Month: March 2008

McGrath on the Resurrection

Posted on March 20, 2008

This Easter season I have been stirred by the reflective writing of Alister McGrath. As a historical and systematic theologian, McGrath is known for his academic works and the recent Dawkins Delusion. However, his Resurrection (Truth and Imagination) is an exception. Retaining his ability to stimulate the intellect, McGrath devotionally pushes into the imagination in his reflections on the resurrection of Jesus. After an extended essay on Jewish notions of the resurrection, Mary’s encounter with Jesus, and the artwork of Maurice Denis McGrath concludes:

The meaning of the resurrection is existential, not just cognitive. Or, to put it in plain English, the resurrection of Christ does not merely open up fresh ways of thinking; it opens up different ways of existing and living.

City-wide Church Planting Networks

Posted on March 20, 2008

We are in the foundational stages of establishing the Austin Area Church Planters Network. The network has grown out of a group of cross-denominational planters intent on learning from one another and catalyzing a church planting movement in the Austin area. After eight months as a grassroots movement, the AACPN is now formalizing in order to strategically facilitate a Christ-centered, context-sensitive church planting movement for social and spiritual renewal of Austin and beyond. The purpose of this emerging network is to inspire, network, and resource church planters.

The potential of this organization is inestimable. There is an incredible level of kingdom-mindedness among evangelicals in Austin. Our board is comprised of a diverse group, four church leaders and four planters, including representatives from Hill Country Bible, ABBA, First Evangelical Free, & ABA. Here are some of the benefits for developing a network like this in your city:

 

Benefits of a Network

· Offering City-wide Planter Assessment

· Networking with other planters

· Shared cultural, demographic knowledge of the city

· Shared Best practices

· Learning the church planting landscape in the city

· Kingdom Cooperation

  • Developing strong pastoral relationships and accountability

· Connecting established missional leaders with new planters

· Directing visitors who don’t fit your church to other church plants

· Catalyzing a cross-denominational church planting movement

If any readers are aware of similar networks in other cities, please feel free to leave a link in the comments section. We are eager to learn from others who are doing similar things.

St. Patrick on Suffering

Posted on March 17, 2008

Patrick was a Romano-British citizen, kidnapped in Britain at age 16 and served as a slave for 6 years in Wood of Fochoill, Ireland.  He later returned to the homeland of his captivity, Ireland, to spread the gospel and plant churches.  His mission to Ireland 457-492 began at age 40 after being turned down after his first request to be commissioned as a missionary.

St. Patrick’s early captivity fostered a theology of suffering that sustained him throughout his ministry.  The precise area of his captivity is still unknown and was likely excepted from his confession because of his emphasis on the providence of God directing Patrick’s ways for his personal sanctification and the conversion of Ireland.  This redemptive theology of suffering is encapsulated in his reflections on captivity “and the Lord ‘poured down upon us the heat of his anger…and there ‘the Lord opened my heart to an awareness of my unbelief’ so that, perhaps, at last ‘I might remember my sins and that I might turn with all my heart to love the Lord my God’ (1.17, 20).”