The Document: Stuff

Has the mission been lost in the stuff?

Louise Summerhill knew what "stuff" could do to her mission.

Sally created this painting for Birthright of Salem.
"The essence of Birthright is love." - Summerhill

Her mission was singular: to prevent abortions by providing a quiet place for potentially pregnant women to experience support and friendship.  She founded the first abortion-alternative center in 1968 and subsequently wrote "The Story of Birthright."  At every regional conference I attended, the issue of "stuff" was discussed by Birthright's volunteers.  Someone would refer to Louise's book which depicts how she stayed on her mission.  Then they would report something like, "We just got rid of our clothing room altogether.  The women were coming in for free clothing and formula and telling their friends to come and get it here, and that's all we were being known for.  Lots of other agencies give away those things.  They can get them somewhere else.  We need to get back to what we're about, which is listening to women about their pregnancy."  If Birthright is going to achieve its mission of seeing women's hearts transformed to keep their babies, they need to be known for the right thing.

More than the women they serve, it's the volunteers who daily get the most challenge by the mission of Birthright.  As a volunteer I found it easier to ask a woman a barrage of questions about what stuff she doesn't yet have for the baby. It's easier to pile up stuff in her arms than it is to sit and listen.  The hardest thing is to ask whether her heart is happy for another baby and wait the awkward five minutes for a pregnancy test to result.  Staying on mission is challenging for those who are trying to achieve it.


I feel that this is analogous for the Church.  Jesus' mission was singular: make disciples, teaching them everything He commanded.  If we are going to do that well, who is teaching us and maturing us to do the most important thing?  If I walk into a traditional church, I get a barrage of stuff.  I have massive resources at my request, multiple bible studies and self-growth classes, a variety of places to "get plugged in and serve," and even entertaining attractions to invite friends to come to.  Don't get me wrong - I'm glad for the stuff.  People can be blessed by it most times.  I love to attend events and give stuff away and I'm thankful for the church for developing it.  How might we focus?  How might we depend more fully on God?  Luke 9:1-3,

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt."

Many Christians including me get lost in "Christian stuff" which supports the mission - but it is not the mission, itself.   At the Birthright regional conference they gave us training on "Equipment."  All that was written on the page were three things:  "Some kind of phone."  "Something to take notes."  "Ears, eyes, mouth, and your compassionate heart."  What would happen if this was most prominent in the Sunday morning bulletin?

From the document...

Structure 

The structure is individualized mentoring and strengthening because it invests personally in believers to transform them, to raise them up into disciple makers. The proposal's operational structure is only enough nuts and bolts to get the work done. Its only contribution is making disciples at the relational level. The proposal is the work, and nothing more. It is most fitting to have the willing embark on this adventure, those eager to see the power of God. There is no space required to be rented out. The home and the phone call are the avenues to make and raise believers. We submit to the Holy Spirit to lead our hearts, and altogether we set before us God's Word to assure us of the work He has predestined for us to do.

We have the power of God. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Certainly I am not going to be asked to do all things, and weakness is another essential element to giving God the glory due. The Body has many parts. Having the wisdom to know when to trust God to provide a help or service, and when to allow a professional to serve, is important. The persons mentoring and strengthening believers in becoming disciple makers will need counsel from the wise in the church. Setting all those protections aside, we trust God that the people of this city are tailor-fitted to find life and wisdom from believers who have entered into their life for the purpose of redemption. Redemption is a spiritual need but it is also a work in the practical problems of life. God has planned to redeem everything, and we encourage trusting God in all things to help us.

There is a secondary structure provided by this ministry. Individually we run out of time or resources or answers. This is a critical cue from God. Elijah got depressed thinking he was the only one testifying when God rebuked, “I have 6,000 who have not bent the knee to Baal.” As a new believer develops capacity for things of the LORD, we bring them to church if they are willing (the “attractional model”) where they can draw more broadly in community. Also, we familiarize them with other members in our homes and other locations in the city (the “missional model”) where their spiritual needs can be met. At some times we cannot take a phone call because of other commitments. To familiarize with others allows a network, both on the church campus and everywhere. This proves Christ's Body as family, taking some important glory away from the individual worker. Certainly there already are many in our own church who take the opportunity to share Christ, and this way we are aware of one another's work and able to support one another, praising God for it.

Themes 

God is sufficient.  When the children of Israel were in the desert, they were led by God Himself in a pillar. Who knows how miraculous it could have truly been to have their bodies sustained as Jesus did when he was in the desert and did not eat or drink for 40 days. Instead, they believed that they needed water, so Moses asked God and he split the rock. They complained again, and God gave them what they asked so that they would continue to follow. "We need bread," they complained. That wasn't enough. "We want meat." So God gave them meat. Later in Psalm 73 God recounts it saying that His children "limited His power" because of their complaining thoughts that they needed more than God Himself to survive. Isn't our challenge like this? We understand that the Spirit is enough to help us accomplish the Great Commission to make disciples of all men. We're afraid that if with our lives we lift up Him alone to make disciples He will not indeed draw all men to Himself. We think we need additional provisions to accomplish this. We need an initial earthly draw: a fashion show, basketball, gifts to families of inmates, etc., to get them to want to come onto the church campus... and while they're here, we'll share the gospel. These avenues see a harvest, thank God! But it is also true that the Spirit's glory is in ways precluded by material production and human ingenuity.


Identity.  In this ministry, the natural draw is YOU (with CHRIST). The people of this city want to come with you while you're shopping, running errands, or doing yard work. They want to belong, they desire a permanent place on the inside. Being inside they see how the Way of Jesus Christ makes the mundane life-giving. You need not have a family or a spouse to do discipleship. As you share yourself, you share Him who dwells within. The Holy Spirit is satisfactory fascination and supply in what we do. Because we have entrusted our resources to God and His arrangement of God-seekers to come to us, we have more confidence. The benefit of knitting together like-minded disciple makers is further security that God and His Word is constantly at the center of our efforts.

Family.  Like the LORD our ultimate interest is people. Earthly families are about making and raising people. It is the same in the Kingdom. The Kingdom is about replicating people who are the image of God who do the mission of God. Luke 14:12-14 - "Then He also said to him who invited Him, 'When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.'” Might we be careful to seek first people who "cannot repay us" - people who are immature in knowing Jesus Christ. When we impart a steady flow of the Spirit to them, they will not be able to repay us. But this is how we "make" babies, and "raise" babies so that they can know God in the depth that we do.  This is “Family Evangelism,” or “Covenant.” Family is something the whole world intuitively understands, and desires.


(in upcoming conclusion: a personal note)

The Document: 4 Elements

"What makes your church different from any other secular philanthrophy?" I asked the Mormon missionaries.

the Mormons I met with want to know God personally

(A philanthropy is an activity or institution intended to promote human welfare.)

We had been reading through Galatians together.  We'd been meeting for a little less than a year, but a couple months ago our time came to a close.  One elder finally completed his mission and was going home.  The other received a new assignment to Spanish-speaking areas of the city.  Before they left I asked them again to explain how we obtain the Holy Spirit.  One of them took out a piece of paper and drew a picture.  "So, what you're saying is, we have faith in Jesus first.  Then because we believe we receive the Holy Spirit.  And then it is through the Holy Spirit that we have the ability to obey the ten commandments and please God.  Everything except the Spirit's work through us is to miss the mark of perfection; it's still shades of disobedience."  Awesome, Word of God!  I have learned so much from Mormon people through time; changed my mind on several things.  It is nice to have imparted something for them.

I contrasted our self-righteous works to the story of Abraham and the impossible promise of conceiving Isaac.  Faith is the heart of what it means to claim God.  "Your church does so many wonderful things," I said.  "However, so do many humanitarian organizations on the earth who have nothing to do with religion.  I can tell your church cares for people.  My church is no different - it also is known for its acts of care toward others.  So let's cut through to the heart.  Where is God standing apart from what people can accomplish?  Where is God alive, for you?  Here is where He is alive for me...".

The good works done by philanthropies and the good works done by the Church are dangerously close to identical.  Does anyone realize how easy it is to kindly mow someone's lawn and tell them about God?  Good works do not quite incarnate the Living God who offered a covenant to Abraham.  I can only know God if He does something that I am certain I cannot do for myself.  I am not accustomed to the power of God yet either.  But I count myself as someone who wants to live by it.  

(from the document...)

The heart of transformation and “knitting together” this ministry will provide for making disciple makers has four elements:

• Prayer.  We trust God to bring us to His Bride-to-be. God arranges the people and the circumstances and prepares their hearts to receive the gospel. We trust God to bring these people into our lives. Experience proves to me that the ones we will meet are tailor-fitted to naturally and humanly connect with us as individuals. Each believer has been given a certain arrangement of Spiritual gifts, which we trust God to exercise and show the excellence of the power of God that they might believe the promise of eternal life and life abundant. We trust the Spirit, and we trust our Spiritual gifts to be the witness that God is alive. Not only does the power of God lead us to His Bride-to-be, but it leads His Bride-to-be to receive Him and not just follow mere mortals or doctrines or religiosity. “And when I came to you, I did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the gospel of God. For I determined to not know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:1-5). The Spirit out ahead of us runs the whole show. Without it we will not find them and they will not see Him. Without God working, we have a false or weak ministry.  Do you wonder if God has His own high-five notecard?  We do well to pray for our “high-five,” however receiving those God has on His “high-five” card puts flesh and blood agency on immediate redemption. 


• Courage.  Many believers want to share the gospel, open up their homes and open up their lives with others but are afraid or nervous to do it. This is also a work of the Holy Spirit which they will trust God to develop, and we pray alongside them that God would in fact take them in baby steps toward sharing their faith and their life with someone outside the church (Lk. 12:16-21). This is where some scriptures will be a helpful to strengthen a believer to boldly trust God. A small study in the mission of God and the image of God would be appropriate. Also a small study in the nature of faith and discerning the voice of God would be appropriate. Learning gospel scriptures and being able to illuminate them in power will be a central focus. 


• A basic ability to refrain from judging others.  For this reason, I am wary writing this paper. I sincerely hope no one feels judged or limited by what I write. His interests are what matter. This issue is constantly surfacing even for those who have been making disciples for awhile.  It's not a program I want to impart but a way of life which is adaptive to the people engaged.  Unfortunately for our finite ideas of God and His righteousness, God wants to receive the glory, and He does not want our images of Him to receive the glory. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. Some additional scripture on how to view struggles with sin or brokenness in perspective to the process of sanctification will be very necessary. 


• Family.  When the Spirit fell, there was identity in Christ and oneness of believers. We know that a person has come into God's presence by noticing evidence of joy and strength after being told the truth of God's standards and God's grace. This is enough that the Spirit is present, and therefore, there is oneness of believers even without their ability to yet articulate the gospel they have received. The Spirit falls in a way others notice in Acts 2:41 and it says that those who gladly received the Word were baptized, and all those who believed were together, and they took care of everyone according to their need. Family – it is a doctrine, yet intuitive. Peter asks when the Spirit falls in Acts 11:17 with Cornelius, “If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” Above all doctrinal disputes on the content of the gospel, when someone relies on Jesus and the Spirit falls, we must accept that whatever they are to us, God has nevertheless accepted them. We are now members of one another, forever. Family means “we are in this together, and what I have is yours: my time, my love, my stuff – whatever you need to know you belong and you have potential as an image bearer of God, it is all yours.” We practice what the abiding God does with us, with new converts. We simply enjoy their company fully, without regret (John 17:9-24). Once within the family, there are times when every believer chooses to walk in the flesh and it is critical to gently point out the difference (Col. 2:6).

(more in the next post)