What would it look like if…

Well, in about a week, Conan O’Brien comes back on the air.  I loved Conan on “Late Night” and was pretty disappointed that he was pushed off of The Tonight Show.  Conan had a lot of funny bits, one of them called “What If They Mated?”  The premise was simple:  take two celebrities that were rumored dating (or just two that would make the view laugh) and digitally combine their features.  It would make some of the most hideous pictures imaginable out of two of the most “attractive” people in celebritidom.

I bring this up because I got done reading a book by Reggie McNeal recently called Missional Renaissance:  Changing the Scorecard for the Church.  This book builds upon another of McNeal’s books in which he challenges common assumptions within the church, pushing from the wrong question to a new, tougher question the Church must ask itself.  In Missional Renaissance, McNeal offers a view of what it would look like if churches were to evaluate their effectiveness of ministry based upon missional values and priorities.  He offers three changes in evaluation, and for the next few blog posts, I want to focus on these.

The first shift of evaluation in missionally focused church is moving from an internal focus to an external focus.  If churches were to embrace a missional priority (being sent rather than bringing people in), the church would focus on what it is doing in the world rather than its internal growth.  The kinds of questions being asked would be “How many of our people are serving in the local community?” or “How can we empower people to love their neighbor?”  The power of this shift is that it calls a church to focus on BEING the church rather than going to church.  I was sharing this idea with a friend of mine when he pointed out, “My wife (who worked in the school system with special needs children) pointed out that she spends her entire day in ministry to the kids at her school, and our church doesn’t have a way of measuring that as ministry.  It’s only when I do something for our church’s Children’s ministry that they count me as being in ministry.”  Externally focused church celebrate the ministry their people are doing, no matter what.

There are a number of ways that churches can shift their focus from internal to external.  One is through how we invite people to pray.  Too often we teach that prayer focuses on ourselves, our own “relationship with God.”  Missonally-focused prayer means moving beyond our needs (or wants), trusting that God is already meeting them, and praying for the world around us.  One way is to go into a place in the community where people tend to be (shopping malls, parks, etc) and simply pray that you could see what God sees.  It might mean praying for a community leader (mayor, principal, police chief/sheriff, etc), even contacting them to see how you can pray for them.

Another way of transitioning from an internal to an external focus of ministry is to partner with other organizations rather than creating your own.  If your church is wanting to start a basketball ministry for youth, why not join with the Boys/Girls club rather than start something else?  If you want to serve the elderly, contact a local retirement community and ask if there was something that they have been wanting to do for their residents but just don’t have the people to be able to do it.

One last idea:  Celebrate those people in your church that do ministry outside of what your church plans.  Maybe that means lifting up those in the health-care industry, or teachers or social workers.  It could mean hearing the stories of those that volunteer in the school or hospital.  Whatever it is, don’t simply celebrate those that are doing ministry in the church:  Lift up those that are loving their neighbors in every way, shape and form.

We’ve been taught that evaluating the church is typically based upon three questions:  “How many in worship?”, “How financially solvent?”, and “How many programs (and how big are they)?”  These are great for evaluating the organization, but not great in terms of evaluating the impact a church is having on their community.  Missional churches focus on different questions:  “How many people are loving their neighbor and how?”, “How much of your church’s budget is used to serve the needy in your community and world?”  and “What community organizations is your church supporting?”  What would it look like if we evaluated our churches on these questions rather than the former?

So, I wonder, how do you find yourself focusing externally rather than internally?  How do you look for where God is at work in the world around you?  And then how have you joined in?  I can’t wait to hear.

What does “missional” mean?

The other day my oldest son was getting ready for a soccer game when a friend of the family came over.  He asked my son if he liked soccer, and our seven-year-old replied, “Yes.  I’m the best at it.”  It really caught me off guard, because he’s usually quite humble.  A couple of seconds later, it became clear that what my son had said wasn’t what he meant.  What he was trying to say was that soccer was his best sport personally.  Rather than comparing himself to all the other soccer players, he was comparing his ability at soccer to his ability at other sports.  We had a laugh and talked about the difference between the two statements.   I have to admit, though, I’ve done the same sort of thing.  Maybe I’ve said something inappropriately, or sometimes I’ve used a word when I thought I knew the meaning, but I really didn’t.

I recently learned that was true for a word I use a lot in the church:  missional.   In the on-line article Defining Missional written by Alan Hirsch a couple of years ago, Hirsch defines the word missional in a new way for me.  Often, when I’ve used the word “missional,” I’ve used it to mean being on a mission, or “doing God’s work in the world.”  But in this article, Hirsch clarifies that the word means “being sent.”  It comes from a Latin term mission Dei, which I always took to mean “mission of God.”  What it really means is the sending of God.  Missional belief, then, is the understanding that God is self-sent into the world in the person of Jesus and continually through the Holy Spirit.

So then, missional living is to live as one “sent out” into the world to embody the God-life, the way of Jesus.  This is radically different from how church has behaved over the last few hundred years.  Often the church has said (in action more often than word), “Come and see.”  Come and see that Jesus loves you.  Come and see that Jesus died for you.  Come and see that the church will meet all of your wants and needs.  The problem is, what happens to those who do not “Come and see”?  Are they stuck until they get the courage to come in the doors?  Or does the church have a responsibility to go, to be sent?

I know the answer may seem evident, but the truth is, it’s easier to wait for people to come.  We can even blame them (“They know we’re here every morning.”).  If I believe that I am to be an imitator of Jesus (a “little Christ”, as Christian literally means), then shouldn’t I live my life as one “sent out”?  What does that even mean?

I saw what that means personally, when I asked an older woman from our group if she’d be willing to help us out.  We’ve been given a great opportunity to serve a local elementary school, and I needed someone to help me coordinate the volunteers and connect them with the needs of the faculty.  When I asked this woman to be the coordinator, she jumped on board wholeheartedly.  Here’s where it gets interesting.  This woman is not originally from this area, and she had been trying and trying to sell her home because she did not feel like she had a purpose here.  When I asked her to take this role on, I told her that we wanted a year commitment, but that I understood if her house sold quicker she’d need to leave.  She told me, “I’ve been trying to figure out why God wants me here.  I really think this is it, and if it is, then I’m not going anywhere.”  Sure enough, she got a call from a contractor wanting to buy her house, and she told him it would have to wait.  WOW!  That’s what it means to know you are sent out!

So I have to ask myself, how would my life change if I started living as a “sent one”?  I think it would mean I’d stop expecting people to “come and see”, and instead I’d find where God is at work (a school, a shelter, my neighbor’s house) and get involved.  What’s stopping me from those changes?  Fear.  Fear of rejection.  Fear of making a mistake.  Fear of living a new way.  What about you?  Where in your world is God wanting to send you?  What’s keeping you from going?  I hope to hear from you.

A New Day in a New Age

I read two articles online today that made me reflect on changes in culture today.  The first is this one from Yahoo:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100817/ap_on_re_us/us_mindset_list

If you’re lazy or you’d rather not read it, I’ll summarize (otherwise reading the rest of this blog will be pointless).  Beloit College Mindset List is distributed every year as a way of helping its faculty understand the culture of the incoming freshmen.  This year, it points out that these freshmen have likely never seen a phone with a cord, don’t use email because it’s too slow, and think of Clint Eastwood as a sensitive director rather than as Detective Harry Callahan growling, “The question is, do you feel lucky?  Well, do ya, punk?” (I need to confess, I’ve never seen a Dirty Harry or Man with No Name movie.)  The culture around us continually evolves, and if we think that everyone has the same experience we have had, we will likely be as relevant as a rotary phone to most people (a rotary phone has a circular dial rather than buttons…You know what, just go ask your grandparents).

The second article was a little more revealing (please feel free to read it here:  http://inewp.com/?p=4679).  Simply put, the article points to a number of studies and some reported data that shows the decline of “evangelical” churches in America, and the low opinion non-Christians have toward “evangelicals.”  While some of the data presented does not seem well researched, the article raises a few questions.  First, what is an “evangelical”?  Most anyone you ask might have a different answer to that question, causing a skew in their response to questions about “evangelicals”.  Second question, and more important:  By “evangelical”, do they mean all Christians?  Or at least those that when they think of Christian first pop up in their mind?  If so, are Christians going the way of rotary phones and Dirty Harry?  Irrelevant and unfamiliar to the world we are called to love?

As a person who has given his life to following Jesus and inviting others on that journey with me, these articles make me stop and think:  What am I doing to represent Jesus and his message of grace and love to the world in a way differently than the negative stereotype people have?  Am I living the message of Jesus in such a way that something different is seen than seems to be typical?

I think the big problem is that too often I hear Christians (often labeled “evangelicals”) get caught up trying to make it clear what they are against rather than what they are for.  I think the entire planet has gotten an idea what they is against.  The question we need to ask ourselves is has the Church made it just as clear what we are for?  Are followers of Jesus going on talk shows ranting about how we love people no matter what, or are we (they are my brothers and sisters, no matter how crazy I find them) ranting about the decline of “American” values?”  Too often “evangelicals” would rather bark about the need to repeal Roe v. Wade than to go and walk alongside an unwed mother and let her know she’s not alone.  Too often we’d rather vote on what is and isn’t “legal” marriage than to walk alongside people to help each other build healthy relationships.

The question is this:  Is following Jesus going the same way as the wristwatch?  Is it getting left behind (pun intended)?  If so, is it because we’d rather tell people what we’re against rather than living what we’re for?  But Jared, Jesus doesn’t approve of… Maybe so, but what is Jesus for?  But Jared, the Bible says God hates… Maybe so, but what does the Bible say God loves?  Are we sharing what God is for?  This by no means compromising the gospel.  I think it really means finally grasping what the gospel (Good News) is really all about.

So, what do you think?  Is following Jesus becoming a relic to our culture?  Is it becoming a relic to you?  If so, what would it mean to begin living your life in such a way that you’re living out what Jesus is for?  How would that change you?

The Strangeness of the Changes

It’s been a little over a month now since we’ve moved to our new home.  It takes a while to get to the point where it no longer feels like I’m living in someone else’s house.  For the first couple of weeks, it seemed like I had to remind myself that it was OK if I wanted to hang something on the wall, if I wanted to remove a “volunteer” tree from the landscaping.  I kept thinking to myself, “Well, I don’t know if they’d like that.  Wait, who’s ‘they.’  Oh, that’s right, I’m ‘they.’”  Coming home from vacation helped to overcome the strangeness of the changes.  After being away for a week, coming home to sleep in our own beds helped us feel like we were finally home after a month.

It’s been a little over a month since we started New Day Community Church.  It takes a while to get used to a new rhythm of church.  I no longer worry about whether this word or that word is the right one for my sermon, now I worry whether people will remember where we’re meeting this week.  Our kids (and maybe yours) are still struggling to understand this new Sunday morning routine.  Yet as we create a new rhythm, I’m reminded that this is not the first time that a church started anew.  I wonder if it took a while for people of the early church to create new rhythms of their spirit lives.  The strangeness of this new thing likely overwhelmed some.  Some might have thought that the peace that came in the rhythm of their old spirit life, no matter how much it weighed them down, was better than the pain of the change.  I have to remind myself why we chose this new way.  DeAnn and I chose this because we are convinced that Jesus asks something more in following Him than week-to-week attendance in a building.  And our faith in Jesus’ love, and Jesus’ faithfulness toward all of us, is compelling us to continue down this strange, wonderful, changing path.

Strange things still happen (and will still happen).  That seems to be one of the defining characteristics of the Way of Jesus:  the strangeness of changing to become like Him.  I pray that we (OK, I) never become so comfortable with something new that it becomes something old, causing me to rather stay there then to follow the Way of Jesus.

So for all of you experiencing this strangeness of the changes in your life (new job, new home, new church), how do you find strength in the midst of the strangeness?  How does faith provide the stability you need in walking forward in something new?  I pray that you experience the presence of the Living God in the midst of the strangeness of your life.

Who Are You?

The most watched television show over the last 10 years, CSI, has started their show with The Who singing the question:  Who are you?  Now that this song is stuck in your head, I want to talk about this question.  When I was in youth ministry, I watched this question play out in adolescent after adolescent.  Who am I?  I would watch this question whenever a kid changed their hair cut or color, their clothes, their group of friends.  Erik Erickson, a psychologist in the mid 20th century, said that adolescence was the time in which an individual found their identity and ability to mesh with the world around him/her, or ultimately developed role confusion and slowly isolated themselves from relationships around them.

What does this mean in terms of church?  Well, when a church doesn’t know who it is, why it is created, why it exists in its community, it will ultimately isolate itself, seeking self-preservation rather than engaging confidently in the community it inhabits.  Yesterday, at Hidden Lake in Merrillville, about 40-50 of us gathered together to hear about our new identity as New Day Community Church, who we are (and who we are becoming).  This is vital because without knowing who we are, we’ll just begin to isolate ourselves and seek organizational survival rather than hitting the bricks and meeting our world.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll begin to discuss each of these characteristics, and I hope that you’ll engage with me and each other around the answer to the question:  Who Are You?

Come and Join us July 11th!

Please come and join us at 10 am on July 11th at Hidden Lake Park, 6355 Broadway, Merrillville, IN.  We’ll be at Shelter 6 by the lake, having some time of worship, and sharing about this new thing that God is inviting us to join.  There is a small cost to get in to the park for adults and kids ($2/$.75 for Ross Township residents, $4/$2 for non-residents), but you can stay at the shelter all day.  Feel free to bring your own food, fishing poles, swim trunks, etc if you’d like to stay afterward.  Hope to see you there!

A New Name, A New Blog

Well, if you’ve found this blog, it means either you’re very dedicated to New Day Community Church, love me and my family a lot, or you’re entirely bored.  If it’s the first two, thank you.  If it’s the last, I’m sorry, but please read.  It might ease your boredom.

We’ve had our first meeting with folks from New Day Church, and it was fantastic.  From the great food to the awesome fireworks display and the water antics in between, it was wonderful meeting new friends, seeing people we’ve grown to love in a short time, and invite them to join us on our new journey.  New things can be wonderful, they can be painful.  Sometimes we want new things, sometimes we fight newness with everything that we have in us.  And then there are those times when new things are bittersweet.  We’re ready for that new thing, but new reminds us of the old, and that causes some pain.

New things can leave us pining for the past if we’re not careful.  We can paint the past in such a rosy picture that we don’t remember the whole story.  When we experience the new, the best thing we can do is celebrate the past and be thankful, knowing that often our past will prepare us for the newness of the future.

As New Day Community Church lives into its new adventure, let’s be thankful for what has been, in each of us and in the past church, so that we can fully embrace the new future into which we follow Jesus.