www.nwmissio.org

23Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Something is SERIOUSLY wrong with this.

How often have you, a gifted individual, found yourself “serving” in on of the following capacities?

1. Folding bulletins
2. Directing traffic
3. Greeting at the door
4. Preparing coffee
5. Vacuuming the carpet

Have you ever questioned if there is more?

It is a terrible thing to watch highly motivated, missional and enthusiastic people languish away for lack of opportunities to do something significant in and via the church. We want to serve meaningfully and yet there are no opportunities aside from church maintenance. At missio we hope to do more. We hope to do better.

We envision just the opposite of the big box church:

What we hope to accomplish @ missio is the creation of a mission collective, an atmosphere where “serving” means something altogether different from finding a place to plug you in to run the big machine. Serving means seriousness, initiative, entrepreneurism. We hope to foster that with the creation of a “co-op” or a mission collective – a thinktank of sorts, where socially / evangelically-minded people can collaborate under one roof. We envision:

• An environment conducive to making people’s desire for service come true. A vehicle for that dream you’ve had to do great good in your community.
• Fostering and equipping community and kingdom-minded “entities” (non-profs, orgs) all under one roof.
• Collaborative thinking and partnership across sectors. Thus, a “thinktank”.
• Education.
• Mission. In some ways this comes to represent a “mission” as much as it does a “church”. In some ways it is reminiscient of the old parish churches of Catholicism, which ministered to the poor, to the sick, to the widow, as well as ministering the Gospel, Sacrament, and Word.
• Redefining “service” in the church.

6These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9(which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

11But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent ( not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

8For he finds fault with them when he says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”

13In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

32Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them – Acts 4:32 – 34

The ESV renders vs. 32 as “they had everything in common”. The NIV, “they shared everything they had”. Both contain the same sentiment of a church that is “communal”. While that can be a loaded word, it need not imply something political or subversive, rather it is the simple idea of a church that is “open-sourced” – a shared community, a shared text, a shared inheritance.

While a lofty goal to attain to, la vie communite goes beyond “doing” church… to “being” church. It is something that must be built into our dna from day one. This is why our Sunday meetings are not exclusively uni-directional but involve something we call “communal exegesis”. A Biblical theology teacher unlocks the text, but releases it to the people with tools to handle in cell groups that meet within the large group meeting. What does it say to us today? How does it charge us with praxis? Are we merely a thinking people? Is the text changing us to live better, act radically? In solidarity with the marginalized? To gloriously reflect the imago Dei?

We dream of a monastic community, not a bounded set but growing, blurring communal borders, expanding in efficacy as well as in mission.

I love this.

It goes past quaint politically correct multi-culturalisms and gets to the deep root reasons for striving to become a diverse church. It even goes beyond the ethnic distinction to cross generational boundaries, class/social boundaries, and more. It is at heart, missionary & incarnational.

1. Decision implies intentionality. You can’t just sit and hope it happens. It requires intention.
2. Discomfort & difficulty are the tell-tale signs of willing, missional people. Going to the other will never be soft, comfortable, easy, whether it is overseas or across the street.
3. Developing understanding entails that it is a process requiring work. People never just “melt into the pot”. It requires doing one’s homework, effort, work.
4. Delight means we are not after creating an indistinguishable blob. The purpose is to celebrate the diversity and foster growth within each specific community within its contexts.
5. Different culture means exactly what it says. Being missional means you gotta go to somebody culturally (and significantly) different from you.
6. Disciple-making is the end goal. NOT making our church look like heaven. That’s a by-product, and risks diversity just for the sake of diversity. No, the purpose is indigenized movements of people being discipled and growing in the “follow-ship” of Christ.

Trans-cultural. Less talk, more happen.

“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”

22This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

23The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Hebrews 8
1Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

1For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

4See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 5And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

11Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

15This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17For it is witnessed of him,

“You are a priest forever,

after the order of Melchizedek.”

18For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19(for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

WHAT IS “CHURCH MATTERS”?
This “Church Matters” doc is periodically sent out to those who are affiliated with missioDei church. I’ll be sending it out a few times a year at most, perhaps quarterly, just to keep you all abreast of how things are going for us as a church. It will be a personal letter that I write myself addressed to the people of God who break bread w/missioDei addressing concerns, joys, ups and downs, sighs, prayers, problems, special announcements. In this first church matters doc I will discuss several things:

1. Personal
2. State of Things
3. (More) Changes Ahead

So here we go.

1. PERSONAL

This has been a great summer for me and my family personally. We’ve had a chance to chill out a bit from what was an intense Spring season trying to see this new venture grow. As we feel we have tilled the (at times, hard) earth, summer has been a time to sit back, watch it grow, to reap and enjoy the harvest. So we’ve spent our days keying back from meetings, networking, connecting w/ new folks to enjoying time with our immediate family / church community. We’ve had a bbq @ Boulevard and gone out for movies, ice cream and stuff. Personally I’ve been able to take up one of my loves again, beach volleyball. Ashley is doing well mommying and little a is just growing up right before our eyes like a little sprout.

Journey 2 Mosaic. Just got back from this bus trip throughout the northwest examining sites of racial reconciliation. Our network / connection with the Covenant denomination grows. There’s too much to say about this trip so visit my blog for details about this journey to racial reconciliation which has so much to do w/ the ethos of our church: waynepark.com

2. STATE OF THINGS

missioDei grows slowly. And I am not discouraged about this. We have not had any new additions to our core since last spring and have had a wonderful summer spending time together. Weekly between 10 and 15 people are gathered in my living room for what has become a great service. The “communal exegesis” has been working nicely, and everyone is getting a bite of the word each week. I can sense people growing deeper in the faith and that is the desired effect we wanted for the church this summer.

Having said that, the slow growth has not been conducive to a long-term sustainable entity. While it is not numbers we are after, we need viability if we are to continue as a church. And we need to become a “church” (and more than just a Bible study) if we wish to do some of the things we have dreamed about as a community in terms of social renewal, racial reconciliation, community outreach, larger relevance in Bellingham / and in the world. So with this in mind I have started some conversations with different people in Bellingham which has presented us with some possibilities for the future of missioDei, if we wish for this vision to continue.

3. (MORE) CHANGES AHEAD

What do you guys think about a “merger”? We cannot move forward if you, the congregation (currently spread around the Puget Sound for summer) and affiliates don’t think this is the right direction for the church. After all, it is YOU that is making this vision of “The Mission of God” happen. Not me alone. So herewith let me share some thoughts:

Why merge? Simply, because the vision and necessity of this church is larger than any one congregation, any one ego, any one entity. Striving for relevance, diversity, and a church on mission may require humble partnering. And also because, honestly, if we decide against it, the future of missioDei may be in question. We simply cannot continue on as an entity on our own without severely burning everyone out in the process.

Merge with who? Enter Chris Eltrich, who is a Regent seminary grad, and a young pastor (1 or 2 yrs my senior) with the Evan. Covenant (same denom). As u can see, we already have much in common with him in terms of ethos, theology, denominational values. Originally a NW native and living in San Francisco working for the Coast Guard, Chris felt a call to pastoral ministry several years ago and moved to Bellingham to attend Regent across the border. During this time he began attending Bellingham Covenant Church and was offered a position there eventually.
Since then he graduated this summer and was offered a senior pastor position @ The Well Covenant Church down in Oregon, a growing suburban church. I just met some friends from The Well recently @ Journey To Mosaic and they loved Chris and were really disappointed when he passed up the offer in favor of…

- church planting in Bellingham. Bellingham Covenant has prayed for 10 yrs about planting a new church w/ Covenant values of missionality, diversity and relevance. This summer they have begun some intentional steps towards realizing this and starting a new church in Fall ’08. They will be a parenting model and will be sending out 20 – 30 “missionaries” from the mother church (families, children, seniors, couples) who will help plant this church w/ Chris. Chris himself had to pass the Covenant church planter’s assessment which took place last winter in Seattle. He passed with flying colors as did I myself.

Merge how? The first step is dialogue. Are you for / against this? Do you believe in this? Are you uncomfortable? Are you excited? Do you have questions? Now is the time for this. We want to hear your thoughts as we are processing this TOGETHER throughout the month of July. Keep in mind we have made NO FINAL DECISIONS YET and are deciding TOGETHER. Again, we are in this together. I would like to hope we would all be in agreeance with any decision that is made.

If we are all aboard with this vision we would take small (yet assertive) baby steps. Cross-pollinization of our groups. Becoming comfortable with the other’s pastorship. While we don’t know how or what this would look like yet, we would ramp up slowly, yet intentionally to some kind of mini-launch-merger in September / October of ‘08.

What will we lose / keep? This remains to be seen. Compared to other possibilities considered, we are keeping a lot (resources, leadership, style, budget, finance, assets and you’ll still have moi ). But we would be assimilated. We are hoping to keep our incorporation status, maybe. We would also keep much of our ethos. Thankfully we share much in common with this potential new church plant. Many (outside sources) have expressed enthusiastic approval of something like this, among them the denominational leadership, Quest, Pastor Eugene Cho, the elder board at Quest, and Chris Eltritch and leadership @ Bellingham Covenant. But in the end the decision remains with us; with YOU.

This dialogue will continue… Now there is much to talk about and I want to stop here for feedback. Use this blog posting to dialogue back and forth and I will moderate (and participate) and hopefully we will come to a full understanding, consensus and direction.

Much love = W.P.

Hebrews 6

1Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And this we will do if God permits. 4For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

9Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 5

1For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;

6as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”

7In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,’They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

6Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,do not harden your hearts.”

8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

11Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

We sang a new bhajan (song) today. This song is in the local language (dialect) called Bhojpuri. It is a very fun and upbeat song. I was touched by the lyrics.

Yeshu ka darbar re, humen pyara lagat hai

The courts of Yeshu, we enjoy

Tere darbar Yeshu kaun-kaun aave

Who will enter in your courtyard, Yeshu?

Dharam ke bhukhe gunehegar re

The hunger of sinners is dharma

Tere darbar Yeshu kaun-kaun baithe?

Who may sit in your courtyard, Yeshu?

Pandit murakh gavar re

The pundits, the fools, and the ignorant

Tere darbar Yeshu ka-ka milat hai

What is received in your courtyard, Yeshu?

Mukti aur shanti apar re

Boundless salvation and peace

Tere darbar Yeshu hum sab hai aye

We can all come into your courtyard, Yeshu

Sun lo Prabhu pukar re

Listen to us Lord, we are calling

For more information on bhajans check out aradhna.