I'm gonna do a few series kind of interacting with and starting discussions about themes in some books on church planting. This first series comes out of the The Multiplying Church.
The forward to this book is written by Ed Stetzer, who explains that for a church to be faithful, it must be incarnational, indigenous, and intentional. I'll hit each of those ideas in three posts over the next 24 hours.
Incarational churches become deeply involved in their communities. As Jesus put flesh on and moved into our neighborhood, an effective church planter moves into the neighborhood and lives amongst the people there. Later in the book, Bob Roberts writes that we must “speak their language, feel their pain, and share their joys as well. We totally identify with them as Jesus did when He came from Heaven to be with us.”
Unfortunately, this is the opposite of “normal church” today, where most live isolationist lives from within the confines of a Christian bubble. So I guess the question is: How do we escape the Christian bubble and get integrated into the community? How do we initiate relationships? What can we find in common with people who are far from God, so we can develop those relationships?
For me, the most difficult part is initiating the relationships. What about you? What part challenges you?
Roberts says that the risk of incarnational living is “either shortchanging the gospel and making it easy believism or denying the exclusivity of Jesus Christ.” That's because as we grow to love people there's a temptation to lower Jesus’ standards to help our friends reach them. Obviously we have to avoid this, but it isn’t always easy. When you’re sitting across the table from a couple in your small group who are living together, you just don’t want to offend them, you don’t want to lose them as friends, and you’re afraid of turning them away from God. So it's easy to show grace, but avoid truth.
Do you agree? What do you see as the risks of living incarnationally?
One last question: Let's say you moved into a town to plant a church, what (practical) steps would you take to live incarnationally, and to make sure your new church does the same?
- featured on newchurches.com
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Multiplying Church 1 - Incarnational
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4 comments:
I look forward to hearing peoples' responses to the last question. It's one I've been thinking about a lot lately.
Initiating relationships is tough for me as well. I'm finally taking steps to get to know some neighbors. I walk my kid to the bus stop, and on the way back, I pray for my street. It's starting to show some blossoms that may turn into fruit...
The risks of living incarnationally. Hmm...
1. You might have a few stones thrown at you by those in the "inside" because you're not "preaching at" people when you meet them or giving them those wonderful "Are you sure you're saved" tracts immediately after introducing yourself.
We need to be willing to take a few of those shots and not worry what religious folks think...
2. Like you said, not including truth in with grace. That's a hard call. We can't expect people to change outside of Jesus, but they also need to know the cost of following Jesus, which includes repentance. It's a delicate process that we must approach with care, following God's leading.
Moving to a new town to plant a new church...
1. Follow God's leading--where in the community is He leading you to serve, who is He leading you to serve, etc. The church I host talked about this yesterday--we're going to serve at the local homeless shelter, and nobody wants to go... but they're willing to go serve where they're not comfortable because (in the words of a quickly maturing young Christian) "I'm sure Jesus wasn't too comfortable hanging up there [on the cross]."
2. Pray for the community immediately and regularly.
3. Talk with community leaders to get their take on the needs of the community.
4. Get to know some neighbors (something I'm doing now and should have done long ago).
5. Keep the calendar clear--from the start, put a limit on "insider" activities. They're needed, but look at most church's calendars--filled up, almost daily, with stuff for Christians, but very little for serving the community. From the start, carve out time for serving the community.
6. This last one may sound weird, but drive a school bus. My father (not a church planter, but a Christian) has driven a bus for 35 years. He is one of the most recognized people in the community, and has a lot of influence with the kids he takes to school, and he knows all of the parents. That's hundreds of contacts every week for 9+ months a year, with only 2 hours of time a day, and good benefits. I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, and am considering doing it.
I like a lot of of what Aaron said, but I think the key is to look to Jesus. How did He do it?
When He saw something or encountered a sinner whom He loved unconditionally, but yet knew they were steeped in sin. What did He do?
Well..., the ultimate Storyteller would tell a story (parable) and He would use an illustration to show the potential end results of the sin in which they were steeped in.
Stories wheter personal or an illustration knock down barriers and cause one to think through the story, while looking at their own situation through the lense of the Love in which the story was told.
The ulimate Love Story is what we have been called to join; why not make it fun in the midst of the mess and come up with all kinds of hard hitting and even at times funny stories to show those around us, How their Love Story interstects with His story.
Finally, if you are genuinely approaching folks with intentional unconditional love and grace, despite the hard hitting lessons, they can see through that and understand that you have their best interest at heart - even if they do not agree.
I guess I gots to read this book!
Richie
One of our core values is that we will practice grace and mercy before justice. This is a difficult position to take. Jesus lived this way with such ease. The thing I have noticed about Jesus is that he built a trusting relationship with people before he confronted the sin in their life (unless they were already claiming to have a relationship with God).
What I try to do is develop a trusting relationship with people and help them develop a trusting relationship with Jesus. Once the relationship with Jesus is established, people are more willing to live by His standards and want to do the right thing. This makes it easier to approach them out of love rather than condemnation.
I do not know if this is wrong or right, but it seems to work pretty well. The other thing I try to do is explain why Jesus would want them to live this way instead of just giving them a "Thou Shalt Not."
Bake
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