Hit and run evangelism

Hit and run evangelism

I can relate to this story, and I find the idea of non-violent communication mentioned here very interesting. We all want to connect to one another as human beings, regardless of belief. That's what I longed for in my days in a small church, where we were being trained to hand out tracts.

Matter of fact, I got evangelised the other day in Albert Park. Shame. I really felt for the old man who was talking to me; he had so much good intentions and I believe a caring heart, but he was a talker, not a listener.

Unlike the story I've linked to, this guy was able to talk with me for quite a while, but it was definitely along scripted lines. He stopped when I told him I was a born again Christian, and gave me a couple of booklets he'd written.

Even though we were on common ground now, there was still a huge distance between us. He wasn't talking to me as a person, he was talking to me as a Christian. Big difference.

And now that I'm getting back into church, and getting back on track, I need to remember that. It's easy to get sucked back into 'churchianity', the culture Michael Card sings about in Present Reality:

A once a week observance
Where we coldly mouth your words

Sometimes I get anxious about this, and God has a way of slipping in something to ease my mind. Like our church holding a conference to leaders for the express purpose of helping us love better. Nothing more, nothing less. Wow. If there's anything the Church as a whole needs more, it's that.

I used to think if people saw some of the cool Christian stuff there was, they'd be impressed and want to know more. They've seen it. Christian stuff - music, books, movies - is in the mainstream, at least in US culture, and the people I talk with aren't impressed.

It's not our minds, or our short term emotions that need to be engaged. To a skeptical world armed with head knowledge and philosophy which can explain anything away, God wants to prove Himself to people through other people who can love. That's a very serious, very long-term programme.

Thank God He's committed to it!

Being known

^"But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—"
Galatians 4:9a

Tonight as Marie and I prayed I just felt the reality of being known by God in a profound way. Nothing big, just a quiet knowing that he sees right through me. I saw it as a picture - like my skin was transparent and my skeleton was visible. But not in a yucky way. ;)

I just sat there for a while and soaked in the sense of being known by my Father. Because I'm realising that I know myself very little. I've had a sense of honesty as long as I've been self-aware, but when it comes to things of the heart, I realise I'm not too familiar with myself at all. It's not that I'm being dishonest, I just don't honestly know what's in my heart sometimes. Thank God that He does - and He still loves me.

Telegraph | Expat | The Bible for slow readers

Telegraph | Expat | The Bible for slow readers

Nice idea. I like their clearly defined target audience: those in search of faith, or Christians who want to be refreshed in their experience with the Bible. (Those are my words)

Sometimes we get so hung up over the fact that the Bible is God's Word that we fear presenting it in a relevant way. To people of that mindset I say just present it in the original Hebrew or Greek and let people learn the languages if they really want to seek.

Some stuff in the old testament is more easily understood with charts etc. than paragraphs, yet because the information was stored in words, it was able to be passed down more accurately to us. God knew what He was doing :) Diagrams may not have survived the hands of many scribes as well as letters and characters.

Telegraph | Expat | Missionaries desert the Dark Continent to convert the secular French

Not that this is news, but kind of refreshing to find a comment about Christianity in the mainstream media that's not laced with sarcasm or negativity. Much.

The article's about British evangelical mission organisations sending people to France and Spain.

Quote:

"[Europe]'s geographical proximity and relative lack of Bible-based Protestant churches has made it increasingly alluring territory for British evangelicals. Moreover, large parts of the Third World are now so teeming with Christians that they are no longer seen as obvious destinations - and they are even exporting their own missionaries to the West."

This last bit is so true. I can't remember where I read it, but it said that Africa and Asia are now sending more missionaries back to Europe than the other way around.

Another article (or maybe the same one, can't remember?) was saying that figures showing which religion is growing fastest (you know, the ones that show Islam is the fastest growing) may be misleading because the statisticians are looking for institutional, traditional expressions of religion - and much of the explosive growth in places like Africa and India is taking place in a far less official way, through the growth of housechurches, etc.

Just like it was in the book of Acts.

The Complex Christ: Stages of Faith - Anxiety, Church and the Freedom to Doubt

The Complex Christ: Stages of Faith - Anxiety, Church and the Freedom to Doubt

I like this! I wish I'd read stuff like this YEARS ago. Particularly:

"...anxiety comes from not being able to know the world you're in, not being able to orient yourself in your own existence."

Link: Rendering unto Caesar

Rendering unto Caesar

Ole Anthony runs a Christian satirical magazine called The Door. Trouble with satire sometimes is you don't know what the satirist actually believes. Thankfully, his eloquent editorials answer that question.

With an election looming, and Christians in politics all over the place, this article is very timely.

I don't have a problem with Christians going for office - after all, Daniel and Joseph occupied very high positions of authority, and the book of Acts mentions an important member of Herod's household as being part of the Antioch eldership. But it's interesting that, in Daniel and Joseph's case, they were forced into the position; they didn't seek it.

Also a few thoughts on the verse at the heart of Ole's editorial: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

I think a lot of people get this verse upside down and around the wrong way, thinking that Caesar (or the government, or the world) has some bits, and God has the remainder. Look at what Jesus said:

"Show me the coin used for paying the tax ... Whose portrait is this? Whose inscription?"

"Caesar's," they replied.

Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.

(Matthew 22:19-21)

Let's turn the question around. A bit like Jeopardy!

What are we talking about if "God" is the answer and "Whose portrait is this? Whose inscription?" is the question?

Answer: The Earth is the Lord's and everything in it!

Sure, Caesar's got his head on the coin. But it's not a matter of two equal halves, sacred and secular, it's more a case of concentric circles - God's delegated authority to man (leaders who often ignore Him) and God's sovereign authority over space and time.

Does that help me with the upcoming election? Kind of. As with last time, I'm voting United Future - a secular party with a lot of Christians in it, and values that Christians can ally with.

Having shown my card, I'll now go and eat some pizza. Mmm!

More on idolatry

The "I" word sparked a furore in the comments section of this blog. I think Adam misunderstood my highly personal and idiosyncratic telling of the story. After all, I was in my "personal space" writing, using a lot of mental shortcuts that make sense to me but may mean something different to others. So... to clarify:

By idolatry, I don't mean that I was making blood sacrifices to a stone image of Beelzebub. I simply mean that the project we were all working on was becoming more important than God.

To couch it in pluralistic terms, I was out of balance. And in hindsight I could see that Adam was even further out of balance - in his own words he said the project was his life.

And while that's not unusual in art, particularly in the movie business (Kurosawa, Scorcese, etc.), I found myself at a crossroads.

Do you want to go down the path of those legendary artists? Or do you want to forsake that for the transcendent (God)?

Reminds me of a book I read in 2001, called "Work: Prison or Place of Destiny". The author, David Oliver, said there's only one thing that comes close to knowing God, and that's work.

Working with purpose can be so astoundingly fulfilling that it blinds us to our need for relationship with the Creator himself.

Or, as Michael Card puts it in his book "Emmanuel", imagine if his wife gives him a beautiful gift for Christmas and he hugs the book, gives it a big kiss and ignores his wife. How does God feel?

And in the end, that's what it comes down to.

The Campus Confession Booth - LeadershipJournal.net

A brilliant story from Donald Miller about how a confession booth in the middle of a university campus started some great conversations.

Sandra, thanks for recommending Donald Miller. His name leapt out at me from the LeadershipJournal newsletter I got this morning; otherwise I may have missed this article.

The cost of idolatry

Over the past few months, culminating last night, God has shown me the cost of idolatry.

I've been involved in a project fuelled with passion, something completely absorbing. One of those things that get you real excited... keep you up at night thinking... make you feel that this is what you were born to do.

In other words, an idol.

I didn't realise this until it all fell apart. And in the heart-searching process in the midst of the fallout, I realised that idolatry feels good. Otherwise we wouldn't build idols, because we humans do what feels good.

As with many profound things, it sounds so amazingly simple in the light of day, but it's another thing to go through a disintegrative kind of experience to find out. A sort of mini-meltdown.

So, last night at church, God made me aware of what I'd been doing - not putting Him first. Not in an accusing, condemning way. But very definitely.

He deserves first place in absolutely every area of my life. And anything less than that is ... idolatry.

I also realised there is nothing casual about my relationship with God. Yes, He is the only One with whom I can be completely myself, yes, I am like a helpless child in His strong arms. But effort is required on my part to take what He gives me and live it out in this world, this creation that goes contrary to His way. The present world darkness that "kicks against the goads".

I'm back on the dentist's chair, realising that even though this world sounds very moral, sensible and impartial, we are either in rebellion against God, or not.

I'm on His side again.

Self deception

This email from Robert Holmes is very interesting. Particularly the part about remembering peoples' names - something I have difficulty doing. As the article says, "what's my excuse"? ;)

Self Deception
Robert I Holmes

What if I told you that you were suffering from a malady, a sickness, a
disease of some kind. But it did not show signs, or remarkable symptoms to
the sick person. Furthermore, those symptoms were readily visible to anyone
else who looked. You'd feel a little queasy, as I did when I first learned
the lesson contained in this article.

The issue of self deception is very difficult. People do not know they are
suffering from it because they cannot see it in themselves. They are quick
to diagnose someone else who is struggling to see clearly, but ourselves?
Jesus called this the "log in the eye" syndrome.

Because we are all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we have within our
human frame a hunger for the fruit they ate. We devour fruit born from the
knowledge of good and evil. This fruit bears poor results in our lives. It
creates a kind of myopia, a one-eyed-ness. We view the world in a certain
way, that shifts values toward us, and blame away from us. "It was the woman
you gave me," Adam says, turning the attention to Eve. "Hey, it was the
snake!" she says.

We believe we are better than we really are, and others are worse than they
really are. Bill Hybels says, "We judge ourselves by our intentions and
others by their actions". So true.

An example from real life

Consider a husband and a wife lying in bed with the baby crying. They are
both awake, yet both pretending to be asleep. Each one lies there, thinking
of a good reason why they should not get up. "Doesn't she know I am tired?"
the man says to himself. "I have worked hard all day, she's not even
grateful. Lazy girl". She is thinking, "Doesn't he appreciate how much hard
work motherhood is? I bet he doesn't think it is even real work! I'm tired,
I deserve a break".

This simple example illustrates what the Arbinger Institute has come to call
a "self betrayal" - when you do not follow through on your better instincts.
As a results, we distort our view or paradigm of life to justify ourselves
and condemn others. Anthropologists call it "demonising" others and "angelising"
ourselves.

This is the fruit of knowing good and evil. We have knowledge, and we think
that by it, we are improved. But we rarely stop to examine our assumptions.
Not all knowledge is good knowledge. We think of ourselves as good, and
others as evil. It justifies our treatment of them, for they are something
less than human. We are starting, ever so gradually to "dehumanize" them.

We call this, self deception. In teams and groups it leads to group
deception. This is how Hitler was able to justify destroying the Jews, by
making them less than human. This is why the Evangelical Church in Germany
let Nazi Imperialism evolve. In fact they called Hitler a messiah! This is
why the Afrikaner church largely failed to confront Apartheid, and why the
American church is content with capitalism. What we have is better (or best)
so we think.

It belongs to me!

I was in a leadership meeting for a local church recently. Each member was
asked to be honest about what they saw going on in the church and
leadership. Consider this comment, made by one of the ladies there: "It's
dysfunctional, but hey, at least it's MY dysfunctional!" Crazy as it sounds,
we all laughed, because that's how we feel. "I know it's not working, but at
least it belongs to me!" I can just hear Dr Phil McGraw looking into the
camera and saying, "So how's that workin' for ya?".

Everyone around you knows it's not working, but they cannot help you. You
will not acknowledge your "disease" because of fear, guilt, shame or hurt.
Even those who give lip service to the fact that "we are all sinners", are
rarely found to be repenting. They see the fault in others, but not
themselves. Or if they do repent, they do not go on to bear the fruit of
that repentance. Jesus said it's like, "The blind leading the blind" (Matt.
15:14).

Why do you want to stay deceived?

The truth is, you built the world you live in. So why would you complain
about it? If you want change. change yourself. But most of us do not change.
We cling to our dysfunction. Why would we cling to being "right" or better,
when it just isn't working? The answer is simple, yet dreadful. We cling to
"it's mine" because of a secondary payoff, or a second class gain.

Consider an example that happens in church after church, and business after
business. A man is being raised up in leadership, and decides he will vie
for control. The team do not think it's time, and ask him to wait. But the
man says, "You don't recognise my gift, I am far better at this than the
present leader". So off he goes, taking a handful of people with him. The
man is choosing (in many cases) to be the captain of a tug-boat, instead of
the second mate on a larger trading vessel. Why? Because of secondary gain.
He is willing to suffer one kind of harm, for another kind of (second class)
gain.

· Why do abused women stay with their husbands?
· Why do children stay with their alcoholic mother?
· Why does a sick person not get up for prayer, or to see a doctor?

Because there is a secondary gain.

You're willing to put up with the initial abuse, because of the secondary
gain. Things like money, power, sex, finances, pride, prestige. what's the
pay off for staying deceived? What's the pay off for leaving things as they
are.? Consider the cost though, consider the damage being done to those
around you, and to yourself.

An example

I had a friend who trained as a palliative care nurse. Her work involved
looking after people who were dieing. Her father was very sick, dying of a
disease that could not be cured. Eventually the insurance payments stopped,
and her dad's life was threatened. So she built a hospital room in her
house, and took care of him herself. This appears noble, and her motives
were fine. But somewhere between this fine beginning and the day we met, her
motives had changed.

Dad had become the object of her affection, but not because of his position
as father. Not even because of his frailty. It turned out, the state paid
her quite well to keep him that way. She had every reason to seclude her
life and avoid church. It was so bad by the time I got in on the story that
she defended her father against "witchcraft" and "speaking negatively" so he
would not die. Meanwhile her calling in God was atrophied. The word of the
Lord to her was, "Your father is going to die, prepare your heart to go out
and minister in My name". Instead of embracing this call, she told us to
leave!

The secondary gain was worth it (in her mind), and the cost of obedience was
too high. Shortly though, God called her father home, and her little world
fell apart. Her finances struggled. Her identity, held so long as primary
care giver, was corroded. Her call in God needed a kick-start.

Seeing people as people

I mentioned before that we tend to demonise people, and angelise ourselves
when we go ahead and justify our self-betrayals. (When we fail to live up to
the expectation of our heart, we betray ourselves).

The answer lies in seeing people as they really are. As people! We need to
face our circumstances as they really are, and unmask our choices for what
they really hide. Let me ask you,

· Do you see people, or objects? How would you know?
· Do you know people's names?
· Is there a response inside you which says "I need x from this person."?

My father worked on a Naval ship, which had 350 men serving on it. The
Captain could remember every man's name, and even most of their wife's and
children's names. That Captain went on to become an Admiral. Why? Because
people mattered to him. Many people I talk to say, "I just cannot remember
peoples names" as though it were a fault especial to themselves. Here's the
wake up call. The University of California produced a study on the human
brain, which concluded that the right brain could remember 1 million faces,
and the left brain can code four pieces of information against those faces.
So what's your excuse?

Getting out of the trap

You can escape self deception in four easy ways:

· The first key is to acknowledge the fact that we are deceived.
· The second key is to see people as they really are
· The third key is to find out what your secondary gain is
· The fourth key is to ask those around you to help you

References

"Leadership and Self Deception", The Arbinger Institute
Hybels, Bill. "Who you are When No One is Looking"
McGraw, Phil, Dr. "Getting Real", Audio Series.

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