How do we engage our communities? That is a huge question all churches, but especially church plants, need to answer. How do we ensure we are known? How do we reach out to the community? How do we meet people, invite people, disciple people?
The default from a previous generation is to hold evangelistic events, good quality events at which the gospel is spoken or which function as bridge building barrier breakers. Except this makes an assumption I'm just not sure we can make anymore; that our people are plugged into their communities. I'm not sure this is the case. Certainly in my experience it is the minority of church members that bring a guest. Many simply don't know anyone to bring, or their work is so distant a commute from their home and church that it is too far for people to consider coming, many of our churches contain a considerable number of commuters which makes inviting their friends harder because they are less likely to come (or we simply believe they are).
So how do we change this? We need to readopt the parish mentality, that the area around our church is our mission field. That ought to be reflected in a number of things:
1. Get people to live in the area where your church meets and work within a 15 minute drive. This creates a sense of shared mission. Put simply people will disengage from reaching the community if they don't live in it. (Evangelism is already hard to get people to do, I wonder if living like that is a short cut to not having to invite anyone without a guilty conscience?)
2. As pastors we must see the area as our parish and connect with it. I guess for some of us this is easier than others. Geography will define the limits of our patch naturally, but even where this isn't the case I wonder if it'd help to have an area we view as ours.
3. Pray for people in your parish by name. This is only possible if we've done the above.
4. Preach addressing the issues the parish faces. Not in terms of what passage or series we pick but in terms of some of the issues we address. What are the local fears? Where do people falsely turn for their security? What are the things they rely on? What are their hopes and dreams? And how does the gospel as revealed in the passage we are preaching confront, challenge and address those?
5. Connect your church to your parish. That is one of our challenges, for those who live out of area I need to be thinking through how I get them to connect with individuals in it. Because once they get to know and care about individuals they will pray for them and naturally want them to come to know Jesus.
Our area is naturally defined by geography, though that is changing as it grows through housing development. But I know my parish. I walk it everyday with the dog. I do everything I can in that parish, play football twice a week, send my kids to school, and so on. That means I am getting to know people and am getting known by people. At the school gates every morning and afternoon there is the chance to speak to the same people, to listen, to care, to break down some barriers. We've even had some parents approach us to ask out of the blue for pastoral help because they just need someone to talk to. Those people we meet are the natural people for me to invite to any and every evangelistic event we run. For some people these events have become a yearly staple, they put them in their calendar before they are invited, often asking about it before I've even done the invites.
And it gives me a wealth of people to pray for. As a leader I need to lead in evangelism. If I haven't got out of the office and gone fishing for men why would anyone else? If I haven't prioritised meeting those who desperately need Jesus why would anyone else? And if I'm not meeting these people and listening to them I won't preach in such a way that their deepest need and pressing issues are addressed in the gospel, and that won't encourage anyone to invite their friends.
Showing posts with label engage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label engage. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 October 2017
Tuesday, 17 January 2017
CiYP: Church in Yorkshire Places
Contextualisation is vital. Missionaries spend time learning a language and a culture so that they can share the gospel effectively and plant God honouring churches that disciple people well given their particular context. I wonder sometimes whether we tend to forget that lesson in the UK. Simply assuming because something worked somewhere else it will work here in just the same way. But such an approach is dangerous and flawed because our regions have distinct flavours, histories and influences.
In fact it is one of my concerns as I look at the church in Yorkshire, the county with the lowest church attendance in the country, a church attendance on a par with Japan. We simply haven't spent enough time thinking about how we reach Yorkshire people with the gospel. We have tended to just do what everyone else is doing. Partly that is skewed by church planting in university towns where the majority of students and a significant chunk of the general populace are not from Yorkshire. Sheffield, Leeds, and York are not the norm in Yorkshire, though I wonder if even there churches are reaching the indigenous Yorkshire men and women or just the interlopers?
So what would it look like to contextualise? Yorkshire is not the South of England. Yorkshire people don't think like people from the home counties. So how do we reach them with the gospel? What would it look like to contextualise? To do Church in Yorkshire Places? Here are a few thoughts:
A Passion for Jesus
Middle Class (Southern) Evangelicalism tends to prize rational argument over passion. Yet spend time with Yorkshire people and you realise they are passionate and driven. A raised voice in conversation is not a sign of anger or loss of control or rationality but of concern and love and commitment. Our passion for Jesus must match that of the fan for his club, or the Yorkshire man for his county. Preach and proclaim the gospel with passion.
Working class mentality
If you ask a Yorkshire man what class he is he will look at you like you've gone mad. What class would you want to be, 'Of course I'm working class I'm from Yorkshire.' Being a Yorkshire man or woman defines your class not your occupation and it is historical not changeable. Many have been to uni and have traditionally middle class jobs but still define themselves as being working class, in fact many will resent the implication that they are middle class. They have working class values and virtues and we need to address those and think through how they have been shaped by gospel values, and how sin has warped them not simply value, assume, address and preach to middle class issues.
Local not national
Yorkshire people are passionate about being from Yorkshire, what other county devised it's own medal table for the Olympics. They care passionately about local issues. It is not that national or international issues don't matter but that local comes first. How do we in our engagement, evangelism, preparation, and preaching reflect that?
A suspicion of interlopers
There is an ingrained suspicion of outsiders, especially if you speak with a posh accent (unless you are from Harrogate). We have to work hard to overcome this, how? By accepting, loving and engaging with Yorkshire and it's quirks and eccentricities. And we must commit to long term listening engagement and friendship with our communities if we are an interloper. Listening matters, otherwise we reinforce the idea that we arrogantly presume to come in with all the answers. We don't. We have loads to learn and value and we will be richer for it.
Defined by hardship
Many communities in Yorkshire have had it hard. Do your research? Read local history about the miners strike and the loss of other traditional industries and understand how this has shaped, and is still shaping, communities. Read local history and talk to and listen to local people about the church in that area. People tend to define themselves by struggle and hardship. Which in turn can produce a can't do attitude and or a resentment of others who have 'had it easy'. In some cases we will find church has added to this hardship. We need to wrestle with how the gospel addresses and reshapes this? How do we plant and pastor churches that reshape this with gospel realism and thankfulness?
Mistrust of big project/society/organisations
Many have been let down by big promises made by big organisations or left disenchanted by unfulfilled promises and visions. This leads to a sense of mistrust of the big and of grandiose visions and plans. We need to plant and pastor churches that overcome this by being realistic, only promising what we can do and by being quick to admit mistakes if and when we have let people down. Working hard to win back trust through sheer love and commitment.
This is only scratching the surface of what is a very complex issue but one we need to face and think more deeply about as we pray and plan to evangelise Yorkshire for the glory of God by planting churches across this great county.
In fact it is one of my concerns as I look at the church in Yorkshire, the county with the lowest church attendance in the country, a church attendance on a par with Japan. We simply haven't spent enough time thinking about how we reach Yorkshire people with the gospel. We have tended to just do what everyone else is doing. Partly that is skewed by church planting in university towns where the majority of students and a significant chunk of the general populace are not from Yorkshire. Sheffield, Leeds, and York are not the norm in Yorkshire, though I wonder if even there churches are reaching the indigenous Yorkshire men and women or just the interlopers?
So what would it look like to contextualise? Yorkshire is not the South of England. Yorkshire people don't think like people from the home counties. So how do we reach them with the gospel? What would it look like to contextualise? To do Church in Yorkshire Places? Here are a few thoughts:
A Passion for Jesus
Middle Class (Southern) Evangelicalism tends to prize rational argument over passion. Yet spend time with Yorkshire people and you realise they are passionate and driven. A raised voice in conversation is not a sign of anger or loss of control or rationality but of concern and love and commitment. Our passion for Jesus must match that of the fan for his club, or the Yorkshire man for his county. Preach and proclaim the gospel with passion.
Working class mentality
If you ask a Yorkshire man what class he is he will look at you like you've gone mad. What class would you want to be, 'Of course I'm working class I'm from Yorkshire.' Being a Yorkshire man or woman defines your class not your occupation and it is historical not changeable. Many have been to uni and have traditionally middle class jobs but still define themselves as being working class, in fact many will resent the implication that they are middle class. They have working class values and virtues and we need to address those and think through how they have been shaped by gospel values, and how sin has warped them not simply value, assume, address and preach to middle class issues.
Local not national
Yorkshire people are passionate about being from Yorkshire, what other county devised it's own medal table for the Olympics. They care passionately about local issues. It is not that national or international issues don't matter but that local comes first. How do we in our engagement, evangelism, preparation, and preaching reflect that?
A suspicion of interlopers
There is an ingrained suspicion of outsiders, especially if you speak with a posh accent (unless you are from Harrogate). We have to work hard to overcome this, how? By accepting, loving and engaging with Yorkshire and it's quirks and eccentricities. And we must commit to long term listening engagement and friendship with our communities if we are an interloper. Listening matters, otherwise we reinforce the idea that we arrogantly presume to come in with all the answers. We don't. We have loads to learn and value and we will be richer for it.
Defined by hardship
Many communities in Yorkshire have had it hard. Do your research? Read local history about the miners strike and the loss of other traditional industries and understand how this has shaped, and is still shaping, communities. Read local history and talk to and listen to local people about the church in that area. People tend to define themselves by struggle and hardship. Which in turn can produce a can't do attitude and or a resentment of others who have 'had it easy'. In some cases we will find church has added to this hardship. We need to wrestle with how the gospel addresses and reshapes this? How do we plant and pastor churches that reshape this with gospel realism and thankfulness?
Mistrust of big project/society/organisations
Many have been let down by big promises made by big organisations or left disenchanted by unfulfilled promises and visions. This leads to a sense of mistrust of the big and of grandiose visions and plans. We need to plant and pastor churches that overcome this by being realistic, only promising what we can do and by being quick to admit mistakes if and when we have let people down. Working hard to win back trust through sheer love and commitment.
This is only scratching the surface of what is a very complex issue but one we need to face and think more deeply about as we pray and plan to evangelise Yorkshire for the glory of God by planting churches across this great county.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Some advice - beware the patronage of unbelievers
Matthew Paris wrote this article which was published in the Spectator last week http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/all/7667978/beware-i-would-say-to-believers-the-patronage-of-unbelievers.thtml It is well worth a read and thinking through.
We do not believer the church is a social institution but it is the people of God declaring the only hope to a dying world sick with sin that Jesus Christ gave himself to save them and they must turn to him. The article challenges our softness and fuzziness.
We do not believer the church is a social institution but it is the people of God declaring the only hope to a dying world sick with sin that Jesus Christ gave himself to save them and they must turn to him. The article challenges our softness and fuzziness.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Ready with an answer to Philip Pullman
'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ', is the new book by Philip Pullman published on March 31st, just in time for Easter. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus, drawing on the Bible for characters, locations and events.
Pullman himself has said: "I've always been fascinated by the two parts of the name of Jesus Christ, and by the difference between them. Another thing that's interested me for a long time is the way in which the Christian church began to formulate its beliefs and establish a canon of scripture: there were many more gospels than four, but why were those four chosen and others left out? When did Paul begin to write his epistles? Was what he said different from what the gospels say? Do the gospels even agree with one another? Was there a difference between Jesus and Christ?”
He accepts the existence of a holy man called Jesus, but argues that Christ, or the son of God, was “an invention” of St Paul.
“By the time the Gospels were written down, Paul had already begun to transform the story of Jesus into something altogether different and extraordinary,” he said. “Paul was a literary and imaginative genius, who has had more influence on the world than anybody else, including Jesus. He had this great ability to persuade others and his rhetorical skills have been convincing people for 2,000 years.”
The basic claim he makes is that Jesus was not divine and Paul not Christ was the driving force behind Christianity.
How should we react to such claims in the next couple of weeks as publicity is launched? People will read it or reviews of it and we need to be ready with an answer.
We want to begin by recognising the influence of Paul, he wrote 13 books in the New Testament and was influential in planting many churches, especially among Gentiles. Chronologically he was probably the earliest writer too. But how influential was he?
I’m going to suggest three issues to raise with your friends if they ask you about this.
1. Historically it is impossible. Historically we know, and Paul records it himself (Gal 1:13), that he set out to destroy the church and its faith. In AD 34 about a year after Jesus death, Paul is destroying churches. Churches that are already in existence, breaking bread, and believing on Jesus as the Christ and celebrating his resurrection. Therefore Paul could not have invented it.
2. Paul does not invent his teaching. Having been converted Paul begins proclaiming the gospel to others, not his message but the message he heard, that he has been taught. 1 Cor 15:3-7 is perhaps the clearest example. Paul is passing on what he has been taught by others to the Corinthians. He isn’t inventing it. Elsewhere he constantly refers back to Jesus example, Jesus life, Jesus teaching. And others like Peter and James are teaching similarly yet Paul spends little time with them.
3. Read it for yourself. I would challenge your friends to read a letter of Paul and a gospel with you. Read Matthew’s gospel with them and then read say Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Encourage them: Don’t just read what someone else says, don’t let them think for you look at it yourself.
Pullman himself has said: "I've always been fascinated by the two parts of the name of Jesus Christ, and by the difference between them. Another thing that's interested me for a long time is the way in which the Christian church began to formulate its beliefs and establish a canon of scripture: there were many more gospels than four, but why were those four chosen and others left out? When did Paul begin to write his epistles? Was what he said different from what the gospels say? Do the gospels even agree with one another? Was there a difference between Jesus and Christ?”
He accepts the existence of a holy man called Jesus, but argues that Christ, or the son of God, was “an invention” of St Paul.
“By the time the Gospels were written down, Paul had already begun to transform the story of Jesus into something altogether different and extraordinary,” he said. “Paul was a literary and imaginative genius, who has had more influence on the world than anybody else, including Jesus. He had this great ability to persuade others and his rhetorical skills have been convincing people for 2,000 years.”
The basic claim he makes is that Jesus was not divine and Paul not Christ was the driving force behind Christianity.
How should we react to such claims in the next couple of weeks as publicity is launched? People will read it or reviews of it and we need to be ready with an answer.
We want to begin by recognising the influence of Paul, he wrote 13 books in the New Testament and was influential in planting many churches, especially among Gentiles. Chronologically he was probably the earliest writer too. But how influential was he?
I’m going to suggest three issues to raise with your friends if they ask you about this.
1. Historically it is impossible. Historically we know, and Paul records it himself (Gal 1:13), that he set out to destroy the church and its faith. In AD 34 about a year after Jesus death, Paul is destroying churches. Churches that are already in existence, breaking bread, and believing on Jesus as the Christ and celebrating his resurrection. Therefore Paul could not have invented it.
2. Paul does not invent his teaching. Having been converted Paul begins proclaiming the gospel to others, not his message but the message he heard, that he has been taught. 1 Cor 15:3-7 is perhaps the clearest example. Paul is passing on what he has been taught by others to the Corinthians. He isn’t inventing it. Elsewhere he constantly refers back to Jesus example, Jesus life, Jesus teaching. And others like Peter and James are teaching similarly yet Paul spends little time with them.
3. Read it for yourself. I would challenge your friends to read a letter of Paul and a gospel with you. Read Matthew’s gospel with them and then read say Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Encourage them: Don’t just read what someone else says, don’t let them think for you look at it yourself.
Monday, 2 June 2008
What is evangelism?
Evangelism is making the news about Jesus known. In our culture however sometimes we have to do pre-evangelism, we have to knock down the barriers people have before we can share the gospel with them.
If you think of it as a scale that runs: -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3...
0 is the point at which a person accepts they are lost and need Jesus and are willing to become a disciple, 1 and so on are disciples growing in maturity.
Most of the people we meet are somewhere on the minus side of the scale, they have all sorts of barriers that have to be overcome before they will listen to the gospel. It may be that they have had a bad experience of Church, maybe they think all Christians are hypocrites, that Christians are weird, perhaps they believe the Bible is full of errors and contradictions, maybe it is that they don't know any Christians at all.
With every person we meet we are to be called as God's ambassadors to be knocking those barriers down, to be moving someone maybe from a -10 to a -9, or a -4 to a -3, or at the very point when they become a follower of Jesus. It can be in something as simple as walking over and introducing yourself to someone you don't know and chatting with them. It is in living out the gospel in front of friends and colleagues, it is in engaging with their questions, it is in showing them love even if rejected.
Why not pray today that God would involve you in moving someone closer to accepting Jesus as Saviour and King and continually ask God to prompt you by his Spirit for opportunities.
If you think of it as a scale that runs: -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3...
0 is the point at which a person accepts they are lost and need Jesus and are willing to become a disciple, 1 and so on are disciples growing in maturity.
Most of the people we meet are somewhere on the minus side of the scale, they have all sorts of barriers that have to be overcome before they will listen to the gospel. It may be that they have had a bad experience of Church, maybe they think all Christians are hypocrites, that Christians are weird, perhaps they believe the Bible is full of errors and contradictions, maybe it is that they don't know any Christians at all.
With every person we meet we are to be called as God's ambassadors to be knocking those barriers down, to be moving someone maybe from a -10 to a -9, or a -4 to a -3, or at the very point when they become a follower of Jesus. It can be in something as simple as walking over and introducing yourself to someone you don't know and chatting with them. It is in living out the gospel in front of friends and colleagues, it is in engaging with their questions, it is in showing them love even if rejected.
Why not pray today that God would involve you in moving someone closer to accepting Jesus as Saviour and King and continually ask God to prompt you by his Spirit for opportunities.
Friday, 25 January 2008
The Golden Opportunity
Went to see 'The Golden Compass' yesterday, I've read the books and listened to all the concern about the film and what it has to say about God, the fall, the church, sin and freedom.
It is a fantastic film visually, the special effects are amazing, though Nicole Kidman steals the show with her cold turn as Lyra's mother. It is a film which raises many questions.
I am concerned at the way Pullman portrays the church (The Magisterium) - protectors of their own power rather than seekers of the truth. And how the authority (God) is being set up to be killed in the later films. And how the fall is being portrayed as a good thing.
But actually what a great opportunity it brings for us to engage with these issues. The film is all about the search for truth, it is what the Golden Compass of the books title enables its wielder to discover. And as our friends, neighbours and work colleagues think about it, what a great opportunity to talk to them about the truth!!!
The challenge is not to fear the film, but to use it to introduce people to a God so loving that he sends his son into the world to save the very one who have rebelled against them, why? So that they can spend eternity enjoying him. The challenge is to engage with our children so that they know what Pullman does and how the Bible answers the charges he makes against God. Charges that are easily answered by our God who is nothing like 'the authority'. In fcat who is the very opposite of Pullman's idea of God.
It is a fantastic film visually, the special effects are amazing, though Nicole Kidman steals the show with her cold turn as Lyra's mother. It is a film which raises many questions.
I am concerned at the way Pullman portrays the church (The Magisterium) - protectors of their own power rather than seekers of the truth. And how the authority (God) is being set up to be killed in the later films. And how the fall is being portrayed as a good thing.
But actually what a great opportunity it brings for us to engage with these issues. The film is all about the search for truth, it is what the Golden Compass of the books title enables its wielder to discover. And as our friends, neighbours and work colleagues think about it, what a great opportunity to talk to them about the truth!!!
The challenge is not to fear the film, but to use it to introduce people to a God so loving that he sends his son into the world to save the very one who have rebelled against them, why? So that they can spend eternity enjoying him. The challenge is to engage with our children so that they know what Pullman does and how the Bible answers the charges he makes against God. Charges that are easily answered by our God who is nothing like 'the authority'. In fcat who is the very opposite of Pullman's idea of God.
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