“The reinvention of daily life means marching off the edge of our maps.” Bob Black

If you know someone who is having trouble getting into the mood for Christmas, these ideas may be helpful.

1. For People With Small Children:

Make a date with your wife to go out and buy some gifts. Focus on the special time with your wife, and don’t stress about the gifts. The best gift you can give your children is to love your spouse. We always found it the most fun to give our children something we can do together, and then we give our children the gift of time during the Christmas holidays.

2. For Grandparents:

If you are a grandparent and you have developed a tradition of giving all your grandchildren gifts, you have a great opportunity! Use the whole month of December. Make a date with each grandchild who lives close to you. Tell them you need their help to buy their cousin or sibling a gift within your budget. While you are out together, don’t forget to allow time for Starbucks or ice cream. If you don’t know what to talk about say, “It’s been a long time since I was your age. What is it like?” Be more about listening than talking, and leave your phone at home. With a bit of effort you can build lifetime memories with your grandchildren that far exceed gifts and Christmas.

3. For Extended Family Functions:

Be a friendly, supportive presence. Many Christmas movies are families bickering and fighting among themselves. Go against the culture on this one. If you need to get a gift for a family gathering use this excuse to get together with a family member you have not seen recently. Tell them you need their help getting a fun gift. You goal is to listen to your family member’s stories.

4. For All of Us:

Christmas is the loneliest time of the year for many people. It is to miss loved ones who are no longer around. Deanna and I have a motto, “Our money and time go a lot farther when we help people when they need help, compared to helping people when it is convenient for us.” Be observant in the workplace, at school, and at church. Invest time and money on at least a few lonely people this Christmas. 

What works for you? How can you be Jesus’ hands, feet, and voice this Christmas season?
……………………….

The Jews celebrated “a holiday for parties and fun and laughter, the sending and receiving of presents and of giving gifts to the poor” (MSG Esther 9:22b).

Our training camp, Monte Verde, is an hour by car and ten hours by boat from Altamira. It has beautiful sandy beaches. You cannot see the ants, and mosquitos, the sweltering afternoon heat, the difficulty and expense for locals to maintain this site, and the rustic conditions. You can sense the beauty, the friendships, and the rich environment for Christian growth.

Teaching about Immanuel Prayer

Sharing Immanuel Prayer Stories – There are lots of stories every time.

Angelita and AnnikaWe moved to Altamira to start this church planting movement with Angelita, her husband Clenildo, and Elba. Annika was four years old back then. 

Clenildo planted this mango tree. Now we are learning about Discovery Groups in the shade.

We still have a few narrow bridges on the TransAmazon Highway. You get an adrenaline rush when you are passing someone in a cloud of dust and you get surprised by one of these . . . I have heard this is true.

The captain of this public lineboat was shot and killed by pirates who boarded the boat and robbed the passengers.

We occasionally see wild toucans, macaws, parrots, and monkeys.

Rayanne is Bruno’s cousin. Bruno is a young man who wanted to be a missionary, but he became a bandit and was shot and killed a couple of years ago.
Rayanne is 8 months pregnant. She had a baby shower this week.

Junior’s shirt makes sense to me. “Make more detours.” Shortcuts are over-rated.

“As we examine history, we discover more evidence for the thesis that mission and renewal movements virtually always (I would tend to say ‘always’) arise on the periphery of the broader Church” (Pierson, P. E. (2009).

Paul Pierson was the Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of History of Mission and Latin American Studies at Fuller Seminary (1980–2018).

One reason people on the fringes of the broader Church are ripe for renewal movements is because some things within the organized systems are not working for them. “A mission movement usually arises from a ‘sense of crisis.’ . . . they begin to . . . search either for new meaning or for old meanings in new places or novel ways. In short, the historic and contextual conditions are ripe for change” (Snyder, H. A. (2011). Snyder goes on to say that healthy renewal movements drift towards the center of the movement. 

The church in Gurupá is on the fringe of our movement here in Brazil. They live 16 hours by boat from Altamira, where most of our local leaders live. They practice Discovery Groups and Immanuel Prayer. Personally obey Jesus. Personally experience His presence. The church is growing. There is standing room only at the Sunday services. The pastors, Leão and Edna, brought 36 adults to the training camp, by far the biggest participation of any of our churches. They have many stories including unsaved people hosting Discovery Groups and inviting their friends. Within a short time the friends become Christians and join the church, but the original People of Peace have still not given their lives to Jesus. After people learn how to do Discovery Groups, the Disciple Making Movements (DMM) strategy changes to Leadership Training. This will be our focus in 2020.

The Gurupá worship team is led by Edna, the lady with the black and white dress.

Leão and Edna are the senior pastors at the Gurupá Church (RH side, light blue shirt). Here he leads a workshop on Discovery Groups under a tree that Clenildo planted.
Is your church hungry for renewal? Where is the center of power? How far out are the fringes? If you scan the horizon is there anywhere you can sense God moving in a stronger way? Is there any desire to learn from them and bring fresh air to the center?
 References
 Pierson, P. E. (2009). The dynamics of Christian mission: History through a missiological perspective. Pasadena, Calif: William Carey International University Press.

Snyder, H. A. (2011). Decoding the church: Mapping the dna of christ’s body. Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers.

We travelled by car from Marabá to Altamira this week. Here are some photos from where we cross the Xingu by boat.

^{Matthew 4:17}From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We all agree.

Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:9-10:

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.If this is true, if the Kingdom is really at hand and we are praying God’s will, we should see signs of the Kingdom breaking into our present age. If we are not seeing regular evidence of the Kingdom breaking in to this present age we should be asking the Holy Spirit “What is wrong?”

We choose to spend significant unhurried time with God so that we can be transformed into His image. We become like the people we hang out with. The same is true with God. The more we intentionally spend time with Him, the more we will think and see as He does. Our minds get transformed. Our spiritual senses get tuned in to His channel. A natural outcome is that we experience regular signs that God’s Kingdom is breaking in to this present age. This is attractive to people who are being saved.

Last week I met a lumber-seller who was ready to experience God. I prayed for him on the street and he felt God’s presence. We were both surprised. Sunday I went to his house and we did a Discovery Bible study. Four of us. The lumber-seller. His wife. And a worker. We started with The question “What is going good in your life?”

Blank looks. I repeat the question differently. “What made you smile this week?”

More blank looks. Finally, “Nothing.”

“There must be something. What about mango season? Do you have any grandchildren? What about the air you breathe?” They started to get the picture.

By the time we were done there were large smiles all around. Gods felt presence was among us. They were all so grateful to have done this study. The worker who dropped in shared how he was impressed to come over. He was on his way somewhere else. I told them I would come back in 15 days, and we would see how God was moving on their situations.

I write this as an encouragement from a fellow traveller on the road to heaven.  While I sometimes see signs of God’s Kingdom I long to see it way more often. I realize Apostle Paul felt the same way.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.Philippians 3:12-14I am curious.

Why do you pray?
What changes when you do not pray?
What is your evidence?

Personal Transformation with Group Accountability

Discovery Groups have four very important “dna” identifiers.

1. What does the Bible say?
2. What is the Holy Spirit saying to me about this text?
3. What can I do differently this week to line my life up with God’s Word to me?
4. Who can I tell?

If each individual in a group will commit to following these four “dna” questions, their lives will start to change. They will become known as spiritual people. This is attractive to those who are being saved. If you google “Discovery Bible Studies” you will get some variations of the model. Pray and practice until you find what will work for your specific people.

Personal Transformation through a Personal Quiet Time

The Examen is a prayer model where you reflect on your day with God, giving thanks and asking forgiveness as appropriate. Then you reflect on tomorrow, and prayer about changes you want to make in your life to be more like Christ. Click here to see this model.

Growing in Christian Maturity

We learn to distinguish good and evil by studying more deeper Bible studies by practicing how to obey Jesus. We practice obedience, reflect on our experience, talk about it with like-minded friends, and practice some more. This is the path to Christian maturity.

Spiritually mature Christians are “able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself [these Christians] is [are] subject to weakness (Hebrews 5:2).

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:14).

Pastor John Ortberg “felt frustrated because the people at the church I served were not changing more.” He arranged a meeting with a theologian. “I asked him what I needed to do to help our church experience greater levels of spiritual growth (p. 84).”

The theologian paused, and then said, “You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God (p. 85).”

“Huh?” John was confused. He was not asking about how to be a better Christian. He was asking about a course or some program to help his church.

“Yes, Brother John,” he [Dallas Willard] said with great patience and care. “I know you were thinking of those things. But that’s not what they need most. The main thing you will give your congregation — just like the main thing you will give to God — is the person you become (p. 85).

The best way we can help our families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors is to arrange our days so we are experiencing “deep contentment, joy, and confidence in their everyday lives with God.”

The best way we can help people is to become more like Jesus.

 References
Ortberg, J., (2014) Soul Keeping. Zondervan. Kindle Edition.