October 27, 2009

Another "C" word

Posted by Jack

Last entry I talked about Confidentiality as a “C” word that reGROUP takes seriously. This week the word is "C"ommitment, and I have not been watching too much Sesame Street. Hang with me, this could be helpful if you’re checking out reGROUP.

Now I am of the male species so the aforementioned “C” word was a tough one to even say until I reached my 30’s. Commitment is tough no matter what the object of the commitment might be.

In reGROUP, like any other Summit Connect Group, we ask group members to commit to a group of 8-12 people for a period of time. That’s a big deal.

That’s 8-12 lives. 8-12 people with quirks. 8-12 people with hang-ups. 8-12 people, each with a particular style of relating. Throw in 8-12 foibles yet to be named and you have a recipe for a complete mess, and there’s the point.

Commitment to a calendar date only requires us to show-up. However, commitment to people beckons us to engage in being apart of a right mess. What a beautiful mess it is. This “mess” is where we experience grace, mercy, love, patience, kindness… all that fruit we so desperately need to experience instead of just read about.

Healing is what reGROUP is about. And healing comes through committing to people. There’s another “C” word for that…"c"ommunity.

October 22, 2009

The "C" word

Posted by Jack

Around reGROUP we take a few “C” words very seriously. Only a few, but a few none-the-less. The first one is "C"onfidentiality. Everything said, everything experienced, and everyone in reGROUP, is held to a strict code of confidentiality.

We’re not into secret keeping. We’re into honesty. We believe everyone has a story to tell, and that story is constantly remade and reshaped by the Gospel. Additionally, each of us who are apart of reGROUP will at some point end up carrying one anothers’ stories as we share life together. Sharing is what we do.

However, we give every person who comes through the door on Monday night the opportunity to choose when, where, and how they want to share their story about reGROUP. And we ask everyone to extend that honor to the other.

“C” is for confidentiality.

October 8, 2009

reGROUP is growing

Posted by Jack

reGROUP is growing…

Jack here with an update from Monday nights at reGROUP. As many of you know reGROUP is a process – a journey with a beginning a middle and an end. And every Monday night we invite others into that journey.

At the moment we have over 80 people on Monday night walking through a 9-12 month process that initiates them into recognizing and joining Christ to restore what has been lost. There are 11 groups with highly skilled leaders that meet every Monday and that number is growing weekly.

One of the great things about reGROUP is that anyone can get into a small group environment on any Monday night. We are set-up specifically to allow new folks the time and the place to decide if reGROUP is their right next step. Currently we are averaging about 4-5 newcomers every night.

Our hope is that every newcomer who comes through the door on Monday night leaves with two things:

1. The chance to join an Open Group and,

2. Enough information about reGROUP to know if joining a group is their right next step.

If you’re considering reGROUP as your right next step, we say, “take one more step by investigating Monday night.” You are always welcome.

August 25, 2009

Healing of meaning

Posted by Jack

OK so you followed the “rabbit hole” from the Healing entry. Props for biting on a term that’s not often used. The healing of meaning is vital to life lived in the Kingdom Jesus ushered in during His time on earth.

The healing of meaning has many levels because it deals with story. And any good story has many levels to it. The healing of meaning involves The Larger Story and the story of your life to start with. More precisely how your story fits into the context of the Larger Story that God is writing.

The Larger Story is the over-arching narrative we see woven into the tapestry of Scripture. It is the story of Eden, Eden lost, Rescue, Redemption and Restoration…every good story, movie, or play you have ever experienced involves one or more of these elements.

We as humans are forever searching for a larger story from which to derive meaning for our lives. This is good. This is written into our DNA as image bearers of the Author of the story…that is history. As theologian and philosopher Dallas Willard once said, “we are creatures of drama”.

You can see the search played out in our obsession with the dramas of politics, environmentalism, sports etc. All these things are important and they do matter. But do they provide the guiding narrative of our lives or are they just echoes of a much larger story? The search for significance is embedded in us as humans (Ecclesiates 3:11).

The healing of meaning is the healing that comes to us as we allow our life to be narrated in the context of The Larger Story as told through scripture. From here we can derive true, life-altering significance for everything we do and who we are to be. It is here that transformation happens through the healing of meaning.

reGROUP is focused on this kind of healing and how it comes about in life. The first step is to RECOGNIZE our heart’s deep desire for truth and meaning as the starting point of all life. And that we have sought “life” and meaning in places that cannot deliver. It is then, when we begin to clear the slate of these unfruitful pursuits, that we are ready to hear what is truest about life and what is truest about us.

August 25, 2009

Healing

Posted by Jack

I thought I would put down a few words on the term “healing,” and what we mean by it in the context of reGROUP. I suppose this applies to the context of the Gospel too.

Healing is a powerful word, particularly when used in the spiritual sense. For some, it may be loaded with images of “healing lines,” where people literally line up to be healed—usually by a preacher dressed in a polyester zoot suit. There’s “fainting in the spirit”, “slaying in the spirit” or just plain hokey-ness involved. See Chevy Chase in Fletch Lives…

Let me say that this is not the kind of healing I am talking about. And it doesn’t mean that there is not physical healing in what I am talking about. Unequivocally, I do believe in physical healing. However, healing in the reGROUP context is a bit more practical and, therefore, a bit more understanding is involved.

For an excellent description of what healing looks like in the context of the Gospel and the Kingdom coming through Christ, read John 7:22-24.

Here we see Jesus bringing healing to the whole man on the Sabbath. To the onlooker, this was a troubling event. Not because someone was healed—believe it or not, that actually happened from time to time when a prophet showed up—but rather because the healing took place on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath. A day when no work was supposed to be done, even by a “Super Rabbi”/prophet. So the religious people got all up in arms. But Jesus, true to form, is way ahead of them. He’s sending them a message wrapped in a proclamation.

The message is this: the Gospel of the Kingdom coming addresses the WHOLE man. It comes to heal and to make Holy. Healing and holiness come together. They are not the same thing, necessarily, but now they come together as a necessity. They are separate no longer. Healing comes to make holiness possible. Holiness is possible because healing has come.

So what kind healing are we talking about in reGROUP?

Healing comes in two forms. The healing of integration, including the physical body, mind, soul and spirit. And the healing of meaning. Both are essential to a whole, healed, put together life (Romans 6:22-23 The Message). Both are targets at reGROUP. As we become more whole, holiness becomes more available to us. We can live the life that Jesus lived. It’s available.