church

LIFE is our Cityview vision

/ Craig / Leave a comment

I recently had a conversation about vision and organizations.  My friend made the statement that people give their lives to vision.  I think that is true.  Unfortunately I think many of us can live a subsistence life when it comes to vision.  One of the great opportunities that I get week in and week out is to call people to connect their lives to what matters most.  I get to help them shape a God-formed vision of their life.  As well I get to remind them of the God-formed vision we have of our life together at Cityview.

LIFE is our vision.  We envision LIFE-transformed followers of Jesus Christ.  We see people who:

Love God with their all; they joyfully live the Great Commandment and elevate Jesus as Lord in a community of worship and prayer.

Include people in the grace of Jesus; they build healthy and loving relationships for koinonia and evangelism.

Find freedom in the Truth; they apply God’s Word in their actions and attitudes for a new and freeing perspective on life and relationships.

Engage the world as a servant; they infiltrate their circles of influence in the fullness of the Holy Spirit for gift-oriented, sacrificial service.

Now we have had a longstanding statement of our mission that says we seek to create communities of devoted followers of Jesus Christ in Vancouver and around the world.  Out of that we know that we have three wins at Cityview.  We are winning when people who are far from God receive Jesus and begin the process of becoming LIFE-transformed followers of Jesus Christ.  We are winning when community groups are reproducing through the development of new leaders and dynamic caring relationships.  And we are winning when new churches are being started in Vancouver and around the world.

Our strategy has three parts under-girded by leadership, prayer, and faithfulness. 

Spaces:  Worship Gatherings, Small Groups, and 3rd Space settings

Stances:  Spiritual Disciplines and Servanthood

Domains:  Oikos, Neighbourhoods, the “building blocks” of a city

douglas todd explores the westcoast connections of the shack

/ Craig / Leave a comment

Douglas Todd explores the West Coast connections of William Paul Young and The Shack.  Specifically he explores Young’s difficulty with the dogmatists inside Christian institutions.

i am thankful for celebrate recovery

/ Craig / 1 Comment

Last night Cityview had its first public meeting of Celebrate Recovery.  CR is a recovery program based on the 8 Beatitudes of Jesus and the 12 Steps.  Our commitment to a LIFE vision of the follower of Jesus means that we believe every person can Find freedom in The Truth.  CR is part of that journey at Cityview now.  I am thankful for the ministry team that has stepped up for this new season at Cityview. 

One of my favorate authors on the process of knowing God and becoming like Jesus is Brennan Manning.  He writes and speaks often of the recovery that Jesus has given him.  In A Glimpse of Jesus:  The Stranger to Self-Hatred, Manning writes of the challenge of being free.

Two millennia later I find myself threatened, challenged, and exhilarated by Christ’s freedom from human respect, by his extraordinary independence, indomitable courage, and unparalleled authenticity.  In preaching the gospel I have been graced to speak fearless in the knowledge and conviction that the Word of God must not be fettered, compromised, or watered down; but in my personal life, my fears and insecurities continue to lead me voraciously to seek the approval of others, to assume a defensive posture when I’m unjustly accused, to feel guilty over refusing any request, to doggedly live up to others’ expectations, to be all things to all people in a way that would make St. Paul shudder.

I cannot free myself.  I must be set free.  Yes, the untrammeled freedom of Jesus disturbs me, his utter indifference to human respect makes me uncomfortable; but he invites me to make friends with my insecurities, smile at them, outgrow them in patient endurance, live with the serene confidence that he never abandons his friends even when we disappoint him….

It can be unequivocally stated that the central, most important theme in the personal life of Jesus–the theme that lies at the very heart of the revelation that he is–is his growing turst, intimacy, and love of he Abba, his heavenly Father.  The interior life of Christ was completely Father-centered.  The master clue for interpreting the gospel narrative, the foundation of Jesus’ compelling demands, the source of his towering zeal–was her personal experience of God as Abba.

The pearl of great price in my life, the most treasured gift I’ve ever received from Jesus is to come to know the Father.  “No one knows the the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those tho whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt. 11:27).  Biblical scholar Joachim Jeremias did not hesitate to call this the central revelation of the New Testament.

Jesus brought a revolution in the understanding of God.

–select passages from p. 43-45, A Glimpse of Jesus:  The Stranger to Self-Hatred

My ultimate prayer for all those participating in Celebrate Recovery is that they would be set free by the grace and truth of Jesus to fully enjoy knowing their Heavenly Father.

Celebrate Recovery meets at Cityview on Wednesday Nights at 7 PM.

more than a legacy

/ Craig / Leave a comment

I am excited about what God is doing in the WestCoast Baptist Association.  God is raising up a group of churches and leaders that love people from Hope to Victoria and want to see life-changing churches in every community.  I am glad for us to do our part in God’s assignment.  The video below is about the WBA More Than a Legacy giving campaign.  (Many thanks to Conrad Au for putting the video together.) Now is good time to give as our gifts will be matched through the generous offering of the Lam Foundation, here in Vancouver.  You can give on-line through www.vancouverfocus.ca

a taste of last sunday

/ Craig / Leave a comment

We had our First Nation’s friends from Tsawout Assembly of Praise Church and the Tribe of Judah worship team at Cityview last week.  God ministered to my heart and really challenged me during the service.  Their music and their testimonies of Jesus’ grace in their lives caused me to reflect on how good it is to share Jesus as Lord without having to abandon our differences that do not conflict with the Cross and the Gospel. 

Below is the text of a song written by a man in Ontario.  I hope the words of Rise Up Mighty Warrior will be true in your life.

The One who was rejected, because of hardness in their heart;

The One who took the pain, paid the price for our new start;

This very One who died, and gave us reason to live,

To give love to those who’ve mistreated us,

and a heart to forgive.

To all who’ve suffered, at the hands of another,

Come out from the bitterness, come out from the shame,

 Well, the God of creation is calling out your name;

Turn to those with love, who have only brought you pain

So rise up mighty warrior, rise up,

and receive what only God can give.

He gives Life through the blood of Jesus Christ.

He gives Love and the strength to forgive.

The lies we believe from our past were nothing but a cruel deception. To take from us, what is rightfully ours, The sons and daughters under God’s protection.