Photos

I realised that I haven't updated for a while, and Ruth has been telling me that I need to put more photos up and that people aren't interested in my 'introspective navel-gazing egotistical dribblings' so here are some photos.

The first few are of children, just so you can see what they have become. The next few are chronicle our rodent problems. We've had a minor mouse plague here (in this part of New South Wales actually) with a major one predicted for later in the year. Also, our neighbour released some guinea pigs into the wild (i.e. our garden) and they had some babies. We caught the babies because they are slow and stupid. We were going to give them away, but 'unfortunately' they all died in our care. Ruth felt bad. I didn't, seeing as it was her fault that they died. But that's a story for another time.

So, children and then horrible rodents.

Church and Mission

Just a question. In the book of Acts, where was the most common place to call people to leave their old life and follow Christ? I don't know the technically-correct answer, but what I can tell you is that it wasn't at church.

The vibe of the New Testament seems to be that church is for believers to worship and be discipled, and mission is something that happens outside of the church. I can't help but feel like something has gone wrong if church is where our mission happens. The call to new life in Christ should be happening in the marketplace, the Temple Courtyard and the Lecture Hall of Tyrannus. The call to growth; to learn how to use our time and money; to understand better the consequences of God's reality - these things should be happening in the gathering of believers.

When the two are mixed-up, then it is less than ideal. Disciples are repeatedly fed milk rather than meat and, just as bad, there is less encouragement to take the call of discipleship to those foreign places. Instead, mission becomes about inviting people to church, where we have paid professionals to do all the hard work. "Hey, it's my job to get them here - the rest is up to you."

No. The local church exists to feed disciples so that they are equipped and empowered to take the Gospel into the world in which they live and work. A church is not missional because it has seeker-sensitive services. A church is missional if the body are encouraged and enabled to live, pray, proclaim and take risks as followers of Jesus from Monday to Saturday.