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One of the blogs I read (Fierce Grace) decided to do something entirely different on a Sunday morning.
Cancel the service.
Serve the neighborhood.
Read about it at The Church Has Left the Building.
I have often mentioned that some churches can do this. I can’t imagine Mars Hill or Seacoast doing something like this. However smaller churches can easily take this idea and run with it.
Leading Preparation
Leading up to this Sunday off was a sermon series. The whole series is mapped out at “Beginning this Sunday” and the follow up posts in that series continues to map out the theology and the practice that led up to that Sunday.
One Sunday, Pastor pointed out:
The Samaritan took a risk, got personally involved, spent some time and some money to help the man in need - He put himself out to help someone else get through. That’s what we are called to do if we’re going to love our neighbor like we love ourselves.
The second Sunday focused on:
Jesus’ mission is our mandate (Luke 4:14-21) - and it’s people-centered, outwardly focused, and compassion driven. If we can see people as He saw them, sees them, we will overflow with ideas and discover dozens of practical ways to show them the love of Christ.
And on the third Sunday:
The third installment of our “Taking It to the Streets” message series focused on “Little Acts with Big Impact.” We looked at Jesus’ description of the Kingdom in Luke 13:18-21. There, Jesus said the Kingdom was like a small mustard seed that grows in to a bushy tree large enough for birds to build nests in. Then He said the Kingdom was like a lump of yeast that was worked into 50 pounds of dough to make bread for as many as 100 people!
It wasn’t a surprise to the congregation but rather a vision that had been cast and people rallied to it.
What do you think?
Have you tried this idea?
What did you find?
Comments (2) Posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Friday afternoon during the Mt. Vernon Evangelism Dunamis, we had a lab time or a live practicum, based on the Phillip and Ethiopian Eunuch story.
We gathered as a group, prayed, and then dismissed to visit various places in Mount Vernon as we felt led or guessed at a leading.
The goal was to have a spiritual conversation with whomever the Lord pointed out to you (a la “Go stand next to THAT chariot”). If such a conversation was to be had, it was to help the people you felt led to speak with make another step forward in their spiritual journey. You might get to
- plant a seed
- water a seed
- harvest a seed
It was perfectly fine if one didn’t feel a particular leading to go somewhere. It could be simply free time, or remain at the church praying for those who did go out.
Where our little group traveled
During the prayer time I had a vision of a young woman, smoking a cigarette, reading a book, sitting on a chair at the loading dock in a particular commercial center / strip mall.
The person driving also felt a leading to visit the local community college.
First, we visited the college campus and encountered the pastor for the Chi Alpha student ministry. We prayed with him, the ministry’s worship team, and for his effectiveness as a campus pastor. Three out of town pastors on the college campus, blessing a young student pastor.
Then we left and we visited the commercial shopping center where behold, I found the woman, smoking a cigarette, reading a book, sitting on a chair, as pictured.
I described my vision and my reason for interrupting. We told her we believed that God had sent us there to pray just for her. We offered to pray for her and she allowed us to. If she had said no, I would have respected that boundary.
We felt led to pray about God’s provision in her life and to remind her that God hears her prayer. Whatever will come of that, who knows.
Other stories
Many other groups returned with stories of the people they met, prayed with and for, and some had stories where nothing happened, which is fine during a clinical lab time like this.
Some had deeply meaningful conversations, other simply experienced small talk. Some encounters occurred on Indian Reservations, in Wal-Mart, or at the local gas station or thrift store.
The idea is to see the people around you with the Father’s eyes. (See the video Waiting on the World to Change).
To look for those people that God would underline to you.
The idea is not to force a conversation, but to watch it unfold, naturally, as you trust the sovereignty of God to lead you to the right person while you are on your way.
Let me ask you this?
Have you tried an experiment like this? Have you simply taken the time to pray and spend the afternoon looking for whom God might send across your path? Tell us your stories in the comments below.
Comments (0) Posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008
Today, I bring you another guest article, by Christian Dominic Boyd of www.celtichound.org.
Christian is also pastor of New Creation, a Presbyterian new church development in O’Fallon, Illinois, which is part of the St Louis metro area.
He and I were co-presenters at the Presbyterian Transformational Conference in Tampa last month. I’m glad to have him as a friend in ministry.
Article below:
__________________________________________
When we read through the Gospels, how many times do we find Jesus asking his disciples,
“How can we get more people to attended synagogue on Saturday morning?”
Or, “What kind of programs is First Synagogue of Galilee doing that we need to do to get more twenty and thirty year olds with kids to become members of our synagogue?”
When we dig into the Gospels we find Jesus and his disciples not in synagogue nor even worried about that institution. We find them out among the people, Jewish and Gentile, in their homeland and in the non-kosher lands of foreigners and enemies.
This unconventional way of teaching and being Jesus was modeling for his disciples of course rubbed the Pharisees and Sadducees the wrong way.
I hear them cry in Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Matthew, We have never done it this way!!!
When many of us in the mainline denominations think about evangelism, we cringe (See: Fears of Evangelism). We cringe many times because of what it may mean and the unconventional changes we will have to make in our life, and in our congregational life, both within which we have become very comfortable.
Like the Pharisees and Sadducees we hear from in Matthew 15 we have set up some self-defined walls which have become more life taking than life giving, and fly in the face of God’s desire of gathering all of creation into communion with God’s self.
Many of us have become more concerned about the marketability of our congregations to an overwhelmingly consumerist society than actually being and doing what Jesus teaches his disciples.
Consulting with a number of churches and church leaders these past five years as part of our work at www.celtichound.org, I have found across the board that many of us see evangelism and marketing as the same thing.
Heck, there are even books published with that inference (example: Church Marketing 101: Preparing Your Church for Greater Growth or Spend Less, Reach More: A Pastor’s Guide to Reaching the Most People for the Least Amount of Money).
Furthermore, with this quasi-business concept we have also redefined what success is for the Church. We will know we are successful by
- how many people we have in worship on Sunday morning,
- the size of our buildings, and
- the amount of money we collect to fund programs and good works,
all in Jesus’ name.
Yet, is this really evangelism and are we truly living out our God given nature as the Church?
What I understand from what Jesus teaches us, evangelism is not a program, it is not outreach, and it is not ticks of the trade that get people to fill the pews.
Evangelism is a way of being.
Furthermore, evangelism, mission, and apostolic all are key terms linked to the nature of Jesus’ mission and purpose, and thus our nature and purpose as his Church, his body.
This shared nature is rooted in God sending the Son, and then the Son sending the disciples to the edges of the world to participate in God’s mission within those diverse contexts.
The edge of the world
On the edges of the world disciples are participating in God’s work of creating, redeeming, and reconciling all things to God’s self. As disciples on the edge of the world, in the places where one traditionally wouldn’t think of finding good and proper Christians, God is doing awesome things. The Holy Spirit is at work transforming not only lives, but also civil society.
Theology on Tap
One of the ways I have discovered this is through New Creation’s Theology on Tap monthly gatherings.
New Creation is a Presbyterian new church development in O’Fallon, Illinois, which is part of the St Louis metro area.
Theology on Tap (ToT) is not a program, it is just an event scheduled to occur once a month at a local Irish pub.
Its purpose for being is to create and sustain relationships, which is one of New Creation’s mission directives, as well as provide an opportunity to reclaim the art of conversation.
At a ToT gathering, anything is fair game for conversation, including all of those things good Victorians don’t discuss in proper company (sex, politics, religion, money . . . and we added sports).
Conversation Rules:
However, to ensure we are practicing the art of conversation, there are Rules of Engagement; if broken, the trespasser has to buy the next round for everyone. The Rules simply are:
-
Courtesy and respect will be shown at all times.
-
Commitment will be made to listen and hear the perspectives of others.
-
All statements that are not explicit facts must include the attitude of “it seems to me” or “I feel…”.
-
All participants will work hard to increase their understanding of the issues between meetings.
-
Bottom line, “love your neighbor as your self.”
Break the rule and you buy the next round.
After the past six months of gathering at the pub and just conversing, we have had serious relevant questions and discussions.
A Theology on Tap Discussion
My most remarkable memory was a discussion around the lost of a child in child birth, where God was within that whole experience, and where is God right now amidst the pain.
As a pastor I sat back and let the community that was gathered answer.
That night the Holy Spirit was present as healing and conversions occurred within the holiness of sincere relationships…just being without agendas or striving to be successful Christians.
Theology on Tap, I believe, is one contextual way of what the Church incarnated, evangelizing, being apostolic, and participating in God’s mission in the world looks like.
It has left me wondering,
Where else out in the community God has planted us is God sending us to just BE?
Where else are we being called to be in an unconventional way, and thus allowing God to work through us to make real the Kingdom that is at hand?
__________________________________________________________
Christian Dominic Boyd is the Executive Director of www.celtichound.org.
Celtic Hound Ministries (CHM) specializes in spiritual life coaching and congregational mission and leadership consultation.
The primary areas of expertise are in organizational development, structure evaluation, and strategic planning processes.
Comments (1) Posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
With permission, I want to share a story from a participant in one of the Fear Free Evangelism Seminars that I conduct
The next one is in Enfield CT, November 8, see Personal Evangelism Training Conference Enfield CT.
I have edited it for details and confidentiality:
I’ve been extremely busy on audits recently but it is on just such a trip to Atlanta 2 weeks ago that I was able to use Fear Free Evangelism principles to talk about my faith with a co-worker traveling with me.
Jane is a colleague here at my current client who has been going through a very rough time over the past 18 months. She is a really bright, wonderful person who is deeply depressed and starting to feel negatively towards herself.
As we drove the rental car from the airport to our hotel in the town we were going to, I couldn’t help but recognize this as EXACTLY the kind of opportunity you said would “walk right up to me” (ala Phillip And The Ethiopian Eunuch story we discussed in the workshop) if I prayed about it (I had).
I asked her if she had grown up in a church or gotten married in a church. She admitted she had little church contact growing up as her parents did not belong to one.
She told me about friends/acquaintances in her life who were “bible-beaters” and how she had become resentful of religion in general, citing catholic rules about annulment and the discomfort of her friends who tried to “shove” religion on her.
It is precisely at this moment that I would’ve simply dropped the notion of discussing my faith HAD I NOT TAKEN YOUR WORKSHOP!!
It’s hard to describe but I have never felt more at ease as I just asked her point blank “Do you believe in God?”
In the back of my mind, I kept thinking about the question you posed to us in the workshop:
What if discussing your faith was a normal, everyday thing?
This simple act of God-given boldness (which did NOT include an ounce of the unease/discomfort I’m used to when discussing my faith) led to a long and pleasantly engaging conversation about the existence of God and the Christian faith.
And while I’d like to say she pulled the car over and accepted Jesus right there on the highway, she of course didn’t.
But you can always feel when someone is absorbing and listening to what you are saying and I felt convicted that she was indeed pondering things she never had before. The seeds were definitely planted.
Additionally, thanks to your evangelism training workshop I felt a real sense that God had used me. This is in direct contrast to faith-sharing opportunities in the past where I actually felt GUILT/SHAME over the fact that someone DIDN’T immediately drop to their knees and accept Christ on the spot after I spoke to them.
Sorry to go on so long, but I really want to encourage you that your Fear Free Evangelism approach really works and is/will continue to be an enormous blessing in my life.
Your turn
To host your own Fear Free Evangelism workshop for your church or region, simply give me a call at 804-335-1445 and we can talk about the details.
It is a one day workshop on conversational evangelism that can be expanded for a weekend retreat.
Comments (0) Posted on Friday, October 17th, 2008
A reader from the Ukraine submitted a question via Ask Evangelism Coach section. (I’ve edited this for spelling an grammar).
Hello. I am Ukrainian. I want that in my life people will be saved.
I regularly share the gospel, but unfortunately there is not much fruit. What do you suggest to me about reaching people.
Should I make the accent on my friends or relatives to see good fruit? Thank you
Thanks for dropping by the site and visiting several pages. You ask a great question.
Passion for the lost
For starters, I admire your passion for people to know Jesus. Without the Father’s heart for those who don’t yet know the Lord, evangelism is simply duty and obligation. When we have a yearning for the salvation that causes us to cry out in prayer, and think about how to reach them, we will find creative ways.
See Getting Emotionally Worked Up
Skills to share your faith
Secondly, work on your skills in sharing the gospel. You can learn scripts that are helpful when the moment is right.
There are lots of other relationship skills to make your presentation excellent.
Evangelism Coaching
One service that I offer in the US and Canada is evangelism coaching. A coach can help you think through some of these issues and can help you improve your skills.
There is a fee involved, as I need to earn a living but it can be done.
Do you Need Evangelism coaching?
Given that you are in the Ukraine, it might be a little difficult to use me, but you might find a pastor nearby who can help you.
Where should you start?
The best place to start is with personal walk with the Lord. Cultivate how to hear His voice and then you’ll begin to notice how the Holy Spirit is leading you. You’ll see where the Holy Spirit is at work and you can begin to participate in that work, just like Phillip And The Ethiopian Eunuch
Got a Question?
Submit your question via Ask Evangelism Coach section. I’ll see about turning it into something we can all learn from.
Comments (0) Posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008
