I was really honored and excited to share a bit about the pub ministry and the vision behind it with Lindsey Bever from Neighbors Go recently. The article has been on the net for a bit, but it finally got printed in Friday’s edition with yours truly on the cover. I hope it perks some interest in our neighborhood at what we are doing and what we are about – a safe space to bring the tough questions of our lives and our faith. Here’s a bit from the article:
“We talk about really tough questions about faith and about culture and about our world,” he said. “I’m trying to have space where we can be critical of religion and ‘the church.’”
East Dallas Christian Church still has traditional Sunday services for its congregation, but this type of non-intimidating atmosphere, Hill said, allows people on all levels of faith to converse and question without being told to conform from their own religious traditions.
Last year, Bob Hearne, a longtime member of East Dallas Christian Church, helped Hill put together the weekly gatherings.
“I said, ‘Man, if you told me a year ago that I’d have… congregation members in a bar, I would have told you you were crazy,’ ” Hearne said.
Read more and see my face here: http://www.neighborsgo.com/stories/78830
Like this:
2 bloggers like this post.
Leave a comment | tags: article, awesome link, east dallas, faith in the city pub ministry, faith questions, friday edition, neighbors go, pub ministry, questions, safe space, vision, weekly gatherings, white rock | posted in Links, News, Small Groups
I’m excited to share about our big pub night with the Search and the Euc on February 7, 8:30-10:30 PM, over in Ft Worth. We’ll hear from a friend and fellow missional church guy, Steve Knight, enjoy some great food and beverages, and have a fun time. Steve just did a whole series on Participatory church, using some of the lingo from social networking to wonder how our faith communities might change and adapt to use these kinds of ways of thinking in our worship and work. He’ll share some of that and then open up the conversation for questions and ideas from the crowd. As always, the event is going to be informal and open to people from all varieties of spirituality.
You can RSVP on Facebook today.
BTW, the Search will be hosting worship that evening as part of the Wells Lecture series, so you can head over for worship at 7 PM and then join us for the pub night at the Flying Saucer.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a comment | tags: conversation, eucatastrophe, flying saucer, fort worth, ft worth, fun, open, participatory church, pub ministry, pub night, questions, spirituality, steve knight, the search, theology, welcome | posted in Upcoming Events
Jules & Greg are two of our key Table community regulars, whose leadership and care and welcome of others has made a difference. This past summer, they went with a group from the Church of the Incarnation to Honduras as part of a training/preparation program to lead such trips in the future. Jules shared her experiences back in August, but she and Greg will brief our whole church on Sunday at noon. I hope you can plan on being there.
Mission has been an unofficial theme for the Table in this New Year, as we have attempted to move beyond our four walls and into our community. Tonight, a group of us will go and participate with the homeless census and count, starting at City Hall. During Christmas, the Table helped Reconciliation Ministry organize and distribute gifts to families in need. Most of our messages in this New Year have been focused on our call to serve others.
But it’s important to realize that mission is not just something that you go and do in a foreign country, one time a month for a special event, or whatever. It’s what you do each day.
Theologian David Bosch, in his book Transforming Mission, says it this way:
… consequently, the church is called to live the resurrection life in the here and now and to be a sign of contradiction against the forces of death and destruction.
Your job setting is a place to do mission. Your apartment complex. Your home. Your neighborhood. Your gym. Your local pub. Your supermarket. Wherever your day takes you, you will have opportunity to participate in Jesus’ ministry of incarnation in someone else – being God’s love for a stranger, friend, or enemy. Sometimes, that’s handing a thirsty person a drink of water or buying a burger for a hungry neighbor. Sometimes, it’s your presence in a time of need. It might even be words of affirmation to someone who feels beat down by life. It definitely includes using your voice to change systems that are broken in our own community.
Have you discovered your place of mission? Are you opening up to sharing God’s love with those you meet? May this New Year be a time to discover the answers to those questions and hear God’s call afresh.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Leave a comment | tags: dallas, david bosch, east dallas, god, greg, honduras, incarnation, jesus, jules, love, lunch, neighborhood, places of mission, pub, questions, reconciliation ministry, transforming mission, work, worship | posted in Outreach Opportunities, Upcoming Events, Words
Like many of you, I struggle trying to find balance in life. Whether its work, family life, time for me, or time with God, I’m always having to make choices that reveal where my priorities are. Sometimes, it feels like I make the wrong choices. Other times, I make the right choices. It feels like I’m doing a high wire act over the Dallas skyline.
This has been especially true for me as I just sent my wife and kids off to Korea. When they are here, I can easily tune myself out when I am in their presence with tv, computer, or work issues. But now that they are gone and our apartment is so quiet, I regret tuning them out at all. I would give anything for them to be back, even with my kids’ uncanny ability to leave out toys in unlikely places so I can step on them and almost require medical attention.
In the moment of life, priorities can easily get mixed up. Yes, bringing home financial resources to provide for our family is so important, but is it important enough to risk missing out on events in their life that only come around once?
Is taking on a second job to pay off debt worth it if it means we end up working ourselves into exhaustion?
Can we find time in our lives to say “no” to our family so we can rest in quiet or have a conversation with a close friend over a cup of coffee?
If we commit to growing as followers of Jesus, how do we make spirituality a daily affair in the chaos and unpredictability of life?
These are not easy questions to answer, and yet we are all there in one way or another. Learning how to set boundaries and priorities may go a long way in determining the kind of balance we develop in our life. And it is so hard to do.
I don’t have all the answers, but I am inviting you to share in conversation with us through the month of June at the Table. We’ll be digging into these questions, looking at some great stories and passages in the Bible that challenge us, and listening to God and one another as we seek balance and wholeness. Maybe you know a friend or two who might be interested in this conversation.
Let’s practice this tightrope walk together.
See you in June!
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
3 comments | tags: balance, bible, career, chaos, conversation, dallas, deborah, east dallas, explore, family, feeling out of balance, finding balance, followers, hope, how to say no, join, june, kids, life, message, music, nathan, no, passages, questions, relationships, say no to your boss, sermon, sermon series, spirituality, stories, struggle, sunday, table, work, worship | posted in Upcoming Events, Words
