Sowing Seeds or Wild Oats?
How often have you heard it said about evangelism: “We just sow the seeds, and we’ll never know how they might grow. We may never see those people in our particular church, but that doesn’t matter.” It sounds noble and is usually said unapologetically. But it sounds like very poor farming to me.
Consider Evangelism as just one of four broad stages of our mission to make disciple-making disciples: Incarnation, Evangelism, Discipleship and Sending. When we fail to connect them together, when we fail to do one stage with a view to the next, we significantly hinder the broader process.
Consider a car assembly plant. One worker may be faithfully unpacking windscreen wipers, but if she is not stacking them within easy reach of the next worker who fits them, is she being effective? Or if the wiper-fitter is absent or slacking off, is it enough for her to simply keep unpacking and stacking more and more piles of windscreen wipers everywhere? No! Her specialty may be unpacking wipers, but the Boss doesn’t want her to just look busy doing that. The company’s mission is to assemble cars.
Or imagine a man who decides to reproduce himself by sowing his wild oats all around the district. He hopes that the children he fathers – though he may never know them – will be raised by, well, someone. That part doesn’t matter to him. Would any of us consider such a man to be truly productive? No, we would call him incredibly irresponsible. Fathering without parenting is not God’s style at all!
And yet how many of us practice evangelism without a view to discipleship – the long, hard journey of spiritual parenting? Without any real care for what might be next for the people we encounter? There’s much more to evangelism than “spreading the love” throughout the district. Who goes fishing and doesn’t bother to take a bucket?
Jesus’ call “Come, follow me” is Evangelism with a view to Discipleship. And it even has a view to Sending: “and I will make you fishers for people”. Sacred agents, let’s not dress up irresponsibility as faith. Real faith is truly mindful of our Master, His style, and His desired ultimate outcomes, in all our various actions.
The Curvature of the Earth
Here’s an easy little diagram I’m finding useful when trying to explain the kingdom of God – you might too…
This is the shape that dominates many people’s lives. Think of it as a graph. It starts at zero, it ends at zero, and in between is a brief window of non-nothingness.
That is how many people view the universe (once there was nothing, eventually the sun will run out of gas and we’ll return to nothing, life’s what’s in between). It’s how many people view the world (think peak oil, or world population, or non-renewable resources – we’ve developed as much as we can but it all looks downhill from here). And it’s how many people see their own lives (coming from chance, heading for oblivion, time’s running out so let’s make hay while the sun shines, maximize our experiences and enjoyment – let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die).
It’s not good news. Kids point out to me that it is the shape of a sad mouth. How apt. But there is a different story, a different path…
This green line is the shape of the kingdom of God. It’s the path Jesus took and invites us onto (See Philippians 2:5-11). It’s a path of servanthood, suffering, self-denial – and great, great expectation. It’s good news, and yes, a happy face. This is nothing more than the diagram of Jesus’ saying “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Have a play with it – a very simple diagram from which conversations can spring about life, death, our world, the environment, hedonism, Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, origins, eternity, conversion and discipleship. Ruin someone’s serviette and make their eternity.
When There’s Nothing Happening
The life of a sacred agent isn’t like the movies. It’s a lot slower. (And more expensive.) Great Christians and great churches take a lot more time to form than it takes to read the books written about them. Our biblical heroes too, lived many a quiet, unrecorded, year.
So this one’s for all the sacred agents out there who are frustrated that nothing seems to be happening. You’re not seeing results. Your church doesn’t seem to be growing, and your unbelieving friends seem no closer to faith.
Now it’s possible that this is because you’re lazy, disobedient, low on faith and untalented. But it’s also quite possible that it’s not. What are we to make of the times when nothing’s happening?
Our theology reminds us that nothing happening is an illusion. God is always at work, though we might not see it. A farmer sows seed and it looks like she is litterally throwing away her wealth. In the dirt. There’s nothing to show for it – yet. Under the ground, out of sight, much is happening.
That’s all well and good, but what are we to do when nothing’s happening? Here are some suggestions:
(1) Rest. As in farming, the harvest season is very busy and there are other seasons where it’s wise to go at less than 110%, so as to be well refreshed for when the rush comes.
(2) Prepare. Those who are wise know that “it doesn’t rain, it pours.” It can all happen at once. The worst time for flood management is during a flood. Arks are best built before them.
(3) Pray. Not just for “things to happen” but for your own preparation for “things”. You might not be seeing fruit because you’re not mature enough yet to bear much. People think that crises form character, but it’s more true to say that crises reveal character – the character that is formed in the quiet, unspectacular, everyday grind.
(4) Think. Your mission may be barely developing, but it could be on an exponential growth curve. Just the flat, early bit. But that’s where the curve is formed, by wise decisions at the beginning. Twitter recently reported that it processes 1 billion tweets every week. But the first billion tweets took 3 years, 2 months and 1 day. And yet they were the crucial years when the platform was developed.
What’s worse that being a fired-up sacred agent when nothing’s happening? The realisation, when it all suddenly happens, that you were completely unprepared.
Like this:
Popcorn Theology
Evangelism – articulating the gospel – might not the biggest part of our mission (remember 90% of success is showing up), but it’s certainly a critical part. ‘Reeling in’ may only be one percent of fishing, but it’s a pretty important one percent! Worth getting good at.
Some forms of evangelism focus mainly on the facts – what God has done for us in Christ, and what it means. Such evangelism comes across as a lecture or course, which is both a strength and weakness. People in our culture understand ‘courses’ and how to access information. The downside of laying-down-the-facts evangelism, however, is the risk of the gospel becoming a list of doctrines for people to agree with. The facts are vital, but there’s more to evangelism than the facts.
Other forms of evangelism focus mainly on the challenge. Think of the street-preachers. How awkward when this element is over-emphasized, too in-your-face with “If you were to die tonight” and “You’re under God’s wrath.” But there’s no denying that the personal challenge or invitation is an important part of evangelism. God is calling, appealing, proposing to people he loves, and through us!
But how do we go about informing the facts-resistant and challenging the action-resistant? Talk about daunting! Well, consider the brilliant tool used by Jesus and so many effective evangelists since: Story. Stories are incredibly powerful-yet-subtle carriers of both facts and challenge. The Gospels show Jesus as a master storyteller, and he said that (we) gospel-tellers are “like a rich man who brings out of his storehouse both new treasures as well as old.”
In our culture the most skillful story-tellers are in Hollywood. With semi-interested people, you can do much worse than to watch Les Miserables or The Matrix (or something more recent!) and draw out from them the incredible gospel parallels. I knew a church that had a regular movie afternoon and never failed, off the back of it, to have a great, deep, gospel conversations. They called it “Popcorn Theology.” Love it. What movies would you choose?
Ninety Percent of Success
This Sunday our church will commission our dear friends John & Amanda Bethell, with their family, to plant a church in Port Augusta. We’re excited, nervous, heart-broken, and thrilled. Who can say how it will all turn out?
But they have a great plan. I’ll let you in on some top secret, cutting edge, world’s best practice church planting strategy: They are moving there.
If, as Woody Allen said, ninety percent of success is just showing up, then by the time you read this they will be High Distinction church planters. It sounds so incredibly obvious, but let’s not take it for granted.
Actually, physically, personally, getting out there and among the people is what separates missionaries from the missionally-aspirational. Reading missional church books and discussing mission doesn’t make me missional. Subscribing to (or even writing) the Sacred Agents blog doesn’t make me such an agent – unless I go to those to whom I am sent.
I come across many people who wonder why their community doesn’t join their church, when their church has never really joined the community. How many in the church are members of a local sporting club or other community organization?
I remember one rural church telling me wistfully of a time when they were the centre of the community. I asked them, “What’s the centre now?” and with one voice they said “The football club”. “What connection does your church have to the club?” I asked. “Any players? Umpires? Volunteers? Could the church become a sponsor?”
They won’t come to you if you won’t go to them. That’s the very essence of mission. Missiologists call it the incarnational principle. Jesus calls it leaving the 99 and going after the 1. Woody Allen calls it showing up.
A church wanting to turn its missional aspirations into mission could do worse than to draw a map of just where, how, and with whom the church is actually connected. As for the Bethells, they’ll both be working as doctors in Port Augusta. What a great place to start work on the other 10% of success.
Like this:
Christougenniadendraphobia
It’s the fear of Christmas Trees. And it’s more serious than you think.
This week North Korea warned its southern neighbours against the erection of a giant Christmas tree on a hill near the border, where it can be seen from a North Korean city. Read the full story here.
North Korea’s official website labelled the tree “a mean attempt at psychological warfare”, saying “The enemy warmongers … should be aware that they should be held responsible entirely for any unexpected consequences that may be caused by their scheme.”
Now, see, that’s why we need to be so careful. That’s why it’s so preferable to say “Season’s greetings”, to sing Jingle Bells rather than carols, to display a Santa rather than a nativity scene. People get offended. Even by a Christmas tree (that most biblical of symbols), let alone a direct mention of, well, you-know-who. J—s.
So what do we Sacred Agents do with this, apart from rolling our eyes and making cynical comments to one another? (Like At least they didn’t offend environmentalists by using an actual tree, or Psychological warfare? If they’d wanted to do that, they’d have lit up a giant Westfield sign) What can we learn? Here are a couple of thoughts…
It Takes Two to Tango.
The picture of the giant tree brought this verse to my mind: “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3) Perhaps like me you wince in response to Christmas cards, songs and plays misquoting the angel as saying “Peace on earth, and good will to all men.” Many wince at the words “peace on earth” as if it is some sort of mistake in the Bible. U2 wrote a song about it. Where do we see peace on earth? Certainly not on the Korean peninsular this year. Many see it as a failure on God’s part.
But think about it. Peace cannot be imposed, only offered. It takes two to make peace.
Yet sometimes the offer of peace is not received in the spirit in which it is offered. Sometimes the offer of peace is rejected as “psychological warfare.” What a good thing that the official North Korean website doesn’t actually speak for the souls of all North Koreans!
“Peace on earth and goodwill to all men” is a terrible mistranslation of Luke 2:14. What the angel said is “(Glory to God in the highest and) peace on earth to people of goodwill.” It’s an announcement that, to the glory of God, peace is offered to people who will receive it. On God’s incredibly generous terms – the Saviour will bear the expense. The Bible isn’t wrong, it’s incredibly realistic – there will be many who are not of goodwill, who love darkness even in the presence of light, because their deeds are evil, and they fear exposure. Christougenniadendraphobia is just a symptom of christophobia.
Finding a Person of Peace Takes Courage.
In an excellent recent blog post, church planter Ben Sternke reckons he’s come across the key to finding “persons of peace” (Luke 10:6). I think he’s on to something.
The key, says Sternke, is the willingness to find persons of un-peace. Jesus anticipates this in his further instructions to his Agents. But do we?
If we’re looking for a missional strategy that offends no-one, that keeps all doors open, that doesn’t “put anyone off Jesus”, then don’t dare put up a Christmas tree, let alone mention the Birthday Boy. There is no such effective strategy. Our message, God’s offer, will be rejected. We as messengers will be abused. An agent is not above his handler; if they abused him, they will abuse us also.
This does not give us license to be arrogant, insensitive, or abusive ourselves. The medium is the message. But the message is not “God loved the world so much that he did nothing because he didn’t want to be perceived as manipulative.” The message is “peace on earth to people of goodwill.” And there are some out there, and those courageous enough to shine brightly in the darkness will find them.
Merry Christmas, grace and peace, Sacred Agents!
