When men and women get their hands on religion, one of the first things they often do is turn it into an instrument for controlling others, either putting or keeping them "in their place." The history of such religious manipulation and coercion is long and tedious. It is little wonder that people who have only known religion on such terms experience release or escape from it as freedom. The problem is that the freedom turns out to be short-lived.
Saul of Tarsus was doing his diligent best to add yet another chapter to this dreary history when he was converted by Jesus to something radically and entirely different---a free life in God. Through Jesus, Paul learned that God was not an impersonal force to be used to make people behave in certain prescribed ways, but a personal Savior who set us free to live a free life. God did not coerce us from without, but set us free from within.
It was a glorious experience, and Paul set off telling others, introducing and inviting everyone he met into this free life. In his early travels he founded a series of churches in the Roman province of Galatia. A few years later Paul learned that religious leaders of the old school had come into those churches, called his views and authority into question, and were reintroducing the old ways, herding all these freedom-loving Christians back into the corral of religious rules and regulations.
Paul was, of course, furious. He was furious witht eh old guard for coming in with their strong-arm religious tactics and intimidating the Christians into giving up their free life in Jesus. But he was also furious with the Christians for caving in to the initmidation.
His letter to the Galatian churches helps them, and us, recover the original freedom. It also gives direction in the nature of God's gift of freedom---most necessary guidance, for freedom is a delicate and subtle gift, easily perverted and often squandered.
(Excerpted from THE MESSAGE REMIX: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2003 by Eugene Peterson)
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Simply Church
the church at matthew's house
By Jason Evans - May 2002
I was tired of the church, as I knew it. It was an event, a building, a program. I wanted to be the church; I wanted my unchurched friends to be the church, not become churched. I wanted it to be something I lived, rather than something I lived for. I heard of crazy people that met together, ate meals, shared their resources and studied the Scriptures together... in homes and coffee shops of all places! It couldn't be that simple! You were supposed to bring the sofas, the coffee (and the candles if you're real serious) into the sanctuary, but not use them in their common setting! That was ludicrous! It was two years ago that I thought that. Now, I'm one of those crazy people.
My wife and I along with several other couples had a burden, I'm not so sure it was a "vision” but it was definitely a burden. We were certain that the church was simpler than what we had known it to be. We wanted to be a part of something that encouraged spiritual things to evolve in a natural way. We wanted to go where God was rather than build a place for him to reside. We had a desire to invite people into an experience that was informal, yet intentional like the story of Levi throwing a party at his house with Jesus. Not long after that we found ourselves becoming the church to each other. It was a house church I suppose, but we weren't quite sure what to call it.
On a usual Thursday night, we would meet at about 6:30 p.m., eating dinner together, talking about our weeks, sharing high points and low points and getting introduced to a couple of new people that might have just stopped by. At one point, one evening, towards the end of dinner one of the new girls opened up a little. She said that she couldn't believe how welcome she felt. She had always been so "turned off" to religion and had become very skeptical. But she felt more comfortable and loved than she felt normally with her closest friends. This night was already the high point of her week and dinner wasn't even over yet!
And then one night it happened.
After dinner, all of us crammed into the family room to carry the conversations further. At the end of a time of reflection, people decided to wrap things up in prayer. And then it happened... without any explanation, no instruction, nor a request, this new girl said, "I don't know you God, but all I know is that I want more of you. I need you to be part of my life, like these people. Jesus, please, I want to know you..." As people kept praying there was this rush of wonder and amazement as those Christians in the room began to realize that one more had come into the Kingdom. To think, this girl hadn't been given a Gospel message, she wasn't told how to become a Christian... she just knew. This was a totally un-evangelical salvation!
We had committed ourselves to no longer putting on a show and just lift God up in our lives. Through that the Holy Spirit got all the credit, we did nothing, He drew someone to the Savior without us tripping things up along the way. Many more young adults were coming and things began to quickly get tight around the dinner table and in the family room. We soon started another church to relieve some of the size limitations in the first group. We didn't know what to do next; all we knew was that God was up to something.
Not long after that my wife and I began opening up our home to the many young people involved in the local punk/hardcore scene and started a church there. The night began with dinner together and then each shared a few chapters of our personal stories. As we talked the conversation moved into what each expected of a group like this. What blew me away was that each of them was saying the same thing. Learning to love God and other people in an authentic way was what each of them wanted.
By the end of the night, this group of young people were bonded together on a journey to learn what it meant to really love God, love their friends, and provide a safe haven for them to come, hang out, and talk about life. They decided that we would come together every week to do this for each other and anyone else who came through the door.
Less then 6 months after that church was born two young men within that group have been called to shepherd that church. Less then a week after we talked with those two young men, all of us were sitting in our house, sharing life together, and the Spirit laid it on my heart to challenge another young person to begin a house church. Once again, we will help him lay the foundation and empower him to guide a church. A few days later, at a concert, some of us were talking to some old friends that live in the next county to the east and they are catching the vision. We now have the opportunity to help them start a movement of simple churches planted by normal people.
Simple churches come together.
Monthly, we have gatherings where all of these simple churches come together to share and celebrate God's work. I had the opportunity to speak with a housewife that is incredibly excited about the church meeting in her home. To my amazement she told me that the group is getting ready to bust at the seams. Therefore, she felt God must be getting ready to call some of them to go and start some new churches where there will be more room for more people!
I sat with a friend to think about these various situations and we could see up to 10 churches being born out of the hearts of people committed to loving others and Jesus in a simpler, honest manner. I don't think I've ever seen a multiplication process happen like this before.
The question many are asking is, "is it really that simple?" In fact, I think it is. Welders, daycare supervisors, housewives, electricians, waitresses and others are gifted to care and guide small, simple churches in there homes, apartments, coffee shops, tattoo parlors, bars and diners across the country. They won't separate the saints from the seekers. They will blur the lines between what we deem secular and what we raise up as sacred. They are gifted to express their creativity in new, unexpected ways and mediums, but not in the walls of our homes and church buildings but out there, in the real world. They are prone to make us uncomfortable and question our methods, which is exactly what Jesus did. They are gifted to teach us through rabbinical-like conversation, rather than monotone dissertations. They are gifted to help us become selfless Christ-followers, rather than selfish commercial-guzzlers. And most importantly they are gifted to take the church into realms us "clergy-types" never could. Who could ask for more? Can we humble ourselves to set aside the complicated organizations for a simpler organism?
Can we humble ourselves to take our gifts, talents and abilities to serve this movement? I believe that it will allow people to come to Christ, flourish in their giftedness and be a part of revolution across our country that we never expected! So... who's in?
By Jason Evans - May 2002
I was tired of the church, as I knew it. It was an event, a building, a program. I wanted to be the church; I wanted my unchurched friends to be the church, not become churched. I wanted it to be something I lived, rather than something I lived for. I heard of crazy people that met together, ate meals, shared their resources and studied the Scriptures together... in homes and coffee shops of all places! It couldn't be that simple! You were supposed to bring the sofas, the coffee (and the candles if you're real serious) into the sanctuary, but not use them in their common setting! That was ludicrous! It was two years ago that I thought that. Now, I'm one of those crazy people.
My wife and I along with several other couples had a burden, I'm not so sure it was a "vision” but it was definitely a burden. We were certain that the church was simpler than what we had known it to be. We wanted to be a part of something that encouraged spiritual things to evolve in a natural way. We wanted to go where God was rather than build a place for him to reside. We had a desire to invite people into an experience that was informal, yet intentional like the story of Levi throwing a party at his house with Jesus. Not long after that we found ourselves becoming the church to each other. It was a house church I suppose, but we weren't quite sure what to call it.
On a usual Thursday night, we would meet at about 6:30 p.m., eating dinner together, talking about our weeks, sharing high points and low points and getting introduced to a couple of new people that might have just stopped by. At one point, one evening, towards the end of dinner one of the new girls opened up a little. She said that she couldn't believe how welcome she felt. She had always been so "turned off" to religion and had become very skeptical. But she felt more comfortable and loved than she felt normally with her closest friends. This night was already the high point of her week and dinner wasn't even over yet!
And then one night it happened.
After dinner, all of us crammed into the family room to carry the conversations further. At the end of a time of reflection, people decided to wrap things up in prayer. And then it happened... without any explanation, no instruction, nor a request, this new girl said, "I don't know you God, but all I know is that I want more of you. I need you to be part of my life, like these people. Jesus, please, I want to know you..." As people kept praying there was this rush of wonder and amazement as those Christians in the room began to realize that one more had come into the Kingdom. To think, this girl hadn't been given a Gospel message, she wasn't told how to become a Christian... she just knew. This was a totally un-evangelical salvation!
We had committed ourselves to no longer putting on a show and just lift God up in our lives. Through that the Holy Spirit got all the credit, we did nothing, He drew someone to the Savior without us tripping things up along the way. Many more young adults were coming and things began to quickly get tight around the dinner table and in the family room. We soon started another church to relieve some of the size limitations in the first group. We didn't know what to do next; all we knew was that God was up to something.
Not long after that my wife and I began opening up our home to the many young people involved in the local punk/hardcore scene and started a church there. The night began with dinner together and then each shared a few chapters of our personal stories. As we talked the conversation moved into what each expected of a group like this. What blew me away was that each of them was saying the same thing. Learning to love God and other people in an authentic way was what each of them wanted.
By the end of the night, this group of young people were bonded together on a journey to learn what it meant to really love God, love their friends, and provide a safe haven for them to come, hang out, and talk about life. They decided that we would come together every week to do this for each other and anyone else who came through the door.
Less then 6 months after that church was born two young men within that group have been called to shepherd that church. Less then a week after we talked with those two young men, all of us were sitting in our house, sharing life together, and the Spirit laid it on my heart to challenge another young person to begin a house church. Once again, we will help him lay the foundation and empower him to guide a church. A few days later, at a concert, some of us were talking to some old friends that live in the next county to the east and they are catching the vision. We now have the opportunity to help them start a movement of simple churches planted by normal people.
Simple churches come together.
Monthly, we have gatherings where all of these simple churches come together to share and celebrate God's work. I had the opportunity to speak with a housewife that is incredibly excited about the church meeting in her home. To my amazement she told me that the group is getting ready to bust at the seams. Therefore, she felt God must be getting ready to call some of them to go and start some new churches where there will be more room for more people!
I sat with a friend to think about these various situations and we could see up to 10 churches being born out of the hearts of people committed to loving others and Jesus in a simpler, honest manner. I don't think I've ever seen a multiplication process happen like this before.
The question many are asking is, "is it really that simple?" In fact, I think it is. Welders, daycare supervisors, housewives, electricians, waitresses and others are gifted to care and guide small, simple churches in there homes, apartments, coffee shops, tattoo parlors, bars and diners across the country. They won't separate the saints from the seekers. They will blur the lines between what we deem secular and what we raise up as sacred. They are gifted to express their creativity in new, unexpected ways and mediums, but not in the walls of our homes and church buildings but out there, in the real world. They are prone to make us uncomfortable and question our methods, which is exactly what Jesus did. They are gifted to teach us through rabbinical-like conversation, rather than monotone dissertations. They are gifted to help us become selfless Christ-followers, rather than selfish commercial-guzzlers. And most importantly they are gifted to take the church into realms us "clergy-types" never could. Who could ask for more? Can we humble ourselves to set aside the complicated organizations for a simpler organism?
Can we humble ourselves to take our gifts, talents and abilities to serve this movement? I believe that it will allow people to come to Christ, flourish in their giftedness and be a part of revolution across our country that we never expected! So... who's in?
Thursday, May 31, 2007
What Can I Do?
"What can I do for the movement?" I was asked this question after a Sunday morning gathering just over a month ago. At the time, I had barely made it through the service because we had just returned from Toronto and I had had only 3 hours of sleep. So I mumbld something like, "When I'm more lucid, I'll get back to you."
What can we do for the movement? I'd like to identify the action steps that we need from the people who are a part of this movement we call SOULNET. And although, we are still in the core gathering stage, it would be good to see people committed to these things now rather than later.
The action steps focus on discipleship. A disciple is someone who is growing in the image of Christ, in the community of fellow disciples, and in the influence of outsiders. I know it may seem a bit cold to use the word "outsiders" to refer to those we want to influence for Christ but it is a thoroughly Biblical word. Paul uses it in Colossians 4:5 when he writes, "Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. (ESV)"
So the actions steps would be to:
1. Grow in the image of Christ by establishing a regular time of personal worship, meditation, prayer and applying the gospel to your life regluarly.
2. Grow in the community of fellow disciples by joining, hosting or facilitating a SOULNET Discipleship Group circle.
3. Grow in the influence of outsiders by practicing prayer evangelism at your work, school or neighborhood.
5. Support the movement with your time, talents, and finances.
Establishing a regular personal worship, meditation, prayer and listening time is one of the primary ways that God will use to shape the disciple into the image of Jesus. The lifeblood of a follower is to talk to and listen to Jesus. Establishing a regular time to worship and fellowship with the Lord creates an environment in which spriritual growth can occur.
Along with fellowshiping with Jesus through worship, meditation, prayer and listening, applying the gospel to one's life is foundational to growing in the image of Jesus. The way of the gospel is the constant surrendering of one's life to Christ by repenting of old sins, surrending our will to Jesus, offering ourselves to him, and following the Spirit in newness of life. Only by applying the gospel of Jesus to our lives will we experience the transformation that leads to the image of Jesus.
Growing in Christ's image is not an individualistic thing. We must also grow in community with other believers. We need others who are folliwng Jesus to provide accountability, belonging, care, and development. These are the ABCD's of fellowship/community. It's in these relationships that we learn how to follow Jesus in ways that a private and isolated faith could never provide. It's in these Christ-centereed circles that we learn to speak the truth in love, to forgive, to serve, to look beyond ourselves, to contribute, to confess our sins, to heal one another, to bear one another's burdens, to accept one another etc.
While the first 2 practices focus inwardly in personal and communal ways, it would not be complete nor Christ-centered without the outward component of reaching out to outsiders. This means identifying specific people in our circle of influence who would benefit from a relationship with Jesus; blessing them; praying for them; and, when appropriate, sharing the gospel with them.
What can we do for the movement? I'd like to identify the action steps that we need from the people who are a part of this movement we call SOULNET. And although, we are still in the core gathering stage, it would be good to see people committed to these things now rather than later.
The action steps focus on discipleship. A disciple is someone who is growing in the image of Christ, in the community of fellow disciples, and in the influence of outsiders. I know it may seem a bit cold to use the word "outsiders" to refer to those we want to influence for Christ but it is a thoroughly Biblical word. Paul uses it in Colossians 4:5 when he writes, "Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. (ESV)"
So the actions steps would be to:
1. Grow in the image of Christ by establishing a regular time of personal worship, meditation, prayer and applying the gospel to your life regluarly.
2. Grow in the community of fellow disciples by joining, hosting or facilitating a SOULNET Discipleship Group circle.
3. Grow in the influence of outsiders by practicing prayer evangelism at your work, school or neighborhood.
5. Support the movement with your time, talents, and finances.
Establishing a regular personal worship, meditation, prayer and listening time is one of the primary ways that God will use to shape the disciple into the image of Jesus. The lifeblood of a follower is to talk to and listen to Jesus. Establishing a regular time to worship and fellowship with the Lord creates an environment in which spriritual growth can occur.
Along with fellowshiping with Jesus through worship, meditation, prayer and listening, applying the gospel to one's life is foundational to growing in the image of Jesus. The way of the gospel is the constant surrendering of one's life to Christ by repenting of old sins, surrending our will to Jesus, offering ourselves to him, and following the Spirit in newness of life. Only by applying the gospel of Jesus to our lives will we experience the transformation that leads to the image of Jesus.
Growing in Christ's image is not an individualistic thing. We must also grow in community with other believers. We need others who are folliwng Jesus to provide accountability, belonging, care, and development. These are the ABCD's of fellowship/community. It's in these relationships that we learn how to follow Jesus in ways that a private and isolated faith could never provide. It's in these Christ-centereed circles that we learn to speak the truth in love, to forgive, to serve, to look beyond ourselves, to contribute, to confess our sins, to heal one another, to bear one another's burdens, to accept one another etc.
While the first 2 practices focus inwardly in personal and communal ways, it would not be complete nor Christ-centered without the outward component of reaching out to outsiders. This means identifying specific people in our circle of influence who would benefit from a relationship with Jesus; blessing them; praying for them; and, when appropriate, sharing the gospel with them.
Friday, May 11, 2007
This Sunday - Happy Mother's Day!
We've had to cancel our gathering this Sunday because I am in Seattle taking care of my grandparents. My grandfather has been in the hospital unconscious for a week now. He suffered a heart attack and kidney failure but the doctors still don't really know why he is unconscious. I appreciate prayers for this situation. Thanks!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The Gospel and the Virginia Tech Massacre
Our hearts go out to the victims, families, and faculty of Virginia Tech who had to endure the rampage of disturbed student Cho Seung-hui (photo). It brings back haunting memories of Dawson College in Montreal. This kind of violence seems to be occurring more and more. Obviously, education is not the answer. What is?
I believe that the gospel of Jesus is the only true and effective answer to the violence and mental health issues facing US/Canadian societies today. Suburbia has become disturbia. So far, social engineering through education and a values neutral posture have proven powerless against the evils of the human heart. But a crucified and resurrected Jesus can deal with the human condition. How?
1. The gospel of Jesus heals the human heart of anger and rage through the experience of mercy and forgiveness. It's obvious that there is a deep seated rage simmering beneath the nice, quiet veneer of suburbia. The release of Cho's self-made video demonstrates a heart in need of mercy and a mind in need of healing. Only the experience of Jesus' mercy and forgiveness will enable people to forgive those who have hurt them.
2. The gospel of Jesus sets us in reconciled relationships with one another to provide a community that encourages emotional health and personal integration. Cho Seung-hui displayed the classic signs of an emotionally and socially damaged person. The fact that his own roommates couldn't even truly know him as a person or that he barely spoke a word to anyone even in response to questions is a clear cut example of taking our tendency to isolate ourselves from one another to it's ultimate conclusion. If nothing truly exists except in relationship to others as the new sciences affirm, then Cho Seung-hui was already dead before he even purchased a handgun.
The gospel of Jesus connects and reconciles people who were at one point enemies to become brothers and sisters in a community where Jesus rules hearts. The gospel isn't just about words but about relationships to one another and especially to the marginalized in our society. I wonder how many Cho Seung-hui's there are in our own community here in Ottawa? Is there good news for them?
3. The gospel of Jesus is the only message that has the grace to cleanse the filth off people who have become victims of others' sins. What often defiles our souls is the sins that others commit against us. The damage can happen through verbal or physical abuse, manipulation and control, "mind games," threats, infidelity, betrayal etc. Through Christ, we can experience the power of God to cleanse us and free us from the anger, rage, depression, shame, and confusion that often follows such experiences.
Cho has defiled so many people; his victims and their families. May God's mercy be poured out upon the hundreds of people who have been scarred by such a savage act of terror. And may the followers of Jesus rise up to offer God's love and grace with "skin on it" to them.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Easter 2007
A defining moment is a personal experience that changes who we are and how we perceive life and the world around us. I had a defining moment when I had a close encounter of the God kind at the age of 14 in Seattle, Washington. This experience changed my life forever. After that, no one would ever be able to convince me that God did not exists or that Jesus was not alive today.
Are you enjoying the 4 day holiday this weekend? Have you thanked God for it? Because this 4 day weekend is brought to you by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter what people call it -Spring Festival, long weekend, mandatory holiday or Easter- the reason why you have 4 days off has to do with the events pertaining to this defining moment in history. If there was one event that could be categorized as THE most important to celebrate in the life of church history or all of history for that matter...it is the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But we sure have a lot of people who don’t even believe that Jesus existed let alone was raised from the dead.
Common Perceptions of the Resurrection
1. It was a hoax.
2. It can’t be scientifically verified.
3. It is a doctrine made up by church hierarchy.
4. It is a spiritual belief not a historical fact.
How do you know that Jesus really rose from the dead? How can we be so sure that these things actually happened and this is not some sick cosmic game where when we die, God comes out from behind the “pearly gates” laughing his head off and saying, “You got punk’d?!” Well, these were the same kinds of things the early church apostles had to deal with as well. So let’s engage a passage of Scripture that addresses this very thing in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Paul's Argument for the Veracity of the Resurreciton
1. The scriptures predicted it. “...according to Scriptures…”
2. Jesus appeared to Peter and the apostles and to over 500 witnesses some of whom are still alive. Paul was saying in essence, “If you don’t believe me, you can talk to any of the over 500 people who were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. You can get a firsthand account that Jesus really did rise from the dead.
3. Jesus appeared to his own biological brother, James. Just try getting your brother to worship you!
4. Jesus appeared to Paul and changed this former religious terrorist’s life.
Ok...let’s say that this was all true; that Jesus was killed and that he did rise from the dead...so what? What difference does it make to us?
1. The resurrection of Jesus offers us hope. 15:12-19
12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
Without the resurrection, we have no future to look forward to. Without the resurrection, Jesus just becomes a self-proclaimed hero and an unfortunate martyr that people are stupid enough to call a good example to follow in our life here and now. But he’s useless when it comes to the ultimate issues of death and eternity...if he isn’t alive today.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the defining moment that frees us from the tyranny of sin. What is sin? Sin is when you let something other than Jesus become the controlling factor in your life. It’s when you let something else or someone else rule over you and define you, give you meaning, give you security. Sin is giving that something or someone the place in your life where only Jesus should be.
2. The resurrection of Jesus offers us an indestructible life. 15:20-23
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Without the resurrection, we are still spiritually and physically dead. When Paul describes Jesus as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” he is saying that Jesus is the first of his kind but that there are many more who will follow after his kind. So the same kind of life force that Jesus had that could not be snuffed out, is the same kind of life force those of us who belong to him receive from him.
3. The resurrection of Jesus offers us meaning for this life. 15:29-34
29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."[d]
33Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
Without the resurrection, we might as well, “Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Without the resurrection, the only thing that matters is today and what you make of it. If we have no future existence after death and if we won’t be held accountable by God for how we lived our lives then we should just party it up. We might as well live out our every fantasy and do our own personal version of “Girls Gone Wild.” Who cares what kind of person you are if -as those great theologians Linkin’ Park say- "in the end it doesn’t really matter."
But what a crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus does for us is provide us with a way to change our lives. The problems of the world all begin in the same place...the human heart. Terrorism is a symptom of hatred and control. Violent crime is a symptom of hopelessness and rage. Poverty is a symptom of greed and selfishness. Chemical addiction is a symptom of escapism, hopelessness and a need for relief. Personal uncontrolled debt is a symptom of a lust for more and a longing to fill our lives with stuff.
The only way to deal with this stuff is for people to experience a personal crucifixion and resurrection by following Jesus.
Paul said it this way, “I die daily.” So are you part of the problem in this world or are you part of the solution?
Bottom line is that Jesus is Lord. He kicked the devil’s butt on the cross and in the empty tomb. He’s coming back. Question is, “Is he coming back for you?” And that is determined by whether you live for him now or not.
Are you enjoying the 4 day holiday this weekend? Have you thanked God for it? Because this 4 day weekend is brought to you by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter what people call it -Spring Festival, long weekend, mandatory holiday or Easter- the reason why you have 4 days off has to do with the events pertaining to this defining moment in history. If there was one event that could be categorized as THE most important to celebrate in the life of church history or all of history for that matter...it is the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But we sure have a lot of people who don’t even believe that Jesus existed let alone was raised from the dead.
Common Perceptions of the Resurrection
1. It was a hoax.
2. It can’t be scientifically verified.
3. It is a doctrine made up by church hierarchy.
4. It is a spiritual belief not a historical fact.
How do you know that Jesus really rose from the dead? How can we be so sure that these things actually happened and this is not some sick cosmic game where when we die, God comes out from behind the “pearly gates” laughing his head off and saying, “You got punk’d?!” Well, these were the same kinds of things the early church apostles had to deal with as well. So let’s engage a passage of Scripture that addresses this very thing in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Paul's Argument for the Veracity of the Resurreciton
1. The scriptures predicted it. “...according to Scriptures…”
2. Jesus appeared to Peter and the apostles and to over 500 witnesses some of whom are still alive. Paul was saying in essence, “If you don’t believe me, you can talk to any of the over 500 people who were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. You can get a firsthand account that Jesus really did rise from the dead.
3. Jesus appeared to his own biological brother, James. Just try getting your brother to worship you!
4. Jesus appeared to Paul and changed this former religious terrorist’s life.
Ok...let’s say that this was all true; that Jesus was killed and that he did rise from the dead...so what? What difference does it make to us?
1. The resurrection of Jesus offers us hope. 15:12-19
12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
Without the resurrection, we have no future to look forward to. Without the resurrection, Jesus just becomes a self-proclaimed hero and an unfortunate martyr that people are stupid enough to call a good example to follow in our life here and now. But he’s useless when it comes to the ultimate issues of death and eternity...if he isn’t alive today.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the defining moment that frees us from the tyranny of sin. What is sin? Sin is when you let something other than Jesus become the controlling factor in your life. It’s when you let something else or someone else rule over you and define you, give you meaning, give you security. Sin is giving that something or someone the place in your life where only Jesus should be.
2. The resurrection of Jesus offers us an indestructible life. 15:20-23
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Without the resurrection, we are still spiritually and physically dead. When Paul describes Jesus as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” he is saying that Jesus is the first of his kind but that there are many more who will follow after his kind. So the same kind of life force that Jesus had that could not be snuffed out, is the same kind of life force those of us who belong to him receive from him.
3. The resurrection of Jesus offers us meaning for this life. 15:29-34
29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."[d]
33Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
Without the resurrection, we might as well, “Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Without the resurrection, the only thing that matters is today and what you make of it. If we have no future existence after death and if we won’t be held accountable by God for how we lived our lives then we should just party it up. We might as well live out our every fantasy and do our own personal version of “Girls Gone Wild.” Who cares what kind of person you are if -as those great theologians Linkin’ Park say- "in the end it doesn’t really matter."
But what a crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus does for us is provide us with a way to change our lives. The problems of the world all begin in the same place...the human heart. Terrorism is a symptom of hatred and control. Violent crime is a symptom of hopelessness and rage. Poverty is a symptom of greed and selfishness. Chemical addiction is a symptom of escapism, hopelessness and a need for relief. Personal uncontrolled debt is a symptom of a lust for more and a longing to fill our lives with stuff.
The only way to deal with this stuff is for people to experience a personal crucifixion and resurrection by following Jesus.
Paul said it this way, “I die daily.” So are you part of the problem in this world or are you part of the solution?
Bottom line is that Jesus is Lord. He kicked the devil’s butt on the cross and in the empty tomb. He’s coming back. Question is, “Is he coming back for you?” And that is determined by whether you live for him now or not.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Escape from Consumer Church by Bob Hyatt
Sunday November 14, 2004
“What’s the best way to attract people to your church and keep them once they come?”
Sometimes the problem isn’t with our answers… it’s with our questions.
There’s much good happening in American churches. No model of doing church is either all good or all bad and God is at work in many ways in His body- He’s alive in mega churches and house churches… but I believe that in this place and in this time in church history, God is doing something in terms of making some corrections.
My Story This Far…
My home was a Christian home, and my churches were always Baptist churches. I attended a small Christian College like many of the other Christian Colleges that dot our landscape and then Western Seminary in Portland. My upbringing and education was thoroughly evangelical.
I always wanted to serve God in the ministry and in life… But as I got older, rather than getting easier and easier, it seemed to get harder. Especially when it came to the church communities I was pastoring in. In many ways, what we were doing began to make less and less sense. I saw it connecting with fewer and fewer people who were raised outside of church, and I noticed a huge group of people who left church after high school and never seemed to come back. Maybe some of you who are reading this are in that boat.
After pastoring in Europe and in North Carolina for awhile, I had reached the end of my rope. I was burned out. I was a youth and worship pastor who was honestly beginning to wonder if what we were doing was even worthwhile, much less working. Week after week, we would run our programs, people would shuffle in, nod to each other and shuffle back out. In the midst of that, there were some good relationships and some who genuinely seemed to grow, but amid all the fights over things that really didn’t matter, that seemed the exception not the rule. We talked a lot about community- but I rarely saw it.
Better Doesn’t Always Mean Bigger
It was working in a mega church that opened my eyes to the fact that in many ways, the church in America had pursued a model that created consumers of church primarily and community only incidentally.
The church was big- there were programs happening around the clock, all day, every day. And do not get me wrong- good things happened there. But one day I had a conversation with one of the pastors that helped me understand the problem…He was asking me what I wanted to do in the future and I told him I wanted to be a teaching pastor who studied and taught but also spent a good amount of time sitting with people, listening, counseling…
I’ll never forget this. He looked at me and said “Wow… I used to do a lot of counseling, but I had to stop. In fact, I tell my staff now, ‘If you sit with someone more than three times, it’s too much. We’re paying you to run a ministry, not be with people.’”
And at that moment, I knew I had to get out; out of that system, out of that mentality.
Did We Park In Dopey or Sneezy?
We had become more a provider of religious goods and services and less, much, much less than a covenant community. We had made pastors into managers and programmers and party planners… and in so doing kept them from being shepherds.
The standard model of doing church in America today is primarily attractional rather than incarnational. It says this: “If we get our media right, our preaching right, our seating and our parking right… if we offer great children’s programs and a rocking worship band people will come. If things are excellent, and we offer something for every member of the family -and churches have made an idol out of the nuclear family, but that’s another story… If we do all this, and we market it right also, people will come and we will be successful.“ So what’s the problem with that?
The instant you step on that hamster wheel, you are in trouble. Because your band may rock, but what happens when the church down the street develops one that is better? You’ve got good musicians, but they hire (and churches do this)- they hire studio musicians to come play every week.
I know one church in southern California that hired a Disney engineer to come in and build their children’s ministry space to look like a giant mountain- kind of a cross between space mountain and Bear Country Jamboree- but for toddlers. And that’s great- until the church down the way develops a roller coaster ministry complete with laser show and cotton candy machines.
I know one church that “resigned” a great youth pastor because they wanted him to “take it to the next level” whatever that means. And he said, “No- not the way you want me to. I spend time with kids. I sit and listen to their problems. I read the Bible with them and pray with them. I love them and they are growing. I don’t want to spend my time as a glorified activities director.”
And those of you who are doing youth ministry know instinctively what I am talking about- some of you are serving in small churches, loving the kids God is bringing you… but you are discouraged because your vision is to love kids and teach kids and disciple kids, but the church down the road is doing the X-Boxes on big screens thing and the huge games with the fully outfitted youth band… and you just can’t compete.
What Have You Done For Me Lately?
And there’s the problem. When we allowed American Church to become primarily attractional in nature, it also became competitive in nature. We send out mailers: “Come to our church! We have ‘great worship!’” “Come to our church! We have Starbucks Coffee™ and Krispy Kreme™ Donuts!” And big churches get bigger as small ones die because the big ones “offer” more and people flock there until the church down the road offers them something even better. It’s Wal-Mart versus smaller stores but with special music and kids programs instead of bigger selections and low, low prices. And the lessons that leaders learn from this process is only slightly worse than what the people in the pews learn.
We have a phrase to describe the result. “Church shoppers.”
Come on Down The Aisle for A Great Deal!
There’s a story in the Gospels that has some bearing on all this. In Mark 10 a young man comes to Christ with a simple question. “As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running up to Jesus, knelt down, and asked, ‘Good Teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?’" Notice who his focus is on…Jesus gives him the standard rabbinical answer pointing him back to Moses’ law, and the young man lies and says he’s kept all those commandments… so Jesus says one more thing to him.
"You lack only one thing," he told him. "Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Jesus said to him- do you really want to know what salvation is all about? Do you want to experience it? Then open your eyes to someone besides yourself. And then follow Me.
Then he makes this jaw dropping statement:
“It is hard for people with money to get into God’s Kingdom.” Now Jesus said this, I didn’t… but I want you to think about this verse the next time you drive into your church parking lot, especially if you go to a big church in the suburbs.
The disciples are upset. They have given up everything to follow Him, they say…
And Jesus responds, "I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property--with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life.”
Now if you watch any religious TV at all you know that Jesus is making a promise here. If you put a dollar in the plate (or better yet, send it to a TV preacher’s ministry) God will miraculously give you a hundred dollars back… right? Wrong. No matter how much you try that, it doesn’t really work. So either the TV preachers are wrong or Jesus is wrong. Let’s go ahead and assume that Jesus is right, but the prosperity preachers just have no clue as to what Jesus is talking about. So what does this mean?
Jesus is talking about community here… for our purposes, He’s giving us a beautiful picture of church. He says if you lose your family because you are following me… if you lose your father or your mother or your brother or sister… here’s a whole group of people who will be family for you. Here’s a hundred brothers, a hundred sisters. Lose your house? Here are people who will take you in. Lose your livelihood? Here are people who will sell what they don’t need to provide what you don’t have. This is the genesis of the church we see in the book of Acts. Do you see how He’s saying COMMUNITY is the context in which we find and follow Jesus and in which our needs are met?
We’ve always thought the problem with the young man was that he couldn’t handle Jesus’ answer. Maybe the problem really started with his question.
I, ME, MINE
Somewhere along the way we started thinking this whole thing- Jesus, the Gospel and especially Church was all about ME.
If the Gospel is primarily about getting my rear end into heaven, then Christianity is a religion for death, not for life. But if it’s more… if Christianity is meant to be the in-breaking of God’s rule and reign into this world and into our lives, that changes everything, not only about how we think of Church and it’s primary purpose, but how we conceive of our lives and our time here.
The problem with church today is that we rarely do what Jesus did- ask people to look beyond themselves and their “felt needs” to others and their real needs. If your Christianity calls you out of your individualism and orients you towards others, then it is doing what Jesus seems to have intended it to do…
But if by it’s methodology it actually confirms you in your individualism? Then my suspicion and my fear is that it is less than fully Christian.
US, WE, OURS
So how are we trying to address all this at Evergreen, the church community I lead?
There’s a lot, but let me just mention a couple of things…the first being that we conceive of ourselves not as a provider of religious goods and services, but as a missional, covenant community.
By missional we mean that we are trying to foster an orientation within our community not inward, but outward. Not to ourselves, but to others. We are attempting to be not attractional, but incarnational.
What did Jesus do? He preached good news to the poor. For too long I spiritualized that… now I realize that with over 2000 verses in scripture dealing with the poor,, maybe God wants us to pay attention to them. So we try to be concerned about the poor and oppressed in our society.
He fed people. We need to do the same thing. He healed people. We want to be a community of healing for people- where they can come with their doubts and questions and find not condemnation but space- space to ask, space to find answers and space to heal. Many of the people at evergreen are people who quit going to church because the reaction they experienced when they had doubts and questions was not a positive one.
That’s incarnational- doing the things that Jesus did. We are not about the show. We don’t have a light show or a rocking band. We don’t do big dramas or musical spectaculars. There’s nothing wrong with those things- but we don’t want people to be at Evergreen because of what happens on the stage on Sunday morning. We want them there because they sense that our community is a place where they can find God and walk along side others who are also searching.
We are doing our best to be a church community where people can belong before they believe- a church for the unchurched and the formerly churched. But that’s hard on the lifelong Christians among us- because we don’t get to have things done exactly the way we would like them. We are trying to think more about the people we are reaching than our own wants and needs.
I tell our people: “We are not going to meet your needs. Your needs will get met, but by the people sitting beside you, not standing in front of you. Because we’d like to think that when we say “community” we mean it. I have told our people over and over again- you are the ones who will drive ministry here. We meet in a pub. There’s very little space for “kids ministry.” I keep telling them- I am not going to solve this problem for you. This is your community. If you love these kids, you’ll come up with something for them. I’m your pastor, not your cruise director. My job is to open God’s Word, and tell you what I think God seems to be saying through this book to our community. Your job is to figure out what that looks like and works out like. I tell you God’s Word says we should be concerned about the poor and oppressed. You decide whether that means homeless teens, the mentally ill, AIDS Hospice, etc. We’re trying to develop an organic model of community that develops people, not programs that create dependency on a paid, professional clergy.”
Here’s what I want you to hear in this article. If you consider yourself a follower of Christ- you need to know this. The church is not here for you. You are here for the church - your community; and your community -the church- is here for the world. Jesus did not die to make you into a sanctified consumer. He died to bring you alive to God and to a desperately needy world.
And if you really believe that, it’s going to change everything- both the way that you do church and the way that you live every moment of your life from here on out.
Bob Hyatt is the husband of Amy and the father of Jack. He spends his remaining time as a pastor of the Evergreen Community in Portland, OR.
“What’s the best way to attract people to your church and keep them once they come?”
Sometimes the problem isn’t with our answers… it’s with our questions.
There’s much good happening in American churches. No model of doing church is either all good or all bad and God is at work in many ways in His body- He’s alive in mega churches and house churches… but I believe that in this place and in this time in church history, God is doing something in terms of making some corrections.
My Story This Far…
My home was a Christian home, and my churches were always Baptist churches. I attended a small Christian College like many of the other Christian Colleges that dot our landscape and then Western Seminary in Portland. My upbringing and education was thoroughly evangelical.
I always wanted to serve God in the ministry and in life… But as I got older, rather than getting easier and easier, it seemed to get harder. Especially when it came to the church communities I was pastoring in. In many ways, what we were doing began to make less and less sense. I saw it connecting with fewer and fewer people who were raised outside of church, and I noticed a huge group of people who left church after high school and never seemed to come back. Maybe some of you who are reading this are in that boat.
After pastoring in Europe and in North Carolina for awhile, I had reached the end of my rope. I was burned out. I was a youth and worship pastor who was honestly beginning to wonder if what we were doing was even worthwhile, much less working. Week after week, we would run our programs, people would shuffle in, nod to each other and shuffle back out. In the midst of that, there were some good relationships and some who genuinely seemed to grow, but amid all the fights over things that really didn’t matter, that seemed the exception not the rule. We talked a lot about community- but I rarely saw it.
Better Doesn’t Always Mean Bigger
It was working in a mega church that opened my eyes to the fact that in many ways, the church in America had pursued a model that created consumers of church primarily and community only incidentally.
The church was big- there were programs happening around the clock, all day, every day. And do not get me wrong- good things happened there. But one day I had a conversation with one of the pastors that helped me understand the problem…He was asking me what I wanted to do in the future and I told him I wanted to be a teaching pastor who studied and taught but also spent a good amount of time sitting with people, listening, counseling…
I’ll never forget this. He looked at me and said “Wow… I used to do a lot of counseling, but I had to stop. In fact, I tell my staff now, ‘If you sit with someone more than three times, it’s too much. We’re paying you to run a ministry, not be with people.’”
And at that moment, I knew I had to get out; out of that system, out of that mentality.
Did We Park In Dopey or Sneezy?
We had become more a provider of religious goods and services and less, much, much less than a covenant community. We had made pastors into managers and programmers and party planners… and in so doing kept them from being shepherds.
The standard model of doing church in America today is primarily attractional rather than incarnational. It says this: “If we get our media right, our preaching right, our seating and our parking right… if we offer great children’s programs and a rocking worship band people will come. If things are excellent, and we offer something for every member of the family -and churches have made an idol out of the nuclear family, but that’s another story… If we do all this, and we market it right also, people will come and we will be successful.“ So what’s the problem with that?
The instant you step on that hamster wheel, you are in trouble. Because your band may rock, but what happens when the church down the street develops one that is better? You’ve got good musicians, but they hire (and churches do this)- they hire studio musicians to come play every week.
I know one church in southern California that hired a Disney engineer to come in and build their children’s ministry space to look like a giant mountain- kind of a cross between space mountain and Bear Country Jamboree- but for toddlers. And that’s great- until the church down the way develops a roller coaster ministry complete with laser show and cotton candy machines.
I know one church that “resigned” a great youth pastor because they wanted him to “take it to the next level” whatever that means. And he said, “No- not the way you want me to. I spend time with kids. I sit and listen to their problems. I read the Bible with them and pray with them. I love them and they are growing. I don’t want to spend my time as a glorified activities director.”
And those of you who are doing youth ministry know instinctively what I am talking about- some of you are serving in small churches, loving the kids God is bringing you… but you are discouraged because your vision is to love kids and teach kids and disciple kids, but the church down the road is doing the X-Boxes on big screens thing and the huge games with the fully outfitted youth band… and you just can’t compete.
What Have You Done For Me Lately?
And there’s the problem. When we allowed American Church to become primarily attractional in nature, it also became competitive in nature. We send out mailers: “Come to our church! We have ‘great worship!’” “Come to our church! We have Starbucks Coffee™ and Krispy Kreme™ Donuts!” And big churches get bigger as small ones die because the big ones “offer” more and people flock there until the church down the road offers them something even better. It’s Wal-Mart versus smaller stores but with special music and kids programs instead of bigger selections and low, low prices. And the lessons that leaders learn from this process is only slightly worse than what the people in the pews learn.
We have a phrase to describe the result. “Church shoppers.”
Come on Down The Aisle for A Great Deal!
There’s a story in the Gospels that has some bearing on all this. In Mark 10 a young man comes to Christ with a simple question. “As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running up to Jesus, knelt down, and asked, ‘Good Teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?’" Notice who his focus is on…Jesus gives him the standard rabbinical answer pointing him back to Moses’ law, and the young man lies and says he’s kept all those commandments… so Jesus says one more thing to him.
"You lack only one thing," he told him. "Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Jesus said to him- do you really want to know what salvation is all about? Do you want to experience it? Then open your eyes to someone besides yourself. And then follow Me.
Then he makes this jaw dropping statement:
“It is hard for people with money to get into God’s Kingdom.” Now Jesus said this, I didn’t… but I want you to think about this verse the next time you drive into your church parking lot, especially if you go to a big church in the suburbs.
The disciples are upset. They have given up everything to follow Him, they say…
And Jesus responds, "I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property--with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life.”
Now if you watch any religious TV at all you know that Jesus is making a promise here. If you put a dollar in the plate (or better yet, send it to a TV preacher’s ministry) God will miraculously give you a hundred dollars back… right? Wrong. No matter how much you try that, it doesn’t really work. So either the TV preachers are wrong or Jesus is wrong. Let’s go ahead and assume that Jesus is right, but the prosperity preachers just have no clue as to what Jesus is talking about. So what does this mean?
Jesus is talking about community here… for our purposes, He’s giving us a beautiful picture of church. He says if you lose your family because you are following me… if you lose your father or your mother or your brother or sister… here’s a whole group of people who will be family for you. Here’s a hundred brothers, a hundred sisters. Lose your house? Here are people who will take you in. Lose your livelihood? Here are people who will sell what they don’t need to provide what you don’t have. This is the genesis of the church we see in the book of Acts. Do you see how He’s saying COMMUNITY is the context in which we find and follow Jesus and in which our needs are met?
We’ve always thought the problem with the young man was that he couldn’t handle Jesus’ answer. Maybe the problem really started with his question.
I, ME, MINE
Somewhere along the way we started thinking this whole thing- Jesus, the Gospel and especially Church was all about ME.
If the Gospel is primarily about getting my rear end into heaven, then Christianity is a religion for death, not for life. But if it’s more… if Christianity is meant to be the in-breaking of God’s rule and reign into this world and into our lives, that changes everything, not only about how we think of Church and it’s primary purpose, but how we conceive of our lives and our time here.
The problem with church today is that we rarely do what Jesus did- ask people to look beyond themselves and their “felt needs” to others and their real needs. If your Christianity calls you out of your individualism and orients you towards others, then it is doing what Jesus seems to have intended it to do…
But if by it’s methodology it actually confirms you in your individualism? Then my suspicion and my fear is that it is less than fully Christian.
US, WE, OURS
So how are we trying to address all this at Evergreen, the church community I lead?
There’s a lot, but let me just mention a couple of things…the first being that we conceive of ourselves not as a provider of religious goods and services, but as a missional, covenant community.
By missional we mean that we are trying to foster an orientation within our community not inward, but outward. Not to ourselves, but to others. We are attempting to be not attractional, but incarnational.
What did Jesus do? He preached good news to the poor. For too long I spiritualized that… now I realize that with over 2000 verses in scripture dealing with the poor,, maybe God wants us to pay attention to them. So we try to be concerned about the poor and oppressed in our society.
He fed people. We need to do the same thing. He healed people. We want to be a community of healing for people- where they can come with their doubts and questions and find not condemnation but space- space to ask, space to find answers and space to heal. Many of the people at evergreen are people who quit going to church because the reaction they experienced when they had doubts and questions was not a positive one.
That’s incarnational- doing the things that Jesus did. We are not about the show. We don’t have a light show or a rocking band. We don’t do big dramas or musical spectaculars. There’s nothing wrong with those things- but we don’t want people to be at Evergreen because of what happens on the stage on Sunday morning. We want them there because they sense that our community is a place where they can find God and walk along side others who are also searching.
We are doing our best to be a church community where people can belong before they believe- a church for the unchurched and the formerly churched. But that’s hard on the lifelong Christians among us- because we don’t get to have things done exactly the way we would like them. We are trying to think more about the people we are reaching than our own wants and needs.
I tell our people: “We are not going to meet your needs. Your needs will get met, but by the people sitting beside you, not standing in front of you. Because we’d like to think that when we say “community” we mean it. I have told our people over and over again- you are the ones who will drive ministry here. We meet in a pub. There’s very little space for “kids ministry.” I keep telling them- I am not going to solve this problem for you. This is your community. If you love these kids, you’ll come up with something for them. I’m your pastor, not your cruise director. My job is to open God’s Word, and tell you what I think God seems to be saying through this book to our community. Your job is to figure out what that looks like and works out like. I tell you God’s Word says we should be concerned about the poor and oppressed. You decide whether that means homeless teens, the mentally ill, AIDS Hospice, etc. We’re trying to develop an organic model of community that develops people, not programs that create dependency on a paid, professional clergy.”
Here’s what I want you to hear in this article. If you consider yourself a follower of Christ- you need to know this. The church is not here for you. You are here for the church - your community; and your community -the church- is here for the world. Jesus did not die to make you into a sanctified consumer. He died to bring you alive to God and to a desperately needy world.
And if you really believe that, it’s going to change everything- both the way that you do church and the way that you live every moment of your life from here on out.
Bob Hyatt is the husband of Amy and the father of Jack. He spends his remaining time as a pastor of the Evergreen Community in Portland, OR.
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