Christianity: Stop Talking About It

“I have been praying for an hour each day that my son would be saved.” Statements like this are difficult to process.  While I am glad you have been praying for your son’s soul, is it really necessary to tell us the length of those prayers?

I have been in this situation too many times. In the middle of a good conversation, someone drops in the fact that they fast every week, sold their car to give the money to the local shelter, or spend two hours each morning reading the Bible.  I have watched as, far too often, the discussion turns into a sort of passive-aggressive spirituality contest.  Never does anyone say, “I do that too and also do this,” but we might as well.

Our spiritual practices of prayer, giving, and fasting are for two purposes: to bring about the Kingdom of God within us and further that same Kingdom in the world.  It is not about making us look more spiritual.  

I think that’s why Jesus told us to stop talking about it. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus challenges us to something very difficult when talking about these three practices: “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:4b).  He tells us to be secretive about our praying, giving to the needy and fasting.  He instructs us to keep wraps on how spiritual we are!

Don’t get me wrong, Jesus doesn’t want us to stop sharing his love with the people around us or telling people about who he is.  Rather, he wants us to stop using his love, or our sporadic obedience to make ourselves look good, or worse, to make ourselves look better than someone else.  

The main question we need to ask is this:  who is getting the credit?  Why are we telling someone that we mowed their lawn because God loves them?  Is it because we want to get double credit of helping and being spiritual?  If we spend time thinking it through there is almost always a way to accomplish it where we get no credit at all, we remain totally secret, and any good thought, grateful emotion, or thank you goes to God.  

That is the goal.  We don’t hide our light, we remember that we don’t have the light. What light we appear to have is only God’s light reflected through the dim mirror of our life.  Which means that our goal is to turn people around and show them the true light we are working so hard to reflect.

Jorge Ascevedo on Reaching Young Adults, Steaks, and Moses for 2013

In preparation for an article for an UMCOM publication, I had the opportunity to interview Jorge Acevedo and talk a bit about the united Methodist Church and the Next Generation.  Jorge is the lead pastor of Grace Church a multi-campus church in the Fort Myers area and the author of Vital: Churches Changing Communities and the World.

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Jeremy: You have spent a lot of time dealing with the statistics in the vital congregations research.  What does that information tell us about the next generation in the UMC?

Jorge: I was part of the call to action steering team where we did what I call a statistical deep dive into the UMC.  We were wanting to discover what were the drivers of local church vitality.  Unfortunately, that information does not tell us much at all about how we are engaging the next generation because we don’t measure that.  But that does say a lot about what we see as important.  By not measuring our engagement with young adults, we are saying it’s not important.  That means that all of my insight into this issue is Anecdotal.

Jeremy: Ok.  How is your church approaching young adults and young families?

Jorge:  We are just beginning to get serious about this.  About a year ago, I stood up to preach, looked out at the crowd and said, “Oh my goodness, they have grown old with me.”  We are in a working class suburb with an average age of forty-two.  We are not too far off from that average as a congregation.  I have been in this church for a long time and the kids who were in youth when I came are now young adults with kids.  

I’m not Bono or anything.  I do wear jeans to work every day if that makes you cool, but I have all of these young adults coming up and asking me to hang out, and what I really need to do is to spend some relational, community-building time with them.  I think what they are looking for is a mentor, but not to be mentored through a workbook, but through conversations and talking about life.

Jeremy: I totally agree.  You are talking about something like relational mentoring.

Jorge:  Yeah.  I like that term.  A old friend of mine was going to be in town and when one of the young adults on my staff found out, she said, “I’d love to hang out with the two of you.”  So, I invited her over for dinner, we grilled steaks and then the three of us talked about life.  Something just feels right about grilling steaks and hanging out.

Jeremy: In addition to the relational side of things, are there things you thing churches need to do program-wise?

Jorge: Sure.  I think that motivation is important. If you’re doing it to save your church, I’m not sure that’s the right motivation.  It never needs to be about saving a church.  It has to be about reaching people for Jesus.  

Jeremy:  So where do churches start?

Jorge:  You need to start with your platform.  Who is up front in your services?  If there are not young people in up-front leadership, people who visit who are that generation aren’t going to connect as well with what is going on.  part of what we are doing is hiring young leaders and setting them up for success banking on the idea that these young leaders will have much more potential to reach the younger generations.

Jeremy:  If you could say one thing to churches who are working on this issue, what would it be?

Jorge: I would say, let God break your hear for the next generation.  Just this morning I was reading in my devotion the passage where God was speaking to Joshua, and said “Just as I was with Moses, I will be with you.”  It is interesting that the vision God gave Moses at the burning bush outlives Moses’ life.  God-honoring leaders must have a vision for their church that will outlast them.

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This is it.  This is where we start, and it is my prayer that God will place this same relational, long-range vision in the hearts of ministers throughout the Church!  If you want to read more on this subject, this is a good article.

Why the Church Could Use a Few More Skeptics

I’m going to make a confession. I am a skeptic. I have deep questions that go to the core of faith and belief, and I’m a pastor. The problem is that churches and believers in general are not very welcoming to those who ask questions.

Most people have experienced the awkward moment where someone asks the question about God, faith, life, etc. that everyone has wondered but has left unsaid that has resulted in a hush in the room. Maybe it is, “How does Genesis make sense with what science knows of the beginning of the world?” or “Why do we tell people to not get tattoos but allow them to cut their hair and eat pork?” Whatever it is, the mood in the room changes immediately.

More often than not, I am ashamed to say, the questioner is silenced by one of the faithful with a “We just accept that on faith,” or a simple, “Some things are just unknowable.”

That may feel like faith to those who are more on the devotee side of things, but to the skeptic, that faith feels flimsy. To a person who enjoys finding answers and digging deep, “We just accept that on faith” translates as “We’re afraid that if we seriously consider the question, the answer might prove our religion false.”

I am not interested in devoting my time, energy, passion and finances to a religion that can be shot down by a simple line of questioning that would occur to most people if given permission to seriously evaluate a church’s claims.

Though some Christians and even whole churches have alienated the questioners in their midst, Jesus did not reject skeptics. Jesus did not silence them.

Picture the scene: Several of Jesus’ followers have seen Jesus after he rose from the dead. One morning they are gathered together talking about it when one of the closest followers (named Thomas) drops the skeptic bomb in the middle of the excited conversation.

Thomas doubts if what the other believers are saying is real. He wonders if they are suffering from a group delusion. He says that he will not believe that Jesus has come back to life unless he can put his fingers in the nail holes, and then comes the hush to which he has grown so familiar.

Later, when Jesus appears, he walks over to Thomas and offers his hands. He gives the proof Thomas needs and then tells him it’s time to let go of his doubt and believe.

Jesus not only allows Thomas to question, but offers him the proof he needs. The reality is that Thomas was not the only skeptic alive at the time. There were most likely other followers of Jesus who were in the same boat as Thomas but too afraid to say it. And, seeing the proof given, they were able to believe.

Jesus did not exclude them. He did not see them as a liability, and he was not afraid that their questioning might cause others to lose their faith. He made sure they stayed part of the church.

The reality is that the church needs skeptics. They need people to push them to explain answers or call them on hypocrisy. They need people to encourage research and seek understanding.

The church needs skeptics as much as skeptics need the church. Skeptics need a place to be cared for and shown faith, because if we are honest, there aren’t great answers to every question. In fact, there are some questions that have been probed for millennia by scholars and philosophers with no solid answer. At some point, you either have to go with the evidence, or become comfortable without a good answer.

On the other hand, if you are not a questioner, it may be that you need someone to push you outside your comfort zone to help you grow while caring for the person’s soul by not silencing his or her questions.

All of this is to say that if you are questioning God, great! Find a church that has room for you because they need you as much as you need them. If you aren’t, find someone to push those buttons for you so that you can grow together.

From Al.com 

Asking Questions that Students Will Answer

I cannot claim that any of this content is totally unique.  You can find some version of this in almost every youth ministry book that includes a section on leading discussion.  With that disclaimer, here are some tips and ideas for making the crickets go away next time you lead discussion with students:

1. Wait it out. This is the number one mistake that people make when trying to get students to talk. Ask a question and then wait (however long it takes) until someone offers an answer. Remember, they’ll let you talk if you don’t wait. So, wait, and eventually someone will ask you to restate the question.  After which you... wait! Eventually someone will answer.  By answer I don't mean "I don't know" you are waiting for real content.  If they truly don't know, ask them what is difficult to understand, etc.
2. Ask questions concerning family/siblings. Sometimes bringing the discussion around to family will give them lots of practical application to talk about.  If you are talking about envy try asking, "What is something you have envied of your brother's/sister's?"
3. Use Open Ended Questions. Ask questions that do not prompt a yes or no answer.  These questions often start with words like “how,” or “why.” Adding "why or why not" to the end of a question does not make it open ended, and usually won't work with a group that is not engaging.

Creative Types of questions:

1. The devotional question: This is the basic level, most materials you will use will have questions printed in them to start group discussions. These are a place to start, but are often inadequate because of the datedness of the authors or because no resource fits every culture.
2. Emotional Questions: Many times students will begin to use the “I don’t know” escape. Students may answer “I don’t know” for many reasons; laziness, embarrassment, coolness, or even misunderstanding. Most often a student will answer this way because they are afraid to get the “wrong” answer. When rephrasing the questions doesn’t help, use an emotional question that will take the “correctness” out of the answer. Ask a student how they “feel” about a some part of the content at hand. Try creating a hypothetical situation that a student can personally find him or herself in. Then, guide them in connecting the original questions with the hypothetical situation.
3. Interview Questions: If students are having a problem opening up to a whole group, especially when some strong personality types are acting out, try pairing the students up and have them interview each other with the questions you have, taking turns asking and responding. After they finish interviewing each other, go around the room and have each pair share some of their comments. This is especially good when the group is new and everyone is a little shy.
   Be Careful, this question can turn into a free for all gossip or chit chat time within the group. Limit the time, and when you can see that several groups are finished, bring everyone back together... don’t wait for everyone to finish their interviews!
4. Group Creativity Questions: This works especially well if you have an artsy, creative group. If analytical discussion is failing you, allow the group to answer questions creativity be creating skits, songs, poems, drawings, etc. This not only allows for more interesting interaction between students, but it allows them to use 0their gifts as ministry.
5. Consensus Questions: Sometimes the best thing you can do for discussion is to get out of the leadership role. Ask non-feeling related questions to the group, and give them a set amount of time to come to a consensus. Make sure that these questions are broad questions like: Who did the right thing in this story, etc.

Loving the Elephant in the Room

Several years ago, a friend of mine got a divorce. For a while they dropped off the radar while they dealt with the reality of a very difficult moment in their life. When they

were ready to re-engage with the world, they had people over, went out to dinner and all of the normal things except for one detail: I wasn’t invited.

Then the day came when I showed up at a gathering where I knew they were going to be. I remember the feeling of everyone watching me as

I walked in. The tension in the room was palpable. There was a huge elephant in the room. With every eye on me, I did what I thought Jesus would do. I walked across the room, gave them a hug and said, “I am so glad to see you!” The tension broke and the elephant left.

My friend was not a Christian and had been afraid that I wouldn’t hang out with them anymore. That’s what they said, but there was a deeper concern. Their real concern was whether or not God would hang out with them anymore. They wanted to know if God was going to ostracize them or stop loving them.

When I walked in the door, whatever I did was going to be the living example of how God thought of them. As it turns out, God loves them even when they mess up and so did I.

Elephants like this are amazing opportunities. In one brief moment, we have the opportunity to break through all the bad theology they’ve heard from street corner preachers and televangelists and show them what God truly is: Love.

Unfortunately, if I am honest, I have a tendency to want to chicken out. I have a tendency to want to let their silence be the last word on our relationship and opt out of the tension altogether. Why is that? I think that we haven’t spent time finding the Love of God in the elephants in the room. We haven’t searched the scriptures and listened to God and therefore, we don’t know what to do. 

Know that God’s love is at the center of all those elephants. Whether it is adultery, divorce, judgmentalism, or puffed up religious people, God has a way to break through and allow you to offer His love to those who are hurting in your world—if you will let Him show you how. 

Please Don't Take the Whole Bible Literally

Whatever you do, do not take everything the Bible says as literal truth and/or direction. Don't get me wrong, the Bible is a beautiful, complex, brilliantly-composed collection of profound scripture. It is the very breath of God (2 Tim 3:16). It holds the keys to living a full, meaningful life, but that is not what you will get if you read every word as if it should be literally applied to your life.

Let me explain.  There are clearly passages in the Bible that make no sense if taken literally like this vivid example from Revelation:  

"But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth." (Rev. 12:16)

Dragons?  Really?  No.  Of course not.  It is talking about something deeper, it is using symbol and metaphor.  The author obviously didn't intend for us to take it literally. But, what about the passages that WERE intended to be taken literally, but don't seem to work now?  Leviticus is full of them:  

“‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.’” (Lv 19:27-28)

Likewise, Deuteronomy has some excellent advice on parenting teens:  

"If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death." (Dt 28:18-21a)

Those were definitely meant to be taken literally by the author but would devastate the Schick company and land just about every american parent of a teen in prison. 

That's not even mentioning the whole books that confuse even the most brilliant scholar as to how to interpret.  Take, for example, this insight from Ecclesiastes:

"A feast is made for laughter, wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything. " (Ecc 10:19)

What makes that verse even harder is that the whole book of Ecclesiastes is like that.  It claims to be insight from a sagely king, but puts forth very strange advice... What do you do with that?   

The first step is letting go of the guilt you may feel when you realize you cannot take a passage as literal.  After that, there are some simple questions: 

1. Did the author intend it to be taken literally?  If so, it may be an indication that you are to follow their wishes as long as you think through question 2.
2. Are you the intended audience? Some of those are: Jews, Believers in Jesus, religious leaders, and the whole world.  If you were not the intended audience, then it is likely that you will have to take the words somewhat figuratively to allow them to speak into your life.
3.  Is it part of a diet and purity code?  If you are not Jewish, then these laws should not be taken literally, but still can offer insight into your life if you spend time thinking of how they can speak to your situation in more broad ways.
4. Is it universally true, or has it changed with culture?  Some things were not aimed at you, but are true no matter where you go or who you are for example, “You shall not murder” Ex 20:13.  Other things have changed over time with culture like the way we understand slavery.
5.  Has it changed as a result of clearer discernment or a drfit from God?  This is subjective and must be discerned in community with other believers who have different perspectives from you, but it is how you answer the literal/figurative question when things change over time in relation to culture.

In a very un-me style, I made a little decision tree to help bring these questions into a visual form.  If you would like to check it out, you can click here to see the pdf.  If you'd like to see a teaching on this, it is live right now on the "Questioning God" series page .

4 Books Everyone Should Have

A friend stopped by my office to return a book he had borrowed the day before and I had to ask, “Not going to read it?” He said, no, I figured everyone needed a copy so I went out and bought it.  He was right, and it got me thinking about what other books I wished everyone had.  This is the list.  These are the books (besides the Bible of course) I think every Christian (and definitely every pastor) should have sitting on a bookshelf ready for action.  Click on them and buy them before you forget!  Then buy them again for a friend.

• Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend - This is the book my friend was talking about. If you have ever heard someone say that they had bad boundaries, or someone needed to have boundaries, this is the book. Even if they had never read the book themselves, they were referring to the concepts introduced here. They put is best: “Boundaries are personal property lines that define who you are and who you are not, and influence all areas of your life.”

• Helping People Through Grief by Delores Kuenning - SIDS, Murder, Adoption, Divorce, Cancer, our world is full of difficult experiences, and most leave us unsure of what to do.  This book is for non-professionals.  What to do, what to say, and (most importantly) what NOT to say in those situations.  Everyone needs a copy (or two or three) to look over the appropriate chapter before returning that phone call or heading to the hospital.

• Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli - The idea that landed Jesus on the cross was that anyone, no matter how sinful, could be godly... that even messed up people could follow God.  This book claims to be “spirituality for the rest of us,” the imperfect, flawed, busy people who don’t have enough time to pray, read their Bible, and sleep in sometimes on Sundays.  In other words, it’s spirituality for all of us.  This book is full of the kind of grace that give you permission to follow Jesus no matter who or where you are.  And, it’s short!

• Jewish New Testament Commentary by David H. Stern - Ever had a moment when you were reading the Bible and a reaction made no sense (disciples leave their jobs with no notice) or Jesus seemed a little dramatic (driving people out of the temple with whips), or some odd detail was slipped in (mary thought the resurrected Jesus was a gardener)?  This is the best place to start for finding the cultural explanations for those odd moments.  Verse by verse in the New Testament, it gives contects to this ancient holy text.

Faith, Science, and Poetry: The Poetic Echo

Analyzing flowers with mathematics. by Leonardo DaVinci

I enjoy reading, dare I say it, secular science and poetry. I hunger for the mind-expanding preciseness of science. I relish the way poetry creates random associations in my mind. And, if I am completely honest, I love the intellectual pats-on-the-back I get from saying that these things interest me.

I never quite understood why these enriched my faith so much. I never understood why it made the darkness within less humiliating or the light within less ego-inflating. I just knew that, for some reason, my faith grew when I spent time with them. It wasn’t until I mulled over an answer to a long-pondered question that it became clear and informed my whole perception of existence.

I was about to discover that there is a subtle divine narrative underpinning everything. It’s what Paul spoke of in Romans 1 when he pointed out that God speaks through unexpected channels echoing throughout his entire creation. Rather than screaming at me through a week- long camp or other transfiguration-style experience, God was presenting himself in the subtleties of poetic verse; he was making himself known in the particulars of scientific theory.

Parallel Poetry

The illuminating question I had long-pondered was simply, “Why is it that the poetry in the Bible does not seem to rhyme and beat in the same way that English poetry does?” I always assumed that it was because I did not read it in the original language, but I found out in seminary that even in its original language it seems to be something totally different than the creations of Shakespeare and Angelou. The questioned remained: what is so different?

It was in reading the book Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus by David Bivini that I discovered the answer. Bivin explains that English poetry focuses on using the sounds and rhythms of the words through rhyme and meter to express meaning, but these elements are far from the core of Hebrew poetry. In fact, they are almost totally absent. Hebrew poetry uses a palette of acrostics, sentence structure and repetition to articulate its concepts, but the hallmark of Semitic poetry, the aspect that rises above the rest, is repetition of meaning.

Psalm 149

This practice of playing with ideas by using varying patterns of repetition brings life to the subject. Where an English poet might repeat the long “a” sound, a Hebrew poet might repeat the idea of God guiding us and say, “Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths.” (Ps 25:4) What this all means is that the reason Hebrew poetry feels different is because it employs a creative palette that incorporates different set of shades and hues than English poetry. As Bivin explains, Hebrew poetry is “not like English poetry. It is not rhyming the ends of verses of the poem. It is not a repetition of the same sound, but a repetition or echoing of the same thought.”ii

The technical term for this repetition of meaning is parallelism, but thinking of it as echoes of meanings makes more sense to me. Reading the poetic scripture this way can bring a whole new depth and power to its words. Just as hearing an artist speak of the methods and philosophy underlying their work, parallelism reveals brilliant insight and creativity that can be overlooked by those unaware.

Sometimes the echoes repeat the same ideas as in the example above. Other times the meanings are antithetical. In Proverbs 11:3, we are told that “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” Using this antithetical structure, the author highlights the disparity between the upright and the unfaithful by accenting the core difference in the area of integrity.

Sometimes, the parallel segments build on each other like legos with their meanings intertwining for support as in Isaiah 1:4: “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.” Here, “sinful nation” is vivified by each subsequent phrase creating a rich depth of meaning around this simple concept. Within those phrases there is a sub-parallelism that expands on the concept “forsaken the Lord.”

With each echo of meaning the poet reveals another facet of his subject and makes new connections between ideas. It is in these connections, in between these ideas, that the poet speaks. It is in this quiet tension that he clarifies and critiques. Like a chef creating a good baklava, the poet continues to add layer after subtle layer creating a rich and complex message full of insight and implication.

This is how I experience life. God doesn’t audibly call out to me from a cloud, nor does he instruct me on how to turn sticks into snakes. It’s far more subtle than that, but it is no less beautiful. One might say it is like a “still, small voice” that speaks through echoes of meanings and calls out in the space between two ideas held in tension.

These subtle echoes communicate in many ways. Sometimes they are more antithetical, sometimes more repetitive, but they always bring another layer of understanding.

An echo might bring focus to a theological concept that has been exceedingly difficult for me to grasp. It is not necessarily the case that the concepts are unable to be understood; rather, I often make spiritual things far more difficult to understand because I feel that their non-physical nature makes them less accessible. When God reveals an echo between one of these fuzzy concepts and something more tangible, it pulls back the veil and allows me to see more clearly.

Similarly, echoes can make seemingly distant events more accessible. I don’t know why, but it seems that the longer ago something occurred, the more difficult comprehension seems to be. For some reason, the battle for Jehrico seems far less real and available than Normandy or the Bay of Pigs invasion. In answer to this problem an echo will often take an event that seemed un- knowable because of its distance from my Twenty-first century existence and make a firm connection to something I more easily understand because it is closer to me in time. As a result, I have much more access and understanding of the Biblical event.

What I find is that the more diversity of ideas I am exposed to, the more echoes of meaning I have the potential to hear. Every time I open my mind to a new concept and venture out beyond my intellectual frontier, I expose myself to the possibility that I might find an as yet undiscovered parallel meaning, an echo, that will reveal new depth of understanding. The ways in which these echoes work for me are as seemingly limitless as they are subtle.

The Echo in Science

It is quite possible that Trinity has less correlation to my everyday existence than any other theological concept. Every being I encounter is a discrete individual, which means that I have no

reference for an individual that simultaneously exists as three persons and one. Translation: this is one of the most difficult theological concepts for me to understand.

This difficulty has not stopped me from trying. In my head are bits and pieces of ideas cobbled together from my brief lifetime of pondering this mystery, but it all feels like fumbling in the dark looking for a key while holding a squirming toddler. Whenever I mention my struggle with the subject to another person, they usually offer me one of the many metaphors that seem to cheapen the mystery of the Godhead. From cherry pie to states of matter, they all seem to make the divine too simple and destroy the mystery.

Results from the double-slit electron experiment showing wave interference pattern.  Wave and particle?

Then I read a passage by Brian Greene on the mystery of the electron.iii He explained that the electron is a particle (kind of like an incredibly small grain of sand); however, a closer examination reveals that it is something far more mysterious.

Picture the experiment. The scientists will shoot electrons, one at a time, at a television screen. In between the electron gun and the screen the scientists place a metal plate with a single slit in it. When they shoot electrons through the single slit in the metal plate at the television screen it produces dot after dot as each electron hits the screen, which is the expected result. However, when a second slit is opened, the electrons produce a very different result.

Once the second slit is opened in the metal plate, the scientists begin to see a pattern of light bands fading to dark and then back again on the television screen. This is the same result that is produced by sending a wave rather than a particle through the plate. To accomplish this, the electron has to go through both slits at the same time and interfere with itself on the other side. It has to be in two places at once. You might say, “That is impossible,” and you would be right. This is a severe contradiction because like a grain of sand and a wave in the ocean, a particle and a wave are fundamentally different types of substances. This leaves us with a mysterious answer: an electron is both a wave and a particle.

It was in considering this amazing discovery that I heard the echo. Similar to the Trinity, there was one substance (the electron) that existed as more than one totally unique and contradictory type of substance (particle and wave). I was stunned. There in the fabric of matter was an echo of the Trinity. The universe truly reflected the nature of its creator. Just as mysterious, just as illogical, just as beautifully complex.

The Echo in Modern Poetry

I had a similar experience while reading “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. In this poem, Angelou expresses the resilience and beauty of the African American woman. Women who have been oppressed, enslaved, and humiliated. Angelou says,

"Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise." iv

It was those three words, Still I’ll Rise, that allowed me to hear the echo that I had been missing. Yes, this poem was about African American women, but it was also about the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt and persecuted throughout history. It was an Exodus account.

Now I had an emotional and mental anchor point for the Biblical story in my world. All of a sudden I became much more aware and understanding of what was going on in the Biblical narrative. The oppressed, be it the Jews or otherwise, rise on the updrafts created by a loving God; they get up again and again. As Angelou echoes, “Still, I rise.”

There’s nothing special about science or poetry; echoes are everywhere. When we open our minds to the idea of finding parallel meanings in our world we will see them in math, gardening, sculpture, and plumbing. It begins with being open. That means removing the artificial barriers in our mind that keep our thoughts on faith and ministry separate from thoughts on cooking and history. Once break down the barriers and begin living more holistic intellectual lives, we must venture out and expose ourselves to many different areas of creative and intellectual stimulation. With each echo we identify, we gain a clearer understanding of who we are, who God is, and our place in His story.

Ministry in Echo:

East window of St Martin's in the Fields

“You know what’s great about this Camp/Retreat/Conference?” We ask our members. “It’s going to be a mountaintop experience.” “It is a ‘thin place’ where it seems that there is not as much that separates you from God.” I’ve used all of the above often pulling out the passage in Matthew 17 and Mark 9 where Peter, James and John see Jesus transfigured and get to hang out with Moses and Elijah for a bit.

Though it is a compelling argument, my words betrayed a huge barrier I had created and was unintentionally passing on. I was communicating that God’s voice was loud and clear and could only be heard on special, rare occasions. I was missing the beauty of the constant echo.

It was a long time before I realized this was an error, but I eventually recognized that for every otherworldly experience like the transfiguration, there are hundreds or thousands of moments where we are studying for a test or reading a magazine. If we open ourselves up to God speaking to us through everything at every time, if we cultivate an appreciation for the beautiful subtlety of His voice in our every day, we no longer have to wait for that moment when he chooses to shout; rather, we can access the depth and perspective that only His voice brings in the classroom as well as on the mountain.

That is what ministry should be about. It should be training to live in the awareness that we cannot escape the presence of God. No matter how many mountains we climb or how deep we plunge into the sea, He is still with us! Yet, how often do we live immersed in the presence of the Almighty, surrounded by divine echo without taking note of it? The goal, then, is to train and be trained to live with our eyes and ears open to hearing and seeing the echoes of God. When we do that we come to realize that echoes are everywhere.

The Echo is in Inception: we all struggle with deep, fundamental questions that can only be resolved in Jesus.

The Echo is in Texting: we like to limit our exposure to pain by keeping things shallow, and imagine we can hide parts of who we are from our creator.

The Echo is in Marriage: like salvation, it is both a moment and a beautifully stretching partnership

The Echo is... everywhere. God is calling out to all humanity through all that has been made. The question is, will I open myself up to the full life that comes from constant conversation with God, or will I refuse to notice and hear like so many before. It is my hope that more and more I will choose conversation over silence.

 >>>Read More: Why Science Causes People to Leave the Church (And How To Fix It)

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i Bivin, David. Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights From a Hebrew Perspective. Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, 1984. An incdredibly short and illuminating read on Jesus’ sayings that looks at parallels between greek and Hebrew to find the original meaning.

ii Bivin, David. Understanding, 89.

iii Greene, Brian The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality.

Vintage: 2005. 84-88.

iv Angelou, Maya. Still I Rise. Random House, 2001.

This article first appeared in Immerse Journal (M/J 2011) 

5 Simple Tips to Recruit and Keep Volunteers

I have this conversation at least once a month with a stressed out youth worker: “I can’t get/keep my volunteers.  No one wants to help, they don’t show up, and when they do they just stand off by themselves.  How do I get good volunteers, or even any volunteers?”  When people call me with volunteer woes, 75% of them aren’t following these basics, and once they fix these, it's smooth sailing.

Volunteers are the key to any youth ministry.  Often the first warning sign that something is wrong is a difficulty in retaining or recruiting your volunteers.  However, if you take a moment to develop your volunteer strategy and commit to caring for them you can have an incredible team!  Here’s where to start:

1. People recruit people, flyers and bulletins don’t – These are a crutch and almost universally unsuccessful at recruiting volunteers.  If you want people to join in on what you are doing, you are going to have to use the Jesus method: walk up to them and say “follow me” or something like that.  Only using flyers and announcements is a symptom that you are thinking incorrectly about volunteers.  Recruiting and developing good volunteers is a relational task, and impersonal ads are not the place to start.

2. Have something for them to do – I know that this sounds ridiculous.  You have youth group, of course there is something for them to do!  However, very few people are comfortable just showing up to a room with teenagers with no clear task.  When you recruit someone, recruit them for a job. Yes, that means you have to sit down and make a list: greeter, discussion leader, fire-eater, etc.  Start by describing in one sentence specifically what you want them to do.  Then, when you walk up to the potential volunteer you say, “Hey, would you be willing to try helping out with the youth, I could really use someone to be a _____ and take care of ____ on Sunday nights for us”

3. Train everyone - As clear as you were when you said, “I could really use some one to be at the door saying hello and telling students where the youth room is,”  they need to be trained.  For a simple task it could be as simple as you meeting them ten minutes before their first time serving and saying, “Stand here, open the door, smile and tell them the youth room is down the hall on the right.”  If they are going to be a discussion leader, you may need to set up a lunch the week before to show them the ropes and give them some tips.

4. Thank, Pamper, and Bribe  - Seriously.  They just took two hours out of their weekend.  Sit down and write three sentences on the church’s stationary with line art drawing of the building (they all have some of that) and put it in the mail.  Not every week, but do it after their first week, and then about once a semester from then on out.  Then, every once in a while feed them or give them a gift card.  If you pamper your volunteers, they will love serving and feel supported rather than like they are having to pick up slack.

5. Give them a heads up - They are your P.R. and question answerers in the congregation.  Give them your info before you publish it.  Tell them your reasoning for doing what you do, and get their input via some advisory group or deciding committee depending on how your church rolls with that.

From YouthWorker Movement

>>> Read More: Elijah and the Lone Ranger

Getting Distracted by Baby Jesus

As I have been researching and thinking about what happened in the years of Jesus life that are not touched on in the Bible, I have been overwhelmed by this simple fact:  the reason that the authors of the Gospels didn't devote much space to describing that part of Jesus life and ministry is because they wanted to focus our attention on what they thought was most important: His ministry, death, and resurrection.

And, despite their best efforts, we have found a way to get around that. 

Christmas Starts in June Now

This article is really about a moment about a month ago (it is now July) when I walked into a local fabric store in search of foam only to be presented with a display of Christmas decorations.  Christmas in June!  This was not a clearance table left from last December or even some special Christmas in June sale.  They were trying to get a seven-month jump on the Christmas marketing!

Not two weeks later I saw a post on twitter from a friend bragging that they had gotten a jump on their Christmas shopping at which point I wondered how I was ever going to be able to get my shopping done in the remaining six months.

In American culture, Christmas has become a distraction for many Christians, for others it is an all-out idol.  Rather than spending some time focusing on the important fact that God came to earth, every waking hour from sometime in, well apparently, June is spent obsessing over the perfect ornaments, gifts and sweater.   As ridiculous as it sounds, a holiday that celebrates Jesus has become a distraction from him.  Something that is good has turned bad.

That can happen with any good thing.  I have seen people become distracted by a number of seemingly positive, spiritual things.  

There was the man whose quest to be a good steward of his money became the driving focus of his life causing him to miss the opportunities for ministry that God was offering.  There was the woman whose focus on living a life of constant prayer made her inaccessible and hard to converse with eliminating her opportunities to talk to people who weren't Christian.  Then there was the guy whose church volunteering transformed into another way for him to neglect his family responsibilities, and the mother whose focus on her family and being a good mother ended up blinding her to the need to be an incarnational minister in her community.

These good things become bad when we begin to focus on serving them instead of God.  When our life centers around stewardship, church service, family, and even prayer, instead of Jesus we have allowed the good to become a distraction. 

The call of Jesus isn't to perfect some piece (or all) of our life, but to follow him down the messy paths that leads us into places other people think we shouldn't go, talking to people we shouldn't talk to and offering help to those who might take advantage of it.  I am trying to make my life look more like that this week.

Star Trek and Biblical Disfiguration: A Discussion Guide

Logic vs. moxy, protocol vs. passion, ego vs. superego.  It is the core of one of the most brilliant pairings in all of cinematic history: Spock and Captain Kirk. In the latest (and BEST EVER!) installment of the Star Trek saga, we watch as Spock’s slavery to the rules of his logic endanger his life and career repeatedly.

In one way, this film is about Spock leaving that slavery for something better (and more logical in my opinion).  By the end, he has been able to hold onto logic while embracing a bit more of his human side. What a great parallel to the scripture!

When Jesus enters the scene, the place is rife with the same type of slavery: slavery to rules.  Not only were they obeying the 613 rules in the Old Testament, but the rabbis had set in place what they referred to as a “wall around the torah” that consisted of hundreds and hundreds more laws that backed up from the ones in the Bible so that no one would even get close to breaking the Biblical law. They were enslaved.

Then, Jesus walks in and makes a caricature of the whole thing.  He says things like, “If your eye causes you to sin, don’t just stop looking at bad stuff, or going where the bad stuff is.  I mean, guys if we are going to build a wall around it, let’s really build a wall! Let’s really get serious about holiness! If you are having a problem with eye-sinning, pluck it out!”

Right.  So, how many men are left in that situation with eyes?  Maybe a couple women, but if One Direction has anything to do with it, maybe not many girls in your youth group.

What is going on here?  A whole lot, but one of the things is that Jesus is pointing out how ridiculous an obsession with keeping all the law is.  The law is not where the power is, it is pointing to the power.  In the Old Testament, the Law is pointing to God and ultimately Jesus.  The whole thing is a big blinking arrow pointing at Jesus.

And that’s the lesson.  I know you needed a reason to justify taking your students to the movies again, so here’s a couple questions to ask after the movie is over... Maybe read Matthew 8:19 first and explain about the wall around the Torah.

• What is it in the beginning of the movie that is enslaving Spock?
• What does he have to to inside himself to be able to make the decisions that save everything at the end?
• How is Spock like the teachers of the law in the New Testament?
• What do you think Jesus would say to Spock?
• How can we make the same transformation we see in Spock?
• What is a first step you could take on that path today?

From: YouthWorker Movement

Why Children Ask Why and Shout NO

I am helping my daughter get ready a couple mornings ago  and when I give my her the clothes that she is supposed to wear, she says, “No, I want to wear my ballerina dress.”  And here I figured that after playing my role moments earlier in her pretend story, exactly as my three year old directed, would have won me the privilege of a “Yes sir” when it came to outfit choice.  I was wrong.

As frustrating as this is, I try and take heart in knowing that she is in the stage of her life  when she is trying to assert control over her world.  She is trying to take initiative and tell her own story. It’s all part of a widely-accepted theory about how children develop mentally and socially.  It is as beautiful as it is simple.

For the first year and a half, all that we need to do as parents is pick our children up when they cry, feed them when they’re hungry, and give them clean diapers when they need them.  During that time, all they are trying to figure out about the world is whether or not they can trust it, and it’s a good thing because the sleep deprivation most people experience zaps any amount of extra brain cycles available for higher level thinking!

During the second stage (up until about three) children are trying to develop a sense of autonomy.  This is why my 2 year old says NO! even when he wants something because he is discovering that he is his own person.  He doesn’t have to like the things I say he likes, and doesn’t have to eat a piece of cake when I give it to him.  They are beginning to exercise control over themselves which is why most children potty train during this time.

My daughter is in the next stage (that goes through age five) that deals with developing initiative and asserting control over other things.  his expresses itself in wanting to make decisions about clothing and making up stories (sometimes elaborate) that they may repeat over and over again as they begin to figure out the world through stories.

Why does this matter?  When I can remember exactly what they are capable of and how they are developing it really helps me empathize with whatever odd behavior they are presenting and helps me figure out how to respond appropriately.

This all ties into spirituality.  How can we help our children develop spiritually during these early stages?  They key is matching spiritual practices with their moment of development.  It is the heart of the four-week curriculum I developed called Baby Steps.

I am teaching a webinar for the General Board of Discipleship on May 22 on all of this information and giving away the Baby Steps curriculum.  You should register here for the webinar.

5 Tips on Lasting Long-term without Losing Mind or Family

“I wish I had spent more time with my family.”  That was the common answer I got from pastors when, early in my career, I started polling wise, successful ministers about what they wished they had done differently or known when they were starting out.  I tried my best to take that to heart.

I’ve been involved in professional ministry for the past sixteen years  and have had an incredible time without laying my sanity or family on the alter of work.  How do you accomplish that?  It’s not easy.  I guess what this is about is a continuation of what is talked about in 1Corinthians 10:11-14.  I want you to learn from my mistakes so that you can see a way out and live a full life!

1. Have the hard conversation:  How much should I work?

You have a job to do that is far more than any single person can accomplish.  That means that, even with being an incredible delegator, you will have to decide the point at which you stop, leave things uncompleted and feel good about what you’ve accomplished.

So, start with your pastors, SPR, or whoever it is that you consider your boss.  Tell them that you are working on setting healthy boudaries with work and want to clarify their expectations.  Then, say, on an average week without any special event or camp, etc.  what kind of hour would you hope that I was putting in?  How many of those do you expect to be sitting in my office on campus?

After you get a good idea of their expectations you take that home to your spouse.  Let them know the expectations at work and ask them how they match up with their expectations.  Those two may be different!  This is where the rubber meets the road.  Your job is to broker a treaty between your work and your family where you family feels loved, cared for and protected from the sin of absent, workaholism.

Then, DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO!

2. Take advantage of your flexible hours!

Most churches assume youth ministry will happen in a more flexible time/location setting.  Though they probably (and should) want specific office hours, they are likely to be flexible with when those hours occur.  So, involve your family and decide when is it the most helpful and fun for you to be home when most adults have to work, and schedule your hours around that!

3. Take a vacation

If your minister came to you and asked you to take a 4 or 5% pay cut, you would be upset, but that is what you are doing by not taking vacation.  You need time off.  you need a break, and your family needs it too.  So, schedule it like a sumer camp.  Plan it in advance and take it no matter what.

4. Work hard at work

This one is huge.  I have worked with a ton of people who talk about how many extra hours they work, how they have to take stuff home, etc.  For at least half of them, it’s their own fault.  The reason they don’t finish their work in normal work hours is that every time I see them, they are not working.  No lie, I have worked with people who for the (sometimes brief) time we worked together, I never saw them do something related to their job.

If you are a social butterfly or are working with your best friend, do whatever it takes to keep your nose to the grindstone.  You don’t need to be rude, but you don’t have to have a constantly revolving door or full couch.  Shut your door, close facebook, and get to work.  If you have to, put a sign on the door that says please do not disturb or something.

5. Do something you love that isn’t work related

Sometimes ministry can co-opt our hobbies and turn them into work.  If you love to play the guitar, you end up rehearsing four chord Christian worship songs until the thought of playing anymore makes you sick.  If you enjoy graphic design, you end up making logos for every small group in the church until the last thing you want to see is Illustrator.  That is not healthy.  You need to have things you enjoy that are not part of your job.

Maybe it is hiking or sports, or playing music, or writing.  Whatever it is, schedule intentional time to do it, and no matter what, refuse to do it for work.  You can volunteer your graphic design services for the local food pantry or teach guitar in an at-risk school, but don’t make it part of your job.  Keep some fun thing aside to care for yourself.

From: Youthworker Movement

My Favorite Bible Background Sites

“Where does he find this stuff?”  It’s the question asked over and over again by people wanting to find the interesting tidbits that make for spell-binding teaching.  The unfortunate answer is often that a lot of boring research will yield one or two gems.

However, there are a few repositories for these gems online.  Here are three of my favorites:

Follow The Rabbi — Teaching by Ray Vander Laan on the Jewishness of Jesus that was a source of much of Rob Bell’s early teaching on the subject.  The site is not totally clear or easy to use, but it’s worth the extra time digging. For the largest portion of the stash scroll down to read, click on browse more guides, and then click on articles.

Biblical Archaeology Society — This is a fascinating site full of exactly what its name implies.  Pictures, ebooks, articles, you name it.  I will often log on to BAS and just search the name of a city or person mentioned in the text I am teaching to see what sort of archaeology there is to inform the text.

Wikipedia/Media — In Study after study, the accuracy of wikipedia has been verified as surpassing Encyclopedia Britannica.  However, I find it most helpful in finding links to articles on other sites.  But the real gem is wikiMEDIA.  It is full of great images, classic artwork, and some audio and video.  The best part is that it is all free to use.

Go forth and rock some Bible background!

From: YouthWorker Movement

What if They've Never Heard about Jesus? A Story of Miraculous Revelation in Ethiopia

An Ethiopian man I met named  Benjamin told me this amazing story: He was in a field in Ethiopia working with his brothers when he sees a vision of a man carrying a cross on the other side of the field. The man is beaten and bloody, and in a lot of pain. He realizes that his brothers in the field can't see the man and begins to become very distressed when he hears a voice say, "This is my son who died for your sins." These words about sin caused him to examine himself.  He soon realized that there were many things he had been doing that were bad, and quit cold turkey because he could not believe that someone who had never known him would suffer so much for him. Benjamin began to tell his brothers and friends about this man who he saw in the field. He would say that they needed to stop doing what they were doing, and live pure lives. Eventually the lives of those around him began to change as he kept retelling his vision. People began to refer to the man in the vision as the God of Beniamin because he did not know that it was Jesus.

Benjamin's father was not as happy. He kept urging him to "Stop speaking all this foolishness," but he refused. Beniamin said he could not stop talking about this man who suffered for his sins. His father eventually disowned Beniamin.

At this time Ethiopia was under communist rule, and as more and more people began hearing about Beniamin, he was taken to prison and asked to renounce his beliefs. He refused, but they had nothing to charge him with. Every day they would threaten his life, and then take him out to the streets to show him the people they killed the day before (that's where they dumped the bodies after shooting them... if someone went missing, people would search the streets every morning to see if they had been killed). Benjamin still refused. This went on for 21 days (or months it was hard to understand him here) in a row. During his time in jail one of the guards mentioned that there were several others in jail in the north for talking about a similar man. This gave Beniamin hope! He was amazed that there were others in Ethiopia who had heard of this man.

Eventually he was released from prison, and decided to go to the north where he met a couple of protestants who told Benjamin that he was a Christian. He continued to preach in the underground church, but was constantly being searched for by the police. He narrowly escaped several times (a whole post could be dedicated to the many stories he told about this). Eventually the communist government was overthrown and they were able to worship in public. He told of a story of a conference he helped organize during a spring break while working with an Inter-varsity organization where 14,000 people came to the Lord.

I am constantly answering the question: What if someone has never heard about Jesus?  My usual response goes something like this:  

The answer begins with the idea that we believe God to be loving and just.  If that is so, I don't know anyone who would say it is either loving OR just to hold people accountable to concepts that they were never exposed to, and there is a significant amount of the world for whom that is a reality.  However, God reveals himself to us in more ways that a teleevangelist's sermon on late night.  In Romans 1, it talks about the fact that God's very creation is a form of revelation.  He calls to us through beauty and sunset and if that is all we know of God, that can be a significant amount!

Now... the real question (do they get into heaven) is one that I cannot answer. I cannot answer because over and over Jesus says surprising things in the Bible about who Gets into heaven that basically add up to him saying, "There will be some people you are sure will be there who aren't and people you never thought would be there in a thousand years who are."

ut, this story always gives me hope that there is another answer as well: God is miraculously revealing himself to many who will listen and see.

A Confession and Prayer for Desensitization

​Crucifix by Michaelangelo

I need to make a confession.  I forget about the cross. I’m not talking about the one that is all over my home and office.  That one (the empty one) is part of the fabric of my world.  It’s the other one... the one with Jesus on it that doesn't stick with me. And every holy week, I am convicted by this forgetfulness.

I know the reason for the empty cross.  I know Jesus is risen.  I know that he is no longer on the cross and that the resurrection is key to salvation.  The problem for me is that my empty cross allows me to forget about the gruesome, bloody torture that Jesus endured to provide for my sin.  I forget about the back that was ripped to shreds by forty lashes with a cat of nine tails.  I forget about the fact that he died from asphyxiation, and that every word spoken from the cross came at the cost of lifting himself up on the nails.

My forgetting about the terror of the cross makes me forget about the seriousness of sin.  When the blood is out of sight, my sins just seem like little mistakes, a couple of “oops” along the way.  I ask for forgiveness, if I think about it, and go about my day.  

But the cross has another message altogether.  Its message screams across millennia that sin is serious.  Like the nails in Jesus' body, sin breaks things. It creates pain and death and causes people to lose the ones they love.  When I look at the cross and see the blood of Jesus, I realize I have desensitized myself to sin. I have minimized its consequences in my mind and have allowed myself to think of salvation and forgiveness as common, cheap things when they are the most costly things in my world.

A friend of mine came up to me after talking about this and said that maybe the Catholics have it right.  Maybe we need more crucifixes so that we cannot forget the sacrifice.  Maybe. 

Either way, my prayer this holy week is that God would help me not end up in the same place next year lamenting my desensitization.

Who Gets Into Heaven? Downton Abbey Explains.

Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey)

Are Jews Going to heaven?  What about my friend who was a pious teenager but has lost his way?  How about my father who lived a good life but committed suicide?

These questions are as tragic as they are common.  They seem to be on the hearts and minds of almost every believer I interact with, yet they flow as a tragic consequence of recent church History. Yet, they are solved quite elegantly by Downton Abbey.

For those of you who have ignored the Downton-shaped hole inside each of our entertainment spirits, the show is about the lives of the family and staff of an English Lord at the turn of the century (19th to 20th).  The previous era was one in which there were firm walls between the staff and family.  Though they shared space, they lived in two different worlds with the staff constantly serving every whim of the family with no real relationships between them.  

Over and over again, the show puts on screen characters who are hopelessly bound to the old era’s strict, clear wall between the classes, but the family and staff at Downton  are in the middle of the delicate process of taking down the wall.  There are moments where huge portions of the wall fall like when Sybil, the daughter of the Lord, marries an Irish revolutionary who is their chauffeur. 

Then there are moments when it is taken down a brick at a time like when the Lady of the house says to the head housemaid who is fearing cancer that, “if you are ill, you are welcome here for as long as you want to stay. Lady Sybil will help us to find a suitable nurse. I don’t want you to have any concerns about where you’ll go or who’ll look after you. Because the answer is: here and we will.”

What was a bounded system that was focused on making a clear delineation between who’s in and who’s out begins to focus more on the wellbeing of the estate as a whole.

Alan and Debra Hirsch, brilliant missional thinkers, explain in their book Untamed that the Church is in the exact same place.  For a long time, we have existed in what he describes as a theological bounded set.  A lot of thought, time and communication has focused on understanding where the line between Christian and non-Christian exists, and exactly how one crosses that line.  

Hundreds of books and thousands of rallies have been held focusing on this line.  Though understanding what it means to be a Christian is important, the focus on making a clear in/out distinction ends up having some negative consequences.  When all that time is spent on the wall between Christians and Non-christians, what is within that wall (namely Jesus and every aspect of the faith) takes a back seat.  And what is on the outside of that wall (namely those who do not know Jesus) are more separated from what’s inside.  Hirsch describes it as having a hard edge and a soft center.

What’s more, when Jesus talks about this wall, he constantly explains it in ways that say that in heaven, there will be a lot of people there that you never thought would be there.  Likewise, there will be a whole lot of people not there that you thought would be there.

The solution according to Hirsch?  Take down the wall.  Instead of spending all your time on deciding who is in and out, spend that time on lifting up the teaching and person of Jesus.  With Jesus as the focus, our call to the world is the same as Jesus own call: follow him.  

This opens Christianity up to everyone.  You do not have to be in some certain proximity to Jesus, you don’t have to have your life together, you don’t even have to have attended a Christian rally.  You merely have to turn to Jesus.  Wherever you are.  Whoever you are.  Then, follow him.  And that next step, the step of following, is totally different for a buddhist in Thailand, a rock star in Ireland, and a minister in Alabama.  A different step, but the same action: following Jesus.

Who is a Christian?  The people who follow Jesus.  Who goes to heaven?  The people who follow Jesus.  Who gets to make the call of who is following Jesus?  Me.  

Actually, the opposite of that.  No one gets to make that call.  The determination of who is following Jesus is something that only Jesus himself can decide, and I am so glad he takes that off my shoulders.

That means its time to stop arguing about once saved always saved.  It’s time to stop arguing about infant baptism.  It’s time to stop arguing about last rights, and start talking about Jesus.  Start sharing his message of love, peace, grace, and repentance.  It’s time to start calling the world to follow its savior.

Make Your Church like Apple Stores (6 Steps)

A couple weeks ago Apple was recognized again as having the most profitable retail space per square foot in the world.  They topped the second place company (Tiffany Co.) by almost double!  Though I’m sure your church administrator would like to increase your tithing per square foot, I think there is a lot more that we learn.

1. Apple stores facilitate anonymity

Sometimes, I want to go into a store and browse the products and buy something without having to talk to a bunch of people.  I appreciate someone saying hello but I don’t want to be distracted by sales people.  And they respect that.  Apple gives me my space and allows me to set the boundaries for my interaction with them.  You can even make a purchase with your iPhone without ever talking to a sales person.

Sometimes people come in the door of our churches needing the same anonymity.  They aren’t ready to shake the pastor’s hand or meet everyone around them.  Sometimes people are hurting, skeptical, or really introverted, and there’s nothing wrong with any of those things. Neither is there anything wrong with someone waiting to sit in the back and check it out totally anonymously.

We need to value our cultures “check it out” value by not forcing people into fake interaction.  We need to be intentional about how we facilitate a healthy level of anonymity.

2. Staff are acutely aware of the customer

Though they are committed to anonymity, staff are paying close attention to all the customers.  As soon as someone exhibits signs of frustration, confusion, or exasperation, an employee is by their side asking a non-invasive, “Can I help you?”

How many of our greeters/ushers/touch team are really spending their time hanging out with their friends or reading a newspaper.  I recently walked into a church on a Sunday morning, walked up to an information desk and stood for a little while before being noticed because the information volunteer was reading the sports section.

All staff and volunteers need to be trained to to three things: 1. Understand what it looks like when someone is lost or confused 2. Be able to answer basic questions 3. Know where to go to get any unknown question answered right away.  They also need to be given permission to be late if they are helping someone like this.

More than that, we need to engender a culture of awareness.  Instead of being on a mission to get wherever we are going we need to slow down and look around.  We need to increase our awareness!

3. Apple cares about aesthetics

Apple stores look cool, and yet not intimidating.  They are simple, clean, and open.  They spend a lot of time and money thinking about how the stores look, feel, and flow, and it shows.

We need to be thinking through the same things.  We need to be asking ourselves that we are communicating about Jesus through our physical spaces. Do they feel warm?  Do they feel current?  Do they make sense and flow?  Do they feel clean and open?

I don’t think that your church or youth room needs to look like and Apple store (unless you are thinking about selling consumer electronics), but we need to spend the same kind of time and energy thinking about the aesthetics of our facilities so that they are saying what we want them to say about who we are and why we are there.

4. Help is everywhere

Every staff person in the Apple store is easily identified with a same-colored shirt and professional name tag (because everything there communicates high-quality) on a lanyard

How easy is it for a person to identify who at your church is there to help?  How does someone know where to go for help?  I am far from being the person who wants everyone to wear the same shirt on Sunday, but if there is no other way you can see to identify the people there to help, go buy some polos!

5. Focus on community 

You might think Apple stores are about selling Apple products.  They’re not.  Apple stores are about community.  Don’t get me wrong, they want to sell products and aren’t sitting around in a circle sharing what their spirit animal is, but they believe that the best way to sell products is to have the store be about servicing the Apple community.

You can walk into any Apple store, check your email, post on Facebook and charge your iPhone without ever feeling that you are sneaking around.  In fact, many Apple stores are full of people who are not there to buy anything, but are just using the wifi or the computers for whatever they wanted to do.

And, if you do need something fixed, that is the first place you go.  They are known for their first-class customer support.  Each support person is given incredible freedom to comp services and give free replacements to help customers.  Why?  Because Apple actually cares about their customers.  They want them to be happy, and they want them to feel like Apple cares about them more than profits.

I wish church was like that.  So many times I have felt like I was intruding or inconveniencing someone.  I have heard over and over people express that the church only cares about attendance rather than people.  It is time for us to shift our focus from attendance to care.  And not just superficially.  We do not do care for people so that more people will come.  We care for people because WE CARE.

6. Apple utilizes square footage

There is not a bit of wasted space.  Tables are spaced far enough apart to be comfortable, but no space is empty or unused.  It is all used to the max.

If I had a dime for every church parking lot that sits empty all week long, I’d be a rich man.  I understand that you may not have a bunch of things going on, but there are people in your community who need space.  There are small business groups that have to pay for meeting rooms in hotels, there are board meetings and civic groups that would love to be able to use your space.  And, imagine if you staffed it with volunteers who cared for them.  What might happen if those people began to feel about your church the way they feel about the Apple store?

That’s it.  Time for me to go talk to my team about making our church more like the Apple store.

From: Youthworker Movement

Lent, Seder, and Preparing for Execution - Updated

DaVinci: ​Last Supper

I had a question a couple years ago during lent: How did Jesus prepare for the cross and empty tomb? During lent, we spend time preparing our hearts for Easter, reflecting on our sin, and living with the knowledge that we bear part of the blame for what happened on that dark Friday.  Just like us, it is quite clear in the Gospels that Jesus knew exactly what was coming in the final days of his life.  He knew there would be arrests, trials, crucifixion, and ultimately resurrection.  So, what did he do before all these events transpired?  

He ate the seder meal with his disciples celebrating Passover.  Every aspect of this meal pointed to what was about to happen.  The sacrificial lamb that was slaughtered to deal with the sin of the family was then consumed and nourished them.  The many cups of wine that symbolized the sanctification of God’s people, God’s judgement of sin, their hope for redemption and their life of praise all pointed to Jesus.  It was all then tied to God’s history of redeeming his people and fulfilling his promises throughout history.

This is the meal we reference once a month when, before communion, we say “On the night that Jesus was to be betrayed, he took the bread, broke it, and after he had given thanks said, ‘This is my body which is broken for you...’” Jesus fulfills all the signs and symbols that are wrapped up in the Passover seder meal and then imbues them with a whole new meaning.  The meaning that we celebrate with the sacrament of communion.

What does this say to us about our lenten preparation? Whether you are fasting, meditating on the accounts of the last days of Jesus, or some other practice, it is important to focus not just on the practice itself, but on the meaning behind it.  

This season is about being repentant.  We fast as a way to express our sorrow for our sin and overindulgence.  We fast because as we limit things that are indeed necessities, we are more mindful of our true dependence on God.  We fast because we are called to live self-controlled lives and do not.  We meditate on the passion of Christ because share in both the guilt of the crucifixion and the salvation it provides.  

This month may we prepare with repentant hearts and celebrate with Joy as our repentance turns to Joy with the salvation provided by our living Christ on Easter.

If you are interested in celebrating the Seder meal with us on March 28 at 5:30pm, you can register online by clicking here​

Update:​

After receiving a great email from one of my readers, I think it would be helpful to clarify (or muddy) the statement above about the link between the Gospels and Seder.  If you want to read a little over 5,000 words on the subject there is a great article here.​  Here is the gist.  For a long time people have equated several elements found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke to be pointing towards the final meal Jesus shared with his disciples being the passover meal.  That was supported by quotes from a first century historian (Josephus) and several references in rabbinical texts.  I find all of those references compelling, but the most current scholarship casts those into doubt.  

On top of that, Seder, as modern Jews practice it,  was not formalized until about 40 years after Jesus' death when the temple was destroyed.  However, I think that the references in the rabbinic literature at the very least point to rabbis bringing together practices that had been developing in the community, adding some new ones and writing it all down.

It is my personal belief that you can see elements of the seder that were present in the (pre-seder) passover meal and that was the meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the night before he was to be betrayed. That means that celebrating the passover can have many great benefits for us as believers.  Not only does it remind us of our Exodus story, but it gives insight into communion and the Gospel accounts. 

We will be celebrating the Jewish meal, remember our story in the exodus, and looking at the parallels with Jesus last supper.  ​I hope you will join us.

Wesley for the Broken Hearted Lover

Wesley and Sophie 

Most accounts of Wesley I’ve heard in Methodist churches set him up as the sanctified, theologian who worked harder than anyone you’ve ever heard to spread the Good news of Jesus and call people to scriptural holiness.  He is put on a pedestal as an example.  The problem is that the pedestal tends to be too high to see any of his flaws.  But, there is power in flaws.  The power for us to not only see an example, but identify our struggles with someone who has gone before.  It is often through this sort of identification that we open ourselves up to be taught by those who are placed on pillars.

As it turns out, John Wesley was not perfect.  What’s more he was human.  In his younger years, he set out on a great adventure to go to the Colonies (Georgia in particular) and do his best to get back to the roots of Christianity and do ministry like he saw in the book of Acts.  When he arrived, a new friend introduced him to a beautiful young woman named Sophy Hopkey who was related to a powerful local magistrate.

They hit it off immediately, but she left to go visit a relative in another town.  After a while, John went to visit her and found that her spirituality had slipped.  Then, he made a gamble that showed how much he cared for Ms. Hopkey: he told her.  He pointed out exactly how she had slipped and implored her to move back to the city that encouraged her spirituality: the city in which John lived.  She did.

Once there she even consulted a friend as to what a woman should wear to attract a minister who disliked “all gaudy attire.”  She wore white from that point forward.

Over the next several months they spent hours together doing the sorts of things people did who were falling in love, and she even sat with John during a five-day long fever nursing him back to health.

John was ready.  He wanted to pop the question, but decided to consult a board of church elders to make sure he wasn’t getting ahead of himself.  After some deliberation, the board told John that he was not to marry Miss Sophy. As far as I can tell, modern Americans would say that he was crushed, but he obeyed. Sophy was equally hurt.

John was caught by surprise about a month later when Sophy Married a Mr Williamson whom John described in is journal as “not remarkable for handsomeness, neither for greatness, neither for wit, or knowledge, or sense, and least of all for religion.”  I know exactly how he feels.

Poor John did not get over it easily.  Under what seems like an excuse to get back at Sophie, John refused to serve her communion.  Because she was not just your average colonist, John ended up being brought up on charges and eventually skipped town for England shortly after the local officials told all the officers of the colony to prevent his departure.

What a tragic story, yet it is not for from the stories youthpastors, teachers and parents hear week after week from teens and young adults navigating the waters of dating or courting or whatever your church calls it.

Why tell this story?  Because John did amazing things.  He had brilliant ideas, and made a huge impact in the world.  He did all of that despite a heart that was broken.  He made it through and came out whole on the other side.  There it light at the end of the tunnel.

I say, we take the words of Corinthians (11:30) one step further.  We boast not only in our weakness but in the weaknesses of our founders and theologians.  And who knows, maybe that boasting will help us take those people off their pillars and re-direct our focus to the God who changed the world through those broken people.

If you want to read an EXTREMELY detailed account from people who really love Wesley, it is here.

From YouthWorker Movemen