Meet Luke Norsworthy: A Church Planter's Take on the E Word

Luke Norsworthy is the founding pastor of the Venture Community, an inter-denominational church in the Dallas suburb of Corinth, TX. Luke hosts the Newsworthy with Norsworthy Podcast, a weekly podcast discussing spirituality, Christianity, and anything else that seems Newsworthy. I am a weekly listener of the show and would highly recommend that you subscribe to his podcast on iTunes.
______________

If we fight a war and win it with H-bombs, what history will remember is not the ideals we were fighting for but the methods we used to accomplish them. These methods will be compared to the warfare of Genghis Khan who ruthlessly killed every last inhabitant of Persia. -Hans Bethe (the nuclear physicist who during World War II was head of the Theoretical Division at the secret Los Alamos laboratory which developed the first atomic bombs)

A few months ago I was struggling to finish my work out at my gym when a guy in his forties walks over to me to strike up a conversation. He doesn’t seem to notice or care that I’m in the middle of my workout. I’m fine with his interruption because I try to make people more important than workouts. Or at least I do on a good day. And this was one of those good days.

The conversation quickly devolves into a monologue and the preacher isn’t the one giving the speech. The guy starts telling me a story about how he’s gotten in the best shape of his life. I am hearing the story because of my ears, but I am having trouble believing the story because of my eyes. Then he tells me the magic shortcut to how he’s gotten to this current level of fitness, some new health product.

And guess what? It’s my lucky day because he just so happens to sell that very product. And double guess what? He’s got samples in his bag right here. He will even give a sample to me, and all he wants in return is my phone number.

With all due respect to Dickinson, I don’t like a sales pitch on slant.

A few weeks later, my workout partner, also named Luke, had just informed me that the older gentleman walking over to talk coached him in junior high. And he wasn’t just any coach, but his favorite coach.  He hadn’t seen him for years and Luke was noticeably excited to reconnect with him.

Luke took a few steps towards him, so I wasn’t in the whole conversation, but I did hear his coach say,

“I’ve got something I really want to tell you about Luke. It’s an easy way to make some money. Easy money my man.”

From a few feet away I could see the feelings of excitement of reconnecting sour.

I’m a church planter and I don’t like evangelism. That’s like a beach town police chief being scared of the water. 

But I’m really not afraid of evangelism, as in the Biblical version of it. You know, telling the Good News. What I’m really afraid of is the commodification of relationships caused by “friendship evangelism.” I love the desire to tell your friends about Jesus, but what concerns me is the dark side of using your friendships for evangelism.  When your friendships become used as a place to sell people, no matter how good the product is, there is a problem. 

When you steer conversations so blatantly to make a pitch for your church or your religion that you make people feel like you only care for them if they come to your church, there is a problem. And the problem is with you.

In his book Money, Possessions, and Eternity Randy Alcorn tells the story of a couple having dinner with some longstanding Christian friends when the host “accidentally” spills some gravy on the table clothe. While cleaning the stain he began a pitch describing the cleaning product along with the company that sells the cleaning solution. That sales pitch ended and so did the longstanding relationship, not because they tried to sell them on a product, but how they did.

Ruth Carter, in Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors, argues that of the 45 million who have been involved in multi-level marketing, only 1% have made a profit with only 1/10 of that 1% making the large profit. The few who succeed, which included Ruth Carter, often pay a terrible personal and relational price. If we are going to use similar methods of selling Christianity, should we expect any different results?

So am I saying you shouldn’t evangelize with your friends? No.

Our church has half a dozen families that have at some point or another gotten connected from that same gym. So on first glance it might appear that I’m a hypocrite, but I think what I do is different.

And I think there is a way to tell if it is different: How you treat people. If you treat people better if they come to your church or cut off the relationship because they don’t come to your church, there’s a problem.

I’m obviously assuming people have a spirituality that’s deep enough to be discussed naturally in conversation and I’m assuming people are committed to creating a community worth inviting people to join. If neither of those are the case, then you probably need to go back to Evangelism 101 because you have to be smoking what you are selling.

Jesus once said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If our evangelistic approach doesn’t pass that rule, then as my more rural friends would say, “That dog just don’t hunt.” We communicate our message in the way that we communicate it. If we befriend people just to build a relationship to convert them, then our message is that you aren’t worth being a friend without converting. When we treat people with dignity, respect ,and compassion, then we have a message worth proclaiming that doesn’t require sales pitches and guided conversations. 

And that’s some good news.  

Meet Justin Thompson: A Missionary's Take on the E Word

Justin Thompson is a missionary in Lima, Peru. I asked Justin to write because I know him to be a humble disciple of Jesus and the Littleton Church of Christ happens to partner with the Thompsons. Justin is blessed to walk this life with his wife Alison. They have three children - Cailyn, Corban and Carter - and are set to welcome Chloe to the family in July. As Christ followers and missionaries, the Thompsons are committed to sharing the gospel with the Peruvian people, desiring to make disciples of Jesus.

___________________

As a foreign missionary in Lima, Peru, most people would probably assume that I'm a gifted evangelist. Most would probably figure my abilities in this area are sharp and refined. If only that were true. Evangelism, believe it or not, is one of the biggest things that has caused me to feel guilt in my calling as a missionary. I know that evangelism is important, yet there are times when I attempt to justify my struggles with evangelism as a means for leaving it to the folks who are clearly gifted to be evangelists.

Now please don't misunderstand me. I've grown as an evangelist in my five years on the field. Would I call myself a "gifted" evangelist? Not yet. Hopefully someday. But I've certainly learned a few things that have helped me become a better evangelist. Even more so I think that I've learned to ask for the Lord to gift me more in this area.!

So what is it that I have learned about evangelism as a foreign missionary?!

I have to be a student of society and culture. As a stranger in a foreign land, I daily face a plethora of societal and cultural differences that force me to consciously deal with issues and scenarios. When I lived in the States, culture was more subconscious and was something that I reflected on less. So why should I be a student of society and culture? Because the good news we have in Jesus is something that we should aim at the heart. Society and culture reveal the accepted norms surrounding us, whether good or bad, and give us a better idea of how to share the gospel. Allow me to give two examples.

Example 1. Peru is a very familial culture. It's not uncommon to see multigenerational homes. There is certainly a core to their identity that revolves around family. In contrast, American culture is more individualistic. While there is generally a familial core, there can be great distance between members. In the States, my approach to evangelism has been much more individualistic while my approach in Peru leans more towards a familial type of evangelism. We (my teammates and I) have evangelized in both ways during our time in Peru, and it is overwhelmingly obvious that our evangelism among families has been vastly more potent compared to our evangelism among individuals. Neither way is better except when we take into account the societal and cultural forces that define our contexts. By studying society and culture, we come to understand our surroundings better, and thus we formulate methods of evangelism for our particular context.!

Example 2. Peruvian education lacks the breadth and quality of an education from the States. By education I am specifically speaking of public school education. Peruvian education teaches students the answers without teaching the methods or invoking the creativity to arrive at those answers. The education in many ways is a regurgitation of whatever information is presented. The States, in a much more holistic way, teaches us to question and experiment. There is a more of an experiential degree to learning when compared to the Peruvian context. I have seen culturally shaped evangelistic methods in Peru that reflect their educational system, which cause people to speak about the Bible as something to be regurgitated as opposed to God's redemption story. In most of these cases, however, I fail to see the evangelist's concern for heart transformation. In my humble opinion, we cannot fail in this same way. Jesus cares more about our heart's transformation than he seems to care about our ability to blindly regurgitate the Law.

Thus, in my humble opinion, being a good evangelist requires that we be students of society and culture. We certainly are creatures of our environment, and this environment can teach us many things about speaking to the hearts of others.

In general, my methods of evangelism have been far too complicated. What I mean here is that I tend to overthink how I should present the good news. Good news does not need build up. It does not need me to make it better news because it is already good news. I don't give the Good News it's power. It has that without me. Also, it's not just my tendency to overthink, it's also my propensity to think that what I am teaching needs to impress others. This, for me, is simply a lie. I have been struck time and time again by Paul's words to the Corinthians, "When I came to you I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God... My message and my preaching we're not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." Paul understood the Corinthian culture. Moreover, he didn't overdress the Good News to "give it it's power," he was resolved to know nothing except for "Jesus Christ and him crucified." We don't need to doctor up the Good News. We simply need to share it.

What I think is clear about evangelism is that it is proclamation. It is something that requires us to speak. It requires that we share the Good News wherever and whenever. I, for one, am not great at doing this. I tend to overanalyze and overthink situations before I share the Good News. I don’t think it should be this difficult.

Evangelism needs relationship. In evangelism, I believe my desires in sharing the Good News should reflect what Jesus desired. He desired repentance (turning away from an old lifestyle to live a new one) and participation in the kingdom (the kingdom here and now). This is where I think my own personal actions and lifestyles carry their weight. My words should proclaim who Jesus is. And then my actions should validate those words. Thus, as I proclaim the Good News to others and allow these same people to experience life and relationship with me, the message I share will be more potent and find more validity. (I am not saying that the potency or validity of the Good News comes from me. I am only trying to speak towards a practical understanding of doing evangelism, though I hope this goes without saying.) We see the same type of evangelism taking place between Jesus and the disciples. He proclaimed to them the Good News and allowed them watch him as he proclaimed the Good News. This is the same Good News that he later commissions them to carry into all the world. The disciples’ desire to evangelize came from their experiences of proclamation and observation. Jesus invited them to repent and participate in the kingdom. Relationship fused the two, and this gives us practical insight into the nature of what I consider to be good evangelism.

I have primarily spoken here in the first person because I hesitate to make implications that others need to do evangelism as I do evangelism. In actuality, I would rather people evangelize better than I do. However, I do hope that we can sharpen each other to grow as evangelists. Sharing the Good News with others can be intimidating. Yet, we can’t overlook our need as a church to better do evangelism. We have good news to share and a world that wants to hear it (whether they know it or not).

Do You Have Anything to Learn? - The E Word - Part 7

Part of my problem with evangelism has always been the worry that I don't know enough to share the good news.

What if they ask a question I don't know the answer to? What then?

Honestly, looking back, it's hard to imagine that this was a concern of mine. But I believe there are many people who don't share the gospel because they don't believe they know enough.

But this concern reveals larger problems with our Christianity:

First, we've lost our value for mystery. The Western church, especially after the Enlightenment, has specialized on information. We've taught the Christian religion as a series of doctrines that we have to get exactly right or we are in danger of the fires of hell.

Much of our division has focused on what we believe. Just look at how many Christian denominations currently exist. All it takes is one point of doctrinal disagreement for a new 501c3 is to emerge. 

And while we have focused on our doctrine, many of our lives look nothing like what we claim to believe. But that's not of any concern because at least we believe correctly, right?

We have lost our value for the mystery of God. 

The minute we claim to know exactly who God is, we become heretics. It is impossible to know every little detail about God. It is the sin of pride to claim to have perfect revelation of him. Now, God has revealed much of himself through Scripture and our experience, but God is still a mystery. 

If people ask a question you don't know the answer to in evangelism, feel free to tell them, "I don't know. But I'd love to study more with you on your question." That kind of honesty is much more refreshing than a "know-it-all" Christian who fools everyone about their knowledge of God except for God himself.

Second, we've forgotten that we need the Holy Spirit in our evangelism.

There are methods of evangelism that completely dismiss the role of the Holy Spirit in leading people into a relationship with Jesus.

In these methods, we have our lessons to present. The evangelistic target has 6 lessons to respond. If they don't respond, we wipe the dust off of our feet and move on because the person is not "receptive."

Wrong!

We plant seeds. We water the seeds. But God brings the growth.

The Holy Spirit must be a vital part of our evangelism, our sharing of good news. 

If we come to a point where we don't know the answer to a question, we shouldn't dismiss the question and go back to our study. The question might just be the very place we need to dwell and seek answers together. That point of resistance doesn't need to be ignored. It needs to be prayed over, talked about, and discerned together.

Which leads me to my third concern about the evangelistic concern about not knowing enough...

Third, evangelism is an opportunity to learn more about the gospel.

Have you ever noticed that outsiders have eyes to see the gospel in ways insiders cannot? After you've underlined your Bible, you tend to notice the underlined portions and stop noticing the things the Spirit still wants to teach you.

We love to master things. We want to know the five steps that will make us a better Christian. And after we master something, we put our degree on the wall and bask in the glory of our Master of Divinity degree. (I have a Master of Divinity degree and I don't think there's a more arrogant degree title than the one I own. Master of the Divine? Not quite!)

One of the biggest tests of evangelism is if we believe we have anything to learn when we share the good news with people who are seeking Jesus.

When you study with people who are trying to find Jesus, do you believe you have anything to learn? 

Your answer to that question is so important.

Because evangelism is not an opportunity to put another notch in your belt. Evangelism is an opportunity to learn more about the gospel than you currently know.

If you've ever taught a class, you know that the teacher always learns more than the student. It's one of the reasons I love my job so much. I believe one of the reasons God called me to preaching is because he knew I needed the structured study of Scripture as part of my job to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

One of the most humbling experiences I've ever had is reading Scripture with someone who is reading it for the first time and hearing the Holy Spirit reveal things to me through that person!

Do you have anything to learn? 

If not, you might not be ready to share the good news.

The Human Gospel (Neither Animal Nor Angel) - The E Word - Part 6

It was C. S. Lewis who made famous the Animal-Angel Impulse we all struggle with. Rob Bell popularized it in chapter 3 of Sex God.

Here is their premise: When humans mess things up in the world, it's because we tend to drift on one of two directions. We either drift toward acting like animals or angels.

The Animal Impulse: Humans are bodies who should deny our spirits. We are destined to live into every instinct and urge our body gives us.

Popular music has specialized in this theory. We are our instincts.
"I was born this way."
"I can't change. Even if I tried. Even if I wanted to..."

Perhaps you've taken a safari or watched a Discovery Channel documentary on the mating habits of animals. The animals mate the same time every year. It's in their DNA, in their blood, and in their environment. They aren't living out there in that field thinking, "I just don't feel you're as committed to this relationship as I am."

Animals thrive on pure instinct. It's biology. Period.

Which sounds quite similar to some of the humans I know. If you were to visit Spring Break at Daytona, Cancun, or South Padre, you'd see thousands of students from all over the country gathering to consume large amounts of alcohol and share their bodies promiscuously.

What's the point, you ask? Spring Break has become a week to let yourself go, to lose yourself, to give into whatever cravings, desires, or urges you have. Because whatever happens in Cancun stays in Cancun...Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

And what are the stories that are brought home? They usually begin...
I can't believe I...
We totally lost our minds...
It was so out of control...
The next morning I couldn't remember...

Maybe you've heard the phrase "Give into your animal instinct" or "Party animal." They are derived from the drift humans sometimes make toward living like animals.

The other day I saw a guy with an FBI t-shirt on. But he didn't work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Instead, his shirt clued me in on the fact that he was a Female Body Inspector. As if there are women who wake up in the morning hoping to meet a man like that.

In our highly sexualized culture, we have perfected the art of leering at people like objects. From pornography to pants with words blinged on pre-teen girls' backsides, we have objectified women in shameful ways.

The Animal Impulse says that humans are bodies who should deny our spirits.

The Angel Impulse: Humans are spirits who should deny our bodies.

The church has often rejected the Animal Impulse. Rather than letting our cravings rule us, the Angel Impulse is the opposite.

The Christian subculture has perfected and normalized the Angel Impulse. Often, the Christian religion has taught us to repress our desires. We're to pretend as if they don't exist.

The church hasn't been a place to engage in conversation about sex. The sum of our sex education curriculum in youth groups around the country has been to use tactics of fear to scare our kids away from sex.

I vividly remember the night our youth minister invited the "True Love Waits" group to come and talk to us about sex. The motivation abstinence sales pitch went like this: "Don't have sex before you get married. Because if you do, you might end up like young Jenny who got AIDS and 17 other STDs the first time she had sex. Oh, and she happened to have triplets too!"

We've used fear (a worldly narrative) to teach our kids not to have sex before marriage. We scare kids to death, have them sign a pledge, and three weeks later they're back to sleeping around.

I can't tell you how many young couples who grew up in church I have counseled who are still trying to work through the narrative they learned growing up that sex is bad. They grew up hearing it as the constant story about sex and somehow they were supposed to flip a switch on their wedding night to "Be fruitful and multiply."

The Angel Impulse says that humans are spirits who should deny our bodies.

But God didn't make us to be animals or angels. He made us to be humans. And humans have bodies and spirits. To be human is a high calling.

I'm so tired of people who make the excuse, "I'm only human!" Only human? What does that phrase even mean?

Jesus showed us what it means to be human. To be human is to experience and delight in all of God's good gifts within the boundaries he has given us. His commandments are not to keep us from pleasure. They are given to allow his good gifts to remain pleasurable.

Because there is nothing worse than an addict who overuses God's good gifts and wreaks destruction. Addictions are usually fun at first. But eventually, God's good substances are no longer good when abused.

So, what does all of this have to do with evangelism?

In my last post, I argued that true evangelism includes good news for people and society. Most of our churches have specialized in one or the other and been very suspicious of "other" gospels. But the gospel is good news for individuals and the world.

In a similar way, I'd argue that most of our evangelism has often been Animal or Angel evangelism. We have centered our good news in one of two areas.

Conservatives have focused their gospel reward system on the Angel Impulse. They have promised spiritual blessings to people who "put on Jesus as Lord." There is an eternal reward awaiting those who keep their bodies from wanton pleasure while on the earth. If you live a righteous life, eternal happiness is yours in the clouds with harps, pearly gates, and golden streets.

Liberals have focused their gospel reward system on the Animal Impulse. They have focused on physical blessings for those who live their lives on the earth. There is an earthly reward awaiting the society that finally chooses to keep just laws on the books. And evangelism is a dirty word. Instead, mission trips focus on building homes, ending child trafficking, and drilling water wells for the disadvantaged in our world.

In the gospels, I don't find Jesus satisfied with Angel or Animal Evangelism. He engaged in Human Evangelism. He helped people walk and he forgave their sins.

The good news is not good news if it denies either part of any human.

I am human. I have a body and spirit. And I need healing for my body and spirit.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for every part of us.

So, share the good news of Jesus Christ. And build houses and drill wells in his name.

It's all gift. And it's all gospel.

Packer Family of 5

On Thursday, April 24th, Holly and I welcomed our third child into the world. 

This time, we decided to wait until the birth to find out the gender. 

AND...

HER name is Brooklyn Kate Packer.

Everyone is doing great. It was a healthy pregnancy and smooth delivery. 

I'm so proud of Holly. Her pain tolerance is about 1,000 times mine. She has handled everything without any complaint. 

I find myself outnumbered. Holly and I are outnumbered. We've moved from man-to-man defense to zone defense. And Maddox and I are outnumbered by the girls. 

As a minister, I've learned not to take these kinds of moments for granted. So many parents have been through so much heartache as they try to start a family. We have been so blessed and we thank God for his special gifts in our lives.

Brooklyn, our hearts have been torn open once again. God has miraculously opened our hearts to feel the same kind of love we have felt for Maddox and Addison.

I can't wait to discover your unique personality, hear the words "I love you daddy" for the first time, and work multiplication tables with you.

But more than anything, I prayerfully await the day when your sweet lips will exclaim, "Jesus is Lord" at your baptism. Your mother and I will do everything we can to see that day become a reality. 

A Both/And Gospel - The E Word - Part 5

We live in a world of either/or. Ours is a world that demands choices.

Pepsi or Coke?
Democrat or Republican?
Catholic or Protestant?
Baseball or Football?
Apple or Microsoft?
SEC or Any other Conference?
Fox News or MSNBC?
Colbert or Fallon?

It's no different when it comes to the gospel?

Social Gospel or Personal Gospel?

We like to think that our reading of Scripture determines our view of the gospel. But more often than not, our worldview determines our understanding of the gospel.

What do I mean? (Here's where I venture into dangerous territory and ask you for grace with my generationalizations.)

In the political realm, Democrats and Republicans have different perspectives on issues such as military spending, size of the government, rights of mothers and newborns, health care, etc.

But underneath these issues we tend to focus on during election season, liberals and conservatives hold underlying worldviews that silently inform their views. And we rarely talk about the deeper differences.

At the risk of oversimplification and generalization, Democrats and Republicans differ in their perspective on human ability. Democrats tend to have a pessimistic view of human ability. Republicans tend to have an optimistic view of human ability.

For example, why do Republicans tend to desire smaller government and Democrats desire a larger government? Well, if you have a positive view of human ability, you tend to think people have the ability to improve their lives without an institution calling the shots for them. If you have a more pessimistic view of human ability, then there's little hope that people will take care of one another without the aid of a government working to ensure care for the underesourced who cannot provide for their families.

Take whatever issue that divides liberals and conservatives and you can see how one's view of human ability impacts one's policies.

In the same way, liberal and conservative Christians hold very different views on what the gospel is.

Conservative churches have focused on a gospel of personal salvation and transformation. The good news is that Jesus came to pay the debt that individuals owe to God as a result of our sins. The good news is framed as the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life with God.

This is the gospel I've grown up with. I knew the gospel changed my life, but I wasn't sure what to do after salvation. Once I was saved, I knew I was supposed to share this good news with other people so that they could experience the same salvation I had known. But other than the calling of evangelism, I wasn't sure what else my salvation had to do with life on this earth. My eternity was sure, but as a 13 year old with a lifetime ahead of me, it seemed like earth was a holding cell until death called me home.

Liberal churches have focused on the social gospel. The social gospel emerged in the early 20th century as a response to the pietistic Fundamentalist gospel of conservative churches. Leaders like Walter Rauschenbusch believed that the gospel is not just good news for individuals. It should be good news for the world. This movement has sought to live out the prayer of Jesus in Matthew 6:10: "May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

And so, liberal churches sought to make a difference by bringing social justice to the world. Liberal Christians focused their efforts on issues such as economic justice, poverty, child labor, and warfare.

It's easy to find what's wrong with the "other" church. But often our beliefs about wrong and right are defined by our worldview. What is the nature of human ability? Your answer to that will often undergird your gospel.

And so liberals and conservatives have divided into separate churches that support our worldview. And we share our gospel (personal or social) without any comprehension about why anyone else would hold onto a different gospel.

But I believe each of these gospels are incomplete.

A personal gospel is not the entire gospel.
Personal Gospel - Social Gospel = Religious Country Club

A social gospel is not the entire gospel.
Social Gospel - Personal Gospel = Politics

Our gospel is both good news for individuals and good news for the world.
Personal Gospel + Social Gospel = The Kingdom of God

It's time for us to stop holing up in conservative and liberal churches with "our" half of the gospel and start hearing the gospel again as Jesus shared it.

The gospel is good news for every person and all of creation.

Let us move from an either/or gospel to a both/and gospel. There's no need to choose because both personal salvation and societal transformation are included in what God has promised.

Repent! - The E Word - Part 4

I can't remember the first time I met the "Repent!" Guy. 

You know the guy, right? 

Bullhorn in his hand.

Spit flying from his mouth.

Clenched right fist in the air. 

Cardboard sign that matches his words: REPENT!

Crowd of silent listeners and hecklers surrounding him.

Surely you've seen him too. He makes the rounds at sporting events, on boardwalks, outside of concert venues, and at political rallies. 

I might not remember the first time I met him, but I remember one incident from my childhood. It might have been my first encounter. I was on my way to the San Diego Chargers game and I heard him yelling with a snarl on his face, "Sinners will go to hell. REPENT!" 

He said the name Jesus somewhere in his presentation, but I'd never heard the word Jesus uttered with the kind of anger and vitriol he spewed from his mouth. 

The word "repent" carries all kinds of connotations depending on your experience. 

Most often I hear it associated with feeling sorry for the sins we have committed. But repentance is not just about feeling sorry. It's so much bigger than that!

In my last post, I suggested that it's impossible to obey the gospel. How do you obey a piece of news? Instead we welcome, receive, and celebrate news. We can obey God, but it's seems difficult to obey information.

And yet, Peter and Paul command us to the "obey" the gospel in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 and 1 Peter 4:17. The word obey has several translation options. Most translations translate the word in 2 Thessalonians as "obey," but it can also be translated "to respond" or "to accept."

I still stand by my premise that it's impossible to "obey" good news.

But I believe it is possible, and expected, that believers will "respond" to the good news. And our response to the good news should be repentance. But the kind of repentance I'm referring to is bigger than the "REPENT!" guy on the street corner offers. 

Check this out...

In the Gospel of Mark, the first words out of Jesus' mouth are, "The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news."

It's this exciting announcement that something new is breaking into the world. Things are not as they once were. Jesus has come to bring God's reign to earth. He has come to make things on earth as they already are in heaven. And that's why he doesn't just preach the good news about their spiritual condition. He comes healing people and changing their physical condition.

And what are we to do because of this announcement? Jesus tells us. He says, "Repent and believe the good news." In other words, we are supposed to respond to the good news through repentance and belief. 

As I've said, we usually associate repentance with feeling sorry or asking forgiveness for things we've done wrong. And those things are certainly part of repentance. But repentance comes from the Greek word metanoia, which means "to change one's mind" or "to change one's behavior."

Saying sorry isn't enough. 

Repentance is a change of mindset and direction.

Jesus isn't just trying to make us feel sorry for our sins. Jesus' first words are an exciting announcement about a world on its way that we can live into now. 

In other words, to repent is to imagine the way things will be with Christ returns, and to align our future with God's future. Jesus wasn't wanting a bunch of sorry people to follow him. He wanted to give us a vision of his future and to let us know that the Holy Spirit would empower us to live a life in tune with the way things will be when he restores all things. 

Now, that's good news! 

Good news doesn't demand obedience. Good news demands repentance. Good news demands realignment. Good news demands a new way of life. God is ushering in change and he needs change agents who will join him in putting on heaven on display right here on earth.

And if you don't think good news demands repentance, then you've never had a child.

Holly and I are days away from welcoming our third child into the world. That's right; we're moving from man-to-man to zone defense. 

We announced the good news months ago to our friends and family. No obedience is needed, but you better believe repentance is needed.

Because things are about to change in our lives. Any of you who have had a child know what I'm talking about. It's not enough for us to celebrate the birth of our child. We will have to change quite a few things about our current schedule to live in tune with the good news of a third child.

In other words, our world is about to get rocked whether we want to admit it or not. To repent, in our situation, is to prepare to live in a new way as a result of another child. We have to adjust our budget. We're catching up on sleep now. We moved to a new place so our child would have a room of his/her own. The announcement of good news of a third child has changed everything!

The kingdom needs fewer people calling for repentance with scowls on their faces on street corners and more people calling for repentance with balloons and birth announcements in hand ready to usher in a whole new world. 

The call to repent isn't bad news. 

The call to repent is good news. 

It's a call to align our lives with the world God is going to bring. 

It's a call to practice resurrection. 

It's a call to give people a vision of what their lives could be like.

It's a call for the church to live as a colony of heaven as ambassadors on earth. 

It's a call to live the abundant life. 

So, what are you waiting for? 

Repent and believe the good news. 

Repentance isn't something we yell from street corners. 

Repentance is something we show people that they can't resist. 

It's a call to "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." 

And that's far better fruit than Eve ate in the Garden of Eden. 

It's the fruit of the kingdom.

Can You Obey the Gospel? - The E Word - Part 3

There's this strange phrase that I've come to despise the more I get to thinking about evangelism. You may have heard it before.

"Have you obeyed the gospel?"

It's the language I've grown up with. It made sense at one point in my life. But not anymore.

Let's think about that phrase for a moment: "Obey the gospel"

Have you ever read a birth announcement from a couple who struggled to have kids and thought to yourself, "I need to obey the good news."

No! Tears flood your eyes. You probably utter a word of thanks to God for his answer to prayer. And you celebrate!

Have you ever prayed to God for a job after a long season of unemployment? When the long season of suffering is over and you agree to take that job, has it ever entered your mind to "obey the good news"?

No! You call your spouse and you say, "Put on something nice. We're going to celebrate at our favorite restaurant. No expenses spared. I got the job!"

The gospel is good news. And good news is not something you obey. It's something you celebrate.

You can't obey the gospel. You can respond to the gospel. You can receive the gospel. You can welcome the gospel. But it is impossible to obey the gospel.

We seek to obey the gospel when we misunderstood the gospel.

At one point in my tribe, the gospel was thought of as a 5-step process of being saved.
1) Hear
2) Believe
3) Confess
4) Repent
5) Be Baptized

It's possible to obey a process.

But those five steps are not the gospel. They might be a response to the good news. But they are not the good news. The good news is not about what we are to do. The good news is about what God has already done in Jesus Christ.

The gospel is an announcement. The gospel is the good news.

As I said in my last post, evangelism is not figuring out a way to break bad news to people. Evangelism is about getting to share good news with people who are in need of good news.

The good news will need different emphases for different people.

And that's why a packaged set of 6 Bible studies won't necessarily reconcile the world with God.

Jesus shared the good news of the kingdom of God in several different ways. At different points in his ministry, he compared the kingdom to a pearl, a treasure, and a mustard seed. He told parables about a lost coin, a lost sheep, and a lost son to reveal the good news of the kingdom.

Evangelism doesn't start with a prepackaged set of lessons.

Evangelism must begin with relationship. It is a good idea to get to know someone before you share the gospel with them.

What is his story?
What are her experiences with God?
What are her experiences with Christians?
What are his wounds?
What are his doubts?
What are her interests?
How does her culture impact the way she hears the story?

Your telling of the gospel should have some consistencies. The story is the story.

But I would imagine the emphasis of your telling of the gospel would change based on a person's answers to the questions above.

The gospel should be shared differently with a man on his deathbed and a teenager with her whole life ahead of her. The gospel should be shared differently with an American in New York City and an African who lives in the bush.

Missionaries intuitively know this kind of thing. They face cultural challenges that force them to tell the good news in ways that will make sense in the cultures they seek to reconcile to God.

Guess what? Missionaries aren't just people who leave their home country and share the gospel in a different culture.

You are a missionary.

Get to know the Bible. But while you're at it, get to know your culture. And share the gospel in relevant ways.

I am grateful for the gospel. I welcome the gospel.

The gospel doesn't need obedience. The gospel needs to be shared, heard, received and celebrated.
______________
April 17, 2014

After the feedback of several friends about this post, I became aware of a couple of passages that directly mention "obeying" the gospel. I appreciate that feedback. That's what a blogging community is all about: Communal Discernment and Wisdom. 

Paul talks about the need to "obey the gospel" in 2 Thessalonians 1:8. Peter uses the same language in 1 Peter 4:17. 

Part 4 of this series, "The E Word," continues the conversation. You can read that post here.

Is It Really Good News? - The E Word - Part 2

Evangelism comes from the Greek word euangelion, which means good news. But originally, euangelion wasn't a religious term. Euangelion was a political term.

In the first century, when Caesar had won an important military victory, an evangelist (messenger) would brig the euangelion (good news) back to the city of the emperor's victory in battle. In the same way, when one Caesar succeeded another, gave birth to an heir, or achieved another act worthy of celebration, messengers would spread the euangelion.

The early gospel writer co-opted Caesar's term in order to bring the euangelion of another king named Jesus. Evangelism comes from a tradition of sharing good news.

But the method of evangelism most of us grew up with wasn't exactly good news. At least, it didn't start that way, did it?

Most of you remember the first question you were to ask. I mentioned it on the first blog post in the series.

"Do you know where you would end up tonight if you were to die?"

That sounds more like bad news. Because what we hoped the person would say is "I don't know" or "Hell." Because if they responded with either of those answers, you were right on track. Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, and Acts 2:38 were in your arsenal and sure to give hope to your unsuspecting "friend."

We knew the well-worn, fail-proof Bible study process.

But as I think about it, I'm uneasy about that whole method.

Here's what I mean...

When I have good news to share with my wife, I don't have to determine a fool-proof way to break the good news to her. I don't have a strategy for sharing good news with her. And even without a strategy, she celebrates the good news with me.

The only time I have to determine my approach to sharing news with my wife is when it is bad news.

Which makes me wonder why we spend so much time trying to deliver the euangelion (the good news) in a such a strategic, step-by-step way. Why does it have to be so difficult? Why do we have to rehearse our telling of the good news?

Are we sure it's good news?

Is it good news?

Karl Marx once said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." It was his way of saying that religion is a way for those in power to maintain the status quo in this world. If the upper classes could convince the lower classes that a better world was on its way, perhaps they would be content to live a less-than-abundant life now.

But Jesus did not come to give us "pie in the sky when we die by and by."

Jesus promised us eternal life. Not eternal life that begins after a life of misery. Not heaven after the maintenance of status quo on earth.

Look at what he said.

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10b).

Jesus came to announce a kingdom that would change everything now. He said, "The kingdom of God has come near" (Mark 1:15b). He prayed, "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).

That makes it sound like Marx misunderstood Jesus.
That makes it sound like we misunderstood Jesus.

Evangelism isn't about sharing bad news that will eventually turn into good news in another lifetime.
Evangelism is about sharing good news that has already begun affecting our world and will one day fully affect our existence forever.

There is a hard edge to evangelism. The proper response to the good news requires repentance. It requires tuning our lives into the world that God is bringing. But it is a beautiful world that needs more messengers. It's the best news you could possibly share.

We've all been the bearer of bad news. We've all been in the position of carrying bad news to someone who was unaware that the conversation we were about to begin would alter their lives forever.

I've been in hospital rooms with people who have lost family or friends who are close to them. It's hard to lose someone you love. But I've noticed the most difficult expression on their faces often comes when they realize that they have to deliver the message that "Daddy isn't coming home" to the kids.

No one wants to deliver that message.

But I've seen people fight over delivering good news. I've seen my kids fight over getting share good news.

Have you ever seen a young child give a gift picked out for a parent? The gift is wrapped in a way only a mother could love. And before mom can even pull out the tissue paper (Hey! There's nothing wrong with gift bags!), the child ruins the surprise and tells her what the gift is.

The good news doesn't need to be packaged. The good news doesn't need a strategy for "breaking the news." The good news is good news on its own, without our help.

And in that sense, evangelism doesn't sound like a chore. It sounds like a privilege.

You are a messenger of the king. He gives you the honor of announcing his reign. And that reign is better than anything Caesar could conceive of.

Caesar's euangelion might be good news for some.
But the euangelion of Jesus is good news for all.

The E Word - Part 1

It's time that the church had a conversation about the dreaded E-word.

No not that E Word, silly. (Is there an E Word by the way?) I'm talking about Evangelism.

I say that in as hushed a tone as I can because, like it or not, evangelism has fallen on hard times in progressive, grace-oriented Churches of Christ.

There are quite a few reasons for the oversight:

1) Some of us grew up knocking doors. And once we left home, we vowed we would never knock on another door if we could help it.

That's the beauty of text messaging. I text my friends and have them open the door for me because the action itself takes me back to horrible memories. (Just kidding.)

2) When we stepped out of our legalism, we left behind a message that lent itself to hit-and-run evangelism.

What is hit-and-run evangelism? Hit-and-run evangelism occurs when you have no relationship with a person you are sharing the gospel with. It often happens when you ask someone a question like, " Where would you end up if you died tonight?" Who thought reminding people of their mortality would be a great introduction to a meaningful, life-changing conversation anyway? The run part happens after our "target" or "lost person" (Both are odd jargon for someone who doesn't know Jesus. Who thought those terms up anyway?) awkwardly wiggled out of the awkward situation we created for them.

And then we would quote Luke 10, "shook the dust off our feet," and checked one more person off of our checklist. We did our part. That was what was important.*

3) We weren't sure who we were trying to convert anymore.

There was a time when anyone who wasn't Church of Christ was a person who needed to be converted. But when we realized the kingdom was more expansive than our little tribe, we lost the us/them dichotomy that was so clear in the old model.

If we aren't converting all of those people, then who are we converting? We had our notes for how to defeat a Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Methodist. But our playbook for people without a church background was lacking.

4) Others of us discovered that we could tell people that Evangelism wasn't our gift and we wouldn't be forced to do it as long as we used our gifts in other meaningful ways for the sake of the kingdom.
_________________________

These are just a few of the many reasons we let the E Word disappear from our vocabulary and practice.

Evangelism, in the churches I've spent time in, is all but extinct.

And it's one of the reasons most of our churches are plateaued or declining. Some of our churches have kept the illusion of growth because they are in booming suburbs. Others have benefitted from the implosion of other churches in their area. And a few churches truly have grown through new Christians.

This is the first in a series blog posts I am writing on the E Word: Evangelism.

But I want to begin by confessing my own sins. I am not an evangelist. I did not grow up in an evangelistic household (Mom and Dad, it's one of the very few growth areas I have from the heritage you have passed on to me). But I want to change that in the years to come. I want to change the future of my family and my church toward this goal.

There are plenty of churches out there who are content to reach churched people. As long as they grow, it doesn't matter if the kingdom grows or not.

I don't want to be a part of that church. Do you?

The church ought to be one of the only organizations who exists for those who not a part of us yet.

But these days, I feel like we're a church for Christians rather than a church for the world.

I'm beginning to wonder if our more conservative brothers and sisters have something right that we've lost. A burden for the lost. A passion to give good news to people who need good news.

But I think we can do better than the old methods. And over the next few weeks, I hope to suggest a way forward.

What are your experiences with evangelism? What keeps you from sharing your faith?
_________________________
*Though I am hard on old evangelistic techniques, I do not mean to suggest that conversions by the old methods are any less important in the kingdom. Jule Miller film strips have saved many people. So has door knocking. People who don't share the good news haven't saved anyone.