1. 

What can you tell me about your own story and experiences that you believe are helpful for an outsider to understand the overall Stockholm church story?

Answer:

I've been very evangelistic according to many leaders, and I have to agree. 

I understand now the raison d'être of the Church through God's evangelistic plan. 

I've dropped the ball spiritually in different phases(A) of the Church. 

Mixed up my very high energy levels with spirituality: a big mistake leading to different sins. 

Been very naughty, to put it mildly, and corrected accordingly. 

Been very disorderly with money and corrected accordingly. 

Have seen God being so good to me even though I'm not worthy. 

Have been very disappointed by a failed marriage. 

Have come to realize that God doesn't abandon me. 

Have been very hypocritical in many instances and cases. 

Have been able to understand that I'm a soul, and that is what matters. 

Have been sick physically for decades. 

Have experienced undeserved good and undeserved bad reputation: have learned much about human nature through it all. 

Noticed that I'm much more selfish than what I dared to realize. 

Have realized that I can help many by listening to them through biblical truths. 

God has very concretely shown me His kindness and sense of humor on several occasions. 

Have finally realized how easy it is for me to become self-righteous/arrogant. 

Have learned to share answers to my prayers to God with only a selected few since when faith is lacking, people don't believe you. 

Humility and meekness don't come easy, and it's a matter of decision and training. 

Love is something we receive and give and God want us to pass it on: evangelization and Church life (in that order generally/in most cases). 

Overall, I believe that we understand well how to help people become disciples of Christ, but that we also need to learn how to count the costs of being a disciple that makes it to heaven differently. Have come to realize that Timothys are rare. Want to be useful in the Kingdom of God and really understand the depth of Matthew 6:9-13/Luke 11:1-5.

(A)

The Evangelistic Phase

The Social Phase

The Confusing Phase

The "Reasonable" Christian Phase

(a)

In these four phases, we had two major events:

A. The Big Changes: when Kip McKean stopped leading the movement + the aftermath...

B. COVID-19: Bigger hit than many of us may have realized.

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2.

Answer:

a. Evangelization has become difficult to speak about with many, even if one speaks about it in a "relaxed" way.

b. Sane fear of God

c. Salvation to keep fighting for, not the "once saved always saved"(1)

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3. 

Is there something in the past that hovers over the present and impedes progress?” (A decision that became a significant problem, conflict, a crisis, a confusing development, a church culture?)

Answer:

Church culture: is a big one!

a. We Swedish people have a strange and embarassing mix of USA cultural fascination and moralistic critisisme of the USA.

b. We need to become less "cool": there is this high fiving thing and expressions we have imported in a sad way.

c. We need to be much more careful with reputations that we let circulate in the Church about people whether these are overly positive or negative reputations.

d. Social Club Warning:

e. Social Clubs In Social Club Warning:

f. Giving more time to listen and understand people instead of jumping to conclusions.

g. Being able to take time with people in the Church outside of our social comfort zones/clubs in the social Club

i. learn more by heart from the Bible

h. humble ourselves collectively in front of the Lord

e. Stop trying to be so relatable: make a very serious effort to let the Bible content do the job.

f. Stop clapping in our hands after we have sung to God: this one may sound strange but I really don't understand what we are clapping for. I don't do it.  

g. Focus on the singing when we sing to God: all members.

h. Focus on Jesus more than on our atmospheres that we try to create consciously or subconsciously

i. Get busy understanding our role in this world: being busy reconcilling people who want to God here and now and in heaven.

j. Be more about reaching out than becoming individually an collectively ombrilistic.

k. Find ways to be open not only about our typical sins but also about our sins by omission.

l. More about God's plan and realising that is what unites us rationally and emotionally rather than the social club thing.

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4. 

If you were able to peer thirty years into the future, and you discovered that we collectively achieved great things to God’s glory, what are some things that you think would have enabled us to get there?”

Answer:

Laser sharp focus on 

a. the mission individually but also collectively.

b. on internalizing the Word of God: Grace and Truth.

c. communicating with all the members of the Church, not only the cool ones.

d. on the Bible in how we treat and present topics and happily come back to themes to make sure that we are not losing faith, depth, and sincerity in our love for God and one another without forgetting those who belong to God and haven't been reached out to yet.

e. Laser sharp focus on how we count the costs with people: not only speaking about committed sins but also about new temptations as disciples of Christ.

f. Laser sharp focus on how to present the studies (and pilot studies) to inculcate a sound biblical doctrine in ourselves and others.

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5.

In your opinion, what is the best way for the church to be led into the next era?” (style, strategy)

Answer:

a. Being more and more inspired by the Word of God and its application in our enriching ways to follow Jesus.

b. Referring to the Word of God boldly in a humble way (of course).

c. Being more inspired by the will to love like Jesus.

d. Being willing to imitate faith in sincere brothers and sisters.

e. Prayer life maximizing and optimizing: individually/collectively.

f. Encourage each other by giving time to one another: being sincere and not doing it because of some strange sense of duty.

g. Encourage people outside the Church that we reach out to: spending time with them in a wise and non-manipulative way.

h. Not "building" relationships but letting relationships occur because we give time to each other and people outside that we reach out to.

i. Being biblically very connected so that we can express our faith without artifice but as a result of it/Jesus living in us and among each other.

j. Being able to share what really happened to us when we had a quiet (and loud) time with our Creator in His Son's Name this morning.

k. Being able to share what really happened to us when we went out full of expectations based on the quiet (and loud) time we had earlier that day.

l. Paying attention to needs and understanding needs more and more.

m. Praying all the time, not only when we have our quiet (and loud) times.

n. Totally dropping the performance anguish thing by lovingly obeying God rather than trying to please people in the Church.

o. Understanding through the Word of God to get the right spiritual reflexes against the many attacks of the devil.

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"Bonus" Section

Conclusion:

We need to get busy being openly God-fearing and evangelistic instead of attempting to be laid back about it.

Letting Church life be about the mission and preach and teach about it even when we say that we already know this and that.

Repetition of teaching and deepening of realization and intentions. Become individually and collectively more ambitious spiritually in the sense of Matthew 6:33 and 11:28-30. Wanting to take part in divine nature in this short life and not behave as if we had it all just by being baptized/having our membership in the divine club (mindset/mentality).

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Remarks and Thoughts:

I believe that there is a big need that can be addressed if we sit down and talk to each other in the context of a very serious evangelistic push involving as many of the saints of Stockholm as possible. If we try to make this work in a therapy kind of way, we will only get, at best, some kind of collective navel-gazing result. When we obey the mission commandment, we will understand the need for prayers and power from above. The Holy Spirit will then start to make things happen in our hearts and minds. We will also realize the difference between being members and being saints/souls who work to help others to be and remain saved, along with our own salvations. Then we will not become "reasonable" disciples anymore but fools for Christ, which we need to become and remain.