Friday, March 09, 2007

Take an ordinary walk

Back in 1991 I attended what I believe was the first Willow Creek conference in the UK. It was in Birmingham, and I remember driving from my then home in Newark in Nottinghamshire each morning at 6:00am to be there.

That conference radically affected my view of church. For many years I’d wondered about the relationship between the “unchurched” and the church. Like many events, and books, and conversations since then, that conference opened up a whole new vocabulary for my thinking.
Since then I’ve wandered through the worlds of Ordinary Attempts, emerging church, organic church, servant evangelism and a few others along the way. All the time I’ve been trying to synthesise how I feel about the church, about mission and most importantly how God feels about it.

I’m still trying. But what I’m beginning to find is that there is a thread running through many current ideas and approaches to outreach. I’m hoping one day to find a way of connecting the dots and seeing a bigger picture emerge. At church we’re getting clearer about our vision and the kind of church God is calling us to become.

Recently I got hold of a new resource from Willow Creek called Just walk across the room. It must be two or three years since I first heard Bill Hybels talk about this approach to evangelism. One of our small groups is about to engage with the four-week programme and I’m looking forward to being a part of that group.

In a nutshell the course is all about how to take simple steps that point people to faith. For me, it sits comfortably alongside everything I’ve been learning about serving others, doing OA’s and simply trying to connect people who are far from God with the God who loves them.
A quote from the book helps explain where it all begins to connect up:

If we share the dream to become radically loving, outwardly focused, grace-giving people, then we ought to be the first ones to expand our hearts and invite folk to come into the kingdom.
Just walk across the room
, p66

I’m desperate to become more effective in inviting others to join this journey of faith. And I believe passionately that it was never meant to be as hard as we’ve made it over the centuries since Jesus began his world-changing movement.

Later in the book, Bill Hybels talks about the incident in the gospels when Jesus heals the man with the withered hand. He talks about how the Pharisees were looking for something to hang an accusation on and how they might even of found the guy with the withered hand and invited him to the synagogue to see what would happen He finishes by speculating about the conversation Jesus and the healed man might have had.

… I envision Jesus saying, “… what are your plans? Juggling? Piano? What is it that you dream about doing, my friend?”
In my imagination, they chat about this man’s long-awaited passion pursuits. And possibly the man turns to Jesus and says, “Well, what are your dreams?”…
I imagine Jesus articulating his dream with words that are absolutely captivating to me:
“You know, I dream that someday, places of worship will be filled with people who lay awake at night concerned about the human beings my Father created. Who care about broken bodies and broken souls and hopeless futures and hell-bound eternities. I dream of the day when people who gather in my name are so filled with the love of the Father that they go out and spread his love and extend healthy hands to withered hands-praying, coaching, and encouraging them to live walk in the fullness of life. I dream of worship centres filled with radically loving, outwardly focused, Christ-sharing people. That’s what I dream about.”
Walk
p 74

These extracts don’t do the book justice and they certainly don’t tell the whole story. But I dream about it too. Do you?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've had my eye on this material for a while. It's encouraging to see it's good.

Anonymous said...

Richard,
I just received the Organic Church book in the mail today! Wow. I'm humbled and deeply grateful. Thanks for the unexpected gift. I'm going to pass this idea on down the line, as well. Thanks for the joyful reminder of how receiving an unexpected gift can bring humility, joy, and gratitude, all in a moment.

May you receive blessing from the Father today for your kindness!