Mother Teresa on prayer and love

This last year we have been concentrating specifically on the themes of love and prayer. I found Mother Teresa's thoughts to be explosive with practicality - and authority. (I found these quotes on a website I enjoy: Evangelicals for Social Action.)

Everything starts from prayer. Without asking God for love, we cannot possess love and still less are we able to give it to others. Just as people today are speaking so much about the poor but they do not know the poor, we too cannot talk so much about prayer and yet not know how to pray.

You may be exhausted with work, you may even kill yourself, but unless your work is interwoven with love, it is useless. To work without love is slavery.

People throughout the world may look different or have a different religion, education, or position, but they are all the same. They are the people to be loved. They are all hungry for love.

… It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your own home for this is where our love for each other must start.

Developing Practical Skills to Love Well

Learning how to love (well) is our vision statement, or theme, for this year. This post will outline some of the practical skills in our quest for an authentic Christian spirituality...

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." Matt 22:37-40 (MSG)

“Love reveals the beauty of another person to themselves” --Jean Vanier, friend and mentor of Henri Nouwen

1. Loving well is the essence of true spirituality – and the culmination of our focus on emotional health from a biblical perspective.
2. Loving well involves authentic interaction (or communication) with God, with ourselves, and with other people.
3. Jesus epitomized – and modeled spiritual and emotional health for us.
4. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were not able to make the same connection with people as Jesus did. They were competent, diligent, zealous, they were absolutely committed to having God as the Lord of their lives…they memorized entire books of the OT, they prayed five times a day, they faithfully tithed off all their increase -- plus gave money to the poor, and they evangelized – yet there is little evidence that they delighted in people.
   

INCARNATIONAL LOVE

“The WORD became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes.” John 1:14, MSG

The word incarnate come from a Latin word that means: in-flesh. The infinite Creator and Sustainer of the universe limited himself to the confines of human history and a human body.
Today the incarnated presence of God is intended to be the Church – identified in the Bible as the Body of Christ –you and me.

3 Dynamics of Incarnational Love…

1. Enter another’s world. James 1:19; Philippians 2:5-8

Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every [person] be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry. James 1:19 (AMP)

• What does it mean to enter “another’s” world? It means to be fully present with another person.

To care means, first of all, to be present for each other. --Henri Nouwen

• Put your own agenda on hold
• Look people in the eye
• Practice reflective listening: Allow the other person to speak until their thought is completed and then try and restate their thoughts in your own words
• Don’t try to fix people.
• Be cognizant of body-language (only 10% of communication is verbal)
• Validate people’s feelings. We can validate without being in agreement. (Feelings are neither right, nor wrong, they just are.)
• Try not to become defensive…
  

2. Hold on to your world. Ephesians 2:10; John 15:15

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created we anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for we long ago. Eph 2:10, (NLT)

In EHC Pete Scazzero states that this dynamic (holding on to our world) is the most difficult and challenging principle to apply. He asserts...

“It is the key to conflict resolution. It is the key to responding in a mature loving way when other people push and challenge your desires, values, and goals inside or outside the church. It is the key to serving as a leader, in any capacity…Without this ability to hold on to yourself, it is not possible to be an imaginative, creative leader who breaks from the status quo and leads people to new places.” (p. 185)

What does it mean to “hold on to your world”?

• Recognize that we almost always have a choice. (The choice often involves choosing between “peacekeeper” or “peacemaker.”) Peacemakers create false peace.
• Holding on to your world: Determine and set clear boundaries...
• Identify and be clear about your limits. Don’t allow people to make demands of you. Allow people to make requests, but not demands. If you hear a request that makes you uncomfortable, your discomfort may be a signal that this is an attempt to invade your boundaries.
• Learn to say The Graceful “NO.”
• “Good boundaries attract good friends.”
  

3. Live in the tension of both. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; Matthew 22:37-40

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Cor 13:4-7

• Living in the tension of another’s world and your own world happens when we are willing to authentically connect with people across our differences. Civil, or respectful, dialogue
• The space between ourselves and another person is to be considered sacred space.
• When authentic, incarnational Christian love, or spirituality, is released in a relationship God’s presence is manifest.
• When we ignore conflict we create a false peace. Jesus was murdered because He disrupted the false peace all around him. True peacemaking disrupts the false peace.
• We cannot have true peace in the Church, or society, with pretense and façade.
  

WHAT IS BIBLICAL COMMUNITY?

The God we worship is a God Who has eternally existed in community. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have dwelt in perfect unity, love and joy before and throughout time. This triune God created humanity as the focus of His creations for the display of this relationship.

In the beginning it was written, “it is not good for [humankind] to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Man was walking in the garden with God and without sin and yet such a relationship was not ideal. It was not in accordance with the purpose of the Creator for the creature.

We read in the Gospels that among Jesus’ final words before the cross was a prayer for the unity of His people, a unity expressive of the unity found within the godhead (John 17:21-22). We know from the testimony of the early – and this is at the heart of what Tom Hovsepian spoke about last Sunday at church -- that community was the natural result of the Spirit’s influence upon the Church (Acts 2:42-47).

It is apparent that community is not some peripheral Christian teaching but is central to the outworking of God’s purpose in the world. God is glorified when God is properly reflected; by dwelling in unity, we rightly image our communal Maker.

In being responsive to this calling, MPVCC urges each person to be deeply involved in the lives of others, to “do life together.” Unfortunately, we have not always done a great job of explaining exactly what this phrase means. This article will serve as a short introduction to the topic of biblical community and what it is that we mean when we commend “doing life.”

Our hope for us is not that we would simply hang out with each other, but rather, that we would engage in a battle for deep and abiding relationships within the body. We find the following characteristics to be particularly indicative of biblical community:

1. Love

Love can be a rather ambiguous term. We love our lives, our children, our dogs, Mexican food and the 49ers. Surely we do not mean the same thing in each use of the term.

Five times in letter of 1st John, the apostle writes that believers are to love one another. However, he does not leave the command ambiguous. Rather, he qualifies the command by showing that love is best represented by the sending of the Son to die for our sins and thus is inherently sacrificial (1 John 3:16-18). Let us love in truth and deed and not merely in word. Love that is not sacrificial is not really love.

2. Consistency

The early church pictured in the book of Acts met daily to encourage each other and worship together. Hebrews 10 tells us to not neglect meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, while chapter 4 tells us to exhort one another daily. A clear Scriptural admonition exists toward long lasting relationships and deeply consistent presence in the lives of others. Occasional or infrequent gatherings do not capture the spirit of the text.

3. Worship

The early church spent its time engaging in the celebration of the Lord and the remembrance of the gospel through the means of grace which were provided. We therefore find it essential for biblical community to be about the pursuit of the Lord through the Lord ’s Supper, prayer, singing and the reading and teaching of the Scriptures.

4. Authenticity

People who gather together and yet do not truly know each other cannot rightly be called a community. The Bible strongly encourages the confession of sin, struggles and praises, which is evidence of a life of transparency. This characteristic also bears with it a commitment to engage in the proper means of fighting back sin for the good of the sinner, the health of the body and the glory of the Lord. Oftentimes such a dedication to put sin to death includes the proper and godly use of the steps of discipline as outlined in Matthew 18 and elsewhere.

Given the characteristics of community, what are the practical implications? While the list could be quite extensive, a large number of the guidelines could easily be seen by doing a thorough search of the dozens of “one another” passages especially within the New Testament. Such passages tell believers to:

Love one another (John 13:34, 15:12), Outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10), Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16) , Comfort and agree with one another (2 Corinthians 13:11), Serve one another (John 13:1-20; Galatians 5:13), Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32), Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21), Be honest with one another (Colossians 3:9), Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11), Confess to one another (James 5:16), Pray for one another (James 5:16)

The emerging MPVCC wants its active participants to think theologically and live Christianly. We want to be distinct in the way in we work, speak, think, relate, rest, and play. We want to do those things, which glorify God. To properly reflect the communal nature of the Trinity and to follow God’s communal commands, we must as a people engage in fellowship which is sacrificially loving, consistent, worshipful, and authentically transparent – going below the waterline. In this way, we seek to “do life together.”

Invitation to Journey: January 11, 2009

Highlights from Sunday's sermon...

I. Overview of what’s coming…
A. This years journey: A Quest for Authentic Christian Spirituality with a running list of theme possibilities to explore...

• Emotional and relational health/maturity – we develop EH through our capacity to be self-aware, to self-manage -- and love well.
• Prayer and contemplative spirituality -- The building of rhythms that intentionally cultivate our relationship with God.
• Sexuality – churches don’t talk enough about sex and sexuality. This year we'll be doing an expository study of Song of Solomon – the more we unpack the metaphors in SS, the wider our eyes will get :)
  

B. Book list for 2009 - click here (and scroll down a bit).

C. Selah means pause, and calmly think or reflect. Used 72 times in Psalms and 3 times in Habakkuk 3 (which one commentator describes as a highly emotional poetic song). Let's make this a selah week as we work our way through the 12-Point Spiritual Assessment.

II. 12-Point Spiritual Assessment (we’ll take it again in Dec)

1. Am I content with who I am becoming?
Every day we get one day closer to who we will ultimately be. Am I satisfied with who this will be? (Pro 19:23; Phil 4:11-12)

2. Am I becoming less religious and more spiritual?
The Pharisees were religious; Jesus is spiritual. Much tradition is religious, while relationship with Jesus is spiritual. (Roms 6:14; 7:4-6; 8:3)

3. Does my family recognize the authenticity of my spirituality?
They see us whole. We would like to believe, and must believe, that if we are growing spiritually, our family will recognize it. (1Jn 1:7)

4. Do I give-to-get-to-give-again?
John Wimber used to remind us that the reason we give is not just to “get,” but to, “get” -- so we can give again - and again, and again. Are we giving away that which God blesses us with? (Pro 11:24; Lk 6:38)

5. Do I have a quiet center to my life?
Peace is not just the absence of conflict, but the absence of anxiety in the midst of conflict. While our world system defines peace as (merely) the absence of conflict. (Psalm 46:10; 131:2, MSG)

6. Have I defined my unique contribution?
Do we know what we can do effectively? The need is always bigger than any person can satisfy, and so our call is simply to handle the part of the need that is ours to do. (Song of Solomon 6:9)

7. Is my prayer life improving?
One test of our prayer life is this: Do our decisions have prayer as an integral part, or do we make decisions out of our desires and then immerse them in a sanctimonious sauce we call prayer? (Lk 18:1; 21:36; 1Thes 5:17)

8. Have I maintained a genuine awe of God?
Awe inspires, it overwhelms, it intimidates our humanness, it inspires worship. Awe isn't learned; it is realized. (Ps 66:3; 68:35; 111:9)

9. Is my humility genuine?
Humility is not denying the gifts and power that we have, but admitting that the power comes through us, not from us. (Col 3:12; James 3:13)

10. Is my soul being fed?
We have different personality and character traits that need developing or dwarfing. That means we must search out the spiritual food that feeds our soul. (Phil 1:9)

11. Is obedience in small matters being built into my reflexes?
We can obey God out of fear or from love. God prefers love. (2Jn 1:6)

12. Do I have joy?
God doesn't need us, he loves us; and we don't work for him to earn his love, we work for him as a result of his love. He lets us work in order to mature us. That brings joy. (Jn 15:11; Mat 13:44)

• "Joy seems to be distilled from a strange mixture of challenge, risk and hope." (Keith Miller)
• "Joy is the serious business of heaven." (C.S. Lewis)
• "Joy is not happiness so much as gladness; it is the ecstasy of eternity in a soul that has made peace with God and is ready to do His will." (Anonymous)
• "Peace is joy at rest and joy is peace on its feet." (Anne Lamott, quoting her pastor)
  
• The Cycle of Romance ->Disillusionment ->Joy. Romance will eventually give way to disillusionment. To have an illusion is to have a false idea, so disillusionment is actually a good thing. If we embrace the reality of our illusions it will lead to -- joy. After joy comes romance (again). This cycle can become a "joy builder" in our lives.
  

A spiritual assessment is more than a statement of condition. It is also an indication of spiritual potential. May the coming year be a season growth toward your destiny in Christ.

III. Next 2 weeks:

• 1/18 - The Courage To Pursue Emotional Health (John 5:1-15)
• 1/25 - Enlarge Your Soul Through Grief & Loss (Matthew 26:36-46)

5 QUALITIES OF MOTHERING THAT ARE ALSO CHARACTER QUALITIES OF GOD

1. Security

• (God says) "Like babies you will be nursed and held in my arms. You will be bounced on my knees. I will comfort you as a mother comforts her child." Isaiah 66:12c,13b (NCV)
• The door slams as the kids get home from school and what's the first thing that you hear? "Mom? Mom? Are you here?" Now the kids wouldn't say, "I need to know that your here for my security," but that's what's going on. Moms mean security.
  

Look at how God is wanting to provide security for those who will come to Christ:

• (Jesus says) "But some will come to me - those the Father has given me - and I will never, never reject them. For I have come here from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to have my own way." Jn. 6:37,38 (TLB)

2. Healing
(Paul says) "But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children." 1 Thess 2:7 (NAS)

• In Matt. chap. 15 we see a gentile woman bring her sick daughter to Jesus to be healed...she showed great resolve and determination...
• "'Woman,' Jesus told her, 'your faith is large (or great), and your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed right then." Mat. 15:28 (TLB)
• One way or another, mothers bring healing to the family. One of my favorite images of Linda through the years is the way she is so often hugging our children and wiping the tears away after some disappointment or a lost battle with the pavement. There's nothing like a mom wrapping her arms around you and telling you that everything's going to get better.
• Mother not only bring security and healing to the family, but they also bring...
  

3. Sacrifice

• Mothers almost always have the middle name of sacrifice. I remember catching a few minutes of a TV special last year that was paying homage to mothers. There were short takes of celebrities honoring their moms. Arsenio Hall told of the many times his mother prepared him dinner and told him that she wasn't hungry. He said that it wasn't until later in life that he realized that his mother had given him the only food they had. It seems that mothers are always giving; pouring their lives into their children.
• "And [Hannah] made this vow: 'O Lord of heaven, if you look down upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you, and he'll be yours for his entire lifetime..." 1 Sam. 1:11 (TLB)
• "For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jn. 3:16 (TLB)
  

4. Training

• The 4th character quality of mothers that are also found in God is training. Mothers patiently train their children. I'm amazed to watch Linda helping the kids with multiplication tables, fractions, grammar, cooking, or cleaning - she is so patient, so even in her love and training.
• "Can't you hear the voice of wisdom? She is standing at the city gates and at every fork in the road, and at the door of every house. Listen to what she says!" Pro. 8:1-4 (TLB
• (God is) "like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its (wings or) pinions." Deut. 32:11 (NIV
• The 5th and final quality of mothering that is also a character quality of God is...
  

5. Faith (a seemingly unwavering faith in the child)

• One writer has said, "The mother love is like God's love; He loves us not because we are lovable, but because it is His nature to love, and because we are His children."
• (Jesus says) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings..." Matthew 23:37 (NIV)
• Mothers seem to carry an unwavering faith in their children. I have a book in my library by a man who dedicates the book to his mother and this is what he said: To Mother who, through the hard years, smiled and stood fast while others smiled and turned away. Mothers almost always believe the best, no matter what.
• "Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Cor. 13
  

These are motherly qualities women have because they were created in the image of God. You can be a biological mother without Jesus; but you cannot be a channel of the highest blessings of this world without Jesus. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOMS!!!

Biblical Community 101

I found this blog post online and thought it was an excellent overview of biblical community. This Sunday we will be taking a look at Acts 2:42-47, which is a definitive passage in the New Testament concerning the call to community for active, intentional followers of Christ.

From time to time, I’ll think a lot about biblical community. What it is in a practical sense. How I can contribute to it in my own sphere. Whether I have purposely (or inadvertinly) hampered or neglected it from time to time in my own life.

I believe that we are each wired to desire it, much like we are wired with a deep hunger for a personal relationship with God. Yet, it seems that which so many long for is seldom experienced. Why is that?

As Christians in the 21st century, we have access to more resources than ever. In the US we have more disposible time than our parents or grandparents. I don’t want to make this a treatise about the activities with which we fill our lives. That’s not my goal.

But I do want to underscore the fact that a lack of understanding, a misconception of just what biblical community is, often contributes to our lack of it. We settle for some lame program or strike off in a direction on our own in hopes of arriving at the fulfillment we so desparately desire. Real communit exists, and if we know what to look for and where to focus our energy, we can help foster it.
So I figured a brief reminder of what it means to be engaged in a healthy, biblical community would be in order. Perhaps we will be quickened to action...

What is Biblical Community?
Community is an interdependent group of people who are growing in their devotion to Christ, one another and the cause of the Gospel. Think of it this way. Imagine a triangle. At the pinnacle is Christ. At the two bottom points are One Another and The Gospel. Each of these three elements must be present if the community is to be healthy. The relationship is symbiotic. If we get out of balance in any area, we miss it. But as we grow in each one, we move toward each one’s goal and toward real community.

What are the Goals of Community?

• The goal of our devotion to Jesus is intimacy with Him.

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."  –John 15:4-5

• The goal of our devotion to One Another is love [remember, the vision statement for MPVCC is -- learning how to love.]
  

"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."  –John 15:12-13

• The goal of our devotion to The Gospel is spiritual reproduction

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning."  –John 15:26-27

As mentioned above, each of these must be present. Omit any one and it’s out of balance.
If we…

• Omit One Another and it’s “shoot our own” and task oriented. We may become legalistic, even in our efforts to share the Gospel.
• Omit The Gospel and it’s warm fuzzies and no real purpose. We might have a great time singing Kum ba ya, but our inward focus will eventually become our undoing.
• Omit Christ and it’s all flesh and we’re doomed before we begin. Without Jesus, it’s heresy so we might as well pack it up and go home.

What is the Value of Community?
Community offers us as Christians much meaning and fulfillment in our walk and witness. A thriving biblical community is:

• A safe place for spiritual transformation — We see others growing at different points along the way and we are both encouraged and challenged. We can take risks, learn and mess up without fear of rejection.
• Our vehicle for ministry — There are no lone rangers in ministry. None of us has all the spiritual gifts. Therefore we need each other.
• A greater power of witness — In John 13:35 Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. When we are part of a biblical community, we will draw others to Christ."

Well there it is. If we are to experience biblical community, I believe that we should be growing in our devotion to Christ, one another and the cause of the Gospel. I once heard discipleship defined as broken people ministering to broken people...

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• the challenge of community
• When Community Is Bad!

See the original post here.

Our Father in Heaven – Matthew 6:9b

With the Lord’s Prayer, in Mat 6 and Luke 11, Jesus teaches a universal declaration that a new community of hope and reconciliation is forming. This prayer is curiously relevant to all people in every culture throughout history – in all circumstances and in every season of life. It is a work of both literary and sacred genius.

It would be a betrayal to pray “My Father,” for the prayer of Jesus is not only a declaration of a heavenly parent, but initiates a new perspective of family intent on forsaking the land of “ME” and entering a promised land of “WE.” In this land of promise the God of the universes has reached down to us with an invitation to know and be known.

Prologue -- Matthew 6:5-8

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

1. Pray Sincerely: (v.5) Don’t be as the hypocrites who desired to only appear sincere (they were posers).

2. Pray Secretly

• (v.6) Find a quiet, alone place to regularly connect with God.
• (v.7) Don’t fall into the trap of meaningless repetition. This is where we build the quiet center…and learn how to be quiet before God, cultivating the ear of our hearts where we learn how to hear the voice of God calling us his beloved.
• (v.8) God knows our needs before we ask. God’s ready to give us good gifts, God just enjoys – and seeks those moments of closeness.
• Brennan Manning, author of the The Ragamuffin Gospel, says that prayer is “holy loitering.”
• Contemplative spirituality is learning how to linger in the text of Scripture for the purpose of transformation and not just information. Asking how does this text comfort, encourage, &/or challenge me?
• Thomas Aquinas said that contemplation is the simple enjoyment of the truth.
• Christian meditation: The act of turning our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? (JI Packer)
• One author said that prayer is disrobing our souls before God – this is who I really am…

3. Pray Specifically - The Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13)

• Vs 9-10 are prayer for the establishment of God’s purposes on a cosmic scale
• Vs. 11-15 are prayer for the personal (corporate) needs of current and future disciples.

9"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven" (“in heaven” does not signify a zip code, but a vantage point.)

The Father Wound
1. Many of us have less than perfect relationships with our earthly fathers and many people have great difficulty transitioning to viewing God as a good and loving father.
2. Regardless of parental devotion, no parent can fulfill all of the child's wants, needs, or desires.
3. While these wounds can be inflicted with intent, many are unintentional yet still affect the child throughout life.
4. Children's first impressions about men come from their early experiences with their father – or the lack thereof.

5. The Father/Daughter -- The Father-Daughter relationship forms the daughter's opinions of what men are -- or should be, how they should act, especially towards her, and how she should be with them. The father's behavior towards women shapes the way she learns to relate to men. If the father withdrew his affection at the time she entered puberty, the wound only goes deeper. Did your father model how to give and receive affection and tenderness while demonstrating the proper use of strength and power? Part of the father's responsibility is to lovingly prepare his daughter for the major shifts that take place as she moves from child to adolescent to young woman and beyond. Unfortunately, many father's, themselves, had trouble adjusting and many others just weren't available to teach her to venture out from the protected realm of the home to deal with each new phase and its physical and social adjustments.

3. The Father/Son -- This relationship forms the son's opinions of how he is supposed to act and how he should treat women. Too often, however, the father wasn't around to present a healthy model for his son. Today, men have had to face the confusing challenge of learning to balance power with sensitivity, strength with feeling, and mind with heart all on their own.

Andrew Comiskey, in his book on sexual and relational healing entitled Strength in Weakness writes, “Though the Father intended for us to be roused and sharpened by our fathers, we find more often than not that our fathers were silent and distant, more shadow than substance in our lives.” This kind of a “shadow” presence is not what our heavenly Father intended for our relationships with our earthly fathers.

Jack Balswick, in his book Men at the Crossroads writes, “Tragically, many young men are growing up without a father who will affirm their leap into manhood…Often the voices they do hear are distortions of true manhood.” Because so many boys do not have a father affirming their “leap into manhood,” that transition is often filled with feelings of fear, anger and frustration, instead of confidence and security. Lonely and discouraged, boys become isolated and alienated men. In this isolated state, men continue to desire closeness and connection, but they often have no concept of how to achieve it. It is because of this quandary that many men seek out sexual fantasy in an attempt to find some sense of intimacy. Many men feel a void in their lives, often created by the wounds of the past, and some men attempt to fill that void with illicit sexuality. Men’s desire for intimacy and connection is real, powerful, and appropriate. But when men try to satisfy that desire in the form of sexual fantasies and acts, they find merely approximations or shadows of true relationship and connection.

Luke 15:11-31 - The Parable of the Prodigal Sons confronts our false assumptions about what pleases God.

Healing the Father Wound
1. Surrender to the Father’s initiating love.

• The father moves toward both sons… in order to express his love and bring them in.
• It’s not repentance that causes the father’s love – but the reverse. It’s surrendering to the father’s love that brings about repentance.

2. Refuse to be emotionally passive. (This was primarily the sin of the older brother, but the traveling prodigal was willing to resign himself to this.)

• Emotional Passivity -- Repressed, self-imposed oppression of emotions based on an unmet longing for acceptance – usually from our fathers. This repression, or self-imposed oppression, generates anger that if allowed to turn inward will eventually express itself as either chronic depression, or passive-aggressive behavior.
• Awakening the passive soul begins with confessing the sin of deadening our soul and making conscious choices to (go ahead and) feel the sadness, the grief, the sorrow -- and ultimately the joy. (We have learned some of the principles of healthy grief and loss from EHC)

1. Sadness opens the heart to what was meant to be and is not.
2. Grief opens the heart to what was not meant to be and is.
3. Sorrow breaks the heart as it exposes the damage we've done to others as a result of our unwillingness to wildly pursue God’s grace and truth.

3. Refuse to mistrust.

• Reengages the God given desire to be concerned about the temporal and eternal destiny of those who have harmed us. This transfers trust to God and releases us to care, to be kind, and to authentically comfort others.
• It is not being gullible or stupid - "be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Mat. 10:16).
• To care is to use all that we are for the good of others while not walling off the deep parts of our soul.
• The process towards deep caring begins with admitting there is sadness.
• Grief admits there are scars that can be removed only in heaven.
• Godly sorrow begins to develop when we begin to see that our demand for God to prove He cares is a mockery of the Cross (which sufficient proof of His trustworthiness).

4. Refuse to deny passion.

• Passion can be defined as the deep response of the soul to life: the freedom to rejoice and the freedom to weep.
• A refusal to deny, or despise, passion embraces both pain and pleasure.
• A fear of passion makes it nearly impossible to be fully present with other people.
• It's refusing to flee back into the numbing - whatever that is
• It is admitting that while I may be a mess, I AM ALIVE!

MPVCC Values, Mission, & Vision Statements

1. Core Values

A. The Theology and Practice of the Kingdom of God
“And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.” Matthew 4:23

B. Experiencing God
“…That I may know him and the power of his resurrection…” Philippians 3:10

C. Reconciling Community
“Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18

D. Compassionate Ministry
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” Colossians 3:12

E. Culturally Relevant Mission
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

“In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15

2. Mission Statement (the what) -- Bringing heaven to earth (Matthew 6:10)

3. Vision Statement (the how) -- Learning how to love – “So love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these." Mark 12:29 (MSG)

• God
• Others
• Ourselves

Speaking the Truth in Love

Following is the outline of the message from a week ago on conflict resolution - which was entitled "Speaking the Truth in Love."

• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. (Mat 5:9)
• As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. (1 Tim 4:14-14, emphasis added)
  

Getting emotionally and spiritually healthy will create conflict in our relationships…

A. Models of some basic and overlapping dysfunctions:

1. Addictive Behavior – There are, at least, 2 types of addictive behavior:

• Ingestive addictions where we abuse substances like alcohol, drugs, or food; or ??
• Process addictions like work, sex, money, gambling, or relationships.
• Definition of addiction: wherever denial is present.
  

2. Co-dependency -- A conscious, or sub-conscious, attempt to protect the addictive behavior in another person – or people -- from suffering the effects of addictive behavior.

3. ACOAs can also be co-dependent, because ACOAs often come from broken or dysfunctional homes.

B. THE REASON FOR CONFLICT
If we're going to overcome conflict in our lives, it will help us to understand first of all the reason that it’s there. The Bible is very clear about this - in fact it's almost too blunt...

• Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you. (James 4:1, NCV)

C. RESOLVING CONFLICT -- There are practical steps that the Bible speaks about that will help us to resolve the conflicts in our lives…

1. Become a sincere follower of Jesus Christ.

• Ephesians 2:16 - As parts of the same body, our anger against each other has disappeared. For both of us have been reconciled to God and so the feud ended at the cross.
• Paul's talking about conflict between nations here but this works between people too. The feud ended at the cross. God's able to solve the conflicts in our lives.

2. Become a responder, not a reactor. How?

• Prayer. Before you react to the other person, talk to God about it. In fact, that may resolve it right there! You may find it's mostly your problem anyway.
• James 1:5 -- If you want to know what God wants you to do ask Him and He will gladly tell you.
• Seek out wisdom (become accountable; mentoring constellation)
• Proverbs 11:14 (AMP) -- Where no wise guidance is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
  

3. Seek first to understand – and then to be understood (or, learning how to listen)

• Philippians 2:3 -- Don’t be selfish. Don’t just think about your own affairs but be interested in others’ too, in what they are doing. Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ.
• The Greek word for “interested” is “scopos”. It’s the same word we get the words microscope or telescope from – focus in on the needs that they have in their lives.
  

4. Be in touch, or get in touch, with your own issues – and own them.

• Matthew 7:3 -- Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood in your own eye. First, take the wood out of your own eye and then you will clearly see to take the dust out of your friend’s eye.
• Even if it’s a little speck in your eye it’s going to create a blind spot.
• Where do you feel the most challenged by EHC??
  

5. Establish Guidelines.

• Psalm 119:153 (MSG) -- Your mercies, God, run into the billions; following your guidelines, revive me.
• Matthew 18:15-17 becomes for us a guideline for resolving conflict:
  

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along...

• Sometimes, we need to ask for help…
• Churches (really, all organizations – and families) need “grievance procedures”…
• Passive/Aggressive behavior vs. forbearance
  

6. Use appropriate language

• Pro 15:4 (MSG) -- Kind words heal and help; cutting words wound and maim.
• James 1:26 -- If anyone thinks himself to be [Godly], and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
  

Some basic skills:

• Practice reflective listening (mirroring - or paraphrasing).
• Validate the other person’s feelings (feelings are neither right nor wrong)
• Body language is important… (A part of EH is about not sending mixed signals – body language, tone of voice, etc.)
• Never use the words always or never.
  

Some phrases that help with conflict resolution…

• “Help me to understand…”
• “Can you tell me more about that?"
• "How did you feel about that?"
• “That's got to be hard."
• "You make sense to me because..."
• “I can understand that."
• "That makes sense to me.”
  

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Tim 1:5, emphasis added)

Ancient Love in the Modern Home

The holidays are over now, and some of us are relieved. Does your family put the fun in Dysfunctional? If so, maybe you can make someone in your family an item of clothing from this fabric available from Sugar Kitty CorsetsNo matter how dysfunctional our past or present, our future (both now and in the Kingdom to come) can be better. There is hope in God's Kingdom.

Colossians 3:18-21

Two important backgrounds to help us understand interpretation of the bible (a/k/a/ hermeneutics):

(1) What does the verse say in the overall context of the book?
(2) What does the book say in the overall context of the culture?

Only as we look at these together can we see the meaning of the verse.

(1) Overall message of Colossians: Christ is Supreme (Col 1:15) therefore be who you were intended to be (Col 3:16-17). How does this fit in daily life? Where does the rubber meet the road? Home.

we are at our worst with those we love the most

(2) In the context of any culture, God meets people where they're at, and brings them forward. Scripture always gives a redemptive lift to the oppressed. Women. Children. Poor. Slaves.

There's a cultural progression:
Original Culture of paganism
Old Testament introduces laws and guides for life application
New Testament gave more heart-related internalized life application
Today we live in a further-progressed revelation of life application

Marriage. Slaves. Life together with other cultures and peoples. God started with where people were at, and moved them forward.

In Colossae, the culture of the day devalued women compared with men. They (and Greeks in general) modeled this after nature -- the animal kingdom.

Paul models things on our new nature -- in God's Kingdom

Now we can understand what Paul is saying. It was completely liberating for the women and men in the culture of the day in Colossae! (and in a parallel passage of Ephesians Paul talks about mutual submission).

Our model we follow oday is something like a very soft patriarchal system. There has to be some structure, but it fades quickly. Billy Graham says "Yes I am the head of the household, but we haven't talked about that since our 2nd year of marriage. Today we live at a higher standard."

"submission" is not a slave-like subservience. Paul is just saying to the women "Ladies, let him be the man he wants to be. Masculine men honor God!" and to the men he is saying "Men, love and honor her like she wants to be loved. Feminine women honor God!"

The main point of the book: Jesus is supreme. Jesus gets ultimate honor. So treat each other as deserving of respect.

We are called to something higher than
the mere execution of roles.
We are called to relational intimacy.

The whole point of scripture is to call people away from external religion to internal relationship with God. Likewise, we are being called away from external roles to intimacy.

This is much more difficult than the law. Communication and understanding and intimacy is what we are called to. Finding out what is important to one another and understanding one another. That means we have to figure it out as we go along. That takes work!

The goal is not perfection (theme of Colossians is that there is only One who is perfect).

The goal is establishing a family system which can work it out together when anything comes along.

And as we do, heaven breaks in.

Thoughts on the Trinity

This Sunday we will be taking a look at Acts 2:1-41, were the Holy Spirit rushes (“like a mighty wind”) into the lives of some bewildered disciples of the ascended Christ. This moment would forever change the course of human history. The God of the universe has become available to humankind through Jesus Christ – and now the Holy Spirit. It will be helpful for us to consider the mystery, or paradox, of the Trinity…

Neither of the words “Trinity” nor “Tri-unity” appears in the Old or New Testaments, yet the concept has its basis in an understanding of scriptural teaching. Our English word “Trinity” is derived from Latin, “Trinitas,” meaning “the number three, a triad.”  This abstract noun is formed from the adjective trinus (three each, threefold, or triple),  -- just as the word unitas is the abstract noun formed from unus (one). The corresponding word in Greek means “a set of three” or “the number three.”

Tertullian, a Latin theologian of North African decent, who wrote in the early third century, is credited with first using the words “Trinity,”  “person,” and “substance”  to explain that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are “one in essence – not one in Person.”

About a century later, in 325, the First Council of Nicaea established the doctrine of the Trinity as orthodoxy and adopted the Nicene Creed that described Christ as, “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.”

The concept of the Trinity was introduced by Jesus Christ himself,  in Matthew 28:19-20:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Jesus not only defines the Trinity, but appears to indicate that there is one name that encompasses the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Timothy Keller in his remarkable book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism describes the inner workings of the Trinity as a dance into which we are invited. Imagine that – the God and Creator of the universe invites us into this dance of perfect unity and love. How could anyone resist such love? Keller says, “Christianity, alone among the world’s faiths, teaches that God is triune and the trinity means that God is, in essence, relational. That is why we were created, to be in a relationship and a community with God and that the ultimate end of creation is union in love between God and his loving creatures.” Keller goes on to say, “we were made to center our lives upon him, to make the purpose and passion of our lives knowing, serving, delighting and resembling him. This is the dance of God, and we lost the dance when we became stationary, self-centered, self-absorbed and consumed with the “endless, unsmiling concentration on our needs, wants, treatment, ego, and record.” But Christ died for us and in his dying, invited us back into the dance. And if we accept the invitation, we can put our lives on a whole new foundation, making him the center and stop trying to be our own Savior and Lord.”

Finally, in his resent book, Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne states that, “community is what we are created for. We are made in the image of God who is community, a plurality of oneness. When the first human was made, things were not good until there were two, helping one another. The biblical story is the story of community” (pg 134).

For a more scholarly yet conversant treatment of the Trinity, read Jonathan Edwards’ unpublished essay on the Trinity. You can find it here.

The pic above is entitled, The Holy Trinity (The Hospitality of Abraham) and is a famous icon by the Russian artist, Andrei Rublev c. 1360-1430.  Icon is a Greek word that means “image.” Throughout Christian history, especially during the time when literacy was not an opportunity for all, icons were used to teach or inspire common people telling the stories of the faith. To watch a clip of how and why icons are made click here.

Avoiding the Appearance of Hypocrisy

Colossians 2:16-23

Don't Give in to Self-Appointed Judges

If we live by a list of dos and don'ts, the rules become the point. That's "religion"; that's "legalism": caring more about the rules than about people. It's easier to create new rules to live by, and act like Christians, than to have our lives transformed. But spiritual maturity is still the goal.

Don't be Discouraged by Spiritual Braggarts

If we live from mountain top to mountain top, the cool "warm fuzzy" experiences become the point. False pride about spiritual experiences just puffs us up to make us think we are better than someone else. But spiritual experiences are still normative.

Spiritual Maturity is about Love

Many preachers tell us: "The world's culture is not good for your spiritual walk!"

What if we asked ourselves: "Is church culture good for my spiritual walk?"

Spiritual maturity is not about following all the rules in order to look good.

Spiritual maturity is not about having experiences in order to sound good.

Spiritual maturity is love.


What are your thoughts on Paul's ideas here?
How have you been trapped by legalism or hyper-spirituality?
What is God doing in your heart to bring real maturity in love?

A Consideration of the Focus of God's Wrath (or Anger)

The painting above is John Martin's, Great Day of His Wrath. (It hangs in the Tate Gallery in London.)

A while back, in a Sunday service, I mentioned that my perspective of God's wrath is that it has more to do with God's longing than with God's anger. This perspective elicited a disagreeing comment by someone who was there. Following is my attempt to articulate my thinking in this area. I am not insisting that I am right, only passing on to you my current thinking in this area...

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient” (Eph 5:6, emphasis added).

The word orgē (Greek: ὀργή) is used approximately 36 times in the New Testament; twenty-one times in Paul’s writings, six times in Revelation, and only occasionally in the Gospels.[1] In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul uses orgē three times (2:3; 4:31; 5:6).

Biblical hermeneutics is the art and science of biblical interpretation and is perhaps summarized best by 2 Timothy 2:15,

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Biblical hermeneutics is art because it calls for nuance and craft and science because it demands technique and skill. There are accepted academic rules to follow and one of those rules states that a verse or passage must be interpreted:

• Historically,
  
• Grammatically, and
  
• Contextually.

Historical interpretation refers to understanding the culture, background, and situation, which prompted the text. Grammatical interpretation is recognizing the rules of grammar and nuances of the Hebrew and Greek languages and applying those principles to the understanding of a passage. Contextual interpretation involves always taking the surrounding context of a verse/passage into consideration when trying to determine the meaning.

In Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Ephesians he was probably writing primarily to Christ-following Gentiles, or Greeks -- and not Jews. (Ephesus was ranked with Rome, Corinth, Antioch, and Alexandria as the foremost urban centers of the Roman Empire.) In writing to Gentiles, Paul, as a well educated rabbi and also a citizen of Rome was, no doubt, aware that in the Rhetoric,[2] Aristotle defined wrath (orgē) as, “a longing, accompanied by pain…”[3]  Aristotle additionally ascribed value to wrath (or anger) that has arisen from perceived injustice because it is useful for preventing injustice.[4]

Misconceptions of the wrath of God have led to a false picture of God. One such is reading into the phrase “wrath of God” the idea of a “wrathful” or “angry” God. Here God is often seen as stern and cruel, a mean Judge who loves to revenge and punish humankind whenever there is an opportunity to do so, and at times even does so arbitrarily. Such a picture of God, however, is a grave distortion of God’s character and often leads to unhealthy fear or reward-motivated obedience -- disconnected from love.

The Old Testament certainly states that opposition to God's will results in God's anger. In reference to anger, the Jewish Encyclopedia[5] states: God is not an intellectual abstraction, nor is He conceived as a being indifferent to the doings of man; and His pure and lofty nature resents most energetically anything wrong and impure in the moral world. Christ-followers also subscribe to the perspective of God's holiness and anger welling up in the sight of evil and this anger is not inconsistent with God's love. We also believe that the wrath of God comes upon those who reject Jesus.

Yet, could this wrath (or anger) of God be focused more on the effects of sin than on the sinner? In Romans 1:18 Paul states, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Could this be speaking of the longing and pain that God has for people to repent of their godlessness and wickedness?

The totality of Scripture makes it very clear that the wrath of God is not the last horizon. God is love (1 John 4:16). God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but is pleased when they turn from their sinful ways and live (Ezekiel 18:23). God wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the saving truth (1 Tim. 2:4-6). Reconciliation has its starting point in Christ. God wants the world to be reconciled with him, both in and through him (2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 5:8-11). God does not desire revengeful punishment. Within the context of biblical judgment, divine wrath is not an expression of a despotic deity, but a just and legitimate reaction against the effects (or, sinfulness) of sin. God’s wrath is aroused against sin, because sin is a rebellion against God's nature and character. But even in God’s wrath mercy is remembered (Is. 54:7, 8).

The ultimate test of biblical scholarship is whether it serves effectively to equip God’s people for discipleship. The essentials of the Christian faith include: 

• The authority of Scripture
• The existence of a Triune God
• Humankind is a physical and spiritual being who is created in God's image
• Jesus Christ is by God's grace, was born of a virgin, is fully God and fully man, died for our sins, physically rose from the dead, will one day return to judge the world and fully deliver his people, and was sent to save us from our bondage to sin
• Faith in Christ is the only means by which humankind can escape eternal judgment
• The church as God's ordained institution headed by Christ, composed of all believers, and organized for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.

In the essentials of the Christian faith, we must have unity (Eph. 4:4-6); in the non-essentials of the faith, we embrace diversity (Rom. 14:1-6); in all matters of faith, we seek to have charity (1 Cor. 13:1-3).[6]

The focus of God’s wrath, or anger, is not – by my understanding – an essential of the Christian faith. Respectful, honest dialogue will help us to refine our faith…

What are your thoughts??

---

[1] Brown, Dictionary of NT Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967), p. 110

[2] Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the fourth century BC.

[3] 1378a

[4] According to Aristotle: "The person who is angry at the right things and toward the right people, and also in the right way, at the right time and for the right length of time is morally praiseworthy." cf. Paul M. Hughes, Anger, Encyclopedia of Ethics, Vol I, Second Edition, Rutledge Press

[5] http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/search_results.jsp?searchType=1&pageNum=1&search=anger&x=0&y=0&searchOpt=0

[6] The History of the Christian Church, by Philip Schaff. In Volume VII, Modern Christianity, The German Reformation, Schaff writes: “This famous motto of Christian Irenics, which I have slightly modified in the text, is often falsely attributed to St. Augustin (whose creed would not allow it, though his heart might have approved of it), but is of much later origin. It appears for the first time in Germany, a.d. 1627 and 1628, among peaceful divines of the Lutheran and German Reformed churches, and found a hearty welcome among moderate divines in England…The authorship has recently been traced to Rupertus Meldenius, an otherwise unknown divine, and author of a remarkable tract in which the sentence first occurs. He gave classical expression to the irenic sentiments of such divines as Calixtus of Helmstädt, David Pareus of Heidelberg, Crocius of Marburg, John Valentin Andrew of Wuerttemberg, John Arnd of Zelle, Georg Frank of Francfort-on-the Oder, the brothers Bergius in Brandenburg, and of the indefatigable traveling evangelist of Christian union, John Dury, and Richard Baxter.”

A Church Without Walls

At MPVCC we've spoken a few times about not referring to our facility as a "church."  The building is not the church. In a humorous way we've identified it as a "sheep shed." It is important that we understand that no physical walls can define the church (1 Peter 2:4-5; 9-12).   

A church without walls is the church at all times and in all places: Imagine a community of faith that can't be pinned down to a single piece of property or to a set of buildings, but our relationship with Christ spills out into everything we do-into our homes, our communities, and into our workplaces-24/7. If God is in control, where we live, work, and play is no accident. God has placed us strategically to demonstrate his love and be his messengers. Whether it is in small groups, the workplace, over lunch or across the backyard fence, we can creatively engage and embrace our "world", individually and corporately, so that they might see a little bit of Jesus in us. A seeker's first experience of Christ may not come in our weekly celebration of worship. Rather, that first experience comes because a committed Christ-follower has reached out and has been Christ to them. Our growth reflects God's blessing and has more to do with new people starting the journey with Christ than it does with people transferring from other churches. No geographic or social walls limit  involvement. (Acts 1:8)  

A church without walls is a missional church: A missional church builds bridges to people that don't know Christ or see his relevance to their lives, whether it is in Burma, Brazil, or our own backyard. A missional church is committed as much to the needs of people outside our walls as those inside. We want to be a church that is known-and valued-by our neighbors. Therefore, we look for ways for our faith to be relevant to our communities without compromising our commitment to Christ. We seek to promote social justice and creation care. We will lovingly, but courageously, stand up for our faith and be willing to engage society and to take a stand for justice and compassion. No walls should exist between us as Christians (Ephesians 2:14-22).  

A church without walls extends ministry into the community: God has called us into one body, one family. We believe effectiveness in engaging our world is directly related to the degree we are able to live in authentic biblical community with one another. Compassion and accountability characterize this kind of community. We recognize that we are a broken, yet redeemed people. We are a church that is learning how to love. When we get together to worship, we reflect the diversity of the communities God has placed around us. What brings us together is Christ; we don't get hung up with how much money a person makes, the color of their skin, the sin they struggle with, their age or their background. In fact, we do everything we can to tear down the walls these things have created. We believe people matter to God - and we seek to be a church where the broken have found a true home. No walls stand between God and us (John 15:5-8).  

A church without walls is an empowered church: Jesus Christ has torn down the wall of sin that divided us from God, and now we belong to him. We are dependent solely on God for effectiveness. Prayer is always our first course of action. Moving people toward Christ, and serving them as they become his devoted followers, is at the center of all that we seek to do. We believe that lives are changed through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Effective ministry is borne out of an ever deepening relationship with God and other people. We encourage each other to grow in Christ, and to seek after God with our whole hearts, so that God may reveal his will for us, individually and corporately -- and empower us to do it! No walls stand in the way of our personal development and service (Ephesians 4:11-13).   

A church without walls is an equipping church: We seek servant-leaders who are learning how to raise-up other servant-leaders. Living on the front lines of ministry demands skill and support. We endeavor to equip people toward developing life skills (not just "church" skills), and seek to support them as they serve. We will encourage others to discover their spiritual passions, make good use of God's gifts, and discern God's call on their lives. We seek to pursue excellence in service. We seek to serve in teams. The seek an atmosphere here at MPVCC that will be charged with the excitement and zeal of the changed lives of people committed to Christ and his service.