The question is not, ”What will we do to keep ourselves from going extinct?”

The question is, “What will we do to show people what God is like?”

The first question is driven by fear.  The second by love.

Leaders motivated by fear are not the people you want working alongside you anyway. They may reach out to the community with you, but they will do it in a way that puts their own interests above the interests of the ones you’re reaching, and that is not Christlike.  That spirit is contagious.

Instead, appeal to people’s desire to show real love to the world.  It has been said that in all of our hearts is a God-shaped hole only God can fill.  We were made to be in relationship with our Creator.  We also were made to love like He does… wildly… sacrificially.  Find the folks who want to show the world what God is like by showing crazy love to their families and the hurting people in their community.  Then see what happens.  You can start by modeling crazy love yourself.  You may get fewer folks to join you in the beginning, but this spirit is contagious, too.  God’s kingdom grows from small beginnings and selfless acts of love.

Have you been asked to support church planting because of what it will do for your church or denomination (or your non-denomination as the case may be)?  I used to give these well-intended presentations, but now I’m skeptical.  They go something like this: “Our brand of church is in a state of decline compared to other denominations and the U.S. population growth rate. If we don’t do something, our brand is liable to become obsolete!  We’ll lose our identity.  Let’s not lose our slice of the Churched Population Pie. We need to reach more people to keep our brand of church from going extinct.  The way to do this is by starting more of our kind of churches!  We’ll get to know our neighbors and meet their felt needs.  They’ll see how caring we are and our brand of church will become more attractive.  When they come to our newly planted churches, we’ll win them to Jesus.  Imagine it.  Lost people will be saved, and our brand of church will stay relevant in the 21st century.  That’s why we need to plant churches!”

I get it, but then I don’t get it.  Really, why do we need to keep our slice of the pie?  Why focus our energies on preserving our brand of church?  Jesus Christ said the church he builds will not be stopped (Matthew 16:18).  He didn’t make this promise for your brand of church.  The Church will live on, but maybe church brands, denominations and non-denominations have life cycles.   

But even if your and my brands of church are here to stay, is preserving them really the goal of joining God in mission?  Our “bigger slice of the pie” presentations have emphasized a self-serving reason for Christians to engage their communities, and I think this will come back to haunt us.   Your community desperately needs you to show them the Selfless Savior, not the Self-Preserving Church.  So you want to introduce lost and broken people to the person and hope of Christ.  In the process, God may ask you to give up traditions dear to your heart to show His kind of love to your community.  Jesus’ teachings were full of such ironies.  Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and the humble will be exalted.  The last shall be first and the first shall be last.  Holding onto life leads to death, and dying to oneself leads to life.  For those of us who have grown attached to our ways of doing church, maybe the way to hold onto our church identity is to let go of it.  To borrow another analogy from Jesus Christ, you may be required to let the kernel of wheat fall to the ground and die so that new life can sprout where you are (John 12).  Are you willing to let go of finding your identity inyour church brand and find it in Christ alone?  What wouldn’t you give up so that others could know Him, too?

Go ahead, form new communities of faith, but do it out of sacrificial love.  And spur others on to do the same.  Live this way because you have wild love for God and people, not because church planting could preserve our brand of church and make us successful.  You are preaching Christ and him crucified, not your way of doing church.  The road to becoming a risk-taking, outward-focused church is not paved with self-preservation.

“Salvation” is about being delivered from something and to something!  From hell to heaven, you say?  Yes, but God delivers people FROM and TO stuff in the here and now, not just in the ever after.  Check it out!

In the early part of the biblical story, God sent his servant Moses to deliver the people of Israel from slavery and oppression in Egypt, which is a really BIG deal.  But the story doesn’t stop there.  God delivered them to something as well.  He delivered them to enjoy the promised land “of milk and honey” where they were meant to experience a good and lasting relationship (“covenant”) with him.  This deliverance wasn’t just about them.  It was about the rest of the world, too.  God delivered his people to be a “nation of priests” who would intentionally “be a blessing to all nations” intervening on the world’s behalf – thereby showing the world what God is like that all humankind would want to obey God, too.  That was the intent.  The Creator delivering all his created ones, not just Israel, from something and to something.  The first Exodus, the first deliverance.

To make deliverance truly possible for all of us, God eventually sent his Son (“another prophet like Moses” only better).  Through what he accomplished on the Cross, his Son delivered all humankind once and for all from slavery to sin (and delivered all of creation from the consequences of sin), which is a really BIG deal.  But the story doesn’t stop there.  God delivered us all to experience a good and lasting relationship with him.  This deliverance isn’t just about Jesus’ followers.  It is about the rest of the world, too.  Jesus’ followers are meant to love as he does, seek justice, and make disciples of all nations, showing all people what God is like that they would want to follow him, too.  God wants all the world to be delivered from something and to something.  That is the intent.  The ultimate Exodus, the ultimate deliverance!

What’s more, Jesus taught that his deliverence (a.k.a. the “abundant life”), while it will be more fully realized when he returns, begins now!  If that is true, then I am asking myself, what does a delivered life look like? 

Question: What did God deliver you FROM and what did he deliver you TO?

[A brother in Christ at the Hilltop Church in El Segundo, CA showed me the delivered from/to concept.]

Gospel planters.  That’s what we are as Jesus’ disciples. 

Church planter.  That’s what the Holy Spirit is (among other roles). 

If we’re going to see church planting movements we need to faithfully assume the roles we’ve been given and let God be God.

We lay a foundation, yet it is Jesus Christ who builds his church. 

We plant and water the seed, yet it is God who makes it grow.

How audacious we are to call ourselves ‘church planters’ and claim we will do what Christ alone can do – that is, make people into a new creation. 

[Thank you to my friends for showing me our biblical role as Gospel planters.] 

These are not word-for-word quotes but rather my own adaptation from Hodges’ sermon. 

I recommend you read the Bible passage for yourself first.  Hodges takes a fresh look at the biblical story of the “baptism of inclusion” (often simply referred to as the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunich) found in Acts 8:26-40.  

Hodges asks the question, What did it mean for the Ethiopian eunich to be baptized into the family of God?  Of all people this outsider knew what it was like to be excluded by religious obstacles and religious people.  His ethnicity and customs as a Gentile and his sexual status as a eunich denied him entrance to the temple to worship the God he was so curious about.  Hodges calls this being forced to worship God “from the back row,” or at a social distance from the supposed first class worshipers. 

• Whom do you know who has had similar religious experiences? 
• Why were they excluded or denied equal treatment? 
• Brainstorm a list of the “Ethiopian eunichs” of this time and place.

Philip used the very scriptures the Ethiopian was reading (from the prophet Isaiah chapter 53) to help him discover the good news about Jesus.  (Hodges’ comments here are excellent.  He also reads on, asking “Can you imagine what Isaiah chapter 56 meant to a guy like the Ethiopian eunich?”  Good stuff.)  The Ethiopian eunich discovers that Jesus was excluded so that foreigners/Gentiles like him can be included!

To this good news the unnamed Ethiopian asks Philip the Jesus-follower, “Look, here is water.  What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”  It is as if he is challenging Philip, “Are you serious about what Jesus did on the Cross?  Can I really be included in the family of God?”  Or is Philip going to treat him like a second class worshiper, too?  Philip backs it up with the baptism of inclusion! 

• If this is true – that Jesus died to include in his family even the most rejected ones of society, and all peoples from Jerusalem to “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) – then how does this affect your view of God? 
• If this passage is true – that Jesus didn’t die to exclude but to include as many people as possible- how does this change how you will relate to others who generally are not spoken well of or treated equally in Christian circles?  (Let’s admit it, even in churches some sins are socially more tolerable than others, and some kinds of people are more welcome than others.) 
• What would it take for you to “back it up” as Philip did?  How would you live differently to model Jesus’ love and inclusion of the outsiders around you?  (In some cases, this may mean your reputation gets questioned or dragged through the mud by your Christian peers!)  

Hodges’ sermon illustrations focus heavily on convincing people to “go to church” with us.  It would be easy to walk away thinking the goal of joining Jesus in his mission is to simply get outsiders to “be here with us” in our church buildings (as opposed to teaching them to be Jesus’ church by obeying Him wherever they are, on any hour of the week).  Nevertheless I recommend this podcast because Hodges deals well with how churches have treated people who are different from them.  I can see how Philip’s actions are calling Jesus-followers to behave differently from religious people – to join Jesus in his mission of inclusion, not exclusion!  Or, as one of my favorite churches likes to put it, our mission is “Accepting people where they are, and helping each other accept where God wants us to be.” 

And the Ethiopian’s story is calling those of us who have been excluded by well-meaning religious folks to lovingly accept them yet ignore the religious obstacles they’ve unnecessarily placed before us.  No longer do we need to worship “from afar.”  You and I can sprint in an act of total love and obedience, without shame, to our Lover and Savior who does not treat us as second class followers but has invited us all to commune forever with him at his table! 

• Describe a time when you, perhaps like the Ethiopian, felt as if you were worshiping God “from the back row”? 
• What, if anything, is preventing you from drawing closer to Jesus and other Jesus-followers in confidence right now? 
• If Philip’s message to the Ethiopian eunich is true, that there is nothing that can stand between you and God, then how does this alter your view of yourself? 
• What do you need to do to reflect the reality that Jesus was excluded to include you (and all humankind)?  How would you live differently?
• Who else needs to hear this story?

There’s a lot I left out.  To listen to Hodges’ podcast in its entirety, click here.  

Religion excluded you.  Jesus Christ died to include you. 

There is good news for people in East Hollywood who’ve been stiff-armed by well-meaning religious people. 

While visiting a church in Dallas I was touched by a message about this by guest speaker Wade Hodges.  His sermon centered around the “baptism of inclusion” in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunich.  I heard this message back in June, and I’m still thinking about it… 

If I have time I will write up a summary of Wade’s main points.  Until then, you can listen to his podcast by clicking here.

Jesus’ way of living is about much, much more than going to church for “worship services.”  Like the biblical concept of church, worship somehow has lost its original meaning over the centuries, and we are feeling the burden to redefine it in biblical terms. 

Taking “church” as an example… According to the word of God, church is not a place we go to or a set of rituals we perform in a religious service but a kind of people we are called to be in every moment.  Anytime two or more Jesus-followers are gathered in pews or at a dining room table, in a moment of crisis or on a fun trip to the zoo, at a Christians-only potluck or at a party in the midst of God’s missing ones – the church is there and we have ourselves an “assembly” (a word we have over-spiritualized).  The question is not whether or not this particular gathering “counts” as a church assembly, but whether or not we will make this assembly (gathering) of Jesus-followers count for his glory.  Will we honor (that is, worship) Christ by what we say and do in this present place, in this present situation, among these people?

According to the word of God, worship primarily is not an event or a process we observe but a daily, sacrificial way of behaving and thinking (Romans 12:1-2).  When we allow Jesus to take the throne of our hearts, He makes a difference in the way we think, behave, and relate to people, and what we do when we’re alone.  All of this is worship!  There is no separation of the sacred and the secular.  God’s word is to permeate all areas of our life, making everything truly sacred – when we’re at home training our children, when we’re in the marketplace making decisions about how to handle our money, when we’re on the job relating to supervisors and clients, we (are called and equipped to) worship in virtually every place and every part of life. 

Don’t get me wrong.  There is a place for event-worship and Christians-only gatherings – they provide spiritual recharge and healing for weary and wounded disciples.  Sometimes I just need to be with my ’spiritual family’ – they understand me, teach me, hold me accountable, and need me, too.  That’s why we highly value making a habit or routine of gathering with other Christ-followers. 

But as a friend of ours once put it: “If God were to speak to churches in an audible voice today about our worship, I think he would say, ‘That’s – not – what – I – meant!’”  For so long we have put so much effort into our Sunday worship services as if the goal of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is to make “regular attenders” out of all of us.  But when I look at the biblical concept of worship, it seems like God would rather us be way-of-lifers than regular attenders.

Or perhaps the fear is more that they’ll read the same passages and conclude something different than I have.  Wouldn’t it be better to just tell them what the bible means and what to do in response?  But then what am I teaching that person to put their trust in – God’s word or my commentary about it?     

I’m challenged again by this statement in David Garrison’s book Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming A Lost World:

“When modern day practitioners of Church Planting Movements refuse to counsel their converts with words of wisdom or time honored doctrines, but instead direct them to God’s word, they are living out the New Testament model initiated by Jesus and transmitted through the apostles” (2004:206). 

God’s Word interpreted by average people.  How scary.  How wonderful!

As a missionary I’m familiar with these terms.  Up until now I had been using them myself.  The idea is that the term “unchurched” describes those individuals who have never attended a church (or at least have not done so over a significant amount of time, say, within the last year).  The term “dechurched” is meant to describe those individuals who have a religious past but have become so turned off by their experiences with Christians and church-as-they-know-it that they are not ‘coming back.’  The problem with putting people neatly into these categories is that life is never that tidy.

Ben explained, “How would you label, for example, a Latino couple in New York who come from a Catholic background, attend mass twice every year, but literally know nothing of Jesus?”  (This illustration, Ben pointed out, is typical of 40 to 60% of the population they live among in the NY Metro area.)  Because of their church-centered mindset and faithful attendance twice per year, it is difficult to put this couple into the “un-churched” box.  It also is difficult to neatly insert them into the “de-churched” box because they probably will continue attending mass twice per year and for special occasions for as long as they live.  From one perspective, the couple is neither churched (as we’d like them to be), unchurched nor de-churched.  I can relate to Ben’s problem with labels.  We’re seeing that life isn’t that tidy in East Hollywood, either. 

Now that Ben had completely deconstructed the question, the panel moderator patiently asked Ben how he would describe the people they’re targeting.  Ben replied, “Maybe the question could be re-stated: Are the people you’re reaching Un-Jesused or De-Jesused?  Or maybe we could put it in terms of the kingdom… Are they surrendering to Jesus the King or do they even know about the King?” 

Ben figured those in his mission field who have never heard of the King (Jesus) amount to probably 9% of the NYC Metro population.  Those who have heard of the King but are not surrendering to Him probably amount to 90%.  If Ben’s percentages are anywhere near accurate, and if they reflect at all what is happening in my own city, then the picture is much starker than the old ’unchurched/dechurched’ labels would have revealed.  And so our task to join God in his mission suddenly seems all the more urgent!

As Ben helped me to see that evening, labels like these assume the goal of a missionary (or of any Christian for that matter) is to help the world become “churched”.  Maybe it’s impossible to totally get away from using labels, but that’s not even the point.  I’m very excited to move away from a church-centered mindset and into a more Jesus-centered (or kingdom-focused) mindset.  New life is about more than “joining a church”.  It is about discovering the surprising joys of surrendering to Jesus’ loving reign!