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This is a temporary archive of the former Harambee Church website.

Pakistani Brothers and Sisters Attacked

We are told in scripture to “Weep with those that weep,” (Romans 12:15) and to “Bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:1), which includes our brothers and sisters all over the globe. Being a Christian means being a family, and Romans is a book that reminds us that our family includes those from all nations, ethnicity, and race. Recently there have been three different attacks in Punjab, a state where many believers live by radical Muslims (Taliban). Read More

Why I Go Overseas?

I am often asked, “Why do you go overseas to train people? Don’t you have enough to do at your own church?” There is certainly a lot of work to be done everywhere. It was Jesus who said that “The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.” But I believe that in that question lies a fair amount of assumptions. Read More

Holy Kiss

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Missional living – The basics

As mentioned in several excellent previous posts on the Pastor Rant site, Harambee has joined with Soma Communities and adopted the Missional model of living out church every day. For many of us, this is a dramatic shift from traditional church structure, where we as consumers go on Sunday to get charged up, and continue to think of church as a place where we gather to worship, study, learn, receive, etc. We (the Elders) keep hitting on this topic because we know that some people are really struggling to make this change. Read More

The Neighborhood MC group — What does it look like?

When we think about what it means to be missional (sent by God to carry out his mission where we live and work as daily practice) what does the place where we do that look like these days? Leslie Newbiggin wrote some good stuff on understanding western (now postmodern) culture and how that culture views the gospel of Jesus (ridiculous nonsense, according to philosophy and science). So that’s generally the mind set of people in our area. You can count on it. Read More

8 Ways to Easily be Missional

Missional is not an event we tack onto our already busy lives. It is our life. Mission should be the way we live, not something we add onto life: “As you go, make disciples….”; “Walk wisely towards outsiders”; “Let your speech always be seasoned with salt”; “be prepared to give a defense for your hope”. We can be missional in everyday ways without even overloading our schedules. Here are a few suggestions

John Piper on the Economic Downturn

Below is a piece of John Piper’s February 1st sermon entitled “What Is the Recession For?”
Trusting God in the area of our finances is one of the hardest areas to trust in Him, and is often reflective in our lack of giving, and the anxiety we display when we have economic problems. Hope you enjoy! Read More

Are you an insider or an outsider or both

If you are an outsider, which is more of a common way foreign missionaries work, you won’t be so intuitive or clued in regarding the cultural context your MC is situated in. So you need to spend some time learning about the culture. Read More

Better Than Heaven and Worse Than Hell

Here is a riddle for you: What is the only thing better than heaven and worse than hell?
Jesus said... Read More

Harambee = Renton?

Harambee (the building) is located in Renton, but Harambee (the people) is located throughout the South Puget Sound area (Rainier Valley, Maple Valley, Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, SeaTac, Burien, Tukwila, White Center, etc.), and our mission extends beyond that. Read More

Get As Much As You Can!!

Well here we are, Christmas season; ‘tis the season to spend money! Bah, humbug! This is the time of year that many churches remind us that the reason for the season is giving, and particularly the most incredible gift of all; Jesus Christ to all of humanity. Read More

St Francis vs George Orwell

So, I was watching one of those reality TV shows which has a panel of Judges who comment on the performers abilities. The Judges of course are some sort of celebrity in their fields and therefore authorities in what they do. What hit me as I watched this show, I think it was dancing, or dancing and singing, I can’t remember, anyway the judges comments or method of commenting captivated me. Read More

Chuck Smith was right, or was he?

Pastor Chuck Smith was right after all!
It’s finally happening! In the 70’s the pastor of my church (Pastor Chuck) talked and wrote about how the book of Revelation revealed, among other things, that a world government would arise within the next 50 years, and that followed by the Anti-Christ. Read More

One Atheist, Lesbian’s Opinion

Here’s an article from Camille Paglia I found most interesting, especially considering the source. It was originally published in Salon.
HerFresh Blood for the Vampire
By Camille Paglia
Sep. 10, 2008 | Rip tide! Is the Obama campaign shooting out to sea like a paper boat?e’s an article from Camille Paglia I found most interesting, especially considering the source. It was originally published in Salon. Read More

Halloween = Missional? Now That’s Scary

I realize this is a little after the fact, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for the past few years, and thought I’d bring it up while it’s fresh on everyone’s minds. What should a Christian’s response be to Halloween, particularly in the context of the “missional living” world? Read More

The Gospel on a global scale

There is alot of controversy and discussion around the topic of unreached people groups. Even missiologist debate on definitions and terms in describing people groups that are “unreached” or “least-reached”. Read More

Must Christianity Change or Die? Part II The Shaping of Faith and Culture, Part II

Written by Mike Gunn courtesy of Hollywood Jesus

Last month, Mike looked at the notion that the guardians of the Gospel—the “Good News”—have corrupted its message by (very naturally) getting too caught up in Western thinking. This month, he takes a look at the good news no one seems to give a good rip about.

So we’ve been told that God is willing to take the dirty rotten and lost, and make them whole and new through an unmistakable, irresistible call toward Him. If this is really good news, there’s got to be a catch, right? Judging by the way the message is often pitched, I’d have to agree. Read More

Must Christianity Change or Die? The Shaping of Faith and Culture, Part I

Written by Mike Gunn courtesy of Hollywood Jesus

In his book Why Christianity Must Change Or Die, Episcopalian bishop John Shelby Spong argued that the Christian faith needs to develop a contemporary understanding of the world, morality, and God in order to be seen as “relevant” to today’s secular culture. Spong’s idea is not new. The Church has always had problems with what’s called being “syncretized” with “host” cultures—that is, of losing its own identity while trying to share the “good news” of the Christian Gospel with a culture that doesn’t care much about it. Read More

Ethics, Hollywood, and the Church: Who Cares?

Written by Greg Wright
Posted on thinkchristian.net

Ethics. The topic is everywhere you turn. It’s inescapable. Just before I sat down to write this article, in fact, I read in the local paper about a Federal Justice Department scandal in which the country’s top prosecutor in charge of environmental abuses cozied up to a Conoco lobbyist. While two Conoco consent decrees were being negotiated with Justice, the lawyer and the lobbyist went in together to jointly purchase a million-dollar vacation home.

Almost everybody involved in the case agrees that no laws were broken, and the lawyer involved his since resigned (after signing off on Conoco’s proposed settlements, not surprisingly). But legality is hardly the issue; the issue is ethical impropriety—and, to a degree, common sense. Government lawyers have every right to know and befriend lobbyists. At the same time, the Justice Department, at the very least, needs to not only be squeaky clean, it needs to appear squeaky clean. If you don’t have confidence in Justice, who is there left to trust?

So much for the secular world. What about the Church? And, given my particular ministry niche, I will be more specific: What about the ways in which Hollywood and the Church get cozy? Read More

Is Christmas Pagan?

by Mike Gunn

If you haven’t heard that Christmas is a pagan holiday by now, you have either worked as an extra on “Lost,” or you haven’t yet heard of that newfangled technology called the Internet. There is no doubt that this holiday in particular has been controversial since the Puritans boycotted its celebration as a pagan festival in the 17th century. Many Internet geniuses are convinced that the Christmas story is a pagan rip off, and that Christianity is a fraud. While that is certainly nonsense, since many of the parallels are either not that parallel or in question as to who would have borrowed from whom. One Internet article says, “Christmas dates back over 4,000 years.” While many of the traditions may date back to this time, the idea of “Christmas” (Literally Christ’s Mass) is truly Christian. So you can see there is often confusion and misrepresentation when it comes to these ancient holidays. Read More

What Would Jesus Preach: Are We Called to Preach like Jesus in the 21st century?

By Pastor Mike Gunn

Just a few short years ago you couldn’t turn on an NBA or WNBA basketball game without seeing players wearing WWJD bracelets apparently concerned about whether or not Jesus would hit the jumper, drive the lane, or most likely pass to His teammates, since He’s such a nice guy. The WWJD idea came from a classic devotional “In His Steps,” written by Charle’s Sheldon, reminding us to consider Jesus in the midst of our decision making. A noble effort, but flawed in some sense. After all, are we all supposed to remain single, wear robes and sandals and all become peripatetic preachers like some Franciscan monk? Read More

Peace on Earth and Good Will to All Men

By Pastor Mike Gunn

Another year coming to a close, another presidential election in the books and another ostensible dagger into any hope of national reconciliation and unity. Our dollar bill may say E Pluribus Unum (The Many as One), but the Red-Blue states seem to indicate otherwise. We are a divided nation, closer to “One Nation under a groove” (So I stole it from George “Not Bill” Clinton) than “One nation under God, and moving light years apart ideologically at warp speed. I myself write as a soon to be 47 year old white “Evangelical” Christian male that often finds himself stuck between two competing worlds. Read More