Month: January 2009

Organic Leadership

Posted on January 23, 2009

Neil Cole’s newest book Organic Leadership can be purchased before it hits Amazon over at CMA Resources! He provides a lengthy description of the book and summaries of the sections on his blog. An excerpt:

In Organic Leadership I challenge many ideas about leadership and church life that we all take for granted. Many of them are faulty ideas about church leadership, which we continue to support but which have never really been evaluated in the light of Scripture. Ideas that corrupt our understanding of the kingdom are addressed such as our tendency to view the church as simply a religious institution with a top-down authoritative structure; and some of the temptations that tend to hijack leadership away from healthy fruitfulness and can actually cause leaders to become detrimental to the work of God’s kingdom; as well as some of the ways we try to force people to live up to a religious code of conduct with manipulative tactics.

Makoto Fujimara: Why Art?

Posted on January 22, 2009

Makoto Fujimara is a remarkably thoughtful and accomplished artist, an all-too-rare blend of artist meets theologian. He describes his medium as follows: “In my studio, I use ground minerals such as malachite and azurite, layering them to create prismatic refractions, or ‘visual jazz.’ Via my art I hope to create a mediated reality of beauty, hope, and reconciled relationships and cultures.” His forthcoming book Refractions explores the meaning of Art.

In this article, Fujimara explores the reasons humans are prone to create art. Although art is justifiable for economic, social, and scientific reasons, Fujimara insists there is a deeper reason for art. He writes:

Art is a building block of civilization. A civilization that does not value its artistic expressions is a civilization that does not value itself. These tangible artistic expressions help us to understand ourselves. The arts teach us to respect both the diversity of our communities and the strength of our traditions. I encourage people not to segment art into an “extra” sphere of life or to see art as mere decorations. Why? Because art is everywhere and has already taken root in our lives. Therefore, the question is not so much “why art?” but “which art?”

Read the rest.

How to ReJesus Practically

Posted on January 21, 2009

Here is a helpful chart from Alan Hirsch’s ReJesus. It explains how we can ReJesus our churches practically. If you haven’t read the book or any of my reviews, Alan is calling us to imitate, know, and demonstrate Jesus as Lord in all of church and life. The Action Points jump-start thinking about how to do that through teaching, community, mission, worship, etc. If you have more practical thoughts, do share them in the comments.

What the Church Becomes

Action Points
1. A Christ-like community that reflects his character, life, and activity 1. By making an intentional corporate study of the Gospels to model our lives on the example of Jesus, preferring no lesser hero from our tradition
2. A holistic community that seeks to offer up all of life to the lordship of Jesus 2. By de-emphasizing Sunday and equipping all followers to hand over every sphere of their lives and every day of the week to Jesus
3. A peace-loving community that is considerate, submissive, merciful, fruitful, impartial, and sincere 3. By moving outward to serve others, knowing that community is forged by our collective commitment to a cause beyond ourselves
4. A worshiping community that exalts Jesus and declares his sovereignty 4. By understanding that worship includes singing but is never limited to it and involves a whole-of-life exaltation of Jesus
5. A devoted community that experiences intimacy with Jesus 5. By practicing the presence of Jesus in prayer, solitude, fasting, and missional action
6. A graced community that relies on the work of Jesus for salvation 6. By insisting continually that it is not by our own efforts that we are saved-that is, through a continual re-evangelization of believers
7. A holy community that seeks after the righteousness of Jesus 7. By learning and living the values of Jesus, as distinct from the piety of middle-class, good-manners conventionality
8. A healthy community that feeds on God’s Word and the ministry of his Spirit 8. By corporately devoting ourselves to the Scriptures and the exercise of the spiritual gifts