Vi har också båda börjat läsa i en bok på sistone som heter "Reimagining Church – Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity" skriven av Frank Viola. Många kanske känner igen namnet Frank Viola – en man som fått utstå mycket kritik från stora delar av den etablerade kristenheten i USA för sina "utmanande" böcker kring Guds plan för församlingen, av vilka "Pagan Christianity" mig veterligen är den första.
Jag kan bara säga att av det lilla jag läst av vad han skrivit så blir jag verkligen fylld och tänd av hopp och tro inför framtiden. Inte för att Frank Viola skriver fantastiskt bra, underhållande eller sitter på universums alla sanningar (Jesus Kristus ÄR Sanningen med stort S och jag tvivlar på att mr. Viola skulle "sätta sig" på Jesus i något avseende... förlåt, men min trötthet verkar göra konstiga saker med mina tankar, heh) utan för att jag verkligen känner Jesu hjärta bulta för sin älskade brud. Jag känner att det fullkomligt bubblar av förväntan, glädje och kärlek till alla andliga syskon när jag umgås med Jesus och läser, upptäcker rättare sagt, mer av Guds ursprungstanke med Församlingen i Violas bok och texter.
I inledningen till "Reimagining Church" finns ett antal brev som läsare skrivit till Viola och ett av dem fångade verkligen något av vad vi (Therése och jag) längtar efter ska hända i Församlingen och i den kristna gemenskap vi vill vara del av. Det jag önskar alla troende är att Jesus verkligen fick bli synlig mitt för våra ögon när vi delar Honom och vad Han gjort, gör och kommer att göra i våra liv. Att det bara fick flöda av liv från Guds Ande i våra inren och att vi alla fick en så levande och avslappnad tro att inget i det kristna livet skulle kännas krampaktigt eller som en prestation. Men nu ska jag för tillfället sluta drömma och komma till saken, nämligen brevet. Själva orden är inte så märkvärdiga. Det kan verka rätt simpelt och alldagligt, men det som den här amerikanske, kvinnliga läraren skriver inspirerar mig och ger mig hopp. Jag tyckte det var så inspirerande så jag tog tillfället i akt att skriva av/ner det. Tyvärr finns det inte på svenska ännu, men kanske jag tar tag i det imorgon. Nåja, vi får se. Hoppas det inspirerar!I never planned on leaving the old way of doing church. I wasn't looking for a new church and couldn't even conceive of what an organic church would look like when I was first invited to visit one. But I visited and what I found was unlike anything I had ever seen. This church wasn’t a Bible study, a prayer group, a healing/soaking prayer session, or a worship service.
Instead, this church focused on Jesus Christ. And everyone sang about Him, shared about Him, and worshipped Him. These Christians had been captivated by the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ and, quite honestly, they didn’t desire to spend time doing anything else when they met, but sing to/with/about Him, share Him, and love one another through Him.
It was their intimacy I noticed first. I had never met people with such an intimate life with the Lord. These people needed Him and were sustained by His life. In my previous church experience, I had seen dedicated people, passionate people, and loving people. But I had never met Christians before who seemed to know the very heart of God.
Long ago I learned that the Lord is in His people, but this church was the first one I had ever seen where Christians really put this into practice. They all shared Christ in their meetings one by one so that He was brought right before my eyes. I learned through them that He is our food and our drink. I came to see who really is in our gatherings and in our life together, and I fell in love with Him as a result.
The intimacy I saw had drawn me in, but it was the freedom that these Christians lived in that kept my attention and made me decide to keep coming back to their meetings and become part of their community life. When I saw something in the Lord that might be an encouragement, I could speak it out and they would say ”Amen” or ”Praise the Lord.” Their verbal encouragement made me realize that I had freedom to share, but more so, that Christ had freedom to be known in His people – including me.
It was the first time I had seen such freedom among Christians. I began to see what it looked like when Christ has the first place in the lives and meetings of His people, which brought incredible unity. For almost two years, I saw Christ fill every meeting with the truth about Himself. He never ran dry. I cannot imagine fully mining the depths of Jesus Christ. But in this church, with the combined love of my brothers and sisters, I began to discover just how glorious He really is.
(A female schoolteacher)
För övrigt kan jag varmt rekommendera "A Jesus Manifesto" av samme Frank Viola och Leonard Sweet. Även om jag inte läst någon av Violas andra böcker så törs jag rekommendera att ge dem en chans också. Jag vill också uppmuntra dig som troende att dagligen umgås ännu mer med Ordet. Det kan tyckas vara en självklarhet, men jag har själv återupptäckt Bibeln som det Levande Ordet. Är du som läser det här inte Jesu lärjunge kan jag bara uppmana dig att söka Gud och våga fråga oss Jesus-galningar – haha ja, jag skulle också tycka att jag vore galen som tror att Jesus Kristus lever idag om jag inte kände Honom – att förklara det hopp vi har i Honom. I Jesu Kristi, nasaréens namn, amen. ;-)
(Här slutar posten på svenska!)
Reimagine Church! (English version of above post)
Hello there, Daniel tapping the keyboard this time. My beautiful wife has gone to bed and I'm up a while longer to finish off this post (she wrote the first one, very democratic, don't you think?). We have both been really excited about writing about what God has planted in our hearts recently. I have a feeling this will become somewhat of a series on this blog, even though it will surely touch other subjects as well. Most likely it will be saturated by Jesus Christ (of course and hopefully), our deep desire of more of Him and the God's plan for his Church and our lives.
Me and my wife have both recently started reading a book called "Reimagining Church - Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity" written by Frank Viola. Many of you might recognize the name Frank Viola - a man that has recieved a lot of critism from the established and constitutional Christianity in the United Statesfor for his challenging books on God's original plan for his Church and our lives. Among those books "Pagan Christianity" is, me knowingly, the first.
I can say that, from the little I've read of his books so far, the message fills and relights the flame of hope and faith for the future in my heart. Not because Frank Viola writes incredibly well (which he does), entertains (which he does in a good way) eller because he sits on the truth to all the universe's mysteries (Jesus Christ IS the Truth with a capital T and I doubt mister Viola would "sit" on Jesus in any sense... Sorry, but my tired brain seems to mess with my thoughts, heh), but because I can really feel Jesus' heart beat for his beloved bride. I feel that it literally bubbles of anticipation, joy and love for all my brothers and sisters in the Lord when I spend time with the Word, Lord Jesus, and read, explore rather, more of God's original thought and purpose for his Church, in Viola's book "Reimagining Church".
In the introduction to the book there are several letters from people who have experienced organic church life in recent years, and one of these letters really caught some of what we (Therése and I) long to happen in the Church and the Christian community we want to be apart of. I wish for every believer and follower of Jesus for Him to be made visible right before our eyes, when we share Him and what He's done, does and will do in our lives. That His life would flow from the God's Holy Spirit in our inner beings, and that would gained a such a living and abiding faith that nothing in the Christ-ian life would feel stiff or as a performance. But I will pause dreaming for now and come to the point of this post - sharing the letter. The words might not be remarkable. It can seem rather simple and ordinary, but what this American female school teacher writes inspires me and gives me hope. I thought it was so inspiring that I took the opportunity to write it down. Unfortunately not in Swedish yet, but perhaps I will take on that challenge soon. We'll see. I hope this inspires you as much!I never planned on leaving the old way of doing church. I wasn't looking for a new church and couldn't even conceive of what an organic church would look like when I was first invited to visit one. But I visited and what I found was unlike anything I had ever seen. This church wasn’t a Bible study, a prayer group, a healing/soaking prayer session, or a worship service.
Instead, this church focused on Jesus Christ. And everyone sang about Him, shared about Him, and worshipped Him. These Christians had been captivated by the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ and, quite honestly, they didn’t desire to spend time doing anything else when they met, but sing to/with/about Him, share Him, and love one another through Him.
It was their intimacy I noticed first. I had never met people with such an intimate life with the Lord. These people needed Him and were sustained by His life. In my previous church experience, I had seen dedicated people, passionate people, and loving people. But I had never met Christians before who seemed to know the very heart of God.
Long ago I learned that the Lord is in His people, but this church was the first one I had ever seen where Christians really put this into practice. They all shared Christ in their meetings one by one so that He was brought right before my eyes. I learned through them that He is our food and our drink. I came to see who really is in our gatherings and in our life together, and I fell in love with Him as a result.
The intimacy I saw had drawn me in, but it was the freedom that these Christians lived in that kept my attention and made me decide to keep coming back to their meetings and become part of their community life. When I saw something in the Lord that might be an encouragement, I could speak it out and they would say ”Amen” or ”Praise the Lord.” Their verbal encouragement made me realize that I had freedom to share, but more so, that Christ had freedom to be known in His people – including me.
It was the first time I had seen such freedom among Christians. I began to see what it looked like when Christ has the first place in the lives and meetings of His people, which brought incredible unity. For almost two years, I saw Christ fill every meeting with the truth about Himself. He never ran dry. I cannot imagine fully mining the depths of Jesus Christ. But in this church, with the combined love of my brothers and sisters, I began to discover just how glorious He really is.
(A female schoolteacher)
In addition to the letter I can warmly recommend that you take a look at "A Jesus Manifesto" written by the same Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet. Even though I haven't read any of Viola's other books (yet) I dare recommend them and suggest you give them a chance as well. I would also like to encourage my brothers and sisters to daily spend even more time in the Word. It might seem like an obvious thing, but I have recently rediscovered the Bible as the Living Word. If you happen to not be a disciple of Jesus I humbly encourage and advise you to seek God's face and dare come to us "Jesus freaks" - haha yeah, I would also think me a crazy person, believing in Jesus Christ alive today, if I didn't know Him - to explain the glorious hope we have in Him. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, amen. ;-)
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