Telling stories

I had a thought as I walked up to church this morning. All this talk about stories got me thinking. We have Alpha and we have Christianity Explored and we have a whole plethora of access courses for people who might be interested in faith, but is there room for something different? Maybe it already exists, I don't know, but here's an idea.

A course based around the simple practice of retelling the stories, the story if you like, of God. Stories about his love and grace, about his involvement in human history and his intervention on our behalf.

We could start in Genesis with creation. Not as a way of arguing against evolution, but as a way of telling the story of who God is, reflecting on why we are here. We could look at Genesis 3 and talk about how we got into the mess we appear to find ourselves in, the loneliness and emptiness that sometimes invades our lives.

Of course we would tell the stories of Jesus and the early church too as lives got changed.

The thing is, much of our "investigating Christianity" material can require a high degree of Biblical literacy, but how many people know the stories? And telling the stories is not about educating people in Christian narratives, but opening minds to the possibility that God actually is at work in the world around us.

Just a thought.

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Wednesday Morning 8:45am!

For those with memories long enough to recall Simon and Garfunkel, you'll understand the licence in the title! Perhaps S & G were not your favourites, so you'll have to think Beatles instead (didn't She's leaving home begin "Wednesday morning, it's 5am..."? Anyway, it's Wednesday morning and I'm in Costa drinking a hot milk with caramel syrup. With the opening of Cafe Nero, I now have three Coffee shops from which to choose plus all the other places I haven't even ventured into along the main road. We even have an ice-cream parlour opening soon!

I'd love to be able to recount stories of significant spiritual conversations I've had in these places, but I don't have any such stories. Perhaps a really extrovert evangelist would find a way, but I'm certainly not either of those. So I just come and sit and work and read and pray. Occasionally I meet someone loosely connected to church and have something between a shallow and slightly deeper conversation, but they are rare.

The thing is, if I were not sitting here, I would never have the chance. So being here and not getting an opportunity is better than not being here and closing the door to a chance meeting completely.

Anyway, my goal today is to write at least one if not two outlines for some bible studies I'm preparing for after Easter, so I'd better get going on that!


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Connecting with the missing

As anyone who reads what I write or listens to what I say, one of the things that bothers me most is the issue of connecting with the people Jesus misses. Sometimes we call them lost, although I know from personal conversations that this is not a word they would use to describe themselves. In fact, for some, lost was what they felt when they did go to church! That aside, and the vocabulary issues relegated from a priority position they probably don't deserve, the question remains: How do we connect with, spend time with and generally reach the missing? Couple this with the concept of being a missional community that focuses on people rather than programmes, and although the question doesn't go away, it asks us to make some shifts in our thinking.

In the traditional pattern of being the church, we'd most likely look to a programme by which we could get these missing folk into church. We'd assume that if only we got them through the doors, the rest would be fairly straightforward. Preach a clear gospel, invite a response and there you have it. Instant Christians. But we all know that this isn't how it is.

Now I'm not saying that these things are not important. But I think we'd all have to agree that the major missing ingredient in all of this is that we just don't get people into church. So no matter how good our celebrations might be, how clear and compelling our gospel presentation might be, they are just not there to hear it.

So how do we rediscover connecting with ordinary people in ordinary ways that, by the grace of God, might lead to gospel conversations and opportunities to help people find faith? I think one solution lies in the antithesis of the Christian ghetto. In other words, we have to spend quality and quantity time outside of the church community, and here's one suggestion about how to do that.

Find something you really like doing and do it with unchurched people.

Are you interested in learning a new skill? Find an adult education course, go, make friends, learn the new skill and maybe an opportunity will arise. Instead of starting a church-based walking group, join the local ramblers or start a community walking group. No evangelistic agenda, the kind of thing that requires an epilogue at the end of each walk, just a group who go walking together.

I remember Jim Wallis saying something along the lines of: Find out what you do best, and then do it in a way that makes a difference. Perhaps we need a similar motto for rebuilding our friendship base in our communities.

Do what you love doing, but do it in a way that builds relationships.

So, with that in mind, I guess I ought to start up a social tennis group in the local park, given my recent foray into the sport!

Continuing reflections on church

As I continue constantly to reflect upon the nature and purpose of the church, upon the need I see (and desire I have) for simpler expressions of church life and the questions I have about the structures we impose upon the movement we have made into an institution, I can't help wondering what questions we should be asking and what questions we ought to avoid. All too often we ask church centred questions rather than gospel centred questions. We ask what the church should be in order to reach our wider community more effectively. But ought we not to be asking what the gospel looks like in our modern cultural setting?

I'm not suggesting changing the core message, but surely we have to agree that only church people think in terms of the role of the church. Most people outside the church see it as little more than an irrelevance. At best it's where you might consider getting married, if the setting will give you nice photographs.

Our structures also bear little relevance to the world beyond the bricks and mortar. I have a Masters degree in theology. If I wanted to teach in a theological college I've been told I would need a doctorate or at the very least a published book! But neither of these qualifies me for anything in the wider world. Outside of the church these degrees and diplomas mean nothing. It means very little to very few people.

What does matter is that I'm there when a member of the family passes away. What might matter is that I'm there to cheer them on when everyone else has given up on them. What could matter is someone being available when they need friendship. And you don't have to be a minister or pastor to do that!

Perhaps the gospel looks like the community we say it is but often fail to live out in any real sense. Like everyone else we've become too busy in our individual world to be connected to anything beyond ourselves.

All this rambling brings us again to the need to live the gospel and not just preach the gospel. For we preach the gospel in isolation to the already converted for the most part. And all. The while, those who desperately need to both hear and experience good news are beyond our reach because we don't have the time in our busy and complicated expressions of church to spend any quality time with them.


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Shut up and Listen Evangelism!

Leonard Sweet has written a new book Nudge and this video interview explores the ideas in and behind the book. If you are familiar with ideas like partnership with God in his mission and doable evangelism, then this will sound reassuring!

During the interview you will hear the contrast between the traditional "Go and tell" strategy for outreach and the "Shut up and listen" strategy that Sweet talks about. I think the book might be worth a read!

Stories to tell

I thought this insight into outreach by Tim Chester was really interesting:

Everyone has their own version of the ‘gospel’ story:

• creation – who I am or who I should be
  
• fall – what’s wrong with me and the world
  
• redemption – what’s the solution
  
• consummation – what I hope for

The obvious and simple point here is that everyone has a story to tell. We can connect their story with the gospel story and our story through these intersections.

I wonder how our conversations might change if we listened out for these connections.

Real Church

Brad Brisco at Missisonal Church Network has posted a great quote from Henri Nouwen. Go read it!

Desperately seeking connections

As I sat in my favourite public place yesterday I began to wonder how I might connect with people far from God. They were all around me and yet I knew none of them and stood little chance of getting to know any of them either. Simply being there is not enough. But how do I connect, what can I do?

I've had a couple of ideas. A book club is one of them. Not a Christian book club, just a book club. Read a book, talk about it, build some relationships. I always remember Bill Hybels talking about choosing to sail with an unchurched crew, and I think Rick Richardson says something along the lines of doing the things you enjoy doing with folk who are far from God.

As I look at my diary and all the church focused things that I do week by week, I realise how intentional I must become in order to be amongst unchurched people. In fact, if I don't go out to the coffee shop or to the gym, then I am more than likely never going to be anywhere where God could use me if he wanted to. Apart from a few brief conversations at the checkout in the supermarket, I'd always be church-bound.

And that's not good.

If God chooses not to hide in heaven, why should I hide in the church?

So I'll continue to do things others might feel should be reserved for my day off as part of my daily routine in order simply to be available for the work of the kingdom beyond the confines of Christian community. Says he, writing this from the safety of his church study!

Beyond the Church

When we think about what it might take to reach out beyond the boundaries of the church we often think about big things. We think about "having a mission", but the problem I have with that approach is that it isolates evangelism as a series of one-off hits. That's why I'm a big fan of finding simple ways, oerdinary ways, to live out our faith.

So here's a list of ideas culled from a recent article on the Church Planting Novice blog:

Don’t Eat Alone.

Be a Regular.

Hobby with the City.

Be a Good Neighbour.

Serve Your City.

Get the fuller picture by reading the original article.

Where are all the Christians?

I believe Bruce Logue was the guy who used to look after the Doable Evangelism blog when  I first came across it. In fact I think it was Bruce who first invited me to contribute a story to the blog. I'd been wondering what he's been doing since moving on, and today up popped a story from him. 

The story is about doing a wedding for someone he'd met while doing some radio work. You can read the whole post here, but I just wanted to draw your attention to his comment about Christendom:

What was striking to me was that most of the “christians” at the ceremony stood around in their own groups (the few that bothered to come anyway). A golden opportunity to grace others, and they huddled together. This is my critique of christendom: It is AWOL from the community at large. What’s sad is that the community at large is open-armed and happy to let us in when we behave ourselves.

-Bruce Logue

As I look forward into 2009, I hope that I will take the challenge to just walk across the room as Bill Hybels would say and make myself available in any way that God can use. A few weeks ago, while preaching,  I quoted something I remember the late John Wimber saying. It went something like this: I'm just small change in God's pocket to use how he pleases.

Conversational Evangelism video

I took a quick look at the Conversational Evangelism website this morning to what was new. Sadly no dates for conferences next year yet, and I still hope and pray that we might one day see the conference come to the UK.

If you're new to the idea or have just forgotten about it, here's a video that was produced for the most recent conference in Kansas.

Christmas CD

First of all, what great service. I only emailed them yesterday to ask for a sample and it arrived with the post this morning. First rate!

Having listened once through I must say I'm rather impressed with the collection. I know it won't be to every taste but it's very pleasant to listen to and acoustically well worked.

So, all I have to do now is convince everyone else that it might make a good give away for the village.

Christmas CD

Okay, so I may be jumping the gun here, but I received an email today from someone called Eddie with an offer that looks very interesting and I wanted to pass it on. If, like, me you tend not to open unsolicited emails, then you may have had the email but rejected it. I don't blame you, I normally do the same, but this time I took a chance and read it.

The idea appealed to me straight away. 

I'm always looking for something to give away, especially around our village and especially at Christmas. This year I'd thought about doing little notebooks for shopping lists, but this CD at 53p a copy, might be a really good alternative. Looking at some of the comments on the website (I'll do a link in a minute), a lot of people have been impressed. That's why I'm posting this now before I've had the chance to even listen to the CD.

So. please forgive me if it turns out to be a dud, but I just get excited when I see an opportunity like this. I quite like Celtic music, so I'll probably like the CD anyway!

Here's the link to Beacon Music

Probably a good idea, but mock with caution

Christians welcome Atheist London bus campaign

So reads the banner headline for an article on Christiantoday's website. 

Whilst it's good to see Christians taking a positive and dare one say humorous view of the proposed campaign, I fear that we are in danger of going over the top. The more we ridicule atheism, and who doesn't find humour in the proposed wording that  there "probably" isn't a God as if even the atheist can't be sure, the more likely we are to alienate them from meaningful discussion.

Personally it looks to me like a great opportunity, in the right circumstances, to actually ask people what they think. I just hope we don't add fuel to the fire by getting drawn into some great debate and, heaven forbid, a series of special prayer meetings to pray against the campaign. Some of us remember the calls for prayer about the EU and the beast!

Simon Barrow suggests that the campaign slogan: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" is the unbelievers equivalent of "God may very well exist. Now have a nice day" in case anyone is short of an idea for an answer or an alternative publicity campaign.

The Gospel and happiness

Here's an interesting article by Jon Ortberg on the question of happiness.

But if the gospel really is the announcement of the availability, through Jesus, of the "with-God life," then things begin to fall into place. Grace is not just the forgiveness of sin, it is the power to live the with-God life from one moment to the next. Heaven is not a pleasure factory that an angry God chooses to shut some people out of because they don't pass a theology test; it is a community of servanthood that can only be enjoyed by a certain kind of character.

Sobering thought

If you are going to reach the people other people aren’t reaching, you will have to do things other people aren’t doing.

In order to do the things other people aren’t doing you will have to stop doing what other people are doing.

These two comments from Craig Groeschel seem to cut to the heart of one of the biggest questions facing the church today. The simple truth is that the church doing what it has always done is simply not reaching the vast majority of the people whom we say we’re trying to reach. In fact one might go so far as to say that given that more than 90% of the general population doesn’t come to church, most of what we do must be wrong if the goal os to reach people, all people, any people, for the kingdom of God.

Sobering thought isn’t it!

Me and mission

On Sunday coming my preaching theme is "We believe in the mission". Now I don't know if I'm unusual or not, but throughout my Christian life I've been torn between figuring out what it means to be a follower of Jesus fully committed to fulfilling his missionary mandate, and yet not being an evangelist. Of course some are immediately wondering why I should actually feel compelled to link these two in this way, whilst others immediately identify with the sense of being torn over the question.

When your heart is to see people discover the deep and life-changing love and forgiveness that you have experienced, you can't help but see the evangelistic process as a large part, if not the larger part of a mission priority.

So, as I struggled to integrate and broaden my understanding of both the missionary mandate and the evangelistic challenge, it was inevitable that I would seek to understand what exactly mission meant to Jesus and the early church. I'm not sure I worked that one out yet, but I still keep trying!

You need also to understand that central to my call to ministry was my personal heartache over the church as I perceived it back in the late 1970's. At that time I saw contemporaries giving their hearts and lives in God's service in some of the toughest countries of the world. My heart was broken because I wondered how connected these people would be able to remain with the church that sent them out as missionaries in the first place. At that time I saw a church that was disengaged from what I've always believed was it's primary purpose for existence–fulfilling the missionary mandate of Jesus. I wasn't sure how much it cared about the mission let alone the missionaries.

So here I am 30 years later and I'm still wondering how connected to that core mission we are in the local church. What journey have we made? Despite all the innovative thinking and all the emerging theology and terminology, are we any closer to being a truly missional church?

Very interestingly, and it wasn't planned this way, we're going to pray for a group of folk who are planting a new church in Marston Vale in the coming weeks. They already been hard at work developing links and serving the community in one of the villages and now it's time to take the next step towards establishing a church.

Perhaps this will inspire the rest of us to look at the opportunities God is putting right in front of us. I hope it doesn't have the opposite effect of making people complacent, believing we are somehow involved in mission because these church planters are involved.

We cannot do mission vicariously through others.

10 ways to live missionally

From the same interview mentioned in the previous post, here are Philip Nation's ten ways to live missionally:

Understand the gospel

Take an external view of people

Be friendly

Watch for a chance to serve

Be truthful

Love like Jesus

Be on guard

Live missionally at home

Show patience

Do it for one reason-the glory of God

Theology and application

A quote from Todd Hunter's Three is Enough blog:

When it comes to connecting our inner life with an outward focus, I like the way one church leader from The River Church puts it: It’s better to be ankle-deep in application than neck-deep in theology.

Church Planting Conference

For those who might be interested...

The cost of this one-day conference is £20 and you can read more about the conference here. Bookings are here.