Marc's Messages

Holiday update (2)

Our second holiday week showed good weather, and we spent several days camping and cycling in the north. A short update:

On Monday we took an evening stroll across the Ginkelse Heide near Ede and visited the sheep's den. On Tuesday we headed to Harlingen, where Karolien and David watched the boats in the harbor, and Peter and I continued the Waddenzee Cycle Route until the 'Black Rooster' near St. Annapolder. Here you have a marvellous view over the 'kwelder' landscape between the Frisian mainland and the Dutch islands. We spent the night on a small pittoresque camping site.

On Wednesday Karolien and the boys went for a ride, while I cycled along the coast to Lauwersoog. I also visited Dokkum, where the Frisians killed the Anglosaxon apostle Boniface, now 1250 years ago. On Thursday we paid a visit to the 16th century fortress of Bourtange in east Groningen. After that, Karolien and the boys drove home, while I cycled from Nieuwerschans to Warfum, where I spent the night with a very hospitable couple from the Cycling Friends Foundation.

On Friday I went up early to catch the morning boat to Schiermonnikoog, Holland's smallest inhabited island. In the afternoon I headed to Groningen city, the first track of the Saxon Cycle Route, where I jumped on the train back home. Today Rob and Mannie came over and treated us on an extensive meal.

To view this week's pictures, click here.

Holiday update (1)

Our first holiday week was typically Dutch: a mixture of rain and sun, causing relatively humid weather. A short update:

On Saturday we made a cycling trip on the grounds of the High Veluwe, one of the Netherlands' oldest and largest national parks. It consists of no less than 5,500 hectares of woodland, heathland, lakes and driftsand. On Sunday we hang out in Ballorig in Zoetermeer with Ronald, Mareska en their kids. It's a playground for kids under 12 years old with bouncy castles and loads of balls. Afterwards we had sushi, sake and French fries.

On Monday we made a small cycling trip in the area. On Tuesday we did some shopping and I bought a new pair of shoes. On Wednesday we just hang around the house and caught the rabbits who had escaped from their little prison. On Thursday we washed the car and put up our tent. On Friday we went for a walk in a nearby forest. And today we made a cycling trip through the dunes between Noordwijkerhout and Zandvoort and played on the beach. Afterwards Bram and Greet treated us on a good BBQ in their beautiful backyard, and we talked until late.

Apart from spending time as a family, holiday is also a good season to read books and reprioritize. More about that later. I created a photo album with some pictures of last week.

New family pictures

I put some new family pictures online.

The Emerging Church defined

WikipediA published a definition of Emerging Church, a label that has been used to refer to a particular subset of Christians who are rethinking Christianity against the backdrop of Postmodernism. More about the WikipediA project here. They also have a nice definition of the House Church movement, generally considered a cousin of the Emerging Church movement.

Obviouly this definition is limited. Some time ago Andrew Jones pondered what will happen when we stop emerging. He states that emergence is not the only thing, it's also about divergence and convergence. This generates at least three new words for Scrabble...

Scambaiting the Nigerians

Shiver Metimbers opened a counter-attack on the notorious Nigerian scammers that have been terrorizing his inbox. He set up an extensive scambaiting website with tips, tricks and trophies.

Scambaiting is entering into a dialogue with the scammers, simply to waste their precious time and resources. If you're good at it, you might even scam them out of some cash. Shiver's correspondence with Prince Joe Eboh from Lagos, Nigeria, is a real hit. Thanks Shiver for making my day.

Just talk to Me

Jeff Fountain forwarded this poem by Bill Colclough of the Devon Community:

Don't be afraid if you don't understand
Don't fear you won't do it right
Don't worry about performing
Just talk to me

Don't need no words you can't define
Don't need a special voice you keep reserved just for me
Don't even have to close your eyes
Just talk to me

Don't need to wait until you're hopeless
Don't need a particular reason to call
Don't need to fake your holiness
Just talk to me

Don't spend your emotional energy getting all worked up over this
Don't think of me as a perfectionist
Don't believe everything you hear down there
Just talk to me

Don't keep a list or record of when we chat
Don't need to make an appointment
Don't stop to talk to the receptionist
Just talk to me

Don't confuse me with your father
Don't put that kind of pressure on him or yourself
Don't try get away from the point of who I am
Just talk to me

Don't forget to laugh with me
Don't forget that I’m the one who started all this
Don't forget I already know what you’re going to say
Just talk to me

Full version (26 stanzas) here.

EC leadership qualifications

This is funny. Richard Sudworth suggests that leadership structures in the emerging church should be rebrokered as follows. Qualifications for:

Deacon: tattoo and blog.
Pastor: tattoo, blog, ipod and powerbook.
Apostle: tattoo, blog, ipod and powerbook, but belief that leadership is redundant whilst broadcasting a strategic apostolic voice to that effect.

All the above are white and male and under 45 whilst advocating the inclusivity and breadth of the church. ;-)

US Constitution canonized

Monthly satirical newspaper The Holy Observer reports that the U.S. Constitution will be canonized. In January 2005, congregations across the world will be asked to do the unimaginable - open their Bibles to the book of First Americans. The New Testament has been tinkered with for the first time in nearly 1,700 years by the Council at Colorado Springs - a hodgepodge of evangelical leaders from across the nation who have added the United States Constitution to the canon of Scripture.

Hanging out in Leusden

The next two weeks we're hanging out in Ewout & Jeanette's house in the farmlands between Leusden and Achterveld. Taking care of the cats, chickens and rabbits, and enjoying the countryside. The kids are keen on trying every toy they can find.

Me speaky Christianese

In the last edition of Joel News International I included two entries from Leadership Journal that, I believe, are right-on:

Bless this house?

Brian McLaren explains why efforts to renew the church are often misguided. "We overlook one small detail - whatever we change (style of music, style of preaching, use of art, candles, incense, etc.), we're not changing the thing that needs changing most.

"The greatest heresy of monotheism is cherishing Clause A of the Abrahamic call while conveniently suppressing, forgetting, or ignoring Clause B. So, we want to be blessed (big, exciting, vibrant, wealthy, healthy, wise). We want to be great (a great nation, a great denomination, a great congregation). To this end we pray and pay and read and plead and strive and strain and yearn and learn and groan and labor. And we give birth to wind. Meanwhile, might God be otherwise occupied, scanning the earth for people who will also cherish Clause B: to be made into a great blessing, so that all people on earth can be blessed through us."

The language of planet Zion

Ron Martoia explains why people today wonder what on earth we're talking about when we speak Christianese. "Words carry all sorts of definitional freight, and we can't assume our words conjure up the same images in everyone's minds. We need some dialogue on the Christian lexicon. Many of the words we use are words our people inside the church have only vague understandings of, and worse yet, those outside the church have little, if any, accurate reference point. Their minds will fill the gaps with explanations from People magazine or a rerun of Friends."

Therefore Martoia changed the lexicon in his local church. Sermon has been replaced by 'weekend talk', evangelism by 'spiritual conversations', discipleship by 'replication', gospel by 'breaking news flash', church membership by 'partnership' and conversion by 'allegiance to God's kingdom'.

Meeting with the rabbi

Joined a meeting in the house of prayer in Utrecht with rabbi Aryeh Heintz and his family (more specifically his wife and one of their ten kids). Over the last six months a relationship has developed between the house of prayer and the Jewish community in Utrecht, which is quite special.

The rabbi and his wife shared their concern about the increase of antisemitism and biased media reports about Israel. And of course taught some of their insights in the Torah. The Jews have a strong tradition of study, teaching and wisdom, and it has carried them through the diaspora. It's actually a historic miracle that the Jews are still around. Any other people group would already have been assimilated, but the (orthodox) Jews kept their unique identity, they have a strong sense of being set apart for God.

The 'Jewish issue' is quite important for the church as well. I posted about it back in February. Like many other nations the Netherlands has a long history of antisemitism (see also my short history of the Jews in Utrecht). It's something the church has to deal with at some point, if we don't want to ignore God's principles of covenant and blessing.

The sound of music

If you like small animation movies, check out this one (mpg). With thanks to 6pack for the lead.

In the beginning...

Bob Carlton rephrased Genesis 1, based on today's church:

In the beginning, earth was without form and void, and the Spirit brooded upon the waters of the deep. And God said:

"Let there be a long prescriptive mission statement. Let there be a clear ecclesiology to separate the church from the world. Let there be committees that yield fruits of every kind. Let there be programming by day and by night. Let there be parliamentary procedure and interoffice memos, creeping or flying between administrative units. Let there be elected officers of every kind, and let the pastor be the CEO."

And on the seventh day God rested from labor and saw that Christendom was very good. And church people have been exhausted ever since.

BTW, Rick Warren made it into Fast Company's 'Fast 50' - people who will be setting the agenda in the future, up-and-comers whose work promises to have a profound impact on the world. Including a long list of comments from Warren worshippers. Fair enough, without Warren, many churches would have declined even further. But to call it a 2nd reformation - hey, get a life!

Chicken Run

Karolien had a day off and went for a walk, a pancake and a good book, while the kids and I hang out at home and watched 'Chicken Run'.

Chicken Run (2000) is an animation film from Aardman Studios, home of the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit series. Chicken Run follows the story of a group of chickens determined to fly the coop for good! Led by the rough-and-ready newcomer Rocky, the chickens of Coop 17 hatch an elaborate plot to escape from the clutches of the menacing Mrs. Tweedy before she serves them up as pies. Full of adventure and Aardman's unique wit, Chicken Run proves that bravery comes in all forms - even feathered.

Fruitless passion?

Although it was labelled by Evangelical leaders as one of the greatest evangelistic tools in history, the Passion movie had no direct evangelistic impact, says US based researcher George Barna. Christians were not more determined to engage in evangelism as a result of the movie, and less than 0.1 percent of those who saw the film stated that they made a profession of faith or accepted Jesus Christ as their savior in reaction to the film's content.

One of the lessons from this situation, according to Barna, is that major transformation is not likely to result from one-time exposure to a specific media product. This is of course no surprise, it's pretty much common knowledge, except among Evangelicals who jump from one hype to the other, and see in every hype a next key to revival. Besides that, The Passion wasn't intended for evangelism. It's an artistic expression of an important aspect of Christ's life. Worth our media attention and worth reflecting on, but it should never have fallen into the hands of the Evangelicals.

Who is your covering?

Just finished Frank Viola's book 'Who is your covering? A fresh look at leadership, authority and accountability'. Honestly, it's the best book on church leadership I've read so far. He kills quite a number of 'holy cows' like the one-pastor-system, the concept of 'spiritual covering', church hierarchies, denominationalism, the clergy/laity divide, positional thinking, and self-appointed apostles.

Viola clearly shows from the Scriptures what kind of leadership Jesus and Paul modelled and that the keys for local expressions of church are brotherly love, the priesthood of all believers, mutual submission, recognizing organic authority, and obedience to Christ as the only legitimate Head of the Church.

Humor and hatespeech

In the UK a new law is being discussed against inciting religious hatred. Comedians and cartoonists fear the law will also ban jokes about religion. Makes you wonder why some people apparently can't see the difference between fundamentalist extremism and humor...

Observations from the outside

Mark Barkaway posted some interesting observations on his weblog about what happens when people leave the organised version of church:

- People make a lot less effort with you; after all they need to invest their time and energy into spending time with people already in their church community. If you’re not in, you'll be left out. Church can be immensely activity and resource focussed. Concerned more about the product, the content and message and less about culture, context and individual lives.
- Church places an economic value on you. When you leave you suddenly have little or nothing to contribute anymore. You are worth nothing unless you can contribute something or you are going to consume the 'product'.
- Timescales and timeframes of 'activity' are dictated from within the church. Those outside must comply.
- Church (depending on the tradition) is predominately interested in morality and disinterested in spirituality.
- Everything must be functional. There is very little space for the arts.

"I guess I’m reflecting on this today not as a criticism or to throw stones, but just because I feel if this is what I see/perceive, then why would I ever want to step back in?…" Good question.

Chilling at the Habbo Hotel

Following in the digital footsteps of Tallskinnykiwi and Dutchtraveller I finally got myself a virtual identity at the Habbo Hotel. The Habbo Hotel is a hotel on the internet with virtual lounges, cafes and swimming pools. It's also possible to create and decorate rooms for yourself to hang out with your friends.

DAWN buddy Andrew set up Suddenly Seminary, where every Tuesday night church planters in the emerging culture meet up for pizza and a good talk. The next meeting will be on Tim Bednar's paper 'We know more than our pastors' that I reviewed some time ago. Ronald set up the Sapphire Lounge, a like-minded meeting place that is linked with Suddenly Seminary by a transporter. Jonah of 24-7prayer set up a virtual 24-7 prayer room, where you can go anytime to say a prayer, light a candle and put a post-it memo on the wall.

I have to admit that I was a bit sceptical about meeting this way, especially after having seen the Church of Fools. I don't like 'playing church' in real-life, so why would I want to help breed a 'churchy culture' in cyberspace? Actually a hotel like Habbo is a much more convenient place for 'organic' fellowship and discussion. It's a fully interactive environment where you can walk around, chat, get a drink, go for a swim, and meet people from all over the world. It's designed for 14-20 year olds, but hey - why would kids have all the fun. :-)

Appreciating brother Paul

I've always had a sort of a love-hate relationship with brother Paul, especially his hard-to-really-grasp paulinic wordiness. But today, reading through 1 Corinthians in The Message, I started to appreciate his apostolic passion, his wisdom and practical insight, his releasing father heart. It's amazing what a translation can do for one's image...

John the mosquito

David loves little self-made stories. Over the past years I've made up hundreds of them. It's always about a little boy or an animal that jumps into adventures or ends up in quite absurd circumstances. The only problem is that David is never content with just one story, he wants another one, and another one. Today I ran out of fantasy and told him 'one last story' about John the mosquito. It goes like this:

"Once there was a mosquito and his name was John. He was buzzing through daddies room. Buzzzz. Dad smashed him and he was dead. That was the end of the story."

"No dad, this is way too short. You must tell me a story that's a little bit longer."

"OK. Once there was a mosquito and his name was John. He was buzzing through daddies room. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Dad smashed him and he was dead. That was the end of the story."

"No dad, this is also too short! You must tell me a real long story!" (read: I don't want to go to bed yet, the longer the story, the later I end up in bed, he he he ;-)

"OK. Once there was a mosquito and his name was John. He was buzzing through daddies room. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Dad smashed him and he was dead. That was the end of the story."

Webpage Utrecht Leaders' Day

I compiled a webpage with the reports, pictures and background information of the recent Leaders' Day in Utrecht.

Just stop saying 'just'!

Monthly satirical newspaper The Holy Observer reports that for decades, God has lavished his followers with linguistic grace regarding what could be considered an epidemic in the prayer world - the use of the word 'just'. Usually found in a pattern similar to "God, please just [insert petition] and just [insert another petition]," the word 'just' has made answering prayers a confusing and tedious process for the Almighty. In response, God declared earlier this month that Christians everywhere may no longer use the word 'just' during intercessory prayer, effective immediately.

More from The Holy Observer:
Saddam Hussein converts to Christianity in custody
Christian mom thinks 'blog' is a euphemism for sex
Campus Crusade for Christ sues Mel Gibson over Passion
Man happier about switch to Mac than conversion to Christianity
Exclusive Report: Trinity Broadcasting Network run by atheists
Circle of prayer surrounding National Day of Prayer gets confusing

40 Days of Purpose

Also from Lark News, but deserves it's own posting:

Q: My church is embarking on something called '40 Days of Purpose'. Can you explain what this is?

A: Sure! The popular '40 Days of Purpose'® discipleship effort originated with Saddleback Church® in Lake Forest, California. The program leads participants through forty daily studies to help them discover God's will® for their lives.

The 40® Days of Purpose® campaign is based on the popular book, The Purpose®-Driven Life® by Rick Warren®, pastor of Saddleback® Church®. That book, a sequel to Warren's® earlier best-seller, The Purpose®-Driven® Church®, examines the gospel® message at its most fundamental level, bringing participants® closer to Jesus® and to their life's purpose®. Indeed, Warren's® entire line of Purpose®-Driven® products® are used globally, even by churches® not affiliated with Saddleback®.

Warren's® website® puts it best: "The 40® Days® of Purpose® campaign helps Christians® new and old find their purpose® in life®, for the glory of God®." Enjoy your journey® through the 40® Days® of Purpose® campaign®!

The Holy Observer, another satirical newspaper, reports what could happen if you violate the ®ule. Some churches even expel non-Purpose Driven members.

Passé pop bands resurrected

Monthly satirical newspaper Lark News reports that passé pop bands are resurrected as Christian acts, a victory for nostalgia and evangelism. "Our songs still have life in them. So you tweak a few lyrics, memorize some scriptures, get yourself a testimony, and viola, you've got a fan base again." Nice quote from a pastor about the altar call: "I don't really care if the commitments are real - we just want them to say yes."

Last month Lark News reported that 'Buddhists target the 30-140 window', a parody on the Christian prayer and missions effort for the 10-40 window, but quite realistic as well, because the Buddhists are very intentional in their 'missions approach' towards the West. Also see our report in Joel News.

Last time I quoted a report from Lark News, some folks sent it on as for real. Please, before you do so, look up the word 'satirical' in your dictionary.

More from Lark News:
Cleveland-area revival attributed to woman's Scripture checks
Boy unsure why he fully invested in FROG fad
Classic Christian bumper stickers latest hot collectible

On to the finals

So Portugal and Greece will meet each other in the finals on Sunday - the South Europeans are doing it again. The more south, the more passion? It's fair that the Dutch and Czech teams were sent home.

I plan to go to Portugal in September, when all the soccer fun is over, but an interesting DAWN process will start. If the churches in Portugal are doing a good job, they can use the newly built and rarely used soccer stadiums to gather and train all the new believers.

Adriaan gets married

Former Joel News editor Adriaan will marry his Rebecca this Summer and set up a special wedding website. Very nice idea. Warning: for the 'how we got to know each other'-stories you really need a handkerchief. In September he will start working for Athletes in Action, Agape's sports ministry, and asked me to be his referent (I told him I will be very honest ;-).