“I didn’t spend months getting this event ready, have tons of sleepless nights, and spend countless hours of prayer and prep for you to come and pick out the littlest mistake! You cold hearted jerk! Don’t you realize that I’ve done my best, that I’m good at what I do, and that you have NO idea what you are talking about- you don’t event know what all I’ve sacrificed to be here!”

This phrase has been at the forefront of my mind more than I’d like to admit. To be honest, way more than a pastor should be allowed…

I just hate it!

Criticism is not my friend. I just can’t handle it. My chest gets tight, my hearts starts racing, and my head starts getting all hot. Then my speech gets all mixed up and my words come out not really meaning what I’m trying to say.

I hate criticism!

To be transparent with you, I’ve spent much of my life finding ways to right people off for their critical remarks. “I don’t need them anyways…” is what I’d say. “They don’t know me!”

A shepherd in a wolf’s clothing…

But I’m starting to learn that not all criticism is from “the devil.” Much of it I think is actually God in disguise!

Today was a hard day for me… I focused a lot on my critics. I spent most of the day alone sulking in my own resentment and trying to find ways to raise my self-esteem.

Then I come home, open my email box to find a little lesson waiting for me.

http://theresurgence.com/2011/07/21/sometimes-criticism-is-love-in-disguise

(I suggest you follow the link before continuing)

I’ve spent quite a bit of the past years studying the life and teachings of Jesus. I’ve read a lot of books and listened to tons of really smart theologians, but I think I’ve missed a big character trait of Jesus…

When we hear stories of Jesus, we hear things like “He’s the good shepherd,” “the Sacrificial Lamb,” or “our present Savior.” Jesus is portrayed many times as a shepherd who tends to His sheep. A man who lays in green pastures, eating honey, and cuddling with some soft sheep.

But Jesus is more than the nice cuddly guy we hear so often. Jesus was a radical who spoke is mind. As I look back through the Gospels, I see things like Jesus calling the “holy-rollers” (Pharasees) out for their pride and fakeness, knocking over tables in the temple like a mad-man, and cursing at a fig tree.

It seems that Jesus was a pretty strong willed dude!

Then I look at the writings of the Apostle Paul (the dude that wrote most of the New Testament) and I think, “Man, this guy can be somewhat of a jerk.” Paul was the kind of guy that spoke his mind as well. When he had a problem, he named names, called out private sin, and straight up chewed some people out! Paul didn’t hold back!

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I struggle ALOT with the “tough guy” Jesus. I don’t like it when He calls me out or isn’t as soft as I’d like Him to be. I like the “Gandhi” Jesus who just talks about loving people and being a better person, but I have a real problem with the “Hulk Hogan” Jesus who picks my pride up and slams it on the floor!

The lesson in all the madness…

But wait, I have some reasoning behind all of this madness and it’s this: their aren’t’ two Jesus’- there’s only One! Jesus is both soft, tender, kind, gentle, and strong, loud, obvious, rough.

So, sometimes, criticism can come straight from the love of God. Even when you feel crushed by the seemingly over analyzed opinions of others, God is working to make you holy because He loves you. He wants you to be rid of the pride in your life.

What seems like constant demeaning dialogue is actually God’s tender, strong voice saying, “Son, I see that you’ve messed up. You know that you could have done this better, but I’ve got to do this. It pains Me to see you hurting, but I love you and you need this.”

So, I’m going to try to hold my anger better when criticism comes my way. It could be Jesus?

It’s been a while since I last posted a blog. I have to admit that I’ve started several blogs but none have never made it past the “draft” phase.

God has been teaching me so much lately- too much to write down regularly. He has been molding me into a better husband, riding me of my pride, and defeating sin in my life. All of this is for one purpose- to make me more like His Son- Jesus.

When this recent journey started, I was convinced that God was going to me molding me into a better pastor- one who would proclaim truth more boldly, teach with more wisdom, and counsel with more care, but being a pastor is not my sole purpose in life. My sole purpose in life is to glorify God through my relationship with Him and my relationships with the people around me. I’m learning that being a good pastor means being a good Christian first.

I still have a burning passion deep in my bones that has yet to relent. But still, even through the dryness of this season, God has been extremely good to feel me with the peace that only He can give. My heart may be restless but I am learning what Paul must have meant to be content in every situation and in every situation living so that one more person to come to know Jesus as their Lord.

People are Different!

Through the journey of the past few months, I have sat under great Godly men. Men who love their wives well, hate sin with passion, repent regularly, and lead with Vision. I have sat with both the long sense converted and the new to the faith. I have ate lunch with those who who drink beer and those who smoke. I have had heated conversations about faith and religion, and I have been encouraged by the great faith of meek men.

God has been showing me that people are so different than I first imagined. Some I relate to, others I struggle to be around, but one thing is certain, God is all around and working in people’s hearts!

I wish I could say that God has given me some great vision to reach people or some grand plan for the advancement of the Kingdom, but I’d be lying if I did. The truth is, all of these new experience have caused me to question my very purpose in this world. All of these new experiences have made it extremely hard to see God as I once did.

It seems as if life is speeding up and new things are happening too fast to keep up!

But there is good news in this rant! 

I was reading the other day and a story jumped up off the page and smacked me in the face. The story had to do with prayer. In the story, the author was saying that there was this one time early in his faith that he really struggled in his prayer life. Some things had changed drastically in his life and he had come to a point that he no longer felt God’s presence in his life. He told of times where he would sit for hours waiting on God to meet in him prayer. He wrote of a very dry season in his spiritual journey that I really can relate to. But then he told of something a friend told him. He was confessing his struggle with praying to his friend, when his friend told him that he wasn’t praying in faith.

The author felt dumbfounded, he left to conversation enraged! Then it hit him, his friend was right! He wasn’t praying in faith that God was there and cared about his prayers. He realized that he had spent so much time focusing on his “feeling” of desertion, that he forgot that God had made some pretty big promises in Scripture regarding His people.

He realized that God hadn’t left him and that God wasn’t angry with him, but God was testing his faith. This is what caught my attention.

Come on Chris… Are you Blind?

I’ve been so focused on my past mistakes and failures, and have been spending way too much time feeling sorry for myself, that I have forgot that God has made the promise to never leave me. God has been testing my faith, to show me what I my dependency on Him.

I’ve come to figure that I have failed this test dramatically! I’ve been fighting with God and been so angry at Him for no good reason. I’ve felt alone and far from God, but He has been by my side the whole time.

Having faith in an invisible God is really hard, but faith is all about believing what you can’t see. God is here and His loving arms are all around us. My faith is not in my feelings, not in my surroundings, not in my actions, and not in my money, but it is in God. My faith is in a all powerful God who moves mountains, divides seas, raises the dead, and feeds thousands. God is my Rock and my Shelter!

I wish I would have realized this sooner!

Hey WordPress family!

It’s been a while since I last blogged. Life has been crazy busy and God has been doing some incredible things.

I would like to give you all an update on the last four months.

The Sadness…

Well, to start, I resigned from a position that I loved and moved away from the students that brought me great joy. I loved working as a youth pastor at the church that I was serving. I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of students, parents, or congregation! It was a shocker to me to have God knock me on my butt and tell me “Chris, you’ve done all I want you to do here!”

So let’s just say that there were a few weeks of borderline depression- because I left the students I loved, the ministry I have spent so much time investing in, and the position of leadership that I was in. God had been doing a work in my heart for well over a year. He has been stretching me to be more than I could ever be on my own.

I still have to say that my heart is for student ministry and I have every intent to proceed in the future, but God has to finish the work that He has started.

The Journey…

After leaving the church, I have had several ups and downs. Several ministries that I had contact with had started asking me to come join them in their mission. As an attempt to figure out God’s leading, I checked out each of them. To my surprise, these opportunities turned into life lessons. At each door that I approached, God taught me a new lesson. Some of the lessons where about His soveriegnty, while others were about showing me my own sin. So, to say that the last four months has been a journey would be an understatement, and to say that this journey is over would be foolish.

The Purpose…

So, through God teaching me several lessons and giving me some awesome opportunities to meet some great men of the faith, I have been lead to a time of refreshment and revision. After turning down several positions and going in a completely unexpected direction, God has provided a surreal level of peace.

Up until about 3 weeks ago, my life has revolved around the fact that God had asked me to do ministry. My life’s purpose has been to reach a level of competence in a field that I felt God Himself had directed me into. Today, I sit unemployed and still with no idea of the future, but God is good. What I am learning is that even though ministry may be a great thing and the building of the Kingdom may be the call of the Church, neglecting my responsibilities are not.

The Explanation…

Let me explain: The responsibilities that I am talking about are twofold. 1) A calling to ministry should never supercede a calling to Christ. I’m learning that for us pastor types, guys who study ministry methods and theology all day, ministry can become somewhat of an idol. What I am saying is that we can come to love working for God more than loving God. I’m not sure that I could say that I’ve been loving ministry more than God, but I can definitely say that God has made me very aware of this idol in the past few weeks.

I have a desire to fulfill God’s call on my life and this desire is seeded deep in my soul. I believe that God has created me for this purpose and has equipped me to fulfill this calling, BUT that is not the sole purpose of my existence. What God wants just as much as me doing ministry is for me to enjoy Him! He wants a relationship with me, just as much as He wants a relationship with those who do not yet know Him.

Of course, I’ve believed this. Heck, I’ve been teaching this for the past 3 years of ministry! I guess, God decided it was time for me to go back to the basics again.

So on to the second thing: 2) I have a calling to my wife, way before I have a calling to the Church. I love Christ’s Church and my deepest desire is to see God’s people following God, but more than my heart of the church, I need to have a heart for my woman!

Now, if you’ve been around me for more than 5 minutes you’ve heard me talk a lot about my hott wife! I love my woman with all of my heart! She is the greatest thing I’ve ever gotten and way more than I ever deserved. My wife is the “cotton” to my “candy,” the “light” to my “day,” and the “sweet” to my “tea!” What I’m trying to get across is “I love her!”

But sometime affection of the heart can get sidetracked because of the burdens of ministry. My wife and I both feel that we have a great marriage and that I have been a great husband (these are her words). But from time to time, I’ve had more of an affection for my call, than my wife- which is not of God!

Even though God has called me to serve His people, He’s called me first to love, date, hold, talk late into the night, cook for, and clean for my woman. I’m called to be a Godly man before I’m called to be a “Man of God.”

The End…

So, for this season of our life- whether it’s short or long- I’m going to be sitting at the feet of Jesus and dating the hottest woman alive!

Have you ever sat in a group discussion and found it incredibly difficult to get a good conversation going? I’ve found it can be very challenging to move conversations along, especially when you’re trying to go deep and get to the gospel. Here are a few principles that might help.

If you love, you will listen

In order to promote good gospel conversations in small group gatherings, it is important that everyone listens to one another’s story well. Don’t check out, criticize, or think about your own story. Listen to their story. In order to do this, everyone must ask questions of one another. If we love one another, we will learn to listen to one another’s stories over and over again.

Ask good questions

Our lives are continually changed through conflict, challenges, joys, relationships, and new experiences. Without asking good questions of one another, we can’t really share in deep community. Good questions help uncover the truth about how people are really doing and create the opportunity to share life and truth together. Ask questions and genuinely listen to one another’s stories.

Most people don’t naturally know how to ask good questions. Just after college, I decided to start asking people specific questions because I wanted to be others-focused, not self-focused.

“Learning to ask good questions may start as a discipline, but it can flower into a beautiful expression of love.”

Here are a few examples of questions you can ask in a group or community discussion:

• When do you feel like that?
• Can you elaborate on that?
• How did that happen?
• How does that make you feel?
• Did you feel alone or supported?
• Were you afraid or confident?
• How did you respond?
• How are you feeling now?
• What concerns you the most about this?

Listening is just one part of leading gospel conversations. The next post will explain more.

The basic three part structure of this series is adapted from David Powlison’s counseling mantra:

1) Listen to Their Story

2) Empathize with Their Story

3) Redemptively Retell Their Story.

by Johnathan Dodson

I know it’s been a few weeks since my last blog, but there is a new blog in the works. I’ve been praying, reading, and studying very hard the past few weeks in preparation for this next blog. Thank you for your patience and support!

While you’re here check out some of my older posts!

http://guitarchrsbll.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/the-grace-effect_-grace-experienced/

http://guitarchrsbll.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/going-all-in_-week-1-living-life-for-a-cause/

http://guitarchrsbll.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/forgotten-god_-ive-god-jesus-why-do-i-need-the-holy-spirit/

doubt |dout|: (noun)

a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction; (Example: some doubt has been cast upon the authenticity of this account | they had doubts that they would ever win).

I’ve had my doubts about things, and believe me, doubts can shake you up quite a bit. I have this friend who would say that he doubts almost everything about God’s existence; but I can’t say that I blame him, sometimes I can feel the same way. This friend has seen quite a bit of junk concerning the Church in his lifetime, which in turn has left him sort of apathetic when it comes to God.

Even though my friend may be more on the extreme side, I can empathize with the doubts that he expresses because I’ve felt them time and time again.

The definition that I gave earlier states that doubt is a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction about something. I can honestly say that I’ve had these feelings more than I’d like to admit. How ever I may feel in those moments of doubt, I believe those moments are actually strengthening my faith for the better.

Let me explain: I don’t believe that doubt is necessarily a bad thing. I mean, the only real thing that we can be certain about is the fact that everyone has doubts!

3 Reasons

I’ve come to notice that there are three major reasons for our doubting:

1) We’ve developed a certain idea or understanding of God that is biased and one-sided.

I believe that many so-called “Christians” out there lose their faith because of this very thing. Let me explain my thinking here: We can see faith through glasses that magnify the truth or we can see faith through a telescope that only focuses in on a single fixed point. I believe this first reason is like the telescope.

People who live this line of reasoning often think along the lines of “If God is good and the Devil is bad, then all good things come from God and all bad things come from the Devil.” This line of reasoning is very limited and counter Scriptural, if I might add!

People who live in this line of reasoning often give up on God the first time a bad event throws them down hard enough. They feel as if God has forsaken them or worse off, they can develop the idea that God is non-existent.

2) We can attach our faith to the faith of another person.

I believe this reason is why we lose so many teenagers from the Church come graduation.

This person derives their belief system based solely on the beliefs of others. Because their parents believe in God, they believe in God. Because their friends believe something, they believe it. Because their pastor said it, they believe it.

This line of reasoning can best be described as ignorance.

These people often experience doubt as they see others experiencing it. If a close relative or friend makes a decision that is out of character, their faith is shaken because their beliefs stem from the beliefs of another person.

I saw a friend in high school do this very thing. Through HS he seemed like the model Christian, but as soon as his parents divorced his faith became non-existent. Because his father was the source of his faith, and sadly the divorce, this guy’s belief system crumbled.

3) We can derive our beliefs solely on human reason.

This person is often very intellectual. They can wrap their minds around very complex ideas and are able to articulate faith in a very valid way; however, this person has never experienced their so-called faith. They have a belief system that has not come from personal experience but solely from hours of research.

I’m not saying that research is bad and experience is good; but I am saying that their should be a good coherence of the two for our belief to be authentic or accurate.

Doubt can be a good thing…

Let’s go back to my earlier statement about doubt not necessarily be a bad thing.

There have been very godly men in Scripture that have experienced doubts, and their doubts drove them to solid faith. (aka Job)

There have also been very un-godly men in Scripture who had doubts that lead them right into the path of Christ. (aka Nicodemus)

Doubts are feelings of uncertainty, which leave us feeling lost and confused; and when it comes to doubts about God, those feelings of lostness can be almost unbearable. I believe doubts are not to be feared, but embraced. Doubts can pave the way to belief.

Story Time

Let me explain this with a short story: I grew up in a church environment. Everyone around in my circle of relationships claimed Christianity as their belief system (on a side note 60-70% of Americans claim Christianity). Growing up in this environment, I developed a mixture of attached beliefs and biased beliefs (Reason 1 and 2 above). One day, I experienced an extremely tramatizing event. And the belief system of many around me did more harm than good. This event left my belief system in shambles.

Because of my broken faith, I became a very avid self mutilator. It finally came to the point that my mother feared that I would do some irreversible harm to myself (aka suicide), so she started taking me to a child psychologist. I don’t remember how long I met with the psychologist or even if she helped, but I do know that the belief system that had held my life together thus far was gone.

It was in this moment that my road to true faith was paved. I believe that through all of the doubts, I was forced to seek after God for myself and for real this time. To my surprise, God revealed Himself in an amazing way.

Conclusion

I don’t want to end this blog on a shallow note, and say that from then on I’ve never experienced a doubt. That would be stupid to say, but I can say that my doubts have been for my good. My experience may be unique in situation, but it’s not unique in process. I have met countless others, who have experienced a similar process of doubting that lead them straight into the arms of a Sovereign God. But sadly I must admit that there have been just as many, if not more, whose doubts have gotten the best of them. Some of them are still wondering in their world of doubts, and some have already passed on never knowing relationship that I have experienced.

So to conclude, I simply want to say: If you are experiencing doubt, give God another chance. Give Him the benefit of the doubt and seek Him with all that you have. If you end up not finding God, you can honestly say that you’ve sought after Him; but if you find Him, you will experience the most amazing relationship that you will ever know in this lifetime.

I was reading the Scriptures the other day and ran across this verse… again. It struck me in a new light.

1 Thess. 1:3

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul is writing to the church in Thessalonica. This verse is part of the introduction or salutation of the letter. Here, Paul is reminiscing with them about the good works that God has done in and through them as a church.

I think there is something that we can learn today from this verse:

I’ve been in kind of a weird place here recently in my life. I’ve recently stepped away from a leadership position in a church so that I can better hear God’s leading. This time has had its good times and it’s not so good times as well. God has revealed new things about Himself and my purpose as His follower, but I’ve also experienced quite a bit of doubts and frustrations. Through new realizations there have been new questions that have arrived.

My mind is constantly taken back to the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Where Jesus basically said, if you want to know God- seek Him and He will reveal Himself to you. I’ve blogged about this in the past:  http://guitarchrsbll.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/the-narrow-gate/.

I feel like God is constantly reminding me to remember Him and remember the hope that I have inside- the faith that will drive me.

So, to today’s verse

This brings be back to the verse I gave at the beginning of this blog. There, Paul is reminded of all the great things that God had done through the Church in Thessalonica, and he wants to remind them of this as well.

He says three individual things about the driving Force that they have inside of them, that I would like to bring to you attention.

1) Christian good work is produced through Faith.

As a follower of Christ, I am called to good works. These good works are not my own, because they do not come from me. They are produced by faith. Faith is what not only affects my life, but it affects the lives of others.

I believe that the Bible teaches us to live, not for ourselves, but for the glory of God and to love others more than ourselves.

If you are anything like me, loving others- including God- more than myself is a hard task. “Myself” is what wants to lead. My inward desires are in complete opposition to the good work that God calls me to. That is why I desperately need faith, because faith is what produces good work.

2) Christian labor (mission) is prompted by Love.

So, faith produces good work, but what makes us even want to do good works? I believe John gives us this answer. In 1 John 4:8, it says, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Love is what prompts us to do good works, because God is love. John tells us that whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them.

I don’t know about you, but I want to live in God!

Later in 1 John, it tells us that God displayed His love for us in a special way- Jesus on the cross. So, for Christian labor (mission) to happen it must happen because of love. It must happen because Love first met us and showed us what true love is; then we are able to pursue labor (mission).

3) Christian endurance is inspired through Hope in the Lord- Christ.

I get tired from time to time, and it is in those times that I seem to lose sight of the purpose of everything. But it is also in those times that I am inspired to get back up again and continue. The thing that inspires me, and probably many of you, is Hope.

Hope picks us up again, hope endures, and hope is what keeps us going. Let me explain this concept with a story:

When I was a kid, I got made fun of a lot. I felt that I couldn’t amount to much of anything. Now, if you’ve ever studied psychology, you’ll notice that most people around the world feel this way. But you’ll also notice that many of those people actually give up on life- they take their life.

They give up on life, because they’ve lost all hope that things will get better. They’ve decided that things will never change and therefore, they have no reason to go on.

I almost reached this place when I was a kid. I almost lost all hope. I almost gave up.

But it was Hope that pulled me through. It was hope that picked me back up again. It is hope that continues to drive me.

Paul is telling us that it is hope that produces endurance!

Wrapping this all up…

Let me wrap all of this up for you. Paul is teaching us that there is more to this world, than what we can see, taste, and touch. He is telling us that there is something that is so much more important. But the cool thing about all of this is we already know this!

We already know that “some things just can’t be explained.” Love is an example: What causes us to love someone? Is it simply an emotion/feeling or is it something more?

Poets and musicians alike tell us that it is love that holds the world together and love that unifies all living things.

If this is true, then 1 John 4 teaches us that it is God that holds all things together. It is God that unifies.

A closing thought

I want to end by leaving you with one more thing to think on. In the 1 Thess. verse there is one major thing that stands out; and that is that we are not in control, or we are not the source of faith, hope, and love. Faith, hope, and love are given by an outside source and we are but mere recipients of their fruit.

This give me Hope in this time. When my unending questions find no answer, I am still able to continue because of the Hope that is inside me drives me forward. I trust that God has a plan for my future, and for yours, not because I see it coming, but because I have hope!

Before I get started, I want to give the basic definition of the word missional that I will be using in this blog. Missional simply means every member of a local church body living as missionaries in their geography. The members of a missional church understand that they are no longer part of their geography, even though they may live there. They view their surroundings through a biblical lense of Chist-like values. They are able to distinguish what parts of their surrounding geography needs Christ and are able to discover a practical way to meet that need in a culturally relevant way.

The church has many practices, sacraments, and traditions, but not all of which are missional in nature. In this blog post, I hope to share with you 7 common practices of the misional church.

1) Target Driven

When most contemporary churches think of “target driven,” they usually associate the idea with reaching a specific group of people- boomers, busters, millennials, or postmoderns to name a few. However, that is not the idea that missional church embraces. This idea is that local congregations are positioned in specific geographies for the specific purpose of every man, woman, and child within that geography having the opportunity to see, hear, and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of the churches in a geography thinking inwardly about themselves, they begin with an outward approach that embraces the idea that “the church in a geography exists for that geography.” Thus, the concept of “circles of accountability” are embraced by missional churches. This is the idea of the specific churches in any given locality taking ownership of their surrounding geography in such a way that they engage mission within it by using all of their God given energy and resources.

2) Interdependant Leadership

The overarching metaphor for the Church in the New Testament is that of a body. There are other metaphors for the Church, but the concept of a body seems to be the most prevalent. This body already has a head- Jesus Christ. Since the position of head is already taken, it is important that all followers of Jesus take their place in the body in an interdependent manner.

Leadership is more properly associated with function that with the individual themselves. Ephesians 4 notes the leadership functions that should be operating in the church to see it come to full maturity (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher). The people fulfilling these functions work together in a place to empower people to engage the mission in the given geography.

3) Measurable Values

The Church is a spiritual enterprise, not an organization of members. Therefore, it must be led and populated by spiritually maturing people. If the goal of a congregation is to mobilize people for mission, then it is extremely important that these same people be maturing in their faith. Mobilizing spiritually stagnant people will NOT produce much missional progress. A congregation should be committed to measuring and nurturing some “outcomes” of spiritual maturity so that the heart of people is formed more into the likeness of Christ, and therefore, by default, formed more into the mission of Christ for their geography and the world.

These basic “outcomes” of spiritual maturity are:

1. A deepening intimacy with God through Jesus Christ.
2. An understanding of personal stories of salvation, with the culturally relevant ability to share that story with others.
3. The identification and use of the Holy Spirit’s gift’s to the believer.
4. Living in life with others in a way that bears the fingerprints of God, through biblical community and accountability.

4) Laterally Postured

In missional churches, the emphasis is not on the building of earthly empires, but on the expansion of God’s Kingdom over a geography. So, while God will grow local congregations larger, He will also initiate the multiplication of many new congregations as well. One look at the book of Acts reminds us that church planting is not a principle to be learned, but an assumption of an activity that is already taking place. As the gospel is proclaimed and demonstrated in an area, there will be people that need to be formed into local communities of faith, so that they can grow spiritually and engage their individual activity in the mission of God.

5) People Empowerment

The Apostle Paul’s treatment of the nature and purpose of the Church, in his letter to the Ephesians, gives the reader a very clear understanding of the job of church leadership- the empowerment or equipping of people. In Ephesians 4, Paul tells the church to understand that whatever God is going to do in their given geography, and the world, He wants to accomplish through all of His people, not just a select few. We are all part of Christ’s body and it is God’s desire that all of His people be mobilized in His mission to reconcile the world.

6) Partnerships with other Churches

The way that the local congregation at Antioch related to the congregation is Jerusalem should be the normal expression of a mission church (Acts 11-15). Unity, according to Paul in Ephesians 4, is not something that we must work to create between congregations, but rather is what we are to preserve! The idea is that unity already exists between congregations who embrace Jesus as Lord, and therefore, must move from just saying that they are unified to acting like it as well. The missional church works alongside other churches to fulfill the mission no matter any small differences, as long as Christ is the unifying factor.

7) Intentionally Focused Somewhere else in the World

Telescopes make what is far away and general seem very close-up and specific. That is what missional churches do in their desire to impact the world- they distribute their resources, abilities, and personnel to work toward mission in a specific global geography. Rather than the old paradigm of giving a few extra dollars into as many places as possible and thus dissolving the impact, the missional church engages in meaningful, specific, long term joint ventures in global regions to serve in mission in that geography as well as their own locality.

Conclusion

Please feel free to push back on any of the previous practices. To learn more about the missional church check out www.theinfinityalliance.com and www.Acts29network.org .

Phase 1: We become Christians

Can you remember back to when you first placed your faith in Jesus and understood the grace of God? Do you remember what it was like to share your new experience with your non-Christian friends? Most likely, your sharing was natural, since you were friends not strangers.

In this first phase, we are excited to share our new found faith and what God has done for us to everyone around us. We are unashamed of the Gospel because it has just changed our lives. We are passionate about Jesus, because we have just met Him. And we most-likely have the largest circle of non-Christian friends at this point, because we have just accepted Christ.

Statistics show that within the first year of someone becoming a Christian, they tell approx 20 people, from among their family and friends, about their faith and even invite them to church.

Phase 2: We become part of church life

As we get involved in church, we make Christian friends and participate in church activities with them. If we came from backgrounds where substance abuse or partying is the norm, we cease going into environments where we could get pulled into harmful patters again, thought we might still hang out with our non-Christian friends in healthy environments or social settings. But in any case, we tend to slowly lose touch with non-Christian friends and become more immersed in Christian activity with our new Christian friends.

The longer we are Christian, the fewer number of friends we have who are not Christians. Even though Christians often work alongside non-Christians or have non-Christian neighbors or sit next to nonbelieving students in class, we generally tend no to actually befriend them, or pray regularly for them, or get involved in their lives so they trust us and we can be the salt and light of Jesus to them.

A question for you: Who did you go to the movies with this past Friday? or Who did you go to Carowinds with last? or Who do you talk to the most via Facebook, text, or email?

I’m willing to bet that you went with some Christians from the same church or you spend most of your time with people from church.

The flip-side: Don’t get me wrong! I understand that we need other Christian friendships- we need friends that will hold us accountable to what we say we believe and how help hold us up in our faith, but we must maintain Christian community in the midst of being on mission for Christ!

Phase 3: We become part of the Christian bubble

In phase 3 things change alot! As we have slowly withdrawn from ongoing relationships with those outside the church and focus relationships inside the church, something happens- we loose touch with non-Christians. We forget what it was like to not believe or not know of Christ! Once, it was more natural and even exciting to share life with people at work or at school, with relatives, or with neighbors. But slowly we begin to see evangelism as something the church does, primarily through events. We get more excited about going overseas to the “mission field”  than about the mission field that we live in every day!

We start to see evangelism as inviting people to “come to church,” where the pastor will do the evangelizing and explain Christianity, instead of spending time with people and “being the church” to them. (Just a note: spending time with people, sharing the Bible with them, will inevitably cause you to study the Bible harder, which will cause you to grow in your faith!)

Dan continues to point out that during this phase “we tend to stop praying daily for those who don’t know Jesus and instead start praying for our church’s latest building project or latest program. We rarely ever hang out with anyone who doesn’t believe the same as we do, then it happens- we start buying little Christian bumper stickers or metal fish symbols for our cars, we wear our Christian T-shirts, watch our Christian TV shows, listen to our Christian Radio stations, and make trips to our favorite amusement parks to indulge in the special Christian day they have each year featuring our favorite Christian bands. we find ourselves regularly using Christian words and phrases and cliches, such as backsliding, prayer warrior, fellowship, quiet time, traveling mercies, and praise reports.”

In this phase the transformation is complete; we have successfully become citizens of the bubble.

Phase 4: We become Jonah

After several years as citizens of the bubble, we begin to complain and point out the terrible things happening in the culture. Like Jonah, who ran away when God told him to go to the wicked city of Ninevah, we don’t want anything to do with those who aren’t following God as we are. Like Jonah, we even have a secret sense of delight thinking about how God will one day punish all those sinners in our towns and cities. We then start to complain, just like Jonah did, about not having shade over our head and being uncomfortable; we complain about how well the church is providing what we want and grow numb to the fact that people all around us need the love and grace of Jesus.

Then it happens- we become completely content living in our little Christian subculture as citizens of the bubble, but we don’t even know it because everyone in our social circle is also in the bubble…

Conclusion

It’s a sad, sad story the previous paragraphs. As I sit here reading and writing my heart is grieved because of the knowledge that we have created something so counter Christ. When I realized that I was a citizen of this bubble that Dan talks about, I was broken. How could this have happened!? How could I have wondered so far down the wrong path!? I felt lost. I felt convicted. I felt the heart of Christ…

I can’t help but think of Jesus prayer for his disciples: “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15) Jesus didn’t pray that we be isolated from those outside the Church, He didn’t pray that we be happy and content living inside the Church listening to our favorite worship band on our iPod, but Jesus seemed concerned that His followers  not isolate themselves from the world around them. He was concerned that we understand that evil is real and that we should be aware of the schemes of evil (2 Cor. 2:11).

So, are you consumed with the “Christian Bubble?” Can you honestly say that you have people outside of you belief system that you are trying to befriend? Do you view mission as an event of the church, or the calling each and every member of the church?

I hope that these two blogs challenge you in a new way, to look at yourself and see how much “churchiness” may be hindering your love for non-Christians.

I wanted to share this concept with you, in hopes that it will challenge you to scrutinize your Christian walk. I believe that many times, we Christians, separate ourselves so much from the world that we are no longer capable of sharing Jesus with anyone- kind of like salt that has lost its flavor. But on the other hand, I believe that we have taken Christ’s message to an extreme in many cases, causing the call to be “not of the world” to the extreme of not even being part of it either!

So, to challenge you, I am giving you a short excerpt from Dan Kimball’s book, “They Like Jesus, but not the Church.” If these next few blogs interest you, I strongly suggest you get a copy of this book and read it. I read this book over a six month span, looking at my own life and the calling that Jesus placed on His Church. I noticed some inconsistencies in myself that needed confession and change, therefore, I share this with you in hopes that God would do the same in your life. I hope you enjoy!

“Have you ever noticed that once you begin thinking about buying a particular model of car, suddenly you start seeing it all over the place? It had been out all along, but you hadn’t noticed it before. This is what happened to me. As I began looking around, all I saw was Christian paraphernalia. People carrying Christian end-times novels with them everywhere, more than the Bible itself usually. People putting chrome fish emblems on their cars. While driving on the highway, I was a minivan that had two larger parent Christian fish emblems and two smaller children fish emblems on it. I wondered what that looks like to people who have no idea what the fish symbol means. They must think, “That family must be seriously into aquatic life.” Why are we compelled to put those on our cars in the first place? You can see all types of bumper stickers on Christian’s cars warning people, “In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned.” Maybe you have seen the rather funny rebuttal bumper sticker: “In case you get raptured, can I have you car?” I can’t blame them for saying that! We have created so many little Christian products and trinkets that you just look so bizarre from an outside perspective. The more I looked around, the weirder it all looked.

Then I began noticing what most of us talk about. Generally it’s the latest Christian band or concert or what’s happening at church. As I recognized that we really only socialize with our Christian friends, I also recognized that overall, we are complacent about those outside the church. We aren’t thinking about their eternal destiny. We aren’t concerned about whether they’re experiencing the abundant life Jesus offers. We are more concerned about whether there will be good snow on our church skiing trip than about the spiritual status of our neighbors and the people we work with every day. I became aware that I didn’t hear much concern about those who don’t know Jesus yet. We are all about making church better for ourselves and making our lives more comfortable in the Christian bubble we have created. I didn’t hear much about being a voice for the voiceless or being concerned with social justice, the poor, AIDS in Africa, and other pressing needs. (I am thankful that since then the church does seem to be awakening to the AIDS epidemic and other global issues of social justice, but we still have a long way to go.) As I was awakening to the subculture I had been sucked into and was a part of, I heard and saw Christian buzzwords and phrases that suddenly sounded so incredibly corny, phrases such as “food, fellowship, and fun.” And most disturbing was that when we do talk about the non-Christian world, we tend to point fingers and complain about the “horrible things going on in culture.”

I didn’t hear too much heartbreak for people outside the church among church leaders either. Church leaders are mainly dealing with complaints about last week’s sermon or complaints that the music wasn’t good enough, along with threats that people might go to another church where these things are better. When church leaders feel pressure from this kind of complaining, naturally the focus becomes having better programs, music, and activities to keep the people in their churches. Pastors face subtle pressure from Christian parents to have good youth programs to make sure that their kids stay away from the bad non-Christian kids and have the opportunity to meet other Christians. The whole thing feeds itself, isolating us from the outside world. It feels like we’re building this social, spiritual, and consumeristic infrastructure, and Christians are only demanding more of it, building a stronger and thicker bubble around us, protecting us from the outside while we create this very strange Christian subculture inside. But it had happened to me so slowly that I hadn’t even noticed it.”

Writers Bio:

This is an excerpt from the book “They Like Jesus But Not the Church,” Written by pastor Dan Kimball. Dan is the author of several books, including “The Emerging Church” and “Emerging Worship.” Dan is a pastor at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California.

Bibliography:

Dan Kimball, They Like Jesus but not the Church, Zondervan, Grand Rapids: MI, 2007.

Pgs. 40-42