Somerset West sunrise - fire in the clouds

This was the beautiful view that accompanied on my way into the office this morning. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul writes, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1.20).

Towards what love means...

I came across two beautiful quotes on love that I thought to share here.  The first is by the German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Love means the undergoing of the transformation of one’s entire existence by God; it means being drawn in into the world as it lives and must live before God and in God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (via invisibleforeigner)

The second quote comes from the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton:

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

- Thomas Merton (via jaltoday)

Both quotes give some insights into the immeasurable blessing of love. I am thankful to be able to love and be loved in return.

No salvation outside of the Church?

This is quite a challenging thought! Of course I do believe that the Church is a central part of God's plan for the renewal and transformation of the world. However, I realise that I am not good at being Church.

The ancient Catholic dictum extra ecclesiam, nulla salus (“outside the church there is not salvation”) contains a significant sociological truth. Certainly it is not impossible for individual Christians to maintain biblical beliefs even if a hostile majority disagrees. But if the church is to consist of communities of loving defiance in a sinful world, it must pay more attention to the quality of its fellowship and find new models of Christian community.

Ronald Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (via invisibleforeigner)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the role of the Church in the transformation of society, and also how we could be 'better' at being what the Church is truly called to be.

A life of service... without the need to be recognised.

Powerful!

[T]here is no substitute for learning to be a Christian by being in the presence of significant lives made significant by being Christian. … Significance suggests importance… lives that make a difference and that demand acknowledgement. But the lives of significance I began to notice were not significant in any of those ways. Rather, they were lives of quiet serenity, capable of attending with love to the everyday without the need to be recognized as ‘making a difference'.

- Stanley Hauerwas (via redviena)

I am deeply challenged by that last line, to live "lives of quiet serenity, capable of attending with love to the everyday without the need to be recognized as 'making a difference'."

The calling of the Church

Have you ever considered that the Church is called by God?  I'm sure most of us would agree that our priest, pastor or minister is called to ministry.  However, the same applies to the collective community of the Church - we are called.

I have encountered very few Churches that have taken this aspect of their identity seriously.  The Church is called to ministry.  It is a little like the priestly ministry of the scriptures.  The priest is called to represent the people to God in worship and to represent God to the world in service.

Many of our Churches are simply 'Gospel clubs', places where people gather loosely for their own edification and upliftment.  We treat Church as something that we 'do' rather than an identity that we are to 'become'.  Perhaps it is for this reason that we hunger after experiences of worship that are more like a combination of a rock concert and a stand up comedy routine?

Please would you consider the following quote with me? Pray about the calling of the Church of which you are a part.

The work of God is the calling of a people, whether in the Old Covenant or the New. The church is then not simply the bearer of the message of reconciliation, in the way a newspaper or a telephone company can bear any message with which it is entrusted. Nor is the church simply the result of a message, as an alumni association is the product of a school or the crowds in a theater are the product of the reputation of the film. That men and women are called together to a new social wholeness is itself the work of God, which gives meaning to history.

- John Howard Yoder (via @fycr)

Published! My section of 'Disciplines 2012' in the Upper Room devotional arrived today! pp.44-48

Photos from the Jacksonville GDOP stadium anchor prayer gathering

Photos from the Jacksonville Global Day of Prayer broadcast - before the event

Watch the Global Day of Prayer international anchor stadium event live on GodTV

Tonight we shall be at the International Anchor stadium event for the Global Day of Prayer here in Jacksonville Florida.

If you would like to watch the event live please visit the following link at GodTV who will be carrying the live broadcast plus some interviews before and after the event.  It will be live from 6-9pm Eastern Time (US EST).

If you would like to join in with hundreds of millions of Christians in every country on earth who will join together in repentance and prayer on Pentecost Sunday then please download the 'Prayer for World' from this link and pray it at home, in your Church or in a public event.

With rich blessing from Jacksonville!

Dion

The start of the Global Day of Prayer International Conference in Jacksonville, FL

This morning we started the Global Day of Prayer international conference in Jacksonvillve, FL. Pete Sanchez, the author of the song 'I exalt thee' opened the conference in devotion and prayer.  Right after that Graham Power, the founder of the Global Day of Prayer, and Isebel Spangenberg, our International Coordinator, spoke about the GDOP movement - how is spread from one stadium of believers in prayer in Cape Town on the 21st of March 2001, to over 400 million believers praying in large and small gatherings in every nation on earth in 2010 on Pentecost Sunday.

Graham has such a powerful testimony because of his courage in obedience to God.  When he felt that God had called him to call Christians to pray for their city, nation and the world, and to turn from their wickedness, he simply hired a stadium and starteg gathering people!  The rest is history!

Isebel spoke wonderfully about how Christians in every nation and continent have embraced this call.  In 'closed countries' three or four believers gathering in homes and places of work.  In other countries hundreds of thousands of Christians gather in stadiums and open air places.

Of course the intention of the Global Day of Prayer is to awaken Christians to understand that they have a role to play in the transformation of their nations.  The establishment of God's grace in healing, economic wellbeing, social harmony, and God's loving power in all of creation.

The scripture that best sums up this movement is 2 Chronicles 7.14 which says:

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.

Tomorrow we will listen to Steve Johnstone, the international coordinator for the Unashamedly Ethical movement - Steve is an incredible speaker!  I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say about ethics, values and clean living.

If you're interested in reading more about Graham's testimony please see the book that I wrote on his life and ministry called 'Transform your work life: Turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling'.  

And if you would like to read more about the wonderful movement of the Global Day of Prayer, then please see the great book written by Diane Vermooten called 'Not by Might nor by Power'.

Jacksonville at night - beautiful!

I leave for the USA tomorrow - already missing my family!

First Coast Global Day of Prayer

Tomorrow I'll fly from Cape Town to JHB, from there to Dakar, to Washington and then to Jacksonville - it is a marathon 33 hour flight / transit.  I did it in March.  I'm seriously praying for good seats all the way through!

We'll be in Jacksonville form the International Conference form the Global Day of Prayer, and then the international broadcast from the anchor stadium event at the Veterans Memorial Stadium on the 11th of June.

Please see http://www.fcgdop.org for details of the conference and the Stadium event on Saturday.  If you're in Florida I would love to see you!  Please come along to the conference and say hi!  We'll be speaking at two plenary sessions and a total of 6 breakout sessions.

From there I'll be heading to New York to spend some time with the folks from the Gotham Fellowship, an initiative of Tim Keller's Church (Redeemer Church, New York City).  Gotham focusses on ministering to people in the world of work, helping them to discover and fulfil their Kingdom potential through using the skill, influence and ability to work for the establishment of God's Kingdom of grace in every aspect of society.  I met Katherine Leary and David Kim here in Cape Town earlier in the year and was so impressed by the work that they're doing!  I can't wait to spend some time with them!

Fortunately I fly directly to JHB from New York and then back to Cape Town.  I'll be leaving the US on the 15th and be back in South Africa on the 16th of June. Take a look at this cool picture of my kiddies, Courtney and Liam - I took the picture at Steers when we stopped for some ice cream.  This photo was made with a great little app called 'wordphoto'.

Please pray for my family while I'm away - it is always tough to be away from Megie, Courtney and Liam. I will Skype (FaceTime) them daily, but it is not the same as being at home!

Please also pray for me and our team as we speak at various conferences, events and meetings. Etienne Piek from 24/7 Prayer, Steve Johnstone from Unashamedly Ethical and Isebel and Dawie Spangenberg from Global Day of Prayer will join Graham Power and I on Tuesday.

Also, on Thursday we'll be launching the American edition of Transform your work life at the GDOP conference! I am very excited about that! Thanks so much Mark Russell and Russell Media for their incredible work on the book!

I'll post updates here and on my twitter, Facebook and tumblr feeds as often as I can.