WHAT THE CHURCH CAN LEARN FROM LOST

Jared Wilson on his blog The Gospel Driven Church makes these observations about what the church can learn from the television show Lost:

1) LOST was robust. It did not partition off "spiritual matters" and "scientific matters" and "romantic matters," etc. It wasn't a romance show. Or an adventure show. It wasn't just science fiction. It wasn't fantasy. It was -- I think -- more along the lines of "myth," but what it managed to do was weave a "philosophy of everything" into its storyline. I think Christians can learn from this that "Christianity," as David Powlison says, "is higher than anything is high, yet walks on the ground." The Incarnation of our Lord itself reminds us that Christian faith and practice has ramifications for and application to everything in the world, including the things it opposes. This helps us steer clear of easy and brittle "faith vs. art" or "faith vs. science" sorts of gnosticism. Christianity is a sturdy, earthy, robust way of life.

2) LOST was multiethnic. Has there ever been a show that was not only this diverse but diverse without relegating minority characters to background, "token" positions? I think part of LOST's appeal was its racial diversity and the strength of characterization within the diversity. This is compelling to lookers-on. So the church can learn from this not just the inclusion of multiple tongues, tribes, and races, but the integral inclusion of them.

3) LOST got narrative. What do people in most modern contexts need from the Church's communication? A story that is comprehensive and compelling. And of course there is no more comprehensive and compelling story than the Christian one, which has the added benefit of being a true one. We can learn from LOST to tell the biblical stories well, to tell them in compelling ways, to show how our stories are part of God's story, to show how Jesus is the hero in every story and the gospel the theme, and to help people see what God is doing in the world over and throughout history. History is going somewhere. (Of course that somewhere is not a purgatorial "now" where sincere believers in x, y, and z all connect. But we are headed for a finale.)

The Church doesn't need LOST. Like all TV shows, this one will drop off our radar in a few years, fondly remembered when retrospectives and nostalgia trips arise. But the creators of the show did some stuff tremendously right; as far as TV goes, they made some stinkin' good art here. I think we can learn something from it, if we care to.

SEVEN DAY A WEEK CHURCH

A great little teaching video posted on the Missional Outreach Network

GEN Y HAS A NEW "AMERICAN DREAM"

Steve: Churches who seek to minister to emerging generations need to be attending to the research that is available so we can exegete our culture as we develop missional strategies. This post was written by Sharalyn Hartwell on a blog site called Generation Y Examiner.

Less than half of Millennials are confident they can reach the “American Dream”, according to research conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, so they are creating a new dream relying less on financial success.

Only 46 percent of Millennials said they expect to be better off financially than their parents when they reach their parents’ age and eleven percent anticipate to be worse off than their parents.

This sense of discouragement supports the growing notion that Millennials are defining success differently and seeking to create a new American Dream.

Their priorities simply aren’t limited to the big home in the suburbs. Experts at the Urban Land Institute predict Generation Y will continue to rent this decade, further compounding the floundering real estate market.

The state of the economy as a whole, not just the real estate market, has certainly played a role in this shift. Despite continual reports of Gen Y sponging off their parents, the economy has still taken a toll on this group. Nearly half (45 percent) are concerned classify their personal financial situation as “bad” and are “very concerned ” or “somewhat concerned” about meeting their bills and obligations, affording a place to live and affording health care 60 percent, 58 percent and 56 percent respectively).

Millennials place a high value on education, but nearly half (45 percent) of current undergrads and nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of community college students question their ability to stay in school because of financial constraints. Add their waning confidence in their ability to find a job after graduation (84 percent say it will be “difficult”) and it is apparent Millennials are becoming disenchanted with the old definition of the American Dream. While they believe it takes hard work to get ahead, Millennials seem to be questioning if it will always pay off.

Is it any wonder Millennials talk so passionately about topics considered taboo by their Boomer predecessors? Millennials openly tell employers about their new American Dream. Work will not be their life, they only work to live because they seek a work/life balance. They want flexible benefits (such as telecommuting) and a work environment that feels like home away from home. They are willing to leave a company when they aren't offered these things.

Their dream includes volunteering and maintaining relationships. The same Harvard study found that 70 percent of Millennials, and 81 percent of those enrolled in a 4-year college or university, think community service is an “honorable” thing to do. A 2009 Participatory Marketing Network study reported that a whopping 99 percent of Gen Y has an active profile on at least one social media site (Facebook is the most common way they maintain relationships).

Additionally, when Millennials travel, it is more about having an experience that could lead to bragging rights rather than doing nothing in posh surroundings. They will use social media to make connections to find places eat and stay and things to do.

Watching their parents draw the short straw after a lifetime of following the quintessential American Dream equation--saving, investing and dedicating yourself to your employer to buy that big house in the suburbs--has led Millennials to find alternative ways, ways not likely to change even when the economy recovers, to create a high quality of life.

Visit this web site for more useful research on emerging generations.

A MISSIONAL OUTREACH STRATEGY

James Nored has an excellent site called the Missional Outreach Network which I have recently joined. Here is part of a post he wrote a few days ago. You can read the rest of the post and visit the website by following this link MISSIONAL. I would encourage you to do so-Steve

What is our mission? Our "missiology" is determined by our Christology. That is, our mission is based upon the life and ministry of Christ. In his own words, Jesus said that he came to seek and save the lost (Lk. 19:10), serve others (Mk. 10:45), and proclaim the good news (Mk. 1:38).

This mission also forms an excellent "missional outreach" strategy:

• Seeking the lost
• Serving the Community
• Sharing the Good News.

Seeking the Lost - Our strategy is to proactively seek out lost people by going to them, hanging out in their locales, building relationships with them, befriending them online, etc. I am not at all against inviting people to worship, mailing out flyers, etc. In fact, there are many who will only come to check out a church in a public worship setting that allows for more anonymity. But first and foremost, we should seek them out people and not expect most people to come to us. Church attendance in the US is 18-23% and dropping. A purely direct mail approach will not cut it. Besides, there is a transformation that happens in us when we go out on mission. More on this later.

Serving Our Community - This service should be on two levels. First, we should serve those around us in our daily lives by seeking to bless their lives. This can be by encouraging them, building them up, praying for them, babysitting for them, helping them with a work project, mowing their lawn, etc. Second, as a church, we should be providing ministries that bless our community. We can bless people by meeting a felt need and providing healing to their areas of brokenness. In suburbia, there are three major areas of brokenness: isolation/lack of community, materialism/lack of purpose, and busyness/lack of time. There is also brokenness in human relationships such as marriages. Addiction abounds. And many suburbs still have poverty, with people needing food, clothing, and shelter.

By serving people, both on an individual and church level, we do the right thing. It is good to do this regardless. Jesus fed and healed thousands, and yet only a few responded. However, serving people does indeed open doors of opportunity to share the gospel. It breaks down barriers and helps to overcome negative stereotypes that they may believe about Christians.

Sharing the Good News - As Jesus healed and served people, he preached and taught about himself and the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is God's rule or reign over the world and people's lives. It is the kind of world that would exist if everyone acknowledged and followed God. It is a life filled with love, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

HOW MILLENIALS VIEW COMMUNITY

Thom Rainer writes in his blog ...

For most boomer churches, the community was perceived to be a place where prospects could be found. Entire systems of outreach were devised to find people to increase the membership of the church. In many of these churches, the community was seen to be a source of greater attendance and increased financial gifts.

Millennial Christians (those born between 1980 and 2000) resist this view of the community. For them, community is not a place where we look for prospects to help our church; it is a place where Christians are called to serve and minister. Millennials don’t ask what the community can do for the church; they ask what they can do for the community.

Listening to Millennials

My son Jess Rainer and I are working on a book based on a comprehensive research project on the Millennials. Karen was one of 1,300 Millennials we interviewed. She was 24 years old at the time of our interview with her. She grew up in a more established Southern Baptist church in South Carolina. Though Karen still resides in her home state, she now attends a church with no denominational affiliation.

“I love the town where I live,” she began. “But I’ve learned to love this community from my church. The pastor and other leaders in the church are constantly letting us know how we can have an impact where we live. Our church has been so consistent with caring for and loving our community that leaders from town now turn to us when they have a need. We don’t have to have a formal outreach program,” she said, remembering her former church, “because we are already in the community and because the community comes to us.”

Missional and Incarnational

Two of the buzzwords used by Millennial Christians are missional and incarnational. Missional means that Christians are sent in the community, that they are on mission in the community. The community is not just a place where the church is located; it is a place where Christians are sent to demonstrate the love of Christ. For most Christian Millennials, they do not go to work, to the shopping center, or to the schools merely to carry out transactions. They see themselves as missionaries wherever they are in the community.

The Milllennials also are committed to being incarnational in the community as well. The word literally means “in the flesh” or physically present. But for this younger generation it has the deeper meaning of being present as a representative for Christ. As Karen told our research team, “When I am in my community, I try to see the people I encounter through the eyes of Christ. It makes all the difference in the world.”

Millennial Christians will reject those churches that tend to view the community as little more than a population pool from which growth in attendance and budget can come. But they will embrace those churches that teach its members to love the community.

How Churches Understand Community

You can tell the difference in these churches rather easily. In many churches, efforts to reach the community may be limited to distributing flyers telling the residents what church events they can or should attend.

“I don’t criticize those churches,” Karen told us. “But I want to be helping repair homes, caring for merchants who lost loved ones, and cleaning up trash for elderly residents. I know it’s cliché, but I want to ask the question, ‘What would Jesus do?’ I want to be in the churches that view the community that way.”

The Millennials are on mission for the community. Is your church doing likewise?

You can link to and subscribe to this blog by clicking THOM

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN GROWING CHURCHES

Churches that begin focusing on their mission often find communication to be one of their liabilities if not properly focused. Kem Kemmeyer from Grahnger Community Church shares these thoughts:

REACTIVE…

PROACTIVE…

Over communicate. Everybody doesn’t need to be in on everything. When all lines of communication are open to everyone, communication declines. Obsess about content. The organization around your message—emotional, environment, ritual, political—is crucial. It can reinforce your content or kill it. Rob the white space. When we’re eager to fix move too fast. Creating margin for listening, self-awareness and reflection is necessary to discover what really matters to other people.

Identify what’s really needed. Each department should develop a list of the kind of need-to-know (versus nice-to-know) information they feel is lacking from other departments. Invest in team time for leaders. Focus on relationships between department heads. Team building between a handful of key people can dramatically improve how well the whole staff works together. Apply the JFK principle. Ask not what other departments can do for you. Ask what you can do for other departments. Lead the way by sharing insight with other teams on a regular basis.

You can read her entire post and other thoughts on this link LESS CLUTTER

CRAZY FAITH

As part of our innovation to help underscore our core values, we have started an on-line Bible study called BIBLICAL JOY. This is a small group for people who don't have time for a small group. It is a way to do some serious Bible study and connect people over the internet for an exchange of ideas about the Biblical text. We have some great sharing. This particular reply was to a study in Matthew of Peter walking on the water. Sara, who writes it, actually has a great description of the challenge that people and churches face when they decided to get out of the boat and venture out onto the water, out of the comfort zone into the zone of the unknown, where Bill Hybels says "the Holy Spirit does its best work." - Steve

I have thought about this story quite a lot in the past few months, actually.

What sticks out to me, before we even get to the part about Peter sinking into the water, is this: Peter getting out of that boat is a WAY bigger deal than it first seems to be. And those 11 “failures” that stayed behind? Well, from the worldly point of view, they are the sane ones. Why?

First, the water was choppy, wild, it was crazy windy. I wouldn’t want to be ON the BOAT, let alone getting out of one to walk on the water.

Second, when they first see Jesus, they think He is a GHOST. The other 11 are freaking out in a boat being tossed about by crazy waves, and Peter is like, “Hey, is that you Lord? I’m going to trust it’s you and not a scary ghost about to eat us. Let me get up out of this “safe” boat and come out to you while you walk in the crazy, choppy, scary water.” Peter faces down a possible GHOST to get to Jesus. A lot of times, our fear of the unknown or the uncomfortable can steal away amazing blessings!!!

But Peter, he shows us some crazy faith. If it speaks to us today, it tells us that even as our lives seem chaotic, like we need to hold on to something for dear life- maybe what we really need to do is hear our Lord, trust Him, and let go, even if that seems like a crazy, risky thing to do. God says to trust Him with all our heart and lean NOT ON OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. That can be very uncomfortable, but like I said- we miss out on fantastic blessings if we let our comfort-zone dictate our acts of faith!"

You might want to explore this site for ideas of how this might apply to your church's ministry. Go to BIBLICAL JOY