Tough Times-Missional Times

It’s too late for me to be the ‘Shicken Little’ of our countries economic state. It’s no news for me to tell you that our economy is suffering some major casualties in our ‘Global’ economic downturn. I’ve read articles that speak of the economic state from across our country, so when I say that things are looking grim for our Ontario region, I’m sure the same can be said for other regions in our church’s conference as well.
I read a Star article on June 11 that stated that Ontario was to suffer 45,500 full time jobs. This seams realistic seeing as our small community of Elgin and Oxford County in southwestern Ontario has suffered 3000 (probably more by the time your reading this ) jobs since the beginning of the summer. Further to this I heard just the other day that Ontario received its first equalization payment, officially making the province a ‘have not province’.
To give you an idea of what that looks like, “if all these people went to church in St Thomas on Sunday morning, there wouldn’t be enough pews in the entire town to fit them all in”. Economic downturns do not discriminate. In my church alone the ratio of job losses are at least 1 in 10 and growing very quickly. The president of the company that I work for; recently gave a ‘state of the Union address’ and stated that “American Housing starts have gone from 2 million in ’05 to 800,000 this year”. This cost my company 40 full time jobs. It seems as though the morning radio shows are announcing plant closures every third day, one of which is the Sterling Truck plant. The closure of the ‘Sterling Truck’ plant will cost St Thomas approximately 1100 full time jobs not including the spin off jobs that are attached to that in the service sector.
The question I ask myself is…”what impact is this going to have on our Church’s?’ I believe the road map to that answer leads us through this thought; “yes, this is an economic problem, but we as the Church have to first recognize this as a Theological problem”. This is primarily a theological problem at its core and here’s why. “Human beings are created in the image of God and are endowed with traits of their Creator that fit them for creative, useful, joyful, God-exalting work. Therefore, extensive idleness (when you have the ability to work) brings down the oppression of guilt and futility.” 1
Simpler; people were made to work (Adam and Eve worked in the Garden before the fall). If they aren’t working, people will get depressed, anxious and frustrated because they aren’t doing what they were created to do. Knowing this, I think that the Church and it’s leaders need to get ready right now. Here’s why;
1. ‘Senders’ will become ‘SENDERS’
a. In all of our congregations there are 2 groups, goers and senders. Goers are those people who rely on the funds of people who have ‘secular’ vocations (Senders) to operate ministries such as pastors, church staff, missionaries and para-church organizations. These people make it possible for the word of God to reach beyond their own sphere of influence. If portions of our congregations are living on reduced incomes then those people will proportionately have less to give. At the same time there may be instances where people may not be as motivated to even come to church. This means that those people who still have ‘secular’ vocations will bear a greater financial burden in the congregations. Like I said earlier ‘senders’ will become ‘SENDERS’.
b. The other aspect to this is that there will be a greater need for Goers. In difficult times people also move to a greater dependency of the Lord. My prayer has 2 directions. First is that this will produce a hunger for God that will reach the far corners of the country and when the Lord answers that prayer, my second prayer is that there would be more people moving to Vocational Ministries to meet the need.
2. Mennonite Migration….again?
a. History proves itself that people go to where they perceive the work is. With the western and eastern provinces being perceived as Job hotbeds right now, there is going to be an exodus to these places. After their moves, will people be saying to themselves, ‘There’s no church for us to go to here’. Is there a way for us to know where it is that they are going so that we can meet them with a church so they won’t have to say that!
3. Tim Horton Community Church
a. I found it so interesting, even though Imperial Leaf tobacco plant in Aylmer, closed down a number of years ago the demand for Tim Horton’s was never stifled, in fact I think the demand went up. I think the thinking for most of the people getting laid off was “Why wouldn’t I go there when the guys I used to work with are there, they can’t find jobs either”. Tim Horton’s will continue, and increase to be a gathering place for those that are displaced from their jobs. The “total” church will recognize this as a great place for bridge building. I see Tim Horton’s the same way open air preachers saw the town square.


Are we ready for what’s to come? Are we ready to help those that are in need? Are our ministries prepared to send and plant where the needs arise? Individually, are we ready to present Jesus to the guy standing in line with us as he waits for his Sesame seed bagel toasted with butter? As these days progress I’m scanning the sidewalks and halls to see where the needs are. On Sunday morning, I’m scanning the pews to see who it will be to reach the people on those sidewalks and halls. Unfortunately, the possibility could be that the best time to be missional will be during the worst of economic times.


1John Piper, Don’t waste your life, Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5

Polemacy-A Birthplace of Dissention

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy….” Matt 5:7


I realize I made up a new word in my title but I like words that get you places quickly (I started with the word; Polemic). Let me start off by asserting my position. Systems are great. We need systems. Systems are used to put structure to form (I don’t know if that makes sense, I just thought of it). I use systems all day long in every facet of my life. From how I wake up to how I brush my teeth. I hit snooze no more than 3 times and no less than once, depending on how the roads are, do I need gas or is my lunch made. I brush my teach in a slightly angled, back and for manner, not circular, because I saw a picture of someone who had to have all of their teeth removed due to gingivitis and I do not want that.

I even use systems for biblical interpretation. I use hermanuetics to arrange scripture in a logical fashion so that I can understand my creator. I do this so that I can articulate, in a logical way, the perfect finished work of my Lord Jesus Christ. People call me a Calvinist. I don’t mind, they need to slot me so that they can have a perspective on how to relate to me. I personally don’t think I am a full fledged Calvinist only because I haven’t read any of His work except the first 2 articles of the ‘Institutes’. I have His commentaries at home (that’s only because I got them for free) and have only referenced them a couple of times.

Really, I think I would have been kicked out of Geneva and maybe burned at the stake because I believe that Drums and Guitars are Ok to use in Church. I also don’t agree with Him on the whole son’s of God thing in Job 1&2 and Genesis 5. So call me a Calvinist for my Soteriology, that’s cool, I can handle it. That’s a system that I guess I employ to some degree.
2 points about this though, Systems without form are ineffective. You won’t see many of these lately because of the decline in new housing starts, but it’s kinda like a house with the foundation poured, the framing up, the trusses are on but there is no sheathing, windows or doors to actually make this house effective.

My second, and most relevant, point for me about this is; Systems are not more important than individuals. Imagine this; you make a comment in Bible Study, and the minute Bible Study is over, the guy in the corner comes over to disagree with what you said. Just then the awesome 83 year old lady that’s just begun coming to Bible study walks by and you really want to say hello and tell her how she brightens the place up. Whoa, this is tough! Do I;
A; step away from this discussion to shake her hand
B; Clarify my point made earlier using example and context
C; drop kick the disagreeing dude and give him a ‘nuggie’
Call me a Mennonite but I opted for A.

This experience, among others, are leading me to embark on a transition in my life. I want my systems to take a backseat to individuals. I know that there are times where this isn’t going to be possible because I know that there are going to be times where I need release a flurry of punches to the solar-plex of a wolf, say for instance when someone comes to Church and yells at the top of his lungs that if you don’t use a King James Bible your going to hell (even though I kinda agree, maybe another post). Maybe I’ll need to shoot the wolf when he says ‘Jesus didn’t actually come back to the disciples in human form, He came as spirit’. It’s in those times that I’ll put system before form, but only then. I won’t get my nightee in a knot if someone says ‘Jesus is gonna come back then leave and then judge’. I won’t loose any sleep if someone says ‘Man has free will’. Yes, there are going to be times where someone backs this porcupine in a corner, that’s when the quills will fly, but that’s the exception and not the rule.

What this means for me is a couple of things. It means that I’ll need to be merciful and give individuals the benefit of the doubt. If they say such and such, I might need to wait some time and see if what they said is actually what I thought they said. It also means I’ll need to cover more topics in my thinking. If you know me, you’ll know that I am the product of the video game age and you know my ADD, you’ll know that this will be difficult to do so please pray for me!
You may read this and think to yourself, ‘How does Dave contend for the Faith once delivered for the Saints’. For me contending for the faith is defined as this; “passionately preaching the cross of Christ and living that conviction”. Contending for the faith does not mean that we should be polemic. There is a big difference there. I’ve learned that the by-product of a polemic is more polemics. As Driscoll says, "We're all fundementalists, just on different topics", it won’t take a lot of time until fundamentalists show what they are fundamentalist about. I mean, if I’m going to be a polemic about something, they will too. It’s only a matter of time before we’re on different sides talking about the same issue. It’s not a bad thing to do this, but if one of us leaves limping and crying over an issue where we could have easily left running and laughing, there is something wrong.

I’m wanna start being more merciful to others, so that others are merciful to me.

Amen

Where I work

My Hometown

This is a quick study by me just to know the town that the Lord has lead me to.

Total Population; 36,110
Church Capacity; Approximately 5000

Caucasian; 34485
Aborigional; 433
Visible Minorities; 1192

Protestant; 18813
Catholic; 7583
No Affiliation; 7980
Other; 1733

Protestant churches; 26
Catholic churhes; 5