We (Kaleo) and several other communities continue to develop a tighter relationship. Recently the leaders of these communities collaborated on a list of shared values, led by The Crowded House. If these interest you, I’d encourage you to register for the Total Church Conference our collective communities are holding. Here is the current state:

The Crowded House is a family of church planting networks. Our congregations are committed to working together within, and between, networks around the following shared aspirations. They are a statement of our distinctives and are not intended to be a judgment on those with gospel commitment who do things differently.

1. the priority of the gospel
We are committed to filling ordinary life with gospel intentionality, pastoring one another with the gospel and sharing the gospel with unbelievers. We challenge one another to be sacrificial, servant-hearted, risk-taking and flexible because the gospel has priority over our comfort, preferences, security and traditions. We will not let Christian activity be just one part of our lives.

2. mission through community
We are committed to communicating the gospel message in the context of a gospel community. As we build relationships with people and share the gospel message, we want to introduce them to Christian community. We want people to experience church as a network of relationships rather than a meeting you attend or a place you enter. We will not put on evangelistic missions outside the context of a Christian community.

3. home as the primary location of church
We want a reproducible model of church without any trappings that might impede freedom and flexibility. We are committed to homes as a context for all or most of church life with home shaping the ethos of church. When congregations use other buildings, those buildings will not be viewed as the main focus of mission.

4. sharing our lives as extended family
We are committed to sharing our lives in Christian community, caring for one another, discipling one another and resolving conflict. We expect one another to make decisions with regard to the implications for the church and to make significant decisions in consultation with the church. We will not let conflict continue unresolved, nor view church simply as a meeting you attend.

5. inclusive communities
We are committed to welcoming broken people and making church accessible to unbelievers. We want to offer a sense of belonging, and be communities of grace in which people can be open and vulnerable. We will not let our welcome be dependent on adherence to any cultural norms not demanded by the gospel.

6. working for city renewal
We are committed to working for neighborhood and city renewal – redressing injustice, pursuing reconciliation and welcoming the marginalized. We celebrate the diversity of cultures in our local contexts while recognizing the need for gospel renewal. We encourage one another to glorify God and serve others through the workplace, business, community projects, government and artistic endeavor. We will not make a division between spiritual and non-spiritual activities.

7. growing by starting churches and church planting networks
We are committed to starting new congregations. We will work together within, between and beyond our networks of missionary congregations. Our vision is to collaborate in a wider church planting movement to litter the world with communities of light. We will not develop into single, large congregations, nor become insular congregations.

8. prayer as a missionary activity
Recognizing that God is the primary agent and orchestrator of mission, we view prayer as a missionary activity. We will offer prayer to unbelievers, witnessing to a living and personal relationship with our sovereign Father. We want prayer to be both a regular community discipline, and an impromptu response to needs and opportunities. We will not assume we are in control of mission, nor rob God of his glory by boasting of our achievements.

9. everyone exercising gospel ministry
We are committed to every Christian seeing themselves as a missionary and exercising gospel ministry in every aspect of life. We shape activities around gospel opportunities we have with unbelievers, and the gifts and passions of church members. We believe leadership is important, seeing leaders as facilitators of gospel ministry rather than those who exercise control. We will not make distinctions between full-time and nonfull-time ministers.

10. shaped by the Bible story
We want our lives and our life together to be formed and shaped by the Bible’s story of redemption. We believe the Bible to be the reliable, authoritative and sufficient word of God, and are therefore committed to good Bible learning. We will not act on the basis of tradition, habit or pragmatism without reflection on the Bible. We will not see Bible teaching as an end in itself, but as that which must shape our thinking and action.

Read today's paper and saw a quote from an article stemmed from the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey:

Another finding almost defies explanation: 21 percent of self-identified atheists said they believe in God or a universal spirit, with 8 percent “absolutely certain” of it.

“I find it quite preposterous that an atheist believes in God,” Archer said. “The only qualification to be an atheist is a nonbelief in God. When you take that away, then they're not an atheist.”

One last reminder prior to tomorrow for you to join us on Shapevine June 24 at 4 PM EST (1pm PST) for an interview on Missional Communities, Total Church, Triperspectivalism & the Renovo Network. 

There will be a time to ask questions and interact with David & I regarding what we've learned, where we've failed and what we see God doing at Kaleo as we've transitioned to missional communities.

Almost a year ago I posted an intro to the Renovo Network concept, entitled: Transforming Cities - The Church beyond the Spiritual Box.   Since this post we've incorporated the Renovo Group, the Tentmaker Group and Imagine City Group.  We continue to work on the the organization but first we realized it needed a funding mechanism up and running, which we launched as the Tentmaker Group.  To date we've trained over 40 people on Tentmaker Group roles and I believe by the end of this year we will have established a sustainable mechanism to help missional leaders and churches seek city renewal.  If this is the case, our prayer is that through external funding we can roll this into 25 cities by next year.  Here is a little bit about Renovo: 

The Renovo Network is a collection of local communities of believers (churches) that seek to bring gospel renewal to our cities in the 7 pillars of society Business, Education, Healthcare, Government, Media, Social Services [including other churches] & Marginalized.  The Renovo Network seeks to re-capture a broader scope of being the church in our city.  We believe the gospel informs all of life and this good news helps shape how we view the world and our involvement in it.  We want to equip Christians to see how the gospel shapes life, science, politics, art, culture, business, economics, education, local concerns, mercy ministries, social justice, environmentalism, law, media, social concerns and spirituality.   Let's be a foretaste of what's to come…

A couple years ago, after the success of The Passion of the Christ, several film makers tried to tap into the Christian word-of-mouth marketing.  I cringed (see: Hollywood: Turning the Christian Faith into a Marketing Gimmick) when I saw Rocky's newest film use a faith-based marketing approach.  Marketing for Rocky included sermon resources at RockyResources where you could show clips of Rocky respecting Adrian and tie it into a sermon on Esther.  After my posts, I was subsequently interviewed on NPR and labeled the 'Pastor who takes issue with Rocky'.

….but it looks like the bubble has burst.  As Hollywood looks at the struggle of the latest Narnia film  (which I haven't seen yet, but clearly this is more appropriate to connect to Christians than Rocky.)  The Hollywood Reporter writes

Indeed, Adamson's first "Narnia" came on the heels of 2004's "The Passion of the Christ," which grossed $370 million domestically and tipped studios to a potentially untapped audience of faithful moviegoers.

But in the years since, studios that have waged extensive faith-based campaigns have garnered mixed results, leading some in Hollywood to lose faith in the practice.

Read The Hollywood Reporter's How effective is marketing to faith-based audiences? 

I'd encourage all church planters to attend one of the most important church planting conferences to come. This one is a must attend for church planters who are thinking about planting missional churches to reach our culture. The Total Church North America Conference 2008

REGISTER EARLY BENEFITS!

1. Registering prior to July 12th and receive a discounted rate.
2. Immersion program.  Lodging for out-of-town registrants will be provided by members of Kaleo Church on a first-come first-served basis as long as we have lodging available.  Space is limited.  This will save on hotel costs for the conference and give visitors an opportunity to see the life of the community at Kaleo.

Be the Church

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.

Why Attend?

- Create a community centered on the gospel, equipped to do the work of the ministry.
- Make your community a community of church planters.
- See what it means to be the church on mission through ordinary life with gospel intentionality.
- Dialog with missional church leaders from across the world.
- Learn from seasoned practitioners how to form missional communities and transition traditional churches toward mission.
- Did we mention its in San Diego?

Dates: August 12-14, 2008

Location: San Diego, CA

Main Sesssion Speakers: Steve Timmis and Tim Chester are the authors of Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community (Crossway). They lead The Crowded House, a family of church planting networks that started in Sheffield, England. They have also started The Porterbrook Network to train people for mission and church planting in the context of ministry.

Break-out Sessions will be led by church planters/practitioners from The Crowded House, Kaleo Church, Soma Community & Providence Community.  Break-out sessions will be added but will include:

• Beyond Total Church – Sowing the Seeds of a Movement
• Moving from Traditional to Missional - “What do I do next?”
• Engaging the Domains of Society - From Business to Media and Beyond
• Communicating in a Post-Christian Culture
• Evangelising the Urban Poor
• New ways of funding a plant & planter in a missional movement.

Stay-tuned as more break-out sessions are added.  There will be several tracks for people being introduced to a missional mindset all the way to those who have formed missional communities to learn from others around the world leading missional movements.

The first Total Church was held in Sheffield, UK, in 2007 at the end of October, hosted by the Crowded House. The conference is named for the book, Total Church -A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community which will be released in the Fall in the US.

Learn more: Total Church North America Conference 2008

If you have a chance I'd encourage you to attend the Dwell Conference in London.  Many of you already know Mark Driscoll & Scott Thomas, but maybe some of you haven't been exposed to Steve Timmis.  I've had the opportunity to visit Steve in England and I strongly encourage you to learn from him.  At the Total Church conference in England, his sessions were provocative, a bit edgy (in a good way) and caused many of us to go home re-thinking what we are doing.  Keller fans- Redeemer is bringing Steve & Tim Chester to NY in '09 to train all their leaders on being the church formed around the gospel, on mission in community. 

For those of you in the US, Steve and Tim will be joining Soma Community, Providence Community & Kaleo Church at the Total Church North American Conference.  Space is limited!

On June 24th at 4pm EST (1pm PST for locals) join David Fairchild as we are interviewed on Shapevine.   From Shapevine, they requested to "dialog about your leadership models (Priest, king, prophet, etc.) I think you are helping form a new language, and practical way of doing MC's that many people have struggled to find in their practices."  So the topics include:

• Triperspectivalism (Prophet/Priest/King) and how this shapes a local churchs ministry philosophy.
• Our transition from a more traditional church to missional movement.
• Practical Missional Community structure and decentralizing.

If you have questions you'd like us to discuss, post them here.

The three sessions from the Living at the Crossroads: Church & Mission conference are now up for download.  At the sessions we received a packet of all the PowerPoints to go along with these, I'll ask Dr. Goheen if we can release those. Here they are:

Session 1

• Understanding Our Cultural Story: Our Life through a Lens (PART 1)
• Understanding Our Cultural Story: Our Life through a Lens (PART 2)

Session 2

• Understanding Our Current Time: Postmodernity, Globalization, and Consumerism

Session 3

• Living at the Crossroads of the Biblical and Cultural Story: Relevance and Faithfulness (PART 1)
• Living at the Crossroads of the Biblical and Cultural Story: Relevance and Faithfulness (PART 2)
• Living at the Crossroads of the Biblical and Cultural Story: Relevance and Faithfulness (PART 3)

Also, there are three gospel stories by David Fairchild, Jeff Vanderstelt & Caesar Kalinowski, visit the conference session archives.

For those of you interested in learning more about how living in the Western Story impacts your Christianity, I'd encourage you to pre-order Michael Goheen's book Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview.  The sessions he did at the Church Bootcamp caused a room filled with church planters and ministry leaders to feel overwhelmed with the tensions we live in.

Description: How can Christians live faithfully at the crossroads of the story of Scripture and postmodern culture? In Living at the Crossroads, authors Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew explore this question as they provide a general introduction to Christian worldview. Ideal for both students and lay readers, Living at the Crossroads lays out a brief summary of the biblical story and the most fundamental beliefs of Scripture. The book tells the story of Western culture from the classical period to postmodernity. The authors then provide an analysis of how Christians live in the tension that exists at the intersection of the biblical and cultural stories, exploring the important implications in key areas of life, such as education, scholarship, economics, politics, and church.

Thoughts from Living at the Crossroads: Church & Mission with Michael W. Goheen. 

"One of the reasons we have to create evangelism programs is that no one is asking us questions such as, "What is the reason for the hope within you", "Why do you live so differently" or "Why do you love the poor, provide service widows and care for prisoners?" Our churches are so rooted in the Western story that would our neighbors think if we had Jesus removed from our life that our treasure would be removed? Or would they think it would be a small loss in relation to how we live seeking to pursue the American dream along with the rest of our unbelieving neighbors?  In Acts and the early church evangelism was built on questions because of the radical alternative way Christians lived."

A couple weeks ago, Kaleo hosted a conference Living at the Crossroads: Church & Mission. At this conference, Michael Goheen spent three days helping us understand the current cultural story we live in. The Western Story that we live in is rooted in the faith of progress propelled by reason and science. Our educational, governmental and political systems are built on these notions.  I became overwhelmed with the tension that was presented as it became clear how immersed I am in the American story, with much of its foundations in direct contrast to God's story.  We have drunk from this story so deeply that it defines us.  Goheen presented this story's belief system and faith assumptions (examples: the more goods we have, the happier we will be and if we let the market be free for the economic self-interest of individuals then it will guild us to a better future for all (Adam Smith's ‘invisible hand').  One quote that he gave was a confession of faith based on the beliefs of the West (again science, progress & technology are not bad things but we make them ultimate things).  

Western Confession of Faith

I believe in Science Almighty. I believe in the power of human reason disciplined by the scientific method to understand, control, and change our world.

I believe in Technology and a Rational Society, its only begotten Sons which have the power to renew our world.

I believe in the spirit of Progress. I believe that a science based technology and a rationally organized society will enable me to realize my ultimate goals - freedom, happiness and the comforts of material abundance.

I believe in economism. I believe that the abundance of consumer goods and experiences and the leisure time and freedom to consume them will make me happy. To this I commit myself with all my money, time, energy and resources. Amen.

I preached a message based on these ideas (What Story are You in) asking if we are more shaped by this story than Gods.

Save the dates of August 12th-14th.  I'd encourage you to attend the Total Church North America Conference in San Diego, hosted by Kaleo Church.  This will not be your typical conference and will radically benefit those who attend so they can walk away changed and refreshed to do mission.

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. The first Total Church was held in Sheffield, UK, in 2007 at the end of October, hosted by the Crowded House.  The conference is named for the book, Total Church -A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community which will be released in the Fall in the US. 

Further Reading:

Total Church Post by Tim Chester (co-author) 

Total Church quotes by Steve McCoy

Total Church review by Mark Moore

More information to come… 

We have gone through a crazy season at the Goodmanson home.  In the last two months we have had 2-families, several guests and a homeless man stay with us.  One of the most substantial is Nate, who lived with us for parts of November and then December.  Nate's life has been transformed by the gospel and recently he shared his Gospel testimony during a Sunday service.

Nate's Story - I came to San Diego because my life fell apart.  My family who live in Arkansas & Georgia couldn't deal with my illness.  I was serving the military as a scout working with Special Ops on the Iraq/Syrian border when I was injured in a surprise attack.  I was shot and blown up, by an I.E.D. containing a combination of Saran Gas & Agent Orange which gave me both Parkinson & Cancer.  After I got out of the hospital I did odd jobs, in 2002 I became ill enough where my health started to decline.  Since 2003 I haven't been able to work.  My family fell apart, every time I got sick it would affect my moms health, and my daughter and her mother's emotional and mental stability would be rocked.  So I decided to leave.   Read Nate's Story A New Hope

Teri's Story - Teri is an actress who asks the question, "What roles should a 'Christian' actress accept?"   I am a Christian. I am a wife. I am an actress. I am those things in that order. What would I do then, if I was offered a part in a major movie such as "The Golden Compass"; a movie adapted from a book that has been expressed by its author to be in opposition to Christianity in theme and intent? Read Teri's Story Faith and Fiction: Navigating Which Role is Right?

Cultural Articles:

Cloverfield -Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.

27 Dresses -After serving as a bridesmaid 27 times, a young woman (Heigl) wrestles with the idea of standing by her sister's side as her sibling marries the man she's secretly in love with.

Know the Game – A Cultural Introduction I was once asked in a class to tell something about myself that no one knew, something innocuous and trivial but definitely personal. We would all write down the statements on small pieces of paper and then shuffle them, hand them out and read aloud.

Another idea that came from the Caesar visit deals with Transparency vs. Vulnerability in community.  As a church seeks to see the gospel transform their community and lead them to mission, sin/idols are exposed.  One potential danger is that people who enter into the life of the community are willing to be transparent, but they are not vulnerable.  Meaning, you can have a person publicly profess sin, being very transparent BUT they have no intention of letting other people speak into their life toward change.  This false transparency appears like humility but it is a charade of self-righteousness behind the 'right things to say'.  

As people get into each others lives, we must 'submit one to another' to allow others to confront the idols of our hearts.