“What if we had a big house in the city where we could allow young artists space to work and display their art? What if we had a café there where people could find meaningful community and conversation? What if we could be recognized as people who really care? What if we threw parties for the homeless and gave presents to poor children? What if we could be a place of life?” Barbara
Barbara L. is a name that keeps popping up. She works with street kids in Lisbon and is the face of the newly-emerging, emerging church in Portugal. I mentioned her last week in Pasadena and was with their ministry in Portugal last year. Barbara’s story is best told by RiverTribe Mike but Lisa Borden has just written The Matrix Grows – a little blog-posted history of the movement and how it is connecting globally. If you are sick of doctrinal arguments and fingerpointing, and want to just read about a real person loving people into the Kingdom, then here is a story for you. LINK [Thanks Marty]
Barbara, Marty, Byron et al in Portugal embody missional Christianity to their core. God’s dream is being realized for Lisbon through them. It’s a beautiful thing. Thanks for the report.
I woke up a little bewildered this morning as to why my site stats went through the roof- i figured Andrew Jones might be responsible. Thanks for the link- Barbara’s story still is one of the most popular posts on my blog.
I just got an email from Barbara today- it’s worth checking out her own blog as she is on a pilrimage at the moment: Shanti Pilgrim
She wrote: “I´ve been posting my reports in my blog http://www.shantipilgrim.blogspot.com , but
God has been showing me so many stuff that It´s hard to write it all…I
have to learn how to make it short…the thing is that I see God glorified
in every little thing and I don´t want others to miss it…:-)…”
Thanks Andrew, Mike and Bob. We need the encouragement of other like you in our extended community. I’m just back from meeting in Geneva with Worship leaders from Christian Associates. What an awesome time!! But I feel like I’ve come in under a cloud of confusion and discouragement. Pray for Portugal! Pray for our little Lisboa Matrix crew as we do 24hrs(24-1Prayer) of prayer this weekend. Maybe it will turn out to be 24-7Prayer!
thanks for linking us in. it’s fun to join hands across the globe. i see by your kids choice of lyrics/chords to download that your airwaves are filled like our’s with great tunes. our kids keep the house shaking with my chemical romance. but if you’d like to hear someone ask some pretty tough questions of the church in a raw and honest way, kind of bob dylan meets bruce springsteen or something, check out brian houston’s ‘jesus and justice’ album. good stuff. blessings! -lisa borden
Raped God..MASSACRED!
“He who saves a single life, saves the world entire.”
– the Talmudic phrase inspired Oskar Schindler, a Nazi-Catholic industrialist, who managed to save about 1100 Jews from being gassed.
Please click the web-links / URLs below to open the web-pages –
http://www.flickr.com/photos/religare/show/
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgsxgfrn_10gjrbp4
——————————————————