This weekend I had the privilege to attend the Verge 2013 Discipleship Conference in Austin, Texas and it was amazing. Never before, truly, have I learned so much, been challenged in so many areas, and had my heart so squeezed, convicted, and filled, in such a short period of time. I filled up almost half of a spiral notebook with notes from a myriad of incredibly gifted (from the Lord) speakers. Though this post will only begin to cover what I learned this weekend, I have to get it down somewhere!
When I returned to Denton, I went to Yogurt Story, whipped out some paper, and just came up with a rough overview of everything that was swimming around in my head and filling up my heart (there was a lot of it--I had truly reached my saturation point). I haven't even gone back over my notes yet, which I intend to do. Here's what I came up with...
Missing the Mark...3 areas where I personally am missing it, or where I feel that the biblical community that immediately surrounds me is missing it.
1) Disbelief & Misunderstandings of the Gospel (Personally)
I do not truly and completely with my whole heart believe how God loves me or my need for a Savior. I have been misunderstanding what the Gospel truly is: it's not just Christ came, died, & rose again--it's everything in between too: Christ's life is the Gospel.
Having grown up in church and a Christian home, there was never a time where I had a radical realization of, "I am wallowing in my filth and sin, I am a wretched sinner being incapable of righteousness, and God REACHED DOWN and RESCUED ME from it! He swooped me up, cleaned me off, and told me how much He loves me, forever and always, no matter how bad or how often I mess up." Sure, I get it, I just explained it to you, but even though I consciously understand this, functionally, I still believe the lie that when I mess up, God loves me less, and when I am doing better, He loves me more.
When God's love for me is REAL in my life, the Gospel will be the answer to every question, and will be the lens through which I view every situation. When I can truly understand the weight of what the Gospel means for me, I won't be able to hold it in! I will have to tell everyone!
2) The way we do community is incomplete (Personally, As a Body).
We do "community" great, but it is so incredibly exclusive and US-focused, and truly, selfish.
-Community should not be an exclusive gathering of Believers--How do we influence the lost without living life with them? Did Christ only hang out with those who had their act together and professed him as the Messiah? I recall reading that He ate with sinners (the bad crowd) and the tax collectors (the outcasts of society). He didn't hang out with the Pharisees, who seemed to do everything right. People called Him a drunkard... probably because he was hanging out with drunkards!
-We have to be more real--sharing the REAL, dark, dirty, ugly struggles AND moving towards growth & overcoming them. We talk about and "wrestle" with and "unpack" our struggles, and how messed up we are, but we: 1) Have this facade of, "Here's my issue! Look! I'm being real and transparent!," while there is still a ton of mess inside that we don't share. 2) Talk and talk and talk and talk about the struggle and fight, and the grace that covers it all, without ever getting better! We find identity in the struggle, pain, and imperfection. Maybe that's because facing it would mean having to move on and face trying to look more like Christ. (P.S. This isn't done in a group of 10).
and, closely tied to #2,
3) Failure to reach the non-believers (Personally, As a Body)
-Their NEEDS should be met: PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, and Spiritual. Practically! Look and fill the needs. It helps zero if I am sharing the Good News with someone who desperately needs to hear, if all they can think about is how hungry they are. They aren't going to care that Jesus is the bread of life, until He (through US) provides some tangible bread!
-We reach them by including them in community (it's not supposed to be an exclusive believer bubble). We have to meet them where they are. Over and over this weekend, I heard speakers say, "The best way to include non-believers in your life is to PARTY! Have a BBQ, go out with them, have dinner, hang out with them!" They are PEOPLE, not projects. We should not view non-believers as a project to reach with the Gospel: if we love them for who they are a person, love them by serving them & filling their needs--they will want to know what is different. They will want what we have.
How to Practically Hit the Mark...
I just word-vomited everything that's wrong with how we, as the Body, are living out our lives and doing community. Here are some ways I learned to practically move towards filling in the gaps.
1) (Problem: disbelief, misunderstanding)
Intentional God-pursuit (Personally)
Seek and ask to understand. Practice seeing the Gospel as the answer to every question.
2) (Problem: Incomplete community)
-Life Transformation Groups, which are community of 2-3 people who meet on a regular basis for Confession, to Pore over Scripture, and Pray for the Lost. There is true, blunt, honest confession (getting real). The group sets a difficult-to-reach number of chapters to read each week, and when anybody doesn't finish (hopefully often!), they read the same scripture the following week. They group prays for those who don't know Christ.
-Including those outside the body IN our community. Serve them and love them.
3) (Problem: Failure to Reach)
-Intentional filling of practical needs
-"Open Door" Community: Intentional INCLUSIVE community: no more "fellowship" parties with only the body. ALL inclusive, people!
-Meeting them where they are! At the Austin Stone, they call this their "3rd Place," which is a neutral location where non-believers already do life: Coffee shops, restaurants, bars, etc.
A sister in Christ & I are going to begin bar ministry together. Some of the best, most honest and blunt spiritual conversations I have had with people are on Fry Street or at parties. She and I will be going out where the lost are, meeting them in their place, having a drink with them & doing life! They are people, not projects. We're going to befriend them. "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" (Luke 7:34)
"And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefor and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
I love this. I love you. I love that you wrote it down so I can hear it again. This stuff is fantastic! The way you talk about our failure to reach non-believers is interesting, because it's very different from how I've been looking at it. I've always been told to feed the spirit first; that was always Jesus' first task. He would forgive them their sins, and THEN He would heal them physically. So I've always struggled with how I deal with, say, homeless people, because when I give them food or water I feel uneasy and wonder to myself "Am I really doing anything for them if I'm not feeding their soul? That's what really matters." So basically, I'm intrigued by your viewpoint. Thanks for being your beautiful self!
ReplyDeleteAriel
I've always questioned the same things! I grew up looking down upon the humanitarian-focused mission trips, because I thought, "What's the point of fixing houses if they still aren't being told the Gospel?," but I think that both (physical needs and spiritual conversations) are necessary. This weekend showed me (through story after story of people coming to Christ because of lawns mowed, meals cooked, rides given)that by meeting the spiritual needs, bringing them into our community, and loving them where they are, they are becoming fertile ground for Gospel transformation.
DeleteI agree with Ariel - it was great hearing about it again. I feel like I was able to process it even further once you got your thoughts organized and written out (imagine that? haha).
DeleteAlthough the community/third place type stuff I was already familiar with from the MC training I did at the Stone, I still got a lot out of our conversations this weekend. Dunno if I made that clear or not. I have so many things I could say, many I already did, but I'll leave it at this:
1. You helped me to realize that what Ariel and I are trying to do fits this model. I'm really excited about OUR bar trip. That's such a great idea.
2. "We find identity in the struggle, pain, and imperfection. Maybe that's because facing it would mean having to move on and face trying to look more like Christ." --- I've been thinking about this a lot.
3. I'm so tired of hearing "unpack" haha.