Discuss - - Discern - - Design Your Journey

Where do we begin? How do we focus? What needs to change?

Welcoming your group to the Reimagine.Network

. . . a resource hub for readers and leaders who sense that the Church does not merely need more activity, but deeper discernment.

This site is designed to help you explore your focus, passion, concern, or question and then

follow a pathway into resources that can help you rethink ministry with Christ at the center.

You do not have to know exactly what you are rethinking before you begin. Start with the concern that brought you here.

Take time to orient yourself to the pathways and options.

Include others in your journey; make it "our journey.

To design, you must discern. To discern, your must discuss (and that includes asking-seeking-knocking).

•Our resources are yours.

•Come back and use them often.

•Share them. Free-access...

Discussion Group Guide

Learn together. Pray together. Rethink together.

Rather than simply reading an article, invite others into a conversation.

Use the questions below to begin/resume the journey (or any Forum discussion, Leader Lab, interview, or Ministry Hub that has captured your attention).

Then follow a simple rhythm:

1. Pray

Ask the Holy Spirit to renew your minds and give your group the mind of Christ.

2. Read

Read the selected article or resource before meeting—or together during your discussion.

3. Reflect

What challenged your assumptions?

What encouraged you?

What surprised you?

4. Discuss

Where do you agree?

Where do you disagree?

What questions remain?

5. Reimagine

How might this reshape our ministry?

Our leadership?

Our congregation?

Our community?

6. Respond

What is one specific step God may be asking us to take?

Another format to consider:

READ
What stood out?

↓

PLEAD
What should we pray about?

↓

HEED
What is God asking us to investigate? Initiate?

↓

SEED
Who else needs this conversation?

 Invitation to Our Conversaton 

The goal is not simply to browse more content...

                  The goal is to follow a pathway from concern to question,

                                    from question to reflection, and

                                                      from reflection to Spirit-led, Scripture-fed action.

• Start with your focus,
• Follow the question,
• ReCenter Christ,
• Who will lead you to reimagine the way forward.

Our Reimagination Conversation  . . .

Questions to Jump-Start Your Re-View and Re-Examination of

Perspectives and Presumptions that Drive Your Spiritual Life and Ministry

• Why should I / our church reimagine?

Answer this question before you go looking for solutions.

• How can I search Reimagine.Network to interact with thought-provoking perspectives?

Where to find what you need. Quick-access.

• How do we begin to "be not conformed"?

Every new journey needs to leave some things behind. {scroll options}

• How do we pursue being "transformed by a renewed mindset"?

Navigate these four distinct paths to invite everyone on a spiritual journey of transformation.

• Why do we need different questions to discover better answers?

Reimagining begins with better questions, not prefab answers.

• How do I cast vision in a way that involves others in the process?

Convene conversations and group discussions with: Leader Labs * Mini-Courses * Seminar Slides * Workshop Templates. {scroll list}

• How do we recenter Christ in every family, ministry, activity?

Seeking the presence of Christ, so that, we serve the Kingdom purposes of Christ.

• How do we rethink how we pray-think-plan our ministries of prayer, disciple making, evangelism, missional outreach?

No Quick-Fixes.

Never Begin with Programing

Ask-Seek-Knock for Faith to Dream + Courage to Act

Get started. Keep going...

Where is your Focus, Passion, Concern, or Question?

Are you wondering why you need to reimagine? Is this even biblical?

Explore Why Reimagine?, and How to Use This Site.

Are you willing to begin recentering Christ in every ministry and activity?

Explore ReCenter Christ, Christ-Centered Questions, and If Christ is the Answer... What's the Question?.

Are you focused on prayer?

Explore Strategic Prayer - #ReimaginePRAYER.

Are you concerned about disciplemaking?

Explore Discipleship - #ReThinkDISCIPLESHIP.

Are you wrestling with Scripture, worldview, or theological assumptions?

Explore Scripture - #ReExamineSCRIPTURE, and Biblical Worldview.

Are you rethinking evangelism?

Explore ReformatEVANGELISM.

Are you concerned about the future of the Church?

Explore Church - #ReSetCHURCH, Future Church, and De-/Re-Construction Forum.

Are you passionate about mercy, justice, neighborhoods, or communities?

Explore Compassion - #ReFocusCOMPASSION, and Cities - #ReEngageCITIES.

Are you asking big questions about what must be unlearned, reconstructed, recovered, or reimagined?

Explore Forums & Conversations, What's The Question?, The De-/Re-Construction Forum, Future Church, Biblical Worldview, The Gospel Spectrum, and Church Reimagined / Reconfigured.

Are you looking for content for teaching/preaching, group discussion, or leadership planning?

Explore Formation & Learning, Strategies for #Reimagineers, Leader Labs, Mini-Courses, Workshops, Worksheets, Staff Retreats,

and Interview Insights.

I recently found myself humming an old tune, which is an apt prophetic picture of where many of us presently find ourselves:

He flies through the air with the greatest of ease,

The daring young man on the flying trapeze.

Just as a circus trapeze artist must let go of one trapeze and fly through the air until grabbing the next one, I often have found myself in a similar position—flying through the air in transition between the trapeze left behind and the one still to come.

It must be an exhilarating experience for a trapeze artist to fly through the air like that. But I’m sure it’s also a bit terrifying to know that the force of gravity will take its effect if the next trapeze doesn’t come within reach soon.

Much of the church is in a similar place, it seems. We have been propelled by many wonderful trapezes, past revivals and moves of God. But now many of us are flying swiftly through the air, on our way to a coming trapeze that is not yet altogether visible.

If we recognize that God’s plan is to take us “from one degree of glory to another” in this process (2 Corinthians 3:18), this can be an exhilarating experience. However, it’s easy to feel apprehensive as well, with nothing to hang onto except the Lord Himself.

Experienced trapeze artists realize they dare not look down or they will surely miss the next trapeze. Big mistake! Instead, the Lord’s intention is not only to keep us from falling (Jude 1:24), but to enable us to soar on eagles’ wings (Isaiah 40:31).

Despite the dangers, this is no time to play it safe. If we insist on clinging for dear life to our original trapeze, we are certain to make no progress at all. We’ll never go any higher unless we exhibit the courage of “the daring young man” who was willing to defy gravity and fly.

Be bold and courageous, my friend. As you let go of the past and press forward, I pray you will be strengthened for exciting new transitions on God’s flying trapeze. 

It’s beautiful, but also exasperating, that the Bible often points out two seemingly opposite and contradictory sides of a subject. For example, Jesus is both God and man, a paradox that is hard, if not impossible, for us to fully grasp.

And have you ever studied the issue of “eternal security”? If so, you’ve found verses that seem to state the absolute impossibility of losing your salvation (e.g., John 10:28-29, Romans 8:31-39, Philippians 1:6), while other passages warn about the danger of falling away (Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-27, 2 Timothy 2:12, 2 Peter 2:20-22). I’m sure God understands how all of this works together. But if we’re honest, sometimes it’s a bit baffling for us.

In the face of the Bible’s paradoxes, our tendency is to cite proof texts on one side of an issue or the other. In doing so, we ignore verses that show the other side, and this typically leads to heated theological arguments with sincere believers who have their own set of proof texts.

Hey, I used to be an attorney, so I’m pretty good at presenting just one side of the evidence.

Some of the Bible’s paradoxes are practical, not just theological, in nature. For example, I have a close friend who loves to quote Paul’s words about contentment: “  (Philippians 4:11).

Over the many years this friend has known me, he’s periodically observed my discontentment over my finances, my weight, my lack of spiritual impact, and many other things. And even after I was able to get unstuck and make progress in these areas of discontentment, he’s noticed that I always find another mountain of discontentment that I still needed to climb.

When my friend preaches to me contentment, I quote to him a passage Paul writes in the chapter right before his statement about being content: “I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

I guess I struggle with the whole contentment thing. How can we be content, when our spiritual condition or other aspects of our lives fall short of God’s best for us?

What a dilemma this is. By focusing on the importance of contentment, my friend runs the risk of settling for circumstances in his life that God wants to change. In time, he’s liable to get stuck in situations that are far less than God’s high calling for his life.

But my perspective clearly has its dangers too. By stressing a lifestyle of continually “pressing on” to ever-higher goals and objectives, I run the risk of never resting or enjoying the journey. Life tends to become just one long marathon race, never being satisfied with my current position on the GPS.

Somehow both of these scriptural principles are true. Wherever we’re currently at on our journey through life, we must learn to abide in the Lord and experience His peace (Philippians 4:6-9, John 15:1-5). Thankful that He is faithfully working out His purpose in our lives, we can unapologetically take some time to “smell the roses” along the way.

Of course, this doesn’t negate the realization that we haven’t “arrived” yet. No matter how far we’ve come so far, we are still in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). And rather than allowing ourselves to become stuck on some spiritual plateau, we must recognize God’s “upward call” to transform us from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18).

So which side of the contentment dilemma are you on today? Do you need a nudge to get unstuck and press higher, or is it time to take a deep breath, rest, and enjoy where God has brought you so far?