Author Archives for Rob Krause

The Ingress Principle

Something to keep in mind when opening small groups and planting churches (among different cultures) is that people feel most at home and accepted when they are around people who are like them and things that are familiar to them. In other words, people (generally) will be more at ease when they don’t have to cross- “out” of their culture to be a welcome part of a group. This might also be called the principle of homogenity. However, the reason that I call it the Ingress principle is because of the type of welcome that is involved. A Gospel welcome involves believers who are culturally like the guests with accompanying tastes, sounds, colors, smells, music, and even slang (or ways to say things that are particular to their culture).

If you have a group of Germans, it will be difficult to welcome Chinese people  — until there are one or two Chinese who are spending time with the German group AND the Germans make efforts to really affirm, adapt, and understand the Chinese. This really takes some time, energy, and understanding. It sounds missional, doesn’t it?

Remember, in this illustration we are not trying to conform the Chinese to the Germans even though, at first, the Germans are the predominant group. We are saying, because of the Gospel, the Germans are willing to be uncomfortable and uncultural in their way of life for the sake of the Chinese welcoming other Chinese.

The Hearts of the Fathers

The Old Testament closes its last verses with a sign:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6

The arrival of Messiah would have such a radical impact upon the family that the people of Israel would know it when they saw it. Israel’s condition was so terrible that one generation was divided against another down to the core fabric of society. But the closing prophecy of the Old Testament said that Messiah would change the hearts of our families.

With Messiah in the house, there wouldn’t have to be power-struggles or abuses of authority anymore. In that day, the fathers were the most-powerful in a patriarchal society. The children were the least-powerful and often ignored or considered of little to no value. Messiah, however, would show us what the Heavenly Father was all about. The Father loves the least. His heart is turned toward the weakest. He protects the most needy because he is Father. Good fathers give their power away like the Heavenly Father — from the depths of their heart. When Jesus came, he showed us how to receive and love the little children — and they loved him too, didn’t they?

Today, in a world with fractured families and shattered societies, there is the same Good News and sign of Messiah!  If a church is sharing the Gospel, then that church will look more and more like a family. We need our churches to provide places, ways, and opportunities for fathers to walk worthy of the Gospel; to show that the promise of Messiah has been kept by our Heavenly Father!

How will we know when the Gospel is sinking into our churches? One sign will be that dads will stop ignoring children and leaving their training and godliness to chance. Work, the place where men achieve power, will take second place in the heart of a dad who loves home, the place where he gives away his power and rights for the benefit of his children. Children will stop mocking their parents and treating them like ATM machines. They will be attracted to Jesus; they just know him when they see him. Then the home becomes a declaration that the Messiah has come to turn everything right. What a beautiful environment to welcome people into and to share about Christ.

Closing with a word to my father-friends — please don’t send your kids to a program and hope the program will do your hard-but-delightful work for you. Your church will help, but your home is where ministry begins. My challenge is to minister to and with your children. Incorporate other children too. Be a great “spiritual uncle.” I know that I need and want other good dads around my kids too! Don’t just strive to be a fun dad, but rather, be a Gospel dad. Remember that if you’re in Christ, you’ve been given a family for a mission — the mission of the Heavenly Father whose heart is already towards you.

– written to you by a father reflecting upon Father’s Day.

Re-membering One Another

Space and time do not separate or destroy the body of Christ. In fact, a treasure of being a part of the Kingdom-family is that Heaven will be the final reunification of all believers, for all time with Jesus. 

Therefore, our gospel meetings in groups large and small are enactments (signposts, if you will) of that future, promised day. We must not also forget that in the present, our meetings contain a taste of that future and a sight of that power within them. 


With that said, our meetings together help us re-member one another and re-orient each other toward our heavenly objective. We repeat and re-member who we are; a people hosted by the King in a world in which he had to die to make us his guests. We are his Heaven and his light, conquering the darkness before the final day when darkness will be no more. We are an altogether different people. We have to re-member this truth.

This is why our welcoming of each other is so important (Romans 15:7). We are making a Kingdom-declaration with those who are near and a Kingdom-connection with those who are far.  Even when brethren are separated by distance, persecution, or illness they are re-membered through prayer and a few who will go to them on behalf of everyone.

This helps us understand how Paul felt when he said that we belong to one another (Romans 12:5). Re-membering is active belonging. Re-membering also tells us who we are (a Gospel-people) and who we are not (a disconnected individual unto myself) at the same time. Let us actively re-member one another.

 

A Meal with Jesus – Highly Recommended

A Meal with Jesus  is a book that I’d love for all my friends to read this year. For those here in our ministry, you GET to read it (notice the sense of privilege that conveys)!

What’s it about?

In this case, you actually CAN judge the book by its cover. Brother Tim Chester takes a number of meal scenarios with Jesus from the book of Luke and spreads out a grace buffet for us. Take a look at Tim’s trailer below. Even my buddy, Jonny Woodrow, is in it (shout-out to one of the readers of our blog here).  I’ve almost finished reading it, so I’ll try to write a little blurb about it a bit later.

At this point in my reading, I can say — It’s good! Get it. 

Click here to pick up a copy of the book and the link will take you to Amazon and help out Serenissima a little bit too (completely shameless product promotion). 

Meal_with_jesus_v2

 

Here is brother Tim Chester describing his new book
and a link to the original post on his blog.

A Meal with Jesus from Tim Chester on Vimeo.

Family Minestra

Ciao!


When one of my friends in our ministry saw that I was starting this blog, she wrote and exclaimed, “LOVE it. So great- can’t wait for you to spill your beans on the screen. 🙂 ”    Well said. What might look like good soup to me, in reality, is probably just a mess of spilled beans on the screen. I’m still encouraged, however, because I know there’s at least one who doesn’t mind me spilling beans.


So, let’s start cooking (or spilling) here through Holy Minestrone. Thanks for reading and please feel free to reply or comment. Cooking with friends makes the kitchen really enjoyable. Just ask my wife — I keep her company while she does the cooking all the time.


Family Minestra (soup)


I wanted to share a quote that stuck with me since the time I read it in 1996. The church is the family of God, and the family is the church of God. It is a simple thought with a depth of truth. The author was speaking about how Jesus is a real person and if we have his mind, it will impact our church structures. Here is a little more of the author’s context:


Church structure must be compatible with this personal emphasis. Structures should bring people face-to-face with Jesus Christ as responsible persons…Obviously, this will require a proper accent on one-to-one relationships in the Christian community…a whole glorious web of believer-to-believer relationships…small groups are necessary to provide opportunity and stimulus for such relationships… [And] In a sense, the Christian home is one of the structures of the church. In God’s intent, the church is the family of God and the family is the church of God. We must rethink the family on the basis of the biblical understanding of the Body of Christ. [H. Snyder, Radical Renewal, p. 112]


I’ve never heard Christian believers say, “I just want to be deeply connected and involved in a lousy church.” No. The opposite is true. We all say, “I want to be in a great church!” But often, we get the program confused with the mission. So, what’s the secret ingredient to being a part of a great church?


Christian community begins at home. Great churches are made through redeemed homes. If a home is passionate about Jesus, his presence fills that family and makes it his church. Really, the one, must-have ingredient of any church is the magnified presence of Jesus. And, if Jesus can be encountered like that in your home, the front door of your house becomes the front door of his church. I think Jesus even claims to be the Door to where we family (John 10:7,9).


The redeemed, Jesus-filled family — there’s just no other recipe like it on Earth.

 

Upcoming: a book recommendation & more beans on the screen.

On the Stove – a message from Rob Krause

The ingredients are coming together and the pot is on the stove. My new blogging effort is almost ready. I hope to start cooking around the 1st of June.

In the meantime, please read the About Minestrone and the FAQ sections which will explain a little more of where I’d like to go with this blog about Christian community called Holy Minestrone.

You can receive the posts by email (and comment in return too) or through the RSS feed.

I hope you’ll be blessed and stay with me.

From the Cucina,

Rob Krause