In my reading, I was drawn to books that spoke on the subject; books like, “Authentic Relationships” (Wayne & Clay Jacobsen), “Loving Our Kids On Purpose” (Danny Silk) & “Becoming A True Spiritual Community” (Larry Crabb).

Last Sunday in Exeter I got to share some of what God’s been saying to me about it.  Rather than posting the usual style “Sunday Set List”, I thought I’d put up a recording of what I said…

God With Us – Mike Ellis

There’s an expression that comes to mind, “Constant change is here to stay”;  I’m not sure where I first heard this, but it has certainly been my experience.

As a church, we’ve been on a voyage of discovery.  Along the journey, God has been reminding us of the vast richness of His great grace; He’s been revealing His heart for relationships and delivering us from the obligations of religious performance.  We’ve been reminded that we are the church (the people) – not the building and not the Sunday service.  Church isn’t somewhere we go, or something we do – it’s who we are.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve always had a heart after God (I’m not the only one that God has told to move half way across the country to be involved with what He is doing here).  As a group of believers, we’ve always sought to be real & passionate – in our worship and in our study & application of His word.  It’s been good.  We’ve operated to the best of our ability with the knowledge we’ve had.  Yet still, we somehow missed the mark.  We’d built an organisation… not a community.

God has been deconstructing the organisation and is now in the process of building the community.  As part of the next step in the journey, we’re changing the way we meet together (in the Stevenage congregation – initially).  From the Sunday just past (13th September) and for a period of 4 weeks, we’re not meeting together in one large gathering; rather, we’re meeting in smaller gatherings in homes.  The main proviso being that we break bread together.  Thereafter, we will alternate our large, “whole family” celebration & the smaller home-based meetings each week.

Will these changes bring about community?  No (certainly not if all that happens is reproducing the larger meeting in smaller venues).  That’s not the intention in doing this.  Rather than being a cause, the changes in the way we meet together are an effect, a consequence; a means of expressing the life & love of God in community.

As an aside, I’ve heard reports back from several of the smaller groups which met Sunday.  All have been positive.  It did feel surprisingly bizzarre for me, however, not “going to church” Sunday morning & leading worship.  Whether or not that says something about any addiction I may have to church attendance I don’t know (I guess doing something differently after 27 years will feel strange).

One of the upshots of what’s happening right now is that from the end of this month I will no longer be employed by Redemption Church. I believe that I should still continue with as much as possible of what I do here; so the challenge is to find a suitably flexible means of generating an income that allows me to do that.

I am genuinely excited about what is happening.  I feel as though I’ve stepped over a threshold into a place I’ve never been; a much bigger place with no familiar landmarks.  If you feel so inclined, please pray for me to have clarity & courage at this time.

Credits:

The title of this post is credited to Mark & Sandra Neale.  The phrase came up in on one of our conversations on our Journey to Exeter.  We were talking about what God is doing with His church; they said that if ever they were to write a book, it would make a great title.

The picture at the top of the post is from ASBO Jesus – cool site!

I then began to think about the perspectives of  others, how they might differ.  So, I thought I would ask the question; I’m curious.  What does a successful worship service look like – for you?  What specifically has to happen in order for you to meet together with a group of believers & come away knowing you’ve encountered God?

There is a whole raft of possible criteria.  Is it conneted to the style of the service itself e.g. open & participatory, or led from the front?  Does the tempo or the style of music have a bearing on your definition?  Perhaps more or fewer songs, or liturgy…  or is it something else entirely.  You get the picture.

I’m also intrigued to discover whether there is any correlation between a person’s role or function during worship & their perception of its’ success or their criteria for measuring it.

So, when you leave a comment giving your definition of a successful worship service, please state what role or function you fulfill during worship (these will vary according to your style of service) i.e. whether you play/lead in the band, read scripture etc., or perhaps, you have no specific function.

Join the discussion!

Before we get to the questions, here is my take on the book.

“From Eternity…” is to Viola what Star Wars episodes I to III was to George Lucas, or what the “Origins” films are to the “X-Men” series.  To give it a biblical metaphor, you could say it is the Genesis of his writings.

It is a prequel, if you like; the inspiration for and foundation on which his other books are written.  Viola himself says that if you were to read only one of his books, then this would be the one to choose.

The book is a compelling narrative of God’s eternal plan in the church, following 3 distinct threads: the church as the bride of Christ, the house of God and a new species i.e. the body of Christ and the family of God.  The upshot being that the Father wants a house to dwell in and a family to relate to; and the Son wants a bride to marry and a body to express himself through in creation.

I must confess that the first section of the book, (on the bride of Christ) was my personal favourite.  This in no way diminishes the other sections.  I found that reading through the exploration of Jesus’ passion for His bride stirred a heartfelt, passionate response in my heart and reminded me of why it is I do what I do.

That Viola has a passion for the purposes of God is plainly evident.  If you are passionate for God and His purposes, then read this book.

As with his previous writings, this book may (and should) challenge your paradigms concerning church.  Don’t let that put you off.  Whether or not you agree (either wholely, or in part) with his ultimate vision for the practical expression of church, this book is a must read.

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So, here are the questions I posed to Frank and his answers.

1. In chapter 14 of the book, you contrast Moses’ & David’s tabernacles.  There we see a beautiful picture of “God’s people… worshipping freely” and “God’s holy presence… open for all to enjoy”.  Do you see those involved in what is currently referred to as the “worship ministry” (i.e. musicians, singers & worship leaders) playing a part in the restoration of the tabernacle of David?  If so, would that look any different to what we currently see – how?

No, I do not. The whole worship leader/team phenomenon is a throwback to Old Covenant worship. We are in the New Covenant now where all believers are ministering priests, and they should be allowed to function as such. In organic church life, all carry a piece of the ark. Worship is in the hands of everyone together under Christ’s headship. (I describe what this looks like in my book REIMAGINING CHURCH.)

The tabernacle of David is a powerful picture of the ekklesia of God where all of God’s people are functioning, ministering, and beholding the glory of God with unveiled faces. Those who have experienced authentic church life … organic body life … understand this experience. Due to space limitations, I wasn’t able to go into depth on it in the book, but I have done so in a spoken message on the topic.

2. As congregations become more aware of God’s ageless purpose in the Church, what advice can you offer those who would seek to embody the expression of the bride, house, body & family of God in the Earth? Can you offer practical advice drawn from the experiences of other congregations who have made the journey?

Those Christians who are captured by the vision of God’s eternal purpose naturally seek others who have the same vision so they can stand for and display it with them. The eternal purpose is corporate, it’s not individualistic. Displaying and fulfilling it, therefore, requires a body of believers in a locale.

Two practical suggestions. One is to ask the Lord to bring others who have a vision for the eternal purpose into their path. Believe it or not, Facebook (of all things) has been used by the Lord to accomplish this recently. There’s a new Facebook page for the book where people of like mind and heart are connecting.

Secondly, there are special events going on all over the country this year on the Eternal Purpose designed to connect like-minded folks together in person and give them both vision and practical help on how to begin fleshing it out in their cities.  People can find out more about these events at www.ptmin.org/events

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OTHER BLOGS PARTICIPATING IN THE “FROM ETERNITY TO HERE” BLOG CIRCUIT

Today (June 9^th), the following blogs are discussing Frank Viola’s new bestselling book “From Eternity to Here” (David C. Cook, 2009). The book just hit the May CBA Bestseller List. Some are posting Q & A with Frank; others are posting full reviews of the book. To read more reviews and order a copy at a 33% discount, go to Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Here-Rediscovering-Ageless-Purpose/dp/1434768708/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233609867&sr=1-4

For more resources, such as downloadable audios, the free Discussion Guide, the Facebook Group page, etc. go to the official website: http://www.FromEternitytoHere.org

Enjoy the reviews and the Q and A:

Out of Ur – http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2009/05/viola.html

Shapevine – www.Shapevine.com (June newsletter)

Brian Eberly – http://www.brianeberly.com

DashHouse.com – http://www.DashHouse.com/

Greg Boyd – http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/

Vision Advance – http://vision2advance.blogspot.com/

David Flowers – http://ddflowers.wordpress.com

Kingdom Grace – http://kingdomgrace.wordpress.com

Captain’s Blog – http://www.captainestes.blogspot.com/

Christine Sine – http://godspace.wordpress.com

Darin Hufford – The Free Believers Network – www.freebelievers.com

Zoecarnate – http://zoecarnate.wordpress.com

Church Planting Novice – www.churchplantingnovice.wordpress.com

Staying Focused – http://kimmartinezstayingfocused.wordpress.com/

Take Your Vitamin Z – www.takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com

Jeff Goins – http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org

Bunny Trails – http://bunny-trails.blogspot.com

Matt Cleaver – http://mattcleaver.com

Jason T. Berggren – http://blog.jasonberggren.com/

Simple Church – http://www.simplechurchjournal.com/

Emerging from Montana – http://wordofmouthministries.blogspot.com/

Parable Life – http://www.theparablelife.blogspot.com

Oikos Australia – http://www.oikos.org.au/blog/

West Coast Witness – www.WestCoastWitness.com

Keith Giles – http://www.Keith.Giles.com

Consuming Worship — http://www.consumingworship.org

Tasha Via – www.tashavia.blogspot.com

Andrew Courtright – www.andrewcourtright.blogspot.com

ShowMeTheMooneys! – http://www.showmethemooneys.com/

Leaving Salem, Blog of Ronnie McBrayer – http://leavingsalem.wordpress.com/

Jason Coker – pastoralia.missionaltribe.org

From Knowledge to Wisdom – http://isthistheway.typepad.com/

Home Brewed Christianity – http://www.homebrewedchristianity.com

Dispossessed – http://kblog.kevinjbowman.com

Dandelion Seeds – http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Dandelionseeds

David Brodsky’s Blog- “Flip the tape Deck” – http://flipthetapedeck.blogspot.com/

Chaordic Journey – http://jeffrhodes.wordpress.com

Renee Martin – http://www.reneemartinmusic.com/profiles/blog/list

Bob Kuhn – http://organicchurchnola.wordpress.com/

Living with Freaks: www.livingwithfreaks.com

Real Worship – http://therealworshipleader.com

Fervent Worship – http://ferventworship.blogspot.com

Julie Ferwerda Blog – www.JulieFerwerda.com /  www.OneMillionArrows.com

What’s With Christina?! – http://w2christina.blogspot.com

Irreligious Canuck – http://www.irreligiouscanuck.com

This day on the journey – http://guychmieleski.blogspot.com

Live and Move: Thoughts on Authentic Christianity – http://liveandmove.blogspot.com/

Spiritual Journey With God – http://www.elvineve.blogspot.com/

Dries Conje – http://www.echurch.co.za / http://www.thejesusfeed.com / http://www.bookdisciple.com.

Journey with Others – http://journeywithothers.blogspot.com

On Now to the Third Level – www.080808onnowto.blogspot.com

Christine Moers – www.welcometomybrain.net

Breaking Point – http://marybethstockdale.wordpress.com

Hand to the Plough – http://www.handtotheplough.com.au

Jon Reid – http://jonreid.blogs.com/oneanother/welcome-pilgrim.html

Weblight – www.blog.worldwidewebservices.se

D. L. Webster – http://gzmproductions.com/dlwebster

Searching for the Whole-Hearted Life – wholeheartedlife.blogspot.com

In doing so, what I originally started to consider began to “morph” and develop into something else; something bigger & wider (perhaps it’s just the way my mind works; or perhaps that’s just the way it is with God – the more you try to know, the more you discover there is to know).  Anyway, I found myself following a particular train of thought…

• Who is God?
• Where does He live?
• What happens there?
• How do we get there?
• What happens when we do?
• What if we don’t want to?

Over the coming weeks I’ll begin to examine each of these questions in turn and as each post is published I’ll make the link from this post live.  Of course, some of these questions are huge  – we are going to be spending the whole of eternity discovering the answer to questions like, “Who is God?”.  So I’ll just offer a perspective in relation to my train of thought as I was meditating on, “the power of praise”.