More than an idea

posted by Jonny Rashid on July 2, 2009 in Community, Dialogue and Interact. 0 Comments

What an encouraging thing it is to be diving into Circle of Hope’s proverbs as a congregation at Frankford & Norris. It’s always great to get a reminder of our mission. And it doesn’t cease to amaze me how interesting this material and our proverbs are to many of us who are yet-to-connect: the wandering and the wondering. Lots of folks that I know crave to know what goes on in Circle of Hope. It’s almost as if we are a great mystery to many. And that if only they could know every last bit of information, then they could make a decision.

I remember confronting Joshua as an 18-year-old freshman at Temple the first time I attended a public meeting. I asked him questions like, “Is the Bible the authoritative Word of God?” And though I’d have to resist rolling my eyes at such a statement if posed to me now, Joshua and I had a conversation about that in the moment. But as I recall that story, I think, How modernistic of me! How could I ever ask a question that seeks the knowledge, perspective, and relationship of 300 covenant members? Doesn’t it make more sense to exist within a group, and learn from each other within the context of accountable relationships? How could I judge a body of Christ as if each member of it holds the same views and ideas about every theological construct? Furthermore, why is the theology so important anyway? Isn’t it about following Christ?

The burden of dissecting every soul and human being we encounter must be unbearable. The plague that judgment of all of those around us must be paralyzing. The crime of reducing the people we see to simple a set of rules, ideas, and criterion must weigh on us.tranquility384x288 I wonder what would happen if we lived with each other, shared with each other, and simply related to each other? I wonder what would happen if we focused more of the Risen Lord and less on what his followers were thinking? I wonder how making a covenant with a congregation and a cell would change the world? I wonder what would happen if we prayed, meditated, and sat in solitude more? I wonder what would happen if we quieted our modernistic, scientific, busy minds. I wonder how Jesus might reveal Himself through the Bible, creation around us, and our community?

Maybe we’d learn that our biggest concerns about communities of faith are not so big after all.

A Complete Picture of the Circle

posted by Rod White on June 18, 2009 in Community, Dialogue, Family and Resources. 3 Comments

Comparisons are odious. So let’s never compare ourselves to others, or our cells to other cells, or our congregations to other congregations, even our fair city to other cities. Figuring out how we are different and special, desperately trying to find a little place where we fit, is still all about “me” and is not yet about being secure in Christ. Let’s be secure in the love of God being poured out on us! And let’s love who we are and where we are enough, so we can love outside ourselves, love clear to the margins. We’re in with God; we don’t need to perpetually find our way in someplace. We’re safe with God, we don’t need to keep making a place safe for “people like me.”

The pseudo-science of western culture’s colonialistic ideas of race, class, identity, etc., keep trying to mess with our goal to be the new humanity. The sociologists/advertisers don’t allow for the Spirit of God, just quantifiable facts – like how many Eskimos do you have? how many Red Bull drinkers are there? The “science” does not account for the fact that all of us who follow Jesus, no matter where we have started from in the world “have taken off [our] old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” Colossians 3:9-11

So I offer a chart about who we are and how we grow as a people that isn’t all about standard ideas of who is in and who is out, who is like us and who is not, who recognizes their godless “identity” among us and who does not. I’m not sure it is a complete enough chart for the idea in Colossians 3, but I keep trying.

chart

That thick blue circle in the middle represents the church called Circle of Hope – three congregations, so far, in one church, a collection of cells, a group of committed members of a covenant, a council of map-makers, sharers in a common fund. We’re hard to define, but who we are has a character, we have a sense of being a people. People have an idea when they are a part of us, and we need to be a part of the body in some discernible way. The dots and lines represent people or groups connecting to other people and groups and forming other circles of friends or partners.

We need Jesus at the center of who we are, so He is represented by his heart. Jesus holds everything together, drawing all people to himself. We need the people at the heart of us who are close to God’s heart, who commit themselves to each other and our vision and provide the gravity that keeps the whole thing together and moving along.

But you’ll notice that there is an outer blue circle, too. That’s the real frontier of Circle of Hope. The church isn’t just who attends the meeting, is part of a cell or makes the covenant. The church includes all sorts of people we touch and love and connect. The wind of the Spirit of God blows wherever. The church is, by its nature, diverse and becoming more so all the time. God is extending its borders and drawing people toward its heart.

The chart tries to show that movement. There are concentric circles that represent more or less connection to the Heart and to the core of the church. The lines of connection to Jesus and His people may be direct or indirect, so the lines that represent connections being made are going every which way and forming groups that cross various levels of integration – people come to cells and not PMs, people are involved in mission team projects and discover a church is behind them later, people read our blog and move here two years later, new believers begin to make an impact on their circle of friends, we plant a cell or a congregation in a new place and slowly make new connections, classes or events we hold touch the lives of people in a variety of ways. Hundreds of people are touched each week who never participate in a meeting. That’s also the church. So we probably should not compare who is far away and who is in close too much either!

The new humanity is not just a corral within which we try to balance out our livestock, it is a movement of love that crosses boundaries. The chart should be animated. The church is always reaching out and drawing in, always expressing grace and leaving the results to God. The heart pulses with creativity. Circle of Hope has a wonderfully diverse core, held together by the love of our leaders, especially, that crosses normally-uncrossed boundaries. But the web of relationships which knits us together and which marks the frontier of our mission is even more diverse. I hope we can get our minds around how widespread we are and not get pushed back into some little box by the philosophies of the world.

Especially, let’s not contribute to the loveless fragmentation of the world celebrated by Fox and MSNBC, solidified by a wall in Palestine, and demonstrated on the streets of Teheran, by comparing and contrasting and so denigrating elements of the Lord’s own body. Don’t make the willing appendage of the body of Christ called Circle of Hope a mere something that is not like something else. It is God’s creation. Likewise, don’t assign an “identity” to the beloved appendages within our growing circle that makes them merely part of some “niche.” Their loveliness is part of the Love.

O Worship the King

posted by Nate Hulfish on June 16, 2009 in Community, Dialogue and Interact. 2 Comments

Michelle is one of the building managers in charge of the privately owned community center where Circle of Hope Camden meets. She opens and closes our building, even though it’s her day off. We’ve got a good relationship – one of those “she’s so very excited and awkwardly hugs me a lot” relationships. She’s African American, grew up in the church, and self-describes herself as marginally a Christian who now sometimes goes to church…but she thinks we’re amazing and tells me that often (some of that is due to the fact that we load her up will our extra snacks on a regular basis…I think most of it is due to the fact she can see we’re serious Christians).

Last week she let it slip that a few of the neighbors have complained from time to time about the noise coming from the community center on Sunday evenings. Michelle said (and this is a quote)… “They is doing church. Church! Don’t be getting in the way of Jesus. You don’t complain about all that hip-hop blaring everyday…don’t come complaining about good people following Jesus. What do you think I should tell them…be quite…don’t sing about Jesus? You crazy! I ain’t getting in Jesus way.”

I really liked that. I like that she won’t get in the way of Jesus.

And then the other night, Helen walked into our space while our music team practiced before our public meeting. She sat for a bit and then walked around gathering literature (both ours and the literature put out by the community center). When things had quieted down, I introduced myself to her and in the course of our conversation, asked how she happened to wander in. She said, “I heard you all was a good church. My friend Michelle told me so.”
I really liked that, too. I like that not only will she not get in the way of Jesus, but she’ll place others on the path toward him.

I really like Michelle – she’s not our maker or our redeemer, but those lines from the old hymn O Worship the King kept running through my head… “our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend.” She is quite the defender and friend.
Turns out Helen used to be homeless but has been living in the Fairview section of Camden (where we presently meet) for the last 6 years. Virginia, who both hosts my cell and volunteers at a homeless shelter in Camden, remembered her from those days long ago. Helen ducked out pretty quickly afterward, but made sure that she found me to tell me she’d be back next Sunday.

When I told Michelle that Helen had joined us, she said, “No she didn’t! You’re lying to me. My Helen? Ah, good for her.” And then she gave me one of our customary awkward hugs.

You never know who will help connect the next person to Jesus…it’s a great reminder to keep on loving people and developing relationships with people in authentic and life giving ways.

It’s All About You

posted by Zack Jackson on May 26, 2009 in Dialogue and Uncategorized. 7 Comments

So I’ve been thinking a lot about worship recently. Circle of Hope is so blessed to have some amazingly talented musicians and songwriters that consistently bring it week after week. They’re almost too good…

I was talking to someone the other day and they said something to the effect of “Oh I hate it when such-and-such leads the music because I can never really get into worship”. I didn’t take any notice of it, and just went on with my life. It wasn’t until yesterday that it came around and smacked me in the back of the head like a boomerang. “can’t really get into worship?” How does that phrase even begin to make sense? I’m imagining a king’s court with dozens of people bowing down before the throne, handing over gifts, and singing praises to the king. Then there is one guy just standing there saying, “I’d love to worship you, king, but your lute player really isn’t that good, and I kinda dated the harpist so I’m feeling pretty awkward right now. Also, this room is pretty drafty and I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. You understand if I just hang out by the dinner table right?”

Everyone would look at that person like he was straight up crazy. If worship is about the way that a song makes me feel, then it isn’t worship. If the purpose of worship were to make us feel “touched”, then I suggest that we just go for it and start singing Mariah Carey songs instead. As much as I love “Always Be My Baby“, I think there is something more important here. As a musician, I always seem to get mixed up in the technical aspects of the songs, and completely forget the reason why we’re singing them anyway. So regardless of how I feel or what song it is, I need to remember what it means to worship. It’s not all about me. It’s not even CLOSE to being all about me. If it isn’t all about God, it’s not worship.

The Body of Christ

posted by Liz Einsig Wise on May 22, 2009 in Dialogue. 1 Comment

“Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.” I Corinthians 12:27

“Something Intangible” is just wrapping up its run at the Arden Theatre. It’s more or less a bio of the Disney brothers – Walt… and Roy, the guy no one has ever heard of. Walt, of course, was the visionary – the creative genius who was the face of the company. Roy was the guy who held it all together behind the scenes by keeping the books, wrangling the deals with financial backers, talking disgruntled employees off of ledges, etc. The play is about the relationship between leaders – the ones out front, and the ones behind the scenes. It artfully posits that these characters need each other, and could not do it (whatever “it” happens to be) alone.

Very much like the metaphor in First Corinthians about the “Body of Christ.”

As our network’s Director of Operations, I think about this a lot. So does the CoHOp Core, our team of leaders who guide the Capacity area of Circle of Hope. Yes, we are charged with accomplishing tasks & solving problems – ranging from finances to buildings to technology to communications. That’s one piece. But we are also striving for a reality that’s rooted in this concept from I Corinthians: operations teams that are made up of individuals who are secure in our identity as full members of the body, with Spirit-given gifts of administration for the common good.

I’m realizing more & more how counter-cultural it is to consider your primary identity as a part of Christ’s Body. I don’t know why it’s easier to think that my heroic acts, competence or skill will singlehandedly save the day – oh, wait – that’s the plotline of every blockbuster film I’ve ever watched. Hmmm… But each day through the work of the CoHOp, I see our community working this out, which is really profound & exciting.

For example… when Nick steps up to call a Site Management meeting and people show up to problem-solve together instead of staying in their small corner alone. When a financial report gets assembled through the joint effort and love of Rebekah, Danny, Kathryn and Courtney. When Lorna & Jenna train new members of our Cleaning Teams that their work is about “making it feel safe” for the new people. When we figure out ways to provide tech support to people who don’t even know they need it until it doesn’t work.

Very First Corinthians!

Beth Klassen-Landis

posted by Art Bucher on May 12, 2009 in Dialogue, Interact and Peace. 1 Comment

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A week ago at the Broad and Washington public meeting space, the Prisons Connections team invited Bess Klassen-Landis to speak. I’d like to re-tell some of her story for those of you who weren’t able to hear her.  It’s worth passing on.

Bess Klassen-Landis’ mother Helen was raped, strangled, and shot five times,  forty years ago in her family’s home when Bess was only 13 years old. No one else was home when it happened. Bess’ sister came home from school and found their mom’s body. Their mother’s murderer was never found. Afterward Bess said she had no outlet for talking about her mother’s death and her own fears. She and her three sisters interpreted their father’s good intentioned urging to “get on with life” as a directive to not talk about it. She said she tried to pretend she didn’t notice the bullet holes in the floor of her home, but she lived in a constant fear of the murderer returning to kill her there. She looked over her shoulder often thinking that she was being followed. She experienced years of PTSD, but there was no therapy for her in those days.

As an adult her sister Ruth brought her to the Journey of Hope, From Violence to Healing group. She began to talk about her experience to others who had murdered loved ones. She also began speaking to death row prisoners. Instead of the monsters she feared, she said she talked to people who were remorseful for their crimes and who wanted to change, and who listened to what she had to say. In her mind she visualized her mother’s murderer, and sought to “look for that which was of God in him, which she could call ‘friend’.”

Bess said she came to understand that the trauma and the void she felt in her heart from her mother’s death could not be filled by retributive criminal justice. She needed the love and forgiveness of Jesus to fill that void. She, and others like her, did not want the criminal justice system to act on their behalf and carry out the death penalty on murderers. She joined the Voices of Experience Tour in an effort to abolish the death penalty. Her Quaker congregation sent her as a “released friend” on speaking tours with this mission.

Bess Klassen-Landis could be someone who approves of death penalty vengeance for murderers. Instead she is working to save their lives. She is living as a remarkable example of what Paul said to the Romans: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 12, verse 21 NIV) .

Please add your comments below. If you were there, please tell us more about what you learned from Bess at the event

Shalom House Festival

posted by Emily Kephart on May 4, 2009 in Circle Venture, Community, Dialogue, Peace, Planning and Resources. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

One of the beautiful things about peacemaking is that it is more than just a job, it is a worldview and a way of life. When we shift our thinking to that of non-violent peacemaking our decisions and reactions are painted with that brush as well. The upcoming shalom house festival will highlight stories of violence, but also of notable peacemakers we have encountered. We hope that these peacemakers can serve as an example for how to prepare our minds for the violence we encounter. I would like to share with you the following story of an outstanding peacemaker:

A Late-Night Break-In
Adapted from an essay in John Howard Yoder’s What Would You Do? for the MCC Gun Violence Packet.

Angie O’Gorman was awoken late at night by a man kicking open her bedroom door and standing menacingly by her bed. He was “verbally abusive” towards her.

As a Christian committed to non-violence, O’Gorman was struck in that moment by the futility of responding to the situation with violence – “somehow I could not imagine this man standing patiently while I reached under my pillow for my gun” – so she decided to do something unexpected: She struck up a conversation.

She asked him what time it was. They talked about it. She asked him how he got into the house. He told her he had broken through the window on the back door. She told him she didn’t have enough money to replace the glass. He responded by discussing his financial problems. Finally, she asked him to leave, and he said he had no place to go.

O’Gorman offered him sheets and a place to stay downstairs. He accepted. In the morning, they ate breakfast together, and he left voluntarily.

~~~~~
Be with us for a festival centered on peacemaking on Wednesday, May 13th, from 6:30-8:30 pm at Circle of Hope’s Frankford & Norris space.

Over dinner, musicians will share their original songs, Shalom House will tell stories & explain the vision, and we invite you, to bring your stories of urban violence to reflect on with one another.

Please let us know if you can join us so we have plenty of food (soup & chili!) for you. As we try to reduce our impact on the environment, please bring your own place settings. Call Shalom House at 215-474-1195 or email mimi.copp@shalomhouse.us, or emily.kephart@shalomhouse.us.

Star Wars Day

posted by Nate Hulfish on May 4, 2009 in Action, Community, Dialogue, Family and Partnerships. 0 Comments

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Via Facebook, our very own Jim Getz reminded us that today is Star Wars Day…

MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU.

Funny, because last night, I used a bit of a Star Wars analogy with our folks at Frankford and Norris. In the context of their transition from studying Acts 11 to studying Acts 12, I tried to note how at the end of the first Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope), it’s all smiles and celebration because of the good things (just like the end of Acts 11)…but how at the beginning of the second one (Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back), it’s a pretty dire situation (just like the beginning of Acts 12).

I like the ebb and the flow of that. Some days seem great…some days seem dire…I’m still holding on to the fact that God wins. I think he’s using a little rebel force called Circle of Hope to help him do that.

Acts 12 (give it a read) is a funny little chapter in the story. Difficult things are going on…people are scared…disciples are getting killed and put in jail. But God shows up…and I’m really encouraged by the last two verses of the chapter…I spoke on them last night and just can’t get them out of my head today…

24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread.

25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

In the midst of difficult times (maybe like the difficult times we face as a network…working through our 2009 finances, growing a young church plant, planning for our next planting, expanding our leadership team), the word of God continues to increase and spread (verse 24). And that happens due to the fact that God’s people continue to make partners (verse 25).

Be encouraged today, Circle of Hope. Keep making partners out of the people you meet. Bring them along with you as you help the word of God to increase and spread amidst the ebb and flow… and remember the empire doesn’t win, but rebels like you are needed in the fight.

Is there really enough love?

posted by Rod White on April 30, 2009 in Community, Dialogue, Planning and Resources. 4 Comments

We always start the training for prospective Cell Leaders by telling that something like this: “To be successful tonight, we need to convince you of several things. One of them is this: ‘There is enough love to go around.’”

I am not sure we are that convincing. Even if we do tell Jesus that “Your love is better than life” when we sing that song, I am not sure how many people believe that enough to live by it. (But I am easily convinced otherwise, as you’ll see by the end of this).

To have cells that form good relationships in Christ AND multiply in a timely way so others can be involved, we need to live like Jesus will keep multiplying love relationships like he multiplied loaves and fish. The longer we do rely on him to do that, the more radical it looks to me.

In a recent article an evangelical author noted that churches that use the cell multiplication model for their mission usually go through a major restructuring after a few years because people don’t want to multiply — especially the people who have managed to make some nice relationships in their cell. They think it is dumb to risk those relationships by making new ones. Let’s not judge them (or ourselves) as lightweights to hastily. Deeply belonging to Jesus and his church is not that easy.

For instance, even though we know our entire time schedule belongs to Jesus, it is still easy to think about “church” as if it were a series of events instead of our identity. So “going to worship” and “attending a cell” can easily seem like a big commitment of disposable time. To think we might have to work in more appointments to maintain our friendships can seem overwhelming. So we long for some two-birds-with-one-stone kind of time frames, like going to the cell and the cell being my friends!

We have managed to buck this trend, but I think our system might be fraying just like the author observed elsewhere. Being a missional community is always up against some very large foes: 1) The main foes are spiritual – a community in Christ that is authentic in nature and missional in practice is a huge threat to the powers that be. It is, just by existing, revolutionary. 2) The practical foes are many – a main one is that we have perpetual scheduling issues. How many evenings out can a person fit into the week? Plus, the boss thinks we work whenever he needs us. 3) There is a big intellectual foe, too – we are pretty committed (maybe unconsciously) to individualism, so we don’t see our identity as “in Christ” or as a “member of the Body of Christ.” We tend to cobble together our personal beliefs based on our desires and opportunities.

All that being said, check out the chart.

chart1

We have managed to build a network of fifty cells (I hope you think that is amazing. I told a church person that the other day and they almost fell over they were so surprised that was possible!). Over half the people who attend our Sunday meetings are in a cell right now. You can see that, over the years, we have seen a steady growth of cells and cell participants. In the last two years alone, 100 more people joined with a cell.

Circle of Hope has a lot of wonderful traits built in – inventive worship, expansive theology, concern for the poor and each other, imaginative mission teams, opportunities for personal development. But I think the most radical and transformative feature is our dogged determination to form and multiply cells and cell leaders. So many people have responded to the call to build a church based on circles of ten that it is miraculous to see them. They have created a community that is withstanding a lot of strong foes and proving that there is, even with all the challenges involved with experiencing and giving it, enough love to go around.

Am I not free?

posted by Howard Pinder on April 21, 2009 in Dialogue and Uncategorized. 5 Comments

For a long time I pondered what Freedom in Christ really meant. How could being a servant to God lead me to freedom?

It seemed contradictory to me. But an answer came to me recently while reading David Benner’s book “The Gift of being yourself”. Actually, it didn’t come from reading the book but from praying about it.

untitled2I prayed in cell that I would embrace the person I truly am. That I would embrace that person before I tried to start my self fix-it-up projects. The feeling that came over me was like a rope around my ribs being untied. I could finally breathe. Really breathe, like a newborn’s first breath in the world when it comes out of the womb. While praying I saw the image of a swing. A swing that was all twisted and wound up. Then God untangled the swing. I have no way to describe this feeling but as freedom.

Jesus gives us the freedom to be the people we really are. Not the person we try to be after we have fixed ourselves up and made ourselves look pretty, but as the ugly underbelly of a person that we are afraid to show others and even ourselves. One of the ways I have been enslaved to the world is by always putting my best self out for show, the one that I thought everyone wanted to see. With Jesus we are loved as the people we truly are. And we have to accept ourselves as such if we want to truly know that love.

This is the kind of follower that Jesus wants. Not someone who is trying to fit into some imaginary mold of what they think people want them to be. He calls us into a fullness that starts with our true selves. I am called to be his, but also uniquely me.