Why Lent? How Meaningful Traditions Shape Our Modern Lives

American Christianity has largely left behind the liturgical traditions of the church. The practice of Lent is more than a religious ritual- it’s a season of spiritual enrichment that points to the Resurrection.

Blog by Rev. Tim Fountain

“We’re Christians. We don’t do Lent.”

Such was the snark from a mega-church friend when my wife mentioned our preparations to observe Lent. Is Lent just a human invention, a fussy religious ritual instead of “real Christianity”?

And shouldn’t we be doing the Lent stuff that the Book of Common Prayer lays out– self-examination and repentance…prayer, fasting, and alms-giving…reading and meditating on God’s holy Word–all the time?

Why Lent?

First, Christians grow in fits and starts, not all at once.  The mystery of our faith is the replacement of our sinful, mortal self with the righteous and eternal life of Christ (Galatians 2:20), and that life of Christ is such that the world cannot contain the books needed to record all of his words and deeds (John 21:25).  The flippant boast that “We’re just Christians all the time” is to ignore and even deny the majestic mystery of our ongoing transformation (2 Corinthians 3:18).  Lent is an opportunity for intentional growth toward Christ-likeness.

Jesus himself sent the church to coach us along in this growth. When he gave his Great Commission, he was clear that we wouldn’t “just be Christians” all at once. Rather, he sent his Apostles to “make disciples… teaching them…” (Matthew 28:19-20) Lent is an opportunity to bear down on some remedial learning in the school of discipleship, and to identify where we’ve ignored or even flunked the teachings of Christ.

Lent is a recurring intensive course in our lifelong work of discipleship toward eternal life.  Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:49)  Lent is an annual exploration of our conformity to the man of dust, but also another opportunity to discover our God-given progress toward unity with the man of heaven, triumphant at Easter.

Why Lent?

A second explanation is that God wove holy seasons into the creation for our benefit:

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:14-15)

Even our mega-church, nondenominational friends recognize holy seasons. They’re always busting out “40 Days of Prayer for This, That and The Other Thing” campaigns.

Our Anglican tradition continues the longstanding use of the Christian year, using a repeating series of seasons and Holy Days to teach “salvation history,” the proclamation of the life, words and deeds of Christ as set forth in the Bible. 

Again, we don’t “get it all at once.” It’s too much wonder and we’re too limited to take it all in! By living in the Church year, year in and year out, we discover truths we’ve missed. We learn more of Christ as, by God’s grace, we are ready to receive more of him.

Why Lent?

Finally, there are the time-tested benefits that Lent has provided to the whole church. The Ash Wednesday service informs us:

The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful, were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. In this manner, the whole Congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need that all Christians continually have to renew our repentance and faith.  (Book of Common Prayer 2019, p. 543)

Why Lent? Because Christians grow in fits and starts, not all at once. God graciously wove holy seasons into the creation for our benefit. Over time, the season of Lent has provided particular benefits to the whole church, calling forth great devotion and putting God’s people in mind of the Gospel of our Savior, to whom be all glory, laud, and honor, now and forever. Amen.

Walking Together Daily: Friday

Friday | Bless the Outsider

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
2 Cor 5:18-21

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...
1 Pet 3:15

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Pet 3:9

Friday | Bless the Outsider: Our part in this is simpler than we might think. Jesus asked us to be His witnesses. We can only share what we have seen, what we have experienced, what we know. It’s ok if we don’t have all the answers. No one wants to talk to those people anyway! Simply be willing, be ready, be available, be obedient. We don’t always know how God will use us, and it’s not something we can measure. Trust that the Holy Spirit dwelling in you will give you both wisdom and words as you seek to love your neighbor in practical ways. We do not initiate spiritual conversations with unbelievers out of compulsion or fear, but rather freely and with joy, as the Holy Spirit leads and guides. Because we ourselves have been raised from death to life, we desire that others learn to follow Jesus and walk in the way of life. If this is not yet your experience, be honest. We are all in process as we walk this journey, and God will honor our simple efforts to love and bless others as we serve and share our story. 

The Bible is a story about the Perfect Lover who set his heart on his Beloved. Even as she is repeatedly unfaithful, He relentlessly pursues her until her heart belongs wholly to Him. While our culture accuses the Church of being exclusive, the truth is that God’s love is radically inclusive. From the beginning, God set his love on a particular people for the explicit purpose of extending his blessing, through them, into the entire world. Through relationship with Jesus, we have become a part of God’s chosen people, His Beloved. We are blessed to be a blessing, to join God in His quest to fully reconcile all things to Himself.

Rick Richardson recently shared two acronyms that are helpful in this conversation, which are in the table below. FRANC helps us identify the people whom God has already providentially placed in your circles, and BLESS includes five practical steps as we seek to become a blessing to those around us.

On the first Friday we do this together we will together put together a FRANC list.  Who are some friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, and co-workers who don’t know the Lord? Spend some time creating a list.  You’ll notice some gaps and as we listen to the Lord in the coming weeks hopefully we will add to our FRANC list.  

Once we have an idea of who the Lord is calling us to reach out to, we work our way through the BLESS list.  We’ll encourage one another and spur each other on as we begin with prayer and move our way through this list.  Bless stands for Begin with Prayer, Listen with care, Eat together, Serve in love, and Share your story.

Walking Together Daily: Thursday

Thursday | Listen & Hear

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
John 14:26

And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:10-13

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
 but you have given me an open ear.
Psalm 40:6

Thursday | Listen & Hear: Have a posture of listening, stillness, attentiveness today. Intentionally and repeatedly quiet your heart and your mind as you are going about your day. Perhaps you will sense that God is saying something to you. It could be a word of encouragement, or a specific way to take action in your life. God can and does speak anytime, but during this season we are asking him to speak to us on this day, trusting that he will honor our discipline to listen and desire and hear his voice more clearly. 

We may do a lot of reading and thinking about God, talking about God, and even talking to God, and all of that is good!  But when do we listen? Do we actually expect God to speak to us? Do we expect him to respond to our prayers with real answers? Give us clear direction when we are faced with a hard decision? Give us wisdom and counsel? Encourage us? Instruct us? Ask us to do specific things? When Jesus ascended to the Father after his death and resurrection, he sent the promised Holy Spirit, who would be our Helper and Comforter, the real presence of Jesus dwelling with and within us. We learn to recognize this “still, small voice” not only as we quiet our hearts and pay attention, but as we are willing to “hear,” that is, to respond with obedience and our whole lives.

Walking Together Daily: Wednesday

Wednesday | Meditate on God’s Word

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
 but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 
Matthew 4:4

Blessed is the man
 who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
  and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
 planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
   and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

 Psalm 1:1-3

Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
    for it is ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
    for your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.
I hold back my feet from every evil way,
  in order to keep your word.
I do not turn aside from your rules,
 for you have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding;
    therefore I hate every false way.

Psalm 119: 97-104

Wednesday | Meditate on God’s Word: Read the Scripture passage for the day, aloud and silently, and multiple times if you can. Take time to imagine the story as you read. Make observations and connections, and write down questions. If you have time, you can consult Bible commentaries or friends who have been studying the Bible for longer than you.

Wednesday evenings we meet for a Bible study hosted by McKeevers on Zoom. Come at 6:30pm for fellowship and we’ll begin the Bible study at 7pm. The weekly announcement email will include the passage we’ll be studying, so that you can spend time there in advance. Even if you aren’t able to attend, we will all be reading the same Scripture each Wednesday and can share our reflections, questions and insights on the Facebook page or with a friend.

Some things we know intuitively and instinctively. Other things we know as we study an orderly world, and we can gain wisdom from life experience. And yet knowledge and understanding of the things of God— of the Father, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit— we can only know through the divine revelation given to us in the Bible. We learn who God is and what God is like. Likewise, we learn who we are. We are confronted, rebuked and corrected; we find comfort, wisdom, and instruction! All these things the Holy Spirit applies to the particulars of our lives as we are willing to listen and obey. Echoing God’s Law given to Moses, Jesus taught that the first and greatest commandment was “to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This also informs the way we read God’s Word. We come, as best we can in our brokenness, with our whole selves. We come to the text with engaged minds, and open hearts and surrendered wills.

Walking Together Daily: Tuesday

Tuesday | Dependence & Petition

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-11

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
James 5:16b-17

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
    incline your ear to me, and save me!
Be to me a rock of refuge,
  to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
 for you are my rock and my fortress.
Psalm 71:1-13

Tuesday | Dependence & Petition: Journal / pray / share your needs and desires, along with those of others. These lists can get long once we get going (and that’s ok!) but we don’t always know where to begin. We can always pray for community requests posted on the Facebook page, for the people in your life who don’t yet know Jesus, and for those suffering hunger, sickness, and unemployment as a result of the pandemic. 

Jesus, the perfect human being, modeled a life of complete dependence on his Father. Because of His work on the cross, we too are now called children of God. Like Jesus, we can boldly approach our Father with every need and good desire. We didn’t become God’s children for our own sake alone, but have been made into a kingdom of priests and given a sacred charge to intercede for the world. Christians pray with confidence, creativity, and expectation because God has promised to hear and respond to our prayers. This is not merely a nice gesture or a way to get things off our chest, but rather a real place of refuge for us and a powerful move in the spiritual realm. It matters that we pray because God takes us seriously. He has given redeemed humanity a profound dignity: the prayers of his children move his hand to act in the world and bring his kingdom. Part of our work and calling is to become in this way like Jesus, who even now is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us!

As we come to God in a posture of dependence and humility, we might also spend time today in lament as we encounter sorrow in our hearts, or confession as we become aware of our sin. In the writings of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus is described as a man of sorrows, familiar with grief; we can entrust our tears to the God who has suffered the full depth of sorrow. We can tell the truth about our sin without fear, because our sin has already been paid for on the cross. We don’t need to wallow in guilt and must be wary of falling into the enemy’s temptation to live in shame, which often keeps us from intimacy with God and others because of feelings of unworthiness. We can simply repent and then by faith receive and claim God's forgiveness. The Holy Spirit never accuses or condemns. If we feel guilt, we can be thankful that the Spirit convicts us of sin so that we can return to unhindered friendship with God. 

We can and must bring all these things to God—needs and desires, failures and sorrows—as his dependent and beloved children.

Walking Together Daily: Monday

Monday | Praise & Thanksgiving

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name…”  Luke 11:1-2

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
  his love endures forever…
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
  and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
for he satisfies the thirsty
  and fills the hungry with good things.

Psalm 107:1, 8-9

Praise the Lord, for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God; *
indeed, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful. 

Psalm 147:1

Monday | Praise & Thanksgiving: Journal /  pray / share thanksgiving and praises. Consider grand general truths about God’s character as well as the ways you experience God’s goodness in your own life, even in the small details. We might simply notice the spring flowers and attribute their beauty to God’s creativity and kindness, or remember particular people in our lives who have in some way blessed us, or take time to thank God for the ways that he has answered our prayers. If you are struggling to identify good things in your life, begin wherever you can, asking for God's help to see things as he sees. The one place we always can, and perhaps should, begin is to praise and thank God for manifesting His love for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus taught his disciples to begin their prayers with worship, and we also want to begin each week with praise and thanksgiving. As we look outside of ourselves to declare the perfection of God’s goodness, truth, and beauty, we align our hearts with the ultimate reality of the eternal God who does not change. We do not always have access to the feelings that ought to accompany a knowledge of God’s character as He is revealed in the Scriptures. But we can always choose with our wills to praise God, and to offer thanksgiving for every good and perfect gift. This delights our Father and ushers us into a new joy and freedom as we begin to see the world through the lens of God’s holiness and love. This discipline doesn’t ask us to pretend or ignore our pain, questions or disappointments. Instead, we learn how to bring those things to God in truth as we practice setting our focus first on his goodness, his faithfulness to us, and his love for the world.

Walking Together Daily

We are endeavoring to walk together through our weekdays in a particular way for the next 5 weeks. We’re calling it Walking Together Daily. Just what does that mean? It’s a weekly liturgy for us.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30

Introduction | How to Use this Daily Guide

The thing that unites us as Church of the Resurrection is our shared journey following Jesus. Some have been walking this path for many years, while others may still be investigating or wrestling with doubts. Whatever your story, we invite you to join us for a season of Walking Together Daily as we follow a weekly liturgy, or rhythm of spiritual practices. These disciplines, integral to the Christian life, are powerful to shape our hearts and make us more fully human, more like Jesus. We were never meant to walk this Resurrection Way alone, but to find companionship, encouragement and strength from our brothers and sisters.

This weekly rhythm has an intentional flow. We will begin each week by fixing our gaze on the ultimate reality of God through praise and thanksgiving, then acknowledging our complete dependence on Him by offering prayers of petition and intercession. We invite and expect God to speak to us as we meditate on His Word and then make quiet space to listen for the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. As our hearts become more aligned with God’s heart through these practices, we are moved into the world on a mission to extend the blessings of God’s love.

There are personal, relational and corporate ways to engage, respond and share. As we sit alone with God to practice each day’s discipline, we might meditate on a passage of Scriptures and respond by journaling prayers, reflections and questions. For those of us walking with others in spiritual friendship, we support and encourage each other by sharing how God is shaping us through these experiences, or we can even practice some of these disciplines together. Finally, there will be a place for community dialogue on the Facebook discussion thread each day. We are doing this together! 

We invite you to participate as you’re able. This is intended to be a simple structure that makes space for us to pursue deeper relationships with God and each other. Scripture passages introduce each day’s focus to allow the compelling words of Jesus, and God’s Word through other biblical authors, to invite us into this way of walking together. There are suggestions for how to enter into each day, followed by a more thorough explanation of how we understand each practice in the broader context of the biblical narrative.

World Mission Sunday

This past Sunday we observed World Mission Sunday, a province-wide observation in our church.  On this day we remember Jesus’ call to be his witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  We remember that we are called not just to gather on the Lord’s Day for Word and Sacrament, but we are also sent out into the world with a purpose.  We have made changes to our habits as we go about our lives here in Sioux Falls so that we might be witnesses of Jesus Christ to those who don’t know him.  But we never want to forget the call to the nations.

Those in the missions field have counted 16,800 distinct people groups in the world.  Of these almost 17,000 people groups, almost 7,000 of them remain unreached.  Just what exactly does this mean?  An unreached people group is a group in which fewer than 2 percent of the population are evangelical Christians. By evangelical, I don’t mean adherents of a particular church or creed or confession, but Christians who are working to evangelize the rest of the people group.  When a people group has no effective outreach to the rest of the group they are considered unreached.

But more than 3,000 people groups are not only unreached, they have no church and no missionaries working to evangelize the population.  This is all to say that there is work to be done.  God desires that all might know him, and there are still billions of people who don’t.  

This is a reminder of our call to be a part of the mission of God.  There are many things we focus on locally, but we can never lose sight of our call to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus Christ.

What does this mean for you? Well, pray about what the Lord is calling you to.  Not all of us are called to cross-cultural missions, but more are called than go.  Is the Lord calling you to be his witness to an unreached people group?  If not, what are some ways you can participate in the Missio Dei.  Is God calling you to commit to supporting a missionary?  

I’d like to call each of us reading this to pray for the nations, to pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare the way for the Gospel.  I’d like to call us to heed the words of Jesus who told his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.”  Would you join me in prayer for the Lord to raise up laborers to go into the harvest?  

One thing we are doing as a church is selecting the 100 largest unreached people groups and praying for 2 of these groups a day until we’ve gotten through the list.  Consider it a pre-Lenten discipline that we are starting now and continuing through Lent.  You can find a list of the 100 largest unreached people groups here.  Would you join us in prayer for these groups and for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest?  Let us never lose sight of our call to the nations.

Resurrection Family Values

I’m very excited to be kicking off a sermon series this Sunday.  This will be the first sermon series we’ve ever done at Church of the Resurrection.  Usually we follow the lectionary which assigns the readings for each Sunday.  During the first half of the church year we follow the life of Jesus Christ from the anticipation of his birth (and return) during Advent, through the Christmas season, into the season after Epiphany where we see the manifestations of Jesus as the Christ.  We then move into Lent where we spend 40 days in preparation to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.  This 40 day season of preparation for Easter is followed by 50 days of celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.  We are still in this season. In his resurrection, as I say during our liturgy, he broke the bonds of death, trampling Hell and Satan under his feet.

So I generally like to follow the lectionary because it draws us near to Christ.  It draws us near to Christ and near to our brothers and sisters throughout the world who are encountering the same Bible readings as us. There is a beauty in walking through the Word of God as a global body of believers.  So why are we straying from that during this season?

This Sunday will kick off a sermon series on our values as a church.  This will be an opportunity for me to preach about who we are as a people.  Our values aren’t statements that have been written up only to be placed in a file somewhere.  They’re statements that embody who we are as a body.  So, what are our values as a church?  Well, you can find them here, but I’ll save you a click.  Our values are:

·     Finding our identity in Christ
·     Living with a new purpose in Christ
·     Seeking renewal in our community
·     The intentional nurturing of children
·     Practicing hospitality

 So as we explore each of these values I hope I can help to cultivate these values in you as we are transformed from glory into glory.  

Preparing to Prepare

We at Church of the Resurrection are people who are seeking to draw near to Jesus.  One of the ways we do this is by uniting our story with his story through the observation of the church calendar.  We are currently in the season after Epiphany, and during this season we look at some of the manifestations of Christ’s divinity.  We behold his glory in his work here on earth in his changing of water into wine, and in his fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. 

Ash Wednesday is in just one month, which means Lent is fast-approaching.  Even in this season in which we see the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ the specter of his coming death looms large.  This should be no surprise to anyone who has read the Old Testament prophecies of the suffering servant or to anyone who has read the words of Christ in the gospels.  Christ’s glory is in suffering and death.

We have the benefit of reading the whole Bible unlike the disciples who were shocked and offended at the idea that Jesus would lay his life down.  I heard something last week that I hadn’t thought of.  I have always used Ash Wednesday as an opportunity to kick off Lent, so to speak.  But I heard it suggested that Ash Wednesday is way too late.

So here I am, one month away from Lent, broaching the topic of Lent.  And I’m only going to do that.  I’m going to raise the topic of Lent.  Yes, Lent is a season of fasting and preparation, and I am calling us to a season of preparation for the season of preparation.  Weird?  Maybe.

But I’ll ask you this.  What is your plan to draw near to Jesus this Lent?  What is keeping you from drawing near to Jesus?  Is there something you need to lay at the feet of Jesus?  Is there a secret sin in your life that you need to lay at his feet?  What is something you can give up that will draw you to him?  If you give up chocolate will you really run to him when you get the urge for it?  Is there a devotional habit you can pick up during this season?

Let’s use the next month to pray to the Lord about what he is calling us to this Lent.  How can we prepare for this season?  How can we use it to draw near to the Lord?

How has planting a church affected my life?

So, it’s been a while since I posted to the blog.  It’s about time to add another post.  I just read through my last post and saw that I promised to “talk about refining our process of reaching others with the gospel.”  I guess I’ll be faithful to my word and do that.

I think one of the biggest barriers to evangelism is the old way of thinking that reduces the work of evangelism to a gospel presentation followed by a sinner’s prayer.  Don’t stop reading.  I’m not crazy.  I do believe that a gospel presentation is absolutely necessary for someone to become a Christian.  Otherwise, what are they responding to?  What are they putting their faith in?  My point is that there are often many steps necessary to win someone to Christ before they hear and believe the good news that through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus we can be called children of God and are heirs of his eternal kingdom. 

Imagine approaching someone in a coffee shop, interrupting their peaceful ingestion of caffeine, and telling them that Jesus died for their sins.  Would you expect a positive reaction?  Of course not.  And this is why many people don’t feel equipped to do the work of evangelism.  People generally don’t respond to personal appeals like this outside of a relationship.  They probably are thinking, “Who are you to tell me about this Jesus?  You don’t know me.”  But what if we considered any trust-building or bridge-building between you, a believer, and any unbeliever to be doing the work of evangelism?  What if we considered the formation of relationships with non-believers to be the beginning of evangelism?  What if we started to see building healthy relationships with non-believers as an integral part of moving them toward a relationship with Christ?

I think we need to assume that those who don’t believe have at least some hostility toward Christianity.  At the very least they’re indifferent.  They have no interest and wonder why anyone would be interested in Jesus.  How do we take Jesus into a hostile and indifferent world?  We do so by building relationships.  We do so by living really intentionally.  Even strategically.

I’ve changed my habits so that I can build relationships with those around me.  I’ve started to be strategic about where I shop so I run into the same employees.  When I eat at a restaurant, I ask my server if there’s anything going on in his or her life that I can pray about.  I’m going to pray anyway!  Why not include them in my prayer?  And the area I need the most help in is reaching out in my neighborhood.  We need to break the idea of seeing our home as our refuge.  Jesus is our refuge.  We need to spend our time and home welcoming others into it.  We need to spend more time in our front yard rather than our backyard.  Last fall I bought a fire pit to drag into my driveway on Fridays to connect with people in the neighborhood.  We’ll see what fruit this will bear. 

Here’s the reality.  When we encounter people we always encounter them as people with whom God has started a conversation.  Let’s continue that conversation.  Let’s do it relationally.  Let’s do it lovingly.  Let’s do it as people whose lives have been changed by God.  Let’s share the good news, one relationship at a time.

What is church planting and why would anyone want to plant a new church?

Part II:

In the previous entry I talked about how our discipleship calls us to make disciples.  And as daunting as this sounds, when we set out to make disciples we are partnering with God.  So what does this have to do with church planting?  Everything!  We are planting a church not because there is something wrong with each of the hundreds of churches in Sioux Falls.  We are planting a church because new churches have proven to be highly effective at reaching un-churched people for the sake of Christ.  Sioux Falls doesn’t need one new church; it needs dozens of new churches.  One local ministry estimated that there are at least 100,000 un-churched people in the city of Sioux Falls.  These are our neighbors, our co-workers, our cashiers, our servers, our baristas, and our friends.  And God is calling us to reach them with the good news of new life in Christ. 

In my next post I will begin to talk about refining our process of reaching out to others with the gospel.  While I think even the newest convert is capable (and called) to reach others with the gospel, I do think there are ways we can each grow as disciple-makers.  But for today I want to focus more on the task of church planting.  Not all pastors are called to church planting.  It is a particular call, and churches examine potential planters closely because they want them to succeed.  I don’t want to challenge you to go plant a church.  What I do want to ask you today is whether you feel called to assist in the task of church planting.  I’m not asking for the sake of the church I am planting but for the sake of church planting in general.  As I said we need dozens of new churches in Sioux Falls and beyond, and just as much as these churches need good leadership, they need people like you to lend your assistance to them. 

A while back I read the book Sticky Faith.  Most Christian parents want their children to stick with the faith they are raised with.  But how?  How do we nurture a faith that sticks?  One researcher estimated that something like 80 percent of Christians leave the faith in college.  Whatever the number, the attrition rate is appalling.  Two of the elements the authors of Sticky Faith pointed to (that led to children sticking with their faith) were 1) it is clear to the children that a parent’s faith matters to them in their day-to-day life and 2) children are given opportunities to play a role in church.

The reason I raise these two elements is that by joining a church plant, you are not only blessing a missionary endeavor that makes new disciples, you are actively showing your children how much your faith means to you.  You are showing that your faith is so important you are leaving your comfort zone to help take the gospel to the least, the last, and the lost.  And in church plants children have an opportunity to put their faith into action and participate in the work of the church. 

For the sake of brevity I’ll sum up by saying this: the work of church planting is work, but it is important, impactful, and satisfying work.  I pray that you will prayerfully consider how you are called to support the work of church planting in your life.

What is church planting and why would anyone want to plant a new church?

Let me preface my comments by saying I’ve been thinking a lot lately about being a disciple of Jesus.  I mean more than usual.  I’ve been visiting a friend’s discipleship group (and shout-out to discipleship ministry Primary for their work in this area) for the past three weeks finding out what it’s all about.  What’s different about their discipleship group is its missional orientation.  Too often we think of our own discipleship as learning more about the God who is revealed in Scripture.  Far be it for me to dissuade anyone from reading their Bible more, but there is much more to our own discipleship than building ourselves up as followers of Jesus.  Our own discipleship ought to be just as much concerned with making disciples as it is with our own growth in Jesus.  After all, if we want to be obedient to Jesus that necessarily entails obeying his command to “make disciples of all nations” in Matthew 28.

But, I often hear people say, “I don’t have the right gifts for that.”  Maybe, but if you know Jesus you have everything you need.  You’re not a salesman who must go on a company retreat to get the requisite training.  If you know Jesus you are ready to make disciples.  When we seek to make disciples we are partnering with God himself.  What better partner can there be?  Anytime we encounter someone who doesn’t know Jesus we can be assured that God has already started a conversation with them.  We’re just continuing a conversation God has started. 

Consider the Samaritan woman Jesus meets at a well (John 4).  She has been called the first missionary by some because she left Jesus and immediately returned to town to tell her neighbors about Jesus.  She didn’t have the “right words.”  She hadn’t been to a single Christian church service.  All she knew is that she had met “the Christ.”

Friends, we have been empowered to take this good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.  You don’t need a degree in theology or a sophisticated presentation.  You have everything you need.  I want to be clear: I definitely think there are ways we can grow as disciple-makers, but we don’t need to wait until we are a Level-10 Christian to start the task of making disciples.*

What does this have to do with church planting?  I guess you’ll have to read the next post to find out. 

- Christopher

*There are no “Level-10” Christians.  There are no levels at all.