LEADERSHIP Archives - Caesar Kalinowski

Flannelgraph Theology

I grew up going to Sunday school pretty much every week of my young life. Our teachers told us amazing stories from the Bible, nicely illustrated with flannel characters, all of them ending with a nice moral such as, “If you have faith like David had, you can slay any giant in your own life too!” Or, “So, kids, if you’re obedient like Noah, God will protect you from all the bad stuff in your life.”

Not only did those teachers miss the point of the stories (God is always the hero!), but they never taught us that the Bible is one big story.

In fact, it is the Story of God. It’s not a collection of unrelated moralistic tales, nor is it a history lesson. The Bible tells a living and active story that is still unfolding—and we are characters in this story!

Imagine you are trying to put together a large, 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

A lot of time and work would go into getting to the point where you could actually see the picture that the artist intended. But think about how difficult your task would be if you did not have the lid to the box that the puzzle came in. You would have no way to tell what exactly you were trying to piece together.

“Is this a part of the sky or a reflection of the lake? Is this animal fur or a piece of a tree?”

For many of us, this is how we have learned the Bible. It mirrors the process we’ve engaged in to grow in our faith and understanding of who God is and what he is doing. We have heard sermon after sermon, and done one book study after another without really knowing what the big picture of this whole “Christianity thing” really is. Every once in a while, we’ll fit a couple of pieces together and rejoice. And some of us have been around church and the Bible long enough to sort of have all of the “edge pieces” put together, the basic framework of the Bible, but we still do not really know the Bible as one big story. We are not super clear on who exactly God is, what he has done, who we are in light of this, and how we should live.

We do not know the Story of God.

I want to encourage you to move beyond a chapter and verse, flannel graph theology and grab some friends and start going through the Story of God as a community…remember, our goal is not biblical literacy, its gospel fluency, and the next best time to dive deeper is now.

Who Broke the Missional Movement?

About a decade ago, the “missional movement” promised to transform the Church and make loads of new disciples. It was supposed to break down barriers in our culture, stopping the decline of church attendance nationwide. So who broke the missional movement?

Unfortunately, the answer may be closer than we think. (more…)

Why Missional Community Will Never Work in Your Context

In this installment of “Ask Caesar” I answer the question of why a missional community will fail in your context. It’s a question I get asked A LOT, one that is most often put to me, though, as an objection. It usually sounds something like this…

“I think that missional community life probably works great where you live, but you don’t understand my context. People are different here… they’ll never have you into their homes, or come over to your place. Folks are just too busy or not open to relationship like this in our city.” (more…)

Are You Measuring What God Measures in Your Life and Ministry?

Last week in my post: How Leaders Keep from Tapping Out, Burning Out or Being Disqualified, I shared with you some of the things that Hugh Halter and I have been learning about being leaders who stay in the game for the long haul.

We looked at the first part of our Journeymen Oath #2: “I Commit to Move at God’s Pace and Measure what God Measures.”

And we saw how important it was to move at a sustainable pace, following Jesus’ teachings on the pattern and the promises from his parables that lead to explosive and sustainable kingdom growth. Small is big, slow is fast and multiplication wins. Now let’s finish up this “oath” and look at metrics and measurements. (more…)

Be The Church

If you’re a Christian who has grown up “going to church” most Sundays, do you find yourself asking, “Is this all there is?” Maybe instead of just going to church it’s time to BE the Church!

Please read on.

I spent my first few years as a pastor at a really large church near Chicago. I will be forever grateful to the staff I worked with during those years.

My life, character, and theology were shaped in profound ways during that time, and yet I still wondered, was this all there was? Is this what Jesus meant by his Kingdom had now come onto this earth?

Get a free copy of my super-popular eBook, Be The Church, now.

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Is the Medium Really the Message?

I’ve been doing a little thinking about how most of the church in America, and often around the world, most commonly meets together. You know–at our Sunday services? Is the way we’re often “doing church” really communicating what we think it is, especially to visitors or folks just checking things out?

Is the form in which we receive a message as important as the message itself? (more…)