Addiction in Brattleboro

When progressive Christian Brian McClaren wrote “A New Kind of Christian”, back in the early to mid ots,  I wonder if he knew he was just verbalizing an old kind of Christianity for a new audience. The progressive evangelicalism that emerged during that time eventually came to understand they were late blooming Mainline Protestants. Here in 2019, the Emergent Church no longer seems to be a thing  But not because of change in theology or drop in influence, but because they realized the redundancy of having two labels (Mainline and Emergent) for what really was the same thing, with perhaps the one and only way progressive evangelicalism stands out from the Mainline is the absence of a hierarchical church system. Other than that, let’s be real.  Same thing. So they kinda got absorbed.

A lot of petty infighting over the decade, and it turned out to be about labels.

But to be fair, a lot of the infighting was about what to do with postmodernism, whether to embrace it, accept it, or resist it, theologically and/or missionally. I don’t want to minimize how important that is.

But my question is: has the world gotten better since Christians fled to their respective “response to postmodernism” corners? And whether it has or not, which missiology is best fitted for this new world?

I live in Rural/small town New England. Brattleboro Vermont to be exact. But I would include New Hampshire and Western Mass as part of the same basic cultural landscape. The church culture in small town New England is (to me) unique. The categories are…

1. Embrace Postmodernism theologically and missionally.
2. Accept the reality of postmodernism for the purpose of mission, but do not embrace it theologically, or
3. Resist postmodernism with all our might. For it is the incarnation of Satan.

As far as I can tell, there are no 2’s in Brattleboro, Vermont. Just 1’s and 3’s. In terms of overall population, there are very few professing Christians, and nearly everyone who professes Christ is over 55. But there are church buildings everywhere. Most of those buildings house a few dozen liberal and mainline protestants in them every Sunday. Most of those churches have practiced postmodern Christianity decades before Brian McClaren  thought he was blazing new trails with the Emergent Church. In short, New England culture is postmodern, and the church is too. And if a church is not wholly of the milieu, it’s aggressively reacting against it. So that’s the lay of the land.

So with postmodernism comes outreaches of mercy, and lefty activism. Homeless shelters and food kitchens and demonstrations and social justice groups, and worship services abound. All good stuff. But nevertheless there is an epidemic of underbelly suffering affecting us all; without preference for race, religion, culture, or class. It’s officially called the Opioid Crisis, but I think an equally appropriate term for it would be “the angel of death.”

And that is an area I recently learned is without the presence of our town’s faith community. I don’t really understand why. I could theorize. But that’s all it would be.

And what is the Church’s response to this crisis? We might ask it differently: how does the church appear in Brattleboro as the city on a hill?  But I want to take issue with the question.

The postures of embracing, accepting, and rejecting all carry themselves in a way that says, “the church has the solution.”

I.e. “how is the Church going to be a city on hill?”

The mainliner exclaims, “By feeding the poor. Sheltering the homeless. Fighting for social justice.”

The  evangelical says, “By witnessing/telling our grace stories/being incarnational/doing outreach/properly contextualizing?

So if the church simply did what they were supposed to do then Brattleboro would… what exactly? Get better? Become the kingdom?

I don’t know. The blind cannot lead the blind. And the problem with the blind is that they are always the ones out in the front showing us all where to go-the ones with the answers. (Wait?…)

I can just hear us.

“Thanks Jesus for the cross, the advice, the good words, and the resurrection, but we good-hearted humanitarians, we can take it from here.  We will build a bright shining tower for you. Let’s call it, er, Babel! Yes!…Wait. Is that too on the nose? How about, ‘City on a Hill’. Without a vision the people perish, right?”

But the light of the world is Jesus Christ. And if the light seems dim it’s not due to a drop-off of zeal in the church, but maybe it’s a matter of zeal in the wrong direction, a zeal for something else, a zeal that turns our eyes from the light himself and makes Church into a blind, lifeless, and outdated coping mechanism for boomers, bound in hymnals, Bibles, prayer books, bulletins, and programs.  

I fear our eyes have been dimmed to the ancient truth that the kingdom is realized in darkness, pain, death, and devastation. It is not magically conjured into clean mainstream society by the power of positive thinking, a massive increase in adult baptisms, or egalitarian political agendas. Unless the kingdom is sought in the dregs of acute hopelessness, it will will not be seen.  And until the servants of God lay down their signs and run to the trenches they may never really see the Jesus they speak so highly of at church.

In the Gospels, it was faith in Jesus that healed the hopeless ones. He said to them “your faith has healed you” as if to shift credit from his touch to their faith. Which is odd. (Cuz I do think Jesus is the healer. Duh!) But it was as if our master considered his part to be that of simply being present when saving faith burst into bloom, as if his primary role was to be present to affirm the healing, and into bursting faith he spoke words of life. A missional model? Perhaps…

Last night at discipleship, I was asked to reflect in writing upon who I thought were my angels and messengers and what they were saying to me. I wrote the following.

My angels have human bodies. Jim, Rick, and David. (Not real names). These are recovering drug and alcohol addicts. I have heard each of them confess their need for Christ in prayer. And never were their respective prayers contrived cliched religious utterances, or merely going through the motions.  But I heard them confess their afflictions and their need for Christ in tender, but urgent pleas, as if to a parent that they had hurt, but whom also was their only resort, their only hope of salvation. Hearing these true and pure confessions brought me out of my religious stupor and I realized afresh, in my heart, that I, that we all, need Christ like that. Desperately. And that those who are know that level of need are those who have been caught in addiction.

Until I heard a desperate person in recovery cry out to God, I don’t think I really knew what contrition or Romans 10:13 was about. And to my surprise, hearing real cries for heavenly help helped me finally understand mission. Which is that I have more to learn about and from Jesus than I can teach about him. The missional question is not, how can I be a light, but, where is the light to be found?

In the Gospels Jesus is rarely found behind official podiums, but much too often for his own safety, in the derelicts of the desperate. If mission is to serve Jesus, and to serve Jesus is to serve the least of these, then serve “the least of these”  I must, but the secret of the kingdom is that the desperate turn out to be the teachers. I believe God may be found in Brattleboro’s hidden Gethsemanes, the places that middle classness cannot let tourists see, in the dark and hidden needle laced gardens of our town, where people cry out to God, not as their daily or weekly ritual, but as their real and very present need.

 

The Mission (A Sermon Once Delivered to One Congregation on One Sunday)

*For Roy Patno

“And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.”-Mark 6:7-13

This church has always had an emphasis on outreach. It’s part of our heritage. We are a church with an apostolic heart. And if I had to do it all over again. This would have been my inaugural sermon at this church.

And while I don’t think our task is exactly like theirs. The Apostles were given special power for a special task. The task of planting THE Church! In Jesus commissioning them we understand the nature of God’s mission, something he has called us all into Apostolic or not. And insofar as our church is missional, and insofar as we are citizens of Christ’s kingdom inviting others into his kingdom, this passage has application.

Our message is a three parter.

Verse 7-The Mission

Verses 8-11-What it means to be missional

Verses 12-13-What can happen when we obey the Commander

Verse 7.

“And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.”

First we see, “who is being sent” , how they are being sent” “and who has the authority”.

Who is being sent.

I will always be struck that God would want to entrust his ministry to screw-ups like us. But God is not worried about the success of his mission. The power and effect come from God through his people, in his way and in his time. It can’t fail.

God entrusts his kingdom with jars of clay, it is so that all may see when it succeeds that it is God who has accomplished his own will. The men who Jesus called to be fishers of people and turned the world on its head were not the dudes you might think. No rabbinical training, not the most literate, and therefore probably not the most articulate of folks, and by trade, mostly fishermen, tax collectors, and a zealot. A.k.a. terrorist.  What we have is a group of government sponsored thieves, the working poor, and a domestic terrorist, going around healing people of their spiritual and/or physical sicknesses, preaching repentance, and the coming of the Kingdom of God of which they are a part. Sounds credible. I guess all it takes to be an apostle is the calling of God.

And yet they were sent and empowered by the Son of God! What more accreditation does one need? The answer: none.

How are they being sent?

And what of his sending them two by two? There is a suggestion that this was to maximize the geography they were able to cover without compromising the “2 witnesses” principle. Remember, in the law nothing is established but on the testimony of 2 witnesses. So 2 by 2 is maximizing the area that could be covered.

Besides mission is best done as a team sport. The nature of mission is in gettin’ after it in community. It strategic and it is done in community.

With whose authority?

The Greek word for authority means both to “empower” as well as “to authorize”. And it’s important to note. Because the mission is an impossible and blasphemous task without the approval and empowerment of the Son of God. The nature of mission is that it is God’s task and he gives the power needed for its success.

To do what?

A helpful way of speaking about demons is talk about them not just as mythical creatures that embody people. Demons were an ancient way of explaining the afflictions, mental and physical, of most of the known world’s poor, who had no access to either diagnoses, let alone a cure.  So in the absence of access, Jesus and his apostles undermine the system that was designed to keep the poor sick, afflicted, unable to afford care, and away from the higher classes. They exposed the unclean spirits  that the empire set loose on its unwanted, and thus exposed the Empire, for the fraud it was. The Pax Romana was a segregated peace for a prestigious few, and hell for most. But Jesus let loose his gang of poor workers and tax collector on the demonic source of affliction which afflicted the least of these and called the movement the kingdom, which turned everything upside down. So when the church came to be, instead of everyone dependent on Caesar for bread, rich and poor were feasting at the same table, as a community who only needed God and each other. People meant to be cast away were being healed and invited to participate in God’s restoring work, as one. The power of healing  was not primarily a raw display of supernatural power. It was first and foremost a  supernatural enablement for compassion as an affront to the empire of death. When Simon the magician asks to pay for Peter’s power he’s asking that he may spend it on his own lusts of fame and power. But the power of Jesus is for the healing of the world’s forgotten, not the pockets and fame of the world’s clowns. Not to be bought at a price, but received with fear by the Almighty, at the Almighty’s discretion.

The mission is restorative. The mission is strategic. The mission is done in community. The mission is God’s. The mission is one of healing and freeing.

Verses 8-11-The Missional Life

“He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, ‘Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’”

All of these instructions boil down to one thing.

“Trust me.”

First off. “Take nothing extra. Only the clothes you currently wear. And the minimum at that. The mission does not rise and fall on your physical security. I will provide all you need to accomplish the mission.  And I want you humbly dependent on the hospitality of others.”

Have you ever considered that the hospitality of others is the way God provides, and that in so doing he does not only provide physical needs, but spiritual and relational ones as well- fellowship and community. And that because God desires to provide for his children, he commands the hospitality of their brothers, which is why God is so angry when the gifts he meant for your neighbor are used on yourself to the detriment of your neighbor, and God is not a God who spares wrath when its his children. The Psalms talk about him riding down from the clouds to lay the smack down on those who keep the goods from his children. To receive, that is welcome,  one of his own, the least of these, he says, remember, the swindlers, the working poor, the political extremists, the undesirables, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. To welcome them is to receive him. To reject them is to reject him.  Both giving and receiving hospitality takes trust in God. The mission is not furnished, nor does the kingdom come into view by merely throwing money and influence around, but by the mutual hospitality and giving of God’s people.

But if hospitality is the issue, why only stay at one house per town?

There was this practice in the ancient world, where peddlers of religion would make their living off begging, giving good sounding speeches, and then moving on. And let’s be honest, what the televangelists do, is begging, sophisticated begging, but begging. You remember the popular preacher a few months back who said he needed a personal jet to effectively do ministry?

So as much as we’ve talked about the evils of the Roman Empire the saddest but very common scenario is the one when religion and faith are co-opted for personal gain.

Later in Mark Jesus warns his disciples against their own  religious leaders, saying, “These are they who “devour widows” houses, referencing a passage from Ezekiel,“The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst.”

Religion, overly academic, super-spiritual, fundamentalist, hyper-charismatic, all types of ripping the true heart out of true religion, has many ways of exploiting or excluding people. But the true religious person/church is the one who is content with what God provides, for the purpose for which God provides it, to share with our brothers, sisters,and neighbors, which is sufficient for his mission.

Note that James says that religion is the opposite of exploitation. But to take care of widows and orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself from falling to the temptation to take refuge in the false security of the world, rather than the goodness of God through the hospitality of his people. By the way that’s what it means to be worldly. It’s not so much about staying away from certain entertainment and ideas. To be unspotted from the world is to stay the influence of the world prompting us to put life stock in wealth, power, and status, all things leading to exploitation of our neighbors, especially the “widows” and “orphans”.

“But what if a house will not receive us?”, the disciples might have asked.

“Remember they are not rejecting you, but me”.

“So just shake the dust off your feet before you leave that town.”

Jesus’ Jewish disciples would be familiar with this practice. It’s what Jews did when they left Gentile towns. As if to “shake off the unclean”.  But Jesus flips their understanding of “unclean”. To be unclean was not to be Gentile, but to reject Jesus, and the restored tribes of Israel, represented by 12 Apostles. To be unclean is reject Jesus and his kingdom. Gentile or not. To be unclean is not based on social, religious, or racial status, but on the heart. To be clean is to repent from worldly ways and perspectives and give one’s whole life to the Messiah specifically for sinners.

The mission, or rather being truly missional, requires that we trust that God will provide what’s needed for the mission through his people, and that we do not need to resort to schemes to accomplish his mission; the the mission is funded by hospitality and a spirit of giving, and that the members of the kingdom of God are not so because of their status, piety, or wealth, but because of their faith in Jesus.

Finally, we’re told of the apostles obedience and its results.

“So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.”-Mark 6:12-13

Here is a synopses of mission. Proclaiming the need to repent and healing the sick. Or even more succinctly. Healing people spiritually and physically.

First, let’s talk about repentance. When we talk about repentance we usually emphasize  contrition. And to be sure, you can’t change without contrition. But to repent is literally to change course. So when in the good news according to Luke, John the Baptist calls his brothers to repent, he doesn’t call them to merely apologize to God and pray a prayer of confession, but to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” And he basically tells them what I’ve already said, which is that, being truly religious is not a matter of social inheritance, but of transformation of the person,“Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham…

And the crowds asked him, ‘What shall we do’.  and he not so coincidentally tells them. “Stop exploiting people.”

Repentance is a new outlook of trusting Jesus. Not your status, wealth, family history, religious affiliation, etc… but Jesus and you don’t see the need to participate in the world’s schemes, exploitation, and false religion, to make it in the world. The truth is, you never did. Jesus has given us all we need for life and godliness. Our job is faithfulness and obedience. And this is the good news we proclaim. There is a new and freeing way to live and it’s in Jesus, who died, rose again, and is coming back to judge the world and receive his own. Repent of your non-Jesus faith, your worldly way of being, and truly become alive in him in the kingdom of God.

Not only did they preach a message of repentance, they cast out demons and healed people. In other words. They performed the task for which they were sent.

So this anointing oil? Was it medicinal? Did it have magic powers? It probably wasn’t medicinal, although because of the strong symbolism associated with oil in in the ancient Israel, it may have had a placebo type effect. At any rate it was the gesture, a gesture of compassion, coupled with the faith of the receiver that brought healing. Was it the mud in the blind man’s eyes, or the spit in the deaf man’s ear that healed them? Again, the point isn’t in the magic of the oil, but in the power of compassion combined with faith.

So the kingdom of God is brought into view for all, high and low,  when those whom the world has left on the side of the road receive the mercy of God. This is what Christ gave his authority and power to do. Miraculous or not He gives us the power to change the world by exposing its evil spirits, bypassing a system designed to keep people down; to keep them the servants of Rome or the Sanhedrin, empire or false religion.

Healing is mission. Jesus has called us to be healers. And it isn’t unspiritual to do it through modern medicine. And it isn’t hyper-spiritual to do it supernaturally.  Just know that it’s not a show, but an outpouring of compassion; compassion which exposes the powerlessness of the evil one when in the presence of Jesus Christ, the all-powerful friend of the least of these, and causes the kingdom to come into view for both high and low.

Jesus sent out his apostles on a special mission. But it is a mission which has implications for all his Church.

It is a mission of restoration, done in community, with intentionality, empowered by Christ, who empowers the unlikeliest to free the captives.

It is a mission of trust. It doesn’t need our innovations to succeed. It’s his mission. All that’s required of us is that we trust God to provide all that’s needed for him to accomplish his mission of gathering his people into his kingdom through us.

It is a mission of healing and repentance. Compassion reigns and turns the natural course of things on its head. The forgotten and desperate are restored. The repentant are forgiven.

So let us proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor. Let us release the captives and give a new outlook-where Jesus is king, sinners are forgiven and welcomed, the poor are rescued from their poverty, the greedy are rescued from their dependence on riches, the falsely religious are rescued from their dependence on false religion, and the kingdom of God comes into view for all, where they will choose to either be left outside the gates or join the procession of the saints bound for glory.

Discipleship as Mission in a Post-Christian World

Ever since Willow Creek launched a seeker service, the gatekeepers of evangelical orthodoxy have lumped nearly anything that smacks of strategic evangelism as being unhealthily or impiously or heretically obsessed with being relevant.  As if relevancy always was and always will be a matter of syncretism and ever the enemy of faithfulness. As if the gospel is only the gospel if it is veiled by us on purpose.

I believe in relevancy. I just don’t believe skinny jeans are going to make the gospel more appealing or less offensive. But nobody actually believes that; especially people who wear skinny jeans. If wearing skinny jeans and singing Jesus words over early Coldplay and Band of Horses songs is what you think the relevancy conversation is about, you might consider a career as a caricaturist.

Relevancy is not about assimilation. It’s about communication. And it realizes that words are the means of communication, and words don’t work without contexts, and there are numerous varying contexts.

I don’t believe the world understands what a Biblical Christian really is and I believe that is to a great extent the Church’s fault,  And for that reason I wonder if the Church should distance itself, not from orthodoxy, but from “Christianity”. Deliberately; and temporarily move the focus of conversation from missiology and philosophy of ministry to discipleship.

The difference between Willow Creek and the Emerging Church is that the former wanted to deconstruct why and how we did church (particularly for yuppies and suburbanites) and the latter wanted to deconstruct the church itself and re-translate the gospel in postmodern language (particularly for white millennial hipsters. I said it) With the Emerging Church, what many originally thought was a (slightly condescending) lesson about contextualization, turned out to be a theological overhaul. The problem with Willow Creek was that method was prioritized over message and the result was a contrived church and a shallow anthropocentric gospel.

But this is the best of Hybels/Warren and McClaren; a sense that as time goes on, the evangelical Christians’ world becomes smaller and more isolated and more insulated, resulting in a language gap between the evangelical world and the real world; a language gap that deserves serious thought.

I’ll roll with that.

The worst of each: on one side we have the gospel packaged like a Big Mac, and on other, the gospel blended seamlessly into postmodern humanism.

We’re not trying to sell the Gospel. Nor are we trying to throw it into the postmodern melting pot.  We’re trying to live it as a distinct but comprehensible way of life. This is a slower process than Church Growth philosophies entice us with. It’s not results oriented. Hey. We might not see any tangible results. But I maintain that if we try to sell the Gospel as a product or defend it as a worldview, or blend Christian discipleship with postmodern humanism—these strategies only dim Christianity, and pour salt on the wound of millennial confusion, and we will lose this generation and the next. But if, with fierce humility, we live the Christian gospel in this world, not pushing for results, moral/political victories, or conversions, we might preserve real Christianity for a more open and not so faithless generation.

But what exactly is Christian living? Since 2003 I’ve been immersed in missiological, philosophical, and church strategy conversations. They’re framed like this: what can we do to get more people interested in what we have to say? There are of course discrepancies regarding the specific things “we” can do, and most young church planters seem to have bought into more or less organic/missional community models that place varying degrees of emphasis on a Sunday Morning Gathering, and promoted events.

But the missiological conversation no longer interests me. I’m not saying it’s unimportant. But I’m burdened by the complete lack of understanding as to what Gospel-centered Christians are saying. Executing our missiology may succeed at gathering many people; from the seeker, to the millennial who was raised in Church but is dissatisfied with their parents expression of faith.  Many missiologies sincerely claim they’re designed to attract the non-churchgoer, but since they rarely address the cultural-lingual chasm between the Evangelical fishbowl and the real world, or if they do, it’s in a shallow and embarrassing way, and they never force churchgoers into the discomfort zone of joining in the blood, sweat, and tears of everyday people, nor prepare them for it if they do send them to the wolves, churches just war with each other for the hippest service and the best preacher,  they essentially remain an isolated sub-culture, which seems bigger than it is because small worlds seem like the whole world to the people in them, and the gospel remains unheard and misunderstood.

At this point, the next step shouldn’t be to get people to come to Church or to a missional community, to get them “saved”, or try to use the Church as a platform to take America back to the 80’s and 50’s, when everything was awesome for middle-class white people. The next step is to get every person to recognize a real Christian when they see one, not by the Bible under their arm, nor by the tract in their hand, nor by the cross on their neck, nor by the Jesus tattoo, nor by the Christian music on their Spotify playlist, nor by their condescending Flanderian tone, nor by the social backwardness, nor by the palpable and hateful disdain for minority perspectives, but by their other worldly love for one another and neighbor; love that goes way beyond the common worldly expressions, humanist and otherwise.  Worldly expressions fall short of Christian love because non-Christians are compelled to consider “reality”– being respected, feeling heard, following dreams, and surviving. We have no such burdens holding back our love. We only have the easy yoke of Christ. Our love is free from the bonds of “reality”.

A billboard, a political movement, a best-seller with trendy postmodern words, might turn curious heads, but it will either project a muddled message or get drowned out in the cacophony.

Real, fearless, public, Christian living will turn heads and project the Gospel, without getting lost in noise.  It will stand out from the noise; like an expertly played cello in a New York Subway.

And standing out from the noise enables people to see the revolution at hand. To stand out, we have to be more than.

Christians are more than nice. Christians are sacrificial. Nice is expected. Sacrifice is revolution.

Christians are more than considerate. Christians gladly take the worst seat. Considerateness is what is expected from us. Voluntary slavery is revolution.

Christians are more than selfless. Christians are dead.  Selflessness is what is expected. Death to ourselves is revolution.

Christians are more than high-road takers. Christians bless those who curse them. Non-violence is expected from (some of) us. Wishing peace and happiness upon our tormenters is revolution.

Christians are more than generous. Christians lack “good stewardship” when they give. Charity and food and clothing distribution are expected. Voluntarily declining to own anything is revolution.

Christians are more than Bible-thumpers. Christians are indwelt by the Word Himself. Laying out tracts and putting Bible verses on public signs is expected. Embodying Jesus in our relationships is revolution.

Christians don’t view themselves as having rights. Christians view themselves as altars, drink offerings to be poured out, and crucified. And they view the old world which is (no matter how well-intentioned it appears at times) fashioned after Adam worth dying to, and the new world being fashioned in the Church after Christ worth dying for. That is discipleship. That is sanctification. Dying daily to Adam and dying in and for Christ are two sides of the same coin of discipleship.

Fighting for our right to…is expected. Swallowing our rights, privileges, and life is revolution.

Discipleship has little to do with the substances we abstain from, the entertainment we engage in, what we do on Sundays, who we vote for, getting our beliefs about the supernatural or the natural out there, “defending the faith”, Bible-knowledge, and hours amassed in Bible Study, whether in homes or at the Church, whether with “unbelievers” or not.

Discipleship is about what we do with Jesus. Which manifests publicly in how we treat people, particularly the least of these,  and dying to ourselves for their sake. Love God. Love your neighbor.

If a bunch of those kind of people gather in community and exist in broad daylight in their towns, and do so with verve and intentionality, then they will be the salt that preserves the kingdom for the next generation.

*MAJOR DISCLAIMER

Discipleship is not based on our own effort. It is God’s grace. God gives us an impossible supernatural gift, in that he gives us the grace to die with him.  But, for the love of God, do not think of discipleship as anything less than death.  And do not think that you can have mission without discipleship. Mission without discipleship is a business plan without a market. Therefore, it is a bad business plan. Mission with discipleship is a trust with God, who doesn’t need a market. He makes it his business to turn markets into Houses of Prayer for all people.

An Introvert’s Guide to Evangelism (A Chad Rieselman Production)

*My last post was this https://brattchapel.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/some-love-for-the-evangelist/. As the title indicates that post gives some love to gifted evangelists, but knowing that “evangelism” is a tough one for most Christians, I wanted to follow up that post with kind of a non-evangelists guide to evangelism.

Chad read it and said to me, “I got some pointers for the next post if you’d like.” I thought I might save myself some time and prop up this good brother who usually has some sweet stuff to say packing a unique,  punchy way of saying it. So I suggested he write the follow-up. He humbly agreed. And the following is his work. 

I think it is well said. It may seem like a critique of my post. But I don’t think it should be taken that way. It is a post about evangelism for the rest of us. It’s for people like me who aren’t evangelism naturals, But Chad is (rightly) (and eloquently) saying that we can be very good at it. I like what he says. 

Chad would introduce himself as a follower of Jesus. Christina’s husband. And Ethan, Nash, and Samuel’s dad. I would add that he is the pastor of Lumber City Church in North Tonawanda, New York and the most humble man I know. Here’ what he  has to say.”

I’ve never considered myself to be an evangelist. I’ve always just liked to make friends out of everyone and include them in everything. Evangelism isn’t so much about words to me. Its about relationship. We should be better at JUST making friends. WITHOUT a hook! Evangelism isn’t “just” gospel centered conversations. It’s relationships. Jesus valued relationships. He kind of wants to be close to people. All people. We should too. Even if we don’t “close the deal”. Make making friends your primary objective and see what happens next! I rarely use the term “evangelism” in my pastoring either. It scares people. I simply tell people to make as many friends as you possibly can. I try to reassure them that if they go into this with just that goal in mind, that the rest will fall into place. When it comes to gospel centered conversations or sharing their faith, I make sure they know the importance of actions, not words. We say “make a connection that leads to a friendship that gives us access to finding out what someone needs so we can meet the need and then tell them Jesus did it”

I don’t think evangelism is only a gift for just “some” people. Sure, there are just some people that are more natural at it, but if we leave the job of evangelism up to just the evangelist? Well, people that the evangelist doesn’t get a chance to make friends with end up going to hell without an opportunity to hear the good news. Sorry, but that’s got to be the gas in the tank. Think of this; Here’s this beautiful gospel. It’s in you. You’re a part of it. And there it is, in you, face to face with this person that desperately needs Jesus. Face to face with this person that desperately needs good news. Face to face with to this person that is just one conversation away from hearing about what’s right on the tip of your tongue. That’s where “the evangelist” can’t hold back. It’s not that we’re looking for notches in our belts. We just love people. We just want to be friends. The conversation may or may not lead to Jesus that day, or any time soon either. But we’re having conversations. That’s the important thing.

It’s not tricky. Remember Odell Beckham Jr’s catch? Was it “raw talent” or some special gift? Perhaps that has something to do with it, but if you talk to Odell, he will tell you that he and a friend worked for hundreds of hours in awkward positions to hone their one handed-behind the head-as I’m pushed to the ground-catching skills. I believe that the people that would be the “worst” at evangelism could end up being best at it. The “natural” will work in his gift. The “not-so-natural” will have to work at it. I believe introverts will be BETTER at evangelism because they will have to be “game ready” because they’ll have to make themselves good at it.

Some people think that pre-evangelism is necessary. If you’re the strategic type and need something solid to inform your next move, someplace to begin, here’s where your pre-evangelism comes in. It’s called prayer. Pray for The Holy Spirit to lead you to where He’s going. Footnote: (See “Thy will be done”) What is Pre-Evangelism anyway? Make friends before you drop Jesus into the conversation!

How do I get the conversation started?

I read a story about a fellow that was intent on making some connections in a new community that God led him to. He went to a coffee shop and tried everything he knew to try to get a conversation started. It was hit or miss. People were in a rush and there was a random nature to it that led to a lack of authenticity even in his own mind. People were on to it. He realized that in initiating the conversation, people were immeditely on the defensive. It was hard to get past that. So he got an idea. He went to the coffee shop a few days later and put a sign on his table and set out a chair. The sign read “Let me tell you my story”. 2 people stopped by that day, but only for a minute. He went back a few days later with a new sign; “Tell me your story” He was amazed at the response. He basically sat there all day and listened to some fascinating things about peoples lives that he would have never known. And, he shared his own story over and over that day.

Evangelism is not about what you know. (or what you don’t) It’s the art of conversation! It’s not just about speaking, it’s about LISTENING too!! Ask Questions! Here’s some real slick conversation starters that you may want to keep in your evangelism toolbox. Ready? Here they are: How are you? Tell me a little bit about your life. What’s the next “big thing” in your life? What is the most important thing in the world to you? You might want to throw in a “Wow” or “That’s amazing!” or “Interesting!” from time to time as they talk. And keep eye contact, or look at the spot right between their eyes. It’s an old sales trick. (Thanks Dwight Schrute) It’s always a good idea to REMEMBER what they told you too. If you get a chance to have a second conversation and you lead with “So how is (the important thing they told you)?”, YOU WILL have a new friend.

So what about the stuff you should  say?

There’s a sandwich that is extremely popular in Buffalo. It’s really nothing special. It’s boiled up roast beef on a bun. But it’s no ordinary bun. It’s a “Kimmelweck”. What makes it a Kimmelweck? Salt. Tons of salt. Mr. Kimmelweck owned a bar. He thought to himself, “How can I keep people here? How can I make them more thirsty?” He came up with 2 things. Food and Salt! Food so people don’t have to leave to eat and: Salt so they’re wicked thirsty when they eat the food and drink more! Win win! So what does the evangelist do to hone his craft? We use a ton of salt. Salt makes people thirsty. “Be who you are” You know what makes people salty-interesting? Interesting stories. That’s your saltiness. Your stories. Interesting salty lives lead to interesting salty stories. Maybe you’re not a mountain climber or race car driver or cage fighter, but chances are, your life is pretty amazing. Are you a husband or wife or a Dad or a Mom? If you are, you’ve got stories coming out your ears. If your marriage and parenting become something that you can share as immensely valuable to you, your listener will be drawn into your story. Imagine how different it is for someone to hear of an amazing love story involving two people that die a little every day so the other can live and will have to do just that in some small way every day for the rest of their lives. Or how about this? You’re a member of the greatest rebellion in human history. A rebellion that’s led by a hero that has the power to forgive sin and raise the dead. (fill in the blanks) It doesn’t matter what your interests or values are, its how passionate you are about them. Thats salt. Salt makes people thirsty.

So what happens if the conversation doesn’t lead to “every head is bowed, every eye is closed, nobody is moving, the saints are praying, I see that hand” – moment ? Keep your chin up. It could be worse. It COULD turn into a gospel conversation. You’ll need to have words like “propitiation” and “Substitutionary atonement” handy and be all brushed up on you day-age theory (or is it age-day?). OR you could use the space to be a friend and tell your story of grace. Tell them about this crazy, scandalous love that you feel living inside you that’s making sad things come untrue. Then leave them hanging. Don’t close the deal. It’s not a deal anyway, unless the Holy Spirit is making one. Say “Thanks for listening”. If you’re really crazy, say “I’m going to add you to the list of FRIENDS I’m praying for.” If you’re REALLY crazy, ask when you can talk again, or when they’d like to come over and have dinner. Even if they’re a prostitute or a tax collector or something like that.

Introducing: The Gospel!

*This post is the introduction to my sermon this coming Sunday, as well as the introduction to the Sermon Series, which I have yet to title but has to do with casting vision and getting folks in our church excited about preaching the Gospel/sharing their grace stories. Yes. It’s kind of a brag to post it. But I think it is important. And I think readers will appreciate it, especially those excited about making disciples of Jesus.

What is a win? What are we hoping happens? Why do we meet together and do this every Sunday, have a budget, meet in small groups, do outreach, witness? Why do we want the kingdom to expand? Why do we want people to come to Christ?

If this is what excites us, get us up in the morning, keeps us up all night, why is evangelism so hard?

Why does the task of reaching everybody with the Gospel seem so impossible and hopeless sometimes? How can we leave Sunday morning all pumped about reaching Southern Vermont and wake up Tuesday morning feeling disillusioned?

Are we overrating evangelism in our lives? Are we overzealous with it? Do we think about ways of reaching people at the expense of discipleship?  Is our drive strong but our discipleship weak? Is our intimacy with God hardly deeper than a small brook? Is our well dry and so we have nothing tangible, deep, or life-changing to share?

Or are we too concerned with deep? Are we drowning in our own theological astuteness in a bottomless sea of Bible Studies and thus too busy trying to save ourselves that we neglect to save others? Are we just completely out of touch with lost people, trapped in an evangelical bubble, having no idea how irrelevant we are?

Or are we too concerned about being relevant, forgoing theological carefulness or depth and offering cheap, shallow, and lame presentations of the glorious Gospel?

Do we not pray enough?

Are our testimonies shot?

Do we not care enough about social justice?

Is it something beyond our control? Is secularism taking over and winning the cultural war? Are we hurting ourselves by engaging in the cultural war trying to fight against staunch secular ideas with cliches and platitudes?

Maybe there isn’t enough of us here to do the job? Perhaps God could send missionaries. Or maybe when we think about how many passionless pew sitters masquerading as Christ-followers there are, the numbers of real Christians become even smaller, and are they ones busy representing Jesus and the Gospel all wrong, thus not just stalling, but unwittingly regressing the cause?

Is it possible that we just don’t care? We’re content with feeling like we belong to something. We don’t care if it grows, matters, or has influence, just so long as we get out of it what we want? Good feelings and confirmation of our dearest held personal beliefs, whether they have anything to do with the Gospel or not.

And that leads us to the question. What do you and I really want out of life? What do we really care about? What does keep us up at night and get us up in the morning? What about filled pews makes us so jazzed? Why do we speak of revival as a wonderful hope? What about revival would be so awesome? What’s in it for us? Would revival mean we won the culture war? Would it mean we get to return to a culture we were more comfortable in? Are we fighting for nostalgia in Jesus’ name? Have we asked ourselves if the culture that’s losing ground to secularism is the culture Christ would have us live in anyway? Our only way of answering this question is to look to Scripture and see what kind of life Jesus would have us living, in any culture, anywhere at any time-the non-negotiable irreducible ways of the Christian.

Would revival mean we won the culture war, or would it mean Christ has won over the culture? And how much does revival depend on us? Does Christ command us to bring revival? Or are we commanded to be faithful messengers of the Gospel, knowing that we sow, we water, we reap, but God gives the increase.

The question of what it takes to bring revival is irrelevant. The question of what it looks like in our time and place to be faithful messengers, ambassadors, preachers, stewards, and heralds of the Gospel is the question.

Pre-requisite to faithfulness in evangelism is passion for the Gospel. Passion for the Gospel springs from passion for God’s glory. God’s glory is the revelation of his brilliant story in Christ and the Scriptures. Our glory is living in sync with the story, living in and by and for Christ.

It is my goal over the next 10 sermons to set a fire of passion for God’s glory and the Gospel. That those may be what gets and keeps us up. That we may begin to become excited all over again about this ancient-eternal message, such that social awkwardness is hardly a barrier in transmitting the wonderful good news to our neighbors, co-workers, and friends. That we might have such an enthusiasm about the message we are called to steward, it surpasses that enthusiasm of a father passing out cigars declaring the news of his son or daughter’s birth! It is the enthusiasm of prodigal, rebellious sons and daughters having been welcomed home with open arms by a forgiving Father of love being told to tell all prodigal children that a big party awaits them if they would just go home, and not to worry about being draped in pig slop, they had the Father at “I’m home”.