Prayer for Friday, May 27

Partners and Community for Ourselves
God, Community of Love, you have created us to live in community rather than isolation. We pray, for our own continued health, that you will surround each of us with friends and family committed to a shared vision of following you together. We pray for the leadership of Intentional People, that these families will continue to cultivate trust and friendship, so that each will be nurtured and encouraged to continue serving others. We pray for our new church plant, that relationships will be strengthened and cultivated so that we will continue to move forward in discipleship with joy and passion. In both of these endeavors we continue to pray for those you are raising up to partner together in different ways. Grant us wisdom and discerning hearts to protect one another from those who would do us harm and guide us forward in cultivating community in the places where you have placed us.

Back on Sunday, we asked you to be praying for financial, prayer and ministry partners for both Intentional People and our church planting efforts. Has God put any names on your heart? If so, would you consider speaking with them about these ministries? Please also feel free to contact us with names of these potential partners. Are there ways in which God may be laying it on your own heart to join with us in some way or to take the next step toward deeper connection? Again, we are extremely grateful to you for joining us in this season of prayer. We thank God for your partnership in the gospel.

Prayer for Thursday, May 26

Cultivating Community with The Poor and Oppressed
God, Community of Love, we want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We want to be known as “friends of sinners,” we desire to show solidarity with and developing community among the poor, the overlooked, forgotten and oppressed. Open our eyes to see these people which our society tries so hard to ignore and open our hearts to see them instead as you see them, as your beloved children. God we pray not only for opportunities to extend hospitality to the poor, but also for the grace to receive it. Grant us the honor of affirming the dignity of your image bearers who may have, this very day, been denied that birthright. God we acknowledge that among impoverished communities there is much darkness, sin and violence. We pray that you will bring light, repentance and peace to these places and that you will use us as your cracked and humble vessels in doing so.

Today, would you ask God to reveal ways in which Intentional People can serve as an encouragement to the poor and oppressed? We pray for partners and a growing community of people working together to eradicate the darkness around us through the Light of God that is within us. We have been blessed as part of Christ Journey to serve the poor in this area, and have cultivated some lasting friendships. We pray that this will continue as we launch out with our new church planting work as well.

Prayer for Wednesday, May 25

Cultivating Community in the Global Community
God, Community of Love, we are citizens of your kingdom which transcends national and ethnic boundaries. Teach us, Lord of Light, to see this world through your eyes and not be blinded by narrow, nationalistic thinking. Holy God, we pray that Intentional People will serve as a resource for inspiring those whom you are preparing to serve in various ways throughout the global community. We place our hands, our talents and our lives at your service to bless and encourage others wherever you may send them. In the same way, Father, we pray that our local church planting work will not lose sight of your love and concern for all people everywhere. Guide us in loving and caring for those who live across the street and together with them, in being mindful of those who live across the oceans. As citizens of your vast empire, God, Community of Love, erase from us any selfish desires or agendas for building empires of our own. We confess Jesus the Christ as both our savior and our Lord, to the glory of the Father and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Do you know someone who is working to build community or bring hope amidst the global community? If so, we would love to connect with them and perhaps even interview them for the Intentional People Video Project or the Missional Monks podcast. As we pray together, we invite you to think about and approach God with us regarding those we can partner with to inspire others.

Prayer for Tuesday, May 24

Cultivating Community in the Local Community
God, Community of Love, we know that you bless us in order that we will be a blessing to others. We pray that your wisdom will guide us into the midst of our neighborhoods and communities to model and invite others into a life of community – with you and with one another. Father, teach us to see the ways in which you are already at work bringing people together and allow us to serve as your co-laborers and ambassadors. Lord, we ask that Intentional People will serve to bring people together in their local context, working alongside you in community. We pray that you will show us those you are raising up to work in your fields – we pray that your Spirit will cultivate those relationships and produce a great harvest. God, Community of Love, we pray that through our work of planting the gospel in north Burleson, we will be aware of the people you bring across our paths – give us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we may make the most of every opportunity.

Be intentional today about looking for people that God may be bringing into your life. Cultivate awareness of those around you – often the only thing that keeps us from being able to have a positive influence for the kingdom in someone else’s life is that we simply aren’t present in the moment. God is already at work all around us. 

Prayer for Monday, May 23

Community in the Church
God, Community of Love, we are grateful for your Church. We pray that wherever the Church meets, your spirit of community and communitas will be present. Teach us, O Lord, to lay down our selfish ambitions and in humility consider others better than ourselves. We pray that our attitude will be that of Christ Jesus, who did not consider equality with you something to be held on to, but humbled himself and took the form of a servant. We pray that our small community of faith will grow in its influence throughout our region by living openly as your humble servants in community. Let our love for one another display our identity as your disciples; let our testimony of redemption be a proclamation of hope to those we encounter. God, Community of Love, we pray that Intentional People will serve as a resource and encouragement to your Church. We pray that our work will be a pleasing gift to your kingdom, which we believe wholeheartedly is at hand and which we anticipate arriving in fullness in the future.


As we pray today for community in the Church, let us remember that there are local expressions of the Church, but all are connected to the One Body of Christ. We pray that Intentional People will serve to help cultivate the experience of community in local churches through the fostering the experience of communitas (community shaped and formed by shared mission or struggle). Are there ways that your local expression of the church could partner with or benefit from the work of Intentional People? Consider talking with your local leadership about this, or contact me for more information.

Season of Prayer, Week 5

Scripture Passage for Daily Reflection

Acts 4:32-5:42 (NIV, via biblegateway.com)

Thoughts for the Week

This week we make a shift in our prayers together. During our final three weeks of this prayer season we’ll still be following the same daily outline and will continue to have an overall theme for the week (partners/community this week, then mission/commission and harvest/fruit in the final two weeks respectively). However, up to this point, our prayers each day have been somewhat general in nature, often pointing each of us to look into our own neighborhood, community or church family. 

We began this way because the goal of Intentional People and our efforts in planting churches are not merely to seek God’s blessings on us here. Ours in a kingdom focus; we prayerfully seek the in-breaking of God’s reign in all corners of creation. We wanted our first season of prayer to be marked by a concern beyond our own local success or failure.

My prayer is that with a month of this type of communal prayer established, we’ll each continue to pray with an eye toward what’s happening in our context as well as what others are experiencing as well. 

Going into these last three weeks leading up to the official fundraising launch of Intentional People and our formation of a new missional community in Burleson, I am grateful to have this community of prayer partnering with us. The prayers will focus on specifically lifting up Intentional People and our church plant with regards to the weekly and daily themes. However, I encourage you to continue in practices which lead you into similar connections in your neighborhood.

In Acts 18 there’s a story that has been the inspiration for referring to bi-vocational ministry as “tent making.” When Paul arrived in Corinth he met some tent makers. Since he was a tent maker also he stayed and worked with them. We get the impression from several of Paul’s letters in the new testament that this was one of his common strategies. We know from other passages that his reasoning (at least, in part) for this approach was that he didn’t want to give any unbelievers or new believers a reason to claim that he was only ministering to them in order to receive a paycheck – and he also didn’t want to be a burden on these young communities, many of which consisted of people who were (or soon would be) struggling themselves. 

There is another common understanding about the value of this type of bi-vocational work. Those who are supported by the system can easily become co-opted by the system. (This was part of what Alan Hirsch shared with Chris and I during our podcast interview – which you can listen to at missionalmonks.com) I worked either part-time or full-time for established churches for a decade before launching into church planting, so I’ve seen this first-hand. There are many ministers who want to challenge unhealthy aspects of “the system” but since doing so may lead to the unemployment line, they are often pressured to hold back a necessary prophetic challenge. I think this is a valid point in the whole bi-vocational conversation.

However, we live in a broken world where wisdom is often corrupted by sin. In our desire to support ourselves financially so that we can speak truth into the lives of others we can easily begin to remove accountability and connection to others, claiming that we are only accountable to God. While this is technically true, many of us have discovered that without others to keep us focused on Him to whom we answer, we actually begin answering only to ourselves…which is dangerous at best and idolatrous at worst.

It is easy to miss the verse following the “tent making” paragraph. In 18:5 it says “When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.”

When Paul’s partners arrived he apparently gave up the bi-vocational approach, at least for a time. Not only did Silas and Timothy’s arrival mean friends and co-laborers, it also meant the arrival of financial support from other churches; support that would allow Paul to devote himself exclusively to preaching. Notice that Paul first preached exclusively to the Jews – and it didn’t go that well…it says in verse 6, “But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

Later in the chapter, Paul receives a vision where God says: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”

No matter how we are supported in ministry, there will be difficulties – but there is strength, blessing, support, encouragement and protection that comes from partners in the community of God.

This week we pray for partners and community. While we desire not to be a burden on those to whom we’re reaching (and we pray that Intentional People will very soon fill the bulk of our financial support needs) we do not want to operate in isolation. We are grateful for those of you who are already surrounding us with prayer and encouragement. We pray for those who have partnered with us financially over the last three years and those who will do so in the future. We pray for those who will lend their voices, hands and talents to work with Intentional People in different ways; for the partnerships we’re are developing with other organizations and individuals. We are also praying for another church planting family to join us in our work in Burleson. 

We’re already blessed to have friends and co-laborers in this area who are going out with us; a community of faith sharing life on mission with God. As we begin planting the gospel in new neighborhoods, we also pray that God will raise up a family trained and called to ministry that can help with teaching, community organizing, guidance and training of others in discipleship, etc.

We are also praying for the possibility of one or more partnering churches with whom we can enjoy a relationship of mutual edification and support. 

Thank you for joining with us in lifting these prayers to the Father.

Prayers for Sunday – God the Community of Love

God, Community of Love, in the beginning you created the heavens and the earth, but before the beginning, you were. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we acknowledge you, the Three-in-One as the source of our longing for community and connection to others. Holy God, as we long to understand how we are to live as the gathered church in community, we have to look no further than to your revealed nature; as we seek wisdom in living as your scattered church in the midst of the larger community, we have to look no further than to your revealed activities. Since the very beginning Lord you have sent yourself repeatedly into our midst. In the darkness you have been there with us, a guide, companion, protector and friend. Lord, we pray that you will guide the work of Intentional People as it seeks to encourage and inspire your children to live bold lives of adventure on mission with you. God, we pray that you will lead us into the neighborhoods of north Burleson and the south Fort Worth area to plant the gospel in community. We follow you with full confidence that where your seeds of hope are planted, healthy churches will grow up by your power. Bless us O God, Community of Love, for in you alone does true community find its origin.

This week our prayers are focused on partners and community – both for Intentional People and our new church planting work. In addition to the communal prayers, would you take a few moments each day to ask God to raise up partners for us? We need financial partners, prayer partners (we thank you for already serving in that capacity), and others who will serve as resources and collaborators in different ways, according to their gifts. With regards to our church planting work, we are praying for one or more partnering churches, with whom we can have a mutually edifying relationship and we are also seeking another church planting family to join us in this work.

a Missional Theology: part 3

I recently posted a podcast at our new site – http://www.MissionalMonks.com – titled “a missional theology,” which addresses my understanding of who we are called to be as God’s people. I decided to post the transcript of that podcast here. Its a little long, so it’ll show up as a series of three posts (this is the final of the three).

Note that its entitled “a” missional theology…not “the” missional theology. What I attempted to describe are some basic understandings of functioning as God’s community of ambassadors to all creation. There is plenty of room here for the different denominational distinctions and doctrines – I didn’t even try to get in to all the finer points of systematic theology here. So, if you think that something I added is wrong, please feel free to open dialog. If you think I left something out…I did. Add it and serve faithfully.

If you aren’t interested in reading 3500 words over three posts, you can listen to nearly the identical thing at missionalmonks.com – the “music” player is in the left hand column – its just under 30 mins including the intro (shorter than most of my sermons…). Whether you read or listen, I’d love your feedback.

Towards a Missional Theology

part 3

Broken or not, we are created in the image of God and I think one of the great examples of human pride is the false belief that there is anything we could have done (like the concept of original sin and total depravity) that could ever completely destroy what God placed in our very essence.

We are not God. We are broken and fall very much short of our ideal, but we still carry within us the image of the Divine Creator. Because of this, our identity is formed not only by our difference from God but also by what we’ve seen God at work doing, who we’ve seen God revealed to be.

Before the beginning God existed as a complete Community of Love. Unlike the claims of some religions that hold the beliefs that the gods need human worshippers to maintain their power, we worship the God who needed nothing. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit share in a fully contained and unified community of Love. The full understanding the Trinity is certainly beyond us. But this much is clear, one cannot love without an object to receive love. Unlike us, God needs no external object because the Father loves the Son and Spirit, The Son loves the Father and Spirit and the Spirit loves the Father and Son. And yet, the nature of love is to make room for others to experience loving community and so God created. And when God created, God made room at the table for creation. However, this is not a story of a wealthy landowner simply throwing occasional parties at his mansion. Time and time again we see that God is not only willing, but apparently anxious to be out in the midst of those God loves.

Communitas

I am grateful to Alan Hirsch for introducing me to the word communitas. It is a latin word that refers to community which develops and is cultivated among people who have a shared struggle, ordeal or mission. Like sports teams that endure long difficult seasons, or soldiers who share a foxhole, communitas refers to that bond that comes from being in a place where you have no choice but to depend on those around you. We see this in the very nature of the Triune God. Be it the act of creation or the redemption of creation through the cross, we find Father, Son and Spirit with a shared mission and apparently even a shared struggle. It doesn’t take away from God’s greatness to acknowledge struggle – because the struggle doesn’t come from God’s inability to overcome, but rather from God’s willingness to neither overwhelm creation nor abandon it.

If we are the people of God, created in God’s image, then communitas is going to be a vital component of our lives. When it isn’t, we know something is missing. This is part of why both gangs and fraternities are so popular – whether they are healthy or not, they are an experience of communitas. I also think this is why buddy movies, war movies, sports movies are so captivating – they tap into our desire to go through something significant with others.

Hospitality

Because God, the Community of Love, not only created us but made space for us within the Community, we see the importance and even centrality of hospitality. When we trace the story of Scripture we see over and again that God welcomes us into his presence. We see God clothing the naked and even the poorly clothed like Adam and Eve. We see God feeding the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. We see Jesus feeding the multitudes, washing the disciples’ feet and going to prepare a place for us in his father’s home. (Which by the way, is a reference to ancient marriage customs…where a betrothed male would actually build a room for he and his future wife onto his father’s house. He would continue working on the room until the father decided it was ready to be inhabited and then the father would send the son to get his bride). Throughout the old testament we find God instructing the Israelites that they were to be people of hospitality – welcoming the stranger into their homes, making sure that foreigners and the poor were taken care of, even ensuring that they’d have a place at the annual feasts. Hospitality is a central component to the revealed nature of God and is a vital piece of identity for the people of God.

Hospitality means so much more than just inviting our friends to our house for dinner. It literally means to welcome the stranger…and if we take Jesus seriously, it will also include loving and welcoming even our enemies. It means caring for the poor. It means remembering those who are overlooked and forgotten by society. It means that we are a community that practices the customs of the new Kingdom, the Kingdom of God that is here but still coming. It means that we should live in a way that seems radical and even foolish in our get ahead at all costs society.

Missional Living

But again, God doesn’t merely welcome us in, God comes to us and brings his peace with him. In addition to hospitality we see that God is the preeminent missionary. In other words, from the very beginning to the very end and everywhere in between, God is not content to sit in heaven and watch our lives from a distance. God draws near. God sets up his tent among us. In Exodus we read about the Tabernacle. It was basically a large tent that the Israelites carried around with them. The Tabernacle represented God’s presence with the Israelites.

Several years ago I realized that in the Gospel of John when it is says that Jesus made his dwelling among us, the Greek word used is the word for tabernacle. In other words, like God with the Israelites, Jesus set up his tent in our midst…as Eugene Peterson says it in the Message, Jesus moved into the neighborhood. The cool thing is that when you read Revelation 21 – the end our Scriptures. It says that when everything is finally brought to its culmination, the new Jerusalem will come DOWN out of heaven and God will dwell with his people. Again the word is tabernacle. The dwelling of God will be with his people. From the beginning, to Jesus’ life to the culmination of all things, God chooses to come down and tabernacle with us.

How can we choose anything different? If we are God’s people, formed in the image of God we must seek to cultivate communitas – which means that our life in God will not be carried out alone but in community. We must be a people of hospitality, welcoming the stranger. But we must also be a missional people – a community sent out by God to dwell among the people, among creation, in the dark places where the light needs to break in.

These six things: discipleship, spiritual formation and worship because we are not God and communitas, hospitality and missional living because we are created in the image of God, are not meant to be the final formula to fix the churches problems. However, I contend that if we, as a church, can live into these principles we will find that we are in a place where we are more likely to witness God at work, praise God for what we see and answer the call to go and do likewise.

Wells Family Church Planting Update – November 2010

that little guy is new cousin Griffin…

thanks to Joey being sick, I don’t have a picture of the wellsbrothers with NEWEST cousin Kallie yet

We want to thank you for sharing this journey with us over the last few years – it has never been easy and doesn’t seem to be moving in that direction any time soon, but your friendship, encouragement and prayers have played an enormous role in keeping us moving forward.

Since my last update in August we’ve been getting into the groove of the new school year. Conner is doing great in 1st grade. He continues to amaze us with his brilliant little mind and unbelievably sweet heart. Recently we had a conference with his teacher who shared that he is not only one of the brightest kids she’s ever taught, he also displays a rare and much appreciated combination of leadership and compassion. She told us that Conner often reads books to the class when she needs to step out for a moment, he is one of the first to help other students. What brought me the most pride was when she noted that while he is quick to share what he knows with others, he never appears condescending or prideful…just sincerely happy to help someone else. Awesome.

Joey and Micah are both doing well in preschool and I think that Rachel has really enjoyed teaching there – if for no other reason than she gets glimpses into their day. However, as you can imagine, Rachel has been a tremendous blessing to the kids in her class and their parents…even if she won’t admit it! The schedule has been a pretty big adjustment – especially with me still making occasional trips to OKC – but I think its definitely been worth the added hassle.

Speaking of OKC…that beast just refuses to be slain! I’ve pretty much finished everything, but little frustrations have kept me going back up for a couple days most weeks. This little experiment didn’t turn out as we’d hoped, but there were some good things that came out of it. In the midst of our conversations with different churches regarding their roofs, we met a minister at a Lutheran church who turned out to be quite interested in the concept of missional church planting.

Teresa has become a good friend. I had the opportunity to spend one Saturday with a group of folks from her church talking about living a missional life: what that means and what it might look like even in a very structured church context.

As you might have heard, I’ve been preparing to start my major doctoral project (the DMin version of a dissertation) which officially begins in February, following my FINAL class! The project (called “Communitas” – a word referring to community that is developed through a shared struggle, ordeal or mission) is developing a process for missional leadership training and spiritual formation. I’ve decided to focus not so much on seminary students or people preparing to plant churches (though this process would still be appropriate for them) but rather on groups of “normal” church folks. Our pilot program is doubling as a leadership development process within Christ Journey.

I’m already in conversation with several groups about participating in Communitas once I’ve completed the “beta” phase and made revisions. My hope and prayer is that this, in conjunction with teaching in the Academy for Missional Wisdom at SMU, will provide an opportunity to equip others to engage in whole life faith and missional leadership in the midst of their community…without having to leave the own congregation to do so. Along with that, we are praying that this will provide long term financial sustainability for our ministry in this area, without me having to work so many hours in other job settings.

We’re currently launching a web platform at http://www.missionalmonks.com that will serve as the “classroom” for instruction – which will depend heavily on processing together through dialog and then immediately implementing what we’re learning into our neighborhoods or other local contexts. Hopefully, the website will also serve as a place for ongoing dialog about whole-life faith and discipleship, some guest articles and devotionals and also as a central location to host the “Missional Monks Podcast” that Chris and I have been doing since this summer (you can also find the podcasts by searching missional monks on iTunes.)

These podcasts consist primarily of interviews with thinkers, church planters and authors from all over North America – folks who are engaged in some amazing ministries. The conversations have been very helpful for us – and the comments we’ve received from all over the country suggest that they’ve been so for others as well.

As you can see, we have been very busy lately! There are several new families who have become integral parts of the Christ Journey community and we continue to find opportunities to serve and connect with new friends in the Burleson area.

As I prepare for 2011, I’m realizing that it is going to be very difficult to dedicate the necessary time and energy to Communitas and Christ Journey while also working 50 hours a week in roofing. I am arranging some conversations with churches and groups of ministers and leaders to discuss supporting us for one year as we get Communitas off the ground – and also consider having a group of folks go through the Communitas program when it is ready to go in 2012. We have a pretty great plan for how to effectively take an entire congregation – even a large one – through this process without folks simply becoming anonymous spectators.

If you have been supporting us financially, Rachel and I want to once again thank you. It has meant so much to us that God has used a group of friends – many who are in tight financial situations themselves – to keep the door open for us to share the life of Christ with those who previously only thought of church in negative terms. There are people today who have come to or come back to faith in God because you chose to partner in the gospel with us.

If you think your church or another group might be willing to help us financially as we launch Communitas and continue planting the gospel in this area, please pass this along or help me get in contact with them. Likewise, if you know of a group that may be interested in hearing more about how Communitas can help them more fully live into the gospel in their neighborhoods and community, I’d love to talk with them.

Again, you can check out and join the (active, but still under construction) web platform for Missional Monks and the Communitas Experience at http://www.missionalmonks.com.

Grace and Peace,

Bret, Rachel and the Wellsbrothers.