DO YOU KNOW ARMANDO?
In 1987, an amazing 8 year old boy attended a Roman Catholic gathering of bishops. Armando cannot walk or talk. He is very small for his age. He came to the L'Arche Community from an orphanage where he had been abandoned. He was desperately thin and dying for lack of food.
After a while, the community took him in where he found people who held him, loved him, and wanted him to live. He began to eat again and develop. He still cannot walk or talk or eat by himself. His body is twisted and broken, and he has a severe mental disability.
But when you pick him up, his eyes and whole body quiver with joy. In excitement, he'll say to you, "I love you." Armando has a deep impact and personal influence on people around him.
If someone loves you, as the members of L'ARCHE loved Armando in both his physical and spiritual deformities, we discover something good can survive. Something pure. It takes Armando for us to see the miracle of the Gospel in our hearts and lives. Broken yet beautiful. It's because Armando found a fellowship that gives him Christ's unconditional love and grace.
All of us need the example of Armando and his kind of spiritual community to grow and thrive.
(www.lifebibleschool.com)
Refreshing Moments
I remember while working at my computer, deep in writing, I glanced outside my window. I saw a bird. I became the bird. No separation. For a startling moment, I was the bird. And also the sky hovering. Suspension of time and self. Problems dissolve for a while. And then back to earth where I came from. Refreshing moments.
(http://www.lifebibleschool.com/)
Are You Lost in the Church?
In the mid 1990s, George Barna startled the church with what he termed "one of the rudest awakenings I have ever received." And what's that? It's this: "Half of all adults who attend ...churches on a typical Sunday morning are not Christian!" Churches are filled with individuals who by reason of tradition, misinformation, demonic deception or something else have never come to a grace-based relationship with Jesus Christ. They are "lost in church."
My church where I am right now is very evangelistic. And we're an active part of reaching the lost outside the walls of our local church. But there's this pressing need that Barna has exposed: up to one-half of the people going to church week after week are not Christians -"lost churchgoers!" As his research indicated, the need for "intra-evangelism" (evangelism within the walls of the church) is huge.
It's the Matthew 7/21 Window - the lost in the church. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." The passage does imply that there will be those who'd get church or religion, but they don't get Jesus! I do used to think that I find the lost only outside the church fellowship. I can better see and understand now what's going on. My eyes are widely opened.
This explains why chaos happens within the church. Week after week, people go to church. Everything looks fine, but intimacy with God dries up. Gossip among churchgoers. Self-seeking ministers and workers. Fornicating worship leaders. Hypocritical, undisciplined, no passion for the lost. Indeed, behind the mask of outward spiritual church life, may lie a great darkness and lostness of soul.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. ~ John 3:36 (KJV)
Check and view powerpoint on "Are You Lost in the Church?" plus many other helpful materials from the website http://www.lostinchurch.com/ to understand the issue better.
(www.lifebibleschool.com)
THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH
I'm currently reading a book entitled "The Safest Place on Earth" recently written by popular author Larry Crabb. It's an important book that many of us have been waiting for long!
Dr. Crabb has pointedly described the widespread problem of "unspiritual community" in the church. He wrote, "More often than not we are disappointed. Why? Why is spiritual community - "church" - high on so many people's list as a major spiritual problem? The question is no respecter of persons: young and old, men and women in the pews and pastors in their pulpits, long-time Christians, new Christians, and not-quite-yet Christians. The question ranges across denominational lines."
People are longing for true spiritual community. We have had enough of loneliness, independence, and competition. In building true spiritual community in the local church, Dr. Crabb advocates for turning away from managerial and leadership skills that are held important in our culture. He invites us to return to the biblical and actual conditions in which true spiritual communities exist.
One lesson I learned from Dr. Crabb's book is that community is aroused by passions in its members. And passions are not easily managed. They cannot be reduced to principles or boxed by rules and regulations. He said:
"It is still tempting to try to manage community because it matters so much. We don't want to trust Someone else to get it right. We work at our marriages by carefully following principles of communication and strategies for conflict resolution ... But soul care and all relationships are spiritual activity. Good relating that stirs life in another, whether in counseling, family, or friendship, depends on the Spirit and cannot, therefore, be managed, because He cannot be managed."
That lesson means a lot to me. Until that shift happens, the community we all long for in our families and churches cannot happen.
This is just one of those major things I got from the book. There is much more. So, take a hold of this wonderful book while you still have time to live a better Christian life!
(www.lifebibleschool.com)
WELCOME TO LIFE BIBLE SCHOOL'S
International Weblog Community!
(www.lifebibleschool.com)
Hi, I'm Angelo Subida, your friend, partner, and community moderator for this new LBS International Blog online community portal. This is your web-based, high-tech, high-touch community where we can develop community at Life Bible School by putting our writing or photo blogs in one place. It offers multi-cultural and international friendship, state-of-the-art internet blogging technology, free resources, and other helpful information and links.
LBS International Blog online community portal is a journey in grace, an experiment, which is taking shape as a web-enabled network of individuals, small groups, schools, organizations, and faith communities devoted to exploring what it means to be a faithful Christian in the 21st century.
Our goal is to form small, intimate, deep communities that worship Jesus, that exalt and proclaim Him as Lord and Savior and live out His Kingdom lifestyle according to the New Testament.
We try to work out what it means to be part of a loving community, to live under grace, to give and receive acceptance and to actively pursue social justice
We are connected with both historic and contemporary Christianity and believe in the gospel, the Trinity, the Bible and in personal holiness.
But we do welcome everyone, even from different faiths, organizations, affiliations, and even non-faith movements who wish to meet others and explore the meaning and challenge of our common life and faith journey.
In 1987, an amazing 8 year old boy attended a Roman Catholic gathering of bishops. Armando cannot walk or talk. He is very small for his age. He came to the L'Arche Community from an orphanage where he had been abandoned. He was desperately thin and dying for lack of food. 
