As of last week, Freaked-Out Fellowship became a ministry within Messiah Reformed Church. Messiah Reformed Church (http://www.messiahreformed.com) is a reformed preterist church led by pastor Alan Bondar. That is basically to say that the church is sola-scriptura (scripture-alone) and believes in past fulfillment of all the Biblical prophecies. Yes, including the second coming of Jesus Christ in 70 A.D.
This is likely to cause a stir, therefore I would like to explain a bit of how I have come to a preterist understanding.
I met pastor Alan Bondar about 6-7 months ago in a casual encounter at the mall. We talked and became friends, eventually he explained his understanding of Christianity, and YES, I thought he was crazy. My goal from there on out was to prove that his loony view that Jesus Christ had come back was crazy and without scriptural proof.
Our beginning conversations began with Alan asking me what do I believe happens to us when we die. I realized that I had a view but wasn’t really sure on the scripture basis, therefore this sent me for my first of many dives into the Word to figure out the scriptures that shape my understanding. After asking many pastoral church leaders, and searching for answers (like the Bereans) I came to a soul sleep view, somewhat similar to Hades. I will not go into much detail here but if you are interested in that study let me know.
AS I began to meet with Alan, and eventually visit his church, I began to “read the Bible through new covenant eyes” (also the title of Alan Bondar’s new book). I realized that there are many scriptures in the Word of God that have been unanswered for me and also glazed over in most “context” churches. Also, Biblical interpretation is an issue, and audience relevancy is a serious matter in Biblical Hermeneutics. The Biblical letters and writings were written for a certain people in a certain time (that is context!!), yet it is “for teaching, for conviction, for setting aright, for instruction that is in righteousness”.
AS of lately, just wresting through scriptures I have asked some friends for their opinions, and a re-occuring theme is “why does it matter”. Well, I know there are many churches out there that treat eschatology (end-times) as just an add on factor of our faith, but that is crazy! Does Truth matter? If the estimates of 2/3 of the Bible is prophecy concerning end-times I would say it definetly does matter. Lately, I have realized that our salvation is dependant upon escatology. How much salvation do you have? What is your understanding of the “presence of God”? These things matter! Also, who is Israel (which always seems to open the floor for debate)? What is the kingdom of God?
As far as Freaked-Out Fellowship, we will not change our focus. As far as spreading the gospel through prophetic imagination, the understanding of a preterist worldview actually makes our hope that much stronger. A proper understanding of salvation and the promises of our awesome God, makes being “freaked-out” that much more easies, and Spirit-led.
Here is the mission statement of Messiah Reformed Church- “Messiah Reformed Church exists to glorify God
by pursuing and sharing our joy through the knowledge of Him.”
Combining that with the motto of Freaked-Out Fellowship, “turning the world upside-down”, makes perfect sense. Why? It is our understanding of Jesus Christ and what He did for us, that gives us a joy worth sharing (Good News).
I can imagine that most people will have questions and concerns, and I would love to dicuss these things with you in much more detail, so please feel free to email or call me.
In His service, by His love,
Michael Miano
The time is near ; Yes I am coming soon ... Revelation 22:10-12
Showing posts with label self examination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self examination. Show all posts
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A Month of Monasticism
Well, I know the month is not quite over yet but I chose to tell you about my “monk experience” for the month of March a bit early (plus I know some people who are interested in hearing my summed up views from the New Monastic Schools for Conversion).
To briefly explain my monthly endeavor, I experimented with monasticism both ancient and new. Ancient monasticism is the retreat of dedicated men of God for prayer and solitude. I came under the authority of the Rule of Monk Preston from The Knights of Prayer, Prayer Foundation. Obviously, monasticism is centered on prayer. The basic concept would be scripture memorization and recitation, prayer, and structured daily routine (which includes the divine hours and work).
At the start, I was excited for this structure and routine, pretty much anticipated the challenge (and yes, I looked forward to the outfit that I had to wear “a habit”.) Honestly, the overall idea I had in my mind didn’t work out the way I had anticipated, as a man of God with the heart of an evangelist, I wanted to do more outreach as a monk, so that was a bit of the disappointment (but fair to say it came with a lesson, doesn’t it always?).
Ok, so I traveled as a monk to Evanston Ill., to attend the Schools for Conversion conference at Reba Place Fellowship. Exciting trip to say in the least.
Now I will tell you about my time at the conference. Reba Place fellowship has a lot of rich history, and has been around since the 50’s. The overall concept of New Monasticism is to live in community, pretty much to experiment with what we read from the book of Acts. It is hard to sum up what I learned from this experience, since it had a big impact of my thoughts of New Monasticism and my personal walk with Christ.
In order to keep this short, I am not going to write detail by detail concerning the visit to Reba Place Fellowship, if you want to know my details ask. My goal is to express what I learned.
As far as what I expected from my visit to Reba Place Fellowship, I cannot seem to clearly reiterate but admittedly it was not was I had expected. When I arrived an older man from Reba Place and I had a great conversation, that would inevitable help me grow and affect my views of things. He said in paraphrase “we have to be careful of our ideals, it seems that idealism is taking a big place and that is not what this is about, and ultimately this will lead to disappointment”. That was so true! As we read through the 12 Marks of New Monasticism and discussed different views of Christianity as a way of life (ex. - You Must Be Born Again…and Again and Again) I remember reading a part that talked about the ideals that fail us. The direct quote that convicted me was, “…what would have been different if your primary commitment had been to love the people in the place where you worshipped”. That made me think, how many times have my personal ideals about what we should be doing as the church, or what the church should look like, how many times have these affected the love I have been commanded to have for my brothers and sisters, my neighbor, or even my enemy? As Dietrich Bonheoffer said “The greatest enemy to community is our ideal of community”.
Also, a big factor of New Monasticism is to live in close proximity to others within the body of Christ, at least local congregations. I had agreed wholeheartedly with that concept and still do, but after thinking about it as I was in the community, I realized that the bond I have with some people who I meet with weekly or bi-weekly, is community. We don’t have to necessarily live together or even on the same block. So, Gabriella can rest at ease that I am not going to ask her to move in with 3 other families right away (ha ha, maybe not yet at least).
A great factor of Reba Place Fellowship was the diversity in the people, both young and old, male, female, and many different personalities. Also, what has been termed “theological diversity” was very active. From Episcopalians to Mennonites, to radicals to reformed tradition which was awesome and truly demonstrated the culture of love and grace, that New Monasticism, or rather Jesus Christ represents.
Well, my overall thought was the missional concept though. I didn’t really feel the missional, evangelistic attitude was that prevalent at Reba Place Fellowship. I am not sure if that is such a theme in the New Monasticism view, but I felt that things should be much more missional. Reading through Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution, I got the feeling he was very missional in his attitude, but I am aware of his view of “come and see”. It is my hope that the views of New Monasticism become very strong in my generation, but also with a spice of the missional church views.
That pretty much summed up my thoughts. Also, I would like to share a brief journal entry I wrote as I left Reba Place Fellowship.
“3/22/10- Today, I am leaving Reba Place Fellowship, Schools for Conversion. I guess I did go with some expectations that I did not find. I find myself in a sort of negative funk today. Like, “what is this all about? What am I doing?”
Since January I have been going through my experiments in truth (**currently reading the Autobiography of Mohandas Gandhi, who was the master at this concept). This month has been a study into monasticism (both old and new).
As I was walking and thinking, I just began to ask myself, “Who am I, what does God want me to do, etc”. (You know the “seasonal” self examination).
STAND-STILL (“I am at a standstill) has been on my mind lately. Praying over that line as I walked, I heard that low whisper “be still and know that I am God”. Also, other things that have popped into mind are:
-What P.A. told me about just being Mike, the outreach guy who relates to people
- Future with Gabriella (some normalcy to my life).
-Missionary (we are all missionaries, but in the strongest sense, is that me?)
-Pastoral calling
-Starbucks meetings with Annie.
-Jesus People USA
So therefore, what is my next season?"
Thanks for reading. Hope it was a blessing! Look forward to your feedback!
Love and blessings, for the glory of Him,
Michael Miano
To briefly explain my monthly endeavor, I experimented with monasticism both ancient and new. Ancient monasticism is the retreat of dedicated men of God for prayer and solitude. I came under the authority of the Rule of Monk Preston from The Knights of Prayer, Prayer Foundation. Obviously, monasticism is centered on prayer. The basic concept would be scripture memorization and recitation, prayer, and structured daily routine (which includes the divine hours and work).
At the start, I was excited for this structure and routine, pretty much anticipated the challenge (and yes, I looked forward to the outfit that I had to wear “a habit”.) Honestly, the overall idea I had in my mind didn’t work out the way I had anticipated, as a man of God with the heart of an evangelist, I wanted to do more outreach as a monk, so that was a bit of the disappointment (but fair to say it came with a lesson, doesn’t it always?).
Ok, so I traveled as a monk to Evanston Ill., to attend the Schools for Conversion conference at Reba Place Fellowship. Exciting trip to say in the least.
Now I will tell you about my time at the conference. Reba Place fellowship has a lot of rich history, and has been around since the 50’s. The overall concept of New Monasticism is to live in community, pretty much to experiment with what we read from the book of Acts. It is hard to sum up what I learned from this experience, since it had a big impact of my thoughts of New Monasticism and my personal walk with Christ.
In order to keep this short, I am not going to write detail by detail concerning the visit to Reba Place Fellowship, if you want to know my details ask. My goal is to express what I learned.
As far as what I expected from my visit to Reba Place Fellowship, I cannot seem to clearly reiterate but admittedly it was not was I had expected. When I arrived an older man from Reba Place and I had a great conversation, that would inevitable help me grow and affect my views of things. He said in paraphrase “we have to be careful of our ideals, it seems that idealism is taking a big place and that is not what this is about, and ultimately this will lead to disappointment”. That was so true! As we read through the 12 Marks of New Monasticism and discussed different views of Christianity as a way of life (ex. - You Must Be Born Again…and Again and Again) I remember reading a part that talked about the ideals that fail us. The direct quote that convicted me was, “…what would have been different if your primary commitment had been to love the people in the place where you worshipped”. That made me think, how many times have my personal ideals about what we should be doing as the church, or what the church should look like, how many times have these affected the love I have been commanded to have for my brothers and sisters, my neighbor, or even my enemy? As Dietrich Bonheoffer said “The greatest enemy to community is our ideal of community”.
Also, a big factor of New Monasticism is to live in close proximity to others within the body of Christ, at least local congregations. I had agreed wholeheartedly with that concept and still do, but after thinking about it as I was in the community, I realized that the bond I have with some people who I meet with weekly or bi-weekly, is community. We don’t have to necessarily live together or even on the same block. So, Gabriella can rest at ease that I am not going to ask her to move in with 3 other families right away (ha ha, maybe not yet at least).
A great factor of Reba Place Fellowship was the diversity in the people, both young and old, male, female, and many different personalities. Also, what has been termed “theological diversity” was very active. From Episcopalians to Mennonites, to radicals to reformed tradition which was awesome and truly demonstrated the culture of love and grace, that New Monasticism, or rather Jesus Christ represents.
Well, my overall thought was the missional concept though. I didn’t really feel the missional, evangelistic attitude was that prevalent at Reba Place Fellowship. I am not sure if that is such a theme in the New Monasticism view, but I felt that things should be much more missional. Reading through Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution, I got the feeling he was very missional in his attitude, but I am aware of his view of “come and see”. It is my hope that the views of New Monasticism become very strong in my generation, but also with a spice of the missional church views.
That pretty much summed up my thoughts. Also, I would like to share a brief journal entry I wrote as I left Reba Place Fellowship.
“3/22/10- Today, I am leaving Reba Place Fellowship, Schools for Conversion. I guess I did go with some expectations that I did not find. I find myself in a sort of negative funk today. Like, “what is this all about? What am I doing?”
Since January I have been going through my experiments in truth (**currently reading the Autobiography of Mohandas Gandhi, who was the master at this concept). This month has been a study into monasticism (both old and new).
As I was walking and thinking, I just began to ask myself, “Who am I, what does God want me to do, etc”. (You know the “seasonal” self examination).
STAND-STILL (“I am at a standstill) has been on my mind lately. Praying over that line as I walked, I heard that low whisper “be still and know that I am God”. Also, other things that have popped into mind are:
-What P.A. told me about just being Mike, the outreach guy who relates to people
- Future with Gabriella (some normalcy to my life).
-Missionary (we are all missionaries, but in the strongest sense, is that me?)
-Pastoral calling
-Starbucks meetings with Annie.
-Jesus People USA
So therefore, what is my next season?"
Thanks for reading. Hope it was a blessing! Look forward to your feedback!
Love and blessings, for the glory of Him,
Michael Miano
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