Monthly Archives: September 2009

Year in Review

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A new feature we are adding to this blog is to hear from the members of Matthew’s Table in order to gain fresh perspectives and insights. First up is Josh – my co-conspirator.

Wow! The first full year has gone by for the Matthew’s Table family. This has been a year with lots of firsts. We saw our first baby dedication, our first wedding, our first community service project at Lebanon High School and our first mission team aided us in reaching the community. Matthew’s Table (MT) has really come a long way, from the backyard it started in, to the coffee shop where we meet and work together right now.

Our growth has been a blessing from God. We started with the Carpenters and the Davis’ and now we have a bunch of new families to laugh, cry and grow with. Something that really blesses both Michael and I is the continual spiritual growth we have seen amongst the MT community. The desire of our hearts has, and always will be, to see those in our group grow in their relationship with Christ and put action with that growth in an effort to expand the family of God.

In preparation for the church to start this expansion we have seen Michael globe-hopping from Rome to Taiwan networking with numerous missionaries to lay the groundwork for the rest of the MT members to follow. We have also seen some of these missionaries bless us with their presence as they spoke to us about the urgency for more of Christ’s disciples in Europe.

Through the growth of community, relationships and discipleship we have a foundation laid for us from all we’ve experienced our first year. Using the new skills and knowledge we have gained, we will start this new year equipped to tackle the upcoming challenges and struggles as we continue to grow in our relationship with Christ and our desire to see others come to know Him.

This year has been great but now a new year is here and we must meet it head-on and impact it for Christ. Are you ready for it? If you are not, or even if you are, we expect to see you this Sunday night as we prepare for what is next.

Sunday Reflections

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I have this fear. A fear that we will get comfortable. Not necessarily complacent just comfortable where we are at as a community of faith. In the past year God has used us and stretched us in ways that have a lot of people scratching there heads. They wonder how this small community has such global reach. For us it is real simple – its God mission. As my friend Ed Stetzer has written, “If we are truly interested in being missional – in joining God on His mission – our efforts should actually reflect His stated mission. We are bound to the Great Commandment as the fullest human expression of God’s love. But the Commandment is not hermetically sealed off from the Great Commission. Rather, the Great Commission provides the what of mission, while the Great Commandment provides part of the how. Answering the age-old question of “Who is my neighbor?” should result in the desire to “make disciples of all nations.”"

However, with all that God has done in our communal life over the past year, we could easily hit cruise control and coast along as if we are the only ones who matter to God – “us and no more.” We could travel the globe, serve our community, and create space for people to encounter the Gospel, but not really invite people to follow Jesus and to belong to a church which is God’s chosen instrument for reaching people. It is this anxiety that keeps me awake at night. But this anxiety also keeps me pushing people and myself to a deeper commitment to the work of God’s church in the world. Because we have been chosen as a priesthood; called out of darkness into to proclaim his marvelous light. We were once not a people; once we had not received mercy, but know we have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9).

When the Mission is Over

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The title is a bit deceiving. The mission is never “over.” But how often do teams return from short-term trips and resort, once again, to inviting people to church as being obedient to the Great Commission. The reason that I am refelcting on this is that we are winding down on this last night in Taiwan. What now? My friend, the Almost M asks the question this way:

[it] is a question not only for the individual, but also for the sending church. How should we then do church? How should we then live as a sending and sent church?

In other words, now that I have been ruined again (in a good way) how do I take this experience back with me to my community so that we may actively participate in the mission of God.

Ed Stetzer in a recent post has helped us all articulate what has been happen in the lives of those who belong to the Matthew’s Table community. For we have said that from the first day of planting this church that not only will we join God on His mission, but that our efforts should reflect His stated mission.

Ed writes,

We are bound to the Great Commandment (Matthew 22: 37-40) as the fullest human expression of God’s love. But the Commandment is not hermetically sealed off from the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). Rather, the Great Commission provides the what of mission, while the Great Commandment provides part of the how. Answering the age-old question of “Who is my neighbor?” should result in the desire to “make disciples of all nations.”

Therefore, as the sent, missionary people of God, the our church must now continue in the understanding that its fundamental purpose is being rooted in God’s mission to make disciples of all nations by calling people into a reconciled relationship with Himself which is the greatest expression of His love.

Interview With a High School Student in Taipei

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This is an interview with a young man we met at a local church we attended in Taipei. We asked him some questions and he told us he is a follower of Jesus. He gives some very telling and incredibly honest responses to what that means. (The room was loud so audio quality is not great, but there are “subtitles”, of sorts).

Notice his answer of what it means to follow Jesus and honestly ask yourself, “Is my answer the same?”

Idol Worship and Contextualization

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Idol worship, complete with burning incense and the offering of food is such a foreign concept to Westerners.

idolworship1 300x225 Idol Worship and Contextualization idol 300x225 Idol Worship and Contextualization

However, there are many gods being worshiped and offerings made to ancestors in temples all over Taiwan as in the picture above on the left. The picture above on the right is of an idol in a sort-of “Idols-R-Us” store across the street from the temple we visited.

A lot of Taiwanese find the large number of gods confusing and often do not know who some of the gods are, where they are from, or what they are supposed to do. Nevertheless, these forms of worship are a very real part of everyday life especially the worship of their deceased ancestors by praying to them while burning incense and making food offerings at the temple. So then one of the many questions a missionary has to ask is, “How do Taiwanese Christians honor their mother and father?” (that is in the Bible). In other words, what cultural forms of worship are redeemable and which ones are not? Where is the line? It is not as easy as throwing away the form when it has so much meaning and purpose in an individual’s life.

Below is a video of Robert who is a sociologist/anthropologist who tells of the challenges to contextualize the Gospel in Taiwan.

Interview from Taiwan

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ticket Interview from Taiwan

This is an interview I did with Chris who is a believer that I met Sunday at the local church we attended that morning. Chris teaches forensic science at a local university. Chris uses living a life of integrity as a connector to Jesus with his students. Most of his students worship a mythological warrior who displays the same characteristic of integrity. I also found that through the witness of his grandmother that he came to faith.

Transplanted Tradition

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tape1 Transplanted Tradition

Pews – Pulpits – Piano – PowerPoint

I could of been in any rural SBC church in the US.

Welcome – 3 songs – Offering – Song – Sermon – Invitation – Song

However, I think we were being set up by the M’s here given the question they gave us yesterday: “”How can we train a traditional people who “do” church very traditionally to creatively engage the culture missionally?”

In other words, what does an indigenous express of church look like in Taipei, Taiwan when traditional American style of church is what the local leaders are looking to as examples? This is a challenge not only to M’s who work cross-culturally but also church planters in the states who try to transplant _______ (purpose-driven, seeker, light candles and write your sins in the sand, etc) churches into various contexts. The point is, we must always ask the questions of contextualization so that the church grows out of the Gospel being planted among a particular people in a particular place.

Asia 4am

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ticket Asia 4am

18 hours of total flight time, numb backside, spine that is going in too many directions, and now cannot sleep with a full day ahead. Is it worth it? Always.

We arrived around 9pm Saturday, got checked in, met each other, got a brief overview of the week, and then we went to McDonald’s. Yes I know. Come all the way to Asia, to eat at the golden arches, but convenience and proximity ruled the evening.

Today, we will be visiting a couple of churches in the area. The question that has been posed to us is: “How can we train a traditional people who “do” church very traditionally to creatively engage the culture missionally?”