Lifeshapes
Well, this week I'm in another intensive class and it's all about discipleship and "postmodern/emerging" churches. The first two days have been a conference and although the stuff is outstanding, it's not very "postmodern". It's based on different shapes that are symbols reflecting different aspects and patterns of discipleship. Visit their site at www.lifeshapes.com NOW! ;)Normally I'm VERY suspicious of any sort of methodological approach that is packaged so neatly (purpose driven life, anyone?), but this stuff is fantastic. (P.S. I'm not really slamming the purpose driven life because my friend Asako became a Christian, the only one in her family, after reading it.)
Due to possible copyright infringement ;) I'll just share one thing about this that have really got me thinking:
Mike, the author of the books and former pastor of St. Thomas Moore Church in Sheffield, talked a lot about their evangelism strategy. They focus on what he calls finding the "person of peace". This is from Jesus sending out of the 12 and the 72, telling them to find a person who will welcome them and stay with that person.
Many of our evangelism teachings tend toward the other direction, however. We tend to say, "I need to find a person who doesn't like Christianity, Christians, the Church, etc., and prove them wrong by showing them what a great person I am."
Jesus seems to offer an easier path (a lighter yoke, if you will), and says, "Find people who like you and share with them. When people don't like you (for whatever reason), dust off your shoes and keep walking."
It seems very simple, but it's how this church became the largest in North England and continues to grow today. They just kept their eyes open and people would come up to them and ask them how they could know God. God's doing the work and we harvest where we did not plant, but that's the beauty of it. It's never supposed to be about us, so we've got to stop planning our heroic conversion of that atheist and start spending time with people who seem to like us for no obvious reason.
Another thing he said that I really liked is that anything worth doing is worth doing badly. We have to get over ourselves and let people grow and make mistakes and even do things wrongly (or at least do them not how we think they should be done).
So, as I was challenged, I challenge you. Who is the person of peace God has placed in your life? There is a couple I met about a year ago, and the guy (whose name I cannot even remember) was extremely keen to hear as much as I wanted to tell him about Christianity. I'm praying now for him and his girlfriend that I will either cross paths again with them, or that God will send someone in their lives to share. It was so strange that I think I didn't share as much as I could have because it was disconcerting how interested he actually was. I don't know if any of you have ever felt like this, but it was almost too good to be true and I was thinking he was just being polite. I see now I was as dense as I usually am and am praying for God to open my eyes to the people who are hungering for the good news around me.
posted by Wayj @ 10:46 PM
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