Padawan Pastor

Quit Inviting People to Church!

    We must stop bringing people to church and start bringing church to people. We need to quit planting a regional church and start churching a region. In this new millennium, the call has changed from “come to church” to “come to Christ.”
  "What if someone inquires about my church?" Sure, go ahead and tell them about it.  But the "invite" is not the point of the relationship.  The relationship is the point of the relationship.
    "But I don't know any of my neighbors." We say that as if it's our neighbor's fault.  Someone has to take the first step and initiate contact.
    "They might think I'm weird." You are!
    What would happen if we made 2006 the year of relationships?  What if we told our church members to quit coming to so many church meetings and events and go out and get to know some people - all for the sake of relationships and conversations (because those two jewels are how the gospel has always been naturally transferred...key word NATURALLY).
    As followers of Christ, we need to relearn the art and science of conversation. We need to learn how to listen before offering answers. The gospels record 132 conversations that Jesus had with people. Six were in the temple, four in the synagogue, and 122 were out with the people in the mainstream of life. Should we do no less? There is great value in listening and “small talk.” Small talk is how people “smell” each other, a delivery system for checking each other out and making sense of things.
    In considering being missional, we must ask ourselves 3 radical questions: 

1. Do we really want to befriend them? Jesus had many labels, but my favorite is a “friend of sinners.” Do we really want to be like Christ in this area?
2. Are we willing to go where they are? Jesus intentionally went to the places that the religious people would not go lest they be tempted or offended or defiled. Are we willing to do the same?
3. Are we willing to spend time with them? This would require a dynamic change in schedules and priorities. When Jesus found a receptive town, He stayed longer and many more would believe (John 4:31).

    Our challenge today is that most believers live in bubbles. We will always have a tendency to huddle and cuddle with other believers to the neglect of our mission from Christ. Therefore, there are fewer and fewer networks or “third places” out there that have a follower of Christ. There are more and more places that do not have salt, light, or leaven within them. Instead we too often hide in our church subculture like expatriates who are complaining about how the pagans are living on the outside.

Way of Suburbia vs. Way of Christ - Part 3

SILENCE

Barna asked evangelical Christians, “When was the last time you felt strongly connected to God?” Over 70% could not remember the last time. He also asked, “When was the last time you read something in Scripture that changed the way you live?” 78% could not remember a time.

Is it possible that there is a correlation between the noise in our lives and the inability to hear and respond to God? Could there be a correlation between the frantic pace of our lives and the shallowness of our relationship with God? 

Notice that the first act of Jesus after His baptism was to get alone with God. It was not to secure his www.getsaved.com web site. It was not to call His disciples to Him. His first act of ministry after being baptized was to get alone with God and pray and wrestle the demons. 

In Luke’s gospel, he tells us the Jesus is constantly followed by massive crowds, He is healing sick people, and He has a habit of…disappearing. He never seems to be in a hurry. Outside of Gethsemane, He never seems to be stressed, despite the fact that He has three years to change the universe.

It is interesting to me in a study of world history that the only world changer that did not have a messiah complex was the Messiah. 

“Yeah”, we say, “but Jesus doesn't know what it's like in our hectic world - it's impossible to slow down. He didn't live in the 21st century.” 

I've been wondering why silence bothers us so much. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that when we allow things to get quiet we have a clearer reflection of our own spiritual condition and sometimes it's hard to look at. It's in silence that we see who we really are, that our true self bubbles to the surface, that we hear from God, and that we wrestle with our demons. And that's why we fill our day as much as we can. And if it's not work its entertainment, anything to avoid the silence -- even if it means a TV in our bedroom, so that we can avoid silence until the very last second that we’re awake. 

What if the kind of deep healing of the soul that we’re all looking for is not found in another sermon or worship service? What if that kind of deep healing is not found in another bible study or small group or relationship or church or book or therapy -- and I'm all for therapy, been there done it myself. What if that kind of deep healing is found in silence, solitude, prayer? What if that kind of deep healing is only found when we switch our life out of 5^th gear and put it in “park” and embrace silence and solitude and meditate and journal and wrestle and let the real issues bubble to the surface of our soul. 

I struggle with solitude and silence. I haven't figured this out yet. I tried one day to just sit on the couch all day and be silent and rest and it was the longest 10 minutes of my life. But I noticed that when I do take time for silence and solitude some things happen (and I know of no other way to say it than this): colors are TRUER, food tastes RICHER, I am completely ENAMORED with my wife, I am MESMERIZED with my kids, conversations with friends are SACRED, decisions are DISTINCT, scripture is VIBRANT, and God's voice is MANIFEST. 

Following Christ, even in Suburbia, must have this type of rhythm or we’re not following Christ.

Way of Suburbia vs. Way of Christ - Part 2

Materialism   

    We are insulated in Suburbia from the “least of these.” When do we ever cross paths with people in need? We might pass a homeless man during our commute to the city, but that’s about it. Instead, we are inoculated by toys and niceties: ipods, satellite radios, TiVo, cars less than 3 years old, houses less than 10 years old, fashionable clothing that is still in style, gym memberships, daycare, restaurants, dry cleaning, nails salon, high speed internet, HDTV, surround sound, etc.
    Never was I more confronted with my own abundance and materialism than when I went to Romania about 8 years ago. What I found in Romania were families that could only eat one meal a day that consisted of vegetables and cheese from their farms. Yet, their joy and gratitude and hospitality overflowed. I had extreme culture shock when I got back to the states and went out to eat at a restaurant for the first time. We went to a buffet-style restaurant and I was amazed at the display of food. When we filled our plate, I noticed that a family at a table next to us were fighting. Something about that moment caused me to lose control of my emotions and I had to excuse myself to the restroom to weep. What overwhelmed me at the time was how a family could fight with each other with such an abundance of food in front of them. I couldn’t grasp it.
    I usually come back from mission trips so grateful for the small things: air conditioning, roads in good conditions, hot water, toilets, clean water that I can brush my teeth with, grocery stores with 30 kinds of deodorant, electricity, a refrigerator, a closet full of clothes, a laptop, doctors, something to eat besides rice, etc. But I’ve noticed something about these trips: give me about 2 weeks and I’m just about completely acclimated again to the cadence and flow of affluence and comfort in Suburbia.
    What would it look like for a missional community to live in and among Suburbanites without embracing materialism?  Is it even possible?  Would it involve packing an extra sandwich with my lunch to give to the homeless man downtown?  Volunteering once a week at the local food pantry?  Would it involve driving cars that are older, living in houses that are cheaper, buying discount or second hand clothes, foregoing the latest techno gadgets that everyone seems to be buying, and other sacrifices so that we can practice the radical generosity that Christ promotes?  How do you think it might look to follow the revolutionary magnanimity of Christ to the "least of these" when you live among the "greatest of these" when it comes to wealth on a global scale?

Orthodox Jewish Rapper

Wow, I'm speechless after watching this.  http://www.matismusic.com

The way of Suburbia vs. the way of Christ

        One thing I did over the Christmas break was go through the gospels and compare the way of Christ to the way of Suburbia. Obviously, there are consummate contrasts between the rhythm and flow of the life of Christ versus that of Suburbia. Yet, I have to ask myself if it’s even remotely possible to follow the lifestyle and calling of a 1^st century homeless, unemployed, traveling rabbi (who happens to be divine) in a 21^st century affluent, capitalist, techno-driven culture? I do think, on many levels, we can follow the way of Christ and still feed our families in Suburbia. However, it will be very contrary and in defiance of the typical lifestyle of Suburbanites. And maybe that’s the point. 
        Perhaps part of the role of a missional community is to follow the way of Christ, highlighting the countercultural nature of that lifestyle, and gently, prophetically, and lovingly calling others to leave the empty, hectic flow of Suburban life and follow us “upstream” as we follow Christ. Of course, I realize that many of these findings are not unique to Suburbia, and you could easily just refer to the way of life as simply “culture” in America. But for the purpose of this series, I’ll simply refer to my own current context, which is Suburbia.  Perhaps you can think of more disparities between these two lifestyles.  I'd be very interested in your comments.

        Go shallow with more people vs. go deeper with fewer people. Between work, kid’s school, kid’s sports leagues, church, the fitness club, and the neighborhood, a Suburbanite knows a lot of people as casual acquaintances. However, the typical Suburbanite knows hardly anyone on a heart to heart level. Why? Maybe it’s because he/she is too busy, or maybe he/she simply is stretched to thin by knowing too many people to go any deeper, or maybe it’s because he/she doesn’t see anyone frequently enough, or maybe it’s simply because deep relationships are not the way of Suburbia.    
        The way of Christ is to go deeper with fewer people. Notice he had 120 followers, he sent 72 of them out on mission, he poured himself more deeply on a daily basis with 12 of them, he was even more intimate with 3 of them (including them exclusively in some profound experiences), and 1 of them was His beloved.
        The way of Christ is to go deeper with fewer people, resulting in impact, community, and legacy.  The way of Suburbia is to go shallow with multitudes, resulting in unoccupied, disconnected lives of dormant desparation.  The busyness, materialism, and individualism of Suburbia circumvents intimacy with others.

Consumerism

There is no greater threat to the 21^st century church than consumerism:

• Its beliefs are comfort and convenience.

• Its mantra is “bigger is better.”

• Its inspiration is the business world.

• Its goal is to be the “Wal-Mart” of Christianity.

• Its heroes are the megachurch pastors.

• Its measure of success is buildings, budgets, and butts in seats or the A-B-C’s (attendance, buildings, checkbooks).

• Its franchises are church plants that want to clone the other megachurches (can you say McChurch).

• Its influence is seen in the thousands of pastors that are looking for the next model, the next program, the next conference, the next clone/franchise opportunity (been there, done that).

• It targets mainly middle class or suburban communities and usually ignores the ghettoes or downtowns or rural areas.

• It fosters competition rather than cooperation among sister churches.

I attended the conferences. I bought the books and tapes. I went home pumped about repositioning our church for growth. I experienced the disappointment when my clone didn’t happen like the megachurch superhero. But about the time I felt like a “loser” (because if you can’t grow your church that’s what you are, right?), I would see another ad for another conference or book and jump on board thinking this might be the magic pill to grow my church.

By consumer standards, Jesus’ ministry was not very successful. His three-year experiment only landed 12 leaders (one of whom failed miserably) and 120 followers. Jesus would not be asked to speak at our conferences or write a book. What would he know about breaking the “200 attendance barrier?” Yet when Jesus left this earth, his church of 120 propelled out into the community and turned the world upside-down. How did he do it? Jesus built spiritual depth into a small group of people and thrust them out to do the same over and over again. How are you and I doing likewise?

“In the long run, if we train people to be consumers rather than communers, we’ll end up with customers instead of disciples. It might fill up an auditorium, but it’ll never reach our world.” - Greg Laurie

 

Barna's Revolution

More and more people are beginning to realize that God is moving His church out of Temples and into Tent communities - away from institutional church and into missional communities.  One person to stumble upon this phenomenon is George Barna, and he writes about it in his new book called "Revolutions."  While looking at some comments about the book at Amazon, look at this description I found of Barna's journey:

"...a drastic change occurred in George Barna's life (about 2003) as a result of his countless hours of researching the effects of organized religion; he realized that very little actual life transformation appeared to be occurring in churched believers all over the country. Even worse, he realized that his own efforts in research were being used by pastors mostly for the purpose of seeking statistical evidence to support their teaching. To his surprise, however, the same research Barna had been conducting over the years led him to a discovery of the fact that God was moving in mighty ways OUTSIDE the four walls of the Institutional Church! In fact, Barna was so impacted by what he observed in the lives of "churchless" Christians all over the U.S. that it convinced him to give up what he had done for 20 years and refocus his attentions. He changed the name of his organization from the Barna Research Group to simply the Barna Group, downsized his organization from 100 employees to eight, moved out of their large office space into a compact area, sought to become more partnership based, and chose to raise the level of risk they were willing to take in new ventures, determining that it would be better to go broke in the pursuit of true life transformation than to remain financially safe but without any gain for the kingdom.

All of that to say that George Barna no longer has interest to merely help grow the Institutional Church. His new passion is solely to see God's true Church, who are His very people (His body), walk into the fullness of what God intends for them without obstacles, without distractions, without religious strings attached - and to see them live life to the fullest in Christ and minister truth to a lost and dying world who desperately need Him. George was humbled to find that this is already happening without the aid of churches and formal religious organizations or "official" leadership. In fact, one of the most impacting things he notes in his new book is that so many of these groups of believers who serve the Lord outside the Institutional Church System, even though they often have poor organization, lack of great numbers, meager financial resources, often weak human leadership and are sometimes ridiculed and despised by those in larger church organizations, yet they are often more effective (in terms of actual life transformation, relationship building, devotion to truth, and sincere Christian devotion); proving that it is GOD - not man - that is leading these believers. Barna now calls these Christians who no longer center their lives around religious organizations (i.e. churches) "Revolutionaries" and believes they (all 20 million of them and growing) are the real future of the manifested body of Christ on earth; in other words they represent those who have moved beyond the established church and chosen to BE the Church instead. Barna also humbly and joyously admits that he is now one of them as well."