New Conversions or Changed Lives?
December 28, 2007 |
This article is Part II. Part I of this article appears here.
Someone once said of William Penn’s conversion: “Conversion must not be considered simply as a change of opinion. It penetrated his moral nature: it made him a new man. He was raised into another sphere and consciousness.”
I’ve been thinking about the way that some of us evangelicals report so easily on “conversions.” “So many accepted Christ,” we say. “There were hundreds of conversions.” Or, “We went on a short-term missions trip and planted dozens of churches.” (I actually received a letter to that effect.)
But what do we mean? Is there evidence of life following that these people have been reached and moved? Have they been internally sorrowed for the sin that nailed Jesus securely in place till he accomplished our saving? Has the Spirit done his convicting and convincing work?
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 28, 2007 | Comments (5)
Celebrating Milestones of Faith
December 25, 2007 |
In Life Verses: The Bible’s Impact on Famous Lives, Volume 2, by F. W. Boreham, the author tells the spiritual journey of William Penn, Quaker, Philanthropist, and founder of Pennsylvania. Son of Admiral William Penn, the younger William was a contemporary of the Puritans. Milton was putting finishing touches to Paradise Lost, and John Bunyan was writing Pilgrims’ Progress while languishing in Bedford Jail for his faith. All influenced Penn, but it was Thomas Loe, a simple Quaker preacher who was preaching the gospel in the British Isles as Penn grew up that God used as the catalyst to revolutionize this man for good and for God. Three times their paths crossed, and God used this simple preacher with fire in his bones and the love of God in his heart.
The first time Penn heard the Quaker preach was in Cork in Ireland, the town where Penn grew up on his Fathers’ Irish estate. He was 12 years old. His father, hearing that the preacher had the town flocking to his meetings, invited him to the estate to speak to his household. As the 12-year- old Penn looked around he saw a servant deeply moved. He looked at the Admiral and to his amazement saw tears running down his father’s face. He wondered greatly about the God that lived in and through Loes, un- compromising preaching and its powerful effect on the people that day.
The second time Loe was used in Penn’s spiritual journey was a turning point for him. I can think of pivotal sermons that have winged their way through my defenses and found a resting place in my heart, setting my sails in another direction that I had ever thought I would go. Like sitting in the great Harringay Arena in London as a student, listening to a young evangelist from America named Billy Graham calling the youth of England to find out the plan God had for their lives and do it! The Lord used that night to turn my attention to a world outside mine that needed reaching for Christ.
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 25, 2007 | Comments (0)
The Gift of Worship
December 21, 2007 |
Early in our marriage I gave my wife a terrific anniversary gift: a rain gauge. At least I thought it was a great gift. Susan, after all, is a farmer’s daughter and keeps close watch on the weather. I envisioned her delight and nostalgia while tracking our backyard precipitation. I congratulated myself on my creativity.
Guess what? Susan was not impressed: “A rain gauge—for our anniversary?!” The rain gauge is now a family joke, a classic example of a gift enjoyed by the giver but not the receiver.
One word I hear a lot these days is authentic, as in “we seek authentic worship.” Usually this means we’re trying to create an experience that helps worshipers feel something. Nothing wrong with that, but if our focus is only on our experience, we may be giving God a rain gauge.
Are we offering in worship a gift we enjoy and figure God will like it?
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 21, 2007 | Comments (3)
Wise Living, Online
December 18, 2007 |
I am not a particularly jealous person. But in recent months, feelings of envy well up in me regularly whenever I do one thing: browse the photo website of an old friend who lives, with her husband and daughter, across the country. Her husband is a fabulous photographer and cleverly captions the pictures of their adorable one-year old.
The odd part is that I’m not actually jealous of my friend. I love my life and my own sweet family, and I don’t in fact want hers. So the inevitable envy I felt when viewing the photos was baffling.
Eventually I realized that the photo site itself was the issue rather than my friend’s life. Each posted album displays comical moments, smiley faces, sunny days. As I click through on my laptop, my table is messy and my two-year old cranky… And from thence springs the envy.
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 18, 2007 | Comments (13)
Leading Your Leaders
For more discussion about this blog entry, check out the conversation on our sister site for church leaders, Off the Agenda.
December 14, 2007 |
As a leader, it's easy to understand and embrace your responsibility for those entrusted to your leadership. But how often do you think about your responsibility to lead your leaders? Try these 10 strategies for exercising your leadership skills in relationship to those who lead you.
1. Pray for them. This is pretty self-explanatory. Everyone needs prayer, and people in leadership often need extra doses of God’s wisdom.
2. Care about them. Sometimes we’re so intimidated by our leaders, or eager to get their feedback, that we forget they’re real people with real lives and challenges. Think about ways to encourage your leaders. Ask them how they’re doing and how you can serve them.
3. Make them look good. Servant leadership means supporting others in their efforts. Instead of giving in to the temptation to undermine leaders when their weaknesses show, find ways to compensate for their shortcomings.
Continue reading...Posted by Amy Simpson on December 14, 2007 | Comments (4)
Disappointed Women, Angry Men
December 11, 2007 |
After our church council made the recent decision not to hold the door open for the women to become elders and deacons (see “Let Men Get the Door” for my first post on this topic), my friend Anne suggested the main reason was because “it is easier to deal with disappointed women than angry men.”
While this may seem harsh to say about the decision-making process of godly men, I think she’s right (and could be right about most decisions made throughout history!). Because when I’ve asked about the reasons for the decision, here’s a bit of what I’ve been told: “It’s not the right time because too many people would leave” (and we’re building a new church), “Where will men serve in the church if they don’t have this?” and “We can’t follow culture downhill.”
Of the 17 out of 30 who voted against allowing women, surely one of them based his decision on Scripture (and feels comfortable defending why some verses are culturally applicable and others irrelevant), but I’ll be darned if I’ve heard it! Instead, in this mix of offensive and ridiculous reasons, I hear echoes of some very angry male congregants who voiced their opposition to women in office during “town hall” meetings. In their rants against women in office and women in general, they made it clear, there would be hell to pay (literally) if the measure passed. (Quick note: I realize many of you reading this agree with the angry men. Great. I respect your opinion. Now, deep breath. In, out. Read on.)
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 11, 2007 | Comments (34)
Comfort in a Time of Despair
December 11, 2007 |
My wife and I read Psalm 74 last night. It was a strange choice—a break from Advent passages about anticipating Christ’s coming. One particular phrase lodged itself in our minds: “Have regard for your covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.”
Our minds went first to Rwanda, a country that lives in the shadow of a genocide that killed nearly a million people. My wife, Stephanie, spent time living in Rwanda. She understands better than most the cry for God that goes up from people who are weary of violence. It is a cry that goes up from Darfur and Sudan, Yugoslavia, Kashmir, and many other places. This week, it is a cry that goes up close to home—from Colorado.
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 11, 2007 | Comments (0)
A More Soulful Religion
December 7, 2007 |
In his best-selling book, Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore describes the soul as that which makes us human. “Soul,” he writes, “is revealed in attachment, love, and community, as well as in retreat on behalf of inner communing and intimacy…. Tradition teaches that soul is in the middle (between the material and the spiritual) holding together mind and body, ideas and life, spirituality and the world. And it remains patiently in the present, close to life as it presents itself day by day… .
“Care of the soul speaks to the longings we feel and to the symptoms that drive us crazy … . A soulful personality is complicated, multifaceted, and shaped by both pain and pleasure, success and failure. Life lived soulfully is not without its moments of darkness and periods of foolishness. Care of the soul is not solving the puzzle of life …it is an appreciation of the paradoxical mysteries that blend light and darkness into the grandeur of what human life and culture can be… . Care of the soul is an application of poetics to everyday life, the re-imagination of those things we think we already understand.”
As I read this passage, I couldn’t help wonder if our expressions of Christianity could use a bit more soulfulness. A bit more of the “inbetween-ness” and the “patiently present, closeness to life” Moore describes. Does spirituality really need to be so distant and “other”? Does it need to be as we so often experience it in contemporary worship settings: removed from the world, with eyes closed, shut off from everyone else in the room, and shut off from the world?
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 7, 2007 | Comments (0)
Born to Follow?
December 4, 2007 |
At a very early age I came to understand that as a female, I was born to follow. “Men lead. Women follow.” That’s what I was taught. It didn’t matter that I was the pastor’s daughter, even though PK’s are often leader-types. My three brothers each took a turn as president of the youth group at church. Not me. I knew my place. Girls aren’t supposed to lead. Even being in the first class of women at Dallas Theological Seminary didn’t dislodge me from the conviction that as a woman I was born to follow—follow my husband (if one showed up) and follow male leadership in the church.
Oh, sure, I knew about Deborah, Esther, and Priscilla. But their stories were always accompanied by the explanation that these women were “exceptions.” Christian women weren’t supposed to get any big ideas from studying their lives. Usually one or more qualifiers followed: They weren’t actually doing as much as it seems; they were stepping into a male leadership vacuum and actually were a punishment on the men; this was a unique moment in time and not intended to establish any pattern. So these strong female leaders were carefully set aside as role models for women today.
What surprises me, as I think back over my life, is the fact that having the follower mentality drummed into me was actually a great way to prepare me for the day I would discover God created women to be leaders too. The first and most important lesson in leadership is not being told you were born to lead (or participating in competitive sports), but learning you were born to follow.
Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 4, 2007 | Comments (14)
Food For Thought
December 3, 2007 |
Stillness offers me the distinct beauty of hearing God whisper my name, as only he can do it. The words quiet, alone, and undistracted do not describe the vast majority of my waking hours. It is in this mixture, however, that God often makes himself known. God shouts to us through the glories of his creation, but when calling our name, he speaks with a quiet voice.
Living in a world of iPods, cell phones, and CNN, it’s hard to turn down the volume. But going away to a quiet place is a routine 21st-century Christians would do well to cultivate. God treasures these intimate hours with us.
Continue reading...Posted by Caryn Rivadeneira on December 3, 2007 | Comments (1)
