StretchyChurch

Thanks to Scott over at Living Dusty, I discovered this article on Christianity Today’s blog, Out of Ur.

The article cites a study that Willow Creek Church did over the past several years to see which of their programs were best helping people become more committed disciples of Jesus. To their astonishment, not much in their of ministry was helping people to grow deeper in their faith.

Willow Creek’s assumption had always been that the more programs you offer, and the more people attend those programs, the more those people will grow spiritually. What they discovered is that this is simply not true. Here’s what Bill Hybels said at this year’s Leadership Summit:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

I’m not particularly surprised by this. While I love the energy of big churches when they gather together, I also realize that the greatest spiritual growth happens when small groups of believers gather together and when individual believers spend time practicing the spiritual disciplines.

I have to admit, however, I’m kind of proud of Willow Creek for owning up to this. I’m sure it’s not easy to make a discovery like this. But facing honestly the aspects of your ministry that aren’t making an impact, and then making a change, is the sign of a true stretchychurch.

You can also read Greg Hawkins’ (executive pastor of Willow Creek) response to the many comments on the Out of Ur blog here.

Still no baby… But tomorrow morning (Wednesday) Robin is going to be induced. So, assuming everything goes according to plan, the world will be “one Watson richer” by tomorrow night (as my friend Ryan put it!).

With all this waiting for baby, I think I had what I would have to call an “anxious dad moment” yesterday. I actually bought a CD at the mall!! I haven’t done that for years! I usually buy CD’s from half.com, or download them from iTunes, or, ahem, borrow them from friends… :-/

So here I was at the mall with my buddy D.G. and I had this incredible urge to buy the latest Linkin Park CD, Minutes to Midnight. I really don’t know what came over me except that it was, like I said, an “anxious dad moment.”

But here’s the thing that’s so cool about this CD. This CD (and all the other Linkin Park CDs, for that matter) demonstrate the fact that God is at work in the world even where the church seems to be absent. There’s a song on the CD called “What I’ve Done.” Check out the lyrics and the video below. Can you hear the message of sin and forgiveness in it? That’s the gospel, isn’t it?!

As a church, we have to be willing to respond to and embrace God’s working in the world wherever it is, even if we’d never expect God to be there–just like Paul recognized that God was at work in Athens in their worship of the “unknown god” (Acts 17:16-34).

What I’ve Done - Linkin Park

In this farewell
There’s no Alibi
‘Cause I’ve Drawn Regret
From the truth
Of a Thousand Lies

[Pre-Chorus:]
So let Mercy Come
And Wash Away
What I’ve Done

[Chorus:]
I’ll face myself
To Cross out what I’ve Become
Erase Myself
And let Go of What I’ve done

Put to rest
What you Thought of Me
While I clean this Slate
With the Hands of Uncertainty

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

For What I’ve Done
I start again
And whatever pain may come
Today this ends
I’m Forgiving What I’ve Done!!!

[Chorus]

What I’ve Done
Forgiving What I’ve Done

Let’s say there are basically two kinds of evangelism: effective and ineffective. Some evangelism really helps people discover God and enter into a relationship with Jesus. Some evangelism doesn’t really do anything–and sometimes even hurts people.

Effective evangelism cares about the other person. Effective evangelism listens to the other person’s story. Effective evangelism knows when to stop, or at least slow down, so as not to push the other person further away.

Ineffective evangelism, on the other hand, doesn’t really care about the other person. Ineffective evangelism doesn’t listen to the other person’s story. Ineffective evangelism doesn’t know when to stop, and usually ends up pushing the other person further away from Christ.

So here are a couple videos I found.

The first video is an example of effective evangelism. Some would say it’s not really evangelism; it’s an interview. I’m not so sure….

Jim Henderson is a pastor and author whose passion is to help Christians better listen to those who are “lost”–to help Christians better understand the mindset of non-Christians. Last year I read his book, A.K.A. Lost (retitled Evangelism Without Additives), and heard him speak at the Revolution Conference (you can read about that here, here, here, and here).

The second video is an example of ineffective evangelism. Notice how no one stays to listen. Notice that the evangelist doesn’t seem to care. Does it matter to him that no one stays to hear his message? And notice that the final text at the end of the video is focused on the how good the evangelist is, not on the needs of those who need to hear the message.

Here are those videos:

3 Minutes with 3 Lost People (Effective)

Patrick Preaches to Lost People in Manchester, England (Ineffective)

(By the way, I just saw the end of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence on TV. Man, what totally depressing movie. I think it’s a good movie, but soooo depressing…)

Alan Roxburgh has an interview with Rev. Graham Cray, who is the Bishop of Maidstone in the Church of England. He has recently published a book called The Mission-shaped Church.

The huge challenge for the church in England is that England has become almost completely “post-Christian.” That is, almost no one goes to church anymore. A 2001 statistic showed that barely over 6% of the population attended church–that means 94% of the population does not attend church of any kind.

As a result, the Church of England has found itself in a place where it has no choice but to adapt to the culture. Notice, I didn’t say “change it’s message” for the culture. But it is beginning to adapt the way it reaches out to its culture.

Here’s a quote from the interview with Graham Cray:

Church where people are, when they can attend, that is authentically church, has become the crucial thing. We have several hundred projects running. We have church in skate parks; we have a Eucharist for Goths; we have cell church amongst the Greater Merseyside Police that happens in the police station in the lunch hour or after work. One of our missionists said to me, “I discovered where all the de-churched are. They’re at work and they haven’t got time to come on Sundays.”

And here’s an excerpt from a story he told about an older congregation he serves:

I remember when…the Women’s Institute, the older ladies—and, really, to be an influence in the Women’s Institute you’ve got to be over eighty in our village—summoned us to introduce ourselves to them. And we told our story a little. And one of these ladies—and they’re fairly formidable—said, “It worries us that our grandchildren don’t ever come to church. Do you think they would come to a church like ours?”

It was very formal and the congregation was very elderly. And we looked at one another and thought, “Well, we’re new here. We might as well be honest.” And we said, “We don’t honestly think they would.”

And they said, “No, we don’t think they would, either, and we need to find how to do something.”

Now if you asked them to do it, most of them probably couldn’t. But they no longer refuse permission for someone who can.

He goes on to talk about the kind of ministry they’ve developed in the local school and then finishes by saying, “And the old ladies are thrilled. But if you tried to put them all together in the same place at the same time it wouldn’t be fair to any of them.”

I think it’s exciting to hear about an older generation of Christians reaching out to a younger generation in the language that that generation understands!

To see the entire interview, click here. (It’s just over 11 minutes.)

I’ve been thinking about church websites for the last couple days. In my church site surfing I realized that big churches don’t necessarily have good websites and some small churches have great websites.

I really think that a great website is critical for a growing church these days. I don’t have a statistic to back this up, but I suspect that most people who are considering attending a church will look at the website first. And I bet for a lot of those people, what they find will determine whether or not they actually show up on Sunday.

Some will say, “But you can’t judge a book by its cover!” I agree. Some great books have bad covers and some bad books have great covers (I recently had to stop reading a book halfway through because it was just, well, not interesting–but it had a really cool cover!).

But if a church is worth visiting, why shouldn’t that church do its best to reflect that on the website?!

I’m sure this kind of stuff is nothing new to most of you, but I wanted to pass on a link that I found and thought was pretty helpful. It’s a website called Great Church Websites. Unfortunately, you have to register and pay to get the full benefits of this site (something I haven’t done), but they do have a pretty helpful page with a ton of design tips/things to consider for churches. Some of my favorites include:

• Most church websites are designed entirely for their members, or unwittingly exclude non-Christians because of their choice of language and content.
• Avoid all ‘churchy’ jargon and ‘Christianese’ language throughout the site, especially on the homepage.
• Include some ‘meet our members’ pages.
• Consider a ‘New to this site?’ visitors link on your homepage. This enables you to offer a particular welcome to an outsider.
• Do not place too much information on your homepage.
• Avoid ‘churchy’ graphics – open Bibles, stained glass windows, doves, candles. And appeals for money.
• Use at least one graphic of a person’s face on the homepage.

There are a ton more tips like this, but these are just a few that I think more churches need to consider.

Many of you have heard of the “Ebay Atheist” who sold himself on Ebay. His name is Hemant Mehta and the person who bought him is Jim Henderson of Off-the-Map (and who hosted last year’s Revolution Conference).

Hemant has recently written a book called I Sold My Soul on Ebay. Jim has recently written a book called Evangelism Without Additives (which I read last year under the title A.K.A. Lost).

I came across two interviews with Hemant and Jim on a program called Life Today. I was surprised when I saw who was hosting the show–James and Betty Robison. I have to admit, I really only know Robison by reputation, but my assumption was that he was just another over-conservative Christian cable TV talk show host. But I was really impressed by how kind and welcoming he was to both Hemant and Jim, and by how open both he and his wife were to their ideas and thinking.

Here are the two interviews. The first one focuses mostly on Hemant and his story. The second focuses more on Jim and his story.

Hemant’s Story
Jim’s Story

I’m sitting in my living room right now watching a Nightline episode in which two atheists and two Christians (one of which is Kirk Cameron) debate the existence of God. And I have to admit…I’m kind of embarrassed.

It’s not the worst display of bad evangelism I’ve ever seen, but these debates just seem so pointless and counterproductive. At one point, Kirk Cameron pulled out some pictures of mock evolutionary missing links; animals like the “crocoduck” (half crocodile, half duck), the “bullfrog” (half frog, half bull), and the “sheepdog” (half sheep, half dog). And as he showed these, the atheists merely rolled their eyes.

An argument like that isn’t evangelism, it’s belittlement. It’s making fun of the other’s beliefs. And that tact just doesn’t work.

In the end, none of the atheists became Christians and none of the Christians became atheists. The only thing that happened was that they all got annoyed at each other.

When I think about evangelism in the Bible, I can’t think of any examples in which Jesus or Paul or any of the apostles tried to belittle someone into believing the gospel. Instead, Jesus simply welcomed and loved those who were “sinners”–and they loved him right back. Paul said to his audience things like, “I see that you are very religious”–he treated them with respect. And Philip simply asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”–he didn’t say, “I can’t believe you don’t get this!”

I wonder when we’re finally going to start taking Peter’s words seriously, and actually treat people with “gentleness and respect” as we dialogue with them about life, the world, their pain…and about Jesus.

First, I promise I’ll finish the Launch Conference posts real soon. I feel bad that it’s taken so long, but I promise it’ll be done soon.

Now then… Last year I read a book called A.K.A. Lost by Jim Henderson, a book that questions the way evangelism has typically been done in the past 50 or so years. Jim Henderson also organized the Revolution Conference last fall that D.G. and I attended.

Aaron Klinefelter just informed me about a new book by Jim Henderson and Matt Caspar called Jim and Caspar Go to Church. The tag-line hints at the book’s premise: A believer, an atheist, an unlikely friendship…

Here’s the basic idea…

Jim Henderson is a Christian. Matt Caspar is an atheist. And together they visit 10 churches, including Willow Creek, Saddleback, The Potter’s House, and other smaller churches. Then they offer their thoughts.

Sounds like a really interesting book to me!!

Here’s the freebie…. Follow this link and you can read the first chapter of the book!

Yikes! It’s been almost a week since my last post! To be honest, it has something with my Lent commitment this year, but I’ll tell you more about that in a separate post.

For now, here is (at long last) the next section of my notes from The Launch Conference. This section is called Evangelism: Reaching People from Scratch. Here goes….

“Your target is not your market.” –Jack Trout and Al Reis, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

• The only way to reach your market is to focus on your target.
• My target determines my marketing.

Key Question: Who am I trying to reach?

My Target Determines My:

• Marketing - make sure publicity is appropriate to your target
• Music - the music you choose is the #1 defining characteristic of your church
• First Service - where you meet, for example
• Comeback Events
• Entire Church

Four Questions to Focus my Evangelism Efforts

1. Who are the key population groups living in my area?
2. What population group is not being reached effectively?
3. What population group do I best relate to? (keep in mind that just because you have a heart for someone doesn’t mean you can relate to them)
4. What is my unique “Sweet Spot”? (the intersection of those first three questions)

Three Evangelism Truths

1. People are more open to the gospel when they are in trouble.
2. People are more open to the gospel when they are in transition.
3. People are more open to the gospel when they are under tension.

Regarding “transition”:

• Moving, marriage, having kids, loss of a loved one, loss of a relationship, loss of a dream
• What transitions are people experiencing in your area?

Five Ideas for Reaching People

1. Direct Marketing
2. Mission Teams (teams from other churches; e.g., to hang door hangers, to “prayer walk” or “prayer drive” an area)
3. Servant Evangelism (showing God’s love in a practical way to the people in your city; e.g., handing out water, granola bars, etc. with invite cards)
4. Events (non-threatening, easy to enter events; atmosphere of Christian hospitality)
5. People Inviting People

Hey, this might be the end of the drought!

So, I’ve been watching “The Office” on DVD for the past few weeks. My wife and I are on Season 2 right now, and it was finally revealed that the character of Angela (Angela Kinsey) is a Christian.

Great!! Right?

Not really. Angela is the b**** in the office. She’s no fun. Never smiles. Always wants to work. Makes everybody feel uncomfortable. Looks down on her co-workers. Tends to make snide comments.

At first, I was kinda ticked off by this. “Oh, great! There goes Hollywood, making us Christians look bad again!”

But then I thought, “Actually, this is probably how they really view most of us. And we need to learn from this.”

And why do people view us as judgmental, uninspiring, and full of contempt. Sadly, I suspect it’s because that’s how a lot of Christians are–that’s at least the impression I would get as a non-Christian watching this video: