The Evangelism Project

Writer and lecturer Peter Rollins has been hosting a series of online web seminars to introduce listeners to four events he created and ran in his start up faith community of Ikon, located in Northern Ireland.  Rollins advertises these as “a series of Internet seminars outlining the theory and praxis of courses designed to send you off course and onto another.”  His goal with each of these is to break participants out of their current safe models of Christianity and launch them into a new way of approaching faith and the Christian journey.

His latest seminar, “The Evangelism Project”, is an event designed to take participants into the world of a group with a different faith background than themselves, in order to learn and be transformed by them.  His argument is that far too often, we limit our exposure to information with those ideas that we already agree with, or with information that is filtered through someone’s perspective that we agree with.  We are afraid of going to the direct source and being challenged by another’s beliefs or perspectives.  “The Evangelism Project” does just that by removing all filters and leaving a participant with a raw, unadulterated first hand look into the beliefs of a different community.

After such a visit, Rollins suggests asking that group, “What do we look like in your eyes?”  Speaking from experience, Christians often get caught up in an egotistical mentality because we feel as if we own all the answers.  Anything or anyone that stands contrary to our beliefs is wrong and must be converted to our worldview and perspective.  This attitude has and continues to leave a bad taste with those who do not hold to a Christian belief system.  In honestly asking another community how we appear to them, we begin to see ourselves in a different light and even give others permission to critique our lives.  If Christianity is based on love, shouldn’t we be known as a faith that allows others a voice to speak?

So what’s the point?  Doesn’t this have the potential to destroy someone’s faith?  I would argue the opposite.   If we truly approach such an experience with an open mind and the courage to be critiqued by others, this has the power to further transform our lives and our hearts.  We might begin to see and understand how we are viewed by the outside world.  Instead of seeing others as the monster, Rollins suggests that we begin to see ourselves as a monster in need of further transformation.   It is in this understanding that we are humbled and able to go deeper into our personal journey with God.

Stop Dancing the Old

The need for new models of church to emerge is becoming more evident, especially in the midst of cultures that seem so apathetic toward the church and the very structures upon which it has been based.  People are tired of being told what to do and how to act.  Instead, they are searching for a spirituality that is real and transformative.  Rather than sitting in church for an hour on Sunday morning and getting your Jesus fix for the week, our culture deeply desires something that has the power to bring about transformation for every day of the week.  Something that transcends our lives and meets us in the very situations in which we find ourselves.  Yet, that isn’t happening.  In fact, church attendance, if we care to admit it, is drastically decreasing in the U.S..  It’s obvious that the way in which we are doing church is not working.

Kester Brewin, a writer and church planter from London points to this reality and the fact that we do not know what this new expression of church will look like.  But in order to make God real again, we must be willing to step out of the current containers of church.  Writing in Signs of Emergence, Brewin notes, “The perception of the new step will come only to those brave enough to stop dancing the old.”  In other words, we have to be willing to leave behind those systems and structures that aren’t working in order to form something new.

God has revealed himself in different ways throughout history.  The Bible is a clear indication of this.  The perception Moses held of God was different than David’s perception.  Which, in turn, is a completely different perception than the one in which we have of God today.  Why should we be so naïve to assume that systems and structures put in place from years past will still be relevant today?  This isn’t to suggest that God has changed over time, but rather our perception of who he is and how he is revealing himself is ever-changing.  And the church must recognize this and meet God in what he is doing in order to be the life-transforming force it is intended to be.

This evolving view of church is what we will be exploring in the coming year.

Questions and Doubts

For too long, the church has established an attitude that you can belong as long as you believe what we believe and your questions/issues are not ok.  Now, that might not be directly stated, but that seems to be what is implied.  This mentality is something that has really bothered me for the past few years.  I don’t get the sense reading through the Gospels that Jesus ever approached faith in this way.  He never attempted to create a club where people were excluded if all their beliefs didn’t match up, or if they were unsure about something pertaining to the Kingdom of God.  In fact, I think he was ok with people’s DOUBTS and QUESTIONS.  Sure, that’s a scary thing for church leaders to admit, but it’s necessary in order for the church to move forward.  Let’s face it, no one wants to be told what to do or believe.

Getting the chance to begin a church from the ground up is both an exciting and scary journey.  One of the most exciting parts is the fact that there are absolutely no structures or unspoken principles in place.  You might say there’s no “baggage” that comes along with the church.  That means that our initial team will be responsible for shaping what the church will look like for years to come.  And a goal I have is that it will be a place where doubts and questions are not only allowed, but explored.

How’s that done? Simple, allow people freedom to talk and not be judged no matter what they might say or believe.  Yes, even if it’s much different than what you believe.  Time and again, Jesus would tell a story and ask the disciples how they interpreted it.  Other times, Jesus would ask his disciples what they think should be done in a certain situation.  He didn’t always give answers, instead he allowed the disciples to work out their own personal faith through questions and doubts they might have.  It was the only way that faith became REAL in their lives, and it remains the only way faith will become REAL in our lives today.

Clipboard Christians

I was in New Orleans a few years back and I ran into this woman who had “been sent by God to convert 1,000 souls.”  She carried with her a clipboard on which she wrote down the names of everyone who “came to Christ through her.  This experience has stuck with me for years.  Is that really what Christianity is about? Are we called to go around with a clipboard trying to convince people that they need God?  I think we’ve gotten this all wrong!

Think about it.  What’s the message this portrays to people?  How about, I don’t really care about you.  This woman made people into a project.  Did she truly care about them as a person or just another name she could write down on her clipboard?  I’m pretty sure she did this out of love, but it just seems the complete opposite approach to showing people God.

So where does that leave us?  How are we supposed to show our faith to those we meet?  All the way back in the beginning of Genesis 12, God tells Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  Basically, God wanted to use Abraham’s life to bless others.  Why?  Because God cared about all people (and still does).  He didn’t tell Abraham to go wander the desert and write 1,000 names down in a cave.  He expected the blessings he had given Abraham to “spill over” into the lives of those around him.

What would it look like for the church to just bless people?  Not hand out water bottles with the name of your church on it, or approach someone on the street because your end goal is to convert them to your faith.  What if we sincerely cared about people and wanted to meet them where they were in life for no other reason than the fact that they are a real person with hurts, pains, and dreams just like you.  What if we stopped making it about what we can do and how good we can convince people of our faith, and leave that up to God?  I truly believe that Christians would gain more credibility in the world if we showed more love for those not in our “clique”.  And not love with strings attached.  A revolution like that is something that transforms lives and something that others would want to become a part of.

Not Your Grandmother’s Church

I’ve always thought church was something that happened in a building on Sunday mornings.  I mean, yeah, there are some variations that can happen – the type of worship music, the sermon, whether food is there or not, but ultimately it all revolved around what went down for those couple of hours on Sunday morning.  Even being exposed to different views of church through my education, I still couldn’t break out of my “church has to be done this way” mentality.

It wasn’t until I began dreaming about starting a church that I was able to break free from some of those old paradigms of church.  Just recently my whole view on church has begun to change, in a good way I hope.  Now, this is scary I’m sure for all of us who like things “the same as they’ve always been”.  Let’s face it – most of us hate change and are uncomfortable with it.  But, honestly, stop and consider what most people outside of the church think about the church – irrelevant, hypocritical, and judgmental just to name a few.  Church must look different if we hope to survive.  Not just survive, but thrive!

Even as I write this, I get excited for the possibilities.  The opportunity to be a part of something that connects people to God in a way that is relevant and meets them exactly where they are.  Over the next few weeks, I will begin exploring my dream for the church.  A church that allows for questions, doubt, and messiness.  (I didn’t say it would be a comfortable church.)  An environment where people can be themselves and see how God wants to meet them in the midst of their everyday lives and transform their lives into all they were created for.  If that’s not the Gospel, I don’t know what is.

How Badly Do You Want It?

I was recently revisiting Craig Groeschel’s book Chazown, and came across this story captured which captured my attention again.  It’s a story about passion and the dedicated pursuit of that passion.  For me, it acts as a reminder of the price we must all pay to achieve the vision we hope to accomplish with our lives.

A fan once said to a champion golfer, “I’d love to play golf like you do.”

The champion looked at the man and said, “No, you wouldn’t.”

Startled, the man said, “Oh yeah?  I’d give anything to do what you do.”

Again the pro golfer answered, “No, you wouldn’t.”

The fan persisted until the man explained.  “So many people say that to me.  But no one is willing to do what I did in order to do what I do.  I used to get up at 5 a.m. every day and hit golf balls until my hands bled.  I would hit and hit and hit and hit and continue practicing hours after everyone else was gone.  No one is willing to do what I did, but everyone wants to do what I do.”

Dedication.  Sacrifice. Dedication.   And more sacrifice.  I think I’ll print this one out and hang in my office.  It will serve as a reminder that pursuing passion is difficult, but worth the sacrifice when our vision finally becomes a reality.



Lessons in Leadership, Part 5

Lesson #5   A leader must be fully committed to their vision and must be willing to sacrifice everything for the fulfillment of their vision.

As I think through what the next stage of my life will look like, I realize there are many good opportunities that I would like to be involved in.  Being someone who gets bored easily, I have always had a tough time fully committing myself to one thing.  Yet, it is a necessity in leadership.  I firmly believe that I have a clear vision for that next step in my life, but the difficult part will be for me to abandon the pursuit of other opportunities (at least for the near future).

One question I have personally been wrestling through is just that.  “Will I be willing to fully commit and sacrifice my desires for the vision I have for my future?”  Now, don’t get me wrong, the vision I have is AWESOME and EXCITING!  But, to a certain extent, it will prevent me from doing other things.  I will have to be 100% committed to the vision and be willing to sacrifice in order to fulfill that vision.  After all, who would follow a leader whose heart is only 50% committed.  I sure wouldn’t and those who I lead don’t deserve half my heart.  They deserve a leader who would sacrifice personal desires, comfort, prestige, etc. for the fulfillment of that vision they believe so strongly in.

The achievement of your vision will only be as successful as the commitment level you have to it.

5 Lessons in Leadership, Part 4

Lesson #4 Leadership Meetings Need to Be Intentional and Consistent

One word here: ALIGNMENT

In order to move forward as a team, everyone MUST be on the same page.  This doesn’t happen just by hoping for it.  Instead, it must be intentional.  Teams must have the same focus and goals.  They must be striving to achieve the same outcome and everyone’s involvement and buy-in are CRUCIAL.   This makes spending time together a necessity.  Here’s what leadership meetings do:

• They give everyone a voice. Everyone on your team wants to feel valued.  They want to know that you value their opinions and perspective.  Let everyone speak.  As a leader, I don’t have all the right answers.  I need to be surrounding myself with people smarter and more creative than me, and I have to be willing to listen and respond to their advice.

• They provide different perspectives. The fun part about looking through a kalediscope is the different pictures you get as you look through the viewfinder and move the kalediscope around.  It’d be pretty boring if you looked in and just saw the same static picture.  That’s what perspective does.  It provides a different way of looking at a situation.  I can’t evaluate something through the perspective of a 30 year old mother, or an 18 year old teenager.   I need others on my team who can help provide different angles, different opinions.  Henry Ford once said, “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own”.

• They give everyone on the team a chance to remain excited about the vision. Over time, everyone loses the initial excitement they had when first being a part of something.  It becomes necessary to get together for the sole purpose of reminding each other of what you are trying to achieve as well as celebrating recent successes.

• They build community. Meetings don’t need to be boring.  Sure, there are things that need to be addressed and discussed, but having fun together is essential for the survival of teams.  Spending time knowing that you have the support and friendship of other members on the team helps build community and leads to success.  Take time apart from the formalities to have fun and enjoy the fact that you get to partner together for a common vision.

5 Lessons in Leadership, Part 3

Lesson #3: Trying to do too much is not a good thing.

“How’s it going?”

“BUSY!”

How often does that conversation happen?  ALL THE TIME and I am no different.  In fact, I am the worst at filling my schedule to its fullest capacity. And I’m realizing how bad this really is.  If I have an open spot on my schedule, I will look to fill it with something.  This often leaves me tired and with little time for myself, or to spend with those closest to me.  One area in my life I need to improve in is establishing MARGIN in my life.  In the words of Craig Groeschel, margin is “the amount available beyond what is necessary.  It’s the difference between what you have and what you need.”  Relating margin to the idea of time and schedule, it is the extra time in my life beyond what is on my schedule.  It’s having time in the day for GOOD interruptions, time to REST.  Too often this doesn’t happen because margin is nonexistent in my life.  There is no space between the varying demands on my schedule.

I’ve been listening to a great sermon series by Craig Groeschel on this topic and it is SERIOUSLY challenging me to reevaluate my life and my schedule.  He quotes a book by Andy Stanley called The Best Question Ever.  In the book, Andy Stanley says that when asked to do something, our first response is to look at our schedule and ask, “Am I free at that time?”  If we are free, we say yes.  As a result, we become over committed and VERY BUSY.  Andy says the better question we should be asking is, “Is it wise?” Is what we are being asked to do a wise way to invest our time and energy?  Based on your current situation and season of life, is it wise to add this to your schedule?  Hearing that, I realize I’ve been asking the wrong question all along.  Those free spaces in my schedule are necessary and healthy!

Filling my schedule because it looks good and productive is taking me away from being as productive as I could be if I had proper time to rest and refuel my soul! I need to begin evaluating every opportunity presented to me through the lens of that one question, “Is it WISE?”  It’s the only way I’ll be able to maintain a healthy life and ministry without burning out.

5 Lessons in Leadership, Part 2

LESSON #2: Sometimes the phone and computer need to be turned off.  Voice mail and email can wait.

I need to be intentional about CREATING SPACE in my life.  Even though I love getting away from my computer and turning my phone off, I need to be sure to work this into my schedule.  It can become easy for me to not unplug from technology and go through the day focusing on what emails need to be responded to, what phone calls I need to make, what events I need to plan, whose blog I need to read, etc.  Yet I know that constantly being “AVAILABLE” to everyone is NOT a good thing.  So, I have to intentionally block off a few hours in my schedule to unplug and get away from email, Twitter, Facebook, texting, and all other technologies.  Here are 5 things that those “technology free” times allow me to do:

• Be alone with God. One of the ways I connect best with God is through nature.  Spending a few hours in the woods in one way that I am able to block out all other noises and try to discern what God is trying to show me.
• DREAM. Too often, my life dreams become narrow and small because I’m just focusing on the small details, or the lives of others.  Being alone with a journal gives me space to dream big.  Without time away from technology, I would dream too small and potentially begin dreaming someone else’s dream.  This way, I can block out all other voices and focus on the dream God has for MY life.
• Place the focus on people rather than details. I believe technology can often lead us to forget that other people exist.  Technology does make our lives easier, but if used improperly, our relationships become very impersonal.  Texting has replaced “real” conversations while email has replaced handwritten letters.  Not that those are bad, but if those are the only way you’re communicating with others, it’s time to throw away the phone and computer!  Being away from technology allows me to sit down over coffee with someone and actually see who I’m talking to.  It’s great and much better than having an hour long conversation on the screen of my phone.
• HAVE FUN. You ever see those people who have a serious problem putting their phone down?   (I once played pool with someone for an hour and I felt like I was interrupting them when it was their turn because they were so engrossed in their text message conversation!)  Being away from all that stuff allows me to have fun and not think about anything else but what I’m doing that moment.
• Remember that the world will go on without me. I took yesterday off – no emails, no phone calls, no computer; and you know what?  The earth is still spinning.