Being Christian is not a good thing anymore! KNOW THIS STUDY

Posted on October 3, 2007 | 3 comments

Kinnamon’s ‘UnChristian’The Barna Group has just published a study that we all need to pay attention to.  I first heard about this research from Brian McLaren a year and a half ago and it helped me focus the shaping of Jacob’s Well.  This study of 16-29 year olds shows how this generation, more than any preceeding generation is not only uninvolved and uninterested in Christianity, but actually views Christianity and the church as a negative.  The subtleties are important, but the overall trend cannot be ignored.

A good question (and I’d like to see some conversation around this) is whether it is even worth trying to convince the “given up” (a Jacob’s Well term) generations that our language, structures and traditions need to be picked up, or is it time to invent new modes of being church and move on?  It is a little hard to ignore the comparison to the controversy among the Apostles (Acts 15) over whether Gentiles should have to be circumcised or not… whether nonChristians should have to learn to like organ music (an ironic comparison, sorry), whether new believers with new questions of God should have to confess faith in ancient creeds that were answers to ancient questions…

You can read a great summary of this in the Sept 24 The Barna Report.  If you are a church learner, subscribe to this!

Kinnaman’s book UnChristian is the full report of the study.  I’ll blog a review when I finish it.

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Posted in change, church, church transitions, emerging church, God, jacob's well, Models of Ministry

Slippery Slopes

Posted on October 2, 2007 | Leave a comment

This is part II of my last entry, “Held Accountable.”

A comment I left off that blog entry was that when one begins the path of responding to needs around one – like throwing a party for a prostitute in the middle of the night, or simply listening to the people you are always talking to – things start to happen. There is something about making yourself available that gets out of control. Out of our control, that is, and into God’s control.

I believe, because I’ve experienced it, that when you make yourself available to God you get used a lot more. Makes sense when you think about. Jesus said in his parable of the talents (Mt 25)

‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.’

I knew that meant that when Jacob’s Well began to be available that we would experience an explosion of need. I didn’t think it would start so fast, however. My/our accountability is being tested right now. How will we respond?

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Posted in church, God, jacob's well, margins, precarious, Vision

Held accountable

Posted on October 1, 2007 | 5 comments

I finished my message yesterday at Jacob’s Well with Tony Campolo’s story about throwing a birthday party for a prostitute in the middle of the night.

(Great story, if you don’t know it see his book, The Kingdom of God is a Party. You can also find it on the web on sites like this.  But buy his book anyway.)

It’s a powerful story that calls us out of our “nice and tidy” ministries and out into the “down and dirty” love that Jesus was about.  My concluding words were, “What if there was a church that threw birthday parties for prostitutes in the middle of the night?  I want to be the pastor of a church like that, and I hope that you want to help Jacob’s Well be that kind of church too.”

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Afterwards a woman came up and said, “Great message, I love that vision of the church. But I wonder if you really mean it.”  She went on to a say a few other positive but challenging things and then ended by saying, “I’ll be watching you.”  I told her I needed accountability, we all do.  She had been burn by a church that didn’t practice what it taught, and is sharp enough to know that while I’m not Jacob’s Well, if I don’t believe and practice something it is pretty unlikely the church will either.

My first reaction – Wow!  Someone was listening and taking me seriously enough to call me on what I say.  That’s what preaching is all about.

Another reaction – Being a precarious pastor and a congregation that ministers from the margins rather than soft, safe center of its resources and comfort level isn’t easy.  We have to hold each other accountable so we will go where Jesus goes.  We also have to encourage each other and remind each other of the vision with which God leads us out of the wilderness of our comfort zone.

Anyone else ready for this journey?  What will we have to give up to be that kind of church, and are we willing to do it?

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Posted in church, church transitions, ethics, God, love, margins, preaching, precarious

“Deep” & “Shallow”

Posted on September 27, 2007 | Leave a comment

deep-water.jpg

Okay, here is another one I’ve heard recently and has been reported to me by other church leaders trying to transition congregations into more intentional, discipleship oriented directions. “When will we get into deep teaching?” Operative term here is “deep.” I’ve asked people what they mean by this, and pretty much across the board they mean ‘heavy duty Bible Study’; a sermon that just keeps digging away at the text and unpacks its meaning.

I don’t disagree, there is something very deep about that, and being a bit of an insufferable academic myself, I can and do get into it. But to me the real meaning of deep isn’t only how far we get into the text, but how far we let the text get into us. If we keep learning and learning, but don’t spend time living out what we have learned, then ultimately that was all pretty shallow.

I believe in digging into the message of Jesus, exploring how to apply it, practicing that, and then letting that whet our appetite for more learning – either because what we have tasted made us hungry for even more, or because trying to implement it into our lives made us realize how much more we need to know.

One of the dangers of the church, and one of the reasons the church has lost relevance and value for younger generations, is that believing has been a head thing, not a life thing. Going to church or Bible studies are important, but it doesn’t make us look more like Christ or change the world.

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Posted in change, church transitions, discipleship, love, preaching

Practicable Christianity

Posted on September 26, 2007 | Leave a comment

I’ve got to write this one down. I had a conversation with someone who is loving Jacob’s Well and, judging from her experience with church and religion in the past ,this is surprising. I asked her what she liked so much and among other things she said, “It’s like practical Christianity.”

That stopped me for a moment. My old instincts took over and made me think that ‘practical’ was mundane, maybe even “works righteousness” oriented. Then my mind started flooding with Bible verses,

“…teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you…”

“…faith without works is dead…”

“…take up your cross and follow me…”

“…hear the word, accept it and bear fruit. Thirty, sixty and a hundredfold…”

We started Jacob’s Well to help people have a relationship with God that made a difference in their lives, that gave them traction. We believe God isn’t just a good idea and faith isn’t just a set of doctrines but a mode of life – relevant and valuable to us everyday.

I have been criticized for keeping praxis lock stepped with doctrine, but that’s part of being precarious. C’est le vie. If the alternative to ‘practical Christianity’ is ‘impractical Christianity’ count me in on practical!

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Posted in church, discipleship, emerging church, jacob's well, Models of Ministry, precarious

Surprise!

Posted on September 26, 2007 | Leave a comment

Last week was a – let us say, ‘significant’ – birthday for my wife, Kris. We always observe birthdays and anniversaries, but we don’t usually pull out too many stops for them. That fact made this birthday all the more tempting to do the ultimate… a surprise party… she’d never expect it.

I’ll spare you the details, but even with some adverse last minute changes of events we were able to pull it off. And even though I had only gotten back in town the middle of the day before and had to pull the house and food together in very little time (thanks to great help from wonderful neighbor Lisa and all 4 kids doing great stuff) I have to say I really enjoyed it. In fact I enjoyed it so much it ‘surprised’ me.

I love parties like this. I love to wander around and talk to my favorite people, scores of them, surrounded by good food and drink. But I enjoyed the party more than I that could account for, especially considering how hard I worked to make it happen. It took little reflection to figure out why. I was overjoyed (that sounds like a trite phrase, but it is what I felt) to do this for Kris. I learned a new aspect of my love for her that day. There is something deep inside me that found great satisfaction – almost fulfillment – in doing omething that she could enjoy so much, and that brought her the love of her family and friends that is so good and frue for her.

Back to Isaiah 43.3b-4a (one of my favorite chapters in the Bible).

I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honored, and I love you,

This serves as a reminder for us to continue to use varied and creative ways of bringing people into the presence of God at Jacob’s Well. You can be taught a lot by by someone telling you something, by reading a blog or a book, but I like learning profound things by throwing a party. In this case a different view of my relationship with the one person I’m spending my whole life with… and an insight into God’s motivation to make an ultimate gift for me. Wow, God loves me like that.? That changes things…

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Posted in family, God, love

Trouble

Posted on September 24, 2007 | Leave a comment

Why do I think I’m going to get into trouble with that last post?

Well, I hope it stirs up some thinking, if nothing else.  Give me your feedback.

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Posted in doubt

Vision setting

Posted on September 24, 2007 | 2 comments

Jacob’s Well in the next 5 years…

…you asked, so here it is.  Let me say that this is at 35,000′ so it has little substance, just BHAGs.  Let me also say that it may sound smug and prideful to you, and it may be, but I want to believe that the only thing keeping God from using Jacob’s Well for great things is our lack of imagination and courage.

There are two sides to the Vision…

First, Jacob’s Well is our attempt to start a new congregation in an established community for the huge population that has given up on church. It is our intent to grow in depth and breadth. Rapidly!  Why not? (What if a church could do that in an urban setting?!?!)

Second, we are trying to develop new models for ministry that can be effective among the population that doesn’t like going to church. Models that are built on principles (biblically, theologically, sociologically sound) not on styles or personality, so that the models can be contextually applied in other locations.  (What if Jesus’ Church could grow with Acts-like speed in the U.S. today?!?!)

In brief:
Jacob’s Well

2006 Secure funding.  Gather launch team.  Rattle the neighborhood and launch a church for people who don’t like church.  Have new people from the community outnumber the launch team quickly.

2007 Launch second service, implement youth ministries, groups, discipleship process, ministry base of congregation, stewardship.

2008 Second venue for Sunday a.m. worship with its own campus pastor, but rotating speaker and band. Service will be the same as at the Field location. Continue to implement groups, strategic ministries. Develop service and mission through strategic alliances.  Achieve financial self-support.

2009 Launch 3rd (& 4th) venue. Same pattern as 2nd location. (What is really keeping us from launching at least 1 new community every year except our own inability to believe what God is up to around us?) Group life is the solid building block of the community. Special worship experience for youth. Major investment in the neighborhood by congregation.

2011 Association of congregations in the urban metro area (and beyond?), each self-supporting, but with shared office, sharing resources and using it to develop relevant, valuable, creative worship experiences that bring people into the presence of God and create participants into community.

Model of Ministry

2006 Apply to Jacob’s Well.

2007 Unlearn, unlearn, unlearn.  Learn, learn, learn.  Develop and experiment.  Learn from failure.

2008 More of the same.   Begin coaching group for church launchers in the upper midwest.

2009 Help launch congregations in other cities.  Offer first conference.

2011 Association has major role in developing other congregations in other cities as well as developing local venues.

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Posted in church, church launching, emerging church, jacob's well, ministry, Models of Ministry, Vision

What are you looking for here?

Posted on September 23, 2007 | 5 comments

I started this blog to make myself write down some of the things I am thinking about, the idea that someone might read it was a bonus. The idea that someone might read it and find it helpful was a dream. The surprise is that a lot of people are reading. Yikes!

So, here’s my question… are you from Jacob’s Well and curious? Are you a church leader that I have worked with somewhere? Someone from one of the conferences I’ve taught? Have you just run into my blog somehow? No matter who you are and why you are checking out this site, what are you looking for? I’d love to hear.

Are you a:

– a church launcher wondering about what we are trying out or dreaming about or learning from at Jacob’s Well…

– a preacher wondering about our worship series or creative arts process…

– a God-follower curious about my theological ideas or musings…

– a fellow precarious person who wants to know more about living the vulnerable life of faith…

Let me know… thanks!

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Posted in first post, pastor, public

Launchers with lots of faith

Posted on September 20, 2007 | Leave a comment

I just got back from the NextInitiative church launching conference northwest of Philadelphia.  (Held, btw, at BranchCreek Community Church, an amazing congregation and facility that was incredibly welcoming, helpful to us with their more than competent staff.)  50-some new churches, including some re-launches, were represented by 150+ people.  It is always a humbling experience to be with them.  They are all taking huge risks to do great things.  Few have mega-church dreams, in fact I didn’t hear anyone talk that way.  They are looking at making meaningful communities of believers that are turned towards the world around them.  They want to be smart about it.  They want them to be sustainable and they figure they ought to grow or something isn’t right.  But most of all, they want to make a difference.

I’m one of the people who believes that the local church can make a difference.  That God wants the local church to flourish, not because ‘religious institutions’ are the better than others, but because there is no single place where all the power God shares with us is better manifested and balanced in one place.  Healthy churches can do amazing things that make communities healthy.

Many churches don’t do that, unfortunately.  Many suck up resources from their communities for their own empires that would be better spent other places. But that doesn’t discredit the local church for me.  Those are churches that have lost their vision. lost the passion Jesus had for the next person who needed his love.

My hat is off to those men and women at the conference.

I got back to Minneapolis – it’s Kris’ birthday! – and was soon greeted by thunderstorms and tornado warnings… ominous symbols of the context of our ministry.

Thanks to all who kept the conference in their prayers.  I’ll keep praying for you launchers out there!  Everyone else can keep up prayers for them too, please.  And while you are at it, keep Jacob’s Well in there too!

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Posted in church, church launching