Anti-Missional Language

I recently overheard a pastor describing all the things his church is doing to be “missional” in the community. Listening to his conversation, I shuddered at his choice of words.

If missional means going to the people in ways they understand, I’m afraid this leader loses the intended audience the moment he opens his mouth.

Words matter. In fact, the words we use can draw people closer to Jesus—or push them away.

Some of us have been marinated in churchy language for a lifetime. Some of our words have no meaning whatsoever to the non-churched. (Some have no meaning to a lot of the churched people either.) And some words actually have negative and unhelpful connotations to our missional audience.

Many of the words we use “inside the shop” are good terms with rich meaning—to us. But using them outside of our ecclesiastical clique often hurts our cause. They aren’t “bad” words. They just don’t translate well to regular people.

In my work with our teams at Group Publishing and Lifetree Café we’ve ruled out words that we know don’t communicate well with those outside the Christian clique. Here are a few of those:

• “The lost.” Even those who are looking for God find that term insulting.
• “Saved.” Even if people have a clue what someone is saved from, they often associate the term with that weird sidewalk preacher on a soapbox.
• “The Word.” What “word”? Is it a four-letter word?
• “Narthex.” Or any other churchy word that describes a place or practice that is unknown outside our circles. Most of these terms sound like skin diseases.
• “Burden.” Sounds like bad baggage. A very negative word for a good cause.
• “Parish.” You die there?

What’s your favorite bit of Christianese jargon?

If we wish to help people follow Jesus, we must choose language that communicates well beyond our little clubhouse.

Outreach: Why Not Do What Works?

What really works to bring people into authentic relationship with Jesus? And where is your church spending its effort?

Today’s churches (and individuals) take different approaches to what’s often called outreach, evangelism or being missional. Loads of time, money and attention are spent on certain techniques. Some bear fruit. Many provide paltry results.

Some common approaches:

• Academic. This approach includes the teaching ministries of sermons, Bible studies and Sunday school. The assumption is, “If they hear the information, they’ll believe.”

• Transactional. This “sales-oriented” approach may involve crusades and altar calls. The emphasis centers on “closing the sale” or creating urgency for making a decision for Christ.

• Service or event. These approaches include community service days, giveaways at public events, movie showings, comedy concerts, worship services, etc. Proponents believe a good deed leads to belief.

• Relational. This approach is commonly called friendship or personal or lifestyle evangelism. Practitioners introduce Jesus to their friends and relatives through conversation.

So, what works? Different researchers have come to similar conclusions. Here’s a typical result from Church Growth, Inc.:

1. Academic efforts: Sunday school accounts for 5%. Pastors account for 6%.

2. Transactional efforts: Evangelistic crusades account for less than 1%.

3. Service and events: Special need efforts account for 2%. Church services and programs account for 3%.

4. Relational efforts: Friends and relatives account for 78%.

All of these methods can help bring non-believers closer to a relationship with Jesus. But one of them obviously produces far greater results.

If we’re serious about spreading the Good News, it’s time to be intentional about being relational. Some practical ways to invest in what works:

• Equip members with natural and conversational skills to talk about their faith. (Check out Doug Pollock’s God Space book.)
• Provide opportunities for members to actually practice talking about God with friends. (Check out Lifetree Café.)
• Allow time in worship and program times for people to engage in one-to-one conversation about God.
• Plan special events for families and friends to gather together and engage in guided conversation about faith in Christ.

Invest in what works.

Sacred Cows: Not Just in India

Everywhere we traveled in India, they were there—in the streets, on the sidewalks, even in the shops. Bovines—sacred cows.

They’re part of the landscape in urban India. Though we found their presence peculiar, the locals were obviously accustomed to them. The people didn’t seem to necessarily like them or touch them. They just let them wander, and avoided interfering with them.

If anyone hits or hurts a sacred cow, it’s serious trouble. You’ll be fined and perhaps jailed.

Observing these sacred cows brought to mind a number of characteristics that may go beyond India. See what you think.

• Sacred cows become obstacles and impede progress.
• Sacred cows confuse the uninitiated.
• People forget why the cows are sacred.
• Sacred cows are immune to criticism.
• Sacred cows leave a mess behind.
• Sacred cows are idols.

So, I began to jot down a list of cows in my land of the sacred—the church. Just for fun. Here are a few:

• The same order of worship
• Standing for the singalong
• The 20-minute lecture called a sermon
• The ban of attaching anything to walls
• No food or drink in the sanctuary

These are some of the untouchables. The sacred cows.

Any you’d add or subtract?

Adoring Crowds and Ministry Success

“Our worship attendance has grown from 100 to 500 in just the last year.” “We have over 75 kids in the youth group.”

Numbers. They’re the currency of ministry. The crowd has become the definition of ministry success.

But if crowds indicate success and effectiveness, Jesus’ ministry was a bust. The crowds turned out to see this famous guy. They sometimes assembled in large numbers to hear an inspiring word or glimpse a miracle. They lined the streets on Palm Sunday like fans at a Hollywood red-carpet awards show.

But a week later the adoring crowds turned away.

Jesus’ true effectiveness, his real disciples, did not come from the crowds. He changed the world through his personal interaction with a small number.

It’s likely true for you too. You have the power of the resurrected Christ within you to change lives. One by one. Who will in turn change other lives. One by one.

People in ministry are all about encouraging faith. That’s not a crowd thing. You don’t mass-produce faith. It’s an individual thing, a relational thing.

We tell our Lifetree Cafe branches that it’s not about the numbers. It’s about the narratives. When thinking and talking about this ministry, we urge leaders to tell the stories about what God is doing in people’s lives. Don’t focus on the numbers. Focus on the narratives.

I received an email this morning from Katie, a volunteer at a Lifetree in Indiana. She told her story of sitting with three new people from the community. She raved about how the experience “steered the conversation. They asked questions left and right about my faith.” She told how she shared her faith story, in a very natural way, with these curious new friends.

God worked through Katie. Not through a crowd. But through a faithful disciple who engaged in a natural conversation with three wanderers who trusted her with their questions.

Take time today to celebrate your Jesus-inspired success. Not in the size of the crowd. But in the individuals God has placed around you.

Uncomplicating the Simple Truth

The eyes of the small boy in rural India drew me in. He was filled with wonder as he heard about Jesus for the first time this morning.

He lives in a country populated mostly with Hindus, some Muslims, and just 3 percent Christians. 

At the vacation Bible school program today the boy heard the simple truth of the gospel. He learned his afterlife does not depend on his own good works or rituals. He heard the simple good news about the love that Jesus has for him.

At the end of the day, the boy said, “This is so good. The whole world needs to know about Jesus!”

Yes. I was struck with the simple beauty of our faith. Our God has offered a relationship with him so simple that even an illiterate child can become a member of the Body in full standing. 

Jesus went out of his way to highlight a child’s faith as the gold standard of a relationship with him. And over and over he invited people from all walks of life to simply join him. To simply believe, to trust in him. 

But to the religious elite, the Pharisees, he was a bit too simple. While they sneered and engaged in their theological nitpicking, Jesus kept it simple. “Whoever believes in me has eternal life.” And he simplified how to live for him, summed up in his two commandments: love God, love others. 

Sadly, religious elitism did not die 2,000 years ago. We’ve bought into a religious system that implies that only the professionals who’ve spent years studying theological nuances should speak about God. This mindset has only cemented our religious consumer mentality. We go to church to sit passively and consume from the paid professionals. We’re intimidated into silence when it comes to talking about God. The unintended hidden curriculum has convinced us that the Christian faith is way too complicated for the common person to explain.

The theology geeks of our day relish debating convoluted doctrinal purity in our seminaries, on the web, and in books and journals. It seems the stuff Jesus talked about is too elementary. They’ve moved on to “deep” studies.

Meanwhile our culture’s majority wanders in spiritual confusion and emptiness. Through my work with Lifetree Cafe, I’ve become intimately sensitized to the thinking of the non-believer. I hear their longings and questions every week. They’re not seeking–or needing–sophisticated complex theological elitism. 

But they are intrigued with the same simple truth that captivated the little boy in India.

Let the religious elites argue endlessly among themselves. May the rest of us avoid the theological jargon, the hair-splitting, and the complexity. May we simply follow Jesus. If he didn’t spend time parsing theological minutia then it’s not important for us either. 

We’re in good company talking about the wonder of the living God, his unfailing love for us, his interest and activity in our everyday lives, and his invitation to follow the ways of his Son. It’s stuff that even a child can grasp. 

Teaching Faith to Yawning Students

“If you just have enough information, then you’ll believe–and behave.” That seems to be the unspoken hope in the church today.

Helping others love and follow Jesus has become an academic exercise–an attempted transfer of information. Though we call our faith a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, we attempt to sell it as an academic subject.

Stop and think about how the church’s academic approach looks to the uninitiated. You arrive at the church location that is called a “campus.” You enter a building that’s set up like a school lecture hall–rows of seating all directed toward the teacher.

After a singalong time, you sit quietly while a “teaching pastor” lectures on a “lesson” based on the “text” of the day. He urges you to take notes on a fill-in-the-blank handout. Your children are separated into age-graded “Sunday school” classes. Your teenagers are called, inexplicably, “students” by the “student pastor” who “teaches” in the “student ministry.”

Then, if you show interest in furthering your education, you’re asked to “register” for the membership “class.” If you pass that class, you graduate to a Bible “study” to be educated into discipleship.

It seems to be a calculated academic system designed to mass-produce homogenous classes of pupils. But, oddly, it seems to bear no resemblance to the building of a relationship–with another person or with Jesus. Actual relationships do not emulate an academic model.

Real relationships thrive on two-way conversation, sharing stories with one another, doing things together, and building trust. And the typical friendship-forming place is warm, friendly and non-institutional, such as a cozy cafe.

Learning about one another is a part of a healthy relationship. But think about a good relationship you enjoy. Did your real learning come through academic regimens? Or did you learn by doing?

Don’t get me wrong. Education has a place in the church. Learning about God is a very good thing. But we run into trouble when the form overtakes the function, when the rigidity of the system actually fights against the desired outcome.

When it comes to pursuing the most important relationship in life, perhaps it’s time to treat it as a real relationship.

Friendless in Ministry

The old pastor advised the new young minister: “Whatever you do, don’t form any friendships in the church.”

I’ve often heard this advice in the church and in business. The fears of friendship seem to center around several factors:
• “The friendship will fail, and you’ll be hurt.”
• “You can’t converse with friends and maintain confidentiality.”
• “Some will accuse you of playing favorites with your friends.”
• “When you get close to people you’ll expose your imperfections, and that’s dangerous to your leadership.”

A pastor of a large church once told me, “Friendships are just a series of paper cuts.” He proudly proclaimed he had no friends inside—or outside—his church.

He’s friendless—and bitter, negative, cynical, lonely and disconnected from the real world. And he’s adamant about remaining friendless in ministry. The paper cuts aren’t worth it.

I don’t buy it. Never have—in church or business settings.

Friendships—in and out of the workplace—keep us healthier, happier, better adjusted, and more empathic. For those of us in leadership, friendships also keep us more connected, humble, and real.

But aren’t there risks? Of course. Good things involve risks. But the abundant returns are worth the risks.

The risks were worth it for Jesus too. He didn’t let his sense of ministry keep him from forming friendships in his team. He didn’t allow his leadership prohibit him from forming friendships among his followers. He didn’t let the prospect of future betrayal keep him forming friendships in his team.

The world’s authority on relationships in ministry said, “I no longer call you servants. I call you friends.” (John 15:15)

May we follow his lead.

Concluding God Is Mere History

In years of Sunday school, Johnny heard hundreds of Bible stories. Then he graduated to years of Bible studies. Eventually he went off to college, and concluded that God is dead.

How could this happen? What went wrong? How could Johnny’s church, known for its strong Bible teaching, produce a young man with such an ungodly conclusion?

Johnny heard all about the historical God. He heard about the One who lived, died, rose and ascended into Heaven. He heard about hundreds of years of God’s story, recorded in colorful detail in the Bible.

Then, 2,000 years ago, God’s story ended. To him, God is history.

Johnny is not alone. Millions tend to think of God in the past tense. They too heard the Bible stories. They heard how God acted in the past, how he did miraculous things, how he loved his people. Then his beautiful story came to an end. Apparently.

They don’t hear the stories of God’s continuing wondrous interactions with his people all around us.

Unknowingly, have we focused more on the Bible than its author? Have we so emphasized the history of the Bible that we’ve doused the idea that God is still alive, still at work, still desperately loving his imperfect creations–us?

Some preach that what ails our culture is primarily a lack of Bible knowledge. I’m not so sure. It’s not as much an academic problem as it is a relational problem. Too often people don’t think of God as a real living friend, companion, redeemer, and everyday miracle doer.

They hunger for a real, living, present-day God. We get a glimpse of this longing in the popularity of books such as the #1 best-seller “Heaven Is for Real,” the account of a sick little boy who reported a visit to Heaven. This week our Lifetree Cafe tested a filmed interview with the book’s author. Record numbers of people overflowed into every showing we offered. They were so eager to hear a present-day account of the real God. And they shared stories of their own “God sightings.”

Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not advocating less Bible reading. I love the Bible. My company publishes Bibles, for Heaven’s sake! I’m merely suggesting that every time we talk about God in the past tense, we also make room to talk about God in the present tense. Our children, youth, and adults need and hunger for a steady diet of God stories that continue today. They need and want to know that God is still in the God business.

We need to tell real-life stories of God at work today. And, especially, we need to devote time for our people to tell one another how God is actively at work in their lives. In this Internet age we see the influential power of consumer reviews. We’ll buy if our peers give a good report. In the church, it’s time to reconsider and re-energize what many called testimony time.

The scriptures have been around a long time. The ancients had the Word. But the Father knew his beloved people needed more. They needed to know he wasn’t just history. They needed to know he lives among them.

The Word became flesh.

Eavesdropping a Church Planter

Overheard at a Starbucks somewhere in America:

CHURCH PLANTER: Hi there. I’m Tyler.

REGULAR GUY: Hi, I’m Guy.

PLANTER: Hi, Guy. Hey, I’m new in town, and I’m starting a new church called The Ride.

GUY: A church? Don’t we have like 100 of those already?

PLANTER: Well, yeah, but The Ride is different.

GUY: Different? So your services aren’t made up of sing-along songs and preaching?

PLANTER: Well, yeah, but we do better songs.

GUY: I don’t sing. At least not in public.

PLANTER: Well, that’s just the warm-up for the other half—the message.

GUY: Do you mean the preaching?

PLANTER: Well, we don’t call it that. No one likes to be preached at.

GUY: Yeah. I’d rather have more of a conversation.

PLANTER: So, Guy, what are you looking for in a church?

GUY: You’re assuming I’m looking for a church.

PLANTER: Oh. No, no. I’m sorry. Let me start over. I think a lot of people are looking for a small gathering of people, just to talk about life and how God fits into it all.

GUY: That sounds good. I like small. So, your goal is to have a small community?

PLANTER: Well, of course we’d like to see it grow into a large church eventually.

GUY: So that’s what you’re after?

PLANTER: Well, I believe God has a big vision for us.

GUY: Okay. Nice talking with you. Good luck with The Ride.

What the Web Says About Your Church

You can tell a lot about a product from its packaging. Apple’s simple white product boxes radiate a promise of cool technology inside. Hormel’s old-style blue cans remind you that the slippery cold meat inside still lives up to its name of Spam.

I’ve found you can tell a lot about a church from its packaging as well. How a church chooses to depict itself in print and on the web often tells you a lot about its approach to ministry.

Just for fun, I cruised the websites of churches I know in my area and around the country. What I found was a close tie between cosmetic imaging and ministry values. What the churches pictured on their websites tended to reflect what’s most important to them. Not in every case. But in most.

So, here’s a quick analysis of my findings. I’ll group the prominent web images under general ministry value headings.

THE PRESENTATION
The church is on the stage. Prominent images: preachers preaching, singers, guitars.

THE PROPERTY
The church is the building. Prominent images: church buildings, church interiors, church signs.

THE TRADITION
The church is the same. Prominent images: stained glass, solemn pew-sitters.

THE INFORMATION
The church is the distributor of accurate data. Prominent images: none—just words.

THE HIPNESS
The church is cool. Prominent images: trendy graphics, jeans.

THE RELATIONSHIP
The church is the Body of Christ—people. Prominent images: people in various settings.

It’s really interesting to see what churches choose to prominently display. One website featured the smiling face of the church custodian. I think I’d like that church.