Is God preparing the United States for a missional movement?

I was asked this question last week by one of the district leaders I am coaching: 

“What are the 3-5 essential things that are absolutely necessary for starting a missional movement in our region or district?” 

I love this question!  The vision of a fresh, Holy Spirit empowered, movement of disciple making that sweeps spiritual explorers into the family of God and equips Christians to obey the command of Christ to make disciples (who obey the things he taught) has captivated the imagination of so many leaders I serve.  And, while we rejoice to see this happening in China and Africa, our hearts long to experience it right here, in the United States.

Here was my response – thought it would be worth passing along.

1.     A disciple-making engine

No matter what missional vehicle you choose, and there have been many of them used by God over the years, it is only as good as the engine that propels it.  (See Mike Breen’s blog post.)

A consistent method of apprenticing believers in the words, works, and ways of Jesus who actually pay it forward is the only way mission becomes both Christ-centered and sustainable.  

2.     Leaders who go first

“Do as I say but not as I do” has never worked well for anybody.  A missional movement that saturates an entire group of churches must be sparked by leaders who both SHOW and TELL what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus.  Remove imitation from the process and you end up with just another program – no matter how good the teaching.  (See my earlier post on this.)

3.     Small beginnings in lots of places

The top down-we are going to plant 2,020 new churches by 2020-approach just doesn’t move most of us beyond initial excitement.  To hear our denominational leaders (like me) talk about our grand visions from the stage (that your churches are going to fund, by the way…) becomes exhausting as the goal posts are moved from year to year and from administration to administration.  However, pastors talking with their peers about how God is at work among their people multiplying disciples (even just a few at first) and forming redemptive relationships with spiritual explorers which lead to faith in Christ?  Now you have my attention.

4.     A good rehab program

The reality is that most of us as leaders, along with our churches, are addicted to a version of success that is measured in “buildings, budgets, and butts”.  We count what we value, and most of us count square footage, money, and attendance.  And, until we change what we care about, nothing much will really change. 

My father (who passed away last year) was addicted to alcohol most of his adult life.  And, over time, our addictions have a way of defining and shaping us.  But, the day came when the doctor told him, “Marvin, you have two choices: quit drinking and live, or continue to drink and die.”  And on that day 11 years ago my father chose life.  The power of addiction was overcome by the promise of life and the fear of death.  (I am incredibly proud of my dad for making this difficult choice and remaining sober from that day forward.  When I think of him now I don’t think of him as an alcoholic.  Instead, I remember him for who he was – a man who had the courage and tenacity to face his demons and chose love over fear, life over death.  A man my kids only remember as the Grandpa who loved them.)

A recognition and ownership of our misplaced affections…a true spirit of brokenness and repentance…the sense of urgency we feel when staring death in the face…the courage and tenacity to choose love over fear when it gets hard…the hope for spiritual grandchildren who begin families of their own.  This is the journey.

5.     The guidance, energy, empowerment, and conviction of the Holy Spirit

Christ said in John 15 that apart from him, we can DO NOTHING. Only as the Spirit moves in, among, and through his people will transformation come.  Only as we repent and believe the good news (over and over again) will God meet us in our brokenness and pour out his grace.  Only as we burn the idols of “success” in all their forms will we experience God’s kingdom come, and his will done on earth as it is in heaven.

These were the first five things that popped into my head when asked that question last week.  I would love to hear what you think.  Please take a moment to comment on this post and add your own perspective.

How to hear God's voice when life gets bumpy

In Mark 1:15 Jesus declares, “The time has come…The kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and believe the good news!”

The Greek word for “time” in this passage is “kairos”.  And, unlike the Greek word for chronological time, kairos carries with it the idea of “the right time”, or “the appointed time”.  (See Mike Breen’s book, “Building a Discipling Culture” for an excellent treatment of this.)

Jesus was, in effect, saying, “Now is the right time for you!  God’s kingdom is breaking into your reality in a way that you can perceive it.  Change your heart and mind and live out your belief in God!”

Our family often talks about “kairos events” or “having a kairos”.  And, what we mean is that we have experienced one of those divine “Aha!” moments through which God is trying to get our attention.

Today I want to reflect specifically upon those kairos experiences used by God to warn us.  The biblical language for this would be correction, rebuke, or reproof.  The basic idea is that if we continue on our current path, at our current pace, something bad is going to happen IF we don’t repent and believe the good news.

I am a visual learner, so I tend to think of these kinds of kairos experiences as:

• Speed bumps
• Rumble strips
• Brick wall

Anyone who has driven a car for any length of time is familiar with these obstacles.  In parking lots we encounter speed bumps.  Their purpose?  To slow us down and to keep those on foot safe.  On highways we sometimes drift onto rumble strips.  Their purpose?  To warn us of immediate danger and to help us correct course.  And, some of us have had the physics lesson of a vehicle in motion colliding with an immovable object.  Splat!

How has this played out in real life for Sandi and me?

About 12 years ago Sandi and I were hitting some communication snags in our marriage.  We blissfully cruised through the first 10 years of wedded matrimony with hardly a scratch, but after our third child and our first church plant things got dicey.  We started arguing over silly things, and certain topics sent us on a downward spiral that was difficult to pull out of.  We were hitting speed bumps and the kairos was “slow down and pay attention, God has something important to say that will keep you out of danger”.

So, we did the reasonable thing and went to Christian counseling.  The first few weeks were wonderful as the counselor talked with Sandi about the ways she might be contributing to our recent struggles.  I came home each time feeling great and excited to see what changes Sandi was going to make!  Then the moment came when he turned to me…  He began asking me about my relationship with my parents.  He started suggesting that I may have brought some baggage into our marriage that was creating problems for us.

Rumble, Rumble…Rumble, Rumble…

I was feeling the vibration of the rumble strips, and I panicked.  We got into the car after that counseling session and I told Sandi we were never going back to that counselor.  And we never did.

Instead of correcting course (repenting and believing) I chose to not deal with the deeper issues.  At the time it just felt too painful, and I was too proud to accept the possibility that I was the source of the problem.

So, we trudged forward, but never experienced the healing or breakthrough that we both longed for.

Fast-forward 10 years.  Sandi and I are on a beach in South Carolina having a relaxing getaway.  And then, seemingly out of the blue, we stumble on one of those forbidden topics.  Within a few minutes we are going at each other.  And right in the middle of our argument, I experience a significant kairos.  The realization dawns on me that we have been having this exact same argument for 10 years!

It was a stunning and desperate observation.  It made me feel incredibly stuck.  An urgency began growing inside of me that day to get unstuck – to break free somehow and finally get past this same, stupid argument.

Two weeks later the other shoe drops, and God speaks to me again.  I was on an airplane with our son flying to Kansas for a pheasant hunting trip.  As I sat there in the quiet my mind circled back to that argument on the beach, to my feelings of frustration and desperation, and to a growing sense of helplessness.  And then, God whispered to my mind and heart three simple words: “It’s your issue.” 

Brick wall.

There was no ignoring this.  There was no place to hide.  There was nobody else to blame.  The time had come for me to own what God had been saying to me over all of these years.  I stopped.  I repented.  I was finally able to trust God to go places inside of me that needed healing.  I no longer cared about being right – I wanted our marriage back.  It was the appointed time.

Over the next six months God did bring deep healing into my life and into our marriage.  It involved me seeking out Christian counseling and starting up where I had left off 10 years before.  How I wished I would have heeded God’s voice sooner! 

The speed bump, the rumble strip, or the brick wall.   What will it take for you to listen and respond to what God is saying to you?

Why my first missional community was such a disaster

Two years ago I felt compelled to transform the small group Sandi and I had been leading into a missional community.  I conducted interviews with experienced missional community leaders, read the books, did my research, and was ready to shift into high gear!  We had about 15 adults in our home every Sunday night, and it was time to kick some missional butt.

The plan was to begin serving at St. Vincent Children's Home in Lansing, Michigan.  I had already become an approved mentor and had taken our group through the initial orientation process.  It was a 30 minute drive each way, but so what?  Like Jesus, we were sent to seek and save those far from God and in need - nothing could stop us now!

Fast forward three months.  I am the only one serving at St. Vincent.  Several families have left our small group.  The leadership huddle we started was dead in the water.  And once again, Sandi had that "I told you so" look in her eyes (although she was kind enough to not actually speak the words).

I so was frustrated.  I was so disappointed in the other members of our small group who were suppose to care about orphans and widows!  And, as a leader, I felt like a complete failure.

What went wrong?  Simply put, I ignored the wisdom of dream big, start small, and go first.

In my zeal for mission I dreamed big, started big, and tried recruiting our group to all dive into the deep end of the pool on the count of three.  And, predictably, I was the only one who got wet.

Fast forward two years.  Our family is now living in Pawleys Island, South Carolina and we are moving into a new neighborhood called Hagley.  Sandi and I had been practicing the following rhythms with our family for the past ten months:

• Tuesday dinner is our UP night.  After the meal we read a chapter of the Bible, each person has a chance to discuss the section they found most interesting, and then we pray for one another.
• Thursday dinner is IN night.  We invite another family (or our kids invite a friend or two) into our home for a meal.  Usually these are fellow Christians who we want to get to know better and encourage.  After the meal we share our highs and lows from the past week and sometimes pray for special needs.
• Once a month we hold a Saturday brunch, and we invite several families from the neighborhood.  This is our monthly OUT.  We simply tell people that we are the new family and we are trying to meet our neighbors.  Sandi and I invite people as we take our evening walk and say hello to everyone we pass.  We stop and talk with those who smile and say hello back - and we usually mention the date of our next brunch.

And, that's it.  Not very sexy is it?  Pretty simple.

In just a few months we've had about 20 neighbors in our home.  We have prayed for people sick with cancer, grieving the death of a parent, and preparing for major surgery.  We've had others back into our home for a Thursday meal and shared stories about our faith journeys.  But the very first door God opened was with an older couple living behind us.  Sid had been recently diagnosed with cancer.  His faith was strong, but the chemo was taking its tool on his body.  We prayed with Sid and Mary Sue the very first time we met them, and they were in our home for brunch the following day.  Later that week as Sandi and I walked past their house we noticed something.  Their grass needed to be cut.

"Who cuts their grass?" we wondered.  So, we asked them and found out one of their children drove in from the next town over and took care of their lawn.  I immediately knew what small step God wanted us to take.  I told Sid not to worry about his lawn, and not to ask their daughter to drive over to mow it any longer.  Our family would be cutting the lawn from now on.

Our son and I have followed through on that simple promise over the past two months.  It is a very small step toward a very big dream of uniting the Christ followers in Hagley to love and support one another and become the hands and feet of Jesus to the entire community as God brings people our way.  Sid and Mary Sue are now the first ones we call when we learn of a need.  They are starting to feel like family to us, and together we are starting to feel like missionaries.

Our focus now is to live out the daily rhythms of UP-IN-OUT and to invite others to join us.  No more counting to three and hoping everyone is ready to dive in.