Christian Associates Core Values

Core Values

Kingdom focused

We believe that the Kingdom is both now and not yet. We believe that God can and does work in supernatural ways in our lives and in our world. Our goal is to build the kingdom of God, not personal or corporate empires. We believe that the church is God's agent for extending His kingdom.
Biblically based and worshipful

We believe in the authority of scripture. Our approach to the Bible prioritizes transformation over information - we seek to apply God's Word to real life situations. We value experience of God in worship, both individually and in community.
Grace oriented

We believe in the power of God's grace to transform lives, and reject attempts to legislate the Christian life through human rules, especially in gray areas. We embrace diversity, respecting differences of believe in non-essentials. We deal with issues redemptively rather than judicially. We aim at righteousness and emphasize values and principles, avoiding legalism and rule setting.
A dynamic view of the Holy Spirit

We position ourselves between the Pentecostal and anti-Charismatic poles of "everybody has to," and "nobody can." We seek to avoid a theology of excess and a theology of reaction. We hold an evangelical view of the baptism (infilling) of the Holy Spirit. We seek the Holy Spirit's empowering without dictating how that should occur.
Purpose centered and people minded

We are a mission movement with a specific purpose and vision, yet we want to move in a way that values people and relationships. While serious about accomplishing our tasks, we're willing to laugh at ourselves, maintaining a light-hearted element to our relationships and gatherings. We are committed to healthy families and value children, the poor and the vulnerable in our midst.
Developmental and gift based

We believe that each person is a unique contribution to the kingdom of God, and it is our desire to see our people resources develop their God-given potential. We emphasize lifelong development for leaders, encouraging giftedness discovery, decentralized ministry, inclusion of women in leadership, and discovery and fulfillment of life purpose.
Facilitative in leadership

We have a clear mission mandate, vision, philosophy and strategy, yet we are adaptable in how these things are worked out, realizing that there are many cultural and personal variables. We are flexible but focused, seeking to empower our affiliates to fulfill their calling. We are committed to a team approach to ministry.
Entrepreneurial

We recognize that evangelism and church planting requires intuition and gifting; it is both an art and a science. We strive to do things well, but are willing to be innovative and take calculated risks. We step out in faith, trusting God to provide in supernatural ways.
Balancing the strategic and the supernatural

We see both spirituality and practicality. We believe that people's problems could be both demonically inflicted or psychologically induced or a combination of the two. We believe in prayer meetings and planning meetings. We want to be spiritual without over-spiritualizing.
Authentic and Transparent

We value "realness" over performance. We seek to be humble, vulnerable, approachable, open, and teachable.

This statement is extracted from Christian Associates International of Thousand Oaks, California. www.christianassociates.org

When does religous freedom turn into opression?

Religious oppression.

When there is seperation of church and state how big can the state get without shutting down the church because they can't have church influence in school or health care or camps or or or or or on and on because the state runs it.

Making nothing out of something to make everything does not make things better. It is not freedom. Taking away everyone's freedom does make equality. It makes everyone equally oppressed. No one is forced into a religion. Side one. But no one is allowed to have a religion either. Side two.

Why have we traded freedom for spiritual oppression? "No one can" is no more free than "everyone must".

Let us express ourselves. Let us have a camp that has the goal of winning over kids to Christ. Not forcing or pressuring but why is that not a good reason? We want to educate and influence kid in school for their whole lives. Why not in this one category?

Contempt and complaisance are our biggest enemies to the gospel in France

Poem of random thoughts on a day of fasting not

A plant turns toward the sun.
How can I keep my flesh from turning toward?
How do I ward what will not reward in the days of dream?
The plotting one with his schemes hides his face but not his hand.
What's banned? The tanned the delicious the sweet are all of God.
How can I distort them so much in the body of death?
Where is the ref? I out of breath running this race with a back pack the size of France.
All I see I take in it. I hope it does not take in me. How does it effect me?
What are the spiritual kingdom tweaks?
What does it matter if we get drunk or get weak?
Why does it matter if I distort this matter to my own bizarre consequences?

Because you love me and know what is best for me. You love them and know what is best for them. How? Strength in my weakness. Endurance over the storm. Perseverance when the rains come. They drum. They drum. They drum. um um m.
ON and on. SToP. Stop. Stop. op op p. Stop the whaling stop the Top. Stop the constant needs, the hurts the empty open bleeds. Stop the rains the do not flourish. Stop the foods that do not nourish. Encourage. I need some courage. Long ago I felt discouraged. Forgotten, I think not. Rotten, we are rotting but You are restoring. I am adoring the love one renewing. Doing all that we can't. Restoring all our state of being and doing. Making life life again. Not the thing of the past. Long lost and frightened. Hopeless and dreary. I am too much in this world. Not enough in heaven. I have access like the web on my phone. I have a new contract has been made. I fall dark and low. Faded and grey. Like the autumn has passed and the winter is here. Coming, coming Freezing and dull. Slowly fading life away to the infinite nothing. We need to fear this. It is the worst of existence. How Why do we let it in when in Christ we have freedom to keep sunny days and flowers. Colors of the autumn sky and the changing leaves. The bees moving across the meadows and the high grasses of summer. The lives live wild in it and God is at work. Restoring and renewing. Bringing all thing to himself and making all things new.
Turn to him. Life is but a short journey.

fasting

Like a drug that we don't know we are addicted to we go about meeting our daily "needs". and they just keep getting bigger. At one point we will have to choose to stop. We can always eat more and the taste will never fully satisfy.

When we are weaning off of it it tells us that we NEed it. We must have that next sandwich. It is hardly a choice. Then we are super charged fleshy and need other things. What I need is contentment.

What I need is grace and knowledge of God's presence.

Is there an easy way to do it? Will it be pure pain? can it be pure joy if I adopt the right mindset?

Where is my desire to overcome? Where is my want for deeper relationship with the LORD? It is there and I am weak. Operate in my weakness to make me strong LORD. Do not let carnality and loneliness spring up. Do not let me be always running to people when I should be running to you.

Will we know our spiritual hunger if our bellies are full?

don't let your worldly desires and flesh get a hold of you. When I don't exercise, eat too much, and let my flesh rule than it overtakes me. When I satisfy my every fleshly desire than I get less in touch with my spiritual desires. To want in the flesh and choose not to fulfill that desire makes the spirit stronger. lust flows out of lack of exercise and an abundance of food. We don't remember that we don't need these things.

Thinking back to the plane. How afraid I was at the thought of dieing.
How could that be. Where was the peace that God normally give me. I was happy with my worldy life. Lacking little.

I would rather remain earthly secure and comfortable. I felt I had a lot to loose. Why don't I consider it rubbish? If I gain the world I loose the heavens.

I need my daily bread. Man does not live on bread alone but on every word of God. When I find my daily meal each day I am not as hungry for my daily spiritual bread. when the physical is not there to satisfy me I turn to what is not physical to fill me.

Remember. Not every day is a fasting day but when life gets to be too routine and mundaine. When I feel safe and secure and feel like I have it all figured out. When I long for more stuff and bigger things and more posessions for happiness than I am missing something at my core.

Give up what is less for what is great. Temp for eternity.

What is the reward for doing good? Do I get money or earthly recognition? Why is it so much harder to do good and to self sacrifice or to make myself uncomfortable when the answer is no! Why can't I do it when I stand to gain Jesus instead of money. I know that nothing I can do can make you more pleased with me than you are because of Jesus and your love for me doesn't change. But I know that somehow it matters to you. What are these rewards? The type of person I become? The status in heaven? Surely not affection from you. How then should I look at it? Maybe to even ask the question is to miss the point. I can't 'not let the right hand know what the left is doing' if I am thinking about the hands. Maybe I have to let go of me. Get my hands off my mind.

It has been harder to concentrate during qt's. less questions and draw. Am I content? Is that bad, it feels that way. I know you are with me always and in all things I do. Maybe the special time feels unnecessary. But you meet me there in a completely different way. How do you meet me during actions? How do you meet me in life? In scripture.

Bring out your spiritual word to me. Let it be a shining light. My body is a resounding gong

I need your base to hold up all the others. When on the plane I had the extras but I let the foundations get rusty. Don't loose your foundation to build the top floors. They are worthless without what is necessary, a base that is greater than anything on top of it. If the third floor is wider than the basement it will fall from the foundation and hit the ground. Work on the stone. Work on nourishing what is most important, foundational, necessary.

Julie's driver / core identity paper

Core Identity Paper

Julie Jones

Who am I…really? Am I loveable? Am I valuable? Am I worth getting to know…really? We can find ourselves asking these questions from time in our more reflective moments. The trouble is, they are questions that, largely, lie below the surface of our thoughts and more often than not we are largely unaware of them. Yet the way we answer these questions determine so much that deeply impacts our daily existence and the existence of others.

We all have a core identity that serves as a hub, so to speak, to our being. It is like the center of the spokes on a wheel that give centering or balance to the entire bicycle itself. It can also be likened to a central drop of water that when it hits a body of water it sends out various rings and ripples from its center. In both cases the center both shapes and affects its outward parts.

It has been said that all humans are in search of significance and security and that life is a constant pursuit of satisfying our need for both significance and security. I believe there is truth in this understanding and it under girds the thoughts that follow.

Gardening Lessons

We were originally created to have our needs met by God, our Heavenly Father. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve shared a beautiful garden paradise with the God in which all of their needs for security (the garden) and significance (tending the garden and knowing one another and their Father) were met. We know that Adam and Eve succumbed eventually to the temptation to meet their needs themselves rather than remain dependent upon the Father for meeting their needs. The perfection of the Garden was not enough and the course of human history and behavior was forever changed.

Thus our predecessors set the stage for a struggle that we engage in ourselves, everyday of lives; who defines us? This struggle between letting God both define us and be the primary one to meet our needs, and getting our definition of self and our needs met by outside sources, is a struggle as old as time.

Core Question

I believe that each of us has, at our center, a core question; something that we are in pursuit of validating. In my own life this core question has been, “Am I ok?”. This was revealed to me recently, and since that time I have seen how so many thoughts and behaviors in my life point back to the struggle to answer this defining question, “Am I ok?” Someone else may be asking at their center, “Am I good enough?”; another, “Am I loveable?”; and another, “Am I accepted?”.

These questions may come from various experiences, deficits, traumas, etc. that have occurred in our lives. The questions may vary, but the thing that remains the same is that we are all seeking validation. We are all seeking a measure of security and significance in our lives. As humans we are amazingly unique and these questions, therefore, are bound to be as unique as the person asking the question! What is your core question? What do you seem to find yourself in pursuit of answering?

From this core question comes a fork in the road and yet another question, “who is going to answer this question? Who is going to validate this need?”. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden we have a choice. Will we seek to answer this question ourselves? Will we seek validation within our own means? Or will we let our Heavenly Father answer our core question and validate our needs Himself.

Answering our own question our own way

If we choose to answer the question our self and tap into our own resources I would like to propose that we enter the realm of insecurity. We were never meant to meet this need just like Adam and Eve were never meant to partake of the fruit that changed the course of history. Like the pebble that hits a body of still water we have set in motion a serious of actions and behaviors, ripple effects so to speak, that come out of a place of insecurity.

For example, if my core question is “am I ok?” and I must answer that question myself and validate, within my own resources, that fact that indeed I am ok, then I am starting a ripple of responses (out of a place of insecurity) that must be validating to myself.

I am now committed to search for security and significance in any way I can and through any means I can find. This search for security taps into what I call Drivers. These Drivers are what I need to validate my question of “am I ok?”.

Drivers can embody such affirmatives such as :Be Good; Work Hard; Be Strong; Be Perfect; Be Funny; Feel Good; Please Others; Be Positive; Be Logical/Objective and the like.

Now these Drives become the energizing force behind answering the insecurity driven by answering the core question within our own strength and resource base.

These Drivers in turn dictate behavior. For example, with the core question of “am I ok?” and the need to answer that question, one Driver might be Please Others. My belief might be that if I please others they will validate me by liking me and I will feel good about myself and I will be somewhat answering the question of “am I ok?’ because, yes I am ok. So and so likes me and that makes me ok.

Another response to answering the question might be accessing the Driver Work Harder. My belief might be that if I work harder than everyone else, if I stay in the office until 3 am finishing projects, if I get the highest score in the class, then I am ok. Then I am secure.

Do you see how these Drivers become the energizing force behind answering what defines us? Unfortunately, more often than not and especially in Christian circles, these Drivers include socially acceptable behavior.

If I am seeking self-validation and access the Driver of Please Others then I can be seen as the model Christian because I never rock the boat, never cause pain or trouble for anyone and seem to exemplify the picture of the Peacemaker. The trouble is that this “good” behavior is coming out of a desire to be validated by man and not God. It is extremely difficult to extricate ourselves from such unhealthy drivers because they are validated by society – regardless of whether it is coming from a healthy place or not.

Did you have trouble identifying your core question? Often if we struggle to see what our Core Question is, we can look at our behaviors and what particularDrivers are energizing our behaviors.

If we work from the outside of the rings formed or the ripple effect from the Core Question we might have insight into that Core Question. For example, using the above illustration, we can look at our behavior of keeping the peace. Why do we always keep the peace? What is driving that? Am I seeking to please others? What is driving that need to please? Am I asking a deeper question and if so what might that be? Who at this point is answering this question?

These behaviors can generally be categorized into areas like Self Destructive behavior, Self Righteous behavior or Self Disciplined type behavior.

A God defined identity
Let’s now look at this from the perspective of our Core Question being addressed in light of letting God into the mix. Let’s say my Core Question is “Am I accepted”. As I ask that question of myself, I have the opportunity to let my Heavenly Father answer that question. What does He say about me?

This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited salty land.

7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.


The Message

“Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans,who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight.

He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.

But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers – Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.”

Jeremiah 17:5-8 talks about the “blessed” man who puts his hope and trust in the Lord and has made Him his hope and confidence. This man is like a tree planted by riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit

With this in mind, I know that my security (roots) and significance (fruit) comes from the Lord. As I let Him address my Core Question of am I accepted I have the opportunity to operate from a secure place. Like in the Garden, I was designed to have the Heavenly Father meet my needs…all of them. I am operating in a manner consistent with my creation and calling and have the opportunity to work from an arena of strength, energized by God’s Spirit.

At this point I am inviting the Holy Spirit to become the Driver. He is the energizing force behind my Core Question. He is then free to empower me. If I know I am accepted He then can empower me, out of a place of fullness and security, to not only answer that question for myself but to be a blessing to others.

My behaviors then can come out of a place energized by the Holy Spirit who Himself is validating me and my Core Question.

For example, with my Core Question of “Am I accepted” being answered by God as yes and as the Holy Spirit is given freedom to energize me I am operating from a place of security. As I operate from a place of security, I am able to be a blessing to others. I may even be able to validate them in the question of their acceptability. Because I am secure at that moment, I am not striving to get my own question answered but can focus on another to validate them and encourage them. This encouragement does not come from striving within myself, but from the energizing power of the Holy Spirit.

This is an entirely different story, is it not? As I approach my day and I feel insecure about something I have the option to go to God and ask to see myself as He sees me. This can be as simple as a breath prayer prayed in the moment you are aware of who is taking control. “Lord, I am nervous walking into this classroom. These kids are going to eat me alive and I feel unsure of my ability as a teacher. I trust that you say I am ok. Will you empower me to teach well. I trust you in this moment. Amen.”

As I tap into that perspective, I can access the Holy Spirit to energize. He has been given space to move; an invitation to empower. What flows from there is His. Then my behavior has the opportunity to be a blessing to others rather than self-serving and a desperate attempt to meet my own needs for security and significance. See the difference?

When I am validated by God and energized by His Spirit I can steer away from needing to meet my own needs in either self destructive, self righteous or self disciplined ways.

I see this as a moment by moment choice and an absolute retraining of the mind. I must either look at my question or behavior to guide me as to whether I am tapping into the strength that God seeks to provide or my own strength which, in the Jeremiah verses leave me like a “stunted shrub in the dessert with no hope for the future.”
I want to flourish, how about you?

Thoughts on All Saints from Biblos etc.

In many Protestant churches, the word "saint" is used more generally to refer to anyone who is a Christian. This is similar in usage to Paul's numerous references in the New Testament of the Bible. In this sense, anyone who is within the Body of Christ (i.e., a professing Christian) is a 'saint' because of their relationship with Christ Jesus. Because of this, many Protestants consider prayers to the saints to be idolatry or even necromancy. Dead Christians are awaiting resurrection, and are not able to do anything for the living saint.

First Epistle of Peter, 2:9: But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light

In ancient Israel, priests acted as mediators between God and people. They ministered according to God's instruction and they offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. Once a year, the high priest would enter the holiest part of the temple and offer a sacrifice for the sins of all the people, including all the priests.
Although many religions use priests, most Protestant faiths reject the idea of a priesthood as a group that is spiritually distinct from lay people.

Most Protestants today recognize only one mediator between them and God the Father, and that is God the Son, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). The Epistle to the Hebrews calls Jesus the supreme "high priest," who offered himself as a perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 7:23-28). Protestants believe that through Christ they have been given direct access to God, just like a priest; thus the doctrine is called the priesthood of all believers. God is equally accessible to all the faithful, and every Christian has equal potential to minister for God. This doctrine stands in opposition to the concept of a spiritual aristocracy or hierarchy within Christianity. ( The idea of this does not preclude order, authority or discipline within congregations or denominational organizations)

This is accompanied by a remarkable faith in and relationship with God. The status "saint

The traditional use of the term saint is used in religious traditions to refer to one who is holy or revered. It is referred to in the bible as one who is sanctified. T
halos around their heads
Although the typical western usage of the term saint refers to any individual who might be regarded as Holy, Consecrated, Revered or of having a high religious or spiritual rank is a correct one from the point of view of Westernized thought I would argue that this word is wrongly used in western society in general because the true essence of Sainthood and how it might be brought about is little understood.

From an Etymological perspective the word Saint comes from the Latin word Sanctus which meant ''Holy''.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (superl.) Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood.
2. (superl.) Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God.

2 Cor 3; 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflecta the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.