Destination Transformation: Four Keys to Engagement (Part II)

God's plan to transform all things begins by Engaging the Unchurched with the mind-blowing news of Jesus, and he calls the community of Jesus-followers to the task.  In my last Destination Transformation post I addressed two of four keys to engagement: 1) Engaging churches take the initiative and 2) Engaging churches create a presence.  This post will look at two more keys to engagement.

1. Engaging Churches are Relevant.  I am successful in communicating, not when I transfer information from me to you, but when you understand and respond to the transferred information. God entrusts the church with the message of Jesus, a message with cosmic and eternal implications, a message of the most relevance, a message of joy and hope. He also calls the church to communicate the message!

Unfortunately, many established churches fail to communicate the message of Jesus because they have confused the means with the message. The message is eternal but the means must change as culture changes if a church wants to communicate and not simply transfer Jesus information. I believe many of the churches in my tribe (Churches of Christ) are on hospice because they believe it is more important to protect the means than communicate the message. (Fortunately, I am honored to serve at an established church taking the hard and exciting journey of learning again to communicate in relevant ways). We can talk about, we can even scream about Jesus until we turn purple, pass out and wake up stripped naked in a ditch somewhere...you get the idea...but if the message is not heard, if our means of communicating the message is irrelevant, then we might as well be silent.

If I want to share Fun's hit song Some Nights with my sister in Texas, I don't imprint the single on a vinyl record and UPS it (Yes, I used UPS as a verb) to the Metroplex. Most likely she would use it as a coaster or Frisbee. Because although the record contains the message I want to communicate, I have just added a plethora (I first heard this word in the movie The Three Amigos) of obstacles in her way before she can hear the song.  She would have to track down someone who had a record player, borrow their record player, learn how to use the record player and then listen to the song. With four kids I doubt she would go through the effort. Conclusion: record equals information transferred but not communicated - failure!

Instead, I would send her a link to the video on YouTube or a link to a sample on iTunes. "Click" and "Tadah!" music.  The information on both the record and the link are the same, but one creates unnecessary obstacles because it is an irrelevant form of communication. Records where great in the 1940's but are irrelevant to the majority of America today. Many established churches are trying to communicate the message of the gospel on vinyl records in a digital world.

From the beginning, God has intentionally removed communication obstacles. He is the founder of relevant communication. In Acts 2, the pilgrim crowd of Jews have gathered in Jerusalem for the Pentecost celebration. The writer of Acts describes it this way, Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5), and with the diverse crowd came a variety of different languages. As the story goes, God sends the Holy Spirit during this high-traffic period to empower his disciples to share the wonders of God with the crowd. As the Holy Spirit descends on the Jesus Community, they begin to share the wonders of God in the multiple languages of the Jerusalem pilgrims: When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken (Acts. 2:6).

God's primary objective was to communicate the message and he removed any obstacle that would keep his target audience from hearing what he wanted to say. He did not wait for the pilgrim crowd to learn Aramaic. He crashed through that obstacle by giving his followers an instant Rosetta Stone experience. If churches want to engage the Unchurched we have to remove any barriers that keep the message from being heard...yes, even our traditions.

2. Engaging Churches Serve in the Name of Jesus.   In Luke 9, Jesus sends out the Twelve to preach that God's reign (Kingdom) is breaking into the world. Luke tells us:

[Jesus] gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God AND to heal the sick (Luke 9:1-2).

Jesus does not simply tell his disciples to preach about God's reign but to impact people's lives at the same time by curing them of their ailments. In other words, the message of God's kingdom comes with examples.  The same stands true today. If churches want to engage the Unchurched then we cannot simply talk about Jesus we have to give examples of Jesus. We must serve our communities in Jesus' name.

We must ask: 1) How can we serve our community? 2) What organizations, both christian and secular, can we partner with to make a difference in our community? 3) What are the needs of the area surrounding our physical location?

Destination Transformation: Four Keys to Engagement

In this post I continue the Destination Transformation series (Part I, Part II, Part III) by exploring two sections from Luke-Acts to highlight 2 of the 4 keys to Engaging the Unchurched. This post offers no ground-breaking insights, but it serves as the foundation from which TCOC engages our community. We believe in the mind-blowing news of Jesus!

 After paying-off his medical school loans and honing his practice, Dr. Luke researches the life of Christ and the work of his followers, reporting his findings in a two-volume narrative: Luke-Acts. Luke provides a thrilling description of God bursting his Kingdom onto the world stage through Jesus and of its continued growth through a group of Spirit-filled misfits. 

According to the good doctor, Jesus had a strategy while on planet earth. He invited a group of people to share life deeply with him - to come and see what the remade world of God looks like! In his speech and life he demonstrated the remade world to his followers. After some time, he sent his followers out to remake the world themselves (Luke 9:1-6, 10:1-20), because he planned for them to eventually be his hands and feet - to shape the world through the love and Spirit of God (Acts 2:1-13.) God was strategic and intentional in taking the life-giving news of Jesus to the world, and the aforementioned passages provide churches with four keys to successful engagement.

1.  Engaging Churches Take the Initiative.  Luke 9:2 reads, "...he [Jesus] SENT THEM OUT to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." One chapter later Jesus commands his followers, "GO! I am SENDING YOU OUT ..." From the beginning Jesus sets a precedent with his followers, "Do not wait for people to come to you. Go to them! Break out of your holy huddle and take the initiative." 

God calls us to be "Hide and Seek" churches rather than "Sardine" Churches. When I was a kid we had two hiding games in our repertoire. In "Sardines" the person who was "It" high-tailed it in search of a hiding place while everyone else counted to the magical number of 50. Once remaining players hit 50, the crowd scattered in search of the hiding player. If you found the hidden player, you would join her and wait until the next person found you...and then the next, and the next, and the next...until you were crammed in some dark humid corner like SARDINES. In this game the designated "It" person waits to be discovered, and once discovered she is happy for you to join her.

Some churches are "Sardine" churches. They  stay within their walls, love each other, master worship, have great programs and are even friendly and welcoming communities, but they take no initiative in engaging the Unchurched. If the Unchurched find their way within their walls they will greet them kindly, but it's up to the Unchurched to find them.

"Hide and Seek" functions the opposite of "Sardines." The person who is "It" counts to 50 while all the other players hide. Once he reaches 50 he shouts, "Ready or not here I come," and then relentlessly seeks those hiding. He will even chase after them.

"Hide and Seek" churches do not wait for the Unchurched to discover them. They are not content within their four walls, hoping that those on the outside will stumble upon them. They take the initiative. They learn about their communities. They study the demographics. They research community needs. They meet their neighbors. They create initiatives and strategies to engage those around them. They ask questions like: Which age group percentage has the highest growth rate in our area? What percentage of our community consists of single-parents? What is the divorce rate in our community? What state-rating do our neighborhood schools have and why? How many other churches are in the area? What kind of non-profits serve our community? What is the average family income?

Engaging the Unchurched begins by dusting off the keester and obeying Jesus..."GO!"

2.  Engaging Churches Create a Presence. In Acts 2 Jesus has returned to the Father and his 120 remaining followers have gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost. Pentecost is one of Israel's three pilgrimage feasts. Massive crowds converged on Jerusalem to celebrate the Sinai experience. Jerusalem at Pentecost was like New Orleans on Super Bowl week...crowds, celebration, food, and worship (of a different kind of course). 

It is no coincidence that God chose to wait until this very moment, Jerusalem swollen with festival pilgrims, to send his Spirit in style (Acts 2:1-8):

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
 
 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.  When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.  Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?  Then how is it that each of ^cs hears them in our native language? ⁹ we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

God leveraged the Pentecost crowd so that the his followers could share the good and shocking news of Jesus' resurrection. The results were satisfactory...about 3000 people were added to their (the 120's) number that day. (Sounds like a logistical nightmare in a good sort of way.)

If a church wants to engage the Unchurched, it must create a presence in the community. It's not enough to simply study and understand your community, your community must know you exist.  A mentor of mine once asked this question, "If your Church disappeared tomorrow would your community miss it?" That's a great question, but I want to take it back one step further, "If your church disappeared tomorrow would the community even notice?

I believe Churches should create a presence. Churches should advertise: online, billboards, social media, newspapers, etc. Churches should have a strong presence at community events: participate in parades, run in 5ks, set up booths at community festivals, support local school events. People in your community should know your church's name! I even believe in church window stickers for your car...right next to your stick figure family. [Note: Serving your community is the most impactful way to create a presence. So much so that it gets its own bullet point in my next post.]

Churches need to ask the question, "How can we create a presence so that we might declare the wonders of God?!"

[In my next post I will look at the final two keys in Engaging the Unchurched]

 

Destination Transformation: ENGAGE

This is the third part of a blog series where I unpack TCOC's approach to spiritual formation

Enagage the Unchurched

+

Connect to Christ

+

Connect to Others

=

TRANSFORMATION    

I spent earlier posts (Here and Here) highlighting the aim of the gospel: TRANSFORMATION. Some people call it discipleship, others sanctification and still others redemption. In the end, Jesus came to change you and the world. As a Christian, I believe transformation begins and ends with Jesus. Therefore, TCOC's spiritual formation model begins with engaging the unchurched with the good news of Jesus. Technically...Evangelism!

Evangelism! Seems today it has more in common with force-feeding or hogtying than sharing "good news!" It tends to conjure up images of street-preachers spewing condemnation and judgement or pesky little souls ringing your doorbell on Sunday afternoon when you just want to watch football, "If you died today would you go to heaven or hell?" Or...you picture those Christians who treat evangelism as a sport, as if angels are eying you for a first-round draft pick in Fantasy Evangelism, "Bob would be a great pick! He had 32 conversions last year!"

Although these disastrous approaches and self-centered motivations have turned evangelism into a lame pick-up line at best and made many churches evangeliscally gun-shy, the root meaning of evangelism is simply "the act of proclaiming good news." There is no better news than to whisper in the world's ear, "I know someone who makes dead things alive again!" Such a message peeks the interest of all mortal creatures, and the Church carries this balm in her lungs! Why wouldn't churches share the "good news?" Not only is it logical and ethical to share "good news," but Jesus commands the Church to do so. In Acts 1, as Jesus prepares to return to the Father, he speaks these last words to his followers:
 

"...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Witnesses testify to what they have seen and experienced, and in this particular instance Jesus calls the Church to testify to a Risen Christ...good news indeed! Popular or not, Jesus commands the church to engage the unchurched and he promises to equip us with power to accomplish such a task. Yes, evangelism should flow naturally out of a deepening relationship with God, but at the same time Churches should intentionally and strategically engage the unchurched. Luke-Acts depicts the Godhead as a strategic and intentional evangelist.  In my next post, I will use sections of Luke-Acts to highlight four keys to engaging the unchurched.

But before we explore the keys to engagement, we must ask ourselves, "Does our church take evangelism seriously? Do we see it as necessary? Do we see it as a command? Are we being intentional and strategic in engaging the unchurched in our area?"

Sometimes Christians get nervous when we talk about evangelism because of past abuse, but let's not throw the baby out just because the bath water has gotten cold.  Let's change the bath water! Our past failures (Thank you, Crusades!) do not exempt us from a tremendous responsibility to share the good news! Let's reassess our approach. We learn from Christ engaging the unchurched is not about "power over," coercion, or force. It's about sharing and living Hope..."Practicing Resurrection." It is never US vs THEM. It is always US for THEM! We engage the unchurched not as the un-compassionate Borg assimilating everything in its path, but rather as the body of Christ laying down her life on behalf of the world.

I have some good news...would you like to hear it?

Destination Transformation: Part II

This is the second post in a blog series where I unpack TCOC's spiritual formation model in hopes that it will help in your spiritual transformation. In my first post I highlighted the goal, "The End," the aim of the gospel: TRANSFORMATION. In this post I will us an example from Jesus' life to show how TRANSFORMATION took center stage in Jesus' ministry and it's implications for the church today.

Engage the Unchurched

Jesus did not come as a religion entrepreneur. He did not step out of heavenly glory, wrap himself in fragile human flesh so he could establish another religious system. The Son of God did not come down with a new set of Stone Tablets entitled How to Be Spiritual. "One or two Communion prayers?" did not even make his Stuff-that-matters list. His mission did not entail an article for Christianity Today arguing theologically for Home Church over Mega Church. He came to change the world and not in some kind of nebulous disembodied domain, but in a tangible, relevant and practical way.

In Mark 3, Jesus gathers on Saturday, as all faithful Jews, in the synagogue. He finds himself face to face with a man crippled by a shriveled hand. Jesus' gut reaction is to heal the man, to mend and restore. To any rational human being, healing makes the most sense, but not to religion. The Pharisees were counting on Jesus' healing instincts, because to heal meant to break Sabbath Law.

Connect to Christ

Sabbath Law defined "work" as any activity exercising dominion over your environment. Healing clearly demonstrated authority over one's environment and therefore it was a blatant violation of Sabbath Law.  This moment provided a prime opportunity for Jesus to prove his spiritual superiority and his religious mastery to the Pharisees, but Jesus did not come to be Judaism's Most Valuable Player. He came to save, to heal, to redeem, to TRANSFORM!

So...Jesus gets angry, stands the man up in front of the scheming leaders and restores his hand! Technically he breaks The Law, but a man goes home that day with a recreated hand. If Jesus had simply followed the powerless rules and rituals of his day he would prove nothing except his self-discipline, but by raising a dead hand to life he screamed of God's tangible love.

Connect to Others

In many of our neighborhoods the church sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. Our discussions and conversations often have very little relevance to a world hungry for the tangible love of Jesus.  I pray God uses the Church not as a club for theological and doctrinal discourse but as a transforming catalyst and guide in people's lives.

• We want to see drug addicts set free.
• We want to see the lonely find a community of friends.
• We want marriages restored.
• We want single parents to find "co-parents" in their church family.
• We want to see people move from being money slaves to generous Kingdom givers.
• We want to see people break free from debt.
• We want to see individuals who are in the final phase of life die well, loved, and unafraid.
• We want to see the hungry fed.
• We want to see the unemployed find work.
• We want to see bitter individuals discover joy through forgiveness.
• We want to see apathy catch fire.
• We want to see people discover compassion for the first time.
• We want to see racial division and social segregation collapse.
• We want to see prisons turned into churches.
• We want to see strip clubs remodeled into teenage pregnancy centers.
• We want to see Satan fall like lightening.
• We want to see TRANSFORMATION through Jesus.

Destination Transformation

Seven months ago I started preaching again...resurrected but completely unqualified and undeserving. The grace-filled community of TCOC invited me to partner with them in welcoming the Kingdom of God to Downriver (southern Detroit burbs). Unlike past ministry experiences, they hired me as another piece to living out the vision God had placed before them rather than hiring me to aid in vision discernment. I believe God called my family here because our vision aligned with TCOC. Stepping into a community already convicted by God's leading has created a very smooth transition thus far.

With the brief introduction behind us, this post is the first in a series unpacking TCOC's vision and mission.  I'm sharing this on my blog because I believe TCOC's vision captures the function of the gospel, the heart of God, and the calling of the Church. I pray these posts will enrich your relationship with Christ and create lasting change in your life.

TCOC's mission statement reads:

To engage our community in spiritual transformation by connecting people to Christ and one another.

Not only does the mission statement serve as our decision-making filter, but inherent to the statement is a spiritual formation model. I believe God, as a relational being, not only relentlessly pursues us, but invites us to chase him with the same abandoned passion. A spiritual formation model is a intentional and practical pursuit of God. We communicate our model through a simple formula:

Enagage the Unchurched 

 + 

Connect to Christ 

+ 

Connect to Others 

 = 

TRANSFORMATION

In order to understand the spiritual formation model, I start with "The End:" TRANSFORMATION.

Growing up I argued the Christian "End," the goal, the aim was heaven - to walk the golden streets, grub the all-you-can-eat calorie free buffet, sing God's Family 1 million to the millionth times (Actually, that sounds a lot more like Hell). But, the more I dug into the macro movement of scripture I realized "heaven" was a byproduct of God's ultimate aim.

During another season in my life, I came to believe the "End" was to be like Jesus, to be the perfect disciple...to live out the great commission in my own life to do everything Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). Yes, God calls us to follow Jesus, to become "little Jesuses" in the world, but one question moved me a step further in my quest toward The End: WHY? Why be like Jesus? So I can give legalism a new twist and elevate my Christian status by being more like Jesus than you? To master Jesus' teachings rather than let Jesus master my heart?

After more study and a renewed discovery of Jesus, I realized when I become like Jesus, the world becomes more like The Garden. God's shalom swells. As more people become "Little Jesuses," the more sin's curse goes in reverse. In other words, discipleship is the TRANSFORMATION of me for the TRANSFORMATION of the world.

God seeks the TRANSFORMATION of all things. TRANSFORMATION has may aliases: restoration, resurrection, recreation, new birth, New Heavens, New Earth, etc.  The pages of scritpture testify to a God who is transforming a rotting creation through the sacrifice of Christ's death and the power of his resurrection:

• Jesus describes his ministry as one of TRANFORMATION: ...he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor...proclaim freedom for the prisoners...recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free... (Luke 4:18-19)
• The culmination of Christ ministry was on one of TRANSFORMATION. There is no greater TRANSFORMATION than dead to life: Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! (Luke 24:5b-6a).
• Paul captures the essence of conversion as TRANSFORMATION: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! (II Cor. 5:17)
• Paul goes on to describe life after conversion as ongoing TRANSFORMATION: ...you have take off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the image of its creator.
• Paul also alludes to TRANSFORMATION not simply as God's goal for humanity but for all creation: ...creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Rom. 8:21)
• John supports Paul's theology for cosmic TRANSFORMATION when he hears God's voice declare: I am making everything new! (Rev. 21:5a)

I believe God is up to something EPIC...if that isn't the understatement of the millennium. The day the stone rolled everything began to change. I want to see TRANSFORMATION that only comes through Christ in me, at TCOC, in Downriver, in Metro Detroit...and in you!

Our destination? Transformation. In my next post, I will explore a passage that brings TRANSFORMATION to the forefront of Christ's ministry.

Father, may you bring all who read these words ever deeper into Christ. May they never be same...not today, not tomorrow, not the next day...may they be renewed in your very image for their sake and for the sake of the world. Amen!