Catch the wind of the spirit

1. Catch the wind of the spirit How the five Ministry Gifts Can transform your church

3. Man withcoracle

6. St. Brendan c. 484 – c. 577 Clonfert, Ireland

7. Brendan was constantly encouraging his fellow monks to trust in God and have faith: “After fifteen days the wind dropped and they set themselves to the oars until their strength failed. Straightaway Saint Brendan began to comfort and encourage them, saying: ‘Brothers, do not fear, for God is our helper, our helmsman and our pilot, and he shall guide us. Pull in all the oars and the rudder. Just leave the sails spread, and let God do as he wishes with his servants and their boat.’ Then they continued to refresh their strength until the evening, as long as the wind did not cease to blow. Still, they could not tell from which direction the wind came or in which direction the boat was carried.” Brendan the Navigator. Navigatio Sancti BrendaniAbbatis. MS Alençon. Trans. By Carl Selmer. (Milwaukee: U of Notre Dame Press, 1959) ch. 5 (http://curragh.sakura.ne.jp/eng/navigatio-eng.html) accessed 8/1/14

8. Tim Severin Present day British historian and sailor Cragga-nouwen, Ireland

9. George Macleod, founder of the present-day Iona Community in 1936, made this comment: “Christ is a person to be trusted, not a principle to be tested. The Church is Movement, not a meeting house. The Faith is an Experience, not an exposition. Christians are Explorers, not map makers. It is a present Experience made possible at Bethlehem, offered on Calvary, and communicated at Pentecost.” Ronald Ferguson, George Macleod: Founder of the Iona Community. (London: HarperCollins, 1990), 123.

10. A present experience with nicodemus…

11. JOHN 3:  Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

12. 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

13. 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

14. Wayne Gretzky • “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

15. Question:Is the church today letting the wind of the spirit chart the course for the church or are we just making maps?

16. currents

17. The trinity • The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit---all three---participate in each current. • Each person of the trinity has a vested interest in seeing the five currents in the church move and thrive.

18. What are the five currents? • Sharing the Good News (The Evangelist) • Discipleship and Formation (The Teacher) • Shepherding (The Pastor) • The Prophetic (The Prophet) • Sending Out (The Apostle)

19. EPHESIANS 4:1-3 (NAS) Unity of the Spirit • Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

20. Ephesians 4:4-6 • 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

21. EPHESIANS 4:7-10 • 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.8 Therefore it says, • “When He ascended on high,Heled captive a host of captives,And He gave gifts to men.” • 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?  • 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

24. EPHESIANS 4:7-10 • 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.8 Therefore it says, • “When He ascended on high,Heled captive a host of captives,And He gave gifts to men.” • 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?  • 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

25. EPHESIANS 4:11 • 11 And He gave some as apostles, • and some as prophets, • and some as evangelists, • and some as pastors and teachers….

26. EPHESIANS 4:12-13 • 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;  • 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the staturewhich belongs to the fullness of Christ. 

27. EPHESIANS 4:14-16 • 14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, • 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.