What’s
going on this weekend? Well, for
starters, it’s Growing Further Weekend, our annual opportunity to welcome
ministry partners from around the country (every other year it’s global). It’s also our second week with Engage during
Sunday morning community time. Around
350 people took advantage of the chance to reach out to others at
Hope in an effort to get better equipped to reach those outside Hope.
This Sunday, during our community time, we will be looking at a teaching
by Vik Marballi around the theme—Jesus, the only Way.
As
the body at Hope jumps into this new initiative, I thought it a good time to
remind you of one of our core values as a team of leaders: “Finding common ground with the seeker.” This is a clearly taught value throughout
scripture, both for us individually and as local communities of faith. The
apostle Paul reminds us in his letter to the church at Corinth that “though I
am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I become like a Jew, to win the
Jews. To those under the law, I become
like one under the law, so as to win those under the law.” (1 Cor. 9:19, 20)
Growing
further weekend reminds us that God intends for His kingdom be forever
expanding and growing. “Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners,” after all, and the last time I checked
that pretty much extends to everyone on the planet with a pulse. And Engage is one vehicle designed to help us
do that very thing with those both inside and outside the faith. But how do we get started? How do we take that first step to walk across the room and begin to build
a relationship with those we don’t know or who don’t know Christ?
Twenty
years ago, we were taught to share the 4 spiritual laws with anyone and
everyone who would give us the time. Or
we were encouraged to ask a couple of probing questions, like “If you died
tonight, where do you think you would go?” and “If God were to ask you, ’why
should I let you into My heaven,’ what would you say?” With our post modern
culture becoming more and more secularized and increasingly skeptical of
authority, biblical or otherwise, we followers are being forced to look at
different entry points to the
discussion.
Rather
than the approach of “I know something you don’t” being the opening salvo to a
total stranger, Paul suggests we start by incarnating or identifying
empathetically with the culture in which we find ourselves. For some that could be your work culture, your
neighborhood, your family, even your recreational buddies. But the bottom line—start with something you
share in common, NOT what separates
you. Jesus did it constantly in his
ministry. He hung out with sinners, told
stories to which they could easily relate, asked lots of questions, and then be
willing to really listen to their
answers. As the master discipler, Jesus consistently communicated that he
understood their inner longings before trying to fix them.
A
perfect example was his conversation with the woman at the well in John 4. He could have begun with, “What’s a (bad)
girl like you doing in a place like this? Don’t you know that you’re talking to
the holy Son of God? In case you don’t know, I’m kind of a big deal.” My guess is the temple scribes were not into
publishing religious tracts back then, but even so I doubt that would have been
Jesus’ method of choice in this encounter either. Instead, He found the common ground. Not
of ethnicity, not of age, not even of religious pedigree. He started with what
unites us all—we get thirsty. “Will you
give me a drink?” He started by
admitting He needed something from her!
Simple, but it provided Him entry into her world. And he took time to listen.
For
you and me in a worship and arts ministry,
the outside world may not understand exactly why we use our gifts for this worship thing on Sunday morning, but
they can understand our love for music.
It touches us all. So our
crossover point with those individuals can be the common ground of art, not their
faith or world view. One of my current
personal goals in this area is to establish relationships with artists and
musicians outside the faith, at least outside the faith community. Right now I am seeking
artistic advice and technical counsel for our Christmas production from a
young, very gifted artist/actor/writer in the Cincinnati area. Don’t believe he’s a Christian, but for
starters, Deb and I have attended three different performances of his. We’ve had dinner together and have regular
correspondence through texting and emails. I have also approached him about being
interviewed for our Christmas program video, and answering the question “What
do you long for in life that money can’t buy?”
All this takes time, but I believe it really is the fulfillment of
Paul’s call for us: “to the Jew, become a Jew.”
Will
you join me as our ministry area begins to discover ways to open its doors and
hearts to people unlike us in their faith experience, not as fellow worship
leaders, but as fellow artists on various endeavors and projects which can help
us build a bridge to their world. May I
challenge you to pray for wisdom and creativity as we begin to walk across the
room to those in our sphere of influence.
Whether it’s getting closer to one another in Christ’s body or learning
how to better connect with the ‘outsider,’ let’s get engaged.
tad
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