Off To Work?

Over the past several months I have felt a growing dissatisfaction in my spirit with the language that I and other Salvation Army Officers use to describe who we are and what we do. 

In an attempt to bridge the communication gap between the quasi-military culture of The Salvation Army and Australian culture when explaining who I am as an "officer", I have described myself as a pastor, minister, church leader or minister of religion.  While these titles capture elements of what I do, they don't adequately describe who I am as a Salvation Army Officer. 

When it comes to discussing what I do in casual conversation, the reference to 'my work' or 'going to work' grates against the very heart of my calling as a Salvation Army Officer.  Let me be clear, this is not because I have an aversion to work!  I have a strong work ethic that borderlines on compulsive (according to those closest to me).  Although, the term 'work' flows naturally off my tongue, it feels like an inadequate term that reduces my divine calling into a dutiful career.  Maybe this tension between calling and career is because I am so passionate about what I do that I can't separate it from who I am. 

Is it just a matter of semantics?  I don't think so, because language is powerful.  Our choice of words are often a window into our soul revealing the heart of who we are as people.  Jesus reminded us of this when he said, "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45).  So when I communicate about something as significant as the fulfillment of my calling, I am no longer content to default to language that will simply align who I am and what I do with what is familiar in a religious or social context.  I want to find and use language that casts a powerful vision of God's mission to the present age through The Salvation Army.

One of the best examples I have read of a church leader communicating effectively who he is and what he does is Erwin McManus, the lead pastor of Mosaic Church in Los Angeles.  He describes himself as a Cultural Architect, which suggests that his role is not about trying to keep up with the current culture, but reshaping it through influence and innovation.  It is any wonder that his church has been named as "one of the most influential and innovative churches in America."

While I have yet to discover how I best communicate who I am and what I do as a Salvation Army Officer in concise and compelling language, I do know that being referred to as a 'minister of religion' and 'going to work' just doesn't cut it!  I am privileged to be a part of a select few who are "CALLED BY GOD to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as an officer of The Salvation Army" and embrace this calling as a lifestyle not a job!

So, I do not get up and go to work, instead I get up and enter the mission field "to live to win souls and make their salvation the first purpose of my life."

To Serve The Present Age

"...David had served God's purpose in his own generation..." (Acts 13:36)

My earnest prayer is that God will raise up a new generation of David's who will wholeheartedly and courageously serve His purposes in this present age!  May the Church cease trying to rekindle the past or restrain the present and creatively reshape the future by becoming "all things to all people so that by all possible means [we] might save some."  (1Corinthians 9:22)

Spirit On The Move

"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.  Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.'  So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God's way?"  (Acts 11:15-17)

Who am I to think that I could stand in God's way?  There is one thing that has become abundantly clear to me at this stage of my faith journey; God is already at work in places and through people and in ways that defy my expectations, in spite of my strategies and programs and with or without the structure of the Church!  Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts and minds of all people of all nations, drawing them towards faith in Jesus Christ.  While churches continue to develop sophisticated evangelism strategies and programs, the greatest evangelism strategy of the Church has little to do with what we do, but everything to do with looking and listening for where the Spirit of God is moving.

God broke through Peter's religious and cultural prejudices with a vision that opened his eyes to see a group of spiritually hungry people who were ready to hear the gospel message.  May our vision extend beyond our own religious and cultural boundaries to recognise where the Spirit of God is already at work.  May our hearts be open to respond to the 'faith of the unbeliever' wherever it may be expressed.  And may our voices be ready to join a conversation that has already begun to speak a revelation of Jesus Christ!

I'll Not Turn Back

"But our ancestors refused to obey him.  Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt."  (Acts 7:39)

In addressing the Sanhedrin, before whom Stephen stood condemned, Stephen confronted the religious leaders with a lesson from their own history about Moses being rejected by the people he was sent to rescue.  There is a disturbing truth about people turning their hearts back to a place of bondage that resonates with people who minister to others.

I can think of so many times as a church leader when I have journeyed with people through their brokenness, leading them towards a place of wholeness, to have them turn on me mid journey.  While a vision of a better future is more compelling than a broken past, the obstacles of the present often seem too overwhelming.  Or worse, the false sense of security found in a known past seems to offer more certainty than the insecurity of an unknown future, no matter how dysfunctional the past was or promising the future is.

As a leader, I am frustrated and grieved by this rejection and abandonment of the journey towards healing and wholeness.  But as a Christian, rescued by the grace of Jesus Christ, I am confronted by evidence of similar patterns in my own faith journey.  How many times do I find my "heart turned back to Egypt" when the pleasures of the past seem more alluring that the promises of the future or when challenged by the problems of the present?  How often do I resist or reject the power of the Spirit because my heart is turned from His presence?

This self-reflection evokes a stirring in my spirit and a renewed resolution to keep my eyes firmly fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and my heart in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25), never turning back to the place from which I was rescued!

I will never be the same again,
I can never return, I've closed the door.
I will walk apart, I'll run the race
And I will never be the same again.
 

 Fall like fire, soak like rain,
Flow like mighty waters, again and again.
Sweep away the darkness, burn away the chaff,
And let a flame burn to glorify Your name.
 
There are higher heights, there are deeper seas,
Whatever you need to do, Lord do in me.
The Glory of God fills my life,
And I will never be the same again.
 
Fall like fire, soak like rain,
Flow like mighty waters, again and again.
Sweep away the darkness, burn away the chaff
And let a flame burn to glorify Your name.
 
I will never be the same again,
I can never return, I've closed the door.
I will walk the path, I will run the race
And I will never be the same again.
And I will never be the same again.
And I will never be the same again.

(Geoff Bullock)

LEADING FROM THE TRENCHES: Creative Solutions

LEADING FROM THE TRENCHES: Creative Solutions
I think the most effective way to deal with bureaucratic red tape is not giving into what is, but discovering creative solutions and working towards what could be.

Superficial or Supernatural

One of the many blessings of being a Salvation Army Officer is that we get to meet and engage with a lot of people. After 16 years of service, 3 appointments in three states, 3 overseas mission trips and several territorial and international training opportunities, you can imagine that we have interacted with an awful lot of people! Then, add online social networking on top of that and the friends list gets a little daunting, even for a type A extroverted personality like me. Out of all the people we have met, how many do we REALLY know? How many relationships move beyond a superficial acquaintance into the realm of genuine friendship? Or in Facebook language, from the acceptance of a friend request to face to face interaction?
 

When you consider the breadth of your own social networks, both online and in real life, you will know that it is impossible to be really friends with everyone you meet. Yet, some people choose to live life entirely at a superficial level, content with not really knowing or interacting with anyone at any real depth. Relationships seem so much less complicated when they are kept at a superficial level. In a movie I enjoy called 'Good Will Hunting,' Sean, a psychologist played by Robin Williams, is working with a very troubled young man, Will, who is a genius, yet keeps everyone in his life at arms length, not letting anyone get close to him. In a scene where Sean is trying to help Will understand why he is pushing away the one girl he really likes, he challenges Will's superficial relationship, "Maybe "you're" perfect right now. Maybe you don't want to ruin that. I think that's a super philosophy, Will; that way you can go through your entire life without ever having to really know anybody."
 
What's interesting to me about this superficial philosophy is how much it relates to not only interpersonal relationships but the way many Christians choose to interact with God and the Church. My observation of these Christians is that they choose to "go through [their] entire life without ever having to really know anybody" and wonder why their faith remains at a superficial level and their experience of God seems so distant. Superficial religious observance becomes an inadequate substitute for a deep spiritual experience and never really satisfies the longings of a yearning soul, no matter how hard you try.

Religion may be a useful vehicle to understand and express faith, but it is no substitute for authentic relationship. Our experience of God must go beyond what we do and become an expression of who we are. Superficial religion without supernatural relationship is powerless and will leave us feeling empty and incomplete.

Don't settle for a superficial religious experience when a supernatural relationship with Jesus Christ and a divine encounter with Holy Spirit will radically transform your life! 

Featured Blog - Major Marney Turner

It's All About Jesus: PROPHETIC FRESH REVELATION AWAITING YOU
http://jesusrevival.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/prophetic-fresh-revelation-awaiting-you.html?m=1

Sacrificial Seconds

"When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong?  When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong?  Try offering them to your governor!  Would he be pleased with you?  Would he accept you?" says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 1:8)

The sacrificial offering requirements for the people of Israel outlined in the Old Testament may seem to the modern reader as onerous and unreasonable, but they were fundamentally about giving God our best.  Offering God anything less than our best diminishes our act of worship as it devalues the worthiness of the One whom we worship.  While these sacrificial requirements were fulfilled by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our response to God is no less in the New Testament.  Jesus told the disciples to leave everything and follow Him; the believers in the early church shared everything they had; and Paul urged the Romans, "In view of God's mercy, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Romans 12:1).

I don't want to dishonour God with sacrificial seconds, I want to honour Him with ALL that I am, loving Him with 'all my heart, my soul and my mind' (Matthew 22:37)!

Living By Faith, Not By Sight

There is an interesting battle in our family car now our kids are on the threshold of being teenagers - the battle between my favourite easy listening radio station and their iPods music playlist!  Much to the delight of us all, relative peace has returned to the car with a mutual love of the band "He is We."  Quoting their Wikipedia page, "He is We is an indie pop band from Tacoma, Washington.  The band originally was made up of Trevor Kelly and Rachel Taylor as the lead vocalist."

While I have no knowledge of their faith perspective, or the background to their song "Tell Me," I find myself connecting with the lyrics of the refrain:

Tell me, “Don’t give up!”
Tell me, “There’s someone out there!”
Give me a pure love
Give me a forever that we both can share

Show me it's okay,
Show me it's all right,
That I'm far from crazy for living by faith, not by sight

As a person of faith I am often stepping out into the unknown pursuing a strategy for a future that is neither seen nor understood by those who don't share the same vision.  There are times when living by faith leaves me with a sense of vulnerability where I wrestle with my own doubt, let alone the doubt of others who think I'm a little crazy.  When I have experienced ridicule and opposition for living by faith, I have looked to God and like minded people to "Tell me, 'Don't give up!'" and "Show me it's okay...it's all right."

The Scripture reminds me that "faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1).  Yet, rather than inferring that faith is a blind journey of chance, the confidence and certainty that comes through "living by faith, not by sight" is found in the knowledge that the Object of my faith sees what I do not see.  I believe in a God who is outside of time and space and calls me to step out in faith towards a future that has already been planned for me.  While that future may still be full of uncertainty, it is a vision of what could be and should be and "I'm far from crazy" exercising faith in a preferred reality that reflects God's purpose for His creation.

LEADING FROM THE TRENCHES: Soldier On!

LEADING FROM THE TRENCHES: Soldier On!
I fear that the pendulum of leadership has swung so far towards ‘self-care’ that the fighting spirit of leadership has been weakened.  No one wants to see a leader burn out, but few are inspired by leaders who give up!