New Mercies

“If you are one of God’s children, there is something in your life that will not wear out. In fact, it has the amazing capacity to be new day after day after day. Scripture says that God’s mercies are ‘New every morning.’

Now, you know you need mercy, because you know you need forgiveness and help. Almost every day you mess up in some way. Almost every day you face things that are bigger than the size of your personal wisdom and strength. You and I constantly need the mercy of forgiveness and the mercy of enablement. And so, it is very encouraging to know that God’s mercy is new every day! God’s mercy never grows stale and it never loses it’s transforming power. God’s mercy is brand new morning after morning after morning.

This also means that God’s mercy is form-fit for the problems that you are facing right here, right now. Each morning you are given new mercies for the particular things that you will face that day.

So, you can wake up tomorrow with courage and hope. And you can do this, not because of your strength and wisdom, but because you know that the most important thing you have ever been given will never wear out. You can also have hope because you know that the God who has given that new mercy, knows exactly what you are about to face.”

—Paul David Tripp, “It Won’t Wear Out”

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Being Multi

Last week was a great week for forward momentum on multi-site. I spent Thursday researching the lastest approaches to multi-site churches. Well over 1,000 churches in America are multi-site = one church meeting in multiple locations. It is inspiring to see the variety of ways that churches creatively bring their church into their context.

On Sunday evening, a group of representatives from all four San Jose area Community Groups met with me to plan the initial steps of exploring this mission approach. That late-night meeting felt like the early days of our church plant back in 2000 -- a few people sitting in a living room envisioning a new work of God.

We're planning a series of San Jose gatherings: to get everyone in that region together to dicuss how our vision could work through multiple worship sites and to begin crafting a launch. These 3 Catalyst Meetings will prayerfully seek God's leading. These same three gatherings will be repeated in Palo Alto to reboot the mission there.

A few important lessons from other churches:

1. A church cannot just 'have multi sites.' Rather, it has to become a 'multi-site church.' Everything changes: the DNA has to become stronger, leaders have to be developed at every site, ministries and staff and decisions have to be shared.
2. Multi-site churches are very effective at evangelism and community service. They frequently avoid the inevitable inward focus of established churches and remain in mission-mode longer.
3. This will not be easy, but it will be fun! More people getinvolved, often wearing several hats. At first, things may seem like a mini-step backwards. The simplicity, however, gives a focus to ministry.

Many more lessons will be learned! I just created a new Multi-Site page to Grace Church's online bookstore. While you're there, consider Tim Keller's new book "The Prodigal God," to be released on October 30.

Multiplexiosity

Grace Church is talking about multi-site as a means of advancing our mission in Silicon Valley. We live in such a large and diverse region, which means that many different types of church communities will be better at serving our area. Since 95% of the people in Silicon aren't at church, there's plenty of room to expand!

Multi-site is not new, but it's become an increasingly popular way of helping churches grow as they reach their communities.

Several different multi-site approaches work depending on the context and the congregation.

Within the PCA, three examples are Redeemer NYC, Harbor in San Diego and Perimeter in Atlanta, each doing the multi-site differently.

Other multi-ste approaches with video screens are run by Northpoint or Menlo or Willow Creek. 

A very creative group of churches around Chicago, called Community Christian Church have several resources online at NewThing

Over the next months I'll add more information and content. But we're all in this conversation... building a network of gospel churches and ministries is a grass-roots process.

DISCUSS: Check out a couple of church sites linked in this article. What impressions do you have?

Twuuuu Wuv

One of my favorite movies is Princess Bride and one of my favorite parts is the wedding scene  where the bishop says to the bride and groom with his odd accent: "Mawwage" and "Twuuuu Wuv". 

On the other hand, many marriages in Silicon Valley exist as mere business partnerships, negotiated settlements that seek to move the family unit forward in a chase for success. 

Real marriages, however, have an element of 'true love' without the fantasy of perfect romance and real marriages have an element of practical support without becoming simple drudgery.

How to avoid fantasy or drudgery? The key is remembering agape love, remembering that the deepest kind of love is submitting your own life for the sake of another person. That can look practical, romantic, courageous, forgiving, hopeful, sacrificial and full of laughter. Agape love is Jesus' kind of love, it's a love despite existing conditions and it's a love that seeks to redeem the beloved. It's the love that serves rather than be served.

I hope that many of us will be helped by the upcoming marriage seminar, Building a Great Marriage.

Experienced at Healing Broken Hearts

One of my sidebar links is Of First Importance, a daily blog filled with excellent quotes. They can be RSS fed or sent as daily emails. Here are two from this week so that you can sample the kind of daily encouragement that the site brings.

“There never was one who came to him with a broken heart, but he healed him. He never said to one, “You are too bad for me to heal;” but he did say, “Him that cometh to me, I will in now wise cast out.” My dear hearer, he will not cast you out. You say, “You do not know me, Mr. Spurgeon.” No, I do not; and you have come here to-night, and you hardly know why you are here; only you are very low and very sad. The Lord Jesus Christ loves such as you are, you poor, desponding, doubting, desolate, disconsolate one. Daughters of sorrow, sons of grief, look ye here! Jesus Christ has gone on healing broken hearts for thousands of years, and he is well up in the business. He understands it by experience, as well as by education. He is “mighty to save.” Consider him; consider him; and the Lord grant you grace to come and trust him even now!” - Charles Spurgeon, Christ’s Hospital

“The happiness promised us in Christ does not consist in outward advantages—such as leading a joyous and peaceful life, having rich possessions, being safe from all harm, and abounding with delights such as the flesh commonly longs after. No, our happiness belongs to the heavenly life.

Christ enriches his people with all things necessary for the eternal salvation of souls and fortifies them with courage to stand unconquerable against all the assaults of spiritual enemies. From this we infer that he rules—inwardly and outwardly—more for our own sake than his.

Thus it is that we may patiently pass through this life with its misery, hunger, cold, contempt, reproaches, and other troubles—content with this one thing: that our King will never leave us destitute, but will provide for our needs until, our warfare ended, we are called to triumph.”

—John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.15.4

September Hits Like a Ton of Bricks

Most people in Silicon Valley kick into high gear on the week after Labor Day. Even though the Bay Area has a nearly year-round outdoor climate and a seemingly endless vacation season, that Fall pixie dust floats down when the calendar turns to September.

Little kids in soccer uniforms trample all over. The guy who didn't return your email all summer suddenly needs your presence in a meeting within 20 minutes. Traffic jams line up outside the school parking lot. Conversations include arcane college football stats. To do lists grow faster than the 'do'ing.

For parents, the month includes an endless, constant, annoying series of forms to fill out. This is when it becomes clear that the legal department has taken over everything related to children. A waiver for lunch? Eight versions of a health history? Out-of-state emergency contacts in case the Bay Area is destroyed by an earthquake or alien invasion... and somehow mommy & daddy are buried in rubble... yet heroically the teacher is able to call a relative four states away... who will arrive in time to administer Tylenol... because the form that authorizes Tylenol was vaporized in the disaster? Huh?

I enjoy the quickening pace that September brings, but at some point for most of us the pace becomes: frantic. Frantic is when things are done out of the fear that not doing them will bring some kind of life crisis. Like the endless forms, a frantic life is driven by "what if" or "if only."

A Christian can be very active and still avoid being frantic. There's a deeper trust that God will do what He says. Activity and work become an expression of trust, an exercise of calling. And an opportunity at some point to simply stop, to "be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)

DISCUSS: when do you cross that line from busy to frantic? What gets you back?

In Mammon we trust

Jesus called Mammon a competing god.
Wealth itself (the mere object) is simply a piece of creation. Yet Mammon is the personification of the power that money has to control our desires, actions and dreams. It is potent and secretive, easily weaving itself into our perfectly normal needs.

The lie of Mammon is that it can give us what only the true God can: security or power or pleasure or acclaim or success. Four simple-yet-lifelong steps:

1. Exposing the lie is the first step in becoming a person who uses money for it's proper purposes, rather than being used by Mammon."Money, you don't own me!"
   
2. Remembering the sacrificial love of Jesus, who gave up everything for his people is a daily discipline to become free from Mammon's tyranny. Gratitude to God is a way to savor the good things that you have without becoming addicted to them. "God, you have been good!"
   
3. Becoming a 'cheerful giver' (2Cor 9), able to delight in letting money leave your hands without guilt or grudge. Trusting that God's care will continue in the future as it has in the past. "Sure, I can help!"
   
4. Maintaining a general modesty, essentially becoming monetarily humble even if income or wealth increases. Living so that people see less of you and more of Jesus through you. "Wow, I want that... but can I do without?"
   

Discussion: What is one simple way to keep from buying unnecessary things?

Recent sermons on money: Generosity and True Riches