Missional Missteps: 3 Reasons No One Can Hear You

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Our guest post is from Chris Morton, good friend of ELI. You can read more from Chris’ series on Missional Missteps here.

“…pray for the nations…”
“…family values….”
“…substitutionary atonement…”
“…God spoke to my heart…”
“…separate and apart from the Lord’s Supper…”
“…let your Spirit fill this place…”
“…four point, double predestination…”
“…gospel-centered…”
“…racial reconciliation…”
“…false metanarrative…”

The list could go on and on. Every Sunday, in Churches across the world, we listen to professionals explain theology to us. With years of training, they are paid to be experts, which means precisely knowing the ins and outs of your topic. Doctors know latin words for diseases. Computer scientists know about code. Interior designers know names for colors that others can’t even differentiate. Professional Christians use theological terminology. It’s what makes them professionals.

Add to that the language created by 500 years of Christian tribalism. When Luther broke off the Catholic church he taught about justification by grace. When the Anabaptists broke off they started formulating their peace teachings. Calvin’s followers, in an attempt to differentiate themselves from Arminius, articulated the five points of Calvinism. The results today can be heard in people’s language. Neo-reformed types use the word “gospel” a lot. Charismatics love to talk about “the nations.” Social justice types have used phrases like “racial reconciliation.”

We use these terms because they’re important. Nuanced language is neccessary for discussing nuanced theology. Denominational phraseology helps express hard won, distinctive values. This is good and important, but for a missional practitioner, it is also dangerous. Here are three reasons why:

It means nothing to the secularist who has no theological training.
For the dechurched, it’s a path to bringing back old, painful memories.
It sends a message that you are only interested in talking to people who are already like you.

In a post Christian world, insider terminology is the equivalent of a street corner preacher in Mexico speaking in English. It tells your audience, “I have nothing to say to you.”

So how do you avoid this missional misstep? You do you what the gospel has always done. As Jesus was translated into flesh, the gospel was translated from Aramaic to Greek to Latin, to almost every language on earth. We have to do the same everyday: remember to whom we’ve been sent, and find new ways to translate the gospel for them every day.

Not Alone

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This is a short reminder that church planters are never in it alone. There are others both rejoicing and battling through struggles (sometimes simultaneously!). This story comes from good friends of ELI, Shane and Erin Latham, planters in Brazil.

“We have seen tremendous advances in ministry dreams and efforts like growth in the church… the 12 people taken off the street and placed at our partner recovery retreat. Along with these victories, the kids have been adapting well… and God has been providing enough English students to cover our lack of monthly support… we have seen people come to trust in Jesus through relationships started during English classes.

In short, our marriage, family and ministry life have never felt so meaningful even in the midst of what is certainly one of our leanest financial moments.

Yet it has been difficult to see tragedy after tragedy occur close to home. In the last three weeks we have had two young girls (known to us and our church) killed within blocks of our house (in drug related shootings), and since yesterday we have been working with Andre and Sidi (our local Brazilian partners) as they struggle through the funeral preparations for Sidi’s mother who was senselessly stabbed to death in her home 24 hours ago.

Six months ago, a neighbor lady two blocks over from our house suffered the same fate for the burglary of a dvd and a car. It seems that violence is all around us and I know it has been weighing on our family’s spirit.

There are still more blessings to count than I can write here, like the salvation of two young men in my prison ministry (both in for multiple violent crimes like the ones I’m describing).We are truly partners with you in this endeavor to see new churches planted and new disciples developed in south Brazil and beyond.”

If, as a church planter, you find you feel alone and maybe even forgotten, remember you are part of a movement of people working in different settings but with the same purpose – to raise up a Church out of the culture.

3 Tips for Mobile Ministry

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Did you know that 90% of all americans are within 3 feet of their cell phone at all times?

Drew Goodmanson shared that stat last night at the Biola Digital Ministry Conference. It really got me thinking.

Is your church ready for mobile ministry? Here are a few simple tips to get you started.

Use mobile communication to build, not replace, face-to-face relationships and community.

The church is not a list of people who follow a feed, much less a personality. Church is people who do life together centered around Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Groups and teams can easily use mobile communications to share prayer needs and answers to prayer, as well as pass along important information. Given that people respond to text messages within minutes instead of hours or days, as they do with email, it’s also a great way to pass along important information about activities, events and meetings. This will increase their time together, rather than inhibit it.

Use mobile communication with permission.

The physical mailbox is the place you receive paper you don’t want – I watch my neighbor go to his mailbox, walk to his garbage can and then go back inside empty handed. What you send people in the mail has a lifespan of about 10 steps. Email has become almost the same thing, and filters mean that I probably see only half the emails sent to me. Yet I probably only miss 1 out of 100 text messages. Why? Because only people I know, and want to hear from, text me. So, before you start spamming people’s phones with details about your next meeting, get their permission. Simple tools like this can make it easy: http://teamreminder.com/about.php

Use mobile in the right social space.

Edward Hall introduced the concept of Proxemics back in the 50′s. He refers to public (such as in public speaking), social (with acquaintances), personal (close friends) and intimate (hugging, whispering) spaces. How do we translate this concept of physical space to mobile/digital settings?

I would suggest this:

Your church website is public space, a billboard for all to see.
Your church Facebook page is social space, an online porch where likeminded people hang out and share activities and interests.
Mobile communication, on the other hand, is personal space, a virtual conversation that normally would have taken place face to face, over coffee or a meal. Using mobile communication in the right space means not violating someone’s personal space by using it to spam people with promotional messages.
It also means not expecting it to deliver more than it is capable of – because intimate space requires touching, and you can’t do that with a cell phone.

The Two Things You HAVE to Do to Reach People

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If you’re a church leader and you want your church to reach the unchurched, the de-churched, the disconnected, there are two things you HAVE to do. These two ways of doing ministry CANNOT be compromised. If you do just these two things, you will see an increased effectiveness in reaching people that will be visible to your entire congregation.

1. YOU have to care about the unchurched yourself. You have to be praying for people who don’t know Jesus. You have to have relationships with people who don’t know Jesus. You need to know your neighbors, you need to know people your kids are connected to. If you want your church to reach out to people who are disconnected from Jesus, you have to care for people who are disconnected from Jesus. Not because they will help your church be bigger, but because you so desperately want to see people experience life and eternity with God.

2. You have to speak in a way that unchurched and de-churched people can understand. There is so much here, but if you can just transition in this area, it will radically change your Sunday dynamic. You CAN’T assume any Biblical understanding. The minute you start using “insider” language, it tells the “outsider” that this isn’t a place for them. This is generally really difficult for people to change, because we don’t even realize we’re doing it. What does it look like? ”You all know the story of Jonah . . .”, “We’re in the book of Romans, so if you can open up to the 8th chapter” (is that in the bible? I didn’t bring my Bible! where is it? I’m going to look stupid trying to find it.)

If you’re a pastor, you HAVE to be connected to people who are seeking, questioning, skeptical – it will radically TRANSFORM your preaching, if you will keep that person in mind as you prepare your message. Will your message confuse them? Will they understand that concept? Is there something else I need to explain? Do I need to help them understand who Romans was written to and why? It takes extra work, but it lets the skeptical, the seeker, to know that they are welcome in your service. You’re treating them with respect, and helping them navigate the Bible and their church experience.

If you can just begin to live out these two principles, it will radically change how you see ministry and your effectiveness in reaching people far from God.

10 Keys to Raising Up the Church Out of the Culture

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At Emerging Leadership Initiative, our mission is to mobilize leaders who will raise the church up out of the culture – which causes people to ask, “What do you mean by raising the church up out of the culture?” I’m glad you asked…

Out of the culture is an idea introduced by John Burke in his book, No Perfect People Allowed,

“This is…not a church for a post-Christian culture, where Christians huddle up behind the fortress walls and make forays outside into the messy culture, but a church molded out of a post-Christian people ~ an indigenous church, rising up out of the surrounding culture to form the Body of Christ!”

In the simplest of terms, raising up a church out of the culture is what happens when ordinary people are introduced to Jesus and begin to follow him together. In biblical terms, think Corinth. In modern terms, think missionary. In post-modern terms, think messy ~ as unreserved grace is expressed in a community of radical transformation.

As we have worked with leaders in the North America, Europe and Australia, we have discovered these 10 keys to raising the church up out of the culture.

Leaders must create a culture that:

Is keenly sensitive to the perceptions of those who don’t yet belong. They know how big the gap between Christ and culture is and do everything they can to bridge it.
Openly extends grace. They know how messy people’s lives are and relentlessly communicate that no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, you’re one of us.
Is committed to humbly presenting the truth. They know that Jesus came to proclaim freedom, but the message won’t ring true unless it’s delivered with humility.
Cultivates authentic relationships through community. They know that unless people can openly be who they are they will never become anything more.
Is focused on transformation. They know that every person is a masterpiece waiting to be revealed and see anything less as a cheap substitute.

In order to do this well, leaders must be people who:

Live authentic, representative lives. Jesus was the word made flesh. He didn’t talk about grace and truth; he was grace and truth. As much as spiritually possible, out of the culture leaders are too.
Are zealous for people far from Christ. Jesus was described by the Pharisees as a “friend of sinners.” He never corrected them. It was a label he wore proudly. Out of the culture leaders do too.
Do life and work in relationship. Jesus was never out of relationship. Even when he was alone it was to be with his Father. He always put people first. Out of the culture leaders will too.
Joyously embrace the mess. Jesus hung out with corrupt businessmen and let prostitutes wash his feet. He was okay with the mud because he was in love with the masterpiece. Out of the culture leaders are too.
Communicate with excellence. Jesus drew crowds and kept their attention long enough for them to forget to eat. His words brought life. Out of the culture leaders will too.

How are you and your faith community effectively bridging the gap to raise up the Church out of the culture? Where are you stretching out of your comfort zone for the sake of those who are far from Christ?