Barnabas File

A rule of life provides a framework or pattern for a group of believers to walk alongside and encourage each other to pursue those practices that lead to spiritual health and faithful service.    Here are few things to consider as your faith community works together to articulate a rule of life.   First, the process requires spiritual preparation and discernment.  Believers become more focused and aligned as they spend time in prayer individually and corporately.  One approach would be to ask those who are developing a rule of life to set aside a specific time every day to pray using Romans 12:1-2 as a guide:   I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,   by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual   worship.     Do not be conformed to this world,   but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of...

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”   Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:13-14, NIV)   As you can imagine, I receive newsletters—both hard copy and digital—from several churches on a regular basis.  This week I received one online that invited me to click on a link and view the church’s Five-Year Plan. So I did.   I was impressed by the Purpose Statement and Guiding Principles identified. These were Kingdom-oriented and life-giving.  The themes identified were clearly based on conversation and dialogue within the congregation.  But then I turned to the goals.   Let me be perfectly transparent here:  Goals written with a horizon of over a year are useless. Here’s why.   In the next year, we may face an economic rec...

Most of us have read Margaret Mead's quote , "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can  change the world . Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  Although Mead may have been thinking primarily of a secular context, the idea is certainly central to the work of the Christian church. In the Book of Acts, some Christians were dragged before public officials with the charge,  “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” (Acts 17:6b, MEV)   Once we have clarity as believers, we can make an impact in our community and our world.  This clarity comes only through a time of collective  spiritual discernment with God’s people talking, listening, and praying.  They talk about their experiences, hopes, and fears.  They listen to each other with love and compassion. They pray seeking the leadership of the Holy Spirit.    Our church recently went through a pastoral transitio...

Leadership means different things to different people in the church.     In recent years, the model of strong pastoral leadership has taken root in churches of various denominations (or none).     This model emphasizes the role of a visionary leader who creates a church or comes to a church with his (although sometimes, her) vision of where God wants the church to go.     Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t.    Sometimes it works for a while and then everything falls apart when the pastor/leader leaves the scene.   When I was taking a class with Alan Roxburgh, a missional theologian, he said something to this effect:  “The Spirit of God is present among the people of God and will provide the way forward.”  This approach recognizes, first,  that the church is made of people with different gifts--including the pastor, the ministerial staff, and every single disciple in that church--who have something unique ...