The Core Of Missional Community
Many have asked for a primer on Thrive and what makes up the heart of missional community. Attached is our six core elements. You can download it here.
Ed Stetzer On Missional Communities
This is a fascinating conversation by Ed Stetzer on missional communities. In it he discusses the shift in culture from a stage model to a community model. Very much worth the time.
Excerpt – Cheap Grace
The following is from the updated Leadership Manual, which is expected to be finished NEAR the end of this month.
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“The common concern with grace is that if we offer it freely it becomes cheap. But intentional grace was never cheap. It always costs something. To offer grace meant someone had to absorb the cost of someone’s brokenness.”
Coming Soon – New Leadership Manual
Over the last three months, we’ve been reworking the Leadership Manual to better communicate the “what”, and “how” of Thrive. It’s been a thrilling experience to say the least and represents the culmination of so much research and learning over the last seven years. Much of the changes will cover the ethos of Thrive and what really makes the Thrive experience work.
If you have requested a leadership manual in the past, don’t sweat it. We’ll send you the updated one as soon as it’s finished. If you have requested a manual in the last couple of days, we’ll send you the new one as soon as it’s finished. It should be out this month.
Much Love
Jonathan
Reminder – Conference Call Today
If you are looking to dig deeper into what we do and how we do it, we would like to invite you to a 60-90 minute conference call.
The first Tuesday of every other month at 12:00 PM PST, we will be holding a 60-90 minute conference call for those interested in knowing more about Thrive. This information session will provide you with a deeper understanding of our process, story and what it means to lead a group.
This call is for anyone who is interested in developing a missional discipleship approach in their community, home network, or church. This includes elders, leaders, small group community leaders, pastors, and those who want to follow Jesus in an intentional way.
Participation is by request. Just leave a comment or send us an email with your interest and we will provide you with instructions for joining us on the call. We also ask that you provide specific questions for the call, if you have them.
The next scheduled call is: August 4th, 2009, 12:00-1:30 PM PST
Love Vs. Religion
One of the things we explore in great detail is the development of religion as part of the human story. Tracy wrote the following piece that shares some of the differences between religion and love.
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I was talking with some friends today and they were, in part, recounting what religion has to done people. As I heard the horrors recounted (I will not share them here; you likely already know them all too well), I realize how bastardized what should be good news has become in the religious system of our day.
Rather than proclaim with great boldness: “You are loved. Relax. Go have a bottle of wine with some friends and strangers. Celebrate the uniqueness of both the One who loves you and of yourself! Invite me to eat with you and we can talk and get to know each other,” religion says, “Serve, be good, do the right thing, keep working hard, strive for purity, obey, submit, follow external instructions, and no matter what, conform so that you look just like us.”
Religion says: Celebrate the same way we do, with decency and order, and be sure you stay in line. Be careful who you hang out with—you don’t want a bad influence rubbing off on you. Appearances are everything, so choose carefully.
Love says: Let’s celebrate! Go wild, tip over the edge! Tell everyone they are welcome to my party! Be expansive, wildly open, stupidly generous, and ridiculously joyous. Invite the oddest people you can find—please! Shower one another with openness and love and being authentic. What great gifts you have for each other! Give them indiscriminately.
Religion says: Weigh your options. Try to be sure you’re on the right path. Be cautious so you don’t get out of the will of God.
Love says: Throw caution to the wind. Be the wild self you were created to be, filled with passion and ready to make lots of mistakes. No need to fear; I have it all covered!
Religion says: Do this. Don’t do that. If you do this, I will bless you. If you don’t do this, I will not bless you.
Love says: You don’t need to change a thing for me. You could never disappoint me. My love encompasses all you do. I have thrown away the measuring stick for all time!
Religion says: It’s safe to come out! We want to beat you over the head when you do and tell you how totally unacceptable you are for daring to think differently than we do. Heretic!
Love says: It’s safe to come out! You can be your authentic self, in all your glorious messiness. I see all of your BS anyway, so why bother hiding it? I am love and I embrace you completely.
And, perhaps, the worst contrast of all:
Religion says: Keep on trying. One more altar call. One more prayer. One more donation. One more effort. Try just a little bit harder. You can be “fixed” if you focus more on yourself.
Love says: It is finished! All that’s left is the celebration! Enter into what I’ve done. Let’s have the most passionate, electrifying, fun, wild rollercoaster ride together!
If it doesn’t sound absolutely too good to be true, then you haven’t heard the true message of Love. I can only think that people who still walk in religious ways have simply not met the One who is Love.
Your thoughts?
Thrive Conference Call – August 4th
If you are looking to dig deeper into what we do and how we do it, we would like to invite you to a 60-90 minute conference call.
The first Tuesday of every month at 12:00 PM PST, we will be holding a 60-90 minute conference call for those interested in knowing more about Thrive. This information session will provide you with a deeper understanding of our process, story and what it means to lead a group.
This call is for anyone who is interested in developing a missional discipleship approach in their community, home network, or church. This includes elders, leaders, small group community leaders, pastors, and those who want to follow Jesus in an intentional way.
Participation is by request. Just leave a comment or send us an email with your interest and we will provide you with instructions for joining us on the call. We also ask that you provide specific questions for the call, if you have them.
The next scheduled call is: August 4th, 2009, 12:00-1:30 PM PST
Dealing With The Other
by Tracy ParkerYesterday the thought came to me (and I shared it with the group of people that I meet with) that most of us have a very distorted view of ourselves. We look in a mirror and think we’re seeing an accurate reflection, totally unaware that what we “see” is not necessarily the truth. It seems so real to us that it’s hard to believe there could be a different reality. We can see ourselves as hideous creatures, completely trashing our own dignity, unable to see the beauty, love, and truth that dwell within.
It hit me with force all over again why it is so important to have people in our lives who will accurately reflect the truth back to us. We need voices outside of ourselves to speak reality to us, who will fight for our dignity and defend our beauty for us until we can see it for ourselves.
The interesting thing is that even when others are speaking to us of our dignity, there are times when we simply cannot believe. I had a brilliant counselor once tell me that our hearts have been asleep for so long that it often takes a long time for them to wake up. We need to keep hearing the truth, over and over again, calling us to awaken from our slumber.
I saw this graphic today and laughed because it so perfectly expresses how we can feel no matter what part of the journey we are on:
Who invited the flying douche bag, indeed. I just love that line and can hear it being spoken in our group for many months to come. When you’re in the wormy stage of becoming a butterfly, flying doesn’t seem like reality at all. You’ve been crawling in the dirt for so long you have dirt up your butt and mud in your teeth, and the possibility of ever having wings to be able to fly with seems absurd. But grace keeps speaking the same truth to you until one day your heart wakes up and believes it on its own. That’s when you begin to fly.
My wish is for everyone to have people in their lives who will keep speaking the truth to them. It doesn’t need to be a group, but we all need people who will call us home to the truth of who we are, no matter how low in the mud we may be crawling in the moment. Do you have those people in your life?
Butterfly graphic taken from: http://mojo1000.com/1000cuts/awaken-your-inner-butterfly.html
Thrive Conference Call Today
We’re hosting our first conference call today.
This call is for anyone who is interested in developing a missional discipleship approach in their community, home network, or church. This includes elders, leaders, small group community leaders, pastors, and those who want to follow Jesus in an intentional way.
Participation is by request. Just leave a comment or send us an email with your interest and we will provide you with instructions for joining us on the call. We also ask that you provide specific questions for the call, if you have them.
A Space Of Grace
Are we creating a space where grace is actually true?
One of the central tenants of the way of Jesus is the idea of grace. It’s the idea that no matter what we’ve done, the love of God remains true. Yet it can often be hard to find spaces where grace is actually true, where we can step into the reality of our own brokenness without getting crushed by guilt and shame.
So often I am asked what a Thrive group really does. Much of the journey is learning to communicate effectively what we do. And the more I continue this process, the more I realize we are creating spaces where grace is actually true.