Forgiveness: The Way of the Kingdom, Part 2
A conversation between Ben Pasley and Todd Berger on the power and necessity of forgiving others, releasing offense, and being about the work of reconciliation. Part 2 of 3.
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Forgiveness: The Way of the Kingdom, Part 1
A conversation between Ben Pasley and Todd Berger on the power and necessity of forgiving others, releasing offense, and being about the work of reconciliation. Part 1 of 3.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Forgiveness: The Way of the Kingdom
Scripture Note
Matt. 18:23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants...”
The Kingdom Leads with Forgiveness
This phrase from Matthew 18 begins with a drum roll...“the kingdom of heaven is like!” It is the announcement that what follows will be profoundly impactful in our present journey as kingdom people. It is not a future statement, it is a present statement. Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom, and so, when we hear “the kingdom of heaven is like” it demands all of our attention and all of our commitment to see and to believe. I often insert some casual phrases like “this is the way it really is,” or “this is how the family works” in order to help the parable come to life in my present walk. Forgiveness is the Way of the Kingdom.
Re-Calibrating for Family, Part 2
Part 2 of 2. Ben and Joe Steinke talk together through the first half of an article designed to deal with the fears and inhibitions related to discovering the Family of God. And by "family" we mean the relationships we have to one another as mother, father, sister, son, etc. Joe is in a cafe in Madison, Wisconsin and Ben was in a DQ in Lindale, Texas. Find the article at www.churchthink.com!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Re-Calibrating for Family, Part 1
Ben and Joe Steinke talk together through the first half of an article designed to deal with the fears and inhibitions related to discovering the Family of God. And by "family" we mean the relationships we have to one another as mother, father, sister, son, etc. Joe is in a cafe in Madison, Wisconsin and Ben was in a DQ in Lindale, Texas. Find the article at www.churchthink.com!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Re-Calibrating for Family
Scripture Note
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. Ephesians 3:14-15
Family Comes First
In this article I want to explain why I am so committed to promoting the imagination of family over all other systems as we think about the Church, and I hope we can deal directly with some of the obstacles to this “imagination.” I also want to try and uproot some of the weedy, undesirable stuff that has been growing up around the idea of family and blocking our healthy view of it. Some of us have some genuine fears when family language is used, especially around spiritual family, and these are critical for us to discuss.
Basics of Fathering, Part 2
Here is the audio interview between Ben Pasley and Mark Weaver where they discuss the article "Basics of Fathering" from Churchthink.com. This is the second of two parts.
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Round table from Peru, Part 3
Round Table discussion with Doug, Mitch, and Ben, and tiny bit of Robin on building the Church instead of just planting one, understanding the role of the apostle not just the Greek definition, and learning how to make transitions so we can mature in the Lord. This is the third of a three part series.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Round table from Peru, Part 2
Round Table discussion with Doug, Mitch, and Ben, and tiny bit of Robin on building the Church instead of just planting one, understanding the role of the apostle not just the Greek definition, and learning how to make transitions so we can mature in the Lord. This is the second of a three part series.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Responsibilities or Tasks
I would love to continue this discussion on how we see the Church. This discussion is very much like a discussion of World-View--we could call this digging in to our Church-View. So in the last discussion we asked one another whether we view the Church as an Organization or as a Family, and discussed the differences between Value sharing and Goal setting. I hear in your comments that we might not be able to separate these categories with precision, but we definitely found differences, especially in the outcome of leadership style. It might be fair to think of these differences in terms of origin: does the origin of Church begin with Family or Organization? And in the same way, does the Church grow primarily from it's setting of Goals or from shared Values? (Last post.)
Here lets discuss part 2 of 3 with these same thoughts in mind. While Goals and Values proceed and guide action, sharing Responsibilities or assigning Tasks require action. They are the tools used to move us from "still" to "moving". Organizations tend to use one method of creating movement, and Families another. Here are some questions for us:
1. Does a manager assign tasks or share responsibilites?
2. Does a parent assign tasks or share responsibilities?
3. How does these two differences help us understand personal maturity? Which one do we look for in healthy adults: assumption of personal responsibility or the need for a task list?
4. What are some examples of the differences in leadership styles for those who use one or the other predominately? What are the end results in the lives of the recipients?
5. Does the idea of creating movement draw any assumptions or requirements on the first discussion: Values vs. Goals?