Mission

An Update On Thrive

It’s time we provide a serious update on the happenings of Thrive.  Last September we promised an updated Leadership Manual.  And as many have seen, we haven’t released it yet.  There is a good reason for this and I wanted to take the time to communicate why.

Much of our work in Thrive has been developing a process for engaging God’s mission of restoration using what we call the Jesus model.  As we explored the journey, we were continually listening to the story about how God’s solves the problem but also what is the root problem God is solving.

Over the last three or four months, we realized a significant un-covering of what we think is a better way of communicating the root problem, one that is simpler and easier to understand.  Naturally this affected everything, including the leadership manual.  For this reason, it meant delaying the release of the Leadership Manual and doing some significant work on the workbooks to reframe the problem in a more instinctive way.

It also gave us an opportunity to explore the way we operate as a ministry.  So over the next six months we’re going to be making some significant changes to simplify and transform as a ministry.  We’re going to rebrand as a church planting organization because we feel it best represents who we are. We’re also going to be uploading the workbooks to a print-on-demand system through Amazon, making it easier to order and ship.

Please know that if you request the Leadership Manual, we will put you on the list and send it to you when it is complete.  Thanks for your understanding.

I’m also working on the release of my first book, which explores the theology behind Thrive.  It will provide a helpful gateway into what we are doing.  More information about the book will be forthcoming.

Much love

Jonathan

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The Missional Church Video

(ht) Very simple and very good.

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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.

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I Choose To

One of the things we encourage in Thrive is the use of language around how we act.  Often we say thinks like, “I need to…,” or “I want to…,” or “I should….”  And we mean well.  But what if those statements betray us?  What if they are well meaning wishes that actually trick us into believing we’re doing something when we’re not?

When someone says, “I need to…,” they are defining a need, which seems good.  But what often happens is we think defining the a need means we are going to take care of the need.  And it doesn’t.  “I need to…,” or “I want to…,” is simply the recognition of need or want.  Nothing more.  Should is even worse because our motives are designed for us by someone else.  It doesn’t even matter what we think, which means we’re moving from obligation.  We call that “shoulding on ourselves.”

We hold that the more powerful move is, “I choose to….”  I choose is a declaration of action with intention.  It’s proactive and meaningful.  It requires commitment and purpose.  And when we choose to respond we are moving past apathy and into possibility.  It may not be the right choice but at least we’re moving, changing and ultimately growing.  And with grace, we’re headed in the right direction.

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Thrive Feed Update

We’ve recently updated our feed from Feedburner over to Google.  If you would like to receive Thrive in your blog Reader, consider adding our feed.

Click here to add the feed to your reader.

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It’s About Love And Trust

Lately I’ve been getting the same question.  What’s Thrive really about?

It’s really a great question because pastors and leaders typically want to know if we’re just like everything else they have seen.  Are we simply a Bible study for small groups?  And the answer is no.  We’re actually very different than what people are used to.  Our primary mission is not giving people the right answers as much as it is in helping them discover what it means to follow Jesus so they can discover the right person.  So then what is a Thrive group?  What do you do that makes you different?

And the answer is love and trust.

Central to the story in Scripture is this idea that the footsteps of following Jesus leads to a very different way of being human, of transformation at the very basic level.  And that way of being human is summed up in the two practices of love and trust. Jesus modeled a very missional way of life, of engaging something bigger than ourselves.  He invited people to participate in what God was already doing, the Missio Dei.

As we begin to follow Jesus, He immediately leads us back to the Father, which addresses the fundamental disconnect that happened in the Garden.  And as we embrace this relationship, he empowers us with the Holy Spirit, who then transformed us inwardly to become like Jesus.  This being loved process allows us to love.

But how often do we have a space to work out the tension inherent in the restoration process?  How often do we really have a space to work out our questions, and doubts and wounds that cripple even the best of us.  Where do we go to find healing?

So Thrive groups are about working out love and trust in a Tribe.  It’s about working out the junk that gets in the way of our own restoration, in an authentic community that is willing to be love in the process. And not the sticky sweet kind of love that rescues someone from facing the chaos, but the kind that walks through the chaos together, so we can reach the other side.  It’s engaging God’s mission of restoration together in communitas, or community in mission.  And a long the way we discover that this is how Jesus did it.  Three years together in mission.  It was a natural leadership development process through experience.

And when the three years were over, each tribe was ready to go outward and lead others in their own restoration.  They had practiced love and trust in a very trust setting.  They had practiced engaging mission.  And they went out not because they had to, but because they saw that their own restoration was intimately tied to helping others through their own restoration.

So that’s what makes us different.

If you are looking to create this type of space, we can help.  Contact us today to get a free digital copy of our leadership manual.

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Jonathan Brink is the Managing Director of Thrive Ministries.  He lives in Folsom, Ca with his wife and three kids.  He loves Sharks hockey, Peets coffee and good sushi.

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Finding A Way Through Conflict

One of the issues that we deal with in life is the ability to resolve conflict.  Where do we go to practice reconciliation? But often we don’t have the spaces that allow us to work through conflict in a whole, restorative way.  We revert to a common fight or flight mechanism that we’ve perfected over our life.  And the cost is our own wholeness, relationship, and even self-inflicted oppression.

As part of Thrive process, we have the clearing round.  It’s the space where we practice stepping into reconciliation and forgiveness.  Sometimes clearing is simply asking for clarity because we need help understanding.  But sometimes it means tearing down the walls that come from the moment someone steps on our dignity.

The following is a letter from a participant who went through the clearing round and found a way through the conflict. We hope that it encourages you to seek out your own restoration and reconciliation.

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Guys,

Last night I went home very reflective.  Something happened and I didn’t know quite what it was.  I ended up staying up very late wrestling with my own brokenness that was part of last night.  I don’t like clearings as much as anyone.  As much as I didn’t like (name) calling my bullshit, he was right.  I interrupt people.  And that space of tension used to be impossible for me.  I used to run from it.  And last night I saw that in myself.  I saw that fear that always said, “This is bullshit. Friends hurt you. It really doesn’t work.”  And as I sat with that enemy, that lie, I now realize that it no longer had control over me, or defined me.

And as I wrestled with that I realized that my life has definitely shifted.  We could work through the junk.  We could stay in community and not break apart.  I was comforted by my brothers.  I had a home that could work through the bullshit and still love me.  And as much as I thought that lie had given up, it reared it’s ugly head last night to me.  But he did not win.

And it hit me that it was only going through this experience that I could discover it was no longer true.  Conflict was becoming the space where so much of my own junk was working itself out.  And as much as I don’t like that, I realize that I needed it.  I needed a new story.

I want to thank you all for showing love to me and revealing what Jesus looks like.  Our group has been a deep space of restoration and wholeness for me.  And I recognize that a lot of my restoration would not be possible without you guys.

This morning I downloaded that song (name) brought (which I thought was divine in hindsight – why am I surprised) and was really listening to the words.  And it made me wonder if last night was a revelation.  The words of this song are what happened to me last night.  But in many ways this is my own internal dialog.  It’s the conversation I have and have had with myself regarding my own brokenness.

You can see the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByEy706Ykmg but the recorded version is so much better.

Honestly, can I tell you where I’m at.
Honestly, can I pull the curtain back.
Will you run, if you see how weak I am.

If you don’t see the real me,
You won’t see what mercy’s done
If you don’t see the weakness
You won’t see what love has won.

If you don’t see the distance
from the darkness to the son
You won’t see.

Honestly.

Honestly, I’m growing sick and tired.
Honestly, it hurts too much to hide.
Honestly, the brokenness that’s killing us inside.

If you don’t see the real me,
You won’t see what mercy’s done
If you don’t see the weakness
You won’t see what love has won.

If you don’t see the distance
from the darkness to the son
You won’t see.

Let the light escape
From this hole inside my soul
When I start to break,
Then grace begins to flow

Let the light escape
From this wounded place inside my soul

Honestly.

(name)

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Living Missionally

I had a conversation with a friend last night about the word missional and what it means to live missional and to live out the Missio Dei.  These words are just beginning to enter our lexicon.  We’re struggling to really understand what it means to enter mission as a way of life.  How do we live missionally in today’s world?

The very simple answer is, “Follow Jesus.”

Jesus didn’t just live a life.  He modeled a way of living.  And it included how we live in mission.  What is interesting is that Jesus spent three years working intimately with twelve disciples. He went inward as much as he went outward.  Much of his ministry was going out to the world and healing people.  He brought love and looked for trust.  And during the down times he took time to really work it out with this little group.

And this model for spiritual formation is important.  It’s very easy to think that living missionally means always going out.  But much of the spiritual formation process happens within community that we are familiar with.  We need a space to work out our own salvation and what it means to be loved so we can love.  We are just as likely to be Jesus to people in love to those we know, if not more, as those we don’t know. And just as important, people we know are likely to be Jesus to us much more than those we don’t know. Living missionally will likely happen more in our tribe than outside the world.

This is one of the deepest values of having a Tribe, a group of people we are working out what it means to follow Jesus.  We need that group of people who we trust to push us when we need it but know when to let us sit and ponder.  We need those people who can speak truth into our lives in a way that won’t shame us because we know they love us.

Taking part in a Tribe takes trust.  It means stepping into a place of fear and saying, “The restoration of my soul is worth the risk.”  It means working on our own hearts for the sake of our own healing.  It means stepping into God’s story of love and trust in a way that redeems and heals.  It means letting go of the lies that ruin our lives and keep us locked in isolation.

Living missionally begins with our Tribe.  This is what Jesus modeled.  And the brilliance of Jesus’ model of spiritual formation was that at some point our own restoration and healing meant going out into the world and leading others towards their own restoration.  It’s alway going out, replicating and growing.  It was never stagnant.

If your church is wrestling with living missionally, we can help.  Contact us today to get a free digital copy of our leadership manual.

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Making Disciples

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.”  What fascinating words.  This is the Great Commission, the calling of every believer and the heart of the missional life.

Much of the dialog around the missional life has been renewed on the “Go” part.  This is a good thing.  Churches are no longer accepting the idea of “Come and See” or simply remaining attractional.  Pastors are actively looking for ways to send people out.  To go out into the world is to enter the missional field, even if it is simply the neighbor next door.  Go is active, it’s energized, and its the beginning of the process.

But what churches, leaders and pastors struggle with is the “make disciples” part.  What does it really mean to make disciples?  We get that.  We were in those very shoes.  How are we to make something if we don’t even know what we’re making?  We’re sending people, but we’re not quite sure what we’re sending them for.

At Thrive we’ve taken a deep look at this process of making disciples.  We’ve developed a framework for you to plug in to.  We’ve done the homework and tested out what this question really looks like.  And not surprisigly, it looks much like what Jesus did.  It’s a journey into trust with a God who loves us.  It happens in a small community of intentional and like minded people engaging God’s mission of restoration and reconciliation.  It is restorative, forgiving, graceful and meaningful.

The “make disciples” part gives people a story to tell of a God who is actively moving in the world.  It engages them in a journey towards restoration and reconciliation, towards love and trust, towards community and away from isolation.  It offers them a way of love that redeems us from our guilt and shame.

If your church is wrestling with the “make disciples” part, we can help.  Contact us today to get a free digital copy of our leadership manual.

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Participation

Being missional is a growing conversation in the church.  People are beginning to wonder, “What is missional?”  And if it is important, “What does that mean for my life.”  At Thrive, we’ve been asking these questions for a long time.  We would offer that Missio Dei is central to the Christian life and to following Jesus.  It calls us to a more profound way of living as human beings.

But where to begin?

Participation involves many things.  But at the foundation of what it means to engage a missional life is love and trust.  These are the two pillars of what we practice.  We call them the meta-works or practices that lay the foundation for the Christian life.  Missio Dei is about restoring relationships, restoring trust.  And fundamental to these relationships is our relationship with the Father.  Jesus was always drawing people back to the Father, to trust again.  And from this single relationship, we could gain His Spirit, which was the power to live.  We could participate in what He was already doing to restore the world.  And with this restoration and renewed living, we could be Jesus in the flesh.  We could love.

Love and Trust.

But to get there we had to participate.  So one of the fundamental questions we’re always asking in Thrive is, “How am I or can I participate with God in what He’s already doing?” This could be in your own life or in the life of someone around you.  It could be engaging your own restoration or being Jesus to someone in the moment.  The point is to participate.

How would you answer this question in your life?

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