spiritual formation

Listen to Jesus

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One of the more important stories told in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke is the story of Jesus’s transfiguration. In the story, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain with him where they encounter Moses and Ellijah talking with Jesus. There are a lot of details in this story but the most important is the fact as a cloud descends upon them, the disciples hear a voice saying, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” (Mk 9:7, CEB).

God says that Jesus is his Son and that we should listen to him!

Listen to Jesus.

Of course, we understand that we must listen to Jesus. We can’t follow Jesus unless we’re listening to Jesus and we know that. But knowing doesn’t necessarily mean doing. Regardless of our ministry and church context, we need to remember that we must listen to Jesus because we live in a society saturated with many voices. From the news to social media down to the most mundane messages we encounter in the office, at our favorite coffeehouse, etc…, there are many voices vying for our attention.

An important question to raise is how do we listen to Jesus? After all, we don’t have the ability to have a one-to-one conversation or small group conversation with Jesus. In the absence of having Jesus directly speak to us, it’s also easy to tell ourselves we’re listening to Jesus when we actually listening to ourselves or some other voice and just telling ourselves that’s Jesus. So how do we listen to Jesus?

The most obvious way of listening to Jesus is by reading the Bible. Since all scripture testifies about Jesus (Jn 5:39), reading the Bible allows us to listen to Jesus. I also believe we can listen to Jesus when gathered with our church for times of worship, and fellowship. It will take a little more discernment but whether we are listening to a sermon, praying together, or just having a conversation, we just might hear the voice of Jesus speaking to us.

We can also indirectly listen to Jesus in the sort of people we give our attention to as conversation partners. Whether these conversation partners are found in the books we read, the podcasts we listen to, or else, it’s possible to hear the voice of Jesus speaking to us.

We may be even more able to hear the voice of Jesus speak through others if we’re willing to diversify who we read and/or listen to. For example, I love to read and I have a lot of books on my shelf. However, a few years back I had someone ask me how many books were written by people of the majority world or women. As I thought about this I realized that almost every book on my shelf was written by a White man of European descent. Now that’s somewhat to be expected since the majority of the theology of the last several centuries has flowed from Europe to the United States. Nevertheless, since then I have tried making a more conscious effort to read books written by minorities and women.

Listening to Jesus always requires discernment and that happens best with a few others we trust to tell us what we need to hear rather than what we want to hear. Discernment with others helps us avoid the trap of self-deception which is more likely to happen when we are not considerate of what others might say.

So I’ve reminded us that we must listen to Jesus and have shared some ways we can do so. Are there other ways of listening to Jesus? If so, please share in a comment.

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K. Rex Butts, D.Min, serves as the lead minister/pastor with the Newark Church of Christ in Newark, DE, and is the author of Gospel Portraits: Reading Scripture as Participants in the Mission of God. Rex holds a Doctor of Ministry in Contextual Theology from Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL, and a Master of Divinity from Harding School of Theology in Memphis, TN. He is married to Laura and together they have three children.

Church Renewal Begins With Us

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Having posted two previous articles about the decline among the Churches of Christ and the need for planting new churches and campus ministries, I would like to share some more thoughts about church renewal.* As the title suggests, church renewal begins with us.

By us, I mean the people who are the church. That should be rather obvious but I’m not sure if it is. Having served in ministry as a minister for the last twenty-two years, I’ve heard and engaged in many conversations about church renewal. Numerous books, articles, blogs, and podcasts have been published, with many of them addressing the issue of church renewal as it relates to the challenges of leadership and conflict, spiritual formation and the mission of God, as well as even evangelism and reaching the next generation. Such conversations are necessary and generally helpful. However, all the methods, strategies, and theories won’t make a difference unless the people who constitute the church are being transformed by God through the Spirit in the way of Christ.

This is why it’s so important to remember that church renewal is Christian renewal. Our local churches are us. We are the church. Yes, we organize ourselves in a manner so that we may function as a church community. And yes, sometimes the way we organize becomes a hindrance to our participation in the mission of God. However, before we can tackle the organizational and theological challenges present in church renewal, we have to ask if we are being renewed by the Spirit in our faith as followers of Jesus.

Some years ago I went through a series of seminars with Mission Alive that focused on church renewal. Very appropriately, the first seminar dealt with our own personal faith. That’s because, as Mission Alive states, “The first ministry of any spiritual leader is to his or her own soul. Your leadership board, group, team or committee cannot lead others into a deeper, more vibrant relationship with God if they are running on empty” (Mission Alive, Renew).

To speak of church renewal as Christian renewal, we must talk about the practices or disciplines that open us to the Spirit’s work of cultivating an ever-deepening faith among us. Just as the proper disciplines of diet and exercise correlate to good physical health, so does proper discipline correlate to a fit faith as followers of Jesus. We are not talking about earning our salvation in any sense. We are simply talking about participating in the activities that will allow us to live as healthy followers of Jesus, exhibiting a courageous and convicting faith that is fueled by the Spirit of God at work in and among us. There are plenty of books written on spiritual disciplines such as reading and meditating on scripture, prayer, fasting, solitude, self-examination, etc… Two recommendations include the now classic book by Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms.

I’ll confess that I am neither naturally inclined to physical fitness nor to faith fitness. I’m always a few pounds overweight and I’m still struggling to live as a faithful follower of Jesus. So I have to be intentional about watching my diet and getting exercise, which typically involves walking (having a 125-pound Saint Bernard dog helps). Walking also opens space for me to reflect and become aware of both the ways I see God working and the ways I am struggling in my faith. That open space is where I become intentional about praying, which can still be a struggle. I also have downloaded on my iPhone several apps for reading the Bible as a discipline, not for sermon and Bible class preparation but simply so that I might hear God speak through his word in anticipation of seeing as God sees and joining in his work as a follower of Jesus.

I’m neither an expert on physical health nor an expert on church renewal and maintaining a fit faith. However, one key reason church renewal doesn’t come without Christian renewal is we now live in a time where churches are increasingly made up of Christian consumers. Such Christian consumerism means participating in a local church depends on whether that church provides desired goods. The consumer mindset is not one of how can a Christian serve with their church to participate in the mission of God but instead seeks to be served by the church. Such consumerism, which is antithetical to following Jesus and a hindrance to church renewal, seems especially prevalent among younger adults and students (Kinnaman and Matlock, Faith For Exiles, 27-28).

While consumerism is certainly bred and reinforced by American culture, it is also learned from inauthentic Christianity encountered in church. We must resist the consumer impulses ourselves by attending to our own faith, engaging in the exercises that allow us to maintain a fit faith — a faith that follows Jesus rather than consuming religious goods. Ultimately, the goal of church renewal is participation in the mission of God but that goal begins by attending to our own faith as people committed to following Jesus. Such faith is the authentic Christianity that breaks through consumerism, embodying the gospel and igniting church renewal.

* This article is a revision of a previous article titled “Church Renewal is Christian Renewal” that I wrote for Wineskins 23 (March 2020).

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K. Rex Butts, D.Min, serves as the lead minister/pastor with the Newark Church of Christ in Newark, DE, and is the author of Gospel Portraits: Reading Scripture as Participants in the Mission of God. Rex holds a Doctor of Ministry in Contextual Theology from Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL, and a Master of Divinity from Harding School of Theology in Memphis, TN. He is married to Laura and together they have three children.

How are you gifted? Wired? Called?

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How are you gifted?  Wired?  Called?

WateringSome Christians are gifted as church planters. They are like Paul the Apostle. Converted to convert others. Led by God to start new churches. Paul spoke about this gifting when he wrote, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow” (1 Cor. 3:6).  God uses called and gifted servants to both plant new churches and water existing ones.  Do you have the apostolic calling of Paul?

As you consider this question, read 1 Cor. 3:5-9 and specifically ask, “What type of servant am I—a planter or a waterer?

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.  I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.  For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

As you reflect on this passage, realize that you are merely a servant.  Only God working through you makes things grow (vs. 6). This planter/waterer metaphor illustrates not only spiritual gifting, but more importantly, divine guidance and empowerment.  We are only “God’s fellow-workers . . . God’s field . . . God’s building” (vs. 9).  Ultimately the mission is God’s, and we are merely servants ministering in his vineyard.

Read 1 Cor. 3:10-15 about laying kingdom foundations.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.  But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

chiselWhat type of builder are you in the kingdom of God?   Are you like Paul—one who lays the “foundation” of the Gospel “as a wise builder”—or are you like Apollos, a minister building upon an existing foundation (vs. 10)?

The Lord’s work is not easy!  It is messy—as messy as people are.  Paul writes, “The fire will test the quality of each person’s work” (vs. 13).  How do God’s servants spiritually and strategically prepare themselves to lay new kingdom foundations of Jesus Christ (church planting) or to build upon these foundations (church renewal and growth)?  Are you willing to put your life in God’s hands and work in this messy world?

What type of material will you use to build the foundation of Jesus Christ?  Paul describes various materials used in the building—“gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw.”  What separates these elements?  The answer is that some are combustible and some are incombustible!

Since “the fire will test the quality of each person’s work,” some work will “survive” and some will be “burned up.” Foundations of gold, silver, costly stones will survive but those of wood, hay, and straw will be consumed.  How can we spiritually prepare ourselves for ministry in which some of God’s work will “survive” but some will also be “burned up”? Are you spiritually ready to experience loss?

Paul talks about ministering out of “God’s grace.” What does this mean? How do we minister out of God’s grace?

Paul called himself “a wise builder” (vs. 10). How did Paul—who once persecuted the church—become an expert builder? How does “God’s grace” work within us to form us into “expert builders”?

Answering these questions is a step in discerning how you are gifted, wired, and called.

For personal spiritual discernment contact us at Mission Alive at Contact@missionalive.org to connect and discuss a process of equipping. We would love to hear your journey and pray with you.

An Elevator Speech

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Randy Harris and I recently held a Theology Lab at the Boerne church just north of San Antonio.   During this lab I facilitated discussion about the interrelated biblical themes of mission dei (the mission of God), the kingdom of God, and incarnation.   During the discussion of each Theology we also reflected on related Practices and First Steps in developing these practices.

Randy Harris led us in reflecting on the major tenets of the Christian faith beginning with “humanity” and concluding with a theology of “church” and the nature of spiritual formation.  It was a transformative lab of church leaders!

During our final debriefing, one elder asked, “How can we summarize the content of this lab so others in the church can grasp what we have learned?  What is our elevator speech?” Continue reading →

From Theology to Practice

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In a broad sense there are two types of Christian leaders:  Those who listen primarily to human voices and those who focus their hearts on listening to God.  The first try to navigate competing human preferences, expectations, and desires with the goal of satisfying everyone.  The second acknowledge that only God in his Holy Spirit can form us into his kingdom people.  The first seek answers below—in the world; the second above—in God.  That is the purpose of Mission Alive’s Theology Lab:  to teach Christian leaders to move from theology to practice by hearing the voice of God.  

For us, a theology of mission, like the rudder of a boat, guides the mission of God and provides direction.  My wife is fond of remembering how our children frequently wanted to “drive” when we took them on pedal-boats.  At times they were so intent on pedaling, making the boat move, that the rudder was held in an extreme position, and we went in circles.  Realizing their mistake, but still intent on pedaling, they would move the rudder from one extreme to the other so that we zig-zagged across the lake. When Christians operate without the foundation of a missional theology, their lives and ministries tend to zig-zag from fad to fad, from one theological perspective and related philosophies of ministry to another.  A theology of mission, like the rudder of a boat, provides practical direction for Christian ministry.  Continue reading →