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Archives For November 30, 1999

Rituals Define Reality

Charles Kiser —  November 20, 2014 — Leave a comment

Baptism

[This is a guest post by Paul McMullen, a fellow leader in the Storyline Community.]

I was fortunate to take an intensive theology course this summer. The title was, Theology as a Way of Life, and it focused on the ways in which liturgical and ascetic theology spiritually form the community of God’s people. If that sounds a little heady, it was a bit beyond me, especially since it was taught out of the Anglican/Episcopal tradition, which I’m unfamiliar with.

One of the big takeaways I did have is that God has gifted us with (at least) two rituals filled with power and mystery: baptism and communion. As followers of Jesus, these rituals form us. They define reality. Another way to say this is that, in a mysterious way, these rituals connect us to God’s story on the cosmic level.

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In Baptism, Church, Discipleship
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From North to South: Highlights of a Move from Canada

Charles Kiser —  November 14, 2014 — Leave a comment

Vancouver, B.C.

[This is a guest post from Paul McMullen, a new co-worker in the Storyline Community. Paul is a pastor with a missionary’s heart.]

Over a year ago, my family visited a Storyline worship gathering at the beginning of a three-month period of travel and discernment. We’d left our belongings in a 10X15 storage unit sitting a few hundred feet off of Vancouver Harbour. That harbour sits in the shadows of the North Vancouver mountains. As we pulled into the parking lot where Storyline met that Sunday, it was hard not to notice the contrasts between our previous home and our new setting. No mountains in Dallas, for one. No one saying, “Eh,” but plenty of “y’alls!” Returning to the south, part of me felt back home and part of me felt completely disoriented.

We learned at least three lessons in our transition from Vancouver to Dallas.

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In Discipleship, Mission, Storyline, Team
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Church as Red Hot Center of Mission

Charles Kiser —  September 19, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’d like to flesh out this dream we’re pursuing in Storyline to become a “red hot center of mission.”

The inspiration for the metaphor comes from a series of posts written by Mike Breen on missional communities, where he explores the red hot center of the early church, the three elements of a red hot center, and what happens when “torches” of red hot centers gather together and make a “bonfire”.

flywheel

This is a powerful metaphor and a great vision for the church in North America, especially in a time when the fire of mission sometimes seems to have burned down to embers.

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In Church Planting, Discipleship, Family, Mission, Missional Community, Worship Gathering
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Nouwen’s Favorite Word

Charles Kiser —  June 4, 2014 — 1 Comment

Beloved

— Henri Nouwen, in Life of the Beloved (pp. 25, 26, 30-31), writes to his friend Fred, a secular Jewish man from New York who asked Nouwen, “Why don’t you write something about the spiritual life for me and my friends?”

Ever since you asked me to write for you and your friends about the spiritual life, I have been wondering if there might be one word I would most want  you to remember when you finished reading all I wish to say. Over the past year, that special word has gradually emerged from the depths of my own heart. It is the word “Beloved,” and I am convinced that it has been given to me for the sake of you and your friends….

Yes, there is that voice, the voice that speaks from above and from within and that whispers softly or declares loudly: “You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests.” It certainly is not easy to hear that voice in a world filled with voices that shout: “You are no good, you are ugly; you are worthless; you are despicable, you are nobody — unless you can demonstrate the opposite”….

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In Books, Discipleship, Politics, Spiritual Formation
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Give Yourself a Spiritual Check-Up

Charles Kiser —  June 26, 2013 — 2 Comments

signs of life

The resource that has most influenced the way I’ve approached disciple-making in the last two years is Building a Discipling Culture (BDC) by Mike Breen and Steve Cockram. Here they introduce LifeShapes – simple geometric forms that make profound truths about the way of Jesus accessible and portable. The idea of using shapes may seem cheesy, but it works. Once these frameworks got in my head, I couldn’t forget them!

Except for one shape: the Heptagon.

Besides being a word that I’d probably never use in a sentence otherwise, I found the ideas housed within the Heptagon to be quite fuzzy. It was the hardest of all the LifeShapes to get my mind (and life) around.

Then my 3DM Coaching Huddle leader, Jeff Saferite, opened my eyes to it. I suppose this is as it should be – in discipleship it’s not enough to read a book about discipleship and try to understand the concepts. Discipleship happens as we see the truth embodied in the life of another person, we imitate what we see, and we find ways to integrate that truth into our own lives.

It turns out that the Heptagon is a very helpful tool for evaluating the spiritual health of a person or a community of people. It’s a great framework to reflect on if you want to give yourself or your ministry a spiritual check-up.

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In Discipleship, Spiritual Formation
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