Just sent out the invitation for our upcoming Connect Europe gathering, 25-28 November in Berlin, Germany. As we expect a lot of interest in this strategic get-together, it's best to apply as soon as possible, but not later than 25 October.
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September 30, 2005
From the north to the south
God is connecting the emerging generation in Europe literally from the far north to the far south. Niina posted on the Connect meeting in Saamiland (northern Norway). Five languages, organic church = going where the wind of the Spirit takes us, the amazing northern light, and reindeer meat with pasta. Reports here and here.
"I am off today down to Faro in the Algarve for Connect Portugal, where there will be around 25-30 of us gathering," writes Jasmin Jones (picture right). "PLease pray for this time, I believe it is a crucial time for Portugal and that the Lord really wants to raise up a generation for which Jesus and his Kingdom is the first thing. Pray for a paradigm shift in our thinking, and boldness to go wherever God calls us."
Choose your blend
TSK commenting: "How can they expect emerging people to get up so early on a Sunday morning? And what happens when the traditional people want to take their shoes off, paint Bible verses on the wall and drink some chai?"
Baptism of three girls
Andrew posted a cool video of the baptism of his three girls. Not only the happy dad, but also Little Liz blogged about it:
What a blast i've done it at last
i've gone in and out of the ocean at last
i have changed
i was reborn
i could see the change already
the foot steps that i took
walking out of the ocean
was like i was walking to God
walking to heaven
September 29, 2005
Investment schemes (4)
The Dutch Daily reports that the Berea movement fell apart, as a result of the Allart schandal. Quite sad, as it likely could have been prevented if the leaders of Berea had stepped down back in March instead of defending the situation (see episodes 1, 2 and 3). They all had 'butter on their heads' as the Dutch expression goes.
September 28, 2005
Herrnhut once again
The last few days I was in Herrnhut to reconnect with the crew of the house of prayer. It's good to see the hospital project grow. I met with Frank and Andrea, the new pastors of the Christian Center, and with Heinrich and his wife who run the renovation of the hospital. Good people with a heart to serve. It was also good to see Noel & Barbara Bell again, the grey-haired pioneers of Intercessors for Australia.
Yesterday evening I taught for a group of young people in Herrnhut on the missions side of organic church. Fritz and Ludwig, cousins of Martin, had found my weblog by googleing 'herrnhut' and 'blog', and discovered I would be around. They are rethinking church-as-we-know-it, and raised some good questions. Every week they gather young people from Herrnhut and surrounding villages in the former railway station, a kind of missions project. Afterwards, Martin showed me the Kaleidotype progam he developed (Apple only) and some of his graphic work. Check him out at martinwinter.com.
Today I joined the team meeting of the new prayer and training center, and shared from Genesis 26. Isaac dug up the old wells of his father Abraham, but also dug new wells to bear fruit in the promised land. On the one hand God wants to fully rekindle the Zinzendorf legacy in Herrnhut, but it's not a season to look back, but look forward: "See, I'm doing new things." Just looking at the prayer-side makes one realise that through movements like the Jerusalem Prayer Watch and 24-7prayer God is doing something new, that Zinzendorf would probably not even have dreamt of.
September 25, 2005
Do something arty with your house
The Neustadt quarter really is a trendy area. Today I saw these interesting wall decorations. Fire on the left and water on the right.
The break-away church
Didn't go to the meetings today, but hang out with Kai & Cornelia (insert), who told me they bought a cabin in Saxonian Switzerland, where they regularly bring friends for a weekend. They combine outdoor leasure (like climbing) with spiritual formation. "People who don't like to go to church, also non-believers, love these weekends," Kai says. Sounds like the ideal church to me. ;-)
September 24, 2005
How prayer took down the Wall
Tonight's speaker was Christian Führer, the pastor of the Nikolai Kirche in Leipzig, who has been instrumental in the prayer and peaceful resistance movement that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. I must say I hung on this guy's lips from beginning to end.
In the beginning of the eighties the Nikolai Kirche opened her doors for 'alternative' young people who had formed protest groups for disarmament. "I suddenly realised," says Christian, "that if we would open our doors for these types, the communists would no longer be able to say that the church was just a museum, a place for old ladies waiting to die. The church could again become a grassroots counter movement."
In 1982 the Nikolai Kirche started weekly prayer meetings, that went on unbroken for seven years, until the Wall fell. When discouragement kicked in, they reminded each other of Jesus' words that when two or three gather, He is in their midst. "We realised that if we would stop praying, there would be no hope for change in Germany."
A few years later Christian started a group for people who wanted to leave the 'socialist paradise'. He put a sign in front of the church building saying 'this church is open for everyone'. "Soon we became the best guarded place in the whole GDR because we took ordinary people seriously, and offered them hope."
When in 1988 a group of protesters got arrested in Berlin, the Nikolai Kirche started daily prayer meetings for their release. Hundreds of people joined in, many of them non-Christians. The sermon on the mount was central to these prayer gatherings, that quickly drew over 2,000 people. This made the government nervous and they sent hundreds of undercover agents to the prayer meetings. "This was just great," says Christian. "The government sent its employees to church, and they were now forced to listen to Jesus' teachings. So I started the meeting with a 'warm welcome to the unofficial representants of the state'. Everyone laughed, except the secret police guys. The people turned their heads and could immediately spot the cops. This broke the tension."
By October 1989 over 60.000 people had gathered in and around the church. It was the largest demonstration ever held in the GDR. Everyone had brought candles. "The Lord reminded me of this Scripture that says that 'it's not by might, and not by power, but by His Spirit'. The only successful revolution in Germany was a non-violent one. Later the police stated that they were prepared for everything, but not for prayer and candles."
Another example that history is in the hands of the intercessors. The full text of Christian's is available in German. I really want to be part of a Christ-centered movement of 'costly obedience' that will write history. How about you?
Learning from Bonhoeffer
In the afternoon there were workshops on the 'godparents' of 24-7prayer. Markus Laegel gave an excellent introduction on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young German pastor who took a bold stand against the Nazis, made it to Hitler's personal death list, and was hanged in April 1945, a few weeks before the Allied forces reached Berlin.
Interesting detail: Bonhoeffer's mother was from Herrnhut and from an early age on he developed a child-like faith. At age 18 he told his dad that he would reform the church if that was what was needed to see a body of believers that would truly incarnate Christ. He believed that any re-establishment of the church should start with simple prayer and acting, and a total commitment to the sermon on the mount. Only a 'new monastic movement' would be able to change Germany.
Bonhoeffer took a clear stand that you cannot serve Christ and Hitler at the same time. His 'confessing church' was only a small stream of life at a time that most German pastors pleaded their allegiance to the Nazis. In his book 'The Cost of Discipleship' (1937), he wrote about two sorts of grace:
"Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like the cheapjack's wares. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."
Bonhoeffer also wrote challenging stuff on living in community. I ordered his book at Amazon, and might post a bit more when I've read it. According to Markus "Bonhoeffer was a prophetic voice to the German church, and we still haven't fully grasped it." The good news is that Markus plans to join our Connect meeting in Berlin (25-28 November), and we might then even dig a bit deeper.
Escaping the program
Our friends of 24-7prayer over-programmed the weekend with teaching and stories, not allowing much space for intentional networking and interacting on relevant topics. Although most of the teaching is inspiring, I miss the deeper connection with people and learning from one another. How about this core value of 24-7 to be relational? I thought our Connect meeting in Prague was quite full and we had to improve on the interactive side, but 24-7 beat us here big time.
So we more or less escaped the program to hang out with Alek and Alpin from Macedonia (insert). Their vision is to see Christian communities of at least 5-6 people in every town in their nation. We talked about a possible Connect meeting for the Balkan area, as it's much easier for people from nations like Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia to travel in their own region then to come to Prague or Berlin with the hassle of having to apply for visa. And costs for travel and accommodation will be lower as well.
Over lunch we talked to Linda Harding who developed a course called Kairos, which takes people through a shift in their worldview regarding missions. We are considering to offer this course in Connect in July 2006, in combination with some sauna and canoeing in Finland.
24-7prayer in Dresden
I'm at the international leaders gathering of 24-7prayer in Dresden. Markus Laegel, the German base leader, arranged a cool building - an ancient ballroom in the trendy Neustadt quarter, with it's many pubs, restaurants and terraces. And we still have great weather: 23 degrees for late September is quite crazy, so much time for an outdoor German lager. Thank you, God.
September 23, 2005
Doing A Whole Marathon
Today Kerstin and I spent several hours with Amaury Braga, who mobilises prayer for the DAWN movement. It was good to catch up and talk about developments in the prayer movement and ways to focus prayer on the harvest.
When I met Amaury for the first time in Brazil in 1998, he looked a bit older and heavier than now. But he submitted himself to a vegetable diet and daily exercise, slimmed down amazingly, and now looks like a young surfer who is ready to hit the beaches of Rio. To our surprise he announced that coming Sunday he will run the Berlin Marathon. His first one, which he plans to finish in just over four hours. Respect brother, respect.
September 22, 2005
Planning for Connect Germany
Had a good first day in Berlin with the Connect Germany crew. We checked out a possible accomodation for our upcoming November meeting, visited the impressive Holocaust Monument, ate spicy Thai food, drank café latte in an anarchistic outdoor cafe, and planned a three-month Connect Germany trip in Kerstin's screaming yellow and red apartment. More pictures at Heidi's blog.
September 21, 2005
Trip to Germany
Tomorrow I'll travel to Berlin to hang out with Andreas, Kerstin, Heidi and Renni to pray and talk about a Connect Germany gathering next year. On Friday I'll meet up with my friend Amaury Braga from Brazil who mobilises prayer in the DAWN movement. Over the weekend I'll be in Dresden for the international leaders gathering of 24-7prayer. And on Monday and Tuesday morning I pay a quick visit to Herrnhut before heading back to the Netherlands.
September 20, 2005
Hip hip hurray!
Guess what... it's my birthday! I nearly forgot, but my kids reminded me in time. They made some great drawings for me, and Karolien took care of my 'inner man' with a bottle of white beer and port. And Rob brought me a rare 1.5 liter bottle of Palm. Mmmmm...
I don't really have an 'age complex' (every phase of life has its charm), but as the Aglow ladies I met last week gave me 27, I don't mind sticking to that. ;-) But hey, the first one who mails me the right answer to the age question, will be invited to join me in mastering the 1.5 liter Palm.
September 19, 2005
Traditional or missional church?
Click on the images below to enlarge, then answer this question: is your church traditional or missional? Loads of good comments on this issue at Tallskinnykiwi's blog.
The spirituality of blogging
Andrew gave a seminar at Greenbelt called 'The spirituality of blogging', in which he gave 10 good reasons to keep a weblog as a daily discipline. Because most good things also have an opposite pitfall, Si came up with 5 perils of blogging.
September 16, 2005
DAWN in The Morning
A journalist for Belgian newspaper De Morgen (The Morning) called me for a story on DAWN and new expressions of church. He had visited the World Youth Days in Cologne, and guessed there would be a big gap between what young people experienced there and the reality of the church back in Belgium. He said several bishops had expressed their concern that they would not be able to 'keep the fire going' after the WYD. I replied that the issue is not to bind young people to the church, but to release them to follow Christ and find their own expressions of church. Perhaps there could be a 'new DAWN' for the Catholics?
September 15, 2005
Isn't she beautiful?
Rob ordered and installed a new notebook for me, an Acer Travelmate 4650. Praise God for more speed, disk space, gadgets and battery life. Now Karolien gets my old notebook and can catch up with all the Joel News editions she missed over the past nine years, mail her friends, and start writing stories. She also has her own e-mail address (mail me if you want it).
September 14, 2005
Church 21 in Utrecht
Today I had a long talk with Douwe Tiemersma of Kerk21 about disciple-making, organic grassroots movements. Question: could we intentionally train young people with leadership potential to shape tomorrow's church in Utrecht? There are more people with the same heartbeat, so this will very likely be continued.
September 11, 2005
How to avoid control?
Some time ago Andrew Black posted a comment on my blog, saying that he would like to hear more about emerging leadership principles which avoid using control. Might be good to open up this topic and share some experiences.
When I was a leader in student ministry, in my early twenties, I exercised control, strongly pushing my well-meant reformation plans, and hurting people in the process. Then God moved me out of this ministry, and led me in a 'desert period' which involved breaking down selfish ambitions and motives, and a first-hand experience with controlling leadership in my work situation. Not very pleasant, but surely worthwile to experience it from the other end of the spectrum. Then God led me in period of spiritual renewal, inner healing and new freedom. These are some principles that helped me over the years:
1. The realisation that, as Winkie Pratney puts it, "God is God and I am not." Christ builds His church, not me. I just submit to Him and do what He tells me to do. So there's really nothing I have to accomplish for Him, He is very well able to handle his own work, and I can live out of grace.
2. The Body of Christ is organic and carries life. The only thing we have to do is acknowledge this and bless/release godly life and connections. It's very similar to gardening work: developing an eye for life and hidden potential, watering and fertilizing the soil, pruning to increase fruit. Never turn the Body into an organisation, it's the fastest receipt to kill life.
3. The focus of any ministry should be to release others into their calling and destiny. This is very different from expecting others to serve our agenda or stage performance. People we serve/invest in, should always experience grace and space to make their own decisions, and find their own track with God, also when that contradicts our direct personal interests.
4. Working in teams instead of on our own. Good teamwork by nature is interdependent, and doesn't give much space for control, as we always have to communicate and be accountable.
5. Don't hold tightly to any program or agenda, but allow and expect the Holy Spirit to change and inspire on the way. This is no excuse for bad planning, just a continual realisation that God's ways and plans are higher than ours, and that we better make sure we're on His page.
Feel free to reflect and add your own experiences.
September 10, 2005
The three towers
Today many monuments in Utrecht were open to the public. Together with David and Peter I climbed the grain mill, the watertower, and the bell tower of the Buurkerk.
September 09, 2005
Meetings this week
This week I had some really interesting meetings. On Tuesday I caught up with my friend and former colleague Arend, who now trains house church leaders in a so-called 'closed country' in Asia, and also develops a business in industrial engine parts. In the evening I met up with trainer Ton Kasteleijn and TV journalist Menno Helmus (insert) to talk about church innovation, and new strategies into media.
On Wednesday Lucas Vos, a business guy from Arnhem, paid me a visit to talk about a website he wants to launch with teaching articles on reformation. On Thursday building contractor Stan Uyland and philosopher Evert-Jan Ouweneel invited me to lunch to talk about a holistic approach (called GIDS) to reach and transform cities. They connect Christian businessmen, politicians and other influencers in a city to help solve the main problem areas from a Kingdom perspective. I was very encouraged by some of their stories, God is opening doors into city government in unexpected ways!
September 07, 2005
Jabez in China
Satirical newspaper Lark News reports that The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson, one of the best-selling non-fiction books in the past ten years, has gutted China's house church movement. "Chinese Christians used to sacrifice everything for Christ. Now they only want God to bless them," says one Chinese elder who has served five prison terms for planting churches. A fake story, nevertheless carrying more truth than we like...
Also funny if you like 'deadly' humor:
'Perfect' pastor found to be dead
September 05, 2005
Connect Saamiland
Niina from Finland visited the World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People in Kiruna, Sweden, and reports about this on her new blog. She sees a lot of similarities between indigenous communities and the (postmodern) emerging church movement, as both are eager to combine culture and faith, and long to see Jesus expressed in a truly holistic lifestyle. One of the results of her trip is an upcoming Connect Saamiland gathering. One of the Saami, Máhtte, started a weblog, to chronicle Jesus in the land of the reindeers.
September 04, 2005
Daddy weekend
Karolien went on a retreat in North Holland, so the boys and I had a 'daddy weekend'. The weather was great. On Sunday we went to the forest to climb trees and attend a music concert on the premises of Beerschoten estate. And in the evening French fries - yippee!
