|
|
|
|
|
Subscribe Every week we send out our "Parousia Weekly E-Letter." These letters are intended to keep you updated regarding our various on-going ministry activities, to provide you with insights for what it means to be a counter-cultural witness to a Post-Christian culture, and articles designed to encourage you to become the Church that meets in your house. To subscribe you can click on the RSS button below, or the one above on the right side of the URL Address. Save the bookmark to your toolbar and each week's e-letter will be listed as the first item in the list.
Our you can type SUBSCRIBE in the subject line of a blank e-mail and send it to newsletter@parousianetwork.org Back Issues Click here to explore back Issues of The Parousia Network Weekly E-Letter Update
|
Parousia Weekly Update
Letter For The Week
of December 27, 2006
"Every age has its own
characteristics. Right now
we are in an age of
religious complexity. The
simplicity which is in
Christ is rarely found among
us. In its stead are
programs, methods,
organizations and a world of
nervous activities which
occupy time and attention
but can never satisfy the
longing of the heart. The
shallowness of our inner
experience, the hollowness
of our worship, and that
servile imitation of the
world which marks our
promotional methods all
testify that we, in this
day, know God only
imperfectly, and the peace
of Christ scarcely at all."
A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of
God
In This
Issue:
Upcoming Organic
Church Movements Conference
- January 26-28
Amazing Grace -
The Movie
The Parousia
Podcasting Project & Website
Update
Bonus
Newsletter: "Umbrellas,
Crosses & The Kingdom of
God"
A House Church
Manifesto Updated
Just In Case You
Were Wondering
(Incinerations All Caught
Up)
"A Gathering Of
Angels . . . And A Time To
Dance"
Dear Friends,
I pray you had a wonderful
Christmas holiday and are
getting geared up for a
productive year of ministry
ahead!
Blessings,
Maurice
Organic Church
Movements Conference -
January 26-28
Neil Cole and the gang from
CMA are sponsoring an
Organic Church conference in
January in Long Beach, CA.
Sorry I'm late on putting
this info out. Speakers
include Wolfgang Simson and
Alan Hirsch (co-author of
"The Shaping of Things To
Come"). Gale & I are hoping
to be able to go (as the
Lord provides). I would
encourage any of you who can
make it to be there. It
should be excellent. For
more info go to the CMA
website. Here's the link:
www.cmaresources.org/greenhouse/conference.asp.
Amazing Grace - The
Movie
If you read my e-letters for
November 20 and December 5
you might have come away
with the idea that Maurice
doesn't believe in spiritual
transformation and it's
impact upon society. Allow
me to offer three responses:
First,
wrong. Second,
read my article entitled
"Historic Spiritual
Awakenings and Market Place
Transformation" posted
on the House Church
Resources page of our
website. Third,
go see "Amazing Grace". Over
the holidays I came across
the trailer for a new movie
to be released February 23.
And I think we are all in
for a treat. The movie is
"Amazing Grace: The
William Wilberforce Story."
Let me summarize the story
and plot line by offering a
quick history lesson. You
probably know the story of
John Newton, the former
slave ship captain who
converted to Christianity
and wrote the hymn, "Amazing
Grace". Newton came to faith
in Christ during the
Evangelical Awakening,
abandoned the slave trade,
studied for the ministry and
became pastor of the Olney
parish where he ministered
until his death in 1803.
Newton came to despise the
slave trade which he had
formerly practiced and began
to preach against it. In
1785 he was approached by a
young member of Parliament
named William Wilberforce.
Now, Wilberforce had been
raised by an aunt and uncle
who were strong supporters
of Wesley and the
Evangelical Awakening. In
1780 he was elected to
Parliament. And in 1784 he
experienced a conversion to
Evangelical Christianity
which radically changed his
life. It was this young
Wilberforce who approached
John Newton, now an
evangelical pastor, and
asked his counsel concerning
what he as a Christian
should do regarding slavery.
For the next two years the
former slave trader turned
pastor mentored the young
Parliametarian and
evangelical Christian until
finally, on Sunday evening,
October 28, 1787 Wilberforce
wrote in his diary, "God
Almighty has set before me
two great objects: the
suppression of the Slave
Trade and the Reformation of
Manners." For the next
20 years William Wilberforce
worked tirelessly in the
Market Place of political
ideas to transform the
economic Market Place of the
slave trade. Prior to his
death in 1791 an elderly
John Wesley wrote to
Wilberforce and encouraged
him in his fight against the
slave trade, which Wesley
himself detested and
preached against. Finally,
in 1807, Parliament adopted
Wilberforce’s Motion for the
Abolition of the Slave Trade
and abolished the slave
trade in England. In 1833,
one month after
Wilberforce’s death,
Parliament abolished the
slave trade throughout the
British Empire, and they did
it on the basis of Christian
conscience without firing a
shot in anger, even offering
financial compensation to
slave owners for the
economic loss of their
property. I think this is a
timely movie. Our Post
Modern culture has, for the
most part, forgotten it's
Christian heritage, and is
unaware that many of the
social ills which are now
the subjects of government
programs were once addressed
by Christians who offered
a "voice crying in the
wilderness" representing the
voice of moral conscience at
a time when such stands were
unpopular. Genuine
Christianity has always been
at its best when it has
served "the least of these"
and this movie is a reminder
of both our heritage and our
promise. You can view the
movie trailer on line at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Cv5P9H9qU.
Andrew Jones ("Tall Skinny
Kiwi") is suggesting that we
organize opening day parties
for the movie around the
release date. Read more at
http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2006/12/amazing_grace_t.html
The Parousia Podcasting
Project & Website Update
It is my
firm
belief
that the
house
church
movement
needs to
create
and
control
its own
media -
its own
access
to the
market
place of
ideas -
rather
than
leaving
our
media,
our
access
and our
lines of
communication
in the
hands of
others.
What
army in
times of
battle
and
warfare
surrenders
its
lines of
communication
to
others?
Podcasting
is one
of those
lines of
communication
that we
need to
develop
as an
important
means of
getting
our
journey
and our
story
out
where
people
can hear
and
interact
with it
in
the market
place of
ideas. I
look
forward
to the
day when
we are
doing
regular
house
church
"round
table
discussions"
with
5-Fold
leaders,
house
church
theologians,
HC
leaders
and
practitioners.
As the
wildfire
of
spiritual
awakening
begins
to
spread,
podcasting
also
provides
us with
a
vehicle
for immediate
communication
about
what is
happening. When
I began
this
project
I knew
it would
eventually
cost us
around
$6,000.
And we
are
right on
track!
Thus far
we have
purchased
nearly
$4,000
in
equipment
(thanks
to two
very
generous
gifts by
house
church
people
who have
caught
the
vision!)
and are
"closing
in" on
the
rest.
The
remaining
$2,000
(that we
still
need to
raise)
will go
toward
remaining
equipment.
For
example,
I want
4-6 studio
quality
microphones
($150
each) so
we can
do
"roundtable"
discussions
at
conferences
and
other
gatherings. I
would
like to
begin
doing a
weekly
"house
church
round
table"
via
phone
with
people
(some of
you) who
are doing
house
church
and want
to share
things
you are
doing
that are
working,
share
problems
&
solutions,
outreach
ideas,
etc. Also,
I am
negotiating
with a
Christian
satellite
radio
network
about
re-starting
a
half-hour
weekend
radio
program
on house
church. I
want to
pay the
first
couple
of
months
in
advance
(neighborhood
$500).
I
want to
encourage
you to
participate
in this.
I am
sending
this out
to my
small
portion
of the
House
Church
community
because
I would
like to
see the
"free
range
chickens"
in our
movement
come
together
and be
involved
in a
project
that has
the
potential
to bless
and
benefit
the
House
Church/Simple
Church
community
at
large.
Remember, "Many
hands
make for
light
work."
If you
would
still
like to
be a
part of
this
project,
send me
a
REPLY e-mail and
let's
talk. If
you
would
simply
like to
make a
financial
donation
to this
project
you can
send a
check to
The
Parousia
Network,
P.O. Box
18793,
Spokane,
WA
99228.
If you
like
using
PayPal,
hit the
donation
button
on our
website
homepage.
If you
would
like to
actually
SEE
where we
are on
the
project,
click
here.
Remember,
for those of you willing to
use Mozilla Firefox (www.mozilla.com)
as your internet browser,
you can now subscribe to our
weekly e-letter by clicking
on the RSS feed icon on the
right hand side of the URL
address bar on your web
browser. Simply save the
feed to your Bookmarks (add
the Bookmark to your tool
bar) and The Parousia Weekly
E-Letter will show up on
your tool bar and load
automatically. Whenever we
post the new letter, it will
automatically be added as
the top item in your feed
list. Really Cool! This
feature will not work with
Windows Internet Explorer
until version 7 comes out
after the first of the year
(so get Mozilla now and set
yourself free!). We also
plan to begin podcasting
each week's letter (and
we'll try to throw in a few
"extras" just for the
podcast folks!).
Bonus Newsletter: "Umbrellas, Crosses & The Kingdom of God" Because this newsletter is already long enough, and because I have been working on some additional thoughts regarding house church in our Post Modern Culture, I thought I would offer you "a two-fer." Yep, two letters for the price of one! We'll call this a "Bonus Newsletter." I actually started work on it a couple months ago, but I had second thoughts about it because, well, it expresses some of my "harder" thoughts and reflections on where the church is today in our Post Modern culture and what it means for the house church movement. And rather than fill your e-mail box with another letter I thought I would simply make it available as a link (If you have set up an RSS subscription feed, then it is already in your list of available letters). Here is the link: A House Church Manifesto Updated As many of you know, following a conference with Wolfgang Simson here in Spokane in April of 2005 I wrote a paper "A House Church Manifesto: Towards An Apostolic Strategy For Rapidly Multiplying House Churches In Spokane." You can find the original version in the e-letter archives on our website, and it also forms Module 10 of our house church equipping workbook. I have said all along that this is not a "static" document. It is intended to be a living, breathing "work in progress; a compilation of what I believe God is saying regarding the ingredients for a movement of rapidly multiplying house churches in our area. A fair amount of water has "passed under the bridge" since that first version, and I am working on an extensive revision. I would appreciate your input. The current working revision is posted on our website home page in a PDF format. I would appreciate any thoughts you might be willing to offer. Just In Case You Were Wondering
O.K., this is a quick
update in case you were
wondering how the
Klingons are coming
along on the backlog of
incinerations steming
from those unfortunate
souls who have chosen to
UNSUBSCRIBE
from these weekly
e-mails. First, let me
say that you are still
free to UNSUBSCRIBE.
Simply type UNSUBSCRIBE
in the Subject line of a
blank e-mail (without
any nasty & disparaging
comments about my dog's
pedigree) and send it
to:
newsletter@parousianetwork.org.
All UNSUBSCRIBE requests
are
promptly forwarded to
the Klingon high command
who have agreed to
arrange for your
incineration on our
behalf (which is
actually easier than
trying to find you in
our antiquated
database!). As I shared
in an earlier
e-mail, the Klingon's
profusely apologized
(they were really
embarassed) for any
inconvenience that you
(or your little dog)
experienced by their
delay in getting around
to you. For a
while there they were
simply swamped with
incineration requests,
stemming from a prior
long-standing
incineration agreement
the Klingon's had with
Starbucks on Rigel 7 to
roast coffee beans for
export (thereby clearing
up the mystery of why
Starbucks coffee
consistently has that
burnt bean flavor. Given
the Klingon penchant for
incineration and
over-kill, well, it all
suddenly made perfect
sense). Anyway, the GOOD
NEWS (at least for us)
is that the Klingon high
command has informed me
that they have now
gotten caught up on all
incineration requests.
And in the interest of
maintaining positive
business PR they have
arranged for free drink
coupons from Starbucks -
one for each
incineration. Life is
good . . . well, at
least for us! O,
yes, you can still
SUBSCRIBE by typing
SUBSCRIBE in the Subject
line of a blank e-mail
and sending it to
newsletter@parousianetwork.org.
But no free drink
coupon. We're keeping
those.
"A Gathering Of
Angels . . . And A Time
To Dance"
© 2006 THE PAROUSIA NETWORK of
House and Cell Churches (www.parousianetwork.org)
|
