As we approach the end of our 10-month sabbatical, you may be wondering, “What’s next for the Stewart family?” Or you may be asking, “What, they’ve been in America for 10 months??” Well friends, let me say a bit about each of those (stay with me, this gets progressively more interesting as it goes). First, our sabbatical has been amazing – restful, memorable, shaping, fun.  We have so much to write about our time that I will start a little “series” tomorrow on sabbatical highlights (in no particular order).  Much of what we have experienced and learned is shaping our sense of what’s next.  And I know that many of you really want those details.  So…

The next 3 weeks

• We are having a goodbye party this Saturday (15th) in Fresno!  It’s on open house, come by whenever, stay as long as you’d like deal 12:00-5:00.  Here’s the event link on fb or contact me if you want details.
• We are speaking at Friends Community Church (Fresno) this Sunday morning, then having a birthday party for the boys in the afternoon (including Arthur Paul’s baptism)
• Next week will be our last week in Fresno
• We are heading down to SoCal May 22-30. We will be at Foothills Community Church (Pasadena) on May 23. We have some people to visit and a few fun things to do during the week, but if you would like to see us, let me know and we might be able to make it happen
• On June 1, we are getting on an airplane and flying back to South Africa

June and July

We will spend two months (June and July) discerning God’s call for our family to be in South Africa. This is what we have felt for some time, and now we need to listen together on the ground. Is Cape Town the right place for us now?  We also want to reconnect with lots of friends and colleagues. By the end of July, we will decide if we are staying in South Africa or if there is a better place for us. If we stay, we will be leaving our current missions agency to partner with local people and ministries.  If we are leaving, we will say goodbye to South Africa and join an existing Church Resource Ministries team outside SA.

That’s the pragmatics.  But what is this Cape Town thing all about?  Very simply, we want to see people – ourselves included -  live the lives we were created to live. We believe the God who created and loves us makes this possible as we follow Jesus and allow his Spirit to continually awaken our deepest hearts and freeing us to become the amazing, beautiful, different, yet TRUE US. We also believe that we need each other to help us be different and together make a difference in our neighborhoods and world. This can take place LOTS of ways, so here’s where praying and exploring and asking God: who God has made us to be + our experiences, skills, and desires + the realities and needs of our family + the people and place we think God is calling us to be with = WHAT?

We think it might look something like this for us:

Living in a diverse neighborhood, loving neighbors, bringing people together. We are feeling the Woodstock neighborhood in Cape Town could be the one because of friendships we have there, its urban/cosmopolitan needs and opportunities, and the way we can picture our family living and flourishing

Helping people (particularly those who are often overlooked or left out) connect with, experience, and grow in God – especially in new, different, and “outside the box” ways that help change lives… one-on-one, ongoing groups, events, etc.

Working with local non-profits, ministries, and churches through teaching, training, and lending a hand – we want to help others who are also making a difference

Encouraging and equipping local leaders to have a reaching and lasting impact on their communities, especially through new and different types of faith communities

Participating in a regular friendship with other local and global practitioners – finding ways to collaborate for greater impact and strengthen one another in our journeys of following and serving Jesus

Oh, I could write so much more here, but this will have to do for now.  This was, after all, supposed to be an update – not a presentation! This is what we are going to explore. We will be in the place. We will be with the people. We will see what what God does and says. We are trusting that the specifics and next steps will become clear in the process.

Here’s where you come in!

1. Pray for us – now as we wrap everything up here (craziness, I tell you) & and as we listen with God there.  We will be updating/reminding you throughout
2. Do it with us – stay in regular conversation, find ways to help, support our family in this ministry with some monthly money, love us.  I feel a little weird asking for these, but know we need them!

More to come, but figured this would give you a little to chew on for now.
with love,
Arthur for the Stewarts

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Was part of a great book discussion today on David Bosh’s crazy-good, often referred to, yet under appreciated Transforming Mission.  Bosch’s book is one of those that for some reason I have never got around to reading – until now.  So glad I am.  Beyond the reading, the discussions look like they will be both fun and challenging.  It’s nice to talk with a bunch of people who have hearts that resonate, and “get” one another.  So, we can dive deeper than just discussing theological/philosophical concepts to why and how it matters for our lives.  I think that just maybe we will find some ways to put parts into practice together as well.   Tom, Cobus, and Chris have written about this conversation/their thoughts.  I am sure that   Sure Joe will as well (especially since I just called him out).

So much that I would like to comment on, but I’ll save for other posts.  For now, maybe just a quote from the end of the chapter we were discussing.  I didn’t get a chance to say anything in our group, so here’s my chance…

In discussing the ways in which the early church participated in living signs of the Kingdom, Bosch maintains that they did so in a manner consistent with Jesus.  However, they failed in at least 3 ways.  First, the early church too quickly established what separated themselves from others rather than their calling and responsibility toward these others.  Second, the movement turned into an institution.  Third, the growing church marginalized the Jews (those from whom they were birthed).  Those of you who have studied organizations know that these are pretty common in the life cycle of any movement.  We always wonder how to influence the process so that institutionalization/fossilization doesn’t take place in some inevitable fashion.  I would dare say that this has happened with the emerging church in the USA (but Tony, I think you have wisely and subversively multiplied influence by deconstruction, perhaps preempting the process? – yet another blog post I should write).

Then Bosch throws in this little nugget that has left me thinking a lot: “Very few people can be both at the periphery and at the center at the same time.  And even if they do manage that, they usually do so only for a very short while” (52).  Crap!  We’re trying so hard to be a church for all people.  A place where homeless and affluent rub shoulders, where radical discipleship is the norm, not the exception.  Are you saying we can’t live on the edge and in the middle of society?

Bosch is right, I think.  All my years (oh so many years, at that) seem to point that way.  You choose to live on the edge or at the center.  Lots of young, excited, or naive people get started on the fringes.  What usually happens over time?  They get sucked toward the middle.  They become jaded, disenchanted, tired of fighting the system, or just plain selfish.  The middle has a strong pull, doesn’t it?  But I repeat: YOU CAN CHOOSE TO LIVE ON THE EDGE OR AT THE CENTER.

The edge is scary, risky, exciting, unknown, and the place of miracles because God is needed.  It’’s real reality, the “thin place” where heaven and earth come close together.  It’s the place of angels and demons.  It’s where we see God’s Kingdom coming.  It’s where I want to be.  If I must choose between the periphery and center, I choose the edge.

I choose the edge.

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have you ever noticed how there are some people that seem to understand things, maybe even know what to do in most cases and there are OTHER people who just seem to “do it” and don’t really seem to have an understanding or plan for what they are doing?

case in point: a theology of a transformational gospel.

western/northern people understand this gospel.  they have well thought-through  theologies of a holistic gospel, one that is more that just “heaven after you die.” (of course, there are many who don’t embrace this as well).  they have thought about oppression, and their churches/denominations may even have powerful statements or programs to this effect.

southern churches don’t always think it through.  in fact, they often have pretty crummy theologies when it comes to things like this (the extreme popularity of the “health and wealth gospel” here bears this out).  BUT, they actually deal with it, on a daily basis.  a transformational gospel isn’t a matter of theory.  it’s a matter of necessity.  nice sounding theologies don’t feed people.

i propose that we learn from one another!

revolutionary, i know.  of course, we all know what the 2/3 world church can learn from their experienced/wise neighbors to the north – they’ve got everything figured out   but – and i tread on thin ice here – is it possible that the west/north could actually learn something from the south???  is it possible to put aside everything the big powerful people “know” to actually learn from people who don’t seem to know much?

i have this feeling God smiles a lot on the “foolish of this world.”  because God likes those who “do” – who may not have everything figured out, but listen to God’s voice and respond in obedience.  Those who love God and neighbor, who care for widows and orphans,  who make disciples.

Plans, strategies, theologies, and books are nice.  and those in the south can certainly benefit from some of these resources.  but i would encourage those of you in the north/west to learn something from those who are getting their hands dirty with the business of the gospel on a daily basis.  The best teachers aren’t those who have everything figured out, they are the ones who are learning and invite others to join them in the process.

may we all learn from one another this way.

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get your attention with that one?

ok, you may go to heaven after you die. BUT, it also exists NOW. It’s the spiritual realm in which God lives. Do a word search of heaven and heavens in the Bible, and see how often it is talking about the future and how often it is talking about the present.

“Your Kingdom Come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” does not mean that we are asking for the end times, for all life to end. It means we are begging God to make things on earth like they already are in the heavens. In the heavens, things are as they should be. We see glimpses here and there.

Implications? For one thing, going to heaven after you die isn’t the goal in life. Knowing God now, and developing the relationship you will have with God forever comes closer. And, it’s not a place made for humans to get their reward for a good life. It’s the place where God lives and we will live with God. It’s about GOD, not us!!!

I mean, besides all the angels playing harps imagery, what do we really know about heaven anyway? Mostly that it is being in God’s presence. Isn’t that partially attainable now, since Jesus made the way and God’s Spirit lives with us?

Let’s talk about heaven for now, not later.

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One critique of many perspectives on the gospel is that they reduce the effects of the Good News (what it is supposed to do/produce) to the future.  Someday things will be better.  You’ll go to heaven and be with God.  Everyone will be happy, etc.  At the Amahoro conference, Claude Nikondeha talked about growing up hearing that life as a Christian now is all about getting ready for the afterlife, because that’s what really mattered.  Nice to hear when you are poor, sick, marginalized, etc.

But Jesus came to make a difference NOW.  He said, “I have come that you might have life – life in its fullest!”  That’s a present statement.  And when he talks about knowing and following God, and the difference it makes, he talks in the present tense.  Dallas Willard adds, “the question is, are we alive to God now?”  Jesus shows us what this life can be like.

I don’t minimize that this full-life reality is not entirely realized.  There are still plenty of things wrong with our world, with our lives.  But it’s all about what we expect, ask for, hope for.  God has the capacity and desire to come through.  Let’s not aim too low.  Instead, we must ask God for transformation now.  For us, for others, for our world.

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ok, i have a lot to write on this subject, for a couple of reasons

1. this was one of the major subjects of the Amahoro conference I attended in Uganda
2. i was supposed to lead a workshop on this subject at the Amahoro conference, things changed, and I have lots of thoughts I still want to get out
3. In NieuCommuities South Africa we are now entering the Contending Posture, focusing on joining God in working toward making His Kingdom a reality
4. this is what it’s all about… there is no Gospel (good news) without transformation

So, since this is the first of several posts, just some initial thoughts:

Anyone who is following Jesus does so because their life is being changed. Richard Foster, in Celebration of Discipline, appropriately says “to encounter God is to change.”

God’s deep love for me has changed me from the inside out. Hearing God’s voice has opened me up to an unseen world. Deciding to follow Jesus has absolutely altered the trajectory of my life. I have been transformed by the Good News.

So, I hope to explore a couple of things, including…

• what is this good news?
• what makes it so transformational?
• what does transformation look like?
• why is this so important?
• why do we so often miss the point?

Stay tuned!

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