one tho, has had peices of what I have found to be true of our Father in heaven. That is encouraging.

I think the apostle Paul would be really, really angry at us right now. If he saw how we are taking his letters, which are really just his testimony to what he knows to be true of the living God, and splitting his words, fighting over them and making them this doctrinal thing he probably wouldn't have even written them. I can only imagine what type of letter he would be writting to the church today. And who said that the bible is this almighty thing we are supposed to fallow? Wait, rethink that. I know and believe the bible to be true, and it is God given to us for a purpose. But the New Testiment isn't over. We are the New Testiment. The "bible" ie testimony of God's faithfulness to us, isn't done being written. Each and every one of us is writting our testimony as we fallow God when he speaks to us. Paul wasn't looking at the old testiment (at least not often since it was tough to get your hands on a scroll) as he wrote his letters to the churchs however many years ago. He was hearing from God. Because yes, we have a God that speaks.

God affirms us through the bible, but He also says things that can't be found in the bible. Example would be me saying, "Hey God, I really want to get that 2003 pontiac vibe. Is that cool?" If God only said things that are found in the bible it would go something like this... "_______________." Yea He would say nothing because there arn't cars in the bible. But here's the thing... just because it cant be found in the bible doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Scary, isn't it? God is a black and white God, but we live in a grey world that we have to allow Him to speak into. There are things now that weren't found back when Paul was around. God is the same God but we are a different time, and He will speak to us. If we hold onto this "only if it's in the bible thing" then we are missing what God might have for us, and really we are just guessing. But if we fallow what Jesus says in the gospel of John "my sheep will hear My voice" we will begin to come into the fullness of what our Father in heaven has for us.

So let's get rid of this doctrinal thing. Let's love God, desire to hear Him (or ask Him to instill in us a desire to hear Him) and love eachother. Let's fallow the things He speaks to us, whether that be through the bible or through His voice unto our hearts.

in us, through us, despite us

"He’s working in us and through us despite us. " – Nate Streed

This is something I am coming to terms with in my life. God is working in us and through us despite us. Despite our slugish ways, we are His vessels. Just broken ones. But as Jim Erickson said a few weeks back in his sermon at City Hill, "There is no plan b. We're it."

Something for you to ponder today. Not everyone is right in their thinking or theology. As a matter of fact I can assure you that most of us are wrong—but God has grace for that. We are it, despite how much we suck a majority of the time He uses us to teach others, and to teach ourselves through His Holy Spirit. And what a good God He is.

And on another note that relates back to that.... take a look at these cartoons I got from Dan Kimball via Dan Wilt's Blog. Pretty interesting... food for thought.

what's up with all this terminology?

ter·mi·nol·o·gy (tûr'mə-nŏl'ə-jē) Pronunciation Key n. pl. ter·mi·nol·o·gies The vocabulary of technical terms used in a particular field, subject, science, or art; nomenclature.

Churches these days are full of what I call the "system". This is disheartening to me because this said "system" puts a lot of things in a box. God doesn't like boxes. Jesus fought against this same system. However on the other hand, terminology is used in the most basic means of communication. You wouldn't really understand what I was typing if we didn't put it in terms that make sense to you. So where is that line drawn?

I just watched a video on the Missional Church Movement and the Emergent vs. Emerging Churches. In the western culture church there are too many terms to be put up next to a church. Missional, Emergent, Reformed, Reformed-Charismatic, Emerging. When did it become so important to make a church just one of these things? I submit to you that the church today is maybe supposed to be all of these things. That we do focus on God being a sovereign and supreme being who is the author and finisher of our lives, that he does desire us to move with His Holy Spirit in an outward expression (charismatic, if you will), that He does desire us to be community oriented or "missional"... the ideal church should be all of these things, and more. So why give a church just one term? Why just one name?