Do you want your church to grow? I used to obsess over numbers, especially over the number of people we got into the pews on a Sunday morning. I was treating worship was though it were a 'show' or an event, something to which we had to attract people as "attenders", or worse, as "spectators". I understood our church's impact to be related to the number of "impressions" in the pews. But after reading Jesus' Kingdom parables, I am starting to see the Kingdom -- and therefore the mission of the church -- the other way around: Jesus cares about the impact of the Kingdom upon the world, not the "imprint" of rear ends in seats (LOL). This first parable (The Sower and the Seed) holds one of the keys to understanding how Jesus sees the work of a local congregation: which is to sow the seed of his Word into the world; but not to just sow it any old place, but into the good soil God has prepared for it. We spend a lot of time 'over-broadcasting' putting the seed in places it just isn't going to grow! From Claiming the Corner: Chapter 1: The Seed in Good Soil: "This Kingdom parable takes us back into a common farming method in the ancient Near East. It is a method called “broadcasting”. Farmers would walk their fields with satchels of seed at their sides. Grabbing a handful of seeds, they would make a broad, arcing motion, broadcasting the seeds over a wide area of cultivated ground. So often when we read this parable we figuratively get “caught in the weeds” and think Jesus is concerned primarily with the seeds that do not grow, the ones that landed among the rocks and thorns. I know that I, and many of my pastor colleagues, get caught sermonizing on all the ways that we should all try harder to be good soil, rather than rocky, weedy, or path-y soil in the story. We imagine that if we just tried hard enough to be good soil, we could choke out the weeds before they choke us; we could dig out the rocks in our lives that keep us from growing deep; and we could chase away the birds before they eat us alive! Of course, like good cultural Westerners, we imagine ourselves as the stars of the parable: the seeds, who must prove themselves in a competitive world. In this way, we make the story about us rather than about God. News flash: we are not the stars of this story. Here is the key piece of information we are forgetting –– the farmer never intended for the seeds to grow along the path, or in the rocks, or in the weeds. That is not how farmers work. The parable is not about where the farmer did not intend the seed to go, where he over-broadcasted, it is about where the seeds were meant to go –– into the soil of the field that the farmer prepared, the good soil, from which he intends to gain a harvest. That changes the story completely! This is not a do-better story, or a work-harder, story. The star of the story is the Word of God, the Seed, making it into the environment the farmer had prepared for it. The side stories: the rocks, the weeds, and the path, are just to emphasize all the things that the good soil is not. So where is that good soil? The good soil is where the farmer, God, has prepared it in advance. It is where he has plowed and churned up the hard crust, removing the rocks and the weeds. All that work was done in advance, not on the day of the sowing. Any farmer will warn you not to sow expensive seed in ground that is not prepared. Here is the thing: there is good soil in every human heart, in the places primed for spiritual growth; often it is where people have deep questions, deep hurts and needs, and where the Spirit of God has been doing his loving work." The good soil is located in the place of pain, both in individual lives, but also the places of pain in our communities -- where there has been that turning over and braking open of the soil. Where do you see pain in your community? What issues facing families and individuals around your church, are like signs that read: Good Soil -- Plant Here? How might the loving "implanting" of God's Word and work bring healing and new growth to those areas?

Remember why we call this day "Good". Good Friday impacts me more than any other day in the Christian calendar -- besides Easter itself. Today we are faced with the reality that Jesus "coming into His kingdom", as the thief on the cross so profoundly put it, was not a matter of just sitting down on the throne that was rightfully his -- although he could have done that. Jesus chose the harder way, but the way that also brought many "sons and daughters to glory" (Hebrews 2:10). Because Jesus chose the way of the cross, you are I are included in His kingdom, which is His kind and gentle reign. Jesus chose to "fall to the ground and die" like a seed (John 12: 24), so that from him and around him would grow a kingdom to shelter many (I will post on this from Claiming the Corner next week). Here are David Woodrum's words from his "Kingdom Exploration": "From the very beginning, Jesus of Nazareth was identified with a 'kingdom' that would be an everlasting kingdom without limitations of either duration of time or geographical extent of jurisdiction. Later revelation and prophetic announcements would reveal that 'all things' were placed under His feet by God the Father and creator of heaven and earth. Both those things which are seen and those things which cannot be seen shall submit to the jurisdictional extent of his reign. There will be no borders to the kingdom of God. There are no limits to His authority and benevolent rule... Rightly recognizing who Jesus is in relation to God will aid us in rightly understanding who we are in Christ. From the very first angelic announcement, our Lord's identity and purpose was related to the expression, extension, expansion and establishment of a kingdom upon the earth under the authority of God in the heavens above." (Woodrum, page 43 - 44) As you recognize this Good Friday and the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, remember that it was through the "grave and gate of death" that Jesus established his kingdom for the renewal of all things!

Many of us are concerned about the culture that we perceive around us, especially how it has grown confrontational, quick to judge and label, amped up by social media ire and posturing. I am sad to say that in the last fifteen years or more I have watched our culture become more divided, hostile, and toxic to true honest conversation between people of differing views -- even Christians of differing views. How did we get so reactionary, that we often test others for their allegiance to our own small list of top priorities? Once again, as the book Claiming the Corner emphasizes, Jesus' teachings are so much more life-giving, healing, productive, and impactful. The parable of the yeast reminds us that the church has been placed into the world to function like yeast, to change the culture slowly and over time. Who does not come running at the smell of warm, baked bread, fresh from the oven? That is the aroma that the people of Jesus' movement (the Church) should be putting out into the world. And yet, more than ever, we see people running from churches who have allowed themselves to become a source of division rather than healing. Here is a short section from chapter 4 of Claiming the Corner - due out by the end of this month! "As Christians, we are called to be part of the slow but rising cultural influence of the Kingdom of God. This can happen in micro-cultures: families, friendship groups, and your church, as well as macro-cultures: your neighborhood and beyond. Individually, we can have much more immediate cultural influence in smaller places, but the effect of a congregation, a community of people acting intentionally and resiliently can, over time, make a significant and lasting change in a neighborhood and even a city. Over time, concerted effort driven by easily demonstrated values, can introduce a new culture that those outside the church will recognize as positive and mutually beneficial. This is great ‘P.R.’ for the Kingdom of God, and it is the power of the image Jesus used in this parable. "Yeast is itself a ‘culture’. What determines culture on a macro-scale, is just the pressure and impact of a consensus of cultures at the micro-level. Often, as in the case of yeast, it simply depends upon what is growing consistently over time. When yeast is introduced to a batter where the appropriate nutrients are available, the culture will immediately and relentlessly do its thing." Discussion: 1. Yeast is a change agent, causing the dough to express itself differently. How can you imagine your congregation changing the conversation in the community right outside its door? 2. Yeast requires the right conditions in order to do its thing. What conditions are preventing the work of the yeast? 3. Sometimes Christians are called to be the consumable: rather than being the yeast, we the sugar and oxygen that fuel the reaction. Where are you willing to play the sacrificial role of being a 'consumable' so that others might find new life?

The book "Claiming the Corner" comes out this weekend and can be found on Amazon, Kindle and Barnes and Noble! From Chapter Five: "Jesus presented two parables back to back in Matthew 13 that both have to do with assessing value: The parables of the treasure and the pearl. In those parables a person discovers something they consider to be of unlimited value, and they give everything they have in order to possess that treasure. "The Gospel is priceless. Jesus did what no one else had the right or ability to do. Jesus purchased for us our salvation, our forgiveness, our right-standing before the Father. Jesus himself said in Matthew 16: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16: 25 – 26). "Jesus places enormous value on even one person’s soul. What could a person give in exchange for it? The human soul is the intangible person, the personality, the ‘being’ we encounter in each person. The soul contains every person’s memories as well as the things they hope and dream for. Each soul is uniquely created by God to be part of his good and perfect will. Christian theology puts a high value on people as the “crown” of God’s creation. Think of the contrast between how God values people and the value we place on human life today. We are learning a lot in our culture about human trafficking, its rising statistics globally, and how communities in the United States are among the places to which trafficked people are smuggled. Tragically, in the case of human trafficking, a monetary value is assigned to a human being, so they may be bought and sold ‘as is’. But people are dehumanized today in many ways. You do not have to search the dark underbelly of society or the internet to find evidence of it, either. We devalue others when we label them as immigrant, minority, liberal or conservative, or whatever label you might use to put someone into a convenient box. Think of how cheaply we value others for simply having an opposing view in some hot-button topic. We willingly define them and discount them. "In contrast, Jesus put such high value on human beings that he became one of us. He stepped into our human experience so he may enter our suffering and give his life for us. He counted his life as nothing; he gave his all, everything he had, to possess us. He did all this so that, as we place our faith in him, he can share his inheritance with us as the Son of God. No one offers what Jesus offers. No one –– period. "And that is what leads us to the second compelling interpretation of the parable. The merchant in the story who sold everything to possess the pearl, the man who discovered the treasure and was willing to trade all his money and possessions to purchase the field –– that man is Jesus. The pearl of great price is you. Jesus paid it all so he may have you as his treasure. Now that is some good news!

Happy Easter! This week we live in the afterglow of Easter worship celebrations, where we lifted up the name of Jesus as the one who overcame death, the cross and the tomb. For me, worship this Easter was more profound than it has been for a long time; it meant a great deal to me to proclaim hope, new life, joy, and peace, after the difficult year we have all lived through. The significance of Jesus victory has not changed, but it struck me differently this year. This was also the smallest Easter I can remember in terms of worship attendance, naturally as many people still remain at home, waiting for their chance to be vaccinated and for the sense that the pandemic is really over. It is a good time for us to be reminded that God does not disparage the small. In fact, it is the context that he prefers. Here is a selection from Claiming the Corner that talks about just that -- God's preference for the small, precisely because it illustrates so well how God will bring the small to make outsized impact. (from Claiming the Corner, chapter 3): "When we think about Jesus’ ministry, we see again God’s preference for the small and concentrated impact. Jesus changed the world by investing in a group of twelve men, and ultimately in a small, inner group of three. There were many more people in Jesus’ orbit, but those he discipled closely were those inner twelve. His choices of people for that inner group also shone a spotlight on God’s inclination for the small and those easily passed over. Jesus chose Galileans for his core ministry team. They were conspicuous for their country accent and unschooled ways. In fact, Jesus started his discipleship group with these fishermen, men who did not immediately command respect in educated circles. I love the description of when the group of disciples arrived together in Jerusalem, as told by Luke in his Gospel. They must have seemed like country bumpkins seeing the big city for the first time: “Look at the big buildings!” (this is a paraphrase of Luke 21: 5). I do the same whenever I visit Chicago. Yet Jesus redirected their focus: “But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down” (Luke 21” 5b – 6). "Jesus invested in those whose potential only he could see. Their potential was more in their willingness to trust him, than what they had to offer. Who other than God himself would have started with insignificant fishermen on the Sea of Galilee to begin the most significant chapter of his saving work and plan? Jesus chose the most unlikely characters to form the proto-church. Only Jesus would do that! "The Apostle Paul expressed this principle of the Kingdom in 1 Corinthians 1: 27: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1: 25 – 30). "When my current congregation formed ten years ago, we sought out mission partners that were small. The idea was, as a small church, we wanted to also partner with small organizations to make an outsized impact. If we could concentrate our giving in this way, making a big splash in small ponds, we might help propel small and young mission organizations to the next level of their ministry. We felt that by doing this we were multiplying the effect that our giving would have. Of course, there is nothing wrong with giving to large, well-established mission organizations. They are doing significant work for the Kingdom of God. But there is something about the small mission project taking on a big challenge that reminded us of how Jesus operates. It reminded us of this parable. "In the Parable of The Mustard Seed, we see that the Kingdom is small and insignificant in the beginning, but Jesus promised it would grow to be a large tree in which many would find shelter. When he started his ministry, Jesus was only one individual with a radical message, but slowly his message of the Kingdom of God caught the attention of the crowds. But Jesus did not start with crowds. He started in small towns where he preached, taught, and healed. Then he added those twelve unlikely individuals as his core group, training them up in what he was doing. From there, he added the seventy-two, and so on. After his death and resurrection, the Christian movement exploded. But still, it has taken two thousand years to reach where we are today. Jesus even talked about himself using a small metaphor: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12: 24).

Coming out of the covid-lockdown, my mind has been churning on what needs to be a our message to the church right now. What should we focus on? After a year of stress and strain on many fronts in life, I found David Woodrum's words today refreshing and hopeful!: “It pleases God to give us his Kingdom now in this world, where we live... that we might reign in life through Jesus Christ, not only after we die and go to heaven, but now as a testimony of the sufficiency of his sacrifice on the cross, in the grave and upon the altar of heaven… One of the surest evidence that we have passed from death to life is that we are reigning in this life, triumphant over the forces of death, set free and progressively make free from the ravages of sin, sickness and the curse of the law. Please do not misunderstand my words and think that I mean that a disciple will never be sick or have difficulties in this life. But what I am saying is that in the midst of trials… the disciples can reign over the attitudes of his or her own heart in confidence of who Jesus is and that he rules over all things.” (Woodrum, Kingdom Exploration) "Reigning over" my attitude and "reining in" my attitude go hand in had. I am increasing chomping at the bit for my church to be out in the community serving again, boldly and creatively, making the Kingdom of God tangible to people again, face to face! When you consider the needs in your community, what ministries of your home church do you want to see start up again to meet those needs first hand?

How do we understand and react to the nature of evil both in the world and in ourselves? This is among the more challenging questions found in scripture. It points out immediately, our tendency to more quickly identify evil externally than to address it in ourselves. We will always be more lenient with ourselves, giving greater latitude to our "good intentions" while forgetting to put the best construction on the words and behavior of others. But Christians are called to both recognize and address evil to preserve and demonstrate God's intention. Jesus cautioned his followers to be aware of how evil works in the world and to avoid naivety, which only allows evil greater space in which to function. How can churches address the result of sin and evil in the world, without coming across as "better than", "holier than thou" or judgmental? Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds addresses not only the reason why evil is presenting itself in the world, but also the battle that is taking place (like it or not) at the ground level for resources in the "soil". From Claiming the Corner, chapter 2: "Where weeds grow, crops die. Weeds take the resources of water and nutrients; weeds take space. In the previous parable about the good soil, Jesus told us that where there are weeds already growing, the good seed will be choked out. This is the clearest teaching in the New Testament about the reality and nature of evil. Jesus addresses the origin of evil, but also, important to the false dichotomy we described a moment ago, Jesus explains how the fact of evil in the world is not mutually exclusive with a good, loving, and all-powerful God. Jesus also tells us plainly in this parable the reason why our good God has not simply removed evil from the world. God has delayed his judgment –– the pulling up of the weeds –– because some wheat would be destroyed in the process. And here is where each of us are required to be honest with one another and ourselves. Evil has been sown into our hearts too. Weeds are growing here, in me. If God applied the weed killer today, I would not survive. Would you? Therefore, from this parable we understand that an evil kingdom is growing alongside the good Kingdom of God. Here is the key to understanding the parable: both kingdoms are increasing. The Kingdom of God and the counter-kingdom of God’s enemy are both growing and increasing at the same time and in the same location. The wheat and the weeds are always in the mix whenever human beings are involved –– the work of God and the influence of sin. It is also very difficult to separate the two in the lives of people, as Jesus makes so abundantly clear in this parable. Even the angels would get it wrong! All that is true on the macro level, but it is also true on the micro level in my own life. God’s good purposes are on the increase in the parts of my life where his seed is growing. In the parts of my life that are not yet fully submitted to God, evil is at work and growing. For that to stop, evil must be confronted where it grows! That is how we can apply this parable to understand Jesus’ mandate to the church on the ground today, on the very corner where your church is planted. The Church must actively confront evil in our day." In Claiming the Corner, church leaders are encouraged to make a list of the evidence of evil in their communities, anticipating how Christians are positioned to fight the encroachment of things in the world that are not submitted to Kingdom values. What would be on your list?

What does Jesus want churches to do?: He wants them to make impact for the Kingdom of God. Here is a story from a mission partnership in Argentina where I had an experience that got me thinking differently about the way Jesus sees the Kingdom active in the world. Jesus preached most often about the Kingdom and its living and present reality. (From Claiming the Corner): "A Snapshot of a Kingdom Impact church in Azul, Argentina. It was April in the Southern Hemisphere. A former congregation I served had sought out a new kind of global mission partnership that was just becoming popular at the time: a church-to-church partnership supporting a local mission project. It did not mean just becoming a financial partner, giving money through a larger mission organization to fund many projects around the world. Instead, this meant a congregation-to-congregation partnership, one church in the global south and one in the global north. From the congregation in the global south came the idea and the leadership to meet the needs of their community. They did the research; they provided the drive and the model. From the congregation in the global north came the financial backing and the moral and spiritual support to keep the mission going. Cementing this relationship was the vital first mission visit, from the north to the south, congregational members serving under the leadership of the southern church, working shoulder to shoulder with them and understanding the context of the mission to which they were contributing –– now adding their hands and feet to the work. When first envisioned decades ago, the model was termed “accompaniment”. So, there I was in Azul, Argentina, meeting some of the most beautiful people I had ever encountered, the 14 members of Iglesia Luterana de la Tranfiguraciόn, (Transfiguration Lutheran Church)... One April afternoon, I took a walk from the newly built childcare center into the community it served. As I walked, simple, but well-built concrete homes gradually became drafty dwellings and shacks made with whatever materials people could find. As I went deeper into the community, the power lines vanished, and a few open wells appeared. Cars were replaced by horses and goats. It was like travelling back in time. As I journeyed, the mysterious and energizing presence of the Holy Spirit drew near. Here is what I had been thinking: “It must be hard to live this way.” I felt guilty as I pictured my condo back home, the luxuries I enjoyed daily, the abundance of food, clean and safe surroundings. But suddenly this thought came to my mind: It is on streets like this that Jesus probably spends most of his time. This thought stopped me in my tracks, and it changed my view of global mission. The Christian experience I knew back in the States was abnormal from God’s perspective. God sees wealthy and compartmentalized Christianity for what it is, so conveniently separated from the realities of most of the world, even from the realities of most Christian believers. Here I was for those 10 days, a welcome participant in a local congregation of 14 people making a shockingly outsized impact for the Kingdom of God. They were 14 people changing the lives of 60 families right in their own backyard! It was the first time I had caught a glimpse of the church Jesus referred to at Caesarea Philippi when he said in Matthew 16:18, “The gates of hell will not prevail against it.” For the first time, I saw that church clearly in the mission of “La Transfiguraciόn” to their community. Their first thought was not, “How do we grow our own church? They did not invest in an evangelism outreach program or subscribe to a marketing service to grow their internal numbers. Instead, they simply moved to impact the world that was right outside their door. The name of their congregation fit perfectly with what they were trying to do. They were making a “transfiguration”. Meanwhile, back home, my mid-sized congregation of 1500 was trying to figure out how the other churches in town were pushing 2500 and how we could imitate what they were doing to also get there. The contrast between these two mindsets and worldviews set me back on my heels." 1. What is your reaction to this story? 2. Have you watched your congregation fuss more over creating growth in membership rather than planning for an evaluating Kingdom Impact? 3. How has the pressure of "church growth" models, and our culture of "bigger is better" held your church back from what might be Jesus' style of impact?

First, let me be clear: I am not an expert in making Kingdom Impact. Far from it. Instead, I am a learner and a student of the one who is - Jesus of Nazareth. This is His Kingdom and he envisioned its impact in the world. I have looked to a specific group of parables in Matthew 13, called the Kingdom parables, for a better understanding of what Jesus wants His churches to do. We have made church about many things that often suit our own cultures and kingdoms: a place to be spiritually fed, a place to be inspired, a place for support when life is hard, a place for fellowship with like-minded people. All that is good, but it can produce a church experience that is "all about me" in the end. This is one of the ways that churches have become cruise liners instead of the fishing boats that Jesus designed them to be. We have taken fishing boats and retrofitted them to include comfortable auditoriums, entertaining experiences, and lots of amenities arranged and managed by a paid staff catering to many needs. All this can create a culture of "spiritual consumerism" that keep churches out of fishing waters and closer to a comfortable harbor. Kingdom Impact Churches are looking to be retrofitted back into fishing vessels, looking to the words of Jesus to understand what he wants congregations to do today. His six Kingdom parables in Matthew 13 each begin with the phrase: "The kingdom of heaven is like..." So often we imagine that these parables describe what will be the reality one day when Jesus returns. But a simple reading of them tell us they are about the world today and how congregations are called to make impact - Kingdom Impact. These parables are six lenses revealing six approaches we can take to join Jesus on his mission by: Planting in the Good Soil Confronting Evil on the Ground Investing in the Small for Outsized Impact Growing Cultural Impact Uncovering the Hidden Treasure in People Casting a Broad Net If we are listening, Jesus has been clear about what Kingdom Impact means!