Faith arise!

A week among friends

 

One of the best parts of the week for me was meeting with the emerging leaders of my generation (read:friends). Most of all I enjoyed BEING together; cooking, swimming, sitting in the grass and playing with kids. Quite child-like.

Antti and Helena are teachers of the Word, and their teaching aims at producing good fruit in the long run. Throughout the week they were teaching abou tsome very foundational topics like faith and materialism. To balance this long term and foundational approach, they had invited other teachers who have more practical prophetic ministries in society (politics and business life)to share how God had led them. Traditionally Finns are not a very apostolic nation, and these stories served as eye-openers for many. These speakers asked some good questions like :

Does serving God in the society mean communicating gospel or can a certain work be a calling in itself? Who is bringing God's word for the highest decision makers, and who prayes for them?

Antti pointed out that the OT prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah were ultimately speaking into the current situation in society, so much that Isaiah was co-operating with the king Hezekiah and Jeremiah with the king Josiah, whereas todays' believers see politics and business life often as dirty and thus leave all important decision-making to people who don't know God.

As much as I enjoyed talking with individual people, in the midst of the good and godly ideas I was hit by a feeling that "I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to plan it, I don't want to create a campaign and name it and advertise it; I want to live it out!" In one sense you can't plan demostration of cross in your life, you can only live the life with Jesus. There are many leaders who facilitate Christian campaigns in order to get people do things, which is good. But these days I long to see leaders who themselves MODEL a new way of serving the Lord practically, and let others join. Good thing in the Kingdom of God is that you don't need permissions, finances, education, supporters to start to walk in what He is calling you to do. There is a huge need especially in Scandinavia, to find our own walk with God, to discover what He is calling each of us to see with His eyes and work on in His Kingdom.

Åland gave us its best; we got to swim in incredibly clear water on a beach, enjoy the walks in the forest. I even spent some nights in a tent before I gave up to the rain. I really blessed me to share these days with friends with various callings, different ages in new freedom of being. We will remain different as we mature, but I think the crucial question is if we can stay relationally connected and blessing each other and not to comdemn each other on basis of the revelation given to each of us by God but to see these different perspectives as a blessings and building materials of his church (company of friends). Having been part of some of national initiatives of older generation in Finland I've come to conclusion that there is quite a strong spirit of isolation, that makes people feel they cannot co-operate with people from other ministries before they agree on everything. I certainly hope we will be different in that sense. Do you know that scene in the LOTR: Fellowship of the ring, where  Pippin and  Merri  suddenly stand up in the council and say "We are coming with you...Where are we going?" and everyone bursts into laughter. At the end of the journey  it is the diversity of the participants, their mutual love and commitment that enables them run all the way. In the Acts 13 we see the apostolic release when the teachers and prophets come together and serve the Lord.

Ahvenanmaa/Åland

I leave on Friday for Åland to enjoy the time and pray with some 40 young people. With some of these friends I was leading a national youth prayer movement some years ago. Later the movement was dissolved and people decided to continue walk together as friends. We gather in Prayer centre of Antti and Helena Hämäläinen, who teach and minister around the world. Looking forward to shared time in beautiful Åland.

Who is Jesus and what it MEANS to follow him?

Are we supposed to have a ministry to his rememberance or continue his ministry? Herrnhut makes you ask these questions. Count Zinzendorf wanted to help the poor nd needy, and thus agreed to let persecuted "underground" believers move into his lands in German Saxony. A small village of 300 hundred people struggled to find a way to live as a community of believers from different backgrounds. But they did find a way; so God led them to continue prayer watch for 120 years, in 65 years send out 300 "lay" missionaries to the ends of earth becoming the first Protestant missionary movement in the history of the church: since the time of Celts they were the first people except the Catholics to send out missionaries (Czech Moravians, Luther, Calvin didn't do that). Moravians also established a simple communal lifestyle where generosity was essential, and resulted into elimination of extreme wealth and extreme poverty.

What I so specially like about Herrnhut is that there has never arisen any bigger church in the region; the spirit-filled believers were sent away to the end of the earth! Moravians understood that the "pagans", that is outsiders, poor and needy were in the centre of God's mission. Some young Moravians sold themselves into lifetime slavery in order to bring Christ to African slaves in areas forbidden for missionaries. Many people returned Herrnhut only in coffins to be buried in Herrnhut. Even walking in the graveyeard of Herrnhut you get the feeling that people who lie there have once actually LIVED! And I ask God that my community of people would rather live shortly with bright consuming flame than long with a flame hardly visible. Is it possible that dead bones challenge a generation by having more life in themselves than a living generation does??? In fact, Connect Europe was called together through vision of the valley of dry bones in Hez.37.

The ends of the earth those days were Greenland and Africa...makes me wonder what are the ends of the earth in God's eyes today? And the Moravians really established Jesus-following communities in the places they went: there is still a Moravian church in Greenland. In the museum in Herrnhut we saw an interesting picture of wine tree Jesus being the trunk, Moravian movement groving from that and producing branches all over the world through church planting. I think this is a sign of true encounter with God. We are to bear fruit to the nations, as much today than in those days in the beginning days of modern missions. And when Jesus can be in the centre, there is fruit. In Herrnhut you don't find big memorials of past history, but you can feel it is a place that God sovereignly visited. It is possible.

Team hang out in Herrnhut

Escaped FreakStock festival when it started to rain and drove to Herrnhut in Eastern Germany to meet with Connect Europe team. During our days together we went through our journey this far and prayed and discerned where God might be leading us in future. Herrnhut was a great place to meet at with this team since the things in the core of the Moravian movement are the things that form the DNA of CE network: prayer and missions and community and social justice. It became obvious that God was and had been speaking to all of us about the latter two. 

It was interesting to notice that many people inolved in Connect feel God leading them to explore the idea of community, yet no one is actually living in intentional community yet. Itentional  community is not so much about  living together but  sharing a journey with the sense of destiny in it for God's purpose for future. Fellowship of the ring kind of a thing. We felt led to continue the journey by trying the idea of dispersed community together by connecting over shared community blog. We also agreed to develop our understanding of community by processing it in Wiki-environment, sort of open source thing, where everyone involved can contribute.

Second interesting thing was to notice that looking back to CE history, many people who have been more closely involved have left to work in the field of social justice; work at homeless shelter, at a home for elderly people, establish orphanages in Africa...That seems to be the very heart beat of this generation wheather among believers or not. 

Seems like God is challenging CE to stick to original calling to "hear prophetically and act apostically" since only those people who actually act in faith carry the authority, and it seems that God is teaching us by living out the things he challenges us to explore. Less of Christianity and more of following Jesus where ever he goes. There is something that so easily makes us read the word in religious ways so that we don't dare to act, feeding the poor, opening our room for the homeless before studying the words in Greek and Hebrew first! Instead there is a challenge to know the mercy of God so throroughly that we can live by God's provision in "scorched places". 

Late at night we sat in the candle light and shared of our personal journeys since we last met. A  circle of friends indeed.

Feels like at home...

I arrived at FreakStock at midnight in order to attend the festival and Underground emerging church roundtable.  It was dark and rainy as we arrived and after opening some tents and looking in trying to find Marc's family, realized it might not be the nicest tactique so I decided I needed find some other way survive the first night. Luckily friendly Freaks invited me to the Band hotel (a refugee camp among friends).

Wow, I really felt at home at FreakStock! Such relaxed atmosphere because it's all about being, meeting with God and friends or making some new, eating and washing your dishes and sitting at Persian carpets in the tea tent. There is really something special in these people gathered for the festival. They are very authentic. I don't know what makes them "freaks" maybe that they seem to think for themselves rather than conform to either Christian or secular culture, which I think is only healthy.

Most people at roundtable were men in black, in tattoos, piercings or dreadlocks yet there was something very familiar; these people seem to be tribal in the same sense than some of my Native friends. Trevor MacPherson shares that the subcultural people struggle with many of the same problems than Native peoples do. It is hugely encouraging to hear pioneers in subcultural missions share. They have seen Jesus in action. David Pierce of Steiger intl. encourages Christian bands saying there are more opportunities to minister in secular places than what we can handle. He says: "I am an anarchist. But I don't want to speak about my anarchy. I want people to see the anarchy in my life." Well, Marc  calls David's band No Longer Music "a cell of Spirit-led terrorists". You can witness that by reading these stories .

People at the roundtable came from 23 nations. Also Sam from Lebanon was able to join. It is important to see that even in more traditional countries there is an emerging subcultural scene, that attracts those who see through their traditional culture and feel called to something new. Yet it's not about "doing underground church", and we felt God challenge us to see "beyond the beyond".

What impressed me in Jesus freaks: They were impressed about Jesus, they had seen some "real life" and knew how to handle life when it gets hard core, people seemed to enjoy each other and Jesus in their midst in natural ways, and most of all they were inclusive rather than exclusive, and that really draws people from very different backgrounds.  It also made me think (once AGAIN) that there is something weird in middle class consumerist heterogenic safety-orientated church going. I guess Jesus freaks have it easier to follow nomadically where ever Jesus leads, leave things and comfort zone since there isn't much to leave anyway, handle with real life issues like drugs and divorce since they have encountered these things before and to connect with socially radical people since they understand about environmental and justice issues.This creates an atmosphere where people dare to be themselves and connect authentically, the way they are.

I would not describe the roundtable with words like effective, but the hospitality that JesusFreak showed us was overwhelming. It was good to connect with people. I was especially glad to  meet with people  from SPEAK  network: Lucy is working for it in England, and Emmanuel has been establishing SPEAK to Sweden. SPEAK gathers people to pray and campaign for social justice and speak for those who cannot. I am sure that there are many people who feel God call them to this field but have not find a context among believers where to carry out this calling. Wonder what God is doing in this area in Finland.

On my way to Germany

Some days I forget that it is all about God's mercy. Yesterday I visited Helsinki to meet with Ari and Heli, friends and fellow travellers of the same journey. It was late, when I realized the time, and that I would have to get home by train still. I would be in Tampere at midnight. Ari called a friend on the spot and I got a ride home from the station! Small things, a big help, yet bigger encouragement! Today I realized that many friends have made my journey to Germany possible with their gifts. It stops me to remember that God's heart is to give and forgive and provide us with everything we need without attaching any demands. He's overwhelming love changes us little by little.

So, I head for Germany 2-6 August for summer festival of the JesusFreaks, a German ministry among outcasts of the society. At FreakStock festival gathers a global roundtable of underground emerging ministries. Limited number of people are invited, so I'm sure I will get a chance to hear exciting and challenging stories. God seems to be moving there where we return ministering to people among whom Jesus lived and where people return to simple forms of community, grace and miracles happen.  Altogether, it is inspiring to go to Germany and get to see what is it that God is doing among the new generation there. I've heard rumours it's something good...

From there we continue to Herrnhut, historic place of the Moravian prayer and missionary movement in the 18th century. In the turn of this century 24-7 and Connect Europe movements were launched in Herrnhut. We will meet 6-9 August with fluid team of CE to pray, hang out together and share what God has put in our hearts. It will be exciting time as God seems to be showing us always something new!

coping strategies...

Lebanese bloggers trying to find a way to handle the chaos by humour: Those in war with Hezbollah said that they would turn back the time in Lebanon about 20 years. Some  people say it's past that yet, destruction is so vast. But there is always a good side into it. Lebanon happens to have an incredible history: maybe they'll be back in French mandate soon, then maybe Ottoman empire, Byzantine empire, Roman times..and maybe we get to see Jesus on our way back in time then!

empires and social justice

I had to give up blogging for some days. I ran so deeply out of words. Having read so many too descriptive emails from Lebanon, having read so many blogs describing feelings of helplessness people have there. Having seen pictures of the Lebanese coast black with oil. Having heard of the Qana massacre II. Having realized that the biggest war crime might be killing the future of a people. Killing hope.

I talked to Marc who said that experiencing things like this at short distance is a way we wake up to social justice issues. I don't think I ever was very deeply asleep. But I have definately lost something these days. Maybe my remaining faith in people/organisations with power to have any relativity or sense of justice. Something has changed for good deep within me.

Still, this is part of a longer journey on which God is speaking to me about re-formation from religion to Jesus-following. In the heart of that reformation with other things is social justice. The decision is wheather we believers side with prevailing power-structures, or with those on the margins of society. It is only too easy to see which one Jesus chose, whereas the church historically has chosen the other one. On those occations when the church chose differently and stood with the oppressed and persecuted, only then has it carried significant spiritual authority in the society.

But you cannot stand against something you are yourself part of (in spirit at least). That is why we see today non-Christian NGOs carrying prophetic mantle of public witness.

Why are believers so active in attempting to shape legislation concerning family/sexuality issues, and yet so passive in fighting the imperialistic power structures of world politics/economics (which create poverty, unequality, produce ecocatastrophies and ... allow destruction of a "poorer" nation to create a better working "new order" for their country)?

Maybe, having so long been part of an empire we are like birds who, having spent too long in captivity, have forgot about our ability to fly and our calling to be free of empires and look from heavenly perspective with justice-heart of God?

Ordinary radicals

Let me tell you about my Lebanese friends.

The last days I've been quite heart-broken, as you can read. CNN doesn't really help me with visible stories of burnt children, as some phosphor is added to the bombs so that they are even more dangerous. Blogs , though very authentic, lack perspective and answers we so badly need.

This morning I got an positive email from my friend whom I visited just a month ago in a village that is now destroyed. This Lebanese man's family has escaped to safer area where his parents live(who also escaped the village during the civil war when Palestinians attacked the village and killed literally everyone who couldn't  escape quickly enough). He writes me that they stopped watching CNN through the day. He called people toggether and organised a ministry to children in a school, where 700 Muslim refugees are currently accommodated. They are also delivering some relief help, food and sanitary items. He has been asked to start this project in another school as well. His message is filled with faith. He knows God's peace and HIS HEART even in times like this. He is asking for our prayers so that he can be safe when coming and going, bying food and distributing it. He rejoices that God has every day sent helpers to him.

My other friend has escaped to the mountains in the north with her family. When I ask her how they  are doing, she reminds me that even in times like this God has a plan for the nation. She is having extended time of praying and fasting. They meet daily with a team to pray and worsip.

Another friends left Tyre for holiday in the home country just 24hours before this all started. Now they are in a position to stay in touch and encourage the new believers that are left behind. They are distributing information, raising funds for relief work and for friends in need and sending forward specific prayer requests. He reports that good things are happening, miracles even...although some of their team members narrowly escaped being hit by a bomb three times during ten days before they got evacuated.

Makes me think that faith is something so powerful, it activates us. Faith is something we in the West, not to speak of CNN, know so little about.   

Connect goes Istanbul

If you haven't applied yet, consider to do so...the next Connect Europe  gathering will be held in Istanbul 6th-9th October 2006.  It is a coming together of bold dreamers, pioneers and innovators, who are called to break open new ground for God's Kingdom in different spheres of life. As I  have seen it has been a place of emerging of these things in many people.

The theme this is year is "Live dangerously". I think it's so essential to call forth what is underneath, the radicality of following Jesus in our moment in HISstory, as the history is filled with "leaders" managing things, maintaining power and wealth. There  remains to be Jesus'  call  to feed people with what we don't yet have and lose our lives in order to challenge the practices and structures around us.

The invitation will not be online. If you're interested to join, send me an email.