Evangelism: On Humility and Judgement

I think David Bosch got it right in his world changing book “Transforming Mission.”

“The one who evangelizes is a witness, not a judge.”

I will own up to it.  My post last week about ‘the idiot’ was judgmental.  I was being judgmental about a guy who was being judgmental about the LGBTQ community.

But a gracious person left a comment which got me thinking. They said “The Bible says we’re not supposed to pass judgment on others.”

It’s true. The Bible even says so.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you will use, it will be measured to you.”

Matthew 7:1-2.

The meaning is crystal clear. Don’t judge.  That’s God’s job.

But the implications run deeper. Things become messy when we take on a job that God is supposed to do.  It always gets messy when we do that. The assumption is, that we operate from a place of superiority, which gives us full right to judge ‘the other.’ Jesus says though, we will be judged by the same measure we judge others.

Think of the guy standing on a soapbox letting everybody know they are going to hell. It’s not an invitation, it’s a judgement and a threat.

For those Christians who judge first, you are claiming a faith that is more about what it is against rather than what it is for.  It is no longer an invitation, but an accusation on what is being done wrong.

Leave the judgments to God. Just concentrate on the ‘saturated in humility’ invitation.

Humility means we stand united with others by our brokenness. It means we are all lined up by the same measure that only God can judge. We forget that sometimes.  Sharing our faith takes our humility, begotten by our brokenness, seriously. A stunning reminder that brokenness doesn’t facilitate judgement, rather it requires relationship with God and with one another.

What do you think?  Is there a place for judgment while we share our faith?  How do judgement and humility function within your life?

“Community” The Importance of Questions

The community does not shift by having any new conversation.  Nothing will change if the new conversation is a discussion about better language, or if we work harder on analyzing or explaining the issue at hand.  Studying, trying harder to understand, seeking better programs or tools – these have no power.  They are only interesting.  Without a conversation that has accountability into it, we may build relatedness and the room may become gentler, but the community and how it constructs itself do not shift.

Conversations that evoke accountability and commitment can best be produced through deciding to value questions more than answers, by choosing to put as much thought into questions as we have traditionally given to answers.

“Community: The Structure of Belonging” by Peter Block, page 102-103.

Every community has them.  The question ‘people.’

I worry that our church communities have not been kind to these folks.  I’m not meaning the simple questions that merely reinforce the status quo, but the big questions that make communities uncomfortable.

I remember hearing a story about a guy who asked why he couldn’t play drums in church, only to be labelled a ‘heretic.’

Even as a church leader myself, I have, often painfully, come to appreciate a good ol’ earth shattering question the facilitates my curiousity of something different that my experience failed to provide. It is uncomfortable. Questions that transform often are.

Be good to the question’ers’ within your community. They are important.  They will invite you to explore new terrain.

What about you?  Is your community good with those who question?  Do you have a question to ask?  What prevents you from asking it?

The Friday Connect

It has been quite the week.  My family is moving into a townhouse so this week has been filled with packing, and moving boxes slowly over to the new place.  It is exciting but also exhausting.

Here are a few highlights from my week across the world-wide web.

- John Howard Yoder is indeed ‘Mr Mennonite.’  Yet there are some things about his past that as a faith tradition, Anabaptists/Mennonite’s alike may need to address.  Here is a very important post by Andi Alexis-Baker over at Jesus Radicals.  John Howard Yoder and Sex: Wrestling with the Contradictions.  Is this important for the Mennonite community to address?  An interesting and important question! (A hat tip to friend David Driedger for sharing this post earlier in the week)

- Since becoming a father 2 and a half years ago I have become extremely sensitive to and disgusted by shows like “Toddlers and Tiara’s” that exploit children.  In fact, I am surprised by the way in which our society exploits kids.  Here is a very interesting post on Kurt Willems blog about the surprising depth of child sex abuse that we may not actually think about.  It is worth checking out.  On Getting Appropriately Angry About Child Abuse.

- Scot McKnight’s blog is a favorite of mine.  Here he quotes a New York Times article about a book I am very eager to get my hands on called “Alone, Together” by Sherry Turkle.  It is a book that explores the connection between technology, social networking, and loneliness.  It’s a quote very much worth checking out.  Alone Together.  If you are interested, I posted Sherry Turkle’s TED talk on this topic last week on the Friday Connect.  It is worth your time, particularly if you are interested in the impact of social networking and the ability to relate.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

 

Evangelism: The Idiot

Be warned.  This is a rant.  

This guy is an idiot.

But there is more.  His congregants defend his anti-gay tirade.

“”The Bible says they are worthy of death. He only preaches the word…God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”

And

“Sometimes you’ve got to be scared straight. He is trying to save those people from going to hell.”

Other than the obvious dehumanization of the LGBTQ community, something else struck me as I have been poking at evangelism the last little while…

The idiot is sharing his faith.  Whether he knows it or not, even though he is preaching to his own tribe, his words became public.  This has become the Christian voice creeping back into our world.

It’s evangelism.  He’s sharing that the god he worships and follows wants those from the LGBTQ community to be locked up behind electric fences.

The problem is people are listening to something that is not gospel.  As I write this the above video is well over 550,000 views.  The Huffington Post and NBC have spread this across their networks.  It’s gone mini-viral reaching the many with a voice of judgement, hatred, and poor biblical exegesis.

It’s a reminder that the alternative is important.  It’s a reminder that Jesus does need new public relations (see the Jesus needs new PR blog, great stuff). It’s a call to come to people in the same manner that Jesus did.  Over a meal, with some wine, talking about life and building relationship.  It’s a simple recognition of humanity.  It’s mind blowing how difficult that can be for some people and how it somehow gets connected to the gospel.

What do you think?  How should we frame the message of Jesus to our world in light of this preachers comments?  What are the implications of defining ourselves by what we are not?

Worship or Idolatry: A Wake Up Call

My friend Bryan writes at an awesome blog called theycallmepastorbryan.  A few days ago he posted this quote which knocked my anabaptist socks off.

Teresa (of Avila) and John (of the Cross) both say that we easily become so attached to our feelings of and about God that we equate them with God. We forget that these sensations are only speaking to us of the divine One. They are only messengers. Instead, we take them for the whole of God’s self, and thus we wind up worshipping our own feelings. This is perhaps the most common idolatry of the spiritual life.

— The Dark Night Of The Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth

I remember worship services where the music blew my mind.  They elicited emotions out of me that I never expected.  I also remember worship services where the music was mundane, and boring.    They merely elicited a strong desire for me to sleep. Upon leaving the worship space, on one particular occasion, I remember uttering the words “I didn’t get much out of that worship service!”

This quote is a wake up call.

In the church world (or maybe just the churches I have encountered over my 5+ years in ministry) the worship conversation seems to be endless.  People seem to carry all sorts of opinions on how a worship service should go, what type of songs, what type of instruments, and so on and so forth… and so on and so forth.

Personal preference is not the point.  It is scary to think about.  If the point of worship is to achieve particular emotions or feelings ‘about God’ while worshiping God we tread dangerously into the world of idolatry where we worship our feelings.

Worshiping ourselves is not cool.

The threat of idolatry becomes a wake up call to those churches found in a seemingly endless debate related to drums, hymnals, guitars, microphones and organs.  The point isn’t preference.  The point is God.  To be any other than God becomes idolatry.

What do you think?  What is meaningful worship for you and why?  What is the difference between meaning and personal preference?