Archive for the ‘Soma School’ Category

THE Story round three! (& a quick hit to Philly)

Posted: March 1, 2012 by mikehanafee in racism, Restore Church, social justice, Soma School, THE Story
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Lather, rinse, repeat. OK, that cycle went the way of my hair some years back! But here’s a cycle that I still know by painful experience –  rebellion, rescue, repeat. As we saw Sunday in round 3 of THE Story, Rescue to Rebellion, that’s the story of Israel in the OT. Man, do we ever need a Rescuer! That’s exactly what & who THE Story has been increasingly pointing us toward…and next Sunday we get to begin to talk about Him by Name!

Attendance was down by over 20 due to sickness & travel & probably other reasons but the interaction was thick! Conversation points included the delusion of saying God is first in our life (1st Commandment) but willfully dismissing His commands (2nd – 10th commandments); the role of God’s law in our lives; the tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility; and the ways culture justifies things that God clearly prohibits (like racism & abortion) on the basis of “my rights”, scripture twisting, personal convenience, and comfort. Check it out it out here  as I lead scene 1, Deliverance & Instructions, and Clete leads scene 2, The Kings & the Prophets.

Also, last Thursday & Friday Clete & I did a quick (1200 miles roundtrip) trip to Philly to sit at a very informative roundtable on urban ministry in predominately african-american and latino areas (what I call non-skinny jeans urbia). There were some really thought provoking discussions on topics like why many african-american men see Christianity as weak and are therefore drawn to Islam (by Carl Ellis Jr, author of Free at Last? The Gospel in African American Experience, a must read), on how to focus on your local community while giving space in your church for committed Christians outside your immediate neighborhood (by Eric Mason), building biblical community where nuclear families are the great exception and not the norm, reaching unchurchables, leveraging a “churchified” context for mission, and breaking up urban soil. It was so good I’ll be doing another 42 hour quick hit to Philly for the May roundtable on preaching & theology in the city. You can check out this ministry, ThriveInTheCity, as well as get information about their second Thriving Summit on October 12-13, here.

THE Story round two!

Posted: February 21, 2012 by mikehanafee in Soma School, THE Story, Uncategorized
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As a young child I had Noah’s Ark themed bedsheets. Many nurseries are painted with animals on the ark. This is quite ironic, when you consider the catastrophic nature of the flood. It’s like having scenes from Hurricane Katrina on your child’s wall. And as one participant noted in Round 2 of THE Story, the great flood makes tsunamis seem like a playful splash. It is a vivid illustration of a reoccurring theme in THE Story. God, who is holy (everything He does is good, right, & perfect) must deal with rebellion. “God don’t play” was the way one guy very appropriately put it. But we also see God is relentlessly merciful. He did have an ark made after all! And years later He chooses a man named Abram and makes an incredible promise to him that is bearing fruit to this very day.

You can watch “Judgment to Mercy” below. Clete leads in scene 1, the flood, and I take scene 2, the covenant. The interaction among the 60+ attenders was great, and if you listen you’ll notice several funny moments mixed in with some serious discussion about God.

And thanks to the Pistons 20 of us were able to attend last Friday night’s game for free (& see a victory too!).

Interim Facility Secured!

Posted: January 5, 2012 by mikehanafee in Detroit Info, preaching, racism, Restore Church, social justice, Soma School, Uncategorized
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Restore Church has secured use of a great facility located right in our community – yes, we are excited!  And we are very thankful for the people of Grace Episcopal Church (NW corner of Rosa Parks Blvd & Virginia Park St) graciously opening up their excellent building to us!  We are planning two different events.

First, on January 15 3PM we will celebrate the power of the gospel in racial reconciliation. This worship service will include music, a narration from Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, and a sermon on the vertical & horizontal reconciling power of the gospel from Ephesians 2:11-22.

Second, for 8 consecutive Sundays 3-5PM (February 12 – April 1) we will hold a Christ-centered, from Genesis to Revelation, interactive Bible study called THE Story. You may remember Clete blogging about this study here.

For the advance of the gospel in the 48202/206 & outward in 2012,

Mike

 

Abyssinia

Posted: September 30, 2011 by mikehanafee in Detroit Info, Soma School, Uncategorized
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While we are definitely not a building centered ministry, there is a beautiful old church less than a mile away that I dream about as a worship space & community center. Getting it would require the same power that divided the Red Sea! The place needs much work & would cost a lot to restore. (Any millionaires out there want to pony up?;) Since arriving last fall this dilapidated church building has been boarded up, but currently a movie is being shot on sight and yesterday we were finally able to get inside . (For you film aficionados the movie is based on James Patterson’s novel I, Alex Cross and stars Tyler Perry.)

As I walked through this building that has stood at 8501 Woodward Avenue since 1911, I was struck by two things. (Well, actually three things when you include the ultimate fighting cage set up on the sanctuary floor for one of the movie scenes.) I noticed an old church covenant on the wall, recording the church’s commitment to itself and it’s community. And later Clete showed me an old church registry notating the death of several members in the 1930′s & 1940′s as if it happened yesterday. You can see the covenant & the registry in the pictures below. As I walked through this old facility these questions came to mind: How many people worshiped here through the years? Who were they? In what ways was Jesus lifted up & lives transformed in these ministries? How many songs echoed through those rafters and sermons sounded across the large auditorium? And then there were darker questions: Was the church ever integrated or did it go from a white congregation to a black congregation over night? Why does a church no longer meet there? Why is the original congregation (Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church) like the seven churches of Revelation, dead and buried under the dust of time?

In glory I will worship with some of the saints who worshiped in this building. And maybe before then I’ll be able, like them, to worship in this building. It’s worth praying about! But far more than that I pray that Jesus will save, transform, & delight scores  & scores of people who live in the neighborhood around that old building. Buildings crumble but life in Christ is forever!

The pictures are from yesterday’s movie shooting, from places right around the building, & – I couldn’t resist – from Tuesday night’s Tigers’ game (we were on the 3rd row!). You can find a beautiful pictorial history of the church here. Finally, at the bottom there is a 20 second video of a recent tour inside the building.

Video: Jesus builds His Church His way through average people like us!

Posted: January 21, 2011 by mikehanafee in Core Values, Soma School, Vision
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To show & tell the gospel in 48202 in order to make disciple-making disciples – that’s what we are about at Restore. Of critical importance, then, is our understanding of the church. Namely, what is the church & how is it to function? One of the contributing influences in answering this question from Scripture has been Soma Communities  in Tacoma, Washington. (As many of you know, Clete, Susan & I attended a week long training in May called Soma School 101. I blogged a bit about it here, here, here, here, & here. You can access the notes & messages here. And in November, just before moving to Detroit, Clete & I attended the first ever Soma 201.)

This 15 minute message from Ephesians by Jeff Vanderstelt  (Soma Communities/VP of Acts 29) provides a good summary of what we have learned in our interaction with Soma and is a worthwhile listen not only for those interested in learning about Restore but also for those seeking to learn more about the call to make disciple-making disciples.

 

 

*Unfortunately Vimeo does not play on Iphones at this time so you’ll have to go to your computer to watch the video

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Posted: May 27, 2010 by cletebontrager in Soma School
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When we were at Soma School we heard the “Story of God”.  What a refreshing way to look at the Bible.  The Bible is a story and should be read as one.  The whole point of the Bible also is JESUS.  From Soma Web Site:

For thousands of years, stories and oral traditions were the key means for Jewish and Christian people to learn about and experience God. Soma Communities interacts with the biblical narrative through stories as one of our primary ways of teaching and engaging the Word. Often, we use an ancient Hebrew process, now called Storying. This is proving to be very effective with people of all ages in our media-literate, story-oriented North American context. We interact with these stories as a way to understand, experience and connect with God through his Word in community. Here, you can interact with Soma as we experience the Story of God in our larger weekend Gatherings, and beyond, in this blog…

We are going through the Story chronologically. These stories make up what we call the “Redemptive Arc”. The line of questions we ask are designed to help us see the redemptive work of God from the beginning of the Story. It is not meant to teach us everything that we could possibly see in the story…that’s for another day. To fully engage this with us you will want to start at the beginning by listening to the narrative and interacting with the questions for the PROLOGUE: Beginnings story. Continue from there to the next story, and so on.

Gathered Worship & Seattle Fellowship ~ Soma School: Day 6

Posted: May 17, 2010 by mikehanafee in Soma School, Uncategorized
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The corporate gathering is not the point of the church but a punctuation & celebration of 24/7 gospel living. For that reason we were particularly excited to meet with the Tacoma missional communities this AM – what a celebration it was! Then with some new church planter friends from Missouri & San Francisco we enjoyed several hours touring the Seattle fish market. We are ending the day sitting in on missional group leader discipleship training.

Friday- Soma School — Saturday- Day of toil

Posted: May 15, 2010 by cletebontrager in Soma School, Uncategorized
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Today I’m going to put up some pics of what we did and will give a tease about some blogging we will do next week.  

We had breakfast with the Tildens this morning (wonderful egg mixture with mushrooms).  Went on a service project with them to a community garden.  This garden bounty is given to various food banks in the area here in Gig Harbour.  

So yes we are all very tired, but satisfied with a good days toil knowing that God is the source of all life and without him all the planting and watering is in vain.

Next week will blog about the 4 G’s of God.  Some stuff we already knew, but teased out maybe a little differently. 

Keep watching for that coming next week.

Enjoy the pics from yesterday and today.

Oh, yesterday we went to a Song Writers Showcase.  Students from Tacoma School of the Arts were their and it was sweet.  Aaron Spiro heads it up.  Stinkin’ gifted dude.  Thanks to Shakabrah Java for creating a venue for this.

Jim and Mike at Shakabrah

 

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Get some rhythm ~ Some School: Day 3

Posted: May 14, 2010 by cletebontrager in Soma School, Uncategorized
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We have much to process after another gospel packed day at Soma. We completed the walk thru The Story ending in Revelation with goose bumps & tears of joy.  In the afternoon we walked through the rhythms of life which provide opportunities to display & declare by the power of the Spirit the love of the Father through His Son Jesus.

Though this is not a “sound bite” conference here are some powerful quotes.

Your work always flows out of your identity.

Every member is paid staff.

Every Christian is called to be a worship leader,

Our greatest need for rightly relating to others is remembering God’s grace in our lives.

Don’t let “going to church” be an excuse for not being on mission.

Bless people in such a way that demands a gospel explanation.

We should be the most celebratory group on earth!

What a day! Soma School: Day 2

Posted: May 12, 2010 by mikehanafee in Soma School
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Woke up 5/12 to a run up some backbreaking hills in Gig Harbor before rehydrating with coffee. Morning session was a continuation The Story through the end of the Old Testament. Then in the afternoon Jeff brought it on Gospel Identities & What Shapes the Church?

Some powerful quotes:

Whatever God commands He provides.

Maybe you don’t know the power of God because you are not trying anything that would require it.

All sin is connected to unbelief in Jesus.

None of you have been saved for your purposes – that’s what you were saved from.

Sanctification is getting closer to the cross.

We should not just celebrate what Jesus has done, we should also celebrate what He is doing!

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