Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts

--Robert Martin-Achard

Well, to be honest, they weren't actually "zombies."  They were persons acting like zombies.  And, to be clear, they weren't the "Night of the Living Dead" - type zombies either.  They were very much alive, but infected by some horrible virus that turned them into rabid monsters.

But, why were they in church?

A new outreach program?

An odd sermon illustration?

The result of a particularly bad worship experience?

Not exactly.

I have always thought it best for clergy folk to hang out with non-Christian, or at least non-church going people.  Too often we can get wrapped up in our own religious worlds and forget that there are folks out there who believe differently or believe nothing at all.  And it's a good thing for us to find a group of people we like to interact with who aren't going to be the people you see in the pews (or chairs, as it were) on Sunday morning.  They have different expectation and can offer different perspectives that aren't so rooted the usual religious stuff.  It's not so much about evangelism as it is relationship and friendships.

I like hanging out at the coffee shop.  It's "The Grind" and is run by a guy known as "Gator."  I like sitting there, coffee in hand, iPad on lap, interacting and chatting with the folks who make their way down to get a latte or Americano or just to tap into some WiFi.  Gators's a great guy and I've loved the staff he's had work in his shop.  So, I go and sit and make small talk.  The point, really, is not evangelization, but friendship and keeping me from being so insular in the work of being a pastor.  I enjoy those folks.  I call them "my coffee shop friends" and I do care about what they have going on in their lives, how their various businesses are going, and what brings them joy.  And I truly believe they care about me and what I have going on.  I love it.

Well, Gator is a creative guy.  He's somewhat of a nerd and a fan of pop culture, things about which we have wonderful discussions.  Well, he's also a man obsessed with making a movie.  He has a storyboard that flows through several notebooks, each scene mapped out entirely.  It started, first, as kind of an Alaskan wilderness survival movie, since that's something he knows a few things about.  But, it evolved into something more than that.  The reason persons were trying to survive in Alaska is that there has been an outbreak of some virus that causes those infected to turn into rabid-Zombie-like creatures. 

I got involved because Gator said he'd like me in his movie.  He wanted to have a scene with zombies breaking in the door of the church were I and some others have gathered for safety.  I would be all dressed up in my clergy attire...what Gator calls my "uniform."  The scene was to have me holding back the door with zombie hands trying to get through.  And then three zombies would breach the door and run towards the folks gathered at the front of church where we we have a couple of guns and an ax.  There would be, he assured, no zombie contact.

I didn't want to do this in the new church since I'm not sure I could have handled the imagery in that space I've worked so hard for.  But I also didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to support Gator and his friends and participate in something that was going to pull in community members I've only shared coffee with and, frankly, whose company I enjoy very much.

So, Sunday night we filmed the scene in the old church.  We had two of my girls with me.  We had four other church folks and several of the coffee-shop crowd, including three zombies.  The zombies had chocolate syrup for blood, since it was filmed in black and white.  People acted frightened behind me.  I learned more about holding a shotgun than I'd ever learned before.  And, in the end, the zombies never touched us.  It was over in 90 minutes and then Gator apparently spent all night piecing together 90 seconds of video.

In advance, I did tell a couple of our church leaders that I was going to do this at the old church.  I thought I should explain myself to a few folks first.  I'm not sure everyone would have appreciated this.  But I had fun and I think some of my non church friends appreciated that the church was able to help them out.  I got to share some of my life and what's important to me while they got to share some of their life.

That's why zombies attacked our church on Sunday night.

And it was a blast.

Loved this video.  I think it illustrates quite well the paradigm shift many churches, denominations, and individuals are talking about.  It's looking at a more missional understanding of church. It's a little "American-centric" at the end...but if we overlook that I think it's helpful.

Enjoy.

...as you ponder salvation

...as you ponder evangelism

...as you ponder discipleship

...as you ponder whether we've made Christianity a "come to Jesus moment" rather than a "live in Jesus life."

...as you ponder contemporary evangelicalism and what mainline churches can offer

Sit with this quote...


Now...I may have already made the focus on discipleship a long time ago...with spotty success.  But seeing it phrased this way kinda' blew my mind this morning as I sat with it, feet up, coffee in hand.

(HT/Rachel Held Evans)

The quote below is from Gavriel Gefen's "Jesus Movements," in Mission Frontiers, May-June 2011 (p. 7).  I found it over at NextReformation.  What I find particularly interesting here is the notion of following Jesus -- and not following him lightly -- without feeling a need to convert to Christianity.  Such a notion flies in the face of much of my own education and formation, where belief in Jesus and being part of "Christianity" (and, by default, a church) was a no-brainer.

I have, over the years grown in my understanding of what it looks like to be a Christian and not be part of a church.  I'm pretty comfortable with that at this point.  However, I'm not sure I've ever thought that one could be a follower of Jesus and actually not consider themselves to be part of Christianity.

Interesting quote.

“There is a growing phenomenon taking place concurrently within at least every sizeable region of the world today. People within numerous different tribal cultures and also people within the cultures of each of the major world religions are increasingly accepting Jesus without converting to Christianity and without joining churches. ” They are encountering Jesus in ways that change their lives forever, without them leaving one group for another.

“They are learning to discover for themselves what it means to be faithful to Jesus within their own cultures and within their own birth communities. Conversion for them is believed to be a matter of the heart and not one of joining a different, competing cultural community.

“It is usually the case that after a number of these individuals within the same community are following Jesus, they begin meeting regularly as a small group. Over time this expands into multiple small groups among the same people group or within the same country. Eventually, it becomes established as a full-fledged movement of believers in Jesus that is outside of Christendom. It becomes a Jesus movement within another tradition. Does this mean they are living their lives outside the boundaries of biblical faith? Or, are they merely living beyond the boundaries of Christendom as a competing community?

“How did Jesus live as a son of Israel? Did he create a separate and competing community from the one that was already there? Did he tell people to leave their synagogues? Did he start his own synagogues?”

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Much of what outsiders struggle with when it comes to church and Christianity is an imagined level of performance they assume is required of those on the inside. People think a certain behavior level is expected– a kind of incorrect thinking that keeps out the very people for whom the gospel of Jesus Christ exists. This is what keeps single moms away from church, even when they want to come and desperately need friendship and support. This is what keeps out gays and lesbians who are genuinely seeking God. This is what keeps out those who have had abortions, and the men who have caused them. Not to mention recovering addicts, ex-cons, the poor, the homeless, the mentally challenged. It’s starting to look like the crowd that followed Jesus around when he was here – lepers, the deranged, demon possessed, the blind, the lame, and the social misfits.

The church's incessant desire for moralism, this assumed standard of behavior, can make it impossible, not only for the message of grace to be heard but for it even to be proclaimed.  Where is grace when we tell societal riff-raff that they need to change their ways before they can become "one of us?"

                                          Image via WikipediaI've been engaged in some discussions with folks about church shopping.  In a simpler, more pleasant sense, this is what one does when you move to a new town and look for a church.  You try them all on for size and look at how fabulous the preacher is, what the youth group is like, if they have a nursery, etc.  You "shop" for a church to find the one that's right for you...for whatever reason.

Now, not all shopping in a consumer culture is merely about going out to get what you need.  In a consumer culture such as ours sometimes shopping is all about getting the latest and the greatest gadget or item.  It's about trading in your car every two years for a newer model.  It's about buying one more outfit for a closet that's already overflowing.

The same holds for church shopping in a consumer culture.  People are looking for the latest and greatest church.  People trade churches in for newer models.  Denominational allegiance is low and churches try to outdo one another in attracting the seekers, the unchurched, the dischurched people.

This can be a problem, in particular, for our smaller churches.  I noticed this much more in the first church I served in Indiana.  There were three United Methodist Churches in our town of 15,000 people.  Add to that an untold number of Presbyterian, Baptist (of all kinds), Catholic, Independent, Disciple of Christ, Pentecostal, etc. churches.  We were a small and we knew it.  We kept looking at some of the bigger churches and wishing that we could have the youth group or the choir or the facility that they had.  And we could tell from the faces of some of our visitors that they would never be back.  Perhaps it was the lack of a suitable nursery.  Perhaps it was the lack of air conditioning.  Perhaps it was a bad sermon from me.

I think this springs from the fact that many persons look at churches asking "What can the church do for me?" rather than "What can I do for the church?"  And when a church isn't meeting a perceived need, church shopping begins.

So, it was nice to see that this religious phenomenon isn't just an American issue.  I saw this cartoon yesterday over at Internet Monk.  The cartoon is from Great Britain.

This cartoon is taken from the Dave Walker Guide to the Church, published by Canterbury Press. It originally appeared in the Church Times.

Image by wenzday01 via FlickrOn Saturday, my wife and I were gifted with a wonderful Silver Salmon fishing trip out of Resurrection Bay near Seward, Alaska.  I am not much of a fisherman.  I like to cook fish.  I like to eat fish.  I even like to catch fish.  But I've not been a big fan of the whole process it takes to get a fish on your line...a process that often involves a lot of standing around in water...waiting...and waiting...and waiting.  But fishing from a boat is different.  Even if you don't catch anything, you've still had a boat ride.

So, we went out at 5:30 AM on Saturday with two other "anglers" and a guide in a small skiff.  We traveled out to the Bear Glacier area and started fishing from the boat.  In order to catch these ocean salmon, we trolled for them.  A herring was attached to a couple of hooks on a line and were put down about 37 feet.  Then we put the poles in holders on the side of the boat and waited as our guide moved the boat slowly through the water. The idea is that the salmon see the herring and say "Ooo, lunch" and take a bite.  And after letting the hook set we were to start reeling them in.

I had not fished for silver salmon before.  I knew they tasted good and I'd heard they put up a good fight.  And it was fun catching them.  By the end of the day (1 PM), I had four and my wife had five.  (She always has a better day when we're out fishing together.  That's a normal occurance.)  That's three short of the limit, but a good amount of meat for our freezer.  The weather wasn't very nice although the rain kept off of us while were were fishing.  It was a good day.

What I wanted to share was something that happened later in the day.  See, it was not uncommon to feel a little tug on the line and have the fish swim away with the bait and have to load up the line again.  At one point I was having a long dry spell, with no nibbles or bites or anything.  I said out loud that I was going to check my line because, "I haven't had a bite in so long, it MUST be because I have no bait anymore."  CLEARLY, that had to be the issue.  It COULDN'T be just coincidence.

As I was getting ready to reel up the line, the guide told me to stay put.  We were just entering a section where we had pulled up a few fish before.  This was a "hot spot" for us and I should have my line in the water.  He said he would check all of our bait after we get through that prime fishing area.

We slowly made our way through and, when we got on the other side he asked to check our lines.  I pulled up mine to find that I had, indeed, been FISHING WITHOUT BAIT  I have no idea how long I had been "baitless" but I clearly wasn't going to catch much without bait.  It was a totally ineffective way to fish.  I'm not saying I COULDN'T have caught anything...but the chances would be against it.

Well, what about the church?

In the church we are to be "fishers of people."

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. (Mark 1:16-20)

We are to bring the Good News to the world, offer the message of salvation, to bring Christ, both crucified and risen to those around us.  And how often are we using totally ineffective ways of doing it...thinking we're reaching out to the unchurched or the dischurched or the previously churched or the young or the single or the youth...how often are we "fishing" and we have no bait?  I am not saying that every church needs to be "cutting edge" and finding the latest and the greatest outreach tool...the latest and the greatest "fishing gear."  However, it is good to pull up our reels every once in a while and see which tools we're using to spread the good news around...to check our bait.

My guess is that in your church and mine we have some programs and processes in place that, perhaps, once worked really well at "catching fish" -- bringing in members or guests -- but is not working now.  Worship style can be part of this.  United Methodist Women or Men's groups can be part of this.  Even the old standby of "Youth Group" can be a bait that just doesn't work the same way anymore.

Instead of leaving our baitless hooks in the water, we need to explore more effective ways of fishing for the people Jesus would have us fish for.

I shared one of my favorite children's stories Sunday at church.  I changed what I was originally going to do because I got distracted by a squirrel climbing on on one of our outdoor beams.  So, I told this story instead.

A pastor was leading a worship service talking about "God the Creator" and he wanted to help the kids appreciate some of the animals in the world around them and talk about how God created them.  He started off this way:

"I'm going to see if you can guess what it is I'm thinking of.  This is an animal that is sometimes brown and sometimes gray.  In many parts of the US it has a bushy tail....."

No hands go up.  The kids stare blankly.

"Well, this thing I'm thinking of likes to climb trees and bird feeders and, sometimes, even homes and churches..."

Nothing from the kids.

"This creature likes to collect nuts and store them away for the winter...."

There was a long pause.

Finally, a little girl raises her hand.

"Yes, Mary," says the Pastor.  "What is it I'm describing here?

"Well," says Mary, "I'm pretty sure you're talking about a squirrel, but I know you want me to say "Jesus."

Or, I came across this funny Facebook dialogue which talks about Jesus:


How often do we, as Pastors or Christians over-spiritualize events or conversations, making them be about Jesus when really they don't need to be...or may be about something else entirely?

How often do we try to make great theological lessons out of the mundane...only because we feel we need to do it?  Or because we're trying VERY hard to evangelize?

I know as a pastor I can jump to the gun and look for opportunities to bring Jesus into a situation that, really, is out of place.  I'm sure that I have a tendency to pontificate and get "all religious" when dealing with folks. It's partly an occupational problem.

What do you think?  Do you over-spiritualize?

This is a cartoon from AsboJesus and I think it hits at an important part of the missional/attractional discussion.  For years, we've been telling the nonchurched folk in the world that they needed to be transformed into some "cookie cutter" Christian if they were to follow Jesus.  In Alaska, we told the native peoples they had to adopt our language and styles of dress.  In the US, becoming Christian is often seen as going hand in hand with becoming an upwardly mobile white American.  We've told people to not only become like us in faith, but become like us in culture, music tastes, politics, language, etc.  While I still want to say that following Christ involves a life-change (repentance and regeneration), it seems that we're not stressing the uniformity as much anymore.

Perhaps now we're getting around to understanding the variety of persons and personalities & cultures who love Jesus and can still manage to disagree on important issues.  It's the church that's adapting, with the realization that following Christ can be done in a myriad of ways.

(HT/ Make use of)

Here's an image of a tract found over at Jesus Needs New PR. 

We don't get many tracts in Girdwood, Alaska.  But occasionally we find a couple here or there.  I am sure that there must be some people, somewhere who come to belief in Christ through a tract they find on a bathroom sink or at the bus station or wherever.  I'm sure it happens.  But, if I remember correctly, the success rates are very, VERY, VERY small.

I think the tract above takes many of the tracts I've seen to a logical extreme.  We've reduced much of our evangelism into a simple question of choosing between heaven and hell.  It's more difficult than this.  It's messy.  It involves relationships.  It involves following Christ on good and bad days.  The way is narrow.  (I think I read that before somewhere :) )  To make it all a simple choice between to places in which you could spend eternity seems to make evangelism a piece of cake and takes all the struggle out of "coming to Christ" and "walking with Christ."

Furthermore, isn't it possible that this type of evangelical tool is "so heavenly minded that it's no earthly good."  Sometimes our stress on the afterlife, focusing on where persons are "going," makes us oblivious to their earthly trials and tribulations.  In other words, if they just check off "heaven" we can forget about them and go on to someone else.

Have you seen any bad tracts out there which have taken a similar road?

Does this make evangelism...and even salvation...too simple?

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I was merely going out to ask the guy across the street not to park his car directly behind our Suburban.  It's hard to see back there.  Plus, really, I think it's kind of rude to park at the end of someone's driveway.   I was asking nicely, but I just never understood why, when there was ample parking space in front of the house they were renting that he thought that the best place was at the end of our driveway, making it difficult for us to get out.  I seemed inconsiderate.  And, more, as the snow will soon begin to fall we have a great interest on our street keeping the road as wide as possible.  We live on a hill.  Sometimes in winter you really want to have a two-lane road because the car going downhill may not be able to stop.  It happens.  You need some passing room.  It's safer.  And, as I said, there was ample room for him to pull off the road right in front of his home.  He didn't have to park where he was parking.  But, I was going to be nice about it and I was.

So, that's what got me out of the house in the dark to talk with the new neighbor across the street on a weeknight.  Slightly confrontational?  Yes.  But something learned by actually living on the street for the past 7 years and seeing how it all works.  We need some room to maneuver.

I, frankly, was a little nervous as the door closed behind me.  I'm really not one that handles confrontation very well.  I'm more of a "smooth-it-over guy."  I didn't want to have anyone upset with me.  I like everyone to love me and be happy with me.  I don't want to be seen as an obnoxious neighbor.

And, as I got out there at night I saw a familiar face among the four persons standing out there.  She's someone whom our church has helped out financially.  She's someone who has worked with my kids in daycare.   She's someone who used to work in a drive-through coffee shop and I used to go get coffee from her every Sunday morning between our 8:30 and 10 AM worship services.  16 OZ SKIM MILK LATTE WITH SUGAR FREE HAZELNUT, HALF THE USUAL AMOUNT OF HAZELNUT (my drink of choice.)  And each Sunday she'd ask me what I was preaching on and each Sunday I'd give her a terribly abbreviated version of my sermon.  Each Sunday.

One Sunday we were discussing poverty in church and I shared some of the statistics about "the working poor" and the struggles they face.  She said, "Pastor Jim, that's me.  I work two jobs and sometimes three in this town just to try keep living here and each month I get farther and farther behind.  There's a lot of us in this town."

Sometimes it was she who preached to me.

Well, in the street at night, addressing the car parking issue, she said to the others from the rental unit.  "Pastor Jim here is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet," and she put her arms around me to give me one of those those "side hugs" that are always pretty "safe" but can still show some genuine affection.  I love flattery, but it's what she said afterward that I really loved.  Afterward she looked at me and said,

Do you remember all those Sunday mornings you came and got your coffee and shared your sermons with me?  Well, those were awesome.  I always looked forward to that time.  I grew up Catholic and left the church a while ago, but those times brought me closer to Christianity than I'd been in a long time.  They kind of restored my faith in the church. Thank you.

As I think back to those Sunday morning coffees, I think I got the sense that she truly enjoyed hearing my condensed sermons.   And I think she got the sense that I wanted her perspective and to hear her stories about them for the week.  I did.  And to hear now, in the dark, a few years later, that God was acting in her life because of those conversations was awesome to hear.  It was a blessing.  It was a blessing for me to know that it made a difference.

I don't really want to take any of the credit here.  I'm very happy calling this a "God-thing" and leaving it there.  But I am going to hold onto this conversation.

Sometimes in ministry I can wonder why it is that I do this...this whole ministry-thing, with its meetings, and planning, and worrying about church finances, and running off to Bible studies, and entering into some dramatic highs and lows in persons' lives.

So, why do I do it?

Because sometimes, God, acting through me, leads to a transformation in someone's life.  Sometimes I see someone drawn closer to God again (like my friend in the street).  Sometimes a person learns something and their eyes are opened to a new reality about Scripture or person and work of Christ.  Sometimes I can see the proverbial "gears" grinding away in their minds as they begin to understand faith at a deeper level.  Sometimes right choices are made and wrong choices are confessed and atoned for.   Sometimes marriages are saved or children come home or those who have lost loved ones are comforted in their time of need.

I do it because the Holy Spirit is alive and kicking and sometimes works through even me as surprising as I sometimes find it. And sometimes, like in the account above, I get to actually see some of the fruits of this whole minitry-thing.

Text:  Matthew 28:16-20 & Luke 10:1-12
Title:  “[CHURCH] Is a VERB”

My first church out of seminary was in __________, Indiana.  There were some good people in that church…really good people.  Some of you know that I've talked openly about how that was a hard place to start out in ministry for a couple different reasons.  And, so, when I say "there were some really good people there" you might expect me to follow it with the traditional Southern, "Bless their hearts."  Sometimes, perhaps stereotypically, Southerners will say something like “Jimmy Ray Miller (bless his heart)…” and then follow it with all the horrible stuff they were going to tell you about Jimmy Ray Miller and the only reason their saying "bless his heart" at all is so they don't feel bad about talking bad about him.

But there were some really good people in that church.  There really were.  In fact Julie and the kids were able to go visit a few of them when they were down in Indiana…although they attend a different church now.  There were, and I'm sure still ARE, some wonderful people in that church.


But I did come out of that church with some stories that have been instrumental in my understanding of what it means to be a church and what it means to reach out, as I am want to say, "IN CONCERN AND SERVICE FOR THE WORLD."

I know many of you have heard this story before.  But, you’re going to hear it again.

See, when I got to the church, one of the first Sundays I was there, one of the folks who had been around awhile said, “Preacher, you know what your job is here.”  My ears perked up, thinking this could be pretty important.  He said, “Your job here is to bring in young people…and make sure they’re upwardly mobile.”  In an economically depressed county seat town in Indiana, he wanted me to find the one or two twenty-somethings who were moving up a corporate ladder somewhere and hadn’t moved out of that town and make them members.  It was going to be a challenge to meet that job requirement.

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