The Gross Munster Church in Zurich

We went to downtown Zurich, Switzerland the other day. What a cool city.
We came upon a church that was important during the reformation days.
As I was inside I was struck by the simplicity of the church. I then noticed a pamphlet that talked about the church and it’s history.

Here is a paragraph from the pamphlet that helped me to understand what I experienced.

As you enter our church today, you may be struck by the simplicity and sobriety of the sanctuary. This is the result of one of the Zwingli’s reforms at Grossmunster in 1519. Whatever gave a worldly appearance to the church was removed: pictures, altars, sculptures and even the organ. The intensive study of the Holy Scriptures and the preaching of the Gospel were to be the focal point of the religious community. Zwingli argued that reforms were necessary if one was to live according to the Gospel.

As I sat there in the sanctuary I thought about church today and how we make it so complex but not just with our windows, altars and organs (or the latest and coolest media equipment) but in the way we do it (our methodology).

I think that our programs in the church today can so much distract from the simplicity that the church was intended to be. Church is really not so complex as we often make.

The Fellowship of the Believers - Acts 42 - 47

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Tennessee Buns

Okay the title is rather literal. I could not resist taking this picture.

I think sometimes the best way to describe life overseas is "random". What better way to illustrate randomness than to find hamburger buns in a small village in Southwest Germany. But not just any hamburger buns but Tennessee ones. Yee Haw! Why not North Dakota Hamburger Buns or Alabama or New Hampshire buns? Well .. nevermind. I guess Tennessee Buns are the best.

2 out of 3 ain't bad

For those 40 somethings you may remember the song 2 out of 3 ain’t bad by Meatloaf.
Well yesterday I bought a new moleskin journal and a stock of G2 pens (the best pen in the world for 1.50). All I lack now is to reclaim my Mac computer from my kids and I will be 3 for 3 and totally cool.

I am sitting in Atlanta. It has been snowing and yes the date is correct, March 8.
It did not cause traffic problems but it is wild to see.

I have been on my journey for two weeks and I am so ready to get home. Before I left I was able to spend the afternoon with one of my best friends, David Putman. He is a co-founder of a really cool organization that helps church planters in the states. (http://www.churchplanters.com/) . He also has a new book coming out in May called Breaking the Discipleship Code. Check his blog out and buy his book in May. We had a few “doppio macchiatos” at our favorite Starbucks in Alpharetta.

Not to do a total commercial for the guy but he is one of the best strategic thinkers / coaches when it comes to church planting that I know. But what is really cool is how he follows Jesus Christ every day in a very real way. He is a hero to me.

the salt and light - living intentionally

I am writing today on the way to the states. I am heading there to attend a series of meetings. Several places I will be speaking and giving some talks on some missional intatiatves that I am involved with. Speaking of, I really want to take seriously in my life to be the salt and light that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 5. An important aspect of this teaching of “salt and the light” is that you are amongst the people. You are not self contained but you are out living with the people.

Yesterday I watched my wife interact with our German neighbor. She is professional that works in several different cities. She travels a lot. My wife is just trying to get to know her as good neighbors do. My wife and her talked about her work schedule and my wife volunteers to help her take her trash to the street. In Germany there is a right day, time and position for the garbage container to be set out. To do this out of order is not a good thing. I guess the point of this story is that my wife is a great example of someone who lives her life missionally. She feels one of the best ways she can tell others of Jesus is through her actions and serving them in whatever way possible. She is salt and light anywhere we live.

I think what keeps me from being this way?
If I wrote it all down you would think pretty lowly of me. I will give you some hints.
Being too busy.
Being too selfish.
Thinking that I am the most important.
Unfortunately I could go on.

But I will stop. I pray that my life will not become too busy where I am much more like the religious leaders who passed by on the other side of the road. I pray that I will have my life oriented in such a way that I can be more like the Samaritan who took the time to stop, help and take care of a person in need. I think when this happens we can be the salt and light that Jesus intended.

Mission Strategies

On my last post I wrote about three streams that in my opionion summarize to a great extent the culture here in Europe. I want to talk about this some more today. I believe that those same streams exist in North America today. How will the church in North American navigate through such water?

I like jumping onto websites of churches and reading how they approach missions. It seems that many churches take the Acts 1:8 passage and segment their missions into - Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermosts parts of the earth. They will then find mission leaders to lead out in each of those areas and develop mission strategies for such. I am not casting judgement on this for it is one way to approach the strategy. My fear is that it casts missions into mini-compartments and does not approach the Great Commission as a whole. Whether you read demograhic studies, internet or the Sunday paper you can see that the world is in the USA. I sometimes hear of churches who get fired up about taking a mission trip to one of those uttermost places ministering to people of another faith. This is not a bad thing. What I am curious about do they have the same excitement with people of a different faith who live next door to them or in another part of the city? How are they being salt and light to people who are different from them in their own location?

missiology in Western Europe - three streams

A week ago I had the privledge of hosting Ed Stetzer and several pastors from the U.S. in Barcelona. After he returned I was wrote a blog post for him on www.edstetzer.com and I want to post it here today. I will talk some about these three streams in the coming days. So I invite you to respond. By being a church planter first in the United States for over 10 years and now in Europe I see some things that shape our lives and ministry in Europe that I think would help me if I were to plant a church in the states again.

so grab an espresso and enjoy.

My name is Larry McCrary, and I have lived and worked in Western Europe since 2001. What can I say? The history is fascinating, the sights are out of this world and you can’t find a better cup of coffee. However, when it comes to living out one’s faith incarnationally in the day-to-day here, you have to consider the cultural context.

I like to think of Western Europe as a river with three major cultural streams affecting it right now. Each stream is a spiritual challenge in itself, but combining the three makes for extra-difficult navigation when it comes to engaging people with the gospel.

The first stream – which is decreasing in size – is that of the institutional church’s decline. This may be the Roman Catholic Church in some countries, the Church of England or the Lutheran church in other parts of Western Europe, but as a whole the churches are declining in attendance. What makes this stream interesting is that, while it is decreasing in size and influence, the veneer of the institutional church still has an impact on the culture.

In Spain, where we served for the last five years, my friends would say they were not part of the church and would speak out against it. In the next sentence, however, they would claim that they were Catholic, thus identifying themselves as religious. The opportunity for those of us who live here among these people is to help them see it’s not about religion, but about a relationship with God.

The second stream worth mentioning is that of the post-Christian or secular worldview held by many Western Europeans. Evangelism research shows that, in most Western European countries, less than 2 percent of the population is evangelical. (“European Believers Report”, 2007 by Ruth Robinson, Greater Europe Mission)

The only exception to this is Scandinavia, and they have a whopping 3 percent according to most studies. (“European Believers Report”, 2007 by Ruth Robinson, Greater Europe Mission) The worldview of most indigenous Europeans is post Christian/secular. While most are generally closed to the idea of institutional church, the hope lies in believers who will live out their faith incarnationally in Europe.

The third stream is also growing rapidly, and that stream is Islam. The flood of Muslim immigrants moving to Europe over the last 10 years is incredible. Most major Western European cities have several mosques, and in some cities, mosques are literally replacing the empty cathedrals.

The increase in the number of Muslims moving to Western Europe makes an impact on the cultural and religious climate. Believers have a great opportunity for ministry in that we don’t face the same restrictions on sharing the gospel as those in closed countries. This gives us some freedom in how we can minister among people.

coming out of retirement

I know it is a little late for new years resolutions. I have already blown most of mine anyway but I thought I might try to make one on Feb. 10th, 2008.

I think I will try to write more down this year.
Wow. That was deep.

This year I want to consider deeply how Jesus and others in the scriptures lived their lives and what I can learn from it. So if all goes well i will talk about some of the verses that i am reading and how that affects my life here in Germany or wherever we are that for that matter.

We moved to spain in late 2001 but just 8 months ago moved to Germany. We are amidst trying to learn a new language and culture. The language part is quite difficult so we are trying to figure out once again how to live incarnationally amongst the people that we cannot communicate well with, yet.

I am reminded of what St. Francis of Assissi said: "Share Jesus everyday and sometimes use words". Obviously I want to learn how to use those German words but I also need to know how to minister in our culture without using words. What does that look like for me?

So this blog will be about our journey. I hope you will enjoy and feel free to comment.