New Page – Notable Quotes

7 12 2010

Just a quick note to let you all know there is a new page on 21st Century Wineskins. It’s called Notable Quotes and it has, well, notable quotes that relate to the subject matter of the blog. Look on the right side of the page under the heading See These Pages and click on Notable Quotes.

 

Some of the quotes are original – taken from things I’ve written, but not posted. Other quotes come from books that influence me, or from my interactions with people. If you have quotes relating to sharing your faith, missional life, the current state of the church, outreach, the perception of Christians, generation gone, authentic Christian community, or any other related topic, send it to me at rlm@provide.net and If it fits in with the theme of the blog, I’ll add it to the collection.

Enjoy!


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Categories : Generation Gone, Outreach, Perception of Christians, Prayer, Spirituality

21st Century Wineskins Seminar is Ready to Launch!

3 12 2010

For the last few months I’ve been preparing a seminar based on  the ideas I’ve shared on this blog. I believe God has called me to help others learn to share their faith in Jesus in a way that is natural, relational, and founded in Authentic Christian Community. Here’s a synopsis of what the seminar is about.

New Times Require New Methods

Much of what the church teaches about the “how-to” of sharing our faith focuses on presenting a certain set of propositions (e.g. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life), trying to convince someone to believe those propositions and say a prayer of assent when you get to the end of the booklet. Those tools have their place, and had a degree of success in helping people share their faith. However, the world has changed in the 40+ years since the creation of the most commonly used gospel presentations. Basic assumptions of the nature of truth are different, people are not merely looking for a spiritual belief system to ascribe to, and Christianity is not the default choice for the spiritually curious anymore.

The 21st Century Wineskins Seminar addresses how the church can more effectively communicate the gospel to a skeptical and increasingly post Christian culture.

Module 1: Perception is Reality

Examines the findings of the book UnChristian about how those outside the church perceive us and my own research regarding Christians’ perceptions of non-believers. We take a look at the perceptions, examine how they create obstacles to both receiving and sharing the gospel, and look at ways we have contributed to the problem and how to change for the better.

Module 2: Creating Authentic Christian Community

Looks at some of the characteristics of the early church such as the “Four Devotions” (Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer) and the things these devotions produce (togetherness, generosity, praise, witness, and fruit). This module also suggests ways to help create that type of Authentic Christian Community and shows how it is the context within which effective outreach takes place and is the element that will keep people committed to Christ for the long haul.

Module 3: Building Bridges Strong Enough to Bear the Weight of Truth

Most Christians want to share the gospel, but never feel quite up to the task. This workshop focuses on how to build relational bridges to those with whom you want to share the gospel. Using the metaphor of building a bridge we look at Laying the Foundation (Prayer), Building the Superstructure (Four Key Elements – Observation, Time, Attitudes, & Communication), and Completing the Connection (Establishing Trust & Speaking God’s Truth).

Module 4: Re-Thinking Evangelism

What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of evangelism? That’s scary? I’m gonna be rejected? Not my spiritual gift? This seminar looks at how most Christians think of evangelism, gives an explanation of Relational Evangelism, and challenges you to rethink how evangelism could be done and will help you begin to share your faith in new and natural ways.

These are some of the things you will learn in this seminar

  • Building strong relational bridges based on trust and mutual respect will allow you to lovingly speak God’s truth into a person’s life without damaging the friendship.
  • Relational evangelism begins by seeing people as Jesus does, spending time with them, having Christ-like attitudes, and learning to communicate so people understand.
  • In the context of Authentic Christian Community everyday Christians experience the power of God and bear fruit for the kingdom.

For more information about how Relational Life Ministries
can help equip you or your church for effective outreach contact:
Chris Hardy
phone: 734-646-3227
email: rlm@provide.net


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Categories : Brotherly Love, Fellowship, Friendship, Great Commission, Imitating Christ, Jesus' Model of Outreach, Marks of a True Church, Neighborhood Churches, Outreach, Perception of Christians, Prayer, Relational Bridges, Rethinking Church, Sharing your Faith, Spirituality

Belief or Lifestyle?

8 10 2010

Tevin was a friend from Taiwan that I met with weekly for almost two years. One day we were talking about what it means to be a Christian and he asked a very good question.

“Is Christianity a belief or a lifestyle?”

I paused for a moment gathering my thoughts and replied that Christianity is both.

“Christianity is a belief system that should impact your lifestyle,” I replied.

It is not belief or lifestyle, but belief and lifestyle. Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words (belief) of mine and does (lifestyle) them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24) Italics mine.

I gave him an example to illustrate my answer.

“The bible says, ‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.’ (Philippians 4:8) If, before you become a Christian you like gory, slasher movies, which are not pure or lovely or commendable, you should stop watching them after you become a Christian. What you believe should influence what you do.”

Tevin thought for a moment and said, “There are not many Christians in Taiwan, so when someone says they are a Christian we watch them very carefully. Many of the people say they believe in Jesus, but still watch the slasher movies. That’s what made me wonder if Christianity is a belief of lifestyle. If I ever become a Christian I do not want to be one that only believes.”

People are watching our lives as well. They want to see if we merely believe in Jesus or if we imitate him as well. Does our faith impact how we live. If it doesn’t, why should we expect people to believe in Jesus?

Belief or lifestyle. As you introduce people to Jesus is it so they will believe in Jesus? Or are you inviting them to follow Him? It must be both. Jesus asked people to believe in him (John 14:1), and He called people to follow Him (Matthew 16:24). Like Tevin, those searching for spiritual answers today want something more tangible than intellectual ascent to a creed. This is what Jesus offers – a belief that transforms the way we live. Let’s be James 2 Christians that demonstrate our faith by what we do. As we allow our beliefs to shape our behavior we will show that following Christ is both a belief and a lifestyle.


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Categories : Brotherly Love, Faith and Works, Great Commission, Jesus' Model of Outreach, Outreach, Perception of Christians, Questions, Relational Bridges, Spirituality

Ammunition

12 05 2010

Last time I wrote about how Christians are often viewed in a negative light. One reader commented on the verse in John 15:18-19 which says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” His point was that people who do not believe Jesus is God’s Son sent to save us from our sins will not like the message that they need a savior, and they will not like the messengers either.

This is true. The Bible says the message of the gospel, while good news to those who believe, will offend some of those who don’t. I was not speaking of the inherent potential offensiveness of the gospel message. What I was addressing in the last post were offensive actions by Christ followers which have no relation to the gospel message.

Let me give you an example. The following “prayer” was posted on Facebook on April 10 – “Dear Lord, this year you took my favorite actor, Patrick Swayzie (sic). You took my favorite actress, Farah (sic) Fawcett. You took my favorite singer, Michael Jackson. I just wanted to let you know, my favorite president is Barack Obama. Amen.”

While this was a misguided attempt at humor it has received over 600,000 thumbs up votes, many I’m sure by conservative Christians who don’t agree with President Obama’s politics. Some of my Christian Facebook friends are among them. The Bible does tell us to pray for those in political authority (First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. – 1Timothy 2:1-2), but it never instructs us to (even jokingly) pray for their death.

This type of thing gives ammunition to those outside of Christianity to say, “See, I knew all along those Christians are hateful people.” God has entrusted to his followers the message of reconciliation which says God wants people to know they can have their sins forgiven thorough faith in Christ. The Apostle Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ. God is making his appeal for reconciliation through us. What message are we sending to those God desires to forgive by praying, albeit humorously, for the death of a president with whom we have political disagreements. Our actions reflect not only on us, but on Jesus whom we represent.

What kind of message are we sending?


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Categories : Perception of Christians, Prayer

Perception is Reality

26 04 2010

What do you see?

If you look at the image on the left some of you will see one thing and some of you another. Perception is a peculiar thing that greatly influences our thoughts and actions. Depending on one’s perception you may be either a dolt or a hero.

Let me give you an example. Once, long ago, I was broiling steaks and wanted to make French fries to go with them. I put the oil on the stove and turned on the burner. Just then I heard a commotion the boys’ room that I felt needed immediate parental attention. I bolted up the stairs and proceeded to give them a stern talking to about their unacceptable attitudes and actions. I returned to the kitchen, quite satisfied at how well I had handled the situation, only to find the oil on the stove had ignited in my absence. My daughter Beth (who was about nine years old at the time) was in the room and saw me grab the flaming pan and carry it to the back door – burning my hand all the while – where I hurriedly tossed it into the snow.

“What an idiot!” I thought, especially after I remembered we had a fire extinguisher in the cupboard not ten feet away.

A couple of weeks later I overheard Beth recount the event to one of her friends. She said, “A while ago some oil caught on fire in our kitchen and my daddy grabbed the pan and took the fire outside. He saved us all from being burned up.” I like Beth’s version better.

The point is people can look at the same thing and come away with very different perceptions. Those of us who are followers of Christ see ourselves as loving people who want everyone to enjoy the same blessing of forgiveness which we experience through faith in Jesus. Others view us quite differently. David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons in their book UnChristian present a rather unflattering picture of how those who do not claim to be born again Christians perceive those of us who do. Their survey was done among people aged 16-29, so it may not be entirely reflective of the perceptions of all who are outside Christianity looking in, but the observations are instructive nonetheless.

When young outsiders (Kinnaman and Lyons’ term) look at the church and Christians the top three perceptions they have are that we are anti-homosexual, judgmental, and hypocritical. While the respondents also said Christians are friendly and have good values and standards, a vast majority thought Christianity was not sensitive to others and irrelevant to their lives. (1) Most of the people participating in the survey had investigated Christianity, been part of a church, or personally knew born-again Christians, yet still had a predominantly negative image of us. It is obvious we are not doing a very good job of following Jesus’ encouragement to “. . . 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 5:16)

If our negative reputation (whether deserved or not) becomes an obstacle to sharing Christ’s love with others we need to examine ourselves to see where we can prayerfully and humbly change the perception so there can be a “new reality”. Over the next few posts I’ll be looking at ways we can learn to more accurately reflect the love of God to those around us.


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Categories : Perception of Christians, Sharing your Faith


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