Waiting for the Lion's Roar

I came across another old notebook from 1996. It had several poems in it, most of which were rather drivel-ish. But I still rather like this one.  I assume the lion mentioned is Aslan. 

Waiting for the lion's roar,

  we go about our business.

Occasionally we remind ourselves

  that the roar is coming.

But we must continue to live

  until it comes. 

And we get caught up in the living.

I wonder if there is a way

  to be always expectant

  and always living.

Introverted Evangelists? You've got to be kidding.

The eighth chapter of Adam McHugh's book, Introverts in the Church, is entitled "Introverted Evangelism" -- a term that many people might consider to be an oxymoron. I've always considered myself to be more of a discipler than an evangelist and this chapter pretty much bears that out, except that Adam makes the point that that discipling sort of behavior might also work well as evangelistic sort of behavior.  Let me explain from my point of view first, then I'll toss in some quotes from the book.     

When I think of discipling, I think of deep conversations about scripture, spirituality, life and our place in it. It's often a one-on-one thing and though one person in that pairing might be more "mature" or knowledgeable than the other, both end up learning and benefiting from the relationship and interactions. What Adam is saying is that when you do that exact sort of thing, only you're doing it with a non-Christian, that's evangelism.  

OK, so here's some words from the horse's mouth:

I think that our prevailing evangelistic methods are ill-suited for introverts.

For too long we have envisioned evangelism as one person, carrying a quiver of answers, assaulting another person who is armed with the questions. 

Rather, I consider us all to be explorers of the mysteries of God.  Fellow explorers are bound together by their trust and friendship, and by their shared aspirations and struggles.

We might even call our style of evangelism a "listening evangelism."

Postmodern people are not as persuaded by rational argumentation as much as they are by a lifestyle that substantiates a person's worldview.

He also made a comment that I found particularly interesting just from the introvert vs. extrovert perspective.  He said, "Introverts are more exhausted by initiating than by responding."  That is SO TRUE. There have been times when I've had "call so-and-so" on my to-do list for days.  But then for some reason they'll call me instead and I'm so relieved that I can accomplished whatever I needed to without having had to initiate the call. 

I always assumed that it was just an "I hate telephones" thing, but as I think about it, I can see that it fits for other circumstances as well. For example, it's hard for me to walk up to visitors during Sunday morning services. I don't know what to say or ask or do.  But if someone else is already talking to them, and I can just walk up and stand there until there's a point of conversation that I'm interested in and can speak to, then I feel much more comfortable and able.

A Colony of Heaven

"...the Holy Spirit formed [the church] to be a colony of heaven in the country of death." -- Eugene Peterson, quoted from BeliefNet

Sustainability and the Poor of the Earth

Pam wrote an interesting piece on the intersection of poverty and sustainability (Poor Folks Don't Care About the Earth). The question that particularly struck me was, "Can we help people struggling to survive, live sustainably?" The tension, of course, is struggling between helping those in the here and now vs. protecting the world for those to come. 

Heifer International comes to mind as an organization trying to help those in poverty through a program that is sustainable. I also thought of several organizations trying to provide sustainable cook stoves or sustainable means of making clean water available (such as Trees, Water & People).

But I suppose this is also a local question. How can I help those who are in need in my community live more sustainably? Backyard gardening pops immediately to mind.  I've been involved in the Garden Club at our local elementary school and was excited when I heard that the local middle school (which has a higher percentage of low income families than our elementary school) was going to start one as well. Unfortunately the principal replied to my inquiries by telling me that the garden is still at least a year down the road.   

Do you have thoughts regarding the intersection of poverty and sustainability? Conflicts? Solutions? General ramblings?

The Role of a Church Leader

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through Introverts in the Church and just finished the section on leadership. Here's a tidbit from my reading this morning:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. -- Ephesians 4:11-13

These three verses are packed with insight about leadership.  We see that God creates different sorts of leaders and that they, therefore, lead out of who they are and the gifts they have been given.  We also learn that the main responsibility of leaders, with their manifold gifts and functions, is to equip others for ministry and pave the way for their maturity.  In order for pastors to be faithful to their biblical calling, and survive in ministry, they must empower and release others to do the ministry of the church. 

I like the "equip others for ministry" description.  Though I do know many pastors who have this as their goal, I've also met too many who seem more set on keeping a tight thumb on what they see as their domain. 

How would you describe the difference between reformation and transformation?

Who are you? <-- in one sentence

Jason, over at Sustainable Traditions, asked if he could republish my review of the book, Redeeming Creation. Along with the post, he wanted to include a one sentence bio.

Those things are tough to write.  How do you sum up your life in one sentence?

I finally settled on this. Hopefully it doesn't just describe me, but sounds like me as well.

Meg is the member of Cornerstone Pres. in Fort Collins, Colorado who is most likely to be found barefooted during a gathering, and though her husband prefers shoes, her three children often join her in padding about with bare feet.

I was really tickled with myself that I was able to mention the "wife and mother of 3" bit without quite saying it that way. I left out the "I am what I do for a living" idea entirely. And I was able to give a nod to our congregation even though we're not one of the funky, community-focused house churches that are probably more in vogue among those on the site.

So, now I'm curious. If you were getting reposted somewhere and you had to write a one sentence bio, what would you write?