Bill Cahusac

trans:mission

ad:mission

Sometimes I think a church with a passion for mission can get it wrong. When it does it needs to say so and explain why. A church can so emphasize a particular aspect of mission that the unintended subliminal message that is sent out is that other forms of mission are not as important. 

What this does is create a culture where people of vision often feel disempowered. They love Jesus, they love telling people about him, but they feel that their contribution might be pushed to a side because it doesn't fit into the bigger vision of a church. Over time new ideas can dry up. 

This leads to frustration. People with God given vision and talent who want to use it aren't. 

This can never be good. 

inter:mission

Churches need to take the time to seek out the dumanists. My boss is excellent at that. He is a heat seeker for emerging and future leaders. Seeking out people of vision, releasing them, equipping them, affirming them and encouraging them to yield themselves to God as they step out. 

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We need to give mission back to the church rather than defining it. As we do that we will see extraordinary things begin to happen. Mission won't just be something we talk about as an institution, it will be something we own. something we do.

Something we live.

(U2 and) Elevation

He looked at me blankly.
"Seriously?" he asked.
"Absolutely" I answered.
"You think that U2's song Magnificent is the best worship song you've heard this year? They don't even mention God in the song".

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going down the "U2 are the coolest Christian band ever" path.

They have never to my knowledge professed to be a Christian band. Bono has said he is a believer, and he seems to be doing the things that a Christian might- particularly in relation to Poverty and AIDS in Africa. None of which makes that much difference in the context of this conversation, other than to say that when I listened to the song for the first time on my walk to St. Mark's last Sunday, I was struck that these were the kinds of words that a Christian might sing. (For copyright reasons I'm not going to publish the words on this post, but you can find them here).

I am aware that they don't explicitly mention God, and from their perspective they may never have intended it to be interpreted through a Christian lens. But when I listen to something, or watch something I am always open to God using it to speak to me. (Just to be clear, I'm not saying we should be open to that idea of God speaking through something that is quite obviously heretical...)

Of course I believe that God primarily speaks and reveals himself through the bible and in prayer- they are always the first place I go to hear God speak, but if the psalmist was right that creation declares the glory of the Lord (Psalm 19:1-4), then perhaps God could could speak through creation or be worshiped in a creative act or expression that is implicit rather than explicit.

Does a song need to be explicitly Christian or indeed a worship song to be used in worship? Could God take the heart of a worshiper and their desire to use a song about someone or something being loving and magnificent and sing it to God as if it was, and accept it as worship? As much as I love songs that are full of doctrine and theological terms, does every song need them to be acceptable to God, or is he just as interested in the attitude of the heart as he is the words we sing (and the lives we live).

Even if it was never the intention of the song writer or artist for it to be interpreted or used in worship does that mean that it can't be to elevate him?

Donald Miller on U2 and how they stay on top

A really great post from Don MIller on how U2  create an album and how they stay on top can be found here.