The Fireside Cafe

Recognizing Opportunity

Have you ever been sitting at an airport gate or a restaurant table and been forced to listen to a person sitting behind you carry on a cellphone conversation?  You learn much more about that person than you desire as everyone within thirty feet is treated to one side of the dialogue.  I think about those experiences when I read about the debate over whether we should be able to use cellphones on an airplane while it is in the air.

Seriously?

We are already crammed elbow to elbow inside of a metal tube hurtling through space at several hundred miles per hour. On top of that we might have to listen to a person six inches away conduct business or talk about personal details. I'll pass, but then I also applauded when the lady was thrown off the passenger train for talking on her phone while sitting in the "quiet car."

So, my youth minister friend has decided that his Wednesday night youth program will become a cellphone-free zone. Some students were using their smartphones to look up the Scripture text, but they may have also been sneaking a peek at Facebook or text messaging during Bible study.  Deeming this a distraction, smartphone editions of Scripture are now unwelcome.

I sympathize.

We already have so little space in our lives in which we can discern the voice of God from all of the other noise out there. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Angry Birds and text messaging only intrude on that tiny bit of sacred space.  I have sat in those meetings in which a person's phone rings and then they ANSWER said phone while the speaker attempts to go on undistracted.  I confess that a few weeks ago I was facilitating a group discussion among some of my professional colleagues when a phone started ringing...mine. I had neglected to silence the offending device and left it in the pocket of my jacket across the room. I let it ring, hanging my head in cellphone-etiquette shame.

So, with the utmost in empathy and sincerity I sent my youth minister friend a question to ponder:

"What would happen if you saw this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle?"

I don't know what would happen. Use your imagination.

My high school-senior daughter explained to me that one of her teachers has the class text quiz answers to a particular number that he can access.

"On the phone that you are not supposed to have out of your purse in class?," I ask.

"Yes."

I suppose that this is the modern version of, "Take out a blank sheet of paper and put everything under your desk."  Writing your name on the top of a blank sheet of paper and taking a pop quiz has gone the way of black-and-white television.

There are a lot of things that I do not know, but I do know a few things.  Among them is the fact that I cannot control what other people do, but I can control my response to what other people do.  If we pick a fight with the overwhelming wave of digital technology then I predict that we will lose.  So, why pick a fight?  Why not consider if there is an opportunity lurking behind what we would traditionally consider an obstacle?

I am pretty sure that multi-tasking is not always good for the soul.  But if our goal is to produce faithful followers of Jesus Christ, can some opportunity be found for our omnipresent digital companions to connect us with our much more valuable and evermore omnipresent spiritual Companion?

Church Vitality

I spent some time recently with a group of people discussing a process for church revitalization.  The discussion grows out of a concern that the majority of Baptist churches in Texas have reached a plateau (meaning that they have neither grown nor declined over a long period of time), or they have experienced a long period of decline.  The decline is not only in numbers and finances, but a loss of influence and ministry to the broader community.

The group began the discussions by talking in terms of church health.  The idea of church health has been around for a while and several indicators exist to measure and define whether a congregation is “healthy” or “possesses areas of improvement.”  The truth is that no matter how healthy, any church can still improve and we worried that the idea of church health gives the illusion that some perfect church exists which faces no challenges or problems.  We know quite well that even the churches that we might deem the healthiest still face challenges.

So we began to think in terms of vitality.  Vitality means “to possess the power, vigor and energy required to live, endure, and survive.”  In terms of our discussion, revitalization of a church would be the process of renewing a congregation's spiritual energy so that it can endure and thrive.  So, what creates vitality in a congregation?

One could look for statistical vitality.  Church growth models look for growth in attendance, participation in church ministry and programs, baptisms, and financial contributions as indicators of vitality.

One could look at the functions of the church, often listed as worship, ministry, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, and prayer for indications of vitality.  Models exist to examine the effectiveness of a church related to these functions and to develop better ways of performing those functions.

But I suspect that true spiritual vitality in a church goes a little bit deeper than categories that we can measure and mines a quality of life that is produced by our relationship with Christ as his disciples.  I began to look at the New Testament for signs of church vitality and I have begun to ponder on the oft-repeated phrase “one another” as it relates to congregational vitality.  The phrase appears at least 46 times in the New Testament beginning with its most notable use by Jesus in John 13:34-35.  Jesus commanded the disciples to “love one another as I have loved you,” pointing out that this kind of love gave public evidence of true discipleship.

Jesus later repeated the command twice (Jn. 15:12, 17) and John repeated it 6 times in the letters of 1 and 2 John.  Paul uses the command in Romans 13:8, Colossians 4:2, and 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 4:9.  Peter instructs his readers to “love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Pt. 1:22).  Clearly, being mentioned no fewer than 14 times in the New Testament, love for one another is the defining characteristic of a vitalized church.

How is that love made evident?  The New Testament offers the attitudes of hospitality (1 Pt. 4:9), humility (1 Pt. 5:5), and acceptance (Rm. 15:7) toward one another.  A longer list of actions is provided in the New Testament that will create and give evidence of love for one another.

We should serve one another with acts of humble service, lest we turn on one another and destroy each other (Jn. 13:14, Gal. 5:13, 15).  We are to stimulate one another to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24) on one hand, but not provoke or envy one another on the other hand (Gal. 5:26).  In our speech we should not slander (Ja. 4:11), grumble against (Ja 5:9), pass judgment (Rm. 14:13), or bite and devour one another (Gal. 5:15).  Instead, we are to submit to one another (Gal. 5:21), live in harmony and peace with one another (Rm. 12:16, 14:19), encourage one another (1Th 4:18), confess our sins and pray for one another (Ja. 5:16).  We should forgive one another (Eph. 4:31, Col. 3:13, 19), and bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2).

Much like the Fruit of the Spirit in the life of a believer, these characteristics seem as if they should flow naturally through the life of a church much like a river flows through a valley, enriching the soil to enable deep roots for the gospel of Christ.  Even more importantly, I must ask myself in my own relationship to my church, what do I bring to the community of faith that increases this kind of vitality?

What about you?

The vitality in our churches can only be the result of the synergy created by the spiritual vitality in our own hearts.  Synergy is when the product is greater than the sum of the individual parts.  In other words, 1+1=3 because the energy created when 1 and 1 get together is greater than just 2.  When we let Christ develop greater vitality in our own hearts, then greater vitality will be created in our churches.

 

A Missional Journey

I grew up at the front end of enormous changes in Southern Baptist life.  I was not aware of the shifts that were beginning to take place at the time.  As a PK (Preacher's Kid), I was immersed in the rhythms and rituals of Baptist culture from the very beginning.  I received my perfect attendance pin for Sunday School with the bars that attached to it for succeeding years.  I attended Sunbeams, RA's, children's choir, Wednesday night Bible study, January Bible studies, and tent revival services.  I read (and sometimes even studied) my assigned parts for both Training Union and Church Training, and made macaroni art in Vacation Bible School.  I knew that church was "the Sunday night place to be."

Baptist life had a monolithic feel to it.  Every church that I was familiar with used the same instruments, sang the same hymns, and used the same literature.  Even the order of service could be transfered from church to church.

I remember the first inkling that I had of church controversy  in my childhood when I heard the hushed whispers of adults discussing the first woman who wore pants to church on a Sunday night.  It was not a scandal, but it certainly breached a general sense of propriety and, well, who knew where something like that might lead?  Little did I know that Southern Baptists would be mired in controversy for all of my adult life.

I was nurtured in those churches by good people who loved Jesus and taught me the stories of Scripture, but as I grew older I found that most of my contemporaries lost their attraction to the church.  I did not drift away from church as many of my friends did, but I shared some of their restlessness.

I sat alone on a Florida beach under the moonlight when I was 19 years-old asking God if full-time ministry was truly his will for my life.  The silence only confirmed the answer that I knew I was already avoiding, and my journey took a turn that led me to missionary service in Africa and theological training in seminary.  That journey was one of constant discovery as I sought to find my place of service.

I remember sitting across the table from a fellow seminary student as he questioned me about my call.  He inquired, "Was I called to be a pastor?"  I didn't know.  I enjoyed preaching, teaching, youth ministry, recreation ministry, mission trips; God's hand seemed to be in all of those things.

"But what is your CALLING?"  He seemed to be as concerned about this as he would if I could not remember the exact day and hour that I had trusted Jesus.  The idea of ministry calling for him had to be definite rather than unfolding.  For me, I was content to know that God knew the details even if he wanted me to still walk in faith.

There is a point when you are working a jigsaw puzzle when the picture in the puzzle starts to appear.  You can't see the whole thing yet, but you can identify elements of it.  The picture started appearing for me during doctoral research on faith development.  I discovered the element of church life that had made me restless.  I had been trained to be a good church member, but not so much to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.  It still startles me to suggest that there is even a gap between the two.  But I knew that was what my generation missed in the faith experience.  We were more interested in "being" than "belonging."  Knowing how to play by the rules in the church does not necessarily equate to a vibrant walk with Jesus Christ.

Fortunately, even when I was stumbling along God was forming me, using mentors and experiences to teach me, and guiding me to the place where he wanted me.  It was a missional journey; learning to answer God's call to be out in the world as a disciple of Christ and drawing others to experience his grace.

I still love the church, even with all of its crises, conflicts, and characters.   People are introduced to Jesus Christ, taught, nurtured, encouraged in the local church.  I sense a restlessness in churches to renew our call to make disciples; equipping people and helping them understand what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus out in the world. 

If you understood everything I said in the first paragraph of this post, then you understand the lingo of Baptist culture from some of the past 50 years.  The problem is that so many of our neighbors do not understand that language that so many of us still find familiar.  This is the first in a series of thoughts on missional thinking; the kind of process that we will have to undertake in order to communicate to our neighbors the story of Jesus Christ.

Please join the conversation with your own journey and ideas.