Silent for a While

I know that I've been pretty quiet when it comes to posting here on my blog. Some time in the later half of 2006, I felt that I was blogging faster than I was processing. Over the past several months, I have processed a whole lot of info. I've also had some incredible circumstances happen in the last few months. I just got back from my trip to the Philippines. I've needed the past few days to recover from jetlagging. I also happened to get a respiratory tract infection during most of my trip. So I was sick most of the time I was over there. I'm still at around 80% of my true self so I hope those of you wondering what's happened can be a little more patient.

I plan to post a series of thoughts on the gospel, discipleship and the church as it relates to our new church plant. Please keep this in prayer. February 4 is the big day when we will have a lot of people over to the house to share the vision and plans for a fresh movement of new communities in Ottawa.

Hopefully, I'll see you back here soon...

(The picture is me with NUCOMM's Executive Pastor Jon Soriano and his new wife, Billie. I married them on December 30, 2006)

My Trip to the Philippines

Well, I am back in the Philippines. Won't be going back to Ottawa until January 18.

I have to say that getting here was one of the toughest travel experiences I've had. Basically, I was en route for 36 hours! I had a 3 hour stop over in Toronto, a 3 hour stopver in Seattle with a 2 hour delay, and a 7 hour stopver in Taipei. That's 12 hours of waiting in airports!

In Seattle, I had to walk back and forth from one end of the terminal to the other...twice! The earthquake in Taipei messed up China Airlines' computers so they did everything by hand...and the ticketing agent ommitted certain details on my boarding pass so security sent me back twice! I told the China Air ticket agent, if I have to come back a third time, you better put me in first class! Alas, it was not to be.

From Seattle to Taipei, the seat I was assigned was too small. I was in the front row where they put the bassinet for babies. Well, those seats have armrests that do not adjust! I knew that they would have to use pry bars to get me out of that seat if I stayed there for the whole 13 hour flight! So they switched me with a man from the very back row. That seat was better but still uncomfortable. I did not sleep the whole flight into Taipei.

At least my Taipei to Manila flight was fine. But when I landed in Manila, I hadn't slept for over 40 hours.

I'm gonna go back to sleep now....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May God's favor rest upon your life in 2007...and may you discover the joy found only Jesus Christ the Lord.

Spiritual Growth

How does someone grow spiritually? Is spiritual growth measured by the number of Bible courses a person completes? Or how many fill-in-the-blanks they've done? What really is spiritual growth?

It seems to me that the New Testament talks about spiritual growth in terms of maturity, fullness, and completion. But I have to admit that these terms don't seem to be too helpful. They're not concrete enough for me. But then again, spiritual growth isn't something as concrete as, say, completing an academic degree.

Life is like that too, isn't it? How does one measure maturity? Physically? Emotionally? Intellectually? Relationally? You can't.

In its essence, spiritual growth is intangible. When you see it, you know what it is. But it's not so easliy defined.

Pastor and author John Burke describes the elements of what is needed for spiritual growth to occur:

1. A picture of maturity.
2. A context of relationship.
3. A personal development path.

I really prefer this approach over the whole 101, 201, 301, 401 baseball diamond approach. I just don't think you can really produce disciples like toys in a factory or cars in an assembly line. There are way too many organic variables that do not neatly fit into a rigid system like that.

When I reflect on my own growth, I see that it had nothing to do with completing any "course work" or study booklets. It had a lot to do with inspiring environments which included teaching from the Bible (eg. Urbana Missions Conference at the University of Illinois), Christian friends that I could be totally open to, ministry experiences like helping start a youth group for the church I grew up in, and the books and tapes I devoured that spoke to my life so deeply. All the while, I had a picture in my heart of the kind of person I could become for the Lord.

I think that discipleship in this culture and time must be fluid and not mechanical...relationships-based rather than curriculum-based.

Recommeneded Books: No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke

I highly recommend this book guys! It's a 5 star read!!

The four chapters in PART 3: The Struggle with Tolerance alone are worth twice the price of the entire book. A lot of my own questions were answered in dealing with a society that values tolerance above all things. Burke has incredible insight in handling the way the Church engages other religions and homosexuality. I wish I was that smart!

The one word that really stands out to me when dealing with imperfect people and struggling disciples is "trajectory." I think that if we can hold onto the big picture in people's lives and take into consideration their spiritual trajectory regardless of the mess they are in at the moment, we would be able to respond with grace and truth as Jesus did.

There are actually alot of things I picked up from this 314-page treasure. But this is the one thing that stands out in my mind most.

Check it out and let me know what you think here.

Enjoy!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

We have a 25lbs. turkey in the oven and a 13lbs. turkey in my brothers new rotisserie! YUM!

It's a small world!

Yesterday, I found out that Katherine -a co-worker at Starbucks- was my neighbor when we were living in 3682 St. Joseph Blvd! I lived there from the time I began high school until I left for the Philippines. Her dad used to help us a lot with handyman stuff in the house. I can't believe how small the world really is. Katherine was just a baby when I was living there through high school.

Amazing! This cannot be coincidence. It must be a God-thing....especially since Katherine had invited me out for drinks with her and Joe (another co-worker) after work. It was really nice to be invited to hang out with them. And the conversation we had about spiritual seeking, the abuse of religion, and what following Jesus really means over shots of tequila and beer was remarkable. In the end, Katherine said to please invite her to the new church we're starting.

What a full weekend!

This weekend was so full! We finally moved everything out of storage and back to the house. The repairs and remediation of the house by Minto have been completed. After working from 7am to 12pm on Friday, we moved everything back in from 1pm until late evening. It was so tiring! But at least the kids have their room back and we now have furniture in the basement.

Then the following day, after working from 7am to 4pm, we rushed to prep for Beth and Ariel birthday party at 5pm. We had 8 guests from Toronto stay with us until today. And the house was full for the party. But we had a great time!

Then we held a small worship service at the house. It was the first time for us to do something like it in this house. But we got a good response. My aunt who attended offered her house to use as a place to stage these services to reach out to people. Awesome!

I toured our Toronto friends through the Byward Market, the Rideau Canal, Parliament Hill and Sparks Street Mall on foot. No wonder we were all so tired!

But God is good...and that will never change.

Blue Like Jazz/Live

I watched Blue Like Jazz Live tonight hosted at TLC. Jason Hildebrand was brilliant. Here's Don Miller's opening Author's Note from the book:

-I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. After that, I liked jazz music. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way. I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened.-

What does somebody loving God look like? I mean the kind that draws people into it. The kind of loving God that really, really touches others deep down in the ancient places of the heart.

New Skills, New Mind

Learning new skills requires that one takes on a whole new mindset. This has been made clearer than ever as I learn to take orders and call and make drinks with Starbucks. I've found that when I see the big picture, I can better see how all the pieces fit together. Somehow, this helps me create a new mindset as a partner at Starbucks.

For example, my first training module taught me how to operate the POS or cash register. It was when I spent a couple of hours in this position that I realized how much I did NOT know about Starbucks beverages. I would often be dumbstruck when a customer ordered a drink I was not familiar with. It was frustrating for a big Starbucks fan like me to be ignorant of terms like "ristretto" and "doppio espresso." But I kept pluggin away making slow but sure progress.

Until my learning coach (a wonderful concept!) gave me some bar training. Well, knowing how to make the drinks now is helping me to better understand what customers are ordering! I also am much more comfortable calling the drinks (there is a particular way we call our drinks called "barista-speak"). Bar knowledge helped me make sense of what I needed to do on the register.

I'm not as fast calling or making the drinks yet. But I can sense that my mind is reaaranging itself into the Starbucks paradigm. I'm starting to get visions of the bar and mentally rehearse how many pumps of syrup a Venti Vanilla Latte gets and how many shots of espresso too. When I started a few weeks ago, someone did mention that I'd eventually start having dreams of making drinks. I didn't know that they were gonna be open visions!

This experience helps me to better appreciate the kind of uneasiness people have when we propose to do church differently or when we ask them to change a behavior in llifestyle. If we're going to catalyze change, its best we start by helping people get the big picture and how all the different parts work together before getting into the details.

The Wow World of Starbucks Coffee Company

Started working for Starbucks yesterday. My first shift called 'First Impressions" was mostly about learning the mission, guiding principles and standards of the company. I was so impressed with how much the company gives back to the community and with how they really treat their employees aka. partners with dignity and respect. I respected the company after reading about it in Howards Schultz' book "Pour Your Heart Into It" but after being oriented in an actual store as a partner, I am blown away. I think every Christian businessman should study this company and follow in their example. Lessons to learn from: 1) Make treating each employee with dignity and respect a functional priority and 2) Give back to the community more than you take from it.

How do I want to make this happen in our new church plant?

1. Everything we do with the disconnected and with disciples should be governed by treating them with dignity, respect, and grace.
2. As a missional community, we should seek to give back to the community more than we demand from it.
3. Every disconnected person who chooses to become a disciple should be given a "First Impressions" orientation which includes a global perspective on the Church as a movement, the vision, mission, and guiding principles of NUCOMM, and the clearly defined expectations and behaviors of being a part of NUCOMM CHURCH.

Over a year ago, we already started using the word "partners" to describe membership in NUCOMM. I think we need to clearly outline the growth and development path of a partner in NUCOMM. A possible growth path could be:

1. From being disconnected to...
2. Disciple to...(join an LTG)
3. Discipler to...(lead an LTG)
4. Catalyst to...(facilitate/host a Simple Church)
5. Trainer/Coach (teach at the Encounters)
6. Deacon...(manage a ministry or department)
7. Elder.

Fishing Lessons

Just got back from a half day of fishing in Smiths Falls, Ontario. We were 9 guys in all. I caught about 3 fish over the 5 hours that we were there. In the end, we had to let them all go. I spent most of the time feeding the fish with my worms than actually threatening to catch any of them. It's the only explanation why they weren't biting by noontime. They were full!

Here are a few lessons I learned about fishing and evangelism:

1. A key to successful fishing is timing. You have to get out there when the fish are hungry even if it means being inconvenienced by a really early wake up call. Evangelism Lesson: Share with people when they are most hungry to hear about Jesus. And remember, disconnected people don't come to Christ at your convenience.

2. Fishing gets your hands really dirty especially when you're using worms for bait. I poked several new holes in my fingers hooking worms for bait. Evangelism Lesson: Be ready to get dirty when you do evangelism.

3. Use the right bait for the right fish. I didn't get any results when I switched to lures half way through. These fish (pike, bass, pickerel) liked worms. Evangelism Lesson: Make sure to position the message of Jesus in a way that interests disconnected people.

4. Use the hook in the right way. I fed most of the fish with my worms because they learned how to eat the bait without getting hooked. Fishing is useless if you can't get the fish hooked. Evangelism Lesson: The primary purpose of evangelism is not to entertain people but to cause them to respond in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Don't settle for anything less.


Care to add anything else to this list?

Government to Save Church

I read in the Globe and Mail yesterday that the Roman Catholic Church is seeking help from the Provincial Government of Quebec to preserve its dying churches. The argument is that the RCC is not just a religious entity but a part of Quebec's heritage.

I don't know whether to feel pity or anger. On one hand, I feel pity for the RCC in Quebec that it has become so irrelevant in people's lives that it's place is now more of nostalgia than anything else. Religion has been so marginalized in Quebec that it seems this is the only place for the church.

But I also feel angry, in that, a case is being made by a spiritual institution to be rescued by government. It seems too assuming to me that a religious group would expect the government to keep it alive. The RCC is one of the riches institutions in the world! Why doesn't the Vatican do something instead?

Terror in Canada

On June 2, 2006, Canadian authorities arrested 17 Muslims in Toronto who had imported 3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate (explosives material). It was the largest anti-terrorism operation conducted by more than 400 police officers. The incident has sent shock waves amidst Canadians. Recently, a mosque was vanadalized - supposedly as a reaction to this incident.

What is so shocking is that these Muslim "terrorists" come from reportedly upstanding families who have been Canadians for decades. These people grew up and lived in Canadian democracy all their lives. And yet, they bought in to fundamentalist muslim doctrine. It goes to show how powerful ideology and religion can transcend one's social environment.

To me, this shows that social conditioning is truly powerless in changing people's hearts. Only the cross of Jesus Christ can bring the deepest transformation at the heart level. It isn't a matter of religion but of the power of Christ's love and grace applied to the human heart.

What could have changed the hearts of these 17 Muslims? Frankly, Jesus. Period. Think of Saul, the terrorist who targeted disciples of Christ invading their homes and putting them in prison, who became Paul, the apostle, who gave his life for the cause of Jesus Christ. How? His heart had been invaded by Jesus.

On Mission by Darrin Patrick

Darrin Patrick is a founding elder at The Journey in St. Louis, MO. He has this great essay on their site at www.journeyon.net.

On Mission
Jesus of Nazareth came on a mission. He was not looking for the well, the found, or the righteous. His mission was not about starting a ministry that would produce programs to be consumed by nice, attractive, middle-class, white, suburban, couples with 2.5 kids. It wasn't a country club with nice, painted, iron gates that Jesus inaugurated. It was a church that Jesus founded with its calling to storm the gates of hell. The church he founded was not a place for people to get fed and fat, but a place to be equipped and sent. Church is not a building or destination, but a people who are on mission: to join the Savior in seeking and saving those who are lost.

Evangelism, or mission, is not just another program that the church carries out. It is not some peripheral activity. The church is mission. Yes, the church gathers as people being called out (ekklesia) of the world. But the church is at the same time being sent out (apostolos) into the world. The church certainly must be called out from the world, but it also must certainly go back into the world. We are to be holy, set apart and different in our character than those who do not know God. But, we should also refuse to believe the lies the "churched" culture tells us: avoid hanging out with the people in the world because you will be corrupted. We also need to reject the lie that we have to create our own Christian sub-culture and insulate ourselves from the big, bad world. Mission demands that we follow Jesus, friend of sinners, by being immersed in relationships with those far from God, and thus, bring light to lost people in dark cultures. We are called out, but we are sent. It is only in the context of being sent do the metaphors "salt of the earth," "city on a hill," and "light of the world" make sense in describing the church. We are to be people who have been encountered by God through the gospel, and then we are to enter the world with the gospel.

Mission is intrinsically connected to community. In the gospel of John, it is said that the unity of the church is vital if the world at large is to believe and experience the Christ sent from God the Father (John 17:21-23). Further, he said that we, the church, would be identified as followers of Christ only when we are sacrificially loving one another, which is another way of true Biblical community (John 13:34-35). It seems that the gospel of John points us to a reality that is both awesome and frightening: The believability of the gospel which the church proclaims is directly linked to the "realness" of its community. Could it be that many times, the gospel cannot be fully comprehended outside of this kind of real community?

Living the gospel, ie - being on mission, can take many forms: explaining the gospel to a friend or stranger, carrying out acts of compassion, or by being faithful to sacrificially love those in your church. The challenge is for all of us to stay in "mission-mode" and not to default to "maintenance-mode." When it comes to being missional, it is easy for Christians and local churches to be content in our bible studies, worship services and small groups and to forget the world. We do not drift toward mission, we drift away from it. It is not easy to be missional, it is hard work, it takes intentionality. It is much less stressful to hang out with people who look the same, smell the same and believe the same things we do. It is uncomfortable and challenging to intentionally spend time with people who hold differing world-views. But we must push through this discomfort because we are the church. We are the church, the called-out ones. We are the church, the sent-out ones. We are the church, on mission for the sake of the world.

The Dangers of Pragmatic and Moralistic Preaching by Tim Keller

Here are a few thoughts on both pragmatic preaching and on moralistic preaching from Tim Keller. You can click the title of this blog entry to read the whole article. Sadly, this is the kind of preaching I have been hearing in the churches lately. And worse, these are the kinds of sermons I have been preaching for years!

On Pragmatic Preaching
...Today's preacher must argue against the self-serving pragmatism of postmodernity. The gospel does say that through it you find your life, but that first you must lose your life. I must say to people, "Christ will 'work' for you only if you are true to him whether he works for you or not. You must not come to him because he is fulfilling (though he is) but because he is true. If you seek to meet him in order to get your needs met, you will not meet him or get your needs met. To become a Christian is not to get help for your agenda, but to take on a whole new agenda—the will of God. You must obey him because you owe him your life, because he is your Creator and Redeemer."


On Moralistic Preaching
...Deep weariness etched every line of Joan's face and body. "I just can't do it any more," she said. "I can't live up to what a Christian is supposed to be. All my life I've had people telling me I had to be this or do that in order to be accepted. I thought Christ was supposed to bring me freedom from that, but instead God turns out to be just one more demanding taskmaster—in fact, he's the worst of them all!"

That conversation underscored for me that Christian moral teaching is both similar to, and very different from, that of other moral and ethical systems.

At the end of The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis demonstrates how the major religions agree on certain moral absolutes. Christians find that in today's culture wars, they often are on the same side with believing Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. The Christian preacher seems to be saying, "Be moral," along with exponents of other philosophies.

But when we ask, "Why be moral?" the other systems say, "In order to find God," while Christianity says, "Because God has found you." The Christian gospel is that we are not saved by moral living, we are saved for it. We are saved by grace alone, but that grace will inevitably issue in a moral life.

Religionless Spirituality by Tim Keller

Pushing moral behaviors before we lift up Christ is religion. The church today is calling people to God with a tone of voice that seems to confirm their worst fears. Religion has always been outside-in—"if I behave out here in all these ways, then I will have God's blessing and love inside." But the gospel is inside-out—"if I know the blessing and grace of God inside, then I can behave out here in all these ways." A woman who had been attending our church for several months came to see me. "Do you think abortion is wrong?" she asked. I said that I did. "I'm coming now to see that maybe there is something wrong with it," she replied, "now that I have become a Christian here and have started studying the faith in the classes." As we spoke, I discovered that she was an Ivy League graduate, a lawyer, a long-time Manhattan resident, and an active member of the ACLU. She volunteered that she had experienced three abortions. "I want you to know," she said, "that if I had seen any literature or reference to the 'pro-life' movement, I would not have stayed through the first service. But I did stay, and I found faith in Christ. If abortion is wrong, you should certainly speak out against it, but I'm glad about the order in which you do it."

(Click on the blog entry title to read the entire article.)

In Search of Jesus part 4

We went to a presbyterian church this morning. We ran a little late and had to park a couple of blocks away missing the first 15-20 minutes of the service. It's been a while since I've been inside a traditionally designed sanctuary. I was surprised at how the stained glass and bronze memorial plaques had an impact on me. Something connected within me when I saw the colorful art of the large stained glass windows adoring the walls of the church. The choir did a really good job with the anthem. I don't know who the composer was but the only lyrics were "Alleluia." And no, it was not the Hallelujah Chorus!

When the announcements (aka. inimations) were made by one of the ministers (pastors), he seemed really nervous. Though he seemed to have a script (list), it seemed like he really didn't know what to say about the church members he was talking about. I think this minister just came on board and didn't know the congregation very well.

After the announcements, the minister called a "lay person" up front to read some passages of the Bible from the New Testament. She did a pretty good job. I remember thinking how much I appreciate the public reading of the Word of God. I thought it odd to think that since I really am not much of a traditionalist.

When it was time for the sermon, I was surprised to find out that it was the same minister who gave the announcements that was going to give the sermon! He started out very promising by getting right into the passage (Ephesians 1). I thought that he was going to do an exposition on that passage of Paul's epistle. But then everything fell apart. I tried really hard to listen but I could not comprehend what he was saying! It seemed to me that each sentence he spoke was not connected to the previous one nor to the sentence to follow. And I could not figure out what he was driving at. What was he trying to communicate to the congregation? It really was a mystery to me as he seemed to end abruptly as well.

Well, when I do these critiques and share my observations, it is with the perspective of a lost/unregenerate person. And I must say that I came away just confused. I am looking for the answer to these 3 questions when I visit churches:

1. Who is Jesus to this church?
2. What is the gospel according to this church?
3. What is the mission of this church to the city/nation/world?

I'm sad to say that I could not find the answer to these questions in this church experience. So for about 60 minutes this morning, nothing was said about Jesus, the gospel, or the church's mission to the world. I feel sorry for the people who took the time to dress up and attend this service.

Not wanting to end this on a sour note, I must say that the closing hymn was awesome. Rejoice the Lord is King is one of my favorite hymns. I had a tear in my eye when we sang the last stanza.

Discovering Contentment

Moving from Manila to Ottawa was a big risk for me and Beth. We had no promise of employment. No financial support from the church we had been leading for the past 8 years. It's been 3 months now, and we still have no source of income. It's hard for me to have to rely on others to meet our needs. It's an uncomfortable time in our lives now.

Paul's letter to the Philippians can be compared to a missionary's letter to his prayer partners and supporters. Early on in the letter, the apostle calls the Philippian church his "[partners] in the gospel from the first day until now (1:5)." The life of a apostle/missionary can be a life of sacrifice and hardship. Someone once commented that the hallmark of an apostle is a willingness to suffer. Paul's life is defintely a clear example of suffering for the sake of Christ and his Cause. And yet he could say that he was content.

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opprotunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:10-13

Paul learned the secret to being content in whatever his circumstances. The active word here is "learned." The Greek word is "mathano" which means "to learn by use and practice." Contentment isn't something that comes easy. It's something that is learned and developed. Mathano is also a derivative from the Greek word "mathetes" which is the word for disciple. Paul was a disciple of contentment. His life experiences taught him about being content even in a time of need.

What keeps us from being content?

Envy
Too often we are not content because we see our friends, neighbors or other family members possessing things that we ourselves wish we had. We dream of what it would be like to have that car, that house, that barbeque grill, that job, that lawn, that wife! Our misguided fantasies create discontentment in our hearts.

I can point to the specific issues in my own lilfe where I struggled with envy as a preacher/speaker. I remember envying my pastor friend's prophetic anointing or another colleague's connections in the national church network. Years ago, as a young church planter, I recall the envy in my heart towards those who had more and more people attending their own church plants. I remember attending a leadership conference in one of the U.S.'s major megachurches and feeling so intimidated by the sprawling campus, brand-spanking new audio-visual equipment, multiple lcd projectors, and humungous cafeteria/atrium. I think I must have glowed green all weekend at that event.

Greed
Many of us are driven by greed. Our lives are all about accumulating things. Something deep in us convinces us that our lives amount to how much we can get. Our self-worth is based on our net worth. The size of our bank accounts, the number of cars parked in our driveway, gtetting the latest gadgets become the driving force in our lives. The Bible calls greed idolatry. Greedy people are always discontent. Someone once asked a billionaire Howard Hughes, "How much (money) is enough for you" His answer was, "Just one more dollar." Never content.

Complexity of Life
The complexity of life can make us feel discontent. We may be overwhlemed by the demands of life. The truth of the matter is that life is hard, life is unfair, and life is demanding. Though we wish we could put the demands on our lives in a waiting line and deal with them one at a time, the reality is that they come at us from every direction. A life like this not only brings increasing stress but also increasing discontent.

Wants
Our wants can cause us to be discontent. There is a distinction between our wants and our needs. God promises to meet our needs when we put him first in our lives (Matthew 6:33). But God does not promise to give us all our wants. The myriad of choices available in the world can cause a lot of discontentment in our hearts.

Isn't it so frustrating when you buy a computer and 6 months later a better, faster, smaller and improved version comes out at the same price? It seems we can never keep up with technology. Technological discontentment. I bought an iPod a while ago. Within a year or so, Apple came out with the iPod Nano with video! Last year, I bought an iBook G4. A week ago, Apple released the new Mac Book! Arrrrrrgggggh! iDiscontent!

Envy, greed, life complexity, and wants are all factors that war against our sense of contentment. They conspire to ensure that we never feel satisfied with our lives. So how do we learn to be content?

Learning to Be Content

1. Hang on to the goodness of God. Being a disciple of contentment means that we first and foremost become learners of God's character. Don't reduce God to be the Great Big Vending Machine in heaven. Some people will take God's goodness and pervert it to mean that God wants them to have everything they desire. By doing this, they justify their greed. God's goodness means that the things in your life -even the really crappy situations- are there to eventually do some good for you. Romans 8:28-29 tells us that ultimately every circumstance can be used to shape our character closer to the image of Christ. Being conformed to Christlikeness is the ultimate good.

2. Cultivate thankfulness. Discontentment is driven by a spirit of ingratitude. The foundations of contentment begin with thankfulness. Be thankful for God's goodness. Be thankful for what you do have. A grateful heart has no room to be discontent.

3. Recognize what is essential and what are the extras in your life. We were recently informed that the developer who designed and built our community will be making repairs to our house and property. Unstable soil movement has cause problems with the foundations of our house. And so, we have to pack up and move everything in the basement and in the garage into storage. This has caused us to realize how much we really have accumulated over the years. When we move all of our stuff back into the house, we're gonna have to determine what things are essential and what things are extras. Hopefully, this will put order to our domestic clutter. When we can accept what our essentials are and how God has provided for those essentials, we will be able to simplify our lives and discover the peace of contentment.

Returning to the Cross
When all is said and done, it is essential that we bring our discontentment to the cross. Forces like envy and greed are found in our hearts. And the only thing that can change our hearts is the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the life we ought to have lived and died the death we should have died. By faith, we can return to the cross time and time again to deal with these recurring forces in our lives that produce discontentment and unrest.

The good news is that contentment isn't something that we need to work hard for. Contentment is a gift from God that can be received when we lay down our envy and greed at the cross through confession and repentance. At the cross, Jesus exchanges our greed and envy and unhealthy desires and ambitions for his peace and contentment.

Jesus was the embodiment of contentment. Not the contentment found when you empty your mind and your heart of all ambition and care (like Buddhism). Rather, Jesus was content because he trusted his Father in heaven. Jesus was content because he was more concerned about fulfilling his purpose than measuring his possessions.

When we recognize and admit that there are specific personal forces at work in our hearts that cause us to be ungrateful and discontent, we can repent (change our minds) and come to Christ in prayer and surrender our envy and greed to him. Those personal forces then are killed at the cross and Jesus gives us his life. From Christ, we receive the ability to appreciate God's goodness, cultivate thankfulness and simplify our lives. Beyond that, we can discover our purpose in Christ which becomes the great organizing factor of all we are and do. And this is why we can say with the apostle Paul, "I can do everything through him [Jesus] who gives me strength."

The Gospel According to Ottawa

So far, here is what I understand about Canadians in general and Ottawa/Orleans in particular:

1. They generally feel that religion is a private matter.
2. They are reluctant joiners.
3. They stay away from Americanism.
4. They value their freedom first and foremost. Next to freedom they value their friendships/relationships most.
5. They are sexually liberal. Orleans (east Ottawa) is considered to have the highest number of swingers in the area.
6. They have more confidence in religious leaders than in politcal leaders.
7. They value being loved and appreciated.
8. They see themselves as spiritual in a personal and private way.
9. They are spiritually open.
10. Their questions on life and death have not been addressed by the church.

With this in mind, the gospel must be contextualized to the Canadian mindset/culture. I propose the following approach.

The gospel must be presented as the power of God to address deeper heart issues. Canadians must be shown that the roots of personal and social damage is found in the hearts of men and women. And that the only solution to healing those roots is the cross of Jesus Christ. Sin must be presented not only as something to take responsibility for but also as a destrutcive force that other people and social systems have enacted against them. In other words, the gospel must also be the solution to the sins committed against them as well as the solution to the sins they themsleves have committed.

Sin must be postioned as spiritual choices made personally and by others that hinder their deepest personal freedoms and stunt their personal development. Canadians must be made to understand that there is a social dimension to sin; that sin damages culture a well as individual souls.

The response to the gospel must be threefold: personal, public, and purposeful. This is to say that Canadians must be called to personally follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. And that following him means entering into intentional community with people in His church. But that intentional community and personal faith has a missional purpose which calls each Canadian to go beyond their cultural comfort zones and influence others for Jesus Christ.

This Canadian gospel must be communicated through at least 2 primary means: public proclamation where the cross is central to every message (see my entry on Christ-Centred Preaching) and through the practice of missional hospitality/friendship-building with disconnected people.