November 14, 2009 • 12:06 am
At City Light we’re right in the middle of a class on Calvinism. We’re talking about election, infant baptism and the whole nine yards. In the coming year we’re starting one on Social Justice. We’ll talk about issues like immigration, homelessness and racism. In recent church history these two topics were handled exclusively by two different kinds of churches. The Calvinistic churches majored on theology but minored in outreach. The “liberal” churches focused upon social issues but seemingly lost the gospel along the way. But the one nagging question we should ask is this: Isn’t there a way to wed these traditions together or are these views mutually exclusive?
I believe that the answer is that they are compatible and that social justice flows out of the gospel. Calvinism itself shouldn’t cripple our attitude to the world and the lost. Calvinism exalts a glorious God who plucks us from the grave and seals us for heaven. Many argue if God predestines everything, what is the use of evangelism? But Calvinism properly understood never insists that God doesn’t use means. Instead of making evangelism unecessary, Calvinism actually gives us confidence in evangelism: God’s elect WILL come. Calvinism also shouldn’t cause us be these pious religious people with no love for the lost. It propels us upward and outward to serve the city in the name of our glorious King.
The Old Testament is bursting with themes of God’s love for the widow, orphan and immigrant.The whole story of Ruth exemplifies these themes. Jesus’ love for the outcasts is apparent in his treatment of prostitutes, tax gatherers and his telling of the story of the Good Samaritan. When you really understand the gospel, you have to understand that the gospel is not just for religious people trying to live a comfortable life. God calls us out to the streets, to the brokenness of life in the city and to serve as peacemakers. Christians should be at the forefront of trying to solve problems like poverty, eduction, racism and crime.
At City Light our vision is to go deep in theology which will lead us to go deep in our love for the each other, the lost, the city and the world. The goal of theology is not to feel smug and secure. It’s to worship and to let that worship propel us forward to serve as His people in a broken world that God is redeeming.
God is starting to move and awaken His people to this glorious mission.
Filed under: City, City Light
August 29, 2009 • 8:57 pm
One thing that defines Los Angeles is the freeways. People commute miles upon miles to and from work, social activities and even church. But our freeway culture has a lot of negative consequences. First it’s harmful to our environment. Thomas Friedman in his book, “Hot, Flat and Crowded” says its like every few miles you roll down your window and throw a big bag of garbage onto the freeway. That’s what you’re doing to the environment when you drive. But secondly our freeway culture makes us increasingly disconnected. We’re disconnected from our home because we’re rarely there. We’re disconnected from other people because we hardly see them. This commuter culture makes genuine community very difficult.
One of the great visions for our ministry is to have a church where people can live, work and worship in the same geographical location. By living this vision you would simultaneously 1) gain more time from not commuting 2) do your part for the environment 3) make inroads to forming a genuine community with people you live, work and worship with. When our ministry started out this seemed like a distant reality. Even though many people worked downtown, very few people would even consider moving downtown because of its crime or lack of amenities. But in the last couple years we’ve seen a great number of people moving downtown. Currently downtown is the primary place where people in our ministry live and more and more people are considering moving. Now more than ever we can start to glimpse what a really deep, local and intimate community can look like. Can you imagine needing help or counsel and just knocking on the next door?
The next step I guess would be people selling their cars and donating it for kingdom work! If Downtown got zip cars or pay-per-drive cars I think this could be a reality in the not too distant future. But in the meantime there’s still so much work to do to make Downtown a truly beautiful community for all people. Now that we have people downtown it’s time we start deepening our community to be all that God envisions for us.
The picture above is by Tony and has a city growing into a tree. It was done for our anniversary service a couple year’s ago. Here’s to making that picture a reality.
Filed under: City, City Light, Uncategorized
September 9, 2008 • 10:26 pm
I’ve just been reading a book by Thomas Friedman called, “Hot, Flat and Crowded.” He begins the book by talking about a new era that we are embarking on as a planet. We live in a world in which the scale of population growth, technological expasion and global warming has exploded. Friedman’s book is a call to arms to progressively deal with these new realities.
When you look at these dynamics from a spiritual perspective the stakes are even higher. Take for instance the idea of population growth. Today there are 6.7 billion people sharing the planet. By mid-century the poulation will swell to 9 billion. That is a 40 to 45 percent increase. There will be more people living in the middle of this century than the sum of human population for all history. Put it like this: In our lifetime the population of heaven and hell will double. The stakes for our actions have never been higher.
Most of the population growth will take place in urban areas. According to the UN this year marks the first time in human history that more people have been living in urban areas than in rural areas. By 2030 the numbers in urban areas will swell to 3.3 billion people. The future of missions is clearly urban missions both here in the United States and especially abroad.
Sometimes I wonder why God has put me on this planet as a minister at this particular pivotal time in this particular place. I feel so unworthy and incapable of such a calling. But I realize that God most works through the “foolish” and broken. And I realize that this makes me highly qualified for the call.
Filed under: City, Technology, Uncategorized
It’s quite a challenge planting a church from a group of two people with no money or initial church support. But it’s even more of a challenge to plant a church in Los Angeles. This city has a rich history of great churches and religious movements. The Azusa Street Revival which can be credited as starting the modern pentecostal movement started right in Little Tokyo. But these are hard days to grow spirituality in the City of Angels.
Church plants are generally very difficult. Statistics vary to the degree but almost invariably most church plants fail. But when you add a difficult context to church planting it becomes almost impossible. Here are a couple of difficulties:
Los Angeles is a consumer culture. This can be fairly said of most of the United States but I would say it has particular relevance in Los Angeles. I wouldn’t say it’s a Hollywood effect per se. I would say Angelenos are unfairly characterized as shallow and image conscious. But on a relative scale some of it holds true. One of the most popular places in Los Angeles is “the Grove.” It’s a small suburban outdoor mall in the middle of Los Angeles. People look sleek, fashion-conscious and on the move. From the movies, to concerts to performances everything has a very high production value. When you translate this to the church, people also value high production in their church services. This almost invariably means a highly accomplished band, a very entertaining pastor and a stylized look and feel. But the only churches capable of this kind of production is the mega-church. That’s why you see that most of Los Angles is dominated by a few mega-churches.
Consumer cultures are also very difficult because it means very low commitment. People will stay as long as they are happy, but will leave when they feel their needs are not being met. There are people who are always “shopping for churches.” Some people have been wandering the aisles for years in Los Angeles! If church plants require a lot of up-front commitment, and consumer cultures cannot provide many people along those lines, small church plants will invariable struggle in Los Angeles.
The second issue is a generational one. Many of the people at our church are second generation Asian-Americans. They come from a tradition of people who have long valued prayer, hard-work and commitment. But these same attributes are not often found in the following generation. The book of Judges gives us these same dynamics. Often generationally there is a shift from believing faith to indifference and idolatry. The reason is that we often take the benefits of the first generation for granted. We have benefited from our parents’ commitment and sacrifice by having a relatively easy life and sacrifice-free existence in life and in church. But this easily leads to a lack of front-line prayer and zeal. When you add all of these factors into the process of church planting it leads you to this: it ain’t easy.
What gives me hope? The more I look at the context of Los Angeles with its culture and idolatry, the more I realize that I need to be here. That may mean being a Jeremiah and preaching to a unresponsive people or it can mean something else. I would immediately leave the ministry if I didn’t believe in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit called me into the ministry and particular to this context in Los Angeles. But the spirit is also the power, the wind, the fire that carries the lifeless spirits of men and makes them alive. The Spirit is that person that moves in midst of an idolatrous generation and city and brings new life. I have no chance by myself. I have every resource in the Spirit’s ministry. And it’s here in this city that I ask for God’s spirit to once again move. Anybody want to join me?
Filed under: City, personal
February 8, 2008 • 12:51 am
Last Saturday a group of us at City Light attended the 35th annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast at the Westin in Downtown. It’s origin goes back to Tom Bradley and a group of ministers who asked to meet with him to pray. It was my first time at this particular event. It’s an odd event because it combines both civic and spiritual elements. I was curious which would be more prominent. I was also curious to hear the remarks of our mayor.
Upon entering we found a huge American flag draped across the background of the stage. There were a lot of people filling almost every table of the large banqueting hall. We were sitting with some sweet elderly women. It seemed they had been to every prayer breakfast since its inception! The program was filled with ministers, celebrities and politicians (I guess only in LA will a prayer breakfast have these three elements!). We heard some stirring gospel, a really quaint personal testimony by Patricia Heaton (of “Everybody Loves Raymond” fame), and some remarks by politicians.
The mayor was seemingly in a tight spot for this prayer breakfast. He’s had a rough year personally and politically. He had a very public affair and divorce. He lost some important political fights such as his failure to take over the LAUSD. As he was scheduled to deliver some remarks, it would be hard to avoid any of these subjects. During his speech he alluded to his “personal struggles.” But to his credit he didn’t try to shy away from any of it. I wouldn’t say he was exactly contrite but he clearly seemed broken by the whole experience. He spoke of forgiveness and the support of many of those who stood by his side.
1 Timothy 2 says that we should pray for all those who are in authority. When you consider the daunting task of running a city of millions with limited resources, our mayor’s tasks couldn’t seem more daunting. Recently the mayor announced city cutbacks because of a severe fiscal crisis. If we want to see our renewal in our city, we need to pray for a renewal in our leadership. Our city isn’t going to move forward lingering over past sins. Here’s to praying for new beginnings for our mayor and our city of angels.
Filed under: City
