We are told in scripture to “Weep with those that weep,” (Romans 12:15) and to “Bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:1), which includes our brothers and sisters all over the globe. Being a Christian means being a family, and Romans is a book that reminds us that our family includes those from all nations, ethnicity, and race. Recently there have been three different attacks in Punjab, a state where many believers live by radical Muslims (Taliban). The attacks appear to be intensifying due to the fact that the government is too weak to oppose the Taliban influence. The most recent attack came close to our pastors in Faisalabad, and they are now trying to react to help their people recover from the destruction they have experienced. See Washington Post Article.

Boy Injured From Gunfire

Also go to Christ The King Church (One of our Acts 29 Churches) web sites to see pictures of the recent destruction. We will be taking a benevolence offering along with many of our Acts 29 churches in order to help alleviate the pain our brothers and sisters are currently experiencing.

Let’s continue to pray for Pakistan and the Muslim conflict, and pray for peace for these people, and that God’s glory would begin to transform the region with the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray also that the believers would react in love and not hate (Ala Romans 12:14-21).

http://ajesusmanifesto.wordpress.com/

Thoughts?

I am often asked, “Why do you go overseas to train people? Don’t you have enough to do at your own church?” There is certainly a lot of work to be done everywhere. It was Jesus who said that “The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.” But I believe that in that question lies a fair amount of assumptions.

First, I think it assumes that those that train overseas take away from their work at home, but this isn’t always the case. In my situation, I believe there is a synchronism that occurs as I do both. I benefit in each of these spheres from the other. My work overseas is a blessing, and ought to be a blessing to my congregation at home as I gain a wider, global understanding of the world and the gospel in the world.

Secondly, it assumes that the gospel is an either/or situation, but verses like Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8 assume that the church (All of Us) have a responsibility to bring the gospel to the whole world. As of this writing, there is still a billion people who have not heard of Jesus Christ, and there is no established witness or church in their area. Our task is not to split ministry into a here and there, it simply is missional, and we do what we are called to do and have been blessed to do. The fact is, we are blessed here in America with the money and the training, and hoarding that for our own purposes would be a bad stewarding of the blessings that God has blessed us with.

Thirdly, it assumes that the pastor traveling is solely responsible for the work of the ministry in a given church. We are all called to do the work of the ministry, and we are all called to make sure that we are gospelling one another and loving one another. There is not one person that is gifted for every role in the church, and we all need to heed the call by which we are called. While there are some of us who make our living by preaching the word, we are all called to ministry and the using of our gifts to edify (Build Up) the church.

Fourthly, and somewhat related to #3, is the fact that these type of statements assume that the given local church is the focus of the ministry and can be construed as self-centered. It is not wrong to desire a church that preaches the word for the sake of personal spiritual growth, but we must also rejoice when our people can be used to bless as many other bodies as possible.

We have men who travel to train pastors, translate scripture, teach believers to reach out to their Muslim neighbors, mentor other pastors all to extend God’s kingdom in the world. “Harambee exists to know and worship God by enjoying Him and joining Him in His mission to take His whole story, to the whole person, in the whole world, equipping those that respond to do God’s will and enjoy Him forever.” We are about Jesus and His mission in the world, not just to grow our own particular local expression individually, but we exist to train our people to reach their communities in order to start new expressions of the gospel in the world. This includes working with our brothers and sisters overseas, who have nothing, but they minister so faithfully.

My goal is always to train them to be self feeders, so that they can in turn train others for the sake of the purposes of God in the world.

God bless!

Pastor Mike Gunn

ESV Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

I wanted to encourage us at Harambee to greet one another, not with a holy kiss but to understand the importance of genuinely welcoming one another and loving one another as a family in the scriptures. This encouragement is repeated 5 times to the body of Christ in the NT. We are part of something, a fellowship of those who believe in Christ. While in college I used to walk by the office on my way to some of my classes and the receptionist would always greet me like I was Norm walking into Cheers, remember the TV show? At first I would just give her a strange look and a nod because I thought the only way you know me is from my records or something, but I noticed that she greeted everyone in the same warm and welcoming manner. She genuinely greeted people. I began to see that you don’t have to “know” someone or even be super friends to be able to greet them. Greeting one another with a holy kiss is only an encouragement to use the culturally appropriate form of greeting in a sanctified manner. The people of Paul’s day already greeted each other with a kiss, it is roughly equivalent of a handshake in our culture. Could we say greet one another with a holy handshake? I think that is fair, but what does a holy handshake look like, what is a holy greeting?
Ok, step one: make holy eye contact. Step two: walk in a holy fashion toward the person you are going to greet. Step three: … Just kidding. Many people get hung up on how to do a holy kiss, what are the mechanics of it. Do we kiss the cheek? Both or just one, do we shake hands at the same time? While I living in Ecuador the common greeting for women was to shake hands and then kiss on the cheek. It took me a while to get the hang of the kissing on the cheek thing, you basically just touch cheeks and make a kissing sound. I remember practically head-butting one poor lady because I stumbled as we leaned in to greet. (Side note: If you are going to greet someone with a kiss make certain of your footing.) Initially, I didn’t do much for the reputation of Gringos, sorry. Eventually, I became comfortable with it and no more head-butts. It was just the way we greeted, as a good missionary I tried to fit into the culture. Of course there where some sisters at Church who also tried to be culturally sensitive to us gringos. They were the greeters at the Sunday services and would stand at the door warmly greeting everyone as they entered. When the got to us gringos they would stand up straight and stick out their hand to shake ours, with a knowing look of compassion for us who didn’t understand how to greet someone. The external mechanics of the cultural greeting are not the ultimate issue here. Once again it is the heart. The Pharisees accussed Jesus of not being ceremonially clean when he and his disciples ate. Jesus replied
5”And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘ This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” Mark 7:5-9
The point here that bears constant reminder is that external practices do not make one holy. Even circumcision the sign of the Abrahamic covenant did not make one holy. God says circumcision is of the heart. The encouragement to greet each other in a holy way is speaking to our heart. Encouraging a heartfelt greeting, a sincere greeting that recognizes the individual and welcomes them with a genuine love and care. One might say, but I don’t genuinely love and care for everyone who comes to church I don’t have time, or…
“But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” -1 Corinthians 12:24-27

Remember Jesus taught the Apostles and us that our love for one another would be a distinguishing mark by which we would be recognized as His followers. What is our motivation in greeting each other in the Church? We are exhorted to let our love be genuine and not to show partiality in the Church. Ultimately we are greeting Christ, when Jesus said “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42) and, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40) In the body of Christ we are to think more highly of others than ourselves and take into account that we should treat the disciples of Christ in the way we would treat Christ. How would you greet Christ if he walked in the front door on Sunday morning?

As mentioned in several excellent previous posts on the Pastor Rant site, Harambee has joined with Soma Communities and adopted the Missional model of living out church every day. For many of us, this is a dramatic shift from traditional church structure, where we as consumers go on Sunday to get charged up, and continue to think of church as a place where we gather to worship, study, learn, receive, etc. We (the Elders) keep hitting on this topic because we know that some people are really struggling to make this change.

Missional living is about living constantly for Jesus, doing everything we do (work, school, eating, swimming, whatever) with God in mind and along side of us. Sounds simple, and it really is, but it’s hard to understand in the context of everyday life for many people (me included). We naturally compartmentalize our lives and often think or act differently depending on what situation we are in at the time. The truth is that we are believers or non-believers at all times in our lives so why should we change gears depending on our circumstances?

The leadership of Soma Communities has come up with some very useful tools to try and bridge this gap from traditional thinking to missional thinking. These tools are not some new “5 steps to salvation” or anything like that, they are simply a way of communicating this idea – which by the way is not anything new necessarily, just different from the “western modern” structure we’ve become used to.

The first of these tools is the Identities. If we trust and believe in God, then we are in the process of becoming new through increasing faith and discovery of God and His will, and the circumstances he brings us through in our lives. Reading through and meditating on the Identities and associated scriptures is a great reminder of who we are in Christ. It relieves much of the pressure and fear of change by helping us realize that God is in charge of making ministry happen, not us. We just need to be willing to be used. Whew!

The extension of the Identities is the Rhythms (same page, further down). These are examples and reminders of how our identity in Christ is lived out. We were created to serve God and others, and it comes natural to us. The Rhythms then are ways to express this life for which we were created, and to be examples to others of the new life we have in Jesus.

We don’t need to wait until we’re perfect to live the Christian life. Growth comes from making mistakes, learning from them, and getting stronger from them. It’s time for the body of Christ to begin to live like we believe and love one another, not to depend on the Church to do everything for us because the leadership has more training or seems more gifted than we are. We need to shine His light all the time, not just with our church friends. We need to serve each other as Jesus was a servant. And we need to look to the Lord to teach us about himself and his will every day, not just on Sunday or at a bible study or conference, etc. Once Jesus comes into our lives and begins to heal us, we need to “Get up, take up our beds and walk”.

Having said all of that, please remember that our job as Elders of Harambee is to gently lead you, the body, and each other through this transition. We need to help you bridge the gap, and discover for yourselves what this means to you in your individual life. Please do not hesitate to ask questions or express your frustration (or anything else) with us. It’s all about growing together as a family!

Also, we believe that the Sunday gathering has great value for fellowship and corporate worship, as well as biblical preaching and teaching. What we’re learning is that the Sunday gathering is only a small part of the overall life of a Christian, and both we as God’s people and the world we live in benefit greatly if we take it beyond Sunday into daily life.

In Christ’s Love,

Doug

This is a little over the top and more on the fear side, but you get the gist. What do you all think?

When we think about what it means to be missional (sent by God to carry out his mission where we live and work as daily practice) what does the place where we do that look like these days? Leslie Newbiggin wrote some good stuff on understanding western (now postmodern) culture and how that culture views the gospel of Jesus (ridiculous nonsense, according to philosophy and science). So that’s generally the mind set of people in our area. You can count on it. But modernism is a house of cards quickly collapsing under the weight of its own ridiculous claims, and so people are developing their own forms of spirituality, sort of like a Ben & Gerry’s ice cream flavors. They have to, because humans are spiritual beings, created in God’s own image (spiritual, eternal, creative, industrious, etc). But it’s a mess. Now we hear about people forming an MC group to help single Moms, to serve the poor, to reach their Muslim neighbors, to make a 3rd place for inner-city high school kids. It’s like Jesus leaving the temple court yards and going back out into the hills to talk with the prostitute, or the lowly educated guy, or the sick people, or the demon posed. No matter what the local culture looks like, an MC group is simply Jesus in society, modeling the real church and its mission for all his disciples to see. Is the concept of an MC group all that complicated?

Gilles Gravelle

Here’s some thoughts from an Acts 29 church in Austin, Texas (Austin City Life) on how mission is an extension of our lives. Hope you find it helpful.
Pastor Bryan Nelson
Harambee

“Missional is not an event we tack onto our already busy lives. It is our life. Mission should be the way we live, not something we add onto life: “As you go, make disciples….”; “Walk wisely towards outsiders”; “Let your speech always be seasoned with salt”; “be prepared to give a defense for your hope”. We can be missional in everyday ways without even overloading our schedules. Here are a few suggestions:

Eat with Non-Christians. We all eat three meals a day. Why not make a habit of sharing one of those meals with a non-Christian or with a family of non-Christians? Go to lunch with a co-worker, not by yourself. Invite the neighbors over for family dinner. If it’s too much work to cook a big dinner, just order pizza and put the focus on conversation. When you go out for a meal, invite a non-Christian friend. Or take your family to family-style restaraunts where you can sit at the table with strangers and strike up conversations (Mighty Fine Burgers, Buca di Peppo, The Blue Dahlia, etc.). Have cookouts and invite Christians and non-Christians. Flee the Xn subculture.

Walk, Don’t Drive. If you live in a walkable area, make a practice of getting out and walking your neighborhood, apartment complex, campus. Instead of driving to check the mail, go to the convenience store, or visit a neighbor, get out and walk. Say hi to people you don’t know. Walk the dog. Take a 6-pack. Bring the kids. Make friends. Get out of the house when your neighbors are out (weekends, after work, holidays, afternoons). Take interest in your neighbor’s hobbies. Ask questions. Engage. Pray as you go. Save some gas and the planet.

Be a Regular. Instead of hopping all over the city for gas, groceries, haircuts, eating out, and coffee, go to the same places. Get to know the staff. Go around the same times. Smile. Ask questions. Be a regular. I have friends at coffeeshops all over the city. I pray for them. They give me free drinks and food. I give them the free gospel of grace. I know a professor that used to wait by his trash can each week for the garbage collector and gave him a drink. Be a Regular.
Hobby with Non-Christians. Pick a hobby that you can share with your city, community, town. Get out and rub shoulders doing something you enjoy with others. City League basketball, football, soccer. Local rowing and cycling teams. Teach sewing lessons, piano lessons, violin, guitar, knitting lessons. Be prayerful. Be intentional. Be winsome. Be gracious. Have fun. Be yourself.

Talk to Your Co-workers. How hard is that? Take your breaks with intentionality. Get a drink with your team after work. Show interest in your co-workers. Pick four and pray for them. Form mom’s groups in your neighborhood, just don’t make them exclusively non-Christian. Schedule play dates with the neighbors’ kids. Be sociable.

Volunteer for a Local Non-Profit. Find a non-profit in your part of the city and take Saturday a month to serve your city. Bring your neighbors, your friends, or your small group with you. The options are endless here. Just do it.

Participate in City-wide Events. Instead of playing X-Box, watching TV, or talking to your mom on the phone every weekend, go to the city garage sale, fundraisers, the festivals, the clean-ups, the summer shows, SXSW, ACL, Pecan Street Festival, etc. Go and meet people. Study the culture. Reflect on what you
see and hear. Pray for the city. Love the city. Participate with the city.

Look for opportunities to Serve your Neighbors. Help a neighbor by weeding, mowing, building a cabinet, fixing a car. Stop by the neighborhood association or apartment office and ask if there is anything you can do to help improve things. Stop by your local Police and Fire Stations and ask if there is anything you can do to help them. Get creative.

Don’t make the mistake of making “missional” another thing to add to your schedule. Instead, make your existing schedule missional. Check out this related article on integrating Gospel, Community and Mission into everyday life.”

Over the past several months, Harambee has been making a transition to the Missional Community model/structure and joining forces with Soma Communities. I will post a section soon that outlines why the Elders believe God is leading us in this direction, but we’ll begin with trying to answer the question of “what is a missional community?” first:

The mission of God is to restore all things to himself in and through the work and person of Jesus Christ. His chosen vehicle through which he is accomplishing that mission is the church. The church is the family of God called to together to himself and sent out on his mission. Missional Communities are the primary means through which Harambee/Soma mobilizes people together on mission and connects people to a caring community.

WHAT IS A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY?
A Missional Community consists of a committed core of believers (FAMILY) who live out the mission of God together (MISSIONARIES) in a specific area or to a particular people group by demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms (SERVANTS) and declaring the gospel to others—both those who believe it and those who are being exposed to it (LEARNERS). To clarify, a Missional Community is NOT primarily a small group, Bible study, support group, social activist group, or weekly meeting.

Our hope is that every person who is committed to the Harambee/Soma family and mission will be fully involved in a missional community and eventually the missional communities in a region will multiply and together form a new expression of Soma Communities.

Consider this… The life of the church as recorded in Acts 2:42-47 came as a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the lives of a people collectively committed to the mission of God. The description we read about in Acts was not the means of becoming a great church, but the results of God working through a people committed to him and his mission.

We believe God is still more committed to his mission being accomplished then us having our preferred church experience. Missional Communities exist to partner with God to further his mission in every part of our region.

EACH MISSIONAL COMMUNITY WILL:
1. Be led by a team committed to leading, shepherding, equipping and organizing a community on mission
2. Grow together in understanding and application of the Gospel to who we are (Identities) because of God’s work in and through Jesus
3. Live out the weekly Rhythms of a family on mission together (Story-formed, Listen, Celebrate, Eat, Bless and
ReCreate) – BE the church together throughout the week
4. Identify, equip and release new leadership to begin new Missional Communities

PATHWAYS INTO A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY:
1. Check out the list of MC’s on the Harambee website to find one near you or you want to support the mission of
2. Talk to the MC leader about checking it out
3. Consider starting one in your area and start attending MC leader training sessions when available.