It’s arrived!  The following is taken directly from Goodmanson.com:

The Audio for The Total Church North America Conference 2008 have now been uploaded. Total church is a way of thinking about church and mission in the 21st century which sees the local Christian community as integral to Christian living and Christian mission. The Christian life is ‘total church’ – our identity is communal. View all at the Session Archive or browse the Main & Breakout sessions below:

Main Sessions

A Community-centered Gospel – Steve Timmis
The gospel is about a King who died to rescue a people who would reveal his character by their shared lives. In keeping with who I am ‘in Adam’, I individualize and privatize the gospel so that church is reduced to a necessary but often intrusive addendum. The gospel calls us to live ‘in Christ’ corporately and so show the power of the cross to reconcile and create community. (A Community-Centered Gospel Q&A)

A Gospel-centered Community – Steve Timmis
The gospel is that which creates, sustains, nurtures and perfects the church. To achieve this, the gospel needs to be at the center of all we are and do as the people of God. The gospel needs to be taken out of our pulpits and meetings and applied into the mundane and routine of our corporate and personal lives. (A Gospel-Centered Community Q&A)

Rethinking Attractional Church – Tim Chester
Attractional church (‘come to us’) and missional church (‘go to them’) are often set up as alternatives, yet throughout the Scriptures God calls his people to a life that attracts the nations. We can bring attractional and missional approaches together by re-conceiving church as a community rather than an event. (Rethinking Q&A Session)

Remodeling Attractional Church – Steve Timmis
As we focus more on the quality of our lives together rather than the slick performance of our Sunday meetings we will see how a gospel community is an integral and indispensable piece of the evangelism jigsaw. In fact, people won’t be able to fully understand the magnitude of what God has done in Christ without it. (Remodeling Q&A Session)

Making Disciples for Missional Church – Tim Chester
‘I’m free and belong to no man’ could be the slogan of our age. But Paul continues: ‘I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.’ What kind of people are going to sustain a church planting movement? This session explores how the cross and resurrection should shape our lives. (Making Disciples Q&A)

Making Disciples in Missional Church – Tim Chester
This session looks at how we train and pastor one another in the context of ordinary life and the context of Christian community.

Breakout Sessions

Being Neighbors: a Gospel Strategy (Steve Timmis)
When so much emphasis is placed on being missional and incarnational, contextual and radical it’s easy to forget the simplicity and significance of the truth that gospel makes us into lovers, of both God and others. Instead of trying to send out edgy, hardcore dudes with body piercing and tattoos, we should be satisfied with sending people who will be the neighbors everyone wants to have as a neighbor.

Forming a Gospel Community (Jeff Vanderstelt)
Now that many are aware of the need to form gospel communities, how do we move from theology and theory to actual forming and leading them? This session will explore the process and the specifics of moving an individualistic group of people toward a gospel-centered community on mission.

One-Anothering: A Communal Gospel (David Fairchild)
Why are so many Christians detached and isolated from one another? How can we experience a radically reshaped community? What kind of social ethic does the Gospel produce? What would it look like if we lived lives together as if the Gospel were true? Join us as we unpack the various “one another” passages in a quest to answer these questions together.

Evangelising the Urban Poor (Tim Chester)
We have endless resources on reaching postmoderns, most of which in fact address student and professional culture. In comparison there’s very little on understanding and reaching the urban poor. Drawing on insights from biblical counselling, this session suggests some ways forward for evangelizing and discipling the urban poor. Join the work-in-progress!

Story & Rhythm of Soma Community (Caesar Kalinowski)

Reading Cultural Texts (Mike Gunn)
This is a missional gaze at pop culture. We will be taking a look at the “Other” gospels in our culture (Media, film, books, etc.), and how to read them in a way that can help propel you to a better understanding of them for the sake of the gospel. We will look at the reason why this is important to our mission, as well as, some help for understanding and engaging pop culture in authentic ways.

Out of the Frying Pan… (David Fairchild & Mark Moore)
Is God calling your church out of Ur? How do you get your church to move from traditional to missional? Both Mark Moore and David Fairchild are practicing church planters that initially planted relatively traditional churches built around the Sunday gathering. As they labored to develop deep community as a gospel display people for their cities, they realized things needed to change. Come and hear their stories and insights as they share what pitfalls to avoid and what challenges to accept as missional leaders. This breakout is intended for anyone looking to turn the corner missionwards!

Beyond Total Church – Sowing the Seeds of a Movement (Tim Chester)
How can we plant churches that plant churches? What can we learn from church planting movements? How can we build in reproducibility?

Communication in a Post-Christian World (Drew Goodmanson & Caesar Kalinowski)
The culture is changing and it requires new thought in communication. This session will help you learn how to effectively minister in a post-Christian context. Come learn the 1) five values of this Post-Christian generation, the 2) ten idols that enslave them and 3) effective ways to communicate the eternal and unchanging gospel message.

The Everyday Rhythms of a Gospel Display People (Jeff Vanderstelt)
The gospel community is called to be a display of the gospel in everyday ways of life so that others might see what their life would look like in the gospel. In order to do this, the church needs to lead their people to identify everyday practices and then lead them to live out their identity in Christ within them. This session will identify some of those everyday rhythms and and then explore how we can display the gospel through them.

True Gospel Community in a Truly Big Metroplex (Mark Moore)
Being a gospel community that does life and mission together is sometimes easier said than done. This is especially the case in large cities that are characterized by sprawl as well as population. This session will concentrate on leading your people to make missionary decisions in their everyday lives in response to the gospel. Specific challenges to this way of life in a metroplex setting will be examined.

Reaching the Domains of Society (Drew Goodmanson & Caesar Kalinowski)
How do we bring gospel renewal to our cities in the 7 pillars of society… Business, Education, Healthcare, Government, Media, Social Services [including other churches] & Marginalized? We believe the gospel informs all of life and this good news helps shape how we view the world and our involvement in it. How do we equip Christians to engage in redemptive work in science, politics, art, culture, business, economics, education, local concerns, mercy ministries, social justice, environmentalism, law, media, social concerns and spirituality.

Panel Q/A Session

Wrapping up Total Church (Tim Chester)
This session will be built around the questions of those attending, especially concerning the application and implications for the issues Tim raised during his main sessions.

Developing Missional Leaders (Jeff Vanderstelt)
There is plenty of opportunity to hear and learn about being a gospel-centered church on mission. And, after a few days at a conference, the tendency of teachers and preachers is to go home and tell our people to get going. If we are going to lead a gospel-centered church on mission we must do more than that. During this session we will explore some ways to identify, equip and support a group of gospel-centered leaders to share in leading the mission with us.

Urban Discipleship (Mike Gunn)
The city holds more than 50% of of the world’s population, and is growing rapidly toward a world-wide megalopolis, while the church continues to migrate to the suburbs. The city also holds both the keys to the culture, and abyss of brokenness. In America our cities are becoming multi-ethnic/racial posing unique challenges and opportunities for our churches. In this session we will take a look at the role of the church (Make disciples), what it looks like to make disciples, and why we should be doing it in the cities of West and the world! ]]> http://vasbyburnie.net/2008/10/25/total-church-audio-has-arrived/feed/ 0 http://vasbyburnie.net/2008/07/31/a-few-good-things/ http://vasbyburnie.net/2008/07/31/a-few-good-things/#comments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:43:28 +0000 Tim V-B http://vasbyburnie.net/?p=58 Well, I missed the Dwell Conference in  London (as mentioned here) and as soon as I disover if any audio or video is available, I’ll mention it here.  “As soon” being a very loose term for “sometime, maybe, perhaps” in keeping with the general laxity of this blog!

Oh, here’s one: a video of a Q and A session at Adrian Warnock’s site.

Another conference I can’t go to is the Total Church conference in San Diego starting 12th August.  To see what sessions and seminars will be taking place, Drew Goodmanson has them here.  Looks brilliant, and I’m hoping this too will have media available for us who can’t attend.

Drew Goodmanson (church planter in San Diego) mentioned a course called “Sonship” and “Gospel Transformation” published by World Harvest Mission.  Go take a look at the material, or check out the comment by my friend Glen.  These courses look great because they realise that the gospel isn’t simply what we believe when we become Christians, it is what we go on believing to grow as Christians.  To anyone out there running courses, here’s one called “Gospel Centered Life” which is currently available as a free pdf download.  Actually, even if you’re not running courses go grab it.  I promise its contents wills be extremely helpful.

Contents:

Week 1 – The Gospel Grid
Leader’s Guide
Article: “The Gospel Grid”
Supplement: Six Ways of Minimizing Sin

Week 2 – Performance
Leader’s Guide
Article: “Shrinking the Cross Through Performance”
Exercise Handout: Orphans vs. Sons

Week 3 – Dishonesty
Leader’s Guide
Article: “Shrinking the Cross Through Dishonesty”
Exercise Handout: Right and Wrong

Week 4 – The Law Drives You to Christ
Leader’s Guide
Article: “The Law and the Gospel”
Exercise Handout: Tim Keller’s Gospel Grid

Week 5 – Lifestyle Repentance
Leader’s Guide
Article: “True Repentance vs. False Repentance”

Week 6 – Transformational Faith
Leader’s Guide
Article: “Heart Idolatry”

Week 7 – Mission
Leader’s Guide
Article: “The Gospel Propels Us Outward”
Exercise Handout: Getting to the Heart of Mission

Week 8 – Forgiveness
Leader’s Guide
Article: “The Gospel Empowers Us To Forgive”
Exercise Handout: Getting to the Heart of Forgiveness

Week 9 – Conflict
Leader’s Guide
Article: “The Gospel Helps Us Fight Fairly”
Exercise Handout: Gospel-Centered Conflict Resolution

Reformed Confessions from ChristianAudio.com

This month’s free offer (add MAR2008 to the relevant box when your order) is audio files with the Augsburg, Westminister and Heidelburg Confessions. I have issues with many Reformed confessions but they could be useful. One day I’d like to write a catechism that is a) theologically in line with Christ The Truth, and b) suitable for kids. With a 3 year old daughter I don’t want to wait around too long!

Modern Parables – free (lo-res) download for personal use

Modern parables are modern cinematic re-tellings of Jesus’ parables, done to very high quality, with teaching material. Now you can download lo-res versions suitable for an ipod or anything that plays .m4v files – and they are FREE! For personal use only, and the site will remind you (quite correctly) of the 8th commandment. Have a look, and if you think they’re good let me know – I’d love to buy a set for use in church / youth group etc but I’d rather split the cost with someone and share the DVDs.

Here’s a trailer:
[HT: Challies.com]

• Postmillenialism, i.e. the Church will grow and grow, discipling the nations, before Jesus returns;
• Liturgical renewal e.g. lots of (vigorous!) psalm singing, weekly communion;
• Strong view of baptism i.e. someone who is baptised must be considered a Christian unless they are excommunicated.

This is a hopeless summary of a big issue! But it’s all introduction to the main point, which is to say: go here and read these articles! If the names I’ve mentioned make no sense, you will feel like a stranger entering into a strange debate. That’s okay, don’t let it worry you. The once sentence summary is: a big debate within Presbyterian circles about whether the “Federal Vision” represents honest Reformed / Biblical Christianity, or whether it’s a great big danger. Even if the details go over your head, read the articles and enjoy some delightful paragraphs and intriguing ideas. I’ve enjoyed listening on the debate because I enjoy discovering Christians who a) love Jesus and b) uphold a very ‘high’ view of the Bible, but whose practices are often very different from mine, or at least what I’m used to.

Here’s a few sentences to whet your appetite…

1. The Bible is given to help us mature and grow up as images of God so that we take dominion wisely over all of life.

2. The Bible is also given, because of Satan’s rebellion, to teach us holy war against principalities and powers.

3. The Bible is also given, because of Adam’s rebellion, to show us the history of redemption.

4. Because God is Three and One, so is human society, and so the history of redemption is not just about the salvation of individuals but also about the salvation of societies.

5. Jesus Christ has been given all power and authority, and has commanded His people to disciple all nations, promising to be with them and strengthen them by His Spirit until this has been accomplished. There can be no question that Jesus will successfully accomplish this programme, and at the end deliver all to the Father.

Now, these five aspects are rejected by many if not most modern Calvinists…

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When Descartes says, “I can doubt that I exist, therefore I exist,” he reduces everything to the individual. When Rosenstock-Huessy counters, “Others speak to me, and that’s how I know I exist,” he is rejecting that individualism in favor of a Christian view of reality.

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Here are the themes of this essay:

1. Theology today is done in the academy, by academics. The Reformed churches are pastored by academically-trained men, more than a few of whom wish they were seminary professors.

2. Almost none of these men has ever seen any military service.

Now, let us consider the men who wrote the Bible and the context in which the Bible was written. The Bible was written by warriors and by men engaged in warfare. It was not written by academics. The academy is not the right context for understanding the Bible.

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The Calvinistic churches are little more than extensions of the academy. The black robe is the robe of the scholar, not the angelic white robe of a worship leader. The heart of the meeting is the long lecture-sermon. Candles? No! Colored paraments on table and pulpit? No! Flowers? Maybe. The darkest part of the room is the center where the dark wood table and the dark wood massive pulpit and the black-robed preacher are. It’s like looking into hell itself.

But let us consider what a Christian view of the Church would be. It would be a place of transformation, not merely of information. Marshaling the people into an army of psalm chanters would be at the top of the list. Indeed, in seminary several psalms would be chanted every day in chapel. The music in the church would be loud, fast, vigorous, instrumental, martial. There would be real feasts. People would be taught that when God splashes water on you, He’s really doing something: He’s putting you into His rainbow.

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(Note: “Calvinistic” is clearly a negative term here, but the author very much likes Calvin and is in fact claiming to be more authentically ‘Calvinist’ than those who are “Calvinist”. So don’t get worried if you think Calvin’s okay!)

The name of the blog – “Christ The Truth” expresses its core conviction: that Jesus Christ IS The Truth. Just as there is no Way to God outside of Jesus, and we cannot experience the Life of God outside of Jesus, so also we do not know the Truth about God unless we begin with Jesus Christ. Yet very often we use the G word: G-O-D as if by simply using it everyone knows who we’re talking about. This is not the case. If I were to say I enjoyed watching 11 men kicking a leather ball around a pitch, and you said the same, it could be that we support the same team but more likely we don’t! It’s the same in theology – which is to say it’s true for all of life – the true meaning of G-O-D is discovered as the Spirit brings us into union with Jesus the Son of the Father.

So go and have a read. As you’ll discover, one obvious point of relevance is in the whole issue of inter-faith dialogue, which I wrote about here.

I still haven’t decided, but I’m tempted by John Piper’s biographical-sermon of William Wilberforce. You may have seen the film “Amazing Grace” but that won’t have told you just how evangelical Wilberforce was. While he is famous (rightly so) for fighting against slavery, he knew full well that only the gospel of Christ crucified and justification-by-faith could change the country.