Creating Safe Places for God's Lost People

This past Sunday we looked at Luke 5:27-31 a little differently. Luke 5 reads,

“After these things [Jesus]went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. ²⁹ Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. ³⁰ And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

In this passage Levi, a tax collector, decided to follow Jesus. Upon making that decision the first thing he did was throw a big feast (or party) and invited all of his other tax-collecting friends over to his house. Without noting the obvious lesson here of the spiritually sick needing a doctor, Levi set forth, by example, a simple outreach strategy that I had not considered before. Levi’s party was simply dinner at Levi’s house with Jesus as His special guest. Levi created a safe place for his tax-collecting, “sick” friends to come and interact with Jesus for a time. Nothing fancy, but oh so special- Jesus was there!

 

At BCC we are actively re-considering outreach. Is outreach, at its base, simply creating safe places for lost people to come and rub shoulders with Jesus? The church is Jesus’ body (Col.1:24) and every time we welcome others to walk alongside us there is the potential that they will rub shoulders with Jesus too. However, we cannot expect them to come discover Jesus if we do not provide them safe places to do so.

 

This Sunday we are seeking to create a safe place for God’s lost people whom He loves to come by throwing a back-to-school cookout. We are going to dumb down the religiosity a bit. A prayer, perhaps a testimony or two, but otherwise it will be simply friends hanging out with friends and sharing Jesus in casual conversation.

 

Please pray that many of our friends will come and be curious about the source of the loving life of our people.

I Think They Will Join Us If They Trust Us

Back in February I wrote a post called “Are We Trusted”. In that post I talked about the need to establish trust with people in the community. I asked, “How do we as Christians establish trust with our neighbors when time and time again people are finding their first impressions about their neighbors so wrong?” I then talked about the trust that has been built with a certain leader in our community and how the trust developed over time.

I firmly believe that trust provides a solid bedrock for any relationship. If people cannot trust each other, in marriage, friendship or other, they have no solid ground from which to build their relationship. In this post I would like to consider how the bedrock of trust enables our relationships with our non-Christian friends to potentially grow into the highest form of relationship; that of Christian brothers and sisters.

I am learning that the bedrock of established trust empowers me to ask meaningful, even pinching questions. Trust grants me the authority to go below the surface of relationship. If I am not trusted I will not be granted that right. Trust must be earned, and once it has been earned any number of conversations can be had because the person trusts me. They know they are not being tricked. They feel as if I have a right to know. They believe I care for them. Trust takes longer to build with some than with others. Trust may take a great long while to establish with someone who has been repeatedly hurt by people. But again, once it has been established the ingredients are there to build higher and higher and higher until we both become devoted followers of Christ.

Here’s how this has played out recently; A number of months ago a non-Christian friend of mine informed me of a friend of hers who was going through a tough time- we will call her friend Ed. Ed was taking care of his aging parents and finding it incredibly stressful on other aspects of his life. I stopped by his office one day because I happened to be in the same building where he worked. My non-Christian friend had encouraged Ed to talk to me even though he had never met me so my arrival at his office was not a complete surprise. We talked in his office for about 15 minutes that day wherein I told him that if he would like to grab coffee sometime I would enjoy it too.

A couple weeks later we met for coffee. It’s been a slow-growing relationship since then. Some weeks it was just small talk and enjoyable coffee. Other weeks it was deep. We are at the point in our relationship now where he trusts me. He knows I genuinely care about him. He knows I am not trying to get anything from him. Because of this bedrock of trust I sensed was there I invited him into a Bible discussion group with me and a few others and he quickly agreed to be a part. Is he actually curious about the Word of God? I don’t think so; at least not yet. But he trusts me and was therefore not afraid of the invite.

Ed and I are set up now to have the highest form of relationship- that of brothers in Christ. Ed may end up rejecting the Word of God and thereby disallow brotherhood through Christ; but the necessary ingredients are there for him to find Christ. He trusts me. He is reading the Word of God. My only prayer now is that the Lord will convict His heart through the Word to repent and turn to Him.

I believe that if we will build trust with people they will join us if we invite them along.

Opening the Word of God With Our Friends

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb.4:12).

What would be the sociological result if every family in our community opened the Word of God together every night and let it speak into their lives? What would happen if every household shut off the TV and phones from 7-8pm and just let the Word of God speak into the room? What would we see happen? What would begin to take place in our city? In 10 years I believe we would see upside-down change. We would hardly recognize the place anymore.

Of course this assumes that there are people in every home with sincere hearts who fear the Lord enough to accept what He says. But if we could just imagine the implications for a moment I think we would agree that the results would be astounding. The Word of God is living and active. It cuts and pierces and gets at the deep dirtiness of our hearts. It has the potential to bring about world-wide change because the world-wide problem is the dirtiness of our hearts. And if instead of all the radio, TV and internet junk we feed our minds every day we would begin to channel in the Word of God, even in small increments, the personal and societal changes would be more than could be predicted.

I was recently challenged by an Elder in the church to gather my non-Christian friends together, 3-6 in a group, to read the Scriptures and talk about its meaning. Since daily Scripture reading was already a habit of mine I thought this challenge very doable. So I approached Tom and said,

“Hey Tom, what are you doing on Tuesday nights?” (Let him respond). “I was wanting to get a group of guys together to have coffee, read a passage of Scripture, talk about what it says and maybe take prayer requests for each other. Whenever I have done this in the past it has always been transformative for everyone involved. I want you to be involved. If I could arrange a good time for all of us would you be a part of it?”

Out of 9 people I have asked to be involved only one person said they would not be interested even if they had the time. I currently have two groups of friends gathering every week to read the Scriptures and discuss them and so far everyone has enjoyed it very much. One guy even said, “Knowing that I am created in the image of God I think can help me a ton when I get depressed. It’s like I know I am special.”

I want to encourage you to make daily Scripture reading a habit for you. Then, I want to challenge you to invite your non-Christian friends to participate with you. In your gathering time(s) you do not teach, you do not preach. You just let the Word of God speak and facilitate the discussion accordingly. In order to see personal and societal transformation we must get the Word of God into people’s hands so that it can begin to cut deep into their hearts. I am learning how to do this now; you can learn too.

The Power of Testimonies in the Church

An Atheist friend of mine once said to me through email, “There’s no evidence for religion”. I could hardly believe he even said it. I think it would have been appropriate to reply (although I didn’t), “There’s no evidence for Atheism”, for what my friend does not understand is that everything in the world is evidence for religion. Everything points to something beyond itself. The good, the bad, the atrocious, whatever…it all points beyond itself. Nothing touchable in your office right now appeared there all on its own. Every pen, every marker, every paper-clip, every stapler points beyond itself. By its very existence it gives evidence of a maker, a manufacturer, a designer, and it need not say “made in China” for you to know that.  The trouble with modern-man’s lack of faith is not in a lack of “evidence” for religion. The evidence is every bit as much there as it was a thousands of years ago. The trouble is with our eyes.

I find this true in the church as well. It’s not that the Lord is not working in our lives as a depressed Christian might say; it’s that we oftentimes do not have eyes to see Him working in our lives. We fail to recognize all He does because we do not make it a habit of identifying and naming His movements. I suspect we shall arrive on the other side of Eternity to have the Lord ask us, “Why did you not thank Me more for all the things I did for you?” To which we will reply, “I didn’t know You were doing those things”.

I believe regular times of testimony in the church are a great way to foster a habit of identifying the movements of the Lord in our lives, both big and small. The big testimonies people offer are really encouraging because they are hard to deny. There is a temptation, however, to hear the small testimonies and ask oneself, “did God really do that?", to which I try to tell myself, “try proving He didn’t”. This past month at BCC was a month filled with big testimonies. Here’s a recap;

• We had a baptism!
• One member received a spontaneous check for $24,000 from a family member to buy a new car. Their former car managed to make it to the dealership for trade-in where it basically died in the parking lot.
• Members from India received a Visa extension from the Government after months of prayer by the entire church. This news came on the heels of their mother’s death in India (literally the next day). Deep sadness followed by exuberant relief.
• With tears in her eyes a wife praised her husband in front of the whole church for his rapid growth in faith. This was powerful because we all knew that their marital resurrection is a direct result of their new mutual faith in Christ.
• The last week of school my High School students bought me (Shaun) a brand new Kindle Fire HD. I saw the Lord’s hand in this because it was not their parents who bought it for me but them. I have been trying to put into practice our "Kingdom of God" series of lessons by submitting everything I do to the kingship of Christ, even bus driving. I believe the Lord rewarded me for performing that job for Him and not for money.
• The Lord brought my daughter August into the world in an unexpected way. Since the doctor and nurses were not in the room at the time I had no choice but to deliver her myself! I wonder if this is an indication of the sort of woman she shall become- she acts when she is ready whether others are ready or not ;).

I pray that you, your congregation as a whole or your small group will make it a habit of identifying and naming the movements of the Lord in your life; it really fosters faith.

"Go"- The First Response To The Great Commission

In their book "Building a Discipling Culture" Mike Breen and Steve Cockram argue that the mission of the Christian Church today is to "make disciples" (Mt.28:19) not build the church. They wisely reason that if we focus on building the church, we may get some disciples out of it. But if we focus on making disciples and succeed, the church automatically gets built. The formation of a church is always the automatic and natural result of having made disciples of Jesus. Wherever disciples are made a church is formed. For this reason we must make it our focus to make disciples not build the church.

Ask the average Christian gathering, however, how to go about making disciples and the response will be, "I don't know". At our Christian Community FG last Saturday we asked the same question; "How do we make disciples?" We wrestled with this question. By the end of the night we surely did not answer the question conclusively but we did arrive at this point that I think is important: In order to make disciples we must first respond positively to the command to "Go".

The first part of the Great Commission is to "Go..." (Mt.28:19). I believe many disciples have been made in the history of the church simply by members going and making themselves available to be used by the Lord;

• We spend extra time outside during the summer so that we can talk to our neighbors.
• We join new social clubs just to be among new people.
• We eat in the breakroom at work because we hope to be present for people who need to talk.
• We make our presence felt in the worst sections of town just to shine some light.

I have found that so much of making disciples is going and being present in the places where God could work. It is going but not always knowing what you will do when you get there. It is listening but not always knowing how you will respond. It is interceding for those who are mistreated all the while uncertain of what sort of fight others may pick with us. Being used by God requires that we first "Go". If we do not go we cannot be used.

I want to close by thanking a couple members at BCC for positively responding to the command to "Go".

Thank you Ron for going to help your non-Christian friend in Linden who was going through a tough time. I know you didn't know exactly what to do besides loan money but you went anyway.

Thank you Joann for going to sit with your girlfriend who lost her husband recently. I know you did not always know what to say to her but you went anyway.

What about you today? How are you making yourself available for the Lord's use on a daily basis? Are you going to be with people or are you isolating yourself? Are you going to listen to people or do your conversations revolve around you? Are you going to those you know are struggling and praying with them, or are you expecting someone else to do it instead?

How can you respond positively to the command to "GO and make disciples..." today?

What I Love About Our Fellowship

We have a student from Princeton Theological Seminary doing his Field Education with us in the Fall. We are excited about the opportunity to help a future Minister learn the ropes of shepherding. As a preamble to the Fall semester I was required to attend a Field Education Supervisor Orientation at Princeton Theological Seminary. For those who are unfamiliar with Princeton Seminary, it is affiliated with the Presbyterian denomination and has been for more than 200 years now. Simply walking the campus is a humbling experience to think of all the influential men and women of the past who have learned in those buildings. However, when I left the Seminary that day after the Orientation was finished I did not feel out of my element. I did not feel inferior to the many learned people I was around. I did not feel like I was just a young lad with nothing of value to add to the conversation. Instead I felt grateful for the spiritual platform I had been given in the fellowship of the Churches of Christ.

My renewed appreciation for our fellowship was set off by the response I received to a question I asked in the orientation. A stretching part of my full-time work with BCC over the past 7 years has been learning to create ministry when ministry is not coming to me. People come to a minister for counseling, prayer, clarification on the Scriptures and a number of other things. However in new churches and smaller churches the minister must also learn to create ministry when ministry is not forthcoming. Some days there is no one on my schedule to minister to or meet with. It is in these times when I have to go create ministry opportunities. I cannot sit back and wait for ministry opportunities to arise. I must go find them. Some days my efforts fail. But other days great things happen simply because I went. This has been a deeply stretching part of my responsibilities as Minister and likely a stretching part of any Minister in the fellowship of the churches of Christ.

With this in mind I asked the orientation class a question. I asked, “In your opinion, is it ok to allow students some unplanned, unscheduled time to go create ministry for themselves?” One gentleman who was a former supervisor of Field Ed students answered that with the student’s coursework and field work responsibilities there is very little time that is unplanned or unscheduled for them. The question, however, he thought was a great one. One lady at lunch referred to it as the "million dollar question" of the day. But why?

I think I later understood why. I think it has to do with our theologies. Many reformed theologies conceptualize ministry as that which the Priest or Pastor does at “church”. They believe people go to "church" to be ministered-to by the Priests and Pastors but do not heavily emphasize the church leaving the building to go and minister as a whole. Some church traditions have put so much effort into training their Priests and Pastors to "do church" correctly that the outward obligations of ministry have been neglected. Ministry definitely happens within the church, but it must also happen outside of it. The Great Commission was performed by those inside the church in order to bring those outside the church into the Kingdom of God.

Don't get me wrong even the Churches of Christ have fallen into this inward-looking trap. However I think it has happened with confident irregularity. As a member of the Church of Christ I have always understood ministry to be that which happens both inside and outside of church gatherings. For this reason it has been natural for me to think that part of my responsibility as a Minister is to go and create ministry when none is there.

I was really grateful that day for a fellowship of believers who have helped me accurately conceptualize what ministry is. I felt free of stifling tradition and liberated to “Go” and make disciples. Thanks church!

"I Want To Become A Leader...But How?"

I had a young man approach me on Sunday with this question, "If someone wants to become a leader for the Lord how does it happen? What's the process he or she goes through to become influential for the Lord?"

I can't tell you how excited I was to hear that question asked me from such a young person. He was thirsty to be used by the Lord but just didn't know how. I love it.

I remember the same question running through my mind when I attended the Tulsa Workshop in Tulsa, OK in college- it's one of the largest Church of Christ lectureships in America. I listened to a young man speak at that workshop and found myself having great admiration for him. In fact I remember trying to convince myself to approach him afterwards and ask, "I want to lead people like you are leading people, but how do I do it? What's my first step?" I thought it was a stupid question to ask at the time but now I'm wishing I had.

So what's the answer? How does one become a leader for the Lord if the desire is there? I will share what I shared with my friend on Sunday with a short preface that I did not share.

It begins, I believe, with a close, intentional walk with the Lord. The Lord is the One who creates people for influence. As Jesus said so strongly, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (Jn.15:5). The Lord exalts people to influence not ourselves. It is our responsibility as Christians to "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6) not to seek to be great. The more we seek to be great the less great we will be. Let us therefore seek to be nothing and Him be everything and perhaps He may just favor us with influence.

Secondly, becoming a leader for the Lord continues with absorbing the right information. 200 years ago most of the schools of Higher Education in America had as their initial purpose the building of leaders for the next generation. Over time, however, the purpose of Higher Education became to increase one's earning potential. The right information learned through education has always been effective in building leaders for the Lord. But not just any information will do. No person can have a close walk with the Lord without a solid understanding of the Word of God, and no person can become a leader without it either. The Word of God is primary and indispensible if one would become an influencer for the Lord. It's the Truth. It's Heavenly information. It is Holy Spirit inspiration. It is a must for the Christian influencer.

Other things people have always studied are the Classics. Classic literature tells the stories of people who have gone before us and have influenced. These stories are also very forming for the character of the next generation.

Thirdly, becoming a leader for the Lord concludes with finding a mentor who is himself closely walking with the Lord and solid in the Word of God. At some point all of us need someone to model. Paul told the church at Corinth, "Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ" (1 Cor.11:1). A mentor shows a mentee what influencing people looks like in person. He/she is someone to follow because they are devoutly following Christ. Worthy mentors are sometimes difficult to find and they will not often come to you and say, "Come follow me as I follow Christ". That would be great if they did though! You will have to seek out worthy mentors if you really want to become a leader for the Lord.

May the Lord give us more young people who are thirsty to be influencers for the Lord.